The essence

Sundara Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana is so named

because of its many beauties. Nothing is sweet throughout.
Even a stalk of sugarcane is sweet in portions, but not all
parts of it are sweet. But the Sundara Kanda is sweet through and through. It is recited, when there is a misunderstanding between couples, because it is in the Sundara Kanda that Hanuman locates Sita. It is only after this that preparations begin to reunite the Divine Couple.

The Ramayana is revered as the Vedas are, and what the

Upanishads are to the Vedas the Sundara Kanda is to
Valmiki’s Ramayana. The Mahabharata too is revered like the Vedas, and the Bhagavad Gita is to the Mahabharata as the Upanishads are to the Vedas. So the two Itihasas —
Ramayana and Mahabharata — are equated with the
Upanishads, said Gomatam Madhavachariar in a discourse.
Reading the entire Ramayana is difficult, but to our
advantage, just reading of the Sundara Kanda confers
immense benefits on us. Likewise, the Mahabharata is huge,
and we will not be able to read all of it. So for our
convenience, the Lord gave the Bhagavad Gita. But we find its eighteen chapters too long. So there is the Vishnu
Sahasranama, which is the essence of the Gita. But for those who find even this difficult, there is the answer that Lord Siva gives to Parvati, when She asks Him about what learned men recite by way of worship. Lord Siva answers that it is the name of ‘Rama’ that they chant. That name has the potency of thousand names of the Supreme One, says Siva. So the name of Rama is the essence of the Vedas. It is to hear this name that Hanuman stayed back on the earth, refusing the boon of moksha. The name of Rama saves, and it was the chanting of that name that no doubt gave Hanuman his strength.