Hari Om.
Let us begin the thirty fourth sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
As both sItA and lakshmaNa secure rAma’s nod to accompany him to forest after a lot of convincing, they gave away all their wealth in charity to brAhmins, vEdic scholars, dependents and other attendants of their abode. Jewels, gold, gems, wealth, cattle – everything was given away appropriately to people who would find it’s best use. rAma instructed the attendants of his palace to keep things in order during their absence. Then they set out to meet the king and take his permission to proceed to the forest. Alas, yesterday he was the crown prince and today he is walking to the palace along with his princess sItA and brother lakshmaNa! The citizens crowded the ways and yet others perched on top of their terraces to catch that one glimpse of rAma. They were shocked. They had utter contempt for kaikEyi who brought about this calamity upon them. Their love for rAma was so great that extereme thoughts were brewing in their mind – they wanted to give up their homes and possessions and just follow rAma wherever he goes! This was the common refrain among the citizens. All these reached rAma’s ears and yet he was undeterred in his resolve. They walked steadily and having reached the imposing edifice of the king, rAma requested sumantra to let the king know of his arrival to seek his permission to go to the forest. Onwards…
rAma sighted sumantra having reached his father’s abode. The peerless, lotus eyed and dark complexioned rAma asked sumantra to inform king daSaratha of his arrival. On rAma’s command, sumnatra entered the inner chambers where the king daSaratha was a very picture of misery. He resembled an eclipsed Sun and a dried up water body and fire covered by ash. The minister hailed the king rather hesitantly and in a rather hushed up voice informed the king about the arrival of his son waiting at the threshold having given away all his wealth in charity to brAhmins and other dependents. Minister sumantra further informed the king that, rAma has bid good bye to all his friends and now awaits the king’s audience before he leaves for the forest. The king had the depth of the ocean in his thoughts and purity of the sky in his mind and he told sumantra to summon all his wives and other kin so that rAma can be given audience.
Minister sumantra immediately reached out to all the wives of the king in the inner apartments and asked them to be present at once. There were three hundred fifty wives of daSaratha in the apartment and all of them along with kausalya slowly made their way to the assembly steeped in grief. Once all were assembled, the king daSaratha asked sumantra to usher in his dear son rAma. The minister immediately fetched rAma, lakshmaNa and sItA. As rAma entered the assembly with folded hands, king daSaratha stood up along with his wives and rushed to receive rAma but before he could reach him, fainted and collapsed in a heap! As the women raised cries of despair, rAma and lakshmaNa attended the king and along with the help of sItA lay him on the couch. In a while, the king regained his senses and then rAma folded his hands and said –
“O lord, please permit me to go to the forests of danDaka in a cheerful mood. Please rid yourself of the grief and give your consent. Please also give your consent to sItA and lakshmaNa both whom insisted to accompany me despite my best efforts to dissuade them from doing so. Kindly see the three of us off cheerfully. You are the lord and master of all”.
King daSaratha saw the unruffled rAma awaiting his permission and confessed that he has been deluded by kaikEyi regarding the boons and that rAma should imprison his instantly and become the ruler of ayOdhya!
To this strange request, the articulate and upright rAma folded his hands and said – “O king, you shall rule over the earth for a thousand years to come. As for me, I shall happily dwell in the forest. Please do not dodge the path of truth for my sake. After spending fourteen years in the forest I shall be at your service again”. To this king daSaratha who was grieving as he was bound by the truth and exploited by kaikEyi replied –
” Go my dear son, there is no fear from any quarter and let there be no obstacles in your path and let it be auspicious. Come back with prosperity enhanced. O rAma, you are wedded to truth and dharma. It is impossible to change your resolve. But, my dear son, do not go now. Stay tonight in the company of your mother and myself. Let us see you to our heart’s content. Then you can go tomorrow morning after fulfilling our desire of being with you. You are undertaking a rather arduous task for my sake forsaking all your dear ones. However, O rAma, I swear by truth, I have no intention whatsoever of banishing you. Like hidden fire this conceited woman has cheated me. I have been duped by this breaker of tradition and you wish to the pay the price for that! It is no surprise that you don’t want my promise to go false being my eldest son”.
Thus the king daSaratha vent out his helplessness and how he was duped by queen kaikEyi. Both rAma and lakshmaNa were sad to see this state of the king and rAma replied –
“O father, I will have to earn today’s merit today itself. Who will grant that to me tomorrow! Therefore overcoming all desires I shall depart right away. Please bestow this kingdom, wealth and populace that I gave up on bharata. Oh king, my resolve to go to the forest is unchangeable. Please honor the boons you bestowed to kaikEyi to the end and stand in truth. Please do not brood over this O king. Give this kingdom to bharata. In accordance to your command I shall reside in the forest for fourteen years. I have no desire for kingdom. What pleases me the most is in fact to be obedient to your order. Give up this grief O king. The mighty lord of rivers, the ocean does never grieve. In your presence, I swear by my merits and truth that I have no desire for kingdom, comforts, earth or pleasure than your being established in truth. Therefore, I need to start off immediately to the forest. I shall honor the word I gave to kaikEyi without a second thought. In obedience to your command, I renounce this kingdom along with its people and riches, please bestow it on bharata.
Please do not feel anxious about us – we shall enjoy the sylvan surroundings of the forest and the deer and chirping birds. Scriptures say, father is god even for the gods, in that spirit I shall carry out your command. I shall return after fourteen years, therefore give up grief. Oh lord, you are the one who should pacify those in grief. How can you choke with grief, O king!
I derive the greatest pleasure in carrying out your order than in personal comforts. Elders and the wise attest to this. Therefore, derive joy from that. By making you stand false, I desire neither kingdom nor pleasure nor even maithili or my own life. By all means I want that your vow comes true. I shall enter the forest and be happy there basking in the lap of nature and eating fruits and roots”.
Immersed in deep sorrow, the king embraced rAma and fell down unconscious yet again. Everyone in the assembly except kaikEyi wailed piteously with cries of alas including sumantra who himself fainted.
The entire assembly was a very picture of misery as the king fell unconscious.
Here we conclude the thirty fourth 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: 2.35. sumantra lashes out
Previous: 2.33. Citizens think their course
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
