Though as a woman I am not worthy to hear it, yet I am your servant in thought and word and deed. The saints do not withhold even the deepest mysteries wherever they find a man smitten with agony and therefore qualified to receive it.

I ask you, O king of heavens, with a heart sore distressed; be gracious enough to tell me the story of Raghunatha. First, consider and tell me the cause why the unqualified Brahma assumes a qualified form (i.e., why the impersonal Absolute becomes personal).

Then, my lord, relate the story of Rama’s incarnation and the pretty exploits of his childhood. Then let me know how he wedded Janaka’s daughter, Sita, and the fault for which he was exiled from his father’s kingdom later on.

Then describe the innumerable deeds performed by him when living in the forest; and further tell me, my lord, how he slew Ravana. Then relate, O most amiable Shankara, all his sportive acts when he sat upon the throne of his kingdom.

Thereafter relate, O gracious Lord, his marvellous acts, how that jewel of Raghu’s line passed to his divine abode with his subjects.

Then, my lord, explain that profound truth in the knowledge of which enlightened sages remain absorbed. And thereafter explain the conceptions of devotion, wisdom (knowledge of the formless Absolute), supreme knowledge (i.e., the knowledge of qualified Divinity with and without form) and detachment, each with its several parts.

Over and above this, O lord of purest understanding, tell me of any other mysteries connected with Rama; if there be anything which I may have left unasked, do not hide from me, my gracious lord.