Atri Fills His Eyes before His Praise Begins
Aranya Kanda, Doha 3
Doha 3 · Movement 2 of 2
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Rama is seated within the hermitage. Before words rise, Atri simply looks. His eyes fill themselves with the Lord's beauty as though sight were a vessel and this quiet audience the fulfillment of its purpose.
The sage is learned, discerning, and deeply accomplished, yet he does not approach the moment as a master displaying knowledge. He joins his palms. Wisdom bends into reverence, and the one who knows the language of sacred truth allows praise to begin from wonder.
Around them lie the simple signs of the ashram: earth, leaves, roots, fruits, and the smoke of disciplined lives. At their center sits the forest-clad Lord. Atri's gaze gathers the scene inward, and only after beholding to his heart's content does the foremost sage offer the hymn forming upon his lips.
Atri's folded hands speak first, while his eyes continue drinking the beauty seated before him.
Read the passage from the Manas
प्रभु आसन आसीन भरि लोचन सोभा निरखि। मुनिबर परम प्रबीन जोरि पानि अस्तुति करत।।3।।
Rama speaks of his apparent distress: Seeing me distraught with separation, weakened, utterly alone, Kamadeva attacked! With the forest as his army, the bees as his bugles, the birds as his warriors, the God of Love launched his assault. This is divine play. The Lord who is beyond all disturbance enacts the drama of a man tormented by love's separation. He shows what lovers feel so lovers know he understands.