The verse and its meaning · Sundarkand · Sundarkand — Vibhishana Comes to Rama

Who Rama Really Is

Sundarkand 39

तात राम नहिँ नर भूपाला । भुवनेश्वर कालहु कर काला । ब्रह्म अनामय अज भगवन्ता । व्यापक अजित अनादि अनन्ता ॥१ । गो द्विज धेनु देव हितकारी । कृपासिन्धु मानुष तनु धारी । जन रञ्जन सज्जन खल ब्राता । बेद-धर्म रच्छक सुनु भ्राता ॥२ । ताहि बयर- तजि नाइय माथा प्रनतारति भञ्जन रघुनाथा । देहु नाथ प्रभु कह बैदेही । भजहु राम बिनु हेत सनेही ॥३ । सरन गये प्रभु ताहु न त्यागा। बिस्व-द्रोह-कृत अघ जेहि लागा । जासु नाम त्रय ताप नसावन । सोइ प्रभु प्रगट समुझु जिय रावन । बार बार पद लागउँ, बिनय करउँ दससीस । परिहरि मान-मोह-मद, भजहु कोसलाधीस

Meaning · English

Rama is no earthly king: lord of the worlds, Death's own Death, Brahma unborn and boundless. Merciful, he took a human form to guard cows, Brahmins, gods, saints. Drop enmity, bow, return Sita. He never forsakes refuge-seekers. Drop pride and delusion; worship him.

Vibhishana answers a mistake in Ravana's thinking. Ravana sees two men and an army of monkeys. Vibhishana says Rama is not a nara bhupala, an ordinary human king. He is bhuvanesvara, lord of the worlds, and kala ka kala, the Death of Death. The tradition reads this as Rama ruling even the one who ends everything. Bhagavanta means one who holds all glory and power. Aja means unborn, and anadi, ananta mean without beginning or end. Why, then, a human body? Vibhishana says Rama is krpasindhu, an ocean of mercy, and took it to protect cows, Brahmins, gods and saints, to delight the good, and to crush the wicked. Then comes the plea. Bayara means enmity, and Vibhishana asks Ravana to drop it, bow his head, and give Vaidehi, Sita, back. Sarana means shelter, and bhajahu comes from bhaj, to serve with love. Vibhishana says Rama never turns away someone who comes for shelter, even one burdened with the sin of harming the world. His very name, he says, ends the three kinds of suffering. So the teaching is: whoever is this great is also this easy to approach. The only thing in the way is mana, moha and mada, which are pride, delusion and intoxication with one's own power. Vibhishana asks Ravana to set these down and bow, and he asks it again and again, touching his feet.

A lit doorway on a rainy night, where the owner has never once turned a soaked stranger away. The house is large and the owner is the master of the whole street, yet the door is open. Rama is both the grand master and the open door.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Vibhishana's Counsel to Ravana · Sundarkand 38
• Next: Two Minds, One Heart · Sundarkand 40
• All of Sundarkand · Ask Krishna about it

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