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Oṁ Buddhi Siddhip Na Bhagavāna Kī Chāyā, Śrī Siddhe Viśvar Mahā Deva Kī Chāyā, Hindu Dharam Samarath Sattva Kuru Samiṣ Mādhavānam Purūjī Mahārāj Kī Chāyā, Viśvaguru Mahā Maṇḍala Īśvar Paramaṁ Samiṣ Maiśvaram Purūjī Guru Deva Kī Chāyā. Śrī Rām Jayā Rām Jayā Jayā Rām... Śrāvara Rāma Candra Bhagavān Kī Chāyā Guru Caraṇome Praṇām. Praṇām to the holy feet of Lord Rāma. Praṇām to the holy feet of Lord Rāma, who manifested here with us in Bhaktisāgara, and we hope very much that he will bestow on us his support to reveal the beauty and the glory of the Rāmāyaṇa. So also praṇām to Sītā Mātā, brother Lakṣmaṇa and Hanumānjī. In the last lecture, we finished with the promise of Lord Viṣṇu that he will incarnate in the Rāgukula dynasty and he will finish the atrocities of the Mahārākṣasa Rāvaṇa. So it is a story which happened many thousands of years ago. But actually, it doesn’t matter whether it was thousands or hundreds of years ago. Much more important is the message it is bringing us for our present days. The story of the Rāmāyaṇa, the book, actually starts with the description of the holy city of Ayodhyā. The legendary city was founded by Manu, the forefather of the Indian nation, or better we say, the forefather of the ethical teachings of Hindu culture. To this day, Ayodhyā is one of the most holy cities in India. It is called the city of temples, and it was always mentioned as the city of Dharma. It is located in Uttar Pradesh on the river banks of the Saryu. And it was so famous because in the king lineage of that city there were kings like Hariścandra, Raghu, Sāgara, Dasharatha, and Rāma. Ayodhya translates as unconquerable, because the city itself was surrounded by a deep water channel and very high walls. These barriers were keeping away the enemies and they were protecting the kingdom of dharma, which was within. Inside of the city was great harmony. All the citizens lived in a good material standard. They had good health care and good education, healthy food and markets full of proper goods. And this was always thanks to the wise rulership of the kings. King Dasharath himself was an embodiment of Dharma. He was a hitakārī, like we have in the first line, second line of our prayer. It means the benefactor, the one who always thinks about the welfare of his subjects. He had a cabinet of eight ministers who themselves were of pure character. They were the true executives of the government. And then he had eight advisors, eight sages. The principal or the head of them was the Guru Vasiṣṭha. King Dasharatha had all his senses under control, and he was well-versed in the Vedas. As he was supervised by the sages who possessed only vairāgya and wisdom—it was their only possession—they were always advising him for the benefit of the citizens. Their head, Guru Vasiṣṭha, was a Brahmajñānī, the knower of God. So actually it was a government whose purpose was to govern for the benefit of the subjects, of the citizens, and its responsibility was towards God. May this become an example for the modern governments. King Dasharatha had nothing in lack. He had enough wealth, good health, fame, great knowledge, and everything. But there was one sorrow. He had already become quite old, and he had no offspring, no child, even though he had three queens. Originally, he married only Queen Kauśalyā. They were living in great harmony for many years. Queen Kaushalya was the embodiment of a true Hindu wife, respecting every wish of her God, her husband. When she saw that after many years of marriage she could not bring a child, could not give a child to the king, she herself suggested to the king to marry another queen. So King Daśaratha married Sumitrā. It was a similar story. Again, for many years, they were living all three in great harmony. The queens Kaushalyā and Sumitrā were to each other more than sisters; they were always thinking about the benefit of the other one. Years passed, and again both of them approached King Dasharatha with a suggestion that he marry another queen. And it was then the third, the youngest queen, Kaikeyī, from the kingdom of Kashmir. Unfortunately, also this marriage did not bring to Daśaratha the so-wished-for child. King Dasharatha realized that perhaps it is in his karma, that it has nothing to do with the queens. And it was a true story, which happened many, many years ago, a