“Tulsi knows, has heard, and has understood that Shri Rama is an ocean of mercy because He made jewels and gold expensive, while keeping the most important things like water and grains inexpensive.”  (Dohavali, 149)

Download this episode (right click and save)

तुलसी जाने सुनि समुझि कृपासिंधु रघुराज।
महँगे मनि कंचन किए सौंधे जग जल नाज ॥

tulasī jāne suni samujhi kṛpāsiṃdhu raghurāja।
maha~ge mani kaṃcana kie sauṃdhe jaga jala nāja ॥

1. The changing seasons

Strong winds. Possible coastal flooding. The power might go out. Be careful when driving on the roads. This weekend is the perfect time to settle inside and try to relax. Don’t think of going anywhere.

Last weekend was just the opposite. Like an extra few days added on to the summer season, the temperature was perfect. The humidity was low and it was bright, sunny skies. The ideal time to enjoy a little outside.

Soon the snow and ice will return. After that, the blooming trees and bushes of the spring season. Then it will be summer again, with the need for cover during the daytime.

मात्रा-स्पर्शास् तु कौन्तेय
शीतोष्ण-सुख-दुःख-दाः
आगमापायिनो ऽनित्यास्
तांस् तितिक्षस्व भारत

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino ‘nityās
tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata

“O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.14)

This is how nature works. I should learn to tolerate the ups and downs of life in the same way. They are just like the seasons. This was the instruction from Shri Krishna to Arjuna, and it is reinforced in the very way that nature operates.

2. The cycle of life

The trees are full of life. There are fruits falling to the ground. There are bright, green leaves. This is one way to tell the season; or at least the general conditions of the climate. In a few months, the same trees will be bare. The leaves that are right now full of life will fall to the ground. They will change color and eventually lose their life.

The leaves will return, however. New ones emerge in their place. From the same tree. These are the visual indications of the cycle of life, at both the macro level and the smallest of areas. As Krishna explains, the living entities continue in this cycle for billions of years, even, in what are known as repeated births.

भूत-ग्रामः स एवायं
भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते
रात्र्य्-आगमे ऽवशः पार्थ
प्रभवत्य् अहर्-आगमे

bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ
bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate
rātry-āgame ‘vaśaḥ pārtha
prabhavaty ahar-āgame

“Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Partha, and they are helplessly dissolved.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.19)

3. The price of gold and jewels

As noted by Goswami Tulsidas, these are relatively high in price. They are expensive. If someone is wearing a gold watch, it must mean that they spent a lot of money on it. Perhaps someone offered it as a gift; that someone must really care.

Nature is speaking to me through this relative cost by creating a barrier. The gold and jewels are not so easy to have. They are rare for a reason. Maybe that barrier is a blessing. Perhaps gold and jewels are not what I really need to be happy in life.

4. The abundance of water and grains

Tulsidas juxtaposes jewels and gold with water and grains. This time, the price is relatively low. Water and grains are highly available; their volume in the established unit of measure is abundant. No one really boasts about how many bottles of water they have in the garage or how many pounds of wheat flour they are keeping in reserve.

Nature is kind to me in this way, since water and grains are necessary. We are fortunate to find these commodities with relative ease. Even a renounced mendicant of an authorized spiritual tradition should have no problem begging for these items, going from door to door.

5. The source of it all

Tulsidas says that these components of nature are due to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Shri Rama. They are an indication of His mercy, which flows like an ocean. Rama is an ocean of mercy, kripasindhu.

I can realize this about Rama by observing nature. I can use my ability in perception, retention, contemplation, memory, and deliberation. I know these truths for certain; they are not speculation. Nature subtly speaks to me in revealing that for every effect there is a cause. For the amazing mechanism embedded within nature, there must be an original cause. The force is an easy way to understand the concept of God.

Since there is intelligence to the relative availability and expense, it means that God is a person. He is a merciful figure; He is not looking to torture others. I am reminded of His kindness on a daily basis, and due to the equally causeless mercy of Vaishnava saints I gain further insight and avenues of appreciation for the one whose good qualities are without end.

In Closing:

Of good qualities without end,
Into nature’s fixtures to extend.

Like the price of jewels and gold,
Different with water and grains to hold.

A visible barrier showing,
Rama’s ocean of mercy flowing.

That what towards actually needed,
Without difficulty proceeded.

Categories: dohavali 121-160, the five

Tags: god, hare krishna, life, nature, poem, poems, poetry, tulsidas