- as if God had assembled all that was exquisitely beautiful and given it the shape of a dark and rosy mass. These trees, my lord, stand close to the river where Raghunatha’s hut of leaves is roofed.

In front of it you will find a variety of lovely tulasi (basil) shrubs, planted here by Sita and there by Lakshmana; and in the shade of the banyan there is a beauteous altar built by Sita with her own lotus hands.

There the all-wise Sita and Rama are ever wont to sit with an assembly of hermits and listen to all kinds of stories and legends from the Agamas (Tantras) and Vedas and Puranas.’

When Bharata heard his comrade’s speech and saw the trees, his eyes overflowed with tears (of joy). The two brothers (Bharata and Shatrughna) made obeisance as they advanced; even Sharda (the goddess of speech) would fail to do justice to their devotion.

When they saw the prints of Rama’s feet, they rejoiced like some beggar who finds the philosopher’s stone. They placed the dust upon their heads and applied it to their hearts and eyes, with as much delight as if they had met Raghunatha himself.

Perceiving Bharata’s utterly indescribable condition, beasts and birds and inanimate creatures of the forest were overwhelmed with affection. Overpowered by devotion, Bharata’s friend (Guha) lost the way, but the gods showed him the best road and showered down flowers.

Adepts and aspirants were no less overwhelmed with love at the sight of this natural flowering of Bharata’s devotion and began forthwith to praise his true, unaffected love: ‘If Bharata had not been born into the world (or if his love had not appeared on earth), who would have made the inanimate animate or the animate inanimate?