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Guha runs and climbs high, and he tells Bharata of the great trees that can be seen, raising his arm. Inside the hermitage Lakshmana is held between a brother’s love and his master’s service. At his word Rama rises, unsteady with love, and the cloth, the quiver, the bow, and the arrows are here and there. And Sita, when she looks at all her mothers-in-law, shuts her eyes.
In this episode of the Ramcharitmanas a banyan stands among the trees near the river, with the altar Sita made with her own hands in its shade. Gazing at Rama’s footprints, the two brothers are glad, and they place the dust on their heads. Bharata sees the hermitage, and Lakshmana before Rama, answering what he is asked. Crying out to be saved, Bharata falls like a staff, and Rama, lifting him by force, takes him to his heart. For the race of poets the love of that meeting is out of reach. Rama meets Shatrughna and embraces Guha, and Sita blesses Bharata and Shatrughna in her mind. Guha tells Rama that the guru has come, and with him the mothers and the people of the city. Vasishtha embraces Guha by force. Rama embraces Kaikeyi before all the mothers, and Sita touches the guru’s feet. When she meets her mothers-in-law, compassion spreads over the earth.
Those who meet at Chitrakuta
The main figures in this episode
- Rama who is resplendent with Sita on the altar among the sages. At Lakshmana’s word he rises, unsteady with love, lifts Bharata by force, and takes him to his heart. He meets Shatrughna with love and embraces Guha. Hearing that the guru has come, he keeps Shatrughna near Sita and sets out at speed. With Lakshmana he meets everyone in a moment, keeping for each the bent each longs for, and takes away their sorrow. He embraces Kaikeyi first and consoles her at her feet, laying the blame on time, karma, and the Creator. He tells all the mothers that the world is under the Lord’s power.
- Bharata and Shatrughna Rama’s younger brothers, who come with Guha to the hermitage. At his friend’s words and the sight of the trees, water wells up in Bharata’s eyes. Glad at Rama’s footprints, the two place the dust on their heads and put it to their hearts and eyes. Bharata cries out to be saved and falls like a staff, and Rama takes him to his heart. Rama meets Shatrughna with love, and Lakshmana embraces him. The two place the pollen of Sita’s feet on their heads and salute again and again, and she seats them. Seeing Sita favorable in every way, Bharata is free of worry. Rama keeps Shatrughna near Sita when he goes to the guru.
- Lakshmana who is before Rama with an arrow in his hand and the bow on his shoulder, answering with love what he is asked. He recognizes the loving words and knows in his heart that Bharata is saluting. He can neither go and meet Bharata nor let it pass, and he stays, putting his weight on service. Speaking with love, his head bowed to the ground, he tells Rama of Bharata’s salute. As he salutes, Bharata embraces him. Lakshmana embraces Shatrughna and takes Guha to his heart. With Rama he prostrates himself before the guru, bows at the feet of the guru’s wife, and clings to Sumitra’s lap.
- Sita who made the altar in the banyan’s shade with her own hands, as Guha tells it, and is resplendent on it with Rama among the sages. The two brothers place the pollen of her feet on their heads, and she raises them, touches their heads with her hand, and seats them. Absorbed in love, she blesses them in her mind. She touches Vasishtha’s feet and meets the guru’s wife with the sages’ wives. She shuts her eyes, flinching, at the sight of all her mothers-in-law. Holding patience, she goes and meets them, and they bless her in their hearts.
- Guha the Nishada king and Rama’s friend, who runs and climbs high and tells Bharata of the trees, raising his arm. In the power of love he loses the road, and the gods tell the good path. Rama embraces him, and Lakshmana takes him to his heart. Holding patience, he tells Rama in entreaty that the guru has come with the mothers, the people of the city, the servants, the commanders, and the ministers. He says his name and prostrates himself in salute before the guru from afar, and Vasishtha embraces him by force. Meeting him, the people of the city praise his fortune.
