Value Education and Spirituality 25 – Ramayana 7 – Lakshmana – Don’t ascribe intention to what is spoken in tension

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Welcome back to the Well-Education and Spirituality series.
We are discussing based on the Ramayana. And we are now at the very traumatic incident in which Sita gets abducted by Ravana. So Maricha, assuming the form of a deer, has led Ram out of the hermitage into the forest in his pursuit at the request of Sita.
So we will discuss now about Lakshmana and Sita’s interaction. And the theme we will discuss is don’t ascribe intention to what is spoken in tension. Don’t ascribe intention to what is spoken in tension.
So as Lakshmana and Sita were waiting for Ram to return with the deer, the deer had initially seemed just close by. But when Ram came in his pursuit, the deer just started running and running. And Ram kept chasing, chasing, chasing.
And the deer would seem close and jump far away. And then suddenly sometime the deer would disappear and reappear. And Ram kept pursuing, hoping that he would be able to get the deer to please Sita.
Now he is also suspicious. As Lakshmana had said, this deer didn’t seem an ordinary deer. It didn’t seem deary.
It seemed fishy. So there is something fishy about this deer. And finally when the deer just mystically disappeared and reappeared once again.
And Ram had been chasing it for almost an hour and had gone deep into the forest. So at that time Ram decided, yes, Lakshmana is right. This, no deer can suddenly appear and disappear like this.
So it must be a Rakshasa. And then till then his attempt was to catch the deer alive and bring it back for Sita to adopt as a pet. But then he realized this is a Rakshasa and this Rakshasa has been fooling me.
Then he decided that he deserves to be punished. So he took an arrow, took carefully and shot the arrow. And Amoghasharam, he is a person whose arrows never go waste.
So his arrow just hit the target, thudded into the body of the deer. And as the deer fell to the ground with a sickening crash. At that time as per the scheme which Ravana had told Maricha to be a part of.
Maricha, he could not only take on other forms. He could also take on other’s voices. He had those mystical powers.
And we also see that sometimes some people have a capacity to do mimicry. They can mimic somebody else’s voice. So he had the capacity to mimic.
And he spoke exactly in Ram’s voice. And he screamed at the top of his voice with all the energy that was remaining in his body. After the exhausting run and after the deadly wound inflicted by the arrow.
And he called, Lakshman, Sita. He called out exactly in the voice of Ram. And the voice just spread through the sky, went far into the horizon.
And Sita and Lakshman both heard that. And Sita heard this, Lakshman, Lakshman. Sita was horrified.
Lakshman, Ram is calling you, please go to him immediately. He needs your help, otherwise he would not have called you. Please go.
Lakshman was unmoved. Lakshman said, Ram can be in no danger. I know what kind of warrior he is.
Nothing can pose any danger to him. Please don’t worry, he will come back soon. But can’t you, did you hear his voice? You could hear? He was in pain.
Please go. So Lakshman says, no, he is not in pain. I suspect that the same Rakshasa who had taken on the form of the deer, has now taken on the voice of Ram.
He has spoken in that voice. Please don’t worry, Ram will be alright. And he will come back soon.
Sita says, no, Ram may be in danger right now. How can you not go to help your brother? Please go. Now Sita was beside herself with anxiety.
She could not tolerate the thought that something might be wrong with her beloved Ram. She had already left the world. She was all alone in the forest.
And without Ram, what she would do? And how could she just stay there passively? And if she couldn’t go to the forest, Lakshman would not allow her to go also. And at least Lakshman should go. She was feeling, how is Lakshman staying like this? She was desperate.
Lakshman was concerned about her feelings. But he was concerned about her safety also. And he knew that Ram had told him to be there and guard Sita.
Now, it was a dangerous forest with not only dangerous animals over there, but also dangerous man-eating Rakshasas there. They already had a nasty encounter. Two nasty encounters with Rakshasas directly.
