The Bearer of Worlds Falls While Ravana Cannot Lift Him
Lanka Kanda, Chhand 8
Doha 83 · Movement 2 of 3
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The fierce Shakti given by Brahma strikes Lakshmana in the chest. The hero receives its force and falls overwhelmed upon the battlefield, his stillness appearing before Ravana as an opportunity for triumph.
Ravana bends to lift him. The ten headed king possesses immeasurable bodily strength and a glory that has shaken worlds, yet the fallen warrior does not rise in his grasp. The image holds the demon's effort against a mystery he cannot perceive.
Upon one head of this Lakshmana, the whole mansion of the universe rests like a particle of dust. Ravana tries to raise the bearer of the cosmos while failing to know the Lord of the three worlds before him. The Shakti can bring Lakshmana into the posture of collapse within Rama's play, but Ravana's strength cannot convert that posture into possession. Ignorance strains over infinity and finds it immovable.
Ravana tries to lift one fallen body, unaware that all worlds are already resting upon the one he cannot move.
Read the passage from the Manas
सो ब्रह्म दत्त प्रचंड सक्ति अनंत उर लागी सही। पर्यो बीर बिकल उठाव दसमुख अतुल बल महिमा रही।। ब्रह्मांड भवन बिराज जाकें एक सिर जिमि रज कनी। तेहि चह उठावन मूढ़ रावन जान नहिं त्रिभुअन धनी।।
That Brahma-given Shakti, fierce and boundless in power, struck Lakshmana full in the chest and the hero fell, overwhelmed. Though Ravana's strength and glory remained immeasurable, he tried to lift the fallen warrior. But he upon whose single head the entire Brahmanda rests like a speck of dust, that fool Ravana sought to raise him, not knowing he was the Lord of the three worlds.