The Child at Sukarkshetra
Bala Kanda, Sortha 30
Sortha 30 · Movement 2 of 2
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At sacred Sukarkshetra, a child sits near his Guru and hears the story of Ram. The words contain forests, vows, divine mysteries, and a wisdom deep enough to humble learned listeners. They pass into his ears, but childhood cannot yet hold their full meaning.
The teller is a treasury of knowledge. The tale is profound. Tulsidas remembers himself as dull, bewildered, and touched by the impurity of Kali. How could such a listener understand what even a mature mind cannot easily sound?
Still, the first hearing is not lost. The seed rests unseen beneath the boy's confusion, waiting for repetition, time, and grace.
The child does not understand, but the story has already entered him.
Read the passage from the Manas
AI-created devotional illustration · Sortha 30
An unnamed guru tells the story to a child representing the poet’s childhood recollection.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 54 · printed pages 52. Reader passage: bala-kanda-doha-031. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Poet heard Ramakatha from his guru at Sukarkhet in childhood but did not understand
- Humility before profound Ramakatha and knowledgeable speaker/listener
Artistic choices
- Representative childhood oral transmission; unnamed guru, no claimed guru identity or actual Sukarkhet locality reconstruction
- Faces, ages, clothing, mat, tree, setting and gestures imagined; child representing Tulsidas is not an authenticated portrait
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
मै पुनि निज गुर सन सुनी कथा सो सूकरखेत। समुझी नहि तसि बालपन तब अति रहेउँ अचेत।।30(क)।। श्रोता बकता ग्याननिधि कथा राम कै गूढ़। किमि समुझौं मै जीव जड़ कलि मल ग्रसित बिमूढ़।।30(ख)।।
I myself heard this story from my own Guru at Sukarkshetra (Soron). In my childhood I could not grasp it at all; I was utterly lost in innocence then.