6.083. Poignant lakshmaNa weighs in on dharma

Hari Om.

Let us begin the eighty third sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.

Seeing the resistance and valour of the vAnara warriors led by the redoubtable rAma and lakshmaNa, indrajit withdrew briefly from the battle. He was proving to be powerless to vanquish them all despite his ability to attack invisibly owing to the boon of lord brahma. In the face of brutal onslaught from the skies, rAma displayed calm and was prepared to wait for his chance to go after indrajit. The trickster found this to be challenging. He concocted an illusory sItA and brought her on his chariot. The ultimate morale of the army was hanumAn. Realizing this very well, indrajit attempted to hit the morale of hanumAn by choosing to kill the illusory sItA who looked identical to the original princess and her current situation in every respect. The valorous hanumAn was moved to tears on seeing the very reason of this battle being eliminated thus. Nevertheless they fought valiantly decimating the demons. Finally, hanumAn gave a call to report the matter to rAma and sugrIva and then act accordingly. The valiant vAnaras paused their attack and went to apprise their lord. Onwards…

The tumultuous noise of the battle between hanumAn and indrajit could be heard very far. It was heard by rAghava and he instructed jAmbavAn –

“O noble one, indeed an impossible task is being accomplished by hanumAn as you can tell from this loud noise arising out of the clash of weapons. O king of bears, as hanumAn keeps fighting, go at once and help him along with your army”.

The king of Rkshas said, “so be it” and headed to the western side where hanumAn was battling the rAkshasa army. As he was reaching there, he noticed hanumAn along withhis warriors returning from the battle sighing heavily. The Rksha army was seen by hanumAn, he stopped them and headed to where rAma was along with his army and said with grief –

“O suppressor of foes, in front of the eyes us who were engaged in the battle, the son of rAvaNa, indrajit killed a wailing sItA. I am completely shocked and am in deep grief having seen that. I came to apprise you of the happening”.

As soon as he heard those words of hanumAn, rAma fainted and fell off like a tree chopped off at the root. Seeing the godly rAma fell on the ground, all the vAnaras warriors leapt and surrounded him. They fetched water that carried the scent of lotus and lily flowers and sprinkled it on his body that was unapproachable like a flame. lakshmaNa took him into his lap, embraced him and in great sadness spoke meaningful words to rAma who was not in great shape –

“O noble one, the meaningless dharma could not save you who were sticking to right conduct with restrained senses from adversities. dharma is not as perceptible as the manifested beings, animate and inanimate and hence in my opinion it doesn’t exist. For, if dharma were as tangible as those, sticklers to dharma such as yourself would encounter no misery. For, if indeed there was adharma, then rAvaNa would rot in hell and you would never get misery. As the two of you encounter such contrasting consequences, with he going through no difficulties and misery assailing you, it seems as if dharma is indeed adharma.

Does following dharma reward people? Does following adharma penalise people. If it had happened so, nobody would forsake dharma and follow adharma. If there were incentives for following dharma, all would have done so leaving adharma aside. Since however, the adharmis are able to flourish and the dharmic ones are suffering, talking about these two is just a wasteful exercise. If the virtuous can be killed by employing adharma, it amounts to dharma being killed by adharma and then what can be done by the vanquished dharma? If this getting killed or killing is pure destiny then the sin of that belongs to destiny and not the perpetrator of adharma. With the consequences of following dharma being not apparent and manifest, how can good be attained by following it, o repressor of foes? O noble one, since such calamity has befallen you, it is proof enough that dharma is non-existent. Or, if indeed it exists but is weak, impotent and submits itself to might, then such a weakling which is bereft of honour should not be followed! Or if dharma is a mere embellishment for the mighty, then you can give it up and rely just on your strength. If indeed truthfulness and dharma are so important, then why did you not hold father accountable to it (for not honoring his word of coronating rAma) when he behaved so mercilessly towards you?

If there was dharma and adharma, then having slain the safe (viSwarUpa), indra wouldn’t have performed a sacrifice to expiate himself of the sin? He would have either performed a sacrifice or simply slain him. This adharma and dharma lead to ruin, O rAghava, that is why people do what pleases them all the time. O my dear, it is my opinion that you severed the very root of dharma when you gave up the kingdom. All actions result from the wealthy, prosperous and well endowed people just like rivers flow from the mountains. A man loses being illustrious when shorn of his means and his missions falters like the rivers drying up in the summer. One desirous of comforts and raised in those, when he gives up his means, begins to resort to indiscreet deeds and is flawed.

Only the one who is well endowed will have friends, kin and he reigns in the world and is considered wise in this world. Only the well endowed one is considered great, intelligent, fortunate and virtuous. I had alerted you about the flaw of giving up the kingdom and such wealth. The triple purushArthas of dharma, artha and kAma revolve around the wealthy and without having the means it is impossible to become illustrious and wealthy. O king, only from wealth do joy, desire, pride, dharma, anger, peace and restraint arise. These qualities have become invisible in you like the planets on an overcast day due to prioritizing dharma over artha. Since you chose exile on words of our father, your consort, dearer than your life was abducted.

O warrior, the vast grief that indrajit has inflicted upon us, I will wipe that out by my action, therefore, get up O rAghava. O great among men, mighty armed, strong vowed, get up. Why don’t you realize the greatness of yourself and that you are an accomplished one. O sinless one, I am extremely enraged by the grief that has arisen in you by learning about the slaying of the daughter of janaka. I shall annihilate the demon and king and the entire lanka along with its horses, elephants, chariots with the barrage of my arrows”.