Rama and his brother Lakshmana stood at the ocean's shore, gazing at Lanka in the distance. They knew Sita, Rama's wife, was imprisoned there.
Lakshmana angrily shouted at the Ocean God. "Stand aside, Varuna! How dare you block our way!"
The ocean did not move.
Lakshmana then drew his bow and fired arrow after arrow into the ocean's waters.
The ocean did not move.
"None of this is real," Rama told him. "It is like a dream. The ocean and also your anger — they are not real, and you cannot destroy one unreal thing with another thing that is unreal."
Inspired by: Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna
Notes: This is story 38 in the book. This is inspired by a moment in the epic Ramayana as Rama and his brother Lakshmana attempt to rescue Sita from Ravana, the Rakshasa King of Lanka. Eventually, they will build a bridge across the ocean. You can find out more about the Ocean God, Varuna, at Wikipedia, and also about Rama Setu, Rama's Bridge, a land bridge from the southern tip of India to Sri Lanka.
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