As directed by Rama, Hanuman, after getting the formal approval of the king Vibhishana, started happily to meet Seetha. During his journey to the Ashoka Vana, where Seetha was being held, all rakshashas and rakshashis seeing him were very polite, courteous and respectful and moved away to enable Hanuman to move fast without any hindrance. At the Ashoka vana, he found Seetha sitting in her usual place with her usual bearing viz. bereft of freshness, looking joylessly like a frightened cow and surrounded by rakshasies. Hanuman approached her and offering salutation to her, stood there silently.
Seetha did not recognize the vanara in front of her for a few moments. When she recognized him, her beautiful but sad looking face bloomed like a beautiful flower. Seeing that Seetha recognized him, Hanuman told her “O Lady! Rama, Lakshmana and all others are well. We have won the battle and that rakshash Ravana has been killed by Rama in battle. Rama directed me to inform this to you.
“O the divine lady! Vibhishana the benign youngest brother of Ravana has been crowned as the king of Lanka. That means you are now as good as staying in your own house. King Vibhishana will be coming over here to see you and offer his respects to you."
Seetha was absolutely exhilarated to hear the news. She was unable to say anything as she was tongue-tied with a thrill of delight.
Seeing her reticent for quite some time, Hanuman asked her “Devi! May I know what you are thinking about? Why don’t you speak to me?”
Seetha, coming back to reality from her reverie told Hanuman “The pleasant tidings about the victory of my husband made be totally spellbound, and as such I could not speak. O, Hanuman! I am terribly sorry I have nothing appropriate here to present you for the wonderful news you brought to me.
“However, I could not think of anything on this earth that is worthy for you for you delightful message which has given me so much happiness. Neither silver, nor gold nor diamonds nor the sovereignty of the three worlds, can be worthy of this message.”
The words of Seetha made Hanuman highly exhilarated. He replied Seetha "O gentle lady! These words of yours, endowed with preciousness and affection, are better than any one or more presents like diamonds, gold etc. What I desire from you is your blessings and blessings alone.”
Seetha nodding with a smile told Hanuman“I already knew you to be very good. Now I see that you are endowed with exceedingly good attributes, embellished with a grace of style and filled with an intelligence, consisting of eight excellences.*
* The eight excellences are: 1) Keenness to hear discourse on the Spirit 2) readiness to hear such discourses, 3) receptivity, 4) retentive power, 5) reasoning for and 6) against a proposition, 7) the faculty of comprehension and 8) realization of truth.
“You are a praiseworthy and supremely virtuous son of Vayu. I find that you have all the qualities desired for a male viz. strength, valour, knowledge of scriptures, vigour, prowess, superlative skill in action, spirit, forbearance, firmness, stability and humility."
Hanuman, because of his humility did not reply. After a moment he said “Devi, I wanna kill of all these notorious and vile rakshashies, by whom you have been continuously harassed earlier. These cruel rakshashis of terrific form and behavior, with still more cruel eyes, having ugly faces, were heard by me here speaking again and again harsh words to you, who are so devoted to your husband, at Ravana’s command, when you were suffering hardships in this Ashoka vana.
“I wish to kill after torturing these cruel, extremely rough and deformed rakshashis, with distorted features and terrific hairs and eyes. Please permit me to do it as a present you desire to give me.”
Seetha was shocked to hear those words from Hanuman and became speechless for a few moments. Then she told Hanuman “O! Hanuman! These rakshasshis were only obeying the orders of their master and king Ravana. I feel that the tortures I had from these poor creatures were a consequence of my bad fortune or on account of some misdeed committed by me in the past.
“O Hanuman! It has been ordained that this type of situation is to be endured by me, due to the application of fate. Feeble as I am in these matters, I am forgiving the servants of Ravana here.
“O Hanuman! As commanded by Ravana they threatened me. As he is dead now, they will not do the threatening. O Hanuman! I presume that you very well know the story of the bear, hunter and the tiger, where what the bear told the tiger the maxim that 'A superior person does not take into account the sins of those who have committed an offence. Virtuous persons consider good conduct as an ornament. Kindness is to be shown by a noble person even towards a sinner who deserves death, for, there is none who never commits a wrong. No evil is to be done, even to those cruel persons of sinful deeds, who take pleasure in harming the life of others and continue to perpetrate their sinful acts.' "
The Story of the hunter, tiger and the bear.
End Story.
The Story of the hunter, tiger and the bear.
Once upon a time a tiger was in pursuit of a hunter, in the forest where the tiger was residing. The hunter climbed up a tree. There was bear already perched on a bough of the tree. As the tiger was not able to climb the tree, from the foot of the tree, the tiger told the bear: "Look my dear bear, both of us are denizens of the forest. The hunter is our common enemy. Therefore, knock him down from the tree." The bear replied "The hunter having sought asylum at my abode, I am obliged to protect him. I am therefore not going to hurl him down. I would be deviating from my duty if I do so." Saying so, the bear coolly went into a snooze. The tiger then turned to the hunter and said, "Push the bear down. My tummy will be full after eating it. Then, I shall protect you." The hunter swallowed the words of the tiger and pushed the sleeping bear. The bear, however, clutched at another bough and escaped from falling down. The tiger now told the bear "You now see that the hunter is not a good chap and sought to hurl you down. He is bad a fellow who wronged you. Therefore push him down." The bear refused to hurl him down pronouncing the above referred maxim.
Hanuman was absolutely thrilled to hear the reply of Seetha. He told her “O divine lady! You are the most apt wife of Rama, a paragon of virtue. Give me a message in return. Rama will be highly pleased to hear it."
Seetha replied “O Hanuman! I long to see my husband as early as possible.”
Hanuman assured her by saying that she would see him on that day itself. And he left to join Rama.
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