THE GREAT CAUSEWAY

Then they went on the causeway. Hanumaan carried Raama on his shoulders and Angada carried Lakshmana on his. The Vaanara army crossed the sea.  There is a principle expounded here. As Raama stood bow in hand, the ocean-god bowed before him with clasped bands and said:

"Dear Raamachandra! Earth, air, ether, water, fire-these five elements must follow the eternal laws of their nature. Tempted by pleasure or reward or frightened of punishment, can I ever swerve from my nature? Can water harden and become stone?  Or can I reduce my depths into a shallow pond for your easy crossing?"

Thus the ocean king protested with all politeness to Sri Raama.  Vaalmeeki puts into the mouth of the ocean king a fundamental of our religious philosophy. He explains the primordial relationship between God and Nature.

God's law operates in and through Nature. The laws of nature were created so that the universe may proceed by itself. So too the law of Karma. The 'five elements, all objects without life as well as all living creatures, must follow their own permanent laws.

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