Hari Om.
Let us begin the fifty second sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
As sItA and rAma retired for the night in SRngabErapura under the ingudi tree, lakshmaNa and guha spent the night keeping vigil. Brother lakshmaNa was deeply pained to see the scion of the ikshvAkus taking rest on a bed of grass like an ordinary man. When guha offered lakshmaNa a bed, it was refused! He just wouldn’t get sleep when rAma lies down on the ground thus. His thoughts drifted towards ayOdhyA and his sense of faultless judgment made him wonder if the king would still be alive. He was certain that the king will not survive the separation with rAma and even kausalyA would succumb to the grief of separation! As he described the terrifying prospects that await ayOdhyA or would already be taking place there, a fresh morning dawned. Onwards…
As the morning dawned, the broad chested and illustrious rAma called saumitri and said these words – “O lakshmaNa, the night has passed and the morning dawned as indicated by the cooing of the dark bird cuckoo. The forests reverberate with the cries of the peacocks. The sea-bound river ganga is flowing swiftly. We need to cross it now”.
He understood the import of rAma’s words and sent for the tribal chief guha, the expert boatman. He came at once and grasped the command of rAma. He in turn sent for his ministers and ordered them to get ready immediately a fine boat with best of rudders and expert boatmen. They complied and within no time, the boat was ready along with the boatmen to cross the river ganga. The chief, guha submitted to rAma that the boat is ready to take him across the river ganga and awaited further orders. rAma expressed his gratitude at the swiftness with which guha set things ready and asked to place their belongings in the boat. Then rAma and lakshmaNa got ready by tying their quivers and swords and armed with their mighty bows and began walking towards the river ganga. Charioteer sumantra was meekly following the righteous rAma towards ganga and at an opportune time asked with folded hands what is expected of him now.
rAma turned towards sumantra and with his right hand touched his shoulder, expressed gratitude for the services extended so far and asked him to return soon to ayOdhyA and be alert in matters of the king. He added that that from there on, leaving the chariot behind they would like to walk to the forests. Having received the permission to return to ayOdhyA, charioteer sumantra was distraught and said these following words to rAma, the best among ikshvAkus –
“O rAma, this is not done! How can you along with wife and brother stay in a forest like ordinary people. This is impossible for anyone to do. If indeed this compassion and soft attitude are a result of your study and practice of the scriptural injunctions, then I deem those learnings to be in vain. By residing in the forest along with sItA and lakshmaNa your fame will be intact and you will even attain the fame of conquering the three worlds, but think of us in ayOdhyA – bereft of you and under the rule of the terrible kaikEyI, we shall perish”.
With these words, sumantra, beholding the rAma set for a long exile, wept disconsolately. After a while, he steadied himself, sanctified himself by sipping water and was addressed thus by rAma.
“O sumantra, the ikshvAkus do not have a friend greater than you. Conduct yourself in a manner such that the king doesn’t feel my absence. The king is old and submitted to kaikEyI with passion. Whatever little he orders you to accomplish in order to please her, do follow those commands. The sovereignty of the rulers is such that they can do what pleases their mind! So conduct yourself in such a way that the king is not subjected to further grief. And kindly convey this message of mine to the old, sense-controlled and never-saddened king after paying him my humble respect.
I do not regret my banishment from ayOdhyA, nor do sItA or lakshmaNa. We shall return to ayOdhyA after spending the prescribed fourteen years, which shall pass soon, in the forest and then you shall see us.
Please convey these words to the king, my mother and also to other women including kaikEyI. Please enquire the welfare of kausalyA on behalf of all of us. Please tell the king to fetch bharata at once and upon his arrival appoint him the crown prince.
As the king embraces bharata on his arrival, the sorrow caused by separation from us might lighten a bit. And please tell bharata that he should treat the mothers on the same footing as he treats the king and that he should differentiate between the mothers. He should treat both sumitrA and my mother kausalyA at par with his mother kaikEyI. Tell him that he is going to be the crown prince by virtue of the desire of the king and hence by his conduct he should ensure that the king stay happy in this world and the after”.
Having heard these words from rAma, sumantra out of affection said these words to rAma –
“Please treat my words spoken out of affection as those from a devotee devoid of fear or formality. But how am I to enter that city where your father is grieving due to separation from his dear son. And how how would the citizens feel to see my chariot without you? The city will be rendered pitiable to behold the empty chariot that would resemble the chariot of a warrior in the war who has been killed. O rAma, you have noticed the grief of the citizens at the time of your departure. Now they could be reconciling and now when they see me with this empty chariot, their grief will become hundred fold for sure. And what shall I say to kausalyA – that I have dropped rAma at his maternal uncles place? I can tell her neither an unpleasant truth nor a pleasant untruth.
