Pampa Blooms So Beautifully That Cuckoo Song Disturbs the Sages' Meditation
Aranya Kanda, Chaupai 38
Doha 40ख · Movement 1 of 2
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Lotuses of many colors open across Pampa while bees sound sweetly above them. Waterfowl and royal swans call as though praising Rama at the shore. Chakravakas, herons, and unnumbered birds fill a scene beyond description. Their lovely voices seem to call passing travelers away from the road and toward the water.
Hermitages lie near the lake beneath a forest of champaka, bakula, kadamba, tamala, patala, jackfruit, palasha, and mango. New leaves and flowers cover the trees, and groups of bees weave a continuous song among the branches.
A cool, gentle, fragrant wind moves without ceasing. Cuckoos answer one another with liquid calls. The sound is so full of sweetness that even sages settled in meditation feel the inward current turn toward it. Pampa does not break their contemplation with violence. Beauty itself reaches into the silence and makes attention tremble.
Across the clear lake, one cuckoo call enters the stillness even sages had guarded.
Read the passage from the Manas
बिकसे सरसिज नाना रंगा। मधुर मुखर गुंजत बहु भृंगा।। बोलत जलकुक्कुट कलहंसा। प्रभु बिलोकि जनु करत प्रसंसा।। चक्रवाक बक खग समुदाई। देखत बनइ बरनि नहिं जाई।। सुन्दर खग गन गिरा सुहाई। जात पथिक जनु लेत बोलाई।। ताल समीप मुनिन्ह गृह छाए। चहु दिसि कानन बिटप सुहाए।। चंपक बकुल कदंब तमाला। पाटल पनस परास रसाला।। नव पल्लव कुसुमित तरु नाना। चंचरीक पटली कर गाना।। सीतल मंद सुगंध सुभाऊ। संतत बहइ मनोहर बाऊ।। कुहू कुहू कोकिल धुनि करहीं। सुनि रव सरस ध्यान मुनि टरहीं।।
Lotuses of many colors bloomed in the water, while numerous bees hummed sweetly around them. Waterfowl and swans called out melodiously, as if praising the Prabhu upon seeing Him. Flocks of chakravaka birds, herons, and other birds created a sight so beautiful it cannot be described. The beautiful birds sang so sweetly that they seemed to be calling out to passing travelers. Near the lake were the hermitages of munis, surrounded on all sides by beautiful forest trees. There were champaka, bakula, kadamba, tamala, patala, panasa, palasha, and mango trees. Various trees bore new leaves and flowers, while swarms of bees sang their chorus. A cool, gentle, fragrant breeze of pleasant nature blew continuously. Cuckoos sang kuhu kuhu so sweetly that hearing their melodious call, even munis were distracted from dhyana.