Sahaja Scholastica no.57 (revised June 2002)

Sahaja

and the ascending

Kundalini

(an historical anthology)

This is the third edition of an ongoing project to document in English translation the songs and writings of earlier generations of saints who, raising their Kundalini through the subtle system of chakras and nadis, entered the elusive Sahaja samadhi,

today known as Sahaja Yoga. Compiler/publisher: John Noyce. Originally published in printed format in October 2000, this pdf version, incorporating some revisions, brings

the project to a wider audience.

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Contents

Introduction 3

Saraha and the Sahajiya Buddhists 5

The Nath Yogis and their interaction with the Sufis 8 Jnaneshvara, Muktabai and Namdev 11

Eknath 15

Kabir 16

Nanak 26

Dadu Dayal 28

Sundardas and Pipaji 33

Rupa Bhavani and her predecessors in Kashmir 34

Tukaram 35

South India: Thirumoolar and the Tamil Siddhis 37

Avaiyar 39

Ramana Maharshi 42

References 43

Bibliography 44

Appendix: The saints of Maharashtra: a survey 62

Sahaja Scholastica has a yahoogroup where additional materials are available for

download: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahaja_Scholastica

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INTRODUCTION

References to Kundalini awakening, also called as Self-Realisation,

are seen in many ancient scriptures of all religions. But the way in

which most great prophets wrote made it hard to understand exactly

what they were writing about. Nothing is blatantly stated. Unless one has self-realisation, this knowledge of the divine could be misinterpreted.

It is only with self-realisation that one can receive the total joy of great

souls’ prediction of Sahaja Yoga. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

The origins of the word Sahaja are buried in the mists of time. By the time Kabir

began using the word in his Hindi songs/poems in the fifteenth century, Sahaja had

been in use amongst the mystics of northern India for at least seven hundred years,

and most probably much longer.

The earliest usage is in Sanskrit: the Devi Sukta refers to the Brahmana, the Sahaja

Yogi; in the Warahopanishad the arousing of Kundalini is linked to sahaja samadhi.

The ascent of the Kundalini is describe d by Shankaracharya in his Saundaryalahari.

The Sahajiya Buddhists emerged in Bengal in eastern India somewhere between the

8th and 10th centuries. Saraha, Kanha, Bhusuka, Lui, Tilo, and others are known

today only through their dohas and caryas (short songs), written in a now defunct

language, Apabrahmsa, and in old Bengali. Many of the themes used in their songs

can also be found in the work of the later saints such as Kabir, Dadu and

Sundardas, in the verses and prayers of Nanak, the founding guru of the Sikh

tradition, as well as in the work of later mystics in Bengal.

The Nath yogis seem to have emerged in the 10th

to 12th

centuries in the hills and

mountains of northern India. Their main teacher was Gorakh (12th

century) who

wrote extensively about the arousing of the Kundalini and the attainment of the

Sahaja state. The secret knowledge of the Naths was passed on from teacher to

pupil, and also shared with other mystics who were ready for realisation. Thus Nath

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concepts can be found in the songs of the Rajasthani saints Mirabai, Dadu, and

Sundardas, the Kashmiri saints Lalla and Rupa Bhavani, and many of the Marathi

saints, notably Jnaneshvara, Muktabai, Namdev, Eknath, and Tukaram. Oblique

references can also be found in the songs of some of the Sufi saints, notably Bulle

Shah (Punjab) and Sachal and Shah Latif (Sind).

In South India several of the Tamil Siddhis have described the ascending Kundalini,

including Thirumoolar (6th

century) in his Thirumanthiram, which has yet to be fully

translated into English, and Avaiyar (14th

century – not to be confused with the

earlier saint of the same name) in her Vinayagar Agaval.

In the present century, the South Indian saint, Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950) spoke

of the sahaja samadhi. More recently, the Maratha saint, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

(1923- ) has used the term Sahaja Yoga to describe Her Kundalini yoga:

I saw the Kundalini, which is like the primordial force within

us, which is the holy ghost within us, rising, like a telescope

opening out. And then I saw the whole thing open and a big torrential rain of beams started flowing through my head all

over. I felt, I am lost, I am no more. There is only the grace. I

saw it completely happening to me.

Note: There have been distortions and deviations in the Sahaja tradition. In Bengal

the Sahaja tradition, handed down from the Sahajiya Buddhists and the Nath yogis,

has been distorted by some tantric practices. A similar situation has occurred in the

Buddhist traditions of Nepal and Tibet. Using vibrational awareness, any Sahaja Yogi can differentiate the true Sahaja from the deviant.

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SAHAJIYA BUDDHISTS

SARAHA was a Buddhist monk who became a wandering yogi and achieved

his enlightenment (self-realisation) by understanding that life was to be enjoyed.

Furthermore, he came to understand that enlightenment was available in one’s current life. These were radical concepts for a Buddhist monk of that time (about 8

th

century A.D.). He understood that the inborn spirit could, in the correct

circumstances, be spontaneously awakened. Following earlier tradition, he refered to this as Sahaja, and he and his fellow yogis became known as the Sahajiya

Buddhists.

Little is known of the original Sahajiya Buddhists, save that they lived somewhere between the 8

th and 10

th centuries A.D. in Bengal in eastern India. Saraha, Kanha,

Bhusuka, Lui, Tilo, and others, are known today only through their dohas and

caryas (short songs), written in a now defunct northern Indian language known as

Apabrahmsa, and in Old Bengali. Many of the themes used by the Sahajiya

Buddhists can also be found in the songs and sayings of later north Indian saints such as Kabir and Dadu. Whilst most of their songs are short, there is one longer

description of Sahaja by Saraha, which is worth reproducing in full:

In Sahaja there is no duality; it is perfect like the sky. The intuition of this ultimate truth destroys all attachment and it shines through

the darkness of attachment like a full moon in the night.

Sahaja cannot be heard with the ears, neither can it be seen with the eyes;

It is not affected by air nor burnt by fire;

It is not wet in intense rain, it neither increases nor decreases, It neither exists nor does it die out with the decay of the body;

The Sahaja bliss is only oneness of emotions – it is oneness in all.

Our mind and the vital wind are unsteady like the horse;

But in the Sahaja-nature both of them remain steady.

When the mind thus ceases to function and all other ties are torn aside, All the differences in the nature of things vanish; and at that time

there is neither the Brahman nor the Sudra.

Sahaja cannot be realized in any of its particular aspects – it is an intuition of

the whole, the one underlying reality pervading and permeating all diversity.

As the truth of the lotus can never be found either in the stalk or in the leaves,

or in the petals or in the smell of the lotus, or in the filament, - it lies rather in the totality of all these parts, - so also Sahaja is the totality which can

only be realized in a perfectly non-dual state of mind.

From it originate all, in it all merge again, - but it itself is free from all existence

and non-existence – it never originates at all.

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He who has made his mind steady in samarasa which is the Sahaja, becomes at once perfect, no more will he suffer from disease and death.

(Kanha)

The great tree of Sahaja is shining in the three worlds; Everything being of the nature of void, what will bind what?

As water mixing with water makes no difference, so also, the jewel of the mind enters the sky in unity of emotion

(Bhusuka)

Say, how can Sahaja be explained? (For) neither body nor speech nor mind can enter into it.

In vain does the Guru preach to the disciple, for, how can he explain that which transcends the capacity of all verbal means?

(Kanha)

The clouds of compassion are shining always after pressing down the duality of existence and non-existence.

The wonderful has risen up in the sky,

Behold, Bhusuka, the Sahaja-nature!

On seeing and hearing it all, all the senses are destroyed

and the mind revels in solitude. (Bhusuka)

The whole world is of the nature of Sahaja – for Sahaja is the quintessence (svarupa) of all;

This quintessence is nirvana to those who possess

the perfectly pure Citta [mind]. (Hevajra-tantra)

The body is the boat, the pure mind is the oar. Take as a rudder the word of a good master.

Make your mind quiet and then steer the boat – by no other means can one reach the other shore.

