एकपत्नीव्रतधरो राजर्षिचरितः शुचिः ।
स्वधर्मं गृहमेधीयं शिक्षयन् स्वयमाचरत् ॥५४॥

eka-patnī-vrata-dharo
rÄjará¹£i-caritaḥ Å›uciḥ
sva-dharmaá¹ gá¹›ha-medhÄ«yaá¹
Å›iká¹£ayan svayam Äcarat

 eka-patnÄ«-vrata-dharaḥ - taking a vow not to accept a second wife or to have any connection with any other woman; rÄja-ṛṣi - like a saintly king; caritaḥ - whose character; Å›uciḥ - pure; sva-dharmam - one's own occupational duty; gá¹›ha-medhÄ«yam - especially of persons situated in household life; Å›iká¹£ayan - teaching (by personal behavior); svayam - personally; Äcarat - executed His duty.


Text

Lord RÄmacandra took a vow to accept only one wife and have no connection with any other women. He was a saintly king, and everything in His character was good, untinged by qualities like anger. He taught good behavior for everyone, especially for householders, in terms of varṇÄÅ›rama-dharma. Thus He taught the general public by His personal activities.

Purport

Eka-patnÄ«-vrata, accepting only one wife, was the glorious example set by Lord RÄmacandra. One should not accept more than one wife. In those days, of course, people did marry more than one wife. Even Lord RÄmacandra’s father accepted more wives than one. But Lord RÄmacandra, as an ideal king, accepted only one wife, mother SÄ«tÄ. When mother SÄ«tÄ was kidnapped by RÄvaṇa and the RÄká¹£asas, Lord RÄmacandra, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, could have married hundreds and thousands of SÄ«tÄs, but to teach us how faithful He was to His wife, He fought with RÄvaṇa and finally killed him. The Lord punished RÄvaṇa and rescued His wife to instruct men to have only one wife. Lord RÄmacandra accepted only one wife and manifested sublime character, thus setting an example for householders. A householder should live according to the ideal of Lord RÄmacandra, who showed how to be a perfect person. Being a householder or living with a wife and children is never condemned, provided one lives according to the regulative principles of varṇÄÅ›rama-dharma. Those who live in accordance with these principles, whether as householders, brahmacÄrÄ«s or vÄnaprasthas, are all equally important.