UNTOLD STORIES OF THE RAMAYANA



Transcribed from lectures given by His Grace Atma-tattva dasa during
Gaura-purnima in Sridham Mayapura



CONTENTS:

CHAPTER 1: DASARATHA'S DESIRE FOR A CHILD

CHAPTER 2: THE STORY OF RSAYASRNGA

CHAPTER 3: RAMACANDRA'S CHILDHOOD

CHAPTER 4: VISVAMITRA AND VASISTHA'S VENDETTA

CHAPTER 5: THE LIFTING OF THE BOW

CHAPTER 6: BIRTH AND YOUTH OF HANUMAN

CHAPTER 7: THE GREAT MONKEY ARMY

CHAPTER 8: BACKGROUND STORIES

CHAPTER 9: HANUMAN'S ADVENTURES ON SRI LANKA

CHAPTER 10: THE ARMY GOES TO SRI LANKA

CHAPTER 11: RAVANA GOES TO BALI FOR HELP

CHAPTER 12: RAMA AND LAKSMANA ARE KIDNAPPED

CHAPTER 13: THE KILLING OF MAHI RAVANA

CHAPTER 14: RAVANA KILLED AND SITA RECOVERED

CHAPTER 15: RETURN TO AYODHYA

CHAPTER 16: SITA PROVES HER CHASTITY

CHAPTER 17: THE GREAT FESTIVAL

CHAPTER 18: LAVA AND KUSA'S CHALLENGE

CHAPTER 19: CONCLUSION - RAMACANDRA ENDS HIS LILA





INTRODUCTION

There are innumerable Vaikuntha planets, and in each planet there is a
predominating deity who is an expansion of Visnu. He has three expansions, and
then there are the quadruple expansions, and then there are servants and
devotees. In this way the Vaikuntha planets are full of activity. The top of
Vaikuntha, before one reaches Goloka, the gateway to Goloka is Ayodhya. In
Ayodhya is Lord Sri Ramacandra, and Laksmana, Bharata, Satrughna, Sumantra,
Dasaratha, Kausalya, all these characters we find in Ramayana are eternal
citizens of this Ayodhya. And from this planet Lord Ramacandra expands into His
Rama-avatar, through milk ocean Visnu, Ksirodakasayi Visnu. In every Treta-yuga
there is Rama-avatar. One may think, "Oh that must be boring. Every time the
same activity." But it is never boring. How many times have we heard these
Ramayana stories, but still when someone is reading Ramayana, everyone comes.
To hear is not boring, so to experience it can't be boring at all. That is the
proof. Ramayana has been heard generations and generations. In all countries.
In Indonesia they have their Ramayana. In Malaysia they have their Ramayana. In
Thailand, even in Jamaica and Africa. Just a little bit different for every
culture. Indonesian Ravana is a big crocodile, and they carry him on sticks. In
Bangkok, Thailand all the roads are names Rama 1, Rama 2, Rama 5 etc. So the
purpose of the avatar is described in Brahma-samhita: lilayatena bhuvanani
jayaty ajasram / govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami. The living entities
have forgotten their relation with Krsna. And they have been conquered by maya,
illusory energy. Krsna bahirmukha haya bhoga vancha kori / nikata stha maya
tare japatiya dhare. The conditioned soul has been caught by maya. The Lord
comes to reconquer them. That is the mission of the avatar incarnation of the
Lord.



CHAPTER 1: DASARATHA'S DESIRE FOR A CHILD

Ramacandra appeared in the Iksvaku dynasty. He is known as Iksvaku Kuladhana.
Kula means "dynasty" and dhana means "property" or "valuable jewel." So he is
the jewel of the Iksvaku dynasty. Dasaratha was known as such because he could
fight in ten directions simultaneously. Dasaratha was such a great fighter that
sometimes Indra would summon for him when there was a fight with the demons. So
Dasaratha would go to the heavenly planets and fight with the demons. And these
demons were so expert with maya, they would create darkness, expand into
various forms etc. So Dasaratha would fight in ten directions, and when you
looked at his ratha, his chariot, it would look as though there were ten kings
and ten chariots fighting simultaneously. Dasa means "ten" and ratha means
"chariot". That is how he got the name Dasaratha. So Dasaratha was famous for
fighting for demigods and righteous kings. And he married Kausalya. From
Kausalya, only one daughter was born. She was named Shanti, or "peace." But
Dasaratha had no peace, because he only had one daughter, and that daughter
would only get married and go to another dynasty. The Vedic system is that when
a woman marries, she belongs to the husband's gotra or family line. So if
Shanti married to another dynasty, she would belong to it. What about the
Iksvaku dynasty? Dasaratha was so worried. Then he married Sumitra. At least
Kausalya had a daughter, but Sumitra had no child. Then Dasaratha was getting
old. He gave up the idea of producing dynasties. As he was getting older he saw
that some less powerful kings were doing small yajnas, so he did big yajnas.
They were trying to get their name known, because once Dasaratha died Kosala
would be broken. The kingdom of Kosala started all the way from what they now
call the Dalai lama's line. From up in the north, in Tibet, all the way down to
the river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. So this was Kosala, practically it was
the whole of India, not the democratic India but the Vedic India. So he was
very worried that this kingdom will be broken to pieces and some small-timers
will become emperors. Then Vasistha advised him to go to Kaikeya. This kingdom
was right on the border of Afghanistan. They now call it the Sind region.
Kaikeyi was the only daughter of the king of Kaikeya. The king's name was also
Kaikeya. And when Dasaratha came for marriage negotiation, Kaikeya told him,
"You have two queens, and they both have no children. Now you will marry my
daughter, but what will happen to her if the other wives have children?"
Dasaratha replied, "I don't think they will have children because they have had
none up to now. I am also getting old. They're not going to get any child. Only
Kaikeyi will get a child." So Kaikeya said, "That's all right, but you must
give this in writing." There is a system in the ksatriya marriage known as
kanya-sulka. Sulka means "will". When you accept a virgin in marriage, you must
give in writing what properties she will enjoy as your wife if you are a
ksatriya. This is kanya-sulka, the "will of dowry." So Dasaratha wrote
kanya-sulka. He said, "Whoever is born to Kaikeyi will enjoy my kingdom, even
if my other wives produce children later." This kanya-sulka was known to three
people. Of course, now we all know it, but at that time only three people knew
it. Vasistha knew it, Dasaratha knew it, and Kaikeya knew it. It was kept a
secret, because otherwise they would blame Dasaratha, "What is this? He is
giving the kingdom to a younger woman." So this kanya-sulka was kept secret.
But at the time of the marriage, due to great attachment, Kaikeya told his
daughter this secret, that whoever is your son will rule this kingdom. Kaikeyi
kept this at heart. Once Vasistha advised Dasaratha to perform asvamedha-yajna.
He was telling him, "If you perform asvamedha-yajna, then all the demigods will
personally come to accept the oblations." There are two kinds of offering
oblations to the yajna. One is that Agni will take the oblations and offer it
to the different destinations. Another is that the devas will personally come
in the sacrificial arena. They will stand in the sky holding their hands open,
and when you offer in their name in the fire then the harvest will get up from
the fire and go into their hands. And they will eat it right there in front of
everyone,. These types of sacrifices are considered first-class, because the
devas have come in person. So Dasaratha should perform asvamedha, and all the
devas will come. And then Dasaratha will tell them, "You have your kingdom only
because of my fighting. So why don't you continue my dynasty and give me
blessings that I can get some son?" That was the plan. There was a big
arrangement for asvamedha-yajna, and wherever Dasaratha's horse went, no-one
objected. Asvamedha-yajna means that you have to select a horse with certain
lakshanas or qualities. The ears have to be a certain way, the nose a certain
way. There has to be a black part behind the tail. The hooves have to be a
certain shape, 35 degrees bent. There is a whole description in karma-khanda.
So you have to find out that horse, and after finding it you have to tie a
golden leaf on his head. There it will be written, "This horse belongs to King
Dasaratha. He will perform asvamedha-yajna, so everyone should donate
liberally. And whoever stops this horse will have to meet the army of King
Dasaratha." So this horse will go around the whole world, and if any king dares
to stop the horse there will be one army which is following about 100 metres
behind the horse. They will have to meet that army. This army would consist of
the best fighters in the army, all the generals, and if one can defeat that
then more army would be sent. In this way the challenger would have to fight
and prove that he is the emperor. So asvamedha-yajna was already started, and
then when the yajna was going on, Sumantra (the minister of Dasaratha) came to
Dasaratha and said, "I remember one incident when Sanat-kumara came to our
assembly, when you were a prince." At that time Dasaratha was not married, and
Sanat-kumara was visiting Dasaratha's father, Aja. Sanat-kumara made some
predictions. "Maharaja Dasaratha will become very famous throughout the three
worlds, and he will perform a putra-kamesti yajna, a sacrifice for getting a
son. So in this sacrifice, the yajna-purusha, the personification of fire, will
come there and give him some sweet rice. And out of this sweet rice Dasaratha
will get the Supreme Lord as his sons." This was predicted by Sanat-kumara. At
that time Dasaratha was just an unmarried prince, a brahmacari. So Sumantra was
a very old man and he suddenly remembered this. He came to Dasaratha and said,
"You are doing asvamedha for getting a son, but Sanat-kumara told you that you
should do putra-kamesti." So then there was confusion over which yajna should
be performed. In Treta-yuga everything was yajna. For material benefits, for
spiritual realization, for anything tretayam yajato makhaih. Makha means
"yajna". Now Dasaratha got confused. So he went to Vasistha's house and
prostrated himself before him. "Guru maharaja, we have spent 60% of the
treasury, and now we come to know that this is not the proper yajna, that there
is another yajna. How am I supposed to do this?" So then Vasistha said, "Oh
yes, I remember too now. Sanat-kumara said this. It is not a very expensive
yajna, but the purohit, the priest who performs the yajna must be a very
special person. That is the difficulty. That person must have not seen a woman
until the time of his marriage. He should not have even known what a woman is.
Such a great personality must perform the yajna. Then only can the
putra-kamesti be performed with the purnahoti and we will get a son." Then
Dasaratha said, "You must tell me where this person is." Vasistha was a walking
encyclopedia, because he had been there three lifetimes with the same
remembrance. There is no-one in this world who knows better than Vasistha. So
Vasistha said, "Yes, there is a person like that." Das aratha said, "Who is
this person? He has never seen a woman or known what a woman is until marriage?
At least he must have known about his mother! What kind of a person is he, that
he has never heard of a woman yet he has taken birth?"



CHAPTER 2: STORY OF RSAYASRNGA

So then Vasistha told the story of Rsayasrnga. Srnga means "horns" or "a person
possessing horns." Rsa means "deer," so Rsayasrnga means "a human possessing
horns." He is a human being with deer horns who performs yajna and speaks
Sanskrit. Vasistha said, "I will tell you the story of Rsayasrnga. Long ago,
Kashyapa Muni produced a son while meditating on the sunlight. While he was
meditating on the sunlight, suddenly he thought of a personality. When he
thought of a personality, that person would come into existence. And he would
come out of his mind. Kashyapa was Prajapati, "progenitor." And this person was
known as Vibondaka. As soon as Vibondaka came out of Kashyapa's mind, he went
to the deepest forests in Madhya Pradesh which is now very famous as Chandal
Valley. All the dacoits are there. That is where Vibondaka went, and he
performed ugra-tapasa, very severe austerities. He was only performing tapasa
for self-realization, but Indra was worried. Indra has a special secretary for
this department. He gives him a list of people who are performing austerities,
because he is so worried that they may become the opposition and may even try
to usurp his own seat. So when he heard the name Vibondaka he asked, "What kind
of tapasa is he doing?" The secretary mentioned to him, "He is performing such
huge austerities that if he were to ever get angry, this whole universe would
be burnt to ashes. And if he ever thinks of anything, it will automatically
come to him without his having to perform any sacrifice. This is the potency of
his tapovalam." Indra said, "Then he is my candidate. I will have to work on
him." He thought of all the damsels on his planet, and he decided, "These are
no good." So then he went to Satyaloka, Brahma's planet. In Satyaloka there are
damsels who are self-realized souls. They dance only for the pleasure of the
deity that Brahma keeps for worship. Indra, for his political purpose, wanted
to pollute these damsels. So he went to Brahma, but he couldn't spend much time
there because if you are too long in Brahma's planet by the time you return
your time will be over, So Indra said, "Give me the best damsel, quickly! I
have to go!" So Brahma said, "All right, take this one." There was one lady
called Harsha, because she was always smiling. Harsha came with Indra, and even
while flying with Harsha, Indra could understand that he was so greedy and
lusty, and this woman was so saintly and serene, always meditating on the
Absolute Truth. He was thinking, "What happens if I send her and they both
become self- realized?" Indra wanted something wrong to happen. So he fell at
the feet of Harsha, and said, "Please, protect my seat." Harsha said, "I don't
think that this Vibondaka desires to enjoy anything." Because she was sitting
in Satyaloka she could see Vibondaka and what type of austerity he was doing.
So she said, "You are unnecessarily sending me there, and I may even get burnt
by his anger. But because Brahma has told then I am coming with you. Vibondaka
has no such material desires. He won't even look at me. I don't know how I'm
going to attract him and make him fall." Indra said, "I don't know what you
will do, but at least get it confirmed from him that he has no desire to become
Indra. Then my position is safe." So Harsha said, "All right, I will do it.
Whatever is given to me as a mission I will accomplish." So Harsha came to that
valley, and Vibondaka was coming from the Ganges and going to his ashrama. So
she came and sat there, and chanted mantras. There are different ways of making
people fall down. Whatever is your weak spot, that can be used. Vibondaka's
weak spot was mantras and meditation, so she started chanting mantras.
Vibondaka was so absorbed, and then suddenly he heard this clear pronunciation
of Vedic mantras, clearer than anything else he had ever heard anywhere in the
three planets. He turned back and looked at her, and immediately she fell at
his feet. She said, "Only for the prayer of getting tras. Vedic mantras which
are chanted should not go in vain. Somebody must give a benediction, and I
don't want this benediction from anyone else, not even from Brahma. I only want
It from you. If you don't accept this request, then I will perform austerities
and I will leave my body. And brahma-hatya will come to you." In this way she
blackmailed him. So Vibondaka said, "What is this? I am just trying to
peacefully think of God. Why is this trouble coming?" So he looked at her and
said, "I am Vibondaka, and I have no interest in this world. I don't know why I
was even sent here, but Kashyapa produced me. I am just trying to go away from
here. What is this, giving you a son? You can't get a son from anywhere else?
You mention any other person, and I will command him to give you a son. If you
want a son from Brahma, I will request him. If you want a son from my father
Kashyapa, I will request him. Why me, in the whole creation?" So she said, "No,
only you. You are the only person who should give me a son." And then he said,
"No this is not possible. I am not going to do it. If you have been even been
thinking about me like that, that is bad for me." And then he said, "Here is
the potency from my body. You can arrange for getting a son." And he dropped
some semen and left. Harsha then understood that Indra had nothing to fear, so
her mission was fulfilled. But this shukla coming out of the body of Vibondaka,
was there burning the whole world. She was now responsible for it, she had to
direct it somewhere. She did not want to hold it and produce a son, because
that was only a trick she was using. But when she looked up she saw a very
transcendental deer moving around there. So immediately by her potency, she put
the semen in the body of the deer, and the deer conceived a child. Since it was
the conception of a rishi, it did not stay for more than a night. The next
morning, the deer delivered a baby. It had a human form, but with deer horns.
This was Rsayasrnga. So this deer ran to the ashrama of Vibondaka and started
crying. Vibondaka saw this and thought, "Why are these things happening to me?
Some lady wants a son, and now a deer is crying in my ashrama." So Vibondaka
asked the deer, "What is wrong? Who is giving you trouble?" The deer started
walking away and Vibondaka followed. The deer brought him to where Rsayasrnga
was, and Vibondaka saw this shining young baby with deer horns. He thought,
"Oh, this is my son. If nobody wants him, then I will take care of him." Then
Vibondaka thought, "Now I know why I was sent here, for some reason. Kashyapa
did not conceive me for nothing. I am supposed to conceive this son, and God
knows what he is going to conceive." So Vibondaka brought him to the ashrama
and gave him milk. He taught him Vedas and Upanishads and philosophy. There was
no woman in that forest, which was yojanas wide. There was not even any
tigresses, only tigers. So Rsayasrnga had no idea of women. He grew up, and for
everything he was depending on his father. He would ask his father, "Father,
can I take this book and read?" And if his father said yes, then he would do
it. He would ask, "Father, should I brush my teeth?" And if the father said
yes, he would brush his teeth. He was so dependent on his father. He would
always walk everywhere holding his father's hand. In this way Rsayasrnga grew
up to be the most innocent person in the creation. Lord Ramacandra had to
appear, and if he was to appear then the yajna-purusha has to give the khir,
and if that khir is to come, then the yajna has to be performed by someone who
has never seen a woman. Lord Ramacandra's advent was not that easy. This whole
story is already in Visnu Purana. In this way Rsayasrnga was growing up, never
hearing of any woman. Dasaratha, when his daughter was born to Kausalya, he was
thinking, "What shall I do with this daughter?" Then one day, from Angadesha,
the country of Anga, Dasaratha's friend Romapada (which means "hair y feet")
was hankering for a child too. He had some sons, but he had no daughter. This
is the material world. He who has daughters, he is hankering for a son. And he
who has sons is hankering for a daughter. And he who has no children, they are
hoping for children, and those who have children are thinking "How to get rid
of them," and they send them to Gurukula. So Romapada came to Dasaratha and
said, "You are my very good friend, and you have no sons. You always think,
`What is the use of a daughter?' And I want a daughter, so why don't you give
her to me?" And Dasaratha said, "All right, you can have her." So he gave
Shanti in adoption to the king of Angadesha known as Romapada. Romapada brought
Shanti to his kingdom. And whether it way the girl's misfortune or the king's
misfortune, the second day was the day the rainy season was supposed to start
but there was no rain. The whole rainy season went by and there was no rain.
The second rainy season also went by with no rain. A big famine came about. So
the king went to the astrologer and asked him, "Why is there famine in my
kingdom? Is it due to this daughter? Everyone is saying it is due to her." They
found out that during some yajna that had been performed by Romapada he had
cheated a Brahmin. He first promised him, "I will give you this much amount of
diamonds," but while he was counting the diamonds to be given as dakshina, he
found one diamond which was very valuable, and he thought, "What is the Brahmin
going to do with this?" So he took it out, and put a bigger diamond in its
place, which was less valuable. When he gave the bag of diamonds to the
Brahmin, the Brahmin touched the bag and said, "You cheated me! You removed one
of these diamonds and put a bigger diamond to cheat me." It was inside the bag,
and the king was thinking, "How does he know this?" The Brahmin said, "I am a
Brahmin, so I know this. You are cheating, so all the Brahmins will leave this
country." So he formed a big union and all the Brahmins wa lked out of the
country. No more Brahmins means no more yajna, and it was Treta-yuga, so no
yajna means no food. The king was wondering what to do, so slowly from here and
there he collected some Brahmins from other countries, and he brought them on
immigration, so they couldn't stay long. These Brahmins were coming and going,
and in this way he was running his kingdom. Now famine had come due to this
curse, and the fact that all the Brahmins had left his country. So the
astrologer said, "So to solve this problem, you have to bring all the Brahmins
back." Romapada said, "But these Brahmins have formed a union. They won't come
back." "They will come back if you bring one person here." Romapada asked, "Who
is that?" "There is one rishi. He has never seen a woman. And he doesn't even
know what is a woman. That person must come, and he must marry your daughter.
If that rishi stays in your kingdom, then the Brahmins will not stay anywhere
else. They will come here, because he is such a learned person. To see him,
they will come. And after they come, they will stay." So now he had to get this
Rsayasrnga, and he was thinking "How to get him?" So he asked this to his
ministers, and they said, "Rsayasrnga is not an easy object, his father is
Vibondaka. If Vibondaka gets angry he will burn the universe to ashes. If you
try to get his son he will get angry, and then there is no necessity of yajna
or rain, because the whole universe will be burnt, and you will also be burnt."
"So what to do?" Romapada asked. "You have to use some trick," his ministers
replied. Then they advised him, "You must go and consult the society girls, the
famous prostitutes of the country." So then Romapada made an announcement,
"Special interview with the prostitutes of the country." They all came, and
they were thinking it had something to do with dance or music, or something
like that. But when they heard that they had to bring Rsayasrnga, then they ran
away because everybody knew this person. However, one lady came up, and she
said, "For the benefit of my country, I will sacrifice myself. I will try; if
he comes, that's good. Then the kingdom will be happy. If he doesn't come, only
a prostitute will be killed. What's the problem? I don't care, I will go."
Romapada asked, "What do want in return?" "I don't want anything, let the
country be happy." "What help do you need?" Romapada asked. "Your treasury,
whenever I go, must open. And if I want anything from any department, they must
say yes, because you must know I am sacrificing my life." So the king gave her
a special green card. Anywhere she goes, anything she wants she would get. She
made a boat which was four miles long and two miles wide. On top of the boat
she made an ashrama. This boat was totally covered with trees and bushes,
flower gardens, lakes and deer. All kinds of things she put in there. And
thousands of people were rowing the boat, but you couldn't see anything, it was
all covered by bushes. There were pathways, small mountains, waterfalls,
everything was created. It looked like a island, but it was moving. No-one knew
what it was. They all though it was the gandharvas who have come. It was a
special ashrama, no men. Only women were there. No tigers, only tigresses. It
was filled up with women. They all had rudrakshas, tulasi-malas, jasmine
flowers tied up in their hair, and they were all praying, doing meditation and
chanting mantras. This boat was floating so nicely down the river, and somehow
or other they got it into Madhya Pradesh. So as they reached Vibondaka's
ashrama, Vibondaka went out to help a sage who had gotten stuck in the mouth of
an elephant. He was calling, "Save me! Save me!" And no-one heard him, only
Vibondaka. So he told Rsayasrnga, "You must perform the yajna three times
daily. Don't worry about cleaning the ashrama, because it's too big for you.
Just perform the yajna till I get back." When Vibondaka left, the demigods made
arrangements and got him involved in so many other things so that Rsayasrnga
was left by hi mself. Rsayasrnga went to the river to take water for the yajna,
and he saw this moving ashrama. He'd never been anywhere, but he'd studied a
lot of shastra, and he'd never heard of anything like this before. And whenever
the description came of women, Vibondaka would never explain it. He would never
read such parts. In this way he was kept brainwashed to be a brahmacari. He
looked at this ashrama, "This is so nice." And then he saw some figures in
there. "What kind of rishis are these? This is a different type of rishi." He
became very eager. "Anyway, if they are in the area, they must visit my
father's ashrama." And they did come. They just made sure that Vibondaka was
not around, and then three of the great saintly people walked out of the boat.
And then they came, raising their hands and calling "Rsayasrnga! Rsayasrnga!"
Usually when the rishis came they called for Vibondaka. So he saw these rishis
coming, and he went and addressed them. And after addressing them he was
asking, "Where are you coming from? Which planet? What mantras do you chant?
How come by the touch of your bodies all my hairs are standing on end? Why am I
having such romancha?" They were smiling at each other, and they said, "We are
rishis from another place, it is eight yojanas from here. It is an island, and
no human beings come there. We are born with perfection. We came to see your
father. We know that you are very learned, so in our moving ashrama, we want
you to come and stay for a few days." Rsayasrnga said, "I would be very happy
to do that, but my father is not here. I don't even brush my teeth unless my
father tells me to. So how will I go away from here, and who will perform the
yajna three times daily?" One lady said, "I will do it, I am expert in this
line." And she sat down. Somehow Rsayasrnga fell pray for this. These were
saintly people, so why shouldn't they do yajna? And they looked different, very
attractive. He couldn't understand what the tejas was that was coming from that
bod y and attracting him. He didn't know it was lust. This was never explained
to him. So he left that lady there doing yajna, and they had a flower ladder
from the ashrama up to the bank of the river. This ashrama was filled with
saintly people, so somehow they engaged him in listening to music, and dancing
and so many other things, and slowly they came to Angadesha. In Angadesha there
was big reception arranged for Rsayasrnga, brahmacari incarnate. There was
purna-kumbha and there was mantras and Brahmins. The Brahmins all came to know
that Rsayasrnga was coming, and they came and waited there. He was worshipped
like anything. He saw more saintly people were sitting there in that country,
and they were sitting with other saintly people. Then he started realizing that
something was wrong in his understanding. He asked the king, "Why have you
brought me here?" But as soon as he stepped off the boat, rain came. And people
were all happy, they were showering akshada and touching his feet. All the
people came and told him, "You must never leave our country. You must become
the son-in-law of our king." He didn't know what son in-law meant. So then they
had to have special classes for him to explain how to become a son-in-law. Then
he understood everything and finally he blessed the king by marrying Shanti,
Dasaratha's daughter. In the meantime Vibondaka had returned to his ashrama,
and saw this lady sitting there offering ghee into the fire. He grabbed her by
the hair and said, "Who are you? What are you doing with my fire? It's been
here for six thousand years. You came and contaminated it. What are you doing?"
She said, "I am not this body. I am spirit soul." Vibondaka said, "That's very
nice, that you're not this body, but you are not supposed to do this." So then
she said, "No no, Rsayasrnga told me to do this." So he said, "So come on tell
me, where is Rsayasrnga? What did you do to him? There was one man in this
world who was pure, and you spoiled him too!" And then the lady said, "What
could we do, this was a nationalistic se rvice. We are serving the nation. In
the service of our nation we have done something so we will go to heavenly
planet." So then Vibondaka said, "I'm going to curse that king, that Angadesha
Raja! He's getting rain, but I will see that he gets nothing any more." The
lady fell at his feet and said, "At least do the curse there. Then he will know
you are cursing him. Don't do the curse from here." "All right," he said. He
was so angry, but Romapada was so clever, he was arranging for many Brahmins
chanting mantras, glorifying Vibondaka, showing pictures of Kashyapa Muni just
to attract him. But Vibondaka came and said, "Where is the king? Bring him
here!" Romapada came and begged, "Please don't curse me! Already there are
enough curses! All that I have done is that I have made your son the king of
this country." So then something dawned on Vibondaka. "My son has become the
king of this country. Now he has become the king, he has to protect the
citizens. If I curse, then the blame is on him because he couldn't protect his
citizens." So then he called his son, "Rsayasrnga, come here." Rsayasrnga came,
and Vibondaka said, "All right, as soon as one son is born, you must be back in
the ashrama. You understand?" This was the time when Dasaratha was told, by
Vasistha Muni, the story. And Vasistha said, "If you personally go, then
Rsayasrnga may come." So Dasaratha started, with all his paraphernalia, his
seven akshauhini-shainyas, and arrived in Angadesha. Romapada was thinking,
"What is this? Suddenly Dasaratha is coming with his army. He is going to fight
with me or what?" So he came with a white flag. "There is no question that your
army can even stay in my country. Your army is so big that they can only just
stand inside my country, not much more. Why are you coming with seven
akshauhini-shainyas?" Dasaratha said, "No, I am just coming to request
Rsayasrnga to come and perform a yajna for me." Romapada said, "I don't know. I
don't know how long the yajna will be. I'm not going to play any more tricks,
because already Vibondaka has told him, `One son and you are back in the
ashrama'." Dasaratha said, "I will fall at his feet. He has protected your
kingdom, why will he not save my country too? Why will he not do it?" So
Dasaratha went there, paid his pranams, and he cried and told Rsayasrnga, "I
have no hope. I will jump in the fire of asvamedha instead of the horse, if you
don't come." So then Rsayasrnga calculated, "How many days are left?" It was 28
days more before the delivery. "That's all right. In 24 days I will come and do
putra-kamesti." So he came, and right next to the asvamedha-yajna he created
another fire from that, and he quickly started putra-kamesti. And when he was
finishing with the purnahoti, the yajna-purusha came, a dark, black figure
which was three miles tall. He had a huge big pot in his hand. He was holding
Narayana in it, so it was no small affair. He said to Dasaratha, "Please give
this sweet rice to your queens." Dasaratha was looking at the size of the pot,
and he was thinking, "If I give this to my queens, then there will be no more
queens." It was a huge big pot. Dasaratha asked Vasistha, "How is this
possible? How can they eat this much sweet rice?" So then Vasistha said, "You
ask Rsayasrnga, he will tell you." Rsayasrnga asked the yajna-purusha, "Why are
you giving such a big pot to these human beings that they can't even hold it?"
The yajna-purusha said, "The personality who is coming is so powerful, that you
can't reduce him smaller than this." Then Rsayasrnga closed his eyes and said,
"Ah! Bigger than the biggest, and smaller that the smallest. He is in this pot.
You give it to me." So he took the pot, and it became small. By the request of
Rsayasrnga the Lord reduced His aishvarya, and the pot became small. He gave it
to Dasaratha and said, "All right, I have two days to get to my ashrama. In
between I have to take care of the delivery." So Dasaratha took the sweet rice.
He gave half of it to Kausalya. The remainder he split in two, one for Sumitra
and one to Kaikeyi. After Kaikeyi drank it, there was still some left, so that
was also given to Sumitra. In this way the Lord came as Lord Ramacandra in
Kausalya's womb. He came as Laksmana and Satrughna in Sumitra's womb, and he
came as Bharata in Kaikeyi's womb. Vasudeva came as Ramacandra, Sankarsana came
as Laksmana. The Sudarshan disc came as Bharata, and the Pancajanya conchshell
came as Satrughna.