- Vasishtha and Arundhati the guru and the guru’s wife. The commentary names the guru’s wife Arundhati. As Guha tells it, Vasishtha has come with all the mothers and the city’s people. Running, he takes Rama and Lakshmana to his heart as they begin to prostrate themselves. He embraces Guha by force and meets him gladder than he met even Lakshmana. He goes to the holy hermitage with the three brothers among a counted few, and Sita touches his feet. Rama and Lakshmana bow to the guru’s wife, and Sita meets her with the sages’ wives.
- Kaikeyi, Sumitra, and Kausalya the mothers, who have come with the guru, distraught at the parting, as Guha tells it. Rama sees the mothers sorrowful, as if rows of fine creepers had been struck by frost. He embraces Kaikeyi first, and falling at her feet he consoles her. Clasping Sumitra’s feet, Rama and Lakshmana cling to her lap. Kausalya takes them to her heart and bathes them in the water of love from her eyes. The mothers-in-law feel utter sorrow at the sight of Sita, and in the power of love they bless her in their hearts.
Sita’s altar in the banyan’s shade
Then the boatman ran and climbed high. He spoke to Bharata, raising his arm. “Master, great trees can be seen, pakar, jambu, mango, and tamala. Among those fine trees a banyan shines, pleasing and vast. At the sight of it the mind is charmed. Its leaves are blue and dense, and its fruit is red. Its unbroken shade is pleasant at all times.” The commentary takes the boatman to be Guha.
Guha went on. “It is as if the Creator had gathered up beauty and made of it a heap of darkness mixed with the red of dawn. These trees are near the river, master, where Rama’s leaf hut is thatched. Many kinds of handsome tulsi plants have been set, here by Sita and there by Lakshmana. In the banyan’s shade Sita has made a handsome altar with her own lotus hands. Sitting there daily with the company of sages, Sita and wise Rama hear all the stories and histories, the Agamas, the Vedas, and the Puranas.”
The dust of Rama’s footprints, and the ocean churned
As Bharata heard his friend’s words and looked at the trees, water welled up in his eyes. Saluting, the two brothers went on. Sarasvati is embarrassed to tell their love.
They were glad, gazing at Rama’s footprints, as if a pauper had found the philosopher’s stone. Placing the dust on their heads, they put it to their hearts and eyes, and they found a happiness like that of meeting Rama.
Seeing Bharata’s state, which is past all telling, beasts, birds, and the unmoving beings were absorbed in love. His friend, in the power of love, lost the road. Telling the good path, the gods rained flowers.
Gazing at it, the siddhas and seekers were full of love, and they began to praise his natural love. “If Bharata’s being were not on the earth, who would make the unmoving move and the moving still?” The commentary reads his being here as his birth, or as his love.
Love was the nectar, separation was Mandara, and Bharata was the deep ocean. Churning it, Rama, the sea of mercy, brought the nectar out for the good of the gods and the sadhus.
Rama seen inside the hermitage
Behind the cover of the dense forest, Lakshmana did not see the enchanting pair with their friend. Bharata saw Rama’s holy hermitage, the handsome home of every fine blessing. As he entered, the forest fire of sorrow went out, as if a yogi had gained the highest truth.
Bharata saw Lakshmana before Rama, answering with love what he was asked. Matted hair was on his head. A sage’s cloth was tied at his waist, and the quiver was fastened on. An arrow was in his hand, and the bow was on his shoulder.
On the altar was the company of sages and sadhus, and there Rama was resplendent with Sita. He wore bark garments, his hair was matted, and his body was dark. It was as if Rati and Kama had put on a sage’s dress. The commentary sets the likeness on Sita and Rama together. Turning bow and arrow in his hands, Rama took away the burning of the heart with a smiling look.
In the pleasing circle of sages, Sita and Rama shone. It was as if bhakti and sachchidananda, which is being, awareness, and bliss, had taken bodies in an assembly of knowledge.
Lakshmana between love and service, and Rama rising
With his younger brother and his friend, Bharata’s mind was absorbed. Gladness and grief, happiness and sorrow, all of them were forgotten. Crying “Save me, master! Save me, master!” he fell to the ground like a staff.
