Miscellaneous - Religion   

Influence of company

CHENNAI : The spiritual tradition stresses the importance of cultivating the company of good people because even the mind of a virtuous person can be corrupted by constant indoctrination. This holds good even for worldly life as wrong association can ultimately lead to total ruin. The Ramayana teaches this home truth through the manner in which the maid, Manthara, could bring about a total change in Kaikeyi's outlook, which eventually changed the course of events just on the eve of Rama's coronation.

In his discourse, Sengalipuram Sri Rama Dikshitar said when the hunchbacked maid of Kaikeyi conveyed the news of Rama's coronation after beholding the festive atmosphere in the capital, the queen responded with great joy and presented a jewel to her for bringing the good tidings. She also remarked that she did not perceive any difference between Rama and Bharata.

The maid who had come with her from her father's kingdom took great privileges with her because of her long association and could therefore not be dismissed easily. In fact, when she learnt about this she had come charging into her apartment and had the audacity to chide Kaikeyi thus: "Get up, you deluded one! How can you keep lying down? Peril stares you in the face!"

Throwing away the gift she gave her Manthara argued how all those whom she held dear were not having her interest in mind and she had been naive to trust their intentions. When even this was of no avail the maid changed her tactic by making her jealous of Kausalya's fortune — as her status would become supreme as the mother of the prince regent. She was shrewd enough to know that once she could sow the seed of jealousy in her heart it would make her view the whole situation differently as envy would never stomach another's luck and prosperity.

And, her calculation went home. No sooner did Manthara say, "Fortunate indeed is Kausalya... With joined palms you will wait like a maidservant on her. As soon as Rama attains sovereignty of the globe, Bharata will meet his doom. Therefore devise some means of securing sovereignty for your son as well as an excuse for banishing Rama, his enemy," her machinations worked like magic as Kaikeyi succumbed to her logic.

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