Hari Om.
Let us begin the thirty ninth sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
After the council of the ministers tries on their individual level to dissuade kaikEyI failed to make any impact on her through their harsh or pleasing words, king daSaratha ordered that rAma shall go to the forest with an entourage complete with all the amenities to lead a comfortable life. He thought of softening the blow on his on heart by offering so. In that way rAma would not feel the troubles of forest life. And even daSaratha would get a semblance of solace that rAma is not troubled! But rAma would have none of it. His refusal to stay back that night, refusal to take any entourage with him highlights rAma as a stickler to the dharma and also that he wants bharata to enjoy the kingdom as much as possible. Clad in the barks, the princes and sItA are set to leave. rAma has only one wish of the king – that his mother kausalya should be looked after well. The trio are set to leave. Onwards…
Listening to the words of rAma and beholding in the ascetic robes, daSaratha and his wives lost consciousness for a while out of grief. And then when the king gained consciousness neither could he look rAma in the eye nor could he muster a reply. He grieved piteously and thought to himself that surely this is the result of some past bad deeds of his in which he might have separated children from their parents. Indeed one cannot get even death unless the time arrives, how else can it be explained that in spite of being tormented by kaikEyI and beholding my son in the ascetic robes my life doesn’t desert me, he thought to himself! He lamented that because of insistence of kaikEyI so many people have to suffer. Having all these thoughts tormenting his mind, he tried to speak and said “O rAma”, choked and could speak no more overcome by grief and vision blurred by tears. In a moment, the king regained his senses and addressed sumantra – “Yoke the best of the horses to the best of chariots and drop rAma at place beyond the borders of our janapada. It seems like the parents are rewarding a virtuous son for his virtues”, he reflected rather pitifully.
On instructions of the king, sumantra went at once and having readied the well decorated chariot and yoked the best of horses to it, he reported with folded hands to the princes that the chariot is ready. The king then summoned the honest and upright treasurer and ordered – “Ascertain the jewels, ornaments and garments needed for vaidEhi for all the years she is going to stay in the forest and fetch those at once”. Ordered thus by the king, the treasurer at once went into the treasury and fetched the choicest jewelry and clothes and presented those to sItA. Gracious sItA adorned herself with the ornaments and illumined the whole palace like the rising sun.
Mother in law kausalya, embraced sItA, kissed and scented her forehead and said these words to her – “O sItA, certain women who enjoy all the pleasures and comforts from their husband and then censure them or even desert them at the slightest sense of trouble are indeed unfaithful. Such evil minded women are infidel, unfaithful, scheming and perverted. They turn away from husbands the moment things are not favorable for him. For such women, neither the family tradition, nor scholarship nor gifts nor accumulated riches win their hearts, They are fickle minded. But then there are virtuous women who value chastity, truth, scriptural teachings. Such women are stable minded and worship their husband as very dear and special. You shall not treat my son who is in exile with any indifference. Whether wealthy or poor, he is your god”.
sItA grasped the words of her mother in law and with folded hands said – “I shall completely follow your instructions with respect to my conduct towards my husband. I have been instructed earlier about this. You may not equate me with wicked women. In fact dharma cannot leave me just like radiance cannot leave the moon. A vINA cannot play without strings, a chariot cannot move without the wheel. Even so, even if a woman is blessed with a hundred children she is incomplete without her husband and finds no fulfilment. There is a limit to what father, mother and progeny can offer, but what a husband can offer to wife is limitless. Which woman will not worship such a husband?
नातन्त्री वाद्यते वीणा नाचक्रो वर्तते रथः।
नापतिस्सुखमेधेत या स्यादपि शतात्मजा।।2.39.29।।
मितं ददाति हि पिता मितं माता मितं सुतः।
अमितस्य हि दातारं भर्तारं का न पूजयेत्।।2.39.30।।
I have been instructed earlier also by exalted women that for a woman, her husband is verily god”.
Listening to these reassuring and agreeable words of sItA kausalya shed both tears of joy and grief.
rAma approached his mother with folded hands and said – “O mother, without grieving yourself, look after my father. The exile will be completed in no time. The fourteen years will pass off like a night’s sleep and then you will see me come back safe and sound, huddled with my well wishers”.
Having beautifully articulated himself to his mother, rAma turned to all the three hundred fifty grieving mothers of his in that assembly and with folded hands said these words laced with virtue – “While being together if I have ever been harsh to you either knowingly or unknowingly, kindly forgive and please permit me to leave for the forest”.
The deeply grief stricken wives of daSaratha let out a loud cry of despair upon hearing these courteous and well balanced words of rAma.
That royal palace of daSaratha that once reverberated with auspicious sounds of drums and musical instruments resembling the thunders, now was full of pitiable cries and lamentations.
Here we conclude the thirty 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: 2.40. ayOdhyA in a storm of tears!
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 