"When the two ears are put side by side it forms the shape of the heart. Interestingly, the word 'ear' sits right in the middle of the word h-ear-t. The ear is the way to the heart. So, if you want someone's heart, learn to listen. If you want God's heart, learn to listen to His Spirit in you." Anon
Tulsidas was a renowned 16th century Indian poet-saint, reformer and philosopher renowned for his devotion to Rama.
Here is a well-known turning point in his journey from being a young man infatuated with the temporal pleasures of this world to being a saint filled with unconditional love and yearning for the eternal One.
Tulsidas was passionately attached to his wife Ratnavali. He could not bear even a day’s separation from her. One day his wife went to her father’s house without informing her husband. Tulsidas stealthily went to see her at night at his father-in-law’s house even crossing a river in flood and scaling the wall to enter his wife's room like a thief.
Seeing this emotional infatuated side of her husband upset Ratnavali who said to Tulsidas, "My body is but a network of flesh and bones. If you would develop for Lord Rama even half the love that you have for my filthy body, you would certainly cross the ocean of Samsara and attain immortality and eternal bliss". These words pierced the heart of Tulsidas like an arrow. He did not stay there even for a moment. He abandoned home and became an ascetic and spent many years in visiting the various sacred places of pilgrimage.
His deep reflection on the Divine and renunciation of the material world eventually led him to becoming one of the most revered saints in India.
