Tulsidas Quotes

Lord Ram gave Hanuman a quizzical look and said, "What are you, a monkey or a man?" Hanuman bowed his head reverently, folded his hands and said, "When I do not know who I am, I serve You and when I do know who I am, You and I are One.

Lust, anger, vanity and covetousness are all paths leading to hell. Abjuring, all these adore the Hero of Raghu’s line, whom saints worship.

When a minister, a physician and a religious preceptor; these three use pleasing words from fear or hope of reward, the result is that dominion, health, and faith, all the three immediately set towards destruction.

There can be no happiness for a being nor can its mind know any peace even in a dream so long as it does not relinquish desire, which is an abode of sorrow.

Abandon pride, which is the same as Tamas-guna (darkness), rooted as it is in ignorance and is a source of considerable pain; and adore Lord Shri Rama, the Chief of the Raghus and an ocean of compassion. (Page 787).

Nothing is unattainable, my Lord, to him who enjoys Your grace. Through Your might, a mere shred of cotton can surely burn a submarine fire (the impossible can be made possible).

No ancient story, not even Homer's Iliad or Odyssey, has remained as popular through the course of time. The story of Rama appears as old as civilization and has a fresh appeal for every generation.

Abandon pride, which is the same as Tamas-guna (darkness), rooted as it is in ignorance and is a source of considerable pain; and adore Lord Shri Rama, the Chief of the Raghus and an ocean of compassion.

Shri Ram said: “Ever since I have been separated from you, Sita, everything to me has become its very reverse. The fresh and tender leaves on the trees look like tongues of fire; nights appear as dreadful as the night of final dissolution and the moon scorches like the sun. Beds of lotuses are like so many spears planted on the ground, while rain-clouds pour boiling oil as it were. Those that were friendly before, have now become tormenting; the cool, soft and fragrant breezes are now like the hissing serpent. One’s agony is assuaged to some extent even by speaking of it, but to whom shall I speak about it? For there is no one who will understand. The reality about the chord of love that binds you and me, dear, is known to my heart alone; and my heart ever abides with you. Know this to be the essence of my love.

तात स्वर्ग अपबर्ग सुख धरिअ तुला एक अंग। तूल न ताहि सकल मिलि जो सुख लव सतसंग॥ 4॥

जाइहि सुनत

ऐसी देनी देंन ज्यूँ, कित सीखे हो सैन ज्यों ज्यों कर ऊंच्यो करो, त्यों त्यों निचे नैन! .................................................................., देनहार कोई और है, भेजत जो दिन रैन लोग भरम हम पर करे, तासो निचे नैन!!

That villainous crew- greed, infatuation, jealousy, arrogance, and pride haunts the mind only so long as the Divine does not take up His abode there. Attachment to the world is like a dark night fully advanced, which is so delightful to the owls of attraction and aversion; it abides in the heart of a creature only so long as the sun of the Lord’s glory does not shine there. Having seen Your lotus feet, O Rāma, I am now quite well and my grave fears have been set at rest. The threefold torments of mundane existence cease to have any effect on him who enjoys Your favor, my gracious lord. I am a demon vilest of nature and have never done any good act. Yet the Lord whose beauty even sages fail to perceive with their mindís eye has been pleased to clasp me to His bosom.

भलेउ पोच सब बिधि उपजाए । गनि गुन दोष बेद बिलगाए ।। कहहिं बेद इतिहास पुराना । बिधि प्रपंचु गुन अवगुन साना ।। भले, बुरे सभी ब्रह्माके पैदा किये हुए हैं, पर गुण और दोषोंको विचारकर वेदोंने उनको अलग-अलग कर दिया है। वेद, इतिहास और पुराण कहते हैं कि ब्रह्माकी यह सृष्टि गुण-अवगुणोंसे सनी हुई है ।।२।।

Varanasi is the holiest city in Hinduism in India, which is a very unique city in india. The land of Varanasi (Kashi) has been the ultimate pilgrimage spot for Hindus for ages. Often referred to as Benares, Varanasi is the oldest living city in the world. Ganges in Varanasi is believed to have the power to wash away the sins of mortals. Ganges is said to have its origins in the tresses of Lord Shiva and in Varanasi, it expands to the mighty river that we know of. The city is a center of learning and civilization for over 3000 years. With Sarnath, the place where Buddha preached his first sermon after enlightenment, just 10 km away, Varanasi has been a symbol of Hindu renaissance. Knowledge, philosophy, culture, devotion to Gods, Indian arts and crafts have all flourished here for centuries. The holy city has many other temples also. The Tulsi Manas mandir is a modern marble temple. The walls of the temple are engraved with verses and scenes from Ramcharitmanas, hindi version of Ramayana, written by Tulsidas ji who lived here. Varanasi has produced numerous famous scholars and intellectuals, who have left their mark in respective fields of activity. Varanasi is home to numerous universities, college, schools, Madarsas and Pathshalas and the Guru Shishya tradition still continue in many institutions. The literary tradition of languages, dialects, newspapers, magazines and libraries continue to even this day. In varanasi one must have to do Boat Ride.