The boatman tows the boat. Do not hastily approach the inborn (Sahaja) through other ways.

The path is dangerous, and the wicked are strong.

Everything is destroyed at the swelling of the ocean. Saraha says: If you follow the bank and sail upstream against the swift current,

the boat will enter the sky [heaven].

(Saraha)

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No sound, no drop, no sun, no moon, no mandala. The mind-king is free at his own will.

The path is easy (Sahaja) and straight.

Do not follow the crooked and curved path.

Bodhi lies near you, do not go to Lanka in search of it.

The bracelets are in your hands.

Do not take the looking glass to see them. Realise your own citta [mind] for yourself and within yourself.

Onlt he can cross to the other shore. He goes to hell who has an evil companion. Saraha says: In the right and the left are canals and falls, -

The straight path is the safe path. (Saraha)

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NATH YOGIS

The earliest Nath yogis, who may have originally been Buddhist adepts who moved

into the Hindu tradition, possibly as a result of the Muslim invasions, seem to have

emerged in the 10th

to 12th

centuries in the hills and mountains of northern India and may well have had a connection with the slightly earlier Sahajiya Buddhists.

Founded by the legendary yogi, Matsyendranath (also known as Macchendra and as

Minanath), their main teacher was Gorakhnath. The secret knowledge of the Naths

was passed on from teacher to pupil, and also shared with other mystics who were

ready for realisation. Thus Nath concepts can be found in the songs of the

Rajasthani saints Mirabai, Dadu, and Sundardas, the Kashmiri saints Lalla and Rupa Bhavani, and many of the Marathi saints, notably Jnaneshvara, Muktabai,

Namdev, Eknath, and Tukaram.

The Nath yogis had a thorough knowledge of the subtle system. For Gorakh there

were nine chakras along the central Sushumna nadhi, known as the Brahma-marga. Other Nath writings record eight lotus-chakras each with eight petals, and ten main

nadis. This knowledge was preserved in secret writings, such as the Kaulajnana Nimaya and the Yogavishaya, both attributed to Matsyendranath, and the Siddha

Siddhanta Paddhati, the Amaraughasana , and the Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha, all

attributed to Gorakhnath. There is also the Gorakhbodh, which takes the form of a

question and answer session between Gorakhnath and Matsyendranath. No doubt

compiled by a succession of Nath teachers, the Gorakhbodh gives answers to the

disciple’s many questions – in effect a Nath FAQ.

Without night, the day would have merged into Sahaj;

Had there been no day, the night would have passed into Sahaj. (Gorakhbodh)

Dearest, (in the pinda exist), the (chakras) of five lines, 16 lines, sixty four petals, the

truly beautiful 100 petal (lotus) and the beautiful thousand petal lotus and above this is a very brilliant 10,000,000 petal lotus. Above the 10,000,000 petal lotus is a

30,000,000 petal lotus, each pericarp of which is similar to a flame. Above all this is

the all encompassing, eternal, undivided, independent, steady lotus – pervading all, stainless. By its will (sveccha) it causes creation and dissolution. Both the animate

and the inanimate are dissolved in this linga. (Kaulajnana Nimaya chapter 3)

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The Nath yogis never recognised the boundaries of formal religion. The earliest Naths may well have been Buddhist monks fleeing from the Muslim invasions of

northern India. Throughout the centuries, there are fleeting glimpses of yogis meeting with the Muslim mystics, the Sufis. The eighteenth century sufi, Shah

Abdul Latif, who lived in Sind (now in Pakistan) has eloquently described his

meetings with the yogis in several verses:

In the world are Jogis who worship light: In the world are Jogis who worship fire.

Without the holy men who lit the fire, the holy men, I cannot live. I was asleep on my couch: a deep sigh awoke me.

Without the holy men who woke me up, the holy men, I cannot live.

I die: I beat my head: I search with eyes. Without the Holy Words they speak, the holy men,

I cannot live.

The footprints of the holy men are in Lahut.

Without the ruby that they hold, the holy men, I cannot live.

That these were Nath yogis is clear from another verse of Shah Latif’s:

If you want to be a yogi, follow the guru, forget all desires,

and proceed to Hinglaj.

The yogis respond to an ancient call that was given even before Islam;

They have given up everything, to be one with Gorakhnath.

The knowledge of the subtle system was certainly passed from yogis to sufis, as this

description from the 16th century Bengali sufi, Saiyid Sultan of Chittagong (now in

Bangladesh) shows:

Ingala and pingala are the two nerves running by the two sides of the spinal chord

and looking like two creeping plants hanging by the two sides of a tree. The nerve

ingala in the right may be compared with the sun and the pingala in the left resembles the moon. The ingala is the flow of the Ganges and the pingala that of the

Jamna. The nerve running between the god and the demon is called Susumna. These

three meet at a point which is regarded by the wise as the confluence of the three sacred rivers.

Whilst the imagery may not be quite like that of modern Sahaja Yoga, we can

certainly recognise the description of the nadis [rivers] crossing at the Hamsa

chakra.

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Another sufi from eighteenth century Sind, Sachal (b.1739), declared:

I am a yogi and will remain a yogi; a mighty yogi; I am neither a Mulla nor a Brahmin,

nor do I recite the verses of the Qoran,

Neither I recite Pothis and Pauris [Hindu scriptures] nor the discourses of the Gita,

I belong neither to East nor West, neither Earth nor Heaven.

Sachal may well have been given self-realisation by a Nath yogi as the following verse shows:

I recognised the yogi who of his own accord entered my abode, He had dressed himself in the garb of an ascetic as an artful device;

He had long yogic tresses and his body was smeared with ash; His flute’s melody entranced my soul:

God had brought about this union between me and the yogi;

For him I have now sprinked perfume and musk: It was he who revealed to me the entire mystery.

And again he describes this unknown yogi, effectively his guru:

He had yogic hair and his body was all smeared with ash;

He unravelled the entire riddle to Sachu.

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JNANESHVARA

The thirteenth century Marathi saint Jnaneshvara has provided the clearest

exposition of Kundalini awakening in the sixth chapter of his commentary on the Bhagavadgita, popularly known as the Jnaneshvari. His sister, Muktabai, has

described the passage of the awakened Kundalini rising to the Sahasrara chakra in two songs, here is one:

An ant flew to the sky and swallowed the sun Another wonder - a barren woman had a son.

A scorpion went to the underworld And the Shesh Nag [thousand-headed serpent] fell at its feet

A pregnant fly delivered a kite

Having seen it all, Mukta smiled.

The fourteenth century Marathi saint Namdev, initially contemporary with the

young Jnaneshvara and Muktabai, and who later moved to the Punjab, also uses the

simile of the ant for the Kundalini:

in the beginning is the ant mouth of the triple river [the three nadis]

is the mouth of the ant

in darkness

is the ant in flames a wick of water

lights a lamp of soot

in the wake of the ant

all of the sky follows the world of our making's her dropping

i pursue that ant

i, vishnudas nama

unlock the ant with my guru

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Saint Gyaneswara’s description of the rising of the Kundalini

from his commentary on the Gita

[from Chapter 6, commentary on verse 14, ]

Then the imagination subsides, activity becomes calm, and the functions of

the body and the mind stand still. Then thoughts of hunger and sleep do not bother him and he does not even remember them. The in-beath which was

confined by the anal construction (mulabandha) moves backwards and being

excited and puffy, it grows in its place of confinement and bangs at the naval centre (manipura). Then this expanded in breath churns the belly from all

sides and removes the impurities collected theirin from childhood. But instead of rolling at the bottom, it enters the belly and destroys the bile and

phlegm therein. It overturns the seven humours without leaving a trace, pulversies the rolls of fat and draws out the marrow of the bones. It calms the nerves and making the limbs loose, frightens the spiritual aspirant, but he

should not funk. It gives rise to illness, but cures it also instantaneously and mixes together the liquid (bile, phlegm etc.) and solid (flesh, marrow etc.)

parts of the body (216-120). O Arjuna, next the heat generated by the posture wakes up the serpent power known as Kundalini like a young serpent bathed

in red pigment (kumkuma) resting twisted round itself, this small serpent

power, the Kundalini, is asleep with mouth downwards in three and a half coils. She is like a streak of lightening or a fold of flame, or a polished band

of pure gold.

