Tulsidas – Miracles (contd)

Tulsidas(Miracles)

This post is a continuation of Tulsidas Miracles. Here is the link to the first post:

https://bhaktiroute.wordpress.com/2012/04/08/tulsidas-miracles/

As you may know, Tulsidas was an ardent Ram Bhakt. He is the composer of Ramcharitmanas which is an Awadhi(hindi-like) version of Ramayan. Sage Valmiki wrote Ramayan thousands of years ago. He himself played a very important role in Lord Ram and Sita’s life. Tulsidas is said be an incarnation of Valmiki. Hanuman gave him a boon to sings praises of Shri Ram in a common language during Kalyug and help people get rid of their distress. That is exactly what Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas does. It is written very beautifully and immediately relaxes an individual.

His Bhakti led to many miracles. Apart from the miracles that I mentioned in the first post, there are many more. Once a thief went to Tulsidas’s house at night in order to steal. He saw that two men with bows and arrows were guarding the house. One had a bluish-like complexion and the other had a fair complexion. He was very frightened upon seeing them and thus ran for his life. The next day he fell onto the feet of Tulsidads and asked for forgiveness. He narrated to Tulsidas all that he saw. Upon hearing the incident, Tulsidas became really worried. He felt very guilty that he made Lord Ram and Lakshman guard his house. Immediately, he donated whatever precious thing he had in his house.

There is also another beautiful story of how Tulsidas met Lord Rama. Every Day Tulsidas used to water a tree while chanting Lord Rama’s name in Kashi. In that tree lived a spirit. The spirit became so happy with Tulsidas that he wanted to grant Tulsidas a boon. Tulsidas said that he only wanted to see Lord Rama. The spirit said that to see Lord Rama, Tulsidas should meet Hanuman. Tulsidas wondered where he would find Lord Hanuman. The spirit then told Tulsidas that wherever there is Rama Katha being narrated, Lord Hanuman disguises himself as an old diseased man and is the last man to leave. Tulsidas was overjoyed on hearing this as he used to recite Ram Katha everyday. Lord Hanuman was therefore attending his Katha every day. Next day he organized the Ram Katha and was very excited to meet Lord Hanuman. At the end of the Katha he saw a diseased old man leaving. Immediately he fell on to his feet and asked him to reveal himself.  Lord Hanuman was very pleased and asked Tulsidas for a boon. Tulsidas said that he wanted Darshan of Shri Rama. Hanuman then directed him to leave for Chitrakut as that is where he would meet Lord Rama. This is mentioned in Tulsidas’s Hanuman Bahuk.

In the year of 1607, once when Tulsidas was making Chandan (sandalwood), two young princes came to him and asked for Chandan. Lord Hanuman came in the form of a parrot and spoke:

  || Chitrakoot Ke Ghaat Par, Bhai Santan Ke  Bheer

   Tulseedaas Chandan Ghisen, Tilak Det Raghubeer ||

Translation:

“…Amidst the large crowd of holy men in Chitrakut, while Tulsidas grinds the sandalwood to turn it into paste, Raghubeer (Lord Ram) appeared before him asking the paste to be smeared on his forehead…”

This allowed Tulsidas to recognize the two princes as Lord Rama and Lakshman. Tulsidas was overjoyed and went into trance. His wish was fulfilled as his life’s goal was now accomplished. He had the rare opportunity of seeing the beautiful Lord Rama with the help of Hanuman.

Tulsidas was right when he wrote:

|| Raam Duwaare Tum Rakhvaare,                                        

Hota Na Aagyaa Binu Paisaare || (Haunman Chalisa)

“…Oh Hanumanji! You are the sentinel at the door of Lord Ram’s mercy-mansion. No one may enter without your permission (get near the Lord without your blessings)…”

Mahabharata Series : Bheesma (Part 1)

I have been watching the Mahabharata Series by Dr.BR Chopra for a long time now. Even though I have watched the series a couple of times previously, it is only now that I have realized the real meaning. Mahabharata is truly the greatest epic of all times. It has drama, romance, action & adventure. If one reads or watched the entire Mahabharata, he/she would become trained to deal with various issues in life.

The first thing that I want to write about is Ganga Putra, Bheesma. Bheesma was one of the strongest characters in Mahabharata. He was a superb warrior and was a man of principles. He also suffered greatly throughout his life. He led a life filled with loneliness and frustrations.

