श्री राम शलाका प्रश्नावली

Ram Shalaka Prashnavali

when you must decide.

Ram's counsel for the crossroads, carried in the verses of Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas. Hold one question, touch one letter, and the answer finds you.

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What is the Ram Shalaka Prashnavali?

The Ram Shalaka Prashnavali is a traditional oracle printed in editions of the Shri Ramcharitmanas. It is a grid of 225 sacred letters, and threaded through it are nine chaupais of Tulsidas: from any letter, counting every ninth cell spells out the verse that letter belongs to.

Shalaka means a slender rod. A seeker would hold a question in mind, meditate on Shri Ram, close their eyes, and touch the rod to a letter. The chaupai hidden beneath that letter was the answer: not a prediction, but Ram's counsel for the moment you stand in.

The grid and its nine chaupais are from Tulsidas's Shri Ramcharitmanas, carried unchanged. The translations, the phal in spoken language, and the reflections are written for Saarthi.

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How a reading happens.

Hold one question

One sincere question, held quietly. The oracle is sought sparingly: ask once, and sit with what comes.

Touch one letter

Meditate on Shri Ram, close your eyes, and touch the grid. You do not choose the verse. The letter you land on carries it.

Receive it whole

A chaupai of the Ramcharitmanas, a plain translation, the traditional phal, and a reflection for your exact crossroads. Nothing held back.

The grid, alive.

How the Ram Shalaka Prashnavali grid works. This is the real Prashnavali: 225 aksharas, nine verses threaded through them. Touch a letter and watch its verse light up across the grid.

Touch a letter, or watch it choose

Ram Shalaka · Tulsidas

सुनु सिय सत्य असीस हमारी।पूजिहि मन कामना तुम्हारी॥

What your heart seeks is already coming to you.

Listen, this blessing is true. The deepest desire of your heart will be fulfilled.

A true reading needs your question. That ritual is kept whole in the app: your first 11 readings are free, each one complete.

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The nine answers.

Every letter of the grid leads to one of nine chaupais, listed here in the order the grid itself holds them. Which one answers you depends on the letter you touch.

सुनु सिय सत्य असीस हमारी।पूजिहि मन कामना तुम्हारी॥

What your heart seeks is already coming to you.

Listen, this blessing is true. The deepest desire of your heart will be fulfilled.

प्रबिसि नगर कीजे सब काजा।हृदयँ राखि कोसलपुर राजा॥

Go forward. The work will succeed.

Keep Shri Ram in your heart, enter the city, and do what must be done.

उघरहिं अंत न होइ निबाहू।कालनेमि जिमि रावन राहू॥

There is difficulty in this path. Tread carefully.

In the end, the truth is exposed, and deception cannot survive. Just as it happened with Kalanemi, Ravana, and Rahu.

बिधि बस सुजन कुसंगत परहीं।फनि मनि सम निज गुन अनुसरहीं॥

The tide is not with you. Be patient. Results will be mixed.

By the force of destiny, even good people may fall into bad company. Yet they retain their own nature, just as a jewel remains pure even on a snake.

होइहि सोइ जो राम रचि राखा।को करि तर्क बढ़ावै साखा॥

What is meant to happen will happen. Release the outcome.

Only that will happen which Shri Ram has already ordained. Why overthink and entangle the mind in endless logic?

मुद मंगलमय संत समाजू।जो जग जंगम तीरथराजू॥

Grace surrounds this path. An auspicious sign.

The company of the wise brings joy and peace. It is like a moving, breathing place of pilgrimage.

गरल सुधा रिपु करहिं मिताई।गोपद सिंधु अनल सितलाई॥

What seems dangerous will turn in your favour. Victory is near.

Poison turns into nectar, enemies become friends. The vast ocean shrinks to a puddle, and fire brings coolness.

बरुन कुबेर सुरेस समीरा।रन सन्मुख धरि काहुँ न धीरा॥

The time is not right. Step back and wait.

Even the greatest forces of nature—water, wealth, lightning, and wind—could not hold their ground and stand against him.

सुफल मनोरथ होहुँ तुम्हारे।रामु लखनु सुनि भए सुखारे॥

Your intention is pure. Good fruit will come of this.

Your intentions will bear beautiful fruit. Hearing this, Shri Ram and Lakshman were filled with quiet joy.

From the printed page to your pocket.

For generations the Prashnavali lived at the front of a printed Ramcharitmanas, consulted with a rod, a coin, or a closed-eyed fingertip. Saarthi carries the same grid and the same nine verses, unchanged.

What it adds is the reading around the verse: a plain translation, the phal in spoken language, and a reflection written for the decision in front of you. Every reading arrives whole, and it works entirely offline.

Questions

What is the Ram Shalaka Prashnavali?

A traditional oracle from editions of the Shri Ramcharitmanas: a grid of 225 letters holding nine chaupais of Tulsidas. You hold a question, touch a letter, and the verse that letter belongs to is your answer.

How do I ask a question?

Hold one sincere question in mind, meditate on Shri Ram, close your eyes, and touch a letter on the grid. Ask once, and sit with what comes.

Is it fortune telling?

No. The Shalaka does not predict. It answers a held question with Ram's counsel, spoken through a verse of the Ramcharitmanas: a direction to weigh, not a fate to wait for.

How many answers does the oracle hold?

Nine chaupais. Some bless the path ahead, some counsel patience, some warn of difficulty. Each arrives with its traditional phal and a plain translation.

Is Ram Shalaka free in Saarthi?

Your first 11 readings are free, and each one is whole: chaupai, translation, phal, and reflection. A one-time unlock of ₹399 opens unlimited readings. There are no subscriptions.

When you must decide, ask.

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And for what you are feeling rather than deciding, there is the Gita jar.