This Kundalini sitting crowded at the naval centre wakes up, when she gets pushed up by the anal contraction (mulabandh) (221-225). Now as though a star has fallen or the sun's seat has broken loose or the seed of lustre, which

has been planted, has produced a sprout, so this serpent power is seen to uncoil herself and stand up relaxing her body on the naval centre. She has

been hungry for long, and by reason of her being woken up, she opens her mouth wide and forcefully raises it up. Arjuna, then she embraces the in-

breath collected under the lotus of the heart, and begins to bite the upper and

lower flesh (226-230). She easily swallows the flesh wherever she can find it, and then she takes one or two mouthfuls of the heart's flesh also. Then she

searches for the soles of the feet and palms of hands, and piercing their upper parts she shakes up all the limbs and joints. Thereafter without leaving her

place, she draws out the core of the finger-nails, and cleansing the skin, clings

to the skeleton. She clean up the bones and scrapes the fibres of muscles, so

tht the growth of the hair-roots of the body begin to wither. Then she

quenches her thirst by lapping up the seven humours, and makes the body completely dried up all over (231-235). Then she draws in forcibly the out-

breath, flowing outwards from the nostrils to a distance of twelve fingers. She

thereafter pulls up the in-breath and pulls down the out-breath, and when

they meet, only the sheaths of nerve-centres remain. Both the breaths would

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have mingled at that time; but the Kundalini, being uneasy for a moment, asks them to keep away. O Arjuna, this serpent power eats up all the solid

stuff in the body, and leaves nothing of the watery parts also. When she eats these solid and liquid parts of the body, she becomes satisfied and remains

calm in the spinal cord (236-240).

In this state of satiation, the venom she turns into nectar and sustains life.

The fiery venom comes out as nectar and sustains life. The fiery venom which comes out cools internally the body, which regains once again the strength

which it had lost. The nervous flow stops and the nine life-breaths except prana cease and then the body too loses its functions. Then the breaths

flowing through the left and right nostrils mingle, the knots of the three

lower nerve-centres become loose, and the six nerve-centres become disjoined. The sun and moon currents of breath, which flow through the

nostrils, are so subtle that they are not felt on the fibre held before them (241-245). The sparkle the intellect then ceases and the frangrance in the

nose, along with the serpent power, entres the spinal cord. The cask of moon-nectar situated above tilts on one side, and the nectar begins to flow into the mouth of the Kundalini. The nectar fills her and then spreads to the whole

body and is soaked therein by the aid of the prana. As wax, placed in a red-hot mould melts and fills it up, so the body looks as if lustre, covered by skin,

has descended in the human form (246-250). As the sun, hidden behind the cloak of a cloud, comes out in full splendour when the cloud is scattered, so

the scales of skin, which seemed dry, fall off like husk, and then the body

assumes a complexion so comely as though it is fashined out of crystal or has sprouted from a gem, or dressed up with the red hue of the evening sky, of it

is the figure taken on by the inner light. Then his body looks as if it is filled with red pigment and nectar or it appears as though it is peace incarnate

(251-255). It is like a picture of delight, or a form of great happiness, or a

full-grown bush of contentment, or a bud of gold-flowered champak

(michelia Champaca) or a bust of nectar or an orchard laden with tender

leaves, or like the moon embellished with the autumnal dew, or like a statue made of lustre sitting on a seat, when the Kundalini drinks the moon elixir.

Then even Death-god stands in awe of that figure.

Then old age recedes, youthfulness takes a leap backwards, and the

childhood which had long past returns (256-260). Even though he looks so

young, he performs great feats and his courage is equally great and

unexcelled. Even as sparkling buds come out from the leaves of the golden tree, new lustrous finger-nails come out of his body. He also gets new teeth,

but they are so small, that they look like two rows of pearls set in the mouth.

Like the broken bits of atom-sized rubies, tips of hair grow on his whole

body. The palms of the hands and the soles of the feet become red like red

lotuses and how can one describe his clear eyes (261-265)? Just as the shell cannot contain the pearl when it swells and becomes oversize, and its seam

gives way and begins to open, so the sight, instead of being held within the

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eye-lashes, goes out far and wide and pervades the whole heaven. O Arjuna, the body takes on a golden colour but possesses the lightness of wind, having

lost the liquid and solid parts of matter.

Then the yogi can see beyond the seas, hear the sounds of heaven, and

comprehend the desire of an ant. He can ride on the wind, walk on water

without wetting his feet, and in this way he acquires many miraculous

powers (266-270). Holding the hand of prana and climbing the steps in the region of hearts, the Kundalini reaches the heart centre through the spinal

cord. This Kundalini is the mother of the world, who illumines the self and gives shade to the sprouted seed of the universe. It is the embodiment of the

formless Brahman, the cask of Lord Shiva, the main spring of the sacred

syllable Om. When this youthful Kundalini enters the heart-centre, she begins to utter unbeaten sounds. The sounds fall slightly on the ears of

intelligence, which is very close to the serpent power (271-275). In the cubicle from which these sounds emanate, they manifest themselves as figures as if

drawn on the lines of Om. This can be known only by imagination, but where to find one who possess it? No one knows that rumbling foes on in the region of the heart. I forgot to mention, O Arjuna, that so long as prana remains,

these subtle sounds are produced in the region of the heart. When the latter resounds with these sounds resembling the rumbling of clouds, then the

window to the Brahmarudhra readily opens. There is another great region resembling the calyx of a lotus, in which the self resides aloft (276-280). The

supreme Kundalini then enters this abode of the self and offers him the

victuals of her lustre. She indeed offers intelligence as a vegetable dish to him and does it in such a way as to leave no trace of dualism. Then the Kundalini

gives up her fiery complexion and remains in the gaseous state. You might as well ask how she looks at that time. She dissolves herself in this gaseous form

and keeps aside her garment of golden stripes. Even as the light is

extinguished by the touch of the wind, or the lightning flashes and disappears

in the sky (281-285), so when the Kundalinin enters the lotus of the heart

centre, she looks like a gold-chain or like water flowing from a spring of light. Then all of a sudden she subsides into the calyx of the heart, and her

form merges into the formless Shakti. Although she is called Shakti, she is

still in the form of gas (Vayu). At that time one is not aware of the Nada, or

the Bindu or of the Kalajyoti. Then the conquest of mind, the support of

breath-control and resort to meditation do not survive, and though and its

absence come to a stop. So she is the crucible in which the gross elements crumble (286-290). That the body should be swallowed by the body is the

Natha creed and and its purport is disclosed here by Lord Krishna, the

incarnation of Vishnu. Untying the bundle of that purport and unfolding the

truth, I have presented it before you, who are its clients.

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EKNATH

(b.1533) was a Maratha saint who restored Jnaneshvara’s description of the Kundalini to the Jnaneshvari after it had been removed by the brahmin-scholars.

His famous song Jogawa sung with such vigor and joy throughout modern Sahaja

Yoga, is an invocation to the Mother Kundalini to rise and grant self-realisation,

best expressed in the chorus:

Jogawa Magen, Aicha Jogawa

Ai Ude G’ambe Ude!

Ude, Ude, Ude, Ude, Ude, Ude, Wo!

Mother, we ask for Self-realisation

So you rise, O Mother Kundalini, You rise! Rise, rise, rise, rise, rise, rise, Ho!

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KABIR Article by Richard Payment, Vancouver, Canada (editor of Sahaj News)

My mind has returned

To its own primal state;

I realized the Lord When I died while living.

Says Kabir: I am merged In the bliss of Sahaj;

I no longer know fear,

Nor inspire it in others.

