Sarvārhaṇam acyutejyā. If Acyuta, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is worshiped, then everyone is worshiped. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (4.31.14):

“As pouring water on the root of a tree nourishes the trunk, branches, twigs and leaves, and as supplying food to the stomach enlivens the senses and limbs of the body, worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead satisfies the demigods, who are part of that Supreme Personality.” Performing yajña involves worshiping the Supreme Lord. Here the Supreme Lord worshiped the Supreme Lord. Therefore it is said, bhagavān ātmanātmānam īje: the Lord worshiped Himself by Himself. This does not, of course, justify the Māyāvāda philosophy, by which one thinks himself the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The jīva, the living entity, is always different from the Supreme Lord. The living entities (vibhinnāṁśa) never become one with the Lord, although Māyāvādīs sometimes imitate the Lord’s worship of Himself. Lord Kṛṣṇa meditated upon Himself every morning as a gṛhastha, and similarly Lord Rāmacandra performed yajñas to satisfy Himself, but this does not mean that an ordinary living being should imitate the Lord by accepting the process of ahaṅgrahopāsanā. Such unauthorized worship is not recommended herein.

In the previous chapter it was said that the prajās, the citizens, strictly followed the system of varṇāśrama-dharma. The brāhmaṇas acted exactly like brāhmaṇas, the kṣatriyas exactly like kṣatriyas, and so on. Therefore, when Lord Rāmacandra gave everything in charity to the brāhmaṇas, the brāhmaṇas, being qualified, wisely considered that brāhmaṇas are not meant to possess property to make a profit from it. The qualifications of a brāhmaṇa are given in Bhagavad-gītā (18.42):

“Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness — these are the qualities by which the brāhmaṇas work.” The brahminical character offers no scope for possessing land and ruling citizens; these are the duties of a kṣatriya. Therefore, although the brāhmaṇas did not refuse Lord Rāmacandra’s gift, after accepting it they returned it to the King. The brāhmaṇas were so pleased with Lord Rāmacandra’s affection toward them that their hearts melted. They saw that Lord Rāmacandra, aside from being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was fully qualified as a kṣatriya and was exemplary in character. One of the qualifications of a kṣatriya is to be charitable. A kṣatriya, or ruler, levies taxes upon the citizens not for his personal sense gratification but to give charity in suitable cases. Dānam īśvara-bhāvaḥ. On one hand, kṣatriyas have the propensity to rule, but on the other they are very liberal with charity. When Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira gave charity, he engaged Karṇa to take charge of distributing it. Karṇa was very famous as Dātā Karṇa. The word dātā refers to one who gives charity very liberally. The kings always kept a large quantity of food grains in stock, and whenever there was any scarcity of grains, they would distribute grains in charity. A kṣatriya’s duty is to give charity, and a brāhmaṇa’s duty is to accept charity, but not more than needed to maintain body and soul together. Therefore, when the brāhmaṇas were given so much land by Lord Rāmacandra, they returned it to Him and were not greedy.

When Dhruva Mahārāja was offered a benediction by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he replied, “O my Lord, I am fully satisfied. I do not need any material benediction.” Similarly, when Prahlāda Mahārāja was offered a benediction by Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, he also refused to accept it and instead declared that a devotee should not be like a vaṇik, a mercantile man who gives something in exchange for some profit. One who becomes a devotee for some material profit is not a pure devotee. Brāhmaṇas are always enlightened by the Supreme Personality of Godhead within the heart (sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca). And because the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas are always directed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are not greedy for material wealth. What is absolutely necessary they possess, but they do not want an expanded kingdom. An example of this was given by Vāmanadeva. Acting as a brahmacārī, Lord Vāmanadeva wanted only three paces of land. Aspiring to possess more and more for personal sense gratification is simply ignorance, and this ignorance is conspicuous by its absence from the heart of a brāhmaṇa or Vaiṣṇava.

It was impossible for Sītādevī to live in separation from Lord Rāmacandra. Therefore, after entrusting her two sons to the care of Vālmīki Muni, she entered into the earth.

Lord Rāmacandra’s grief at the news of Sītādevī’s entering the earth is not to be considered material. In the spiritual world also there are feelings of separation, but such feelings are considered spiritual bliss. Grief in separation exists even in the Absolute, but such feelings of separation in the spiritual world are transcendentally blissful. Such feelings are a sign of tasya prema-vaśyatva-svabhāva, being under the influence of hlādinī-śakti and being controlled by love. In the material world such feelings of separation are only a perverted reflection.

