Untouchability, casteism, discrimination have no place in Tulsi’s concept of ‘Ram Rajya’

Before starting my talk, I would like to say a couplet.

Actions without words, ignorant day and night.

As the cooker roams around, heard and heard things ॥

Just as when a dog barks many dogs start barking without any reason, in the same way ignorant and unintelligent people also keep on cramming what they have heard without doing anything. Some people, who have not read even a single stanza of Ramcharitmanas till date, say with fervor that Tulsidas has written like this.

The psychology of Goswami Tulsidas ji’s writing can be understood by his sense of writing about himself. Tulsidas ji writes in Vairagyasandipani;

By going to Tulsi, I am deceived by the body, Ram comes out.

My body is charmed by every step. 37.

From whose mouth ‘Ram’ (name) comes out even by deceit, the shoes of his feet are made of the leather of my body.॥37॥

Realizing the depth to which Goswami descends in this dasanudasi bhakti, Mahatma Nabhadas ji has established him as Sumeru (the topmost big bead in the rosary) of the divine mala of devotees in Bhaktamal. The truth is Goswami Tulsidas ji is the Sumeru mountain of the universe in the form of feelings of Lokmangal.

Goswami Tulsidas ji, as the guardian of the followers of Sanatan Dharma, while giving education to everyone, is sometimes seen calling out with love and sometimes scolding harshly. Targeting Tulsidas ji only by underlining any Dalit or non-Brahmin caste seems to be a ploy by casteist wolves to calm their political indigestion.

What has Goswami ji not said to Brahmins, he writes in Uttarkand;

Bipra Nirchar Lolop Kami. Nirachar Sath Brishali Swami. (Uttarkand 99/8)

That is, in Kaliyuga, Brahmins are the master of illiterate, greedy, lustful, immoral, foolish and adulterous women. The Brahmin society does not get angry with Goswami Tulsidas ji on this subject, but accepts it as a strictly given education as a guardian.

He bitterly criticizes the political inconsistencies of the Kshatriya kings and, considering King Rama as adorable, also arranges for the punishment of hell-suffering for the kings-

“Spy Raj, dear people are sad, so Nrup Avas Hell Adhikari ॥” (Ayodhya incident)

Highlighting the political anomalies of the Kshatriyas of Kali Yuga, he says,

“Nrip sin is not a foreign religion.

The Kshatriya kings turned sinful, there was no religion in them. They always make the people miserable by punishing them without any crime.

Taking these instructive incidents as a lesson, the Hindu society accepts that Tulsidas ji’s aim is Lokmangal, where mutual welfare of all is ensured by all.

Untouchability, casteism, discrimination had no place in Tulsi’s concept of ‘Ram Rajya’. People of all four castes used to bathe together at the ‘Rajghat’ of Ramrajya – ‘Rajghat sab vidhi sundar bar, majjahi tahan baran chariu nar’. (Uttarkand 29) Tulsidas’s egalitarian vision is recognized in the devotion of Ram.

Men are impotent, women or animals are pastures.

Sarb bhav bhaj kapat taji mohi param priya soi ॥ (Uttarkand 87 A)

Be it male, impotent, female or any living being, whoever worships me with all his heart leaving hypocrisy, he is very dear to me.

Hundreds of years before the global discussion of transgender became popular, Goswami ji had a sense of equality towards transgender society. The proof of how far Goswami ji’s thoughts were ahead of time is this quadruped.

Dharmendra, acting as Shankar in the movie Yaadon Ki Baaraat, said a dialogue, “Kutte Kaminey Main Tera Khoon Pee Jaunga”. Is it fair to criticize director Nasir Hussain for this violent statement? Probably not, because you believe that in a literary narrative, a character communicates according to his knowledge or behavior and that dialogue is not considered the personal dialogue of the writer/director. The dialogue is not of the creator but of the character of the country, like the sea has said to Lord Ram in the mind;

Lord, even though I have learned some fascination, Marzada Puni is not yours.

Drum, illiterate, pure animal woman, officer of gross chastisement. (Sundarkand)

It was good that the Lord taught me, but the dignity (nature of the living beings) is also created by you. Dhol, Gawar, Shudra, animal and woman – all these are entitled to explain. In this way, this dialogue has been told by the sea to Ram ji, neither by Ram nor by Tulsi Das ji.

I request people of such confused intellect to read the context of Shabri in Aranya Kand where Shabri tells God (Tulsidas is not saying);

Let me recommend some method to you. Infertility is heavy in the low caste.

The lowest of the worst, the most women. In three months, I am the minded Aghari. (Aranya Kand)

(How do I praise you? I am of low caste and extremely stupid in mind. Those who are the lowest of the low, women are the lowest among them, and even among them, O sinner! I am dull-witted.)

Ram ji answers this,

Where Raghupati Sunu Bhamini Bata. Let’s agree to a devotional relationship. (Aranya Kand)

(Shri Raghunathji said- Hey Bhamini! Listen to me! I believe in the relationship of only one devotion.)

Tulsidas ji has refuted Shabri’s belief of low caste, lowly woman and retarded etc. by calling Lord Shri Ram’s Shrimukh “Bhamini” (a woman full of beauty, intelligence and emotion). This means that Goswami ji at that time Establishing equality through devotion in a society divided on the basis of caste, gender and education prevalent in. Such Tulsidas are worth remembering and worshipable as well.

– Shivesh Pratap