RAMAYANA FOR CHILDREN
CHAPTER NUMBER 22 PART TWO
Rama continued to speak to his brother, Lakshmana; “My mother need not vex herself for such a trifle. Wipe away her tears. Bring peace to her pained heart. Because I cannot bear to see her doubt and suffer! I never knew till now the slightest grief to my father or mothers. Our father always speaks the truth. He never goes back on his promise. He is endowed with might and valour. The same never fails its purpose. Our father might harbour a doubt. He might doubt about having a place in the worlds of the gods if he goes back on his promise. It is our sacred duty to keep him away from such doubts. My coronation must be cancelled. His sworn words to Kaikeyi must be upheld. It will wring my heart. So I wish to stop the preparations towards my coronation. I wish to start to the woods immediately. Let the daughter of the Kekaya monarch see the realisation of her hopes. It will make her happy if I take my way to the forest. I must be dressed in deerskin and the bark of trees. My matted hair must be coiled on my head. Nothing can shake my resolve. I have resolved to go to the forests of Dandaka. Till now Dharma was the sole motive of my actions. But there is a greater and nobler one. It is not Kaikeyi that deprives me of this kingdom. We should not waste our breath in cursing her. The Lord put such a notion into her head. Otherwise, why should Kaikeyi try to harm me? I make no difference between my mothers. Each one of them is entitled to my boundless love. Kaikeyi makes no difference between me and Bharata. Yet she was able to speak cruel words. She was able to get our father’s nod to banish me to the forests. The Lord, it is, who has changed Kaikeyi’s nature. It must be for some inscrutable purpose of His. She is gifted with a natural grace of mind and heart. She has the blood of the mighty monarchs in her veins. She is adorned with compassion, generosity and other excellences. Then why should she behave like the meanest of her sex? She could have spoken her command to some other person. But she has chosen to speak like this to her lord and husband! She could have sent words to me through a servant or slave of hers. But she has chosen to speak to her Lord’s face! Did she suggest that I may go to the forests? She minced no words! She tirelessly repeated her words! You can see the Lord’s hand in this. None dare set himself up against His will. God’s ways are mysterious. We cannot understand them. It is because of Him my crown slips from my hands. It is because of the Lord that Kaikeyi has turned against me. There is no armour against Fate. Joy and sorrows are inscrutable mysteries. Serenity and anger, gain and loss, birth and death all happen because of our Fate. Mighty sages like Visvamitra observed stern tapas. Even they became the slaves of their passions. They lost their serenity and peace. And they fell headlong from their spiritual heights. It is but Destiny that raises a barrier before our efforts. It says, ‘This far thou shalt go and no further’. And we direct our energies to some other purpose we never dreamt of. So I never allow my peace of heart to be ruffled. Joy or sorrow cannot ruffle my serenity. And this aborted coronation does not affect me in the least. You, Lakshmana, should also put away grief and anger from you. Go and see that the preparation for my coronation is stopped. The sacred waters have been brought from all over the world. They are meant for my consecration bath. Now they should serve for the preparatory rites and baths. They are toward my departure to the forests. No! There is a chance for Kaikeyi to misconstrue the same. She might think that I want to crown myself secretly as the ruler of this kingdom! So, I will have nothing to do with these holy waters. The holy waters are the property of the king, hence of Bharata.”
“Lakshmana! We do not let this kingdom and wealth slip through our fingers. You must not worry on this score. It is all one and the same to me, Lakshmana. I do not care if I am the monarch of the earth or a humble recluse of Dantaka. On hindsight, a forest life is free from all cares. I will be free from the misfortunes and the sins that beset a ruler’s path. In the forests, you get to see everywhere the rarest creatures of God! Hence I prefer a life in the woods to an uneasy throne.”
“Lakshmana! I tell you what. No one knows better the might of Destiny. It sits at the heart of Kaikeyi. And it prompts her to speak harsh words to us. So we should not think that Kaikeyi has stopped my coronation!”
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