The Hope of the Appointed Term Saves the Grieving People
Ayodhya Kanda, Chaupai 317
Doha 317 · Movement 1 of 2
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Indra's disturbance unexpectedly becomes useful. The people cling to the fixed term of exile as a hope equal to life itself. Without the promise of an end, separation from Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana would become a mortal sickness through which the societies could not survive.
Rama's grace straightens the crooked circumstance and draws good from it. Then he embraces Bharata with both arms. Love rises through body, mind, and speech until the great pillar of patience abandons composure and tears fall from lotus eyes.
Gods grieve at the sight. Sages, Vasishtha, and steadfast Janaka have minds refined like gold in the fire of knowledge, untouched like lotus leaves upon water. Yet even these masters of detachment cannot remain outside the boundless love revealed in the brothers' farewell.
The calendar of exile becomes a lifeline for the people, while Rama's embrace drowns even the wisest detachment in tears.
Read the passage from the Manas
सो कुचालि सब कहँ भइ नीकी। अवधि आस सम जीवनि जी की।। नतरु लखन सिय सम बियोगा। हहरि मरत सब लोग कुरोगा।। रामकृपाँ अवरेब सुधारी। बिबुध धारि भइ गुनद गोहारी।। भेंटत भुज भरि भाइ भरत सो। राम प्रेम रसु कहि न परत सो।। तन मन बचन उमग अनुरागा। धीर धुरंधर धीरजु त्यागा।। बारिज लोचन मोचत बारी। देखि दसा सुर सभा दुखारी।। मुनिगन गुर धुर धीर जनक से। ग्यान अनल मन कसें कनक से।। जे बिरंचि निरलेप उपाए। पदुम पत्र जिमि जग जल जाए।।
That wicked scheme, however, turned out to be beneficial for all; it gave life a hope as vital as breath itself. Otherwise, separation from Lakhan and Siya would have been a terrible disease (kuroga), and the people would have collapsed and perished from it. By Rama's grace (Raamkripaa), the crisis was set right, and the earth, sustained by the gods, became a treasury of virtue. When Rama embraced His brother Bharat with both arms, the rasa (nectar) of that love was beyond all telling. Love overflowed through body, mind, and speech; even that foremost pillar of patience abandoned all composure. Tears poured from His lotus eyes (baarij lochan), and the entire assembly of gods was stricken with sorrow at the sight. Even the sages, the Guru, and steadfast souls like Janak, whose minds are like gold purified in the fire of jnana (knowledge), Those whom Brahma himself created untouched and detached, like the lotus leaf that floats upon the water yet remains dry.