A Hundred Crore Ramayanas
Bala Kanda, Chaupai 33
Doha 33 · Movement 1 of 2
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
Bhavani asks upon Kailash, and Shankara begins to answer. Tulsidas prepares to weave their question and reply into a wondrous design, then turns toward listeners who may find the coming account unlike versions they have heard. He asks them not to let surprise harden into doubt.
Across the vast chambers of time, one Ramayana does not stand alone. Cosmic ages change. The beautiful deeds of Hari take different turns. Sages sing according to the Leela revealed before them, and the stories multiply into hundreds of crores. Each telling becomes a river descending from a source no vessel can contain.
The wise are not disturbed by abundance. They know Ram Katha has no boundary in the world. With Saraswati's delight, they listen for the truth moving through difference, allowing infinity to wear more than one garment.
Beyond the single manuscript, uncounted Ramayanas shine like rivers under one sky.
Read the passage from the Manas
AI-created devotional illustration · Chaupai 33
Shiva explains to Uma in an imagined grove, representing the passage’s narration frame.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 57, 58 · printed pages 55, 56. Reader passage: bala-kanda-chaupai-033. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Bhavani asks and Shankara explains; poet retells the frame narrative
- Ramakatha is boundless, with varied Rama incarnations and accounts across cosmic cycles; listen reverently without doubt
Artistic choices
- Iconic conversation selects opening frame; no literal avatars or actual time/place reconstruction
- Appearance, clothing, teaching/listening gestures, seats, grove, pond, pavilions, flowers, trident, beads, crescent and snake conventional/imagined
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
कीन्हि प्रस्न जेहि भाँति भवानी। जेहि बिधि संकर कहा बखानी।। सो सब हेतु कहब मैं गाई। कथाप्रबंध बिचित्र बनाई।। जेहि यह कथा सुनी नहिं होई। जनि आचरजु करैं सुनि सोई।। कथा अलौकिक सुनहिं जे ग्यानी। नहिं आचरजु करहिं अस जानी।। रामकथा कै मिति जग नाहीं। असि प्रतीति तिन्ह के मन माहीं।। नाना भाँति राम अवतारा। रामायन सत कोटि अपारा।। कलपभेद हरिचरित सुहाए। भाँति अनेक मुनीसन्ह गाए।। करिअ न संसय अस उर आनी। सुनिअ कथा सारद रति मानी।।
The question that Bhavani asked, and the way Shankara narrated His answer in full, all those reasons I shall now tell in song, composing this narrative in a wondrous arrangement.