Ramayana story: Ravana become priest for yagya to Shiva performed by Lord Rama! Always teaching by perfect example, Lord Rama was aware that Ravana was a disciple of Lord Siva so first Hi worshiped Lord Siva to please him before battle started. The scriptural rule is, if a disciple of a Guru has to be punished, permission from his/her Guru should be taken first. After dispatching Hanuman to the Himalayas to bring a Siva Linga, Lord Rama inquired from all the sages present who should be the presiding priest for the installation of the Siva Linga. The sages answered, "Ravana is expert in this service and is also a very dear disciple of Lord Siva. Please invite him to be the priest. If You call him for this service he will not decline." Lord Rama sent message to Ravana, and he accepted the invitation with great joy and reached Lord Rama. Then after chanting all the required mantras for installing the Siva Linga, Ravana asked, "Where is the Siva Linga?" But Hanuman had not yet returned with it. Ravana then said, "The auspicious moment to install the Linga is passing." Hearing this, Lord Rama collected sand nearby and formed a Siva Linga and thus it was installed. Lord Rama called upon Samudra (ocean personified) to supply the required remuneration for the priest. The ocean gave a large amount of gems and pearls to Rama, which He in turn gave as dakshina to Ravana for performing the installation rites. Lord Rama then paid Ravana respect, for which Ravana asked the Lord to ask a blessing from him. Lord Rama then asked Ravana, "Please bless Me so I can kill my enemy, Ravana." Ravana was acting as the presiding priest, therefore he had to give the requested blessing. He then returned to Sri Lanka. Lord Rama named His installed Siva Linga, Ramanath.." The name "Ramanath Temple" is written atop the entrance of the sanctum sanctorum; and the village where this temple is located is known as Rameswaram. Then when Hanuman returned with his Siva Linga and saw that a Siva Linga had already been installed he became very upset. So to please Hanuman, Lord Rama installed his Siva Linga and named it Hanumateswara. Whosoever goes to see Lord Siva at Rameswaram, must first see and worship Hanumateswara to get maximum benefit. If someone does not see and worship Hanumateswara, they do not get benefit from worshiping Lord Siva in Rameswaram. After worshiping Lord Siva, Lord Rama's entire monkey army reached Sri Lanka. The war ensued between the demons and monkey armies, from which great loss was experienced by the demons and their nation. Moral of the story: For success in anything in life we need blessings. Blessings are fuel by which we can always have success in our life. Western cultures believes at power of there own strength, but Vedic culture accept blessings as most important factor for success. This do not means that one should not endeavor. Lord Rama showed example of making endeavor by doing yajna. And when we put our endeavor Lord will do the rest. When mother Yashoda in Damodara lila was trying to bind Krishna to grinding mortar, by hundreds and hundreds meters of rope, always at end are missing 2 fingers long rope to make final binding. Acharyas has explained that to catch Krishna in our hearth and have success in any devotional activity we must make make our own endevour and then pray for divine mercy of Krishna. Source: Internet
Ravana has always been vilified by us due to his single act of kidnapping of Lord Ram's wife, Sita. But there is an interesting story when he aids Ram in his pursuit to rescue Sita and defeat him. God Ram wanted to build a bridge to reach Lanka from the shores of Rameshwaram. Before the work started, he decided to perform a yagna to God Shiva to defeat Ravana. But the Yagna required a very knowledgeable priest to conduct it and Ram had to have his wife by his side during the proceedings. Everyone is Ram's camp were aware of the fact that the only person qualified to the perform the Yagna was none other than Ravana himself. Ram desperate to conduct the Yagna invited Ravana to which he accepted. Ravana not only agreed to perform the Yagna, he was understanding enough to bring Sita along as well. Ravana successfully conducted the Yagna and in the end when Ram requested Ravana's blessings to defeat him, Ravana promptly replied “Tatasthu” (So be it).
Yaa i have heard this story and it was said that one of the reason for the ravana's defeat was the ashirwad he gave to Lord Rama during this yagna.
