Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda, Prakarana 8
दोहा 72
यह सोपान ‘त्याग-धर्म’ का द्वार है: राजसुख के शिखर पर खड़े होकर भी राम-धर्म के लिए स्वेच्छा से वनगमन स्वीकारते हैं। साधक के भीतर यही रूपांतरण घटता है—‘मेरा अधिकार’ से ‘ईश्वर-आज्ञा’ की ओर, तथा गृह-आश्रय से नाम-आश्रय की ओर। अयोध्या यहाँ ‘अहं-गृह’ का प्रतीक भी है; राम का निष्क्रमण वैराग्य नहीं, धर्म-निष्ठा और लोक-कल्याण-हित करुणा है।
करुनासिंधु सुबंध के सुनि मृदु बचन बिनीत।समुझाए उर लाइ प्रभु जानि सनेहँ सभीत।।72।।
karunāsiṁdhu subaṁdha ke suni mṛdu bacana binīta |samujhāe ura lāi prabhu jāni sanehã sabhīta ||72||
अपने अच्छे भाई की नरम और झुकी हुई बात सुन कर, प्रभु जो करुणा का सागर थे, समझ गए कि वो प्यार से डरा हुआ है। उसके बाद उन्होंने उसे दिल से लगा कर समझाया।
Speaker
Tulsidas (narrator)
Listener
General audience
Vatsalya (with Karuna and a Dasya undertone)
The scene
The prasanga
Lakshmana has pleaded with Rama in gentle and humble words, asking not to be left behind when Rama goes to the forest. The narrator reports Rama's response: he sees that Lakshmana's fear springs from love, embraces him and consoles him.
The teaching
- Themes
- भ्रातृ-प्रेम, करुणा और सांत्वना, विनम्रता, वियोग का भय, प्रभु की अंतर्यामिता, स्नेह की मर्यादा
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
A ruler or elder should listen to a dependant's plea with attention and respond by understanding the heart behind the words, not with rebuke. The verse shows that fraternal love, humility and tender consolation are the model of conduct in a household and a kingdom.
Nirguna and saguna
The boundless, shoreless quality hinted at by 'sindhu' (ocean) takes the embodied form of Rama who hears, knows and embraces. Infinite compassion thus acts through a visible person, and the formless ground of grace is felt as a touch.
Lakshmana, called the good brother (subandhu), has spoken gentle and humble words, and Rama, the ocean of compassion, hears them. Rama perceives that Lakshmana's fear arises from sneha, from love and dread of separation, and not from weakness or disobedience. He therefore draws him to his heart and consoles him. Traditional commentators note the word 'करुनासिंधु' as the reason for the embrace and 'जानि' as the Lord's antaryami knowledge of the devotee's inner state. The verse shows that humility and love win the Lord's tenderness.
Doha (13/11 matras per line): in line 1, 'करुनासिंधु सुबंध के' (13) and 'सुनि मृदु बचन बिनीत' (11); in line 2, 'समुझाए उर लाइ प्रभु' (13) and 'जानि सनेहँ सभीत' (11). The rhyme falls at the line ends, बिनीत and सभीत.
Rupaka in 'करुनासिंधु', where Rama's compassion is an ocean. Anupras (alliteration) of स in 'सुबंध, सुनि, समुझाए, सनेहँ, सभीत' and of ब in 'बचन बिनीत'. Antya anupras (end rhyme) in 'बिनीत' and 'सभीत'. Hetu (cause) in 'सनेहँ सभीत', where love is the cause of the fear.
The verse sits with Vishishtadvaita: Rama is the compassionate Lord (prabhu) who knows the devotee's inmost state and receives him into his own heart (ur lai). The bhakta and the Lord remain distinct, joined by sneha, and not dissolved into an undifferentiated unity.
Raga Bhairavi, whose tender, plaintive and consoling character suits the compassion and embrace of the verse; Pahadi would also serve for the intimate mood.
करुना-सिंधु | सुबंध | के | सुनि | मृदु | बचन | बिनीत |
समुझाए | उर | लाइ | प्रभु | जानि | सनेहँ | सभीत ||
- करुनासिंधु
- करुणा का सागर, राम का विशेषणOrigin: Sanskrit
- सुबंध
- अच्छा बंधु, सच्चा भाईOrigin: Sanskrit
- बिनीत
- विनम्र, शालीनOrigin: Sanskrit
- समुझाए
- समझाया, ढाढ़स बँधायाOrigin: Awadhi
- सभीत
- डरा हुआ, भयभीतOrigin: Sanskrit
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The folk Awadhi grammar of the absolutives 'सुनि', 'लाइ' and 'जानि' and of the verb 'समुझाए' carries a vocabulary drawn from Sanskrit: 'करुना', 'सिंधु', 'मृदु', 'बिनीत', 'सभीत'. This gives a household scene of a brother consoling a brother the weight of scriptural diction. The Sanskrit words are not alien in Awadhi mouths, so scripture is made audible to the common listener. The shastric epithet 'करुनासिंधु' for Rama thus enters ordinary speech without losing its dignity.
- What is the specific 'Siddhanta' (doctrine) Tulsidas establishes regarding the Name (Nama) vs Form (Rupa)?
- This verse does not argue the doctrine directly, but it supplies the pattern on which it rests. The epithet 'करुनासिंधु' is a name that discloses Rama's nature, and the embrace ('उर लाइ') is that nature shown in a visible form and act. Name and form here are not divided: the quality named is the quality that acts. The verse therefore supports the reading that naming Rama as compassion and seeing his compassionate deed point to the same reality.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- The poet's mind is imagined as a lake of Rama's story, and here the central image is itself water: Rama is 'सिंधु', an ocean, of compassion. The verse moves calmly in two balanced lines, like still water, and its soft sounds (स, म, न) match the 'मृदु बचन' it describes. Fear ('सभीत') is the only ripple, and it is stilled by the embrace. The poet's mind thus reflects the very compassion he praises.
FAQs
राम ने लक्ष्मण के कोमल और विनीत वचन सुने और उनके भय को समझ लिया। उन्होंने डाँटा नहीं, बल्कि हृदय से लगाकर समझाया। यही अपार दया 'करुनासिंधु' विशेषण को सार्थक करती है।
दोहे के अनुसार लक्ष्मण का भय 'सनेहँ' अर्थात प्रेम के कारण है। उन्हें राम से अलग हो जाने का डर है। इसलिए यह भय दुर्बलता नहीं, गहरे स्नेह का चिह्न है।
'जानि' बताता है कि राम बिना कहे भक्त के मन की बात जान लेते हैं। 'उर लाइ' बताता है कि वे केवल जानते ही नहीं, प्रेम से अपनाते भी हैं। इस प्रकार अंतर्यामी ज्ञान और वात्सल्य दोनों एक साथ प्रकट होते हैं।
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