WHY RAVANA NOT ABLE TO LIFT THE BOW?

Arrogant Ravana, who lifted Mount Kailash, 

could not lift the bow in Sita Swayamvar 

because of this. 

Because Ravan did not have any sense of service.

Such was the bow: Lord Shiva's bow was very powerful and miraculous. The bow that Shiva had made, clouds used to burst and mountains used to move. It seemed as if an earthquake had occurred. This bow was very powerful. All the three cities of Tripurasura were destroyed with one of his arrows. The name of this bow was Pinaka. After the end of the period of gods and goddesses, this bow was handed over to Devraj Indra.

The gods gave it to Devraj, the ancestor of King Janak. Nimi's eldest son Devraj was among the ancestors of King Janak. Shiva-Dhanush was safe with King Janak as his heritage. No one had the ability to lift this giant bow of his, but Lord Rama lifted it and climbed its string and broke it in one stroke.

In Shri Ram Charitmanas there is a chapai:-

"उठहु राम भंजहु भव चापा, मेटहु तात जनक परितापाI"

Meaning- Guru Vishwamitra, seeing Janakji very upset and disappointed, tells Shri Ramji that O son Shriram, get up and break this bow in the form of "Bhav Sagar" and take away the pain of Janak.

There is a word in this chaupai 'Bhav Chapa' which means that to lift this bow, it was not power but love and nirankar that was required. It was an elusive and divine bow. Divine qualities were needed to lift it. No arrogant person could lift him.

That's why Ravana could not lift the bow.

Ravana was an arrogant man. He could lift Mount Kailash but not the bow. He could not even move the bow. The forest had gone to Dhanush with the pride of an arrogant and powerful person. The more Ravana used to apply power to that bow, that bow used to become heavier. There all the kings were defeated by their power and arrogance.

Lord Rama raised the bow in a moment.

When Lord Shri Ram's turn came, he understood that it was not an ordinary bow but the bow of Lord Shiva. That's why first of all he bowed down to Dhanush. Then he circumambulated the bow and paid him full respect. The heaviness of the bow automatically disappeared in front of Lord Shriram's humility and purity and he lifted that bow with love and climbed its string and as soon as he bowed it, the bow broke on its own.

It is said that just as Sita used to lift the bow without exerting any force by meditating on Lord Shiva, in the same way Shriram also tried to lift the bow and succeeded.