“The beauty of this place makes me ache for Sita. I cannot live without her. How she would have loved this place! I can have no peace until I am reunited with her. Please go on and meet Sugriva on my behalf. I will sit herewith the memories of my beloved wife. This is the vernal season, 0 Lakshmana. It makes me long for my love. My love for her has grown with every passing day. Look at the beauty of this lake filled with lotuses. I used to love to pluck them for her and decorate her hair. My mind is pierced with the arrows of love. I cannot concentrate on anything. I can only think of the princess: of Videha. The wind is filled with the perfume of flowers. It is scattering petals on my face, as she used to do sometimes to tease me. It seem: to be dancing to the tune of the cuckoos. Look at the branches of these trees – how they are entwined.
They seem to be embracing each other The perfume of sandalwood is being wafted all over my body. Sita would have loveed it. I am drowned in sorrow and only Sita can comfort me and she is far, far away. Look Lakshmana at those birds. They are all flying in pairs. Ah! my little dove. Where is she now? In this vernal season, she must be equally smitten with the pangs of separation. 0 Lakshmana! I am on fire with desire for Sita. My whole body burns. I miss her large black eyes, her sweet voice, her caressing touch. How can I continue to live apart from her? She used to love this season and she must be pining for me, as I am for her. Lakshmana, I am consumed with worry about her. I hope she will not kill herself. My life is in her keeping and hers in mine. We cannot exist without each other. Everything about this place makes me long for her and I am unable to bear this pain”.
Lakshmana had thought that Rama had got over his sorrow but now he realised that it was not so. He did not know what to say. He had never realised the extent of his brother’s feelings for Sita. He felt relieved that he had never felt such a depth of passion for his own wife, Urmila. He had been able to leave her without a pang. His whole life was bound up with his brother Rama, and he was happy that he could be with him all the time. At last in order to comfort Rama he said, “I know brother, what a jewel Sita is and how impossible it would be to find another like her but how can you let yourself be overwhelmed by this storm of feeling. Without a second thought, you threw away a kingdom and went to the forest, serene and unmoved. You have the courage of a lion. How can you give into grief like this? Let us keep going and find the one, who stole Sita and punish him as he deserves to be punished.
Moreover, don’t you think that Sita will be waiting for you to go and rescue her. She will not expect you to sit here, bemoaning your loss. She will be expecting you to forge ahead to find out her whereabouts. Be firm and strong. The pain of separation becomes greater when you dwell on it. Abandon this grief and let us get started on our search for Sita. Wherever he has imprisoned her, in this world or the next, we will find her. Come brother, shed this sorrow and become your own self – undaunted, firm and serene, under all circumstances. Enthusiasm coupled with effort will get us anything we desire “. Rama found great comfort in these words of Lakshmana, and shaking away the sorrow he moved towards the mountam of Rishyarnukha with firm steps. Rama’s eyes looked longingly at the cascades tumbling over themselves in delight, line and refused to let his mind be swayed by thoughts of his beloved. The most important thing was to save her at all cost. Very soon they reached the mountain and started climbing, looking around for anyone who resembled Sugriva.
Thus ends the eighth Canto called “The Painful Trek” of the Aranya Kanda in the glorious Ramayana of the Sage Valmiki.
