Rama is praised as Dharmah in the Vishnu Sahasranama, said M.A. Venkatakrishnan in a discourse. Brahma praised Rama as the Supreme Dharma. Another name for Rama in the Sahasranama is Uttamah. The Sahasranama says, Dharmavid Uttamah. Dharmavid means one who knows dharma. Among all such persons, Rama is the best. Dasaratha, despite being Rama’s father, went to svarga. Svarga is not a permanent place of stay for anyone. When one’s punyas are exhausted, one has to be born again on the earth. Svarga is not synonymous with moksha. That being the case, why did Rama not grant moksha to Dasaratha? Why did He only give him the inferior position of being a resident of svarga?
Dasaratha, strictly speaking, should have gone to naraka. It is because of Rama’s kindness that he went to svarga. Dasaratha did not deserve moksha. Dasaratha had made a promise to Kaikeyi, and in order to honour that promise, he banished Rama, the embodiment of dharma, to the forest. How can a promise to Kaikeyi be more important than the Lord Himself? People keep to the path of dharma in order to reach Him. When Dasaratha had the boon of having Rama beside him, he parted from Rama, to keep his word to Kaikeyi. Hence, he did not get moksha.
Vibhishana, on the other hand, left his country and his kinsmen and turned against his brother, because what the latter was doing was against dharma. He sought Rama and surrendered to Him. And Rama gladly accepted Vibhishana, and explained Saranagati dharma to His followers. When a lake or river gets full, water flows out through an outlet so that flooding is avoided. The Lord is so full of good qualities that there is a need for some of them to overflow and benefit mankind. And how else can He accomplish this than by taking avataras?
