Sant Namdev

Sant Namdev was an ananya bhaktha of Panduranga Vittal of Pandharpur whose abhangs overflow with the nectar of Bhakti and love towards God.  Sikhs also revere him as a holy man, Bhagat, and sixty and odd abhangs of his are featured in their holy book, Guru Granth Sahib.  His writings form the basis of the beliefs held by the Varkari group, the monotheistic group owing allegiance to Panduranga Vittal of Pandharpur.  He was a contemporary of Sant Jyaneswar, who had a great influence on him. He also accompanied Jyaneswar on a long pilgrimage to several holy places all over India. He had a great influence on Sant Tukaram, who described him as one besides Lord Panduranga, who came in his dream and inspired him to write abhangs.

Namdev came of a lower caste family whose members belonged to the Varkari group and were sincere devotees of  Lord Vittal of Pandharpur.  As a child he found great pleasure in repeating the name of Lord Vittal and he also enjoyed visiting the temple with his mother. One day as his mother could not go she asked Namdev to go by himself and offer the food to the Lord. Namdev took the plate of food and placed it before the Lord and waited for it to be taken by the Lord. When this did not happen he cried and begged the Lord to accept it. His pleas were so sincere that Lord Vittal appeared before him in human form and consumed the offerings. He went home happily and narrated to his mother what had happened. She could not believe it and so the next day after sending him to temple she followed him without his knowledge and watched for herself the Lord’s acceptance of the offering. Her joy and pride in Namdev was coupled with her gratitude to the Lord for the Grace He showered on Namdev. The place where he entreated the Lord to accept his offering has been marked in the temple and is called the Namdev Pairi (steps of  Namdev).

But she despaired of him also as he showed no interest either in school studies or in father’s business and was indifferent to worldly matters. To the neglect of everything else viz. food, studies, sleep etc. he spent his time in singing Bhajans and dancing and in devotion to Lord, whom he treated as a dear and near one. His marriage to Radha Bai, a worldly-minded person, made no difference.  He spent hours sitting before Lord Vittal, talking to Him, discussing spiritual matters with Him and doing Bhajans, and no amount of persuasion from family or friends could turn his attention to everyday affairs with the result there was extreme poverty in the house. Their despair was so intense that it turned to abuse of the Lord Panduranga Vittal, whom devotees referred to as Vithoba, also.  Vithoba decided to help his family and in the guise of Dharma Setti of Vaikunthapuram, an old friend of Namdev, He visited Namdev’s house, gave gifts of rice and other essentials to Radha Bai and disappeared.

Radha Bai had a friend who was married to a great devotee of Lord Krishna, by name Parisha Bhagavat.  Parisha Bhagavat as a result of his prayers obtained from Lord a philosopher’s stone which could convert iron into gold. This his wife showed to Radha Bai. Radha Bai took the stone to her husband and chided that Namdev’s Bhakti was no good and that it was inferior to the Bhakti of Parisha Bhagavat.  Namdev collected the stone and coolly threw it into the river. When Parisha came to know of this, he took Namdev to task.  Namdev took Parisha to the place where he had dropped the stone.  Parisha searched for the stone and found, not one philosopher’s stone, but many.  Parisha was struck with wonder and admiration for Namdev’s attitude of renunciation and his spiritual powers. Radha Bai also stopped comparing him with others and chiding him for his indifference.

When Namdev was about twenty years of age, he came under the influence of Sant Jyaneswar.  Jyaneswar was greatly impressed by Namdev’s devotion to Vithoba, and he requested Namdev to accompany him in his pilgrimage to several holy places in the country.  Namdev did not want to leave Vithoba, but he was persuaded to go on pilgrimage with Jyaneswar.  They stayed together thereafter until the death of Jyaneswar.  Their pilgrimage covered all parts of India, east, west, north and south and wherever they went they were composing and singing devotional songs.  In the course of the pilgrimage they met Narsi Mehta at Junagath, Kabir at Kasi, Tulsidas at Chitrakut; Nanak in Deccan. Namdev gained much, during the pilgrimage, from the society of Jyaneswar gaining a wider vision of the whole world as the manifestation of God. Let us see a few of the miracles that happened in their joint pilgrimage.

