Viswamitra said to Dasaratha, 'O King, I need your assistance in fulfillment of a religious rite undertaken by me. Whenever I undertake a religious rite, the demons who are the followers of Khara and Dusana invade the holy place and desecrate it. Under the vows of the religious rite, I am unable to curse them.
You cam help me. Your son Rama can easily deal with demons. And, in return for this help, I shall confer manifold blessings upon him which will bring you unexcelled glory. Do not let your attachment to your son overpower your devotion to duty. In this world the noble ones do not consider any gift beyond their means without delay.
Hearing this highly unwelcome request, the King remained stunned and silent for a whileand then replied. "O sage, Rama is not even sixteen years old and is, therefore, not qualified to wage a war. He is not even seen a combat, except what goes on in the inner apartment of the palace. Command me to accompany you; command my vast army to accompany you to exterminate the demons. But I cannot part with Rama. Is it not natural for all living beings to love their young; do not even wise men engage themselves in extraordinary activities for the love of their children; and do not people abandon their happiness, their consorts and wealth rather than their children? No, I cannot part with Rama.
I have heard of mighty demon Ravana. Is he one that causes disturbances to your rite? In that case, nothing can be done to help you, for I know that even gods are powerless against him. Time and again, such powerful beings are born to earth; and in time they leave the stage of this world."
Viswamitra was angry. Seeing this, the sage Vasishta intervened and persuaded the King not to back out on his promise, but to send Rama witj Viswamitra. "O king, it is unworthy of you to go back on your promise. A king should be an exampler of righteous conduct. Rama is safe in the care of Viswamitra, who is extremely powerful and who has numerous invincible missiles. "
Valmiki continues :
In obedience to the wishes of the preceptor Vasishta, the king Dasaratha ordered an attendant to fetch Rama. The attendent returned and announced that Rama would follow in a minute, and added "The prince seems to be dejected and he shuns company ". Bewildered by this statement, Dasaratha turned to Rama's chamberlain and wished to know the facts covering Rama's state of mind and health.
The CHAMBERLAIN was visibly distressed and he said:
Lord, since his return from the pilgrimage, a great change has come over the prince. He does not seem to be interested even in bathing and in the worship of the deity. He does not enjoy the company of the people in the inner apartments. He is not interested in jewels and precious stones. Even when offered charming and pleasing objects, he looks at them with sad eyes, uninterested. He spurns the place dancers, regarding them as tormentors! He goe through the motions of eating, walking, resting, bathing and sitting, like an automation, like one who is deaf and dumb. Often he mutters to himself "What is the use of wealth and prosperity, what is the use of adversity or of house? All this is unreal." He is silent most of the time and is not amused by entertainment. He relishes only solitude. He is all the time immersed in his own throught. We do not know what has come over our prince, what he contemplated in his mind, nor what he is after. Day by day he gets more and more emanciated.
Viswamitra said, if that be the case, may Rama be requested to come here. His conditions is not the result of delusions but is full of wisdom and dispassion, and it points to enlightenment. Bring him here and we shall dispel his despondency.
Valmiki explains:
Thereupon the king urged the chamberlain to invite Rama to the court. In the meantime Rama himself got ready to meet his father. Even from the distance he saw and saluted his father and sages; and they saw that though young, his face was shone with the peace and maturity. He bowed to the feet of the King, who embraced him, lifted him up and said to him: "What makes you so sad, my son? Dejection is an open-invitation to a host of miseries. " The sages Vasishta and Viswamitra concurred with the king.
Rama said :
Holy sir, I shall duly answer your question. I grew up happily in my father's abode;I was instructed by worthy teachers. Recently I went on a pilgrimage. During this period a trend of thiught has taken hold me, robbing me of all hope in this world. My heart begins to question :what do people call happiness and can it be had in the ever-changing objects of this world? All beings in this world take birth but to die, and they die to born! I do not perceive any meaning in all these transient phenomenon which are the roots of suffering and sin. Unrelated beings come together; and the mind conjures up a relationship between them. Everything in this world is dependent upon the mind, upon one's mental attitude. On examination, the mind itself appears to be unreal!! But, we are bewitched by it.we seen to be running after a marriage in the desert to slake our thirst.
Sir, surely we are not bond slaves sold to a master; yet we live a life of slavery, without any freedom whatever. Ignorant of truth, we have been aimlessly wandering in this dense forest called the world. What is this world? What comes into being, grows and dies? How does this suffering come to an end? My heart bleeds with sorrow, though I do not shed tears. In deference to the feelings of my friends.
Now Valmiki comments:
If in our heart the lofty wisdom of Rama is not reflected, we shall indeed be the loosers ; whatever be our abilities and facilities, we shall thereby prove that we have lost our intelligence !
Viswamitra replied to Rama.
O Rama, you are indeed the foremost among the wise, and there is really nothing further for you to know. However, your knowledge needs confirmation, even as the self-knowledge of Suka needed confirmation from Janaka before Suka could find the peace that passeth understanding.
Just like you, Suka also arrived at the truth concerning existence after deep contemplation of the evanescence of this world. Yet because it was self-aquired knowledge, he could not positively affirm to himself. 'This is the truth'.He had of cource arrived at the state of existence and supreme dispassion.
One day, this Suka approached his father Vedavyasa and asked him: "Sir, how did this diversity of world-creation come into being; and how will it come to an end? " Vedavyasa gave a detailed answer to this question: but Suka thought 'All this I knew already; what is new in this?' and was not impressed. Vedavyasa also sensed this, and hence he said to Suka: "My son, I do not know anything more than this; but there is the royal sage Janaka on earth who knows more than this. Kindly approach him.
Suka thereupon came to Janaka's place. Informed by the palace guards of the young Suka's arrival. Janaka ignored him for a week while Suka patiently waited outside. The next week Janaka had Suka brought into the place and waited upon by dancers and musicians. Suka was unmoved by this, too. After this, Suka was ushered into the royal presence, and Janaka said: "You know the truth; what else shall I tell you now. This diversity arises on account of mental modifications and it will cease when they cease." Thus when his self-knowledge had been confirmed. Suka attained peace and remained in Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
Like Suka, Rama too has gained the highest wisdom. The surest sign of a man of the highest wisdom is that he is unattracted by the pleasures of the world, for in him even the subtle tendencies have ceased. When these tendencies are strong, there is bondage; when they have ceased, there is liberation. He is truly a liberated sage who by nature is not swayed by aense-pleasure, without the motivation of fame or other incentives. And I pray that the sage Vasishta should so instruct Rama that he will be confirmed in his wisdom and we, too, may be inspired.
I bow the divinity in you.
Rajeev Damodharan
seshanagam@gmail.com
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