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Continued from yesterday’s instalment
 What would a man hold the most important and dearer than his or her own life? The answer would differ from person to person. Ask Rama. He would come up with just only one answer. ‘My word.’ The promise that I made; the assurance that I gave and the
abhaya that I offered. And that is what he says to Sita in Aranya Kanda when the latter questions him about the wisdom of wielding the bow high in the jungle, when he had come there to lead the life of a sage. “And having heard this speech I promised complete protection to the sages living in the Dandaka forest O daughter of Janaka! And having made a promise, I dare not as long as I am alive falsify the word given to the sages. For, truth is always dear to me. I can even give up my life or you together with Lakshmana, but not my plighted word given especially to the Brähmanas.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kanda, Canto X, Sloka 18, 19)
‘I may abandon Lakshmana, I may abandon you and I may abandon my very life; but not the word that I have given,’ is what Rama would say. For him Truth was above all and next came Lakshmana and next came Sita. His priority number two was Lakshmana who was dearer to him than Sita herself. Thrice in the Yuddha Kanda we see Rama making this very clear in so many words and so many Slokas. The first occasion was when Lakshmana was bound by the naga-astra of
Indrajit.
“What purpose of mine on earth will be accomplished through Sita, if recovered, or (even) through my life (if preserved) when I perceive my (younger half-) brother (Lakshmana) lying utterly vanquished in combat today? A consort on a part with Sita can be found in this world of mortals by me if I were to look for her. But a helpful and warlike brother like Lakshmana cannot be had.” (Ibid, Yuddha Kanda, Canto XLIX, Sloka 5, 6)
Then when Lakshmana lies unconscious in the battlefield, stuck by ‘sakti’ of Ravana, we find Rama lamenting again. ‘I would follow you to the portals of Death, even as you followed me to the forest when I started on my exile,’ he wails. “Alas! Lakshmana, who always loved his kinsfolk (like me) and was ever devoted to me, has been led to this pass by the ogres, who are given to treacherous warfare. Wives may be found everywhere and kinsmen (too) can be had everywhere. I, however, see no place where a uterine (real) brother could be had.” (Ibid, Canto CI, Sloka 14, 15)
 There is yet another occasion where Rama makes a similar statement but it is more than sufficient now to see whom he held high. It is not that Sita was not aware of this. She was fully and completely aware of where she stood in the heart of Rama in relation to Lakshmana. She herself states this in the Sundara Kanda. We will go into that and listen to what Sita has to say of Lakshmana, before we start our discussions on this devoted, loyal, valiant, resourceful, supportive, extremely intelligent younger brother who was the very staff of life for Rama throughout the Aranya Kanda after Sita was found missing.
There is one important difference between the love that Rama had for Lakshmana and that the latter had for Rama. We will go into the question more fully.
More follows...
Hari Krishnan
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