Ramcharitmanas: Ayodhya Kanda, Prakarana 13
दोहा 128
त्याग और आज्ञापालन का सोपान: राजधर्म के शिखर से वनगमन का अवरोह, जहाँ ‘लोक-मान्यता’ (जन-प्रेम) और ‘आत्म-निवेदन’ (ईश्वर-इच्छा) एक हो जाते हैं। यह चरण साधक को सिखाता है कि प्रियतम-धर्म (राम) का अनुसरण बाह्य सुख-सुविधा से ऊपर है; करुणा, शील और मर्यादा ही मुक्ति-पथ की पहली वास्तविक सीढ़ी है।
जसु तुम्हार मानस बिमल हंसिनि जीहा जासु।मुकुताहल गुन गन चुनइ राम बसहु हियँ तासु।।128।।
jasu tumhāra mānasa bimala haṁsini jīhā jāsu |mukutāhala guna gana cunai rāma basahu hiyã tāsu ||128||
तव यशः निर्मलं मानससरः, यस्य जिह्वा ततः तव बहूनां गुणानां मुक्ताफलानि चिनोति हंसी भवति, तस्य हृदये हे राम निवस।
Speaker
Valmiki
Listener
Rama (with Sita and Lakshmana present)
Shanta with Dasya undertone (a quiet, reverent devotion of listening and praise)
The scene
The prasanga
Rama has asked the sage Valmiki to name a place where he may dwell, and Valmiki answers by describing the hearts of true devotees as Rama's homes. In this couplet he names one more such heart: that of the person whose tongue gathers the pearl-like virtues from the pure lake of Rama's fame.
The teaching
- Themes
- भगवान का हृदय में निवास, यश-कीर्तन की महिमा, गुण-ग्रहण की प्रवृत्ति, वाणी की पवित्रता, मानस सरोवर और हंस का रूपक, भक्त का आदर्श हृदय
For right living (Ramrajya ethics)
The verse prizes guna-grahan, the habit of picking out and praising what is good, and it directs the tongue to truthful, pure praise. A person whose speech gathers virtue is treated as a fit home for the Lord, and such speech is the base of a righteous society.
Nirguna and saguna
The pure lake of Rama's fame and the pearls of his virtues are the Lord's manifest, nameable qualities, which the tongue can hold and recite. Through that recitation he comes to rest unseen in the heart, so the speakable saguna attributes lead to a quiet inner presence.
Valmiki is naming the hearts where Rama may dwell. Here he calls Rama's fame a spotless Manasa lake, and the devotee's tongue a female swan that picks from it the pearls of Rama's many virtues. The one whose speech is always occupied in gathering and singing those virtues has a heart that is fit for the Lord. Commentators note the extended metaphor and the double sense of मानस, lake and mind. The verse treats loving praise as the way that leads Rama to settle in the heart.
Doha (13/11 matra pattern in each line): 'जसु तुम्हार मानस बिमल' (13) + 'हंसिनि जीहा जासु' (11); 'मुकुताहल गुन गन चुनइ' (13) + 'राम बसहु हियँ तासु' (11). The line ends rhyme on जासु / तासु.
Sangopanga Rupaka (extended metaphor): जसु is the Manasa lake (जसु तुम्हार मानस बिमल), जीहा is the female swan (हंसिनि जीहा), and गुन गन are pearls (मुकुताहल गुन गन). Shlesha is suggested in मानस, which means both the lake and the mind. Anuprasa (alliteration) in 'गुन गन' and in the repeated स and ह sounds. The paired जासु ... तासु form a correlative balance across the two lines.
The verse fits Vishishtadvaita: the Lord is distinct from the devotee yet takes his seat in the devotee's heart as its indweller. The devotee's tongue and the Lord's virtues are separate, and the bond between them is loving praise. Rama's presence is won by the devotee's devoted speech, not by dissolving the difference between them.
Raga Bhoopali, whose pentatonic purity and calm suit the image of a clear lake and gliding swans; Raga Yaman is a fitting alternative.
