The Vedas Vanish and Shiva Arrives Trembling with Praise
Uttara Kanda, Doha 14
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
Before the whole assembly, the Vedas complete their generous prayer. The disguised bards vanish from sight and return to Brahma's abode, leaving the court to wonder at a mystery it never recognized while it stood among them.
Shiva now tells Garuda to look again. Another presence approaches Rama, not concealed in the dress of a court singer but overcome by the devotion moving through his own body.
Shambhu comes where Raghuvir sits. His voice is choked before the prayer begins, and every hair upon his body rises with sacred emotion. The master who narrated Rama's glory to Uma now stands inside the scene he praised. Words will come, but first the body confesses what the tongue cannot yet utter. Knowledge of the Lord does not cool Shiva into distance. Nearness makes the knower tremble, and praise rises from that living astonishment.
When Shiva reaches Rama, theology becomes a broken voice and a body bright with the thrill of recognition.
Read the passage from the Manas
सब के देखत बेदन्ह बिनती कीन्हि उदार। अंतर्धान भए पुनि गए ब्रह्म आगार।।13(क)।। बैनतेय सुनु संभु तब आए जहँ रघुबीर। बिनय करत गदगद गिरा पूरित पुलक सरीर।।13(ख)।।
Before everyone's eyes, the Vedas offered their gracious prayer. Then they vanished and returned to the abode of Brahma. 13(ka) Hear, O son of Vinata: then Shambhu himself came where Raghuvir was. His voice choked with love, his body covered in goosebumps, he began his prayer. 13(kha)