When Delusion Refuses the Story
Bala Kanda, Doha 114
Doha 114 · Movement 2 of 2
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Shiva speaks of those swallowed by the ghost of delusion. Turned away from Hari's feet, they reject both the telling and the hearing of Ram Katha. Their refusal does not arise from clear discernment, for truth and falsehood have already become indistinguishable within them.
The sacred assembly remains open, but a mind governed by denial stands outside it like a traveller who mistakes the lamp at the doorway for danger. Argument circles in the dark while the story's living presence goes unreceived.
The warning is severe because the loss is severe. To turn from Katha is to turn from the very medicine that could expose the possession of confusion and restore the power to see.
The story shines at the threshold while delusion persuades the wanderer not to enter.
Read the passage from the Manas
कहहि सुनहि अस अधम नर ग्रसे जे मोह पिसाच। पाषंडी हरि पद बिमुख जानहिं झूठ न साच।।114।।
Those degraded souls who are swallowed by the ghost of delusion, who are heretical and turned away from the feet of Hari, who know neither truth nor falsehood: they alone speak against this story and refuse to hear it.