Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana

by Devdutt Pattanaik

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.’

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