CHAPTER 3: RAMACANDRA'S CHILDHOOD

Now Lord Ramacandra took His advent on the earth planet, and he was growing up.
He was learning archery in the ashrama of Vasistha. When the first lesson
started, Vasistha told Dasaratha, "I don't want you to be here when your son is
learning archery." Dasaratha said, "It is the tradition that the king sits
there and watches the son, how he holds the bow." Vasistha said, "Yes, but it
is not the tradition that you produce children from sweet rice." So Dasaratha
went back, and the education started in confidence. When Ramacandra, Laksmana,
Satrughna, and Bharata were sitting, Vasistha got up from his seat and
circumambulated them. That is why he got Dasaratha out, otherwise there would
be confusion. And then Vasistha said, "You always do this. Whenever you take an
incarnation, You select a rishi to become Your guru. And he has to teach You
this knowledge of which You are the source. So please excuse me if I commit
some offence." One day Rama and Laksmana saw a girl walking one day with a huge
nose ring. In India the women wear big nose rings, sometimes so big that when
they go on the bus the woman's son can hold it. So she had this huge nose ring,
and she was walking with a water-pot. Laksmana looked at it and he laughed. He
said, "Look at that nose ring! It's so big." Ramacandra said to him, "Vasistha
is looking away, so let us do some pastime." So they looked around and they saw
an arrow. They took that arrow, but they had not been taught yet how to do
archery. "I will make this small," Laksmana said, and he shot the arrow. While
the girl was walking, the arrow came next to her nose and started pouring some
sort of mystical substance on the nose ring, which became so small that it got
stuck on her nose and she couldn't breathe. Then she dropped the water-pot, and
she was trying to breathe but she can only breath in one nostril and she was
very confused, so she began to call, "Help! Help!" Laksmana said, "Oh no, now
Vasistha will hear and we will have a problem." Ramacandra said, "Don't worry,"
and he shot another arrow. That arrow made it big enough that she could
breathe. So she turned around and said, "What is this you are doing to me?"
Laksmana replied, "Oh, we made your nose ring small, but it was too small so
then we made it big." "You made it big and then small?" she asked. "I don't
believe it." "Oh, you don't believe it?" Laksmana asked, "So then we will take
it off." Laksmana then shot another arrow which took the nose ring out of her
nose, and all this was happening without touching her face. And then the nose
ring was flying in the sky, and she began to cry out, "My nose ring! My nose
ring!" Very quickly Rama fired another arrow and put the nose ring back in the
nose. These were some of the childhood pastimes of Ramacandra. All these
childhood pastimes are all archery and bows and arrows. Anyway, Rama was
growing up and one day a rishi came, Visvamitra Muni. He came in the entrance
of the palace, and he said to the messenger, "Where is that Dasaratha? You tell
him that Kaushika is here." He is known as Kaushika because he is coming in the
dynasty of Kusha. Kusha and Kushanabha were great kings. In the Bhagavatam you
read about them. So Kaushika was known for his anger. If he gets angry, he
would curse and he will use all his tapovalam, all the strength of his
austerity simply to place some obstacle. On one occasion he was sitting doing
his meditation, and a bird passed stool on him. It's natural for a bird to pass
stool, and it's natural for a rishi to sit under a tree. But stool on the head
was not natural, and Visvamitra was very upset. He looked at the bird and burnt
it. In burning that bird he used 50 years worth of tapovalam, because that bird
had a long lifetime and he reduced it and suppressed it by his tapovalam, so
now he lost the strength of that austerity. Then he got up and said, "This
situation will make me remember that incident always, so now I will go to
another tree." Then he would perform more austerity for another thousand y
ears, and he was spending his whole life like this. So Dasaratha looked at
Vasistha and said, "Kaushika is here. What am I supposed to do? I don't know
what wrong I did, why he came to my palace, because he only goes to curse
people or kill a demon or something." Vasistha said, "First of all, you must go
from here to the messenger, and tell him to say that `The whole kingdom is
yours. I am just taking two minutes to walk to the entrance. Please don't lose
your temper'." So the messenger went back to Visvamitra and said, "King
Dasaratha said that the whole kingdom is yours. He will take only two minutes
to walk here. He wants you to be peaceful and take this nice asana." Visvamitra
said, "I don't want any asana! Where is the king! Bring him here!" By the time
Dasaratha got there, he fell at his feet and said, "What do you want? If you
want the whole Kosala then please take it." "What?" the rishi asked. "I am not
into kingdoms. I had a kingdom too." He was a great prince, a ksatriya, and by
some arrangement of the Lord he had become a Brahmin. "I do not want your
kingdom," he said. "I have come here to ask something, and you must tell me
that you will give it." Dasaratha was thinking, "I wonder what it could be that
he wants? Maybe my head. I don't mind giving him that, but please don't let him
ask for Rama." Visvamitra said, "What are you thinking? You are trying to save
something." Dasaratha said, "No no, you just ask and I will give it." So then
Visvamitra said, "I want Rama and Laksmana." Dasaratha immediately fainted.
When he woke up, Visvamitra said, "See! You fainted, this means that you don't
want to give. And you lied to me! I am rishi and you lied to me that you will
give everything, and now you won't give. I'm not going to take them away
forever, I only need them for a small purpose. I am doing a yajna, and someone
is passing stool and urine on it. I want these children to come and play there,
and then these demons will go away." "What? Demons?" And then Dasaratha fainted
a gain. He couldn't bear his being taken to demons, so he said, "I will come. I
will defeat them!" Visvamitra said, "Don't you think I can defeat them? I could
easily defeat them, but I want Ramacandra and nothing else. What do you say?"
"All right," Dasaratha said. "But please take good care of my son, and also
teach Him something since you know so many things." Visvamitra said, "I know
what I will do with Rama, and he is coming with me. Now." Dasaratha said, "But
you have come a long way, you should rest a while in my palace." "I don't stay
in palaces," Visvamitra said. "Where is Rama and Laksmana? Give them to me." So
he took Rama and Laksmana and he left. They were walking, and as they were
crossing so many rivers and going through so many different forests, Visvamitra
was telling them stories, and Rama and Laksmana became so happy because there
was no class and no study, this was like a complete vacation for them. They
were swimming here and swimming there, and Visvamitra was such a nice teacher
that he would swim with them and play with them, tell them far-out stories of
demons and goblins and ghosts. They were so happy. In the evening time at
sunset, Visvamitra told them, "Now you do your sandhya, and then you sit here
and listen to these mantras. I'm going to teach you some great, powerful
mantras. One is known as Bala, strength. Another is known as Adibala, great
strength. You may need them for these demons. So Rama and Laksmana sat down and
listened to Bala and Adibala, and then they massaged the teacher, Visvamitra.
Visvamitra took rest. The next day Visvamitra woke them up and they reached the
ashrama of Visvamitra and they began a yajna. Then came this demon, a very
famous demon called Marica. Marica was a great magician. Whenever he would
come, then you would see that trees would be falling, the rivers would be
flying up in the sky, and stars would be falling. The animals would also go
crazy, the birds would scream, and the rishis would die as Marica' s breakfast
was saintly persons only. For lunch he ate something else like ksatriyas or
kings, but breakfast was sages. He was a cannibal, human eater. So Marica was
coming there, and with him was Dusana. His very name is the same as his
character. Dusana means "all bad things." His father named him like that, so it
must have been a good family. Dusana and Marica were flying in space and were
coming. So Rama and Laksmana were sitting there and Visvamitra was the head
priest, he was offering ghee into the fire. He looked at Rama to signal that
the demons were coming. Rama looked at Laksmana and said, "So Laksmana, what
are you going to do?" Laksmana said, "Yes, we will do something." So he took
several arrows and shot them into the sky. They went up into the sky about
three or four miles, and then from each arrow came a million arrows, and all
together they formed a huge wheel of arrows, and this wheel started circling on
top of the fire. So Marica and Dusana came and all that they saw was a wheel
and some spokes. "Where is the fire?" Dusana said, "I told you I wanted to pass
water three hours ago and you said I should wait till we got here. I have been
holding it in, and I can't see the fire. What are you doing to me? Let me go
pass somewhere." "No no," Marica said, "Visvamitra's fire, that is where we
should pass." "But I can't see the fire, I only see this wheel." Then Marica
said, "This must be the trick of these Brahmins. Let me come closer and see."
So he came closer, and as he came close he got stuck with one of the spokes of
the wheel, and he was thrown miles away. While he was already thrown,
Ramacandra took one blade of grass, and he threw it at Marica. It got stuck on
his back and carried him to the ocean. He fell in the ocean, and after that he
never touched the Indian land again. He opened an ashrama and became a babaji
somewhere in Sri Lanka, and didn't even go back to see his family. That was
what happened to Marica, and Dusana was k illed. All this killing was done by
grass. Then the yajna was over and Visvamitra came to Ramacandra and he said,
"What a great, wonderful thing you did! I saw Marica flying away and falling
into the ocean." Then Visvamitra said, "There's only one small question I want
to ask You." "What?" Ramacandra replied. "What about Bala and Adibala and all
those mantras I gave You?" Ramacandra said, "That is for an emergency, then we
will use these ones. Grass is sufficient for these demons." Then Visvamitra
said a famous verse, that for a mighty person even grass becomes an astra.
Ramacandra is so mighty, He's the source of all Bala. So why should He take
Bala and Adibala? In this way He finished the demons.



CHAPTER 4: VISVAMITRA

Now Visvamitra is not just some mystic yogi or a gurukula teacher or something.
Visvamitra was such a great powerful personality. He was a great ksatriya. One
day he was going on a big hunting tour, and while he was going, the tradition
was that when you pass by a gurukula or an ashrama, the kings must stop. And
they must go there and respect the saint. The saintly person in turn will feed
the king, because the king will not carry so much ration when he goes into the
forest. And he's not going to live on fruits and roots, because he's the king,
not some saintly person. He needs some feast, so the saintly person must
arrange the feast. And for arranging the feast the kings will always donate a
lot of things to the saintly person. In this way there was a nice arrangement
for making feasts and taking feasts. So this great army of Kaushika,
Visvamitra, was coming, and he had his hundred sons and he was thinking,
"That's a small ashrama there." He looked down into the valley and the ashrama
was about four houses, and there was stream running nearby. Visvamitra thought,
"My army of a hundred sons shouldn't go. You all stay here," he said to his
sons. "It is a custom that I should go and respect this saintly person, so I
will go there and then I will come back. And if he asks to feed something to me
that is alright, but he can't feed my whole army." So Kaushika went down, and
there was two brahmacaris washing cloth in the stream, so he asked them, "Whose
ashrama is this?" The brahmacaris replied, "This is the ashrama of Vasistha
Muni." "Vasistha?" Kaushika asked. "He's in my country and I didn't even know."
"He came three months ago," the brahmacaris replied. He would always go like
that. He stays in a place for about three hundred years and then he moves to
another ashrama, because too many students come there and he doesn't like a big
population. So whenever there is too many people he disappears with one or two
students and goes to open another school somewhere else. "I would like to see
him, " Visvamitra said. So the brahmacaris brought him before Vasistha.
Vasistha was making some thread from cotton. He was wearing a gamsha around his
waist and another around his shoulders. Kaushika was coming with many ornaments
and a golden crown, so he came in there and took his crown off, and touched
Vasistha's feet. He then said, "I am Kaushika and I am on a hunting trip. I
have a hundred sons who I have left on the highway and I have come here just to
see you. So you please bless my kingdom." Vasistha said, "How is this possible
that you are coming to my ashrama and going without a feast?" Visvamitra looked
at the house with its grass roof and cow-dung floor and the whole ashrama was
only three or four houses. "You're going to give me a feast?" Visvamitra asked
"How will I eat it without my sons?" "No no, your sons, your army, your castle,
everyone. Bring them here." "But where will they sit? You have only four huts."
"Bring them here," Vasistha said very determinedly. "If I don't bring them, he
will curse," Visvamitra thought, so he went back to his sons. "All of you come
with me to this ashrama," he told them. "You must be joking!" the sons replied.
"If we all go to that ashrama, we will be crushed. There's no place in there."
Visvamitra said, "This great rishi has asked, so we must go." They were
thinking, "Even if we passed by there, by the sound of these chariots the roofs
will cave in." Their chariots were huge with eighteen horses each. Kaushika
said, "I don't want to be cursed, so let's go down there." As they were going
down into the valley they saw that a big township was there. Palaces, roads,
and swimming pools. People were running out of the city. It was a city
suddenly, and Kaushika was thinking, "This is wonderful. Just in the time of
closing my eyes there is a big city here. It's bigger than Mahismati, my
capital! Look at these palaces!" They were all looking at this and wondering,
and then Vasistha came out and said, "What are you doing? You must all go and
take bath. Feast is already prepared. It will get cold." So then after they
took bath they came and thousands of them sat down on a big grass lawn. They
saw no plates or anything in front of them, and Vasistha made them sit in rows.
Visvamitra said, "What items are you going to give us, and how are you going to
serve it?" Vasistha replied, "You can think of any plate you like, and you can
think of any item you like, and you can think of any quantity you like, and you
will get it." Visvamitra thought, "A diamond plate." Boom! And the diamond
plate was there. And whatever he liked at that time was coming, heaps and heaps
and they were eating and eating, but still it was just coming and coming, and
they were just eating all the items they had ever heard about. One person said,
"What Indra eats on his birthday, I want that." So he got it. Everyone got
everything they liked. They were so satisfied, and then they wanted to see a
dance. "What dance do you want to see?" Vasistha asked them. Visvamitra said,
"The dance that is seen by Narayana in Svetadvipa, I want to see that." "All
right, you can see," Vasistha replied. Immediately there was a stage. And there
was a wonderful stage by the celestials of Vaikuntha. And Visvamitra was so
envious. He was thinking, "What is this? Some baba, he is having so much
opulence. I am a king, and I look like a beggar in front of him." So he came to
Vasistha and asked, "Please tell me, what is the source of your opulence? I'm
sure it's not this beard." Vasistha replied, "No, it's not my beard. It's my
cow." Then he clapped his hands and he said, "Kama-dhenu, come here." And then
a kama-dhenu came. This cow had a long tail like a braid, and a peacock feather
on the back. It had the breasts of a human female on her chest and the body of
a cow. And in her whole body is the potency of all the demigods. This cow came
when the milk ocean was churned for nectar, and was given to Vasistha by the
Supreme Lord, because he p erformed wonderful sacrifices so he needed a lot of
wealth. Where could he go, because the kings were such small timers. Sometimes
they would have wealth, and even though they had sometimes they would say that
they don't have. So he gave this cow. "You can get anything from this cow."
Visvamitra said, "I will give you one million ordinary cows. You give me this
cow." Vasistha said, "You must be a fool. One million ordinary cows, why should
I take them and give you this special cow. If you give me one million
kama-dhenus then I can think of giving you this one." "But you know,"
Visvamitra said, "according to the shastras, whatever is in this land belongs
to the king, and I am the king so it belongs to me." Vasistha said, "Look at
the kama-dhenu again, Kaushika." Visvamitra looked at the cow and noticed that
it was four feet off the ground. "This cow does not belong to you," Vasistha
said. "Only if it touches the earth does it belong to you." So Visvamitra was
defeated. He said to Vasistha, "Look, you may have so much tapovalam, but I am
a ksatriya and I have so much strength, one hundred sons. I am not going to ask
you for the cow, I am just going to take. So he came behind the kama-dhenu and
started to pull, and his hundred sons were helping him. "What are you doing?"
the cow said to Vasistha. "You are my protector, and you are not doing
anything. This mleccha is taking me away." Kaushika said, "You are calling me a
mleccha?" "Yes, you are taking the property of a Brahmin, so you are a mleccha
at least now, or in the next life you are going to be. Why are you doing this?
This is nonsense, and even the Lord will not be tolerant of this, you will be
finished. Your whole dynasty will be finished, this is my curse." Visvamitra
said, "You are a cow, so don't talk so much. Just come with me." So then
Vasistha said, "Don't do this. She does not like it. If she liked it, then you
could take her, but she does not like it." Still Vasistha was keeping his anger
inside, not showi ng it. "You keep quiet," Kaushika said. "I am taking the
cow." Vasistha said, "Where are your 100 sons? I will show my power on them,
because I don't want to finish you. If you are there you can produce another
100 sons. Show me your sons." "Here are my sons," Kaushika said, and then
Vasistha looked at them and they were all gone. And then he said, "Kaushika, do
you want to become a heap of ash? Then you'd better run away from me." Then
Kaushika, in great disgust left the ashrama. He went to the Himalayas and
performed austerities for 300 years to please Mahadeva. Lord Siva came, and
asked Kaushika, "What benediction do you want?" There's one great thing about a
benediction from Siva. If you take a benediction from him, it is only for your
destruction. His benedictions will only destroy, they will never give anything
good. Unless you ask for love of God, or devotion, but if one has approached
Siva he generally doesn't ask for these things. So Siva was asking, "What
benediction do you want?" Or in other words, how do you want to be destroyed?
So then Kaushika said, "I must have all the divine weapons. All the weapons
that Indra has, Agni has, Varuna has, all of them must come to my mind, and I
must control them. I must be a rajarishi." "Yes, you are a rajarishi," Siva
said. "Now stop doing austerities, because it is burning my body. Go." Then
Visvamitra immediately flew to Vasistha's ashrama. Vasistha was having an oil
bath, having oil massaged on his body. When someone is having an oil on the
body you're not supposed to talk to him or talk in conversation. Kaushika did
not even give him a challenge or anything, he just immediately started doing
all the astras on Vasistha. Vasistha was still sitting there getting oil on his
body, and the first thing that Visvamitra threw was a brahmastra. "Suddenly so
much heat is in mustard oil," Vasistha said. "It's not that hot!" So then
Vasistha looked over his shoulder and saw the brahmastra. "My God! What is he
doing? Who taught him these weapons? He does n't know where to put them! He's
throwing them here, but I am having an oil massage here. Kaushika, stop doing
this nonsense!" Then came Agni astra, and then came Vayu astra. They were all
coming one after another. "This is too much," Vasistha said, and he looked
around. He saw his walking stick, which was getting old, so he took that and
threw it out. Then he continued with his massage. The walking stick came out
and faced the brahmastra. The brahmastra touched this walking stick, and it
became like ice, and fell down. Then came the Agni astra, which came emanating
so much fire, and all the trees were burnt, but when it faced the stick this
astra was also pulled down. Then Vayu astra came, and all the astras that he
learnt from Lord Siva were all used up, pulled down by the stick. Then the
stick started moving towards Visvamitra, so Visvamitra started running away. As
he crossed the area of Vasistha's ashrama, the stick went down and Vasistha
kept it down. Then Visvamitra sat up and he was thinking, "That is just a stick
that he uses for walking. What will happen if he takes a bow? What will happen
to me then? So this rajarishi is no good, I will become a brahmarishi." So
again he went up to the Himalayas, and he performed tapasya for such a long
time that Brahma came to him. "What do you want?" Brahma asked. "Why are you
troubling me like this?" "I want to be a brahmarishi," said Visvamitra. Brahma
said, "Well I am Brahma, and I am calling you a rishi, so you are a
brahmarishi. You be satisfied." Visvamitra said, "No, Vasistha should say it."
So Brahma brought Visvamitra to Vasistha and said, "Please call him
brahmarishi." Vasistha looked at him and said, "What a great tapasa you have
done! After all you are a ksatriya, you are supposed to be enjoying your
senses. Simply by my challenge, you have become such a great rishi. Why
brahmarishi? You are a jnanarishi, the rishi of saintly people. You are
worshipable by me. Now Visvamitra, you stop your austerities." So Visvamitra
stopped his austerities there, and he became well known as brahmarishi and was
moving around. Now, Tri-shanku, who was in the Iksvaku dynasty suddenly
developed desires to go to the heavenly planet in this body. So he went to
Vasistha who was his guru, Vasistha is guru for so many generations. "Please my
guru, send me to the heavenly planets." Vasistha said, "Yes I can send you to
heaven. You perform some pious activities, next life you will go." Tri-shanku
said, "No, not next life, this life." Vasistha said, "You die in this life, and
then in the next life you can go to heaven." "No, I don't want to wait. I want
to go in this body." Vasistha asked, "Where did you get this crazy idea from?"
Tri-shanku replied, "I am a very pious person. I have done so many nice things,
and there is no complaint against me. Why shouldn't you send me?" Vasistha
said, "That is very good, you are a pious person, a great king, but heavenly
planet cannot be attained in this body." Tri-shanku said, "But you can adjust
things, you are a great rishi." Vasistha replied, "No I can't adjust things, I
can only follow the rules of God." Vasistha said, "If you can't adjust things,
then what kind of a guru are you?" Vasistha said, "Well if you don't want to be
my disciple then I will go. I'm not going to teach the Iksvaku dynasty any
more." Vasistha took his danda and walked out. Then Tri-shanku remembered that
Vasistha also had a hundred sons, and they were doing tapasya somewhere in
South India, so he went to South India and met these sons. He asked them,
"Please send me to heaven in this same body." "What is this nonsense? We can't
do this," the sons replied. "Your father also said the same thing." The sons
said, "You mean our father said it could not be done and now you are coming to
us?" Tri-shanku said, "Yes, because young students like to do this sort of
evolutionary stuff." The sons said, "Yes, we will do some evolution, you become
a chandala." So they cursed him, and suddenly his whole body turned black. Even
his chadar which was golden turned black. All his golden ornaments turned into
iron ornaments and his face became cruel. So when he went back to Ayodhya,
people laughed at him and kicked him out of the country. Then he was wandering
in the forest and one day he saw a rishi standing on one leg. That was our
Kaushika, Visvamitra, doing some other austerity now. He came to him and said,
"You are so effulgent, like the Sun-god." Kaushika said, "Tell me what you
want. And you seem to be a bit of a chandala, but either way you are talking
like a royal family man." The king replied, "I am Tri-shanku from the Iksvaku
dynasty. I have been cursed by Vasistha's sons." As soon as he heard Vasistha's
name, he got fired up. "Why did they curse you? Who are they to curse you?" The
king said, "I just asked them a small thing." "What did you ask?" Vasistha
inquired. "I asked them if I could go to heaven in this body, and then they
cursed me." Vasistha said, "What? You want to go to heaven in this body? Where
did you get this idea from?" The king replied, "One fine morning I got up, and
I thought like that." Visvamitra said, "See what happened to you, for
entertaining this idea?" The king thought that Visvamitra is cooling down, this
is no good. I had better get him fired up again. The king said, "That Vasistha
said that no-one could do it." Visvamitra said, "What was that? Repeat that
again." "He said, no-one can do it." Visvamitra replied, "Who said no-one can
do it? I can do it." So then Vasistha sent word to all the rishis saying, "I am
doing a yajna, so you also come. I am going to ask the demigods to take him
just like this." All the rishis came because they were scared of Visvamitra,
that he would curse them too. So they came there, they were all doing yajna and
they were so scared. And then the demigods came. Indra approached Visvamitra
and asked, "Now what is the purpose of this yajna? What do you need?"
Visvamitra replied, "We want this man to go to heaven." Indra said, "So many
people are coming to heaven, I have no objection." "No no," Visvamitra replied,
"Like this." Indra said, "What? Like this? No, that's not possible. I can't let
him in like this. I can't do it." Visvamitra protested, "But this is a special
case." Indra said, "No, special case nothing. I can't do it." Visvamitra said,
"All right, if I cannot do it by yajna then I will do it by my austerities." So
he took the shruva, spoon which he was using to pour ghee, and he touched
Tri-shanku and said, "All right, Tri-shanku, fly now to heaven by my power."
Then Tri-shanku disappeared from the earthly planet, and he was flying, flying
through space. Indra was back in his planet, and everyone was saying, "Indra,
look who is coming. It's Tri-shanku." "Tri-shanku?" Indra said in disbelief.
Then he took his Vadra and hit him on the back and Tri-shanku came back at full
speed. So Visvamitra was sitting there peacefully and Tri-shanku was crying,
"Visvamitra, help me!" Visvamitra said, "You are not coming back, you are going
to heaven!" Visvamitra then used some more of his power and sent him back up.
And then Indra sent him back again, and Visvamitra sent him back again, and
then Indra sent him back. The third time when he was going towards heaven
Tri-shanku said, "I don't want to go to heaven! I would rather go to hell!
Anything is better than this. What am I doing in outer space? You send me
anywhere, but please stop this!" Visvamitra said, "No, I made a promise to you.
That promise must be kept, even if you don't want. You must go to heaven!" And
he sent him back. Indra said, "I don't want you," and he kicked him back. This
time Tri-shanku said, "Please Visvamitra, I don't want heaven. I realize now
that it is very bad to think like that. I just want to be a king somewhere.
I'll be a beggar somewhere. Stop pushing me like this." Visvamitra said, "No.
If they won't let you into heaven, I will create you a heaven. So he created a
heaven. He created demigods, he created Indra, he created Airavata, he crea ted
everything by his tapovalam, and austerity was finished. So now, the planet has
to be in orbit also. No more tapovalam, so how are we going to put it in orbit?
Then the whole heaven started to come down to earth, because that is where it
was created. Now Visvamitra said, "O my God! Now heaven is coming down and
everything will be finished! What am I going to do?" Then he lifted his hands
and said, "Hari! Hari!" The Lord appeared and asked, "Visvamitra, what is the
problem? Usually you call Brahma, you never call Me. What happened to you?"
Visvamitra said, "Look, look! Do something please, it is coming down!" The Lord
said, "What is it? What is falling down?" Visvamitra replied, "It is my
creation." "Oh, it's your creation!" Visnu said. "So you maintain it, I'm
going." "No no no! Don't go, please do something. I only created it, I can't
maintain it. It's not possible for me." The Lord said, "I will put my energy
into it and maintain it." So the Supreme Lord entered into that heaven. This
heaven is known as Tri-shanku svarga, and it is still existing. The Lord put
Tri-shanku there to please Visvamitra. And then Visvamitra was saved, otherwise
these heavenly planets would come down and burn the earth planet and everything
else would be burnt. Then Narayana said, "Don't get into this area. My zone is
a very difficult zone, creating, maintaining, destroying. This is my work. You
simply do tapasya, and bless people. Don't try to become Hari or there will be
trouble." Visvamitra said, "I have realized it once and for all. I will not do
this any more." Then the Lord was so pleased with him for his immediate
surrender that He said, "I will become your student in Treta-yuga." So in this
way Ramacandra became Visvamitra's student.



