On this page
Rama has bathed in a most bright pool and sits in a tree’s shade with his younger brother. Seeing him there in separation, Narada is filled with worry. Rama, he thinks, is bearing the curse Narada laid, and such a chance to see him will not come again. He comes, and the one boon he asks is for the name Rama, that it be greater than all names. Then he asks why the Lord did not let him marry, when the Lord had set his maya on him and deluded him.
Narada arrives singing, veena in hand, and is raised from his prostration and taken to Rama’s breast. Lakshmana washes his feet. The boon is granted. The question is answered, and the answer begins with a mother and her little one. The sage’s eyes fill. He asks what the marks of the saints are, and Rama tells them with his own mouth. Narada goes to Brahma’s world. Then comes a word to the mind, the month-long reading takes a pause, and the Aranyakand ends.
Narada and the two brothers
The main figures in this episode
- Rama who bathes in a bright pool and sits in the shade of a tree with Lakshmana, telling him sweet tales. He raises Narada from his prostration, holds him to his breast, and, asking after his welfare, seats him near. He says “So be it” to the boon, answers the question Narada brings, and tells the marks of the saints himself.
- Narada the sage who, seeing the Lord in separation, thinks that Rama, taking Narada’s curse on himself, bears a load of griefs. Deluded by the Lord’s maya, Narada had cursed him to suffer in separation from a woman. He comes veena in hand, singing Rama’s deeds. He asks one boon, for the name Rama to be greater than all names, and asks the reason the Lord kept him from marrying. His body thrills and his eyes fill at the answer. He asks Rama to tell the saints’ marks, clasps his feet, and goes to Brahma’s world.
- Lakshmana the younger brother with whom Rama sits in the shade and to whom he tells sweet tales. He washes Narada’s feet with respect.
A pool, a shade, and a worry
Seeing a most bright pool, Rama bathed and found supreme happiness. Seeing the shade of a beautiful, fine tree, he sat with his younger brother. Then all the gods and sages came there and, praising him, went to their own abodes. Rama sat supremely pleased, telling his younger brother sweet tales.
At the sight of the Lord in separation, a great worry arose in Narada’s mind. He thought: “Taking my curse on himself, Rama bears a load of griefs of many kinds. Let me go and see such a Lord. Such a chance will not come again.”
Veena in hand
So thinking, veena in hand, Narada went where the Lord sat at ease, singing Rama’s deeds in a soft voice, telling them with love in many ways. As he prostrated, Rama raised him up and held him to his breast a long while. Asking after his welfare, Rama seated him near, and Lakshmana washed his feet with respect.
Making entreaty in many ways, and knowing the Lord pleased at heart, Narada then spoke, joining his hands.
The boon of the Name
Narada said, “Listen, Rama, generous by nature. You are the giver of boons beautiful, hard to reach, and easy to reach. Give me one boon that I ask, master, though you, the inner knower of all, know it.”
Rama said, “Sage, you know my nature. Do I ever hide anything from devotees? What thing is so dear to me, best of sages, that you could not ask for it? There is nothing of mine beyond giving to a devotee. Do not give up this trust by mistake.”
Then Narada, glad, said, “I ask a boon like this, and I am being bold. Though the Lord has many names, and the Vedas say each is greater than the other, may the name Rama be greater than all names. May it be, master, a fowler to the flocks of the birds of sin. Your bhakti is the full-moon night, the name Rama its moon, and the other names the stars. May they dwell in the clear sky of the devotee’s heart.”
Rama said to the sage, “So be it.” Then Narada, most glad in his mind, bowed his head at the Lord’s feet.
The question Narada brings
Knowing Rama most pleased, Narada spoke again in a soft voice. “Rama, when you set your maya on me and deluded me, listen, Rama, I wanted then to marry. Lord, for what reason did you not let me?”
Rama said, “Listen, sage, I tell you with joy.”
The commentary reads the telling as done with joy.
As a mother guards her little one
Rama went on. “Those who worship me, leaving every trust, I guard always, as a mother guards her little one. When the infant runs to grasp fire or a snake, the mother, drawing him apart, guards him there. When the son is grown, the mother loves him. The earlier way does not remain. The man of knowledge is like my grown son. The servant without conceit is like my little son. The servant has my strength. The man of knowledge has his own. To both, lust and anger are enemies. So thinking, the learned worship me. Even having gained knowledge, they do not give up bhakti.”
The commentary reads the earlier way as the mother’s care to save him, which she drops, since the grown son leans on her no longer and guards himself. It reads the servant without conceit as one like Narada. It adds that the charge of killing the servant’s enemies lies on the Lord, since the servant leans on him and counts the Lord’s strength his own. The charge of destroying the enemies of the man of knowledge, who counts on his own strength, is not the Lord’s, it says.