One was with Shurpanakha and the other with Kharadushan and their whole army. So, Lakshman could not even think of leaving Sita all alone. And he knew how concerned Ram was for the safety of Sita.
That actually when Kharadushan had attacked with their thousands of Rakshasa warriors, they had 40,000 Rakshasas with them. And they all attacked. So, Ram was so concerned about Sita’s safety that Ram had told Lakshman that you take Sita to a safe cave and let her stay inside the safety of the cave and you stay outside.
You stay near the entry of the cave and you guard the cave. Lakshman said, no. How can I let you face these thousands of Rakshasas alone? I want to be there by your side fighting.
He said, no. You should protect Sita. Just do what I told you.
So, Lakshman knew how concerned Ram was for the safety of Sita. That he was ready to face thousands of Rakshasas alone but he was not ready to leave Sita alone. That was how much he was concerned for Sita.
And he had wanted, even at the risk to his own life, that Lakshman protect Sita. It shouldn’t happen that when Ram and Lakshman are fighting with Rakshasas, the Rakshasas are wicked. They are evil and they might just catch Sita hostage and then the scales will shift because Ram and Lakshman will not be able to attack.
So, one never knows what the enemy will do when one has to fight with such tricky, shady characters. So, basically Lakshman knew that Ram did not ever want him to leave Sita unprotected in the dangerous forest. Especially after now, after the Rakshasas had already been provoked and already there was a sign of some conspiracy afoot.
So, Lakshman could not very well conceive leaving Sita at that time. And Lakshman also did not have any worry about Ram’s promise. He knew that Ram was God.
Ram was omnipotent. He had seen Ram fight and kill many powerful demons in the past and just now he had seen how Ram had single-handedly overcome a whole Rakshasa army with thousands of warriors in it, thousands of Rakshasas in it. So, he was confident.
He had confidence in Ram’s promise. And he, in that sense, his focus was on Ram but it was on confidence in Ram’s promise. Now Sita, her focus was also on Ram.
But her focus was more on concern for Ram. Now, did Sita not know about the promise of Ram? She, of course, knew. But then her love was so great and the concern from that love was so great that she was overcome by that love and she just could not think about the power of Ram.
She just thought about the safety of Ram. So, here we see sometimes circumstances come in such a way that two people, both of them with the best of intentions can come at radical cross purposes. So, both of them, Sita and Lakshmana, were devoted to Ram and both of them wanted to do what would be the best in their respective understanding services to Ram.
But there was cross, there was conflict. And this is what sometimes happens. Different people, even if they are well-intentioned, there can be differences.
And at such times, when the differences come up, one has to deal very carefully. Otherwise, relationships can be ripped apart if those differences are allowed to create a barrier at that time. And that is what could have happened over here.
It didn’t happen. But what happened basically was, when Lakshmana was not ready to move, Sita was so beside herself with anxiety. Sometimes when we are overcome by emotions, we don’t even know what we are speaking.
Just somehow something has to be done. So, at that time, she spoke words to Lakshmana, ascribing a certain motive to Lakshmana that Lakshmana had never thought of also and nor had Sita ever suspected Lakshmana of that. So, she said in her desperation, her whole purpose was somehow or the other to ensure Ram’s safety.
And the only way she could ensure Ram’s safety, she felt at that time, was to make Lakshmana go to the assistance of Ram. So, somehow to get Lakshmana to move, what did she say? She said, now I know why you came out to the forest with your brother. Your goal was not to serve your brother.
You always had an evil eye on me. And you wanted to enjoy me. And you were just waiting for an opportunity.
And now you think that with Ram out of the way, you will have me for yourself. But this will never happen. I will rather die than let another man touch you.
Your evil desire will never be fulfilled. When Lakshmana heard these words, his heart was shattered. He had treated Sita always like a venerable mother.
And he never thought of such a thing. He said, oh Sita, you don’t know what you are speaking. But still the words you are speaking are so hurting, that I cannot tolerate them.
