Rāma Mahāprasthāna (Skanda Purāṇa)

Rāma Mahāprasthāna is the Great Departure of Bhagavān Rāma from the world. His work was done. He led the whole city of Ayodhyā to the bank of the Sarayū river, entered his supreme form of Vishṇu, and all the people followed him into svarga (heaven). This account is from the Ayodhyā Māhātmya of the Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa.

The decision to depart

Bhagavān Rāma had finished the task of the devas. He had defeated Rāvaṇa and set dharma on its feet again. He also held a twelve-year sattra (long yajña) at Kurukshetra, as told in the frame of the Māhātmya. Then the time came for him to end his earthly form and return to his supreme state.

The immediate cause was the meeting with Kāla (Time), the same event that led to the departure of Lakshmaṇa. After that meeting, Lakshmaṇa had merged back into Śesha at the Sahasradhārā tīrtha. Rāma, whose mind was heroic, then decided to go to svarga with his two remaining brothers, Bharata and Śatrughna.

The news spread through spies and on the wind. All the monkey leaders and their armies heard it. Monkeys of many kinds, rākshasas and Gopucchas came leaping from far countries. They had all served in Rāma’s wars, and they had heard that their master was about to leave.

Rāma’s last words

To Vibhīshaṇa

The rākshasa king Vibhīshaṇa had left his evil brother Rāvaṇa to stand with dharma. By Rāma’s grace he had been made king of Laṅkā. He came forward, and Rāma said to him:

“As long as there are subjects alive, to the end of the world, O Vibhīshaṇa, rule the great kingdom. You will protect Laṅkā. Rule your kingdom. Do not make my words otherwise. Protect your subjects righteously.”

So Vibhīshaṇa received the rule of Laṅkā for as long as the world lasts. The tradition counts him among the chiranjīvis (those who live very long).

To Hanumān

Hanumān had served Rāma with his whole being. Rāma gave him this order:

“O son of the Wind-deva, live long. Do not break your vow. As long as the people tell my story, O great monkey, you will keep your life and keep your vow.”

So Hanumān stays in the world as long as Rāma’s story is told, which means for ever. Mainda and Dvivida had drunk amṛta (the drink of deathlessness). They too were given long life, so that they could protect Rāma’s sons and grandsons.

To all the other monkeys Rāma said, “You come along with me.”

The great procession

When night turned to dawn, Rāma came out of the city. He wore silk robes, he had taken the vow of brahmacarya (celibacy), and he held darbha grass in his hands. He walked towards Svargadvāra. As he walked he spoke no word, auspicious or inauspicious.

A great crowd formed around him.

  • Śrī Lakshmī walked on his left with a lotus in her hand. Hari went with him on his right.
  • All his weapons, the bow, the bowstring and every instrument of war, followed him in human forms.
  • The Veda followed in the form of a brāhmaṇa. Sāvitrī was on the right, and Oṃkāra and Vashaṭkāra also went with him.
  • Noble ṛshis and the mountains followed Rāma as he reached Svargadvāra.
  • All the women of the inner rooms followed: old women, children, servants, attendants and guards.
  • Bharata and Śatrughna went with the women of their own households.
  • The whole Raghu line followed.
  • Brāhmaṇas came with their Agnihotra fires burning all round them, with their wives and sons.
  • The ministers came with their servants, sons and relatives.
  • All the subjects came with their sons and families. They were dressed in white clothes after their bath, and their minds were calm. They followed Rāma with loud sounds of joy.
  • Bears, monkeys and rākshasas came, and all the people of the city and the countryside.

The text marvels: “No one was distressed or dejected, frightened or miserable. All of them were very delighted and gay and very much wonderstruck.” Not even the smallest being in the city stayed behind.

At Svargadvāra

Rāma walked half a yojana, turned to face west and reached the Sarayū. At that auspicious moment Brahmā arrived with all the devas and noble ṛshis. Hundreds of crores of divine flying chariots filled the sky with light. Sweet, fragrant winds blew, and flowers fell from the sky. Bhagavān Sūrya himself came with the Gandharvas and Apsarās.

Rāma touched the holy water of the Sarayū with his feet.

Then Brahmā began to praise him:

“Indeed you are the ruler of the worlds. No one knows you. But I am, O wide-eyed one, a person you have accepted before. You are the great Being, beyond thought and without end. O mighty one, enter that body of yours which you wished to take for the sake of upholding the worlds.”

At Brahmā’s word, Bhagavān Rāma entered the divine fiery world of Vishṇu with his younger brothers Bharata and Śatrughna. The devas honoured him in his form of Vishṇu. The Sādhyas, the Maruts, Indra with Agni, the ṛshis, the Gandharvas, the women of svarga, the Suparṇas, the Nāgas, the Yakshas, the Daityas, the Dānavas and the Rākshasas all had their wishes fulfilled. The sky rang with the cry “Excellent! Excellent!”

The making of Santānika Loka

Bhagavān Vishṇu, now shown in his supreme form, spoke to Brahmā:

“O you who do good holy rites, you should give a separate world to these crowds of people. All these men have come here because of their love for me. They are devotees full of sincere love. They have given themselves up completely.”

Brahmā answered by making a special world:

“These men will live in the world named Santānika. He who meditates on Rāma alone with devotion and gives up his life in this tīrtha of Svargadvāra will reach the great world of Santāna, which is beyond the world of Brahmā.”

Brahmā then fixed a place for each of the other beings who had come with Rāma.

  • The monkeys went back to their divine origins. They were children of devas, Gandharvas and ṛshis.
  • The rākshasas took their rākshasa form again.
  • Those born of suras and asuras got back their original divine bodies.
  • Sugrīva, the son of Sūrya, entered the disc of the sun.
  • The ṛshis, Nāgas and Yakshas returned to their origins.

The people enter the waters

When Brahmā had spoken, the waters of Gopratāra rose to meet the Sarayū, and all the places filled with water. All beings, men, animals and birds, everything that moves and everything that does not, plunged joyfully into the water. They threw off their earthly bodies, took divine bodies and rose to the world of the devas.

The Māhātmya records the wonder:

“Men abandoned their human bodies and got into aerial chariots. The beings of lower strata of animals entered Sarayū, abandoned their bodies and assumed divine bodies. So also, in the case of other beings, both mobile and immobile.”

All of them remembered Bhagavān Rāma as they entered svarga. For this reason the tīrtha at the meeting of the Sarayū and the Ghargharā is called Gopratāra, “the place where the people (go) crossed over”. It is the highest tīrtha of Ayodhyā.

The greatness of Gopratāra

The Māhātmya says that Gopratāra has no equal among tīrthas, and never will have. Even Prayāgarāja, the king of all tīrthas, comes here in the month of Kārttika to bathe and wash away its pāpa (sin). In Kārttika all the tīrthas of svarga and earth gather at Gopratāra. A person who has bhakti (devotion) to Hari reaches yoga and moksha (liberation) in a single birth through Gopratāra.

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Ayodhyā Māhātmya, Chapter 6