TAKE the case of a patient. Nature has almost cured him, when the physician prescribes a herb and asks him to drink its juice. After taking the medicine he is completely cured. Now, is the patient cured by the medicine’? Or does he get well by himself? Who can tell?
Lakshmana said to Lava and Kusa1, “You are mere children, you don’t know Rama’s power. At the touch of His feet, Ahalya2, who had been turned into a stone, got back her human form.” Lava and Kusa said, “Revered sir, we know that! We have heard the story, The stone became Ahalya because of the power of the holy man’s words. The sage Gautama said to her: ’In the Tretayuga, Rama will pass this hermitage. You will become a human being again at the touch of His feet.”
Now, who can tell whether the miracle happened in order that the sage’s words should be fulfilled or on account of Rama’s holiness? (150)
- Rama’s two sons. ↩︎
- The beautiful and devoted wife of a great sage named Gautama. Indra the king of heaven infatuated with her beauty seduced her, impersonating her husband. The sage, coming to know of this, cursed her and turned her into a stone; but he said that the touch of Rama’s feet would restore her human form. Indra, too, received his share of the curse, as a result of which he had a thousand eruptions on his body. Hence he is known as the thousand-eyed God.” ↩︎