Rāma Mahāprasthāna (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa)

The mahāprasthāna (the great departure) of Rāma is told in the last chapters of the Uttara Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa. After Sītā’s bhūpraveśa (her entering the earth), Rāma was beyond comfort. Kāla (Time, or Death) came to him in the form of a mahātapasvin (a great ascetic) for a private meeting. Durvāsa came at the wrong moment and threatened to put a śāpa (a curse) on Ayodhyā. Lakshmaṇa went in to save the kingdom, broke the rule of the private meeting, and so accepted death. After Lakshmaṇa walked into the Sarayū, Rāma set up the rule of his sons, Kuśa in Kuśāvatī and Lava in Śrāvastī, and walked into the Sarayū himself with all of Ayodhyā following him. Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared in the waters, and Rāma’s human form merged into him. The avatāra (descent) was complete.

After Sītā’s departure

Sītā’s bhūpraveśa left Rāma in deep grief. The Uttara Kāṇḍa describes his state in the months after it. He did his royal duties like a machine. He held court and ruled the kingdom, but his heart was not in it. He would not think of another wife, and he did all his rituals with a golden image of Sītā at his side.

Brahmā came down and spoke to Rāma. He reminded him who he was: Bhagavān Vishṇu himself. His purpose on earth was done, and the time to return was near. Brahmā told him to get ready.

Kāla’s secret visit

One day a great mahātapasvin of grand appearance came to Rāma’s court and asked to speak with him alone. He said he was a messenger sent by Brahmā with word for Rāma on a matter of cosmic weight.

Before the meeting began he named one condition: “No one must see or break in on this talk. If anyone comes into the room while we are speaking, that person must die.” Rāma agreed and placed Lakshmaṇa at the door so that the talk would be private.

Inside, the mahātapasvin told Rāma who he really was. He was Kāla, Time and Death itself, in the form of an ṛshi. He gave Brahmā’s message: Rāma’s purpose on earth was complete, and it was time for Rāma to return to his divine source. Rāma heard this with full understanding and calm.

Durvāsa arrives and Lakshmaṇa chooses

While the meeting was going on, Durvāsa Maharshi came to the palace gate. He was the unpredictable and very powerful ṛshi known for his terrible śāpas. He demanded to see Rāma at once, with no condition. He said his matter was urgent, and that if Rāma was not brought to him immediately, he would put a śāpa on all of Ayodhyā and on the whole Ikshvāku line.

Lakshmaṇa was in an impossible place. If he went in, he would die, by the rule of Kāla’s meeting. If he did not go in and Durvāsa spoke his śāpa, the whole kingdom and line would be destroyed.

Lakshmaṇa made his choice. He went into the room, broke in on the meeting, and told Rāma that Durvāsa had come. The meeting of cosmic weight was broken.

Lakshmaṇa’s departure

Kāla’s meeting was over, and the condition had been met. Rāma, in anguish, now faced what he had agreed to: Lakshmaṇa must accept death. The rule that Rāma had accepted could not be set aside even for his dear brother.

Lakshmaṇa did not protest. He took the result of his choice as clearly as he had made the choice. He went to the Sarayū, the holy river that flows past Ayodhyā. He walked into the water in deep dhyāna (meditation), drew his prāṇas (life breaths) out of his body, and gave up his human form.

The devas received him. Indra came down, and Lakshmaṇa was shown in his true divine form as Ādiśesha, the first serpent, on whom Bhagavān Vishṇu rests. He rose to Nitya Vaikuṇṭha (the eternal Vaikuṇṭha).

Rāma arranges the succession

Rāma spent his last days with care and purpose. He arranged for the line of Ikshvāku to go on and for the kingdom to be ruled:

  • Kuśa was made king of Kuśāvatī, a city set up in southern Kosala, on the slopes of the Vindhya.
  • Lava was made king of Śrāvastī, the capital of northern Kosala.
  • Other princes of the wider family received their kingdoms.

The plans were complete. Rāma made sure that the dharmic rule he had set up would go on through his sons and the wider line.

The mahāprasthāna

Rāma said that he would walk into the Sarayū. Ayodhyā answered at once and as one: everyone would follow. The people of Ayodhyā, men, women, children and the old, all decided to go with their king into the holy river. Animals, birds, and even the trees of the city seemed to follow.

The great procession passed through Ayodhyā and out to the banks of the Sarayū. Rāma walked at the head, calm and golden, in royal clothes, the last king of Ayodhyā as the city had been.

He walked into the river, and the waters rose to meet him.

Bhagavān Vishṇu appears

The devas gathered in the sky over the Sarayū, together with the ṛshis, the gandharvas and the siddhas. They filled the air with divine forms and celestial sound, and flowers fell from every side.

In the waters of the Sarayū, Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared in his highest four-armed form (catur-bāhu). He shone, and he held the śaṅkha (conch), cakra (discus), gadā (mace) and padma (lotus). Brahmā spoke from the gathering of the devas: Rāma was returning to his own divine nature, and the avatāra had done its whole work.

Rāma’s form merged back into Bhagavān Vishṇu. Rāma’s human form dissolved. The eternal form of Bhagavān Vishṇu stood in the Sarayū and then rose to the divine world.

What happened to those who followed

Those who had followed Rāma into the Sarayū reached moksha (liberation) according to their devotion:

  • Those who had been Rāma’s companions and servants from the start reached Nitya Vaikuṇṭha, the eternal divine home.
  • The vānara warriors who had served him reached high states in svarga.
  • The ordinary citizens who followed in bhakti (devotion) reached the higher lokas (worlds) that matched their devotion.
  • The animals, birds and other creatures who followed were freed according to the Rāmāyaṇa’s principle that nearness to the avatāra frees all beings.

Phalaśruti

The Uttara Kāṇḍa ends with the phalaśruti, the statement of the fruits of hearing this kāṇḍa and the whole Rāmāyaṇa. The text says that Brahmā himself first made the Rāmāyaṇa. Vālmīki received it through divine insight and taught it to Kuśa and Lava, and they sang it in Rāma’s presence. The one who hears the Rāmāyaṇa with devotion gains long life, children and wealth, and in the end liberation.

Sources

  • Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 101 (Rāma’s grief and Brahmā’s words)
  • Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 102–103 (Kāla’s visit)
  • Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 103 (Durvāsa’s arrival and Lakshmaṇa’s choice)
  • Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 104–105 (Lakshmaṇa’s departure)
  • Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 106 (the succession)
  • Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 107–108 (the procession and the entering of the Sarayū)
  • Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 108–109 (the appearance of Bhagavān Vishṇu)
  • Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 110 (the fate of those who followed)
  • Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 111 (the phalaśruti)