Lakshmana recognized the loving words, and he knew in his heart that Bharata was saluting. The commentary adds that he stood facing Rama, with Bharata behind him, and did not see him. On this side was his brother’s tender love. On that side was the strong hold of service to his master.
He could not go and meet him, and he could not let it pass. A good poet might tell the course of Lakshmana’s mind. He stayed, putting his weight on service, as if a player were pulling at a kite that had risen.
Lakshmana spoke with love, bowing his head to the ground. “Bharata is saluting, Rama.” Rama rose as he heard it, unsteady with love. The cloth here, the quiver there, the bow and arrow there. Rama lifted Bharata by force and took him to his heart. Seeing the meeting of Bharata and Rama, everyone forgot themselves.
A meeting the poets cannot tell
How is the love of that meeting to be told? For the race of poets it is out of reach in deed, mind, and speech. The two brothers were full of the highest love, forgetting mind, intellect, thought, and the sense of I.
Who could make that fine love plain? Whose shadow should the poet’s wit follow? The poet’s true strength is meaning and letter. The dancer dances following the beat.
The love of Bharata and Rama is out of reach, where the mind of the Creator, the Lord, and Shiva does not go. How should I, of dull wit, tell it? Can a fine melody play on a string of gandar grass? The commentary names the three as Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahadeva, and it explains gandar as a grass of ponds and lakes.
Looking on at the meeting of Bharata and Rama, the gods were afraid, and their hearts thumped. Brihaspati, the gods’ guru, made them understand, and the dull ones woke. Raining flowers, they began to praise.
Embraces in turn, and the pollen of Sita’s feet
Having met Shatrughna with love, Rama embraced Guha. Bharata embraced Lakshmana with great feeling as Lakshmana saluted him.
Lakshmana eagerly embraced Shatrughna, and after that he took Guha to his heart. Next the two brothers bowed to the company of sages, and gaining the blessing they wished for, they rejoiced.
As Bharata and Shatrughna, welling with love and placing the pollen of Sita’s lotus feet on their heads, saluted again and again, she raised them. Touching their heads with her hand, she seated them.
Sita gave her blessing in her mind. Absorbed in love, she had no awareness of her body. Seeing Sita favorable in every way, Bharata was free of worry. The fear he had made for himself in his heart had passed.
No one said anything, and no one asked anything. The mind was full of love and empty of its own motion. At that moment, holding patience and joining his hands, Guha made entreaty, having saluted.
Before the guru, and an embrace for Guha
Guha said, “Master, with the lord of sages have come all the mothers and the people of the city. Servants, commanders, and ministers, all have come, distraught at the parting.”
Hearing of the guru’s coming, Rama kept Shatrughna near Sita. At that time he set out at speed.
Seeing the guru, Rama and Lakshmana were full of love, and they began to prostrate themselves in salute. Running, the chief sage took them to his heart. Welling with love, he embraced the two brothers.
Thrilling with love, Guha said his name and prostrated himself in salute from afar. The rishi embraced Rama’s friend by force. It was as if he had gathered up love that was rolling on the ground.
“Bhakti of Rama is the root of fine blessing.” Praising from the sky, the gods rained flowers. “No one is so wholly low as this one. Who in the world is as great as Vasishtha?”
Seeing him, Vasishtha met him gladder than he had met even Lakshmana. Such is the plain majesty and power of the worship of Rama.
Each one’s own meeting, and Kaikeyi first
Rama knew that all the people were in distress. In whatever feeling each one was longing, he kept that bent for each. Meeting everyone with Lakshmana in a moment, he took away their sorrow and harsh burning. This is no great thing for Rama. It is like one sun’s reflection in ten million pots.
Meeting Guha, welling with love, all the people of the city praised his fortune. Rama saw the mothers sorrowful, as if rows of fine creepers had been struck by frost.
