Tulsidas, also known as Goswami Tulsidas, was a Ramanandi Vaishnava Hindu saint and poet who lived from 1532 to 1623 and was recognised for his devotion to the god Rama. He composed various famous works in Sanskrit and Awadhi, but is most known for the Hanuman Chalisa and the epic Ramcharitmanas, which is a vernacular Awadhi retelling of the Sanskrit Ramayana based on Rama’s life.
| Born | Rambola Dubey 13 August 1532 As many as three places are mentioned as his birthplace, most scholars identify the place with Soron, a town of Kasganj district, Uttar Pradesh. |
|---|---|
| Died | 1623 (aged 90–91) Assi Ghat, Benares, Oudh Subah, Mughal Empire (present-day Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India) |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Spouse | Ratnavali |
| Parents | Aatmaram Dubey (father) Hulsi Dubey (mother) |
| Sect | Ramanandi Sampradaya |
| Notable work(s) | Ramcharitmanas |
| Philosophy | Vishishtadvaita |
| Guru | Naraharidāsa |
These Tulsidas Quotes & Sayings in English and hindi (translate the language using the tool on the top left) will provide you wisdom, serenity and devotion towards lord Rama.
- Also read: Quotes on God & Devotion by Neem Karoli Baba
- Quotes on God By Osho
Tulsidas Quotes on Ram (Ramcharitmanas)
I refer to him as Rama. You may call him by any other name as long as you believe in him, submit all of your worldly ambitions and passions to his will, and become disciplined and principled without effort.
“Are you a monkey or a man?” Lord Ram asked Hanuman, puzzled. “When I don’t know who I am, I serve You; when I do know who I am, You and I are One,” Hanuman said, bowing his head solemnly and folding his hands.
“Everything has become the polar opposite to me since I was separated from you, Sita,” Shri Ram stated. The young and fragile leaves on the trees like fire tongues; evenings resemble the night of ultimate disintegration, and the moon scorches like the sun. Lotus beds like a swarm of spears placed in the earth, while rain clouds pour boiling oil. Those who were once amicable have become irritating; the calm, gentle, and aromatic winds have turned into a hissing snake. Even talking about one’s pain relieves it to some degree, but to whom should I talk about it? There will be no one who understands. My heart alone knows the truth about the cord of love that ties you and me, darling; and my heart is always with you. Know that this is the core of my affection.
All of these things lead to hell: lust, wrath, conceit, and covetousness. All of them despise the Hero of Raghu’s race, whom saints venerate.
Abandon pride, which is the same as Tamas-guna (darkness), which is based on ignorance and causes a great deal of suffering; instead, worship Lord Shri Rama, the Chief of the Raghus and an ocean of compassion.
When a pastor, a physician, or a religious preceptor uses attractive words out of fear or in the prospect of reward, the outcome is that dominion, health, and faith all go down the drain.
A creature cannot be happy, nor can its mind experience serenity, even in a dream, until it relinquishes desire, which is a habitation of pain.
Greed, infatuation, envy, arrogance, and pride are the villains that stalk the mind only as long as the Divine does not take up residence there. Attachment to the world is like a fully developed black night, which is so appealing to the owls of attraction and aversion; it lasts only as long as the sun of the Lord’s brightness does not shine there. I’m OK now that I’ve seen Your lotus feet, O Rma, and my great anxieties have vanished. My dear lord, the triple torments of ordinary life have no impact on someone who enjoys Your favour. I am the vilest of demons who has never done a nice deed. But the Lord, whose beauty even sages can’t see with their eyes, has been kind enough to take me into His arms.
Tulsidas Wisdom & Devotional Quotes
Lust, rage, and greed are the three most destructive emotions in the world.
Even your compassion is like a strong gust of wind, and the things you say are enough to rob a tree of its beautiful petals.
Even in a dream, there is no enjoyment in dependence.
There is no virtue greater than doing good for others, and no evil bigger than harming others.
Everyone who was sleeping through a night filled with confusion and saw a lot of nightmares. In this realm of darkness, the only people who are able to get engrossed in the contemplation of the sublime are those who have severed themselves from the material world. No one can be considered to have emerged from their slumber in any meaningful way until they have given up all of their sensual pleasures.
My mother and father abandoned me at birth, and the author of my existence left no value or merit on the page of fate.
Devotion is what develops knowledge, while faith is what dispels desire. According to the Vedas, knowledge is what creates freedom.
The people follow the Ruler.
Mine is neither a caste nor a cult, nor do I care about either…
No one is useful to me, and I am useless to anybody.
I don’t have a son, thus I’m not looking for a bride.
Tulsi is Rama’s slave, therefore he may say anything he wants.
