Crow Feathers Beneath Swan Plumage
Bala Kanda, Chaupai 12
Doha 12 · Movement 1 of 2
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The age of Kali fills the road with deceptive forms. Crow deeds hide beneath the white plumage of swans. The Vedic path is abandoned while crooked tracks fill with travellers wearing the emblems of devotion. They speak Ram's name, yet gold, anger, and desire command the movements of their hearts.
Tulsidas refuses to stand apart and accuse them from a clean height. He places himself first in their line, bearer of a religious flag and trader in hypocrisy. If every fault were opened, he says, the confession would become longer than the story he longs to tell. A few are enough for the discerning to understand.
He makes no claim to poetry or cleverness. Ram's deeds rise beyond measure, while his mind remains entangled in the world. A wind powerful enough to tear Mount Meru from the earth cannot be described by a blade of grass shaken in its passage. Knowing the Lord's immensity, the small narrator trembles and sings according to the light he has.
The grass bends beneath the Meru lifting wind and still bears witness to its passing.
Read the passage from the Manas
AI-created devotional illustration · Chaupai 12
Windblown cotton in front of a vast mountain expresses the poet's comparison of limited capacity with Rama's greatness.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 35 · printed pages 33. Reader passage: bala-kanda-chaupai-012. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Poet acknowledges faults and limited intellect before Rama's immeasurable greatness
- Wind capable of moving Meru contrasted with insignificant cotton expresses his small capacity
Artistic choices
- Grounded golden mountain and windblown cotton select one source comparison
- Blank folio, garden, wind ribbons and mountain depiction imagined; no literal flying mountain or geographic claim
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
जे जनमे कलिकाल कराला। करतब बायस बेष मराला।। चलत कुपंथ बेद मग छाँड़े। कपट कलेवर कलि मल भाँड़ें।। बंचक भगत कहाइ राम के। किंकर कंचन कोह काम के।। तिन्ह महँ प्रथम रेख जग मोरी। धींग धरमध्वज धंधक धोरी।। जौं अपने अवगुन सब कहऊँ। बाढ़इ कथा पार नहिं लहऊँ।। ताते मैं अति अलप बखाने। थोरे महुँ जानिहहिं सयाने।। समुझि बिबिधि बिधि बिनती मोरी। कोउ न कथा सुनि देइहि खोरी।। एतेहु पर करिहहिं जे असंका। मोहि ते अधिक ते जड़ मति रंका।। कबि न होउँ नहिं चतुर कहावउँ। मति अनुरूप राम गुन गावउँ।। कहँ रघुपति के चरित अपारा। कहँ मति मोरि निरत संसारा।। जेहिं मारुत गिरि मेरु उड़ाहीं। कहहु तूल केहि लेखे माहीं।। समुझत अमित राम प्रभुताई। करत कथा मन अति कदराई।।
Those born in the terrible age of Kali, whose deeds are those of crows yet who wear the plumage of swans. They have abandoned the path of the Vedas and walk instead upon crooked roads. Their bodies are cloaked in deceit, vessels brimming with the impurities of Kali. They call themselves devotees of Ram, yet in truth they are cheaters, enslaved by wealth, anger, and lust.