“The wealth, home, happiness, well-wishers, mother, father, and brother which do not help in turning one’s face towards Shri Rama’s lotus feet should burn.” (Dohavali, 139)

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जरउ सो संपति सदन सुखु सुहद मातु पितु भाइ।
सनमुख होत जो राम पद करै न सहस सहाइ।।

jara’u sō sampati sadana sukhu suhr̥da mātu pitu bhā’i.
sanamukha hōta jō rāmapada kara’i na sahasa sahā’i..

This couplet from Goswami Tulsidas has a specific context when appearing within his other, more well-known work called Ramacharitamanasa. The sentiment above is expressed as a sort of rhetorical question, when weighing the importance of possessions and attachments in the face of a decision to leave.

Shri Rama is not there. He has left the city of Ayodhya. He was wronged, at the worst possible time. He was a victim, by any sane and sober assessment. The worst possible thing happened to Him, except Rama behaved as if He were not affected.

He gave up control over the kingdom of Ayodhya like someone leaves behind water from a drinking glass that they did not finish. It was no big deal. If Queen Kaikeyi wanted her son, Bharata, to be the next king instead, Rama would not stand in the way. As long as the good word of the father, King Dasharatha, was maintained, that is all that mattered.

Bharata, as a dutiful and loyal younger brother, did not accept the gift handed to him. He was as outraged as anybody else. He could not believe his mother could be so cruel, to tear the heart out of her husband and to inflict needless harm on people as blameless as Sita and Lakshmana.

The residents of Ayodhya agreed. They were prepared to bring Rama back. They would go into the forest and watch Bharata persuade Rama to return. The wrong would be corrected. Justice would be served. Dharma would win out.

The issue, of course, is leaving everything behind. Who will take care of the home? What about the enjoyment already established? What about the wealth to protect? What about the association of friends and family? Who would be so callous as to abruptly leave that behind?

The sentiment, which is rooted in knowledge, is that those supposed opulences, benedictions, and rewards have no value if they lack a connection to Shri Rama. This is how the saintly person views the material world. They are not entirely against it. They are not spitting at the thought of association, at the prospect of having to eat something nice, at the request to engage in conversation.

Rather, they assess the connection. Is there a possibility of yukta? If they can connect the activity with devotion to the Supreme Lord, then the period of engagement is like yukta-vairagya. You are actively engaging. You are associating. You are immersed in something.

But at the same time, there is vairagya. You are renounced precisely because your only goal is devotion to the lotus feet of Shri Rama. In that sense, the association is spiritual; it is not material. It does not hinder progress. It does not get in the way of attaining the goal of life.

If the association with Rama is lacking, then there is no use to the attachment. Time will be wasted in idle talk. Money will be spent for no tangible purpose, as the senses are never fully satisfied. The wealth is only to impress others, but the false ego swells to the level of mistakenly assuming full control over outcomes.

प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि
गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः
अहङ्कार-विमूढात्मा
कर्ताहम् इति मन्यते

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
kartāham iti manyate

“The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 3.27)

I can have all of the sampati in the world, but if I do not know the true meaning to life, if I am suffering from the ignorance of associating with the temporary, then I am doomed. It would be better if the sampati were not there, if the successes, prosperity, and welfare were out of the way.

In Closing:

Despite wealth and prosperity to earn,
All of it should burn.

If to bhakti connection lacking,
Only then my senses attacking.

Like so much getting in the way,
Ayodhya residents to say.

That to follow Bharata in forest trail,
To serve Rama without fail.

Categories: dohavali 121-160

Tags: god, hare krishna, hinduism, poem, poems, poetry, religion, sita rama