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The Flames of Jealousy
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his extraordinary love. But the other queens of Shri Ram felt that they were neglected by him. They thought, "Sita has ensnared our lord Shri Ram, with her charms and affection. He is greatly infatuated with her. Therefore, we should manage somehow or the other to bring about a separation between them; otherwise, we will be totally neglected. We will have to be like fish out of water. Shri Ram will not care even to glance at us.” Whenever those three queens met together, they discussed only this matter. They believed that they could not get Shri Ram's love and affection unless they brought about a separation between Shri Ram and Sita. This is called samsar !
In this world, people take delight in causing anguish to us. They desire to secure happiness by destroying others' happiness. This is the nature of people in this samsar.
Those three queens began to burn with jealousy. They could not bear to see Sita enjoying such affection from Shri Ram. They felt that they were slighted. Envy envenomed their minds and hearts. They were filled with thoughts of jealousy. “How can Sita get affection from Shri Ram ?” This feeling of jealousy kept erupting in their minds like a volcano. They desired to secure delight and happiness by destroying Sita's happiness. Of course, whenever they met Sita, they made a pretence of being affectionate and cordial towards her. They conversed with her jovially and cheerfully and often engaged themselves in frolicsome talk with her. But all this was a mere pretence, a mere show. In their hearts, they desired Sita's ruin. In the presence of Sita, they praised her and admired her but in their hearts, they despised her. When they were in the presence of Shri Ram or Sita, they put on an appearance of being cheerful and happy while inwardly they were burning with the flames of jealousy.
Sita was a plain-hearted woman. She was an angel in appearance and in nature. Since she was noble, she always entertained sublime thoughts and she could never sense the venom of jealousy that lay behind the apparent amity of the other queens. She was completely immersed in the ocean of splendid love and affection. She thought that the other queens
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