Rama Sends His Friends Home with the Secret of His Everywhere Presence
Uttara Kanda, Doha 16
Doha 16 · Movement 2 of 2
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The hour of departure arrives. Rama does not ask his friends to preserve Ayodhya by refusing every other place. He tells them to return to their homes and worship him there with steady discipline.
Know me as always present everywhere, he says, always working for the welfare of all. Let that knowledge become great love. Distance will change the visible scene, but it cannot confine the One whom they serve.
The command opens Ayodhya until no boundary wall can contain it. Kishkindha, Lanka, forest paths, mountain caves, and ordinary households may all become places of remembrance. The companions must leave the form before their eyes without leaving the Lord who pervades every direction. Devotion matures when nearness is no longer measured only in steps from the throne, but in the steadfastness with which Rama is known and loved wherever duty has placed the heart.
Rama sends the devotees outward so they may discover that his presence has already gone before them into every place.
Read the passage from the Manas
अब गृह जाहु सखा सब भजेहु मोहि दृढ़ नेम। सदा सर्बगत सर्बहित जानि करेहु अति प्रेम।।16।।
Now go home, dear friends. Worship me there with steadfast devotion. Know me as ever-present everywhere, working always for the good of all, and love me deeply. (16)