Dearer Than Life to All Kosala
Bala Kanda, Doha 204
Doha 204 · Movement 2 of 2
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
Across Kosalapura, affection for Ram crosses every division of age and household. Children, elders, women, men, servants, merchants, brahmins, and warriors recognize the same tenderness when the prince enters their street.
The love is not distant admiration for royal beauty. The merciful Ram becomes dearer than life itself, nearer to each person than the impulse by which the body protects its own existence.
Ayodhya therefore holds him through innumerable hearts at once. Palace lineage cannot claim him exclusively. The prince belongs intimately to the city, and the city begins to understand itself through the joy of his presence.
Every road in Kosala leads toward the prince whom its people love more than breath.
Read the passage from the Manas
कोसलपुर बासी नर नारि बृद्ध अरु बाल। प्रानहु ते प्रिय लागत सब कहुँ राम कृपाल।।204।।
To every man and woman of Kosalapura, young and old alike, the merciful Ram was dearer than life itself.