(3/4) Dasarath's Morality

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Rama Navami: appearance of Lord Rama
Siliguri, 21 April 2021, part 3
Translated from Bengali

When Dasarath was the king, he had three wives: Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra. Rama was Kausalya’s son, Bharat was Kaikeyi’s son, and Laksman and Satrughna were Sumitra’s sons. There was a rule that the eldest son must become the next king. At some point, Dasarath was very sick, and at that time his second wife, Kaikeyi, served him very much. Very pleased with her service, Dasarath told her to ask him for some boon. Kaikeyi thought, ‘What will I ask? I do not know…’ but there was one very naughty servant in the king’s family called Manthara. This Manthara advised Kaikeyi, ‘Do not ask the king for any boon now. Wait for the proper time. I will tell you when the time is right, then you can ask him for something.’ Dasarath was still very sick, he had a bad fever, and because he was also old, he decided to enthrone Ramachandra. When the decision was announced, Manthara came to Kaikeyi and said, ‘This is your time! Ask the king to make your son the next king and to send Ramachandra to live in a forest in exile for fourteen years!’ Kaikeyi did that. When Dasarath heard her wish, he did not want to do it because it did not look good for him (he realised that Ramachandra was fit to be king – He was the eldest son, and He knew everything about ruling a kingdom), but still, no matter what he felt, he could not change his adherence to morality: he had to keep the word he had given his wife. He was broken-hearted, ‘I have to send my son to the forest! My son will go to live in the forest in front of my eyes!’ When Ramachandra heard about it, He was resolved to fulfil His duty. He did not listen to His father’s lamentation.

Just see this. In Krishna’s pastimes, when Krishna was born in Kamsa’s jail, all the previous children had died when they were born, but Krishna did not want this to happen again – He personally made the jail doors open, and Vasudev took Him to Gokula amidst a severe storm. Vasudev left Krishna with Mother Yasoda and, in exchange, took her newborn daughter, Mahamaya, back with him. When Kamsa came to Vasudev to take the child (and kill it), Vasudev told a lie in front of fire: he said that he had had a daughter, not a son. But Dasarath sent his son to live in the forest. Is there any vatsalya-rasa in such pastimes? There are rules and moral obligations: ‘I have promised, so I must keep my word.’ But in Krishna’s pastimes, rules and moral obligations have no value because when you are bound by love to the Lord, you will not see any rules and regulations. The only rule and regulation is service to the Lord.

I heard one story from Gurudev. One time, the lady who washed the plates had not come, so the offering and prasadam was late. When Srila Sridhar Maharaj heard about it, he came out of his room with a stick. He was very angry. He pushed(!) Sripad Aranya Maharaj who was doing the archan of the Deities and told him, ‘Just take some flowers and put them at the Lordships’ feet, and the archan is finished! Now go and offer the bhoga!’ It is not necessary to do elaborate archan; what is necessary is offering bhoga timely. You cannot offer bhoga when you are hungry (and if you are not hungry, you do not offer anything). You must offer bhoga to the Deities five times a day, at the times prescribed in the scriptures. Whether you eat or do not eat it, you must make offerings timely.

When Dasarath sent his son to exile, he was so distraught that he left his body. He could not tolerate it. But when Kaikeyi made her wish, she asked to exile only Ramachandra, and Rama never told Sita that she had to come with Him. Sita Devi was very sad, ‘If my husband goes to the forest, how shall I stay here and live comfortably? It is not possible. I will go with Him.’ Then Laksman also said, ‘My brother is going away and Sita Ma [Mother Sita] is going with Him, how can I stay here?’ Laksman called Sita Devi (His sister-in-law) ‘Ma’ (‘mother’), and He never looked at her: He had never seen her face. One day, when Ramachandra went hunting, Laksman stayed with Sita Devi to guard her. Sita Devi told Him, ‘How will You guard me? Will You sit here and look at my face? Go and help Your brother!’ Laksman felt pain when He heard it. He said, ‘Mother, I have never even seen your face. You are telling Me to go, so I will go although I do not want to leave you alone.’ He drew a magic circle around the house so that nobody could enter it and harm Sita Devi. It is said in our scriptures that nobody actually stole Sita Devi – Ravan kidnapped Maya-Sita (an illusory image of Sita Devi).

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Beauty of Lord's Incarnation
2) Sevya and Sevak
3) Dasarath's Morality
4) Love and Rupture