Chapter Six — The Five Truths to Be Known

The eternal meditation upon the eight periods of the Divine Couple’s daily play must be learned carefully from the guru, according to the particular method of one’s own sacred relationship. (33, completed)

Jñeyaṃ prāpyasya Rāmasya rūpaṃ prāptus tathaiva ca,
Prāpty-upāyaṃ phalaṃ caiva tathā prāpti-virodhi ca. (34)

One must know the nature of Rama, the supreme object to be attained; the nature of the soul that attains him; the means of attainment; its fruit; and that which opposes attainment.

The commentator identifies these five truths more explicitly. The object of knowledge is Paramatma Sri Rama. The knower and recipient is the individual soul. The means is knowledge expressed as complete surrender. The fruit is service to Bhagavan in one’s desired mode. The obstacles are bodily identification, egotism born from material relationships, and attachment to sense objects.

Artha-pañcakam etat tu saṃkṣepeṇa vadāmi te.
Śrī-Hanumān uvāca:
Divyānanta-guṇaḥ śrīmān divya-maṅgala-vigrahaḥ,
Ṣaḍ-guṇaiśvarya-sampanno mano-vācām agocaraḥ. (35, continues)

I shall now explain these five truths to you briefly. Hanuman said: Glorious Rama possesses infinitely many divine qualities and a divinely auspicious form. He is endowed with six sovereign excellences and lies beyond the reach of mind and speech.

The six sovereign excellences named here are sustaining, nourishing, supporting, granting refuge, all-pervasiveness, and compassion. Whatever traces of these powers appear throughout the three worlds arise from only a fraction of his sovereignty. As the devotional verse says: Rama is the ordainer of maya, the soul, time, karma, and innate disposition; the Veda declares this true, so ponder it well within the mind.