[Note—Not only telling lies, but the Lord’s Maya had even eclipsed Sati’s wisdom
and sense of probity when it inspired her to assume the form of Sita (refer: Doha no.
52).
Not only this, Maya had even made her so arrogant and over confident of her own
intelligence that she thought Shiva to be wrong in assuming that Lord Ram, who was
roaming on the ground in search of his wife Sita, was no one else but the Supreme
Being himself in a human form. ‘How can it be?’ thought Sati (refer: Doha no. 50 and
its following Chaupai line nos. 1-2).
In this context, refer also to: Ram Charit Manas—(a) Baal Kand, line no. 2 of
Doha no. 51; (b) Aranya Kand, Chaupai line no. 8 that precedes Doha no. 2; and (c)
Uttar Kand, (i) Chaupai line nos. 4-6 that precede Doha no. 59; (ii) Chaupai line no. 7
that precedes Doha no. 71; and (iii) Chaupai line no. 1 that precedes Doha no. 72.]„UÁ⁄U ßë¿UÊ ÷ÊflË ’‹flÊŸÊ – NUŒÿ° Á’øÊ⁄Uà ‚¢÷È ‚È¡ÊŸÊH 6H
hari icchā bhāvī balavānā. hṛdayam̐ bicārata sambhu sujānā. 6.
Lord Shambhu (Shiva) thought to himself, ‘The wish of Lord Hari (Vishnu; Lord
Ram), as well as one’s own destiny (or fate) are very powerful forces (as they
determine what course a person’s life would take)^1 .’
[In other words, it is almost impossible to oppose them. Whatever Lord Hari
wants will happen. Whatever is written in one’s destiny is destined to happen. One
has almost no control over these factors. Yes, it is true that one can always act
diligently and change the course of his life, but this can only happen by the grace of
Lord Hari, and this indirectly means that a person has to be mindful of the fact that
nothing can happen without keeping the Lord in the loop.] (6)
[Note—^1 Refer: Ram Charit Manas, Baal Kand, Chaupai line no. 1 that precedes Doha
no. 128; line no. 1 of Doha no. 174; and Ayodhya Kand, Doha no. 171.]
‚ÃË¥ ∑§Ëã„U ‚ËÃÊ ∑§⁄U ’·Ê – Á‚fl ©U⁄U ÷ÿ©U Á’·ÊŒ Á’‚·ÊH 7H
¡ı¥ •’ ∑§⁄U©°U ‚ÃË ‚Ÿ ¬ ̋ËÃË – Á◊≈Uß ÷ªÁà ¬ÕÈ „UÙß •ŸËÃËH 8H
satīṁ kīnha sītā kara bēṣā. siva ura bhaya'u biṣāda bisēṣā. 7.
jauṁ aba kara'um̐ satī sana prītī. miṭa'i bhagati pathu hō'i anītī. 8.
The fact that Sati had assumed the form of Sita caused immense grief and sorrow in
the heart of Shiva. He felt very disconsolate within. (7)
He decided—‘If I now show any affection to Sati, and tend to neglect or
overlook her actions, it would be gravely improper and tentamount to destroying the
path of Bhakti (having devotion and loyalty for one’s chosen deity, who in the case of
Shiva was Lord Ram).’ (8)
[Note—Sita was an incarnation of goddess Laxmi and the consort of the Lord (Sri
Ram) whom Shiva worshipped as his chosen deity. This being so, Sita was like a
‘mother goddess’ for Shiva. Therefore, to assume the form of Sita was an
unpardonable sin on the part of Sati.
Secondly, it is totally unethical and immoral for someone’s loyal and chaste wife
to play the role of another person’s wife under any circumstance. This is another great
sin that Sati committed.
Thirdly, she had tried to play dirty tricks with Lord Ram whom her husband
reveres, especially when her husband had tried his best to dissuade her from doing so.
And all these sins were compounded when she boldly told lies to Shiva without