THE RAMAYANA : 2.

THE RAMAYANA : 2.
Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, January 31, 1900)

2.
The eyes of the robber were opened.

"That is the way of the world — even my nearest relatives, for whom I have been robbing, will not share in my destiny."

He came back to the place where he had bound the sage, unfastened his bonds, fell at his feet, recounted everything and said, "Save me! What can I do?"

The sage said, "Give up your present course of life. You see that none of your family really loves you, so give up all these delusions. They will share your prosperity; but the moment you have nothing, they will desert you. There is none who will share in your evil, but they will all share in your good. Therefore worship Him who alone stands by us whether we are doing good or evil. He never leaves us, for love never drags down, knows no barter, no selfishness."


Then the sage taught him how to worship.

 And this man left everything and went into a forest.

There he went on praying and meditating until he forgot himself so entirely that the ants came and built ant-hills around him and he was quite unconscious of it.
After many years had passed, a voice came saying, "Arise, O sage! "

Thus aroused he exclaimed, "Sage? I am a robber!" "No more 'robber'," answered the voice, "a purified sage art thou. Thine old name is gone. But now, since thy meditation was so deep and great that thou didst not remark even the ant-hills which surrounded thee, henceforth, thy name shall be Valmiki — 'he that was born in the ant-hill'." So, he became a sage.

To be continued  ...