The Assembly They Have Never Seen
Bala Kanda, Chaupai 115
Doha 115 · Movement 1 of 2
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Shiva describes minds fastened to the face of sensual pleasure, unlearned in what frees and unable to distinguish gain from loss. Lust, deception, and crookedness keep them far from the company of saints. Even in dream they have never sat where humble listeners gather and the Name passes from one heart to another.
From that distance they speak against the Vedas and speculate about nirguna and saguna without discernment. Their condition is like blindness attempting to judge the beauty of Ram's form. Under Hari's Maya, the whole world may wander into bewilderment, and impossible claims become easy upon an untethered tongue.
A mind fevered by obsession, possession, or intoxication cannot weigh its own words. Shiva therefore tells Parvati not to grant authority to speech drunk on great delusion. The measure is not cleverness, but whether seeing has been purified by truth, devotion, and the presence of saints.
Beyond the noise of speculation, the saints sit together and quietly behold Ram.
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AI-created devotional illustration · Chaupai 115
Moss-of-worldly-desire on mind mirror; dirty mirror comparison only
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 129 · printed pages 127. Reader passage: bala-kanda-chaupai-115. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Worldly-desire's moss clings to mind mirror; a dirty mirror is part of Shiva's comparison about inability to see Rama form
- Selected symbolic mirror clauses only; no literal person, disability or God's physical visibility test asserted
Artistic choices
- One round bronze-rim handmirror with woodenhandle leaning on stone, green moss/grey obscuring film across face with faint sky/leaf reflection exact imaginary embodiment of verbal metaphor, not historical artifact or actual witnessed event
- Banyan leaves/roots/flowers/cream terrace/distant landscape/pavilion artist setting unauthenticated; no actual mind/body transformation
- No blind/intoxicated/possessed/heretic caricature, Rama physically blocked or shown absent, narrative actor using mirror or punitive event
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
अग्य अकोबिद अंध अभागी। काई बिषय मुकर मन लागी।। लंपट कपटी कुटिल बिसेषी। सपनेहुँ संतसभा नहिं देखी।। कहहिं ते बेद असंमत बानी। जिन्ह कें सूझ लाभु नहिं हानी।। मुकर मलिन अरु नयन बिहीना। राम रूप देखहिं किमि दीना।। जिन्ह कें अगुन न सगुन बिबेका। जल्पहिं कल्पित बचन अनेका।। हरिमाया बस जगत भ्रमाहीं। तिन्हहि कहत कछु अघटित नाहीं।। बातुल भूत बिबस मतवारे। ते नहिं बोलहिं बचन बिचारे।। जिन्ह कृत महामोह मद पाना। तिन् कर कहा करिअ नहिं काना।।
Ignorant, unlearned, blind, and unfortunate; their minds cling to the moss-covered mirror of sense-objects. Lustful, deceitful, and supremely crooked; they have never seen a gathering of saints even in their dreams.