There is no home where milk doesn’t flow; no mouth is without sumptuous meals; no man deprived of holy perfumes; no heart without contentment; no human who doesn’t follow virtuous path; no life without character!
The land has no ear without ear rings; no hands without bracelets; no neck without necklaces; no heads without befitting headgears!
No perverts and predators; no cruelty; no cheats and thugs; you couldn’t find a drunkard even if you look under the bunkers!
No petty minds, no dissatisfaction in men, no idiots or lunatics, no unruly men, no unjust people, a very peculiar land indeed!
No poor and meek, no sinner and weak; no liars, no killers and no pimps there!
“All-round Happiness! All-round Wellness!” – can you think of such a land anywhere? Anytime?
You might say such a land might exist in the land of imagination, in movies or in art. SriRamaayana, which is known to be history, starts with a reference to such a land. That is Ayodhya! Capital of Kosala Kingdom! Land of Rama’s descent!
King Dasharatha had built and protected such a Kingdom that can be visualized only in the dreams of the good hearted and well meaning people. Such a feat is only a dream without great providence of divine and greater perseverance of the human! Dasharatha was blessed with both in the form of Gurus and ministers. Divine decree was in the form of Guru Vasishtha, Vamadeva and other seven sages. His eight ministers were the key instruments for perseverance.
As two lower limbs hold the weight of a person, eight sages and eight ministers held the weight of the nation. Where will you find a Guru equaling Vasishtha? Where will you find a minister equaling Sumantra? While Vasishtha was theology personified, Sumantra was economics personified!
While Guru could protect the King and Kingdom from the evils by knowing everything through meditation, the minister could protect the King and Kingdom from the perils from within and outside the country through intelligent penetration! Galaxy of Gurus found out things through their inner vision and was ensuring that there was nothing untoward happening to the King; sometimes by appropriate remedial rituals and sometimes by the bounty of their blessing. Without the need for the King to utter a word, the mighty ministers were able to grasp his mind and execute his wish.
What can worry the King who had the most enlightened of the sages as Gurus to show the path and most learned of the ministers to guide him through it!?
But he had a worry…
As the king of a very flourishing kingdom Dasharatha should have excelled like God Indra in heaven! But alas, he was on earth, not heaven! You cannot have only happiness here. You cannot have endless joy even in heaven. Only in liberation, where there is no trace of worry, can provide unqualified happiness! On earth it is always “थोडा सुख तो थोडा दु़ख है!”
True, the Kingdom had all the happiness in the world; but Dasharatha’s mind was obsessed with a sorrow. What else he could do? Even though the country grew gold, what about its future!? What use are many queens he had in his grand palace if he didn’t have a progeny who could provide the last drop of Gangajal when he breathed his last? Pearl among queens Kausalya was the leading light of his life. He had expected pearl of a son from her who could be leading light to the land. But the desire remained a desire for very long. It will not be an exaggeration to say that life of Dasharatha was about the anticipation for a son! Time was running out for Dasharatha without seeing the elusive son in his life; the end was nearing!
But everything has its time. A fine day Dasharatha felt a divine perception about arrival of a son! He could see light at the end of the tunnel!
He could clearly sense that the holy fire of Ashvamedha Yajna can be the window to light up his life!
… to be continued
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Dasharatha’s eight gurus: Vasishta, Vämadëva, Suyajna, Jäbäli, Käshyapa, Gowthama, Märkandëya, Kätyäyana
Dasharatha’s eight ministers: Dhrushti, Jayanta, Vijaya, Siddhartha, Arthasädhaka, Ashoka, Mantrapäla, Sumantra
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