Millions of years ago, after being prayed for by the demigods, Lord Ramachandra, the Supreme Lord, the Absolute Truth Himself, directly appeared in Ayodhya, North India, as the son of the king Maharaja Dasharath. King Dasharath had three wives (Kaushalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra), and four sons (Rama, Bharat, Lakshman and Shatrughna). Rama was born of Kaushalya, Bharata of Kaikeyi, whilst Lakshman and Shatrughna were born of Sumitra. Kaikeyi was very dear to Dasharath, and so he had promised her benedictions, which she could ask for whenever she felt the time was appropriate.

When Rama grew to adulthood, Dasharath prepared to crown Lord Rama as the next king. Kaikeyi, after being convinced by her crooked maidservant Manthra, felt envious and wanted her own son Bharat to be king. So she asked as her benedictions from Dasharath to have Lord Rama sent to the forest and to have Bharat crowned as the next king. In order to protect the word of honour of His father, Lord Ramachandra, upon hearing Kaikeyi’s request, went with His chaste wife Sita Devi and younger brother Lakshman to reside in the forest.

An evil king named Ravana heard about the beauty of Rama’s wife, and wanted Her for himself. So he sent his associate Marici in disguise of a beautiful deer to attract the mind of Sita, who asked Rama to catch the deer. When Rama went to kill the deer, Marici revealed his identity and cried “Help!” in the voice of Rama. Sita thought Rama was in trouble so sent Lakshman to help Him, leaving Her by Herself. At this opportune moment, Ravana kidnapped Sita.

After finding out what Ravana had done, Rama and Lakshman set off for Ravana’s kingdom and on Their way, they made an alliance with an army of divine monkey soldiers. Ravana lived on the island of Lanka, and in order to get there, Lord Rama had to cross the ocean, so He constructed a bridge over it by throwing into the water mountain peaks which mystically floated on the ocean.

Although warned by Hanuman, Lord Rama’s messenger, Ravana did not free Sita Devi, and so Rama and His army of monkey soldiers attacked and defeated the soldiers of Ravana, which made Ravana extremely angry. Ravana then tried to personally attack Lord Rama, and in reply, Lord Ramachandra fixed an arrow to His bow, aimed at Ravana, and released the arrow, which pierced Ravanaa’s heart like a thunderbolt.

After giving Vibhishan, the brother of Ravana, the power to rule the population of Lanka, Lord Ramachandra placed Sita Devi on an airplane decorated with flowers and returned to Ayodhya. Upon arriving back to Ayodhya, the Lord’s younger brother, Lord Bharat, stood with folded hands, His eyes full of tears, because He had so greatly missed Rama while He was exiled. Lord Ramachandra bathed Bharat with tears while embracing Him with both arms for a long time.

Bharat was in great joy to see the throne return to the rightful heir, Lord Rama. When Lord Ramachandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was the King of this world, all bodily and mental suffering, disease, old age, bereavement, lamentation, distress, fear and fatigue were completely absent. Similarly, all auspicious conditions can manifest in our lives when we keep the Lord in the centre of our lives.