long time ago. When Dasharatha had an encounter with Rāvaṇa. Actually, they did not see each other. Rāvaṇa was provoking Daśaratha, and King Daśaratha sent a few arrows to Laṅkā, and he defeated Rāvaṇa. Ravana was sure that King Dasharatha was not going to attack Lanka, that he would obey his rules of Dharma. But he was thinking, "What about his follower? What about his sons?" Maybe they will not go in the steps of the father. So to secure his future, he decided to make an end of any possible offspring of Daśaratha. He started to do immense tapasyā, and he was doing it for a long time. Then Lord Brahma appeared in front of him and he said, "O Bhagat, I am pleased with your penance. You can wish whatever you like; I will fulfill it." When Rāvaṇa heard this offer, he immediately misused the situation and he wished that never ever any son would be born to King Daśaratha. Lord Brahma was bound by his promise, and he had to fulfill this wish. We can ask, how is this possible? How can we call God so unjust? We can ask ourselves the question: how is it possible that God becomes so unjust? But at this moment, God must only follow His dharma; He must fulfill His promise. So if some karma was created for an individual soul in that life, it would be repaid; it would be corrected in the next life. But all this, we don’t know. We are looking at life from our perspective of a single life. King Dasharatha was thinking to consult his sages, his advisors, and Guru Vasiṣṭha. Guru Vasiṣṭha, the knower of the truth, knew which curse was behind that, beyond that. And he said to the king, "I will not allow that somebody other than a son of the Raghukul dynasty will rule this kingdom." And so he suggested to the king that he make the Putra Kāmeṣṭi Yajña, which is the yajña for begetting a son. It is a very complicated ritual, and part of that is the Aśvamedha sacrifice, the horse sacrifice, which can be performed only by kings. The sages were advising that there is only one paṇḍit who can perform the yajña, and that is the sage Ṛśyaśṛṅga. So King Daśaratha approached himself; he went to Ṛśyaśṛṅga and told him his wish. Soon, the yajña śālā was built up, and the initial sacrifice started. The sacred horse was released, and he was guarded with 400 soldiers. This horse was freely roaming in all of India and abroad, grazing wherever he liked, and he was protected by the soldiers. During that period, the king and his queens had to follow certain anuṣṭhāna. They had to take the vow of chastity, and they were doing certain spiritual practices. Similarly, you can remember when we had the Laghu Viṣṇu Yajña in June here in Jardin, the Yajña which Swāmījī was organizing. That married couple through which the Yagya was actually performed also got many, let’s say, homeworks, or they got many saṅkalpas—what they have to observe now during the next year. When the horse came back after one year, it was a big festival; the horse was worshipped. Ṛṣya Śrī followed exactly the protocol. And so when the king gave the last āhuti, the last offering to the fire of the yajña, then Agnidev appeared. He came out of the flames, and in his hand, or on his hand, was a golden vessel with a sacred cure. Sage Hṛṣyaśrī took that golden vessel and he gave it to the king, telling him, with the words, this khīr will bring you good health and sons. The king was most happy, and he put the vessel on his head, and he was then going back to the royal palace. There is also a moment where we can compare the past and the future, past and the present, because it was not only thousands of years ago, but it was in the last century and this century. We know from Līlā Amṛt that when people had any troubles in life, then they were turning to God. But nowadays, our society, our culture is so well with the material background and with the comforts that we have nearly forgotten God, and we put Him on the second rail. If a couple cannot beget a child, rather than praying, they go to the doctor and they try artificial fertilization. If we cannot get rain, then we build irrigation channels, or we just put some chemicals into the clouds to condense the water, and so on. So King Daśaratha brought the vessel to his palace, and he gave it to the queens. Queen Kaushalya, with great joy and great happiness, took half of the kheer. She ate half of the kheer. She gave to Sumitra, and, of course, also Sumitra, with great expectation, took