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The Earth is weighing what she carries. Mountains, rivers, and seas are on her, and one being who does harm to others weighs more on her than all of them. The last episode ended on night-walkers whose love is for violence. This one opens on a world in which the wicked have multiplied. It comes to a question the gods ask among themselves: where is the Lord to be found, and the cry made to him?
Shiva is telling this to Parvati, inside Yajnavalkya’s telling of it to Bharadvaja. The story goes from her weighing to a cow’s form, to gods and sages who can do nothing for her, and to Brahma’s world. There Brahma reckons in his mind that nothing here is in his power. The gods ask where the Lord is to be found. Shiva, who was in that assembly, speaks one word there on how the Lord appears. Brahma praises the Lord in a hymn in which the gods give up their cleverness. A deep voice from the sky promises a human birth in the line of the sun. In the Ramcharitmanas the voice names the house inside the promise itself, Dasharatha and Kausalya. At Brahma’s teaching the gods take bodies on the earth and fill the hills and forests. The story turns to Ayodhya, to a king with dharma and devotion and no son. He takes his grief to his guru. At the rite that follows, Agni appears with the offering in his hand.
Those who heard the Earth’s cry
The main figures in this episode
- Earth afraid and distressed at the distaste for dharma. She finds one harmer of others heavier than mountains, rivers, and seas and cannot speak for fear of Ravana. She takes a cow’s form and weeps her anguish to the gods and sages. She goes with them to Brahma, and is told to hold patience and remember the Lord’s feet. The voice promises to take away all the earth’s heaviness. When Brahma reassures her she becomes fearless and trust comes into her heart.
- Brahma in whose world the gods and the Earth arrive. He reckons in his mind that nothing here is in his power. He names the Earth’s imperishable master as his helper as well as hers, and counsels patience and remembering. He calls Shiva’s word well said. He praises the Lord in four stanzas with his hands joined. He reassures the Earth after the voice has spoken. He teaches the gods to take monkey bodies and serve the Lord’s feet before he goes to his own world.
- Shiva who is telling this to Parvati. He bids her know all beings of such conduct as night-walkers, and was himself in that assembly. The one word he spoke there, that the Lord is everywhere alike and appears through love as fire does, pleased everyone. When he has told all this he turns to what was left in the middle.
- Dasharatha and Kausalya in whose forms, the voice says, Kashyapa and Aditi, who did great tapas and were given a boon, have appeared in Ayodhya. He is the king of Ayodhya, the jewel of Raghu’s line, a bearer of dharma with bhakti for the Lord in his heart. She is the one queen the doha names, holy in conduct and firm in love for the Lord’s feet. The voice promises to take birth in their house as the four brothers. When a grief rises in the king that he has no son, he goes at once to his guru.
- Vasishtha and the sage Shringi the king’s guru, who hears all his sorrow and happiness. He reassures him, promises four sons known in the three worlds, and has Shringi called. And the sage he calls, who performs the rite for sons and gives the oblations with devotion, at which Agni appears.
- Agni who appears at the rite with the offering in his hand. He tells the king that all Vasishtha reckoned in his heart is accomplished. He orders him to divide the offering into fitting shares, reassures the whole assembly, and becomes invisible.
A load heavier than mountains
The wicked had multiplied: thieves, gamblers, people lusting after others’ wealth and others’ wives. Mother, father, and the gods went unhonored, and the sadhus were made to serve them. “Those whose conduct is such, Parvati,” Shiva says, “know all such beings to be night-walkers.” Seeing dharma held in such extreme distaste, a distaste the commentary spells out as want of liking and want of faith, the Earth became very afraid and distressed.
The next words are hers, in the first person, and the commentary sets them inside her mind. The load of mountains, rivers, and seas was not heavy to her. One harmer of others was heavier to her than those. She saw all dharma turned the wrong way, and afraid of Ravana she could not speak. The verse had counted the wicked as many. The harmer she names is one.
Taking the form of a cow and reflecting in her heart, she went where the gods and sages all were. The commentary says they were in hiding. Weeping, she told them her anguish. From no one could anything be done.
