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Continued from yesterday’s instalment
 It is not uncommon to find people who are fond of and are quite adept at the art of ‘name dropping.’ There are people who come in a somewhat close touch with some VIP and that would set their personality at a much higher level, in their own estimation. They would elevate themselves in their own assessment and would always like to exhibit their ‘connections’ even in innocent social situations. ‘I know this so-and-so,’ ‘so-and-so called me,’ ‘so-and-so told me…’ We have seen hundreds of them. They try to impress on us the fact that they have won the ‘enviable’ status and often bask in the reflected glory.
There may or may not be a purpose behind such exhibitions. It is not our purpose to go into that question. Compare such a person with Guha, the humble hunter, who was embraced by Sri Rama and affirmed in no uncertain terms, ‘you are my brother.’ Rama did not stop with that. He went on to add, ‘This Lakshmana is your brother too. Sita is your sister-in-law and the world belongs to you.’ (See:
The language of
love)
Even when such a beautiful relationship has developed between Sri Rama and himself, Guha is not able to see it. His modesty is preventing him from listening to the words of Sri Rama, let alone understanding them and using them to one’s advantage or not. ‘He called me a friend!’ There stops his thought stream. ‘Am I worthy of being called a friend by Rama? How magnanimous he must be to call me a ‘friend’! His mind is set on that particular word and what Rama uttered during their first meeting is the only refrain that is running in his mind ever since. He is so humble and self-effacing that he feels that it is a bit too much for him to be given the status of a ‘friend’ of Rama and his mind is frozen there.
It is not that easy to hide one’s true feelings especially when the mind is disturbed. Now, Guha is in an agitated state of mind. If at all his mind recollects the relationship between Rama and himself, it would (in the case of any other person) try to project it on a higher plane and would contrive newer reasons for being so protective about
Rama.
 It therefore is made crystal clear where Guha placed Rama and where he placed himself in his own mind. Rama was his Lord and he was nothing more than a humble devotee. Even ‘devotee’ would have been considered as a rather high-sounding word by Guha. We see him referring to himself as ‘dog’ when speaking to Rama.
‘uththama! Adi naayEn Odhuvadhu uLadhu,’ he says. O Virtuous! This lowly dog has a thing to say. And again,
‘pirigilen udan Egap peruguven naayEn.’ If this dog is allowed to come with you, it won’t move away from your side.
And remember. Guha was a chieftain. He was a ruler. He had an army at his command. He was illiterate. He was a ruffian. He didn’t have the capacity to understand the finer points of human nature. It was Rama’s character, his personality glowing with grace, empathy and love, his penchant for rectitude and his quality of remaining the kindred and protector of the poorest that melted Guha’s heart. If Rama embraced Guha as his own brother, the latter deserved it. And if Guha wished to be seen as nothing more than a devotee, it was because of his humility and also because of the gem that Rama was.
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Hari Krishnan
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