It is your good fortune that Rama goes to the forest; that, my son, is the only reason. The highest reward of all meritorious deeds is verily this – to have a spontaneous affection for the feet of Sita and Rama.

Never for one moment yield to lust, or passion, or envy, or arrogance, or infatuation; but avoid all such vices and serve them (Sita and Rama) in thought and word and deed.

For you the forest will be a place of pure delight, for you will have with you Rama and Sita, your father and mother. Take care, my son, that Rama suffers no trouble in the woods: this is my admonition.

Yes, this is my admonition to you, my son; see to it that Rama and Sita are happy and in the forest forget to remember their father and mother, their friends and relatives and all the enjoyments of the city.’ Thus she instructed her son, says Tulasidasa, and once more blessed him and gave him leave (to accompany Rama), saying, ‘May your devotion to the feet of Sita and Rama be constant and selfless and ever new!’

Having bowed his head before his mother’s feet, Lakshmana departed in haste, anxious at heart, as flies a hapless deer that has by good fortune broken through a perilous snare.

Lakshmana went straight to Janaki’s lord, Rama, glad at heart to find himself in the company of his dear brother. He bowed to the beauteous feet of Rama and Sita and accompanied them to the king’s palace.

The men and women of the city were saying to one another, ‘How strange that God has marred the plan he devised so propitious at the beginning!’ With emaciated bodies, sorrowful hearts and doleful faces, they felt as miserable as bees robbed of their honey.