Prof. Anil Kumar: Swami! We heard about King Dasaratha, the yoga called ‘putrakameshti’, and so on. Kindly tell us something about King Janaka.

Bhagavan: 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 spirit 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 (wisdom and renunciation).

Source: ‘Satyopanisad’ by Prof. Anil Kumar Kamaraju