Sumantra Places Wisdom beside a Dying Father
Ayodhya Kanda, Chaupai 150
Doha 150 · Movement 1 of 2
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Again the king begs for news and asks Sumantra to devise some swift means by which his eyes may see the three exiles. The minister gathers the composure that the road nearly destroyed and answers in a voice made gentle by friendship.
Dasharatha is learned, brave, steady, and long accustomed to the company of saints. Birth and death, suffering, gain and loss, meeting and separation all move under time and karma as inevitably as night gives way to day.
The unwise rise and fall with pleasure and pain, while the steadfast hold both within an equal heart. Sumantra asks the king to summon discrimination and patience. The teaching is not delivered from a distant seat. It comes from a servant whose own eyes are wet, offering wisdom as the only balm still within reach.
With his own grief barely mastered, Sumantra lays the quiet law of time and karma beside Dasharatha's breaking heart.
Read the passage from the Manas
पुनि पुनि पूँछत मंत्रहि राऊ। प्रियतम सुअन सँदेस सुनाऊ।। करहि सखा सोइ बेगि उपाऊ। रामु लखनु सिय नयन देखाऊ।। सचिव धीर धरि कह मुदु बानी। महाराज तुम्ह पंडित ग्यानी।। बीर सुधीर धुरंधर देवा। साधु समाजु सदा तुम्ह सेवा।। जनम मरन सब दुख भोगा। हानि लाभ प्रिय मिलन बियोगा।। काल करम बस हौहिं गोसाईं। बरबस राति दिवस की नाईं।। सुख हरषहिं जड़ दुख बिलखाहीं। दोउ सम धीर धरहिं मन माहीं।। धीरज धरहु बिबेकु बिचारी। छाड़िअ सोच सकल हितकारी।।
Again and again, the king asked his minister: "O friend, bring me news of my dearest son." "Devise some way, I beg you, with all speed, that my eyes may behold Rama, Lakshmana and Sita once more." The minister, holding fast to his composure, spoke in a gentle voice: "Great king, you are learned and wise." "You are brave, steadfast, a pillar of strength, O lord. You have always walked in the company of saints." "Birth, death, every sorrow of mortal life, loss and gain, the meeting and parting of loved ones; "all these turn under the wheel of kaal and karma, O Gosain, as surely as night follows day." "The foolish rejoice in pleasure and weep in pain. But the wise hold both alike within their hearts." "Hold firm to patience, reflect with vivek. Set aside all worry, O benefactor of the world."