Rama nama in the mahamantra

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Deepak Vinod wrote:

 

> According to the Ram charita manas (Goswami Tulasidas)...

>

> Naarad once approached SRi Ram while he was alone and asked him for a

> boon...saying thus..

>

> " There are so many names of the almighty in the Vedas and shastras...but

> i ask that let the name rAma be like the full moon in a dark night and let

> all your other names be like stars. That is...let the name rAma be above

> all other names"

>

>

> Pleases with nArada muni...srI rAma said "tathAstu" --- so shall be.....

 

A problem with this nice-sounding story is its source. Neither Gaudiyas nor

any of the four sampradayas give much credence to Ram charita manas, which

is particularly popular among Ramanandis, an overtly Vaisnava sect that is

actually steeped in Mayavada. It's true that Srila Prabhupada sometimes

quoted Tulasidas, accepting several of his observations as useful, but he

also quoted Shankaracarya and others without accepting their overall

outlook.

 

 

Prabhupada: Tulasidasa. Tulasidasa Ramayana is very popular. Because the

Hindis, they have no literature. There is no literature.

Jayapataka: If some Gaudiya Vaisnava could rewrite that according to

siddhanta, then it would be very good.

Prabhupada: Which one?

Jayapataka: His Ramayana has got many philosophical errors in it.

Prabhupada: Oh, yes.

Jayapataka: If a Gaudiya Vaisnava could write that properly...

Prabhupada: Why? Gaudiya Vaisnava has immense literature. Why they should

bother with Tulasidasa? By reading Tulasidasa's Rama-carita-manasa in my

experience I've not seen a single man has come to the spiritual platform. I

have not seen a single man.

Gargamuni: That is not transcendental literature. Because by reading these

books you come to transcendental realization.

Prabhupada: Yes, that is wanted. They want asirvada. Just like so many

people come, asirvada. "You are a saintly person, you give me asirvada so my

material happiness may increase. I am not interested with the spiritual

knowledge. Give me blessing so that for nothing I get, upgrade my material

opulence." This is their... So those Tulasidasa readers, they are like that.

They want material opulence. Arto-artharthi, artharthi, want some material

benefit. They chant Tulasidasa's Rama-carita-manasa for some material

benefit. They're not interested in the spiritual advancement. Nobody.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Room Conversation -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad

 

Prabhupada: .... we don't take Tulasi Dasa as authority.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Room Conversation -- New Delhi, November 11, 1971

 

Sri Ramacharitamanasa by Goswami Tulasi das is not very authorized, and

Ramayana is authorized... The author of Ramacharitamanasa, Goswami Tulasi

das, has a tint of Mayavadi philosophy. He belongs to the Ramananda

Sampradaya. They are mixed up combination of personalist and impersonalist.

Therefore, the author is not considered as pure Vaisnava.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Raktaka -- Hamburg 6 September, 1969