Queens’ Yogāgni Nirgamana

In the Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Lakshmaṇa comes back to Ayodhyā after leaving Sītā in the forest. The three mothers, Kauśalyā, Sumitrā and Kaikeyī, are crushed by the news. Bhagavān Rāma comes to console them. He does not only speak words of comfort. He lifts the veil of māyā (illusion) from their sight and shows them his true nature. The three queens then leave their bodies by yogāgni (the fire of yoga). The account presents this as moksha, not as death.

The setting

Lakshmaṇa came back to Ayodhyā after leaving Sītā in the forest. He told the mothers and brothers what had happened in the fewest possible words. The palace was plunged in grief. The whole inner quarters wept, and the city fell into sorrow.

Kauśalyā, Sumitrā and Kaikeyī had loved Sītā as a daughter and had held on to her as the joy of the palace. They were overcome. They struck their heads and wept piteously. The royal family struggled to console them.

Rāma’s arrival and the gift of jñāna

Rāma came to the antaḥpura (inner quarters) to console his mothers. He saw them weeping for Sītā, like serpents that have lost their jewel. Ordinary words of comfort would not reach such deep grief. So Rāma, the Jagadabhirāma, did something else. He smiled gently, turned his divine gaze on them and gave them his jñāna (knowledge) directly.

In that moment the māyā that made them see him only as their son lifted like a curtain of mist. Their jñāna-netra (eyes of knowledge) were lit with divine light.

What had covered their sight was gone: the ordinary human view of Rāma as their child, of Sītā as their daughter-in-law, of the palace as their world. They now saw Rāma as the Paramātman, sat-chid-ānanda. They saw him as Ajaḥ (unborn), Avināśaḥ (indestructible), Akalaṅkaḥ (untainted) and Advitīyaḥ (without a second). He is the same one whom the ṛshis seek through unbroken tapas (austerity).

The queens’ stotra

The three mothers, now enlightened, joined their palms. They spoke to the one before them not as their son but as the master of all worlds. Their stotra (hymn of praise) shows both their recognition and their prayer:

“O Avatāra Mūrti, O Jagadīśvara! Until now, blinded by māyā, we took you for our son and the daughter of Mithilā for our daughter-in-law. Through pāmara-dṛshṭi (the ordinary human gaze) we moved through this world. Today, through your kṛpā-dṛshṭi (gaze of grace), jñāna has risen in us and the truth is clear. Our ajñāna-andhakāra (darkness of ignorance) has been destroyed and satya (reality) has become bright. O Jñāna-Svarūpa, O Lokeśvara, grant us that paramā-bhakti-tattva (the truth of highest devotion) which the munis seek without rest.”

The yogāgni nirgamana

The queens made this stotra and received the gift of paramā-bhakti (highest devotion) from Bhagavān Rāma himself. They were then fixed in complete liberation. With their inner being absorbed in the divine, they performed yogāgni-nirgamana. They withdrew their prāṇas (life breaths) by the discipline of inner fire, burned away their bodies in the tapas of fixed awareness, and rose to the divine loka.

The account does not describe this as death in the ordinary sense. It is a willing, conscious and joyful release of the body by those who have gained the knowledge of the Paramātman and no longer need the body. The queens departed as muktas (liberated ones), in full jñāna and bhakti, in the presence of Bhagavān Rāma himself.

Rāma and his brothers performed the saṃskāras (rites) for the queens’ bodies with full devotion. They carried out the agni-saṃskāra (cremation) and the uttara-kriyās (the later funeral rites) with due honour. When the funeral rites were done, Rāma gave generous dāna (gifts) to brāhmaṇas and the needy in the names of his departed mothers. He gave gold, silver, gems, garments, land, cattle and horses.

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa, Chapter 6 (Kauśalyādi Rāṇulu Vigata Śarīrulaguṭa)