The Heart Loves Where It Finds Rest
Bala Kanda, Doha 80
Doha 80 · Movement 2 of 2
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
The argument places Mahadeva as a house of faults and Vishnu as the dwelling of every virtue. By ordinary comparison, the choice should require no further thought.
Yet love does not move by inventory. The heart longs for the one in whom it finds rest, and no catalogue of another's excellence can redirect that inward recognition.
This does not make virtue meaningless. It reveals that Parvati's bond with Shiva lies deeper than preference. Her mind has returned to its own source, and desire now belongs wholly to where that return has occurred.
Every virtue is named elsewhere, yet Parvati's heart rests only in Shiva.
Read the passage from the Manas
महादेव अवगुन भवन बिष्नु सकल गुन धाम। जेहि कर मनु रम जाहि सन तेहि तेही सन काम।।80।।
Mahadeva is the abode of faults; Vishnu is the dwelling-place of every virtue. Yet the heart loves whom it loves. One's longing rests with whomever the mind delights in.