King Dasharatha Hears of His Past Lives and Turns Away from the World

King Shrenika asks Gautama Ganadhara what Dasharatha, son of the benevolent King Anaranya, did next. Gautama relates that Dasharatha went to see the munis, bowed to Sarvabhutahita Swami and asked to hear of a few of his countless past births so that, knowing the world to be worthless, he might give it up.

The muni first taught that all souls have suffered endless births through karma, whose duration is of the highest, middle or lowest kind; moksha, the fifth state, is won by few and never by the abhavya (souls incapable of liberation), and the Siddhas dwell at the summit of the universe. Lokakasha (cosmic space) holds souls, matter, the media of motion and rest, space and time, beyond it lies empty alokakasha, worldly souls keep taking bodies of earth, water, fire, air, plants and mobile beings, and there is no path to liberation but the Jina's.

In Hastinapura lived a man named Upasti, whose wife Dipani was a proud, faithless, wrathful miser who reviled monks, took no vows, fed no one and stopped others from giving, and so wandered in samsara for endless ages. Upasti, through his love of giving, was reborn in Chandrapura as Dharana, son of Bhadra and Dharini and husband of Nayanasundari; he fed munis with pure devotion, enjoyed three palyas (vast ages) in the Uttarakuru Bhogabhumi (land of enjoyment) of the Dhatakikhanda continent, and then became a god.

Next he was born in Prithulavati as Nandivardhana, son of King Nandighosha and Queen Vasudha. After hearing Muni Yashodhara, Nandighosha crowned his son, became a monk and rose to heaven through great austerity, while Nandivardhana kept the householder's vows, devoted to the Namokara mantra, ruled for a koti purva (an immense span of time), died in samadhi (meditative calm) and became a god in the fifth heaven.

From there he was born on Mount Vijayardha in western Videha as Suryajaya, son of Ratnamali, Vidyadhara king of Shashipura, and Queen Vidyullata. When Ratnamali set out in armour, biting his lip, with divine chariots, elephants, horses and foot soldiers to burn the city of the mighty Vajralochana, king of Simhapura, a god suddenly appeared, bade him give up his anger and told him of his past.

In Gandhari city of Bharata-kshetra, said the god, King Bhuti and his priest Upamanyu were sinful meat-eaters; the king vowed before Kevalagarbha Swami to commit no more sin, but Upamanyu made him break the vow, and both were killed when enemy armies attacked. The priest became an elephant who, wounded in battle, heard the Namokara mantra at death and was reborn in Gandhari as Arisudana, son of Yojanagandha, queen of King Bhuti; on seeing Muni Kevalagarbha he recalled his past births, became a monk and, dying in samadhi, rose to the eleventh heaven.

‘I am that Upamanyu,’ said the god, ‘and you, King Bhuti, became a deer in the Mandaranya forest, burned in a forest fire, became a lowly man named Kalinjama and for your sins went to the second hell, where out of affection I enlightened you; coming out, you became Ratnamali, and now you have forgotten hell’s pain.’ Shaken, Ratnamali and his son Suryajaya took refuge with Tilakasundara Swami and both became munis; Suryajaya rose by austerity to the tenth heaven and from there was born as Dasharatha, son of King Anaranya.

Sarvabhutahita concluded that, like a banyan seed, the little merit of Upasti had grown over a few births into Dasharatha himself. Nandighosha, Dasharatha's father in the Nandivardhana life, had gone as a monk to the Graiveyaka heavens and was now Sarvabhutahita; Ratnamali, the soul of King Bhuti, had come down from heaven as Janaka, and Upamanyu, who had enlightened him, was now Janaka's brother Kanaka, for in this world no one is one's own or a stranger, and souls are born and die by their own good and bad karma.

Detached, Dasharatha bowed to the guru and returned to the city, resolving to hand his realm, the rank of a mahamandaleshvara (great overlord), to the wise and righteous Rama, able to rule the earth to the ocean with obedient brothers at his side. Winter came, and the text contrasts the poor, shivering with cracked hands and feet in huts and roaming the woods for firewood, with the fortunate in palaces enjoying fine food, clothes, music and devoted queens, each reaping his own karma, words of the muni that had already turned the king from the world.

