Acharya Shree Tulsi - A Legend Of Humanity: Introduction

"Muniji! In which universities have you studied?"

This question was asked to Muni Nathmal (Acharya Mahapragya) by some professors after listening to his excellent speech in Sanskrit on 'the secret of "M in OM' in a national Sanskrit conference held at Bharati Bhavan, Mumbai. The professors became pleasantly surprised hearing a saint speaking fluently, smoothly and scholarly.

Muni Nathmal replied smiling, "Tulsi University."

Completely new and unfamiliar name it was. They had never heard about this university. They tried to dig their memory to recall and mentally made a quick audit of all the universities in India. But they failed to figure out this name. Finally they asked,

"Muniji! Where is this University located?"

"It's there?" responded Muni Nathmal indicating towards his Guru walking ahead, "I have studied in this mobile University."

Professors were taken aback to see a saint addressed as University, after all who was this great saint? Indeed he was a great saint who has contributed to the community and country till his last breath. He had unbeatable zeal to uplift the life and character of human beings. He was known as mobile factory for producing good humans. This noble soul revealed and utilized his potential to spread the message of non-violence through his words and missions throughout his life. He definitely was unique and was born with divine power to distribute the divine energy. He was one of the most respectable and adorable great saint known as - "Acharya Tulsi".

The Birth of a Bright Star

The modern world is at a critical juncture - common values continue to deteriorate and wherever we turn, crime, corruption and violence have become the order of the day. People lust after worldly gains and resort to whatever means necessary to secure their transitory pleasures.

It may seem obvious, but despite of acquiring material comforts, people still do not attain peace of mind. Anxiety, depression, and lack of purpose are sadly omnipresent in modern life. In this moment of moral crisis, it is necessary that we should have among us someone who can inspire us to lead a good spiritual life, follow the path of virtues and shun violence for the wellbeing of humanity.

Acharya Shree Tulsi was born in Ladnun, Rajasthan on October 20th, 1914. He was one of the nine children to his parents Vadanaji and Jhoomarmalji. His siblings were Mohanlalji, Khinvarajji, Mannalalji, Champalalji, Sagarmalji, Lada Bai, Mora Bai and Manohar Bai. Of their nine children, two sons including Tulsi and the eldest daughter Lada Bai renounced the material world and accepted an ascetic life in the Terapanth faith.

The Formal Education

In His Holiness' childhood years, the education system lacked organized schools, curriculum or formal syllabus. There were simple "poshal" teaching the Hindi alphabets and numbers. Tulsi's initial schooling was in a poshal. Later he joined a school where he quickly shone as a brilliant student and became a favourite student of his teachers.

His outstanding leadership and management skills were recognized early on. Tulsi was appointed as the monitor of his class and also as a mentor of his peers. Tulsi was a highly principled person and his self-discipline and noble principles became apparent even in childhood. Such traits ensured that he quickly attained a sincere following of students under his guidance.

Tulsi was in charge of documenting the mistakes of the students in the class during the day to later bring this to the attention of his teacher. He also managed the accounts of the school stationery store effectively becoming an accountant of sorts from a young age.

As it is rightly said, "Great men cast long shadows", Acharya Tulsi was one of the best examples for this. He succeeded in his life's work because he was blessed with an inborn self-discipline that he inspired others.

Truth is My Life

From his early years, Tulsi had strong belief in being truthful. He never lied. Once his sister-in-law (wife of brother Mohanlal) asked him to fetch some iron screws from the market and gave him two annas (ancient currency) to make the purchase. Tulsi went to the shop of his uncle Nemichand Kothari to buy the screws. His uncle would not accept any money from him. Young Tulsi took the screws to his sister-in-law, gave the screws to her but kept the money. Almost immediately, it became clear to Tulsi that keeping the money was a bad deed. He realized that whenever he was in need of money, he could ask for it. Inspired by the honesty and truthfulness, he returned the two annas to his sister-in-law.

Dream of Visiting Bengal

When Tulsi was eight, Mohanlalji, his eldest brother, was in Ladnun. He was planning to go back to Bengal with his brother Sagarmalji. Tulsi felt that he was more deserving than Sagarmalji. Furthermore it was his dream to visit Bengal. He didn't have the courage to talk to his elder brother about his thoughts. He approached his mother and tried to convince her to talk to his elder brother. But she told him, "Mohanlal will do what he wants and I am sure his decision will not be changed by my words."

After getting an indirect 'no' from his mother, he thought hard about what he should do in order to go to Bengal. Finally he decided to talk to his brother on his own. He expressed his willingness to go with his brother to Bengal. Mohanlalji didn't want to hurt Tulsi so he agreed to take him along on the trip. Hearing this, Tulsi felt as though he was on the top of the world and the atmosphere in the family was gleeful. On the day when all three brothers were about to leave, the luggage was packed up and they all left for station. When the train arrived, Mohanlalji and Sagarmalji stepped aboard, but just when Tulsi was about to board, Mohanlalji said to Tulsi, "Who will take care of mother if we all go? Tulsi! You must stay here to take care of her".

Tulsi tried to convince Mohanlalji that he was more deserving than Sagarmalji to go to Bengal. But Mohanlalji was not convinced and left Tulsi in Ladnun. Tulsi was very sad and upset since he felt his life-long dream had slipped away.

The incident turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Tulsi, because if he would have gone to Bengal with his elder brother, he would have never met Acharya Kalugani.

Fascination with Acharya Kalugani

Young Tulsi was fascinated by the aura of Acharya Kalugani. He became curious to know about Kalugani, the 8th Acharya of the Terapanth Sangh. He would barrage his mother with questions.

Tulsi:	I like Kalugani very much.
Mother:	This does not surprise me, Son. We all admire his greatness.
Tulsi:	Kalugani seems to be delicate. He walks bare-footed, don't thorns hurt his feet?
Mother:	Our Guru is very fortunate. No thorns can harm him.
Tulsi:	There are many monks but nobody is as charming as Kalugani.
Mother:	My dear son! His infinite merits make him great.
Tulsi:	Who will be his successor? Tell me.
Mother:	Tulsi! Long live our Guru, do not speak of his succession.

It was hard to imagine that the child Tulsi who asked these questions would later become the successor of Acharya Kalugani and would lead this great organization.