“Having recognized the Lord within, my thoughts rest only in Him. Now wherever I cast my eyes, I see none else but Him.... Since realization came, here, there,

everywhere the Lord alone I see.” -----

Kabir ranks among the world’s greatest poets. He lived in the Indian city of Benares about a hundred years before Shakespeare, his life spanning most, if not all, of the 15th century. Like most Indian writers, Kabir is little known in the west. His poetry,

often difficult to translate to English because of his use of arcane words and allusions, is nonetheless simple, immediate and deep.

Kabir was more than a poet. He was a philosopher and a man of the spirit. He was

wise and humble and close to God. He was a saint.

In India he is perhaps the most quoted of writers, but, at the same time, in his life he

criticized all the religious sects of his country. Regardless of this, he is still mentioned with respect and honour by even those most tradition-bound. This

paradox can be accounted for by the fact that Kabir spoke the Truth. He, simply, had Wisdom.

Shri Mataji explains:

“In wisdom, many people have risen very high in life. We’ll take the example of Kabir. He was found by a weaver and he belonged to a Muslim family, but he

realizes that the Muslims, as they are practising their Islam, are not going to give

him what he wants. He has to seek his self. He has to know himself. So what did he do is to go on the bank of the River Ganges in Benares and he stayed there waiting

for a great realized soul called as Ramanand. When this Swami Ramanand came

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back after his bath, Kabir immediately caught hold of his feet. After bath, if somebody catches hold of the feet of any brahmin, he would shout at him. But he

was a saint. He was not a brahmin. He said, ‘My son, what do you want?’ He said, ‘Sir, give me initiation. I want self realization.’

And Swami Ramanand immediately agreed.

All the other people said, ‘Sir, he is a Muslim. He’s an orphan, brought up in a Muslim family. How can you give realization? He’ll not accept any of the principles

which look like coming from the Hindu religion.’ Ramanand looked at Kabir. He

could see a great seeker there. He replied, ‘You don’t know him. I know him.’ And he took him with him and Kabir became a great saint after that.”

He’s accepted by Hindus and Muslims because he had that power of wisdom. He

went to a man who was not belonging to his religion, who may not have accepted

him, who might have just thrown him in the river, also possible, but he knew also

through his wisdom that ‘this man is the one who will love me because I’m a Seek of

Truth.’”

It is interesting to note that Swami Ramanand in this story fulfilled his own prophesy, for it had been him, years before, who had blessed Kabir’s mother to

have an illustrious child. Ramanand accepted his new disciple without knowing his

identity.

While Kabir properly honoured and respected his guru, there were differences in their understanding of reality. While Kabir scorned the outward rituals of the

established ways, Ramanand still held them in reverence. While a traditionalist of the established order, Ramanand did allow Kabir to grow in his own way - and to

the benefit of both men. With time, Ramanand came around to Kabir’s ways. It was

the guru who changed.

Swami Ramanand had the habit to perform a daily puja to Lord Ram. He did this not with his hands, but with his attention. Washing, decorating and making

offerings, Ramanand’s worship was in his mind. One day in his house, Ramanand performed his puja. Kabir, the disciple, sat outside, separated by a curtain. To his

consternation, Ramanand realized he had made a mistake. He had mentally placed the crown on his God before placing the garland. The garland was not large enough in circumference to fit over the crown and the crown could not be removed once

placed. What was he to do? Ramanand pondered his predicament. To re move the crown now would be disrespectful. From outside, from behind the curtain, Kabir

spoke: “Gurudev, untie the knot of the garland and then tie it around the idol’s neck.” The guru was startled. How could Kabir have known his problem? No words

had been spoken. Nothing was there to be seen. The swami called to his senior

disciples, “Remove the curtain, for what can one hide from Kabir?” Ramanand stood up and embraced his disciple. He also began to embrace Kabir’s outspoken

views. Kabir’s knowledge of the Inner Path would soon gain the guru’s acceptance.

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To understand Kabir, we should go back to his roots. Born of a low, but skilled,

caste, between the two worlds of Hindus and Muslims, Kabir understood life. “I do not quote from the scriptures,” he wrote. “I simply see what I see.” It is said that he

invented his own caste — a caste below all others.

Says Kabir:

Lord, I weave the cloth of Thy Name

The fruitless toil

Of weaving for the world

Has come to an end; I have attained

The dazzling state of bliss —

Free from fear, free from pain,

I am the weaver, O Lord, of Thy Name;

I weave and reap the profit Of inner rapport with Thee.

I am the weaver of the Lord’s Name. Kabir rejected the outward show of the sadhus, ascetics, all “God men” around him,

who he described as “the thugs of Benares.” God is to be found, not in the temple, but inside:

I have met Him in my heart.

When a stream enters the Ganges,

it becomes the Ganges itself. Kabir is lost in the Ganges.

Kabir knew true knowledge is taught by life:

There is nothing but water in the holy pools. I know, I have been swimming in them.

All the gods sculpted of wood or ivory can’t say a word I know, I have been crying out to them.

The sacred Books of the east are nothing but words. I looked through their covers one day sideways.

What Kabir talks of is only what he has lived through.

If you have not lived through something it is not true.

There are many incidents and stories told about Kabir’s life, how he spoke out unhindered, addressing the spiritual confus ions that surrounded him. One such

dramatic sequence took place in the king’s court.

When a neighbouring sultan visited Benares, the king, an admirer of Kabir, was

persuaded to summon the poet for the sultan’s inspection.

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To the shock of all present, Kabir, rather than bowing and humbling himself, merely offered a common greeting no different than he would to any man. When

asked to explain his behaviour, Kabir noted that there is only one king in the world - God. “Within the Hindu and the Muslim,” he added, “dwells the same God.”

The sultan, although not entirely a noble ruler, saw something in Kabir’s remarks. He was impressed by Kabir’s candor. He knew that it was no ordinary man who

stood before him, but a true lover of God. Kabir’s transgressions were dismissed.

It was however the priests, both Hindu and Muslim, who, in alliance, campaigned and organized a case against the poet-saint. Assembling allies and witnesses in a political move against Kabir, who they felt was threatening their authority in the

community, they forced him to return to the court to face trial. On his return, Kabir only smiled. “All my life,” he began, “I have tried to impress upon the Hindus and

Muslims that God is one, the Father of both. I pleaded with them to join hands in worshipping the Lord of All, but they rejected my plea. They could never stand

together in the court of the King of kings, but today it amuses me to see them

standing united in the court of a worldly king, a mortal like all others.”

This was too much. The united front of the Muslim and Hindu “holy men” convinced the sultan of Kabir’s guilt as a heretic. Kabir was sentenced to death by

drowning, but when thrown to the river his chain broke and Kabir floated away

unharmed. The charge of magician was added and Kabir was set out to be trampled

by an elephant, but the animal would not cooperate. “In its heart, too,” Kabir

explained, “dwells the Lord.” Not to give up in defeat, the conspirators put Kabir to a fire. This time, however, he emerged, it is said, emitting a divine radiance.

Everyone was speechless in awe, including the sultan. To his credit, the sultan

ordered Kabir freed of his ties. He approached the poet with remorse and guilt. “I

did not realize your greatness,” he said at last. “Please forgive me.” He stood before

the saint, eyes downcast, awaiting his judgement.

“You are not at fault,” Kabir said with the graciousness only possible in a saint.

“Such was the will of God. Look up, O Sultan. Don’t feel sad. Forget what has

happened. The Lord is all love and mercy. In His court true repentance never goes

unrewarded.”

As Kabir says, “Forgiveness is a game that only the saints play.”

Like Gnyaneshwara before him and Guru Nanak and Sai Baba of Shirdi, who were to follow, Kabir strove for the One Truth. He described himself as the son of both

Ram and Allah:

I am not a Hindu,

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Nor a Muslim am I! I am this body, a play

Of five elements; a drama Of the spirit dancing

With joy and sorrow

Like Shri Mataji, Kabir urged introspection:

You were born on Earth as human, Why are you in slumber now?

