Uma Drinks the Nectar Flowing from the Moon of Shiva's Face
Uttara Kanda, Doha 53क
Doha 53क · Movement 2 of 2
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Uma tells Shiva that his grace has made her fulfilled. Delusion has vanished, and she has recognized Rama's glory as the gathered fullness of consciousness and bliss.
She sees Shiva's face as a moon from which the nectar of Raghuvir's story continually flows. Her ears become two cups held beneath that cool and deathless stream.
Mind and hearing drink together, yet neither reaches satiety. Wisdom does not make the story unnecessary. The clearer Rama becomes, the greater the thirst to hear. Shiva is moon, katha is nectar, and listening is a vessel that grows deeper while being filled. Uma's fulfillment and her unsatisfied longing coexist because devotional completion is not an ending. It is an endless capacity for more of the beloved.
The moon of Shiva's face pours Rama-katha into Uma's waiting ears, and every cupful enlarges her thirst.
Read the passage from the Manas
तुम्हरी कृपाँ कृपायतन अब कृतकृत्य न मोह। जानेउँ राम प्रताप प्रभु चिदानंद संदोह।।52(क)।। नाथ तवानन ससि स्रवत कथा सुधा रघुबीर। श्रवन पुटन्हि मन पान करि नहिं अघात मतिधीर।।52(ख)।।
By Your grace, O abode of compassion, I am now completely fulfilled. No delusion remains. I have come to know the glory of Lord Rama, who is the very mass of Chidananda (Consciousness-Bliss). O Lord, from the moon of Your face flows the nectar of Raghuvira's katha. Drinking it through the cups of my ears, my mind is never sated, O steadfast one.