Page:The Rámáyana of Tulsi Dás.djvu/479

Rh The Ten-headed, as he listened, was terror-stricken at heart, but smiled with his lips and cried aloud for all to hear: "He who stretches out his hands to clutch the sky only falls to the ground; a devotee's idle talk is of small account." Said Suka: "My lord, every word is true; be wise and abandon your natural arrogance. Cease from wrath and hearken to my advice; make an end, Sire, of your feud with Ráma. Raghubír is exceedingly mild in disposition, though he is the sovereign of all the world. The Lord will be gracious to you directly you approach him, and will not remember even one of your offences. Restore to him Janak's daughter; this, Sire, is all I ask of you; do it." When he spoke to him of giving up Síta, the wretch spurned him with his foot; but he bowed his head to the ground before him and then went to join the all-merciful Ráma, and after due obeisance told him all that had happened. By Ráma's grace, he recovered his proper rank; for it was by the Rishi Agastya's curse, Bhaváni, that he had become a demon, though still retaining the intelligence of a saint. Now, once more in the form of a saint, after again and again prostrating himself at Ráma's feet, he went his way to his own hermitage.

Dullard Ocean made no answer to prayer, though three days had been spent; then cried Ráma in a fury: "He will do me no kindness, unless he is frightened.

"Lakshman bring me my bow and arrows: with my fiery darts I will dry up the deep. To use entreaties to a churl, to lavish affection upon a rogue, to deal liberally with a born miser, to discourse of divine wisdom with a man devoted to self, to speak of detachment from the world to the covetous, to tell of Hari to a man under the influence of passion or love, is all the same as sowing the sand in hope of a harvest." So saying, Ráma strung his bow, a proceeding that pleased Lakshman mightily. The Lord let fly the terrible shaft; a burning pain ensued in the bosom of ocean; the crocodiles, serpents and fish were all sore distrest. When Ocean perceived that these creatures were burning, he filled a golden dish with all kinds of jewels and humbly presented himself in the form of a Bráhman.

Though you may take infinite trouble in watering it, a plantain will not bear fruit, until it has been well trimmed; similarly, mark me, Garur, a mean upstart heeds neither prayers nor compliments, but requires rougher treatment.