Take care of yourself; Yourself is what you have to know.

The learned pundit gives discourse, Not knowing God is near;

He does not know God dwells in him, So seeks him here and there.

He urged us to get past the maya that surrounds us:

I am looking at you, You at him,

Kabir asks, how to solve This puzzle —

You, he and I?

And:

To live for sons and wealth,

For belongings and health,

O Kabir, is to be like the bird

Which during one night’s stay Starts loving the tree.

One commentator of some insight, V.K. Sethi, sums up Kabir’s character:

“His living on his own honest earnings, his simplicity and purity, had a powerful

impact on those who came in contact with him. His spiritual insight and personal charm kept even his opponents spellbound at times. Endowed with great spiritual

power, attracting the rich and the poor, the learned and the simple to the circle of his disciples, he was yet humble and unassuming.”

Unlike many saints, Kabir was a writer. He left his words for us in his own hand. There is no doubt about what he said. In English, we are blessed to have had many

of Kabir’s poems translated for our understanding by the great Indian novelist and playwright Rabindranath Tagore, also a realized soul.

It is estimated that Kabir wrote approximately two thousand bhajans and fifteen hundred couplets. Since, like many saints, his life has been wrapped in a cloak of

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legend, of miracles and of stories, it is best to approach a true understanding of Kabir through his own words :

Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.

My shoulder is against yours. You will not find me in the stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms, nor synagogues, nor

in cathedrals: Not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck, nor in eating

nothing but vegetables, When you really look for me, you will see me instantly — you will find me in the tiniest house of time.

Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God? He is the breath inside the breath.

I said to the wanting-creature inside me :

What is this river you want to cross?

There are no travellers on the river-road, and no road. Do you see anyone moving about on that bank, or nesting?

There is no river at all, and no boat, and no boatman. There is no tow rope either, and no one to pull it.

There is no ground, no sky, no time, no bank, no ford!

And there is no body, and no mind! Do you believe there is some place that will make the soul less thirsty? In that great absence you will find nothing.

Be strong then, and enter into your own body;

there you have a solid place for your feet. Think about it carefully!

Don’t go off somewhere else!

Kabir says this: just throw away all thoughts of imaginary things,

and stand firm in that which you are.

Shri Mataji often alludes to the poetry and insight of Kabir. She spoke to us at the 1997 Sahasrara Day Puja:

“It is your mind that goes on telling you, all the time you watch your mind how it

tries to guide you, how it tries to tell you, ‘Now what about me? What about my house? What about my children? What about my country?’ Like that, you go on,

‘My, my, my.’ Ultimately you end up into nothing. But when you say, ‘You, you,

you’. Kabira has said a beautiful thing about it, he says that when the goat is living,

it is saying ‘Me, Me, Me,’ which means ‘I,I,I.’ But it dies, then they take out the

intestine and put it on a dhumke, where they put it for the cleaning of the cotton, and that time what does the dmuke say? ‘Tuhi, tuhi, Tuhi. You are the one, you are,

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you, you are.’ And that he pours all over. In the same way, you have to think from others point of view. First of all, Tuhi, when you say, you say it to your Guru or to

God, that you are, I’m no more, I’m dissolved, I’m finished, I have become one with this Ocean of Love. And then you say to others, you are, you are – that is Sahaj

culture.”

This word “sahaj” is in many of Kabir’s poems. He describes that state of perfect

balance where one is closest to God:

Where there is neither sea nor rains, Nor sun nor shade; Where there is neither creation

Nor dissolution; Where prevails neither life nor death,

Nor pain nor pleasure; Beyond the states of Sunn and trance;

Beyond words, O friend,

Is that unique state of Sahaj. It can be neither weighed

Nor exhausted, Is neither heavy nor light;

It has no upper regions

Nor lower ones;

It knows not the dawn of day

Nor the gloom of night; Where there is neither wind

Nor water nor fire,

There abides the perfect Master.

It is inaccessible,

It is, and it will ever be;

Attain it through the Master’s grace. Sayeth Kabir: I surrender myself

At the feet of my Master,

I remain absorbed

In his true company. This state of oneness with the Divine is Kabir’s state of sahaj, his “overture of bliss”

where there is no separation. He writes:

I am in all

All that is, is I The different forms in existence

Are my myriad manifestations, Yet I am apart from all.

Call me Kabir,

Call me Ramrai [God the Emperor],

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It is one and the same. I am not a child,

I am not old, And the glow of youth

Never can touch me.

I go not at anyone’s bidding Nor come at anyone’s command.

In my state of Sahaj I am in the verdure of bliss

Call me Kabir, Call me Ramrai, It is one and the same.

My covering is a single sheet And people sneer at me:

My weaver’s calling inspires no respect; My dress is tattered,

Patched at ten places —

Yet beyond the three attributes Beyond the region of the ‘fruit’ [the law of karma]

I dwell in the realm of bliss; Thus have I acquired the name Ramrai.

I see the entire world,

The world cannot see me;

Such is the unique state

that Kabir has attained. Call me Kabir,

Call me Ramrai,

It is one and the same.

Kabir described the details of the subtle system. He uses an analogy familiar to a

weaver:

O Servant of God, where do the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna nadis go when the

thread of life breaks?

One who holds the thread is beyond time, but where does he live?

The thread is neither tied nor breaks. Who is the master and who is the servant?

Only He knows his secret as He is the Eternal. What is the warp [lengthwise threads] and what is the weft [cross threads]?

What are the threads from which the chadar [cloth] is woven?

Ida and Pingala are the warp and weft. Sushumna are the threads from which the chadar is woven.

Eight are the Lotuses and ten are the spinning wheels. Five are the elements and three the qualities of the chadar.

V.K. Sethi writes, “For over seventy years Kabir had taught the path of God-

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realization, raising the voice of truth despite slander and criticism. Many Muslims, and Hindus of all castes, had joined the fold of his disciples. His simple exposition of

spiritual truth in the language of the masses, his analysis of the existing forms of worship, his message emphasizing self-realization while living, and above all, his

personal magnetism drew true seekers to his door. But the orthodox could not be

deprived of their hold on the people. Their coin, embossed with orthodoxy on the one side and formalism on the other, had been declared counterfeit by Kabir, a coin

that world never gain entry into the Lord’s Treasury.”

Kabir’s death was the last lesson of his life, but his poetry lives on to guide us always.

In India it is believed that if one dies in the holy city of Benares salvation is

guaranteed and escape from the cycle of rebirth will follow. Many Hindus journey to Benares with this purpose. Kabir lived his life in Benares, but as death

approached he decided to journey to the village of Maghar, a particularly arid and

ill-fated settlement. “What difference is there,” he said, “between Benares and barren Maghar if God be in the heart?” When he died, it is said, Maghur’s usually

dry stream was restored to a year-round river of water. The popular stigma attached to the village vanished, but, as is often the pattern with humans, a dispute

arose over the body of the poet. The Hindu and Muslim camps among his disciples

both wanted his remains. The Muslims wanted to bury the body. The Hindus

wanted to cremate it. When the cloth was removed there was no body to be seen -

only flowers.

The Muslims buried their half. The Hindus burned theirs.

The lesson was there, but was it heeded?

Kabir and his poetry should be especially dear to the hearts of Sahaja Yogis. He is direct and truthful and writes in terms that we can, by the grace and teachings of Shri Mataji, easily understand.

Kabir is Sahaj:

Self-realization is my saddle;

In the stirrup of Sahaj

I place my foot and ride, Astride the steed of my mind.

Come, my steed, I’ll take you

On a trip to heaven; If you balk I’ll urge you on

With the whip of divine love.

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Says Kabir: The adept riders Remain aloof from both

The Vedas and the Koran.

[Condensed versions of this article have appeared in Sahaj News (Canada), and in Knowledge of Reality (Sydney, Australia) no.20. This is the original text]

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Nanak

Nanak (1469-1539) was a North Indian Guru whose teachings have become the basis

of the Sikh religion. There are many references to Sahaja in his writings. Here are

some:

Sayeth Nanak, abandon not the worship of Hari, By the gentle path of Sahaj, you will attain Him.