Brahma’s own inability, and the helper he names
Gods, sages, and gandharvas, all of them together, went to Brahma’s world, which the commentary names Satyaloka. The Earth went with them in her cow’s body, poor thing, in great distress from fear and grief. Brahma knew all of it. He reckoned in his mind that nothing in this lay in his power. To the Earth he said, “He whose servant you are, that imperishable one, is my helper as well as yours.”
“Earth, hold patience in your mind,” Brahma said, “and remember the Lord’s feet. The Lord knows the pain of his own. He will break the dreadful calamity.”
The gods sat down and took counsel: where was the Lord to be found, and the cry made to him? Someone said, go to the city of Vaikuntha. Someone said, that same Lord lives in the ocean of milk. Brahma had said who the helper was. Where he was to be found was still the question.
His whereabouts, found through love
Whatever the bhakti and love in a heart, the Lord always appears there in just that manner. “In that assembly, Parvati, I was present,” Shiva says. “Finding the occasion, I spoke one word.” The teller is recalling his own speech, and he gives it.
“The Lord is all-pervading, everywhere alike, and through love he appears. This I know. In country, in time, in the directions and between them, tell me, where is that place where the Lord is not? He is made of all that moves and all that stands still, and he is apart from all of it, dispassionate. Through love the Lord appears, as fire does.” The commentary opens the likeness: fire is everywhere, unmanifest, and it appears where the fire-sticks are churned. So the Lord, who is everywhere, appears through love. The assembly had been looking for a place, and what it was given was a manner, love, which holds in every place. The verse sends no one to Vaikuntha and no one to the ocean of milk.
“My word pleased everyone’s mind,” Shiva says, “and Brahma praised it: well said, well said.” Hearing it, Brahma’s mind rejoiced, his body thrilled, and tears ran from his eyes, tears of love in the commentary’s reading. Attentive and firm of wit, he joined his hands and began to praise.
Cleverness given up, in a hymn of praise
The praise runs to four stanzas. It opens on victory: to the lord of the gods, the giver of happiness to his servants, the protector of those who come for refuge. To the friend of cows and brahmins, the foe of the asuras, the beloved husband of the ocean’s daughter, whom the commentary names as Lakshmi. To the protector of the gods and of the Earth, whose doing is wondrous and whose secret no one knows. The first request follows at once: may he who is by nature merciful and kind to the humble show grace.
The second stanza names him the imperishable one who dwells in every heart, all-pervading, supreme bliss, beyond knowing and beyond the senses. Holy in his deeds, free of maya, Mukunda, the giver of release in the commentary’s gloss. On him sages free of passion and of delusion meditate night and day with great love, singing his virtues: victory to him who is being, consciousness, and bliss. The third says that he made the threefold creation with no companion and no helper. It asks in the singers’ own voice: “May he, the destroyer of sins, take thought of us. We know neither bhakti nor worship.” He breaks the fear of existence, delights the minds of the sages, and crushes the hosts of calamity. The stanza ends on the gods: “In mind, word, and deed, giving up cleverness, all the hosts of the gods take refuge in him.”
The last stanza says that Sarasvati, the Vedas, Shesha, and all the sages do not know him. And that the Vedas proclaim him as one who holds the humble dear: may that Lord’s heart melt. He is a Mandara for the ocean of existence, the mountain that churns it, as the commentary adds. Beautiful in every way, a temple of virtues, a mass of happiness. And at the master’s lotus feet the sages, the siddhas, and all the gods, greatly afraid, bow. The gods who had asked where the cry could be made are, in the hymn’s own word, at his refuge.
A promise from the sky to become a man
The fear of the gods and the Earth was known, and their words, full of love, were heard. A deep voice came from the sky, a voice that takes away grief and doubt. “Do not fear, sages, siddhas, and lords of the gods. For your sake I will take human guise. With my portions I will descend as a man in the noble line of the sun.”
“Kashyapa and Aditi did great tapas, and I gave them a boon before. They, in the forms of Dasharatha and Kausalya, have appeared in Ayodhya as a king among men. In their house I will go and take birth as the four brothers, the crest-mark of Raghu’s line. All of Narada’s words I will make true. Together with the supreme power I will descend.” Shiva had already named Kashyapa and Aditi to Parvati as the father and mother, famous as Dasharatha and Kausalya, of a descent in one kalpa. The voice now names them inside its own promise. Narada’s words are the curse he spoke in an earlier episode: that the Lord take the same body in which he had deceived Narada. That monkeys would be his helpers, and that he would suffer in separation from a woman.