CHAPTER 5: THE LIFTING OF THE BOW

After Rama's fight with the demons Marica and Dusana, Visvamitra didn't come
back to Ayodhya, instead he told them, "There is going tobe a big fire
sacrifice in Mithila." King Janaka was ruling. So Visvamitra said, "A great
sacrifice and all the rishis and pandits will be there. I will take you there
so you can see it." On the way so many other pastimes happened, these are
already famous pastimes. Ahalya, the wife of Gautama Rishi had been cursed to
become stone, and she would not be released until Ramacandra touched her with
His lotus feet. Then she would come alive again. So those pastimes happened
within the travel from Visvamitra's ashrama to the present Lucknow, and from
there up to Mithila. Mithila, the country of Janaka is known as Mithila because
long before Janaka there was one king in the Iksvaku dynasty. Vasistha was the
guru for a many generations, and the king at that time wanted to perform a
yajna. Vasistha had agreed to perform a yajna for Indra in the heavenly
planets, so he told him, "I will finish this yajna, then I will come back and
perform yours." The king did not say anything. He didn't want to displease
Vasistha, he was a great devotee. Vasistha went to the heavenly planets, and
before he came back the king called some other rishis, Gautama and his brother,
and he engaged them as priests and completed his yajna. He did not tell them
that Vasistha was only in the heavenly planets. Vasistha came back. Very
quickly he completed his yajna, he didn't even wait for receiving payment for
it. He told Indra, "Just keep it in credit and I will collect it later." Very
quickly he returned, but when he got back he saw that Brahmins were coming out
of the palace with cows. "What's happening here?" he asked. "Oh, big yajna.
It's all over now, though. We just received dakshina and now we are going." So
Vasistha was very upset. He called the king and said, "What is this? First you
tell me that I should do the yajna, so I finished my job in the heavenly planet
very quickly and even displeased Indra and his party, and I have come here
because I am your Kula-guru, your family spiritual master. So how is this
proper that you have taken some other person and performed the yajna?" The king
was still keeping quiet, not saying anything. Actually Vasistha should not have
gone to the heavenly planets to perform yajna because he is the family guru of
the Iksvaku dynasty. So if Iksvakus are having a yajna he is supposed to do
that first, and then if it is necessary he can go to the heavenly planets. So
it was actually a mistake on the part of Vasistha, because he was a little
greedy from the great remuneration he would get from the heavenly planets. A
Brahmin should not be greedy. By doing that, a great trouble happens. What was
the trouble? Vasistha became so angry that he said to the king, "You become
nirdeha." Deha means "this body" and nir means "without." "So you will be
without body." All this time the king was tolerating, but now he said, "What is
this? I must perform my yajna on time, and you went there because you are
greedy. Now you are cursing me." So the king got angry with Vasistha and said,
"You also become nirdeha." So at the same time, both bodies were lost, and they
both became nirdeha. When Vasistha became nirdeha he was going here and there
and then one group of rishis who were meditating took him and put him inside a
pot and kept him inside the pot for a long time until he could take another
body. In the same pot another rishi's soul was kept. They became brothers.
Vasistha is therefore known as kumbha-muni, the rishi coming from a pot, and
another kumbha-muni was Agastya. He was thumb sized. Not thumb sized of our
thumb, but the thumb of the demigods, so he was much taller than us. In
Dvapara-yuga people were ten times taller, eating was ten timesbigger, lifetime
was also ten times longer, and in Treta-yuga it was a hundred times. So now we
are living a hundred years, in Dvapara yuga they lived 1000 years, in
Treta-yuga it was rs was the lifetime in Satya-yuga. So that is why in
Satya-yuga the process is meditation, because if you are living 100,000 years,
what it the problem with spending 30,000 years meditation? Agastya lived
through all the yugas. He is even living now in the southern part of India.
There is a mountain in South India called Kozwalla mountain, and on Kozwalla
mountain there are caves, and the scriptures say that Agastya is still there.
These rishis are chiran-jivas, meaning that up to Brahma's life-span they will
also live. So Agastya and Vasistha came from the same pot. In this way Vasistha
got his body, and this person who became nirdeha couldn't get a body because of
the rishi's curse, no-one tried to give him an artificial room like Vasistha
got. These test tubes are nothing new. The rishis have been doing it for ages.
They take the sperm and put it in a pot, create some artificial climate and it
would grow in there and become a saintly person. These two rishis became test
tube babies, but the other person just remained nirdeha and he remained for a
long time, and then he went to the heavenly planets and from there to the
spiritual world. His dead body was there, so all the saintly people in the
country churned the body as there was no dynasty, just like in the
Srimad-Bhagavatam there is the story of how Vena's body was churned and Prthu
Maharaja came. So this churning was done, and this churning is called Mithi.
When churning the body you have to keep the foot from the body of that person
and take the leg and then churn it. So this is why it was called Mithila, and
the man who came out of that body was called Mithi Janaka. Ja means "birth" and
Janaka means "one who has taken birth by churning." So Mithi Janaka means "one
who has taken his birth by churning of someone's body." And this Mithi Janaka,
he didn't want to be in Ayodhya because of all the prestige the family had. So
he left Ayodhya and created a separate kingdom, and that kingdom was known as
Mithila, because the Mithi Janaka created that kingdom so it was called
Mithila. And all his sons were known by the name Janaka. He was Janaka, and
then Janaka I, Janaka II, Janaka III and so on. Janaka had a great property in
his palace. This property was the bow which was used by Mahadeva, Lord Siva, in
a battle between him and Visnu. Once there was a battle between Visnu and Siva.
There was no cause for this, it was just Narada Muni's jubilation. He was once
in the assembly of Indra, and Indra was praising Mahadeva. He was saying, "Lord
Siva has three eyes, and fire comes out of his third eye and all that." So
Narada Muni said, "There are so many Sivas. In every universe there are eleven
Sivas. My Lord is different. He has no third eye but He knows everything." Then
Indra said, "No no no, you don't know. Visnu is alright, he's the avatar, but
Siva is the great powerful person." "If it is so," Narada said, "Why don't you
go and ask Siva to have a fight with Visnu? Then we will see who is more
powerful." Then Indra thought, "That would be a nice thing to do," so he went
to Kailash. Siva's bull, Nandi, was asking, "What are you doing on Kailash?
This is meant for people who meditate." Nandi is a great yogi, and an
astrologer too. He saw Indra and knew there would be trouble, so he said, "Get
out of Kailash. You are an enjoyer, so what are you doing here?" Indra said,
"No no, I have only come here for Siva's darshana without any motive." Nandi
said, "I am an astrologer, and I can see on your face that you have come here
to create trouble. Don't give any trouble to my Lord, he is peacefully
meditating." Then Indra said, "Let me in Nandi." So he was allowed. When he
came in, Siva was in deep meditation. Indra came in there and prayed to
Mahadeva so much, and finally Siva opened his eyes. "Indra! Why are you here?
There is no trouble happening. I don't think you have come here to ask me to
fight with someone." Indra said, "I must say that I only visit Kailash to ask
you to fight with someone, but this time it's not a demon." "Who is it then?"
Mahadeva asked. "Well we had a little argument," Indra said. "Myself and
Narada. I said that you are the most powerful, but Narada said that Visnu is
the most powerful." Siva said, "You see this japa-mala I am holding? Do you
know what I am doing with this? Do you know what I am chanting?" "I heard that
you chant Rama's name," Indra replied. Siva said, "So I am chanting Rama's
name. And then you are asking who is more powerful. If I am more powerful than
Him, then He must be chanting my name. But it would never happen, I am chanting
His name." Indra said, "That is right, that is Purana, but I want to see it."
Siva said, Why do you want to see it? I am telling you, He is the most powerful
and all power comes from Him. I only destroy this universe, that is all the
power I have." So Indra said, "Even though you say these things, I don't
believe it." "Why don't you believe it?" "Because you are so powerful that you
burnt the fort which was flying in the sky." Then Siva said, "I know what you
are up to. You want to have some entertainment. So you go to Visvakarma and ask
him to make a bow for me. I am a babaji, but you want me to fight. So at least
give me some weapons." So Visvakarma used his mystic power and made a bow. This
bow was so big that 300 people had to carry it. Actually it was in a cart. The
cart had so many wheels, and 300 people had to push it to move it an inch, and
then they had to rest for half an hour. So this was the size of the bow. It was
unstrung also, the thread was separate. So that was brought in front of Lord
Siva. "This is a good bow," the said, and took it up. When he took it up all
the demigods fainted. It was such a huge bow and Siva was just lifting it so
easily. Then Indra was saying, "See? I told you, he's very strong. Don't think
that he's just a babaji meditating. He's got so much strength." Siva then
strung the bow and he said, "All right, I am ready." Then they went to Brahma
and as ked, "Please bring Lord Visnu for a fight." So Brahma went to the milk
ocean and meditated. Visnu was sitting there in the Svetadvipa, and he said to
Laksmi, "I wonder what Brahma is calling for now?" Laksmi said, "Maybe some
demon is there." "How can a demon have come without My knowledge? There is no
demon," the Lord said. "Then You must also know why he is calling You," Laksmi
said. "Yes I do. He wants Me to have a fight with Lord Siva." "Oh," Laksmi
said. "I would like to see that." "Then I'll have to do it," the Lord said. So
then He got up from His seat and He came to the other side of the milk ocean.
He said, "All right Brahma, I am ready." And then Indra said, "But there is one
condition - You don't bring any bow or anything from Your spiritual world. We
will give You something from this world. Otherwise You will overpower him
easily, we know that. We want a straightforward fight." So Visvakarma made
another bow. Siva's bow was called Mahesh-chapa, and Visnu's bow was called
Visnu-chapa. Both were made by Visvakarma and were equal in strength. They were
exactly the same. They were copies. So Visnu came and said, "No problem, I will
take it." So he took the bow, and he came and lifted it. When he lifted the
bow, because He has got an eternal associate called Sarnga, who is His bow, and
when Visnu touches any bow Sarnga will come in there and it will become
Sarnga-dhanu. He took the bow and Sarnga entered. Nobody could see this happen.
So He came and Siva was there, and as soon as Visnu was in vision of Mahesh,
Siva offered his obeisances and clapped his hands, rolling on the floor in
ecstasy. Indra said, "What's going on?" He turned to Narada Muni and said, "Go
and tell him to give up his devotion and fight!" Narada Muni went to Siva and
said, "You have forgotten that there is supposed to be a fight. You have
surrendered." So then Mahesa said, "Please, bless me so that I can fight with
You." Visnu blessed him, "All right. You can fight with Me." So they were
fighting, fighti ng, fighting, and it was going on for a long time. Finally
Siva put the bow down and started running away from the battlefield, and all
sorts of astras were coming out of Sarnga, and Siva ran away. He ran, and he
was shouting to Indra, "I told you! I told you! Now I am in trouble!" Of
course, Visnu was not angry, he was only smiling. But then all the demigods
prayed to Visnu, "Please stop the war. We need Lord Siva." So then the war was
over, and Siva was saved. Visnu took His bow and gave it to one rishi called
Rcika. Rcika gave that bow to Jamadagni, another great rishi. Jamadagni was the
father of Parasurama, so that bow of Visnu eventually came to Parasurama.
Parasurama was holding this bow. Of course, he didn't need this, as he had his
axe with which he killed then ksatriyas twenty-one times. And the bow of Lord
Siva was given to one of the Janakas. Not the original Janaka who was made from
churning. Seven generations after him there was one Janaka called Devarata
Janaka. He was very attractive to the Devas so he was known as Devarata.
Devarata got Siva's bow and he kept it in the palace as a worshippable object.
In this way it was coming down in the family, and this Janaka we are dealing
with was also worshipping the bow. He did not have any children, so they
suggested to him to do a hola-yajna. You take a plough and draw a line around
the palace. When you move the plough, it will get stuck in the mud, and every
time it gets stuck you have to donate gold to the priests. And every movement
you make it will get stuck, so you have to give gold. When all the Brahmins are
satisfied, you move it again and when it gets stuck you have to get more gold.
In this way you are giving a lot of charity and you are getting a lot of
blessings so you will get children. So Janaka was doing this, moving the plough
and giving gold. In one place it got stuck, and after giving all the gold,
still the plough would not move on. "There must be some big rock there,"
everybody said, so they dug and found a box. And inside the box was a baby, a
female baby, and she looked just like Laksmi. She was known as Janaki, the
daughter of Janaka, and she grew up in the palace. She was six years old.
Janaka had a brother, and he had three daughters. So these four daughters were
running around and playing at the palace. Once they made a stick with a hook on
it to take some flowers from the trees. So Janaki was trying to get it, but
somehow or other there was a mystic tree there, and whenever she reached up, it
grew more. Somebody was in that tree. So Janaki could not get it and she was
the only daughter of the emperor, so she was very frustrated. "I want to get
it, and I know what I will use to get it." She ran into the puja room, and in
there was this big bow inside a box. She opened the box and took the bow in her
hands, and then she walked outside with the bow. When the soldiers saw her they
all swooned. Three hundred people were supposed to push the cart, and this
little girl was holding the bow. Whoever was able to stay conscious ran to
Janaka and said, "Do you know what's happening? Your little girl is holding
Lord Siva's bow!" "Send this man to the doctor," Janaka said. "There's
something wrong with his head." Then another lady came and said, "Yes, yes,
it's true! And if you want to see it come quickly." "What's wrong with these
people?" Janaka said. Then he called his doctor. "Supply 1000 lemons to the
palace. And put at least 500 lemons on these people's heads, to cool them
down." And then Janaka's minister came running and said, "No, it is no joke. I
just saw it myself." This time Janaka said, "It must be true," so he came
running, and the last thing he saw was Janaki lifting the bow into the box.
Then she came towards Janaka as if she had done nothing. When questioned by
Janaka, she innocently said that she hadperformed no great task. But Janaka had
seen it happen, and he went to his ministers and said, "My daughter must be
haunted by some big brahma-rakshasa ghost, more powerful than Lord Siva.
Otherwis ble that she is able to lift it?" So then the ministers thought over
it and said, "Janaka, we think that your daughter is Maha-laksmi. From all the
symptoms of her bodily features, we can understand that she is none other than
Laksmi. And if she is Laksmi, then naturally her Lord is Narayana. Now your
problem is, how are you going to get Narayana to marry her? There is no
Narayana here." Then Janaka came up with an idea. He said, "Anyone who can take
this bow and string it will marry my daughter." All the ministers laughed. They
said, "In this way your daughter is going to remain unmarried. Because who on
this earth has the strength to do this?" Janaka said, "Narayana obviously knows
that Laksmi is here. He is not going to leave her unmarried. She is not going
to take some woman sannyasa or anything. No. Narayana must come here." So
everyone was shocked. They were saying, "What is this man doing? This is as
good as saying, `No-one can marry my daughter.'" Anyway, this was going on, and
a yajna was performed. The special feature of this yajna was that they were
going to bring the bow and put it for darshana, and the ksatriya kings could
try. So Visvamitra knew this, so he told Rama and Laksmana, "This is the bow
used by Lord Siva, and if you want to see it I will take you there." "We must
see it," they said. Rama and Laksmana came there, and the rest of the story is
known. We are only dealing with those parts of the story that are not
well-known. All the ksatriyas came and they were seeing the bow and Janaka told
Visvamitra, "You must call your young student to come and have a look at this."
So Ramacandra came and saw it, and Laksmana said, "Try it." Janaka announced,
"If anyone wants to try and string this bow and get my daughter, then please
come." So one or two very puffed-up ksatriya kings came. The first one could
not lift it, and another got his hand stuck between the floor and the bow, and
he had to be pulled out. Just then the whole assembly became dark and the earth
was shaking. They heard someone laughing loudly. So then Janaka caught hold of
Visvamitra's hand and said, "Tell me what is now happening." Visvamitra said,
"This must be a demon. Very soon he will enter." In another three minutes there
was a flash of light, and between the light came Trilokeshvara, Ravana. He had
arranged that before he came, two other demons would precede him and announce,
"Trilokeshvara Ravana is coming." Everyone was scared, "What is this demon
doing in our assembly?" So then Ravana appeared. "What is this svayamvara? You
are all spineless people. You can't even lift this bow! You must know who I am.
I am Ravana, and I have lifted Kailash with Lord Siva on it. This is only his
bow. This is the bow of Lord Siva, and Lord Siva, his whole family, his entire
troop of ghosts and goblins and the whole Kailash mountain was lifted by me,
and I flew to Lanka. That is my strength." So then everybody thought, "He can
easily lift this bow." So Ravana came, and he put his hands on each side, and
he lifted the bow. Everyone was amazed. "Ah! He has lifted the bow!" Then Lord
Siva in Kailash was thinking, "What's going on? I didn't leave it for him. I
left it for Lord Rama." So then Siva went inside the bow and pressed down.
Ravana got stuck. That also happened when he lifted Kailash mountain, when he
put it down he got stuck. Now he was also stuck. He was crying and pleading,
and finally Lord Siva let go, and he got his hand out. And then Rama came, but
he didn't use two hands, only one. He put his foot on the other end of the bow
and he took the string. As he pulled it, the bow broke into two pieces.
Everyone clapped their hands, and flowers fell from heaven. Then Lord
Ramacandra got married to Sita, and those other three girls were married to
Bharata, Satrughna and Laksmana. And they were coming back to Ayodhya. On the
way back, again everything became dark and the earth shook, and all the birds
stopped singing. Dasaratha asked Visvamitra, "Is Ravana coming again?" " No,
this is Parasurama," Visvamitra said. "He is about one hundred miles away, that
is why it is shaking. He is angry." Dasaratha said, "What are you going to do?
Are you going to do anything to protect us?" And he asked Vasistha too. They
replied, "In this we have only one opinion. Usually we have two opinions, but
here we have only one opinions. We're going to lay down and close our eyes,
because Parasurama is coming." So they laid down and closed their eyes, and
Parasurama was coming closer and closer, and he was doing his umkara. Every
step he was taking he was going, "Oom! Oom!" And by this sound all of
Dasaratha's army fainted, and the elephants screamed. By his attachment to
Rama, Dasaratha didn't faint, because he wanted to look after Rama. Finally
when Parasurama came, only two people were conscious, the supremely conscious
people, Rama and Laksmana. Even Bharata and Satrughna were on the ground. Rama
looked at Laksmana and said, "You have planned something?" So then Parasurama
came to him and said, "Who is this Rama?" Ramacandra said, "It is you. You are
the only Rama. You are Parasurama. Who else is Rama?" Parasurama said, "Some
young child from Iksvaku's dynasty, how dare he break Lord Siva's bow? I have
controlled the ksatriyas so much. I have finished them all. And now someone
else is coming. He must know that I am still here." Ramacandra said, "No, no,
what's the problem? I didn't break it, but the bow was so weak that I just
lifted it and it broke into two pieces." Parasurama said, "You mean to say that
You are so strong and Lord Siva's bow is so weak? So the ksatriyas are becoming
strong again, and I am not going to leave it like that. If you think that you
are so powerful, then why did you insult Lord Siva? You don't think that you
have done aparadha? He's the great Mahesha and you broke his bow! And how does
this Janaka make a svayamvara like this, that someone should string Siva's bow?
So he is also an impostor. Now again I will start, and I will finish all of
you. Finish Dasaratha, finish Janaka, finish everyone." So then Ramacandra
said, "Yes, many people are supposed to be finished, but it is supposed to be
done by me." Parasurama said, "Now you are competing with me?" He took his axe
and said, "You look at this." Rama and Laksmana paid obeisances. "Why are you
paying namaskara to my axe?" Parasurama asked. They replied, "Because it killed
all the bad ksatriyas. It is a famous weapon. It is a weapon of Visnu, and we
are in the Surya dynasty so we must pay our obeisances." So Parasurama was
perplexed. At one point they are instructing, and then they are paying
obeisances. "There is something here that I am not able to figure out,"
Parasurama said. "So I will have to give them a test." Then he addressed them.
"If you are so courageous and so strong, I will give you the bow of Visnu. Let
us see if you can string it." Ramacandra said, "Anything you give, I will take,
and anything you say I will do by your blessing." So then Parasurama closed his
eyes and lifted his hands. He was invoking Sarnga-dhanu, the original bow of
Visnu. He was calling and calling, but it was not coming. And then he opened
his eyes, and he saw that Rama was already holding it, and it was already
strung. Then he said, "You are the source of all strength. Now I understand
that it is you and not me. You are the Rama, I am not the Rama. So I have no
worries, and now I will only do meditation. That was what I was doing, but
Narada came to me and said, `What are you doing, Parasurama? The ksatriyas are
becoming powerful again.' And he told me that some king, he didn't tell me who,
he just told me that some king has a son, and this son has broken Lord Siva's
bow. He never told me it was You." So then Parasurama paid obeisances, and
Ramacandra said, "Now what am I supposed to do? I have strung the bow, I have
put and arrow upon it. I need some object. I am Rama. My arrow and my word
never go wrong. This arrow has to get an object. So where should I aim it? You
tell me. You ust then he saw Mother Sita. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "You look
horrible with this tree bark and renunciate clothing on. This is the dress of a
renunciate, not of a grhasta. You come with me." Compared to him, Sita was very
small, and she was wondering, "What is this demon trying to do me?" So he told
Sita, "After finishing these two, I will reduce my form and then we will be a
good match." Ramacandra said to Laksmana, "Look what has happened! You had so
many plans that we would go to Dandakaranya and kill all the demons and return
to Ayodhya. But now, my wife is gone. Look, she is being carried away by this
demon! We can't do anything, look what he has on his trident." Laksmana said,
"Why are you saying all this? Just finish him!" So they both took their swords,
and they cut his legs, and he fell down. Then they brought Sita away, and they
began cutting the demon into pieces. The demon was screaming and shouting, "Who
are you? Tell me!" Ramacandra replied, "I am the son of King Dasaratha, and
this is my brother Laksmana." Immediately the demon said, "I am actually a
gandharva, and I was cursed to become a demon. They told me that only when Rama
and Laksmana cut me into pieces would I be relieved of this curse. So please do
it, quickly, and then dig a big hole and bury me there." So they did that, then
from the hole came Tumburu, a great gandharva musician who had been cursed by
Kuvera for singing some sense gratification songs. So he told Ramacandra, "If
you walk this way in Dandakaranya, you will come to the ashrama of Sarabanga
Rishi, and then you will find so many rishis. Eventually you will come to
Agastya, and he will give you divine weapons. After receiving these weapons you
will go to Pancavati, and in Pancavati some bad things will happen, but I won't
tell you what they are. However, these deeds will make you most famous." In
this way Tumburu was sent there in disguise, and Ramacandra entered into the
Dandakaranya forest, and h is pastimes with the different rishis will be
discussed later. At the end of Dandakaranya, after Sita was taken away, and
Jatayu was given cremation by Ramacandra, Rama and Laksmana were coming to
Kishkinda, because one rishi told Ramacandra that in Kishkinda they would get
information where Mother Sita was. As they reached Kishkinda, there was a very
very old man with matted locks of hair walking in front of Lord Rama. He looked
at them and said, "You are saintly people, or are you kings, or are you
hunters, or demigods? Please tell me who you are. I am a beggar in this area,
and anyone who comes here, I beg something from them. So according to your
business I will make my demand. You tell me whether you are a demigod or a king
or saintly person." So Ramacandra looked at Laksmana and said, "This is a
wonderful beggar. According to the standard of the donors his demands increase
or decrease." Then he looked at the beggar, and he saw a wonderful diamond
necklace on his neck. He said, "You are a strange beggar. You have a very nice
diamond necklace, and yet you are begging. I can't understand. You have so much
wealth. How can one have such a nice necklace, and still be begging?" The old
man said, "You are able to see my necklace?" Ramacandra replied, "Yes, I can
see it." Then the beggar asked, "Is he able to see my necklace?" So Rama asked
Laksmana, "Can you see it?" Laksmana said, "No. I don't see a thing."
Ramacandra asked, "How come I can see the necklace and Laksmana can't?" Then
the sage very excitedly began to explain. And this is explained in the next
story.



CHAPTER 6: BIRTH AND YOUTH OF HANUMAN

Hanuman is originally the son of Vayu, the air god. And he is also an expansion
of Lord Siva. All the demigods were helping Lord Ramacandra in his battle. Lord
Siva was thinking, "I must also help him." So long before Lord Ramacandra
incarnated, Lord Siva had a pastime. Once Siva and Parvati were playing in
Kailash, and they saw a monkey. Lord Siva, by looking at this monkey, he also
took the form of a monkey. Parvati also took the form of a monkey, and they
played. During that time, Lord Siva gave Parvati a conception. Then immediately
she became Parvati again and said, "I'm not going to give birth to a monkey."
So Siva said, "Well you have a conception so now you have to give birth to it."
Parvati said, "No no, when you gave the conception you were a monkey, so my son
will become a monkey. Already I have an elephant, that is enough. I can't have
this." So Siva said, "All right then, I will make some arrangement." Siva then
called Vayu, and Vayu came there. Once before Siva had given a conception and
Agni had carried it, and Agni had said that he would never do it again. So Vayu
came, and Siva said, "Vayu, you have not done anything to me up till now, so
please do this for me. Take this conception and look after it." Vayu said, "But
you are the most hot person, and I am going to be carrying this around when I
am supposed to be cooling everything. The wind will be hot." Siva said, "You
make some arrangement." So Vayu was carrying this conception wondering what to
do, and then he saw the sapta-rishis going somewhere. He went before them and
asked, "This is a conception from Lord Siva. This has to be preserved until the
Supreme Lord incarnates as Ramacandra. That is a long time away, but it has to
be kept. Please make some arrangement." The sapta-rishis said, "Oh we will make
some arrangement." So they went to origin of the Mandakini river and they took
a leaf which was made of metal, and put the conception there. In this way it
was preserved, and Vayu was supposed to come and see that to the heavenly
planets. You do not want this?" And then she remembered all her previous
activities. She took that conception, and what was this conception? It was
originally conceived by Lord Siva, carried by Vayu for so long, and Vayu gave
it to her, so it was Vayu's son and it was Siva's angsha, or expansion. And
then Anjaneya was born. As soon as he was born he grew into a sixteen year old
boy. That was the potency of Lord Siva. So then Anjana immediately rose up to
go to the heavens, and Anjaneya caught hold of her cloth and said, "Wait a
minute, where are you going? You gave birth to me, and now you are leaving?
What will I eat?" She was looking around, and it was sunset so she said, "Any
fruit which is as red and as ripe as the sun planet, you can eat it." Then she
left, and he was very hungry. He thought and then said, "Why as red as sun and
as ripe as sun? Why not just eat sun?" So he jumped up, and straight away went
to the sun planet and jumped on the chariot of Lord Suryadeva. He was extending
his hands, and he took the whole sun planet and reduced it to a small ball and
put it in his mouth. Just then he looked and saw Rahu coming. "I am going to
eat the sun," Rahu said. Rahu always says this but he only ever half eats it.
So then Anjaneya said, "Oh you are going to eat the sun? Well I have already
eaten the sun and now I will eat you also." So then he swallowed Rahu.
Indradeva had been sitting in his seat discussing politics, but suddenly
everything had become dark. Agniwas there, so due to his light he could see. He
asked Agni, "Why is this? Why is there no light?" Agni replied, "Somebody has
taken the sun away." "What? Somebody has taken the sun away?" Agni said, "Why
are you wondering who has taken it? Just use your shabda-viddhi." Shabda-viddhi
means that just by hearing the sound you shoot your weapon. So he threw his
vadra. While throwing it he was already jumping on his white elephant,
Airavata, and he was coming. Anjaneya looke that everything was dark, and then
he saw this white elephant coming. "Oh, I will eat that also," and then he
jumped on Airavata. While he was jumping on Airavata, the vadra came, and hit
Anjaneya on his teeth. Anjaneya quickly caught hold of it. Indra turned around
and saw Anjaneya holding the vadra, and he thought, "This must be some big
Visnu avatar. I'd better keep quiet. Out of living entities, only Indra can
hold this thunderbolt, so he must be some incarnation with a tail." So Indra
went back. Now Anjaneya had the sun, Rahu and this vadra weapon, and he went
back to his place in Kishkinda to eat it. He sat down looking at this vadra,
and thought, "Should I bite it or chew it?" At that time everyone went to
Brahma and asked him, "What is happening in this universe? Rahu is gone, sun is
gone." Brahma said, "Don't worry. This is the potency of Lord Siva, and this
person is a great devotee of Lord Rama." Brahma lives for a long time, and so
many Ramayanas are happening. So he knows that it is almost the same every
time, but the pastime is a little different in each kalpa. So he said, "This is
Hanuman. All of us have to go there and touch his feet and beg him. If you do
that you will get the sun, otherwise no sun." So all the demigods came, thirty
three crores of them. They all came there with folded hands. "Please Anjaneya,
open your mouth." He was upset because Indra's vadra had hit him on his teeth.
"You have already broken my jaw. If I open my mouth you will just break my
other jaw." So then Brahma said, "My dear boy, I will give you anything you
like. You can live as long as I live." Anjaneya was not satisfied. Then Agni
came forward and said, "Fire will not burn you." Still he was not satisfied, so
Indra came forward. "You are already holding my Vadra, so what benediction can
I give you? But I tell you this, you will become the most famous, as famous as
me." Still not satisfied. Then Vayu came. "You will be as fast as me." He
smiled a little bit. One by one they all came and offered benedictions, and
after everyone came and offered benedictions, still Anjaneya was not satisfied.
Brahma said, "Don't worry, I will use my mystic powers." And he read Anjaneya's
mind. Anjaneya was thinking "Why is there no fruit in this world?" Brhaspati
came to know of his desire and he came forward and said, "Anjaneya, I will give
you all the fruits in this world, and I will give you the knowledge of Ayurveda
by which you will know all the fruits, all the plants, and all the trees. Any
plant in the creation, you will know it, and what is the use of it you will
will also know. This is my benediction to you." Then Dhanvantari spoke, "I will
be at your command. You put any medicine on anyone and they will come alive."
So Anjaneya opened his mouth, and the Sun-god was there, and the demigods were
very much satisfied. So then Brahma called him "Hanuman." Hanuman means one who
has got some kind of a defect in his teeth. That is the meaning of Hanuman.
Hanuman is also known as Vajranga, which means the same thing. Vajra means
teeth and anga means missing one part. One other name for him is Marut-suta,
the son of the wind god. He is known as Anjaneya, the son of Anjana. And lastly
he is known as Mahavira, or a great king. These are some different names of
Hanuman. And then Brahma gave him a diamond necklace, and told him, "This is
the highest benediction you can get. You will be the eternal servant of the
eternal Lord, and only the eternal Lord will be able to recognize this
necklace. That means you will be recognized by him, and he will be recognized
by you as the one who recognized the necklace." When Ramacandra asked the
beggar, "What kind of a beggar are you? You have a wonderful necklace on your
neck." So Hanuman immediately recognized, that this is my worshippable Lord.
And he immediately surrendered to Him. In this way he went to Sugriva, and
Hanuman had so many other exploits too, when he was a small boy. After the
sun-swallowing pastime there were so many other pastimes. He used to take
elephants and tigers and play with them. One day he caught hold of a very wise
elephant. He was holding it by the tusk, and he was also holding a tiger by the
tail, and swinging them around. They were making some sound. This was Hanuman's
fun. And then he saw an ashrama. The sage who lived here had never gotten angry
in his life. He was known for his sense control. Hanuman thought to himself,
"Now we will test his sense control." So he put the tiger and the elephant tied
up together in front of his ashrama. This was early in the morning, d uring the
brahma-muhurta time. So the rishi slowly opened the door and took his lota for
taking bath. And then he looked out and saw this tiger, so he closed the door
quickly. Up to that time he had constipation, but when he saw this tiger
suddenly he felt nature calling. So he had to go out. But what could he do?
There was a tiger outside his door. He looked out the door again, and this time
he saw the elephant as well, so he quickly shut the door again. He had to pass.
But how could he pass inside? He had to go out of the window, and there was a
tree outside of the window, and he looked up and saw Hanuman at the top of the
tree. "So you are the cause of this mischief. Come here!" Hanuman thought,
"He's becoming angry. I must go." So he came down, and he became small and
entered the window. The rishi gave Hanuman a curse that limited his strength.
"Why did you curse me like this?" Hanuman asked. "This is only good for you.
You are having your strength controlled so you can use it only for the Lord's
service. And when the service is coming, the Lord will arrange for someone to
remind you." So then Hanuman said, "I will never tie an elephant to a tiger any
more. And I will certainly not put it in front of your ashrama. I'll put it
somewhere else." So then he came back, and he did not play for a whole week.
Ketari was asking, "Hanuman, how come there have been no complaints from anyone
for a whole week? Have you become a good boy?" Hanuman said, "I don't want to
give trouble to anyone." Then they heard a sound, a very nice sound. Ketari
said, "What is this? It is Narada Muni coming!" Hanuman asked, "Who is this
person?" Ketari replied, "He is a very great soul. He doesn't need any
introduction. You just go to him and you will find out the greatness of this
man." Immediately Hanuman jumped up and Narada was just on his way past their
place, going to see some rishi, so Hanuman jumped in his way and paid pranams.
"Narada Muni, I heard that you are a very great person, so you must b less me.
Without blessing me, you are not allowed to go." Narada said, "What blessing do
you want?" Hanuman said, "Already the demigods have given me so many blessings.
I cannot think of anything else, so you think of a blessing, and you give it to
me." Narada thought, "What blessing does Hanuman not have?" And so he said,
"You will become expert in music." That was the only benediction left to give.
So Hanuman got that benediction, and Narada Muni said, "So I have given you the
benediction, and now I am going." Hanuman said, "One minute, one minute." "What
do you want?" Narada asked. "How will I know that I am the most expert in
music?" Hanuman inquired. "My father told me that you are the most expert in
music, so you must do me a favour today. Give me the benediction that I will be
more expert than you." So Narada said, "All right, I will sit somewhere and
listen to you." "Shall I start singing?" Hanuman asked. "Yes." Narada Muni put
his vina on a rock, and he sat down on the ground. So Hanuman selected that
tune which would melt the rock, and he began to sing it. The rock melted, and
the vina was in the liquid. He was singing and singing, and the vina was
floating in the liquid rock. Narada was closing his eyes and enjoying, and he
said, "All right Hanuman, you are the best musician. You can stop singing now."
Hanuman said, "You open your eyes and tell me if I should I stop singing."
Narada said, "How do you mean?" Hanuman replied, "You open your eyes." So
Narada opened his eyes and looked around. He didn't notice the vina floating in
the stone water. "Yes, you can stop singing." So then Hanuman stopped singing,
and the liquid stone became rock, and the vina got stuck. Narada said, "I am
going," and he took his vina, but it wouldn't move. "What did you do, Hanuman?"
Hanuman said, "I only sung a song. You told me to sing a song, and you also
gave me the ability. Now you are complaining. I have been a good boy for a
whole week." Narada said, "One week of doing nothing means that before that
week you did too much." And then Hanuman told him all about what he had done,
swallowing the sun etc, and Narada became very pleased. Then he said, "Now
whatever it was, you please sing the tune again, so I can get my vina." Hanuman
said, "Well, I don't know...." Narada Muni said, "Please do it!" "No I won't,"
Hanuman said, and he jumped up and ran inside the palace. Narada Muni came in
there and called out, "Hey Hanuman, come and get my vina out! I have to go."
Just then Ketari came out, and when he saw Narada Muni he touched his feet.
"What is my son doing, he is giving you some trouble?" Narada said, "Oh no, no
trouble, just that he got my vina stuck in the rock." Ketari said, "Oh no, he
has started his mischief again. Hanuman, get Narada's vina out of the rock!"
And then Hanuman said, "I want Narada Muni's feet to touch every room in this
palace, that is why I was doing this. Now he has touched all the rooms, and I
will release his vina. The dust from his lotus feet is so rare that what is the
use of just having it in one part of our kingdom? We should have it all over."
Narada said, "You are already blessed, because you are Lord Rama's eternal
servant." So Hanuman went and sung for Narada, who quickly took his vina and
left. In this way, Hanuman had so many wonderful pastimes. Then he told Ketari,
"I want to get education. I have so many benedictions, but I need some
education too, I need vidya. I am very much hankering for vidya." Ketari said,
"But who could give you vidya? You have so many benedictions, but you also have
uncontrollable behaviour. I can't find a guru for you, because you are so
strong, and so naughty also." Hanuman said, "This means that you are not going
to perform the duty of the father. You're not giving me any education." Ketari
said, "I have to give you education, but you do one thing. You go to the
Sun-god. He is the most powerful. Some time ago he was suppressed by you, but I
can't think of anyone else. So you go to him." Hanuman went to see the Sun-god,
and when the Sun-god saw Hanuman coming, he said, "It's Hanuman again. What is
he here for? He's grown up now, so he must have stopped playing his mischief."
Hanuman came up and paid his obeisances. The Sun-god said, "What are you here
for now? Whom are you going to swallow?" Hanuman objected, "No, no, all that
was because I was in ignorance. I still have so much ignorance, but I want to
get some knowledge. I've heard that you are a great pandit, so please teach me.
I've come to join your gurukula." So then the Sun-god looked down. He has a big
sitting place in the front of his chariot. There, there are six million rishis
sitting, and they are constantly reciting Yajur-veda, Rg-veda, Sama-veda and
Atharva-veda to the Sun-god. So he looked to see if there was any vacant seat,
but the whole place was filled up, so he said, "Sorry, but no admission."
Hanuman said, "If there is no seat then I will stand and learn from you." The
Sun-god said, "But I have to keep moving. If you stand in front of me then I
won't be able to move and the seasons won't be there. I will be in trouble."
Hanuman said, "Then I will move and learn." The Sun-god said, "All right. But
you have to face me and move backwards. In this way you have to listen to me,
and whatever I say you have to learn. I won't repeat it." So Hanuman was there
in front of the Sun-god, and he was walking backwards. He was so
sense-controlled that he could join the orbit of the sun. In 60 orbits he
learnt everything, Rg, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. The Sun-god spoke it, he heard
it and immediately he knew it. And then he said, "Now I have finished.
Everything you have said I have heard and I remember it." The Sun-god said,
"Very good, but you have to give me some dakshina." Hanuman said, "Well what do
you want? Do you want Indra's crown? You tell me anything and I will get it for
you in a second." The Sun-god said, "No, I don't want any of that. Only one
guru-dakshina I need from you. I have a monkey friend. You must become his
minister. You must always protect his life." Hanuman said, "Oh? You have a
monkey friend, and I should protect him? This is only glory for me. I will do
it, I will protect him as my life." And then the Sun-god told him who was that
monkey. It was Sugriva, and he is the son of the Sun-god. How Sugriva became
the Sun-god's son is a wonderful story. There was one lady who was known as
Narayani, and her husband was called ugra-tapas. That means "ferocious
austerities," but he never did any austerities. He was only engaged in sense
gratification. He became so diseased and paralysed that he had to be carried in
a basket. Narayani would carry him in a basket so that he could go to different
places and get sense gratification. Ugra-tapas told Narayani, "You must take me
to such and such prostitute today." So she was carrying him. While Ugra-tapas
was in the basket and Narayani was carrying him, there was one rishi whose name
was Bishmanda Rishi, and he had been put on a trident by a king because of some
misunderstanding, and was suffering in that condition. He had tri-kala-jnah,
knowledge of past, present and future, and when he saw Ugra-tapas he knew he
was going to a prostitute's place, and that he was crippled and being carried
by his wife. So he got so upset, and forgot about his pain. He called out, "Hey
Ugra-tapas, what are you doing? Your name is Ugra-tapas, and what is your life
like? And now you are asking your wife to carry you to a prostitute's when you
are paralysed. What kind of a person are you? You should die immediately. When
the sun rises tomorrow you will die." When Narayani heard this she said, "When
the sun rises tomorrow my husband will die? Then I curse that the sun will not
rise." She cursed the sun. So the sun became motionless. The Sun-god's
charioteer Aruna was getting ready, packing the horses etc, and then he looked
back and saw the sun had become static. "Oh? It is a vacation for me. I never
got any holiday, because t here was never any chance. Let me have some fun." So
he went and asked the sages that sit on the Sun-god's chariot, "How come the
sun is not moving any more?" "This is the curse of a chaste lady," they
replied. "How long will this curse last?" Aruna asked. "At least one day."
"That's good," Aruna said. "One day is good. I can enjoy nicely." So Aruna got
one day's holiday. He was thinking, "How can I enjoy this day? It never
happened in the creation before, and it will probably never happen again. The
sun never goes on holiday. I only have one day, so I must get the highest
enjoyment." So he took a book, like a tourist guide for the heavenly planets,
and he found out that Indra was having a special feast and dinner in respect of
some great personality, and Menaka was dancing at that festival. "Oh I must go
and see that," he said. But in this party, only the invited guests were
allowed. You had to bring an invitation, and you had to be dressed in a special
design. It was only Indra's close friends. So he was wondering, "How will I go?
I know, I will also become a dancer." So he turned into a woman, Aruna became
Aruni. And this Aruni was so beautiful, because he always sat with the sun and
he was shining so brightly. He came in front of Indra's palace. The gateman
said, "Hey, who are you?" "I am Menaka's make--up assistant," she said. She
forgot to put one line on her face, so I have to do it. I am the only one who
is expert enough." "All right, you may come." So then Aruni entered. Menaka was
dancing on one side and Aruni was hiding. And then Indra was looking through
the crowd, and suddenly he saw Aruni. "She is more beautiful that Menaka," he
said. So he immediately cancelled the party, and started showing everyone out.
Aruni was going to leave, but Indra caught hold of her and said, "Wait a
minute! Who are you?" Aruni said, "I am Menaka's make-up assistant. Leave me
alone! I am going." "No you are not going, you are staying," Indra said. "I'm
staying wh ere?" "With me," Indra said. "No, I am not staying with you. I know
your history," Aruni said. Indra said, "No, no, I will keep you next to
Indrani." Aruni objected, "Even if you keep me more than Indrani, I cannot be
here because I am a man." Indra said, "Don't play these games with me, I know
you are a woman." Aruni said, "No I am not a woman! I am a man! I just turned
myself into this form." Indra said, "Even then, you are the most beautiful
woman that I have seen." Aruni said, "If you were to give me a conception, who
would bring up the child? I am the charioteer of the Sun-god." Indra said,
"Whatever or whoever you are, and whatever will come out of it, I'm going to
enjoy you." Aruni agreed, and immediately there was a conception, and a demigod
was born. And then Aruni ran, because it was getting late already, and the
Sun-god was slowly getting his movement back. At the last moment Aruna jumped
on the chariot and grabbed the reins. The Sun-god said, "You're sure cutting it
fine. Where did you go?" "Oh, nowhere," Aruna answered. "Tell me!" "Oh, I went
to Indra's planet." "What did he do to you?" the Sun-god asked. "He gave me a
conception." "How did he give you a conception?" Aruna said, "It's getting late
now, we only have a few moments." The Sun-god said, "A few moments is alright.
It needs only one moment. Let me see that beautiful form." Aruna objected, "No,
no. This will only cause more trouble." "No, I must see," said the Sun-god.
"You are my servant." "Alright," said Aruna, and he became Aruni. In the next
moment there was another conception. So this is demigod life. Only a very few
of them are thinking of Visnu. The bulk of them think of Visnu only when the
demons come, and then when the demons leave they go back to their sense
gratification. It is mentioned in the Visnu Purana that one who hears this
story loses the attraction for going to the heavenly planets. So now two babies
were crying. This was not usually the way that birth happened in the heavenly
planets, so all the demigods were disturbed in their sense gratification. They
all went to Brahma and Brahma approached Indra, saying, "You are the cause of
this problem. You settle this down." "I can't have babies in the heavenly
planets," Indra said. "We'll have to give them to someone." Then he remembered
the king of Varanasa, Riksharaja, who had no children. He was performing
austerities to please Indra so he could get a son. A benediction from the
demigods is usually something that demigods don't want in the heavenly planets,
so they give it away. So Riksharaja was standing on one leg to get some
children, and Indra came and said, "Why are you standing on one leg? Here are
two babies you can have." So they had two sons, Bali and Sugriva. Bali was the
son of Indra, and Sugriva was the son of the Sun-god. And the Sun-god got the
benediction of guru-dakshina from Hanuman that he would always protect Sugriva.
In this way, when Bali was anointed the king after Riksharaja, Sugriva became
his minister, and Hanuman became the counsellor or minister of Sugriva.



