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CXVI
LAKSHMAN'S DEATH
Testing the strength of attachment ! This is really amazing!
Friendship and attachments of that kind should not be subjected to a test by a friend and now here is the case of two gods who wanted to test the strength of the attachment that existed between Shri Ram and Lakshman. We should not try to test and evaluate the friendship or love that exists between two persons but we can try to find out how deep their attachment is for each other. This test must be intended to find out how much grief a man experiences when he is separated from his dear friend.
We cannot see friendship and attachment with our eyes. Friendship and love are beyond sense-perception. Our eyes or ears or nose or tongue or touch cannot perceive love and friendship. Friendship is but a feeling of the heart. When that is so how can we perceive the feeling of amity that others have for each other. Undoubtedly, sometimes from their outward action, we can find out their feelings which are subtle and ordinarily imperceptible.
The two heavenly beings came down to earth with the plan of testing the attachment that existed between Shri Ram and Lakshman. They decided to use Lakshman's palace as a centre of their activities and to observe carefully his reactions relating to that attachment.
They were both gods. They possessed divine power. They had the power of giving a shape to their desires and designs. So, they arranged a magical situation.
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