Goswami Tulasidas (1511-1623) stands as one of the most influential poet-saints in Indian spiritual history. His magnum opus, the Ramcharitmanas, has shaped the religious consciousness of millions across North India for over four centuries. More than just a retelling of the Ramayana, this work became a vehicle for social harmony, sectarian reconciliation, and a unique philosophical synthesis that continues to inspire seekers-including Mahatma Gandhi himself.
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The poet-saint and his magnum opus
Tulasidas composed the Ramcharitmanas in the vernacular Awadhi language rather than the elite Sanskrit, deliberately making the sacred narrative accessible to common people. The work began in Ayodhya in 1574 CE on the auspicious day of Rama Navami and was completed over two years, seven months, and twenty-six days. The title translates to “Lake of the Deeds of Rama,” and Tulasidas compared its seven Kands (books) to seven steps leading into the holy waters of Lake Manasarovar.
The impact of this work on Indian culture cannot be overstated. The historian Vincent Smith called Tulasidas “the greatest man of his age in India and greater than even Akbar himself.” Likewise, the Indologist Sir George Grierson described the Ramcharitmanas as “worthy of the greatest poet of any age” and termed Tulasidas “the greatest leader of the people after the Buddha.” The work has been called the “Bible of North India” by numerous scholars, and its verses have entered folk speech as proverbs, permeating daily conversations across the Hindi heartland.
Tulasidas also established the tradition of Ramlila-the dramatic folk-theatre enactment of the Ramayana-which continues to be performed across India. He founded the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple in Varanasi and authored the beloved Hanuman Chalisa, recited by millions every week. His influence extends to Hindustani classical music, popular culture, and television adaptations that have reached hundreds of millions of viewers.
The ninefold path to devotion (Navavidha Bhakti)
One of the most significant contributions of the Ramcharitmanas is the discourse on Navavidha Bhakti-the nine forms of devotion-delivered by Rama to the tribal devotee Shabari. This episode appears in the Aranya Kand and represents a democratization of spiritual practice, offering accessible paths to liberation regardless of one’s social status.
The nine forms of devotion as outlined by Tulasidas are:
1. Sadhu Sangha (Company of Saints): The first and most crucial step is keeping the company of holy and devout people. Tulasidas emphasizes this as the foundation upon which all other devotion rests.
2. Listening to Divine Stories: The second form involves developing fondness for hearing the Lord’s narratives and leelas (divine plays).
3. Service to the Guru: Humble, egoless service at the lotus feet of one’s spiritual teacher constitutes the third path.
4. Singing God’s Praises: The fourth bhakti involves singing the Lord’s glories with a heart free from guile and hypocrisy.
5. Mantra Japa with Faith: Chanting the divine name with firm, unwavering faith represents the fifth form, which Tulasidas says is illuminated in the Vedas.
6. Sense Control and Noble Character: The sixth involves restraining the senses, cultivating modesty, and engaging constantly in righteous conduct.
7. Seeing the World as God-Pervaded: The seventh bhakti means perceiving the entire universe as filled with the divine and respecting saints even more than God himself.
8. Contentment: Being satisfied with whatever one receives and never finding fault with others, even in dreams, constitutes the eighth form.
9. Simplicity and Guilelessness: The ninth involves behaving with straightforward honesty toward all, maintaining complete faith in the Lord, and remaining equanimous in all circumstances-neither elated by joy nor depressed by sorrow.
Rama concludes by telling Shabari that even possessing one of these nine qualities makes a person dear to him, and that her devotion is perfectly complete, embodying all nine forms. This teaching is revolutionary: it offers liberation not through elaborate rituals or scholarly learning but through accessible practices of devotion.
Championing social equality through devotion
The episode with Shabari carries profound social significance. Shabari belonged to a tribal community considered low in the caste hierarchy, yet Rama not only accepted her hospitality but chose her as the recipient of his highest spiritual teaching. Before explaining the nine forms of devotion, Rama declares to Shabari: “I recognize no other kinship except that of devotion.” This statement strikes at the root of caste-based discrimination, establishing spiritual merit over social hierarchy.
Tulasidas reinforced this message through other characters as well. The boatman Kewat, who ferries Rama across the Ganges, is depicted as a great devotee worthy of divine grace despite his humble profession. When Bharata embraces Kewat knowing him to be Rama’s devoted servant, it demonstrates that true devotion transcends all social boundaries. In the Ramcharitmanas, salvation through bhakti is described as “free and open to men of the lowest caste.”
It must be acknowledged that the Ramcharitmanas reflects the complexities of its era. Some verses have been criticized for reinforcing social hierarchies, leading to ongoing debates about how to read a medieval text in contemporary times. Scholars suggest approaching Tulasidas with historical context while recognizing that his emphasis on devotion-based equality represented a significant spiritual breakthrough for his time.