CHAPTER 7: THE GREAT MONKEY ARMY

When the monkeys were looking for Sita, they were going to commit suicide on
account of their not being able to find her. Angada was putting the kusa grass,
and he said, "I'm going to die. I can't find Sita." The other monkeys said,
"No, no, there is a nice secure place where we can go to live." Hanuman
chastised them. "This is illusion," he said. Hanuman got so upset, and he was
chastising Angada and the rest of the monkeys. "What are you trying to do? Do
you want to end your life in a prestigious way, or do you want to go for some
`security'?" They were on a mission for Ramacandra. They had to find Sita and
then come back with that information. Thirty thousand monkeys went on that
mission. That was only in the south. In the north there were eighty thousand
monkeys. And because east and west were not so important, there was only ten
thousand in those places. The greatest corporals and generals of Sugriva were
ordained to go, and they were told not to come back until they found Sita.
Unfortunately all the other groups came back. The north, the east and the west.
But the southern party was still going. Hanuman, Jambavan, Angada and Nila were
the greatest leaders of that group. We have discussed Hanuman's appearance
already. Now we will discuss Jambavan. Jambavan is the oldest created being in
the universe, apart from Brahma. When Brahma was thinking of making the
creation and he had the vision of the Lord, the Lord shook hands with him and
gave him the information of Bhagavatam, aham evasya evagre. "I am before
everything and after everything." Brahma was contemplating to create, and he
was thinking, "How great is this creation, and how am I going to do it?" In the
meantime, the Garbhodakasayi Visnu was laying down on the snake, and from both
of his ears, two drops of sweat came out. One drop became Madhu, a great demon,
and the other became Kaitava, another great demon. Madhu and Kaitava came and
met, and shook hands. They looked back and said, "We must finish this." This is
a demon. You take shelter of something, and then when you are done with it you
destroy it. This Rakshasa mentality of Madhu and Kaitava created a bad
atmosphere and Brahma started sweating. The sweat came from his four faces.
Lord Visnu got up and looked at Madhu and Kaitava and said, "O great
personalities Madhu and Kaitava, please give me a benediction." They said,
"This is easy! He is surrendering to us. Do you know who we are?" they
addressed him. "Oh, you are the great Madhu and Kaitava, supremely powerful
persons." They said, "What benediction do you want, Visnu?" Visnu said, "You
give me a benediction that I can fight with you." "Oh, you want a fight?" they
said. "That is what we are expecting too. Now it is more prestigious for us,
because it is our benediction. Yes you can fight with us, but one thing. If
ever you think that you want to kill us, you can only kill us in a place where
there is no earth, no water, no air, no fire, no ether, no mind, no
intelligence and no false ego. You can kill us in that spot." That means that
they cannot be killed anywhere in the universe, that was what they were
thinking. They didn't know anything beyond the universe, because they were
demons. Then Visnu started fighting with them, and it went on for a long time.
While the fight was going on, Brahma was sweating again because of the whole
evil atmosphere created by Madhu and Kaitava. This time with the sweat came a
small entity, and it was there on his cheek. It was moving around there. Brahma
said, "What is this?" and he looked at it. It started growing, so he threw it
on the floor. It grew more, and it was a bear. No species were present at that
time. "What is this?" Brahma said. Black bear with so much hair on the body,
and it grew and grew and became so strong. It spoke in Sanskrit. He spoke to
Brahma, "You have created me, so where shall I go?" Brahma said, "I created
something without my knowledge. You go to Jambunada." That was one piece of
land in the water of dissolut ion, Jambunada-ksetra. So immediately he entered
Jambunada, and he sat down there and was looking around. What he saw was Madhu
and Kaitava fighting. He was clapping his hands and whistling, and he called
out, "Wonderful! Hit him on the head!" He was the audience. Visnu was going up
into the sky and picking them up and throwing them. They were so strong, coming
from the ear of Visnu, so they were giving a good fight. Garbhodakasayi Visnu
was laying down on Sesa naga for a long time, so he wanted to have some
pastime. He wanted to have some entertainment, so he created somebody and
started fighting. He took Madhu and Kaitava on his lap, and then with his hand
he crushed them. They were finished, because there was no earth, water, fire,
air, ether, mind, intelligence or false ego. His was a transcendental body.
Jambavan jumped up and down and said, "Wonderful, wonderful fight! Can I see
more?" Visnu said, "You wait for the creation to start. Then there will be so
many fights." So creation started, and the Manvantaras came one by one. There
was a great dissolution, and Satyavrata was on the boat, and a golden fish
came, a huge big fish with a horn. With Vasuki, the snake, they tied the fish's
horn yo that boat. The sapta-rishis were there and Jambavan was sitting there
looking. "Aah, what a nice fish," he said, and he circumambulated the fish. The
fish was circumambulating the whole universe. In this way Jambavan had a good
engagement at that time. Jambavan will not die, he is a ciran-jiva. He was
getting old, but he was quite strong. Then Kurma-avatar came, and Jambavan
witnessed that also. He also was there when Varaha-avatar slapped Hiranyaksa.
Hiranyaksa was slapped and he went up circling around, and while he was
circling around his eyes came out of his sockets, and Jambavan was playing with
them. "What a wonderful fight!" That was finished, and he saw Nrsimhadeva also.
And then Vamanadeva appeared. When Vamanadeva grew into a huge big figure
lifting his leg an d piercing the universe from the top, Jambavan, in six
moments, circled this great form of Trivikrama eighteen times. That was the
speed of Jambavan. He was in ecstasy, "Oh! What a beautiful form!" He was going
around and around, eighteen times in six moments. When he was coming back down
he was in so much ecstasy, and he scratched Mount Meru with his toe-nails. Meru
got upset. Meru came in person and said, "Hey, you dirty bear! What are you
doing to me? You are touching me with your foot. Even the sapta-rishis don't do
this, they float over me. They don't set foot on me. You are doing this, so you
become old. Because you are young and so fast, you have offended me. You become
old and weak." He cursed him. So Jambavan became very old. Meru told him,
"Although you are old, when the pastimes of Lord Ramacandra come, you will do a
lot of service for him." This was Jambavan. And Jambavan was called by Sugriva,
who said to him, "Jambavan, you are the oldest. There is nothing that you don't
know. There is no demigod that you don't know. There is no avatar that you
haven't seen. There is no ocean that you don't know. You know everything in
this creation. So you must help Angada, the son of Bali. Find out where Sita
is." Jambavan agreed, and he told Angada, "Don't worry. I cannot fly like
before, but I know every place. I can be your guide in this area of south
India. Somehow we will find Mother Sita." Then there was Nila. Nila was also a
Brahma-putra, a mental son of Brahma, and he was an engineer, a chemist and a
scientist. He was also a bear, a bear scientist. So this scientist could float
stones, reduce and increase the density of stone, he was such a physicist and
chemist that he could take different things, mix them up and create diverse
effects of colour, smell, and various feelings. He could change feelings by
chemical combination. He could take something and mix with something else, and
you would feel miserable. By another combination he could make yo one's mind by
chemicals, without that person having to take it, unlike the drugs of today. He
constructed a kingdom in Kishkinda which was so strong. It was complete stone,
no cement or concrete. Just stone on top of stone. It was constructed so each
stone was holding another, and it was a huge big palace, very strong. This is
Nila. Hanuman, Jambavan, Nila and Angada set forward with thirty thousand
vanaras. They looked everywhere, but couldn't find anything. Then they came to
the Vindhya mountains. By the time they had crossed the forest, which had no
leaves (big trees are there, but they are only branches because one rishi's son
cursed the forest, "You will become barren"). So many trees are there but there
are no leaves. No leaves means no flowers, and no flowers means no fruit, so
all the monkeys were hungry. Already they had been about three weeks with no
water and no food. They didn't know what to do. They saw a black cave in front
of the Vindhya mountains. Hanuman said to Angada, "We are great warriors, so we
must have some thrill. Let us enter this cave." All the monkeys said, "No, no,
we are not going inside this cave. Already there is no water, no food, and if
you go inside this cave there will be no light. And if you go deeper there will
be no air, and we will all die." So Hanuman said, "Whoever wants to go, raise
their hand." So Jambavan, Angada, Nila and of course Hanuman, and a few other
monkeys, they all raised their hands. Hanuman said, "All right, hold my tail."
So Angada was holding his tail, and Nila was holding Angada's tail. Jambavan
was in the middle, because he was old and they didn't want to lose him, and
there were other monkeys and all of them started walking into this cave. The
only symptoms that they saw was some birds coming from inside, and their wings
were wet. Hanuman said, "Look, their wings are wet. That means some water is
there. And if the birds are coming from inside the cave that means some people
must be living there . It must be a nice place, so everyone should come." He
was preaching like this, and the monkeys were one by one joining. A few were
standing there and wondering what to do. They thought, "Hanuman, Jambavan and
everyone else are all going, and we are standing here. There is no water here,
and they are the only protection for us. If they are gone, what will we do?" So
they also decided to go. All the monkeys joined, they all went into the cave.
Every five minutes Jambavan was shouting the names of all the different
monkeys, just to check that everyone was there, because it was so dark, you
couldn't see anything. And after crossing eighty miles in complete darkness,
finally there was a glimmer of light coming. Hanuman shouted, "Rama! Rama!
Rama! There is light here. Maybe there are some people and we can get some
food. We are hungry monkeys." So they all went towards the light and discovered
a beautiful city inside the cave. And so many mansions were there. These
mansions were all made with gold and rubies and diamonds, they couldn't believe
their eyes. There was lakes and lotus flowers, nice creepers and fruits. Angada
said, "Don't believe this. It may be the work of some demon, that as soon as we
go in he will swallow us. Don't touch anything. Keep leaping." They were
leaping from one place to another, and then they leaped into a mansion. Without
making any sound they were inside and looking around. They found one woman who
was dressed in tiger skin, with matted locks of hair. She had a trident in her
hand. "What is this?" they said. "She looks like a babaji, and she is in this
wonderful palace." Hanuman went in front, and he folded his hands. Hanuman is
very good in talking. He gave a smile. He said, "Please tell us who you are.
You look like a very spiritually advanced person." Flattery. "I hope you are
not a demoness. But you don't look like one, you look very pious. So you must
tell us who you are." She said, "First you tell me who you are. How did you get
inside this place? This is a mysti nd human beings, gandharvas, vanaras, can
never come here. Only celestials can come here." Jambavan was mumbling, "Yes,
yes, they are all celestials. They only look like monkeys." Angada asked him,
"What did you say?" "No, no," Jambavan replied. "I am just telling something
old." Jambavan had been in Rama-lila before, and every time they had gone in
search of Sita, and every time they had gone into this cave also. Every time he
saw something like that, he would say, because he has seen it so many times.
They were seeing it for the first time, because demigods keep changing, but
Jambavan is the same Jambavan. Hanuman said, "We are all servants of Lord
Ramacandra, the son of Dasaratha." Then she said, "This Ramacandra, I don't
think he's the son of an earthly king, because otherwise how just by chanting
his name could you cross that dark cave. It is not possible for anyone to do
that. This must be an incarnation of Visnu." Jambavan said, "She also knows so
much. I know that he is an incarnation of the Supreme Lord, and I also know who
will find Sita." Some monkeys said, "What did you say?" Jambavan said, "Don't
listen to me. I'm just an old bear, and old people always mumble like this."
Hanuman and this lady got into a good conversation. Hanuman pleased her, and
she told her identity. She was a friend of Hema, and Hema was the daughter of
Mount Meru. This Hema was once being kept captive in that city by one great
demon called Mayasura. He was a great magician. Indra came, and he sent his
vadra, and he finished this demon Maya. He took charge of Hema, and she became
Indra's wife. Hema was alone in that huge big magical city, so Indra requested
Meru to send his daughter so they could have some association. Hema had gone
out somewhere, so that is why this lady was there. She was an ascetic, and she
believed in worship of impersonal Brahman, and mukti. She was there with tiger
skin and trident. This was the story. Hanuman said, "We are very hungry, and we
are monkeys. Please give us something to eat." "No problem," she said. "You
just go into this garden and you can eat plenty of fruits, fill your stomachs."
So the whole army went into this beautiful garden of Mayasura, and they ate
stomachs full. They came to drink water, and after drinking water she supplied
them with wine which they also took. They took a little wine. The wine back
then was just a drink, not an intoxicant. In this way they enjoyed nicely, and
they asked her, "You please tell us how we can now get out of the cave." She
said, "Get out of this cave? No, you can never get out of this cave." They
said, "What? You've fed us nicely, you've given us so much nice drink, and now
you're going to keep us in prison?" Hanuman took his club and said, "You want
to see this?" She said, "Wait a minute, you just ate in my house. You can't
fight with me. I said, `You can't get out of the cave'. I never said that you
won't go out of the cave. All of you, close your eyes." They all closed their
eyes. And then she said, "Now open your eyes." And when they opened their eyes
they were not there. In front of them was a huge big ocean, Mahodadhi. They
were somewhere between Rameshvara and Puri, but this land extended so many
miles down in Treta-yuga. The Ceylon that we are seeing today is not the same
Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is further down, because Hanuman flew one hundred yojanas.
A yojana is eight miles. Eight hundred miles is not the distance from
Rameshvara to Ceylon. You can reach it in forty five minutes by a boat. It's
not that far. It is mentioned that they were on top of a mountain from where
Hanuman flew, and in the area of Rameshvaram you don't find any mountains. So
that area from where Hanuman jumped, the Gandha-madana hills, is much more
down. And that is all eaten up by ocean. We shouldn't think that this was the
shore where they were standing. They were miles down at that time, because the
ocean comes and eats the land. Hanuman and the others saw this Mahodadhi ocea
n. It was very fierce. Angada said, "We have come to the end of the land. Where
is Sita? We have not found her. How can we go back, now that is a month? We
started on the full moon night, and now it is again full moon night." Angada
felt very bad. He said, "Bring some darba grass." He placed it with the tips
facing the north. He was going to do a Prayopavesha. Prayopavesha means that
when a great personality cannot accomplish a task which he promised he would
do, he would sit on the kusa grass and leave his body by fasting. He was
sitting there on the kusa grass. Hanuman was sitting there with his head in his
hands looking at the ocean. He thought, "We have come to a blank disc. What is
going on now? Should I go back or forward? What should I do?" Jambavan was
taking rest, because he was tired after drinking wine and eating so many
fruits. Other monkeys were wandering around and looking here and there. Hanuman
saw the monkeys, and he asked them, "What are you going to do?" They said, "We
have a good idea. We will go back to the cave. Plenty of fruits, plenty of
wine. You cannot get out. If you cannot get out, you cannot get in, and no-one
will come to trouble us. We will be happy there." Hanuman said, "What a silly
idea. This is maya. Ramacandra is our Lord. What do you need this security for?
You want to take shelter in wine and fruit? You must be a monkey." He chastised
them. Angada was sitting there chanting mantras, and preparing to leave his
body. Hanuman also approached him. "Angada, you are a prince. What are you
doing looking to the north, sitting on kusa grass? This is not meant for strong
people. Look at your shoulders, they're so strong. They are supposed to be for
fighting for Lord Ramacandra. Here you are fasting, preparing to die. What are
you going to accomplish because of this? You will die. And everyone will say,
`That son of Bali is a useless monkey. He died because he couldn't accomplish
his mission." Angada said, "You are saying all this, but you tell me, what are
we supposed to do? If I go back Sugriva will kill me and take the kingdom.
Already he planned somehow to kill my father. Now he has got a reason to kill
me. He will say, `Now you didn't accomplish your mission so I will kill you.'
No-one will say anything, and he will have the kingdom. Let him have the
kingdom anyway, let me just die. At least he won't die." Hanuman realised he
would have to use politics here. Sama dhana bheda danda. There are four ways of
preaching. First you speak nicely, and then you offer something, then you make
a bheda, a difference of opinion between the groups. "Do you know what he said
about you?" If none of those work, you use the stick, danda. Hanuman thought,
now I have to use bheda, politics. He said, "Yes, Sugriva is like that. He may
take the whole kingdom, but your mother is there. If you die, she will
certainly suffer. He will give her no food, no cloth and no respect. She will
beg in the street. Your mother!" Angada said, "No!" And he threw the kusa grass
away. "I'm not fasting!" Hanuman said, "If you die, what is the benefit? You
must go back now. Somehow or other we must convince him that we couldn't find
Sita." Angada said, "How will I go back? I have no strength." Hanuman said,
"You sit down. I will tell you the pastimes of Lord Ramacandra. Then you will
gain strength." He began to describe the pastimes of Ramacandra. They discussed
all these wonderful things of how Lord Ramacandra broke the bow, how he
defeated Parasurama, how he caressed Jatayu and cremated him. As soon as they
were talking about that, they saw some change in the atmosphere. Everything was
trembling and shaking. Hanuman caught hold of Angada and said, "Some demon is
coming." They were looking everywhere, and then from under the mountainside
they saw two big feet coming out. They looked like bird's feet, and each nail
was about two kilometres long. Angada said, "That's it. All thirty thousand
monkeys will be eaten by this b ird demon now. Look at his fingers, they are so
big!" Slowly the bird came into sight, and then they noted that this bird did
not have any speed. It was dragging itself, slowly. They saw the wings also,
which were each 14 yojanas long. However, the wings were broken, and they
looked completely burned. They looked like charcoal. He was dragging himself
with great difficulty, and then slowly his face came into view, a huge beak. He
opened his mouth and spoke, "Who is talking about my brother Jatayu?" So many
monkeys were blown over just by the air coming out of his mouth. Jambavan was
called, and Hanuman said, "Look after the monkeys, we must take care of this
person. He may be useful to us." They both came to him, and asked him, "Who are
you? We are talking of Jatayu, and I am Hanuman and this is Angada. I am the
son of Vayu, and we are messengers of Rama." Slowly the bird opened his eyes
and said, "Rama? Is this the son of Dasaratha?" Hanuman said, "Yes, this is the
same Rama." The bird continued, "He was exiled to the forest. Has he completed
his exile?" "What a wonderful bird," Angada remarked. "He is sitting under the
mountain and cannot see anything, yet he knows history. Yes they are still in
exile because they lost their wife. Sita has been taken by Ravana." The bird
said, "Ravana! Aargh! I will eat him up." Hanuman said, "Oh very good! Please
do it." The bird said, "But I cannot fly. My wings are broken. I am Sampati,
the elder brother of Jatayu. I am much stronger than Jatayu. I heard that
Jatayu was killed by Ravana. I want to kill him, but I can't kill him as I have
entered into an agreement with him." Long ago when Sampati was flying, when he
was young and very strong, Ravana was flying with somebody's wife. This is what
he does all the time. Once he was doing a fire sacrifice, and when Agni came to
give a blessing, he took Agni's wife. Ravana is famous for taking people's
wives. Sampati stopped him and said, "Where are you going? Who is this woman?"
Ravana said, "This is Nalakuvera's wife pati said, "You had better leave her
right here, otherwise you don't know what I will do to you." Ravana said, "Ah,
you are just a dirty bird." So he took one of his feet and caught hold of
Ravana and crushed him. Blood came out of his body, and that is why Ravana has
five holes in his body, from Sampati's claw. Ravana covers these so no-one can
see him. But there is one hole which he doesn't cover on his chest. That is the
tusk of Airavata. He wants to show that because it is a great fighting wound.
At that time Ravana touched Sampati's feet. "Although you are a bird, I touch
your feet. Please make an agreement with me. I won't come in your area and do
anything, and you don't come in my area." They signed an agreement. Because of
this, Sampati was bound by dharma. Hanuman asked Sampati, "And how have you
become old like this?" Sampati said, "Once Jatayu and I were having a
competition, and we were flying higher and higher. But we came very close to
the sun, and I saw Jatayu was burning. So to protect him I put my wings over
him. However, I also was very close to the sun, and my wings got burnt and came
loose. After that I don't know where my brother went. You are the first I have
heard say that he died in the service of Lord Ramacandra. I have stayed here so
long, and a rishi once told me that when I told you where Sita was, at that
time I would get my strength back." Hanuman became very excited, "What did you
say?" Sampati repeated, "When I tell you where Sita is..." Hanuman cut him
short, "You know where Sita is?" And all the monkeys started jumping up and
down. "We've found Sita, we've found Sita!" Sampati said, "Can you please move
me out of this cave? I have to climb on top of the Vindhya mountains to look at
it." Angada asked, "Look at what?" "To look at Lanka," the bird replied. Angada
said, "Look at Lanka? It is eight hundred miles away!" Hanuman came close to
Angada and said, "Just look at this bird. He's so huge, fourteen yojanas each
wing. This bird itself is about thirty yojanas long. Can you imagine how much
power he must have in his eyes? He can sit here and see Lanka!" With great
difficulty all the monkeys came under Sampati and moved him. Thirty thousand
monkeys were trying so hard. It was difficult for them to somehow put him on
top of the rock with his wings like that. Then he lifted his beak and said, "I
can see Sri Lanka. I can see the ten-story building of Ravana. I can see the
roof, and Ravana standing on the top." He could see everything, he had such
optical power. Sampati is the son of Aruna, the charioteer of the Sun-god, so
he must be very powerful. "I cannot see Sita," he continued, "But Ravana is
walking here and there. So many demons are around. I can see a forest of Ashoka
trees. I can see a yellow cloth hanging there." As soon as he said that,
Hanuman said, "Yes, yellow cloth. That is what Mother Sita was wearing."
Previously Sita had taken some ornaments, put them in yellow cloth that she
tore from her sari, and threw them down. Hanuman picked them up before Rama
came to Kishkinda, and Laksmana identified them as Sita's jewelleries. Hanuman
became very happy. Even while they were looking, slowly Sampati's wings became
straight, and new feathers were coming out of his body. Next moment they heard
a loud, "Rama!" Sampati had chanted Rama. When he started "Ra" he was already
up in the sky. By the time they had heard the whole world he was just a point
in the distant sky. Sampati went to the heavenly planets. He didn't want to be
there, because he wanted so desperately to kill Ravana, but because of the pact
he couldn't do it. So he just helped them and then went. They had found out
where Sita was. Hanuman was asked by Jambavan, "You must leap over this ocean,
and go to Sri Lanka." Hanuman said, "This ocean is so big. How will I do it?"
Jambavan then told Hanuman his own pastimes. How he got the sun planet inside
his mouth etc. As Jambavan was narrating, Hanuman began to grow. He became big
ger and bigger and bigger. He became so big that Valmiki says his shadow was
fifty yojanas long. All the monkeys were like mosquitoes in front of him. Then
he said to Jambavan, "Yes, I am the servant of Rama! I am the son of Vayu.
No-one can stop me! I will crush Ravana with my thumb, and I will bring Sita on
my shoulder! There is no need for Ramacandra to go. I am going now." He chanted
"Rama!" He started with "Ra," and he ended with "m". When he said "m" he was in
Sri Lanka. That was how fast he was. Being an angsha of Lord Siva, he took the
path that Lord Siva travels. There are different levels that different entities
travel at. Gandharvas travel very close to earth, and after Gandharvas come
Kinnaras, after Kinnaras come Vanaras, and after Vanaras come Siddhas, after
Siddhas come Caranas, and after Caranas come bigger demigods like Ganesh or
Kartikeya, and them comes Lord Siva's tract. In that area no-one flies. It is
Lord Siva's zone. That is where Hanuman went. He was flying fearlessly. In this
way, by chanting Rama only once, Hanuman reached Sri Lanka. Before reaching Sri
Lanka he encountered many disturbances, as well as much help on the way. There
was one mountain called Mainata Parvata. which can grow simply by thinking. The
ocean king told Mainata Parvata, "Hanuman, the servant of Rama, is coming, and
he must take some rest. He is leaping in one breath, so you must grow upwards
and give him somewhere to rest." Mainata Parvata grew upwards to the sky and
stopped Hanuman. Hanuman said, "What's this? There is no mountain here. Who are
you?" Hanuman can speak not only from his mouth but from any hole in his body,
this was his yogic perfection. He had only one breath, so he didn't use his
mouth which he was using to chant Rama. "M" had to be pronounced in Sri Lanka,
and he was still on "Ra". He was talking through some other hole. Mainaka
Parvata thought, "This is a wonderful phenomenon. A monkey with a long tail
speaking through the holes of the body. Please put your lotus feet on my head,"
the mountain said, "because I have to show to the ocean king that I have served
you." Hanuman said, "No rest when I am doing Krsna-seva. I am going." The
demigods thought, "This is not correct that he reaches Lanka so easily. There
must be some fun." So they called a great snake called Sarasa. This Sarasa was
ordered to stop Hanuman. This Sarasa took the form of a demoness. She came
there and opened her mouth. Hanuman was flowing and she was growing upwards,
her mouth open like a big cave. Hanuman said, "Please move away from here. I am
on the Lord's mission." "No no no," she said. "Brahma has given me a
benediction that unless somebody goes in my mouth, he cannot pass by." Hanuman
said, "Ah, but this mouth is too small for me." And he started growing more.
She started growing also, making her mouth bigger, so he also grew. She grew
more. They were growing and growing, and her mouth became half the size of the
universe. At that time Hanuman suddenly became small, and he entered the mouth
and came out. Then he said, "See, I have defeated you. I entered your mouth and
came out again. Now you please bless me." So she gave blessings, and then he
went. Another great demoness came and said, "She didn't swallow you, but I must
swallow you." She also did the same thing. Hanuman also asked the same thing.
"You please open your mouth a little wider so you can eat me comfortably." She
opened her mouth wider, and Hanuman became small. Though he became small, the
strength is same. He went inside the mouth, and hit the back of her mouth. By
that hitting, blood came out and she died. Then Hanuman got her blessings too,
while she was dying. She was some Gandharvika that had been cursed to become a
demoness. She said, "Now I am killed by Hanuman, I will get liberation." So she
blessed Hanuman. She said, "There is one more person that you have to kill, at
the entrance gate." Hanuman landed in Sri Lanka. He looked at Lanka, a
beautiful city. He felt very bad. "Why should a demon have such a beautiful
city?" He made up his mind, "Before I go from here, I will destroy this city,
somehow or other." He came and Lankani was sitting there, a great demoness with
a trident. So Hanuman became a small monkey, very small, and he was running
inside the gate. She was sitting there and she said, "Wait! You are not going."
"She is very intelligent," Hanuman said. "I am so small and she saw me." He
climbed on her hand and up to her shoulder. He looked at her and said, "I am a
small monkey, please let me in. I want to eat some fruits." "Fruits?" she
asked. "What fruits are you going to eat?" Hanuman said, "I heard that there
are beautiful mangoes, and Ravana is keeping them only for himself." She said,
"I will get you any mango outside this gate. There are so many gardens here.
Why are you going inside for food?" Hanuman said, "Don't waste my time. You'd
better let me in." She was shocked. "What? You are just sitting on my shoulder.
Don't you know who I am? I am Lankani." Hanuman said, "You are Lankani? I will
slap you." She was amused. "You will slap me? You can't even reach my cheek."
"Please take me to your cheek," Hanuman said. She took Hanuman and placed him
next to her cheek. He slapped her and she fell down and blood came from her
mouth. He was so small, but his strength was the same as when his size was
normal. Then he went inside the city.



