Guru Pad Kanj

Tulsīdāsa did not begin the Rāmcharitmānas with Rāma. He began with the Guru.By the third verse of the Mānas the poet has bowed to the Guru — and across seven kāṇḍas he never entirely leaves him. The first caupāī opens with the dust of the Guru's feet. The Ayodhyākāṇḍa polishes the mirror of the mind with that same dust. And in the Uttarakāṇḍa, when the story is over and only the teaching remains, Rāma himself tells his people that the true Guru is the helmsman of the ship of this life.Guru Pad Kanj gathers everything the Rāmcharitmānas says about the Guru and reads it where Tulsī put it — inside the stories. Who the Guru is, and why the Mānas calls him "e;Hari in human form."e; What happens without the Guru — why even Garuḍa, Viṣṇu's own mount, had to be sent to a crow. What is asked of the disciple — and how astonishingly small the asking is. What is asked of the Guru — the severe test that sets him beside the minister and the physician. And where grace reaches its limit — when the clouds rain nectar and the reed still bears no fruit.All 146 verses are given in the Gita Press text with transliteration and a fresh translation, and every citation names the speaker — because in the Mānas the meaning of a line changes with the mouth that speaks it.Then the book turns towards the present. Part Five carries the Mānas into the classroom, the home and the boardroom: the duties of the teacher, the learner, the parents, and the institution and the state — twelve for each — and a one-page Charter of the Four Corners for the wall of every school, college and training room.Inside the book:• Fourteen chapters in four parts — who the Guru is, the world without the Guru, the disciple's side, the Guru's side and the limit of grace• The great stories retold: Rāma at school with Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra; Bharata at Chitrakūṭa, unable to obey; Śabarī keeping her Guru's word for a lifetime; Pārvatī before the seven mocking sages; Bharadvāja's confession; Kākabhuśuṇḍi cursed and forgiven; the impostor gurus met by Pratāpabhānu and by Hanumān• Part Five — The Guru-Principle Today: for teachers, students, parents and institutions, with the duties of each• A daily Guru-vandanā of twelve verses, the Nine Devotions, an index of every verse in Mānas order, and a glossary• Questions for reflection and a single line — "e;The Thread"e; — to carry from every chapterFor readers of the Rāmāyaṇa and the Bhagavad Gītā; for teachers, trainers and students; for parents; and for anyone who has ever had — or wanted — a Guru.Also available in Hindi, and in a bilingual Hindi–English edition.