Opposition to Left hand Practices
Tulsidas
Opposition to Left hand Practices
With his devotion and teachings, Tulsidas provided an alternative to the cults that showed a proclivity for debauchery. Shakta cults used to practise the rite of chakra-puja, in which an equal number of men and women sit round in a circle and partake of the five ?m?s: madya (wine), mamsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudra (cereals) and maithuna (sexual union). The Shaiva cults of the kapalikas and kalamukhas also followed licentious rituals and practices.
The ideal of illicit love between Krishna and Radha might also have been reduced to immoral practices in the hands of unfit and incompetent persons, had an alternative not been provided.
The reason for this downfall is that the inherently weak and indecisive human mind easily and unconsciously slips into permissive practices and is consumed by them. As opposed to this, Tulsidas placed before the people the ideal of chaste grihastha life.