Sriramodantam- Day 5

Meaning of the sloka

Vibheeshana, who was endowed with noble qualities, asked for devotion to Vishnu. Giving them these boons, Brahma disappeared.

Vibhishana had a sattvic (pure) mind and a sattvic heart. From his early childhood, he spent all his time meditating on the name of the Lord. Eventually, Brahma appeared and offered him any boon he wanted. Vibhishana said that the only thing he wanted was to have his mind fixed at the feet of the Lord as pure as lotus leaves. He prayed that he should be given the strength by which he would always be at the feet of the Lord and that he would receive the darshan (holy sight) of Lord Vishnu.

There is a story about why Ravana and Kumbhakarna were born with abnormalities and why Vibhishana though a rakshasa by birth, had a pure and worshipping nature.

When Kaikasi, daughter of Sumali expressed her wish to Sage Vishrava to become his wife, she did so at a very inauspicious time of the day. Sage Vishrava accepted her request but also warned her that the children born out of this wedlock would be born with horrible body structure and cruel nature.

Kaikasi unable to bear this news, fell at the feet of the great sage and begged for forgiveness and some sort of remedy. Feeling kind, Sage Vishrava said that if you remain devoted and dutiful, our youngest son will be born with normal body structure and pious mind but others will remain the same.

On a personal note, there is a pattern that I have noticed in all the mythological stories I have read, even after knowing their intentions Lord Brahma gives many asuras boons that causes many problems to Devas and sometimes humans. Most of the time other gods have to intervene to solve the problem.

Is the root cause of all these problems one and only one, the easily pleasable Lord Brahma or maybe it is the way by which the universe maintains the balance!

My primary source for meanings is from the E-book published by http://hinduebooks.blogspot.com.

Om Namo Narayanaya