The Question at the Heart of the Manas
Bala Kanda, Doha 46
Doha 46 · Movement 2 of 2
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The hermitage grows still around a single question. Is the Ram whom Shiva chants the same Ram who was born as Dasharatha's son, or does the Name belong to another Lord beyond the prince of Ayodhya?
Bharadvaja asks one who is an abode of truth and knower of the whole. He does not seek a quick assertion. He asks Yajnavalkya to reflect with discernment and reveal how the humanly visible and the eternally worshipped are one.
Every later forest, battle, tenderness, and revelation waits within this question like a tree folded inside its seed.
A prince and the infinite stand within one Name, awaiting the sage's reply.
Read the passage from the Manas
प्रभु सोइ राम कि अपर कोउ जाहि जपत त्रिपुरारि। सत्यधाम सर्बग्य तुम्ह कहहु बिबेकु बिचारि।।46।।
Is that Lord the same Ram, son of Dasharatha, or is it someone else, whose Name even Tripurari chants? You are the abode of truth and all-knowing. Please tell me, reflecting with your discernment.