Kevat

 The Lord with his brother and wife

stood at the bank of the mighty river

Not a frown on renouncing royal life

Not a tear nor even a slightest quiver.

On seeing Ram devoid of his crown

however hard he tries to conceal

Guha is unable to gulp it down

the cruelty Fate has decided to deal

Tears of pity swelling in his eyes

he asks, what can I do for you?

A composed Rama hugs him nice

Just get us across the bank, will you?

Looking around across the border

Guha spots Kevat with his boat

Calls him and gives him the order

“Take them across safely on your float”

Kevat and his wife have always adored

Ram and Sita dear in their heart

Feeling privileged to get them aboard

Kevat lays a condition before they start.

Even as Guha gets angry at this

Ram pacifies him and lets Kevat speak

“This is a journey I can’t afford to miss

Tell me your requirement, just be quick”

“Lord, before you set foot on my boat

I need to wash both your feet clean

Not a speck of dust there, please note

That’s something I am so very keen.”

“Why so, Kevat,” asks an intrigued Ram

“Do you think I drag some sin on my feet?”

“Oh no, my Lord, I never meant no harm,

I just can’t afford my boat turning into a maid so sweet!”

“I have heard how even the dirt off your foot

turns even a lifeless rock into a lovely maid

If that happens to my only source of livelihood

How will I feed my family, I am afraid!”

“Kindly pardon if my words did offend

for which I don’t have the slightest intent.

Trust me, Lord, I only wished to befriend

I consider any time with you as well spent”

Pleased at the blemishless devoutness

Ram and the other two get on board

With much joy glowing on their face

Kevat pulled the oar as gentle waves rolled.

It was short, but the most pleasant trip

that they had had in the recent while

Over the water, the air still had its nip

their face reflecting fond memories and smile

On reaching the bank in satisfaction

Sita offered to Kevat’s wife a pretty ring

But she politely refused with the notion

of diminishing their positive karma it would bring

“If that is so”, said Sita, with a beaming smile

“please take this as the ferrying fee!”

“We would have at least taken it as a gift in style

but certainly not as a fee”, said Kevat, “no, not me!”

Turning to Ram, Kevat pleaded,

bowing his hands and with tears in his eyes,

“this is not the gesture we needed

not now, never in our lives!”

“My Lord, please don’t test my integrity.

We both are in the same profession

Don’t you know it is unethical and stupidity

to levy each other within the same fashion?”

Even more intrigued than before

Ram asked Kevat how he found a match

in their ways of life way apart in lore

or if there indeed was an invisible catch

“Oh Lord, who knows all, it’s your wish to decide

to test me for being worthy of your grace.

Don’t we serve our folks to cross to the other side

Me, the river, and you, the cycle of births, in our own ways?”

“While I serve a small number for my livelihood

and spend my days in reverence of your golden reign

its beyond my ability to even guess for good

the infinite lives you have elevated time and again.”

“This opportunity to be of some little service

to my Lord is itself the highest reward

that I can get in this birth, that my Lord, is my wish

that got fulfilled today, I give you my word.”

“If by your grace, we are able to pass this life

into the eternal bliss that great men talk of

I would consider it as your blessing to me and my wife

with the utmost fee for this journey, sort-of!”

There was silence on both sides, almost stoic

Ram embraced Kevat in full acceptance

of his simple and rustic devotion, yet so heroic;

moments freezing still as if in a trance.

 ==

Think for a moment what this story tells, friends,

Is it not petty to ask silly material things

from the Lord, but to plead for amends

and grant us the eternal bliss that Kevat rings!

“punarapi jananaṃ punarapi maraṇaṃ

punarapi jananī jaṭhare śayanam 

iha saṃsāre bahu dustāre

kṛpayā’pāre pāhi murāre”

What a life this is, repeating birth and death

with some rest in a womb for catching breath

Oh Lord, relieve us from this continuous torture

by showering boundless mercy, as is your nature!

(This is my translation of a Tamil story shared in Whatsapp in prose form)