Prosperity Holds Bharata in a Golden Cage until Dawn
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 215
Doha 215 · Movement 2 of 2
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The verse imagines prosperity as the chakvi bird and Bharata as her separated mate, the chakva. Bharadvaja's command becomes the gentle keeper who brings them together for the night.
The hermitage forms a golden cage around their meeting. Its beauty is real, its comforts complete, yet it holds Bharata only until dawn.
Wealth cannot keep the prince beyond the interval permitted by service. He accepts its nearness without confusing it with his destination, receives rest without surrendering longing, and waits for first light. The image gives abundance both radiance and limit. Gold surrounds Bharata, but the road to Ram remains the horizon by which morning will open the cage.
Prosperity may shelter Bharata through the night, but dawn opens every golden bar toward the road to Ram.
Read the passage from the Manas
संपत चकई भरतु चक मुनि आयस खेलवार।। तेहि निसि आश्रम पिंजराँ राखे भा भिनुसार।।215।।
Prosperity was like the chakvi bird, Bharat was the chakva, and the sage's command was the gentle keeper. That night the ashram became a golden cage where all this divine wealth was held until dawn.