Ramayana_VOLUME V with index

Ramayana: A Divine Drama – Vol. V
to frequently wipe them with the end of his garment. Hearing
these words and filling his eyes with his majesty and the
charming loveliness of the boys, Janaka experienced supreme
delight, the delight he often derived in Samadhi (communion
with Divinity)! He felt that the boys were actual embodiments of
Divine Splendour.
Though he often tried to look somewhere else, his eyes thirsted
only for the sight of those charming lotus-like faces which
showered Brahmic illumination. Janaka suppressed with great
difficulty the outward expression of his inner ecstasy and sat
looking intently at them, in humility and reverence. He did not
feel for a moment that he was an Emperor and that those boys
were the Princes of another Imperial Monarch. He had an
incredible impression that they had come down from Heaven to
Earth. The feeling was strengthened and increased by the
description of their superhuman might and skill. He realised that
they were rare beings, akin to God himself, for they achieved
successfully, even before reaching teenage, the guardianship of a
Yajna, which the renowned Viswamitra could not carry through
unimpaired. What a marvel! He wondered.
Then, the narrative was resumed by the Sage with the start of the
journey towards Mithila. The stories related by the sage to the
brothers 119 were also explained to Janaka...as also the story of
the purification and liberation of Ahalya 120 , the Consort of Sage
Gautama at the hermitage.
119
120
See chapter, Other Characters In The Stories Narrated By Viswamitra
See chapter, Ahalya
304