Let alone those, my Lord, who know you as personal, impersonal, and the witness of all hearts; but in my heart may that Rama who is the lotus-eyed lord of Kosala make his abode!

Never let this exalted feeling disappear from my mind even in an unguarded moment that I am Rama’s servant and he my master!’ Rama was pleased when he heard the sage’s words, and in his delight he took the great sage to his bosom again and said,

‘Know me to be supremely pleased, O sage; I will grant you any boon you may choose to ask.’ ‘I have never asked a boon,’ replied the sage, ‘and know not what is real and what unreal (what I should ask, what not).

Grant me, O Raghunatha, the delighter of your devotees, whatever you think best.’ Said Rama, ‘May you become a repository of deep devotion, dispassion and spiritual wisdom, all knowledge and every virtue!’

‘I have received the boon my Lord has been pleased to grant. Now grant me that which I cherish most.

Armed with your bow and arrows and accompanied by your brother and Sita, O Rama, my Lord, pray, dwell for ever unmoved in the firmament of my heart, like the moon in the sky.

So be it!’ said Lakshmi’s lord, as he joyfully set out to visit the jar-born seer Agastya. Said Sutikshna, ‘It is a long time since I last saw my guru and came to live in this hermitage.