When Rama, the ocean of amiability, heard that his guru had arrived, he left Shatrughna with Sita and the all-merciful went off in haste that very minute, a supremely steadfast champion of virtue that he was.

On seeing the guru, both the Lord and his younger brother (Lakshmana) were overwhelmed with affection and fell prostrate before him, but the great sage ran and clasped them to his bosom and rapturously greeted them.

Trembling with emotion and giving his name, the boatman too prostrated himself at a respectable distance, but the sage forcibly embraced him as Rama’s friend, as though he had gathered up Love rolling about on the ground.

‘Devotion to Raghunatha is the root of all choice blessings!’ Thus applauding, the gods in heaven rained down flowers. ‘There is no one so utterly vile as this man nor one so great as Vasishtha in his world;

- yet on seeing him, the lord of sages embraced him with greater joy than even Lakshmana; such is the manifest glory and the influence of faith in Sita’s lord!’

When Rama the all-compassionate, the all-wise and blessed Lord perceived that all the people were distressed, he gave everyone his wish in the manner he most desired.

In an instant he and his younger brother embraced them all and relived the sore anguish of their pain; and this was no great achievement for Rama; for one can see the same sun casting its many reflections, all distinct from one another, in a myriad water-jars simultaneously.