Maharaj Narsih Mehta!

Pranams at the lotus feet of Maharaj Narsih Mehta!

Chapter – 2

It was the duty of Narasih to take care of the cattle in the house.  He took good care of them, he sincerely performed  all those tasks  was assigned to him, during the leisure hours engages in the recitation of Bhagavannama.  But his sister-in-law was not happy to feed poor Narsih and his family, she found every opportunity to abuse Narsih for the poor financial condition in the family.  

Once Narasih returned home after grazing the cattle, after a long day of hard work he was tired of hunger and thirst.  He requested his sister-in-law for food, but she was so angry and shouted at him, and served him with the stale Rotis, even though the fresh food was available at home.  Somehow Narsih consumed the meal and put off his hunger, and left home.  Narasih felt so humiliated and dejected walked away from home, he was not aware of where he was going or whom to meet, thus he crossed several miles away from the village and arrived in a dilapidated shrine of Lord Shiva.  He took bath in the nearby pond and engaged in the veneration of Lord Shiva with the bale leaves, in this way he continued veneration of Lord Shiva and meditation for seven days.  Lord Shiva was pleased with the devotion of Narsih and appeared before him, asked him what would he like to have as a boon.  Narsih requested “ Oh! Prabho, give me the thing which is dearest to you.”  Lord Shiva offered the Dharshan of Lord Krishna and given intense devotion to Lord Krishna.

Narsih returned to the family life at the instruction of Lord Krishna, but the situation in the family did not change a bit, he had to face sheer criticism and humiliation in the family,  the situation became grave day by day.  He had to leave his elder brother and started living separately in a Dharmashala with his wife Manekbai and two children Shyamaldas and Kunwarbai.  He continued the worship of Lord Krishna, recitation of scriptures, and singing in praise of Lord.  Once a wealthy man arrived in the Dharmashala and found the intense devotion and faith of Narasihji revealed his desire to serve him.  He learned all those hardships of Narsih Mehta and pacified him, it was  Akroora  disguised in the form of a wealthy man who came to meet Narsih at the divine instruction of Lord Krishna.

Maharaj Narsih Mehta!

Pranams at the lotus feet of Maharaj Narsih Mehta!

Chapter – 1

Narsih Mehta / Narsi Bhagat was born in a poor Vadanagar Bhramin family in Junagarh in Kathiawar, Gujarat.  He was a 15th-century religious poet, an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna.  His father was holding a responsible post in the royal court, he was brought up by his grandmother Jaygauri. He was lacking speaking ability by birth, and he did not utter a word until eight years.  Once his grandmother took him to Hatkeshwar Mahadeva shrine while returning from the temple she found a Yogi who was chanting the sacred names of Lord Narayana.  His grandmother approached the Yogi, reverentially prostrated before him and described the pathetic condition of Narsih Mehta.  The Yogi made the boy seated near him and whispered a few sacred chants on his ears and advised him to recite ‘Radhe Krishna’, to sheer dismay Narsih Mehta uttered the name of Lord Radha Krishna.  Thus Narsih Mehta began to speak in the name of Lord, he sang in praise of Lord Krishna, verse flew out of his mouth nectar-like streams; his devotion to Lord Krishna was Sakhyabhava/dearest companion.  He found the presence of the supreme Lord in everything and everywhere, he composed illustrious ‘Harimala’.

He was taken care of by his elder brother Bansidhar.  He was introduced Narsih to Sanskrit education, but he was not interested in studies, he immersed in the devotion to Lord Krishna, worship of Lord Krishna, recitation of his sacred names and listening to the glorious myths of Lord Krishna and in the service of saints and holy men.  In this way, he has fully devoted his life in the service of Lord Krishna and his devotees, therefore he rarely returns to home.    He was married to Manekbai at a young age and lived with the family of his elder brother.  As a family man, he did not show much interest in worldly matters, his interest was mainly in the spiritual life.  Therefore he had to face the aggression of the wife of his elder brother.  His elder brother sincerely wanted Narasih to become a responsible family man and  tried all his efforts to bring back Narasih to the household chores.   His elder brother’s wife found the  trouble in the loving relationship of these two brothers, she constantly found fault in Narasih and spoiled the peace in the family.

Sant Tulsidas Maharaj

Pranams at the lotus feet of Tulsidas Maharaj!

Chapter – 6

Tulsidas Maharaj wrote verses in Sanskrit while living in Varanasi,  he wrote several verses  praising Lord Ramachandra in Sanskrit spending hours sitting in Prahladghat during the day, all those verses would get disappeared by night and this practice continued for eight days in a row.  On the eighth day Tulsidas Maharaj had the Dharshan of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi in his dream, Lord instructed Tulsidas Maharaj to go to Ayodhya and write the verses in Awadhi language,  and blessed that those verses would be considered as equivalent to Sama Veda.

