There's another aspect of the Rāmāyaṇa that always touches me very deeply, and it's a story that's told again and again about Rāvaṇa's brother. Rāvaṇa, of course, was the archetypal demoniac king who wanted to enjoy the whole world—the opposite of what we're talking about. Rāma gave up silk to wear tree bark; Rāvaṇa, he wanted everything in the world for himself and couldn't help himself.

One of his family members, his brother, Vibhīṣaṇa, tried to dissuade Rāvaṇa from his suicide course, stealing Sītā and holding her there in his kingdom. And when Rāma came with his armies, Vibhīṣaṇa, after having a very severe fight—argument with his brother about his wrong-headed ways—came to surrender to Rāma. At that time, he told Rāma, "I want to join you. I was born into this family, I tried to take Rāvaṇa on the right course; it wasn't possible. So now I'm submitting myself to you." Some, as we've heard from the Rāmāyaṇa, were suspect, because during wartime, there is a sense of mistrust of the other side. It's the first conclusion people often come to: they're trying to harm us in some way. It's no trust. But Rāma, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had observed the countenance of Vibhīṣaṇa, as did one of his great devotees, Hanumān, whom Rāma consulted. But Rāma was responsible then for accepting him or not accepting him.

He uttered a verse which you can keep in your pocket, and you can pull out any time you feel like you need a boost in life, in which He said that if one time somebody says, "I'm surrendering to you, I take you as my shelter." If someone says it one time, He says, 'sakṛd eva prapanno yas, tavāsmīti ca yācate—one time somebody says to Me,' "I accept you as the supreme, and you're my shelter." He said, "dadāmy etad vrataṁ mama—that I make a vow for that person', to that person—'abhayam'—'that from that time forward, you'll be without fear, you'll be without burden, and always, I make the vow that I will protect you and I will always be there, one time if you say it." You want to say it? Go ahead, say it.

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