Chapter 1: Dasaratha`s desire for a child

Ramacandra appeared in the Iksvaku dynasty. He is known as IksvakuKuladhana. Kula means "dynasty" and dhana means "property" or"valuable jewel." So he is the jewel of the Iksvaku dynasty.Dasaratha was known as such because he could fight in ten directionssimultaneously. Dasaratha was such a great fighter that sometimesIndra would summon for him when there was a fight with the demons.So Dasaratha would go to the heavenly planets and fight with thedemons. And these demons were so expert with maya, they wouldcreate darkness, expand into various forms etc. So Dasaratha wouldfight in ten directions, and when you looked at his ratha, hischariot, it would look as though there were ten kings and tenchariots fighting simultaneously. Dasa means "ten" and ratha means"chariot". That is how he got the name Dasaratha. So Dasaratha wasfamous for fighting for demigods and righteous kings. And hemarried Kausalya. From Kausalya, only one daughter was born. Shewas named Shanti, or "peace." But Dasaratha had no peace, becausehe only had one daughter, and that daughter would only get marriedand go to another dynasty. The Vedic system is that when a womanmarries, she belongs to the husband's gotra or family line. So ifShanti married to another dynasty, she would belong to it. Whatabout the Iksvaku dynasty? Dasaratha was so worried. Then hemarried Sumitra. At least Kausalya had a daughter, but Sumitra hadno child. Then Dasaratha was getting old. He gave up the idea ofproducing dynasties. As he was getting older he saw that some lesspowerful kings were doing small yajnas, so he did big yajnas. Theywere trying to get their name known, because once Dasaratha diedKosala would be broken. The kingdom of Kosala started all the wayfrom what they now call the Dalai lama's line. From up in thenorth, in Tibet, all the way down to the river Godavari in AndhraPradesh. So this was Kosala, practically it was the whole of India,not the democratic India but the Vedic India. So he was very worriedthat this kingdom will be broken to pieces and some small-timers willbecome emperors. Then Vasistha advised him to go to Kaikeya. Thiskingdom was right on the border of Afghanistan. They now call it theSind region. Kaikeyi was the only daughter of the king of Kaikeya.The king's name was also Kaikeya. And when Dasaratha came formarriage negotiation, Kaikeya told him, "You have two queens, andthey both have no children. Now you will marry my daughter, but whatwill happen to her if the other wives have children?" Dasarathareplied, "I don't think they will have children because they have hadnone up to now. I am also getting old. They're not going to get anychild. Only Kaikeyi will get a child." So Kaikeya said, "That's allright, but you must give this in writing." There is a system in theksatriya marriage known as kanya-sulka. Sulka means "will". Whenyou accept a virgin in marriage, you must give in writing whatproperties she will enjoy as your wife if you are a ksatriya. Thisis kanya-sulka, the "will of dowry." So Dasaratha wrote kanya-sulka.He said, "Whoever is born to Kaikeyi will enjoy my kingdom, even ifmy other wives produce children later." This kanya-sulka was knownto three people. Of course, now we all know it, but at that timeonly three people knew it. Vasistha knew it, Dasaratha knew it, andKaikeya knew it. It was kept a secret, because otherwise they wouldblame Dasaratha, "What is this? He is giving the kingdom to ayounger woman." So this kanya-sulka was kept secret. But at thetime of the marriage, due to great attachment, Kaikeya told hisdaughter this secret, that whoever is your son will rule thiskingdom. Kaikeyi kept this at heart. Once Vasistha advisedDasaratha to perform asvamedha-yajna. He was telling him, "If youperform asvamedha-yajna, then all the demigods will personally cometo accept the oblations." There are two kinds of offering oblationsto the yajna. One is that Agni will take the oblations and offer itto the different destinations. Another is that the devas willpersonally come in the sacrificial arena. They will stand in thesky holding their hands open, and when you offer in their name inthe fire then the harvest will get up from the fire and go intotheir hands. And they will eat it right there in front ofeveryone,. These types of sacrifices are considered first-class,because the devas have come in person. So Dasaratha should performasvamedha, and all the devas will come. And then Dasaratha willtell them, "You have your kingdom only because of my fighting. Sowhy don't you continue my dynasty and give me blessings that I canget some son?" That was the plan. There was a big arrangement forasvamedha-yajna, and wherever Dasaratha's horse went, no-oneobjected. Asvamedha-yajna means that you have to select a horsewith certain lakshanas or qualities. The ears have to be a certainway, the nose a certain way. There has to be a black part behindthe tail. The hooves have to be a certain shape, 35 degrees bent.There is a whole description in karma-khanda. So you have to findout that horse, and after finding it you have to tie a golden leafon his head. There it will be written, "This horse belongs to KingDasaratha. He will perform asvamedha-yajna, so everyone shoulddonate liberally. And whoever stops this horse will have to meetthe army of King Dasaratha." So this horse will go around the wholeworld, and if any king dares to stop the horse there will be onearmy which is following about 100 metres behind the horse. Theywill have to meet that army. This army would consist of the bestfighters in the army, all the generals, and if one can defeat thatthen more army would be sent. In this way the challenger would haveto fight and prove that he is the emperor. So asvamedha-yajna wasalready started, and then when the yajna was going on, Sumantra (theminister of Dasaratha) came to Dasaratha and said, "I remember oneincident when Sanat-kumara came to our assembly, when you were aprince." At that time Dasaratha was not married, and Sanat-kumarawas visiting Dasaratha's father, Aja. Sanat-kumara made somepredictions. "Maharaja Dasaratha will become very famous throughoutthe three worlds, and he will perform a putra-kamesti yajna, asacrifice for getting a son. So in this sacrifice, theyajna-purusha, the personification of fire, will come there and givehim some sweet rice. And out of this sweet rice Dasaratha will getthe Supreme Lord as his sons." This was predicted by Sanat-kumara.At that time Dasaratha was just an unmarried prince, a brahmacari.So Sumantra was a very old man and he suddenly remembered this. Hecame to Dasaratha and said, "You are doing asvamedha for getting ason, but Sanat-kumara told you that you should do putra-kamesti." Sothen there was confusion over which yajna should be performed. InTreta-yuga everything was yajna. For material benefits, forspiritual realization, for anything tretayam yajato makhaih. Makhameans "yajna". Now Dasaratha got confused. So he went to Vasistha'shouse and prostrated himself before him. "Guru maharaja, we havespent 60% of the treasury, and now we come to know that this is notthe proper yajna, that there is another yajna. How am I supposed todo this?" So then Vasistha said, "Oh yes, I remember too now.Sanat-kumara said this. It is not a very expensive yajna, but thepurohit, the priest who performs the yajna must be a very specialperson. That is the difficulty. That person must have not seen awoman until the time of his marriage. He should not have even knownwhat a woman is. Such a great personality must perform the yajna.Then only can the putra-kamesti be performed with the purnahoti andwe will get a son." Then Dasaratha said, "You must tell me wherethis person is." Vasistha was a walking encyclopedia, because he hadbeen there three lifetimes with the same remembrance. There isno-one in this world who knows better than Vasistha. So Vasisthasaid, "Yes, there is a person like that." Das aratha said, "Who isthis person? He has never seen a woman or known what a woman isuntil marriage? At least he must have known about his mother! Whatkind of a person is he, that he has never heard of a woman yet he hastaken birth?"