Later Visvamithra went to king janaka's palace along with Sri Rama and Lakshamana. Sri Rama broke the divine bow ofLord Shiva and married Sita, daughter of janaka. This again was the result of a stroke of diplomacy on the partof the royal priest Vasishta and made the two great royal families as a result of this marriage.
Later when king Dashratha decided to perform the coronation ceremony of Sri Rama, it was Vasishta who was an authority in Atharveda took the lead and made all the arrangements for the coronation. He successfully completed allthe preliminaries such as fasting by Sri Rama and Sita according to shastraic rituals.
Though every detail of the ceremony was meticulously planned by Vasishta, everything went haywire as a result ofa plot by queen Kaikeyi and Rama was about to leave for the forest, Vasishta saw Sita dressed in clothes made fromfibre of plants, he was greatlypainted. He asked her not to go to the forest in that dress. He scolded Kaikeyifor the havoc she had caused. With all that he could not stop Sita and Lakshamana from going to the forest. Theyhad to suffer a lot in the forest. But the fersighted and the one who could foresee future events kept his coolwhen he knew that everything was going to end well.
With the departure of Sri Rama to the forest dashratha became broken hearted and passed away. Vasishta asked Bharathato assume the role of king and rule over Ayodhya till Sri Rama returned from the forest at the end of fourteenyears. But Bharatha was broken hearted as a result of his father's death and his beloved brother's exile and herefudes to become king. Then Vasishta tool Bharatha to the forest made him meet Sri Rama and on his advice Bharathaagreed to rule over Ayodhya till he returned. This way the royal priest succeeded in lessening for efficient administrationof the land.
When Sri Rama killed Ravana and returned to Ayodhya, Vasishta successfully conducted the coronation of Sri Rama.We thus see that Sage Vasishta took great care and interest in the welfare of the royal family of ayodhya and the smoothrunning of the administration of the kingdom of Ayodhaya. The kings of Isshwaku clan could rule well and attain heaven onlu with thehelp of sage Vasishta. Even the great royal seer and dispenser of spiritual codes of conduct and begged him toinitiate him to Brahmajnana. This is certainly a clear pointer to sage Vasishta's greatness.
Once Vasishta was away from his ashram on some work. At that time the eight Vasu and their wives came. the wife ofone of the Vasus saw the divine cow Nandini and she liked her very much and she wanted to have her. When herhusband said, that the milk of that cow was equal to nectar and the one who drank it becomes deathless, her desireto possess Nandini became unstoppable. She wanted to give the milk of his cow to her friend Jeethavathi. Sheprevailed upon her husband to get the cow for her. Having no courage to say no the poor vasu took away Nandinito his place by force. The other seven vasus did not protest. Nandini did not try to protect herself as she haddone earlier when Kasuhika tried to take her away.
When Vasishta returned to the ashram he was shocked on not seeing the divine Nandini. He searched for her everywherein vain. At last with his divine power he came to know what had happened and where his beloved Nandini was. hewas extremely angry," May all the eight Vasus be born as human beings", he cursed.
Very soon the Vasus came to know about the sage's curse and they repented for having taken away the sage's cow. Theycame to Vasishta with Nandini, fell at his feet and implored,"O great sage, please revoke the curse and pardon us".
Vasishta wa pleased and said,"when Dhava took away the sacred cow, you kept quiet and that is equal toconniving in his act. It is a great sin. You may be semi-gods, but it is against all accepted norms ofbehaviour expected of you.