Rama Shows Lakshmana the Peacocks Dancing beneath the Clouds
Kishkindha Kanda, Doha 13
Doha 13 · Movement 2 of 2
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Rain clouds gather above Pravarshana, and peacocks answer them with dance. Rama turns Lakshmana's attention toward the movement spreading through feather, earth, and sky.
He calls them his peacocks. Their joy at beholding the dark clouds is immediate, embodied, and impossible to hide. The rainy season becomes a darshan to which the forest responds.
Rama places beside that sight another meeting. A householder devoted to detachment rejoices when beholding a true devotee of Vishnu. As the peacock opens into dance before the cloud, the inwardly detached householder opens into delight before the visible life of bhakti.
The peacock sees the rain cloud, and the detached heart sees the devotee of Vishnu.
Read the passage from the Manas
लछिमन देखु मोर गन नाचत बारिद पैखि। गृही बिरति रत हरष जस बिष्नु भगत कहुँ देखि।।13।।
"Lakshmana, see how my peacocks dance at the sight of the rain clouds, just as householders devoted to vairagya rejoice when they behold a true bhakta of Vishnu."