Guileless by nature, mother KausalyŒ pressed him to her bosom with utmost affection as though Ýr¶ RŒma Himself had come back. She then embraced Lakƒma˜a’s younger brother (Ýatrughna); her heart was too full with grief and love. Everyone who saw her loving disposition said, “RŒma’s mother that she is, no wonder she should be so loving.” The mother seated Bharata in her lap and wiping away his tears spoke to him in soothing words: “I adjure you, my child, to compose yourself even now; knowing this to be an unpropitious time sorrow no more. Take not to heart the loss we have sustained and feel no remorse for it, remembering that the course of time and fate is unalterable. Do not blame anyone, my son; it is Providence that has turned hostile to me in every- way. And when He makes me survive even under such trying circumstances, who knows what may be His pleasure with regard to me even now?” (1—4)