Ayodhya Kaanda
89 - The Nisada's suspicion and precautions
Chaupais
Description
Equip yourself and blockade the ghats; be prepared in everyway to face death. I go to encounter Bharata in open combat and would not let him cross the Ganga so long as there is life in me. To die in battle and that too on the bank of the Ganga; and to lay down this frail body in Sri Rama's cause! Then Bharata is Sri Rama's own brother and a king; while I am an humble servant! It is through a great good fortune that one meets with a death like this. In the cause of my master I will fight on the battlefield and will brighten the fourteen spheres with my glory. I am going to lay down my life for the sake of Sri Rama (the Lord of Raghus) and will be a gainer either way. (If I win the battle I will have served the cause of my master, and if I die I will attain the eternal abode of the Lord and his constant service.) He who is not reckoned among the virtuous and is neither counted among Sri Rama's devotees lives in vain in this world; he is a veritable burden to the earth and an axe to the tree of his mother's youth."