Clouds Gather Above the Inner Lake
Bala Kanda, Chaupai 36
Doha 36 · Movement 1 of 2
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By Shiva's grace, good understanding stirs within Tulsidas and the wish to compose the Ramcharitmanas rises like joy after rain. He offers the work according to the reach of his own mind, then asks pure hearted listeners to correct with gentleness whatever falls short.
The entire creation of the poem becomes a monsoon landscape. Good understanding is fertile earth. The heart is a deep basin. Vedas, Puranas, and saints assemble above it as vast clouds, then release the excellent water of Ram's fame. Accounts of the saguna Leela make the rain clear and cleansing. Love and devotion, beyond the power of description, give it sweetness and a coolness that reaches the roots.
The water nourishes the rice crop of merit and becomes the very life of Ram's servants. It gathers upon the ground of intelligence, finds the pathway of the ears, and flows inward. At last the beautiful Manas fills and settles, deep, cool, enduring, and bright enough to hold the reflection of the whole sacred sky.
The clouds empty through listening, and the lake becomes still within the heart.
Read the passage from the Manas
AI-created devotional illustration · Chaupai 36
Gentle rain nourishes rice beside a quiet lake, evoking Rama’s story sustaining good deeds and devotion.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 60, 61 · printed pages 58, 59. Reader passage: bala-kanda-chaupai-036. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Understanding as ground, heart as deep lake, Vedas/Puranas as ocean and saints as clouds raining Rama glory
- Cooling sweet water benefits rice of good deeds and devotees' life, flowing through hearing into the mind-lake
Artistic choices
- Select rain nourishing rice beside the story-lake as symbolic landscape, no literal transformation or spiritual mechanism
- Cloud forms, rain lines, rice field layout, earthen banks, flowers, shore, hills, reflections, distant temple and colours imagined; no geographical reconstruction
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
संभु प्रसाद सुमति हियँ हुलसी। रामचरितमानस कबि तुलसी।। करइ मनोहर मति अनुहारी। सुजन सुचित सुनि लेहु सुधारी।। सुमति भूमि थल हृदय अगाधू। बेद पुरान उदधि घन साधू।। बरषहिं राम सुजस बर बारी। मधुर मनोहर मंगलकारी।। लीला सगुन जो कहहिं बखानी। सोइ स्वच्छता करइ मल हानी।। प्रेम भगति जो बरनि न जाई। सोइ मधुरता सुसीतलताई।। सो जल सुकृत सालि हित होई। राम भगत जन जीवन सोई।। मेधा महि गत सो जल पावन। सकिलि श्रवन मग चलेउ सुहावन।। भरेउ सुमानस सुथल थिराना। सुखद सीत रुचि चारु चिराना।।
By Shambhu's grace, with pure understanding blossoming in the heart, the poet Tulsi composes the Ramcharitmanas. He fashions it as beautifully as his intellect allows. O good-hearted listeners with clear minds, hear it and gently amend whatever falls short.