Every Traveller Longs to Fill the Eyes with Ram and Lakshmana
Bala Kanda, Doha 300
Doha 300 · Movement 2 of 2
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Unbounded joy fills every heart in the procession, and ecstatic tremors move across bodies even before departure. The deepest excitement is not the magnificence of the journey or the wedding feast ahead.
One question passes silently and aloud through the company: when will our eyes be filled by the sight of Ram and Lakshmana, the two beloved heroes?
The road is measured by longing rather than distance. People who have heard letter, messenger, drum, and praise now seek direct vision. All the splendid conveyances become instruments for carrying eyes toward darshan. Elephant, chariot, horse, and walking foot share the same destination because love has made seeing the brothers the true arrival.
Beneath all the splendour, the procession is simply thousands of eyes travelling toward Ram.
Read the passage from the Manas
सब कें उर निर्भर हरषु पूरित पुलक सरीर। कबहिं देखिबे नयन भरि रामु लखनू दोउ बीर।।300।।
In every heart was unbounded joy, and every body thrilled with rapture (pulak). 'When shall we feast our eyes upon those two heroes (veer), Rama and Lakshmana?'