Chapter 10: The army goes to Sri Lanka

So Hanuman flew back. And then while coming back, and when theyreached Kishkinda, there was a beautiful forest called Madhuvana.This Madhuvana was a private garden of Sugriva. There was so manyhoney hives there, and honey was flowing on the ground and so manyfruits. It was well guarded. There was one great monkey calledDadhimukha. Dadhimukha was sitting in front of this garden at fourdoors. Only Sugriva was allowed in. So when the monkeys werereturning, they went to Hanuman and said to him, "We have done agreat task, so we must have some enjoyment. Let us go insideMadhuvana and drink honey." Hanuman said, "What? Go insideMadhuvana? Sugriva will get angry. He will know we have done a goodjob. We are not allowed to go in there." Then Jambavan said, "OhHanuman, you don't think properly. That Madhuvana is such awonderful place, there is so much honey there. We have worked sohard. All these monkeys were so patient. They must be rewarded. Ifyou are not going, I am going." So Jambavan entered the Madhuvana,and all the monkeys entered the Madhuvana. There was a difference ofopinion, but eventually they were won over, and then all the monkeyswere all drinking honey like anything and eating fruits. Dadhimukhawent to Sugriva and said, "What is this? Even your defense ministerHanuman is totally useless. Even your great uncle Jambavan is alsouseless. They are all coming inside the royal forest, and they aredrinking the honey." Sugriva looked at Ramacandra and said, "O Lord,Your work has been accomplished." Ramacandra said, "How do you knowthat?" Sugriva replied, "How can they dare enter Madhuvana, mygarden, and drink honey? This means they have done some wonderfultask. Maybe Sita is with them, otherwise they wouldn't dare to doit." So he told Dadhimukha, "Give them more honey! Give them morefruits. Open the gates of Madhuvana, it is open for everyone." Andthen Hanuman came, and he was saying, "We found Sita! We foundSita!" Hanuman was thinking, "If I say "Sita..." then Ramacandra maythink that I have not found her." He did not want to confuse him.First of all he said, "Found, found, found." When Ramacandra heardthis, he said to Sugriva, "What you said was true. Hanuman is in thesky, and he is saying, `I have found.' What would he have found? Hewould have found Sita, because he was looking for Sita." So thenHanuman came and there was discussion, and then Ramacandra decided,"Attack!" So to summarize, they built this wonderful bridge andcrossed over it. Then they arrived there on the shore. As soon asthey arrived there Sugriva was looking this way and that, andVibhisana said, "That is Ravana's palace, that ten-floor building."So then they all commented, "What a beautiful building." WhenRamacandra looked back there was no Sugriva. He said, "Sugriva!Where is Sugriva?" Vibhisana said, "Some demon is playing a trick.We must be on guard, everyone be ready." Everyone took their weaponsbut Sugriva was not there. Sugriva flew to the tenth floor of thebuilding. He simply could not tolerate that Ravana was living therewith Sita under his custody, and Ramacandra was here. Sugriva got soangry, he went there, and Ravana was as usual looking upon themirror. Sugriva became small, and he went around his face and spaton it. Ravana was doing his make-up with fifteen assistantsspraying, and doing all sorts of things to make up his face, and thenhe felt something wet. "What is this? What is that?" Sugriva wasspitting all over his face. Then he told his servants to stop doingwhat they were doing, but still it was coming. He said, "There'ssome bee or mosquito here." He looked around, and then he caughthold of Sugriva, holding him in his hand. Ravana said, "How dare youdo this? What are you doing, spitting on my face?" He lookedclosely, and realized it was a monkey. "Another monkey! And sosmall?" The monkey was speaking, "Ravana, I spat on your face. NowI am happy," and before he coul d catch him he flew away. He landedin front of Ramacandra. Ramacandra said, "Sugriva, where have youbeen?" Sugriva said, "I went there and spat on the rascal's face!"Ramacandra said, "What did you do? Oh, I have made a great mistakeby associating myself with monkeys. I am the son of Dasaratha. Ihave landed in another man's country, and you have already gone andspat on his face." Sugriva said, "I am sorry my Lord, but you mustunderstand that after all, I am a monkey. When I get angry, I can'tcontrol it. All your yuga-dharma you can keep in your pocket.Nobody will blame you, because they will say, "Sugriva was a monkey.What can you do? It was not Ramacandra's defect." So thenRamacandra said, "I want to send a messenger."" So Sugriva said,"The only person who has got so much sense control, apart fromHanuman, and he has already gone anyway, is Angada." So Ramacandracalled Angada and embraced him. He said, "My dear Angada, I am goingto send you to Ravana. He is a very dangerous person so be