The Servant and the Lord Cross the Ocean Together
Uttara Kanda, Doha 120
Doha 120 · Movement 2 of 2
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The ocean of becoming spreads beneath Garuda, shoreless and dark. Across it runs one living bond: the servant turns toward the One served, and Rama's lotus feet become both direction and refuge.
Bhushundi gives the principle without ornament. Without the relation of sevaka and sevya, the crossing is not made. The soul does not manufacture sovereignty for itself. It entrusts itself to Raghunayaka, whose power governs consciousness and matter alike.
Before that Lord, the fixed categories of the universe become fluid. He can make the conscious appear inert and awaken consciousness where inertness seemed absolute. Garuda, enemy of serpents and mighty bearer of Vishnu, hears blessedness defined as worship. Power is not measured by the height to which a being can rise alone, but by nearness to the One who can reverse every condition in an instant. The servant bows, the Lord receives, and the impossible sea acquires a passage.
The soul reaches the farther shore by holding the lotus feet of the One who can awaken even stone.
Read the passage from the Manas
सेवक सेब्य भाव बिनु भव न तरिअ उरगारि।। भजहु राम पद पंकज अस सिद्धांत बिचारि।।119(क)।। जो चेतन कहँ ज़ड़ करइ ज़ड़हि करइ चैतन्य। अस समर्थ रघुनायकहिं भजहिं जीव ते धन्य।।119(ख)।।
Without the bond of servant and master, one cannot cross the ocean of existence, O enemy of serpents. Worship the lotus feet of Rama; contemplate this established truth. He who makes the conscious unconscious and the unconscious conscious: blessed are those souls who worship such an all-powerful Lord Raghunayak.