The Guru's Foot Dust Clears the Mirror of the Mind
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 1क
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Before singing Raghubara's pure glory, Tulsi turns inward to the mirror of the mind. It has gathered the film of habit, pride, memory, and restless seeing that makes even sacred beauty appear dim.
The dust of the guru's lotus feet becomes the cloth that clears it. Humility performs the polishing, and reverence prepares the surface upon which Ram's fame can appear without distortion.
That fame grants dharma, prosperity, desire rightly fulfilled, and liberation. Yet the four fruits arise only after the singer relinquishes the claim to see clearly by himself. The katha begins when the mind becomes transparent through grace.
When the guru's foot dust clears the mirror, Ram's glory appears as the mind's own radiance.
Read the passage from the Manas
श्रीगुरु चरन सरोज रज निज मनु मुकुरु सुधारि। बरनउँ रघुबर बिमल जसु जो दायकु फल चारि।।
Having polished the mirror of my mind with the dust of my Guru's lotus feet, I now sing the pure glory of Raghubara, that fame which grants all four fruits of life.