Vali Lets Cleverness Fall and Claims the Refuge Found at Death
Kishkindha Kanda, Doha 9
Doha 9 · Movement 2 of 2
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Vali listens to Rama's answer and stops defending himself through argument. Whatever cleverness the king possesses cannot prevail before the master who sees the act, the law, and the heart together.
The hard question therefore changes into surrender. Rama is no longer merely the archer standing over him. Vali addresses him as his own master, the one before whom strategy has reached its boundary.
At the very hour of death, Vali has found his destination in Rama. He asks whether he can still be called a sinner now. The body remains pierced, but the final direction of the heart has turned toward refuge.
The king's last cleverness bows before the master his dying heart has found.
Read the passage from the Manas
सुनहु राम स्वामी सन चल न चातुरी मोरि। प्रभु अजहूँ मैं पापी अंतकाल गति तोरि।।9।।
Bali replied, 'Listen, O Rama. My cleverness cannot prevail against my Master. O Lord, at the very hour of death I have found refuge in you. Am I still a sinner even now?'