As explained above, when the feelings of love and transcendental bliss from the spiritual world are pervertedly reflected in this material world, they are certainly the cause of bondage. As long as men feel attracted to women in this material world and women feel attracted to men, the bondage of repeated birth and death will continue. But in the spiritual world, where there is no fear of birth and death, such feelings of separation are the cause of transcendental bliss. In the absolute reality there are varieties of feeling, but all of them are of the same quality of transcendental bliss.

The lotus feet of the Lord are always a subject matter for meditation for devotees. Sometimes when Lord Rāmacandra wandered in the forest of Daṇḍakāraṇya, thorns pricked His lotus feet. The devotees, upon thinking of this, would faint. The Lord does not feel pain or pleasure from any action or reaction of this material world, but the devotees cannot tolerate even the pricking of the Lord’s lotus feet by a thorn. This was the attitude of the gopīs when they thought of Kṛṣṇa wandering in the forest, with pebbles and grains of sand pricking His lotus feet. This tribulation in the heart of a devotee cannot be understood by karmīs, jñānīs or yogīs. The devotees, who could not tolerate even thinking of the Lord’s lotus feet being pricked by a thorn, were again put into tribulation by thinking of the Lord’s disappearance, for the Lord had to return to His abode after finishing His pastimes in this material world.

The word ātma-jyotiḥ is significant. The brahmajyoti, which is greatly appreciated by jñānīs, or monistic philosophers who desire to enter it for liberation, is nothing but the rays of the Lord’s body.

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is endowed with great power. The glowing effulgence of His transcendental form is the impersonal Brahman, which is absolute, complete and unlimited and which displays the varieties of countless planets, with their different opulences, in millions and millions of universes.” (Brahma-samhitā 5.40) The brahmajyoti is the beginning of the spiritual world, and beyond the brahmajyoti are the Vaikuṇṭha planets. In other words, the brahmajyoti stays outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets, just as the sunshine stays outside the sun. To enter the sun planet, one must go through the sunshine. Similarly, when the Lord or His devotees enter the Vaikuṇṭha planets, they go through the brahmajyoti. The jñānīs, or monistic philosophers, because of their impersonal conception of the Lord, cannot enter the Vaikuṇṭha planets, but they also cannot stay eternally in the brahmajyoti. Thus after some time they fall again to this material world. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho ’nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (Bhāg. 10.2.32). The Vaikuṇṭha planets are covered by the brahmajyoti, and therefore one cannot properly understand what those Vaikuṇṭha planets are unless one is a pure devotee.

As stated in the Vedas (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8):

“The Supreme Lord has nothing to do, and no one is found to be equal to or greater than Him, for everything is done naturally and systematically by His multifarious energies.” The Lord has nothing to do (na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate); whatever He does is His pastime. The Lord has no duty to perform to oblige anyone. Nonetheless, He appears to act to protect His devotees or kill His enemies. Of course, no one can be the Lord’s enemy, since who could be more powerful than the Lord? There is actually no question of anyone’s being His enemy, but when the Lord wants to take pleasure in pastimes, He comes down to this material world and acts like a human being, thus showing His wonderful, glorious activities to please the devotees. His devotees always want to see the Lord victorious in varied activities, and therefore, to please Himself and them, the Lord sometimes agrees to act as a human being and perform wonderful, uncommon pastimes for the satisfaction of the devotees.

The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.9):

“One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.” Here this is confirmed. All the inhabitants of Ayodhyā who saw Lord Rāmacandra as citizens, served Him as servants, sat and talked with Him as friends or were somehow or other present during His reign went back home, back to Godhead. After giving up the body, the devotee who becomes perfect in devotional service enters that particular universe where Lord Rāmacandra or Lord Kṛṣṇa is engaged in His pastimes. Then, after being trained to serve the Lord in various capacities in that prakaṭa-līlā, the devotee is finally promoted to sanātana-dhāma, the supreme abode in the spiritual world. This sanātana-dhāma is also mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā (paras tasmāt tu bhāvo ’nyo ’vyakto ’vyaktāt sanātanaḥ). One who enters the transcendental pastimes of the Lord is called nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa. To understand clearly why Lord Rāmacandra returned, it is mentioned herewith that the Lord went to that particular place where the bhakti-yogīs go. The impersonalists misunderstand the statements of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to mean that the Lord entered His own effulgence and therefore become impersonal. But the Lord is a person, and His devotees are persons. Indeed, the living entities, like the Lord, were persons in the past, they are persons in the present, and they will continue to be persons even after giving up the body. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā.

