Bhakthi rathnakara- 3. Tulasidas- Tulasi writes Ramacharthamaanas

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Tulasidas

composes Ramacharithamanas

 

Tulasidas continued his Ramayana

discourses as before and people used to come and listen to him. But there

were no quotes or incidents from

scriptures and puranas any more but he indulged in the beauty of Rama and His karuna. His song

`sreeraamachandra krpaalubajamana,' describes the beauty of Rama as `kanja

lochana kanja mukha kara kanja padha kanjaaruNam,' which resembles the words of

Azvars, such as `kaNNum kamalam kamalame kaitthalamum maNNaLandha paadhamum

mattravaiye,' meaning the eyes , hands and the feet of the Lord are all like lotuses. Further the song goes

on as `kandharpa agaNithaamithachabi nava neelaneerqadha sundharam,' describing

Rama as equal in beauty to numerous cupids with His hue like blue rain-bearing

cloud and thus he was `raghunandha aanaandhakandha kosalachandha dhasaratha

nandhana.' Thus the song is beautiful in meaning as well as in the construction of words. This song became very

popular and spread all over the

country. It reached the ears of Surdas in Brindavan and he came to see

Tulasidas, who heard his bajans and Tulasidas was able to have the darsan of Krishna by hearing them.

 

Tulasidas

was a contemporary of not only Surdas but also Meerabai. She sent a letter to

Tulasidas that her family members were opposing her krishnbhakthi and

Thulasidas sent a reply that for the sake of the Lord one can renounce

everything and everyone that comes in

the way of achieving the goal of a devotee. He quoted Vibheeshana and Prahlada who abandoned even the nearest kith and kin who

opposed their union with the Lord. Only the devotees of the Lord are the real

relatives.

 

Once

Tulasidas started towards Ayodhya at the command of Hanuman, who used to appear

to him often and guided him. On the way he took bath in Trivenisangamam in

Prayag and went round the ancient banyan tree on the bank where he found the statues of many rishis. He

spent the night there and he beheld the statues coming to life and one of them

was giving a discourse on Ramayana. But

the slokas were not the ones from Valmiki and he remembered having heard some of

them from his guru Narahari Anandha. He asked the sage where the slokas were

taken from.. The sage said that they

were told by Siva to Parvathi in Prayag and Yajnavalkya, who was listening to it told Baradhvaja and this sage was present

there and learnt it. The next day Tulasidas went to the same place but the

sages remained as statues. Then he returned to Banares and wrote the slokas which he has heard from

his guru and went to sleep. When he woke up he found that what he had written

on the palm leaves had disappeared. This was repeated for eight days. On the eighth

night Lord Visvanatha appeared in his dream and said that there are so many

Ramayanas in Sanskrit but there should be one in vernacular language so that

all people would be able to understand and be benefited by it and told him to

write it .

 

Then

Tulasidas went to Ayodhya obeying the orders of Hanuman earlier and stayed

there for more than two years. It was here he started writing the Ramcharitha

maanas. When he started, as in the case of Valmiki, he could actually see the

incidents taking place in front and wrote it as he saw, in spoken language. He

was so immersed in his writing and explaining what he wrote to the common people

in the nearby villages that he never bothered even to take food and used to eat

only when someone brings it to him. That is how the Ramacharithamaanas came to

life.

 

In

Bhavishyapurana there is a sloka which

is told by Lord Siva to Parvati that Tulasidas was the incarnation of Valmiki

who came in kaliyuga to narrate the Ramayana to all and sundry in the language they

can understand.

 

vaalmeekiH

tulaseedaasaH

kalou

dhevi bhavishyathi

raamacnadrakathaam

ethaam

baashaabadDho

karishyathi

(Bhavishyottar

Purana, Pratisarga Parva, 4.20)