Bheesma’s birth:

Bheeshma was Shantanu, the King of Hastinapur and River Ganga’s son. He was then named Devrata. He took birth on earth because of a curse given to him by Maha Rishi Vashishta. He was actually one of the eight Vasus. Vasus are Indra’s attendants in court. He is Dyaus (sky) amongst the eight Vasus. He was cursed because he stole Rishi Vashishtha’s cow Nandini upon his wife’s request. Nandini was this golden cow that fulfilled all the wishes.  The other 7 vasus were cursed too because they supported Dyaus and helped him steal the cow. Upon being cursed by the Rishi all of them were extremely worried. They went to Vashishta and asked for forgiveness. Vashishta could not take his curse back but said that the 7 vasus who only helped Dyaus take birth and would die within the first year and thus won’t suffer. Dyaus on the other hand would have to suffer his entire life. Nonetheless he would be one of the greatest warriors in the history of India.

King Shantanu was the great grandfather of the Padavas. Ganga knew of this curse and decided that she would help the eight Vasus. When Shantanu asked Ganga to marry him, she kept a condition that he could not ask her any questions. The day he would question her, she would leave him and go. The king agreed and they decided to marry. One by one her sons were born. She drowned her 7 sons as soon as they were born. King Shantanu was extremely helpless. However, when the eight son was born, King Shantanu could not hold himself back and asked Ganga to stop. It was then that Ganga explained to him the entire story of the Vasus. Now that the king had questioned her, she had to leave him. The eight son could no longer be killed because the king stopped her. He was then named Devrata.

King Shantanu stops Ganga from drowning Bheesma

Ganga decided that she would train Devrata to be the future King of Hastinapur and would return him back to the king once he was capable enough.  Devrata learnt archery from Rishi Parshurama (avatar of Vishnu), Vedas from Rishi Vashishta himself and other subjects from Gods in Indra’s court. He was the bravest man and that time. Thus as a young teenager, Ganga returned Devrata to King Shantanu. The king rejoiced and they shared a beautiful father-son relationship. Devarata was crowned the future King to the throne.

Ganga returning Devrata to Shantanu

The story does not end here. This was just the happy part. After that came the sad part. I will write more on the next part later. Hope you enjoyed this post 🙂

-Prachi

Yudhishtira’s Nyaya – Lessons Learnt

During the time when Drithrashtra was the King of Hastinapur and both the Pandavas and the Kauravas had grown up, there was a need for a new Yuvaraj (heir to the throne). Drithrashtra was always greedy about the throne. He wanted Duryodhan to be the next king. However, Drithrashtra was a mere representative of Pandava who had abandoned his throne due to a crime he had committed unknowingly. Thus, Yudhistira who was the eldest son of Pandava was the rightful heir to the throne.

In order to make a decision as to who is suitable to be the next king, Vidhur (the wise minister and the brother of Drithrashtra) decided to test both Duryodhan and Yudhistira in the courtroom. Four men were bought in who had committed a murder. When Duryodhan was asked to do justice to the four men, he said that punishment for murder was death sentence in their kingdom. Therefore, each man should be hanged. Then Vidhur asked Yudhistira to do justice. Here is what he said:

“ First I want to know the caste of each man. Upon saying so he found that one was Shudra, the other Vaishya, the third one was Kshatriya and the fourth one was a Brahman. He then said that Shudra is uneducated and he doesn’t know the difference between right & wrong. So he should be imprisoned for 4 years. Vaishya has some knowledge between good and bad. Thus he should get double of what Shudra gets. The Kshatriya is the protector of the nation and thus should not kill people and make them feel unsafe. So the Kshatriya should get double of what Vaishya got. The fourth man is a Brahman. He is well versed with the differences between good and bad. His punishment should be the most severe but you cannot kill a Brahman. Therefore, the head priest of the kingdom should decide the punishment of the Brahman.  Every person is different. You cannot measure every person’s doing in the same scale. That would definitely be unjust”.

Mahabharat teaches us all the lessons we need to learn in order to lead a just life. The story that I just narrated has a very powerful meaning not only in terms of how justice should be granted to each individual but also in terms of our behavior towards each person. Since every person is different and comes from different background we need to change our behavior accordingly.  If we meet someone who comes from modest background, it is our duty to behave modestly and treat him or her with respect. Also, when we are judging someone’s actions towards us we should understand where the person is coming from. If we start considering these things while interacting with different individuals, the world would definitely be a happier place.

Tulsidas (Miracles)

Tulsidas was the great author of Ramcharitmanas, a poetic composition on Ramayana. Valmiki had first authored Ramayana in the Sanskrit language. The common man could not understand this language at that time. Thus, Tulsidas decided to rewrite Ramayana in the simple language of Awadhi in the late sixteenth century.

Such was the power of Tulsidas’s bhakti that he performed various miracles unintentionally. Miracles lay a foundation for reinserting trust in God. Thus, knowing about these miracles helps us increase our faith on God. So, those of you who don’t know already, I want to describe some of these miracles via this post.

Once Tulsidas was walking by, where he came across a man being taken for cremation. Finding Tulsidas, the widow of the man fell on his feet. Tulsidas blessed her with the ashirwad  (blessing) of always remaining wedded. Hearing this the relatives protested. They said, how being such a great Brahmin, he could give this blessing to a widow. Tulsidas said that he just said what Lord Ram made him say. He asked everyone to chant Lord Ram and close his or her eyes. Upon doing so, the man came back to life.