When they were travelling in the desert of Marwar, Namdev was suffering extreme thirst. They found a well, but it was so deep that it was impossible to draw water by ordinary means. Jyaneswar proposed to assume the form of a bird using his Laghima Siddhi and bring the water up in his beak, but Namdev refused and prayed to Rukmini Devi. The level of the water rose miraculously to the surface. This well exists today at Kaladji, ten miles off Bikaner. 

When Namdev and Jyaneswar started Bhajans in Naganathpuri temple, a huge crowd gathered, and the temple priests became angry as they were not able to enter freely the temple.  So Namdev shifted to the western gate of the temple where he was doing Bhajans the whole night.  Next morning the priests were surprised to see idol turned to face Namdev. They apologised to Namdev who prayed to the Lord who turned to face the entrance. 

At Bidar, a Brahmin invited Namdev to do Kirtan in his house. Namdev went there with a large number of devotees. The Sultan was alarmed mistaking the entourage for rebel troops.  He sent General Kasi Pant to investigate and the general reported back that it was only a religious party.   But the Sultan still not satisfied ordered Namdev either to embrace Islam or prove his credentials by bringing back to life a butchered cow or face death at elephant’s feet.  Namdev’s mother begged her son to embrace Islam and save his life. Instead, Namdev chose to raise the dead cow and succeeded to the amazement and admiration of the Sultan and his party. 

During the course of the pilgrimage  Jyaneswar advised Namdev to adopt a Guru to further his spiritual education and achieve his mission in life.   But Namdev who regarded Vithoba as his Guru was hesitant as he feared this would alienate his loyalty and devotion to Vithoba.  So he took the matter straight to Vithoba and as per Lord’s advice decided to adopt Visoba Khechar as his Guru.  Visoba Khechar was one of the disciples of Jyaneswar and was living at the time at a village called Avandhya.  Namdev proceeded to the village immediately and arrived there at about noon. He took shelter in a temple in order to take some rest. There in that temple he saw a man sleeping with his feet on the Deity Itself. Namdev was shocked, woke up the man and rebuked him for this sacrilege. The man was no other than Visoba himself. Visoba replied, “O Namdev, why did you wake me up? Is there a single spot in this world which is not permeated by God? If you think that such a spot can be found, kindly place my feet there”. Namdev took the feet of Visoba in his hands and moved them to another direction, but the Deity was there. Where ever he moved the feet, he found the Deity was there.  Namdev could not find any direction or spot where he could place the feet of Visoba without treading on the Deity.  Now he realized the great truth that God was everywhere.  Then Namdev surrendered himself to Visoba totally. Visoba then advised Namdev at great length. After initiation by Visoba, Namdev became more philosophical, viewing the whole world as His temple and the omnipotent infinite Being as his God. This can be seen from his song which runs as follows in translation:

He is the One in many, countless are His shapes and forms.

He pervades all that exists; wherever I look, He is there.

But very few perceive this reality, for Maya ever enchants us

With her multiple reflections of color and alluring beauty.

Sometime after they returned from the long pilgrimage, Jyaneswar  expressed his desire to go to Alandi where he wanted to take Samadhi.  Namdev accompanied him to Alandi as he could not part with Jyaneswar. He was with Jyaneswar till his last moment.  Namdev did not live long after the Samadhi of Jyaneswar.  Namdev soon attained his Samadhi at  his age of twenty-six at Pandharpur.  Of the numerous Abhangs he composed, many were lost and only four thousand are left, which even this day are a great source of inspiration to all who would read them, making him one of the most popular Maharashtrian saints known all over India.

-----------------

 

Sant Ekanath

Ananaya Bhaktha of Panduranga Vittal 

The state of Maharashtra has produced a galore of ananya Bhakthas of Panduranga Vittal of Pandharpur of whom Sant Ekanath occupies a prominent place, as he was also a scholar and poet who helped the revival of interest in Hindu epics that had declined due to the invasion of idol-hating Muslim rulers.  Ekanath was born in a pious Brahmin family at Pratisthan, called Paithan now.  His great grandfather was sant Bhanudas who brought back the sacred image of Lord Panduranga from Vijaynagar to Pandharpur.  Ekanath was devoted to Vittal, who was their family deity.  When his parents passed away at an early age, he came to live with his grandparents.  When he was twelve years old his grandfather entrusted him to the care of Janardhan Swami who was a great Yogi and who had an ashram in a forest near Devagiri.  Besides philosophy, scriptures and grammar he also learnt the works of Sant Jyaneswar. 