Tulsidas Maharaj wrote many spectacular verses of life lessons,  and the most popular one among is “Do not visit the place where there is people are unpleasant or not welcoming, do not stay with the people who have no compassion or affection in their eyes for you, even if the place is enriched with the mountain of gold.”

In the year 1633, Tulsidas Maharaj completed the composition of the illustrious work Sri Ramacharitha Manas, he returned to Varanasi and recited the couplets before Lord of Varanasi.  Those days the Bhramins scholars have considered Sanskrit as supreme language and the rest of them are inferior, therefore they decided to put the composition of Tulsidas Maharaj to a test.  They piled up all the scriptures of Sanskrit on top of Sri Ramacharitha Manas and kept it inside the sanctum of the Lord Vishwanatha and kept it locked.  On the next day, the priests could see the Sri Ramacharitha Manas on the top of the pile of Sanskrit scriptures that was holding the inscription ‘Sathyam Shivam Sundaram’ / The eternal truth is auspicious and beautiful, signed by Lord Shiva.

Some of the Bhramin scholars of Varanasi were not convinced with the above incident, they have appointed thieves to steal the manuscript of Sri Ramacharitha Manas from the hermitage of Tulsidas.  On that night, the thieves could witness two young men one in blue complexion and another one in fair, holding bow and arrow guarding the hermitage of Sant Tulsidas.  They were horrified and left the place, on the next morning the thieves met Sant Tulsidas Maharaj and enquired about the whereabouts of the two men who were guarding the hermitage.  At once, Sant Tulasidas Maharaj recognized it was none other than his beloved Lord Rama and Lakshman, Maharaj shed tears over the thought of the boundless mercy of his beloved Lord who took great care of him.  Later, the manuscript of Sri Ramacharitha Manas was sent for safekeeping to Todarmal who was the finance minister in the court of Akbar.  Afterward, the thieves became fervent devotees of Lord Rama.

In the year 1680, Sant Tulsidas Maharaj at the age of 126,  on a Shravan Shukla Sapthami, Saturday, uttering the sacred names of Lord Ramachandra left his mortal coil in Assi Ghat, Varanasi.

Sant Tulsidas Maharaj

Pranams at the lotus feet of Tulsidas Maharaj!

Chapter – 5

Tulsidas Maharaj proceeded to the mountains of Chithrakoota at the instruction of Lord Hanuman and lived in an Ashram in Ramghat.  Once he was performing the Parikrama of the Moutain,  he saw two youths with great effulgence, attired in a marvelous garment, one has blue and other one has fair complexion respectively, traveling on horseback in the dense wood.  Tulsidas Maharaj looked at the youths but could not recognize it was Ram and Lakshman, later Hanuman enquired Tulsidas Maharaj about the youths and introduced them as Ram and Lakshman.  Tulsidas Maharaj was extremely dejected, at the thought that he could not recognize his favorite Lord even after appeared before him; he cursed the eyes that mislead the appearance of Lord Ramachandra.  On the next day morning, while he was preparing sandalwood paste for the worship of Lord Rama, there appeared a small boy asking for sandalwood paste for Tilak/symbolic mark on a forehead.  Lord Hanuman gave a hint to Tulsidas Maharaj about the presence of Lord Rama in the form of a child, thus Tulsidas Maharaj had the Dharshan of Rama and he immersed in a state of ecstasy, ultimately he forgot to fulfill the desire of the child.  Lord Rama took the sandal paste and applied the Tilak on his forehead and Tulsidas Maharaj, soon disappeared from the view.  Thus Tulsidas Maharaj's long-cherished wish to witness his favorite Lord Ramachandra was fulfilled.  Further, Tulsidas Maharaj had the Dharshan of Sage Yajjnavalkya and Sage Bharadhwaja while living in Prayag.

Sant Tulsidas Maharaj

Pranams at the lotus feet of Tulsidas Maharaj!

Chapter – 4

It was believed that Sant Tulsidas Maharaj was an incarnation of Sage Valmiki.  In Bhavishyoththara Purana Lord Shiva describes Goddess Parvathi about the reincarnation of Sage Valmiki who got an exemplary boon from Lord Hanuman to sing in praise of Lord Ramachandra in the Kali era.

