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Keeping Rama‘s image in her heart as he ran after the false deer, Sita goes on repeating the Lord’s name. Seeing Lakshmana coming, Rama shows great worry outwardly. The hermitage on the Godavari’s bank is without Sita. From it Rama goes on, asking the creepers and trees, then the birds and beasts and bees, whether they have seen her. Ahead lies a bird that remembers Rama’s feet, and it tells him that she was taken south.
Before this doha the Gita Press edition marks the sixth pause of its nine-day reading. In this episode Lakshmana clasps Rama’s feet and says the fault is not his. The things Rama names as he searches hear their own praise and are glad without Sita, and he asks her why she does not appear. He touches the head of the bird lying ahead, and its pain goes. Jatayu reports the deed, the one who did it, the south, and Sita’s cry. Rama tells him to keep his body, and Jatayu asks for what lack he should keep it. Rama bids him leave his body and go to Rama’s abode. He charges him not to tell Rama’s father that Sita was carried off. Taking the Lord’s form, Jatayu praises Rama. Asking the boon of unbroken bhakti, he goes to the Lord’s abode, and Rama does his rites with his own hands.
Two brothers, and a wounded bird
The main figures in this episode
- Rama who, seeing Lakshmana coming, shows great worry outwardly, and who charges him with leaving Sita alone. He goes with him to the hermitage and finds it without Sita. He cries out for her, and as he goes he asks the creepers and trees, the birds and beasts, and the bees whether they have seen her. He sees Jatayu lying ahead and touches his head. He tells Jatayu to keep his body. Then he tells him to go to Rama’s abode, and asks him not to go and tell his own father that Sita was carried off. He does Jatayu’s rites with his own hands.
- Lakshmana who comes to Rama without Sita and hears his charge. Clasping Rama’s feet and joining his hands, he says that no fault at all is his. He goes with Rama to the hermitage and consoles him in many ways.
- Sita who, keeping in her heart the image of Rama running after the false deer, goes on repeating the Lord’s name. The hermitage is without her, and Rama’s lament is for her. In Jatayu’s report she is carried off toward the south, lamenting like a kurari bird.
- Jatayu who lies ahead of Rama, remembering his feet, and whose pain goes at the sight of his face. He tells Rama that Ravana brought him to this state and carried Sita off south. Told to keep his body, he asks for what lack he should do so. He takes the Lord’s form and praises Rama. Asking for unbroken bhakti as his boon, he goes to the Lord’s abode.
- Ravana who is named in Jatayu’s report as the one who did this to him and carried Sita off. In Rama’s words to Jatayu he is the one who, if Rama is Rama, will come with his family and tell it.
- Rama’s father (spoken of) whom Rama asks Jatayu not to go and tell that Sita was carried off. Rama says that if he is Rama, Ravana will come and tell it.
Worry shown outwardly
Keeping in her heart the image of Rama running after the false deer, Sita went on repeating the Lord’s name.
Seeing his younger brother coming, Rama showed great worry outwardly. “You left Sita alone and came, dear one, pushing aside my word. Swarms of night-walkers roam the forest. My mind says Sita is not at the hermitage.”
Clasping Rama’s feet and joining his hands, Lakshmana said, “Master, no fault at all is mine.”
The hermitage on the Godavari’s bank
With his younger brother Rama went to where the hermitage stood on the Godavari’s bank. Seeing the hermitage without Sita, he became distraught, like a worldly man, and wretched.
A cry for Sita, mine of virtues
In the commentary’s reading he began to lament. “Alas, Sita, mine of virtues, pure in form, conduct, vow, and rule!” Lakshmana consoled him in many ways. Asking the rows of creepers and trees, Rama went on.
The birds, the beasts, and the lines of bees
Rama asked, “Birds and beasts, lines of bees, have you seen fawn-eyed Sita? The wagtail, the parrot, the dove, the deer, the fish, the swarm of bees, and the skilled cuckoo hear their own praise. So do the jasmine bud, the pomegranate, the lightning, the lotus, the autumn moon, and the she-serpent. So do Varuna’s noose, Kama’s bow, the swan, the elephant, and the lion.”
Without her today, they are all glad
Rama said, “The bael, gold, and the plantain are glad, with not the least doubt or embarrassment in their minds. Listen, Sita, without you today they are all glad, as if they had gained a kingdom.” In the commentary’s reading they were petty, slighted, and ashamed before her limbs, and today, not seeing her, they swell with pride in their own splendor.
Rama asked, “How can you bear the vexation? Beloved, why do you not appear at once?” The commentary reads the vexation as rivalry.
Jatayu, lying ahead
In this way the master went on searching and lamenting, as if he were a great lover in separation, a man of much desire. Rama, whose every wish is fulfilled, a mass of happiness, unborn and undying, does a man’s deeds.
He saw Jatayu, the lord of vultures, lying ahead, remembering Rama’s feet and the marks on them. The commentary names the marks as the banner, the thunderbolt, and the rest.
Rama, the ocean of mercy, touched his head with his hand. When Jatayu beheld Rama’s face, the home of beauty, all his pain was gone.
Holding patience, the vulture speaks
Then, holding patience, the vulture spoke. “Listen, Rama, crusher of the fear of becoming. Master, Ravana brought me to this state. That wicked one carried off Sita. Taking her, he went south, master. She was lamenting greatly, like a kurari bird. For the sight of you, Lord, I kept my life. Now it wants to go, treasure of mercy.”
For what lack should he keep his body?
Rama said, “Keep your body, dear one.” Smiling, Jatayu spoke. “He whose name, coming to the mouth at death, frees even the lowest, so the Vedas sing, stands before my eyes. For what lack should I keep this body, master?”
With his eyes filling with water, Rama said, “Dear one, by your own deeds you have gained this state.”
Those in whose minds the good of others dwells
Rama said, “For those in whose minds the good of others dwells, nothing in the world is hard to gain. Leaving your body, dear one, go to my abode. What shall I give you? Your every wish is fulfilled. That Sita was carried off, dear one, do not go and tell my father. If I am Rama, Ravana will come with his family and tell it.”
The vulture’s body, and the Lord’s form
Leaving the vulture’s body, Jatayu took the Lord’s form, with many matchless ornaments and yellow silk, a dark body, and four great arms. His eyes filled with water, he praised Rama.
He cried victory to Rama, matchless in form, without qualities and with qualities, the true mover of the qualities. The commentary reads the qualities he moves as maya. He hailed him as the one whose fierce arrow breaks Ravana’s fierce arms, and as the adornment of the earth. He hailed his body like a rain cloud, his lotus face, and his long lotus eyes. “I bow forever to Rama, merciful, long-armed, who frees from the fear of becoming.”
He called him measureless in strength, without beginning, unborn, unmanifest, one, imperceptible, and Govinda. He called him beyond the senses, the remover of the pairs of opposites, wisdom made dense, and the upholder of the earth. He called him the delight of the minds of endless servants, the saints who repeat Rama’s mantra. “I bow forever to Rama, dear to the desireless, destroyer of the band of the wicked, lust and the rest.”
He sang of the one whom the Vedas sing as stainless Brahman, all-pervading, without stain, and unborn. Sages gain that one by meditation, knowledge, dispassion, yoga, and much else. That one has appeared, he sang, the root of compassion and a host of splendor, and charms all that moves and all that does not. “In his limbs, the bee of my heart’s lotus, the beauty of many Kamas shines.”
He sang of the one who is hard to reach and easy to reach, pure of nature, uneven and even, and ever cool. Yogis see him with effort, he sang, always holding mind and senses in their power. “He is Rama, Lakshmi’s dwelling, forever in his servants’ power, lord of the three worlds. May he dwell in my heart, he whose holy fame ends the round of birth and death.”
With his own hands
Asking the boon of unbroken bhakti, the vulture went to the Lord’s abode. Rama did his rites fittingly with his own hands. The commentary reads the rites as the burning and all the rest.
The lament, and Jatayu’s passing
Sita, keeping Rama’s image in her heart, went on repeating the Lord’s name. Rama, seeing Lakshmana coming, showed his worry outwardly, and Lakshmana, at his feet, said no fault at all was his. The two brothers went to the hermitage on the Godavari’s bank and found it without Sita. Rama cried out for her, and as he went he asked the rows of creepers and trees, and the birds, beasts, and bees. He named what now hears its own praise and is glad without her, and asked her why she did not appear. He found Jatayu lying ahead, remembering his feet, and laid his hand on his head. Jatayu told him of Ravana, of the south, and of Sita’s cry, and asked for what lack he should keep his body. Rama told him that his own deeds had gained him this state. He bade him go to Rama’s abode, and charged him not to go and tell Rama’s father that Sita had been carried off. Jatayu, leaving the vulture’s body, took the Lord’s form and praised Rama. Asking for unbroken bhakti, he went to the Lord’s abode, and his rites were done by Rama’s own hands. The next episode opens on Rama, soft of heart, most kind to the humble, and merciful without cause. He gives the vulture, a low bird and an eater of flesh, the state that yogis beg for.
The same story, elsewhere: Valmiki’s Ramayana, chapter 14: Jatayu, Kabandha, and Shabari.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Aranyakand, doha 29 (b) to doha 32, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.