Spiritual Heritage
The longing for supernal beings is as old as humankind itself. Ancient people worshipped the forces of nature to propitiate them or invoke their power. The Vedas are replete with prayers to Indra, Varuna, Agni and other such gods. After the decline of Vedic and Buddhist traditions in India, the bhakti movement was ushered in by a host of saints. Sri Ramanujachrya (1017-1137), who gave bhakti a firm philosophic base and popularized it, was one of them. We see the appearance of a disproportionately large number of saints from the 13th to the 15th centuries. Swami Ramanand (1400 to 1470), born perhaps in Prayag, played a great role in paving the way for bhakti in North India during this period. Many saints, who ignited and spread the message of bhakti across the land, appeared in the wake of Ramanand’s advent. These included Kabir the weaver, Dhanna the peasant, Sena the barber, Pipa the king, Raidas the cobbler, and through Raidas, Mirabai. The great Tulsidas too may be counted as belonging to this tradition.

Ramanand is reputed to have the 5th spiritual descendant of Sri Ramanujacharya. We have no record of the sayings of Ramanand, who perhaps preferred to spread the immortal message of bhakti through the radiant and glowing example of his own life. However, one of his, included in the Guru Granth Sahib, is evidence enough of his insights: ‘Where shall I go? The music and the festivity are in my own house, my heard does not wish to move, my mind has folded its wings and is still. One day, my heart was filled to overflowing, and I had an inclination to go with sandal and other perfumes to offer my worship to Brahman. But the guru (teacher) revealed that Brahman was in my own heart. It is Thou who hast filled them with Thy presence. It is the word of the guru that destroys all the millions bonds of action.’2

Childhood
Such was the turn of events when Narharidas, a descendant of Ramanand, was commanded in a dream to pick up an abandoned boy and instruct him in the timeless story of Sri Ram. He spotted the boy, who at that time went by the name Rambola 3, took him to Ayodhya, and completed his sacred thread ceremony. From a reference to a tulsi leaf used during that ceremony. Narharidas named Tulsiram, which later became Tulsidas. After about 10 months of living in Ayodhya, at the confluence of the rivers Sarayu and Ghagara – where they lived together for five years. It was here that Tulisdas heard the fascinating story of Sri Ram. We can well imagine what fire must have been ignited in the boy Tulsidas when the immortal story of Sri Ram fell upon his pure heart.

Another sadhu, Shesha Sanatana by name, now came into Tulsidasa’s life and took him to Varanasi, the city of learning or light. It was here that Tulsi learned Sanskrit, including Panini’s grammar. We read that Tulsidas was extremely bright, could remember texts after hearing them only once, and became adept in Sanskrit. That he had a good command of Sanskrit can be known from his few Sanskrit writings and the Sanskrit words, apposite and accurate, thrown casually but widely into his other works.4

Marriage and Renunciation
Tulsidas married a girl whose name was Ratnavali. We are told the simple couple lived at Rajapur and that their only son, Tarak died in infancy. Tulsidas was extremely devoted to his wife. This attachment may have been in the form of inchoate form of bhakti – wrongly directed towards a human being – for it was this love, when freed from human attachment that blossomed into an unbounded love for God.

Once his wife had started for her paternal home. An infatuated Tulsi rushed behind her at night, across the Yamuna. Upon reaching her, Tulsi was chided by his wife:
Hada mamsa-maya deha mam, taso jaisi pritti,
Vaisi jo sri-ram mein, hot na bhav bhiti.5

Had you for Sri Ram as much love and you have for my body of flesh and bones, you have overcome the fear of existence.

An apparently simple and innocuous expression of annoyance brought about a conversion in Tulsidasa’s mind, which must already have been pure, well disposed, and awaiting the proper hint. Such inner volte-face is not an uncommon phenomenon; innumerable instances have been recorded in the lives of saints of all traditions.

Tulsidas renounced his house and wife and became a peripatetic monk. He travelled the length and breadth of India, visiting, as he went, the four dhamas and other holy places. How many souls must have been blessed and inspired by his peerless words and how many raised to sublime heights of spirituality during his peregrinations we can only imagine.