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Continued
from yesterday’s instalment
 ‘Three are the major vices about which a person has to be extremely careful and eschew.
‘para daara abhigamanam’ Taking fascination for the wife of another man. You can never be found guilty of this. “O ruler of men, how can there spring up in you the desire for others’ wives, that destroys Dharma? You have not got it, nor was it ever with you. Rama, nowhere is it even in your mind. And you are always devoted to your own wife, O prince!” (Valmiki Ramayanam, Aranya Kanda, Canto IX, Sloka 5-6)
And then what every other person is found guilty of is
‘mithyaa vaakyam’ uttering falsehood. I cannot find you guilty on this count either. “A false statement you have never made nor will you ever make, O Raghava!” (Ibid, Sloka 4) ‘You are the very embodiment of Dharma. Dharma and Truth reside in you. You are true to your promise and are obedient to your father.’
The words sound so very sincere and come from the bottom of her heart and are not just a prelude to a criticism that she is going to make. If one has to make it a point to ‘praise before criticising,’ one has to remember that the praise should come from the heart. It should be genuine. It should be as genuine as the desire to criticise. It should not be just a lip-service that precedes a harsh statement, uttered only because the rule says so!
How proud would she have been when she uttered the words, ‘You cannot be found guilty of violating other women and you are devoted to your wife’! ‘What a compliment!’ exclaims Sastriyar. He says, “Some of our wives may be as confident of our conduct as Sita was, but they would hesitate to give the credit openly!” And imagine the delight and pride of a woman when she can claim, and say so to her husband, ‘My husband is clean. He has nothing that is repulsive in him!’ And it goes without saying that he was so. He deserved it.
 ‘But
Raghava,’ she says, ‘there is a third quality that is to be eschewed. I am afraid you are led into that.
‘vinaa vairam ca raudrataa’. Unprovoked war. Killing for no reason. “O hero, you have undertaken a vow to kill the ogres on the battlefield for the protection of sages living in the Dandaka forest; and for this (very) purpose you have set out with arrows and a bow towards the forest well-known as Dandaka with your brother.” (Ibid, Sloka 10 and 11)
She refers to the assurance of Rama to the sages, when he said, ‘I came to the forest, accepting the order of my father. I came here on my own business.
‘bhavataam artha siddhyartham aagato.aham yadRicChayaa’ But it may perchance be for the reason that I am to protect you from the demons. May be this is the very reason why I came here.’
“Hence, seeing you on your way to the Dandaka, my mind is perturbed with anxiety, thinking of your behaviour and of your highest well-being and worldly interests. I do not like, O hero, your going towards the Dandaka. I shall tell you the reason for that; while I speak of it, please listen.” (Ibid, Sloka 12 and 13)
 ‘I don’t like your going to Dandaka. It is not without reason. I will tell you why. I don’t want you to indulge in unprovoked war and killing. But before that let me tell you one thing. You are acting impulsively because the trouble lies with these weapons that you are carrying. A person, who goes around with weapons, cannot restrain himself from using them quite often.’ We call this impulse ‘trigger-happiness’ these days. Just pump the trigger as often as you desire when you carry the rifle around. And the desire to do so would remain undying and uppermost in the mind, always, till that weapon is removed from one’s possession. Sita then narrates the anecdote of a sage in whose custody was deposited a sword.
More follows...
Published on 13th
February 2003
Hari Krishnan
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