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The Demand for the Boon
351
"Mother, kindly bless me. I too will accompany my honoured Lord.” Sita entreated Kausalya to permit her to accompany Shri Ram.
"What do you mean, child ? How can you go to a forest ?” Kausalya said in a grief-stricken tone.
"Mother, kindly give me your blessings. I must go at once and join my lord.”
"Sita, my darling! Until now you have not walked on bare ground. You are accustomed to travel by chariots. How can you travel on foot ? How can you walk through a forest where ground is stony, flinty and throny. Dear child ! My son is a lion in human form. Nothing is impossible for him but you are like a tender creeper. How can you bear with the extremities of weather and the exigencies of life in a wild forest."
Suddenly, Kausalya stopped speaking. For a few moments, she was silent. She read in the face of Sita her firm determination to follow Shri Ram. Then she said in a calm voice.... "But I do not want to prevent you from following your husband. You are a woman of extraordinary virtues. Naturally, you are eager and anxious to be always with your husband. I know your feelings but I shudder to think of the hardships of life in a forest and for that reason I am reluctant to permit you to go to a forest with your husband.”
Sita stood up. The sorrow that had clouded her face disappeared. She cheerfully began to think of her deities. Then, with a bowed head she saluted Kausalya and said,
"Mother! My devotion for you will always give me protection. I am determined to follow my lord. Kindly bless me.”
And then Sita went out of the palace to join Shri Ram.
All the people of Ayodhya, men, women and children complimented Sita with their voices choked with emotion when she was following Shri Ram.
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