Pearls Await Their Setting
Bala Kanda, Chaupai 11
Doha 11 · Movement 1 of 2
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
Gems burn upon serpent hoods, mountain crowns, and the foreheads of elephants, yet their splendour changes when a royal goldsmith sets them into a king's diadem or lays them against the form of a young woman. Beauty already lived within the stone. A worthy setting allows it to become fully visible.
So poetry takes radiance from the sacred purpose that holds it. Saraswati leaves even Brahma's celestial court and comes running where she is remembered for the sake of devotion. Poets bathe in the lake of Ram's deeds and rise relieved of a weariness no other remedy could touch. The wise therefore spend their speech upon Hari's praise instead of exhausting it upon ordinary fame.
Within the heart's ocean, intellect waits like an oyster shell beneath the sky. When the rain of noble thought falls under Saraswati's blessing, the small open shell receives one clear drop. In darkness and patience, that drop becomes a pearl.
The oyster closes around the rain, and a poem begins its hidden formation.
Read the passage from the Manas
मनि मानिक मुकुता छबि जैसी। अहि गिरि गज सिर सोह न तैसी।। नृप किरीट तरुनी तनु पाई। लहहिं सकल सोभा अधिकाई।। तैसेहिं सुकबि कबित बुध कहहीं। उपजहिं अनत अनत छबि लहहीं।। भगति हेतु बिधि भवन बिहाई। सुमिरत सारद आवति धाई।। राम चरित सर बिनु अन्हवाएँ। सो श्रम जाइ न कोटि उपाएँ।। कबि कोबिद अस हृदयँ बिचारी। गावहिं हरि जस कलि मल हारी।। कीन्हें प्राकृत जन गुन गाना। सिर धुनि गिरा लगत पछिताना।। हृदय सिंधु मति सीप समाना। स्वाति सारदा कहहिं सुजाना।। जौं बरषइ बर बारि बिचारू। होहिं कबित मुकुतामनि चारू।।
Gems, rubies, and pearls do not shine as beautifully on the heads of serpents, mountains, or elephants as they do when set in a king's crown or upon a young woman's body. In a worthy setting, they gain a far greater radiance. Just so, the wise say, fine poetry may arise anywhere, yet it finds its full splendor only when placed in a noble context. Remembering Saraswati with devotion, she comes running at once, she who left even Brahma's abode for the sake of bhakti.