Tulsidas

“ O Umá, there is no such friend as Ráma in the world, neither guru, nor father, nor mother, nor kinsman, nor lord. It is the way with all other gods, men and saints, to make friends for selfish purposes; but the generous Raghubir, from mere natural kindness, made Sugríva king of the monkeys, when he was trembling all day and all night in such fear of Báli that there was no colour left in his face and his heart was burnt up with anxiety. ”

“ On perceiving him to be one of Hari's worshippers, she felt an intense affection for him; her eyes filled with tears, her body quivered with emotion. "O Hanumán, I was sinking in the ocean of bereavement; but in you, my friend, I have found a ship. Tell me now of their welfare, I adjure you; how is the blessed Kharári and how is his brother? Raghurái is tender-hearted and merciful, why, O monkey, should he affect such cruelty? The mere sound of his voice is a delight to his servants. Does he ever deign to remember me? ”

“ The ridges of the fields are broken down by the heavy rains, like women ruined by too much license. The diligent cultivators weed their lands, like philosophers who root up ignorance, vanity and pride. The chakwá and other birds are nowhere to be seen, like virtue that fled at the coming of the iron age. However much it may rain, no grass springs upon barren ground; so lust takes no root in the heart of Hari's worshippers. The earth gleams with swarms of living creatures of every kind; so the people multiply under good government. ”

“ Ráma, my brother, is no mortal king, but the sovereign of the universe, the Fate of Fate itself, the Supreme Spirit, the imperishable and uncreated God, the benefactor of cows and of Bráhmans, of the earth and of the gods: who in his infinite mercy has assumed the form of humanity, to rejoice his votaries and to break the ranks of the impious; the champion of the Veda and true religion, the saviour of the immortals. ”

“ Hearken, Sugríva; I will slay Báli with a single arrow; though he take refuge with Brahma even, or Rudra, he shall not escape with his life.
Chaupái.
They, who are not distressed at the sight of a friend's distress, are guilty of grievous sin. They, who do not think it the most natural thing possible to regard as a mere grain of sand their own mountain-like troubles, while a friend's trouble, though really no bigger than a grain of sand, seems to them as weighty as mount Meru; such men are churls, upon whom it is useless to press friendship. ”

“ Whatever is written in the one book, to which he pins his faith, is for him the absolute truth, which he positively declines to weaken or obscure by a reference to any other authority. If he can understand Válmíki's Sanskrit, he despises Tulsi Dás as a vulgarian and would not condescend to read a line of him; if he knows only Hindi, he accepts the modern poem with as implicit faith as if it were an immemorial shástra, and accounts a quotation from his Rámáyana an unanswerable argument on any disputed topic. ”

“ Ráma is the protector of suppliants; Kharári is a very ocean of compassion; turn to him for protection, and the Lord will forget your offences and will shelter you.
Chaupái.
Take Ráma's lotus feet to your heart and reign for ever at Lanká. The glory of saint Pulastya [12] is stainless as the moon; do not make yourself a spot on its brightness. Unless Ráma's name be in it, no speech has any charm: Think and see for yourself, apart from pride and vanity. Without her clothes, Rávan, a modest woman, however richly adorned with jewels, is a shameful sight ”

“ By my lord's. favour my mind is set at rest; I will abandon pleasure, fortune, home, grandeur and all, to do you service; for all these things are hindrances to faith in Ráma, as the saints declare who are devoted to the worship of your feet. [5] All the friends and enemies, joys and sorrows of the world, are effects of delusion, and are not eternal realities. Báli is my greatest friend, by whose favour I have met you, O Ráma, destroyer of all sorrow; as when a man dreams that he has been fighting some one, and on waking and coming to his senses is ashamed of his illusion. ”

“ My affection, reverend dame, will thus be attesed." Who could bear to listen to such an agonizing cry ? When she heard her speech, she clasped her feet and would fain comfort her by reciting the majesty and might and glory of her lord. "Hearken, fair lady; there is no fire to be had at night;" and so saying she went away home. Sitá exclaimed: "Heaven is unkind; without fire my pain cannot be cured. I see the heaven all bright with sparks, but not a single star drops to the earth. The moon is all ablaze, but no fire comes from it, as if it knew what a poor wretch I am. ”

