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A hapless predicament

CHENNAI: The greatest challenge for the truly virtuous is to cope with the tight spot when their very integrity becomes suspect. It is very difficult to face such a situation when one is pure and true at heart, and yet becomes an object of censure and blame. Bharata faced such a humiliating experience on his return to a grief stricken Ayodhya. His plight was fraught with an extraordinary twist that was most painful even as it was most unexpected, said Damal Sri Ramakrishnan and Srimathi Perundevi in a lecture.

Bharata became a victim of developments over which he had no hold. The irony was that he was falsely held responsible for the 14-year banishment of his beloved brother Rama and the demise of his dear father. In fact he stood helpless as he mourned the death of his father in the absence of his brother.

What added to his anguish was that he was saddled with the burden of kingship that he had never wanted and would never want.

On the one hand was his mother Kaikeyi offering a kingdom that she had manoeuvred from the rightful heir Lord Rama, and on the other was the rest of the world against him with charges for "coveting" his own brother's kingdom.

If he was angered at his mother who caused such embarrassment, he was more hurt by the momentary sarcasm and doubt in Kausalya's speech. A broken-hearted Bharata vowed that he would incur the worst punishments for the worst misdeeds, if Kausalya suspected his true intentions. Kausalya regained her composure after recalling Lord Rama's precise assessment of the noble Bharata, for He had claimed with foresight that Bharata would never accept the kingdom. Contrite and ashamed at her misjudgment of such a righteous soul who stood unfaulted by any standards, she reassured him.

Bharata who remained unwavering about accepting the kingdom pledged to bring back Lord Rama to Ayodhya at any cost.

The spirit of renunciation is something that is deeply felt within oneself, and is a state of mind independent of any outward display.

Scriptures reinforce this inward quality as the only decisive factor for renunciation. Bharata's resoluteness in renouncing the kingdom that his mother had won for him is worthy of high admiration.

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