Here in this material world, everyone is envious of someone else. Even in religious life, it is sometimes found that if one devotee has advanced in spiritual activities, other devotees are envious of him. Such envious devotees are not completely freed from the bondage of birth and death. As long as one is not completely free from the cause of birth and death, one cannot enter the sanātana-dhāma or the eternal pastimes of the Lord. One becomes envious because of being influenced by the designations of the body, but the liberated devotee has nothing to do with the body, and therefore he is completely on the transcendental platform. A devotee is never envious of anyone, even his enemy. Because the devotee knows that the Lord is his supreme protector, he thinks, “What harm can the so-called enemy do?” Thus a devotee is confident about his protection. The Lord says, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham: “According to the proportion of one’s surrender unto Me, I respond accordingly.” A devotee must therefore be completely free from envy, especially of other devotees. To envy other devotees is a great offense, a vaiṣṇava-aparādha. A devotee who constantly engages in hearing and chanting (śravaṇa-kīrtana) is certainly freed from the disease of envy, and thus he becomes eligible to go back home, back to Godhead.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead does not allow any of His devotees or assistants to be engaged in sense gratification. The younger brothers of Lord Rāmacandra were at home enjoying the personal presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the Lord ordered Them to go out and achieve victory all over the world. It was the custom (and this custom, in some places, is still current) that all other kings would have to accept the supremacy of the emperor. If the king of a small state did not accept the emperor’s supremacy, there would be a fight, and the king of the small state would be obliged to accept the emperor as supreme; otherwise, it would not be possible for the emperor to rule the country.

Lord Rāmacandra showed His favor to His brothers by ordering Them to go out. Many of the Lord’s devotees residing in Vṛndāvana have taken the vow not to leave Vṛndāvana to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But the Lord says that Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be spread all over the world, in every village and every town. This is the open order of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

A pure devotee, therefore, must execute the order of the Lord and must not gratify his senses by remaining stagnant in one place, falsely proud, thinking that because he does not leave Vṛndāvana but chants in a solitary place he has become a great devotee. A devotee must carry out the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa. Every devotee, therefore, should spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness by preaching, asking whomever he meets to accept the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.” This is the order of the Lord, who speaks as the supreme emperor. Everyone should be induced to accept this order, for this is victory (dig-vijaya). And it is the duty of the soldier, the devotee, to impress upon everyone this philosophy of life.

Of course, those who are kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs do not preach, but the Lord shows mercy to them also, as He did by staying personally in Ayodhyā to give audience to the people in general. One should not mistakenly think that the Lord asked His younger brothers to leave Ayodhyā because He especially favored the citizens. The Lord is merciful to everyone, and He knows how to show His favor to each individual person according to his capacity. One who abides by the order of the Lord is a pure devotee.

We have simply heard about the opulence of Rāma-rājya during the reign of Lord Rāmacandra. Now, here is one example of the opulence of the Lord’s kingdom. The streets of Ayodhyā were not only cleaned but also sprinkled with perfumed water and drops of perfumed liquor, which were distributed by elephants through their trunks. There was no need of sprinkling machines, for the elephant has a natural ability to suck water through its trunk and again throw it out in a shower. We can understand the opulence of the city from this one example: it was actually sprinkled with perfumed water. Moreover, the citizens had the opportunity to see the Lord personally supervising the affairs of the state. He was not a sleeping monarch, as we can understand from His activities in sending His brothers to see to affairs outside the capital and punish anyone who did not obey the emperor’s orders. This is called dig-vijaya. The citizens were all given facilities for peaceful life, and they were also qualified with appropriate attributes according to varṇāśrama. As we have seen from the previous chapter, varṇāśrama-guṇānvitāḥ: the citizens were trained according to the varṇāśrama system. A class of men were brāhmaṇas, a class of men were kṣatriyas, a class were vaiśyas, and a class were śūdras. Without this scientific division, there can be no question of good citizenship. The King, being magnanimous and perfect in His duty, performed many sacrifices and treated the citizens as His sons, and the citizens, being trained in the varṇāśrama system, were obedient and perfectly ordered. The entire monarchy was so opulent and peaceful that the government was even able to sprinkle the street with perfumed water, what to speak of other management. Since the city was sprinkled with perfumed water, we can simply imagine how opulent it was in other respects. Why should the citizens not have felt happy during the reign of Lord Rāmacandra?