Bhakthi rathnakara- 3. Tulasidas- Acclamation to Ramacharithamanas

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Acclamation

to Ramacharithamanas

 

Hanuman

appeared to Thulasi and told him to take ramacharitha manas to Banares and let

Lord Visvanatha hear it first. Tulasi did so and started reading his work in

front of the Lord Visvanatha and the learned Pandits of Kasi. The palmleaves

bundle containing Ramacharithamanas after he finished reading it, was placed in

the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord and the door was locked.All wanted to see

whether it would be accepted by the Lord of Kasi. When they went in the morning

and opened the door there was a loud sound, `sathyam sivam sundaram,' and when

they opened the sanctum sanctorum, they saw the palmleaves bundle covered with

the holy cloth of Visvamnatha and on it the owrds sathyam sivam sundaram were

seen. Tulasidas was honoured by the temple priest and people raised slogan

`goswami thulasidas ki jai.'

 

The

fame of Tulasidas grew in Banares so much that the other pundits sank into

oblivion. This created jealousy among them and they tried to undermine the work

of Tulasi saying that it was full of grammar mistakes.They even tried to steal

the manuscript once when some big monkeys came from nowhere and caught them in

their tails and threw them in the river. One thaanthrik expert wrote a manthra and

placed it on the threshhold of Tulasidas but a monkey took it and threw it on

the head of the thaanthraka and he became mad. Tulasidas was oblivious of all

this and happily chanted the name of Rama and gave discourses on

Ramacharithamanas.

 

Some

pundits took the copy of ramacharithamanas and showed it to

Madhusudhanasarasvathi, a great advaita scholar, well known for his

commentaries on the works of Sankara, a great exponent of Nyaya sastra but at

the same time a great devotee of Krishna. They

complained to him that the work of Tulasidas is full of mistakes and is in

vernacular and not in chaste sanskrit and he influenced the priests of the temple of Visvanatha who enacted a drama to imply that the Lord Himself approved of it.

 

Madhusudhan

Sarasvati started reading Ramacharthamanas and went on reading forgetting all

his other austerities, with tears streaming from his

eyes. In the end he said that the holy city of Banaras had acquired a new glory

due to Tulasidas.He said that in Banares known as Aanndhakaanana, forest of

bliss due to Lord Siva doing his aanandha thaandava there, there is now a

mobile tree called Tulasidas and in that tree there is a bouquet of poetry ,

and Rama the bee hovers around it,

 

Aanandhakaananehyasmin

jangamsthulaseetharuH

Kavithaamanjaree

bhaathi raama bhramarabhooshithaa

 

Then at

another time the pundits placed the of ramacharithamanas at the bottom and all

the other works on ancient scholars and of their own on the top. They left it

in the snnidhi of Visvanatha and locked the door. Next morning they found that

Ramaacharithamanas was at the top of everything else and their own works have

gone to the bottom. This convinced most of them that Tulasidas was blessed by

the Lord.

Once a brahmin

named Chandha turned evil and committed all crimes but he had respect for

Tulasidas not because of devotion but out of pity that he was so innocent. Tulasidas

tried to change him by teaching him ramnam but he would not listen. One day

Tulaisdas sang in jest on him as

 

bola chandha

bechaaraa mandhaa chalathaa nirvichaara,

 

Chandha

thinking that he was making fun of him but finding the song to be nice started

singing it. Then Tulasi said to him that he has already chanted the name of

rama unknowingly. He turned a new leaf from that moment. There is nothing

strange about this because the Lord Himself said in Gita, kshipram bhavathi

Dharmaathma sasvath saanthi nigacchathi, even if one is a confirmed sinner

if he acquires the grace of God or the blessing of the saints, he becomes good

immediately, that is , if he had that punyakarma.

 

Chandha

started singing ramanama with Tulasidas and became his disciple. When the

people who hated Chandha chastised Tulasidas for accepting Chandha as his disciple,

Tulasidas proved that he had become pure by taking him to the temple of Visvanatha

and asking him to put a handful of grass in mouth of Nandhi and in front of all,

Nandhi ate it. Thus Chandha became a

devotee overnight and stood as an

example of the wonder of sadhusanga.