Bharata Embraces Hanuman With a Heart Too Full for Its Love
Lanka Kanda, Doha 59
Doha 59 · Movement 2 of 2
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Hanuman is awake, and Bharata draws him against his chest. The misunderstanding of bow and falling body disappears inside an embrace between two servants whose lives have been shaped by the same absent presence.
Every hair on Bharata's body rises. Tears gather and spill from his eyes as remembrance of Rama, crown jewel of Raghu's line, enters the meeting. The emotion is too great to remain contained within the heart.
Neither needs to defend the mistake. Hanuman's cry has revealed him, and Bharata's prayer has revealed Bharata. The night above Ayodhya pauses around a fellowship discovered through Rama's Name. One serves by racing toward the battlefield, the other by waiting outside a kingdom he refuses to enjoy. Their forms of devotion meet and recognize the single love moving through both.
Bharata holds Hanuman, and two distant paths of service touch within a heart overflowing with Rama.
Read the passage from the Manas
लीन्ह कपिहि उर लाइ पुलकित तनु लोचन सजल। प्रीति न हृदयँ समाइ सुमिरि राम रघुकुल तिलक।।59।।
He clasped the monkey to his heart, body thrilling with joy and eyes brimming with tears. Love could not be contained in his heart, remembering Rama, the crown jewel of Raghu's line.