Every Bird Crosses the Sky, Yet None Finds Where the Sky Ends
Uttara Kanda, Chaupai 89
Doha 92 · Movement 1 of 2
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Bhushundi has sung only according to his own understanding, without special cleverness. What he has spoken he has seen. Yet the name, form, qualities, glory, and stories of Raghunatha remain infinite.
Each sage praises Hari according to the capacity of his mind. Vedas, Shesha, and Shiva cannot find the end. Garuda, greatest among birds, may rise through measureless height, while the smallest gnat also moves within the same sky, but neither reaches a boundary where sky is no more.
So no one sounds the depth of Raghupati. Bhushundi begins a cascade of comparison: Rama's form outshines a hundred crore gods of love; his force against evil equals countless Durgas; his sovereign play exceeds a hundred crore Indras; his expanse opens like a hundred crore skies. The images do not measure him. They reveal how every attempted measure breaks into vastness before his glory.
From Garuda's highest flight to the gnat's smallest wingbeat, every creature moves inside a glory whose horizon never appears.
Read the passage from the Manas
निज मति सरिस नाथ मैं गाई। प्रभु प्रताप महिमा खगराई।। कहेउँ न कछु करि जुगुति बिसेषी। यह सब मैं निज नयनन्हि देखी।। महिमा नाम रूप गुन गाथा। सकल अमित अनंत रघुनाथा।। निज निज मति मुनि हरि गुन गावहिं। निगम सेष सिव पार न पावहिं।। तुम्हहि आदि खग मसक प्रजंता। नभ उड़ाहिं नहिं पावहिं अंता।। तिमि रघुपति महिमा अवगाहा। तात कबहुँ कोउ पाव कि थाहा।। रामु काम सत कोटि सुभग तन। दुर्गा कोटि अमित अरि मर्दन।। सक्र कोटि सत सरिस बिलासा। नभ सत कोटि अमित अवकासा।।
O Lord, I have sung according to my own understanding the glory and majesty of the Lord, O Khagarai. I have not spoken through any special cleverness; all this I have seen with my own eyes. The glory, name, form, gunas, and stories of Raghunatha are all infinite and boundless. Each muni sings Hari's gunas according to their own understanding, yet the Vedas, Shesha, and Shiva cannot find their end. You, the first among birds, and all creatures down to the smallest gnat, fly through the sky but cannot reach its boundary. Likewise, dear one, can anyone ever fathom the depths of Raghupati's mahima? Rama's form is beautiful like a hundred crore Kamadevas, and He destroys countless enemies like a hundred crore Durgas. His divine play surpasses a hundred crore Indras, and His expanse is limitless like a hundred crore skies.