Call me a swindler or a saint, a Rajput or a Julaha, since I begged for food, slept in a mosque, and had nothing to take and nothing to offer.
There is no distinction between knowledge and devotion; both preserve the soul from the sufferings of this world.
To merely look into the eyes of a man who does not feel the suffering of his friend is to commit a sin. Consider the mountain of anguish that you are experiencing to be little more than a pebble. Consider the discomfort that your close buddy is experiencing as if it were a mountain range.
The elephant that is walking through the marketplace is constantly harassed by savages, but he does not care. He proceeds in a direct and independent manner. When a person with a tremendous soul enters the world, there will always be a large number of others who want to follow in his footsteps.
“The Ramacharitamanas is without a doubt a wonderful poem deserving of being included among the world’s great classical masterpieces.”
To put out the belly-fire, I ate crumbs and morsels provided to me by men of all castes, high, low, and no caste.
Following the road of knowledge is like walking on a razor’s edge.
~ Tulsidas quotes
There is no way out once you’ve entered it.
He walks without legs, hears without ears, and performs all actions without using his hands.
He savours all the liquids without using his lips, speaks the truth without using his voice, and feels everything without using his hands.
He sees everything without his eyes and inhales everything without taking a breath.
Door to door, begging for scraps and morsels…
Dawdling and plodding along the lanes.
Why should I be a Courier of Man if I am a Rama servant, accredited to His Court?
~ Tulsidas quotes
More Devotional Quotes
„Faith in the Creator, who is primarily God and Godly in his man-ness, is similar to a human-self and may carry him forward.
„After strengthening and energising the account of Ramachandra as described in the Valmiki Ramayan and the Adhyatma Ramayan with the essence of what the Puranas, Vedas, and other texts could supply, I, Tulsidas, am writing for the joy of my own soul.”
„No one can traverse the ocean of this material world unless they build a slave-master connection with the Lord.
Who is a more honourable master than Rama?
Who is as vicious as I am?”
„No poet in England has ever been as popular as Tulsidas among the people of our country.”
“Tulsidasa is the only one, despite being the most renowned of them all, who does not have pupils whose names are derived from his own. There have been an endless number of Vallabhachars, Radha Vallabhs, Maluk Dasis, and Pran Nathis, but there have never been any Tulsidasis. The principles that he expounded have now permeated every sect and either explicitly or implicitly form the nucleus of the popular faith as it prevails throughout the entirety of the Bengal Presidency from Hardwar to Calcutta. However, virtually the entirety of Vaishnava Hinduism has fallen under his sway.
“Tulsidas was a poor hermit who led an austere life, and he was driven by an inner light to transform an ancient epic into folk-verse, which shattered all bounds and spread far and wide.”
Although Kabir’s or Dadu’s followers may only number in the hundreds of thousands, at least ninety million people throughout India accepted him as their spiritual guru.
“Tuslidas’ outlook on life and literature may be described as being decidedly more objective. As a result, it is not surprising that he has used the objective genres, such as the epic and the narrative, in addition to the lyric, which is, of course, the vehicle for his religious poetry.
“Tulsidas penned a total of 12 works, but the Ramacharitamanas, also known as “the sacred Lakes of the Acts of Ram,” is widely considered to be his most significant work. This Ramayana is written in archaic Hindi couplets. Hanuman personally oversaw the writing of the book and directed its content. It is recited across the whole of Northern India, but especially during the time of the Ramlila festival. It serves as a devotional song that is recited loudly in big crowds.
“Tulsidas is the highest tree in the garden of Hindu poetry, though his name does not appear in Aeen-i-Akbari or any book of Muslim historians or even narratives of European writers who worked on information taken from Persian historians.” This is despite the fact that Tulsidas’s name does not appear in any of these sources. Tuslidas was, despite this, the most accomplished man in India during his time. Because the victory that the poet registered in the hearts of thousands upon millions of people was greater and more long-lasting than all of the imperious victories put together… In point of fact, he can be called greater than Akbar. Because the Ramacharritamanas is such a massive epic, the English translation of it that was done by Growse has 362 pages. The theological underpinnings of this epic are so closely aligned with those of Christianity that, in various places, there is no room for debate if Christ is substituted for Rama.
“Tulsidas reigns dominant over the whole of Indian literary tradition…. The commitment that can be found in his poetry is on par with that which can be found in his philosophy. And from the very beginning to the very conclusion, not a single phrase or concept can be found that is not absolutely spotless and virtuous.”
To put out the belly-fire, I ate crumbs and morsels provided to me by men of all castes, high, low, and no caste.
~ Tulsidas quotes
What didn’t I do, where didn’t I go, who didn’t I kneel to?
~ Tulsidas quotes