The Close
Closing · Verses 58 to 62
Rama’s final word. How long worship must go on, what this teaching is worth, and what the one who lives it becomes.
Verse 58
Now Rama draws his teaching to a close. Having spoken the whole science of Brahman, he turns to Lakshmana with one last instruction for every seeker still on the road. Until you see this whole world as nothing other than us, stay intent on our worship. And whoever is full of faith, his devotion grown so strong that it marks him out, sees us in his heart by day and by night.
Verses 59 · 60
Then Rama opens the glory of this teaching. This is a secret, my dear, the gathered essence of shruti, and we have told it to you after weighing it to the last point. The wise one who reflects on it is freed in a single moment from whole masses of sin. And then he sets down a plain truth: brother, this entire world that appears before you is only maya. Let it go from your mind, purify your mind in devotion to us, and then you will be happy, made of pure bliss, and beyond every sickness and sorrow.
Verses 61 · 62
Then Rama declares the glory of the devotee. Whoever worships us, whether in the formless aspect that lies beyond all qualities, or at times in the aspect with form and qualities, that person becomes one with us, and touching the earth with the dust of his own feet, he purifies the three worlds the way the sun does with its light. And with this the story comes to its end. This whole science, the single essence of shruti, was sung by Rama himself, the one the Vedanta exists to make known. Whoever reads it with faith, steeped in devotion to the guru, and holds bhakti toward Rama’s words, attains Rama’s very form. Here knowledge and devotion walk together, and without the one the other stays incomplete. One question, one answer, and the door of liberation stood open before the disciple.