Before his spiritual quest, Tulsidas (author of the Tulsidas Ramayana) was a businessman. He was madly in love with his wife, and his physical craving for her was so intense that he did not even want to go to work.
Once, when she went to her parental home, Tulsidas' craving for her grew so uncontrollable that he walked a long distance in the dark, through wind and rain, just to be with her. So determined was he that he mistook a dead body for a boat to cross a torrential river. Finally, after midnight, he reached his destination only to discover that all the doors were locked. Since his wife's room was on the upper floor, he had to climb in order to reach her room. Taking a python to be a thick rope, he scaled it and slipped into his wife's room.
After all his difficulties, he expected his wife to be happy to see him. But instead, she was so ashamed of his insane attachment to her that she said to him, 'Had you directed this craving that you have for me towards God, you would have realised God long ago.' Those words came as a shock to Tulsidas, a blow to his ego, and he himself must have felt extremely ashamed of his unintelligent and foolish attachment to her.
He must have felt the burden of his attachment. Thus his whole being, every cell, every atom of his body, every heartbeat, every breath, and every pore of his body turned inward. That very moment he realised the heavy burden of attachment he had been carrying in the name of love. His heart skipped a beat to unload it and then was filled with pure love for God. At that moment he decided to die to his body-consciousness and to live in God-consciousness. He left his wife and home and wandered as an ascetic.
Later he became the renowned saint we know as Tulsidas.
Sivaya Namah
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