half of that. The first half of what remained, Kaikeyī took, and the very remainder she again gave to Sumitra, so, again, actually, Sumitra got two times. Within a short time, all three queens got pregnant. And in the kingdom, the celebrations had already started. It was exactly one year after the Yajña, on the ninth day of the bright fortnight of the Hindu month of Caitra, that Queen Kauśalyā gave birth to a son. It was Rāma, the seventh incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu. From that time till today, we are celebrating the Rāma Navamī, which marks the end of the spring Navarātri. It usually comes in the Caitra months, somewhere between March and April. The next day, Queen Kaikeyī gave birth to Bharata, and the next day the middle queen, Sumitrā, gave birth to twins, Lakṣmaṇa and Śatrughana. A big, big festival started in the whole kingdom. All were happy, all were celebrating. The king, out of gratefulness, gave away in charity and in gifts a big portion of his wealth. All four children were very sweet, and everyone wanted to see them. But for some reason, Lakṣmaṇa and Śatrughna were constantly weeping. Sumitra could not find a reason. She was trying all medicines, she was calling doctors, she was trying to listen to her mother’s intuition. Nothing was helping. The two boys were all the time weeping. So she went to Guru Vasiṣṭha. Guru Vasiṣṭha very well knew who these four sons were—that they are all coming as the parts of the Lord Viṣṇu. And so he consulted Sumitra and told her, "Lakshmana is the part of Rāma, and Śatrughna is part of Bharata. So give them to the cradles of their elder brothers, and they will be peaceful." Sumitra did not understand, but she followed the guidelines, the instructions of the Guru. And everything was great. They started to play, they were smiling, they were joyous. And from that time onward, they became an inseparable couple. Rama was always with Lakshmana, and Bharat was always with Shatrughna. For several years, it became the happiest time in the kingdom, mainly because the parents, after a long, long yearning, finally fulfilled their wish for parenthood. When the boys were about five years old, it was time for them to go to the gurukula. They had to give up their royal clothes, their good eating, their toys, their games. They put on the simple dress of brahmachārīs and went to the gurukula. But, of course, this was even much more difficult for the parents. Even though they knew that this is the dharma, and it is to be, it was for them so painful, so hard, piercing to get separated from their beloved ones. The four brothers were studying with the Ṛṣiguru Vasiṣṭha. They were living in his āśrama in very simple conditions. They had to participate in the running of the ashram, doing all the daily duties. And instead of playing, it was studying and practicing. After a few years, they became masters of their subjects. Guru Vasiṣṭa announced to King Daśaratha that he may come to pick up the boys again, that they are ready, that the education is completed. The king and the queens were overwhelmed with joy that they would see their boys again. When King Daśaratha arrived at Vasiṣṭhi’s āśram on a chariot, Vasiṣṭhi took him aside and revealed to him that never ever had he had such good disciples. Whatever they were taught, they learned without a mistake, and they were always yearning to learn more. And mainly, Rāma was the most excellent out of them. When Vasiṣṭha was speaking about the Vedas, or actually he was telling the Vedas, Rāma was always able to repeat them without a single change. It seemed that he had known the Vedas already from before. And so Vasiṣṭha told King Daśaratha that these four are divine souls. This time it was Guru Vasiṣṭha who was weeping when the boys were leaving his āśrama. Such was the love of the guru towards his disciples. When the boys again joined the royal court, the king wanted them to still try to master archery and weaponry more. So they got their teachers, but they were refusing to shoot animals or birds because they said that they promised to their guru Vasiṣṭha that they would use the weapons only to protect the dharma, and even then, in cases of the highest urgency. The years were passing, and when the boys were about sixteen years old, and the king just started to discuss with his queens about the marriage, about preparing the strategy for the marriage