Daśaratha Moksha (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa)

In the Laṅkā Kāṇḍa of Tulsīdāsa’s Rāmacaritamānas, as retold in the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, King Daśaratha comes down from Devaloka to see his son after Rāvaṇa is slain. He embraces Rāma in tears and blesses him. Bhagavān Rāma then gives his father jñāna-bodha (the teaching of knowledge). Daśaratha is freed from dvaitabhāva (the sense of being separate from Bhagavān Rāma) and at once reaches paramapada (the highest state), which is moksha.

Daśaratha comes down

Rāvaṇa had been slain. The devas rained flowers, divine drums sounded, and the three worlds burst into joy. Then Daśaratha Mahārāja came down from Devaloka. He had lived there since the end of his life on earth, as a sura among the suras. But his love for his son Rāma held him in the worlds of change, and he had not gone on to final liberation.

He saw Rāma, his firstborn and his very life-breath outside his body (bahiḥprāṇa), standing in the middle of the vānara army, bright with the glory of battle, with Sītā at his side. Overcome by prēmotkaṇṭha (the yearning of love), tears flowed from his eyes. He embraced Rāma with the tenderness of a father who had last seen his son go to the forest in bark clothes fourteen years before. He blessed his son from the depths of his heart.

Rāma gives jñāna-bodha to his father

Rāma greeted his father with bhakti-pramattata (love drunk with devotion) and bowed at his royal father’s feet. Then he gave his father the highest gift, jñāna-bodha. Daśaratha’s love for Rāma as a son was itself a form of dvaitabhāva, and this was keeping him from final liberation.

Bhagavān Śiva explains the matter to Pārvatī:

O Girijā! Saguna-upāsakulu dvaitabhāvamutō nannārādhiṃcuṭa cesinanduna vārikau kaivalyamu siddhistadu. Aṭṭivāraiki svāmi tana bhaktini prasādiṃcucuṃḍunu.

“O daughter of the mountain! Because saguṇa-upāsakas (those who worship Bhagavān Rāma with form) worship with dvaitabhāva, kaivalya (liberation in non-duality) does not come to them. Bhagavān Rāma gives such devotees his bhakti instead.”

He goes on:

Anduce Śrīrāmuḍu taṃḍriki brahmajñāna mupadēśiṃci taddvārā muktini boṃdunaTlucēsenu.

“For this reason Śrī Rāma taught brahma-jñāna (knowledge of Brahman) to his father, and through it made him able to reach liberation.”

Daśaratha reaches paramapada

Daśaratha received this jñāna-bodha from Rāma, who is himself the Brahman to whom the jñāna points. He was freed at once. The dvaitabhāva that had kept up his personal attachment dissolved into the knowledge that there is no difference. With a last act of reverence, saluting Rāma as Brahman (rāma-brahmakku namaskarimci), Mahārāja Daśaratha left at once for paramapada.

The text tells this as a swift change. The moment the jñāna was received and the dvaitabhāva let go, nothing held the royal ātmā (soul) in the worlds between. He reached moksha without delay.

Śiva’s teaching on the two kinds of devotion

Śiva’s words to Pārvatī name two ways of devotion and what each gives:

• Saguṇa worship with dvaitabhāva. The devotee sees and loves Bhagavān Rāma as another, as a father loves a son. Bhagavān Rāma gives such a devotee his grace and his bhakti. This worship does not by itself remove the sense of being separate, which is the last veil over kaivalya.
• Jñāna-bodha. Bhagavān Rāma himself gives the knowledge that removes this last veil. The devotee passes from dvaitabhāva into knowing that there is no difference. This is moksha.

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, Daśarathuḍu Dāśarathini Dīviṃci Divikēguṭa section
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, Daśaratha Moksha section
• Rāmacaritamānas of Tulsīdāsa, Laṅkā Kāṇḍa