careful.You go to him and tell him that Ramacandra does not have anyintention to fight with him. All I desire is that he give back Sita,and I will leave. I will make friendship with him. I will be hisgreatest friend. If anybody attacks Lanka, I will protect him. Youplease tell this to him. Only Sita, nothing else do I want from him.I don't want these monkeys to get killed and I don't want to kill hisdemons, and I don't want to kill Ravana." So Angada said, "Allright, I will take this message to Ravana." He circumambulated Ramaand Laksmana, touched Rama's feet. Then he came to Hanuman, touchedhis feet and said, "You must bless me, because you were the first oneto go." "Go there," Hanuman said, and he called him close by and inhis ear he said, "You must insult them." And then Angada flew off.Angada came straight in front of Ravana, flying in, landing right infront of him. He said, "Ravana, my name is Angada. I am the son ofBali. You may remember him." This Bali did one wonderful pastimewith Ravana. When eard that anyone who goes in front of Bali willlose half his strength, he was thinking, "This means that he willbecome more powerful than me in this world, so I must first controlBali." So he went there, and Bali had made a vrata or vow that hewould worship Salagram in four holy places every day. He wouldworship in Rameshvaram, Badrinath, Jagannatha Puri and Dvaraka. Allthat he would do in one way. Each place he would visit in one leap.He would leap from Kishkinda to Rameshvaram. He would do theworship, and before it is too late then he will jump back toKishkinda. From there he would jump to Dvaraka. He was justleaping. Then to Badrinath and coming back. While he was doingthis he would make sure that he would keep his foot on top ofSugriva's head and press it a little bit. That he was doing also.Sugriva was hiding there, in one area. In that place Bali cannot gobecause he was cursed that if he entered there his head would breakinto 10,000 pieces. Sugriva took shelter in that place. Even then,before going to Dvaraka, Bali would make sure he would give him onekick on his head, and then he would go to Dvaraka. While comingback, again one kick. In a day, eight kicks Sugriva was getting.Hanuman could not tolerate, so once when Bali was kicking like thatHanuman caught Bali on his waist, and he was trying to pull himdown, because if he touches the ground he would be dead. Bali knewthat if he touched the floor he would be dead, so he was trying topull Hanuman up. One was pulling down and one up, and they were inone spot. They had equal strength, ten thousand elephant strength.Neither was going anywhere. Bali said, "Leave me alone! Let mego!" Hanuman said, "I will let you go on one promise; you don't dothis kicking any more. Otherwise, I will pull you down." Balisaid, "All right, we will make a truce. I am not against you, youare not against me. I am against Sugriva. I will not come here andkick him, and you leave me alone." He left. After being harassedby Hanuman, he went to Dvaraka and quickly he was doing his worshipand Ravana was behind. Ravana did not come in front because he knewhe would lose half of his strength. From the back he was thinking,"Slowly I will catch hold of the tail, and then I will do something."So when Ravana came close to the tail, he caught it, and he wasthinking, "Oh that was very easy." But when he was trying to pullthe tail, instead of pulling the tail the tail pulled him. And thenthe tail extended and came around his body. He held him in his tail,and then he leaped to Kishkinda, from there to Badrinath, from thereback and to Puri, leap back. Ravana was hanging in the tail. Eventhe Gandharvas were laughing, the women and the Caranas werelaughing, and Ravana was closing his eyes, and he said, "Bali, pleaseleave me, don't tie me in the tail. At least carry me in the hand,it is more prestigious than being tied in a monkey's tail. This isnot good." Finally when they arrived in Kishkinda he brought histail around in front of him and said, "Hey, you be careful. Youdon't come in this area any more." Ravana said, "I am surrendered toyou, I am your servant. And don't attack Sri Lanka, and I won't comehere." So Ravana made a pact. Angada told him, "Ravana, do youremember Bali? At least you should remember his tail. I am his son.I am the smallest in the army that Ramacandra has brought. That iswhy Ramacandra picked me to come and see you. I am a very smallperson. I am a prince, and there are bigger monkeys there. But I amrequesting you one thing. Ramacandra said that if you give backSita, he would go back, and he does not want anything." Ravana said,"Why are these monkeys coming and talking like ministers to me? Youhad better put your tail between your legs and run away from herebefore I kill you." Angada said, "Oh, you are going to kill me? Youcan kill me later." He lifted his leg and put it in front of Ravana."But for now you please move my foot. Then we can