But as soon as you enter a university, we witness a radical and communal face of Communism. Here, they propagate the weaknesses and evils of Hindu culture. They manipulate and twist ancient books to misrepresent them and provoke students. For example, they use Tulsidas’ chaupai, without mentioning the rest of the Ramcharitmanas, which is the real context. “ढोल गंवार शूद्र पशु नारी, सकल ताडना के अधिकारी.” Dhol ganvar shudra pashu nari, sakal tadana ke adhikari. ‘The above lines are spoken by the Sea Deity Samudra to Ram. When Lord Ram got angry and took out his weapon in order to evaporate the whole sea, the deity appeared and said the above lines in the context of boundaries that are created by God himself in order to hold his creations.  ‘What Leftists do is that they very cleverly translate it literally in Hindi, ignoring the fact that Ramcharitmanas is written in Awadhi and the same word means one thing in Hindi and another in Awadhi. While the literal meaning of the line in Hindi is ‘Drums, the illiterate, lower caste, animals and women deserve a beating to straighten up and get the acts together’, its real meaning in Awadhi is different. In Awadhi, tadna means to take care, to protect. Whereas, in Hindi, the same word means punishment, torture, oppression. Samudra meant that like drums, the illiterate, Shudra, animals and women need special care and need to be protected in the boundary of a social safety net. In the same way, the sea also needs to reside within the boundaries created by God. And hence, Samudra gave the suggestion to create the iconic Ram Setu. ‘Here, Shudra doesn’t mean lower caste or today’s Dalit. It meant people employed in cottage industries.’ I remember there is a book by R.C. Dutta, Economic Interpretation of History, in which he has said that when the Indian economy was based on the principles of Varna, handicrafts accounted for over twenty-five percent of the economy. Artisans and labour who were involved in the handicraft business were called ‘Shudra’. If there was so much caste-based discrimination, why would Brahmins use their produce? Both Dutta and Dadabhai Naoroji have written that the terminology of ‘caste discrimination’ was used by the British to divide Indian society on those lines.

believe like every Hindu in God and His oneness, in rebirth and salvation....I can no more describe my feeling for Hinduism than for my own wife. She moves me as no other woman in the world can. Not that she has no faults; I daresay she has many more than I see myself. But the feeling of an indissoluble bond is there. Even so I feel for and about Hinduism with all its faults and limitations. Nothing delights me so much as the music of the Gita, or the Ramayana by Tulsidas. When I fancied I was taking my last breath, the Gita was my solace. Hinduism is not an exclusive religion. In it there is room for the worship of all the prophets of the world. 11 It is not a missionary religion in the ordinary sense of the term. It has no doubt absorbed many tribes in its fold,

ज्ञान अगम (दुर्गम) है, [और] उसकी प्राप्तिमें अनेकों विघ्न हैं। उसका साधन कठिन है और उसमें मनके लिये कोई आधार नहीं है। बहुत कष्ट करनेपर कोई उसे पा भी लेता है, तो वह भी भक्तिरहित होनेसे मुझको प्रिय नहीं होता ⁠।⁠।⁠२⁠।⁠। भक्ति सुतंत्र सकल सुख खानी

भारतीय भक्त का प्रेममार्ग स्वाभाविक और सीध है जिस पर चलना सब जानते हैं, चाहे चलें न। वह ऐसा नहीं जिसे कोई विरला ही जानता हो या पा सकता हो। वह तो संसार में सबके लिए ऐसा ही सुलभ है जैसे अन्न और जल- निगम अगम, साहब सुगम, राम साँचिली चाह। अंबु असन अवलोकियत सुलभ सबै जग माँह।।

असंक॥

सत्संगके बिना विवेक नहीं होता और श्रीरामजीकी कृपाके बिना वह सत्संग सहजमें मिलता नहीं। सत्संगति आनन्द और कल्याणकी जड़ है। सत्संगकी सिद्धि (प्राप्ति) ही फल है और सब साधन तो फूल हैं ⁠।⁠।⁠४⁠।⁠।

सठ सुधरहिं सतसंगति पाई। पारस परस कुधात सुहाई॥

वर्णानामर्थसंघानां रसानां छन्दसामपि ⁠। मङ्गलानां च कर्त्तारौ वन्दे वाणीविनायकौ 

मति अति नीच ऊँचि रुचि आछी । चहिअ अमिअ जग जुरइ न छाछी ⁠।⁠। छमिहहिं सज्जन मोरि ढिठाई । सुनिहहिं बालबचन मन लाई ⁠।⁠।

Through contact with the virtuous even the wicked get reformed, just as a base metal is transmuted by the touch of the philosopher’s stone. On the other hand, if by mischance good men fall into evil company, they maintain their noble character like the gem on the hood of a serpent.

Chitrakoot ke ghat par bhai santan ki bheed Tulsidas chandan ghise, tilak det Raghuveer.

I have had an affinity for books throughout my life. Ever since I was little, I used to read children’s books and I loved going to book shops and buying books. My father would give me ten rupees to go to the Raina Book Depot in Srinagar, which was a great delight. When I went to Doon [a boarding school in Dehradun] I started reading more extensively. I remember reading many of the P.G. Wodehouse novels, the Sherlock Holmes and Scarlet Pimpernel series, and I loved the classics: War and Peace, A Tale of Two Cities, The Three Musketeers. I subsequently moved to more serious reading: books on philosophy and politics by Plato, Bertrand Russell, Aldous Huxley, Vivekananda, the Arthurian novels by Mary Stewart and the Cretan novels of Mary Renault are some of my favourites. In poetry, I love Yeats, Wordsworth, Sri Aurobindo, Gurudev Tagore, Robert Frost in English; Ghalib, Faiz and Iqbal in Urdu, Dinkar and Tulsidas in Hindi.