Part 10: Rāma’s life as a monk

Then Rāma performed the funeral rites of his younger brother. Wishing to take initiation, he instructed Śatrughna to take the kingdom. Śatrughna, averse to existence, refused the kingdom, saying. “I shall follow you, honored sir.” Then Rāghava, eager himself for the fourth object of existence, gave the kingdom to Anaṅgadeva, the son of Lavaṇa. He went to the presence of the muni, Suvrata, belonging to the line of Munisuvrata, indicated by the layman Arhaddāsa. There Rāma took the vow with Śatrughna, Sugrīva, Bibhīṣaṇa, Virādhita^[1] and other kings. When Rāmabhadra had gone forth (to life as a monk), sixteen thousand kings went forth from disgust with existence. Thirty-seven thousand beautiful women became mendicants and they joined the retinue of the nun Śrīmatī. The sage Rāma, imbued with knowledge of the Pūrvas and Aṅgas, practiced penance for sixty years at the guru’s feet, persevering in various vows.

Then Rāma, whose vihāra was secret with his guru’s permission, went alone, fearless, to a mountain-cave in a forest. At the same dawn, as he was engaged in meditation, Muni Rāmabhadra’s clairvoyance arose. Seeing the whole universe, fourteen rajjus in extent, as if it were in his hand, he knew that his younger brother had been killed by two gods and gone to hell. The worshipful Rāma reflected: “I was Dhanadatta in a former birth. Lakṣmaṇa was my younger brother, named Vasudatta. In that birth also he died with his duties uncompleted in the same way. In this birth Vasudatta’s soul became Lakṣmaṇa, my younger brother. In this birth a hundred years passed uselessly while he was a prince; three hundred while he was governor of a province and forty in the expeditions of conquest; eleven thousand, five hundred and sixty while he was king. So his total life of twelve thousand years passed gradually, productive only of hell, as he was lacking in self-control. There is no fault on the part of the gods who killed him by deceit. Such maturity of a creature’s karma happens necessarily.”

Thus reflecting, Rāma, extremely eager to destroy karma, engaged in the penance of complete concentration, being completely indifferent. At the end of a two-day fast, he entered the city Syandanasthala to break his fast, his gaze limited to six feet. The townsmen, whose joy was great, went to meet him, who was a festival for the eyes, coming like the moon to the earth. The women of the town, at the doors of their houses to give him alms, placed dishes filled with various food before him. The joy of the townspeople became so noisy that the elephants broke their posts and the horses pricked up their ears. Rāma did not take from them the food prepared by the citizens because of his adherence to food that had been discarded, but went to the palace. There King Pratinandin refreshed Rāma with food that had been discarded^[2] and he ate lawfully. The gods made there the five things, the rain of treasure, et cetera and the blessed Rāmabhadra went back to the forest.

“May this disturbance of the city not take place again nor this rivalry for me.” With this idea, pure-minded, he made this vow: “If alms shall be available here in the forest at the time for alms, then I shall break my fast, but not otherwise.” Observing this, vow, Rāma, entirely indifferent to the body, remained in pratimā, engaged in intense meditation. One day King Pratinandin went there, taken by a fast horse with inverted training. The horse mired in the mud of a pool named Nandanapuṇya and Pratinandin’s army rushed close behind. After having the horse raised from the mud and making a camp there, the king bathed, and took his meal with his retinue.

Then the blessed sage Rāma completed his meditation and went there with the wish to break his fast, and the king stood up to greet him. He entertained Rāma with the remaining food and drink and a rain of jewels fell from the sky when he had broken his fast. The sage Rāma delivered a sermon and Pratinandin and the others became laymen, observing the twelve vows of right-belief.

Beginning from that time Rāma remained in the same place for a long time in the forest, practicing severe penance, being worshipped by goddesses living in the forest. With the desire to reach the shore of existence the sage Rāma broke his fast at one month, two months, three, and four months. Sometimes he remained in paryaṅka-posture; sometimes he stood with his arms hanging down; sometimes he sat in utkaṭikā-posture; sometimes he held his arms up. Sometimes he stood on a toe and sometimes on his heel. Meditating in these various postures,^[3] he practiced severe penance.

One day in his wandering Rāma went to Mt. Kotiśilā which had been lifted in the past by Lakṣmaṇa in the presence of Vidyādharas. Rāma occupied the mountain, mounted on the ladder of destruction of karma,^[4] engaged in pratimā, and practiced another pure meditation in the night. Then Sītendra,^[5] knowing this by clairvoyance, thought: “If Rāma becomes incarnated in worldly existence, I shall be united with him again. I shall make an attack on him, while he is on the ladder of destruction, with agreeable phenomena that he may be a god, a friend of mine.”

With these thoughts, Sītendra went to Rāma and created by magic a large garden adorned by spring. A flock of cukoos warbled, the wind from Malaya blew, bees flew about humming, rejoicing in the fragrance of flowers.

The mango, campaka, aśoka, the trumpet-flower tree,the bakula and other trees at once bore flowers which were fresh weapons of Manobhu. Sītendra created Sītā’s figure and women also, and said: “Dear, I am Sītā, your wife, present here. I abandoned you then when you were devoted, thinking myself wise. I became a mendicant, lord, and afterwards suffered extreme remorse. I have been asked by these Vidyādhara maidens today, ‘Mistress, be gracious. Make your lord, Rāma, our lord. Do you abandon mendicancy. Be Rāma’s chief-queen. We shall be his wives now at your command.’ Therefore marry these Vidyādhara-maidens, Raghūdvaha. I shall dally with you as before. Pardon this disrespect.” While Sītendra was saying this, the factitious Khecara-women gave a concert of many kinds (of music), a remedy for restoring Dove to life. Muni Rāmabhadra was not disturbed by the words of Sītendra, nor by the concert, nor by spring.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

i.e., Virādha.

[2]:

Monks can not accept food that has been prepared for them. They must take what is surplus.

[3]:

For the postures, see II, n. 18.

[4]:

See II, p. 433.

[5]:

Sitā in her incarnation as an Indra.