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idly. It must destroy something. Tell me,
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shall
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it
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destroy
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your
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powers
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of
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locomotion, or would you rather that it
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consumes the fruits of your tapas?"
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As the son of Dasaratha strung the bow
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of Vishnu, the glory on Parasurama's face
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faded, and he stood, no longer the warlike
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conqueror, but a self-subdued rishi, for the
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purpose of the Parasurama avatar was
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over.
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Parasurama said mildly to the Prince of
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Ayodhya: "I realise who you are. I am not
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sorry
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that
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you
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have
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quenched
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my
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arrogance. Let all my tapas go to you. But
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because of my promise to Kashyapa, I
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cannot remain in his domains and have
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therefore to hurry back to the Mahendra
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Mountains before the sunsets. Let me use
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my power of locomotion for this single
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thing. Subject to this, let the arrow which
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you have set to the bow consume all my
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power earned through tapas."
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So saying, Parasurama went in reverent
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circumambulation around the prince and
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departed. Ayodhya's citizens were over-
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joyed to bear that Dasaratha and the royal
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princes were returning to the capital. The
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city was festive with flowers and shone
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like the deva-loka.
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Rama
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and
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Sita
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lived
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happily
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in
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Ayodhya for twelve years. Rama had
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surrendered his heart to Sita. It was
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difficult for one to say whether their love
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grew because of their virtues or it was
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planted in their beauty of form. Their
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hearts communed even without speech.
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Sita, rejoicing in Rama's love, shone like
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Lakshmi in heaven.
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Long afterwards, when their forest-life
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began, Anasuya, the great sage Atri's holy
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wife, extolled Sita's love for Rama.
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And Sita answered: "How else could it
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be? Rama is a perfect being. His love for
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me equals mine for him. His affection is
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unchanging.
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Pure
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of
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heart,
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he
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has
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mastered the senses."
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11. FESTIVE PREPARATIONS
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RAMA and Sita spent twelve happy
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years in Ayodhya. But now the Lord and
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his
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consort
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in
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human
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form
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had
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to
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experience the hardships, sorrows and
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conflicts of life on earth.
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As
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Bhagavan
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himself
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explains:
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"Whatever avatar I assume, my play must
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go through the feelings and experiences
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appropriate to that incarnation."
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Who was the Prince of Ayodhya who
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through his body, life and experience,
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suffered the sorrows of mankind and
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saved the gods? The ever-present, all-
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pervasive Being who rules the world from
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within and without.
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Kamban, the Tamil poet, begins the
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Ayodhya Kanda referring to this marvel
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of how the King of Kings allowed himself
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to suffer the cruel machinations of the
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hunchback maid-servant and of a step-
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mother which deprived him of the sceptre
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and banished birn to the forest and beyond
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the sea.
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Dasaratha loved all his, four sons and
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