VANITY1

Blessed by Lord Shiva,

               Ravana assumed himself invincible,

Along with his sinfulness,

                     His proud reached the pinnacle.

Illegitimate salacity of his sister Supernakha

                          Got punished by virtuous Laksman,

To avenge that he abducted Sita

                                         The lord Sri Rama’s queen.

The seed of war between vanity of power

                     And grandeur of virtue sowed there

An example of triumph of truth

                        And defeat of proud was going to occur.

Armed with his forces of monkeys and bears

                                  The Lord reached Ravana’s fort

And humbly appealed the emperor,

                      To give him back Sita and avert a fight.

Bibhishana, his younger brother

          Identified Rama as the master of the universe,

But the soul that is under the spell of proud,

                                        Often ignores the realities.

That was the case of knowledgeable Ravana,

                  The strips of proud blocked his insight

He kicked Bibhishana out of his fort,

                               And began to prepare a fierce fight

The Lord never tolerates proud or injustice,

       And the result was the end of Ravana, his warriors

Hence, it is wise to kill your vanity,

                    Before it wipes you out of the sphere.

Sri Rama( also an incarnation of Vishnu )the prince of Ayodhya was in exile for fourteen years to fulfill a promise made by his father Dasharatha an ascendant of king Raghu. (There is a famous quote about this dynasty that I love to follow is ‘Raghukula riti sada chali ayi prana jaye par bachana na jaye’. This means ‘the custom of the dynasty of Raghu is that when a choice between death and breaking a promise will arrive in front of an ascendant of the king Raghu, he would prefer death over the breaking of the promise that is committed.)

Blessed by Lord Shiva (Mahesh) one of the tridev (the three lords Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh), Ravana the giant king of Lanka kidnapped Sita the wife of Sri Rama the prince of Ayodhya in exile. Sri Rama crossed an ocean and reached Lanka with his army of monkeys (banarasena headed by Hanuman), army of bears and his younger brother Laxmana. His principle was as usual, peace effort first, war only when peace proposals face rejection. He sent Angada a monkey warrior to the court of Ravana to hand over Sita to him. Bibhishana a wise councilor, younger brother of Ravana and an ardent devotee of Vishnu realize the graveness of the situation and recognize Sri Rama as an incarnation of Vishnu. He appealed before his elder brother to accept the proposals. But Ravana was proud of his strength, his vast giant army and truth was not vital for him. He kicked Bibhishana out of the palace. The result of a war between virtue and vice, vainglory and humbleness has been as always winner the virtue and humbleness. Ravana was killed along with all his warriors.