God is so merciful that He will take ten steps towards you if you take only one towards Him.
Ravana's brother, the rakshasa demon Vibhishana, wanted to find out from Hanuman whether Rama would accept his worship and take him under His protection. He said:
“I am the brother of His worst enemy, whom He swore to destroy; I belong to the demon race; I am not familiar with the Vedas, or the Shastras, or the rituals of the Aryans.
Hanuman answered him:
- You're stupid! Do you think Rama will pay attention to ritual subtleties, family connections or scholarship? How did He accept me, a monkey, then?
That settled the matter. Vibhishana believed in the mercy of Rama. When he came to Rama, He asked the elder monkeys surrounding him if it was possible to accept Vibhishana into their camp. Of course, He did not need anyone’s advice and no one had influence on Him, and yet He wanted to bring them up to date, consult with them, pretending that he had not yet made his own decision. Sugriva said:
- No.
Rama reminded him that he was the first to come to Him, having also renounced his elder brother. When Lakshmana said that Vibhishana deserves only one thing - to be thrown back to Lanka - Rama said:
- Well then! I decided to crown him king of Lanka after the death of Ravana.
Whoever surrenders to Him, Rama will accept him immediately, without reservation. When someone said that it was not worth promising the throne to Vibhishana, because Ravana himself could fall at the feet of Rama and beg for forgiveness for his crimes, Rama replied:
“In this case, I will take Bharata’s hands and ask him to make Vibhishana the king of Ayodhya, the kingdom of our ancestors, and both of us, Bharata and I, will happily spend our lives in the forests.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru