By Duncan Greenleese
Ramananda (c. 13601450), a follower of the sect of Ramanujacharya (10171137), was born at Mailkot, son of Punyasadan and Susila. Sent to Banaras for education, he there met Swami Raghavananda who initiated him and, at the destined hour of death, saved his life by putting him in a trance. He went on a long pilgrimage and on his return defended himself by showing the impossibility of keeping all the customary rules of Vaishnavas for taking food, etc. This led to a breach; Ramananda broke away and formed his own sect, abandoning caste exclusiveness and recognizing human equality; his verse shows his teaching: Fati panthi pucchai nahi koi Hari ko bhaje, So hari ka hoi (Let no one ask of caste or sect; if he worships god, then is he God’s). He had twelve disciples: two were women, one a barber, one a cobbler, one a weaver, one a soldier and Muslim, one a peasant. He became famous for his love for god and kindness to man, opening the way to God for all through the use of the Name. He died in Banaras, and his disciples transformed the face of Hindu religion.
Dhuan (early 16th century), a Jat farmer’s son born at Dhuan in the State of Tonk near Deoli. He was illiterate and could not read the scriptures but was full of love for God even from childhood, thanks to the sadhus who used to visit his father. At five he saw one Brahmin sadhu worshipping a salagram stone and persuaded him to let him copy this act even with a common black stone, in which the child saw God’s image. He now gave all his time to the worship of God through this, offering all his food to it first and quickly thus increasing in devotion and intimacy with the Lord. He would not eat for many days until the Lord first ate a little of his chapattis before his eyes, nor did he dream this was no usual experience. Krishna used to go with him to the fields, milk the cows at his side, play with him. When that Brahmin came again he was amazed at the simple love of the little boy. It is said that when he grew older he once gave away all the seed grain as alms to some sadhus, and then ploughed the field; God, even without his planting any seed, made that field give a heavier crop than any other in the village. While Guru Nanak was on his long journeys he once visited this saint, who must by that time have grown very old if, as macauliffe says, he was born in 1415,
- Guru Nanak I Humility
1, Early Life (14691507
In the simple village of Talwandi, about forty miles from Lahore, were living a Kshattriya farmer and village official named Mehta Kalu and his wife Tripta. Kalu was theson of one Sivaram and Banarasi, and the family had come to that village from the Amritsar district some years before. They were worthy people, honest and hardworking, with the normal share of religious piety. Early on the morning of Saturday 15th April 1469, their hearts were gladdened by the birth ofa son, whose glory was destined to shine out through the centuries. They called him Nanak, and the astrologer who attended his birth foretold he would rule both Muslims and Hindus and would worship one only God.
At the age of five little Nanak began to talk of God, and his prattling words were admired by all. At seven he was sent to the village primary school under one Pandha and learned what his teacher knew, but he is said to have often embarrassed the poor many by penetrating questions into the reality behind all things. When he was just eight his elder sister, Nanaki, was married to Bhai Jairam, revenue collector for the Nawab Daulat Khan of Sultanpur, and left him alone with his parents. Next year, 1478 they insisted on investing him with the sacred thread to which his caste in Hindu society entitled him, though for a long time he rejected it and asked for a real thread, spun from mercy and contentment, which the Pundit could not promise him. At school he learned to read and write, and acquired some sound knowledge of the current Hindi dialect; in order to succeed his father son day as village accounted he learned Persian also, and we have an acrostic in Persian said to have been written in his childhood.
In those days he spend much time in the fields grazing buffaloes, and we are told the shade of a tree under which he rested used to move round against the sun so as to give him always ofits coolness. His heart was already seeking God. He found no interest in the secular works his father put him to digging in the fields, working in a little shop, and the like. He sought every chance of slipping away into lonely places where he could feel the unity and beauty of nature and rach out towards that great God, who of His own Love has woven this infinite pattern of loveliness. At times he gathered together a few friends round him, and they sang humns to the glory of that Creator whom he had begun to love with fiery yearning.
All this piety in their son did not please his parents, for he was their only son and they looked for one to carry on their worldly avocations and to support them when an old age drew near. They thought him ill, they sent for the village doctor, he in vain prescribed his remedies, for none could cure the boy’s feverish thirst for God. Then they got him married, on 1st April 1485, to divert his mind from such unworldly thoughts; the girl chosen was Sulakhni or Kulamai, the daughter of Baba Mulaji of Batala, near Gurdaspur of today. But this ruse too was unsuccessful; when his mother, in understandable exasperation, bade him leave his endless mediations, he lay down for four days unmoving, and said he would die if the name were taken from him. His poor little wife could do nothing to turn his mind. He now took to meeting sadhus and yogis in the dense forests, giving them food from his father’s fields, and talking with them of everything they knew about god and the spiritual path. Seeking their company more and more, he must have gained from them much encouragement in his own search for the one Truth, and it is probable that in this way he confirmed those ideas he sahred with Kabir and the great Vaishnava devotees of his age.
In 1497 was born his elder son, Srichand, and three years later came Lakshmidas, but Nanak paid little heed to his family, meditated much, became more withdrawn from the world, and found his greatest creative joy in singing hymns he had composed to God. In contact with the sadhus he also learned how to speak so as to convince others, expressing his views persuasively; though it seems certain that those views welled up from the deeps of inspiration in his own heart and owed little or nothing to what he received from others, either through books or through their words. The family had enough land to support them, so they were never in want, but Kaluagain and again tried to to induce his son to till the fields steadily and give up his useless dreaming and Poetry. He even tried, in vain, to send him for business at Saiyidpur and Lahore; while he was working at Chuhalkana, his father sent the lad twenty rupees to buy goods for trading, but he gave it all away to some wandering ascetics.
- Pipa, born in 1425, was the ‘king’ of Gagaraungarh and was always kind to saintly men, so that they prayed for him. He was sent by Durga ina vision to Ramananda, whoat first would not seea king; he went home, sold all and gave to the poor, returned as a. fagir, and was even ready to drown himself to obey the Guru. He was accepted and sent home to serve saints for one year, after which the Guru took Kabir and Ravidas to visit him. He left his throne and went with his wife to Dwarka; they fled from growing fame as saints there, and his wife was with difficulty rescued from sone Afghan soldiers. Then they went to the N.W. Frontier region, and whatever they receieved they at once spent on the poor. He converted King Sursen and tumed him into a hermit. When some thieves stole his buffalo, he gave them the calf also, so they restored the animal; when others stole his wheat he gave them money to buy cooking vessels, so they gave it back also.
- Sadhna (late 13th century) was a butcher at Sehwan in Sind; he use to sell meat killed by others, weighing it with his salagram stone. A Brahmin rescued the holy stone from such a mean work, but it refused his worship and demanded to be taken back to the poor butcher, who. then became a devotee of God. He suffered much from the false accusation of a woman and his hands were cut off; he was finally walled up alive. His tomb is at Sarhind in East Punjab.
- Beni, of whom nothing is known save that he may have lived about the twelfth century. His writing is archaic in language and very hard to understand.
Other Vaishnava saints whose writings were included by Guru Arjan in the Granth Sahib but are included in our own “Gospel” are Sain (13901440 about), a barber in Rewa who acted as a surgeon, a matchmaker and a storyteller. Because he devoted himself to serve sadhus rather than care for his own interest, God once took his place at his master Rajaram’s court and saved him from great trouble. Bikkan (died 1573) was perhaps a disciple of Kabir; he lived at Kakori, and Teja Singh tells us he was a learned Muslim; Surdas (born 1528) was a Brabmin named Madanmohan, whom Akbar made Governor of Sandila, near Hardoi in Awadh; he spent away all the revenue on sadhus and fled before inspection of the accounts. When he refused to appear before the Emperor he was jailed for a time, and on release devoted himself to serve sadhus in all humility and then retired to the forest; Parmananda. a Brahmin disciple of Ramananda, lived at Barsi near Sholapur and had incessant vision of Krishna within and without; he used to prostrate 700 times daily and was always in tears of love and ecstasy; Trilochana (born 1267) went to Pandharpur and always served sadhus; when too many came for him he sought a helper; Krishna Himself came in the name of Antarjami and served them for thirteen months, till Trilochana’s wife grumbled at having Him also to look after and then He vanished.
These saints, and many many more like them, enriched the soil of India’s spiritual life during those dark days of foreign rule and interior decay of spirituality and faith among the masses.
Continued and his prattling words were admired by all. At seven he was sent to the village primary school under one Pandha and learned what his teacher knew, but he is said to have often embarrassed the poor many by penetrating questions into the reality behind all things. When he was just eight his elder sister, Nanaki, was married to Bhai Jairam, revenue collector for the Nawab Daulat Khan of Sultanpur, and left him alone with his parents. Next year, 1478 they insisted on investing him with the sacred thread to which his caste in Hindu society entitled him, though for a long time he rejected it and asked for a real thread, spun from mercy and contentment, which the Pundit could not promise him. At school he learned to read and write, and acquired some sound knowledge of the current Hindi dialect; in order to succeed his father son day as village accounted he learned Persian also, and we have an acrostic in Persian said to have been written in his childhood.
In those days he spend much time in the fields grazing buffaloes, and we are told the shade of a tree under which he rested used to move round against the sun so as to give him always of its coolness. His heart was already seeking God. He found no interest in the secular works his father put him to digging in the fields, working in a little shop, and the like. He sought every chance of slipping away into lonely places where he could feel the unity and beauty of nature and reach out towards that great God, who of His own Love has woven this infinite pattern of loveliness. At times he gathered together a few friends round him, and they sang humans to the glory of that Creator whom he had begun to love with fiery yearning.
All this piety in their son did not please his parents, for he was their only son and they looked for one to carry on their wordly avocations and to support them when an old age drew near. They thought him ill, they sent for the village doctor, he in vain prescribed his remedies, for none could cure the boy’s feverish thirst for God. Then they got him married, on 1st April 1485, to divert his mind from such unwordly thoughts; the girl chosen was Sulakhni or Kulamai, the daughter of Baba Mulaji of Batala, near Gurdaspur of today. But this ruse too was unsuccessful; when his mother, in understandable exasperation, bade him leave his endless mediations, he lay down for four days unmoving, and said he would die if the name were taken from him. His poor little wife could do nothing to turn his mind. He now took to meeting sadhus and yogis in the dense forests, giving them food from his father’s fields, and talking with them of everything they knew about god and the spiritual path. Seeking their company more and more, he must have gained from them much encouragement in his own search for the one Truth, and it is probable that in this way he confirmed those ideas he sahred with Kabir and the great Vaishnava devotees of his age.
In 1497 was born his elder son, Srichand, and three years later came Lakshmidas, but Nanak paid little heed to his family, meditated much, became more withdrawn from the world, and found his greatest creative joy in singing hymns he had composed to God. In contact with the sadhus he also learned how to speak so as to convince others, expressing his views persuasively; though it seems certain that those views welled up from the deeps of inspiration in his own heart and owed little or nothing to what he received from others, either through books or through their words. The family had enough land to support them, so they were never in want, but Kaluagain and again tried to induce his son to till the fields
steadily and give up his useless dreaming and Poetry. He even tried, in vain, to send him for business at Saiyidpur and Lahore; while he was working at Chuhalkana, his father sent the lad twenty rupees to buy goods for trading, but he gave it all away to some wandering ascetics.
- Pipa, born in 1425, was the ‘king’ of Gagaraungarh and was always kind to saintly men, so that they prayed for him. He was sent by Durga ina vision to Ramananda, whoat first would not seea king; he went home, sold all and gave to the poor, returned as a. fagir, and was even ready to drown himself to obey the Guru. He was accepted and sent home to serve saints for one year, after which the Guru took Kabir and Ravidas to visit him. He left his throne and went with his wife to Dwarka; they fled from growing fame as saints there, and his wife was with difficulty rescued from sone Afghan soldiers. Then they went to the N.W. Frontier region, and whatever they receieved they at once spent on the poor. He converted King Sursen and turned him into a hermit. When some thieves stole his buffalo, he gave them the calf also, so they restored the animal; when others stole his wheat he gave them money to buy cooking vessels, so they gave it back also.
- Sadhna (late 13th century) was a butcher at Sehwan in Sind; he use to sell meat killed by others, weighing it with his salagram stone. A Brahmin rescued the holy stone from such a mean work, but it refused his worship and demanded to be taken back to the poor butcher, who. then became a devotee of God. He suffered much from the false accusation of a woman and his hands were cut off; he was finally walled up alive. His tomb is at Sarhind in East Punjab.
- Beni, of whom nothing is known save that he may have lived about the twelfth century. His writing is archaic in language and very hard to understand.
Other Vaishnava saints whose writings were included by Guru Arjan in the Granth Sahib but are included in our own “Gospel” are Sain (13901440 about), a barber in Rewa who acted as a surgeon, a matchmaker and a storyteller. Because he devoted himself to serve sadhus rather than care for his own interest, God once took his place at his master Rajaram’s court and saved him from great trouble. Bikkan (died 1573) was perhaps a disciple of Kabir; he lived at Kakori, and Teja Singh tells us he was a learned Muslim; Surdas (born 1528) was a Brabmin named Madanmohan, whom Akbar made Governor of Sandila, near Hardoi in Awadh; he spent away all the revenue on sadhus and fled before inspection of the accounts. When he refused to appear before the Emperor he was jailed for a time, and on release devoted himself to serve sadhus in all humility and then retired to the forest; Parmananda. a Brahmin disciple of Ramananda, lived at Barsi near Sholapur and had incessant vision of Krishna within and without; he used to prostrate 700 times daily and was always in tears of love and ecstasy; Trilochana (born 1267) went to Pandharpur and always served sadhus; when too many came for him he sought a helper; Krishna Himself came in the name of Antarjami and served them for thirteen months, till Trilochana’s wife grumbled at having Him also to look after and then He vanished.
These saints, and many more like them, enriched the soil of India’s spiritual life during those dark days of foreign rule and interior decay of spirituality and faith among the masses.
Continued
Article extracted from this publication >> December 15, 1989
