Most of us are familiar with the name Bhagavad Gita – the Eternal song (Gita) of the Lord (Bhagavan – Shri Krishna). The similarity between Bhagavad Gita & Vibheeshana Gita is that, both were sung by the Lord and that too in the battlefield. Yet there is a difference. Lord Krishna gives the knowledge of the Self in Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna because Arjuna, despite of having the best of skills and knowledge, loses his identity and purpose of living at the time of war. To such an individual who is facing identity crisis (like most of us), the Lord gives Bhagavad Gita. Vibheeshana Gita has a different story. It is the last stage of war when all the soldiers & army generals of Ravana are killed. At this point, Ravana enters the battlefield in his chariot which is equipped with the best of missiles and armour to shield him. His opponent, Lord Rama, does not have a chariot, or armour, not even footwear; still he stands firmly on his foot facing Ravana to fight the battle. On seeing this, Vibheeshana’s (Ravana’s brother who is on Rama’s side) eyes are filled with tears…tears of concern for his love for Rama. He goes to Rama and says,
Ravanu rathi birath raghubeera
Dekhi bibheeshana bhayau adhira,
Adhika preeti man bha sandeha
Bandi charan kaha sahit saneha.
“Ravana has come in his chariot and Rama doesn’t even have one. Seeing this, Vibheeshana became anxious. Due to immense love in his heart, a doubt arose in Vibheeshana’s mind…”
Naath na rath nahi tan pad traana
Kehi bidi jidab beer balvana
Sun hu sakha kaha krupaa nidhaana
Jahi jai hoi so syandana aana
“Oh Lord, you don’t even have a chariot, nor anything to protect your body or your feet. How are you going to win the valorous & mighty Ravana.”
Vibheeshana’s question is not out of his doubt of Rama’s strength, mind you. His question is out of concern how a parent has over his child. The parent knows that the child is capable of giving his performance on stage. Still, out of his love, he is anxious about his child.
Whilst having seen Vibheeshana’s state of mind, we need to look at Lord Rama. How can a man who is so ill-equipped with no weapons and armour, even think of fighting a mighty opponent like Ravana? Ravana was not just an opponent, he was Beer Balvana. There are some people who are courageous, but lack physical strength. There are some who have physical strength but get scared even at the sight for a rat. Ravana had both physical strength & courage. He had fought even star wars. To that opponent, a man is facing. We should not mistake this courage as that of a Bollywood hero who faces an army of opponents and defeats them single-handedly. Rama knew that he is going to win because he knew his strengths and Ravana’s weaknesses – a very important quality of a leader.
There are five types of courage:
1. Ranaveer – a person who shows his courage in the battlefield.
2. Vidyaveer – a person who shows rich with knowledge.
3. Dayaveer – a person who is ever compassionate towards everyone.
4. Daanveer – a person who always shows courage in charity.
5. Tyaagveer – a person who shows courage in sacrifice.
Ravana was only a Ranaveer, but Rama was a combination of all five – which is called Mahaveer.
Another difference between Ravana and Lord Rama was that – Ravana always wanted to be the best. But Lord Rama always did his best. A very important lesson for all of us – if you always want to be the best, you will lose confidence. Just do your best and leave the rest.Because of his desire to win always, Ravana’s mind was always unrest. On the other hand, Rama knew exactly why he was fighting this war. It was not to take revenge on Ravana for abducting his wife; rather it was to have the victory of good over evil. Rama even asked Ravana just before they fight; to give up Sita and Rama would return without a war. Rama had no personal grudge against Ravana. Even his anger to Ravana was ‘issue-based’ not ‘person-based’. Thus, Rama’s mind was always tranquil and he could even give out a beautiful piece of knowledge to Vibheeshana during the war even though his body was tired after a long travel in search of Sita, and fighting the war since the past few days. And this was Ravana’s first day of war. He had not entered into the war till now. Despite of all the physical energy he had because of this, he could not win Rama. That was the power of values Rama had, the strength of knowledge he possessed.
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