Page:The Rámáyana of Tulsi Dás.djvu/44

2 fire all the impurities of this iron age. Take up thy abode also in my heart, O thou that slumberest on the milky ocean, with body dark as the lotus, and eyes bright as a budding water-lily. O spouse of Umá, clear of hue as the jasmine or the moon; home of compassion, who showest pity to the humble; shew pity upon me, O destroyer of Kámadeva. I reverence the lotus feet of my master, that ocean of benevolence, Hari incarnate, whose words are like a flood of sunlight on the darkness of ignorance and infatuation.

I reverence the pollen-like dust of the lotus feet of my master, bright, fragrant, sweet, and delicious; pure extract of the root of ambrosia, potent to disperse all the attendant ills of life; like the holy ashes on the divine body of Sambhu, beautiful, auspicious, ecstatic. Applied to the forehead as a tilak, it eleanses from defilement the fair mirror of the human mind and gives it the mastery of all good. By recalling the lustre of the nails of the reverend guru's feet, a divine splendour illumines the soul, dispersing the shades of error with its sun-like glory. How blessed he who takes it to his heart! The mental vision brightens and expands, the night of the world with sin and pain fades away, the actions of Ráma, like diamonds and rubies, whether obvious or obscure, all alike become clear, in whichever direction the mine is explored.

By applying this collyrium as it were to the eyes, the student acquires both holiness and wisdom, and is able to understand his sportive career when on earth—on mountain, or in forest—and all the treasures of his grace.

The dust of the guru's feet is a soft and charming collyrium, like ambrosia for the eyes, to remove every defect of vision. With this having purified the eyes of my understanding, I proceed to relate the actions of Ráma, the redeemer of the world. First I reverence the feet of the great Bráhman saints, potent to remove the doubts engendered by error. In my heart, as with my voice, I reverence the whole body of the faithful, mines of perfection; whose good deeds resemble the fruit of the cotton plant in austerity, purity, and manifold uses, and in painful cleansing from impurities: reverence to them, whatever the age or clime in which their glory was consummated. An assembly of the saints is all joy and felicity, like the great tirthá Prayág endowed with