"அகந்தை பாவம் செய்வதில் முடிகிறது"

[Thanks to 'The Hindu' for this message]

One day after Lord Rama's return from 14 years of exile and His coronation as the King of Ayodhya, Kaikeyi comes to see Rama.

She says she is sorry for all the sorrow she caused him. Seeking His forgiveness, she wants some sound advice from Him.

Rama says there is a place to which she should go to get spiritual advice. She agrees.

Rama then summons Lakshmana and tells him to take Kaikeyi to a certain place. He tells Lakshmana that he is to wait for Kaikeyi as long as she wants to be there and then bring her back.

Lakshmana takes Kaikeyi to the place which has flocks of bleating goats. Kaikeyi stays watching the goats, and after some time she says she has learnt the lesson Rama sent her to acquire.

So what was the lesson she learnt? The bleating of the goats supplied her with the advice she had wanted, said M.V. Anantapadmanabhachariar in a discourse.

The sound that the goats made seemed to say: “I” and “Mine.”

The goats seemed to be telling her that because of their ego, self-love, and sense of possession, they were now born as goats.

“Be warned,” they seemed to say. “If you have a big ego, you too will meet with the same fate in your next birth.”

To be born as a human being is a boon for we can sing the Lord's praises and study the scriptures and serve Him. Yet, instead of doing any of these, we are busy acquiring material possessions and picking quarrels.

Instead of having a heart full of love for the Lord, we have hearts full of envy at another's success. We are busy making comparisons, losing our mental peace in the process. We also fall into the trap of paying attention to mischief-makers as Kaikeyi did.

Kaikeyi had once been as fond of Rama as she had been of Bharata. Her first reaction when she heard the news of Rama's coronation was to give a gift to Mantara who brought her the news.

But she made the mistake of listening to Mantara's advice. So she ceased seeing Rama also as her son and began to make plans for Bharata.
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"bharatheeyan-santhosham"