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When the news reaches Lakshmana, he runs, distraught, and clasps Rama‘s feet. In his heart he worries whether Rama will keep him at home or take him along. Rama tells him to stay. If he takes his brother to the forest, Rama says, Ayodhya is orphaned in every way.
In this episode of the Ramcharitmanas Lakshmana pleads not to be cast off, and Rama consoles him. Rama tells him to ask leave of his mother, and to come along to the forest. Asking her leave, Lakshmana is afraid and shy. Sumitra holds patience, and counsels him to go with Rama and Sita to the forest. She gives him the order and blesses him. Lakshmana goes with Rama and Sita to the king’s palace. The city’s men and women lament, and the king, distraught, holds the three to his breast.
Lakshmana, Sumitra, and Rama
The main figures in this episode
- Rama the brother whose feet Lakshmana clasps. Seeing him with joined hands, he speaks to him of policy and tells him to stay. Hearing his soft and humble words, and knowing him afraid from love, he consoles him, holding him to his breast. He tells him to go to his mother for leave, and to come quickly. Lakshmana comes to where he is, and they go with Sita to the king’s palace.
- Lakshmana Rama’s brother, who gets the news and runs to him, trembling, his eyes full of water. He cannot speak, and wonders inwardly what Rama will say. At Rama’s cool words he dries up. He tells Rama that he is the servant, a child reared in his love. He asks whether one set on Rama’s feet in mind, deed, and word is to be cast off. Asking his mother’s leave, he is afraid and shy. Uneasy in his heart, he goes at once to where Rama is, and is glad at the dear company.
- Sumitra Lakshmana’s mother, who sees his downcast mind and asks him. At the harsh words he tells her, she shrinks. Seeing the king’s love, she beats her head. She holds patience and speaks softly. She tells him that where Rama dwells, there is Ayodhya. She calls natural love for Rama’s and Sita’s feet the great fruit of all merit. Having counseled him, she gives the order, and then a blessing.
- Sita Rama’s wife. As Lakshmana bows at his mother’s feet, his mind is with Rama and with her. Sumitra calls her his mother, and teaches him to do that by which she and Rama find happiness through him. Lakshmana bows to Rama’s feet and hers, and she comes with the two brothers to the king’s palace. The king sees her with his two sons.
- Dasharatha the king, who, Rama says, is old and has grief for him in his mind. Sumitra sees his love, and beats her head. Raising him, the minister seats him, saying that Rama has come. Seeing both sons with Sita, he is greatly distraught. In the power of love he holds them to his breast again and again.
Lakshmana clasps Rama’s feet and cannot speak
When Lakshmana got the news, he was distraught and sad of face. Rising, he ran. His body trembled and thrilled, and his eyes were full of water. Very impatient from love, he clasped Rama’s feet.
He could say nothing. He stood looking, as if a fish, pitiful, had been taken out of the water. In his heart was the worry: “Creator, what is to be? Is all our happiness and merit spent? What will Rama say to me? Will he keep me at home, or take me with him?”
Seeing his brother with joined hands, broken with body, home, and all, as one snaps a straw, Rama spoke. He was accomplished in policy, the sea of good conduct, love, simplicity, and happiness. “Dear one, do not lose heart in the power of love, considering in your heart the eagerness in the outcome.”
Rama tells him to stay in Ayodhya
Rama went on. “Those who, taking on their heads the counsel of mother, father, guru, and master, carry it out by nature have gained the gain of birth. Otherwise birth in the world is wasted.”
“Knowing this in your heart, listen to the counsel, brother. Serve the feet of mother and father. Bharata and Shatrughna are not at home. The king is old, and grief for me is in his mind.”
“If I go to the forest taking you with me, Ayodhya is orphaned in every way. On guru, father, mother, the people, and the family, on all, falls an unbearable load of grief.”
“Stay, and give contentment to all. Otherwise, dear one, there will be a great fault. In whose reign the dear people are in grief, that king is surely fit for hell.”
“Stay, dear one, considering such policy.” Hearing it, Lakshmana became greatly distraught. At the cool words he dried up, as a lotus dries at the touch of frost.
For Lakshmana, every bond is Rama alone
In the power of love no answer came. Distressed, Lakshmana clasped Rama’s feet. “Master, I am the servant, and you are the master. If you abandon me, what is in my power?”
“You have given me good counsel, master. From my own faint-heartedness it seemed beyond reach. The best of men, steady, who bear the load of dharma, are fit for the Veda and policy.”
“I am a child, lord, reared in your love. Can swans lift Mandara and Meru? I know no guru, father, or mother. I say it by nature, master. Believe me.”
“Whatever love and kinship, affection and trust the world holds, the Veda itself has sung. All of it, for me, is you alone, master, you who know what lies within the breast.”
“Dharma and policy are to be taught to one to whom fame, prosperity, and a good end are dear. Is one who is set on your feet in mind, deed, and word to be cast off?”
Hearing his good brother’s soft and humble words, Rama consoled him, holding him to his breast, knowing him afraid from love.
