The Question and the Beginning
The Question · Shlokas 1 to 8
The coronation is over. Every battle is behind them, Sita has come home, and Ayodhya glows again with its old life. In a quiet hour Lakshmana kneads his brother’s feet, and the talk between them is soft. Then, hesitating, he asks the question that has smoldered inside him for fourteen years.
First Mahadeva tells this story to Parvati. He says that Rama, best of the Raghu line, took on the auspicious form of the world’s welfare, shaped the great renown of the Ramayana, and walked the ancient path exactly as the finest royal sages had walked it before him. The story about to open belongs to no ordinary hour; it is one link in that same sacred tradition.
Shloka 1 · The Story Begins
ततो जगन्मङ्गलमङ्गलात्मना विधाय रामायणकीर्तिमुत्तमाम्।
चचार पूर्वाचरितं रघूत्तमो राजर्षिवर्यैरभिसेवितं यथा ॥1॥
Then Mahadeva tells how, when the large-minded Saumitri, that is Lakshmana, asked him, Rama recounted many old and blessed stories. Among them came the story of the heedless king Nriga, who by a brahmin’s curse fell into a tiryak birth, an animal life. These stories never arrive for nothing; behind each one lies some deeper understanding.
Shloka 2 · The Ancient Stories
सौमित्रिणा पृष्ट उदारबुद्धिना रामः कथाः प्राह पुरातनीः शुभाः।
राज्ञः प्रमत्तस्य नृगस्य शापतो द्विजस्य तिर्यक्त्वमथाह राघवः ॥2॥
Now comes the moment everything has waited for. In some private hour, while Rama sat at his ease and Lakshmi herself tended his lotus feet, Saumitri, his heart grown pure, bowed with devotion and spoke with deep humility. This is the hour: no court, no one else, only two brothers and a question smoldering within.
Shloka 3 · A Moment Alone
कदाचिदेकान्त उपस्थितं प्रभुं रामं रमालालितपादपङ्कजम्।
सौमित्रिरासादितशुद्धभावनः प्रणम्य भक्त्या विनयान्वितोऽब्रवीत् ॥3॥
And then Lakshmana opens his heart, though he begins with praise. You, he says, are the pure awareness within every embodied being, the atman itself, the sovereign of all, and formless. O great-minded one, you show yourself in this form only to those whose eye of wisdom has opened, those who become bees at your lotus feet and stay bound to holy company. This is more than ordinary curiosity; it is the first cry of a soul taking refuge.
Shloka 4 · Lakshmana’s Praise
त्वं शुद्धबोधोऽसि हि सर्वदेहिनामात्मास्यधीशोऽसि निराकृतिः स्वयम्।
प्रतीयसे ज्ञानदृशां महामते पादाब्जभृङ्गाहितसङ्गसङ्गिनाम् ॥4॥
Now Lakshmana comes straight to the matter of refuge. Lord, he says, I take refuge at those lotus feet of yours, the feet that carry a soul across the world and that yogis meditate upon. Teach me in such a way that I cross this bottomless ocean of ignorance easily and in gladness. This is the axis of the whole Rama Gita, surrender and the prayer to be carried across. Here the main thing is to hand yourself over. Listening alone is not enough.
Shloka 5 · Surrender
अहं प्रपन्नोऽस्मि पदाम्बुजं प्रभो भवापवर्गं तव योगिभावितम्।
यथाञ्जसाज्ञानमपारवारिधिं सुखं तरिष्यामि तथानुशाधि माम् ॥5॥
Having heard all of Lakshmana’s words, Rama, who removes the anguish of those who take refuge, his mind serene, prepares to speak. He is the ornament of the guardians of the earth, the crown jewel among kings, and the teaching he is about to give is sanctioned by the shruti. Its purpose is single: to awaken the vijnana that stills the darkness of ignorance, a realized understanding proven in experience.
Shloka 6 · Rama Prepares to Answer
श्रुत्वाथ सौमित्रवचोऽखिलं तदा प्राह प्रपन्नार्तिहरः प्रसन्नधीः।
विज्ञानमज्ञानतमःप्रशान्तये श्रुतिप्रपन्नं क्षितिपालभूषणः ॥6॥
Now Rama sets down the first thread of his teaching. First, he says, let a person perform the actions prescribed for their varna and their stage of life, for this makes the mind pure. Having completed that preparatory work in this way, and having gathered the wealth of practice, let them seek refuge in a true guru for the sake of self-realization. The teaching keeps action in place. Action scrubs the mind clean and delivers the seeker to a true guru.
Shloka 7 · The First Principle
आदौ स्ववर्णाश्रमवर्णिताः क्रियाः कृत्वा समासादितशुद्धमानसः।
समाप्य तत्पूर्वमुपात्तसाधनः समाश्रयेत्सद्गुरुमात्मलब्धये ॥7॥
And on this note Rama closes the part, as though sowing here the seed of the whole Gita to come. Action performed with regard, he says, becomes the cause of both fortune and affliction. From it arise experiences pleasant and unpleasant, and attachment grows. Then come dharma and adharma, then from those this body, and from the body action again. So the world keeps turning like a wheel. The path to break this wheel will open further on.
Shloka 8 · The Wheel of the World
क्रिया श्रीरोद्भवहेतुरादृता प्रियाप्रियौ तौ भवतः सुरागिणः।
धर्मेतरौ तत्र पुनः शरीरकम् पुनः क्रिया चक्रवदीर्यते भवः ॥8॥