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राम

पश्चिमखण्ड · अध्याय 52

The Eternal Great Abode

Global chapter 443 of 5148 passagesSource PDF pages 177178
Chapter context and opening material

Source: Volume 3, physical PDF pages 177–178 (printed pages 163–164). Structure: Eight continuously numbered Sanskrit verses: Śuka distinguishes the eternal Sarayū-bank realm from the world of māyā; explains that its radiant, rasa-filled form appears to devotees by Rāma's will; identifies Ayodhyā, its name, abode, form, qualities, and līlā with supreme Brahman; and declares this stainless Cit-world accessible through devotion alone. Summary: Beyond the material universe stands the eternal, consciousness-and-bliss-filled ground on the Sarayū. Although formless and beyond even the cognition of jñānins, it reveals a beautiful form to devotees. Rāma's will makes it luminous with rasa, love, name, embodied presence, qualities, and līlā. At its heart is the wish-fulfilling-tree-encircled city of Ayodhyā, an eternal, nondual realm called the world of consciousness. Knowledge and ritual action cannot disclose it; devotion alone can. The Realm Beyond Māyā

Passage 1

श्रीशुक उवाच— यदिदं मायामयं विश्वं तदर्वाक् सम्प्रतिष्ठितम्। नित्यं चिदानन्दमयं सरयूतीरभूमिगम्॥१॥

Śrī Śuka said: This universe made of māyā is established on the hither side of that eternal realm, formed of consciousness and bliss and situated upon the land of the Sarayū's bank.

Passage 2

अरूपवच्च तत्सर्वं ज्ञानिनामप्यगोचरम्। तथापि खलु भक्तानां दृश्यते रूपसुन्दरम्॥२॥

All of it is formless and beyond the reach even of knowers; nevertheless, it appears to devotees in a beautiful form.

Passage 3

तेजोमयं रसमयं भक्तिप्रेमोपबृंहितम्। इच्छया रामचन्द्रस्य परस्य ब्रह्मणः खलु॥३॥

By the will of Rāmacandra, who is indeed supreme Brahman, it is made of radiance and rasa and is magnified by devotion and love.

Passage 4

सर्वे तन्मयतां याता नामधामवपुर्गुणाः। लीलादिकं तत्र विश्वं परं ब्रह्मैव केवलम्॥४॥

Name, abode, embodied form, and qualities have all become wholly one with it. There, līlā and everything else in that world are nothing but supreme Brahman. Ayodhyā, the Cit-World

Passage 5

एतद्धि सहजानन्दमनोरथस्य पूर्तये। आदावेव स्वयं रामो रमते वै प्रमोदने॥५॥

Indeed, to fulfill the longing for innate bliss, Rāma himself has delighted in Pramoda from the very beginning.

Passage 6

यत्र कल्पद्रुमारामवेष्टितं पुरमुत्तमम्। अयोध्याख्यं परं स्थानं रत्नप्रासाददीपितम्॥६॥

There stands the supreme city named Ayodhyā, encircled by gardens of wish-fulfilling trees and illumined by palaces of jewels.

Passage 7

प्राकृताकाररहितैरप्राकृतगुणान्वितैः। सर्वभावगुणैराढ्यं कल्याणगुणमन्दिरम्। न तं ज्ञानेन पश्यन्ति कुतः कर्मभिरन्विताः॥७॥

Free of material configuration and endowed with nonmaterial qualities, it is rich in every divine disposition and excellence, a dwelling of auspicious qualities. They do not behold it through knowledge; how then could those absorbed in ritual action do so?

Passage 8

भक्त्यैकलभ्यमिदमद्भुतमस्य नित्यं धामाद्वितीयममलद्युतिदीप्यमानम्। चिल्लोकशब्दितमपारमनन्तमाद्यप्रत्यग्दृशैकविषयातिगं च॥८॥

This wondrous, eternal abode of his is attained through devotion alone: nondual, radiant with stainless splendor, called the world of consciousness, boundless, endless, primordial, and beyond even the sole range of inward vision.