The Great Confluence of the Katha
Bala Kanda, Chaupai 40
Doha 40 · Movement 1 of 2
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Ram Bhakti descends like the celestial Ganga and meets the beautiful Sarayu of sacred fame. Into the widening current comes another great river, the Son, carrying the pure battle glory of Ram and his younger brothers. Devotion, noble conduct, detachment, and reflection meet in a confluence whose waters destroy the terror of threefold suffering.
The Manas flows onward toward the ocean of Ram's own form. Along its banks, the story opens into groves and gardens, each episode giving the traveller new shade and fragrance. The wedding procession of Uma and Mahesh fills the water with innumerable living forms. The joy of Raghubir's birth turns upon the surface as whirlpools and laughing waves.
No tributary loses itself by entering the whole. Marriage, birth, battle, devotion, and knowledge become one purifying river, yet every current retains the colour of the Leela it carries.
At the confluence, many stories enter one current and move toward the form of Ram.
Read the passage from the Manas
रामभगति सुरसरितहि जाई। मिली सुकीरति सरजु सुहाई।। सानुज राम समर जसु पावन। मिलेउ महानदु सोन सुहावन।। जुग बिच भगति देवधुनि धारा। सोहति सहित सुबिरति बिचारा।। त्रिबिध ताप त्रासक तिमुहानी। राम सरुप सिंधु समुहानी।। मानस मूल मिली सुरसरिही। सुनत सुजन मन पावन करिही।। बिच बिच कथा बिचित्र बिभागा। जनु सरि तीर तीर बन बागा।। उमा महेस बिबाह बराती। ते जलचर अगनित बहुभाँती।। रघुबर जनम अनंद बधाई। भवँर तरंग मनोहरताई।।
Ram-bhakti flows onward and meets the Ganga, the heavenly river of fair renown; that is the beautiful Saryu of sacred fame. The holy war-glory of Shri Ram, shared with his younger brothers, is the lovely Son river, the Mahanadi, joining the greater stream.