CHAPTER 8: BACKGROUND STORIES

Sri Lanka was built on top of a mountain called Tri-kuta Giri. This Tri-kuta
was a piece of rock that broke from Mount Meru. Long ago, there was some
discussion between two Gandharvas. One Gandharva said, "Vasuki is such a
powerful strong snake, that when the Lord took incarnation as Matsya, he used
Vasuki as a rope to tie the horn of that fish to the boat where Maharaja
Satyavrata and the sapta-rishis were travelling. In the dissolution water, this
boat was kept safe due to Vasuki binding Matsya and the boat." The other
Gandharva said, "Maybe he is strong, but do you think he could be as strong as
Vayu, Varuna or Agni?" The other said, "He must be stronger than them,
otherwise why did the Lord select Vasuki?" While they were discussing in this
way, Vayu, the god of air, who is present everywhere, he couldn't tolerate this
discussion. He personally came in front of them and asked them, "What is this
useless discussion?" "Who are you?" they enquired. "I am Vayu," he replied. "Is
there anyone as strong as me? Why do you even discuss these things? Don't you
know that I am everywhere and I am listening to these things?" One Gandharva
said, "Well, I have seen Vasuki. I was the last one to creep into the water at
that time. I've seen how strong he is." Vayu said, "Bring that Vasuki, and we
can test." Then Vasuki was brought, and he challenged Vayu. "What do you mean?
I am so strong! Every time the Lord selects me, so there must be some reason."
Vayu said, "Then we can test our strength." Vasuki said, "I will coil around
the Meru three times, and you blow and see if you can open my coils." But they
never consulted Mount Meru whether they could do it. Around Mount Meru were so
many insects and creatures. All the planetary systems were going around it.
Vasuki went on there, and Meru did not mind. So many snakes were on there
already. But he didn't know there was going to be some sports. Vasuki coiled
around Meru three times and started getting tighter and tighter. And then Vayu
started blowing against Mount Meru in full force. Mount Meru started moving
back and forth, because Vayu was using all his strength, and Vasuki was not
going to give up. So it was not just Vasuki, but Vayu had to work on both, the
strength of Mount Meru and the strength of Vasuki. And then Mount Meru started
complaining and screaming. "What is this? There are three parties involved in
this, but I was never consulted. Why am I being given trouble like this? I am
going to turn upside down and create trouble. All the planetary systems will
fall." Brahma heard all this, and he appeared on the scene, telling Vayu and
Vasuki, "You have your kind of strength, and he has his kind of strength. In
your kind of strength, you are the most strong. And in his strength, blowing,
that you cannot do. So in that way he is strong." When Vasuki uncoiled after
the sports, one rock was broken from Mount Meru, and it fell in the salt ocean.
This rock had three peaks, so it was known as Tri-kuta. It was on the salty
ocean for a long time. And then Visvakarma, for the purpose of making a nice
palace for the pastimes of the demigods, he made this Sri Lanka city on top of
Tri-kuta mountain. Later, Kuvera, the cousin brother of Ravana, took over this
place. He also got an appointment as the treasurer of the demigods, so they
didn't mind him using it. Kuvera was there for a long time. When Ravana,
Vibhisana, Kumbhakarna and Surpanakha went there for performing austerities,
Ravana's mother Kaikashi became very envious that Kuvera was sitting on this
wonderful Sri Lanka city, so she told Ravana, "Why don't you perform some
austerities so that you can get a benediction and kick him out of this place."
Kaikashi was the wife of Vishravas, and Vishravas had another wife through whom
Kuvera was born. These were co-wives, and they were rivals. Kaikashi was
inciting Ravana, "You must perform some tapasya, some great austerities."
Ravana performed austerities, Kumbhakarna performed austerities, Vibhisan a
performed austerities, and Surpanakha also performed austerities as well as
Khara and Dusana. Each one was born with 1 hour 45 minutes difference between
them. Ravana, then Kumbhakarna, then Vibhisana, then Surpanakha, then Khara and
Dusana. So they were all in Himalayas performing austerities. When Brahma
appeared before Ravana, he asked for all kinds of greedy benedictions, and he
got them. Kumbhakarna was thinking to ask for a benediction by which he will
live forever. The word in Sanskrit is "nitya-tvam." nitya means eternal and
nitya-tvam means eternity. "I want eternity." But somehow the material nature
tricked Kumbhakarna. The word Devatta, the power of speech came in his tongue,
and tilted his tongue. Instead of nitya-tvam, he asked for "nidra-tvam." Nidra
means "sleep", so he asked for sleep. Brahma said, "Tadastu, you can have it."
Kumbhakarna said, "What? No! I wanted to live forever, not sleep! Please stop
this benediction!" Brahma said, "No, I have given you this benediction, I
cannot take it back." He begged, "This is not fair! It is a trick of the
demigods! I did so much austerity, and now I am simply going to sleep. This is
not proper! Why would a person ever perform austerities so that he can just
sleep forever, and then die at the end?" So Brahma felt very compassionate.
"All right, Kumbhakarna, you sleep for six months. And then you get up, and you
eat for six months." So Kumbhakarna went to sleep. At the end of the sixth
month, waking him up was very difficult. They had to bring a huge army. The
army would march on his body. Elephants and camels would walk over him, and
they would play bugles and put fire on his chest. Still he would be snoring and
wouldn't get up. After all the army marched past shooting astras and creating a
lot of noise, then slowly he will feel some pain somewhere and then he got up.
When he got up he would smash half of the army. He was a huge big figure. As
soon as he got up he would ask, "Where is food?" He hadn't eaten for such a
long time, so he eats for six months. This is what he did before he went back
to sleep again. While he ate, his education was done. Pandits would sit on both
sides and read books to him. He would be simultaneously eating and listening to
the shastras. In this way, he also became an expert archer. He got other
benedictions also. He was a great yogi, and while sleeping he would come out of
his body in his subtle body, and he would travel around and find out
everything. One body was asleep, but in his sukshma-sharira, Kumbhakarna
visited Kailash, performed austerities and got astras from Lord Siva. Only his
gross body couldn't be seen. Vibhisana was also praying, and when Brahma came,
he said, "Give me devotion to the Supreme Lord." Ravana said, "Oh no! One more
in the family. First Prahlad, and now him! What are you doing? Brahma is here,
so get something worthwhile. But no, devotion to the Supreme Lord.' What will
you do with this? You have become a demon!" For the demons, a devotee is a
demon. "You are not against Hari, you want to worship Him." That was
Vibhisana's benediction. And Surpanakha got a benediction for changing her
form. Whatever form she wanted she could take. That was how she was trying to
attract Laksmana and Ramacandra. She became a beautiful girl, and she was
saying, "Ramacandra, I'm so attracted by you." Ramacandra said, "Yes, anyone
will be attracted by me. The only problem is that my wife is here. If she was
not here, I wouldn't mind. But look at my brother! He is also married, but his
wife is not here. You check with him." Laksmana said, "How is it possible? When
my elder brother is in front of me, how can I do it? You go to my elder
brother, he is just joking with you." So she went back to Ramacandra, and said,
"Your younger brother is not interested in these things. You are the older one,
why aren't you interested?" He replied, "Yes I am the elder, but the point is
that my wife is very wild. If she ever finds out that I am talking to you, I
don't know what will happen. He is fre vidual separate from his wife. Go to
him." She went to him, but Laksmana said, "Yes his wife is wild, but she is not
here now. You should be utilizing this opportunity. You go try with him, and if
that doesn't work you just come back to me." So she went back to Ramacandra,
saying, "See? Your wife is not here now." Ramacandra said, "Yes, my wife is not
here, but this brother is very political. When she comes back, he will tell
her. So you first go to him, and if he is happy then he won't tell." So she ran
back to Laksmana. By that time Sita came. Surpanakha said, "All this trouble is
because of you!" And she ran and picked Sita up. As soon as she did that,
Laksmana came with his sword, and cut off the tips of her nose, ears and
breasts, and the original Rakshasi form came out. She was crying, and then she
disappeared into the sky. Then Khara and Dusana came with 14,000 able fighters
from the demon dynasty. Ramacandra finished all of them with one arrow.
Janasthan was a very strategical point. Janasthan was the last point in the
mainland. If anyone could conquer the soldiers in Janasthan, then they could
dare to cross the ocean and come to Sri Lanka. Ravana was so happy because
Janasthan was there, and Khara, Dusana and Surpanakha were just exploiting the
area, eating rishis every day. He was so happy. "Who can come to Sri Lanka?"
But then, this so-called human being, Ramacandra, he told Laksmana, "Don't even
move. I will do it." He killed 14,000 demon soldiers, and Khara and Dusana were
destroyed. When the news reached Ravana, he was thinking, "No this is not true.
It cannot be true. How can a human being kill 14,000 demons?" Always Ravana was
thinking, "No, it's not true. It's not true." But it was true. Everything he
heard seemed to him to be like it was not true. When he went to Marica and
said, "Please go and become a deer," Marica said, "What? Become a deer and do
what? What can a deer do to Rama? I still remember how he pushed me right acr
oss the mainland and threw me into the salty ocean with only a blade of grass.
That is why I became a babaji, not for searching after the Absolute Truth. In
fear of the blade of grass I became a babaji, an ascetic. Don't drive me in
front of Ramacandra again." Ravana said, "If you don't go, I will kill you."
Marica was thinking, "Ravana will kill me anyway. Ravana or Rama, but it's
better to die in the hands of Rama. Why die in the hands of this demon?" So
Marica said, "I will go." Ravana said, "Ahh! I always knew you had great
affection for me." "No, I don't have any affection for you." "Then why do you
want to go?" Ravana asked. "Well who wants to die in your hands?" Marica said.
"I would rather die in the hands of Rama. And I know I will die, so I am
going." Ravana made the biggest mistake in his life by kidnapping Sita. Ravana
was a great scholar and pandit. He was known as Shastra-jna. He knew all
shastras, in all the Vedas he was expert. Nobody at that time had the expert
pronunciation of Ravana. Even in the demigod's assembly sometimes when they
held sacrifices, they would bring Ravana for chanting verses. If someone is
chanting Sanskrit verses, that does not necessarily mean he is a great devotee.
Demons are also chanting Sanskrit verses. Vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah.
Ravana read all the Vedas, yet due to his lust he could not even accept that
another man's wife should not be taken. Ravana's lust was exemplary. Once he
was performing a fire sacrifice, and Agni appeared there with his wife, in
spite of Brahma telling him not to go there, this Ravana was a trouble-maker.
Agni said, "Look at his chanting, so perfect. Such wonderful installation of
fire, so I must go there personally." Brahma said, "All right go, but don't
take your wife." So then Agni said, "How is it Vedic that one goes without his
wife? If I go without her I will only be 50%. I must go with my wife." Brahma
said, "Well, if that is written in your head, what can I say? You go." So
Ravana was circumambulating the fire with folded hands chanting mantras, and
then Agni came. "Ravana! I am here." Ravana looked around. Not only was he
there, but Agni's wife, Swaha, was also there. She looked so beautiful, as
beautiful as fire. She is actually the flame of the fire. When Ravana looked at
her, he immediately lifted her and flew away in the middle of his yajna, before
completing it. The priests were shouting, "Ravana! At least do the purnahoti!"
"What purnahoti?" Ravana replied. "Woman is more important." So Agni was
shouting, "Please, please Ravana, give me my wife back! I'll give you anyone,
but don't take my wife." Every husband thinks like this, "If my wife goes, how
will I eat?" The wife is supposed to be the saha-dharmani, one who helps the
husband in his religious practices. After Ramacandra had said, "I will finish
all the demons in Dandakaranya," Sitadevi was looking so worried that
Ramacandra asked her, "How come you are so unhappy after your husband made such
a wonderful promise, and flowers fell from the heavens?" She said, "You took
the vanaprastha life to live in the forest for fourteen years, as an ascetic.
Only for defending me did You say you were carrying your bow and arrows. You
have come here, and now, instead of living as an ascetic, You are beating on
Your shoulders, saying You will kill the demons. That is one point. Another
point is that a king of noble quality should not become the enemy of someone
unless that person has given him some trouble. The demons have given you no
trouble. They are eating rishis, but they are not troubling you. And if rishis
are being eaten then it is the responsibility of Bharata, he is the king. You
are not the king, and You said that you did not want to be, so you are breaking
your word." Women give very technical arguments, but sometimes they are totally
useless. At least in this case they were. Sitadevi was saying this, but then
another time when Gautama Rishi's wife gave her cosmetics which were in two big
heavy baskets , she asked Laksmana, "Can you please carry this for me?"
Laksmana said, "But mataji, we are in the forest. We are supposed to be wearing
tree bark. Only because Dasaratha begged did you get some silk saris, and I am
already carrying one basket full of silk saris. We have to climb mountains,
cross rivers, I have to carry sword, shield, bows and arrows, an axe, and now
cosmetics? What for?" Anasuya, Gautama's wife, was no ordinary woman. She had
heavenly cosmetics. You only had to put this make up on once every five or six
days. You can take bath, do anything. Laksmana was complaining, "These
cosmetics will smell for ten kilometres distance. It is dangerous. We are
moving in the forest, and ten miles around we are propagating that we are here.
It is unsafe. A tiger, a lion or even some demon may come." Actually these
cosmetics were so dangerous that she had so many problems. Even demigods were
attracted to her. "But I won't use them," Sita argued. "Then what is the use of
carrying them?" Laksmana said. This is also traditional for women to carry
things that they never use. Poor Laksmana left his wife in Ayodhya, and he had
to carry these cosmetics for fourteen years. Even when they crossed the ocean
he had to carry it. She said, "When I am back in Ayodhya I will use it." When
she was sitting in the Ashoka-vana, she was lamenting, "What did I do? I said
such bad words to Laksmana who was carrying all that weight for me. He was even
carrying all those useless cosmetics on his shoulder. I criticized him, `You
want to enjoy me, that is why you are not going'. Why did I say that? Now I am
suffering because of it." In this way Mother Sita was lamenting. So back to the
original story. Ravana knew all these mantras, but why was he a demon? Being
the son of Vishravas, he is a Brahmin, not a ksatriya. He is the grandson of
Brahma, and a very learned pandit. Still he is a demon. What makes him a demon?
He does not accept that the Supreme Lord is the enjoyer, the Supreme Lord is
the controller and the Supreme Lord is the friend. Bho ktarama yajna tapasam
sarva loka mahesvaram / suhrdam sarva-bhutanam jnatva mam santim rcchati. So
Ravana lost his shanti, he had no peace. Why? Because he was not accepting the
Supreme Lord's sovereignty. Ravana was thinking, "Why not me? I am the lord."
That is why he called himself, "Trilokeshvara Ravana." This means "the
controller of the three worlds." That was his ambition, even while he couldn't
control a common cold. But still he was Trilokeshvara. In any case, Ravana got
so many curses. He was cursed that a monkey would burn his city down. Another
curse was that monkeys will spit on his face. When a monkey spits on his face,
the tenth day after that he would die. He would be killed by human beings who
were surrounded by monkeys. This was all predicted, but the foolish Ravana with
his ten brains couldn't accept this, because of lust. Ravana did not carry his
ten heads all the time. If he lost one head, another would come. And if he lost
that head, the previous one will come back again, because his life point was
somewhere else, not in the neck or the chest. This was one trick of the demons.
They would keep their life point somewhere else. It may be in a bird, a lizard
or a lotus flower, and from here they extend their power. If you killed him,
slashed him or did anything to him, he wouldn't die because his life was
somewhere else. So these heads were coming whenever one was removed, and these
ten heads possessed ten kinds of intelligence. This was the benediction he got
from Brahma. One head was expert in politics, one in Vedic dharma, one in
administration, one in how to enjoy, another in travelling plans, etc. In this
way when he was going to take Sita, he consulted all the ten heads. Nine heads
refused, "Don't kidnap Sita." Only his own head refused to listen to that
instruction. So many powerful things he had, but by exploiting the property of
the Supreme Lord, Ravana met his death. Once he even challenged Narada Muni.
Narada was flying, and Ravana saw him. He called out, "Hey! Come here." Narada
Muni thought, "Why should I be of any trouble? Let me go there." Ravana said,
"You teach me the meaning of om, right now." Narada said, "No. Meaning of Om is
not to be taught to people like you. I won't teach." Ravana said, "Why not? I
am a disciple, and you are a guru. You must teach me." This started in
Treta-yuga, the disciples telling their guru what to do. So then Narada said,
"This is not for this age, Ravana. You please wait." Ravana said, "No! Do you
know who I am? I am Trilokeshvara Ravana. Here is my sword!" He had a sword
called Candrahasa. This sword was so wonderful, that you can just tell the
sword, "You go and kill him." It will chase you through the fourteen planetary
systems, kill you and then return. Such a missile he had. Candrahasa can go
through steel, through brass, even through illusion. Suppose a person creates
an illusion by magic, Candrahasa would go through the illusion and kill that
person. This is the sword he used when fighting with Airavata, the white
elephant. So Narada said, "You are showing me some sword, and you think you are
going to frighten me into teaching you the Vedas? This is not the principle for
learning Vedas. What kind of knowledge will you get from me? That knowledge
will become useless, so I will not teach you." Ravana said, "All right Narada,
get ready." "I am always ready," Narada said. "What do you mean? Get ready
now!" So he took the Candrahasa sword and slashed Narada. It went right through
him, but nothing happened. Narada was standing there smiling. Ravana got so
angry. "I am going to finish you!" he screamed and took his trident which emits
fire, which is only used by Lord Siva and which is more powerful than the
Brahmastra. It went right into him, but Narada was still standing there
chanting, "Hari! Hari!" Ravana took all his astras and weapons at his command
and threw everything at Narada, who was catching them and giving them back,
"Don't lose his weapons aside, touched Narada's feet, and gave him a seat.
"Please tell me," he inquired. "How come you are not killed?" Narada said,
"This is a benediction from the Supreme Lord, that I have got a spiritual body.
You don't understand this. Once upon a time you also had one, but you lost it
because of some mistake. Don't waste time trying to kill me, because I won't
die." Ravana said, "That's what I want also! Can you teach me the trick?"
Narada said, "Very simple, just accept Visnu as the Supreme Lord. Surrender to
him." Ravana's face screwed up. "Oh! Aaargh! Again that Visnu! I don't want to
listen to this name! Get out of my palace, you and your transcendental body.
All bogus!" So then Narada Muni said, "But Ravana, you have unnecessarily used
your anger on me, so this will not go in vain. A monkey will spit on your face,
and the tenth day after that you will die, although you are thinking you are so
powerful." Narada Muni cursed him. Actually it was a benediction. All curses by
Narada are benedictions. Because of that curse that he would get spat on by
Sugriva, he got the arrow of Rama in his chest. Sometimes when a Vaisnava is
agitated, that is also auspicious. But we have to be a demon to agitate a
Vaisnava. If we are not a demon, and he becomes agitated, he may not curse us
but the material nature will take action. In any case, Hanuman thought, "Let me
go and find Sita."



CHAPTER 9: HANUMAN'S ADVENTURES ON SRI LANKA

All these stories were going through Hanuman's mind as he stood there before
Sri Lanka, how Ravana got cursed in many places, and how he is so foolish.
Hanuman actually felt very compassionate, and he was thinking, "If I see
Ravana, by any method, I will give him good advice. I will tell him that he is
very intelligent, and that maybe he could use his intelligence. Just give back
Sita, and everything will be alright." Hanuman went into the city, and it was
just before midnight. The moon was present, and he could smell wine all over
the city. Practically 99.9% of the population was drunk. Everyone was in the
enjoying mode, and in Sri Lanka there was plenty of enjoyment to be had. These
demons went all over the world, and brought women from all over the world.
Ravana had more than 12,000 wives. All of them liked him, although he was a
demon. He had a brownish colour, but the form of his body was next to the
beauty of Upendra (the brother of Indra, not the dwarf incarnation of Visnu).
He had a very broad chest and a beautiful face. Sometimes he is depicted as
very ugly, but actually he was not ugly. When he got angry or lusty, he could
produce such ugly forms, but Ravana's true formlooks very beautiful. Visnu
Purana, Valmiki and all the narrators describe as a person of great granduer.
When Hanuman and Sugriva, or anyone for that matter saw him for the first time,
they would think, "This cannot be Ravana, because his body is so beautifully
designed. This man must be full of good qualities. He cannot be a demon. We
must have made a mistake." He was so beautiful. He had this hole in his chest
which was from the tusk of Airavata. He had other holes in his body from
Sampati, but he covered these with his silk cloth. He had a beautiful
hairstyle. His speech of course was so excellent that he could speak and make
day look like night. These are the glories of Ravana. Amongst his queens were
nagas, and there were princesses from Satyaloka, Siddhaloka, Caranaloka,
Gandharvikas, every species of life was present in his palace as queens. They
all liked him and respected him. Ravana's country was so good. There was plenty
of fruit and food, and they had dharma which was followed. Ravana was ruling
wonderfully, and no-one had any fear in Sri Lanka. They had no fear even from
Indra, Candra or Agni, because Ravana was so respected. So Hanuman was going
from room to room. "Is Sita here? Is Sita there?" In every room he found about
ten beds and so many queens sleeping. Hanuman was a naisthika brahmacari, and
he was thinking, "Oh God, I have to do this. All these queens of Ravana are
sleeping here, and most of them are drunk." It is not good for a brahmacari to
see a woman while she is sleeping, and Hanuman had to do this. At first he
thought, "Should I do this?" And then he concluded, "I am serving Rama, and if
I don't look at all of them, Sita may be somewhere in between, and I will miss
her." So he made up his mind, "I'm not going to be attracted. How will I not be
attracted? I won't stop chanting Rama's name." So he was chanting, "Rama, Rama,
Rama, Rama," and he was looking everywhere. When Hanuman saw so many queens,
their make-up and dress, their beds and their silk, he was completely shocked.
"What kind of place is this? It is like a heavenly planet." They had false
eyelashes, they had shaven their eyebrows, and they had coloured in 12 tones
from the eyelash up to the eyebrows. Hanuman actually saw this. He got scared
by looking at them. He said, "If they are so beautiful, why do they have to put
false eyelashes on?" Hanuman saw all this, and he was very happy. "This man,
whatever he has done, is enjoying his senses very nicely. At least he is good
at that." And then he came and saw in the middle of a room a wonderful bed made
of coral and diamonds, and on top of it was white silk covering the bed. There
was a brown figure lying there with big shoulders and wonderful bodily beauty,
and he was snoring. Hanuman said, "So beautiful, but he is snoring and his
mouth is wide open. He must be very ignorant person." Although Ravana has so
much knowledge, still there is ignorance." Then Hanuman looked around and saw
that there was a white umbrella on the side of the bed. That means he is the
king. So Hanuman looked at him, and then he walked backwards to get a better
look. And then closer and closer. He looked from all angles. "Oh! What a great
fighter." Then he saw the hole, and he said, "I have heard about this hole.
This man would have fought with Airavata." Hanuman was getting fired up, and he
thought, "I would like to fight with him. But if I wake him up everything will
be spoiled." And then he looked around on the other side, and he saw a very
beautiful woman laying down on the bed. The smell of wine was coming from her
mouth. Hanuman had never seen Sita. He inspected the woman and said, "Oh! A
heavenly body. This person must be Sita. No, how can it be Sita? She is the
chaste wife of Ramacandra. Here she is brought by the demon, and she is
dressing herself nicely with silk and ornaments, and she's laying there with
wine on her breath. I am a monkey, but I do have some discrimination. How can
this be Sita? Sita would be lean and skinny and crying with demonesses around
her. That is Sita, not this. This is not Sita." Then he looked everywhere but
he couldn't find Sita. So he came out of the palace, and he was thinking, "What
should I do? I was preaching to Angada, `Don't give up your body. And don't try
for some security.' But now it looks like I will have to do that, jump in the
ocean and die. How can I go back and tell them, `Yes, I went across the ocean,
I saw Ravana, but no Sita'. What will they do to me? If I go to Sugriva he will
kill me. Even Angada himself may kill me. And If I see Ramacandra's
dissatisfied face I will die myself. What is the use of my existence? Let me
die." And then he was walking and crossing the gardens and coming to the ocean.
He thought, "Let me check once more." He looked at the garden. It was
Ashoka-vana, Ashoka trees. Very thick garden. He thought, "Sita must be in this
forest. Why? Because Ravana would have kept her in a nice garden, but she will
be thinking of these Ashoka trees. In Pancavati where Ravana lifted Sita from,
there were Ashoka trees. I remember Ramacandra telling me that he was going to
the Ashoka trees and crying, "Oh Ashoka trees, please tell me where is my
wife?" So she must be remembering that when she sees these Ashoka trees. She
must have walked in here. At least she must have been through here at some
stage. Let me ask the Ashoka trees, they may tell me" In this way, Hanuman,
with some little glimmer of hope came into the Ashoka forest. There was a very
tall tree which he climbed up, and when he got to the top he looked down. To
his surprise, under the same tree was Mother Sita. She was sitting there with
Vibhisana's daughter, Trijata. Trijata was consoling her. "I had dreams that
Ravana was smearing oil all over his body and drinking oil with his two hands,
and he was sitting on a chariot driven by monkeys. This chariot was being
driven through the southern side. This means he will die. I also saw that Sri
Lanka was burning, and a monkey was flying over. I also saw that Ramacandra was
sitting in the coronation ceremony with you. So don't lose faith. Don't give up
your body. One day or other Ramacandra will come here." Hanuman was listening
to all this and he was so happy. Then Ravana came and gave so much preaching to
Mother Sita. "You must marry me!" She refused and he said to the demonesses,
"You kill her if she won't listen to your advice." The demonesses were
preaching to her, and then when she wouldn't listen they decided, "We will kill
her." Exactly at that point, Hanuman jumped. As soon as they saw this monkey
jumping, they all fled this way and that. Sita looked at him and she said,
"Ravana, you can take any form, but I'm not going to be attracted. Why did you
think that if you took a monkey form I would be attracted?" Hanuman said, "Wait
wait, I a m not Ravana! I am the servant of Rama, and I have come here to serve
you." So she said, "I don't believe it. If you are from Rama, then how did you
cross the ocean?" Hanuman said, "Oh, that is very interesting. I grew big."
"You grew big? How can monkeys grow big?" Hanuman said, "I will show you," and
then he grew, and he touched the skies. Sita got so scared, she said, "Maybe
this is another demon." While he was growing he was chanting, "Rama, Rama,
Rama, Rama," and she thought, "Ravana would not chant so many Rama-namas. It is
not possible. He can't be a demon." Then Hanuman reduced this form, and said,
"Here I have the sakshi, the evidence that I am coming from Ramacandra. This is
his ring." Hanuman talked with Mother Sita and she gave him the hair ornament.
Hanuman took it, and after taking it he said, "I am a monkey. I cannot just
come like a saintly person and go, I want to do some naughtiness here in this
forest. You won't be affected, don't worry. Some nonsense must be there. You
just watch." So he put the cudamani hair ornament somewhere safe, and then he
started uprooting the Ashoka trees, throwing them here and there. There was a
rock waterfall, and he destroyed it, and the water flooded all over the place.
He took the creepers and threw them this way and that. Then he took the
demonesses and put them in his mouth, biting them and spitting them out. He was
shouting and slapping his shoulders. He was yelling, "I am the servant of Rama!
Who will stop me? I will destroy Sri Lanka! I will swallow Ravana! Anyone who
is as powerful as me should come for a fight! Challenge! Challenge!" And then
he jumped up on the entrance of Ashoka-vana, and he was eating fruits and
spitting everywhere. The minister for Ravana in charge of the Ashoka forest
came in front of Hanuman. It had been a long time since he had landed in Sri
Lanka, gotten in the gate, checked everyone, seen and spoken to Sita, but he
had not passed water the whole time. It had been six or seven hours. When the
minister came and opened his mouth yelling, "What are you doing?" he got
Hanuman's blessing. The minister said, "Hey! Hey! Stop!" Hanuman said, "I am a
monkey, what do you expect?" The minister felt very bad, and he went into the
forest and asked the demonesses, "What are you doing? A monkey is doing so much
harm." They said, "What are you doing? The monkey is doing so much harm, but
why are you telling us?" "Yes, what am I doing?" the minister said, and then he
went to Ravana. He said, "A monkey has passed urine in my mouth." Ravana said,
"You came to report this?" And he gave him a slap. "What kind of a caretaker
are you? You come and tell me that a monkey passed water in your mouth." The
minister said, "What was I supposed to do? I was speaking to him." Ravana said,
"Don't you know that you never open your mouth when monkeys are around?" The
minister said, "Well you have to do something, he has destroyed the whole
Ashoka forest." Ravana said, "What? One single monkey?" Vibhisana closed his
eyes and he was thinking, "Hm, monkey. Monkey. Monkey smashing Ashoka forest. I
remember this." Then he left the palace, and went to his place and he was
sitting and thinking. "Monkey, Ashoka forest. Monkey, Ashoka forest. I heard it
somewhere." And he was trying to figure it out. It took him two days to
understand it. He understood it. Ravana said, "You call Prahasta's son
Jambumali. He is the first card." This Jambumali is in a big lake of wine. He
is sleeping there, and whenever he wakes up he drinks a little bit. And then
again he sleeps, and he wakes up and drinks more. He can't wait to go fill up
the cup and drink, it takes too much time. So he is in a lake of wine, and he
is kept like that so that whenever war comes he can be used. Jambumali was
woken up. They had some anti-liquor medicine, so they gave him that and he woke
up. He asked, "Why are you calling me? You want to change the lake or put me in
another one?" They said, "No, a fighting!" He came to Ravana and said, "With
whom should I fight? With Indra, with Agni?" Ravana said, "No no, with a
monkey." "I'm going back," Jambumali said. "No no, it's not an ordinary monkey.
It's a very great monkey. He has finished our Ashoka-vana, so we must finish
him. Take 80,000 soldiers and go." So 80,000 demon soldiers and Jambumali
walked up. He was a very young demon, Jambumali. Hanuman was still sitting on
top of the arch, and he was saying, "I am the servant of Rama. Who is there to
fight with me? I can swallow Ravana. Come on, challenge! Challenge!" Jambumali
said, "Hey monkey, you are talking too much! Do you understand that Ravana's
son has tied Indra to a flagpost here? Do you know that the nine planets are
serving in the kitchen cutting subji? What do you know? You don't know the
power of Ravana. You don't know the power of my father Prahasta. He has eaten
mountains and digested them." So then Hanuman said, "All past. What about now?
This has happened, that has happened. But now you look, I can also tell you
that the whole Ashoka-vana has been destroyed. That has happened, and now
something else is going to happen. Don't waste time." Jambumali said, "What?
You think you can fight with me?" Hanuman said, "Why are you talking?" and he
began to pick up rocks and throw them at him. The rocks were coming so fast and
furious, and he couldn't fight them. Then he got on the chariot and started
shooting arrows. Hanuman said, "Oh, these demons are very cultured. He is
sitting on the chariot doing acaman, chanting mantras and firing astras." All
these astras were coming, and Hanuman was holding them, breaking them and
giving them back. No astra can affect Hanuman, that is a benediction. Jambumali
saw this and said, "Now I will have to do some magic," and he started growing,
and he became so big. Hanuman was only up to his ankle. That is what Jambumali
was thinking. He was thinking, "That big? All right, I will grow more." He
closed his eyes and grew more. Then he thought, "Now I have grown so much,
Hanuman will be this big." And then he opened his eyes. He saw some big round
thing in front of him. He looked at it, and he thought, "What is this? It is
not Hanuman's face. There is no mouth and no teeth. It's just a big round
thing." He looked to the other side, and it was just another round thing. "What
is this one?" he thought. He was looking, and he was so confused. Then he heard
a sound from way way above, "They're my knees Jambumali!" He looked up, and
Hanuman was way up there. Jambumali thought, "My God, what a growth! This is
the topmost I can do, and I am only up to his knees." So then Jambumali looked
back, because he didn't want to discourage the soldiers. Hanuman said, "What
are you looking at? I finished them all." He had finished the 80,000 soldiers
already. There was a beautiful parliament hall called Caitya, belonging to
Ravana. This hall had very huge marble and diamond pillars. Ravana took one of
the pillars, and he just put it on top of the army. They were nicely organized
so that simply by a little work Hanuman could finish them all. This happened
while Jambumali was growing. Jambumali was alone. His chariot had been smashed
and his horses killed. Jambumali was standing there alone. Hanuman said, "What
are you going to do? If you want to take shelter of my feet, they are way down
there. You will have to look for them." So Jambumali was very insulted, and he
said, "No! This is maya! You come before me in your original form!" Hanuman
said, "What are you doing then? That is also maya. You come in your original
form." So he came down, and then Hanuman came down also. Hanuman said, "All
right Jambumali, there are three minutes for you. There is one nice mantra I
will teach you. If you chant this mantra while dying you will attain the
Supreme Lord. There is only two syllables in it. Ra-ma. Chant." Jambumali said,
"What? I didn't come here to learn mantras. I am here to fight with you. I want
to finish you." Hanuman said, "You cannot do that, so you might as well do
this. You cannot finish me, so why don't you do something within your means.
Just chant Rama, and then go back home." Jambumali screamed, "Aaarghh!" and
jumped on Hanuman. Hanuman put his index finger in his navel and lifted him up,
and then he circled and threw him. All his liver and everything came out of his
mouth, and then he died. When the news came that Jambumali was finished,
immediately Ravana's son Indrajit got up and said, "This must be a demigod, so
he must be fought nicely." So Indrajit came. With Indrajit there were some
scenes, and then Indrajit said, "I am going to use Brahmastra on you." So he
threw the Brahma rope. Hanuman thought, "I have done enough harm now, so I must
see Ravana. If I get bound by this rope, I can see Ravana." He looked at the
rope and thought, "I will respect Brahma." Then the rope came and tied him.
Indrajit was pulling the rope, and he pulled Hanuman to the court of Ravana. As
they entered there, Ravana said, "Hey, you mischievous monkey! Who are you?"
Hanuman said, "I am a servant of Rama, and a messenger. You please give me a
seat." Ravana scoffed, "A seat for a monkey? You can climb up in the tree if
you want." Hanuman said, "No, that is not proper. I have come here to talk
politics, and I have come here to give you a message. You must give me a seat."
Ravana said, "In my assembly, I don't give a seat to animals." Hanuman said,
"You mean that to get a seat in your assembly I have to be less than an
animal?" Ravana said, "Hey, you are talking too much." By that time Hanuman had
extended his tail and made a big big seat. It was above Ravana's head, and he
jumped up and sat on that. Then he said, "So Ravana, I think this is a good
seat for me." So then Ravana was looking up. Then they had a discussion, and
Hanuman gave a very good piece of advice. "You please give up Sita. I saw your
palace. You have so many beautiful queens. Why do you want to take Sita? I can
tell you, Sita is beautiful." Hanuman was using some sama dhana bheda danda. He
said, "Sita is not that beautiful. Vandudari is a much more beautiful dancer.
Surely you must satisfied with that. You can have so many others. I will myself
procure women for you if you want. Just give up this Sita, for your own
benefit." Ravana said, "No, I won't listen to this. I will keep Sita, and not
only that, I will finish you." Hanuman said, "Finish me? How can you finish
me?" And Ravana said, "You are tied up." Hanuman said, "I am not tied up, I am
just holding myself. And then he lifted his hands and Brahma's rope broke.
Indrajit's jaw dropped. "What is this? This monkey has broken Brahma's rope."
So then Hanuman said, "If you want you can use ordinary rope and tie me. Only
if I want to be tied can you tie me. Now I allow you, tie me. Let me see what
sort of punishment you will give me." So then they tied him with ropes, and
great demons were pushing him on both sides with tridents. He made no
objection. Ravana said, "Put fire to his tail." So they set his tail on fire,
and Hanuman said, "Wonderful, you gave me an idea. I was just wondering what to
do. I wanted to do so many things, but I didn't want to do it myself, because
Ramacandra will say, `Why did you do it?' Now I have no problem. They put fire,
and I was just jumping around and things happened to catch on fire. I didn't
want to burn Lanka. Why should I? I am just a messenger. A messenger cannot
attack the opponent. But what can I do? They put fire on my tail, and I am a
monkey so when I jump the tail goes this way and that way." So in this way
Hanuman was jumping from roof to roof, window to window, and everywhere he put
fire. Even in Ashoka-vana he put fire. Everything was burning. Hanuman was
jumping up and down. "Aah, wonderful! Wonderful!" And then suddenly he thought,
"Maybe Mother Sita is also burnt! What have I done? Oh no!" So he went into the
Ashoka forest and he was looking, and he saw Mother Sita sitting in the er a
tree. No harm was there. So then he told her, "Why should you wait? Just climb
on my shoulder. You know I crossed the ocean here, so I can also cross the
ocean back. You sit on me, and I will take you. Before I fly from here, I will
kill Ravana." So Sita said, "No! What are you doing? You already told me that
Ramacandra promised He will kill Ravana and take me back. If you do this, my
husband's promise will go in vain. Ramacandra has one word, one wife and one
arrow. He uses only one arrow, he has only one wife, and if he says a word, he
keeps it. So don't do this, you are not supposed to do it. Even if you are
supposed to do it, I'm not going to sit on your shoulder. On the way you may
see some fruit that you like, and you will shake the tree and I will fall into
the ocean. I don't trust you completely. So you enjoy yourself, and go back and
tell my Lord that I am waiting. And if he doesn't come in this many days, then
I will leave my body.”