------

How to find the gentle path of sahaj and peace, Save by the guidance of the guru?

------

I enquired of my guru, By his direction I earned ny life’s wages.

Ego that fouled my soul, Ego that caused sorrow

Was thus burnt out by the Word of God. By the genetle path of sahaja did I meet Him, Purified by truth I merged in the Truest of the True.

------

Those who meditate on the message of the true guru

Find truth through the gentle path of sahaj and realize God.

------

The guru’s teaching brings stability to the mind,

Man meditates in sahaja’s tranquility.

Pure is the mind which has truth and the priceless ruby that is knowledge. Let the fear and love of God be your worship

Fix your mind on the feet of God when you meditate

And you will cross the fearful waters of life.

------

When a man meets his true guru

His doubts are dispelled and his mind ceases its wanderings;

Drops of nectar pour down on him like rain.

His ears catch strains of sahaja’s celestial music

And his mind is lit up with divine knowledge.

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Lord let me live a virtuous life! Lord, abide Thou within me!

With Thee even within my mind I’ll take the gentle path of sahaj

And joy everlasting find.

In his Siddha Goshta (Dialogue with the Yogis), Guru Nanak refers to Sahaja

several times:

The yogis took their seats on the prayer-mats and spake in chorus: “Our salutations to this holy assemblage!”

“I salute Him who is the Truth”, replied Nanak, “Who is Infinite, who is without any limit.

Fain would I sever my head with my own hand and lay it at his feet! To Him I dedicate my body and my soul.

Truth is however also found in the company of the holy

And through them the soul is led by the path of sahaja to glory.

Later in reply to a yogi’s statement, Nanak states:

In the calm of sahaja’s cave you can discover the True One,

Sayeth Nanak, the True One loves the truthful.

Later still, discoursing on the importance of the guru-disciple relationship, Nanak states:

By the gentle path of sahaja

Attain God, Purest of the Pure.

A disciple who serves his guru and no other

Will succeed, says Nanak, that is sure.

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DADU DAYAL

Dadu Dayal (literally, ‘the compassionate brother’) was a saint from Rajasthan in

northern India. He lived in the second half of the sixteenth century (1544-1603). His

songs are in a Hindi dialect known as Braj Bhasa, being a mixture of Hindi and Rajasthani. There are also some songs ascribed to Dadu in Persian.

Like the earlier saint Kabir, Dadu came from one of the many low artisan castes

that had converted to Islam. He lived in the Jaipur region of Rajasthan, most

probably as a pinjari, a cotton carder. He married and had a family of two sons and

two daughters.

He gathered around himself a group of followers, which became known as the

Dadu-panth. This organization has continued in Rajasthan to the present-day, and

is a major source of early manuscripts containing songs by the North Indian saints -

including Dadu, Nanak, Namdev, Kabir, Mirabai and others - thus attracting the attention of western academics.

Dadu himself did not write down any of his compositions. These were recorded by

his disciple Rajjab. Another disciple, Janagopal, wrote the earliest biography.

Dadu clearly experienced Sahaja yoga, and alludes to it in his songs, some of which

are presented in translation in the following pages.

Surviving songs do not record the name of Dadu’s guru, but it is possible that he

was given realisation by Kamal, one of Kabir’s sons. Certainly much of the imagery used in his songs is similar to that used by Kabir, and similar also to that used by

the earlier Sahajiya Buddhists and Nath yogis.

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Dadu on Realisation

When realisation came to me, I was filled with joy and all fear departed from me.

I found pure deliverance in the realm of the unapproachable, the unthinkable.

The Unapproachable has come near, the message of the Unthinkable abides with me

always, the Unutterable find utterance.

From separation I have come to Union.

The bonds of self are loosened, all error has fled, and the light of the Brahman shines upon my soul.

Dadu on Sahaja

Where there is no two, there is Sahaja, there joy and sorrow become one.

Sahaj neither lives nor dies; it is the state of complete nirvana ...

Amidst all duality hold your consciousness in the vacuity of Sahaja, and drink nectar when you have attained the final state of arrest and then there is no fear

of death or of the flux of time.

---

One’s self is a tender plant wherein blooms the flower of Sahaja;

The true guru teaches how to achieve it in a natural way, But very rare are the persons who can understand it.

---

Prana and pyanda [the vital breath and body], flesh and blood, ears and nose, All play wonderful sport in Sahaja.

---

When consciousness reaches the Sahaja state, waves of duality vanish, Hot and cold become the same, everything becomes one.

---

Come, says Dadu, let’s go to that land where neither moon nor sun can go

Where neither night nor day can enter and all is merged in Sahaja.

[moon and sun, ie left and right channels of the subtle system]

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Parasa parasi bhae susadai, Taba duni drumati duri gamvai

Taba hama eka bhae re bhai

Mohana mili saci mani ai (refrain)

Maliyagira maramma mili paya,

Taba vamsa barana saba bharama gamvaya

Hari jala nira nikati jaba paya, Taba bumda bumda mili sahaja samaya

Namna bheda bharama saba bhaga Taba dadu eka amgai laga

Translation:

When by touching the touchstone we have become dispensers of happiness,

the false idea that there are two will have been driven away.

O brother, we have become one, when, united in bewilderment [Mohan],

The true word has entered our minds. (refrain)

When we have found the secret of Malayagiri

All such errors as family and caste will have been driven away.

When the Hari-water has been found close by, then drop mixing with drop will

have merged in Sahaja.

When all the various disparities and errors have vanished, says Dadu, one will be

united within a single body.

[the Malayagiri is a range of mountains in western India]

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Touching the touchstone avail yourself of gold [liberation], of the happiness-giving sahaja surati.

On the creeper of delusion hangs the fruits of sensuality. Do not lose yourself on it, o friend!

O my mind, without Ram the body fades away, When it returns to dust, tell me, what is there left to be done? (refrain)

As long as your body is healthy do not forget Him.

This wordly existence is like the parrot on the silkcotton tree. Do not rejoice in it!

This your opportunity: recognizing Jagjivan, comprehending, seeing Him you will obtain happiness.

Do not lose yourself in many different bodies! Dadu says: Do not allow yourself to be beguiled!

[Jagjivan is the life-giving aspect of Vishnu]

Through samjami [yogic self-control] he will become one who always imparts

sanctity, no impurity will stick to his soul. The lotus [ie. Sahasrara] of this person will bloom, the Brahma-knowledge will

blossom.

Play in the sea of happiness and sins unlimited will disappear.

Become a pure being and unite with the Creator! (refrain)

To the passage of the inaccessible proceed, and unite real being with real being.

Approach the seat of the Guru and be absorbed in the house in the state of one

liberated.

That man will worship, he will be engrossed in the play of love. The Beautiful One shall be served in sahajaim; on Mount Kailasa the merging

is performed.

No difference between night and day is visible, sahajai occurs spontaneously.

Dadu, behold His sight, o servant, addicted to this liquor!

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Dadu on his path

Dadu says: I am neither Hindu nor Muslim

I am not attached to any of the six philosophical schools.

I love the merciful God.

---

Dadu says: without Rama the yogi, lingayat, sevda, Buddhists, ascetics, Muslim priests, the adherents of the six philosophical schools - all represent only the mask of deceit.

---

In cutting Brahma up into bits the sects have divided him.

Dadu says: abandon limited thought in favour of the unlimited and become non-

sectarian [nipakh].

---

Dadu says: since I am non-sectarian, the people are all in anger against me.

---

I have found that God is unchangeable, immortal, fearless, self-existent, Almighty,

pure, unimaged, unseen, infinite and incomprehensible.

Worship is due to Him and Him alone.

---

From his Persian verses:

Dadu makes his body His mosque, He finds the five members of the assembly (Jamaat) in the mind

as well as the leaders of the prayers (Mulla’imam);

The indescribable God is Himself in front of him

and there he makes his bows and greetings.

