RE: Saint Tulsidas and his wife

[Guest guest]

Q - did Tulsidasji become a renowned saint during his bodily existence, or

was he recognised only after his heavenly abode?

 

 

 

 

 

_____

 

[] On Behalf

Of Deepa H

Monday, March 27, 2006 5:32 AM

shirdibabasaisharan

Saint Tulsidas and his wife

 

 

 

Submitted by Selvaratnam Selvakumar <selvauk

 

Om Namah Sivaya

 

Before his spiritual quest, Tulsidas (author of the Tulsidas Ramayana)

was a businessman. He was madly in love with his wife, and his physical

craving for her was so intense that he did not even want to go to work.

[Guest guest]

Tulsidas was one of the best poets ever to have graced Bharat. His verses were

written in Hindi and accessible to everyone. He is well known for the work,

which was referred to as the greatest book ever written by Gandhiji,

'Ramacharita manasa'

Tulasidas was born in the year 1532 to a brahmin family in the town of

Rajapur. He suffered separation from his parents at a very young age and was not

taken care of by his relatives. He came into contact with some saints who

advised him to surrender to Lord Rama. Thus, he got associated with a Hanuman

temple and ate whatever was given to him. Not much is known about Tulasi's guru,

but he met him in Sukarkheta. Since tulasidas was not mentally equipped at that

time for complex philosophies, his guru advised him to take up the path of

devotion to Rama. As time grew on, Tulasi's love for Rama grew deeper and

deeper.

However, in his youth, he got married to a woman named Ratnavali. Once his

wife went to stay with her parents for a while. Tulasi, not being able to bear

the separation, went to meet her. Ratnavali is said to admonished Tulasi by

saying 'I am just a bag of flesh and bones. Why are you so attracted to it ? Why

don't you love Lord Rama with the same fervor?' This type of retort is not

typical of Indian wives (at least during that time). One wonders whether

Ratnavali was itself spiritually inclined or whether God determined it was the

appropriate time for Tulasi to leave the family life. Anyway, Tulasi

contemplated on this remark and left all connections with the family life.

After bidding goodbye to family life, he lived in Chitrakuta for some time

before 1564. He used to go around houses for alms. One day, he came to the house

where his wife and father-in-law lived, but he did not recognize them. Though

the wife recognized him, she just gave him alms and food. When she insisted that

he partake spices like pepper, salt etc, he replied that he had his own supply

of spices in his possession. Early next morning, when Tulasidas was preparing to

leave the house, his wife requested him to take her with him. But, he refused

saying that he has renounced family life. Ratnavali was angered and remarked,

'You have spices in your possession, but not wife. What kind of renunciate are

you ?.' Tulasidas recognized the folliness of being attached to food, and

thanked his wife for the lesson and threw away all his remaining possessions.

He, then, migrated to Kashi. Scholars have rightly pointed out that Rama charita

manasa would never have been written if not for

Ratnavali's remarks. Though he made several pilgrimages throughout the country,

his permanent residence was in Kashi. He commenced writing rama charita manasa

in Ayodhya but came back to Kashi.

Nabhaji, the author of Bhaktamala (1600), writes that Tulasidas was an

incarnation of Valmiki itself born again to explain Ramayana in the vernacular

langauge. This raise in his fame naturally created many enemies, who attacked

his caste, his asceticism etc, but Tulasi does not seem to have been bothered by

this.

Tulasi was a personification of humility. He declares in the Manasa that he is

no poet and he is imperfect and only sings the excellence of Rama according to

his poor wit and understanding. This is the case in his other works Gitavali

(1571), Kavitavali (1612), Barvairamayana (1612) and one of the best works,

Vinaya Patrika (request to Rama). Tulasi, should not, however, be considered

partial to Rama in exclusion to others. He appreciated the diverse tenets of

Saiva, advaita and samkhya philosophies. He authored 22 different works. He

never became attracted to miracles or money. Once the powerful king Jahangir

offered him money in return for the performance of some miracles. Tulasi

retorted 'Who needs money when one has the love of (and for) Rama ? What use is

miracles before his glory ?'

In Kashi, he became the head of the monastery in lolarka kunda and was

designated 'Gosain.' Around 1612, he started to suffer from acute arm pain,

boils causing uprooting of his hair and also seems to have suffered from the

epidemic in the local area. Having dedicated his life to Lord Rama, these were

considered to mere trifles and Tulasi passed away on the third day of the dark

fortnight in the month of Shravana in 1623.

 

 

Nitin Dhawan <nitin.dhawan wrote: Q - did Tulsidasji become a

renowned saint during his bodily existence, or

[Guest guest]

debu thanks for nice and proper imformation you put.

 

--- Deepa H <debu7366 wrote:

 

> Tulsidas was one of the best poets ever to have