The Sun of Rama Rises Within the New Moon Darkness of the Heart
Sundara Kanda, Chaupai 47
Doha 47 · Movement 1 of 2
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Vibhishana looks inward and remembers the heart before Rama entered it. Greed, delusion, jealousy, intoxication, and pride crowded its chambers. Attachment spread like the darkness of a young new moon night, and passion and hatred lived there like owls that flourish where no sunlight reaches.
That darkness endures only while Raghunatha has not taken his seat within, bow in hand, arrows ready, and quiver at his waist. When the sun of the Lord's glory rises, the night dwelling creatures lose their refuge. The hidden landscape of the mind becomes visible beneath another light.
Now Vibhishana is well. The great weight of fear has vanished because his eyes have seen Rama's lotus feet. The threefold pains of worldly life cannot master one toward whom the compassionate Lord is favorable. A demon who claims no good deed has been embraced joyfully by the very form that sages struggle to hold in meditation.
The heart that housed owls in darkness becomes dawn when Rama enters bearing his bow.
Read the passage from the Manas
तब लगि हृदयँ बसत खल नाना। लोभ मोह मच्छर मद माना।। जब लगि उर न बसत रघुनाथा। धरें चाप सायक कटि भाथा।। ममता तरुन तमी अँधिआरी। राग द्वेष उलूक सुखकारी।। तब लगि बसति जीव मन माहीं। जब लगि प्रभु प्रताप रबि नाहीं।। अब मैं कुसल मिटे भय भारे। देखि राम पद कमल तुम्हारे।। तुम्ह कृपाल जा पर अनुकूला। ताहि न ब्याप त्रिबिध भव सूला।। मैं निसिचर अति अधम सुभाऊ। सुभ आचरनु कीन्ह नहिं काऊ।। जासु रूप मुनि ध्यान न आवा। तेहिं प्रभु हरषि हृदयँ मोहि लावा।।
Until then, every kind of wickedness dwells in the heart: greed, delusion, jealousy, intoxication, and pride. As long as Raghunatha does not reside in the heart, bearing His bow, arrows, and quiver at His waist. Attachment is like the darkness of a new-moon night, and passion and hatred are the owls that take comfort in it. These continue to inhabit the soul's mind until the sun of the Lord's glory rises there. "Now I am well and my great fears have vanished, having beheld Your lotus feet, O Rama." "You are compassionate. Whoever receives Your favor is not afflicted by the threefold sufferings of existence." "I am a demon of the lowest nature, one who has never performed a single good deed." "Yet that Lord whose form even sages cannot hold in meditation has joyfully pressed me to His heart."