Individual verses with meanings
Hari Om.
Let us begin the sixty ninth sarga of the bAlakAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
In the eighteenth sarga, mahaRshi vAlmIki describes the birth and growing up of lord rAma rather briefly. daSaratha contemplates the wedding of the princes when the sage viSwAmitra appears on the scene.
अथ राजा दशरथस्तेषां दारक्रियां प्रति।।1.18.36।।
चिन्तयामास धर्मात्मा सोपाध्यायस्सबान्धव:।
तस्य चिन्तयमानस्य मन्त्रिमध्ये महात्मन:।।1.18.37।।
अभ्यगच्छन्महातेजा विश्वामित्रो महामुनि:।
Between then and now rAma and lakshmaNa accompany viSwAmitra, accumulate divine weapons, safeguard the sacrifice, make a historic and history-filled–journey with viSwAmitra, on the way, learning about, kuSika clan, birth of kArtikEya, descent of ganga, churning of the ocean, redeeming ahalya. Then in mithila, SatAnanda, the family priest of the janakas takes over the mantle of story telling and recounts the long, determined and fruitful effort of viSwAmitra to beget the title of brahmaRshi. All the tales must have enriched their personalities and primed them for the life ahead.
After rAma achieved the rare feat of stringing the bow of Siva and breaking it in the process, janaka as per his vow offered sIta in marriage to rAma. In order to solemnize the wedding, he sent emissaries to ayOdhya to inform king daSartha and escort him to mithila at the earliest. daSaratha was ecstatic to learn about the feat of rAma in the presence of sage viSwAmitra. His counsellors hailed the alliance and the wedding party was all set to start for mithila the following morning. Onwards…
As the day dawned in ayOdhya, daSaratha, accompanied by the ministers and preceptors instructed the minister sumantra, “let the treasury officers bring adequate wealth along with gems and jewels and let them lead our march to mithila. Let the four fold army march forth. Sages vasisTha, vAmadEva, jAbAli, kASyapa, mArkanDeya and kAtyAyana may set off immediately. Keep my chariot ready. The emissaries of janaka are hastening me up, so let there be no delay”.
As the arrangements were made, king daSaratha along with the preceptors went ahead and the army followed him. They traveled for four days and reached mithila where the king janaka made all the arrangements as per protocol to welcome the wedding guests.
King janaka himself approached the elderly king daSaratha and felt great delight in welcoming him. Both were best among men. janaka warmly welcomed daSaratha and told him how fortunate he was to be hosting him and that he would be proud and delighted to meet his sons who were achievers through their valour. He also said “I am fortunate to be having guru vasisTha here surrounded by the learned scholars, a scene reminiscent of lord indra surrounded by gods. By the grace of god, all my obstacles have vanished and I am highly honored to enter into a relationship with the clan of the raghus that distinguishes itself through valor and greatness. Tomorrow morning after the completion of the ongoing yajna, we can begin the wedding arrangements, O best among kings (daSaratha)”.
daSaratha was mighty pleased to hear the courteous and sincere words of janaka. He said “I am aware that accepting a gift from the righteous people is indeed a plesure. We will do exactly as you said”. janaka was filled with admiration for the sincerity and righteousness of the famous king daSaratha.
All the sages who came as guests met with others and spent the night happily in the company of each other. daSaratha was ecstatic upon reuniting with rAma and lakshmaNa and they spent the night highly content. janaka spent that night near the yajna, having completed it and stayed there along with both his daughters (sIta and UrmiLa).
Here we conclude the sixty ninth sarga of the bAla kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
Next: 1.70. The pristine lineage of the ikshvAkus
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 