Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.7.23

asmat-prasāda-sumukhah kalayā kaleśa

ikshvāku-vamśa avatīrya guror nideśe

tishthan vanam sa-dayitānuja āviveśa

yasmin virudhya daśa-kandhara ārtim ārcchat

SYNONYMS

asmat — unto us, beginning from Brahmā down to the insignificant ant; prasāda — causeless mercy; sumukhah — so inclined; kalayā — with His plenary extensions; kaleśah — the Lord of all potencies; ikshvāku — Mahārāja Ikshvāku, in the dynasty of the sun; vamśe — family; avatīrya — by descending in; guroh — of the father or spiritual master; nideśe — under the order of; tishthan — being situated in; vanam — in the forest; sa-dayitā-anujah — along with His wife and younger brother; āviveśa — entered; yasmin — unto whom; virudhya — being rebellious; daśa-kandharah — Rāvana, who had ten heads; ārtim — great distress; ārcchat — achieved.

TRANSLATION

Due to His causeless mercy upon all living entities within the universe, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with His plenary extensions, appeared in the family of Mahārāja Ikshvāku as the Lord of His internal potency, Sītā. Under the order of His father, Mahārāja Daśaratha, He entered the forest and lived there for considerable years with His wife and younger brother. Rāvana, who was very materially powerful, with ten heads on his shoulders, committed a great offense against Him and was thus ultimately vanquished.

PURPORT

Lord Rāma is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His brothers, namely Bharata, Lakshmana and Śatrughna, are His plenary expansions. All four brothers are vishnu-tattva and were never ordinary human beings. There are many unscrupulous and ignorant commentators on Rāmāyana who present the younger brothers of Lord Rāmacandra as ordinary living entities. But here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the most authentic scripture on the science of Godhead, it is clearly stated that His brothers were His plenary expansions. Originally Lord Rāmacandra is the incarnation of Vāsudeva, Lakshmana is the incarnation of Sańkarshana, Bharata is the incarnation of Pradyumna, and Śatrughna is the incarnation of Aniruddha, expansions of the Personality of Godhead. Lakshmījī Sītā is the internal potency of the Lord and is neither an ordinary woman nor the external potency incarnation of Durgā. Durgā is the external potency of the Lord, and she is associated with Lord Śiva.

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.7), the Lord appears when there are discrepancies in the discharge of factual religion. Lord Rāmacandra also appeared under the same circumstances, accompanied by His brothers, who are expansions of the Lord's internal potency, and by Lakshmījī Sītādevī.

Lord Rāmacandra was ordered by His father, Mahārāja Daśaratha, to leave home for the forest under awkward circumstances, and the Lord, as the ideal son of His father, carried out the order, even on the occasion of His being declared the King of Ayodhyā. One of His younger brothers, Lakshmanajī, desired to go with Him, and so also His eternal wife, Sītājī, desired to go with Him. The Lord agreed to both of them, and all together they entered the Dandakāranya Forest, to live there for fourteen years. During their stay in the forest, there was some quarrel between Rāmacandra and Rāvana, and the latter kidnapped the Lord's wife, Sītā. The quarrel ended in the vanquishing of the greatly powerful Rāvana, along with all his kingdom and family.

Sītā is Lakshmījī, or the goddess of fortune, but she is never to be enjoyed by any living being. She is meant for being worshiped by the living being along with her husband, Śrī Rāmacandra. A materialistic man like Rāvana does not understand this great truth, but on the contrary he wants to snatch Sītādevī from the custody of Rāma and thus incurs great miseries. The materialists, who are after opulence and material prosperity, may take lessons from the Rāmāyana that the policy of exploiting the nature of the Lord without acknowledging the supremacy of the Supreme Lord is the policy of Rāvana. Rāvana was very advanced materially, so much so that he turned his kingdom, Lańkā, into pure gold, or full material wealth. But because he did not recognize the supremacy of Lord Rāmacandra and defied Him by stealing His wife, Sītā, Rāvana was killed, and all his opulence and power were destroyed.

Lord Rāmacandra is a full incarnation with six opulences in full, and He is therefore mentioned in this verse as kaleśah, or master of all opulence.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness