Bāla Rāma Līlā and Kākabhuśuṇḍi

In the Uttara Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, the crow Kākabhuśuṇḍi tells Garuḍa what he saw of Bāla Rāma, the child Bhagavān Rāma playing in the courtyard of the palace at Ayodhyā. Whenever Bhagavān Vishṇu comes as Rāma, Kākabhuśuṇḍi goes to Ayodhyā in the form of a small crow and watches the child at play. Once he doubted whether this child was truly Parabrahman. At that moment Rāma’s māyā (power of illusion) came over him. He was chased through the whole cosmos and then entered Rāma’s open mouth. Inside Rāma’s belly he saw countless brahmāṇḍas (universes). Rāma then smiled and set him free, and gave him the one boon he most wanted: bhakti (loving devotion).

Kākabhuśuṇḍi’s love for Bāla Rāma

Kākabhuśuṇḍi tells Garuḍa:

“O Garuḍa! Whenever I go to Ayodhyā, I take the form of a small crow and watch Rāma’s childhood play (bāla-krīḍā) with joy that cannot be told. I watch his nāmakaraṇa (naming ceremony), his janmotsava (birthday feast) and the other childhood celebrations. They are a feast for my eyes and my heart. Sometimes I spend five or six full years in Ayodhyā and have no wish to come back here.”

Bāla Rāma was his ishṭa-deva (the form of Rāma he loved most). The form of Rāma that had won his heart was the divine child who played in the courtyard. The child’s small footprints were marked with the lotus and the cakra. His body was the colour of a blue sapphire, his soft feet glowed like red lotuses, and his small hands shone like the red of morning. He was dressed in all kinds of clothes and jewelled ornaments. He moved about the courtyard like a young lion, and his small bells jingled with every step. Each sound stole the mind of the muni who watched him.

The chase through the cosmos

One day Kākabhuśuṇḍi was watching Bāla Rāma play. He was eating the bits of food the child had tossed aside and enjoying them as prasāda (food offered to Bhagavān Rāma) of the highest kind. Then a doubt rose in him: “This child plays so innocently in this courtyard set with gems. Is he truly the sachchidānanda Parabrahman?”

The moment the doubt rose in his mind, Rāma’s māyā came over him. At that very moment the child saw the crow and stretched out his tiny hands towards it with a laughing cry: “Come, O crow! Here, take this bread!” When the crow came close, the child laughed and ran. Then Rāma reached out his hand as if to catch the crow, and Kākabhuśuṇḍi flew up. As he flew higher he looked back and saw that Rāma’s hand was still only two finger-widths behind him. He flew farther, and Rāma’s hand was still two finger-widths behind. He reached the sky, and it was still two finger-widths. He passed beyond the sky, pierced through Brahmaloka and went beyond the seven coverings (saptāvaraṇa) of the brahmāṇḍa. Still, when he turned back, Rāma’s small hand was two finger-widths behind him.

Filled with wonder and fear, Kākabhuśuṇḍi shut both his eyes.

Inside Rāma’s belly

When Kākabhuśuṇḍi opened his eyes, he was back in Ayodhyā, exactly as before. Bāla Rāma smiled gently at him. Drawn by the pull of Rāma’s grace, Kākabhuśuṇḍi flew towards the smiling child and went in through his open mouth into his belly.

He tells Garuḍa:

“O Garuḍa! What I saw in Rāma’s heart-chamber (hṛdaya-kuhara) was wonderful beyond words. There were countless brahmāṇḍas, strange and marvellous worlds. There were billions of Brahmās and billions of Maheśvaras, clusters of stars, suns, moons, lokapālas (guardians of the worlds), rivers and oceans, mountains, and beings of every kind. All of creation, moving and unmoving, stood clearly in view.”

He saw things he had never seen, never heard of and never even imagined. He went from one brahmāṇḍa to the next, spending a hundred years in each universe, and passed through countless universes in this way, living a hundred kalpas in all. Each brahmāṇḍa had its own Brahmā, Vishṇu and Maheśvara. Each had its own devas, dānavas and human beings, and its own rivers, mountains and oceans, all quite different from the others. Each had its own Ayodhyā, its own Sarayū, its own Kauśalyā, and its own Bharata, Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna. But in every single brahmāṇḍa Rāma was the same Rāma, one without a second. In no brahmāṇḍa did Rāma appear in a different form. Everywhere there was only one Rāma.

