Shiva Reveals the Grace beyond the Forest Drama of Desire
Aranya Kanda, Chaupai 37
Doha 40क · Movement 1 of 2
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Shiva tells Uma that Rama is beyond the gunas, master of everything moving and still, and knower of every heart. Through this human play he has exposed the helplessness of those ruled by lust and made detachment firm in the steady. The Lord who appears besieged by spring is the inward knower of the besieged mind.
Anger, desire, greed, pride, and Maya all fall away through Rama's grace. The person toward whom the divine actor becomes favorable is not bewildered by the actor's own spectacle of illusion. Shiva speaks from experience: Hari's worship alone is true, while the world passes like a dream.
The scene then opens upon Lake Pampa, beautiful, deep, and clear as a saint's heart. Four charming ghats bind its shores. Animals drink at many places like crowds of petitioners gathered at the house of a generous giver. After the armed metaphors of spring, the water receives the brothers in a different stillness.
The forest was Kama's army, but Pampa lies clear as the heart upon which Rama's grace has fallen.
Read the passage from the Manas
गुनातीत सचराचर स्वामी। राम उमा सब अंतरजामी।। कामिन्ह कै दीनता देखाई। धीरन्ह कें मन बिरति दृढ़ाई।। क्रोध मनोज लोभ मद माया। छूटहिं सकल राम कीं दाया।। सो नर इंद्रजाल नहिं भूला। जा पर होइ सो नट अनुकूला।। उमा कहउँ मैं अनुभव अपना। सत हरि भजनु जगत सब सपना।। पुनि प्रभु गए सरोबर तीरा। पंपा नाम सुभग गंभीरा।। संत हृदय जस निर्मल बारी। बाँधे घाट मनोहर चारी।। जहँ तहँ पिअहिं बिबिध मृग नीरा। जनु उदार गृह जाचक भीरा।।
Rama is beyond all gunas, the master of all that moves and does not move. O Uma, He is the knower of all hearts. He reveals humility to the lustful and strengthens vairagya in the hearts of the steadfast. Krodha, kama, lobha, mada, maya: all these depart through Rama's grace. That person is never deceived by worldly illusions upon whom that divine Nata shows His favor. Uma, I speak from my own experience. True is Hari-bhajana; all the world is but a dream. Then the Prabhu went to the shore of a lake named Pampa, beautiful and deep. Its water was pure like a sant's heart, with charming ghats built on all four sides. Here and there various deer drank water, like crowds of supplicants at a generous household.