One day when King Rama was sitting on his throne, his ring fell off. When it touched the earth, it made a hole in the ground and disappeared into it. It was gone. He friend Hanuman was nearby. Rama said, Look, my ring is lost.” Dear friend, “Help me find it please.” Hanuman was a powerful Vanara, a monkey-god, with the power to change shape and size and enter any hole, no matter how tiny. He had the power to become the smallest of the small and larger than the largest thing. So he took on a tiny form and went down the hole. He went and went and suddenly fell into the underworld. There were women down there. “Look, a tiny monkey. It’s fallen from above,” one woman said. Then they caught him and placed him on a platter (in India, a thali). The King of Spirits who lives in the underworld likes to eat animals. So Hanuman was sent to him as part of his dinner, along with a plate of vegetables. Hanuman sat on the platter, not sure what to do. Rama, meanwhile, was sitting on his throne above. The sage Vasistha and the god Brahma came to see him. They said they needed to talk privately, where no one else could hear. Rama agreed. He was told to lay down a rule prior to this special meeting. If anyone comes in during the discussion the intruder’s head must be cut off, said Vasistha. “It will be done,” agreed Rama. Who would be the most trustworthy person to guard the door? Hanuman was gone fetching the ring. Rama trusted no one more than Laksmana, so he asked his half-brother to guard the door. “Don’t allow anyone to enter,” he was told. Laksmana was standing at the door when a sage named Visvamitra approached and said he needed to see Rama at once. It’s urgent. Where is Rama?” “Don’t go in now, said Laksmana. “He is talking to some people. It’s very important.” “What is there that Rama would hide from me,” said the sage. I will go in now.” Laksmana said he would have to first ask permission. “Go in and ask then.” “I can’t until Rama comes out. You will wait.” “If you don’t go in and announce my presence, I’ll burn the entire kingdom of Ayodhya with a curse,” said the sage. Laksmana thought, “If I go in now I will die. If I don’t go, this man will burn down the entire kingdom. All the subjects, all things living in it, will die. It’s better that I alone should die.” So he went in. “What’s the matter,” asked Rama. “Vsvmitra is here.” “Send him in then.” So Visvamtra went in. The private talk had already come to an end. It seems that god Brahma and Vasistha had come to tell Rama, “Your work in the world of human beings is over. Your incarnation as Rama must now be given up. Leave this body, come up, and rejoin the gods.” That was what they had come to say to Rama. Laskmana said to Rama, “Brother, you should cut off my head.” Rama replied, “Why? We had nothing more to say. Nothing was left. So why should I cut off your head?” “You can’t let me off just because I’m your brother. It will cause a blot on Rama’s glorious name. You didn’t spare your wife. You sent her to the jungle to preserve dharma. I must be punished. I will leave right away.” Laksmana was an avatar of Sesa, the serpent on whom Vishnu sleeps. His time was up too. He went to the river and disappeared in the flowing waters. When Laksmana relinquished his body, Rama summoned all his followers and arranged for the coronation of his twin sons, Lava and Kusa. Then Rama, too, entered the river. All this time Hanuman was still in the underworld looking for the lost ring. When he was finally taken to the King of Spirits, he kept repeating the name of Rama. The King of Spirits asked, “Who are you?” “Hanuman.” “Why have you come here?” “Rama’s ring fell into a hole, and I came to fetch it.” The king looked around and found a platter, which he held up for Hanuman to see. On it were thousands of rings. All of them were Rama’s rings. The King of Spirits set it down and said, “pick out your ring and take it.” They were all exactly the same. “I don’t know which one it is,” said Hanuman. The King of Spirits said, “There have been as many Ramas as there are rings on this platter. When you return to earth, you will not find Rama. This incarnation of Rama is now over. Whenever an incarnation of Rama is about to be over, his ring falls down. I collect them and keep them. Now you can go.”
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 04:56:22 +0000
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