Hari Om.
Let us begin the twenty ninth sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
As rAma conveyed the recent development that banishes him to the forest and crowns bharata as the king, thanks to the twin boons that king daSaratha owed to queen kaikEyi which were kept in abeyance, sItA not for a moment was tormented by the question of why rAma should go to the forest for none of his fault! In stead, her only desire was to be with rAma always. When rAma tried to educate her about what her conduct should be in his absence, she thought it was something irrelevant! But rAma didn’t want the delicate sItA to go to the forests with him and so he recounted the reasons that make forests such a dreadful place! Is she detrerred? Onwards…
sItA heard the detailed explanations of why forests are so dreadful from rAma. Tears were flowing down her cheek incessantly. In a feeble voice, she submitted – “O rAma, these difficulties of the forest life that you have cited will turn in to virtues when they are accompanied by your affection. O rAghava, the wild beasts comprising of tigers, lions, elephants and a variety of deer will flee in fright beholding your hitherto unseen form. When you are by my side O rAma, even the mighty indra can’t hurt me. I must accompany you as per the command of my elders.
[पतिव्रता महाभागा छायेवानुगता सदा 1.73. siyAvar rAmachandra ki Jai!]
A woman will not be able to live separated from her husband. I will give up my life if separated from you. Therefore rAma, enough of this preaching me to stay back! O rAma, do you know when I was in the home of my father, I have heard prophecies from brAhmin soothsayers who visited my home that I would be dwelling in the forest! Therefore O rAma, command me, permit me to accompany you to the forest and let the words spoken by those brAhmin soothsayers bear fruition. At that time even a female mendicant had visited our house and she too foretold about my stay at the forest. I have mentioned this desire of mine to stay with you the forest many times. The time has come to fulfil that longing of mine to go to the forest with you. I am aware of the difficulties of forest life but they befall those who do not have their senses under control.
O rAma you are my lord and by following you to the forest with love and a pure heart, I shall become sinless. O rAghava, our relation is beyond this birth. The vEdas lay down that a woman given away to a man in accordance with scriptures is united with him beyond their death.
प्रेत्यभावे हि कल्याण स्सङ्गमो मे सह त्वया।
श्रुतिर्हि श्रूयते पुण्या ब्राह्मणानां यशस्विनाम्।।2.29.17।।
इहलोके च पितृभिर्या स्त्री यस्य महामते।
अद्भिर्दत्ता स्वधर्मेण प्रेत्यभावेऽपि तस्य सा।।2.29.18।।
O rAma, why are you so hesitant to take your devoted and loyal wife with you. I am equal minded about pain and pleasure. Therefore O kakutstha, you ought to take your wife who has equal disposition towards pain and pleasure in these trying times. And if you are so determined to not take me with you, I cannot live and will end my life even by consuming poison or by entering into fire or water”.
Even as sItA pleaded in a myriad ways to request rAma to take her along, he did not consent. She deeply grieved, shedding copious tears which even drenched the ground. The mighty rAma tried to console the grieving sItA in various ways to dissuade her from insisting to go with him.
Here we conclude the twenty ninth 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: 2.30. sItA is inseparable from rAma
Previous: 2.28. What makes forests dreadful
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 