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together
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with
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pickaxes
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and
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baskets
|
were
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placed
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in
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the
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chariot.
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Pickaxes and baskets are essential in the
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forest. Rama and Lakshmana ascended the
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chariot. Sumantra drove it forward.
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Let us pause a while at this stage when
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Rama's forest life begins, and pray that we
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may be purified of our sins. Truth,
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courage and love are the gospel of the
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Ramayana to us. To give it to us was
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Rama born. We shall gain these gifts if we
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meditate on the Princes and Janaki in the
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bark habiliment as they left the city.
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The crowds in the street cried to the
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charioteer: "Go slow, go slow. Let us have
|
a look at Rama's face. Alas, Alas, who
|
could send such children to the forest?
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How could their mothers endure this
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sorrow and survive? Look at Vaidehi's
|
face.
|
She
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is
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indeed
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blessed.
|
And
|
Lakshmana is happy to have such a
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brother to whom he can give devoted
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service. He is indeed a hero and a knower
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of dharma." So the people of the city
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talked among themselves as they followed
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the chariot. And their grief swelled like a
|
flood.
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Rama
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was
|
saying
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to
|
the
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good
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charioteer, "Faster, faster" The people
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were saying, "slow, slow." And the crowd
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became
|
bigger
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and
|
bigger.
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Sumantra
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managed somehow to take the chariot out
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of the press of the mourning town where,
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in addition to the loud sorrow of the
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crowded streets, the houses were full of
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mourning women and children.
|
The King stepped out of Kaikeyi's
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apartment and looked at the departing
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chariot. A long time he stood there
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watching the cloud of dust as though he
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saw in it the beloved form of Rama. When
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even this went out of sight, he fell down,
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moaning. Kausalya and Kaikeyi sat on
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either side.
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"Do not touch me," said Dasaratha to
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Kaikeyi. "I hate the sight of you, sinful
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woman! Everything is at an end between
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you and me. I renounce you here and
|
now."
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"If
|
Bharata
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agrees
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to
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your
|
arrangements and accepts the kingdom,"
|
he said again, "he need not perform my
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obsequies, and even if he did, my departed
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spirit would reject his offering of waters.
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How can Rama live in the forest? Will he
|
sleep on the bare ground with a stone or a
|
log for a pillow? Will he eat fruits and
|
berries?"
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Thus the king went on lamenting
|
helplessly.
|
Sometimes he would turn to Kaikeyi
|
and say, "May you be happy in your
|
success! Long may you live a happy
|
widow."
|
Heart-broken
|
and
|
empty
|
like
|
one
|
returning
|
home
|
from
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the
|
cremation
|
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