“I will take away all the earth’s heaviness. Be fearless, hosts of gods.” The gods heard it with their ears, the voice of Brahman in the sky, as the verse calls it. The commentary reads it as the Lord’s voice. They turned back at once, their hearts cooled. Then Brahma reassured the Earth. She became fearless, and trust came into her heart. At the start the Earth had found one harmer of others heavier than mountains, rivers, and seas. The voice’s promise to take away all the earth’s heaviness comes near its end. Fear, taken from the gods, is its first word and its last.
The gods waiting in the forests
Brahma went to his own world. Before he went he taught the gods one thing: “Taking monkey bodies, go to the earth and serve the Lord’s feet.” The gods went to their own abodes, and their minds, the Earth’s with them, found rest. Whatever order Brahma had given, the gods rejoiced and made no delay.
They took the bodies of forest-dwellers on the earth, which the commentary reads as monkey bodies, and theirs was matchless strength and glory. Hills, trees, and nails were their weapons, and all were heroes. Firm of wit, they watched the road for the Lord. In the hills and forests, here and there, they filled everything, each forming his own fine army.
“All this fine story I have told,” Shiva says. “Now hear what was left in the middle.” The verse leaves it unnamed, and the next line goes to Ayodhya.
The devoted royal house of Ayodhya
In Ayodhya there was a king, the jewel of Raghu’s line, Dasharatha by name, a name known to the Vedas. He bore the yoke of dharma, he was a treasury of virtues, and he was wise. In his heart was bhakti for the Lord, and his wit was set on him. The house the voice had named is shown first by what its master’s heart held.
Kausalya and the rest of his dear wives were all of holy conduct, devoted to their husband, firm in their love for the Lord’s lotus feet, and humble. Kausalya is the one queen the doha names.
His sorrow and his happiness, told to the guru
Once a grief rose in the king’s mind: I have no son. At once he went to the guru’s house, fell at his feet, and made great entreaty. He told the guru all his sorrow and all his happiness. Vasishtha spoke and reassured him in many ways. “Hold patience. Four sons will be born, known in the three worlds, who take away the fear of devotees.”
Brahma had said to the Earth, hold patience in your mind. Vasishtha says to the king, hold patience, in nearly the same words, with the mind left out. And the voice, too, had promised four, the four brothers of Raghu’s line. It spoke the number before the guru did.
Vasishtha had the sage Shringi called, and had him perform the auspicious rite for sons.
From the oblations to Agni’s hand
The sage gave the oblations with devotion, and Agni appeared, with the offering in his hand, rice cooked in milk in the commentary’s reading.
Agni spoke to the king. “What Vasishtha reckoned in his heart, all that work of yours is accomplished. Go, king, and divide this offering, making a share for each as is fitting.” No share is divided in this episode. The next one opens on the division.
Then Agni, having reassured the whole assembly, became invisible. The king was immersed in supreme bliss. Joy would not fit in his heart.
Power that fell short, and a cry that was heard
From the gods and sages nothing could be done, and the Earth went with them to Brahma’s world. There Brahma reckoned that nothing in this lay in his power. He told her who her helper was. His counsel was patience and the remembering of the Lord’s feet.
In that assembly, where the gods and the Earth were afraid, the praise that rose confessed that its singers knew neither bhakti nor worship. In it all the hosts of the gods gave up cleverness in mind, word, and deed. The doha that follows has their words heard, with the love in them, and then the voice comes.
The Earth could not speak at the start, and at the end the king’s joy does not fit in his heart. Between the two, she wept her anguish to the gods and sages, and he told his guru all his sorrow and happiness. She has the promise that all the earth’s heaviness will be taken away, and trust has come into her heart. He has the promise of four sons and the offering from Agni’s hand. The gods, in the bodies of forest-dwellers, are in the hills and forests, watching a road.
The same story, elsewhere: Valmiki’s Ramayana, chapter 1: The Sacrifice for Sons, and the Birth of Rama.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Balkand, sortha 184 to doha 189, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.