Madman : Rama, Rama. Release the arrow, break the bow!
Harihar : O Mad Thakur! Who are you targeting with your arrows this morning?
Madman : Him, him!
Harihar : Where is your bow? And where is your arrow? Are you verbally breaking the bow?
Madman : Everything is within me; the bow and the arrow. If I could just somehow break the bow!
Harihar : Will you get Sita? Ramachandra won Sita by breaking the bow. Do you have such a motive? Since everything is within you, Rama and Sita are also surely there. What do you say?
Madman : It is Rama who is breaking the bow. Till bow is broken, I cannot rest in peace. Rama, Rama. Please release the arrow, break the bow!
Harihar : Well, who has given you the bow?
Madman : Shiva has given it. Who else but Shiva can give the bow? Rama, Sita, Shiva and the bow; all are there. Only the bow remains to be broken. As soon as the bow is broken Mother will bring the garland and put it around Rama’s neck. Being one with the Mother, Rama, Shiva, the bow and the arrow, is such a joy! Jai Rama, Jai Sitaram. (Dances) Jai Sitaram.
Harihar : Stop! Stop! You have started dancing early in the morning! What games this madman plays! There is nothing but he is going on dancing.
Madman : (Clapping his hands and dancing). Come if you want to see the meeting between Sita and Rama.
Harihar : This madness will not do. Tell me where your Rama is.
Madman : Why, my Atmarama lives in my heart.
Harihar : Where is Shiva?
Madman : Why, Shiva resides as the Guru in my Sahasrara.
Harihar : Where is the bow?
Madman : Why, the Guru has given the bow of Pranava.
Harihar : Where is the arrow?
Madman : Why, that is my soul.
Harihar : You just called your soul Rama and now you are calling it the arrow?
Madman : Yes. As Rama, he draws the bow, and then becomes the arrow to meet the target. Break the bow, break the bow. I cannot rest in peace so long as the bow remains intact.
Harihar : Yes, I forgot the real thing; where is Sita?
Madman : Why, Brahmavidya is Sita.
Harihar : What are you saying, madman?
Madman : I am saying, Pranava is the bow, the soul is the arrow and Brahma is called its target.
Look here, all these things are very complex. When one thinks of breaking the bow, the mind boggles. The bow only is Rama. It is Sita. It is the Vedas, Vedanta, Tantra, Mantra, Puranas, the Ramayana, Smriti, Bharata, Itihasa and the fourteen worlds. During the Night of the four-faced Prajapati, only the bow remains.
Harihar : What a madman!
Madman : Am I the only madman? Shiva went mad meditating on the Tattvas. He renounced the world, and with a damaru in his hand, started dancing and chanting the name of Rama from his five mouths. Is it an ordinary dance? He taps out the rhythm with his feet and chants ‘Rama, Rama, Jai Rama, Jai Rama.’
Harihar : You have started dancing again! I have not completed what I have to say. Stop. If the bow is broken, how will the union between Rama and Sita come about? What is the wedding garland?
Madman : As soon as the bow is broken and the arrow pierces the target, Sita will come and put the garland of Jivanamukti round Rama’s neck. Just watch the kind of union it will be. Just watch. Just watch the union between Sita and Rama.
Harihar : Where is the union?
Madman : What! Can you not see the union? Watch how in the morning, mother Sita arranges flowers in a basket and worships Rama. Watch how as a bird, she sings praises of Rama, how she performs Rama’s arati with the Sun as the Lamp and how she washes Rama’s feet with the river Ganga as water. She fans Rama with the breeze which is laden with the fragrance of flowers. Why, so many things are happening and you are not able to see?
Harihar : Where, brother? I cannot see anything.
Madman : Take, take my hand and dance with me. Chant ‘Sitaram Sitaram’.
Hand in hand, the madman and Harihar, begin to dance, chanting ‘Sitaram, Sitaram’. The place becomes the abode of the Lord and unseen, the sage Narada, joins the chanting of the Name.
Jai Sitaram
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