CONTENTA:- Preface – Intoduction** No.1(BALAKANDA)** No.2(AYODHYAKANDA)** No.3(ARANYAKANDA)** No.4(KISHKINDHAKANDA)** No.5(SUNDARAKANDA)** No.6(LANK-AKANDA)** No.7(UTTARAKANDA) & APPENDICES (A). Lavakushakanda (B). Shri Hanumanchalish (C). Shri Ramashalaka Prashnavali (D.) Mode of Recitation (E)..Indian Criticisms. . European & American & Glossary. ‘This Holy Lake of Rama’s Acts,’ says Tulasidasa, is a lake of merit that destroys all defilements & ever blesses the soul, granting wisdom & faith & washing a way the filth of ignorance & illusion by its pure, clear wateas brimful with love. Those who plunge with faith into it are never burnt by the scorching rays of the sun of birth & death. This is a claim that no critic of the poem has refuted, either in India or in the West, so firm is his belief in the nobility & relevance of the poet’s message. From each & every act performed by Tuli- si’s Rama, holy & never-ending evidence of unimaginable compassion appears, & out of every manifestation of his invicible power oceans of eternal light pour forth. This magnificent epic reveals Tulasi as a saint poet athirst for Rama’s favour & eager to discover his essence, a poet yearning for a drop of the billowing oceanof the Lord’s mercy, & votary awaiting a sprinkling from the unfathomed deep of his master’s soverei-gn & all-pervasive glory. The wonders of Rama’s boumty, believes the poet, shall never cease, & his merciful grace can never be arrested. The process of his creation has had no beginning & can have no end. Tulasi dwells again & again on the all-encompassing wonders of Rama’s boundless grace & would like his reader to behold how they have pervaded all creation, moving or unmoving, animate or inanimate. Such is their virtue declares the poet, that not a single atom in the three spheres of existence—triloka—can be found which does not declare the evidence of Rama’s might, which does not glorify his holy name, or is not experssive of the effulgent ligt of Hari himself. So mysterious are his acts that no mind nor heart, nowever keen or pure, can ever grasp the nsture of the most insignificant of his movements,much less fathom the mystery of him who is the lord of all creation & who is adored by Brahma,Shiva, Shesha, & all the high sages,masters of the Vedas. The conceptions of the devoutest of mystics, the attainments of the most accomplished among men, the highest praise which human tongue or pen can render are all the product of man’s finite mind & are conditioned by its limitations; nevertheless, Tulasi makes that supreme seer Atri his mouthpiece &, growing lyrical, describes Rama sa the ‘Lord of immeasurable power, dark & exquisitely beautiful, Mount Mandara to churn the ocean of mundane existence, with eyes like the full-blown lotus, the dispeller of pride & every other vice,…the ornament of the Solar race, the breaker of Shiva’s bow, the delig-ht of the greatest saints & sages, the destroyer of the demon hosts…’ Like Atri, Tulasi adores Rama, ‘the one alone; lover of love, whom the sensual can by no means comprehend, a tree of Paradise to his worshippers, impartial, ever worthy to be worshipped’. From time immemorial Rama, the Blessed Lord, has been veiled in the ineffable sanctity of his impenetrable mystery of his unknowable, leusive essence. The Holy Lake of the Acts of Rama is Tulasi’s attain to an under- stading of Rama’s inaccessible Reality & to approach his exalted self & envisage his essence. He is convinced that the way to Rama’s realm is the eay of bhakti or devotion to a personal God characterized by ungrudgin-g submission unto his command & contentment with his holy will & pleasure. The source of all good for Tulasi is devotion to Rama & essence of wisdom is faith in him, trust in sovereignty & the apprehension that ‘I am the servant & he my master’. The essence of righteousness is to hold fast to this doctrine, & worship the lotus-feetfo Rama. The source of all glory is love of Rama, & contentment with that which the Blessed Lord has ordained. The essence of love is for man to turn his heart to Reghunatha, & to sever himself from all else but him, & desire nunght save that which the Lord desires. Ture worship is for devotee to hold fast unto rama the Lord, toseek naught but his grace, inasmuch as in his hands lies the destiny of all his servants. The essence of detachment is for man to endure pain to give pleasure to others, & good men are like the birch-tree, ready in their compassion to suffer the direst affiction if so they can help their neighbours. Ignorance is the reet of all siknesses, fromwhich again many torments. Lust is wind; insatiable greed is phlegm, choler is bile, that continually inflames the soul. (MOTILAL BANARSIDASS)