Tell Me the Whole Truth
Bala Kanda, Doha 55
Doha 55 · Movement 2 of 2
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Sati approaches the banyan carrying the weight of everything she has seen. Mahesh receives her with a smile and asks first after her well being. Tenderness remains present even before truth has been spoken.
Then comes the quiet question. In what manner did she test Ram? Shiva asks her to tell the whole account exactly as it occurred, withholding nothing.
The all knowing Lord does not need information. He opens a door through which Sati may return to honesty by her own choice. Between them, the invitation waits. Nothing else can restore the broken nearness between them.
Shiva's gentle question leaves one clear path open, the path of truth.
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AI-created devotional illustration · Doha 55
Shiva smiles and asks the returning Sati how she tested Rama, requesting the whole truth.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 78 · printed pages 76. Reader passage: bala-kanda-doha-056. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Sati comes near Mahesha, who smiles and asks her well-being
- Shiva asks how she tested and requests the whole truth; subsequent source meditation to learn her acts is later
Artistic choices
- Select gentle inquiry only, without implying earlier omniscient knowledge or a theological honesty-test interpretation
- Conventional imaginative Shiva/Sati appearances, seated positions, open inquiry hand, mats, clothes, beads, serpent, trident, banyan shade, flowers, river and distant pavilions added
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
गई समीप महेस तब हँसि पूछी कुसलात। लीन्ही परीछा कवन बिधि कहहु सत्य सब बात।।55।।
When Sati drew near, Mahesha smiled and asked after her well-being. "In what manner did you test Him? Tell me the whole truth, withholding nothing."