Baba's Storytime - Character

If you say that the world is not a bed of roses but is a place of misery, the fault lies in you, the inhabitants. It is Character that marks the life of a good individual. If you go through history you will find that in the ancient days people were noted for their control of senses. 

Take the example of Janaka, the great ruler and father of Seetha, offering his daughter in marriage to Raama immediately after the latter broke the Shiva Dhanush (the formidable bow of Shiva), in terms of the proclamation made by him. When Janaka repeatedly asked Raama to look at Seetha and take her hand, Raama 1ookcd in a different direction because he-should not look at a woman till he tied the wedding knot around her neck. This is the ideal propagated by the great Avathaar Raama.

Later on, when Lakshmana followed Raama and Seetha to the forest and stayed with them for fourteen long years he never once looked at the face of Seetha who was just an eighteen year old damsel. Abundant testimony to this exemplary behaviour of Lakshmana is borne by the episode when Raama and Lakshmana acquited the friendship of the monkey-king Sugreeva. 

Sugreeva bade the monkeys to bring the bundle of jewels dropped by Seetha when she was being abducted by Raavana. When Raama saw this, he was overwhelmed and asked Lakshmana to identify whether they belonged to Seetha. But Lakshmana respectfully said, "I can only identify the anklets worn by mother Seetha as I used to worship her feet every day. I cannot identify the bangles or necklace worn by her as I have never looked .up at her face." 

Because of such worthy and laudable behaviour, they are remembered even today, though thousands of years have passed. Youth should protect Character in that way. Both men and women should consider character as their very life breath.

(From the Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)