Faithful Listening Gives the Devotion Sages Struggle to Attain
Uttara Kanda, Doha 126ख
Doha 126ख · Movement 2 of 2
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The mountain austerities of sages rise in the imagination: long silences, disciplined breath, inward fire, years given to the search for Hari-bhakti. What even such seekers find rare is offered along a path open to the ordinary listener.
One hears Rama-katha continually and receives it with trust. The ears become a doorway, attention a quiet seat, and faith the readiness by which the story passes from sound into the heart.
The ease is not carelessness. It is grace made accessible through shravana. No heroic display surrounds the listener, only the repeated willingness to return, hear, and believe. The Manas has crossed forests, palaces, battlefields, hermitages, universes, and ages to reach this simple instruction near its close. The listener need not imitate every ordeal in the tale. By dwelling faithfully in the tale itself, one receives the devotion for which even severe practice longs.
The treasure sages seek on distant peaks enters quietly through the ears of one who listens with faith.
Read the passage from the Manas
मुनि दुर्लभ हरि भगति नर पावहिं बिनहिं प्रयास। जे यह कथा निरंतर सुनहिं मानि बिस्वास।।126।।
That devotion to Hari which even sages find difficult to attain, ordinary souls receive without effort: those who listen to this sacred story continuously, with faith and trust.