The River of Grief Breaks the Banks of Wisdom
Ayodhya Kanda, Chaupai 276
Doha 276 · Movement 1 of 3
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The meeting releases a flood no discipline can contain. Knowledge and detachment stand like banks, but grief-laden voices pour together as converging rivers. Sighs become wind. Waves of sorrow strike the trees of patience until their roots give way.
Fear and bewilderment spin like bottomless whirlpools. Even the wisest boatman, equipped with the great vessel of learning, cannot row across. Forest dwellers watch travelers lose heart along the shore. When this torrent reaches the ocean-like hermitage, the ocean itself seems to rise in anguish.
Both royal societies lose knowledge, composure, and concern for appearance. They remember Dasharatha's form, virtues, gentleness, and character, and grief pulls them under. The king who is absent becomes vividly present through praise, while the peaceful ashram resounds with the weeping of two kingdoms unable to remain on the shore.
When Ayodhya and Mithila remember Dasharatha together, learning loses its oars and even Chitrakoot's ocean of peace heaves with sorrow.
Read the passage from the Manas
बोरति ग्यान बिराग करारे। बचन ससोक मिलत नद नारे।। सोच उसास समीर तंरगा। धीरज तट तरुबर कर भंगा।। बिषम बिषाद तोरावति धारा। भय भ्रम भवँर अबर्त अपारा।। केवट बुध बिद्या बड़ि नावा। सकहिं न खेइ ऐक नहिं आवा।। बनचर कोल किरात बिचारे। थके बिलोकि पथिक हियँ हारे।। आश्रम उदधि मिली जब जाई। मनहुँ उठेउ अंबुधि अकुलाई।। सोक बिकल दोउ राज समाजा। रहा न ग्यानु न धीरजु लाजा।। भूप रूप गुन सील सराही। रोवहिं सोक सिंधु अवगाही।।
Gyaan and vairaagya are drowning, while grief-laden words converge like rivers meeting rivers. Sighs of soch become the wind, and waves of despair shatter the trees of dheeraj standing on the shore. Terrible vishad tears through in torrents. Whirlpools of bhay and bhram spin without end. Even the wisest kevat with the largest boat of vidya cannot row across. Not one comes forward. The humble vanachars, the Kols and Kiratas, grow weary watching travelers lose heart. When this river of anguish met the ocean of the ashram, it was as though the sea itself heaved up in turmoil. Both royal courts stood shaken with shok. Neither gyaan, nor dheeraj, nor even laaj remained. Praising the king's roop, his guna, his sheela, they wept, plunged deep into the sindhu of sorrow.