Praise and Blame Touch the Saint with Equal Weight
Uttara Kanda, Doha 38
Doha 38 · Movement 2 of 2
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Praise arrives and blame arrives, yet the saint does not build a throne for one or a prison for the other. Both are received with equal vision and allowed to pass.
The heart's attachment has moved elsewhere. Love rests at Rama's lotus feet, too deeply anchored to be raised by approval or broken by accusation.
Rama calls such people temples of virtue and masses of happiness, dear to him as his own life. Equanimity is not cold withdrawal from relationship. It is freedom from the unstable marketplace of reputation, making room for unwavering intimacy with the Lord. Praise cannot purchase the saint, blame cannot exile the saint, and devotion remains the one measure by which the heart knows where it belongs.
When the heart has found Rama's feet, praise and blame become two passing winds unable to move its home.
Read the passage from the Manas
निंदा अस्तुति उभय सम ममता मम पद कंज। ते सज्जन मम प्रानप्रिय गुन मंदिर सुख पुंज।।38।।
Those to whom blame and praise are equal, who have deep attachment to my lotus feet. Such saints are temples of virtue, embodiments of bliss, and dear to me as my own life. Equal vision in honor and dishonor, heart fixed only on me. These are the marks of those I hold most dear.