In plain words
In Laṅkā, so full of beauty, lived people who brought disgrace on life. In the end Hanumān thought, “Laṅkā is like a fig.”
A fig, to look at, is fine and golden; split its belly open and look, and there are worms.
To look at, this Laṅkā seems very beautiful, like a fig. But look inside, and there are very wicked people. The Rāmāyaṇa is the journey that could turn the story of such a city of Laṅkā into sacred divinity.
The Rāmāyaṇa is the journey that reshaped demonic nature into divinity. When Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa were fighting the rākṣasas, Lakṣmaṇa's arrow fell on a little child walking along holding a housewife's hand. The child died. Leaving the child, the mother ran for her own safety. Then Lakṣmaṇa asked: “Rāma! Do you see the nature of the rākṣasas? A mother will give up even her own life for her child, but these mothers, while the child's life is lost, try to save their own lives. This is the nature of the rākṣasa quality.” Rāma calmed Lakṣmaṇa. “Lakṣmaṇa, do not be hasty; look into it. Truly, her heart is a pure heart. Because she has seen Me, her feelings have turned pure. She has become one who has given up every attachment.” He told him to call her and ask why she was running, whether for her own sake or for the sake of others. He sent a vānara and had that rākṣasa woman called. When she was asked, she said: “Rāmacandra, it is not that I had no Prema for my child. The one whose lot it was not has gone. But I could live on. ‘If I keep my life, then when that Rāmacandra conquers this Rāvaṇa and takes all the rākṣasas of this Laṅkā into Ayodhyā, we too can do service to Śrī Rāmacandra, can we not?’ and hoping for that, I tried to save my life,” she said. “Some day Śrī Rāmacandra will bless the people of this Laṅkā and take them into Ayodhyā. In the hope that we will then serve Rāma in the inner palace in Ayodhyā and enjoy Ānanda, I am keeping this life,” she said.
So in good there is bad too, and in bad there is good too. In the pure there is the impure too, and in the impure the pure. So where does God appear to us? The Praśānti within unrest, the prakānti within Praśānti, the paraṃjyoti within prakānti. That paraṃjyoti, they said, is the principle of the Paramātma. Praśānti, it is said, dwells within unrest itself. But they said, “Aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham.” They said there is no happiness for one in unrest. That is a great mistake. One with no heart of Viveka sees only the unrest; one with a heart of Viveka sees the Praśānti within the unrest. So we must become people who long for Praśānti. Here is a tumbler. In this tumbler, half is water. What does the man of unrest see? He thinks, “Alas, half the tumbler is empty!”