The Guru's Lotus Feet and Guileless Praise Become the Third and Fourth Devotions
Aranya Kanda, Doha 35
Doha 35 · Movement 2 of 2
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Rama names the third form of devotion: service to the lotus feet of the guru without pride. The hands may perform humble tasks, but the deeper offering is the absence of self-importance. Service becomes bhakti where the servant does not secretly build a throne from the act of bowing.
The fourth devotion is to sing the gathered virtues of the Lord after deceit has been abandoned. Praise is not ornament laid over a divided heart. What the voice declares and what the inward life seeks must belong to the same movement.
Guru service bends the body and loosens pride. Singing turns speech toward the beauty of the Lord and loosens concealment. In these two devotions, humility and truth make the outer act transparent, allowing love to pass through without being claimed by the one who serves or sings.
Pride leaves the hands at the guru's feet, and deceit leaves the voice in the song of Rama.
Read the passage from the Manas
गुर पद पंकज सेवा तीसरि भगति अमान। चौथि भगति मम गुन गन करइ कपट तजि गान।।35।।
Service to the guru's pad pankaja, lotus feet, is the third bhagati, performed without amaan, without pride. The fourth is singing my guna gana, my glories, with a heart free from all kapat.