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In the third sopan of the Ramcharitmanas, Sutikshna has asked Rama for what delights him. Rama answers that it will be so and sets out, glad, for Agastya. Sutikshna says he will go with Rama to his guru now, and that it is no favor to Rama. Seeing the sage’s quick wit, Rama takes him along. The two brothers laugh. Ahead lie the counsel Rama will ask of Agastya against the sages’ foes, the sage’s smile, the boon he asks for himself, and a place named Panchavati.
On the road Rama tells of his own matchless bhakti. At the hermitage Sutikshna prostrates to his guru and announces Rama, with Lakshmana and Sita, as the one his guru repeats night and day. Agastya runs, and water fills his eyes. He seats his guests, worships Rama, and counts no one as fortunate as himself. Rama sets out at Agastya’s order. He meets Jatayu, and near the Godavari he thatches a leaf hut. Hills, forests, rivers, and lakes grow handsome day by day. One day Lakshmana asks about knowledge, dispassion, maya, bhakti, and the difference between God and the jiva, the self that lives in a body. Rama answers him, and he ends on bhakti, on its means, and on the hearts where he always rests.
Sutikshna, Agastya, and Jatayu
The main figures in this episode
- Rama who says “So be it” to Sutikshna and sets out, glad, for Agastya. When he sees the sage’s quick wit, he takes him along and laughs with his brother. On the road he tells of his own bhakti. At the hermitage he falls at Agastya’s feet with Lakshmana, is seated and worshiped, and sits facing all the sages. He asks the sage for the counsel by which he may kill the sages’ foes. At the sage’s order he sets out and comes near Panchavati. He meets Jatayu and thatches a leaf hut near the Godavari. Sitting at ease there, he hears Lakshmana’s question and answers it.
- Lakshmana who laughs with Rama as Sutikshna is taken along, and falls with him at Agastya’s feet. He is Rama’s younger brother in Sutikshna’s announcement and in Agastya’s boon. In the hut by the Godavari he speaks words without guile. He asks Rama to tell him of knowledge, dispassion, and maya, of the bhakti for which Rama shows pity, and of the whole difference between God and the jiva.
- Sita who comes with the two brothers and is named in Sutikshna’s announcement to his guru. Agastya’s boon names Shri beside Rama’s younger brother. The commentary reads that Shri as Sita.
- Sutikshna who says that it is many days since he had sight of his guru. He will go with Rama to Agastya, he says, and it is no favor to Rama. At the hermitage he prostrates to his guru and announces the guests.
- Agastya Sutikshna’s guru, who runs at the news and holds the two brothers to his heart. He asks after their welfare, seats and worships Rama, and says that no one is as fortunate as he. Asked for counsel, he smiles and asks what Rama took him for. He tells of maya as a fig tree and asks a boon for himself. Then he names Panchavati and asks Rama to live there.
- Jatayu the king of vultures, whom Rama meets near Panchavati and grows close to in many ways. The commentary names him Jatayu.
To the guru, together
Saying “So be it”, Rama set out, glad, for the sage Agastya. In the commentary’s reading Sutikshna then spoke. “It is many days since I had sight of my guru and came to this hermitage. Now I will go with you, Lord, to my guru. It is no favor to you, master.”
Seeing the sage’s quick wit, Rama took him along, and the two brothers laughed.
Telling of his own matchless bhakti on the road, Rama reached the sage’s hermitage. Sutikshna went at once to his guru. Prostrating, he said, “Master, the son of the lord of Kosala, the support of the world, has come to meet you. Rama has come with his younger brother and Sita, he whom you repeat night and day, lord.”
Agastya’s hermitage
Hearing it, Agastya rose at once and ran. At the sight of the Lord, water filled his eyes. The two brothers fell at the sage’s feet, and the rishi held them to his heart with great love.
Asking after their welfare with respect, the wise sage brought them and seated them on a fine seat. Then he worshiped Rama in many ways. “No one is as fortunate as I.”
All the other sages there were glad at the sight of Rama. Among the crowd of sages Rama sat facing everyone. In the commentary’s reading each sage saw Rama seated with his face toward himself, and all the sages gazed at his face. It was as if a flock of chakoras gazed at the autumn moon.
A question, and the sage’s smile
Then Rama said to the sage, “From you, Lord, nothing is hidden. You know the reason I have come, and so I have not explained it, dear one. Now give me, Lord, the counsel by which I may kill the sages’ foes.” The commentary reads the counsel asked for as advice.
At Rama’s words the sage smiled. “You asked me, master, taking me for what?”
Agastya went on. “By the power of worshiping you alone, Rama, I know a little of your glory. Your maya is a vast fig tree. Its fruits are hosts of universes. Moving and unmoving beings live inside them like creatures, and they know nothing else.” In the commentary’s reading the creatures are the small ones that live inside a fig, and what they know is their own small world and nothing beyond it.
Agastya went on. “The eater of those fruits is Time, harsh and fearful. Even Time is ever afraid of you. You, the master of all the guardians of the worlds, asked me like a man. I ask this boon, house of mercy. Dwell in my heart with Shri and your younger brother.” The commentary reads Shri as Sita.
