Hanuman Chalisa doha -1
Shri guru charana saroja raja
nija manu mukuru sudhari ,
baranau raghubara bimala jasu
jo dayaku phala chari.
Cleansing the mirror of mind, with the pollen dust of my Guru's lotus feet, I now ( proceed to ) describe the pristine pure glory of Shri Rama, the best among the Raghu dynasty, which bestows the four-fold fruits ( goals ) of human life.
This verse occurs in Ramacharitmanas also. It starts with the word shri, a sign of auspiciousness traditionally used at the commencement of a composition. To describe and sing the pure glory of Rama, one's speech should be pure, mind should also be pure. The purity of mind and speech comes through the prayer to the guru.
The lotus is the most perfect symbol of beauty and tenderness, purity and holiness. To call anything lotus is praise supreme. Divine feet as also the guru's feet are always referred to as padapadma or charanakamala. Of all the limbs the feet are mentioned. Feet is a symbol of surrender. The lotus and its petals are meant to indicate the highest knowledge. The beauty of lotus is that the water does not stick to it in which it grows. Likewise a self-realized guru is one who is untouched by the wordly mire. Pollen dust of the flower has beauty, softness and sweetness. Likewise dust of the guru's feet ( poetic way of referring to guru's grace and teachings ) destroys the impurities of the mind like lust, anger, greed, hatred, attachment and jealousy. Like a dust free clean mirror reflecting the image vividly, the mind becomes pure to receive the knowledge imparted by the teacher and absorb it.
In his time, Tulasidasa saw that the common people were very much impressed by yogic practices, which they admired but could not imitate, that they were mislead by various esoteric doctrines and confused by many sects prevalent then, each with its own ritual and philosophical tenets. While describing kaliyuga in his Ramacharitamanas, Tulasidasa makes allusion to the prestige of the yogis and ascetics who misled the people with regard to real religion. His guru ( teacher ) Naraharidasa told him that devotion to Rama is the easiest and the best way and the royal road to self-realization. So Tulasidasa wrote the immortal epic on Rama as an exposition of the royal road of devotion to Lord Rama, the only way to bliss. Guru means guide who instructs the student ( seeker ) in the spiritual path. The mind gets purified by getting the doubts cleared and acquiring proper knowledge by the instruction of the guru. And in Hindu tradition, guru is considered at par with god as he only shows the path leading to god.
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Tulasidasa does not forget to recall with gratitude , the grace of guru Naraharidasa or Narahariyananda, whose teachings revealed to him all the hidden and unmanifest jewels of the story
of Rama. Here in this verse, guru can refer to Hanuman also. It is bythegrace of Hanuman, Tulasidasa had the vision of Rama and composed his immortal epic Ramacharitamanasa.
The term, glory of Rama refers to deeds, the entire story of Rama. He is called here Raghuvara, the best among the line of Raghu. Raghu though not founder, was an illustrious king of the solar dynasty and great grand father of Rama who from Raghu got the patronymic name Raghava and the title Raghuvara, the best among the race of Raghu. The entire race came to be known as Raghukula because of the greatness of the king Raghu who himself was a great scholar and conquered the whole of then known world and returned with glory and bounty. He then performed the vishwajit sacrifice in which he gave away everything to the needy ones.
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