Hari Om.
Let us begin the hundredth sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Braving all odds, overcoming adversities, undaunted by insinuations, with single minded focus on rAma and great determination, prince bharata, reached chitrakUTa. The person sensitive to the occasion and respectful to rAma, he camped his army at a considerable distance from where rAma dwelled lest there is commotion near rAma’s hermitage. And then setting out with Satrughna and followed by sumantra, guha and other close confidantes bharata followed the direction of the smoke trail, climbed a tree and then followed the signages that purportedly lakshmaNa had tied on the lofty heights of tall trees in the form of grass bundles and bark clothes to identify their hermitage from a distance in the middle of the thick and treacherous forest. Following those signages he beheld the holy hermitage, confirmed that it belonged to rAma by virtue of the insignia it held (bows, arrows, swords, armours, logs of wood, heaps of flowers) and pausing at a distance for a moment, he rushed there only when he saw rAma! The prince who was utterly remorseful despite no fault of his, condemned himself for being responsible for the condition rAma was in. As soon as he spotted rAma in the hermitage, he rushed and fell at his feet. Completely overcome by grief and remorse, he just said Arya and could utter no more. He tightly grasped rAma’s feet! Satrughna did likewise. The eldest brother rAma also embraced the duo tightly and shed tears. Onwards…
rAma beheld the one with matted hair, adorning bark clothes, hard to look at, insipid like the Sun at the time of dissolution who fell down on the ground at his feet with folded hands. Somehow with great difficulty recognizing the one with an emaciated frame and pale face to be bharata, he held him by arms and lifted up. With overpowering affection he drew him close, kissed his forehead and drawing him on to his lap began affectionate enquiries! –
“O dear, where is our father ? You ought not have come to the forest if he was alive! What a pity that I am seeing you after a long time and in the forest! What brings you here to the forest my dear! I hope king daSaratha, the performer of great yajnas and whose valour is his truthfulness is in good health and didn’t move on to the other worlds in grief and I also hope you are looking after him well. I hope the throne has not been usurped from you due to your youth and inexperience.
I hope the chief preceptor of ikshvAkus, learned, virtuous and splendorous is being honored as usual. I hope the mothers kausalyA and sumitrA are doing great and kaikEyI is delighted. I hope you are honoring the scholarly, modest, free of envy and visionary sons of the preceptor. I hope the upright, intelligent and well versed priests are guiding you in conducting the sacrificial fire in appropriate times regularly. O dear, I hope you are taking good care of the gods, parents and their equals, older people, doctors and preceptors. I hope you are respectful towards the peerless preceptor sudhanva, the one proficient in the science of archery and economics.
O dear, I hope you have chosen as ministers, people who are men equal to you in valour, have widely read, have self restraint, are from noble families and can pickup subtle hints. An advice well guarded from others from the able, learned ministers is indeed the key to victory for the kings.
I hope you are not gripped by stupor but wake up in the early hours of the day and reflect upon the means and statecraft in the last part of the night.
I hope you don’t decide alone on important matters nor do you speak to too many. And I hope your decisions do not leak out into the kingdom. O rAghava, I hope once you have taken a decision on accomplishing a large task with considerably little effort, you do not sit on it and instead act quickly.
I hope other kings come to know about your decisions only after they have bore fruition or are about to be completed and they don’t get to know about your plans. And I hope neither by body language nor by other means your intentions or decisions cannot be inferred before their fulfilment. I hope you are keeping aside a thousand or a ten thousand agreeable stupid people and rather prefer a single wise man for consultations. Such a wise man and his counsel will be of immense help during crises, where as the agreeable stupid people are hardly of help. Even if there is one valorous, able, discerning, visionary and intelligent minister, he brings great benefits to the king and the princes.
I hope you have allotted the tasks to people as per their proficiency in the required skill.
कच्चिन्मुख्या महात्स्वेव मध्यमेषु च मध्यमाः।
जघन्याश्च जघन्येषु भृत्याः कर्मसु योजिताः।।2.100.25।।
I hope the ministers assigned by you have self restraint and can’t be swayed by temptations of bribery, have inherited those skills and probity and are the best among the best.
