Hari Om.
Let us begin the sixty second sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
After minister sumantra completed his message from rAma and the attempted solace to queen kausalyA, she was unsparing in her rebuke of king daSaratha. With a band of valid points, she laid bare the crisis that was awaiting the ikshvAkus after the banishment of rAma is completed. She was farsighted in recognizing that rAma would certainly deem it below dignity to take up a kingdom that was ruled over by his younger brother. In that case, rAma would never be the king again and that insult would be devastating for her. And as things seemed with rAma firmly going ahead into his banishment, this possibility was real. The king realized his folly and it depressed him even more. The more the possibility sunk into him, the more he sunk into grief. Onwards…
As queen kausalyA rained her grievous rebuke on the king full of harsh truths, the king sunk into deep anxiety and in the process lost his senses. After a lapse of time, he regained his senses, was sighing heavily and having spotted kausalyA next to him was anxious again. As he brooded over the events leading to the banishment of rAma his thoughts wandered down the memory lane. King daSaratha is an ace archer. He could shoot an unerring arrow at an object just following the sound emanating from its direction. One such inadvertent act on his part haunted his mind now. Weighed down by the guilt of the terrible twin acts, he sought solace in queen kausalyA. He called her and folded his hands and pleaded –
“O loving and affectionate kausalyA, please have mercy on me. You are kind even to your enemies. Whether virtuous or otherwise, a husband is considered to be god for women. You have seen extremes of this world. It doesn’t befit you even if you are in grief to speak harshly to someone suffering a greater grief”.
Listening to the miserable and guilty words of the king, kausalyA was moved and shed copious tears. She couldn’t bear the fact the mighty king was in such a pitiable condition and raising her folded hands above her head she said emotionally in fumbling words –
“O king, I fall at your feet and beg your pardon. I am deeply hurt at you pleading with me. And for this kindly forgive me. That woman who forces her good husband to plead with her thus with folded hands is not admirable and loses her stature in this world and the next. I know righteousness, O righteous one! And I am also aware of your being true to your word. Unable to bear the parting with my son, I uttered something unpleasant. Grief destroys courage, grief destroys the learnings from the scriptures, grief destroys everything and indeed there is no enemy greater than grief.
शोको नाशयते धैर्यं शोको नाशयते श्रुतम्।
शोको नाशयते सर्वं नास्ति शोकसमो रिपुः।।2.62.15।।
One can withstand the blow of an enemy but it is impossible to withstand the grief, howsoever small, caused by an unexpected event. Even learned men, well versed in the matters of wealth and righteousness, suffer from grief and are deluded. Although today is only the fifth night since the exile of rAma, it appears to me as if five years have passed already due to the untold grief. As I think of rAma, my heart swells with grief like the ocean that swells due to the influx of rivers”.
As kausalyA spoke words of reconciliation, the Sun set and the night dawned. Feeling a tad lighter, and out of exhaustion, the king slipped into sleep.
Here we conclude the sixty first sarga of the ayOdhyA kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
Click on the book for word by word meaning from IITK website
Click on the bow to listen to the audio by SrIrAma ghanApATi
Next: 2.63. Terrible trip down the memory lane
Previous: 2.61. She becomes the bitter half!
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
