श्रीमहाविष्णुं सच्चिदानन्दलक्षणं रामचन्द्रं दृष्ट्वा सर्वाङ्गसुन्दरं मुनयो वनवासिनो विस्मिता बभूवुः । तं होचुर्नोऽवद्यमवतारान्वै गण्यन्ते आलिङ्गामो भवन्तमिति । भवान्तरे कृष्णावतारे यूयं गोपिका भूत्वा मामालिङ्गथ अन्ये येऽवतारास्ते हि गोपा न स्त्रीश्च नो कुरु । अन्योन्यविग्रहं धार्यं तवाङ्गस्पर्शनादिह । शाश्वतस्पर्शयितास्माकं गृण्हीमोऽवतारान्वयम्
śrīmahāviṣṇuṃ saccidānandalakṣaṇaṃ rāmacandraṃ dṛṣṭvā sarvāṅgasundaraṃ munayo vanavāsino vismitā babhūvuḥ | taṃ hocurno'vadyamavatārānvai gaṇyante āliṅgāmo bhavantamiti | bhavāntare kṛṣṇāvatāre yūyaṃ gopikā bhūtvā māmāliṅgatha anye ye'vatārāste hi gopā na strīśca no kuru | anyonyavigrahaṃ dhāryaṃ tavāṅgasparśanādiha | śāśvatasparśayitāsmākaṃ gṛṇhīmo'vatārānvayam
"Having seen Śrī Mahā-Viṣṇu, whose mark is being, consciousness, and bliss, Rāmacandra, beautiful in all His limbs, the forest sages were amazed and said to Him: 'We are not sinful; the descents are indeed numbered; let us embrace You.' — 'In another birth, in the descent of Kṛṣṇa, you, having become cowherd girls, will embrace Me; the other descents — they are cowherds, not wives; do this for us. Here, from touching Your body, a separate body must be kept; eternally touching, we accept the descents.'"
b4ba89f662a3 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The book opens with a scene worth examining slowly, for it is the foundation of everything that follows. The forest sages see Rāma and ask to embrace Him. He answers: not now, but in another birth; and says that then they will be cowherd girls.
This story is well known in Vaiṣṇava tradition and is repeated in the Bhāgavatam and the Purāṇas; here it is given in its briefest form. It is worth examining why the request is not fulfilled at once. The reason is named in the answer itself: na strīś ca, "and not wives." Rāma is eka-patnī-vrata, "one who has vowed a single wife," and cannot embrace anyone else without breaking the vow.
That is, the refusal is given out of faithfulness, not out of a lack of love. This detail, to my mind, is the finest thing in the story and is worth voicing. A refusal that arises from faithfulness to another is not a rejection of the petitioner; and anyone who has received such a refusal knows it does not wound.
It is also worth noting what the petitioners say: anyonya-vigraham dhāryam, "a separate body must be kept." That is, they ask for a body in order to touch; and this request is a request for difference. And here lies everything this book sets against the teaching of merging. Sages who have attained everything attainable by contemplation ask not for dissolution but for a body and an embrace; and the One they address promises them not unity but a meeting — in due time and in the fitting form.