Brotherly Devotion Softens Rama, Sages, and Janaka
Ayodhya Kanda, Chhand 12
Doha 301 · Movement 2 of 3
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Raghuraja becomes tender with love. The saints, sages, and Janaka feel the same inward loosening as they contemplate the immense glory of Bharata's devotion to his brother.
The gods praise Bharata and send flowers through the air, though the self-interest clouding their minds has not yet been cleansed. Even compromised heaven must acknowledge the beauty it cannot redirect.
Tulsidas sees the listening people overcome and withdrawn into reverent shyness, like night lotuses closing at dawn. Bharata's love has become a rising light before which ordinary speech, public posture, and the concealed strategies of the gods all fold their petals.
As Bharata's devotion rises like dawn, Rama and the wise grow tender, heaven scatters flowers, and the whole assembly closes into sacred silence.
Read the passage from the Manas
रघुराउ सिथिल सनेहँ साधु समाज मुनि मिथिला धनी। मन महुँ सराहत भरत भायप भगति की महिमा घनी।। भरतहि प्रसंसत बिबुध बरषत सुमन मानस मलिन से। तुलसी बिकल सब लोग सुनि सकुचे निसागम नलिन से।।
Raghunatha grew tender with love, and with Him the holy assembly, the great sages, and Janaka's beloved daughter. In their hearts, all praised Bharata's brotherly devotion and the boundless glory of his faith. The gods themselves praised Bharata, raining blossoms from the heavens, while every heart was purified like a lotus in clear water. Tulsidas says that all who heard were overcome with feeling, and grew quiet and shy, like night lotuses closing softly at the coming of the sun.