Four Travellers at the Shore of the Name
Bala Kanda, Chaupai 22
Doha 22 · Movement 1 of 2
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In mountain caves, yogis repeat the Name until the architecture of Brahma's creation falls silent around them. Beyond form and measure, they awaken into the bliss of Brahman. Seekers of the hidden truth enter the same sound and find its depths opening like a night sky without boundary. Those who desire accomplishment receive their powers, and those struck by sorrow feel the knots of affliction loosen.
Four travellers approach the one refuge: the distressed, the seeker of knowledge, the seeker of desired good, and the wise lover who asks for nothing but the Lord. Each holds to the Name according to the hunger of the heart. Ram receives them all, yet the wise devotee shines with the intimacy of one who has recognized the Giver within every gift.
The Vedas speak through all four ages, but in Kali the roads of discipline lie broken and overgrown. Tulsidas looks across that difficult age and finds one passage still clear. The Name runs through it like a river no drought can close.
Four travellers enter the river, and the Name carries each according to the heart.
Read the passage from the Manas
नाम जीहँ जपि जागहिं जोगी। बिरति बिरंचि प्रपंच बियोगी।। ब्रह्मसुखहि अनुभवहिं अनूपा। अकथ अनामय नाम न रूपा।। जाना चहहिं गूढ़ गति जेऊ। नाम जीहँ जपि जानहिं तेऊ।। साधक नाम जपहिं लय लाएँ। होहिं सिद्ध अनिमादिक पाएँ।। जपहिं नामु जन आरत भारी। मिटहिं कुसंकट होहिं सुखारी।। राम भगत जग चारि प्रकारा। सुकृती चारिउ अनघ उदारा।। चहू चतुर कहुँ नाम अधारा। ग्यानी प्रभुहि बिसेषि पिआरा।। चहुँ जुग चहुँ श्रुति ना प्रभाऊ। कलि बिसेषि नहिं आन उपाऊ।।
Yogis awaken by chanting the Name upon their tongues, wholly detached, free from the web of Brahma's creation. They taste the incomparable bliss of Brahman, that reality beyond description, beyond affliction, without name or form.