Whole Villages Run Out for One Glimpse
Ayodhya Kanda, Chaupai 114
Doha 114 · Movement 1 of 2
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Whenever Sita, Ram, and Lakshmana near a village, news outruns them. Children and elders, women and men, leave their household work and hurry toward the road. One sight gives their eyes the fruit for which vision seems to have been made.
Tears rise and bodies tremble as the two brothers pass before them. The villagers feel like beggars who have discovered a mound of celestial jewels. They call to one another to seize the blessing of the instant before it moves beyond reach.
Some begin following Ram, unable to separate looking from walking. Others draw the image inward through their eyes until body, thought, and speech fall still. The road divides the responses of love: one heart runs after the visible form, another becomes motionless while holding that form within.
At each village boundary, work stops and a single glimpse of Ram becomes the sudden wealth of the poor.
Read the passage from the Manas
सीता लखन सहित रघुराई। गाँव निकट जब निकसहिं जाई।। सुनि सब बाल बृद्ध नर नारी। चलहिं तुरत गृहकाजु बिसारी।। राम लखन सिय रूप निहारी। पाइ नयनफलु होहिं सुखारी।। सजल बिलोचन पुलक सरीरा। सब भए मगन देखि दोउ बीरा।। बरनि न जाइ दसा तिन्ह केरी। लहि जनु रंकन्ह सुरमनि ढेरी।। एकन्ह एक बोलि सिख देहीं। लोचन लाहु लेहु छन एहीं।। रामहि देखि एक अनुरागे। चितवत चले जाहिं सँग लागे।। एक नयन मग छबि उर आनी। होहिं सिथिल तन मन बर बानी।।
When Raghurai, together with Sita and Lakshmana, draws near a village. Hearing the news, every child and elder, every man and woman, rushes out at once, forgetting all household duties. Beholding the beautiful forms of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita, they receive the fruit of their eyes and overflow with joy. With tears welling in their eyes and bodies trembling with pulaka, all become lost in the sight of the two veera. Their state cannot be described. It is as though the poorest of the poor have stumbled upon a heap of divine jewels. One calls to another and urges: 'Seize the reward of your eyes this very moment!' Some, beholding Rama, are so filled with anuraaga that they simply gaze and follow, falling in step behind Him. Others draw His beautiful image through their eyes deep into the heart, and their body, mind and speech grow utterly still.