Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana

by Devdutt Pattanaik

Finally Ram said, ‘Hear this, Manthara. You are acting out the will of Brahma. In your past life, you were a gandharvi and you were told by our common father to take birth as Manthara and ensure that the eldest son of Raghu-kula is exiled into the forest where he can put an end to the rakshasa way of life, expanding their minds so that they outgrow their animal instincts. In your next life, you will once again be born as an ugly, bent woman. You will be called Kubija or Trivakra. Then you will meet me again. I will be Krishna. I will embrace you passionately and straighten your back and make you feel beautiful again. This I promise you.’ Sita and Lakshman were astonished to hear this. Ram continued, ‘As Vishnu, in defence of Indra’s Swarga, I beheaded the wife of Bhrigu and the mother of Shukra who had been sheltering asuras. For that crime, I was cursed to be born on earth as Ram and live a life of great hardship, live as a hermit in the forest though entitled to live like a prince in a palace. And just as I denied Bhrigu the company of his wife, I was cursed that I would constantly be denied the pleasure of mine. So it is that Sita, though my wife, shall always be at arm’s length so that I keep my promise of living as a tapasvi. And I fear even the pleasure of her company will be denied me by the rakshasa hordes and maybe eventually Ayodhya too will be thus deprived. But we cannot blame anyone for our misfortunes, as all calamities are an outcome of our past deeds. We ha...

Damn

‘If you acknowledge the desires of your body, not suppress them, and reflect on what really matters to you in life, it will not be tough.’

Damn 2

‘Knowledge is like a floating log of wood that helps us stay afloat in the ocean of misery. To find the shore, we have to kick our legs and swim. No one can do that for us,’ said Hanuman.

Damn mn

When the mind is knotted in fear, the problem is always outside, never inside.

Wow

And I realized how trapped we are by expectations: those that others have of us and those we have of others. I expected something from Ravana, Ravana expected something from me. I expected something from Hanuman, but he expected nothing from me. I suddenly felt this great urge to be liberated. I wanted to break free from everything. I stopped fighting. I decided I would let the bridge be built, encourage all sea creatures to help in building the bridge, and risk Ravana’s wrath.’ Trijata told the women on the beach, ‘Sita keeps saying something she heard during the Upanishad long ago: I am the creator of my world and so are you. We can widen our world by breaking free from the maze of expectations. We can shrink our world by entrapping ourselves with expectations.’

Dammmm