That I cannot stay here anymore. I know for sure that this is a demon who is there, who has spoken in the voice of Ram. I know that Ram will be angry with me if I leave you.
Yet, his angry words are tolerable to me. But what you are speaking, I cannot tolerate, oh Sita. Please stay safe.
I am going. And he made a Lakshmana Rekha, a protective circle of protection, imbued with mystic mantras by which nobody will be able to enter. And he departed.
And he departed with a heavy heart. But he knew what had to be done. He charged through the forest.
As he charged and charged through the forest, he could see the trail which had been left by the deer as it had been fleeing, and by Ram as it had been fleeing. But then as the forest became more and more dense, the trail became more and more elusive. And then he was left calling out, Ram, Ram, Ram.
And finally, now Ram had been there, and as soon as he saw and heard this deer speaking in his voice, he immediately knew that this is a whole conspiracy. He immediately became anxious. He went up to the deer.
By that time, the deer had died. And the deer had assumed its form. He could see that it is Marichal.
He understood that Rakshas must be uproot. Now, the Lord, when he performs his pastimes, he does not always exhibit all his power. So, that’s why, now he was acting as a human being.
And sometimes he exhibits his power, sometimes he doesn’t exhibit his power. That is called as a leela. Of course, it’s an entirely different subject.
But relevant to us here is, that because he was acting like a human being, he did not exhibit his divine power here. So, now the Rakshas have far greater power than humans. So, the Rakshas’ voice could reach also for a far greater distance.
So, Ram thought, even if I call out, my voice will not reach that much distance. The only solution is that I have to rush back. And Ram started running back the way he had come.
And as he was running back, charging through the thickets, he heard Lakshman calling out. And the two brothers met. And Ram’s first concern was, Lakshman, what have you done? Why did you leave Sita alone? And Lakshman knew this would be the question he would be asked.
And he told what had happened. What Sita had spoken. Now, Ram was so concerned about Sita’s safety, that rather than sympathizing with Lakshman’s predicament and Lakshman’s pain, he said, she is a woman.
If she becomes sentimental, that doesn’t mean you have to become sentimental. You should not have taken her words so seriously. You should have stayed by her side and protected her.
Lakshman, what should I do? There I get chastised, here I get chastised. Such was his service attitude. Such was his loving disposition that he accepted.
He knew that it was not unfair on their part. It was just their love speaking. Sometimes life just puts us in situations that creates perplexities.
And because of the perplexities and the frustrations of those situations, sometimes people speak words. Even those who love each other speak words at times which can hurt terribly. So at such times we have to just be forgiving, knowing that we shouldn’t ascribe intention to that which is spoken intention.
So it is not that Sita had such dark thoughts about Lakshman, nor did Ram consider Lakshman to be sentimental or irresponsible. They both valued and respected him. But in those particular circumstances, it was such a tense situation that they spoke.
And Lakshman was mature enough to take it in the right stride. Otherwise, sometimes we have very good relationship with others, but that person when under pressure speaks some words and that person may even forget those words. But we remember those words and we carry those words and we keep terrible hurt.
Oh, this person thinks like this about me. But actually it may often not be like that. A person may not have those thoughts about us, but just under the pressure of the moment that things come up.
Of course, when we are under the pressure of the moment, we should not speak such things. We should try as much as possible to avoid speaking such things. But when somebody speaks some hurting things, we should not just take those words which have come out under stress and make them the defining center of our relationship.
We should let it pass. And if you feel very hurt by that, later on we can talk and clarify and settle the issue rather than letting those words rankle and hurt. So, although Lakshman was hurt, and when people speak anything like that, speaking hurting words, they will hurt.
But although we have our human sensitivity, which will feel hurt, but we also have our human intelligence. And by that, we should let things pass. We can get things clarified, but let things pass and let the relationship come back to its normal healthy condition.
So, don’t describe intention, that which is spoken intention. That is what we see in Lakshman’s character. Thank you.
Hare Krishna.