Bridging the Shaiva-Vaishnava divide
During Tulasidas’s era, sharp sectarian differences existed between followers of Shiva (Shaivas) and followers of Vishnu/Rama (Vaishnavas). Tulasidas worked deliberately to harmonize these traditions, presenting them as complementary rather than competing paths.
According to Tulasidas, there is no incompatibility between devotion to Rama and attachment to Shiva. He equates the Guru as an incarnation of Shiva, and a substantial portion of the Balkand of Ramcharitmanas is devoted to narratives about Shiva-including the abandonment of Sati, the penance of Parvati, and the divine marriage of Shiva and Parvati.
The Ramcharitmanas opens with reverence to Ganesh, Sarasvati, Parvati, Shiva, the Guru, Valmiki, and Hanuman-spanning the entire Hindu pantheon. In the Vinayapatrika, Tulasidas bows to Ganesh, Surya, Shiva, Devi, Ganga, Yamuna, Varanasi, and Chitrakoot, asking all of them for devotion toward Rama. He also included the episode of Rama worshipping Shiva at Rameshwaram before proceeding to Lanka, and composed the Rudrashtakam in praise of Shiva.
Tulasidas explicitly states in the Ramcharitmanas that Rama disdains critics of Shiva, asserting that anyone who criticizes Shiva while claiming to be Rama’s follower is deeply mistaken. This integration served a crucial social purpose during the Mughal era-uniting Hindu communities around a shared spiritual vision rather than fragmenting them through sectarian disputes.
The concept of formless Rama and Gandhi’s inspiration
Perhaps the most philosophically sophisticated aspect of Tulasidas’s work is his treatment of the relationship between the formless (Nirguna) and formed (Saguna) aspects of the divine. Drawing from Advaita philosophy, Tulasidas presents Nirguna Brahman (the quality-less, formless absolute) and Saguna Brahman (the personal God with qualities) as one and the same reality.
Tulasidas explains this through elegant metaphors: water, snow, and hail are the same substance in different forms; similarly, the formless divine solidifies into form through the devotee’s love. He compares Nirguna Brahman to a lake with just water, while Saguna Brahman is a lake resplendent with blooming lotuses. Both are equally real; both are equally worthy of worship.
This concept of a formless yet accessible Rama profoundly influenced Mahatma Gandhi, who was a lifelong devotee of Tulasidas. Gandhi stated: “In the spiritual literature of the world, the Ramayana of Tulsidas takes a foremost place. It has charms that I miss in the Mahabharata and even in Valmiki’s Ramayana.” He described the Ramcharitmanas as “the greatest book in all devotional literature.”
Crucially, Gandhi’s Rama was not limited to the historical prince of Ayodhya. He declared: “My Rama, the Rama of our prayers is not the historical Rama, the son of Dasharatha, the King of Ayodhya. He is the eternal, the unborn, the one without a second. Him alone I worship.” Gandhi emphasized that this formless Rama “belongs equally to all”-Hindus, Muslims, and people of all faiths could invoke the divine through whatever name they preferred.
The name “Rama” itself held transformative power for Gandhi. He wrote that it may have been his childhood association with Tulasidas that created this bond, but “the potent fact is there”-in the darkest hours of his trials, the name of Rama saved him and continued to save him. He saw chanting Ramanama not as a sectarian Hindu practice but as invoking a universal principle of truth and righteousness.
The living legacy
Tulasidas’s synthesis of devotional accessibility, social harmony, sectarian unity, and philosophical depth created a spiritual framework that continues to resonate. His insistence that devotion transcends caste, his reconciliation of competing religious traditions, and his presentation of a divine reality that is both intimately personal and infinitely transcendent-these contributions made the Ramcharitmanas far more than a religious text. It became, as scholars have described, “the living sum of Indian culture.”
For Gandhi, Tulasidas provided the spiritual vocabulary and framework for his own non-violent revolution. The formless Rama-representing truth, righteousness, and universal compassion-became the guiding principle of his life and movement. In this way, a 16th-century poet-saint’s vision continued to shape India’s destiny centuries after his death.
What do you think? How might Tulasidas’s emphasis on devotion over social hierarchy continue to inform contemporary discussions about equality and spiritual practice? In what ways does the concept of a formless, universal divine speak to our increasingly pluralistic world?
References
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramcharitmanas
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Manasarovar
- https://www.satsang.avgmedia.org/navadha-bhakti-nine-ways-or-forms-of-devotion/
- https://scroll.in/article/1055163/caste-and-patriarchy-how-to-read-the-ramcharitmanas-of-tulsidas-today
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsidas
- https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/ramanama/my-rama.php
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