Listen now, O Garuda, to the delightful story of Raghunatha’s sovereign power, which I will tell you to the best of my ability. I shall also narrate to you the whole story of how I, my lord, became a prey to delusion.

You, my friend, are a receptacle of Rama’s favour, and cherish a special devotion to the Lord’s perfections and are moreover a joy to myself; therefore will I hide nothing from you but reveal a profound and delectable mystery.

Hear to Rama’s natural disposition; he never lets pride possess his servants, for pride is the mainspring of the cycle of birth and death and the source of many pains and the origin of every form of grief.

That is why the all-merciful Lord gets rid of it in his extreme fondness for his servants, as when a boil appears on the body of a child, my lord, the mother gets it lanced with seeming cruelty.

Although the child feels the pain at first and cries helplessly, the mother minds not the child’s agony; her object being to relieve its sickness.

In the same way Raghunatha takes away his servant’s pride for his own good. Forswearing all error, Tulasidasa, why should you not worship such a Lord as this?

Now, O king of birds, I tell you the story of Rama’s kindness and my own stupidity; listen attentively. Whenever Rama appears in human form and plays his many parts for his votaries’ sake.