Hearing about this miracle, the Emperor of Delhi, Akbar invited Tulsidas to his court. He asked Tulsidas to perform some miracle. Tulsidas denied saying he has never performed miracles, Lord Ram is the one who does so. Akbar became very angry and imprisoned Tulsidas.  It was then Tulsidas composed the powerful Hanuman Chalisa in jail.  It is said he recited the Hanuman Chalisa hundreds of times. Upon doing so, a large hoard of uncontrollable monkeys laid siege on the jail in which Tulsidas was imprisoned. Akbar’s forces failed to control the monkeys who had created havoc in the prison as well as in the royal palace.  Akbar’s advisors informed him that this was because of capturing the great Brahmin, Tulsidas and his bhakti towards Lord Hanuman.  Immediately, Akbar apologized to Tulsidas and released him. When this happened, monkeys stopped their chaos and went out of the city. Such is the power in Hanuman Chalisa.

I will talk about more of his miracles in some other blog post.  For now this is good! 🙂

Hope you enjoyed this post. More, later!

-Prachi

Dharma (धर्म):

I want my first post to be something useful, that which will lay out the purpose for this blog. Thus, I want to talk about Dharma (धर्म) which is the essence of Indian Spirituality.

The word Dharma is lost now, especially amongst the youth of our generation. Dharma has various meanings. The one that makes most sense to me is: It is a Law/ behavior required to maintain righteousness in the world. Only for the establishment of Dharma, Lord Vishnu has taken the various avatars on earth. Without righteous behavior, there seems to be extreme distrust amongst individuals these days. Because of lack of trust and honesty there is growing amount of corruption and insecurity amongst individuals, amongst nations.

At the pinnacle of Dharma is Yudhishthira, known to be the son of Dharma himself. There were many instances in the Mahabharta that describes Yudhishthira’s greatness and righteousness. One such incident took place during the end of the twelve year exile period of the Pandavas. Once, the Pandavas were carrying out a task for a Rishi(ऋषि). In the process Yudhishtira became extremely thirsty. When Sahadeva, the youngest of the Pandavas when to fetch water, he found a lake gaurded by a Yaksha (a spirit). The Yaksha warned Sahadeva that if he drank water without answering his questions, the water would be poisoned. Sahadeva ignored him. When he drank the water, he died. Nakula did the same after he came looking for Sahadeva and thus he dies as well. So did Arjuna and Bheema. When none of the brothers returned, Yudhishthira went looking for them and arrived at the lake where his brothers lay dead. Hearing the Yaksha, he realized that only the Yaksha held answers to his brothers’ death. Therefore, he decided to answer the eighteen questions on Dharma which the Yaksha asked. The answers that Yudhishthira provided were insightful and are take aways for each one  of us.

 

Source: Ether Media

Some of the answers to the questions were (Source: Wikipedia):

Yaksha : What is heavier than earth, higher than heavens, faster than the wind and more numerous than straws?
Yudhishthira: One’s mother (value) is heavier than the earth; one’s father (respect) is higher than the mountains. The mind is faster than wind and our worries are more numerous than straws.

Yaksha: What is that which, when renounced, makes one lovable? What is that which is renounced makes happy and wealthy?
Yudhishthira: Pride, if renounced makes one lovable; by renouncing desire one becomes wealthy; and to renounce avarice is to obtain happiness.

Yaksha: Who is truly happy?
Yudhishthira: He who has no debts is truly happy.

Yaksha:What is the greatest wonder?
Yudhishthira: Day after day countless people die. Yet the living do not realize that it can happen to them. O Lord, what can be a greater wonder?

Yaksha: What is the path?
Yudhishthira: Argument leads to no certain conclusion, the Srutis (ears/hearing) are different from one another; there is not even one Rishi whose opinion can be accepted by all; the truth about Dharma and duty is hid in caves of our heart: therefore, that alone is the path along which the great have trod.

Upon hearing the answers, the Yaksha was very pleased.  He said that he would give back life to one of the brothers. He asked Yudhisthira to choose. Yudhisthira, chose Nakula as he was the son of Madhuri, Yudhisthira’s second mother. He gave a reason that he wanted sons born out of both the mothers alive. Listening to this, the Yaksha granted life to all the four brothers. He revealed his true form to Yudhishthira. He was in reality, Dharma himself. He disguised himself as the Yaksha to test Yudhishthira’s merit and righteousness.

The answers to the questions given by Yudhishthira were extremely beautiful and meaningful. If understood properly, these questions can serve as a guide for us humans to lead a rightful life.

Let me know what you think of this post! 🙂

– Prachi