The Vow No One Hears
Bala Kanda, Chaupai 57
Sortha 57 · Movement 1 of 2
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Shankara bows inwardly at Ram's feet. Remembering the Lord, he forms an irrevocable resolve: in Sati's present body, he will not again meet her as husband. The vow remains sealed within his mind as the two begin the journey toward Kailash.
A celestial voice suddenly crosses the sky, praising Mahesh and the firmness of his devotion. Who but the mighty Lord, true servant of Ram, could make such a vow? Sati hears the proclamation without knowing its content, and anxiety tightens around her heart.
With hesitation she asks what resolve he has taken, calling him gracious, truthful, and compassionate to the lowly. She asks in many ways. Shiva, destroyer of Tripura, does not reveal it. His silence carries them onward.
The sky praises a hidden vow while Sati walks beside the one who will not name it.
Read the passage from the Manas
AI-created devotional illustration · Chaupai 57
Shiva walks home in silence as Sati gently asks about the vow he has made.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 79, 80 · printed pages 77, 78. Reader passage: bala-kanda-chaupai-057. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Shiva inwardly bows to Rama and resolves not to embrace Sati in this body, then journeys home remembering Rama
- A heavenly voice praises the vow; Sati asks what vow he made, and Shiva does not answer
Artistic choices
- Select journey home with Sati's unanswered inquiry, not vow enactment or heavenly voice visualization
- Conventional imaginative appearances, walking poses and small questioning gesture, cream/ochre and pink clothes, beads, serpent, forest path, boughs, river, ordinary distant hills and glass colours added
- No precise Kailash geography, Mount Meru, physical abandonment or rejecting gesture asserted
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
तब संकर प्रभु पद सिरु नावा। सुमिरत रामु हृदयँ अस आवा।। एहिं तन सतिहि भेट मोहि नाहीं। सिव संकल्पु कीन्ह मन माहीं।। अस बिचारि संकरु मतिधीरा। चले भवन सुमिरत रघुबीरा।। चलत गगन भै गिरा सुहाई। जय महेस भलि भगति दृढ़ाई।। अस पन तुम्ह बिनु करइ को आना। रामभगत समरथ भगवाना।। सुनि नभगिरा सती उर सोचा। पूछा सिवहि समेत सकोचा।। कीन्ह कवन पन कहहु कृपाला। सत्यधाम प्रभु दीनदयाला।। जदपि सतीं पूछा बहु भाँती। तदपि न कहेउ त्रिपुर आराती।।
Then Shankara bowed his head at the feet of the Lord and, remembering Ram, this resolve arose in his heart: "In this body I shall not be united with Sati again." So Shiva sealed this vow within his mind.