Bharata's Apparent Blemish Becomes the World's Teaching
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 208
Doha 208 · Movement 2 of 2
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
Bharadvaja looks upon the shadow Bharata calls a stain and reverses its meaning. What torments the prince has become instruction for everyone who witnesses his love.
Without exile, accusation, and the offered throne, the depth of Bharata's devotion would have remained hidden within the palace. Trial has drawn it into the open where the whole world may contemplate it.
The sage calls this hour auspicious for the perfection of devotion to Ram. Not because grief is good in itself, but because Bharata has allowed grief to reveal an allegiance untouched by gain, reputation, or escape. The blemish dissolves, and in its place stands a teaching that no deliberate sermon could have embodied.
What Bharata feared would stain his name becomes the hour in which devotion to Ram receives its clearest earthly form.
Read the passage from the Manas
तुम्ह कहँ भरत कलंक यह हम सब कहँ उपदेसु। राम भगति रस सिद्धि हित भा यह समउ गनेसु।।208।।
For you, Bharata, this is no blemish but a teaching for us all. This blessed hour has dawned for the perfection of devotion to Rama.