Tulsidas, Tulasidas, was born in Uttar Praseh India. Tulsi das or Tulas DÄsa was a great Yogi of the Bhakti Movement.
Tulsidas lived from 1532 – 1623. He was a philosopher, and wrote the Ramcharitmanas, a classic poem and scripture devoted to the Hindu God Rama.
The name Tulsi Das derives from 2 words, Tulas, which is an Indian variety of the basil plant, and DÄsa, which means “servant” or, by extension, “slave”.
Like Ramanuja (the master of many of the proponents of the Bhakti Movement), Tulsi Das believes in a supreme personal God, Rama. The body is honored, not despised. The Lord is to be approached by faith (bhakti) single minded devotion and surrender of self in perfect love, and all actions are focussed in the contemplation of Rama.
However it is important to understand that for Tulsidas “doctrine” is not so important. Far more relevant is practice, the practise of repeating Manatra ‘Rama’. In fact, Tulsidas goes as far as to say that the name of Rama is bigger than Rama Himself because “Rama” is a mantra, a sound, the repetition of which can lead one to higher states of consciousness. Because the name itself contains Lord Rama himself in it. Rama itself means the one which is present in every atom of this universe.