The army of delusion, and the seasons
Rama went on. “Lust, anger, greed, pride, and the rest are the mighty army of delusion. Among them the most dreadful and grievous is woman, maya in form. Listen, sage. The Puranas, the Vedas, and the saints say that for the forest of delusion woman is the spring. Becoming the summer, she dries up all the pools of japa, tapas, and rule. Lust, anger, pride, and envy are frogs. For these she alone is the rains that give gladness. Evil desires are clusters of night lilies. To them she is the autumn, always giving happiness. All the dharmas are beds of lotuses. Becoming the frost season, she, a low happiness, burns them. Then attachment is javasa in abundance. It grows green on finding her, the late winter. To the flocks of the owls of sin she is the dense, dark night that gives them happiness. Intellect, strength, conduct, and truth are all fish, and woman is like a hook, so the skilled say. A young woman is the root of faults, a giver of pain, the mine of all griefs. That is why, sage, knowing this in my heart, I held you back.”
The sage’s eyes fill
At Rama’s pleasing words, the sage’s body thrilled and his eyes filled. In the commentary’s reading he said in his mind: “Say, what lord has such a way, attachment and love for his servant? Those who do not worship such a Lord, leaving confusion, are men poor in knowledge, dull, and ill-fated.”
Then Narada said with respect, “Listen, Rama, versed in wisdom. Rama, tell the marks of the saints, master, breaker of the fear of becoming.”
Rama said, “Listen, sage. I tell the virtues of the saints, by which I stay in their power.”
The marks of the saints
Rama went on. “They have conquered the six vices. They are sinless, desireless, unshaken, owning nothing, pure, and homes of happiness. They are of boundless understanding, wanting nothing, sparing in food, rooted in truth, poets, scholars, and yogis. They are watchful, giving honor, without pride, steady, and supremely skilled in the course of dharma. They are homes of virtue, free of the world’s griefs, and rid of doubt. Apart from my lotus feet, neither body nor home is dear to them. They are abashed at hearing their own virtues with their ears, and the more glad at hearing others’. Even and cool, they do not give up policy. Simple of nature, they have love for all. In them are japa, tapas, vows, self-control, restraint, and rule, and love for the feet of guru, Govinda, and brahmins. In them are faith, forgiveness, friendliness, pity, gladness, and guileless love for my feet. In them are dispassion, discernment, humility, wisdom, and right understanding of the Vedas and Puranas. They never practice hypocrisy, conceit, or pride, and do not set foot on an evil road by mistake. They always sing and hear my lila, and are devoted to others’ good without cause. Listen, sage. As many virtues as the saints have, Sarasvati and the Vedas cannot tell them.”
The commentary lists the six vices as lust, anger, greed, delusion, pride, and envy. It reads the policy the saints keep as justice.
Toward Brahma’s world
Hearing that Sarasvati and Shesha cannot tell them, Narada clasped Rama’s feet. In this way Rama told his devotees’ virtues with his own mouth. Bowing his head again and again at his feet, Narada went to Brahma’s world. Blessed are those who, giving up their hopes, are dyed in the color of the Lord. The commentary gives this line to Tulsidas.
Those who sing and hear the holy fame of Rama gain firm bhakti of Rama without dispassion, japa, or yoga.
The mind is told, “Like a lamp’s flame is a young woman’s body. Mind, do not be a moth. Worship Rama, leaving lust and pride, and keep always the company of the good.”
Here the month-long reading takes its twenty-second pause. After the doha comes the colophon: in the Ramcharitmanas, which destroys all the sins of the Kali age, the third sopan, the third step down into the lake, is complete. Aranyakand ends here.
Narada, the Name, and the saints
Rama bathed and sat in the shade with his younger brother. The gods and sages came and, praising him, went. Seeing him in separation, Narada thought of the curse he had laid, and came singing, veena in hand. Rama raised him, held him, and seated him near. Lakshmana washed his feet. Narada asked one boon, for the name Rama, and heard “So be it.” He asked why the Lord had not let him marry. Rama answered, from the mother and her little one to the reason he had held Narada back. Narada’s body thrilled, his eyes filled, and he asked for the saints’ marks, which Rama told. Narada clasped his feet and, bowing again and again, went to Brahma’s world. A word to the mind came after, and the third sopan came to its close. Valmiki’s Ramayana has no such visit of Narada to Rama in the forest.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Aranyakand, doha 41 to 46 (b), read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.