Such was the disposition of Rama after his return from the pilgrimage as explained by one of his attendant. In chapters to follow we shall now see what Rama’s real apathy is as explained in his own words. God gives this opportunity to all human beings as a feeling of loneliness and detachment from the Objective World. This is actually the pull of the soul towards its source God. But we fail to recognize the pull and miss the golden opportunity. This also calls for the guidance of a realized teacher and only a few fortunate human beings who reflect upon the transient nature of the world get necessary help.

1. 1
Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 10
The Melancholy of Rama
Book I, Chapter 10
The Melancholy of Rama
(A Feeling of Thoughtful Sadness)
1Valmiki related:
After Vashishtha finished speaking, King Dasharata
was glad to send for Rama and his brother Lakshman,
saying, 2“Chamberlain, go and quickly bring here the
truly mighty and long armed Rama with Lakshman, for
the praiseworthy purpose of removing the
impediments of religious acts.”
3Thus sent by the king, the chamberlain went to the
inner apartment. After some moments, he returned and
informed the king, 4“O sire! Rama, whose arms have
crushed all his foes, remains rapt in thoughts in his
room like a bee closed in a lotus at night. 5He said that
he is coming in a moment, but he is so lost in his lonely
meditation that he likes nobody to be near him.”
6Thus advised by the chamberlain, the king called one
of Rama’s attendants, and having given him every
assurance, asked him to relate the particulars.
7On being asked by the king how Rama had come to
that state, the attendant replied in a sorrowful mood,
8“Sir, we have also become as lean as sticks in our
bodies, in sorrow for the fading away of your son Rama
in his body. 9The lotus-eyed Rama appears dejected
ever since he has come back from his pilgrimage in
company with the Brahmins.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 10
The Melancholy of Rama
10When asked to perform his daily rites, he sometimes
discharges them with a sad face, and at other times, he
wholly dispenses with them.
11He is adverse, O lord, to bathing, to worshipping the
gods, to the distribution of alms, and to his meals also.
Even when we troubled him to eat, he does not take his
food with a good relish.”
12“He no longer allows the playful harem girls to rock
him in swinging cradles by, nor does he play under the
showering fountains like in rainwater.
13No ornaments beset with the bud-shaped rubies, no
bracelets or necklace, O king, can please him now. In
the same manner, those who expect their fall from
heaven would be pleased by nothing in it.”
14“He is sorrowful even while sitting in the tree gardens
of vines, entertained by flowery breezes, and amidst the
looks of maidens playing around him.
15O king, he looks at whatever is good and sweet,
elegant and pleasing to the soul with sorrowful eyes,
like one whose eyes are already satisfied with viewing
them heaped up in piles.
16He would speak ill of the girls who would dance
merrily before him, and exclaim out, ‘Why should these
ladies of the harem flutter about in this way causing
grief in me?’

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 10
The Melancholy of Rama
17His doings are like those of a madman who takes no
delight at his food or rest, his vehicles or seats, his baths
and other pleasures, however excellent they may be.”
18“As regards prosperity or adversity, his rooms or any
other desirable thing, he says they are all unreal, and
then he holds his silence.
19He cannot be excited by pleasantry or tempted to taste
pleasures. He attends to no business, but remains in
silence.
20No woman with her loosened locks and tresses and
the tempting glances of her eyes can please him, any
more than a playful fawn can please the trees in the
forest.
21Like a man sold to savages, he takes delight in lonely
places, in remotest areas, in the banks of rivers and wild
deserts.”
22“O king, his aversion to clothing, conveyance, food
and presents indicates that he is following the line of
life led by wandering ascetics.
23He lives alone in a lonely place and neither laughs nor
sings nor cries aloud from a sense of his indifference to
them. 24Seated in the lotus posture with folded legs, he
stays with a distracted mind, reclining his cheek on his
left palm.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 10
The Melancholy of Rama
25He assumes no pride to himself and does not wish for
the dignity of sovereignty. He is neither elated with joy
nor depressed by grief or pain.
26We do not know where he goes, what he does, what he
desires, what he meditates upon, or from where or
when he comes and what he follows.”
27“He is getting lean every day, growing pale day by
day. Like a tree at the end of autumn, he is becoming
discoloured day after day. 28O king, his brothers
Satrughna and Lakshman follow all his habits and
resemble his very shadow.
29Repeatedly asked about his unsound mind by his
servants, brother-princes and mothers, Rama says he
has none, and then resumes his silence and
detachment.”
30“He lectures his companions and friends saying, ‘Do
not set your mind to sensual enjoyments which are only
pleasing for the time being.’
31He has no affection for the richly adorned women of
the harem, but rather looks upon them as the cause of
destruction presented before him.
32He often sings in plaintive notes how his life is being
spent in vain cares, estranged from those of the easily
attainable state of heavenly bliss. 33Should some
courtier speak of his being an emperor one day, he