There is interesting myth which was unheard, Lord Hanuman approached Sage Valmiki several times requesting him to sing in praise of Lord Ramachandra from his great epic Srimad Ramayan, but every time Sage Valmiki refused to recite the Ramayan for Lord Hanuman thinking that it is not worthy to recite the great epic to a monkey who does not even know the supremacy of Lord Rama.  After the battle of Rama with the demon Ravana, Hanuman left to Mount Himalaya and conducted Tapasya for several years.  During this period, Hanuman composed a drama praising the glories of Lord Rama, which was meticulously engraved with his sharp nails on the rocks where he was undertaking Tapasya.  Later, Sage Valmiki found the inscriptions on the rock and felt his composition is inferior to the work of Hanuman.  Lord Hanuman understood the state of mind of Sage Valmiki, he graciously took the rock engraved by him and set down deep into the ocean.  Later, he instructed Sage Valmiki to take birth in Kali Yuga and compose Ramayan in couplets of his own language Awadhi.

Sant Tulsidas Maharaj

Pranams at the lotus feet of Tulsidas Maharaj!

Chapter – 3

Sant Tulsidas Maharaj arrived in Prayag, and embraced Sanyasashrama, conducted spiritual journeys to Ayodhya, Chitrakoot, Badrinath,  Dwaraka,  Puri, Rameshwaram and Himalaya, he  composed several verses praising the Lord.  He arrived in Kashi and started giving lectures on Lord Rama.  While living in Varanasi, he used to go for early morning ablutions with a wooden vessel on hand, walking through the dense wood, while returning from bathing he used to pour out the Gangajal on a particular tree.   Tulsidas continued the practice for quite some, the spirit lived on the tree was quite pleased with this act, and got relieved from thirst.  The spirit appeared before Tulsidas and advised to meet Lord Hanuman who is always present in the place where the myths of Lord Rama are recited, he would be the first one to arrive in the place of the audience and the last one to leave.    He could fulfill the desire of Tulsidas to witness Lord Ramachandra.  

Once Tulsidas Maharaj was giving lectures on Ramayan, there arrived Hanuman disguised in the form of a leper first in the audience, and the last one to leave.  One day Tulsidas Maharaj followed the leper and attained the  Dharshan of Lord Hanuman, he prostrated before Lord Hanuman, revealed his yearning to witness Lord Ramachandra.  Lord Hanuman advised Tulsidas Maharaj that he could attain the Dharshan of Lord Ramachandra in the hills of Chitrakoot.  It was in the year 1607 on a Wednesday of Moni Amavasya, Tulsidas Maharaj had the Dharshan of Lord Sri Ramachandra in Chitrakoot.

In the year 1631 on a Ramnavami day Tulsidas Maharaj started the composition of illustrious Sri Ramacharitha Manas, it took nearly two years, seven months and twenty-six days to finish this great work.  In the year 1633, Marghasheersh Shuklapaksha on the  day  of Ramvivah, he has completed Ramacharitha Manas, and became famously known as Sant Tulsidas.   Sri Ramacharitha Manas is one of the sacred scripture worshiped as any other Hindu religious text.

Sant Tulsidas Maharaj

Pranams at the lotus feet of Tulsidas Maharaj!

Chapter – 2

Tulsidas Maharaj returned to his birthplace but there was no one in the family was alive.  He meticulously performed ancestral rites and continued to stay in the village giving lectures on scriptures.  Once, father of Rathnavali met Swamiji Narharyananda and expressed his desire to listen to the lectures on Lord Ramachandra.  Tulsidas narrated the story of Lord Rama beautifully; Rathnavali’s father highly appreciated the handsome youth for his talent and knowledge.  He expressed his desire to give his daughter Rathnavali in marriage to Tulsidas who is a favorite disciple of Swamiji Narharyanand.   

In the year 1583, he got married to a young beautiful and intelligent girl  Rathnavali.  He was madly in love with his wife, he can’t bear even a moment of separation from her, eventually, it has created less interest in spiritual life for him.   One day she had to return to her village with her brother, Tulsidas could not tolerate the grief of separation from his wife.  He went to meet his beloved wife, crossed the river which was brimming with water; he reached the home of his wife at midnight.  It was starch dark, he entered the chamber of his wife, and she felt so shameful.  She advised him to return home immediately.  Tulsidas expressed his desire to take her back with him.  She answered her thought in a few verses/Doha,/couplets, which removed his ignorance and opened the eyes of Tulsidas.  This incident transformed a simple Bhramin man into a great Saint Tulsidas.  Her couplets were “ You do not have shame to visit during these wee hours to your wife if you have shown half of this love at the lotus feet of Lord Ramachandra, it could liberate you from the worldly existence.”    These verses hit hard on his intellect; he did not stay even a second and left the place immediately.  Afterward, his life was wholly devoted to the path of spirituality,  full of love and thirst to witness  Lord Ramachandra.