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 Brahmastra Padalam is a Canto, as you may recall, that is full of moving scenes surcharging the atmosphere with high emotions and high drama, leading to action and solution. You must have heard of the saying. There is none in the world who faced suffering, dejection, despair and driven to the extremes than Sri Rama. He faced all these problems. He went through all these emotions; all these tough situations and reacted how we react. He was overpowered by feelings at times. And, he came out successful from every single one of them, setting an example to any of us. He shone like a beacon, wiping all the darkness that surrounded him in the end. By the word 'end' I do not mean the end of the epic. I mean the end of each incident.
Now it was one such occasion. Rama was aggrieved for it was Sugriva, Nala, Nila and the entire lot of the army that had been rendered lifeless. And, it was Lakshmana, his alter ego - the poet says 'the mind of Rama functioning outside his body' - which was lying motionless. He feels that he should have been there to save them; take it upon himself and faced the brute, instead of leaving them alone. But it was not fault of his. He was not aware of it. In his dejection, he is unable to see this. For a person like him who had the deepest faith in Dharma, was it possible to conduct the war any more at such a loss and regain his Sita? 'No. I cannot!' wails Rama to himself. By that moment, he could not take it any further, lost his consciousness and fell by the side of Lakshmana.
The plan takes shape
The news of both the brothers and the vanara host lying on the field reached Ravana. Needless to say, he was so happy. Any good father in the position of Ravana would have first called Indrajit who earned this victory - a victory that even he himself could not gain - exchanged pleasantries with him, congratulated him, thanked him if he were magnanimous enough, celebrated it with his son who was at the root of all this. Not so for Ravana. He ordered drummers to go around the island to make announcements asking the people to celebrate it. Immediately, his mind saw the opportunity. Sita must be taken to the battlefield and shown how her husband and the entire army were lying dead. But there was another thing in the way. There were too many carcasses of rakshasas lying in the battlefield. When Sita surveys the battlefield, she should not be able to spot a dead rakshasa anywhere. That would add to the jolly good feeling. 'See how I defeated your folk without losing even a single one of my warriors.'
Arakkan maruththanaik koovi
- He called a rakshasa by name Maruththan. mundha nee poy arakkar udal muzudhum kadalil mudukkidu
- you go first and throw all the dead bodies of rakshasas into the sea. nin sindhai oziyap pirar ariyin siramum varamum sindhuven - if anybody else, other than your mind, comes to know of this, I will behead you besides nullifying all your boons.
 That is the problem with people. They do not know what they lose when they adopt underhand methods. And it was a loss that Ravana did not realise when he passed the order in glee and in haste.
Power in the hands of those void of wisdom leads to a bloated ego. A bloated ego leads to lust. Lust leads to anger. Anger leads to hasty decisions. Hasty decisions complicate the situation. And that leads to hell. Ravana is an example. Or call him 'a warning written on the wall'. For what is not right cannot be called an example.
Hari Krishnan
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