यमेवाधातुमिच्छन्ति तापसाः सततं वने।
तस्यासौ दृश्यते धूमः संकुलः कृष्णवर्त्मनः॥
yam evādhātum icchanti tāpasāḥ satataṁ vane
tasyāsau dṛśyate dhūmaḥ saṅkulaḥ kṛṣṇa-vartmanaḥ
yam eva = that; ādhātum = to maintain; icchanti = wish; tāpasāḥ = ascetics; satatam = always; vane = in the forest; tasya = from the; asau = here; dṛśyate = we can see; dhūmaḥ = smoke; saṅkulaḥ = the very thick; kṛṣṇa-vartmanaḥ = fire.
We can see here the very thick smoke from the fire that ascetics in the forest always wish to maintain.
1 According to the scriptures, besides the fire meant for cooking, there were four sacred fires: (1) āvasathya, (2) gārhapatya, (3) āhavanīya and (4) dakṣiṇa. The first of the above sacred fire was also known as the gṛhyāgni or smārtāgni and all the domestic rituals mentioned in the Gṛhya-sūtras are performed using it. The remaining three of the above sacred fires are collectively known as tretāgni or śrautāgni and their presence is absolutely necessary for the performance of the rituals prescribed in the Śrauta-sūtras. According to Pāraskarīya Gṛhya-sūtra 1.2.1, the gṛhyāgni was established by every householder of the higher three varṇas in his home usually at the time of his wedding: āvasathyādhānaṁ dāra-kāle. And for every ritual to be performed using it, he has the option to act as his own priest. The tretāgni, on the other hand, was maintained only by a few and to maintain and use it one absolutely needs the four types of sacrificial brāhmaṇa priests (ṛtviks).
2 Apart from the fact that wherever the Supreme Personality of Godhead is present, that place becomes pure.
3 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.3.52 states, kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt: “Whatever result was obtained in Satya-yuga by meditating on Viṣṇu, in Tretā-yuga by performing sacrifices, and in Dvāpara-yuga by serving the Lord’s lotus feet can be obtained in Kali-yuga simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.”
The excessive smoke indicates that they had come very close to Rāma’s āśrama.
The fire sacrifice referred to here followed the Gṛhya-sūtras, not the Śrauta-sūtras.
Had He conducted the former type of fire sacrifice, using the three fires [for performing the sacrifice mentioned in the Śrauta-sūtras], it would have been mentioned [by the author Śrī Vālmīki] that they were carried when Rāma journeyed to the forest just as [the author states in the Uttara-kāṇḍa that] Rāma will have the agnihotra fire carried at the time of His final journey [to Vaikuṇṭha from Ayodhyā with all the citizens]:
prabhātāyāṁ tu śarvaryāṁ pṛthu-vakṣā mahā-yaśāḥ
rāmaḥ kamala-patrākṣaḥ purodhasam athābravīt
agnihotraṁ vrajatv agre dīpyamānaṁ saha dvijaiḥ
vājapeyātapatraṁ ca śobhamānaṁ mahā-pathe
“When the night turned into dawn, the large-chested and lotus-eyed Rāma of great fame told His priest [the following]: ‘Let the burning agnihotra fire and the beautiful Vājapeya umbrella go ahead with the twice-born on [this] great path.’” (Rāmāyaṇa 7.109.1-2)
It was stated that the elderly citizens of Ayodhyā who followed Rāma came with their sacrificial fires. [But there is no description of Rāma coming with a sacrificial fire when He left Ayodhyā.]
Moreover, it can be inferred from the following statement of Sītā-devī where she expresses her cherished desire to Rāma that prior to Rāma’s coronation, He was not initiated into a sacrifice [following the Śrauta-sūtras]:
dīkṣitaṁ vrata-sampannaṁ varājinadharaṁ śucim
kuraṅga-śṛṅga-pāṇiṁ ca paśyantī tvāṁ bhajāmy aham
“I serve You so that I can see You initiated into the sacrifice, wear fine deer skin, fulfill the required vows, maintain the principles of purity and hold the horn of a kuraṅga deer in Your hand.” (Rāmāyaṇa 2.16.23)
Therefore, this sacrificial fire is the gṛhyāgni which can be kindled by oneself—so one can’t argue that Rāma didn’t bring it [from Ayodhyā].1
And one can’t argue, “It is possible to understand this verse to mean that the ascetics in the forest had a fire as the means to ward off the cold, to illuminate and to cook their roots and other such foodstuffs. So this does not refer to the gṛhyāgni [either].”
No, because this understanding contradicts a later observation in this chapter:
prāg-udak-pravaṇāṁ vediṁ viśālāṁ dīpta-pāvakām
dadarśa bharatas tatra puṇyāṁ rāma-niveśane
“Bharata saw in that residence of Rāma a spacious altar which shone like fire and which sloped towards the north-east.” (Rāmāyaṇa 2.99.24)
An altar here indicates that the fire was a sacred fire. And the altar had the characteristics of a sacrificial altar—it was spacious, it shone like fire and it sloped towards the north-east—and this reveals that the fire connected to it was a sacred fire.
Rāma performed fire sacrifices during His residence in the forest until Sītā-devī was kidnapped. Rāma’s residence was thus [ritually] pure.2
NOTE. The yuga-dharma for Tretā-yuga is the performance of fire sacrifices for the pleasure of the Lord. The yuga-dharma for Kali-yuga, as we learn from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is nāma-saṅkīrtana, to offenselessly chant the holy names of the Lord.3
The yuga-dharmas are different because the yugas have different natures as described by Prabhupāda thus:
The duration of the material universe is limited. It is manifested in cycles of kalpas. A kalpa is a day of Brahmā, and one day of Brahmā consists of a thousand cycles of four yugas, or ages: Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali. The cycle of Satya is characterized by virtue, wisdom and religion, there being practically no ignorance and vice, and the yuga lasts 1,728,000 years. In the Tretā-yuga vice is introduced, and this yuga lasts 1,296,000 years. In the Dvāpara-yuga there is an even greater decline in virtue and religion, vice increasing, and this yuga lasts 864,000 years. And finally in Kali-yuga (the yuga we have now been experiencing over the past 5,000 years) there is an abundance of strife, ignorance, irreligion and vice, true virtue being practically nonexistent, and this yuga lasts 432,000 years. (Bhagavad-gītā 8.17 purport)