Sutīkshṇa Bhakti (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa)
Sutīkshṇa was a brāhmaṇa ascetic who lived in the Daṇḍakāraṇya forest and loved Bhagavān Rāma beyond all measure. He was a disciple of Agastya Maharshi. In the Araṇya Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa his meeting with Rāmacandra is the example of parā-bhakti, the highest devotion. He was so lost in the name and form of Rāma that he did not know the outer world, and Rāma himself came to him.
Background
Sutīkshṇa spent his whole life in constant japa (repeating a name), tapas (austerity) and meditation on Rāma’s nāma (name) and svarūpa (own form). From the moment he heard that Daśaratha-nandana Rāmacandra was moving south through the forest, his heart burned with longing. He could not hold it in.
The news of Rāma’s coming
Word reached Sutīkshṇa that Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa were coming through the Daṇḍakāraṇya towards his āśrama (hermitage). His calm broke completely, and the outer world ceased to exist for him. He cried out with joy:
“Rāma is coming! Rāma has been gracious to me! My āśrama will now be made holy! I am blessed beyond all counting. My lotus-eyed Rāma, my cloud-dark Rāma, my merciful one is coming before me with Sītā and Lakshmaṇa!”
These words overwhelmed him as he spoke them. He burst into ecstatic devotion and sang Rāma’s names aloud. The hair on his body stood on end. He began to dance. Again and again he leapt up and came down on the forest paths, wholly carried away and wholly lost in Rāma-bhakti. He lost all sense of time, place and himself.
The svarūpa in the heart
Sutīkshṇa was dancing and singing, so lost in bhakti that he had not even seen Rāmacandra arrive and stand before him. Bhagavān Rāma was deeply moved by the fullness of the ṛshi’s love. He showed his divine svarūpa directly inside Sutīkshṇa’s heart. The Vedas cannot fully describe this supreme form, and even Śiva cannot fully know it. The inner vision overwhelmed Sutīkshṇa, and he fell unconscious on the forest floor.
Rāma stood quietly in front of the ṛshi lying on the ground, and waited.
The awakening and the darśana
After some time Sutīkshṇa opened his eyes. He looked up, and there before him, in living form, stood Rāmacandra. Sītā and Lakshmaṇa were at his sides, just as Sutīkshṇa had meditated on him ten thousand times.
Amazement and joy beyond words came over him. He rose to bow fully, offering sāshṭāṅga-namaskāra (bowing with eight limbs touching the ground) at Rāma’s lotus feet. Tears of ānanda (bliss) flowed from his eyes, and he bathed Rāma’s feet with them. With palms joined in añjali he offered his stava (hymn of praise):
Śyāma-tāmarasa-dāma-śarīraṃ, jaṭā-makuṭa-paridhana-muni-cīram — pāṇi-cāpa-śara-kaṭi-tūṇīram — naumi nirantara śrī-raghuvīram…
Moha-vipina-ghana-dahana-kṛśānu, santa-saroraha-kānana-bhānu — niśicara-kari-varūtha-mṛgarāja — trātu sadā no bhava-khaga-bhāja…
Yadapi viraja vyāpaka avināśī, sabake hṛdaya nirantara vāsī — tadapi anuja-siyā sahita kharārī — basahu mana mama kānana cārī…
The meaning: “O Raghuvīra, whose body is dark like a mass of blue lotuses, who wears forest bark and a crown of matted locks, and who carries the bow and arrows in his hands and quivers at his waist, I bow to you without end. You are like a fire that burns the thick forest of delusion. You are like the sun that opens the lotus-forest of the sants. You are like the lion, king over the elephant herd of the night-rovers. Protect us always, you who are worshipped by birds. Though you are ever pure, all-pervading and never destroyed, and you live always in the hearts of all, yet please live in my mind, O Slayer of Khara, as you wander the forest with your younger brother and Siyā.”
The vara of unbroken bhakti
After pouring out his heart in this stava, Sutīkshṇa said to Rāma:
“O Jagat-pati! O Kosala-pati! O Kṛpānidhi! Be gracious to your servant and bless me with nishkāma bhakti (devotion without any wish).”
Rāmacandra was moved by the fullness of the ṛshi’s devotion. He drew him close and held him with love. He said warmly: “Yatī! Receive akhaṇḍa-bhakti (unbroken devotion) and rejoice in it always.”
After this vara, Sītā, Rāma and Lakshmaṇa rested for a short while in Sutīkshṇa’s kuṭīra (hut) and then went on to Agastya’s āśrama. Sutīkshṇa was now filled with akhaṇḍa-bhakti by the word of Bhagavān Rāma himself. He asked Rāma’s permission and went with them as far as the āśrama, so that he too could have Agastya’s darśana.
Tulasīdāsa’s teaching
Tulasīdāsa gives the teaching of this episode in his own words:
“In this difficult Kali Yuga, where japa, tapas and dharma-vrata are hard to practise, those who purely worship Rāma through the path of viśuddha-bhakti are truly subtle-minded and wise.”
Sources
- Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa (Tulasīdāsa’s Rāmacaritamānas), Araṇya Kāṇḍa.