Sri Sita-Rama Dhyana Manjari with Makaranda Madhuri
Salutations to Sri Sita and Rama. Salutations to the blessed Hanuman.
The commentator's invocation
Doha
Meditate upon Sri Ramananda, the radiant lamp of the true sampradaya. Agra composed the work after touching his own Master's feet and bowing his head at the Guru's feet.
This lovely Dhyana Manjari of Rama and Sita is a bestower of blessings. By Hanuman's grace I write its tilaka, this beautiful treasury of joy.
The root author's invocation
1. I meditate upon steadfast Sri Raghavira, ornament of the lineage of Raghu. He is a treasury of bliss for those who take refuge in him, and he destroys the faults that form an ocean of sin.
मूल पाठ 1 सुमिरौं श्री रघुवीर धीर रघुवंश विभूषण । शरण गहे सुख राशि हरत अघसागर दूषण ॥१॥
2. Beautiful and supremely generous Rama bears an arrow and the Sharanga bow. Holding the Lord in the heart through meditation brings delight to the wise.
मूल पाठ 2 सुन्दर राम उदार बान कर सारंगधारी । हिय धरि प्रभु को ध्यान विदुष जन आनँदकारी ॥२॥
Tilaka Vartika - Commentary
At the beginning, after remembering this all-limbed meditation as an auspicious invocation and briefly describing the Lord's names, qualities, and majesty in a manner suited to his intention, the poet will meditate upon Sri Ayodhya. She is the foundational power underlying meditation upon Rama's form: the support of infinite worlds, a treasury of infinite divine virtues, beyond the gunas and beyond form, and the essence of being, consciousness, and bliss. Salutations to Sri Rama. The meter is rola.
"I remember steadfast Sri Raghavira, ornament of Raghu's lineage." What is he like? For those who take refuge, he is a treasury of bliss; he removes the ocean of sin and the ocean of faults. This is the grammatical connection of the words.
Now the inner feeling is explained. I remember Raghavira - steadfast and the ornament of Raghu's lineage - together with his sovereign Sri Sita, the mine of the wealth of beauty, the primal Power, supreme Devotion, and the giver of delight to Sri Rama.
By including the word Sri, Sita is understood. The feeling is that our chosen mantra is the blessed six-syllabled mantra. Therefore she will be obtained by its grace. Although the name Raghavira alone is stated rather than the Couple's two names explicitly, the reason is that Sri Sita and Rama are one reality. They become a Couple only for the delight of devotees. As it is said:
Speech and meaning are like water and its waves: they are spoken of as different, yet are not different. I bow to the feet of Sita and Rama, who are supremely dear to the distressed.
The name Raghavira destroys every obstacle. It shows Sri Rama as capable of protecting those who surrender, appearing in youthful form. Calling him "steadfast" also teaches that meditation cannot be sustained without steadiness; he will grant us at least a particle of his own steadiness. Calling him the ornament of Raghu's lineage reveals his mastery of royal sweetness.
How is the ornament of Raghu's line a treasury of bliss for one who has taken refuge? Whoever takes hold of his feet, knowing him as protector - whoever comes under their shelter with humility and dependence - finds in him a treasury of bliss. He frees that person from every sorrow and fear and gives the immeasurable treasure of happiness. He removes both the unfathomable ocean of accumulated sinful actions gathered through many births and the drowning ocean of faults that appear as the karmic dispositions already bearing fruit. As the "treasury of bliss," he bestows knowledge of his own true nature; then newly performed karma no longer adheres. Thus surrendered souls attain fearless liberation. This is the intended inner meaning of verse 1.
The second verse describes the Supreme Reality as the totality of every rasa, the object worshiped by the wise, and the embodiment of bliss.
"Beautiful" means that from toenails to the crown of his head every limb bears the marks of the Supreme Person; his form enchants sages' minds and consists of the rasa of divine love. He is Sri Rama: he delights and is delighted in Sri Janaki, delights the minds of sages, and, as the indwelling Lord, dwells throughout all moving and unmoving existence. "Generous" means that he gives to all beings the very ground of their conscious existence. To protect them he carries an arrow and the Sharanga bow in his two hands. He gives bliss to the discriminating wise who know essence from non-essence. Holding in my heart this Lord, the bow-bearer who accomplishes what appears impossible, I remember and contemplate him.
The verb from the preceding verse also governs this one. "Beautiful" establishes the fullness of infinite auspicious qualities. "Rama" establishes the unbroken unity of his wondrous manifestation: beyond qualities and yet possessed of qualities, formless and yet embodied, supreme over all. "Generous" reveals his power to bestow prosperity, dharma, desire, liberation, devotion, and even his own self. The arrow and Sharanga show the primacy of bow and arrow among all his weapons; naming two weapons establishes the beginningless reality of his two-armed form.
The phrase "giver of joy to the wise" also carries this feeling: I am not wise, and therefore I hold him in my heart so that he may make even me wise and joyful. First I hold the meditation in my heart and remember it, so that the eternal abode may become directly present to mind and speech; only then do I describe it. This is the inner meaning of verse 2.