Rama Is the Life within Every Life
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 290
Doha 290 · Movement 2 of 2
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Vasishtha addresses Rama not merely as one beloved life among many. He is the life of lives, the inward vitality by which every creature lives and knows itself alive.
He is the soul within souls and the happiness within every form of happiness. The pleasures of home borrow their light from him. Removed from his presence, their brightness reveals itself as dependence rather than substance.
Those who can delight in a house without Rama have not discovered freedom from attachment. Fate has turned against them by allowing the outer shelter to conceal the absent center. For the two grieving kingdoms, exile has torn away that concealment and revealed whose presence made home a home.
When Rama is known as the life and joy within all life and joy, a house without him can no longer pretend to be home.
Read the passage from the Manas
प्रान प्रान के जीव के जिव सुख के सुख राम। तुम्ह तजि तात सोहात गृह जिन्हहि तिन्हहिं बिधि बाम।।290।।
O life of all lives, soul of all souls, happiness of all happiness, you are Rama! Those who find joy in their homes without you, dear son, fate itself has turned against them.