Reading section 21

ACCOUNT OF ARISHTANEMI.

23. The divine Ariel replied:—Well hast thou asked Oh pretty browed maid, and I will tell thee all as it is. Know, Arishtanemi the royal sage, who has made over his realm to his son.

24. He has (now) with religious indifference (to the world), set out to the forest for (practice of) asceticism, and is performing his austerities on the _Gandha Mádana_ mountains.

25. I am now returning from there after discharge of my errand, and repairing to Sakra’s (palace) to report the matter.

26. Suruchi said:—

Tell me, my Lord, what matter has taken place there. I am with submission (much) inquisitive after it, nor shouldest thou cause me (the pain of) anxiety.

27. The messenger replied:—

Hear me gentle maid, relate to thee in length (everything) as it has occurred.

28. On hearing that the king was practising the utmost rigors of asceticism in that forest, Indra, the lord of gods, desired me to take this heavenly car and repair at once to the spot.

29. “Take this car,” said he, “bearing the (dancing) _Apsarás_ equipped with all their musical instruments, and furnished with a band of Gandharvas, Siddhas, Yakshas and Kinnaras.”

30. “Convey them,” said he, “with all their wired instruments, flutes and drums to the auspices of the Sylvan mount of _Gandha Mádana_.

31. “There having placed the Prince Aristanemi in the vehicle, bring him to the enjoyment of heavenly delight in this city of _Amarávati_ (the seat of immortals).”

32. The messenger added:—

Receiving this injunction of Indra and taking the car with all its equipments, I proceeded to that mountain.

33. Having arrived at the mountain and advancing to the hermitage of the king, I delivered to him the orders of the great Indra.

34. Hearing my words, Oh happy damsel! the king spoke to me with reluctance and said: “I wish to ask thee something O messenger, which (I hope) thou wilt deign to answer.

35. “Tell me what good and what evils there are in heaven, that knowing them (beforehand), I may think of settling there as I may choose.”

36. I answered, saying:—

In heaven there is ample reward for merit, conferring perfect bliss (to all); but it is the degree of meritoriousness that leads one to higher heavens.

37. By moderate virtue, one is certainly entitled to a middle station, and virtue of an inferior order, leads a person to a lower position (in the heavens).

38. But one’s virtue is destroyed by his impatience at the excellence of his betters, by his haughtiness to his equals, and by his joy at the inferiority of others.

39. When one’s virtue is thus destroyed, he must enter the abode of mortals. These and the like are the effects of merit and demerit (with us) in heaven.

40. Hearing this, Oh good maiden, the king answered and said: “I do not, Oh divine messenger! like the heaven that is of such like conditions.

41. “I will henceforth practise the most austere form of devotion, and abandon this my unhallowed human frame in the same way, as the snake abandons his time-worn-skin (slough).

42. “Be thou pleased, Oh delegate of the gods! to return with thy heavenly car to the presence of the great Indra whence thou comest, and fare thee well.”

43. The celestial emissary resumed:—

Thus being bid, I went Oh goodly dame to the presence of Sakra to report the matter. Who upon my rehearsal of the matter, was struck with great wonder.

44. Then the great Indra again spoke to me with a sweet voice and said: “Go you my herald again to that king, and take him to the hermitage of Válmíki.

45. “He is well acquainted with every truth, tell him my errand for the instruction of the dispassionate prince, saying:—

46. ‘Oh thou great sage! remonstrate with this prince who is humble and dispassionate, and dislikes the enjoyments of heaven.

47. ‘So that this prince who is aggrieved at the miseries of the world, may gradually come to attain his emancipation.’”

48. I then went and explained my mission to the royal hermit, took him to the sage Válmíki (who had grown amidst the ant-hills), and to whom I delivered great Indrá’s charge for the king’s practice (of the means) for his final liberation.

49. Then the sage (named after the ant-hill in which he had grown), welcomed the King with gentle inquiries regarding his welfare.

50. The prince replied:—

“Oh great _seer_, that art informed in all the truths of religion, and art the greatest of them that know the knowable, thy very sight has given me all that I desired, and therein is all my welfare.

51. “Great sire, I wish to learn from thee how I may escape the miseries which arise from one’s connection with this world, and which (I hope) thou wilt reveal to me without reserve.”

52. Válmíki said:—

Hear me Oh king! I will relate to you the entire Rámáyana, by the hearing and understanding of which you will be saved even while in this life.

SECTION VI.

HISTORY OF RÁMA.

53. Hear me Oh great and intelligent king, repeat to you the sacred conversation which took place between Ráma and Vasishtha relating the way to liberation, and which I well know from my knowledge (of human nature).

54. The prince said:—

“O thou best of sages, tell me precisely who and what this Ráma was, what was his bondage and how he got freed from it.”

55. Válmíki said:—

Hari was proscribed under an imprecation to take upon himself the form of a prince, with an assumed ignorance as that of a man of little understanding.

56. The prince said: “Tell me who was the author of that imprecation, and how it could befal on Ráma, who was the personification of consciousness and felicity, and the very image of wisdom.”

57. Válmíki replied: Sanat-kumára, who was devoid of desires, had been residing at the abode of Brahmá, to which Vishnu, the Lord of the three worlds, was a visitor from Vaikuntha.

58. The Lord God was welcomed by all the inhabitants of the _Brahmaloka_ as well as by Brahmá himself, except by Sanat-kumára who was thus beheld and addressed to by the god.

59. “Sanat-kumár, it is ignorance that makes thee forsake thy desires for fear of regeneration (on earth), therefore must thou be born under the name of _Sara-janmá_ to be troubled with desires.”

60. Sanat-kumára in return denounced Vishnu by saying:—“Even all discerning as thou art, thou shalt have to sacrifice thine omniscience for some time, and pass as an ignorant mortal (on earth).”

61. There was another anathema pronounced upon Vishnu by the sage Bhrigu, who seeing his wife killed (by him), became incensed with anger and said: “Vishnu thou shalt have also to be bereft of thy wife.”

62. He was again cursed by _Vrindá_ to be deprived of his wife, on account of his beguiling her (in the form of her husband).

63. Again when the pregnant wife of Deva-datta was killed (with fear) on seeing the man-lion figure of Vishnu;

64. The leonine Hari was denounced by the husband, who was sorely afflicted at the loss of his consort, to be thus separated from his wife also.

65. Thus denounced by Bhrigu, by Sanat-kumára, Deva-datta and Vrindá, he was obliged (to be born in this earth) in the figure of a human being.

66. I have thus explained to you the causes of all the imprecations (which were passed on Vishnu), and will now relate to you all other things which you shall have carefully to attend to.

CHAPTER II.

REASON OF WRITING THE RÁMÁYANA.

SECTION I.

PERSONS ENTITLED TO ITS PERUSAL.