And alas, how will these horses used to carrying you and your friends move without you even if I am commanding them? Therefore O rAma, I cannot enter ayOdhyA without you. I shall accompany you to the forest. If you don’t allow my prayer to come to the forest you I shall enter into fire along with the chariot! Whatever obstacles come in the way of your penance in the forest, I shall clear them with the chariot. O rAma, I have derived unparalleled pleasure in ferrying you in my chariot and now I shall experience the ultimate joy of dwelling with you in the forest. I await your loving and favorable command to me to allow me this. Even these horses shall be redeemed if they serve you in the forest. O rAma, I shall serve you with a bowed head in the forest and for this I am ready to leave ayOdhyA or even the heavens. Just like a sinner cannot enter the heaven, it is impossible for me to enter ayodhyA without you. As the period of exile completes, in the same chariot I shall carry you back to ayOdhyA. The fourteen years of exile will fleet in a moment if I accompany you, on the other hand without you, it will feel a hundred years!
O mercy of the servants, please allow me. I ought to follow the footsteps of my master’s son. I am devoted to you in servitude and it doesn’t befit you to leave me behind”.
Thus in a myriad ways sumantra pleaded with rAma for permission to accompany him to the forests. Responding to his prayers, rAma replied thus –
“O sumantra, the master’s confidante, I know very well the high esteem in which you hold me. Listen to me as to why I am sending you back to ayOdhyA. When you return to the city, my younger mother kaikEyI will believe that rAma has indeed gone to the forest. And only when she is convinced about my dwelling in forest, she will not call the righteous daSaratha a liar. I wish that she enjoys the vast land ruled over by her son bharata.
Therefore, O sumantra, for my sake and for the sake of the king, please go back to ayOdhyA and convey my message to everyone verbatim”.
Thus after consoling sumantra repeatedly with soothing words, rAma turned to guha and said –
“O guha, it won’t befit me to stay in a populated place. I have to spend this time in a hermitage. For the welfare of my father, lakshmaNa, sItA and myself shall enter into the forest with matted locks and live like ascetics. Therefore please fetch me the sap oozing from the banyan tree so that we can wear matted locks”.
Immediately guha went and fetched the sap which both rAma and lakshmaNa applied on their locks. The two mighty armed brothers rAma and laksmaNa dressed in barks and wearing matted locks looked resplendent like two ascetics. Having adopted the ascetic way of life for the duration of the exile, rAma asked guha to be mindful of his forces, coffers, forts and his kingdom and bid him good bye. And they reached the banks of the ganga where the boat was ready and rAma asked the boatman to ferry them across the river ganga.
rAma asked lakshmaNa to steady the boat so that sItA can board it first. Brother lakshmaNa held the boat steady and let sItA board it. Then lakshmaNa boarded the boat and finally rAma boarded it himself. The tribal chief guha asked his kin to row the boat and get going. As the boat sailed, rAma chanted mantras befitting the occasion like a brahmin and a kshatriya. He contemplated on those mantras for his own welfare. Then together with lakshmaNa and sItA he performed Achamanam (partaking of water) in accordance with the scriptures.
Then they bid good bye to both sumantra and guha and asked the rowing men to set the sail. Complying with rAma’s orders the well made boat with its strong oars swiftly started crossing the river ganga. Soon it reached the middle of the blemishless ganga. sItA folded her hands respectfully to the river ganga and invoked her blessings by these words –
“This son of daSaratha, the great king, shall carry out the command of his father successfully by your blessings. After dwelling in the forest for fourteen years along with me and his brother, upon safe arrival he shall propitiate you, O mother ganga, the granter of all desires. O mother ganga, you flow in tri-fold ways in the heavens, the earth and the nether worlds and you are the consort of the ocean. O beautiful goddess, I shall propitiate you and worshipfully praise you when rAma returns auspiciously and takes the reins of the kingdom. In order to propitiate you, I shall give away in charity to brAhmins, a hundred thousand cows, clothes and delicious food. O dEvi, I shall worship you with a thousand pots of nectar and meat upon my return to ayOdhyA. I shall offer my propitiation and worship to all the gods that grace the temples on your shores. O sinless dEvi, may the mighty armed rAma along with me and lakshmaNa enter ayOdhyA at the end of our exile”.
As the spotless sItA addressed the river thus in prayer for a successful exile, the southern banks were reached in no time. Having reached the banks, the three alighted the boat started walking in to the forest. As a matter of caution, rAma advised lakshmaNa –
“Whether in populated areas or deserted areas, be vigilant in matters of protection. Walk in the front, O saumitri, let sItA walk behind you and I shall follow you both. In this uncharted forest, we must mind our safety. We must protect each other in this forest. So far, we have not encountered an great difficulty. It is now that sItA shall come to know about the difficulties of forest dwelling. Having given up people and comfortable places, today she will enter the treacherous forests with undulated terrains and ditches”.
lakshmaNa complied with rAma’s words and started walking in the front leading the way and sItA walked behind him followed by rAma. On the other bank of ganga, sumantra stood rooted gazing at rAma and the boat that carried them away, and when he could see them no longer, he shed copious tears.
The great rAma, bestower of good and resplendent like the guardian of the worlds, crossed the sacred river walked and approached the prosperous country of vatsa. The brothers hunted down four wild animals – wild boar, white antelope, spotted deer and a black deer and partook of the meat to satisfy their hunger. By evening the reached a tree where they decided to rest for the day.
Here we conclude the fifty second 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: 2.53. lakshmaNa says NO!
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
