After Jatayu's Liberation, the Brothers Meet the Cursed Kabandha
Aranya Kanda, Chaupai 31
Doha 33 · Movement 1 of 2
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Shiva asks Uma to behold the causeless tenderness of Raghunatha. A vulture, a flesh-eating bird considered low, has received the destiny for which yogis pray. Those who abandon Hari for sense pleasures are therefore truly unfortunate, for the compassionate Lord gives without cause what difficult discipline longs to reach.
Rama and Lakshmana resume the search for Sita. They cross a dense forest tangled with creepers and heavy trees, alive with birds, deer, elephants, and lions. On the path they strike down the monstrous Kabandha. Released from that form, he recounts the curse that bound him and says that the sight of the Lord's feet has erased its stain.
The restored being is a Gandharva, but Rama speaks a hard boundary before him. He cannot tolerate one who is hostile to the lineage of Brahmins. Liberation from the misshapen body does not erase the moral shape of the tale. The same feet that end Kabandha's curse stand for a dharma the Lord declares he will protect.
Kabandha's monstrous body falls away before the feet whose dharma Rama will not abandon.
Read the passage from the Manas
कोमल चित अति दीनदयाला। कारन बिनु रघुनाथ कृपाला।। गीध अधम खग आमिष भोगी। गति दीन्हि जो जाचत जोगी।। सुनहु उमा ते लोग अभागी। हरि तजि होहिं बिषय अनुरागी।। पुनि सीतहि खोजत द्वौ भाई। चले बिलोकत बन बहुताई।। संकुल लता बिटप घन कानन। बहु खग मृग तहँ गज पंचानन।। आवत पंथ कबंध निपाता। तेहिं सब कही साप कै बाता।। दुरबासा मोहि दीन्ही सापा। प्रभु पद पेखि मिटा सो पापा।। सुनु गंधर्ब कहउँ मै तोही। मोहि न सोहाइ ब्रह्मकुल द्रोही।।
Raghunath is komal chit, tender of heart, and ati deenadayaala, supremely compassionate to the lowly. He shows kripa without any cause or reason. He granted such gati to a geedh, a lowly vulture, a flesh-eating bird, that even yogis beg for and cannot attain. Hear me, Uma: those people are truly abhaagi, unfortunate, who abandon Hari and become attached to vishaya, worldly pleasures. Then the two brothers, searching for Sita, set out through the vast stretches of the forest. The kaanana was dense with creepers and trees, alive with birds, deer, elephants, and lions. On the path they struck down Kabandha, who then told them the whole story of his shaapa. 'Durvasa gave me this curse, but seeing Prabhu's feet, that paapa was erased.' 'Listen, O Gandharva, I tell you plainly: I cannot abide one who betrays the Brahmin lineage.'