The sight of this oneness in so many worlds pushed Kākabhuśuṇḍi’s mind to the edge. His balance wavered. He was shaken and worn out by an experience with no end, and he lost his peace altogether. Bāla Rāma saw the distress of his dear devotee and smiled gently.

With that smile Kākabhuśuṇḍi was freed from Rāma’s belly and found himself again in the courtyard of Ayodhyā. All of it had taken only two ghaṭikās by outside time. Bāla Rāma went on playing as before, as if nothing had happened. Overcome with wonder and trembling, Kākabhuśuṇḍi cried out: “O protector of the afflicted! Save me! Save me!” Then he fell senseless to the ground.

Rāma’s mercy and the boon of bhakti

When Bhagavān Rāma saw his devotee lying senseless, mercy rose in him. He took back the māyā he had sent. He gently laid his abhaya-hasta (hand of protection) on Kākabhuśuṇḍi’s head. At the touch of that divine hand, Kākabhuśuṇḍi’s mind became peaceful and bright. His eyes filled with tears of devotion and his body was covered with goosebumps of love. In a state of deep absorption (tanmayatā), he began to praise Bhagavān Rāma in many ways.

Rāmachandra then looked at Kākabhuśuṇḍi with deep love and spoke sweetly: “O Bhūśuṇḍī! My full grace has come upon you. Ask for any boon you wish. Ask for the aṇimādi ashṭa-siddhis (the eight powers beginning with aṇimā), the nine kinds of nidhi (treasures), the bliss of moksha, jñāna (knowledge), vijñāna, viveka (discernment), or liberation that is hard to win even for munis. Whichever of these you want, ask for it without holding back.”

Kākabhuśuṇḍi steadied himself, folded his hands and spoke humbly: “O Bhakta Kalpadruma! You have said you will give me every kind of wealth and good fortune, and yet you have not named bhakti, and this seems strange to me. What use is moksha without bhakti? It is like a curry made without salt. O Deva! You know all things (sarvajña) and live in every heart (sarvāntaryāmī). What is hidden from you? O Prabhu Rāma! The very thing that yogīs and munis strive for without rest, the very thing the Vedas praise without end, the highest of all things, is bhakti. I ask only for that. I have no need of any other kind of happiness or wealth.”

Rāma, son of Kauśalyā, smiled slightly and granted the boon: “So be it!” Then he spoke further, in gentle words: “O Kākabhuśuṇḍi! You have asked for a boon that is remarkable and truly rare. Even tapas, japa, yoga and austerities that burn the body cannot win the supreme thing you have asked for. Your discernment is worthy of praise. From today, all the secrets of bhakti, jñāna and vairāgya (non-attachment) will be fully known to you. You need do no more sādhana (spiritual practice) to receive my grace. Māyā and moha (delusion) will no longer touch you. From today you will know me as Parabrahman, without beginning, middle or end.

“O Prājña! I have given you the boon of bhakti, which is dearest to me of all things. From now on, give up all other dharmas and worship me alone with bhakti. Believe that in all creation I love my devotees above all others. A Parameshṭhi (Brahmā) without bhakti is less dear to me than a pañcama who has bhakti and is like my very life. O Bhūśuṇḍi! Worship my form with trikaraṇa-śuddhi, purity of thought, word and deed. May you live long, for countless ages.”

The gift of pure bhakti

After receiving the boon, Kākabhuśuṇḍi stayed for a long time in Sāketapurī near Bhagavān Rāma. He then went back to his āśrama. He has lived there ever since, for about twenty kalpas. He chants Rāma’s name without stopping and tells Rāma-kathā (the story of Rāma) to the gathering of birds. He returns to Ayodhyā only at each new Rāmāvatāra, to take darśana of Bāla Rāma again. He says:

“From that day until now I have been free from māyā and moha. The grace of Bhagavān Rāma cannot be understood without being felt. Without that grace, his power cannot be known. Without knowing his power, firm faith in him cannot rise. Without that faith, love is not possible. Bhakti rests on love. Only through bhakti does the heart of Śrī Rāma quickly melt.”

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, The Devotee’s Foolishness and Bhagavān Rāma’s Grace
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, The Importance of Bhakti