---

I have told plainly what kind of goal I had attained,

The Pirs (Muslim teachers) have informed the soul of the Murids (disciples)

about the path to the Adored.

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SUNDARDAS (1596-1689), as a young boy lived in Dadu’s household. Dadu was struck by the

young boy’s handsome (Sundar) face. Almost certainly Sundardas would have

received his realisation from Guru Dadu during this early part of his life. He became a fine poet and travelled widely. His writings, along with Dadu’s songs and

sayings, became the core of the Dadu-panth’s teachings. Of particular interest to us is the following verse:

That perfectly pure Sahaja is in everything

and with that Sahaja all religious people gather together. Sankara began his sadhana in this Sahaja,

Sukdeva, Sanaka and others also followed this Sahaja way. Devotees like Soja, Pipa, Sena and Dhana

all have drunk of this Sahaja-bliss in the natural way.

Raidas was also a sadhaka of Sahaja, and Guru Dadu also realised infinite bliss in this Sahaja path.

In this verse Sundardas records the names of earlier saints who achieved the Sahaja

samardhi. Sankara (also known as Shankacharya) we have met earlier (about 8th

century). Sanak and Sukadev, the son of Vyas, were semi-mythical sages from

before the Kali yuga period. Soja, Pipa, Sena and Dhana were earlier Rajasthani saints. Sena (or Sai’n)(c.1500) was a barber in the court of the Bandhogarh king

Rajaram who became the king’s guru. Sojha was a householder who, along with his

wife Sojhi, abandoned their children to become ascetics. Raidas, also known as

Ravidas (c1450-1525), was another disciple of Ramanand, and a close associate of

Kabir.

PIPAJI (1383-1453) was a Rajasthani king who gave up his throne to follow a religious life, possibly as a disciple of Ramanand (best known as Kabir’s guru). Only a few of his

songs have survived, one of which mentions Namdev, Kabir and Raidas, and

concludes:

Nobody equals the man who prays at Vishnu’s feet.

Pipa, his slave, says: Where do I find the One who’s fame pervades this world in the Kali age?

I’ll worship the Lord with bhakti and get to the other shore.

The final line echoes the imagery of the earlier Sahajiya Buddhists.

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RUPA BHAVANI

The seventeenth century Kashmiri saint Rupa Bhavani (1620-1720) described her spiritual experience thus:

I dashed down into the nether regions (of the body)

and brought the vital breath up; I got its clue out of earth and stones; then my Kundalini woke up with nada [loud noise];

I drank wine by the mouth. I got the vital breath (and) gathered it within myself.

This is one of her Kashmiri verses. There are also her vaaks (verses) which are

arranged in four cantos. Written in Sanskritised Kashmiri, these verses are difficult

to understand even for modern Kashmiris, and do not translate well into English. Difficult though they may be (and two of the verses contain the word sahaza), it is

however clear that these are the verses of a great yogi who achieved her self-realisation and became one with the Divine, thus she is known as Rupa Bhavani

(literally ‘form of the Goddess’).

In Hindi and in Kashmiri, Rupa also means silver, which forms the basis of the

following exchange between Rupa Bhavani, the Hindu yogini, and the (much younger) Muslim mystic, Shah Sadiq Qalandar (b.1689). Sadiq addressed Rupa thus

in Kashmiri:

agar tsi me kun yikh raph chkh ti son banakh

If you come toward me [ie. accept Islam] I will convert you, who are raph [meaning ‘silver’ and ‘yogi’ in Kashmiri] to gold.

To which Rupa replied:

Agar tsi me kun yikh makti banakh

If you come to me [ie. accept Hinduism] you shall become makti [meaning ‘pearl’ and ‘liberation’ in Kashmiri].

Rupa Bhavani achieved her self-realisation after a dream in which the earlier

Kashmiri yogini-saint, Lalla, appeared. Lalla Ded (1320-1389) has also left a collection of vaaks, which, whilst better translated, are also cryptic and the work of

a great yogi. She may have given realisation to Shiekh Noor-ud Din (1377-1422),

also known as Nund Reshi and as Sahazanand (“spontaneous, inborn joy”).

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TUKARAM (1598-1649) was a later Maratha saint, famous for his abhangas (songs). This is his

account of his realisation:

My great good Guru gave me a blessing But I was not able to serve him at all

I was on my way to the river for a dip Suddenly he found me and placed his hand on my head

He asked for half-a-pound of clarified butter for food

But in that dreamlike state I forgot all about it

Perhaps he sensed that I was going astray

Therefore he came in such a hurry to initiate me

He gave me a clue to my spiritual lineage By naming Raghav Chaitanya and Keshav Chaitanya

He said his own name was Babaji

And gave me the mantra: “Rama Krishna Hari.”

It was the tenth day of the bright fortnight of Magha

And a Thursday, the day of the Guru, when he embraced me,

Says Tuka

In another abhanga Tukaram tries to describe his experience:

Placing his hand over my four-fold body

He revealed to me the mind-blown state of being

He stamped upon me that mind-blown state of being

It gathered into an absolute blue luminosity

Red, white, ye llow, blue, and black Colours rippled out in various ways

The self shed all colours to enter the realm Of its own pure and luminous transparence

No image can convey that luminosity

Its absolute formless stillness

36

Where to arrive from? Where to depart for? One must only remain in such pure continuity

Continuity means being without break

It is more absolute than all that can be

To describe it is to break its pure integrity How can one describe in words the absoluteness of being?

Says Tuka, whereof all language must remain silent,

Thereof what can one say? Babaji revealed it to me.

It is probable that Babaji, and his two spiritual predecessors, were Nath yogis.

37

SOUTH INDIA

THIRUMOOLAR

The Tamil Siddhis were yogis skilled in the art of kundalini awakening, and with an

in-depth understanding of the subtle system of chakras and nadis. Undoubtedly the greatest was the 5

th century Tamil saint Thirumoolar whose Thirumanthiram

contains instructions, albeit cryptic, on how to raise the Kundalini through the

subtle system from Mooladhara to Sahasrara. What follows are some verses in translation from this great work:

Beyond the Mooladhara of triple angle shaped Where time and space mingle,

Aloft that centre, opposite the forehead, Hangs the Crescent Moon, of myriad shape and peerless beauty.

Senses controlled, thoughts in oneness centered,

If you sit in realisation thus

Prana breath that comes circling again and again

Will in jiva merged;

Within that jiva the Kundalini dancer dances And I stand seeking her there.

Thus towards that excellent state practise yogic meditation;

If you succeed in coursing your mother energy into the lotus in Sahasrara, You shall gain the infinite that remains hidden in the Vedas.

Open and drink deep the nectar that gushes from the spring;

Unfold the petals of the Holy Master’s Lotus Feet;

Lead the Yoga-breath through the spiraling channel up. And thus in samadhi ascending, reach the Divine Good in holy meet (v336)

38

Upon the stalk of the mystic lotus bud the nine virgins sweet as nectar joined the lady [Kundalini]

One by one they reached the victorious top [Sahasrara]

And there into perfection transformed. (v662)

The fire I saw in Kundalini radiates Kala four

The Prana I kindled and coursed through seven centers pervades the entire body;

With active life that suffuses the fleshly body as ambrosia; I grow into a tender fawn. (v738)

There are two positions I and He

I discerned them both as one; took the ‘I’ And placed it at His feet as my offering

Even after the distinction of I and He retracted. (v1441)

I know not how to sing as God’s worshippers do; I know not how to dance as the mighty mystics dance;

I know not how to seek the path of the ascetic;

Nor seek I the path that the God-seekers do. (v96)

The ignorant think

Love differs from Bliss;

They know not that Love

Becomes one with Bliss.

Attaining this knowledge,

They come like Love To rest within eternal Bliss (v270)

Let the world obtain the bliss I obtained. (v147)

39

AVAIYAR

In the 14th century, a female ascetic took the name of Avaiyar. She was perhaps the

third female poet to assume this name, but the distinctive character of her major

work, the Vinayagar Agaval, has forever immortalized this obscure figure as a

poetical giant in Tamil literary history. Widely recited in shrines and temples dedicated to Shri Ganesha, it is also replete with the yogic imagery of the Tamil

Siddhas.

