[Advaita-l] SAINT GOSWAMI TULASIDAS

[Kartik Vashishta]

Thank you very much. Very beautiful.

On Thu, Mar 15, 2018 at 10:56 PM, KAMESWARARAO MULA via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Dear Friends,                       Tulsidas  studied Sanskritgrammar,
> four Vedas, six Vedangas, Jyotisha and the six schools of Hinduphilosophy
> over a period of 15–16 years from guru Shesha Sanatanawho was based at the
> Pancaganga Ghat in Varanasi. Shesha Sanatana was a friendof Narharidas and
> a renowned scholar on literature and philosophy.
> After renunciation, Tulsidas spent most of histime at Varanasi,Prayag,
> Ayodhya, and Chitrakuta but visited many other nearby and far-offplaces. He
> travelled across India tomany places, studying different people, meeting
> saints and Sadhus andmeditating. The Mula Gosain Charita gives an account
> of his travels tothe fourpilgrimages of Hindus (Badrinath,Dwarka,Puri
> andRameshwaram)and the Himalayas.He visited the Manasarovar lake in
> current-day Tibet, where traditionholds he had Darshan (sight) of
> Kakabhushundi, the crow who is one ofthe four narrators in the
> Ramcharitmanas.                                 Tulsidas hints atseveral
> places in his works, that he had met face to face with Hanuman and Rama.The
> detailed account of his meetings with Hanuman and Rama are given in the
> Bhaktirasbodhiniof Priyadas.According to Priyadas', Tulsidas used to visit
> the woods outside Varanasi for his morning ablutions with a water pot. On
> hisreturn to the city, he used to offer the remaining water to a certain
> tree.This quenched the thirst of a Preta (a type of ghost/pisacha believed
> to be ever thirsty forwater), who appeared to Tulsidas and offered him a
> boon. Tulsidas said hewished to see Rama with his eyes, to which the Preta
> responded that it wasbeyond him. However, the Preta said that he could
> guide Tulsidas to Hanuman,who could grant the boon Tulsidas asked for. The
> Preta told Tulsidas thatHanuman comes everyday disguised in the mean attire
> of a leper to listen to hisKatha, he is the first to arrive and last to
> leave. That eveningTulsidas noted that the first listener to arrive at his
> discourse was an oldleper, who sat at the end of the gathering. After the
> Katha was over, Tulsidasquietly followed the leper to the woods. In the
> woods, at the spot where the Sankat Mochan Temple stands today, Tulsidas
> firmly fell at the leper'sfeet, shouting "I know who you are" and "You
> cannot escapeme". At first the leper feigned ignorance but Tulsidas did not
> relent.Then the leper revealed his original form of Hanuman and blessed
> Tulsidas. Whengranted a boon, Tulsidas told Hanuman he wanted to see Rama
> face to face.Hanuman told him to go to Chitrakuta where he would see Rama
> with his own eyes.                  At the beginningof the Ramcharitmanas,
> Tulsidas bows down to a particular Preta and asks forhis grace
> (Ramcharitmanas, Doha1.7). According to Rambhadracharya, this is the same
> Preta which led Tulsidasto Hanuman. As per Priyadas' account,Tulsidas
> followed the instruction of Hanumana and started living in an Ashramat
> Ramghat in Chitrakuta. One day Tulsidaswent to perform the
> Parikrama(circumambulation) of the Kamadgiri mountain. He saw two
> princes,one dark and the other fair, dressed in green robes pass by mounted
> onhorsebacks. Tulsidas was enraptured at the sight, however he could
> notrecognise them and took his eyes off them. Later Hanuman asked Tulsidas
> if hesaw Rama and his brother Lakshmana on horses. Tulsidas was
> disappointed and repentful.Hanuman assured Tulsidas that he would have the
> sight of Rama once again thenext morning. Tulsidas recalls this incident in
> a song of the Gitavaliand laments how "his eyes turned his own enemies" by
> staying fixed tothe ground and how everything happened in a trice. On the
> next morning,Wednesday, the new-moon day of Magha, Vikram 1607  or 1620 as
> per some sources, Rama again appeared to Tulsidas, this time as a
> child.Tulsidas was making sandalwood paste when a child came and asked for
> asandalwood Tilaka(a religious mark on the forehead). This time Hanuman
> gave a hint to Tulsidasand he had a full view of Rama. Tulsidas was so
> charmed that he forgot aboutthe sandalwood. Rama took the sandalwood paste
> and put a Tilaka himself on hisforehead and Tulsidas' forehead before
> disappearing.              Death: Tulsidas left hisbody at the Assi Ghaton
> the bank of the river Ganga in the Shraavan month of the year Vikram1680 .
