Kevat Receives the Fare No Jewel Can Buy
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 102
Doha 102 · Movement 2 of 2
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Ram, Sita, and Lakshmana urge Kevat repeatedly to accept payment. The ferryman remains unmoved. A jewel would reduce nothing of the grace already received, yet he will not let this service become a transaction.
At last the abode of compassion releases him from the tender contest. The Lord bestows a boon suited exactly to the heart before him: pure devotion, stainless and free from hidden bargain.
Kevat refused wealth because love had made him feel complete. He is therefore given love in a form that can deepen without end. The reward does not turn him from boatman into king or remove him from ordinary work. It makes the current within that work forever clear.
The ferryman leaves without the jeweled ring and carries away the inexhaustible treasure of spotless devotion.
Read the passage from the Manas
बहुत कीन्ह प्रभु लखन सियँ नहिं कछु केवटु लेइ। बिदा कीन्ह करुनायतन भगति बिमल बरु देइ।।102।।
The Lord, Lakshmana and Sita tried many times, but the boatman would accept nothing at all. At last, the abode of compassion bid him farewell, bestowing upon him the boon of pure, unsullied devotion.