Brahma Hides the Beauty He Cannot Equal
Ayodhya Kanda, Chaupai 120
Doha 120 · Movement 1 of 2
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If these three eat roots and fruit, the villagers say, nectar and every refined food have been made in vain. Some then offer a playful explanation for beauty that no created luxury can match: perhaps Brahma never fashioned them at all. They must have manifested by their own nature.
Search everything the Vedas attribute to creation, through all fourteen worlds and everything available to eye, ear, or mind. Where is another such man or woman? Brahma himself may have fallen in love with the sight and struggled to make an equal, only to fail despite immense effort.
Perhaps envy then made him hide them in the forest. Others refuse such speculation. They know only that their own lives are blessed, and that whoever has seen, sees now, or will behold these travellers must possess a vast treasury of merit. Wonder ends more truthfully in gratitude than explanation.
Unable to account for the three travellers, the villagers abandon creation's logic and count one glimpse as immeasurable fortune.
Read the passage from the Manas
जौं ए कंद मूल फल खाहीं। बादि सुधादि असन जग माहीं।। एक कहहिं ए सहज सुहाए। आपु प्रगट भए बिधि न बनाए।। जहँ लगि बेद कही बिधि करनी। श्रवन नयन मन गोचर बरनी।। देखहु खोजि भुअन दस चारी। कहँ अस पुरुष कहाँ असि नारी।। इन्हहि देखि बिधि मनु अनुरागा। पटतर जोग बनावै लागा।। कीन्ह बहुत श्रम ऐक न आए। तेहिं इरिषा बन आनि दुराए।। एक कहहिं हम बहुत न जानहिं। आपुहि परम धन्य करि मानहिं।। ते पुनि पुन्यपुंज हम लेखे। जे देखहिं देखिहहिं जिन्ह देखे।।
If these divine ones eat kanda, roots, and fruits, then all the amrita and finest foods in the world are worthless. Some say: these naturally beautiful beings manifested on their own. Vidhi did not create them. All the creative works the Vedas ascribe to Brahma, everything perceivable by ear, eye, and mind, search through all the fourteen bhuvanas. Where is such a purusha? Where is such a nari? Seeing them, Brahma's heart was smitten with love, and he set about trying to craft a worthy match. Despite immense effort, not a single creation came close. So, out of jealousy, he brought them to the forest and hid them away. Others say: we do not claim to know much. We simply count ourselves supremely blessed. And those souls who behold them, who will behold them, who have ever beheld them, we reckon to be great storehouses of punya.