I hope you are appropriately advised by your ministers to not order punishment disproportionate to one’s crime and thus make people angry.
I hope you are not known as one collecting undue taxes. Such a king is scorned by people just like the sacrificial preceptors scorn one without merit and a woman dislikes a lover full of lust.
A person of perverted intelligence, someone who abets revolt against the master in his servants, a warrior driven by avarice ought to be punished and sparing them ensures that such a king gets punished.
I hope you have appointed as the commander of armed forces a person who is cheerful, valorous, intelligent, determined, honest, able, of noble birth and is devoted.
I hope you recognize and honor the important, strong, experts of warfare who have a proven track record in wars.
I hope you pay the soldiers their wages in the right time without delay. The scriptural manuals say that servants who are not paid in a timely manner become upset with their master and revolt leading to calamitous consequences for the master.
कच्चिद्बलस्य भक्तं च वेतनं च यथोचितम्।
सम्प्राप्तकालं दातव्यं ददासि न विलम्बसे।।2.100.32।।
I hope the sons of our race are loyal to you to the extent that they are ready to lay down their lives for your cause.
I hope O dear that you have chosen as your envoys, one born in your land, well versed in state craft, favorable, articulate and is able to grasp (the subtleties of statecraft).
I hope you have appointed eighteen spies to keep an eye on other kingdoms and fifteen spies to keep track of happenings in your own kingdom. Further I hope there is a monitor who keeps an eye on every three of them.
O slayer of foes, bharata, I hope you are alert to the kings who have been vanquished by you in war and have gone back. I hope you are not ignoring them in the belief that they are weak.
I hope you don’t listen to brAhmins who think only of this world. They are innocent of the important scriptures and are carried away just by the so called logic and profess it. They will bring great ruin. Beware of them.
कच्चिन्न लौकायतिकान्ब्राह्मणांस्तात सेवसे।।
अनर्थकुशला ह्येते बालाः पण्डितमानिनः।।2.100.38।।
धर्मशास्त्रेषु मुख्येषु विद्यमानेषु दुर्बुधाः।
बुद्धिमान्वीक्षिकीं प्राप्य निरर्थं प्रवदन्ति ते।।2.100.39।।
O dear, I hope you are protecting the vast ayOdhyA, true to its name, protected by our forefathers, abound with learned people, replete with various types of palaces, with its teeming elephant and horse stables, learned scholars, valorous kshatriyas, successful businessmen and other self-restrained and duty minded citizens.
I hope the rural life is flourishing with hundreds of sanctuaries near the villages with shrines of gods, water bodies, ponds, lakes, full of happy people indulging in festivities, self sufficient water resources independent of rains, free from the fear of wild animals, adorned with various mineral resources, people who have shunned sins and have a fear less existence. This janapada and its needs were well attended to by our forefathers and I hope you are ensuring their comfortable and prosperous life.
I hope the ones in agriculture and cattle rearing are favorable to you. The prosperity of the entire world actually depends on the well being of the cattle. I hope you are ensuring the welfare of all these people as it is the righteous duty of a king.
I hope you ensure the protection and well being of women. I also hope you don’t listen to their gossip and don’t reveal your secret consultations to them.
I hope your stables of elephants and cows are teeming and you are not contented with the populations of the horses, cattle and elephants that you have.
I hope you present yourself to the best among accomplished men in public places by being up very early in the morning. I hope you are not too accessible to your servants but at the same time not have them out of your attention. The middle path is arguably the best in these matters.
I hope the forts are filled with wealth, grains, water resources, weapons and machines and experts who can wield those.
I hope your earnings are more than your expenditures and your exchequer is not wasted upon undeserving people and instead is used well for the sake of gods, forefathers, learned brAhmins, guests, warriors and host of friends.
I hope a noble and venerable man falsely accused of adultery is not punished without duly consulting scholars well versed in the scriptures.
I hope, O best among men, a thief caught red handed, interrogated and whose offence is established isn’t set free by accepting bribe.