CHAPTER 10: THE ARMY GOES TO SRI LANKA

So Hanuman flew back. And then while coming back, and when they reached
Kishkinda, there was a beautiful forest called Madhuvana. This Madhuvana was a
private garden of Sugriva. There was so many honey hives there, and honey was
flowing on the ground and so many fruits. It was well guarded. There was one
great monkey called Dadhimukha. Dadhimukha was sitting in front of this garden
at four doors. Only Sugriva was allowed in. So when the monkeys were returning,
they went to Hanuman and said to him, "We have done a great task, so we must
have some enjoyment. Let us go inside Madhuvana and drink honey." Hanuman said,
"What? Go inside Madhuvana? Sugriva will get angry. He will know we have done a
good job. We are not allowed to go in there." Then Jambavan said, "Oh Hanuman,
you don't think properly. That Madhuvana is such a wonderful place, there is so
much honey there. We have worked so hard. All these monkeys were so patient.
They must be rewarded. If you are not going, I am going." So Jambavan entered
the Madhuvana, and all the monkeys entered the Madhuvana. There was a
difference of opinion, but eventually they were won over, and then all the
monkeys were all drinking honey like anything and eating fruits. Dadhimukha
went to Sugriva and said, "What is this? Even your defense minister Hanuman is
totally useless. Even your great uncle Jambavan is also useless. They are all
coming inside the royal forest, and they are drinking the honey." Sugriva
looked at Ramacandra and said, "O Lord, Your work has been accomplished."
Ramacandra said, "How do you know that?" Sugriva replied, "How can they dare
enter Madhuvana, my garden, and drink honey? This means they have done some
wonderful task. Maybe Sita is with them, otherwise they wouldn't dare to do
it." So he told Dadhimukha, "Give them more honey! Give them more fruits. Open
the gates of Madhuvana, it is open for everyone." And then Hanuman came, and he
was saying, "We found Sita! We found Sita!" Hanuman was thinking, "If I say
"Sita..." then Ramacandra may think that I have not found her." He did not want
to confuse him. First of all he said, "Found, found, found." When Ramacandra
heard this, he said to Sugriva, "What you said was true. Hanuman is in the sky,
and he is saying, `I have found.' What would he have found? He would have found
Sita, because he was looking for Sita." So then Hanuman came and there was
discussion, and then Ramacandra decided, "Attack!" So to summarize, they built
this wonderful bridge and crossed over it. Then they arrived there on the
shore. As soon as they arrived there Sugriva was looking this way and that, and
Vibhisana said, "That is Ravana's palace, that ten-floor building." So then
they all commented, "What a beautiful building." When Ramacandra looked back
there was no Sugriva. He said, "Sugriva! Where is Sugriva?" Vibhisana said,
"Some demon is playing a trick. We must be on guard, everyone be ready."
Everyone took their weapons but Sugriva was not there. Sugriva flew to the
tenth floor of the building. He simply could not tolerate that Ravana was
living there with Sita under his custody, and Ramacandra was here. Sugriva got
so angry, he went there, and Ravana was as usual looking upon the mirror.
Sugriva became small, and he went around his face and spat on it. Ravana was
doing his make-up with fifteen assistants spraying, and doing all sorts of
things to make up his face, and then he felt something wet. "What is this? What
is that?" Sugriva was spitting all over his face. Then he told his servants to
stop doing what they were doing, but still it was coming. He said, "There's
some bee or mosquito here." He looked around, and then he caught hold of
Sugriva, holding him in his hand. Ravana said, "How dare you do this? What are
you doing, spitting on my face?" He looked closely, and realized it was a
monkey. "Another monkey! And so small?" The monkey was speaking, "Ravana, I
spat on your face. Now I am happy," and before he coul d catch him he flew
away. He landed in front of Ramacandra. Ramacandra said, "Sugriva, where have
you been?" Sugriva said, "I went there and spat on the rascal's face!"
Ramacandra said, "What did you do? Oh, I have made a great mistake by
associating myself with monkeys. I am the son of Dasaratha. I have landed in
another man's country, and you have already gone and spat on his face." Sugriva
said, "I am sorry my Lord, but you must understand that after all, I am a
monkey. When I get angry, I can't control it. All your yuga-dharma you can keep
in your pocket. Nobody will blame you, because they will say, "Sugriva was a
monkey. What can you do? It was not Ramacandra's defect." So then Ramacandra
said, "I want to send a messenger."" So Sugriva said, "The only person who has
got so much sense control, apart from Hanuman, and he has already gone anyway,
is Angada." So Ramacandra called Angada and embraced him. He said, "My dear
Angada, I am going to send you to Ravana. He is a very dangerous person so be
careful. You go to him and tell him that Ramacandra does not have any intention
to fight with him. All I desire is that he give back Sita, and I will leave. I
will make friendship with him. I will be his greatest friend. If anybody
attacks Lanka, I will protect him. You please tell this to him. Only Sita,
nothing else do I want from him. I don't want these monkeys to get killed and I
don't want to kill his demons, and I don't want to kill Ravana." So Angada
said, "All right, I will take this message to Ravana." He circumambulated Rama
and Laksmana, touched Rama's feet. Then he came to Hanuman, touched his feet
and said, "You must bless me, because you were the first one to go." "Go
there," Hanuman said, and he called him close by and in his ear he said, "You
must insult them." And then Angada flew off. Angada came straight in front of
Ravana, flying in, landing right in front of him. He said, "Ravana, my name is
Angada. I am the son of Bali. You may remember him." This Bali did one
wonderful pastime with Ravana. When eard that anyone who goes in front of Bali
will lose half his strength, he was thinking, "This means that he will become
more powerful than me in this world, so I must first control Bali." So he went
there, and Bali had made a vrata or vow that he would worship Salagram in four
holy places every day. He would worship in Rameshvaram, Badrinath, Jagannatha
Puri and Dvaraka. All that he would do in one way. Each place he would visit in
one leap. He would leap from Kishkinda to Rameshvaram. He would do the worship,
and before it is too late then he will jump back to Kishkinda. From there he
would jump to Dvaraka. He was just leaping. Then to Badrinath and coming back.
While he was doing this he would make sure that he would keep his foot on top
of Sugriva's head and press it a little bit. That he was doing also. Sugriva
was hiding there, in one area. In that place Bali cannot go because he was
cursed that if he entered there his head would break into 10,000 pieces.
Sugriva took shelter in that place. Even then, before going to Dvaraka, Bali
would make sure he would give him one kick on his head, and then he would go to
Dvaraka. While coming back, again one kick. In a day, eight kicks Sugriva was
getting. Hanuman could not tolerate, so once when Bali was kicking like that
Hanuman caught Bali on his waist, and he was trying to pull him down, because
if he touches the ground he would be dead. Bali knew that if he touched the
floor he would be dead, so he was trying to pull Hanuman up. One was pulling
down and one up, and they were in one spot. They had equal strength, ten
thousand elephant strength. Neither was going anywhere. Bali said, "Leave me
alone! Let me go!" Hanuman said, "I will let you go on one promise; you don't
do this kicking any more. Otherwise, I will pull you down." Bali said, "All
right, we will make a truce. I am not against you, you are not against me. I am
against Sugriva. I will not come here and kick him, and you leave me alone." He
left. After being harassed by Hanuman, he went to Dvaraka and quickly he was
doing his worship and Ravana was behind. Ravana did not come in front because
he knew he would lose half of his strength. From the back he was thinking,
"Slowly I will catch hold of the tail, and then I will do something." So when
Ravana came close to the tail, he caught it, and he was thinking, "Oh that was
very easy." But when he was trying to pull the tail, instead of pulling the
tail the tail pulled him. And then the tail extended and came around his body.
He held him in his tail, and then he leaped to Kishkinda, from there to
Badrinath, from there back and to Puri, leap back. Ravana was hanging in the
tail. Even the Gandharvas were laughing, the women and the Caranas were
laughing, and Ravana was closing his eyes, and he said, "Bali, please leave me,
don't tie me in the tail. At least carry me in the hand, it is more prestigious
than being tied in a monkey's tail. This is not good." Finally when they
arrived in Kishkinda he brought his tail around in front of him and said, "Hey,
you be careful. You don't come in this area any more." Ravana said, "I am
surrendered to you, I am your servant. And don't attack Sri Lanka, and I won't
come here." So Ravana made a pact. Angada told him, "Ravana, do you remember
Bali? At least you should remember his tail. I am his son. I am the smallest in
the army that Ramacandra has brought. That is why Ramacandra picked me to come
and see you. I am a very small person. I am a prince, and there are bigger
monkeys there. But I am requesting you one thing. Ramacandra said that if you
give back Sita, he would go back, and he does not want anything." Ravana said,
"Why are these monkeys coming and talking like ministers to me? You had better
put your tail between your legs and run away from here before I kill you."
Angada said, "Oh, you are going to kill me? You can kill me later." He lifted
his leg and put it in front of Ravana. "But for now you please move my foot.
Then we can think about scheming and m urdering and killing." Ravana said,
"Come here Indrajit." So Indrajit got up and went there. He slapped, and after
slapping he saw his palm swell up, because it was like a rooted Banyan tree.
Then he sat down and used both hands and tried to shake it, and found that it
was like Mount Meru. Indrajit was sweating profusely, and he gave up. Vibhisana
got up and said, "Ravana, your time is coming. Look at this. A monkey's foot
cannot be shaken. Don't you understand that there's something happening? You
were keeping the planets in your kitchen and now a monkey's foot cannot be
shaken? Something is wrong somewhere. Think about it." Ravana said, "You are so
weak-minded. I will do it," and he got up. Angada said, "You want to touch my
foot?" Ravana said, "Aaargh! I have lifted Kailash!" So Ravana had all his
twenty hands going, he was holding his legs and straining like anything, but he
couldn't move it. Angada said, "Try my toe. You may be able to do that." Ravana
bent down and he was completely helpless, because he couldn't move it. Ravana
sat down and said, "Where do you get your strength from?" Angada said, "The
same old question. Where are you getting your strength from? Where is anyone
getting their strength from? The source of strength is Rama, and simply by
chanting his name I am holding my breath. That is why you are not able to move
my toe. I am the smallest monkey in the army. There are bigger monkeys than me.
And with all of us is your brother Vibhisana who is helping. Laksmana is also
there, and above him is the Supreme Lord Ramacandra. Use your intelligence
Ravana, and give back Sita." Ravana said, "No! I'm not giving back Sita. I
don't believe any of this." Angada said, "Then you will meet your death," and
he flew back. When he came back, Jambavan came to him, and asked him, "They
couldn't move your toe?" He was seeing Ramayana over and over. So then Angada
said, "How do you know this?" Jambavan said, "I am Jambavan. I have been here
for a long time. " Then the monkeys asked Angada, "Tell us the story." Jambavan
said, "I will tell you the story, Angada go and tell Ramacandra what happened."
So Angada went and told Ramacandra. Vibhisana said to Rama, "Now is the time.
We must attack." Ramacandra said, "We will wait for tomorrow," and they all
took rest. Vibhisana told Hanuman, "You can't believe these demons, they're
very tricky. Especially when the sun sets they become more strong. This is one
property of demons. I know, because I am from this civilization. Be careful
with these demons." So Vibhisana said, "We have to protect Rama and Laksmana,"
and he told Hanuman, "You build a fort with your tail, and we will put Rama and
Laksmana inside. Then we won't lose them. You and I should guard." They divided
the monkey army into four groups, east, west, south and north. Angada, Nila,
Sugriva, Jambavan, they all became guards. No-one slept, because they were
expecting someone to come and kidnap Rama and Laksmana. So he made a huge big
fort with his tail. It had rooms, verandas, courtyards, seven stories. To enter
this fort you have to first go through the ear of Hanuman, and from there enter
the mouth. From there you go to the back of the neck. There is one nerve that
goes from there straight to the tail. You go into that, and past the tail. You
travel in the tail and a little bit along there is a small opening. That is the
gate. How could anyone enter Hanuman's ear and go through his mouth and all
that? So everyone was satisfied, "This is such a good defense." The tail had
been circled, and circled differently in some places to make windows.
Everything was there, recreation and swimming pool. Everything was created by
the mind of Hanuman, and it was all inside his tail. Outside Hanuman was going
around that tail fort guarding. It was a conscious building, because it was the
tail. Rama and Laksmana were there inside. Hanuman and Vibhisana were
patrolling back and forward guarding. Then at one point whe n Hanuman saw
Vibhisana, Vibhisana said, "I want to go in and check. Please make sure that
no-one comes over to this side. You stay here." Hanuman was standing standing
standing, but he did not come. He said, "Let me take a quick flight." He flew
across and he came back. When he was coming back he saw Vibhisana standing
outside. He said, "If you went inside, why didn't you come back? I was in the
door." Vibhisana said, "I never went inside." Hanuman said, "There is something
wrong," and they both went inside. They saw that there was no Rama and no
Laksmana. They were missing. They checked everywhere but they couldn't find
them. Then all the monkeys were crying and lamenting. Vibhisana said, "This
must be the work of Mahi-Ravana, the brother of Ravana. He stays in the
netherlands, he has a secret city somewhere underneath. He is a great Mayavi.
Somehow or other he has taken Rama and Laksmana. Hanuman, only you can go and
get them, and I can tell you how to reach this place." Hanuman decided to go
and get Rama and Laksmana.



CHAPTER 11: RAVANA GOES TO BALI FOR HELP

After the spitting happened, Ravana was thinking, "This is bad. My time has
come. But I am Trilokeshvara, and I can conquer time. How I can conquer it I
don't know, but somehow it will happen. I am very powerful, and up till now
everything has gone good. Why should it go bad?" Still his political mind was
thinking, "I should take help from another king. Even if it is not necessary,
if something happens then I can run to him at least. So which king should I
take help from? These Devatas are useless, they are my servants. I don't need
to take help from them. Other demons? Well, no-one is as powerful as me. In our
family, who is as powerful as me? Bali Maharaja! He is most powerful, and he is
still living, because he was put down to the Sutala planet." Ravana knew that
Bali Maharaja was there, and that he was a very charitably disposed person. He
gave his whole kingdom to Vamana. "He came from a demon family, and I am also a
demon, so we can shake hands and we can kill Ramacandra." He decided to go and
see Bali Maharaja, so he went to the Sutala planet. At the entrance to the
Sutala planet, there was Visnu, Vamanadeva with a club on His shoulder, and he
was walking back and forward guarding the gate. Ravana came there, and he
looked at Him. Ravana travels with his club and his sword. He said, "Who is
this dwarf?" He came there and tried to get in the gate. Vamanadeva put his
club there, and said, "Mmm-mmm!" making a sound indicating no. He didn't speak,
he had taken a vow of silence. Everything shook inside Ravana. Still he didn't
show it. "I will try another method," he thought, and he became invisible. It
was one of his perfections. But he was invisible only to the material eyes, not
to Visnu. Again the club came. He became very small and tried to enter very
quickly. Visnu put His foot on his body. Vamana was just standing there, and
Ravana was screaming, "Aaargh!" and gasping for air. But because Visnu touched
his body he became qualified to be killed by Ramacandra. Up till that time he
had not been qualified. Because Vamana stepped on him, some Visnu-sambandha had
come. "All right, your body is purified. Now Ramacandra's arrow can come." That
is why Vamana kept his foot there. He could have crushed him, but He just held
him there. Then He let him in. Ravana increased his form and came before Bali
Maharaja. As if nothing happened, he said, "I came to see you. There is no
place in this world that I cannot go. I am Trilokeshvara." Bali Maharaja said,
"But what about Vamanadeva in the gate? Didn't He stop you?" Ravana said, "If
He stopped me how can I be here?" Bali said, "He has stopped you and He has let
you in." "How does he know?" Ravana thought. Bali continued, "He must have
stopped you, then He became merciful and let you in." Then Ravana said, "Who is
He to become merciful on me?" Bali said, "He is Visnu, the Supreme Lord!"
"Don't say that again," Ravana said. "I am the Supreme Lord!" Bali said, "Oh,
you are the Supreme Lord? Can I know why you are here?" Ravana said, "I came
for help." "Oh, this is a wonderful Supreme Lord," Bali said. "He is the
Supreme Lord, he has come for my help. I must be the Supreme Lord." Ravana
said, "You are an elderly person, so don't laugh at me. It's not fair.
Dharma-shastra says that you should not mock a younger person because he has
less qualities than you." Bali said, "Oh, you still remember the
dharma-shastras?" Ravana said, "Why should I have forgotten it?" Bali said, "If
you have not forgotten it then why are you here?" Ravana said, "I came to see
you because you are my great great great great grandfather." Bali said, "I am
your great great great great grandfather for so long, but you never came. Why
did you suddenly come now?" Ravana said, "Let's forget all that. Look, one
human being has landed in Sri Lanka with monkeys." Bali said, "A human being
has landed in your country? How did he come?" Ravana said, "He crossed the
ocean, or built a bridge they say." Bali Maharaja closed his eyes, and he
smiled and said, "Oh! Isn't He the son of Dasaratha." Ravana said, "Aarggh,
yes! That's him! That Iksvaku dynasty bunch of weaklings. Again and again I
have controlled them, but still they have no shame and they continue to come
and give trouble." Bali said, "What kind of monkeys has he got?" Ravana said,
"Well one monkey came and burnt the Lanka city. Another one came and I couldn't
move his toe. The next one spat on my face." "Really?" Then he closed his eyes,
and again he smiled. "Oh wonderful! And what did you decide Ravana? Did you
decide to give back Sita?" "How did you know?" Ravana said. "That's all right.
I'm your great great great great grandfather, I know better that you. You must
give back Sita." "No," Ravana said. "I won't do it. Why should I do it? It's
some monkeys only, some human beings." Bali said, "Yes some monkeys only! One
burnt the whole city, another you couldn't move his toe, and another spat on
your face. Just some monkeys only. And these are just messengers who came
without the intention of fighting. When they come with the intention of
fighting, what will happen? Your brother is on their side, Vibhisana. This is a
big point for you. Your brother, who knows everything about you is on the other
side. At least if he is on the other side, you must not fight. As long as your
brother is living, and he is on the other side. What a clever king you are. You
are waging a war. He will tell everything about you!" Ravana said, "Anyway,
he's one of those weaklings who are always crying Visnu! Visnu! He's against
the grain of our family. He's become a demon." Bali Maharaja said, "All right,
what do you want from me?" Ravana said, "You must help me." Bali said, "How can
I help you, such a religious person? After all, you just took somebody else's
wife. That's all. It's natural for a demon to do that. What is the complaint?"
Then Ravana became very happy and said, "See? You have intelligence. You
understand me." "Yes, I understand you," Bali said. "Anyway, you have come,
you are in my kingdom, so I want to give you some gift before we talk politics.
Don't worry, I will help you. Let me give you a gift. You come with me." He
took him into a big maidang, open ground. It is mentioned that it was four
yojanas, thirty-two miles. There was a big mountain with a diameter of
thirty-two miles. It was nine yojanas, seventy-two miles high and thirty-two
miles wide. And very nicely shaped, and it was solid gold, and on the side were
diamonds bigger than Ravana's face. They were nicely shaped. Ravana said, "What
a wonderful mountain. It's made of gold with diamonds on it, and it's all very
nicely arranged. Who gave you this mountain?" Bali said, "Who gave it to me is
of no importance. I want to give it to you." Ravana's eyes opened wide, and his
mouth opened wide also. "You're giving this to me? All of it, not just one
diamond?" Bali said, "All of it! This whole mountain!" Ravana was thinking,
"Why go back to Lanka? Forget Sita and Rama. Just take this mountain and go
somewhere else, have a nice time." Demons always make plans like this. Bali
said, "But I will only give it to you if you can lift it first." So Ravana was
trying, but he could just barely get it off the ground. Ravana was very
powerful, but he couldn't lift this mountain of gold and diamonds. So Bali
said, "Now step back a bit and take a better look at it. What does it look
like?" So Ravana said, "It looks something like an earring, an earring studded
with many beautiful diamonds." So Bali said, "Yes, that's right. This is the
earring of Hiranyakasipu. During the fight between Hiranyakasipu and Lord
Nrsimhadeva, this earring fell down here. In your previous birth you were
Hiranyakasipu, and the Lord killed you. You were much more powerful than you
are now. You can't even pick up this earring that you used to wear. Now Visnu
has come again, and He will surely kill you." But even after that example,
Ravana couldn't understand. He left the kingdom of Bali.



CHAPTER 12: RAMA AND LAKSMANA ARE KIDNAPPED

This Mahi Ravana was very difficult to kill. Even if you cut his body into
three thousand pieces, and throw it in three thousand places, it will come back
again and join. You can do anything to him, but he won't die. The reason is
that his life point is in two places, not it his body. His life point is in a
diamond which is kept very secret in Mahipuri. But even if you crush the
diamond, that is not enough. Only his five heads will disappear, and ten hands
will disappear. The other five heads and ten hands will still remain. Half of
the life was kept in there. And half of the life was kept in the Himalayas.
There is one mountain which is very difficult to reach with ice glaciers
surrounding it. Huge big pieces of ice are floating on the top. If you cross
there, there is a cave. Inside the cave, there are five lamps burning. These
five lamps are guarded by five snakes. These snakes were very mystical, they
were not actually snakes, they were illusion. Any time someone comes there they
will spit poison. Anyone who breaths the poison from a hundred miles away will
die. If you can get past the snakes, then in order to kill him you have to blow
these five lamps simultaneously. At the same time you have to crush the
diamond, and at the same time you have to shoot an arrow in the chest of Mahi
Ravana. If you can do that, he will die. So he was very clever, a great
scientist. When Ravana called for Mahi Ravana, Mahi Ravana came in front of
him. If you just think of him, he would come. Demons, snakes, politicians and
women. These four beings will come closer if you think of them. Snakes, if they
are close, they make you think of them. Ghosts, who don't have gross bodies are
like that. The more you think of them, the closer they come. They get attracted
when you speak about them. Whistling, and scratching pots attracts them also.
If you scratch a pot while serving prasad, that sound cuts the ether. It makes
a way for the subtle body to come. Wherever you cut the ether, they will come
through that gap. Whistling also cuts the ether, and they will come to that
point from where the whistling is coming. Also you shouldn't scratch the floor
with your feet. This is very bad. So the demon came, and asked, "Why did you
think of me?" Ravana said, "I'm in trouble." "From whom?" the demon asked. "Two
human beings and some monkeys." Mahi Ravana said, "I saw that tail fort, is it
these people? Are they doing some magic for your pleasure?" Ravana said, "No,
no magic. They have come to fight." Mahi Ravana said, "I give you a promise. It
is four o clock now, and I promise you that by twelve o clock tonight I will
offer them to Maha-Kali in sacrifice. I will bring the blood to you, and you
can mix it with wine and drink. This is my promise." Ravana said, "Ahh! This is
a brother. That Vibhisana is useless." So he gave so many gifts to Mahi Ravana.
Mahi Ravana said, "Don't worry. Don't talk with your ministers. Don't try and
do anything, you just go and enjoy. At midnight, they will be offered. This is
a promise." So Mahi Ravana came back to his city. He was fired up, so excited.
He was calling his ministers. His wife asked, "Where are you going? You are
preparing for something?" "Yes, yes," Mahi Ravana said. "I have already offered
999 princes of ksatriya families to Kali. If I offer one more I will get great
benedictions from her. Now I got two!" She said, "You got two? Oh very good.
Where are they, and who are they?" He said, "They are in my brother's place.
They have come to attack him. Dasaratha's sons Rama and Laksmana." She said,
"Oh! What are you talking about? He's the Supreme Lord!" Mahi Ravana said,
"What? Supreme what? This is Mahipuri. At least here, I am supreme. There is
no-one superior to me. Everything moves because of me. Don't you know this?"
She said, "That's right, you are the supreme lord of here, but then He is
Supreme of everything." Mahi Ravana married this girl from the snake family.
Snakes are devotees are Visnu. She said, "I know this person. I have heard a
prediction from Narada Muni that he will come and kill your brother. I also
heard that when a monkey enters your city, you will also be killed. Don't get
into trouble. There are monkeys there, so your monkey may also be there. Let
Ravana go to hell. What do you have to do with it? You are not His enemy. Leave
the Supreme Lord alone otherwise you will have trouble." Mahi Ravana said,
"This is why people say to marry in your own family, your own dynasty. Why did
I marry you, you are a snake and you are spitting poison." So he left her, and
he got his ministers and told them, "We only have a few hours left. We have to
smuggle Rama and Laksmana and offer them in a sacrifice to Kali." They all
clapped hands, "Wonderful plan! Wonderful!" Demons are like that. One of them
gives a demoniac plan, and another comes and gives a demoniac clap to it. He
took four of his expert assistants. One was known as Catur, another as Sadhya,
another was known as Sarva-prana, another was known as Dushmati. Sometimes
people give bad names to their children, such as Duryodhana or Duhsasana. They
all came up on the bank of Sri Lanka. Mahi Ravana said, "OK, come on. We have
to get ready. One of you must go, so who wants to go?" The first one said, "I
will do it. Give me a box, and I will bring Rama and Laksmana in it." So he was
given a box. He went in there and he was checking out this fort, going around
and around it. "This is very big," he thought. So he laid down and looked up,
still he couldn't see it. So he came back to Mahi Ravana and said, "This is not
a place for me to go. It is so big, and a monkey is walking back and forward
guarding there. I hear so much sound. All the armies are awake playing drums
and singing songs. I can't do it." Sadhya said, "Ahh, weak person! Look at me!
I can do it. I don't need a box, I will bring them in my hand." So he expanded
himself, and then he came in. He thought, "A small wall, so I will just expand
myself a little bit." He saw this tai nd come. In the meantime, somebody may
come here. Even Ravana may come, taking my own form. Don't let him in. Give him
a hard time." Then he went into the ear, and came into the fort. He took Rama
and Laksmana. He expanded his form, looked up, and he expanded his form more,
and then without touching anything he flew up to the top and escaped. He was
very good at holding his breath, so nothing was felt by the tail. The tail had
antennae. If anything was happening, Hanuman could feel it. But this time he
didn't feel anything, as Mahi Ravana was such an expert yogi. He stopped his
breath as if he was not existing, and he took off. He reached Mahipuri and put
them in front of Maha-Kali. They were sleeping. Laksmana was also put to sleep
by Mahi Ravana by his special tricks. The Supreme Lord undergoes these things
so that these wonderful pastimes can happen. The actual Vibhisana came after
his round of the fort, and Hanuman said, "Is everything all right? Wait a
minute, how come you are outside? You went inside." Vibhisana said, "I didn't
go inside. I just told you I am going around and I am coming back now." Hanuman
said, "Now I am feeling that there is something wrong somewhere. You'd better
go in and check." So Vibhisana went in, and he discovered there was no Rama and
Laksmana. All the monkeys were jumping up and down and crying. Vibhisana came
out and said, "Hanuman, you spaced out. Rama is not there, Laksmana is not
there. I'm going to commit suicide." Hanuman said, "Wait, wait! You are the
only source of information. You tell me where Rama and Laksmana could have been
taken." So Vibhisana described Mahipuri. Hanuman said, "I cannot wait here any
longer. I am going to take that Mahi Ravana and crush that Mahi Ravana between
my hands." Vibhisana said, "Be careful. His life is not in one place. But I
don't know where it is. Someone in Mahipuri will be able to tell you. You have
to find someone who is close to him. They will be able to tell yo u where it
is." So Hanuman left for Mahipuri.



