“Those living beings who worship Shri Rama, who is capable of turning the living into nonliving and the nonliving into living, are fortunate and blessed.” (Dohavali, 128)

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जो चेतन कहऽ ज।द करै ज।दहि करै चैतन्य ।
अस समर्थ रघुनायकहि भजहिं जीव ते धन्य ॥

jo cetana kaha’ ja।da karai ja।dahi karai caitanya ।
asa samartha raghunāyakahi bhajahiṃ jīva te dhanya ॥

1. The full of life becoming lifeless

“Where did they go? I don’t understand. Can someone bring them back? I want to talk to them. Do something. Don’t just stand there. I am not ready to say ‘good-bye.’ They left us way too soon. I have more things to work out. I want their help. I need their association.

“What do you mean they are no more? How can they be lacking life when they were full of life mere moments ago? This doesn’t make sense. Everything else is the same. I can see them. I can touch them. How is it that they are gone? What has actually left? To where did they go?”

2. The lifeless becoming full of life

“I cannot believe it. This thing started out as a seed. Something you spit out if you accidentally bite down on it. Something you can toss aside. The seed cannot do anything on its own. It is almost like a fragment of something much larger that accidentally got chipped off.

“That seed is now full of life. There is the large tree in the yard. Every year that tree produces a bountiful yield of fruit. There is nothing I have done. I get it that nature is likely involved, but we know that the beginning was a seed. That which was without life is now the very embodiment of the living experience. Can you throw water and sunlight on anything and produce life? I don’t think so.”

…

Goswami Tulsidas says that it is one person responsible on both sides. He can give life to the lifeless. He is the supreme living force, chetana. As described in Vedic literature, that chief living force, who is eternal, is maintaining the countless other eternal living forces.

“The Upanishadic verse runs as follows: nityo nityanam chetanash chetananam. The purport is that amongst all the living entities, both conditioned and liberated, there is one supreme living personality, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who maintains them and gives them all the facility of enjoyment according to different work.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 15.17 Purport)

As He gives life to the lifeless, He can also take away. We see someone who is stout and strong. They jump to the rescue whenever and wherever it is needed. They are a pillar of strength. Everyone relies upon them for support.

Then, suddenly and tragically, that person is no more. They were full of vitality, but that strength is no longer there. That which was full of life became lifeless. This is not that surprising, since the transition takes place for every living being in the manifest sense.

Tulsidas says that those who worship the person responsible for these changes is truly fortunate, dhanya. They are blessed because they have found the true source. They are on the right path in life, because they understand the meaning to the otherwise great mysteries of the universe.

Tulsidas refers to the responsible party as Raghunayaka. This is another name for Shri Rama, the eldest son of King Dasharatha. Rama is an avatara of Lord Vishnu, who eternally resides in the spiritual world known as Vaikuntha.

Rama is Raghunayaka because He is the hero of the Raghu dynasty. We could say that He injects life into that dynasty because His appearance gives added significance to the culture maintained and protected for so many generations.

With respect to the life experience, worshiping Raghunayaka in devotion is the way to finally feel alive. Working within the confines of the illusory energy known as maya is like remaining in a dormant state. It is like sleeping or lying down without any meaningful progress.

Worship of Raghunayaka in devotion is the way to feel alive again. Since that worship can take place in as eternal a timeframe as the reign of Rama Himself, we can say that devotion to God the person is itself eternal life. It is liberation, in the proper understanding.

In Closing:

The one who potency to give,
For visible life to live.

Who also can take away,
That which previously to stay.

To give understanding how,
To worship Him now.

Hero of the Raghu dynasty appearing,
Only to His orders adhering.

Categories: dohavali 121-160, the two

Tags: creation, dohavali, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, rama, science