First Rama embraced Kaikeyi. With simple nature and bhakti he soaked her wit. After that, falling at her feet, he consoled her, laying the blame on the heads of time, karma, and the Creator.
Rama embraced all the mothers, consoling and contenting them: “Mother, the world is under the Lord’s power. No one is to be blamed.”
Rama and Lakshmana bowed at the feet of the guru’s wife, and of the brahmins’ wives who had come along. The commentary names the guru’s wife as Arundhati. They honored them all like the Ganga and Parvati. Glad, the women gave blessings in soft voices.
Clasping her feet, the two clung to Sumitra’s lap, as if a very poor man had embraced wealth. Next the two brothers fell at Kausalya’s feet, every limb distraught with love.
With great love the mother took them to her heart and bathed them in the water of love from her eyes. How can the poet tell the gladness and dejection of that moment, as a mute would tell a taste?
Having met Kausalya with Lakshmana, Rama asked the guru to come. Receiving Vasishtha’s bidding, the people of the city halted, looking again and again for water and ground.
Taking with them the brahmins, the ministers, the mothers, and the guru, a counted few, Bharata, Lakshmana, and Rama went to the holy hermitage.
Sita’s closed eyes, and blessings in the heart
Sita came and touched Vasishtha’s feet, and she gained the fitting blessing her mind asked for. She met the guru’s wife with the sages’ wives, with a love that cannot be told.
Bowing at the feet of each of them, Sita gained the blessings dear to her heart. When the tender Sita looked at all her mothers-in-law, she shut her eyes, flinching.
It was as if swans had fallen into a fowler’s power. In the commentary’s reading she thought, “What has the wicked Maker done?” Gazing at Sita, the mothers-in-law felt utter sorrow. In the commentary’s reading they thought that what fate makes one bear must all be borne.
Then, holding patience in her heart and filling her blue-lotus eyes with water, Sita went and met all her mothers-in-law. At that moment compassion spread over the earth.
Touching the feet of each one in turn, Sita embraced them with great love. In the power of love, they blessed her in their hearts: “Remain filled with married fortune.”
The course of the episode
Guha climbed high and raised his arm, and he told Bharata of the trees, the tulsi plants, and Sita’s altar in the banyan’s shade. Bharata’s eyes filled, and the two brothers went on, saluting. They were glad at Rama’s footprints and set the dust on their heads. The friend lost the road, and the gods told the good path. The siddhas and seekers praised Bharata’s natural love.
Bharata saw the hermitage, and as he entered, the fire of his sorrow went out. He saw Lakshmana before Rama, and Rama with Sita among the sages on the altar. He cried out to be saved and fell to the ground. Lakshmana knew the loving words, stayed with his service, and told Rama. Rama rose and took Bharata to his heart, and everyone forgot themselves. The gods were afraid, and when Brihaspati made them understand, they praised.
Rama met Shatrughna and embraced Guha, and Bharata embraced Lakshmana. Lakshmana embraced Shatrughna and took Guha to his heart. Bharata and Shatrughna bowed to the sages and saluted Sita again and again, and she seated them and blessed them in her mind. Guha told of the guru’s coming. Rama left Shatrughna with Sita and set out at speed. Vasishtha took Rama and Lakshmana to his heart and embraced Guha by force.
With Lakshmana, Rama met everyone in a moment as each one longed. He embraced Kaikeyi first and consoled her at her feet, and then he embraced all the mothers. Rama and Lakshmana bowed to the guru’s wife and the brahmins’ wives, clung to Sumitra’s lap, and fell at Kausalya’s feet. Rama asked the guru to come, and the people of the city halted. With a counted few the three brothers went to the hermitage. Sita touched Vasishtha’s feet and met the guru’s wife. She shut her eyes at the sight of her mothers-in-law, then held patience and met them, and they blessed her in their hearts.
The same story, elsewhere: Valmiki’s Ramayana, chapter 10, part 2: Bharata meets Rama at Chitrakuta.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Ayodhyakand, doha 237 to 246, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.