He spent there twelve years, taking care of the ashram as well besides learning.  One night as he was tallying the accounts for the day he found difference of a paisa in cash on hand.  He was searching for the wrong entry and could not locate it even by midnight.   When he found it at last, he was so happy that he let out a shout  “Found it, Gurunatha.”   Janardhan Swami, who was awakened by the shout came to him and asked what did he find.  He apologised to the Guru for awakening him and explained that it was the eluding paisa which had kept him awake that long.   Janardhan Swami appreciated his sincerity and went to bed.  Before going to sleep he prayed to Lord Dattatreya that He should give Darshan to Ekanath and bless him with His Grace.  Next day as Ekanath was returning from his bath in Godavari River, Lord Dattatreya appeared before him in his divine form with Vedas and Dharma Devata in attendance as four dogs and bull.   Ekanath prostrated before the Lord and Lord blessed him.  He did not seek any favour but returned to the ashram and started doing his work as usual without any excitement.  Janardhan Swami came and asked him whether anything unusual happened that morning and Ekanath casually narrated that he had the Darshan of Lord Dattatreya while returning from bath.  Janardhan Swami was puzzled and asked him how he could be so casual about the Darshan of Lord.  Ekanath replied that his Guru was his God and he valued more his Darshan and blessings than anything else.  Janardhan Swami was moved and he said that his blessings will be with him all the time.  He then asked him to go home, get married and lead a family life.

Ekanath returned to his grandparents, got married and started leading a family life.  His wife, a devout woman was a great support to him in his spiritual activities. He would conduct discourses besides performing Bhajans and Kirtans and was also engaged in translating Sanskrit works in Marathi. He also composed several abhangs and sang about saints of Maharashtra like Namdev, Jyaneshwar and Janabai. He wrote a Marathi version of Bhagavatha Purana and Ramayana, which are widely popular in Maharashtra as Ekanath Bhagavatha and Ekanath Ramayana. Besides writing other works in Marathi on Vedanta, Gita etc., he also devoted himself to compiling a correct version Of Dhyaneswari, Jyaneshwar’s treatise on Bhagavat Gita in Marathi. Thus he greatly contributed to revival of Marathi bhakthi literature and interest in epics.

One day as he was reading Bhagavatha, a 12 year old boy came to him and introduced himself as Kandiya Krishna from Dwaraka and wanted to be his sishya and learn from him. Ekanath accepted him as sishya and treated him with love and care as his own son. He not only attended on his Guru but also ran all sorts of errand for Gurumatha as well.  One day Ekanath was performing ceremony for his ancestors.  Before feeding the Brahmins he gave part of the prepared food to a hungry untouchable.  This angered the Brahmins who had come to the ceremony and they left without taking food.  Then Ekanath was worried that the ceremony could not be completed.   Kandiya Krishnan suggested that he could offer it to holy grass (Darbai)  and complete the ceremony.  Ekanath started performing rituals invoking ancestors in the holy grass, when Lord Vittal Himself came first and  and  then ancestors themselves came and blessed him uttering Mantras and left.  The intrigued neighbours thought the blessings had been chanted by Ekanath and sishya disguising their voices to fool them.

The Brahmins met in the Brahmin Samaj and prohibited any contact with him until he does pariharam for this act of feeding an untouchable with food meant for ancestors and then faking completion of the ritual.  Ekanath met and pleaded with them that for annadhanam there is no caste discretion and that hunger has no caste.   Since they did not relent he agreed to do pariharam.  They drew up a big list of land, cows, gold and silver for gifting.  He agreed and started the sankalpam for the ritual.  At that time a leper came there asking for Ekanath.  When the Brahmins asked him to go away, the leper told he should see him urgently as he had been told by Lord Triambakeswar  in his dream that Ekanath alone can perform  prayachittam  for his sins that had brought about  the disease.   Kandiya Krishnan who was listening to this took him to Ekanath overruling their protests.  The leper wanted to do Padapuja to Ekanath and take the Padatheertham.  First Ekanath refused and then when the leper repeated it was Lord Siva’s command, he agreed.  The leper then performed the Padapuja and drank the water that was used to wash the feet and to the surprise of all assembled the leprosy vanished and he became normal.  Kandiya Krishnan looked at the Brahmins and asked whether they stll insisted on pariharam. They apologised to Ekanath for not realising his greatness and said it would amount to blasphemy to insist on pariharam and left.

