Heaven Showers Flowers upon Bharata and Guha
Ayodhya Kanda, Chaupai 194
Doha 194 · Movement 1 of 2
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
Bharata holds Guha with such tenderness that the watching people marvel at the way of sacred love. Blessed, blessed rises from the crowd, and the gods praise the meeting while flowers fall through the open sky.
Worldly and ritual measures had placed the forest chief low, yet Ram's younger brother enfolds him with every limb thrilled. The embrace reveals another measure, one established by Ram drawing Guha to his own heart and thereby honoring his entire lineage.
The sacred Ganga receives other waters and makes them worthy to be lifted reverently upon the head. So the name of Ram transforms those who enter it. A careless yawn that forms the name scatters sin, and Valmiki reached Brahmic greatness through the name even when uttered in reverse. Grace flows across every boundary the crowd once believed fixed.
Beneath heaven's flowers, Bharata's embrace makes visible the dignity Ram's love had already bestowed upon Guha.
Read the passage from the Manas
भेंटत भरतु ताहि अति प्रीती। लोग सिहाहिं प्रेम कै रीती।। धन्य धन्य धुनि मंगल मूला। सुर सराहि तेहि बरिसहिं फूला।। लोक बेद सब भाँतिहिं नीचा। जासु छाँह छुइ लेइअ सींचा।। तेहि भरि अंक राम लघु भ्राता। मिलत पुलक परिपूरित गाता।। राम राम कहि जे जमुहाहीं। तिन्हहि न पाप पुंज समुहाहीं।। यह तौ राम लाइ उर लीन्हा। कुल समेत जगु पावन कीन्हा।। करमनास जलु सुरसरि परई। तेहि को कहहु सीस नहिं धरई।। उलटा नामु जपत जगु जाना। बालमीकि भए ब्रह्म समाना।।
Bharat embraces him with overflowing love. The people watch in wonder, following the tender way of prema. 'Dhanya, dhanya!' rings the blessed refrain, the very root of all mangal. The devas praise him and shower flowers from above. By all worldly and Vedic measures he is considered lowly, yet one whose shadow's touch itself brings purification. Rama's younger brother takes him fully into his arms. At the moment of meeting, every limb thrills with divine pulak. Those who merely yawn out 'Rama, Rama' are never confronted by heaps of sin. This one Rama has drawn to His own heart, and through him made the whole world, together with his kula, sacred. When the waters of Karmanasa flow into the Ganga, tell me, who would not reverently place them upon their head? Chanting the Name even in reverse, the whole world knows that Valmiki became equal to Brahma Himself.