Highlights:
- Nine days of Ramcharitmanas at Harvard
- Scholars explore the journey of Ram, Sita and Lakshmana
- Harvard connects India’s sacred landscape with Ramlila traditions
- Tulsi Jayanti celebrated with Satya, Prem and Karuna
- Bapu’s Ram Katha reaches another global institution
Indian spiritual leader Morari Bapu has brought one of India's most enduring spiritual storytelling traditions to one of America's most prestigious universities.
Bapu began a nine-day recital of the Ramcharitmanas, titled Manas Guru Prasad, at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre in Cambridge on August 15. The program will continue through August 23, alongside a three-day scholarly discussion held from August 16 to 18.
The event offers an unusual meeting of spiritual tradition and academic scholarship, bringing the teachings and stories of the Ramcharitmanas into a setting known for research and intellectual debate.
Prof. Diana Eck, Faculty Director of Harvard's Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, described Ram, Sita and Lakshmana as “primordial pilgrims,” referring to their 14-year journey of exile from Ayodhya through places including Prayag, Chitrakoot, Panchavati and Kishkindha before reaching Rameshwaram.
According to Eck, the journey transformed these locations into sacred sites and inspired generations of pilgrims to follow their footsteps. She also highlighted how the story became part of Ramlila, the dramatic tradition depicting the life of Ram, which spread beyond India to countries including Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.
The Harvard program also marked Tulsi Jayanti, the birth anniversary of poet-saint Tulsidas, whose Ramcharitmanas remains one of the most influential retellings of the Ramayana tradition.
Bapu began the Tulsi Jayanti program in 2010 to honor people who work to preserve, interpret and carry forward the traditions of Ram Katha and the Ramcharitmanas.
Speaking at the event, Bapu said, “This Katha is being held in Savan maas, in the context of Tulsi Jayanti. What was lit today by the sadhus was not gyan deep; it was prem jyoti,” referring to the gathering's emphasis on the “Tribhuvana Sutras” of Satya, Prem and Karuna — truth, love and compassion.
Dolar Popat, a member of the UK House of Lords, connected those values with Harvard's motto, “Veritas,” saying the shared emphasis on truth made the gathering meaningful.
Paavan Popat OBE, part of the organizing team, described the event as bringing together “the world's oldest recital traditions and one of its greatest centres of learning”.
The Harvard gathering is also another stop in Bapu's international journey with Ram Katha. According to the organizers, he has delivered more than 980 Kathas at over 900 locations worldwide, including the Vatican, the United Nations headquarters in New York and the University of Cambridge in 2023.
For the Indian spiritual tradition, the Harvard recital represents more than a religious gathering. It places an ancient form of storytelling in conversation with a global academic audience, showing how the stories of Ram, Sita and Lakshmana continue to travel far beyond the places where they originated.