of the boys, then one day, while they were having court, the Dvārapāl came to King Daśaratha. Dvārapāl means the doorkeeper. And he says that the sage Viśvāmitra is coming. King Dasharatha was very much pleased. He left the throne, and he himself went to welcome Viśvāmitrajī. He expressed thankfulness that all the kingdom got blessed by the presence of Viśvāmitra in the royal palace, and he expressed his gratitude that the priest Viśvāmitra honoured the royal palace with his visit. Vishwāmitra jī soon spoke about the reason why he had come. For many years, he has been following anuṣṭhāna, trying to perform some yajñas and sacrifices. But always, when the yajña is about to be completed, then some Rākṣasas come and they destroy the sacrifice. They start to throw bones, meat, and blood into the sacrificial fire, and in this way they make it impure and unsuccessful. And because Brahma Ṛṣi Viśvāmitra was also a knower of the truth, who is Rāma, he came to ask King Daśaratha that Rāma follow Viśvāmitra and Rāma help Viśvāmitra to fight the demons. The king was absolutely desperate. He said, "Oh sage, in my old age, in my last years, please do not deprive me of my beloved son. He is more dear to me than my own life. I’d rather die, but let me be with him until my death." Vishvāmitra got a bit upset, and he said such a behavior is not as per the Rāgukul dynasty. He turned on a spot, and he started to go away. Guru Vasiṣṭha stopped him, and he spoke to the king. Guru Vasiṣṭha spoke to the king that Viśvāmitrājī surely knows what he is doing, and that actually it is for the benefit of Rāma also and for the benefit of the kingdom. After a whole life of experience, the king knew that what the guru says is to be followed. And so he let Rāma go, and brother Lakṣmaṇa, he also went with Rāma. They were following the bank of the river Saryu, and the very next day, Viśvāmitra performed with them a special dīkṣā. He initiated them into special śaktis or prāṇas which will protect them from the powers of the Rākṣasas. They followed for a few more days, and then they crossed the place where Saryu is merging with Gaṅgā. After the mouth of the Saryu into the Ganga, there was a big, vast forest. After that confluence of the two rivers, Vishwāmitrājī spoke, "There is a Rākṣasī, Tārakā, living here, and she is very cruel. She has killed all the inhabitants of this area. And now it is on you, Rāma, to kill her. Don’t think about her that she is a woman. She is the embodiment of evil. And to kill her is the dharma." As soon as Lord Rāma put the string on his bow and he made the sound of the string, Tārakā got woken up from her tāmasic sleep. Soon, there became a fight between the two of them. She jumped on Rāma, and she attacked Lakṣmaṇa. But to make it short, at the end, the brothers won. Brahmāṛṣi Viśvāmitra was most pleased. And after this first successful exam, he gave them another initiation, and he gave them many divine weapons, which were coming from different lokas. That day they arrived at the Siddha Ashram, the Ashram of Ṛṣi Viśvāmitra, which is on the banks of the Ganges. They were very heartily welcome, and immediately Viśvāmitrajī again started the yajña. The yajña was peacefully running for five days. On the sixth day, big black clouds started to come above the yajña. Vishwamitra and the brothers could recognize that in the clouds were hidden Mārīca and Subāhu, and behind them was the whole Rākṣasa army. Because they were approaching fast, the brothers acted fast and started to shoot their divine weapons. Marīca fell down unconscious into the sea. Śubāhu was killed, and the Rākṣasa army was chased away. It was the first time after many, many years that Viśvāmitrājī could finally complete Vānīyāgya. And he embraced Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa because nobody else was able to do this; this was the work for God himself. They reverently bowed to the feet of Viśvāmitrajī and said, "It is only the vidyā imparted to us by our Guru and thyself." And they asked, "What is our next task? What should we do?" And Viśvāmitrajī spoke, "In the kingdom of Mithilā, King Janaka is going to perform a great yajña. All of us ṛṣis are invited there. You two brothers should go with us. There is also one very special bow, the Śiva Dhanuṣ. And you should see that one. And what happened in Mithilā? We should hear next time." Śrī Rām Jaya Rām Jaya Jaya Rām.