*Ashish Sharma/Ram* AT#36 Dhanurdharaya Ram !!! - Page 89

The prison of heart

From the point of view of strategy, this might not be the right thing to do, if his mission were limited to the retrieval of Sita alone.
Had he not spared Ravana now, Rama would have actually spared himself of the agony of having to weep on Lakshmana on two occasions, he could have saved hell a lot of troubles, turmoil and travails that followed. Did he not know that! Yes. He knew that very well. He knew that this was the most opportune moment for him to seize.

This is the very purpose for which he joined with Sugriva, a large army was collected, the face of the earth scoured, a massive effort went into the building of the bridge! And when victory is so close at hand, when Ravana's army is obliterated and he is standing alone, defenceless, Rama sends him back. From the point of view of strategy, this might not be the right thing to do, if his mission were limited to the retrieval of Sita alone. But there is the promise that he had given to the sages when he began his exile to wipe the earth clean of the demonic forces.

That would take us to the question of Rama's priorities. Of what he put above everything else. Of what he valued the most. Of what he held high in his heart. Of what he stood for and other such questions. If at all we study Ravana so elaborately, it is only with a view to highlight what Rama's mission was for and whom he had to contend with and how he went through all the sufferings and shortfalls that come in the way of every single one of us and how he rose clean up above almost all of them.

Confining ourselves to the scene in hand. It was not the death of Ravana that Rama was so very particular about. It was the death of lust in him. As we had occasion to point out, the demonic forces that died in the field, the foremost of them like Kumbakarna and Indrajit died with the realisation of the Ultimate. They moved away from their original position. They even went to the extent of advising Ravana the folly of what he stood for and the futility of his pursuit.

If they turned good then why would Rama kill them,' would be the natural question that would arise at this juncture. The answer is very simple. They might have turned good. But they still were bound by many considerations - love, affection, duty, commitment to the leadership et al - and preferred to wage a war even when their conscience was against it, at least at a time, which as Kumbakarna put it kaalan vaai kaLikkindrOm,' rejoicing at the mouth of Death. Dancing on his lips. We are aware completely of what awaits us. But we are not able to help it. We are not able to move away from our past actions. We are bound by what we were. And if it is duty that demands our lives, we ever so gladly give ourselves unto it.

That was the shift of stand that we observed in Kumbakarna and Indrajit. And how about Ravana then? Rama knew that his mind is still blind and blighted by his desire. It was his contemptible lusting for a woman of another man that Rama's arrows were targeted at. Cleansing Ravana of his obnoxious desire. It was not securing the release of Sita from the physical confines in which Ravana put her. More than that, it was important that she is taken out of that relatively inextricable prison. The prison of heart. About which Kamban spoke in the Aranya Kanda.