I hope, O bharata that your well versed ministers are dispassionate and do justice to people in adversity without considering whether they are rich or poor. The tears of a person falsely accused without diligence for the pleasure of the king ensure that the king will be in the ruins.
I hope, O bharata that you felicitate the old through charity, youngsters through affection and the learned through kind words. I hope you pay your respects to the preceptors, elderly, ascetics, gods, guests, shrines, accomplished men and brAhmins.
O dear, I hope you are not indulging in earning livelihood during the morning time which is more suited for pious deeds like worship of the gods and reading of the scriptures. I hope neither do you indulge in the afternoon time in performing worships and other dhArmic deeds instead of earning livelihood. Or I hope lost in sensual pleasures you are inattentive towards both pious deeds and earning livelihood. It is advisable indeed to divide your time into three parts and indulge in the trifold utilities of dharma, artha and kAma – piety, earning and pleasure.
I hope O intelligent one, that the leaned brAhmins and the citizens of the kingdom mean your welfare and seek the same.
1)Atheism, 2)untruth, 3)anger, 4)inattentiveness, 5)procrastination, 6)laziness, 7)evading the learned ones, 8)gratification of the senses, 9)not consulting anyone in matters of the kingdom, 10)consulting those who do not have the expertise, 11)not starting the determined tasks on time, 12)not protecting the secrecy of the consultations, 13)being and employing inauspiciousness and 14) attacking several enemies at once – these fourteen qualities are to be eschewed by a king and I hope you are doing so.
नास्तिक्यमनृतं क्रोधं प्रमादं दीर्घसूत्रताम्।
अदर्शनं ज्ञानवतामालस्यं पञ्चवृत्तिताम्।।2.100.65।।
एकचिन्तनमर्थानामनर्थज्ञैश्च मन्त्रणम्।
निश्चितानामनारम्भं मन्त्रस्यापरिरक्षणम्।।2.100.66।।
मङ्गलाद्यप्रयोगं च प्रत्युत्थानं च सर्वतः।
कच्चित्वं वर्जयस्येतान्राजदोषांश्चतुर्दश।।2.100.67।।
There are ten-fold, five-fold, four-fold, seven-fold, eight-fold and tri-fold paths available for guidance for a king to rule righteously as per the situation. The senses being in the control of the intellect, six-fold attributes, evils arising from destiny and sternly faced through human action, the twenty-fold and the twelve-fold path, conquest, war and peacemaking – these are all the available tools in the statecraft to a king and I hope you are using those appropriately.
दशपञ्चचतुर्वर्गान्सप्तवर्गं च तत्त्वतः।
अष्टवर्गं त्रिवर्गं च विद्यास्तिस्रश्च राघव।।2.100.68।।
इन्द्रियाणां जयं बुद्ध्या षाड्गुण्यं दैवमानुषम्।
कृत्यं विंशतिवर्गं च तथा प्रकृतिमण्डलम्।।2.100.69।।
यात्रादण्डविधानं च द्वियोनी सन्धिविग्रहौ।
कच्चिदेतान्महाप्राज्ञ यथावदनुमन्यसे।।2.100.70।।
I hope you consult with three or four ministers both collectively and individually in important matters and the secrecy of the consultations and decisions is maintained.
I hope your study of the vEdas, your actions, your spouse and your learning – all these are fruitful.
I hope your intellect is in accordance with what I just told you and helps you in gaining long life and fame as also the tri-fold utilities of dharma (righteousness), artha (means) and kAma (desires).
I hope you are conducting yourself in accordance with how our forefathers conducted themselves.
I hope you do not partake delicacies all by yourself and instead share those with friends who desire to partake the same.
कच्चित्स्वादु कृतं भोज्यमेको नाश्नासि राघव।
कच्चिदाशंसमानेभ्यो मित्रेभ्य स्सम्प्रयच्छसि।।2.100.75।।
The king who rules over the earth and his subjects as per dharma, punishing them appropriately when needed, indeed gets the much coveted release from the life (and death) and ascends the high heavens.
Here we conclude the one hundredth sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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Next: 2.101. Can rAma be coaxed?
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 