Rama says come, and Lakshmana is shy before his mother
Rama went on. “Ask leave of mother, going to her. Come quickly, and come along to the forest, brother.” Lakshmana was glad, hearing Rama’s words. A great gain came, and a great loss went.
With a glad heart he came to his mother, Sumitra, as if a blind man had got back his eyes. Going, he bowed his head at his mother’s feet. His mind was with Rama and Sita.
His mother asked him, seeing his downcast mind. Lakshmana told her the whole story in detail. She shrank, hearing the harsh words, as if a doe saw a forest fire on every side.
Lakshmana saw that disaster had come today, and that in the power of love she would spoil the work. Asking leave, he was afraid and shy. In the commentary’s reading he wondered in his mind: “Creator, will she tell me to go with him, or not?”
Considering Rama’s and Sita’s form, good conduct, and nature, and seeing the king’s love, Sumitra beat her head. In the commentary’s reading she said of Kaikeyi, “The sinful woman has made a wicked move.”
She held patience, knowing the ill occasion. She was a well-wisher by nature, and she spoke in a soft voice.
Where Rama dwells, there is Ayodhya
Sumitra said, “Son, your mother is Sita, and your father is Rama, loving in every way.”
“Ayodhya is there where Rama dwells. Day is there where the sun’s light is. If indeed Sita and Rama go to the forest, you have no work at all in Ayodhya.”
“Guru, father, mother, brother, gods, and master, all are to be served like one’s life. Rama is dear as life, the living of the heart, the friend of all, free of self-interest.”
“Whoever is to be honored and very dear, all are to be held so by their relation to Rama. Knowing this in your heart, go with them to the forest. Take, son, the gain of living in the world.”
A mother’s fortune, along with her son’s
Sumitra went on. “You have become a vessel of great fortune, and I with you, if your mind, leaving guile, has made its place at Rama’s feet. I would give myself for you. She alone in the world is a young woman with a son whose son is a devotee of Rama. Otherwise she is better barren. She has borne in vain, knowing her good from a son turned from Rama.” The commentary adds that such bearing is like a beast’s.
“By your very fortune Rama goes to the forest. There is no other cause at all, son. This is the great fruit of all merit, natural love for Rama’s and Sita’s feet.”
Service in mind, deed, and word
Sumitra went on. “As for attachment, anger, envy, pride, and delusion, do not, even in a dream, come under their power. Giving up distortions of every kind, do service in mind, deed, and word.”
“For you the forest is every comfort, with Rama and Sita in your company as father and mother. Do that, son, by which Rama gets no affliction in the forest. This is the teaching.”
“This is the teaching, son, by which Rama and Sita, through you, find happiness. By it, in the forest, they forget the memory of father, mother, dear family, and the city’s comforts.”
In the line that carries Tulsi’s name, having counseled the lord, whom the commentary takes to be Lakshmana, Sumitra gave the order, and then gave a blessing. “May your love for Sita’s and Rama’s feet be unbroken, pure, and new every day.” The commentary reads the pure love as free of desire and given to no other.
From his mother’s feet to Rama
Bowing his head at his mother’s feet, Lakshmana went at once, uneasy in his heart. The commentary adds the fear that some obstacle might still come. It was as if a deer, by fortune, had broken a dreadful snare and fled.
Lakshmana went where Rama was. His mind was glad at gaining the dear company. Bowing to Rama’s and Sita’s handsome feet, he went with them, and they came to the king’s palace.
The city’s dejection, and the father’s embrace
The men and women of the city said to one another, “Having made the matter well, the Creator spoiled it.” Their bodies were thin, their minds in grief, their faces downcast. They were distraught, as if bees had been robbed of their honey.
They wrung their hands, and beating their heads, they lamented, as if wingless birds were distressed. There was a great crowd at the king’s court. The boundless dejection could not be described.
Raising the king, the minister seated him, saying the dear words, “Rama has come.” Seeing both sons with Sita, the king became greatly distraught.
Seeing again and again the two handsome sons with Sita, and distressed, the king in the power of love took them to his breast again and again.
The course of the episode
Lakshmana ran to Rama and clasped his feet. Rama told him to stay in Ayodhya and give contentment to all. Lakshmana dried up at the cool words. He said that he was the servant and knew no guru, father, or mother. Holding him to his breast, Rama consoled him. Then Rama sent him to his mother for leave, telling him to come along. Lakshmana went glad to Sumitra, and told her the whole story. She shrank and beat her head, and then held patience. She told him to go to the forest with Sita and Rama, and to do service in mind, deed, and word. Sumitra gave the order and blessed him. Lakshmana went at once to where Rama was. Bowing to Rama’s and Sita’s feet, he came with them to the king’s palace. Men and women of the city lamented. The minister seated the king, saying that Rama had come. The king took the two sons and Sita to his breast again and again.
The same story, elsewhere: Valmiki’s Ramayana, chapter 8: The Exile of Rama, the City’s Lament, Guha, and Chitrakuta.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Ayodhyakand, doha 70 to 76, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.