The Silkworm Is Cherished because Beautiful Cloth Comes through Its Body
Uttara Kanda, Doha 96
Doha 96 · Movement 2 of 2
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Bhushundi gives Garuda a worldly image for sacred attachment. Shruti and the wise approve the principle that one may cherish even what appears lowly when supreme benefit comes through it.
Silk emerges from the worm, and from silk comes beautiful cloth. Though the creature is considered impure, people protect and tend it as carefully as life because they understand the treasure carried through its small body.
So Bhushundi loves the form of a crow. Its outward rank does not decide its worth. This is the body within which Rama-bhakti became unbroken, the vessel through which divine story now nourishes Garuda and the assembled birds. The analogy does not reduce devotion to material gain. It corrects contempt for form by asking what grace has made possible through that form. A humble body that bears love is more precious than an exalted body turned away from Rama.
Bhushundi guards the crow body as one guards a silkworm, for through its dark wings came the luminous cloth of devotion.
Read the passage from the Manas
पन्नगारि असि नीति श्रुति संमत सज्जन कहहिं। अति नीचहु सन प्रीति करिअ जानि निज परम हित।।95(क)।। पाट कीट तें होइ तेहि तें पाटंबर रुचिर। कृमि पालइ सबु कोइ परम अपावन प्रान सम।।95(ख)।।
O Pannagari, this is the principle that the Shrutis affirm and the wise declare: one should show love even to the most lowly, knowing it to be one's supreme good. From the silkworm comes silk, and from silk are made beautiful garments. Everyone tends the worm with care, though it is supremely impure, guarding it like life itself.