Brahma asks Rama to worship Durga

Vibhishana said to Rama - I am not sure if I have a solution for this.

In the heaven, Brahma said, the only solution was the worship of the Goddess. This was the season of autumn. If Rama worshiped Durga and pleased her, he will be able to kill Ravana.

The message was given to Rama by Brahma. Rama asked how was he to worship the Goddess. The spring was the time for the worship, this would not be the right time. The worship was done and the Goddess would was woken up on the ninth day of the dark phase of the moon (Navami, Krishna paksha). This was the process set by the king Suratha.

Brahma said Do not worry. Invoke the Goddess on the sixth day (Sasthi) and worship her the way King Suratha had done.

Rama got early in the morning and had his bath. Rama made offerings of wild flowers and fruits to the ocean and started his worship of Durga.

004 Valmiki

For sixty thousand years Ratnakar sat, meditating on the name of Rama. In this long period, he was oblivious of his surroundings. Where Ratnakar was sitting, an ant hill grew and slowly the ants started spreading over his body and eating away his flesh. Ratnakar did not feel anything. All he did was utter the name of Rama.
Soon all flesh was eaten away and only bones remained. Over a period of time, grass and bushes grew over the mass of bones. The name of Rama did not stop.
Brahma and Narada had stepped away for a minute. This was sixty thousand years in human time. When Brahma and Narada got back they could not see Ratnakar.They looked around but no signs. While they could not see anyone, they could hear the name of Rama being uttered. Tracing back to the source of the sound, they came to an overgrown ant hill. They saw the name of Rama coming from the ant hill. So Ratnakar is here, Brahma thought. He called for Indra, God of Rains, and asked him to rain non stop for seven days and seven nights.
After the rain, Brahma saw a human skeleton uttering the name of Rama, With the grace of Brahma, Ratnakar got back his human form. Getting up, he prostrated himself before Brahma. You gave me the name of Rama, he said. Today I am free.
Brahma asked him to get up and said. You were Ratnakar. Today you get a new name. Eaten by the ants (Valmika), you will hence forth be known as Valmiki.
Valmiki wanted to know what to do next. Brahma said, go write the story of Rama, in seven chapters (Kanda).
Valmiki said he would do the same, but he was not very educated. How would he able to write an epic about Rama?
Brahma said - Do not worry. When it is time, Devi Saraswati, Goddess of all learning, will sit on your tongue. What ever you say about Rama, Rama will perform those tasks. Saying this Brahma and Narada left.

002 Ratnakar

Narada and Brahma started thinking. Where would they find this sinner? Who was this person? THey were told that there was a Rishi called Chavan. He had a son called Ratnakar. All evil deeds - name it and he had committed it. Though born of a rishi, he was leading the life of a robber - looting and murdering
Narada and Brahma arrived where Ratnakar was. Incidentally this was a day when Ratnakar had not been able to loot anyone. As a dacoit, looting, robbing and murdering was his way of life. Climbing up on a tall tree he tried to see if anyone was coming down the path. He spotted two people and came down the tree. These two were Narada and Brahma. They were in the guise of old sages. Ratnakar thought, if nothing else, let me kill these two and take their clothes. They do not have anything else with them.
Raising an iron mace, he tried killing Brahma. He was unable to do so. He was just not able to lift the mace. This was a spell that Brahma had cast. Seeing that he could not attack them, Brahma asked him who he was. Ratnakar said he was in no mood for introductions, he wanted to kill the them and take their garments as booty.
Brahma said killing him would not give him any wealth, but his sims would increase. Brahma said the sin of killing of hundred people was equal to the killing of one cow. The sin of killing a hundred cows was equal to the sin of killing a woman. The sin of killing a hundred women was equal to killing a brahman. The sin of killing a hundred brahmans was equal to killing a brahmachari (a celibate, who had devoted his life to worship). You have killed countless sanyasis who have come down this path.
Ratnakar just smiled. He said he killed countless sanyasis. Brahma said if he so very much wanted to kill him, then had better take them to a place which was not infested with insects. Brahma said he did not want to fall on and kill insects, crushing them with his body, when he was killed.
Brahma then asked him, for all the sins that he had committed so far, for whom was he doing this? The robber said he was doing this for his family. He had parents , wife and children and from the people he was looting, he was fending for his family. The loot was shared by all, so all his sins were also thus shared by all.
Brahma smiled. Why would they share your sins? You have sinned, so your sins stay with you. Your sins will not be shared. If he so desired, he could go and ask his family if they were willing to share his sins.If they agreed to share his sins, he was free to kill anyone he wanted to. Till the time he came back, the sages would sit under the tree.
Ratnakar started thinking. I think he planning to escape from me, which is why he is saying all this. Addressing Brahma, he said this excuse of an escape would not work. Brahma said was promising he would run away and would stay there. Not believing them, and tying them to a tree, Ratnakar went homewards.