Agastya went on. “Unbroken bhakti, dispassion, the company of the good, and a love for your lotus feet that never breaks. You are Brahman, undivided and endless, known by experience, whom the saints worship. Though I tell your form so, and know it, I turn back again and again to love Brahman with qualities. You always give honor to your servants, and so you asked me, Rama.”
The place named Panchavati
Agastya went on. “There is a most enchanting place, Lord, and a holy one. Its name is Panchavati. Make the Dandaka forest pure, Lord, and take away the chief sage’s fierce curse.” The commentary names the chief sage Gautama. Agastya went on. “Live there, Rama, and have pity on all the sages.”
Rama set out with the sage’s order, and soon he came near Panchavati. He met the king of vultures. The commentary names the king of vultures Jatayu. Growing close to him in many ways, Rama lived near the Godavari, having thatched a leaf hut.
The hut by the Godavari
From the time Rama lived there, the sages were happy, and their fear was gone. Hills, forests, rivers, and lakes were clothed in beauty. Day by day they grew more handsome.
Flocks of birds and herds of beasts stayed joyful there. Bees, humming sweetly, gained beauty. Such was the forest where Rama sat in state, manifest.
Lakshmana’s question
One day, as Rama sat at ease, Lakshmana spoke words without guile. “Master of gods, men, sages, and all that moves and does not move, I ask you as my own Lord. Explain to me that, lord, by which I may leave everything and serve the dust of your feet. Tell me of knowledge, dispassion, and maya. Tell me of that bhakti for which you show pity.”
Lakshmana went on. “Explain to me, Lord, the whole difference between God and the jiva, by which love for your feet may come, and grief, delusion, and confusion go.”
Maya, and its two kinds
Rama answered. “I will make it all clear in a few words. Listen, dear one, with wit, mind, and thought fixed on it. ‘I’ and ‘mine’, ‘yours’ and ‘you’, this is maya, which has brought the hosts of beings into its power.”
Rama went on. “The senses and their objects, and as far as the mind goes, know all of it as maya, brother. Hear its two kinds as well: the knowing kind, and the other, the unknowing kind. One is wicked, all sorrow. In its power the jiva has fallen into the well of becoming. One makes the world and has the qualities in its power. Moved by the Lord, it has no strength of its own.” The commentary names the first the unknowing kind and the second the knowing kind.
Rama went on. “Knowledge is that in which there is not one of pride and the rest, and which sees Brahman equally in all. Call him, dear one, supremely dispassionate who has left the siddhis and the three qualities like straw. The one who knows neither maya, nor God, nor himself, call him the jiva. The giver of bondage and release, beyond all, the mover of maya, is God.”
Bhakti, which stands on its own
Rama went on. “From dharma comes dispassion, from yoga knowledge, and knowledge gives release. The Vedas tell it so. That by which I quickly melt, brother, is my bhakti, which gives happiness to devotees. It stands on its own and leans on no other support. Knowledge and wisdom depend on it. Bhakti, dear one, is matchless, the root of happiness. It is gained when the saints are favorable.”
Rama went on. “I tell the means of bhakti, an easy path by which beings reach me. First, great love for the feet of brahmins, each devoted to his own work by the Veda’s way. The fruit of this, further, is dispassion toward the objects of sense. Then love for my dharma arises. The nine kinds of bhakti, hearing and the rest, grow firm, and in the mind a great love for my lila.”
Rama went on. “Great love for the lotus feet of the saints. A firm rule of worship in mind, deed, and word. Guru, father, mother, brother, husband, and god, knowing me as all of them, and firm in service. One whose body thrills as he sings my virtues, whose voice chokes and whose eyes run with water, in whom is no lust and the rest, no arrogance, no hypocrisy. Dear one, I am ever in his power.”
Rama went on. “Those who in word, deed, and mind have me as their refuge, and who worship me desireless, in the lotus of their hearts I always rest.”
Two questions
Sutikshna went with Rama to Agastya and announced him. The guru ran, water filled his eyes, and he held the brothers to his heart. Rama asked him for counsel against the sages’ foes. The sage smiled. He told of maya, a vast fig tree, and of Time, the eater of its fruits, and asked that Rama dwell in his heart with Shri and Lakshmana. Then he named Panchavati and asked Rama to live there. Rama went at his order, met Jatayu, and lived in a leaf hut near the Godavari. The sages lost their fear, and the forest grew handsome. One day Lakshmana asked his question. Rama answered it, speaking of maya and its two kinds, knowledge, dispassion, the jiva and God, bhakti and its means, and the hearts in which he rests. That answer is the teaching known as the Lakshmana Gita. Valmiki’s Ramayana has Panchavati and Jatayu too, and the conversation in the hut is the Manas’s own.
The same story, elsewhere: Valmiki’s Ramayana, chapter 11: Dandaka, Viradha, and Agastya.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Aranyakand, doha 12 to 16, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.