Dasharatha had his doorkeeper summon the ministers, priest, commander and vassals and declared that he would renounce the world: all creation burns like dry grass in the fire of death, the Jina's teaching heard from the muni had awakened his memory of past births, and he would now cross the river of rebirth, crown his son and enter the forest of austerity. The ministers bowed their heads in silent tears and the women of the inner palace wept at their lord's resolve to become a nirgrantha (possessionless) monk.

Hearing of his father's renunciation, Bharata too resolved to take diksha (initiation), reflecting that the body is a house of disease and every being reaps its own karma. Kaikeyi, mistress of every art, could not bear to lose both husband and son; remembering the boon Dasharatha had once promised her before all the queens, she sat beside him on the throne, first begged him not to take up the hard Jina diksha, and when he stood firm asked with downcast face that the kingdom be given to her son.

Dasharatha granted it at once, saying she had freed him from his debt, and called Rama and Lakshmana: Kaikeyi had driven his chariot in a terrible battle and won him victory, and the boon she had kept in trust was now claimed; refusing it would send Bharata into renunciation, his mother to her death and his own word into disgrace, yet passing over the elder son broke custom, and where would Rama and Lakshmana go? Rama, eyes on his father's feet, answered that his father must keep his word, for a good son never lets his parents feel the least grief, and even Indra's wealth would be worthless at the price of his father's dishonour.

Meanwhile Bharata came down from the palace resolved on monkhood, and the people cried out in dismay; Dasharatha took him on his lap, embraced him and pleaded that he was young and could do austerities in old age, that dharma is possible for a householder too, and that not every monk is freed in that very life. Bharata answered that death heeds no age, that a householder never attains moksha directly but only in the course of later births, that pleasures only feed the fire of desire, and that if welfare lay at home his father would not be leaving it.

Thrilled with joy, Dasharatha praised Bharata as foremost among the bhavya (souls capable of liberation), yet asked him, who had never disobeyed, to rule so that his father's vow would not be broken and his mother would not die of grief. Rama then took Bharata's hand and lovingly urged him to rule for some years and adorn the Ikshvaku line as the moon adorns the stars, promising to live far away on some mountain or in some forest where none would know him; then he bowed to his father and set out, and Dasharatha fainted, rigid as a wooden pillar.

With quiver and bow, Rama bowed to his mother Aparajita (Kaushalya), who fainted and then begged to come along, since her father was dead, her husband was taking diksha and her son was her only support. Rama promised, swearing by her feet, to make a dwelling in the south, in the Vindhya or Malaya forests or by the sea, and to send a carriage for her, for while he stayed in Ayodhya like the sun, Bharata could not shine like the moon; then he took leave of his father and of the mothers Sumitra, Kaikeyi, Suprabha and Kaushalya, wiped his kinsmen's tears and declined the elephants and horses the vassals offered him.

Sita bowed to her parents-in-law and followed her husband as Shachi follows Indra, and Lakshmana, though at first enraged that his father had wronged Rama at a woman's word and sure he could strip Bharata of the kingdom and lay it at Rama's feet, checked himself, since anger blinds and his father was about to take the Jina diksha, and silently took up his bow to follow his brother, whose spirit was like a monk's. As the brothers left the palace like gods leaving a celestial abode, the household wept and the city lamented, praising Sita as the greatest of faithful wives and Lakshmana for his devotion and saying that what karma ordains and the omniscient have foreseen must come to pass; the citizens would not turn back, and the sun set as if unable to watch Rama go, twilight following it as Sita followed Rama.

To shake off the crowd, Rama chose to stay at the temple of Lord Aranatha, with its three gateways, lofty arches and the eight auspicious objects; the people followed through two gates, but the doorkeeper stopped them at the third, as mohaniya (deluding) karma bars a wrong believer from liberation. Leaving bows, arrows and armour outside, Rama and Lakshmana joyfully worshipped the jewel-throned image of Aranatha, standing in kayotsarga (meditative posture) with the Shrivatsa mark on its chest, and spent the night beside the temple, where Kaushalya and the other mothers came weeping to embrace their sons and shower love on Sita.

Gautama remarks to Shrenika that purity of mind is the highest purity, for a woman embraces son and husband alike but with very different feelings. Dasharatha's four queens then begged him to save the sinking ship of the family and call Rama and Lakshmana back, but he answered that the world was not his to command, that as the sons' mothers they should bring them back themselves and find peace in their sons' royal splendour, and that he, having given up rule and fearing rebirth, would take the vows of a muni and win final bliss.