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6. Soul – A Slave ?

The nature of Ravana’s Pride :

Ravana’s pride, ego, self-respect made him think on these lines –
“Sita is never going to voluntarily agree for this relation and
thus is useless for me. Then what is the need to keep her
here ? I should hand her over back to Rama. But if I do so,
people will think that, ‘Ravana got scared and did not want to
fight Rama-Lakshmana in war. He feared that he will not only
lose Sita but also his kingdom to Rama and hence preferred
to return back Sita. This will make me infamous and will
decrease my goodwill.

Am I a coward that I will return back Sita fearing my defeat ?
Not at all. I can win in war. I have defeated numerous mighty
kings, then where do Rama-Lakshmana stand ? I will defeat
them on the war field, get them in my palace and out of
sympathy hand over Sita safely. Then people will sing my
glory, “Look ! Ravana is valorous and generous. He achieved
victory over Rama-Lakshmana and gave back Sita, too.”

Just to keep his self-respect intact, inspite of suppressing his
craving for Sita, he paved his way towards destruction. His
desire for sensual pleasures reduced but his pride overcame
him.
In this material world, this soul is slave to desire for
sensual pleasures as well as passionate feelings of anger,
pride, deceit and greed. What is the worth of such a soul ?

He is enslaved by one object or other. He is entrapped by
anger or greed, pride or deceit. Soul, itself seems helpless.
32 Purity Purified