think aboutscheming and m urdering and killing." Ravana said, "Come hereIndrajit." So Indrajit got up and went there. He slapped, and afterslapping he saw his palm swell up, because it was like a rootedBanyan tree. Then he sat down and used both hands and tried to shakeit, and found that it was like Mount Meru. Indrajit was sweatingprofusely, and he gave up. Vibhisana got up and said, "Ravana, yourtime is coming. Look at this. A monkey's foot cannot be shaken.Don't you understand that there's something happening? You werekeeping the planets in your kitchen and now a monkey's foot cannot beshaken? Something is wrong somewhere. Think about it." Ravanasaid, "You are so weak-minded. I will do it," and he got up. Angadasaid, "You want to touch my foot?" Ravana said, "Aaargh! I havelifted Kailash!" So Ravana had all his twenty hands going, he washolding his legs and straining like anything, but he couldn't moveit. Angada said, "Try my toe. You may be able to do that." Ravanabent down and he was completely helpless, because he couldn't moveit. Ravana sat down and said, "Where do you get your strength from?"Angada said, "The same old question. Where are you getting yourstrength from? Where is anyone getting their strength from? Thesource of strength is Rama, and simply by chanting his name I amholding my breath. That is why you are not able to move my toe. Iam the smallest monkey in the army. There are bigger monkeys thanme. And with all of us is your brother Vibhisana who is helping.Laksmana is also there, and above him is the Supreme Lord Ramacandra.Use your intelligence Ravana, and give back Sita." Ravana said, "No!I'm not giving back Sita. I don't believe any of this." Angadasaid, "Then you will meet your death," and he flew back. When hecame back, Jambavan came to him, and asked him, "They couldn't moveyour toe?" He was seeing Ramayana over and over. So then Angadasaid, "How do you know this?" Jambavan said, "I am Jambavan. I havebeen here for a long time. " Then the monkeys asked Angada, "Tellus the story." Jambavan said, "I will tell you the story, Angada goand tell Ramacandra what happened." So Angada went and toldRamacandra. Vibhisana said to Rama, "Now is the time. We mustattack." Ramacandra said, "We will wait for tomorrow," and they alltook rest. Vibhisana told Hanuman, "You can't believe these demons,they're very tricky. Especially when the sun sets they become morestrong. This is one property of demons. I know, because I am fromthis civilization. Be careful with these demons." So Vibhisanasaid, "We have to protect Rama and Laksmana," and he told Hanuman,"You build a fort with your tail, and we will put Rama and Laksmanainside. Then we won't lose them. You and I should guard." Theydivided the monkey army into four groups, east, west, south andnorth. Angada, Nila, Sugriva, Jambavan, they all became guards.No-one slept, because they were expecting someone to come and kidnapRama and Laksmana. So he made a huge big fort with his tail. It hadrooms, verandas, courtyards, seven stories. To enter this fort youhave to first go through the ear of Hanuman, and from there enter themouth. From there you go to the back of the neck. There is onenerve that goes from there straight to the tail. You go into that,and past the tail. You travel in the tail and a little bit alongthere is a small opening. That is the gate. How could anyone enterHanuman's ear and go through his mouth and all that? So everyone wassatisfied, "This is such a good defense." The tail had been circled,and circled differently in some places to make windows. Everythingwas there, recreation and swimming pool. Everything was created bythe mind of Hanuman, and it was all inside his tail. OutsideHanuman was going around that tail fort guarding. It was a consciousbuilding, because it was the tail. Rama and Laksmana were thereinside. Hanuman and Vibhisana were patrolling back and forwardguarding. Then at one point whe n Hanuman saw Vibhisana, Vibhisanasaid, "I want to go in and check. Please make sure that no-one comesover to this side. You stay here." Hanuman was standing standingstanding, but he did not come. He said, "Let me take a quickflight." He flew across and he came back. When he was coming backhe saw Vibhisana standing outside. He said, "If you went inside, whydidn't you come back? I was in the door." Vibhisana said, "I neverwent inside." Hanuman said, "There is something wrong," and theyboth went inside. They saw that there was no Rama and no Laksmana.They were missing. They checked everywhere but they couldn't findthem. Then all the monkeys were crying and lamenting. Vibhisanasaid, "This must be the work of Mahi-Ravana, the brother of Ravana.He stays in the netherlands, he has a secret city somewhereunderneath. He is a great Mayavi. Somehow or other he has takenRama and Laksmana. Hanuman, only you can go and get them, and I cantell you how to reach this place." Hanuman decided to go and getRama and Laksmana.