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 10
The Melancholy of Rama
smiles at him as upon a raving madman, and then
remains silent as one distracted in his mind?
34He does not pay heed to what is said to him, nor does
he look at anything presented before him. He hates to
look upon even the most charming of things.
35As it is imaginary and unreal to suppose the existence
of an ethereal lake or a lotus growing in it, so it is false
to believe the reality of the mind and its conceptions.’
Saying so Rama marvels at nothing.”
36“Even when sitting among beautiful maids, the darts
of Kama Deva, the god of love, fail to pierce his
impenetrable heart, like showers of rain cannot pierce
a rock.
37Rama makes his motto, ‘No sensible man should ever
wish for riches which are but the seats of dangers,’ and
he gives all that he has to beggars.
38He sings some verses to this effect, that ‘It is an error
to call one thing prosperity and the other adversity
when they are both only imaginations of the mind.’
39He repeats some words to the effect that,
‘Though it is the general cry, ‘O I am gone, I am
helpless grown,’ yet it is a wonder, that nobody
should take himself to utter detachment.’”

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 10
The Melancholy of Rama
40“That Rama, the destroyer of enemies, the great oak
grown in the garden of Raghu, should get into such a
state of mind is what causes grief in us.
41We do not know, O great armed and lotus-eyed king,
what to do with him in this state of his mind. We hope
only in you.”
42“He laughs to scorn the counsels of the princes and
Brahmins before him, and spurns them as if they were
fools.
43He remains inactive with the conviction that the world
which appears to our view is a vanity, and the idea of
self is also a vanity.
44He has no respect for foes or friends, for himself or his
kingdom, mother or riches, nor does he pay any regard
to prosperity or adversity.
45He is altogether quiet, without any desire or effort and
devoid of a mainstay. He is neither captivated by
anything nor freed from worldly thoughts. These are
the reasons which afflict us most.”
46“He says, ‘What have we to do with riches, with our
mothers, with this kingdom and all our activities?’
Under these impressions, he is about to give up his life.
47As the swallow grows restless when hurricanes
obstruct the rains, so has Rama become impatient under

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 10
The Melancholy of Rama
the restraint of his father and mother, his friends and
kingdom, his enjoyments and even his own life.”
48“In compassion on your son, incline to root out this
annoyance which like a harmful vine has been
spreading its shoots. 49For under such a disposition of
his mind, and in spite of his possession of all affluence,
he looks upon the enjoyments of the world as his
poison.
50Where is that powerful person on this earth who can
restore him to proper conduct? 51Who is there who will
remove the errors that have caused grief in Rama’s
mind, like the sun removes the darkness of the world?”
*******
[Such was the disposition of Rama after his return from
the pilgrimage as explained by one of his attendant. In
chapters to follow we shall now see what Rama’s real
apathy is as explained in his own words.]
[God gives this opportunity to all human beings as a
feeling of loneliness and detachment from the
Objective World. This is actually the pull of the soul
towards its source God. But we fail to recognize the pull
and miss the golden opportunity. This also calls for the
guidance of a realized teacher and only a few fortunate
human beings who reflect upon the transient nature of
the world get necessary help.]