CHAPTER 13: THE KILLING OF MAHI RAVANA

Hanuman was flying over the ocean looking for lotus flowers. He came to an area
where there were many lotuses, and he saw one particularly big lotus. "That
must be the lotus," he thought. He entered it, and he was thinking, "What are
those sounds? I should have asked Vibhisana. Anyway, I can't waste any time."
He prayed to Vayu, and Vayu came in front of him. "What is the problem
Hanuman?" Vayu asked. Hanuman said, "The problem is that I have to go inside
here, and some sound is supposed to be pronounced. I forgot." Vayu said, "Don't
worry. This is working by suction system. Suction system is by air, and I am
that. You go." The lotus opened, and Hanuman went through very quickly, and he
landed on the bottom, and looked around. What he saw was a big tank which was
known as kalpa, or the desire fulfilling tank. People were coming from the
city, taking a little water from there to go and worship Kali. Hanuman thought,
"This is the outside of the city, and it looks so wonderful. The inside must be
even more beautiful." Then he was wondering how to enter, and there was a brick
fort. On top of the brick fort there were two thousand lakhs of demon soldiers
walking with their bows and arrows. Hanuman saw them and thought, "I want to
finish all of them together and it is very good that they are all on the fort.
If they are spread out it is very difficult, but they are all in one spot. This
is good arrangement. Now what should I use to kill them?" and he was looking
around. Then he heard a sound. "Hanuman! I am here! Use me!" He looked back,
and there was a big tall tree, very big and fat. The tree was talking. Hanuman
said, "Who are you, and how are you talking?" The tree said, "I am a demigod. I
was cursed by Narada Muni to become a tree. `Why will you make me a tree?' I
asked him. `I will become useless.' He said, `No, I will make you a useful
tree. You will grow in Mahipuri, and when Hanuman comes he will use you for the
war.' Please use me Hanuman, that is what I am here for." So Hanuman took that
whole tree, and then he held it up and brought it down upon the fort wall. Two
thousand lakhs of soldiers were finished. Then he opened the door wide and went
inside. He crossed a forest. That was the brick fort, and now there was a brass
fort. So many more soldiers were there. He stood there and he slapped his
shoulders, challenging them. They all jumped off and they formed themselves
into an army. They were marching, left right left right. Hanuman increased his
hands. His form was the same, but his hands increased. He went as much as the
army was there, and he closed the hands and threw the soldiers to one side. He
opened that door and went inside, and he went through a forest. Then he came to
the copper fort. There was three times more soldiers there. There were eighteen
thousand lakhs of soldiers. So he grew and took his visvarupa, a huge big form,
and then he looked at them and he breathed. They were all finished. He opened
that fort. Then he came to the white metal fort. At that fort there was one
demon who was leading all of them, and he had got mystic perfections. He
produced a storm, and beganproducing rain. He produced stool rain, bone rain
and all kinds of rain. Hanuman came there, and said, "This is very bad." He
looked at them, and they all disappeared. They were illusion. They couldn't
stand the gaze of Hanuman. Hanuman took that demon in his hand and said, "You
create all this illusion. You are so vile that even your dead body shouldn't
remain here." And he ate him up. Hanuman is no vegetarian. When the soldiers
saw this, they thought, "Oh, this is very difficult, we must run away." But
Hanuman did not let them run away. Hetook them all in groups and started eating
them. He was hungry for a long time and had not eaten anything. He ate some,
crushed some, threw some away. He finished all of them, and then he opened that
gate. Then he came to the bell metal fort, and each one was w to do with all
this?" And then he sat in one place, and he got so angry. He looked, and the
fire came out of his eyes. The whole fort just melted. In that melting, all the
soldiers died. This time he didn't open any door, because it was all finished.
He just climbed over. The white metal fort was finished, and he came to the
golden gate. In front of the golden gate was a machine. It was a big meter, and
it had a hand on a scale. When anyone passes that way, it would show whether
they were a friend of Mahi Ravana, or they are inimical toward Mahi Ravana.
According to your inimical feeling, it would show ten degrees, twenty, thirty
degrees. It was very difficult. If it moved a little bit this way, the army was
ready to come and finish you. Hanuman thought, "Now I have to do some lila,"
and he was waiting outside. In the meantime, Mahi Ravana was sitting in his
room, and he called his sister. There is a story that his sister, who was
married to another demon, they had a son. When the son was gone there was an
ashariri from the sky who told them, "This son will become king when Mahi
Ravana dies." Mahi Ravana did not want to die, and he did not want anyone else
to become king, so he put that family in the jail, just as Kamsa did. So her
name was Duratandi. This Duratandi and her son Nilamega were both in jail. But
this Duratandi had a very auspicious power that any abhiseka or puja that had
to be done, if you ask her to bring water then the puja was always successful.
Now they had to do a very important puja, sacrificing Rama, so that is why he
gave her a release. He only released her legs from the chain, her hands were
still bound up. Servants would go with her and only at the water tank would the
chains be opened. She would collect the water, and the chains would be locked
again, and she had to bring back the water. This was the plan of Mahi Ravana,
and he was telling Duratandi to do that. So Duratandi was coming to the water
tank, close to which Han and thinking how to get in the gate. She came and
while taking water she was lamenting, openly cursing Mahi Ravana. "What a
brother I have! He wants to kill Rama and Laksmana." When Hanuman heard that he
jumped up and came in front of her. "What did you say? You know where Rama and
Laksmana are? I am looking for them!" She said, "Who are you? Are you Ravana,
taking another form?" "No, no, I am Hanuman, the servant of Ramacandra." She
said, "Oh, you must help me!" She gave a whole story, and he said, "Don't
worry. If you help me I will help you." She said, "How will I help you?" He
said, "I will become small, and I will enter a leaf. You put the leaf in your
water pot and carry me inside. I want to trick these people." She said, "What
happens if they find out? They have got a scale there, and if you don't like
Mahi Ravana, it will show." He said, "All right, I like Mahi Ravana." "No, no,
no. How can you like Mahi Ravana and Rama? It's not possible." Hanuman said,
"Anyway, why don't you do it? I like a thrill, and I want to trick them." So he
became very small and entered into a mango leaf. When you bring water for
bathing, you put a mango leaf in it. She put mango leaves in there with
Hanuman. And then very peacefully she was bringing it. The meter was there, and
she was slowly coming, and she was shivering. Some demons were saying, "Hey!
Why are you shivering? What is that you are bringing?" She said, "No, no. This
is abhiseka water, we are going to kill Rama today." As soon as she came in
front of the meter, it went right over the other side and there was no more
numbers it could go to. They said, "Hey, stop! You are hating Mahi Ravana so
much. You used to hate him before, but it was only thirty degrees. Now it's
coming out of the meter." She said, "No, I have become friendly now, otherwise
how has my brother let me out?" So then they said, "There must be someone
inside the water!" And they looked in the water. g, so they concluded, "There
is something wrong with this machine. You walk past, and let us check again."
So she went back and then came past the machine again. "Boing!" and it broke.
"Who is this who does not like Mahi Ravana?" they asked. Hanuman jumped out of
the pot and said, "It is me!" and he became huge and took everyone and began to
make a big mess, he couldn't wait to see Rama. He was smashing some people,
crushing some people, biting some, walking on them, throwing a bunch and
another bunch another way. He took a group and another group and smashed them
against each other. In this way he finished them all. Then she said, "There are
ten houses around Mahi Ravana's house. These are his great corporals and
generals. You must kill them." "No problem," Hanuman said. He went there and
stood in the middle and put his tail slowly inside each house. First one house,
where one general was sitting with his wife telling her, "You look like the
moon." And she was saying, "You look like the sun." In the meantime the tail
came and bound both of them, pulled them out of them house and started flapping
them on the floor. In the same way he went to every house and smashed them all.
All the houses were finished. Then the news reached Mahi Ravana. Mahi Ravana
came out in front of Hanuman and said, "Hey! I will kill you!" And he got on
his chariot. Hanuman flew up and fell on the chariot. He crushed the chariot.
Mahi Ravana was smashed. Hanuman said, "Jaya Ramacandra Bhagavan ki jaya!" And
then Mahi Ravana came up again. Hanuman gave him a big punch on the chest,
making him unconscious. Hanuman said, "Jaya Ramacandra Bhagavan ki jaya!" Again
he got up. Hanuman thought, "Every time I say Jaya he gets up. Next time I'm
not going to say it." So he took Mahi Ravana in his hands and tore him to
pieces, and he threw the pieces everywhere. He sat down, and they all joined
together and Mahi Ravana got up. He used his special martial arts techniques.
He locked Mahi o he couldn't breath. Then Mahi Ravana disappeared. Hanuman
said, "No-one can get out of my locking system!" Then he looked around and he
saw a silver mountain, a rock. Duratandi told him, "This is not a silver rock,
this is Mahi Ravana. He can take any form." Hanuman sat on it and crushed it.
Again Mahi Ravana came out, and he started running. This time he was so fast
that Hanuman couldn't catch him. Hanuman went to Duratandi and said, "Now what?
Where has he gone?" She said, "He is performing a yajna for killing you." Mahi
Ravana went inside a cave and he was quickly performing some yajna, and from
the yajna, a big brahma-rakshasa came. He was saying, "Who? Who? Whom should I
eat?" Mahi Ravana said, "Hanuman, over there!" So he jumped up and came to
Hanuman. Hanuman got ready to fight the bhuta, but Duratandi said, "Don't fight
with the bhuta, it's a waste of time. Go and spoil the yajna. Automatically the
bhuta will die." Hanuman said, "Oh, that's good." So he went there and spoiled
the yajna by passing urine on the fire. The yajna became contaminated, and the
brahma-rakshasa disappeared. Again Mahi Ravana disappeared. Hanuman came back
to Duratandi and said, "I am confused. What should I do?" Duratandi said, "Even
if you crush him he won't die, because his life is in three places." She told a
secret. So he came to the Kali temple and saw Ramacandra dressed up with
turmeric powder, sindhu, flower garland. He was going to be sacrificed, so he
had to look good. He came to Rama and said, "My Lord, You must help. I did
everything that I know. This man is invincible." Ramacandra said, "No problem.
At midnight he will kill Me. At that time, I will make some trick and I will
shoot the arrow. At the same time, you must go and finish those lamps. I will
get Laksmana to crush the diamond." Rama was the Supreme intelligence. So
Laksmana got Duratandi to find out where the diamond was, and he reached that
place and was waiting for midnight. was flying and flying. He was going very,
very fast. Finally he landed there. He saw this cave, and he saw five
entrances. They all connected inside, and there were five lamps burning. He
came in there, and he blew one out. He came to the next, and he put that one
out. He looked back, and the other one had again lighted up automatically. He
put one off, and another lighted, back and forth. Then he said, "I will do
everything at once." So he turned his head while blowing. They all went out,
but all came on again. In the meantime the snakes had come out spitting poison.
The poison was not doing anything to him, but they were coming and moving
mystically, and Hanuman came out and said, "Oh, what am I going to do?" Again
he thought of Vayu. Vayu came and said, "Hanuman, what's the problem now? You
don't have much time, only three minutes left!" Hanuman said, "Well what can I
do? This lamp goes out and another one starts. This lamp that lamp, back and
forth. I am confused." Vayu said, "Ahh! You forgot who your father is!" Hanuman
said, "I didn't forget. You are my father." Vayu said, "You know that only
because of me is any light burning?" And Vayu withdrew from there. As soon as
Vayu withdrew from that cave, it became a vacuum. And at that point, they all
went out at once. Immediately Hanuman remembered Brahma, and he prayed to him,
"I want to use that benediction, that special benediction. I want to reach
Mahipuri right now." Next moment he was in Mahipuri. At the same time Laksmana
crushed the diamond. Just before that, Mahi Ravana had come and told Rama, "Pay
obeisances! And then I will offer you to Kali!" Rama said, "I don't know how to
pay obeisances. I forgot. I was in shock. Can you teach Me how to pay
obeisances?" So Mahi Ravana said, "All right, I will show you. This is how you
pay obeisances." As soon as he bent down, Rama took his arrow and shot him. All
these things happened at the same time, crushing the diamond, putting the
lights out, and Ramacan t inside Mahi Ravana's chest. And then he started
dying. When he started dying, everything began to cave in. The jewels became
powerless, the roads were cracking, the buildings were crumbling. And then
Hanuman came and said, "Rama and Laksmana, sit on my shoulder!" And he broke
everything and flew off. He came back to Sri Lanka. And then the war started.



CHAPTER 14: RAVANA KILLED AND SITA RECOVERED

In the area of Mahipuri, Nila the engineer of the Vanara army reconstructed the
city, and Mahi Ravana's nephew was established as the king. Now the war
started. This war was different from how the Kuruksetra war was fought. Day and
night the fighting was going on. Demons especially become more strong after
sunset, and a lot of damage was done to the monkey army. Especially when
Indrajit came to the battlefield, and when Kumbhakarna came to the battlefield,
a lot of damage was done to the monkeys. Indrajit used a lot of illusory
techniques. By becoming invisible he fought, and at one point he made Rama and
Laksmana unconscious by using some special snake weapon. Then on the advice of
one of the great doctors of the Vanara army and Vibhisana, Hanuman flew to the
Himalayas and brought the Puspa-Puspa-Puspa-samjivani mountain. Puspa-samjivani
means, "The flower of revitalisation." Actually they told him to bring the
Puspa-samjivani leaf. But the Puspa-samjivani leaf had some sparkle or shine.
Hanuman arrived in the Himalayan region and went to that particular mountain.
The rishis who were meditating on the mountain, for them this Puspa-samjivani
leaf was very valuable, because if you just took one leaf you wouldn't have to
eat for five years. No food, no thirst, no hunger, no sickness. It was very
nice. They saw that Hanuman had come. They knew if anyone came there they only
come for Puspa-samjivani. There was nothing else there, just Puspa-samjivani
plant and rishis closing their eyes and meditating for thousands of years. They
knew that there was some danger, so they used their mystic power and made all
the leaves shine like Puspa-samjivani. Hanuman was looking. "Ah, this one! But
that one is also shining." He saw the whole mountain was shining. Hanuman said,
"Oh, now I have a problem. I don't know which one to take. I will take the
whole mountain." So he put his hand under the mountain and he lifted it up. The
rishis were alarmed. "What's going on?" He flew, and before Hanuman came wi th
the mountain, Jambavan very cleverly used the monkey army to kick all the dead
bodies of demons into the ocean. He cleaned the whole place. Only the monkey
dead bodies were kept. Because otherwise, when Puspa-samjivani mountain comes,
then everyone will get up. They will be as before. So very cleverly Jambavan
arranged that all the dead bodies of demons were kicked into the ocean, and
some stones put on their head that they wouldn't come to the surface. Then the
Puspa-samjivani mountain came, and all the monkeys got up. Now the demons were
small and the Vanaras were more. Even when he was bringing the mountain, even
before he had landed they all got up, the power of Puspa-samjivani was so much.
The fight was going on and everyone had very powerful weapons. Indrajit means
`the conqueror of Indra'. But he had a benediction that he would be killed only
if while he is performing a sacrifice someone stops him and fights with him.
Because Indrajit was very powerful, he was thinking, "Who would dare to stop me
while I am performing sacrifice?" In between the war he disappeared and went to
a very secret place to perform a sacrifice. But Vibhisana knew the place, and
he brought Hanuman and Angada there, and they contaminated the sacrifice and
pulled him out. Then there was a big fight, and finally Laksmana killed
Indrajit. One by one everyone was killed, and only Ravana was left. The
demigods helped a lot in the war, and Indra sent his chariot and his charioteer
Matali there, which Ramacandra was using. He broke Ravana's chariot, killed his
charioteer and his horses, broke the bow, broke his club and flag. And then he
said, "All right Ravana, I will give you some time. You go today, and you come
back tomorrow, with the good decision of giving Sita back to Me. If you do
that, everyone who is dead will come back. You will get all your opulences. As
if it has never happened, people will forget what they knew of you, and you
will be known as a noble king. I will go back to Ayo a good friendship." Ravana
felt this a great insult that he was not killed, so he went back to his palace.
Then he remembered that Lord Siva once said to him, "When your life is in
danger, you call me. I will save you." There is a vina known as Rudra-vina,
Lord Siva's personal instrument. That was with Ravana, so he took that vina and
started singing songs in praise of Lord Siva. Lord Siva is easily pleased, so
he immediately came before Ravana and said, "Why did you call me?" Ravana said,
"My life is in danger." Siva said, "How is your life in danger? You tell me."
Ravana said, "I took the wife of the son of Dasaratha, and he came here with
his army of monkeys, and they have killed everybody. Even Kumbhakarna,
Indrajit, everyone is gone. I am the only one left. And that king insulted me
by telling me, "You go. I won't kill you today. Come back tomorrow." So over
and above everything, I am insulted. Please save my prestige and my life." Siva
said, "Yes, I must save your life. I will save your life. Here, I am saving
your life. Give Sita back." Ravana said, "No! Oh, the same thing again! You are
cheating me! You promised me you would save my life, but you are not doing it."
Siva said, "No, I am saving your life. Did I say that to save your life I would
go and fight with someone? I have my own method of saving your life. Just take
this small piece of advice: Give back Sita. Everything will be wonderful."
Ravana said, "No, I expected that you would go and fight with Rama and finish
Him." Siva said, "I don't mind. I can go and fight with Rama, but I will be
finished." Ravana said, "No, I am not going to give back Sita." Siva said, "All
right, then you will die. Who can protect you?" Then Ravana came the next day.
When he came, Ramacandra was standing there holding His bow. Even to carry that
bow was very difficult. It was much bigger than His body, and very heavy. He
used to hold it like he was holding some grass. When Ravana cam ana and
Laksmana said, "Jaya! Finally, he is surrendering!" Then the next moment Ravana
said, "What am I doing? No, I am here to fight with you." Then Rama fired His
arrow, and he finished Ravana. Then all of Ravana's queens came, and they were
crying. Then Vibhisana and Hanuman came to Ramacandra, and they said, "So the
war is over, and we are arranging for the cremation of Ravana. We are
performing sraddha for all the ones who are dead. Please instruct us about
bringing Sita." Ramacandra said, "Yes, you both go and tell Sita that Ravana is
killed, and you bring her here." So they went there, and Sitadevi had already
got all the news from Vibhisana's daughter. Hanuman told her, "Mother, you are
being called by Ramacandra, so you must come." So she dressed in the same cloth
in which she was taken away by Ravana, and which was hanging on the tree. She
dressed herself up, and she came. When she came, Hanuman and Vibhisana came and
said to Ramacandra, "Here is your wife, Sita." Ramacandra said, "Tell her that
she can do anything she likes and go anywhere she likes. I have killed Ravana,
and she has no fear now. She can go where she likes." Hanuman cried, and he was
looking at Vibhisana saying, "What is this? Cross the ocean, build a bridge,
kill the demons, bring a mountain, and then, `You go wherever you like.' Did He
actually say this?" Vibhisana said, "Yes, he did. I am also confused." So then
they went to Laksmana, and asked him, "What is this?" Laksmana said, "That's
what I am also wondering. What is this?" So then they all came back to Rama,
and Vibhisana was leading the party. "O Lord Ramacandra, can You please repeat
what You have said?" Ramacandra said, "Didn't you hear Me? Now our work is
done. You have killed the demons, so we will go back. You can tell this lady to
do whatever she wants." So then Hanuman came to Sita devi, and he was looking
at her face. Sita said, "Did you hear what He said?" Hanuman said, "Yes, He
said you can do whatever you like." Sita to "You tell this king, my husband,
that in going anywhere I liked, I did not have to wait all this time. I could
have gone anywhere I liked. I was only waiting for Him to come. Now why is He
rejecting me?" Then she prayed to all the demigods, and they all appeared
there. Even Janaka and Dasaratha came. They were all present, and they said,
"Ramacandra, this is Your wife, Sita. This whole program You did was to get her
back. Now You take her back." Ramacandra said, "No. I don't have to take her
back." Dasaratha and Janaka came and said to Him, "No, no. This will be too
hard for her. Please take her back." Ramacandra said, "How will I take her
back? She is not My wife." And then everyone became confused. Brahma came there
and said, "This is Your lila. You just take an avatar to finish the demons and
protect the devotees. But You don't do too much lila, because we will get
confused. Lila is all right, but not too much lila. So here is Your wife, just
take her." Rama said, "She is not My wife." Brahma said, "Why?" "How can she be
My wife? She stayed in Ravana's garden for so long, four months. I may take her
as my wife, but when I go back to Ayodhya, what will I say to My citizens? They
will say, "Rama, You went to the forest. How was everything?" "Everything was
all right except that My wife stayed with Ravana for four months." What will
they think? Will I be able to keep this lady on the throne as my queen? On the
simhasana, the great seat of the Iksvaku dynasty, some woman who left her
husband and stayed somewhere else for four months? They will complain to Me."
Hanuman asked Ramacandra, "Then what are You supposed to do?" Rama said, "You
ask Sita." So Hanuman came back with Sita and said, "You solve the problem."
Sita said, "Ask Him. If He wants I can go to the fire, and prove that I am
pure." Vibhisana came and told Ramacandra, and Ramacandra said, "Yes, that's a
good idea. Tell Laksmana to make a fire." S ita would walk into the fire, after
all that trouble. So he left that place. And Vibhisana also left that place.
They couldn't tolerate. Laksmana was a thankless person all the time. He was
always given the thankless jobs. So he went to Mother Sita and told her,
"Please come, and go into the fire." Sitadevi climbed into the fire. She was
sitting on the fire and the fire was glowing. Nothing happened to her. That's
all there in Ramayana. But something did happen. What happened was that Agni
came there and brought the original Sita. Sita was actually never in Sri Lanka.
This was a big scandal. This scandal was arranged by Laksmana. When Marica got
the arrow of Ramacandra in his heart, he shouted, "Oh Laksmana! Oh Sitadevi!"
Sitadevi told Laksmana, "Your brother is in trouble! You must go and save Him!"
Laksmana was smiling. Sita said, "What kind of a demoniac person are you? How
can you smile and laugh when your brother is getting killed by the demons?"
Laksmana said, "What problem is there? When people get a problem they chant
Rama's name. How can He have problem? Anyone who is afraid of an enemy, they
chant Rama's name and they get protected. How can He have any enemy? He is
protecting everyone in this world. How can he have a problem?" Sitadevi said,
"Now I know your plan! You always wanted to have me as your wife. Now that Rama
will be dead you will be happy." Laksmana closed his ears. "Oh no! What is
this?" Then she said, "If not, then you must go now." So he said, "All right, I
will go." But then he thought, "I'm not just going to leave like this." So he
took his Agni astra, the astra of fire, and he drew a line in front of the
ashrama. He said, "You be beyond this line. Don't cross this line." So then
Ravana came as a sannyasi, and he was trying to first enter the house. When he
came, he touched the line and the fire came, and he couldn't go in. Then he
called, "Is there anyone in the house?" Sita devi came, and Ravana asked,
"Whose ho is is the son of Dasaratha's house. He is in exile. Nobody who comes
to this house goes without getting something. So I wll give you something."
Then she brought some fruits. Ravana said, "I don't enter houses. I am a
naisthika sannyasa. You have to come outside and bring it to me." She said, "I
have been told by my protectors not to cross this line." He said, "All right, I
won't take. I'm going, and I'm angry." She said, "No, no, don't go angry." He
said, "Yes, all these Dasaratha and Rama, they are all just misers. They don't
give any charity. I'm going, and I'll tell everyone, `This is Rama'." So
Sitadevi thought, "Oh, this is very bad. I have to protect the name of my
husband." So she crossed the line. When she crossed the line, the fire came
again and Agni took her to his palace. He produced a Sita who was illusory, and
that was the Sita Ravana took. One may say, "If she is illusory then what is
the whole problem with this scene?" No, even that Sita belongs to the Lord
only. She's not supposed to be in Ravana's garden. But then Ramacandra had a
vow that He only married one Laksmi in that incarnation. He was not going to
take the other Laksmi. He told her, "You can go wherever you like." He was not
cruel, he just told her what she is supposed to be told. But this happened in a
very secret manner, not many people knew. At least in the Ramayana, it is not
stated. In the Kurma Purana, the story is mentioned. Agni brought the original
Sita and handed her over to Ramacandra.



CHAPTER 15: RETURN TO AYODHYA

After getting back the original Sita from Agni, Ramacandra said, "Now we must
go to Ayodhya." There was a big pushpa-bhimam, which flew not by steering but
by mind, mental instruction. So they all got on the pushpa-bhimam, along with a
few leading monkeys. Then the other monkeys said, "Well we're not going by this
bridge and walking all the way to Kishkinda. We will also go by flight." So
Ramacandra told the pushpa-bhimam, "You expand." So it expanded and took all
the Vanaras in it. They all took a flight. While they were going, Ramacandra
was showing Sita, "This is Janasthan where I fought with 14,000 rakshasas and
killed them with one arrow. This is Pancavati. This is the Dandakaranya forest.
This is Kishkinda." They had a stopover in Kishkinda, and then they took
Sugriva's family also. They all got in the pushpa-bhimam. Then they were flying
over Bharadvaja ashrama's. All the places where they visited Ramacandra was
showing to Sita. "Do you remember this place? Do you remember that place?" In
this way they were coming to Ayodhya. In the meantime Hanuman told Ramacandra,
"We have to go fast, otherwise tomorrow sunrise, Bharata will jump in the fire.
It is fourteen years already." Ramacandra told Hanuman, "You go before us." So
Hanuman flew very fast and jumped in front of Bharata. By that time it was
sunrise already, and Bharata was circumambulating the fire and preparing to
jump into it. He went once, twice round. On the seventh round he would get into
the fire. When he completed the second round he heard the sound, "Rama is
coming! Rama is coming!" He was looked up, and he said, "Where is Rama coming?"
Then he went around again. The third round he saw this figure jumping in front
of him, a big tail and a club on his shoulder with a crown and so many
ornaments on his chest. Bharata looked at him and said, "Who are you?" He said,
"I am Hanuman, the servant of Rama." Bharata said, "What? I think that by
fasting too much, I am having some hallucination." So he asked everybody el se,
"Do you also see this monkey?" They said, "Yes we see him." So then Hanuman
jumped up on a tree, and he began to speak Ramayana. How everything happened,
and he shortly summarized the whole thing. When Bharata heard this he was very
happy. And then the pushpa-bhimam came. So all the citizens of Ayodhya, because
of Hanuman's prior information, they were able to receive Ramacandra properly.
Bharata took Him to the simhasana, and said, "Here are your shoes. Now I hand
this country back to you. You will be king." And then there was a coronation
ceremony. At this ceremony, everyone was given some gift. Ramacandra was
giving, Sita was giving. Hanuman was very happy seeing that so many people are
coming and getting something and going. He was in ecstasy and he was chanting
and dancing and jumping. So then Sitadevi felt very merciful, and she called
him. "Hanuman, nobody gave you anything. Here, take this necklace." And she
gave him a pearl necklace which she was wearing. Hanuman broke the pearls and
started eating them. All the saintly people in the assembly were saying, "What
is this monkey doing with Sitadevi's necklace?" They were all murmuring amongst
themselves. "Ramacandra went to the forest, but why is He bringing the forest
into the city? And what is he doing with the queen's necklace? He is insulting
the kingdom." Ramacandra said, "Hanuman, they are all having some confusion
over you." Hanuman said, "What is the confusion?" Ramacandra said, "Well, they
are all saying that you don't think about Me so much, you do not value me so
much." Hanuman said, "Then what should I do?" Ramacandra said, "You show them
how nicely you value Me, and how you are respecting Me." Hanuman said, "If that
is Your order I will do it." So then he put his hands on his chest and opened
his body, and showed his heart. In his heart was a court-hall, and there was
Ramacandra and Sita, and in front of them was Hanuman, and he was opening his
chest, and inside the c ndra, Sita, Laksmana, Bharata, Satrughna and Hanuman.
And Hanuman was opening his chest. In this way they had an unlimited vision of
Rama bhakti, and they were all convinced. The coronation was over, and then
everyone did some service. Everyone, because He had not been there for fourteen
years. So thousands of people were waiting to serve Ramacandra, and Hanuman was
thinking, "What do I do all day here in Ayodhya?" He was walking and telling
people about Ramayana, but he got bored. He came to Mother Sita and said,
"Let's go to the forest again. This is nice, but I want some personal service
of Ramacandra. I'm getting bored here." So Sitadevi called the palace manager
and said, "Any service?" He said, "No, there is a waiting list of people
waiting to take service." Hanuman said, "You have brought me here for what? If
I cannot serve Rama, then what is the meaning of my sitting here? You must get
me some service. I'm depending on you." So he was given the service of waking
up Rama in the morning, and he was happy. Another day, Hanuman went to
Sitadevi's house, and he said, "Mataji, I'm very hungry. Please give me
something." She said, "I am putting sindhu on my hair. Please wait, and I will
give you something." Hanuman said, "Oh, I can't wait. I'm very hungry." "No-one
can be that hungry," she said. "You just wait." "No mataji, I'm so hungry I
could die. I need some fruit." She said, "Just wait until I have finished
putting this in my hair." Then Hanuman looked at her and said, "Why do you
this? Why are you putting this red stuff on your hair?" She said, "You know why
I do this? Because if I do it then Ramacandra will be happy, and he will live
long, and he will have great opulence. All these things will happen." Hanuman
said, "Oh," and then he left. Quickly Sita finished, and got the fruits
together. She called out, "Hanuman! Hanuman! Where are you?" Hanuman was not to
be found. "But he was so hungry." She clapped h . They all went, but they
couldn't find him. Then two minutes later, some figure entered Sita's room. It
was completely red. She looked, and it had the shape of a monkey, you couldn't
see the face, the nose, chadar, dhoti, anything. He was completely red. He had
taken bath in red. She said, "Who are you?" He said, "I am Hanuman." "What did
you do?" "I covered my whole body with sindhu. You said that if you only colour
this much, then Rama will get happy and prosperous, so I cover my whole body
and he will get more." That is why when you see Hanuman deity it is all red,
because he puts sindhu all over his body. The mataji only put it one place, but
he took bath in sindhu. That was how much love and affection Hanuman had for
Ramacandra. So in this way they were living very happily in Ayodhya till
Sitadevi got pregnant. She had a desire to go to the forest, because she liked
the forest so much. Wildflowers, bumble-bees, deer and peacocks. So she had
this desire, "I should go to the forest again." So one day she told Ramacandra,
"Can we go to the forest again?" Ramacandra said, "Why the forest? No-one is
giving any delegation." She said, "I like the forest." He said, "All right, I
will take you." Every evening, Rama and Laksmana would dress up like ordinary
citizens and go around Ayodhya. Who is doing what, who is saying what, they
will check it. They were feeling the pulse of the citizens, seeing if they
liked them or if there is some enemy, a very important job. Ramacandra and
Laksmana were going around like that. They heard a big scene in a colony, a
small colony. Dhobis were living there. So they hid and saw what was going on.
There was a lady being kicked by her husband and she was crying. She was
holding his feet and saying, "Do anything, but don't send me out of the house."
He said, "No! You are not qualified to enter this house. You can go away, I
don't like you." So then she was calling all the villagers. "Please help me.
What did I " So they all came for judgement, and the husband said, "No
judgement! I am husband, she is wife. I decide what she does, and she is not
coming in this house any more. She can go." Then some elder people came and
said, "What are you doing? This is very bad. She is not a bad woman, she likes
you and wants to serve you. Why are you kicking her away?" He said, "You are
saying all this, but if your wives did the same thing, you wouldn't be even
standing and talking, you would have finished her." "What did she do?" they
asked. He said, "This lady went to wash cloth, and she never came back. Three
days later she came. I asked her what happened, she is saying, `Somebody came
and said that my father was sick, so I had to go. I was only in my father's
house." They said, "So what is the problem? She was only in her father's
house." He said, "How do I know? She may have gone anywhere. She is not pure, I
am not taking her." They said, "No, you must take her. She is crying, she is
very affectionate for you." He said, "Do you think I am Lord Ramacandra, that
after keeping my wife in someone else's house I will take her back? I'm not as
cheap as Lord Rama." Ramacandra heard this, and he looked at Laksmana. Laksmana
pretended that he hadn't heard this, and he was looking away. He didn't want
any more scenes. When they came back they were very silent and didn't discuss
anything. Ramacandra didn't take any prasad that night. Then he called Laksmana
and said, "Tomorrow morning, just at the time of sunrise, you take Sita and you
drop her in the forest." Early in the morning, Laksmana's chariot came, and he
knocked on the door. Sita was thinking, "It must be Ramacandra." She said, "Who
is it?" "Laksmana," came the answer. "What is the news Laksmana?" she asked. He
said, "Ramacandra has told me to take you to the forest." "Jaya!" she said. She
had wanted to go to the forest, and she thought that Ramacandra was now sending
her with Laksmana. So she went and ut. Laksmana saw her and told her,
"Ramacandra said you are not taking anything." She said, "What about those
cosmetics?" "No. Nothing. Just get on the chariot." "I can't take anything at
all?" she asked. "Nature will provide you everything," he said. He was actually
worrying and pining in his heart, but he could not say anything. She happily
got on the chariot, and they went. They crossed the Tamasa river, and they came
to the banks of the Ganges. Laksmana said, "You get down." She got down, and
Laksmana took the reins. She said, "Hey, where are you going?" He said, "I am
leaving you in the forest." "You are leaving me like this in the forest, in
this place? There is nobody here!" "Yes," he said. "You are banished to the
forest. Your husband, my brother has banished you to the forest because of the
dhobi's criticism." He couldn't stand there any more. Quickly he drove the
chariot, and disappeared. Sita started crying, she fell on the ground and
became unconscious. Two brahmacaris were coming from Valmiki's ashrama to
gather some firewood in that area, and they saw this queen lying there. They
ran back to the ashrama and told Valmiki. "There is a queen there, she is
pregnant and unconscious." So Valmiki knew who that was. He came up to her, and
told her, "You stay in my ashrama and deliver the children there. I promise
you, somehow I will make compromise between you and Lord Ramacandra." She
stayed in the ashrama.



