Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 74: Bharata Condemns Kaikeyī
Text 2.74.33
सा त्वमग्निं प्रविश वा स्वयं वा दण्डकान्विश।
रज्जुं बधान वा कण्ठे न हि तेऽन्यत्परायणम्॥
sā tvam agniṁ praviśa vā svayaṁ vā daṇḍakān visa
rajjuṁ badhāna vā kaṇṭhe na hi te ’nyat parāyaṇam
sā tvam1 agnim = fire; praviśa vā = enter; svayam vā = personally; daṇḍakān = to Daṇḍakāraṇya; viśa = go; rajjum = with a rope; badhāna vā kaṇṭhe = or hang yourself; na hi te anyat = you have no other; parāyaṇam = way.
Enter fire, personally go to Daṇḍakāraṇya or hang yourself with a rope. You have no other way.
Bharata now states that Queen Kaikeyī cannot eradicate her sinful reaction except by killing herself as an atonement because she committed this great sin [of exiling Lord Rāma from His kingdom] intentionally.1
NOTE. To avoid serving Lord Rāmacandra is itself an offense, what to speak of exiling Him and that too intentionally?
That mere avoidance of service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is an offense is noted by Prabhupāda in his commentary to Bhagavad-gītā (6.47) thus:
One can avoid worshiping a respectable man or a demigod and may be called discourteous, but one cannot avoid serving the Supreme Lord without being thoroughly condemned. Every living entity is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus every living entity is intended to serve the Supreme Lord by his own constitution. Failing to do this, he falls down. The Bhāgavatam (11.5.3) confirms this as follows:
ya eṣāṁ puruṣaṁ sākṣād ātma-prabhavam īśvaram
na bhajanty avajānanti sthānād bhraṣṭāḥ patanty adhaḥ
“Anyone who does not render service and neglects his duty unto the primeval Lord, who is the source of all living entities, will certainly fall down from his constitutional position.”