| Kumbhakarna,
when he heard Raavana's words of anxiety, was moved at first to fury against the enemy but
soon he remembered the whole story and Raavana's vain-glorious confidence in his
invincibility and that made him smile a little bitterly. He said: "Excuse me, my
brother. The warning we gave you when you consulted us went unheeded. Our fears have come
true. You rejected the good advice we gave you. Now,
you suffer the consequences of your error and your sin. You brought away Seeta. What else
can happen when, driven by lust, one acts without thinking. If you so desired, and you had
the confidence and strength, it would have been wise first to have slain Raama and
Lakshmana and then seized her.
You have done things without due thought and in the wrong
order. When one acts without seeking or regarding the advice of wise and faithful friends
and kinsmen, it is no wonder if he runs into danger and ruin. Did you not know that these
things must follow? Should not a king understand who gives him good advice and who
bad?" |