CHAPTER 16: SITA PROVES HER CHASTITY

Two or three days passed, and all the brahmacaris in the ashrama were talking.
"Prabhu, do you know what has happened? Why has this queen visited our
ashrama?" "Kings and queens always visit ashramas." "You are too innocent. This
queen has been banished by her husband." "Then we should give her shelter."
"What do you mean, give her shelter? Ashrama is not meant for giving shelter to
destitute matajis. If her husband has kicked her out, she must go. What is she
doing here? It's a bad name for our ashrama. Tomorrow even the king will get
angry at us. Even the demigods will be unhappy." So they were talking like
this. It became bigger and bigger, and everyone was talking. Valmiki was
sitting in his yajnashala doing some yajna, and he saw someone talking. "Ssh!
Silence!" He continued the yajna, and then he noticed someone talking again.
Quickly he finished the yajna and did a purnahoti. "Everyone come here! What is
your problem?" They said, "No problem, everything is all right." "No, no, there
is some problem." Valmiki said. "What problem? If some queen comes here, what
is the problem for us? We are brahmacaris, we don't care. We didn't say
anything. Who is saying?" Valmiki said, "No, you are saying something. Don't
play jokes with me. I don't want to know who said it. Just tell me what is the
subject." One of the brahmacaris said, "They say that maybe the queen is not
chaste, and maybe they will tell something about us, maybe it is bad for our
ashrama. They are all telling like that." Valmiki said, "We can solve this
problem. I am telling you, she is chaste." When the founder was not there, they
could give so many opinions, but this was the founder himself. They said,
"Maharaja, you say she is chaste." Valmiki replied, "Yes, I say she is chaste."
"How do you know?" they asked. Valmiki said, "All right, let us argue. How do
you know she is unchaste?" They said, "Why does her husband keep her like this
in the forest?" Valmiki said, "Do you know who is her husband?" They said,
"Yes, we know. The king of Ayodhya, Ramacandra." "Do you know who he is?"
Valmiki asked. "We know He is the Supreme Lord." Valmiki said, "So then, if the
Supreme Lord is kicking someone out, that must be a very qualified person. What
is the problem for you and I?" They said, "But still, others will criticize."
Valmiki said, "All right, we will do a test. Bring Sita here." Sita came, and
Valmiki said, "They are all saying you are unchaste. I know you are chaste, but
you have to prove it." She said, "Anything you say, I will do. Do you want me
to go into fire again?" Then they all said, "No, no! Brahma-hatya will come.
Suppose you die, and then what happens?" Valmiki said, "She is saying that she
is ready for any test, so you prescribe that test." Then they all went outside
and made a committee. Then they came back, and said, "She must cross the
Sitiba-sala lake. Then she is chaste." Valmiki said, "All right, we will
arrange it today." So they all went to the lake. This Sitiba-sala lake was very
huge, almost like an ocean. It is in the Himalayas. This lake had also expanded
outside its region into a forest part of Ayodhya, because some rishi wanted to
have the lake there, so she expanded there. This lake was known as Sitiba-sala
because there was a couple of birds. The husband bird one day came back after
getting grains, and he saw the wife bird was not there. He was waiting, and
after sunset the bird came. Around the lake are the trees, and that is where
the rishis are, speaking so much dharma and religion. So even the birds were
influenced. He said, "It is already sunset. Why are you coming so late?" She
said, "I lost my way. And somehow I found my way back here again." He said,
"No, no. You have to do some prayascitta, some atonement. I think you are
unchaste." The female bird said, "Birds don't have these rules!" The male bird
said, "Well we are living in this ashrama area, and here everyone has dharma.
We cannot have adharma, it will not be acceptable. You can go, go somewhere."
And he started crying, "What happened to my family? Why has it become like
this?" So as the female bird was flying, some demigods known as the Dik-palas,
the eight directions, and there was the Pala or controller of the directions,
they were in the tank taking bath. All the demigods took bath in that tank.
They saw the bird crying, and they said, "Come here. Why are you crying?" She
said, "What to do? My husband says I am not chaste." They all laughed and said,
"What? But you are a bird! What does he want?" She said, "He says I must do
some prayascitta." "There is no prayascitta for animals and birds. Even the
human beings don't do it." She said, "Somehow or other, please take me back to
my husband." They came there and said, "Hey! What is this? You don't have these
things, you are birds. She lost her way and came back, now come on, take her."
He said, "No. This is a religious area. Everyone is religious here. How can I
be irreligious? Not possible. You are demigods, and you know so much shastra.
Please prescribe some prayascitta." So they said, "All right. You cross this
lake." The bird said, "You think that this small bird can cross this lake?"
They said, "She will cross it. And if she crosses the lake, you accept that she
is chaste." So then the bird said, "I will cross this lake," but she fell in
the water. But the Dik-palas, the controllers of direction, made some
arrangement that she crossed the lake and came to the other side. When she got
there, they said, "Look, no bird can do it. She has done it, so she must be
chaste. Take her." From that time this lake was known as Sitiba-sala, because a
Sitiba bird crossed the lake and proved her chastity. So the ashrama inmates of
Valmiki decided that Sitadevi should also prove her chastity in this way. So
Sitadevi looked at the lake, and she said, "Even if I have thought about
another man when I was asleep, unconscious, dreaming, sick, or in my mind, if I
have ever thought of another man, I will drown." And then she jumped. She
didn't even try to swim, but the waves of the lake carried her across to the
other side. She was dropped there. Valmiki looked at the brahmacaris as if to
say, "What do you say now?" When he looked they were all gone. As soon as they
saw she was halfway over they went back. Then they made an outhouse for her and
accommodated her. She stayed there. Every day she was worshipping Ramacandra,
and would perform some austerity for His welfare. Although He had kicked her
out, she was performing some austerity for Him. That is a wife.



CHAPTER 17: THE GREAT FESTIVAL

Slowly the time passed, and Sitadevi gave birth to children. There are opinions
that she only gave birth to one child and that Valmiki created the other child.
Whatever happened, there were two children called Lava and Kusa. Valmiki wrote
the Ramayana up to the point of Rama's coronation, so he taught Lava and Kusa
this Ramayana, how to sing it. But Lava and Kusa were not told who they were.
They were told that there was a great king, and this is the story of the great
king, and they must learn it. So they learnt it very nicely and they would sing
it in front of Sita. Sometimes Sita would cry. They would ask, "Why are you
crying?" and she would say, "I was just thinking how much suffering that lady
Sita would have been having." Lava and Kusa became expert Ramayana singers, and
Ramacandra decided to perform asvamedha-yajna. Satrughna went with the horse
all around the world. Ramacandra could not perform the yajna without the wife,
so they made a golden deity of Sita. The deity was next to Him, and in this way
they were doing the yajna. A big yajnashala was built, and all the rishis from
all over India were there. So there was large accommodation, and entertainment,
drama etc. They didn't know where to go, because there were so many programs
going on at the same time. Laksmana was arranging all the shows, all the
dramas, dances and music. Vibhisana took care of the treasury, he was in the
reception. They were all accommodated and everyone was having a nice festival.
Then Valmiki came to the gate. Not everyone was allowed to come, so as he came
in the gate, he left Lava and Kusa and said "You go and try to get inside." In
front of him was Angada, standing there. There were many gates, so Lava and
Kusa came and were walking. Angada put his tail there and said, "Hey! Where are
you going?" They said, "Yajna is happening, so we must go." Angada said, "Who
are you? Have you been invited?" They said, "We are disciples of Valmiki."
Angada said, "Oh, disciples of Valmiki! But one thing, you have to have an
invitation, otherwise we don't let you in." So then Lava and Kusa said, "How do
you know we don't have invitations?" Angada said, "I have the list of people
who are invited. Your name is not here." They said, "You read it properly. Our
name is there. It must be there." He started reading, and they went inside.
Angada informed someone that they had gotten in. The police came there and they
saw Lava and Kusa. "Hey, where are you going? You are not allowed here. We have
information that you have come inside without permission." So immediately they
took their vinas and started singing. They were singing the dynasty of Iksvaku.
Then the police heard this, and they were entranced. Very soon there was a big
crowd. Any rishi who was walking past also stopped and listened, thinking it
was one of the programs. They didn't know it was just someone singing
spontaneously. They were sitting there listening and relishing Ramayana. So
then Bharata came there and said, "What is this crowd? Move along." Someone
said to him, "Just listen to this. Ramacandra has just taken birth." Bharata
said, "Ramacandra just took birth?" "Just listen," they said. Bharata sat down,
and he also forgot where he was going and what he was doing. Hanuman was going
on patrol, checking everything. When he heard this kirtan, he also came and sat
down, and forgot everything. All the activities of the yajna came to a
standstill, because Lava and Kusa were narrating the nectarean pastimes of
Rama. Finally Laksmana came, the chief controller. "What's going on here?" They
said, "Some gurukulis are doing Ramayana." Laksmana said, "This is a good
thing! I can make this into a program." He called them over. "Come here boys.
Why don't you do Ramayana as a program?" They said, "We don't mind doing it,
but how can we do it if we are not invited?" Laksmana said, "I will invite you
as special guests. Who is stopping you here?" So he announced to the guests,
"Lava and Kusa can go anywhere, do any thing, pick up anything, eat anything,
sit anywhere they like, play any style, they can do anything. They must just do
the Ramayana class every day, that's all. They have nothing else to do all day,
just Ramayana and maybe a little astrology in the morning. That's all." So Lava
and Kusa came on the stage, and they were singing Ramayana. All the guests were
sitting there listening. Then at one point they thought, "Why shouldn't we call
Ramacandra for this?" So Hanuman went there and said, "There is a wonderful
Ramayana program going on there in the yajnashala." "Ramayana? What's that?"
Hanuman said, "Your pastimes." Rama said, "Oh, I would like to hear that."
Ramacandra came there, and sat down. Everyone was listening. They were
describing the Vanaras, killing of the demons, and everything like that.
Ramacandra was so happy that every ten minutes he was throwing pearl necklaces,
giving wonderful gifts to them, embracing them, covering them with kisses. They
were so fired up they were going on and finally they came to the coronation,
and then they stopped, because that's where Valmiki's Ramayana ends. Hanuman
said, "Go more, go more!" The boys said, "Go more? That's all we know! And
that's why we came here, because we wanted to know what happened afterwards."
So then Laksmana said, "I will show you. This is Hanuman. Remember Hanuman,
whom you were singing about?" They touched his feet and got his blessings. "I
am Laksmana." They circumambulated Laksmana and paid obeisances. They have so
much respect for the characters of Ramayana. "This is Vasistha, Visvamitra,
Gautama," and everyone was introduced. Hanuman brought them to Ramacandra.
"This is Ramacandra." Then they also paid obeisances. And then they asked,
"Where is Sita?" Hanuman looked down. They ran to Vasistha, and asked, "Where
is Sita?" He looked the other way. They came to Ramacandra, and they were on
both sides of him, shaking him and demanding, "Come on, tell us! Where is
Sita?" He was just crying. Then they went around asking everyone, "Where is
Sita? Where is Sita?" Some lady told them that Sita was in the forest. "What is
she doing in the forest? How did she go to the forest?" Someone told, "Some
dhobi gave some criticism, so she was sent to the forest." Lava and Kusa took
their vinas and came in front of Rama. They broke the vinas there in front of
him, throwing them on the floor. "You are not glorious. We made a mistake. Why
did we sing Your glories? What a demoniac person You are! You are more demoniac
than Ravana! He is bringing somebody else's wife and he is a demon. You are a
great Iksvaku king and you're kicking your wife out because some dhobi said
something. Shame! Shame! Shame! No-one should read this Ramayana. We won't copy
it or give it to anyone. We are going." No-one could say anything. What could
they say? And then Ramacandra came to them and said, "Please bear with Me. Just
give Me some time to explain things. You are rishi-putras, sons of saintly
people. You must not lose sense control." They said, "You talk of sense
control! You sent your wife to the forest because some dhobi criticized her,
and now you are talking of sense control. You have no more dharma. You were
always thinking that you were the personification of religion. No! You are a
great cheater! Why did you waste our vach-sakti, our power of speech by
describing the glories of a person who has no honour in this world? We are
going." Then Valmiki was waiting outside. The boys came out, and he said, "So?
What happened?" "What happened? There is no Sita there! They sent her to the
forest." Valmiki said, "Did you talk with Ramacandra?" They said, "Who was this
Ramacandra? We don't want to see His face any more." Then they were running,
and Valmiki said, "Wait, first let me go and say something to them, and then I
will come." So he went and told Ramacandra, "My students are upset because you
don't have Sita. So, what is wrong with Sita? Why don't you take her?"
Ramacandra did not say one word, he just went inside the palace. Valmiki came
back and said to Lava and Kusa, "Whatever it is, you must not offend elders, he
is a great personality. You must be careful not to commit any aparadha." They
said, "What aparadha? We won't even think of Him. How can we then commit
aparadha? He's not even qualified to be thought of by someone like us." They
completely rejected Rama. Then they came to Sitadevi's room, and Sita was
writing "Rama" and worshipping Rama. They said to her, "We saw Him face to
face. Do you know what He did? He sent His wife to the forest." She said, "You
are good boys, you shouldn't say like this." So they kept quiet.



CHAPTER 18: LAVA AND KUSA'S CHALLENGE

Now the horse was coming back. After going all around the world, it was coming
back to Ayodhya. Right on the bank of the Tamasa river, Lava and Kusa saw it.
There were soldiers going past with the horse. They saw the symbol of the sun
dynasty on there. "It must be something to do with that..." but they wouldn't
even mention the name. Kusa said, "Let us go and see." So they saw this horse
with a golden plate, and they read the plate. "This horse belongs to Lord
Ramacandra of Ayodhya. He is performing asvamedha-yajna. Anyone who stops this
horse must meet the army of Ayodhya. Anyone who does not stop this horse must
give a gift." Lava and Kusa said, "We will give a gift!" They told all the
boys, "Tie this horse." Then the army was coming and Satrughna was coming. They
saw the horse, and some children were standing there playing. That was normal.
When he got closer he saw that they also had bows and arrows, and Satrughna
said, "Hey, you are playing some Brahma? You are holding bows and arrows." They
looked up at him, and they said, "Why are you talking? You must fight with us.
We have stopped your horse, and we are not giving you any gift." Satrughna
said, "Fight with you? You are just small children. Do you know who I am?" Lava
said, "By looking at you, I can see that you are Satrughna." "How do you know
me?" he asked. "That is not the question! Why are you wasting time? If you have
any backbone, you fight with us!" So Satrughna went back and got on the
chariot. "All right boys, get ready." They said, "We are ready." They were
playing marbles. Then Lava said to Kusa, "He is going to throw snakes. That's
what he will do." They knew the whole Ramayana, who has what astra, how they
will use it. They have all information. Satrughna was chanting all the mantras.
"How am I going to do it? All right, I will perform my duty," and he gave the
naga-parsha. While they were coming, Kusa took a piece of grass and threw it.
When Satrughna saw that, he said, "I have seen this somewhere, taking a grass
and throwing it." So Kusa threw the grass and it came and ate the naga-parsha,
and hit Satrughna on the head. He fell unconscious. One tenth of the army fled
to Ayodhya, which was very close, only about five or six hours of travel away.
They came there and there was a drum there, which they beat. Everyone came
there, and they told Laksmana, "Danger! Satrughna has fallen! There are two
boys who look like rishi-putras, and they are very good in astra-shastra. They
just took a blade of grass and counteracted Satrughna's snake weapon." Laksmana
said, "I have seen this before." And then he remembered Visvamitra's yajna.
"How is it that these small boys are doing it? Bharata! Go and see." So Bharata
went, taking half of the Ayodhya army with him. Bharata came there and saw the
boys, and he gave him some sweets. They took the sweets, and then Bharata said,
"So are you going to give the horse back?" "No," they said. "But I gave you
sweets." "You gave me sweets, and I ate them." "So no horse?" Bharata asked.
"No horse." they said. "Now fight." Bharata said, "Fight? Do you know who I
am?" "Yes," they said. "You worship shoes." Bharata said, "Are you not the same
boys who were singing Ramayana there in the yajnashala?" They said, "Yes, we
are the same boys, and we know that you worship shoes. You are offering camara
to the shoes, and you were going to enter the fire. And then a monkey came out
of the sky and told you something, and you believed it all." They were taking
the Ramayana and making it into a Kimayan. They were upset with Rama. Bharata
said, "Don't say this, this is aparadha. Don't say like this. With one astra I
can finish your whole ashrama." "Oh, whole ashrama?" they asked. One of the
boys took an arrow and drew a square, one foot by one foot, on the floor. They
said to Bharata, "You please pluck the grass from here this one foot square
patch. If you can do it, then I will see that you have strength." Bharata
looked at that, and Kusa said to Lav use the Agni astra." He took the Agni
astra, and he was going to burn that place and show them how powerful he was.
Kusa took a hair from his sikha and kept it in front of him. Agni astra was
coming, and this hair was standing there. As soon as the Agni astra hit that,
it cooled down and couldn't move any more. Bharata said, "What is this?" So he
took the Brahmastra. Before he could chant his mantras, and he was just getting
ready, the Brahmastra was just starting from his bow and they both uprised
Brahmastras, Lava and Kusa together. Both used Brahmastras. Before his
Brahmastra was away, Bharata saw two coming. "Oh! What is that?" He was burned,
and he fell down. Half of the army was also finished, all burnt into coal,
everybody was black. The messenger ran off to tell Ramacandra, "Bharata also
fell." So then Laksmana said, "This is very bad. I will go myself." He came in
his chariot with the sun symbol on the top, so Lava and Kusa were standing
there with their bows and arrows. Kusa had said, "Next is Laksmana, so we can't
just play around." Laksmana said to them, "Listen to my advice. You may know a
few astras, you may do some tricks, because your guru is protecting you. But
you must understand, I am Laksmana." They said, "Yeah, yeah, you are Laksmana.
You were chastised by Mother Sita. You wanted to enjoy her, isn't it? Don't you
remember that?" Laksmana said, "Oh! Why are you bringing this information to
the surface?" And then they said, "And you were the rascal that brought Sita to
the forest, we heard in Ayodhya. At least tell us, where did you leave her?" He
had promised Rama that he would not tell anyone, and he said, "Why are you
talking politics? Let us fight." So he took his astras, and the combat went on
for some hours. It was tough to beat Laksmana down. Finally he was also shot
down. He received wounds on the face, and he fell down. The news reached
Ayodhya. Ramacandra had not been informed yet. Laksmana was superintending all
of this, and now Laksmana had left. Ramacandra had not been informed of the
loss, he was only told that the horse had been stopped, and something was going
on. Now he was told what the real story was and he got upset. He rose and said,
"I am going." Hanuman said, "This is my job. You sit down and do your yajna."
So Hanuman went alone, flying through the space. So Lava and Kusa were talking.
"Who will come next? It must be that monkey. We will give him fruits." "No, no.
He will not be into fruits, he will get upset, because we have put Laksmana
down. When Hanuman sees this he's going to get on our case." "So what should we
do? Should we go to Valmiki?" "It's not that desperate yet. We can manage the
situation." So he called some boys, and told them, "Do some Rama kirtan." So
they began chanting, "Raghupati raghava rajarama, patita pavana sita-rama."
They were all chanting and dancing. Hanuman was coming there. "Oh! Kirtan!" And
he completely forgot everything. He was dancing in front, "Raghupati
raghava..." Lava and Kusa said, "Keep going, and don't come back. Even the
message won't reach Ayodhya. We'll have the horse." So they were having kirtan
and going around the whole forest. Hanuman was leaping and dancing. He was
leading kirtan, and then playing mrdanga. He had totally forgotten what he had
come for. Lava and Kusa were sitting there laughing. "What an army! What a
king! And what a monkey! What a crew!" Hanuman had not come back for a long
time, so Ramacandra said, "We must go." So Vasistha, Visvamitra, Gautama, all
rishis and saintly people and the leading citizens of Ayodhya came to the
forest. Then they saw this Lava and Kusa playing there next to the horse. They
were acting as if they didn't hear him or see him. They were completely
ignoring him. Ramacandra called out, "Lava, Kusa. Come here." So they said,
"Who are you to order us to come there? You come here!" He said, "I am the Lord
of Ayodhya." "That may be," they said. "But we are the princes here in
Valmiki's as hrama. We are rishi-putras. You cannot order the rishis, it is not
possible. You want to hear some stories on that? Do you remember what happened
to Visvamitra when he went to Vasistha's ashrama? Didn't you learn these
things? Where did you go to school?" Ramacandra came to them and caressed their
heads. "Just control your senses, please. Be patient. I have not done anything
wrong. Just for the prestige of My dynasty, I don't want anyone to criticize
the Iksvaku dynasty. That is why I did that." They said, "We are not asking
explanations from you. Where are the arrows? Why don't you fight?" Ramacandra
said, "No, I won't fight. If I use one arrow, that's enough." Kusa said, "Some
14,000 drunkards came in Janasthan. They didn't know what to do, bumbling
around, and you finished them with one arrow. Big glory! You don't scare us
with this. We know the whole Ramayana." Ramacandra said, "That's all right.
They were all weak, you are very strong. But if you are strong you should also
be intelligent. If your guru sees this, he will not allow it. Did you get the
blessings of your guru?" They said, "Did you get the blessings of your guru
when you sent Sita to the forest? Did you ask Vasistha?" He hadn't done it. In
fact, after doing it Vasistha asked him, "Why did you do this?" Ramacandra had
no reply to this. Kusa said, "Oh, you can do it without your guru's
instruction. We can't though, because you are tall and we are short, isn't it?
Let us see your arrows! Come on!" Ramacandra got very upset. "Maybe this has to
be done," he said. He took acaman, and he was going to take his arrow. Just
then, Hanuman, who had been going around and around, came to a big banyan tree
and then the boys tied him on the tree. He was so absorbed, "Rama, Rama, Rama."
They tied him. And then they stopped the kirtan. As soon as kirtan was stopped,
he said, "Chant! Chant! Why did you stop?" They said, "No, no. We are going
because we have work in the ashrama. But we will give you some engagement. You
please count how many leaves are on this tree. You have nothing else to do."
And they left. He was looking up, and suddenly he remembered, "I came here for
some other purpose." He broke the rope, and he came to where everything was
happening. He saw there was Rama, and there were these two boys, and he looked
at Rama who was going to touch his arrow. Hanuman said, "There's something
wrong here. I must get some help." So he ran into the ashrama of Valmiki, and
he was asking everyone, "Where is Maharaja?" "Here is Maharaja," they said. He
came to Valmiki and said, "Ramacandra and your disciples are there, and they
will be finished and the whole ashrama will be burnt. Rama is angry." Valmiki
said, "Oh!" He got up and was running. And then Sitadevi came out. Hanuman saw
her and said, "Sita! You are here!" She said, "Yes, they are my children."
Hanuman said, "Do you know what's happening? Ramacandra is going to kill them."
So Sitadevi ran out also.



CHAPTER 19: CONCLUSION - RAMA ENDS HIS LILA

Everyone was running to the place where the confrontation between Rama, Lava
and Kusa was. Sita came and said, "Stop! What are you doing? You are going to
finish your own dynasty!" Ramacandra said, "Who is that? Sita! Valmiki!" So he
stopped. He went to Valmiki, and Valmiki said, "This is your wife Sita. These
are your children, Lava and Kusa. Somehow they are upset with you, because you
sent Sita out of the country." Lava and Kusa were listening to all this, and it
all came together in their minds. "Oh, this is my father!" So they fell at His
feet. Ramacandra said, "Now I am very happy. At the end of Asvamedha, somebody
stopped my horse, but they were only my children. Otherwise it would be a very
bad name for me. All right Lava and Kusa, you come. We will go, and I am very
sorry for sending Sita to the forest. I won't do this any more." When he was
talking like this, Sita was folding her hands and closing her eyes, and she was
praying. Ramacandra said, "Sita, come and we will go." She said, "No." "You're
not coming?" "No, I'm not." "Where are you going to go?" Rama asked her.
"Wherever I'm supposed to go. I've had enough. I'm not taking any more of this
treatment. I'm going." Ramacandra said, "No, no, you must come with me." Sita
said, "No, I am not coming." And she prayed to Mother Earth. The earth opened
and Bhumidevi came out and took her inside. Ramacandra lamented and came back
to Ayodhya, kept Lava and Kusa as the kings of Ayodhya, and then he ruled for
30,000 years after that, and so many demons were killed. The Madhu demon was
killed near Vrndavana area, and a city was established there, Mathura.
Satrughna was sent to the Sind region. Laksmana and Rama were there, and the
time came when he had to wind up his pastimes. So Brahma instructed Yama, to go
and tell Rama that it is time for him to come back. Yama came, and he dressed
himself like a Brahmin, and said, "I want to get some charity from Ramacandra."
So he came in there. When Ramacandra asked him what he wanted for charity he
said, "I want a private, confidential discussion with you. No-one should be
there." So Ramacandra said, "Hanuman, you go. And Laksmana, you also should
go." The Brahmin said, "No-one should come in between. If anyone comes during
our discussion, he must be banned to the forest." So Rama said, "That's no
problem, no-one will come. You can tell me." So then he started talking with
him. In the meantime when Laksmana went outside, he saw the four Kumaras there.
He paid obeisances and said, "Oh, you are here! This is a great fortune for us!
Here is a nice guest house for you to stay." They said, "We didn't come here to
stay, we came to see Rama." Laksmana said, "You can see Rama, but come and take
rest, take some prasad." They said, "We will see Rama first, then rest and
prasad." So then Laksmana said, "No, you cannot go." They said, "What? Same
thing again? Someone did this before, and do you know what happened?" Laksmana
said, "Please don't get angry with me. I know you are absolute personalities,
but Ramacandra has given some promise to a brahmin that no-one will come in."
"So?" they asked. "What will happen if you go in?" "I will be banned to the
forest," he said. The Kumaras said, "You won't take this sacrifice for serving
us saintly people?" He said, "Yes, I must take it! Why didn't I think of that?"
and he ran inside. As soon as he came inside, the Brahmin stopped talking. "Oh!
He has heard my secret! What will happen now?" Ramacandra said, "Laksmana, you
are banned to the forest." Laksmana said, "Yes, you are very expert in banning
people, so I will go. My only point is that the Kumaras are outside. They came
to see you." "The Kumaras are here?" Rama said, and he ran outside. When he got
outside, there were no Kumaras. They only came to do that, and they had already
left. When he came back, there was no Brahmin. He had also left. Then he was
looking for Laksmana, but there was no Laksmana. He had gone to the forest.
Laksmana went to the forest and sat down. He meditated, opened his eyes and
Sesa came out of his mouth and he entered the ocean. Then Ramacandra called
Lava and Kusa and said, "Now I am going." All the citizens said, "No. Where are
you going? We will also go with you." He said, "If all of you go with me, then
Lava and Kusa won't be kings. They have to rule somebody." He made a
calculation on who stays and who goes. Sixty percent of the population decided
to go, and Ramacandra walked out with his mothers and the elderly people like
Sumantra. The citizens were also there, and they went to the Sayayu river, and
Ramacandra entered the Sayayu river with all of his citizens, together.
No-one's bodies were found. They were all elevated to the spiritual Ayodhya.
Lava and Kusa ruled and the dynasty was continued until fourteen generations
after the beginning after the beginning of Kali-yuga. The last king had no
child, and in this way the surya-vamsa was over. Ramacandra does these pastimes
a little different in each Treta-yuga. Sometimes Sita was taken from the
forest, sometimes from Janaka's palace, sometimes from Ayodhya. A little bit
different every time, but still the same thing. Ravana is stealing, and Rama is
destroying the demons. He leaves us this wonderful literature through Valmiki,
that we can all listen to it and if we know the appearance and activities of
the Lord in principle, then after leaving this body we won't come back to this
material world.



RAMACANDRA BHAGAVAN KI JAYA!


http://www.vaisnavi.org/v2/children/ramayana/index.php
http://ramalila.blogspot.com/2007/03/chapter-1-dasarathas-desire-for-child.html
https://indianmyth.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/ramayana-chapter-1-dasarathas-desire-for-a-child/
https://singhtheroyalking.blogspot.com/2008/07/untold-stories-of-ramayana-chapter-one.html

audio
https://www.atmatattva.com/untold-stories-of-the-ramayana/
https://www.indiadivine.org/content/files/file/224-untold-stories-of-the-ramayana-by-atmatattva-das/