जसु | तुम्हार | मानस | बिमल | हंसिनि | जीहा | जासु |
मुकुताहल | गुन-गन | चुनइ | राम | बसहु | हियँ | तासु ||
- जसु
- यश, कीर्तिOrigin: Sanskrit
- बिमल
- निर्मल, स्वच्छ, पवित्रOrigin: Sanskrit
- हंसिनि
- हंस की मादा, हंसीOrigin: Sanskrit
- मुकुताहल
- मोतीOrigin: Sanskrit
- हियँ
- हृदय में, दिल मेंOrigin: Awadhi
- How does the use of Sanskritized Awadhi here elevate the 'Loka' (folk) to the 'Shastra' (scriptural)?
- The verse sets Sanskrit-derived words such as जसु (yashas), मानस, बिमल, हंसिनि and मुकुताहल (muktaphala) in an easy Awadhi frame, with plain forms like जीहा, चुनइ, बसहु and हियँ. The learned imagery of the Manasa lake, the swan and the pearl belongs to the scriptural poetic tradition, yet any villager who knows the words for tongue, heart and dwelling can follow it. Both registers are spoken together in one doha, so the shastric image becomes common property while the homely grammar keeps its warmth. The correlative जासु ... तासु is everyday speech, and it carries the scriptural idea of a heart fit for the Lord.
- What is the specific 'Siddhanta' (doctrine) Tulsidas establishes regarding the Name (Nama) vs Form (Rupa)?
- This verse does not state the Name versus Form doctrine in so many words, and it should not be forced to. It does show the working of the idea: the 'tongue' (जीहा) gathers Rama's 'virtues' (गुन गन) from his 'fame' (जसु), which means that what is spoken and named leads to the Lord's dwelling (बसहु) in the heart. The utterance of his glory is therefore the means by which his presence settles inside the devotee. This is consistent with Tulsidas's wider teaching that the Name carries the Form to the heart, but here the point is shown through the image and not argued.
- How does this verse reflect the poet's 'Kavi-Manas' (the lake of the poet's mind) metaphor?
- The poet's central metaphor is the Manasa lake, from which the Ramcharitmanas takes its title, and here the lake is Rama's fame (मानस बिमल). The one who gathers pearls from it is the swan-tongued devotee (हंसिनि जीहा), and the poet is such a swan in his own work, picking the pearls of Rama's virtues (मुकुताहल गुन गन) for the listener. Manas also means mind, so the lake is both the sacred water and the pure mind that holds the story. The verse thus describes the ideal reciter and the method of the whole poem, which is to gather virtues from a clear source and to offer a heart as the Lord's home.
FAQs
वाल्मीकि राम से उस व्यक्ति के हृदय में निवास करने को कहते हैं जिसकी जीभ राम के निर्मल यश रूपी मानसरोवर से उनके गुणों के मोती चुनती है। 'राम बसहु हियँ तासु' में यही प्रार्थना है। ऐसा भक्त राम की महिमा सुनने और गाने में लगा रहता है।
इसमें सांग रूपक है। राम के यश को निर्मल मानस सरोवर, भक्त की जीभ को हंसिनि और राम के गुणों के समूह को मोती कहा गया है। जैसे हंसिनि सरोवर से मोती चुनती है, वैसे भक्त की जीभ यश से गुण चुनती है। 'मानस' शब्द में सरोवर और मन दोनों का संकेत भी माना जाता है।
दोहा सिखाता है कि जीभ का सबसे श्रेष्ठ उपयोग भगवान के गुणों को चुनना और गाना है। जिसकी वाणी निर्मल यश-कीर्तन में लगी रहती है, उसका हृदय भगवान के निवास के योग्य बन जाता है। इस प्रकार वाणी की पवित्रता और गुण-ग्रहण की आदत भक्ति के मार्ग की आधार बताई गई है।
Ask anything about this verse
Answers come straight from the texts, with the shlokas they draw on. Ask in your own words.
A free sign-in with Google or Apple keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Ramcharitmanas in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with word-by-word meanings, Awadhi recitation where available, and more.
