Lanka Kaanda
163 - Bridging of the ocean by Nala and Nila; Sri Rama's installation of Sri Ramesvara
Chaupais
Description
"They who will behold Lord Ramesvara will, on quitting the body, go direct to My sphere in heaven. And a man who takes the water of the Ganga and pours it on the Lord will attain liberation in the form of absorption into My being. Again, whosoever adores the Lord in a disinterested spirit and without guile will be blessed by Sankara with devotion to Me. And he who sees the bridge erected by me will be able to cross the ocean of worldly existence without any exertion." Sri Rama's words gladdened the heart of all and the great sages returned each to his own hermitage. Girija, (says Sankara,) such is the way of the Lord of the Raghus: He ever loves those who take refuge in Him. The clever Nala and Nila constructed the bridge and by Rama's grace their renown spread far and wide. Those very rocks that not only sink themselves but cause even other things to sink alongwith them floated like so many rafts. This is, however, not ascribed to any miraculous power of the ocean, nor to a virtue of the rocks themselves, nor again to any skill of the monkeys.