Observations About Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras, India, by James Bean (Sant Mat History Explored)
Sant Das Maheshwari mentioned in the book, Param Sant Tulsi Sahib: "Tulsi Saheb, too, has not written anything by way of himself introducing himself and his family. It is said that he was born in the Peshwa family in the city of Poona."
One may wonder just where exactly "IT IS SAID". The whole basis for that story came not from Tulsi himself but what others eventually said about him or came to believe after his death, in other words, the lore and legend that developed around Tulsi many years later. Where IS IT SAID? This business of associating Tulsi Sahib with Peshwas of Poona goes back to an introduction to Tulsi Sahib to be found in the edition of the Ghat Ramayan first published by Belvedere Press in 1911. I do hope those who contributed to that book did good research.
Everyone has been repeating this Peshwas of Poona back-story regarding Tulsi ever since as if it's true, but I don't know that it necessarily is true. I notice Mark Juergensmeyer in, Radhasoami Reality, used rather careful language regarding this back-story.
"The common account of Tulsi Sahib’s life is that he was born into a family of Maharashtrian royalty and renounced his status to wander in search of truth." (page 25) "The common account".
It occurs to me that the whole archetypal Prince Siddhartha-like story of Tulsi Sahib belonging to the royal lineage of the Peshwas, and then his running away from the royal court might simply be viewed as an apocryphal story composed by others after-the-fact without necessarily there being any actual historically verifiable basis for it. To do a Tulsi Sahibism here, in Tulsi Sahib parlance, only when I see with my own eyes some references by Tulsi himself will I believe Tulsi Sahib had some connection to the royal Peshwas of Poona.
The only real evidence we have for Tulsi Sahib's past associations and possible guru connections is provided internally in the books Tulsi authored: Shabdavali; Ratan Sagar, Ghat Ramayan and Padma Sagar. Examining the internal evidence in spiritual classics is the approach which is used, for instance, by Nag Hammadi scholars to analyse the textual, theological and spiritual influences upon the authors of those Gnostic gospels. This same critical analysis should also be applied to the writings of Tulsi Sahib. In other words, we can learn much about Tulsi's influences and affiliations by closely examining what he said about himself, what clues he left that we can notice, what writings he quoted from, what gurus he mentioned most frequently, what groups he was most critical of, the mystical terminology present in his writings and hymns, and what guru and Sant Mat lineage best matches or most closely resembles Tulsi's own Sant Mat path.
Shabdavali is a collection of the hymns of Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras. "Shabdavali ('shabds or poems') is a compilation of miscellaneous hymns and poems composed in different ragas, and it expresses different aspects of Sant Mat." (page 27, Tulsi Sahib - Saint of Hathras, 2017 edition)
Padma Sagar: "Padma Sagar means 'Ocean of Flowers'. It is a complete composition by Tulsi Sahib, in which he provides answers to spiritual questions posed by his disciple Hriday. In addition, he also explains the technique of uniting with the Shabd within." (page 28)
Ghat Ramayan: "Ghat Ramayan... is the story of the Lord within the body -- the inner spiritual journey." (page 20) The book is organized into two parts. The first section explores the treasure of spirituality within each human being, the mysteries of creation and the inner regions. The format of the second part of Ghat Ramayan consists of questions and answers, many discussions in the form of numerous dialogues between Tulsi and followers of various spiritual paths.
Ratan Sagar: "Like Ghat Ramayan, Tulsi Sahib's Ratan Sagar ('Ocean of Jewels') is a fathomless ocean of spiritual knowledge. In this composition he describes the state of existence before the universe was created, how this universe was created, the relationship of every soul with the Lord, how the soul became a part of this creation, the reasons why the soul continually wanders through the four khanis (modes of birth) and the cycle of transmigration, and the means of the souls emancipation." (pages 23 and 24)
Ratan Sagar and Anurag Sagar: "From a spiritual perspective, there is a significant similarity between Tulsi Sahib's Ratan Sagar and Kabir Sahib's Anurag Sagar ('Ocean of Love'). This similarity is most apparent in the various sections on spirituality and the manner in which they are presented. In Anurag Sagar, Kabir Sahib's disciple Dharamdas asks questions, and Kabir Sahib answers them. Similarly, in Ratan Sagar Tulsi Sahib's disciple Hriday asks the questions, and Tulsi Sahib answers. Both books are entirely based on a question-and-answer style." (page 25)
Tulsi Sahib's Q & A dialogues format, though rare in most Sant Mat publications, is the standard approach in much of the Sant Dharamdas Kabir panth literature known as the Kabir Sagar ('Ocean of Kabir'), a collection of around forty books attributed to, or written in the name of, "Guru Kabir". The Anurag Sagar that Tulsi Sahib comments on in his Ghat Ramayan is one of the volumes of this Kabir Sagar. Tulsi Sahib's understanding that Sant Dharamdas was the true "spiritual successor of Kabir", Tulsi's usage of the Five Names (Panch Naam) Guru Mantra (originating earlier in the Dharamamdasi branch of Sant Mat, in other words, in use prior to the time of Tulsi Sahib), his reverence for the Anurag Sagar, along with scores of references to a contemporary Satguru of his day from the Dharamdasi region of Bihar by the name of Sant Dariya Sahib are all suggestive of the primary spiritual influences upon Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras.
Here in the west, Mark Juergensmeyer was actually the first one to observe this connection between Tulsi Sahib and Dariya Sahib of Bihar to the Dharamdasis, the Kabir line of gurus going back to Sant Dharam Das (the People of the Anurag Sagar, the People of the Five Names) in his 1991 book, Radhasoami Reality.
"Although not considered normative sant teachings by those outside Radhasoami, the Radhasoami complex of sant-related concepts bears a coherent and distinctive stamp. Those within the Radhasoami community have not given it a specific name, but it might be called 'esoteric santism.' It is santism because the concepts are roughly comparable to those taught by the medieval sants, yet it is esoteric, since it makes each of the sant concepts part of a special system of interior spirituality. When and where did this esoteric santism arise?" (Mark Juergensmeyer, Radhasoami Reality — The Logic of a Modern Faith, Princeton University Press, 1991, page 24)
"This connection between Dharamdasis, to which the Anurag Sagar has lead us, is confirmed by another set of writings venerated by Radhasoami leaders but little known outside of Radhasoami and Dharamdasi circles: the poetry of Dariya Sahib. Dariya Sahib was an eighteenth-century poet who lived in a Dharamdasi region of Bihar and referred to both Kabir and Dharam Das as his predecessors." (page 29)