Soon after this a Brahmin came to Ekanath looking for Krishnan.  Ekanath asked him to wait and continued reading Bhagavatham, which is his daily routine.  Shortly after, Krishnan came with a vessel of water collected from Godavari and went straight inside without glancing at the Brahmin.  The Brahmin too took no notice of him.  This intrigued Ekanath and he asked the Brahmin how he knew Krishnan.  The Brahmin then narrated that wherever he went and worshipped he had been blessed with the Darshan of the Lord of the temple.  When he went to Dwaraka, he did not have the Darshan. So he fasted in the temple. After 12 days of fasting he had a dream in which Lord Krishna told him that he was at Ekanath’s house and so he had come to have his Darshan.  As he was finishing his words Ekanath rushed inside looking for Kandiya Krishnan, but he had disappeared leaving the vessel of water in the kitchen.  Ekanath realized it was Lord Krishna who had been serving him and cried his heart out that he could not recognize Him and remembering what all Lord did for him  went into a trance.  The Brahmin visitor stayed back as sishya of Ekanath.

Ekanath had a gentle nature and could not be provoked at all.  In fact this became a cause of wager among a group of gamblers in Paithan.  One of them wagered that he will make Ekanath get angry. The next morning as Ekanath was returning from his bath in Godavari, he waited for him on the way and as Ekanath came near he spit the pan he was chewing on Ekanath, while the other gamblers were watching from a distance. Ekanath just looked up and then without a word went back to the river, took bath again and came back. Again the gambler spat on Ekanath and again Ekanath returned to the river without a word. This cycle was getting repeated a few times when the gambler got frustrated and shouted at him whether he had no self-respect at all.  Ekanath calmly replied that if he reacted, his mind would get dirty and that dirt cannot be washed off as the dirt on his body.  The gambler was overcome with guilt and remorse and he fell at his feet and sought his forgiveness saying he did it for a wager foolishly.  Ekanath felt sorry for him stating that he would have faked anger if he had known about the wager and thanked him for making him take bath a number of times in the holy river, which he would not have done normally any day.

Ekanath blended his ananya bhakthi for Lord with Advaitic vision of oneness of all living beings, human or animal.  His attitude to untouchables we saw early. He also preached against its practice.  One day he was sitting under a tree and opening a packet of chapathis.  A dog which was nearby snatched the packet and ran away holding the packet in the mouth.  Ekanath started running after it while onlookers shouted at him in vain to let it go as they would provide him with alternate chapathis.  He ran and caught hold of the dog and grabbed the packet from its mouth. Onlooker’s derision turned into admiration as he lovingly circled its neck and fed the dog  the chapathis, now spreading  them with the ghee which he was carrying separately while at the same time admonishing it  gently for trying to eat dry chapathis, that would choke its throat. Another time when he was returning from a pilgrimage to Benares carrying Ganga Jal, he unminding the protests of others in the group fed a donkey dying of thirst with the Ganga Jal, gently caressing it.

Ekanath was one of the earliest reformers in Maharashtra, who preached and acted against untouchability.  He was greatly instrumental in bringing to light and popularising Sant Jyaneshwar’s works among the masses. His teachings are summarized as “Vichar, Uchchar and Achar” i.e. purity in thought, speech and action.  According to scholars, Ekanath's place as philosopher-writer-saint is second only to Sant Jyaneshwar's in Maharashtra.  His main achievement is seen as the revival of the Hindu religion that had suffered due to the onslaught of iconoclastic Muslim invaders and the spread of its philosophy down to the lowest stratum of society.  As a biographer stated, philosophy that reigned in the clouds with Sant Jyaneshwar, came down to earth and dwelt among the people with Sant Ekanath.

-----------------