इक्ष्वाकुवंश अवतीर्य गुरोर्निदेशे ।
तिष्ठन्वनं सदयितानुज आविवेश
यस्मिन्विरुध्य दशकन्धर आर्तिमार्च्छत् ॥२३॥
asmat-prasÄda-sumukhaḥ kalayÄ kaleÅ›a
iká¹£vÄku-vamÅ›a avatÄ«rya guror nideÅ›e
tiá¹£á¹han vanaá¹ sa-dayitÄnuja ÄviveÅ›a
yasmin virudhya daÅ›a-kandhara Ärtim Ärcchat
asmat - unto us, beginning from BrahmÄ down to the insignificant ant; prasÄda - causeless mercy; sumukhaḥ - so inclined; kalayÄ - with His plenary extensions; kaleÅ›aḥ - the Lord of all potencies; iká¹£vÄku - MahÄrÄja Iká¹£vÄku, in the dynasty of the sun; vamÅ›e - family; avatÄ«rya - by descending in; guroḥ - of the father or spiritual master; nideÅ›e - under the order of; tiá¹£á¹han - being situated in; vanam - in the forest; sa-dayitÄ-anujaḥ - along with His wife and younger brother; ÄviveÅ›a - entered; yasmin - unto whom; virudhya - being rebellious; daÅ›a-kandharaḥ - RÄvaṇa, who had ten heads; Ärtim - great distress; Ärcchat - achieved.
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 MahÄrÄja Iká¹£vÄku as the Lord of His internal potency, SÄ«tÄ. Under the order of His father, MahÄrÄja DaÅ›aratha, He entered the forest and lived there for considerable years with His wife and younger brother. RÄvaṇa, who was very materially powerful, with ten heads on his shoulders, committed a great offense against Him and was thus ultimately vanquished.
Lord RÄma is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His brothers, namely Bharata, Laká¹£maṇa and Åšatrughna, are His plenary expansions. All four brothers are viṣṇu-tattva and were never ordinary human beings. There are many unscrupulous and ignorant commentators on RÄmÄyaṇa who present the younger brothers of Lord RÄmacandra as ordinary living entities. But here in the ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, the most authentic scripture on the science of Godhead, it is clearly stated that His brothers were His plenary expansions. Originally Lord RÄmacandra is the incarnation of VÄsudeva, Laká¹£maṇa is the incarnation of Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, Bharata is the incarnation of Pradyumna, and Åšatrughna is the incarnation of Aniruddha, expansions of the Personality of Godhead. Laká¹£mÄ«jÄ« SÄ«tÄ is the internal potency of the Lord and is neither an ordinary woman nor the external potency incarnation of DurgÄ. DurgÄ is the external potency of the Lord, and she is associated with Lord Åšiva.
As stated in the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (4.7), the Lord appears when there are discrepancies in the discharge of factual religion. Lord RÄmacandra also appeared under the same circumstances, accompanied by His brothers, who are expansions of the Lord’s internal potency, and by Laká¹£mÄ«jÄ« SÄ«tÄdevÄ«.
Lord RÄmacandra was ordered by His father, MahÄrÄja DaÅ›aratha, 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 AyodhyÄ. One of His younger brothers, Laká¹£maṇajÄ«, desired to go with Him, and so also His eternal wife, SÄ«tÄjÄ«, desired to go with Him. The Lord agreed to both of them, and all together they entered the Daṇá¸akÄraṇya Forest, to live there for fourteen years. During their stay in the forest, there was some quarrel between RÄmacandra and RÄvaṇa, and the latter kidnapped the Lord’s wife, SÄ«tÄ. The quarrel ended in the vanquishing of the greatly powerful RÄvaṇa, along with all his kingdom and family.
SÄ«tÄ is Laká¹£mÄ«jÄ«, 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, ÅšrÄ« RÄmacandra. A materialistic man like RÄvaṇa does not understand this great truth, but on the contrary he wants to snatch SÄ«tÄdevÄ« from the custody of RÄma and thus incurs great miseries. The materialists, who are after opulence and material prosperity, may take lessons from the RÄmÄyaṇa that the policy of exploiting the nature of the Lord without acknowledging the supremacy of the Supreme Lord is the policy of RÄvaṇa. RÄvaṇa was very advanced materially, so much so that he turned his kingdom, Laá¹…kÄ, into pure gold, or full material wealth. But because he did not recognize the supremacy of Lord RÄmacandra and defied Him by stealing His wife, SÄ«tÄ, RÄvaṇa was killed, and all his opulence and power were destroyed.
Lord RÄmacandra is a full incarnation with six opulences in full, and He is therefore mentioned in this verse as kaleÅ›aḥ, or master of all opulence.
