Rama Offers Ravana the Wisdom of the Three Trees
Lanka Kanda, Chhand 15
Doha 90 · Movement 2 of 3
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
Even at the threshold of combat, Rama gives counsel. Do not destroy your good name through empty speech, he tells Ravana. Hear the rule of wisdom and practice forgiveness while there is still a space in which action can turn.
There are three kinds of people in the world, like three kinds of trees. One gives flowers but no fruit. One gives both flowers and fruit. One appears without flowers and, when its season comes, bears fruit alone.
So too, some people speak but never act. Some speak and also do what they say. Others act without announcing themselves at all. Rama places this simple orchard before the king whose speech has filled the battlefield. The teaching does not argue about power. It asks whether a life produces fragrance only, fragrance and nourishment, or the silent weight of fruit that needs no proclamation.
Before the arrows begin, Rama invites Ravana to leave the flowering noise of pride and discover whether any fruit remains.
Read the passage from the Manas
जनि जल्पना करि सुजसु नासहि नीति सुनहि करहि छमा। संसार महँ पूरुष त्रिबिध पाटल रसाल पनस समा।। एक सुमनप्रद एक सुमन फल एक फलइ केवल लागहीं। एक कहहिं कहहिं करहिं अपर एक करहिं कहत न बागहीं।।
Cease this vain boasting, lest you destroy your own good name. Hear wisdom and practice forgiveness. In this world there are three kinds of men, like the paatala, the mango, and the jackfruit. One gives only flowers, one gives both flowers and fruit, and one bears only fruit when its season comes. Some speak and speak but never act; others act in silence and never boast of what they have done.