Satyopanisad

[Guest guest]

Swami! We heard about King Dasaratha, the yoga called `putrakameshti',

and so on. Kindly tell us something about King Janaka.

 

Janaka was a Rajayogi, a man of great wisdom, utterly devoid of the

sense of the body. Therefore, he came to be known as videha, one

without attachment to the body. As the daughter of that King, Sita came

to be known as vaidehi. Janaka was an ideal king possessing immense

devotion to the preceptor, extensive knowledge of the Sastras, and the

sprit of renunciation. He performed Sita's marriage as his bounden

duty. Later on, Rama left for the forest along with Sita and Lakshmana.

Though their stay in the forest stretched into years, Janaka never set

foot in the forest. Such was Janaka's abounding wealth of jnana and

vairagya.