Hari Om.
Let us begin the sixtieth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
The dastardly act of indrajit in slaying an illusory form of sItA in full view of the vAnaras seemed to have its intended effect. The go-getter and great accomplisher hanumAn himself was moved and shocked and although he mustered strength and fought, he soon went to rAma to apprise him of this devastating news. Expectedly rAma collapsed. Brother lakshmaNa who had more than once lifted the spirit of rAma was also aghast. He held rAma in his lap and vented his frustration as a lamentation. He latched on to the root cause of rAma choosing exile for the consequences of the day. He argued that the evidence of the unending suffering that a follower of dharma like rAma shows that dharma really doesn’t exist, and people do what they please and call it dharma sometimes. He said people optimise their wealth and enhance their means and take whatever path takes them there. It was foolish on part of rAma to have discarded the kingdom which has led to his wife’s abduction and the suffering today. He exhorted rAma in the end to muster courage. He was keen to extract revenge and annihilate lanka with all its glory and the demon king. Onwards…
While the deeply loving brother lakshmaNa consoled his brother rAma, vibhIshaNa, the great warrior accompanied by his four ministers who were dark in complexion and elephantine in their strength, arranged the army into their respective camps and came there. He beheld the mourning vAnaras who had moist eyes and a grieving rAghava, the darling progeny of the ikshvAkus devastated and lie in the lap of lakshmaNa! Seeing rAma in such a grieving state, vibhIshaNa’s core also moved and he earnestly inquired about what was going on. lakshmaNa looked at vibhIshaNa and cast a glance at sugrIva and other vAnaras and in choked voice spoke slowly –
“rAghava learnt from hanumAn that sItA has been slain by indrajit and at once fainted”. Even as lakshmaNa was speaking something more, vibhIshaNa stopped him and spoke very logical and meaningful words addressing rAma even as he was yet to regain his senses completely.
“O king of men, whatever hanumAn conveyed to you being very disturbed, I believe that is not possible just as the sea cannot be dried up. I know the mindset of the wicked rAvaNa, O mighty armed one, he will not cause any injury to vaidEhI. Being his well-wisher I beseeched him time and again to give up vaidEhI. Yet, he didn’t pay heed to my words [that is how infatuated he is]. It is impossible to even cast a glance at her by various machinations of sAma (reconciliation), bhEda (driving wedge and blackmailing), dAna (allurement). There is no question about succeeding in the fourth option of waging war to win her glance. That demon indrajit cast the vAnaras into a spell of grief and went back. Know that sItA who was slain by him to be illusory.
That demon will now perform the hOma (sacrifice) of nikumbhilA and he has gone to the mansion where he does that. Once he accomplishes that, the son of rAvaNa becomes invincible and cannot be defeated by even the gods including their king vAsava (indra). Certainly he tricked the vAnaras to divert them from their valorous pursuits. Let us go there with our forces before he completes that yajna. O best among men, give up this grief that has come from a false source. The entire army gets depressed seeing you grieving like this. You stay here without any worry in your heart. Send lakshmaNa with us accompanied by the army. This great man will attack rAvaNI (indrajit) and make him give up that sacrifice midway and then he can be vanquished. Then the feathered arrows of lakshmaNa will suck the blood of the demon like a bird goes after its prey. O mighty armed one, please instruct and unleash lakshmaNa who is an embodiment of auspiciousness to vanquish the demon just like indra unleashes his vajra (thunderbolt). O best among men, let there be no delay in slaying this enemy. Just like indra orders the destruction of the enemies, please pronounce your order to vanquish the foe. Once the great demon indrajit completes his yajna, he will become invisible in the battle even for the gods. Then battling him will be very hard and doubtful even for the gods”.
Here we conclude the eighty fourth sarga of the yuddha kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
Click on the above link for word by word meaning from IITK website
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Next: 6.085. rAma deploys lakshmaNa on a mission
Previous: 6.083. Poignant lakshmaNa weighs in on dharma
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