> Like the year of his birth, people do not agree on the exact date of his
> death. Different sources givethe date as the third day of the bright half.
> Tulasi Jayanthi is celebrated on 17th August 2018 as his 521st birth
> aniversary.
>
> Sri Guru Padaravindarpana MastuKameswara
>
>     On Thursday, 15 March 2018 3:19 PM, KAMESWARARAO MULA via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>
>  Dear Friends,                       Tulsidas was bornon saptami, the
> bright half of thelunar month Shraavana  a village Sukarkhet, Soron, near
> Kasganj, UP(Varahakshetra) on the banks of the river Ganga. His parents
> wereHulsi and Atmaram Dubey. Sources identify him as a Saryupareen Brahmin
> of the ParasharGotra(lineage). Veni Madhav Das's account in the Mula Gosain
> Charita, whichgives the year of Tulsidas' birth as VikramiSamvat 1554 and
> the total life span of Tulsidas equal to 126 years. Legend goes that
> Tulsidas was born afterstaying in the womb for twelve months, he had all
> thirty two teeth in his mouthat birth, his health and looks were like that
> of a five-year-old boy, and hedid not cry at the time of his birth but
> uttered Rama instead. He wastherefore named Rambola (literally, he who
> uttered Rama), asTulsidas himself states  & as per theMula Gosain Charita,
> he was born under the Abhuktamūla constellation, which according to
> astrology causes immediate danger to the life of the father. Due to
> theinauspicious events at the time of his birth, he was abandoned by his
> parentson the fourth night, sent away with Chuniya,  afemale servant of
> Hulsi. In his works Kavitavali and Vinayapatrika,Tulsidas attests to his
> parents abandoning him after birth due to aninauspicious astrological
> configuration. Chuniya took the child to her village of Haripur and looked
> after him for five and a half years after which she died.Rambola was left
> to fend for himself as an impoverished orphan, and wanderedfrom door to
> door begging for alms. It is believed that the goddess Parvatiassumed the
> form of a Brahmin woman and fed Rambola every day.At the age offive years,
> Rambola was adopted by Narharidas, a Vaishnava ascetic the disciple of
> Anantacharya. Rambola was given the ViraktaDiksha (Vairagi initiation) with
> the new name of Tulsidas. Tulsidasnarrates the dialogue that took place
> during the first meeting with his guru ina passage in the Vinayapatrika.
> When he was seven years old, his Upanayana  was performed by Narharidas on
> the fifthday of the bright half of the month of Maghaat Ayodhya, a
> pilgrimage-site related to Rama. Tulsidasstarted his learning at Ayodhya.
> After some time, Narharidas took him to aparticular Varaha Kshetra Soron(a
> holy place with temple dedicated to Varaha– the boar avatar of Vishnu),
> where he first narrated the Ramayana to Tulsidas.Tulsidas mentions this in
> the Ramcharitmanas.
>
> Tulasidas married Ratnavali in 1583 on 13th bright fortnight of Jyeshtha.
> As Ratnavali was beautiful and accomplished , Tulasi was passionately
> attached to her. It was like this that he could not bear a moment's
> separation from her & wouldn't let her go th her parent's home even on a
> short visit.Renunication: One it happened that when Tulasi was not at home,
> Ratnavali's brother came to fetch her to her parent's house with great
> persuation in the absence of Tulasi. On his retrun to home, Tulasi found
> her absent at home and rushed to his in-law's place by swimming the yamuna
> river in the night. Ratnavali was greatly embrassed, angry, scolded her
> tulasi " he will attain freedom from the fear of transmigration" if he
> dedicates himself half to his lord Rama  as much as he was to her body of
> flesh & bones.It is said that true love to be diverted from mundane to
> spiritual & requires strong rebuke. Ratnavali's words sharp as arrows,
> pierced Tulasi's conscience and his eyes workup to the universe of Rama
> (initial seed for writing of Ramacharita Manas) as he closed to them to the
> material world.
> Sri Guru Padaravindarpana MastuKameswara
>
> _______________________________________________
> Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita
>
> To unsubscribe or change your options:
> http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>
> For assistance, contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita
>
> To unsubscribe or change your options:
> http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>
> For assistance, contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org
>