“ The whole of Tulsi Dás's Rámáyana is a passionate protest against the virtual atheism of philosophical Hindu theology. The problem that confronted him is the very same that now most exercises the thought of the nineteenth century. If the Supreme Being is a personal God, he must be limited by the conditions of personality, and can neither be omniscient nor omnipotent. If, on the other hand, the Deity is an omnipresent, all-pervading impersonality, how can any special relation be developed between such an abstraction and the individual soul? ”

“ Wherever she may be, if only she still lives, brother, I would make an effort to rescue her. Sugríva has forgotten all about me, now that he has got back his kingdom and treasure, his city and his queen. Fool that he is, I will to-morrow slay him with the selfsame arrow with which I slew Báli." He, by whose favour, Umá, pride and delusion are dissipated, could never even dream of being angry. Only enlightened saints can understand these actions of his, who have a hearty devotion to the feet of Raghubír. Lakshman believed his lord was angry, and strung his bow and took his arrows in his hands. ”

“ God would not be adorable, if he were not incomprehensible; and a religion that does not transcend man's understanding is not, strictly speaking, a religion at all. A just discrimination of good and evil and a sound code of morality are not beyond the compass of natural intelligence: but the rites and mysteries of religion can only be learnt by a direct revelation from God and through the action of His grace. ”

“ Wait patiently, madam, for a few days, and he will arrive with his monkeys, will slaughter the demons, and take you away, so that Nárad and the other seers will glorify him in all the three spheres of creation." "Are all the monkeys, my son, like you? the demon warriors are very powerful, and my soul is sorely disquieted." On hearing this, the monkey showed himself in his natural form, his body in bulk like a mountain of gold, terrible in battle, and of vast strength; then Síta took comfort at heart, and he again resumed a diminutive apppearance. ”

“ In obedience to the Lord's commands she went to the Badri forest, cherishing in her heart Ráma's feet, the adoration of the eternal Siva.
Chaupái.
Now the monkeys were thinking to themselves: "The appointed time has passed and nothing has been done." So they all came together and asked one another, "there is no news, brother; what are we to do?" Angad's eyes were full of tears as he replied: "It is death for us either way. Here we have failed to get tidings of Síta, and if we go home our king will slay us. ”

“ Of one fault I am myself conscious, in that I still continue to live, though separated from you. But this, my lord, is the fault of my eyes which prevent my soul from taking flight. In this furnace of bereavement which is fanned by my sighs, my body is as it were a heap of cotton and would be consumed in a moment, but my eyes drop such a flood in self-commiseration that it cannot catch fire. Síta's distress is so utterly overwhelming and you are so pitiful that it is better not to describe it.
Dohá 31.
O fountain of mercy, cach single moment seems an age ere it passes. ”

“ For good deeds and evil deeds and the god that recompenses them all alike belong to the unreal, to the fictitious duality, the world of semblances: while the so-called Supreme Being is no proper object of worship, being a mere cold abstraction, unconscious of his own existence or of ours, and devoid of all attributes and qualities. ”

“ As a servant has confidence in his master, or a child in its mother, so all dwell secure under the protection of the Lord." So saying, he fell in much agitation at his feet, and the love that filled his soul shewed itself in every part of his body. Then Raghupati raised him up and took him to his bosom, while his own eyes were flooded with tears of joy. "Hearken, O monkey; do not account yourself vile; you are second to Lakshman only in my affection; every one says that I have no respect of persons; any servant is beloved of me, and has a rank in heaven second to none. ”

“ By Ráma's favour their strength is unbounded; they reckon the three spheres of creation as of no more account than a blade of grass. I have heard say, O Rávan, that the monkey chiefs number eighteen thousand billions; and in the whole of the army, my Iord, there is not a single monkey who would not conquer you in battle. They are all wringing their hands in excess of passion: Why does not Ráma give us some order, either to swallow the ocean with all its fish and serpents, or at least to fill it up with piles of trees and mighty mountains, and then crush Rávan and lay him low in the dust. ”