Kevat's Family Drinks the Water of the Crossing
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 101
Doha 101 · Movement 2 of 2
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The washing complete, Kevat receives the water not as something to discard upon the sand but as grace made drinkable. He and his family partake together, drawing the blessing of Ram's feet into their own bodies.
The act reaches beyond those gathered at the shore. Ancestors are carried over the ocean of birth and death, as though the little vessel of water has opened a passage through generations. Service offered in one morning becomes liberation flowing backward through the family line.
Only then does the boat enter the Ganga. Kevat takes the oar with a joyful heart and bears the Lord toward the farther bank. The worldly crossing and the eternal crossing occupy the same current, each revealing the other.
After drinking the foot water that ferries his ancestors, Kevat carries the eternal Ferryman across an earthly river.
Read the passage from the Manas
पद पखारि जलु पान करि आपु सहित परिवार। पितर पारु करि प्रभुहि पुनि मुदित गयउ लेइ पार।।101।।
Having washed those sacred feet, the boatman drank the water, he and his whole family together. He ferried his ancestors across the ocean of birth and death, and then, with a joyful heart, he carried the Lord to the other shore.