When Deceit Enters Like Sourness
Bala Kanda, Sortha 57
Sortha 57 · Movement 2 of 2
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
Sati understands that the all knowing Shiva has seen everything. Her harsh thoughts about feminine nature are the language of self reproach, spoken inwardly by one who knows she deceived the person before whom concealment was impossible.
Tulsidas turns to milk and water. When joined in love, they mingle so fully that water is sold at the value of milk. But let the sourness of deceit fall between them, and separation begins. The taste is lost, the unity breaks, and what had become one divides again.
The image does not deny the former love. It reveals how falsehood changes the very medium in which trust had lived.
One drop of sourness enters, and milk releases the water it had embraced.
Read the passage from the Manas
AI-created devotional illustration · Sortha 57
Sati reflects on having concealed the truth; the image selects the first part of the mixed doha–soratha source group.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 80 · printed pages 78. Reader passage: bala-kanda-doha-058. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Sati recognizes that Shiva knows and that she concealed the truth
- The second source part compares love's milk-water sweetness spoiled and separated by deceit as sourness
Artistic choices
- Select representative Sati self-reflection from57a only;57b remains source metadata and is not literalized as chemistry
- Conventional imaginative appearance, troubled gaze, hand on chest, seated pose, pink-terra sari and veil, jewellery, mat, sparse bough and coral field added
- No general caricature or verdict on women depicted
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
सतीं हृदय अनुमान किय सबु जानेउ सर्बग्य। कीन्ह कपटु मैं संभु सन नारि सहज जड़ अग्य।।57क।। जलु पय सरिस बिकाइ देखहु प्रीति कि रीति भलि। बिलग होइ रसु जाइ कपट खटाई परत पुनि।।57ख।।
Sati guessed within her heart: "The All-knowing Lord has understood everything. I practiced deception upon Shambhu. A woman is by nature foolish and unaware."