The anklets on the red lotus feet of the cool baby elephant sing many songs.

The golden waist chain and fine skirts resting upon his rainbow waist

beautifully shining. His weighty tusk!

His elephant face and the auspicious orange mark is easy to perceive. Five hands, goad & noose, his body of deep blue has made my breast its home.

His hanging mouth, four sets of shoulders, three eyes, and three musk trails... His two ears, with golden hair shining, and three threads intertwined

upon his glowing breast... He is the true knowledge:

Turiya, the Sleepless Sleep, goes beyond the word's meaning.

Wonder has stood personified as the Wish-fulfilling Tree!

As the Bull Elephant! He who rides the mouse sniffs out the three fruits.

I begged him, "Take me now... as your servant!" He appeared as a mother and showered his grace upon me.

Cleaved from me the confusion that...

"Once born, I shant die."

Thus the pristine and primal letters five shall unite with me.

Shall came and enter my heart. Assuming the Guru's guise and keeping a sacred foot upon this Earth,

he establishes life's meaning.

He joyously bestowed the grace of the Path of No-Suffering.

Wielding his tusk as a weapon, he weeds out the cruel fruits of action.

My ears devour his teaching without ever being filled. He reveals the insatiable Clarity of Wisdom.

The means to master the five senses.

He has sweetly graced me with joyous compassion.

He proclaimed that single thought which shrinks the delusionary power of the

senses.

40

Putting an end to this birth and the next, he has removed darkness, and graced me with all the four stages of mukti [enlightenment].

He cuts off the delusion of the three impurities.

With one mantra he showed how the Nine Openings

and the Five Sense Doors can be shut... This is the Ankusha [elephant-goad] of the six chakras:

Without stopping... Standing firmly...

Let idle chatter be discarded. He announced the letter of the Ida & Pingala and showed that the end of the Circle's Edge is in the head.

The snake hangs on the pillar that is the junction of the three realms. He helped me realize it's tongue.

In the Kundalini one joins the silence... It breaks open... and the mantra that rises up

comes out because of his teaching.

The rising flame, breaking out of Muladhara, is caused to rise by the wind.

Born of the single thought which he has taught. He related...

The state of drinking Amrita, the movements of the Sun,

and the character of the One Who Favors the Lily (the Moon).

He revealed the 8+8 facets of Vishudha Chakra along with all the qualities of my body’s wheels.

He sweetly graced me with the ability to contemplate the six faces gross

and the four faces subtle.

He enabled me to perceive the subtle body,

and gain the darshan of the Eight States.

He has revealed within my mind the Skull's Gate, and given the sweet grace of being established in mukti.

He made me know myself.

He showered me with grace.

He pulled out past karma... by its root. Without a single word or thought my mind is one with him.

He has concentrated my mind, clarified my intellect,

and said, "Light & Darkness share a common place."

He presses me down into the grace giving ecstasy. In my ear he renders limitless bliss.

He has weeded out all difficulty and shown the path of grace. He has revealed Sada Shiva within the sound.

He has revealed the Shiva Lingam within the mind.

And he has revealed that...

41

The smaller than the smallest, the larger that the largest, stands within… like ripe sugarcane.

He made me understand the role of the ash smeared on the brows of the devotees merged in truth, with whom he made me one.

He made both heart and mind achieve the state of knowing

the precious meaning of the Five Letters. Having given to me the True Nature of All Existence...

I am ruled by the wise Vinayagar... at whose feet I take refuge.

42

RAMANA MAHARSHI

In reply to a question from a sannyasi, Ramana Mahrashi made the following statement about samadhi:

1. Holding on to Reality is samadhi.

2. Holding on to samadhi with effort is savikalpa samadhi.

3. Merging in Reality and remaining unaware of the world is nirvikalpa

samadhi.

4. Merging in ignorance and remaining unaware of the world is sleep. 5. Remaining in the primal, pure, natural state without effort is sahaja

nirvikalpa samadhi.

When we have tendencies that we are trying to give up, that is to say

when we are still imperfect and have to make conscious efforts to keep the mind one-pointed or free from thought, the thoughtless state which

we thus attain is nirvikalpa samadhi. When, through practice, we are always in that state, not going into samadhi and coming out again,

that is the sahaja state. In the sahaja state one sees only the Self and

one sees the world as a form assumed by the Self.

On another occasion in reply to the question “What is samadhi?”, he stated:

In yoga the term is used to indicate some kind of trance and there are various kinds of samadhi. But the samadhi I speak to you about

is different. It is sahaja samadhi. In this state you remain calm and

composed during activity. You realise that you are moved by the

deeper self within and are unaffected by what you do or say or think. You have no worries, anxieties or cares, for you realise that there is nothing that belongs to you as ego and that everything is being done

by something with which you are in conscious union.

43

References:

p5: Rizvi (1978):330-331

p6-7: composite translations from Das Gupta (1969)

Shahidullah (1928) Mojumder (1973)

p8: http://www.hubcom.com/tantric

p9: Shah Latif verses from Sorley (1940)

p10: Advani (1971)

p11: first verse: modified translation based on Vanita (1989) and Kolatkar (1989) second verse: Kolatkar (1989)

p12-13: from http://www.bvppune.org/index.html

p26-27: from K.Singh’s translation (1969)

p29: Das Gupta (1969) final verse from Schomer (1987) p30-31: Thiel-Horstmann (1983b)

p32: Das Gupta (1969)

Persian verses from Taher (1997)

p34: Tikku (1971) p35-36: from Chitre’s translation, Says Tuka (1991)

p37-38: translations by A.R.Lakshmanan, from a now defunct Calcutta-based web site.

p39-41: translation by Layne Little http://www.levity.com/alchemy

p42: from ‘Talks with…’

44

Sahaja and the ascending Kundalini: background bibliography

John Noyce June 2002

johnnoyce@hotmail.com

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THE SAINTS OF MAHARASHTRA: A BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHIC SURVEY

John Noyce

In this survey, biographical and bibliographical details are presented for each of the

major Marathi saints of the classical period, which, as previously noted, begins with Jnaneshvara and ends with Tukaram. The lesser-known saints contemporary to

each major saint are also mentioned, particularly where some of their work exists in

English translation. The Muslim saints, of which little is known, are noted, as are

the eighteenth century Pandits. In conclusion we note two later saints from

Maharashtra, Sai Nath of Shirdi, and Her Holiness Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.

JNANESHVARA AND FAMILY

The first, and some say the greatest, of the poet saints of Maharashtra was Jnaneshvara, also known as Jnanadeva(1). Born in AD 1275 in Alandi, near Pune,

this young saint achieved much in his short life taking his eternal samadhi in 1297.

His magnum opus, written when barely fifteen years, is a translation from Sanskrit into Marathi of the Bhagavad Gita together with his own commentary. This

Bhavarthadipika (literally "the light of the meaning of faith"), more widely known

as the Jnaneshvari, is a major work in Marathi literature. After several centuries of

handwritten manuscript copying, the text was revised by Eknath. There are several

English translations of which the 1966 Pradhan/Lambert edition is the best known.

The recently published (1989) Kripananda edition may well become the

authoritative edition(2).

Jnaneshvara's other major work is the Amritanubhava, or "Ambrosial experience",

which narrates the final state of spiritual liberation which can be achieved by an individual in the present life. The Changadeva Pasashti, Jnaneshvara's sixty-five

verse letter to the great siddhi yogi, Changadeva, is often published with the Amritanubhava as in the 1985 edition by R.K.Bhagwat.

Jnaneshvara is best known to Maharashtrans through his abhangas. These are

devotional lyrics in which the innermost feelings of the heart are expressed,

particularly in relation of the soul to God. There are some 1100 abhangas credited to him, of which one tenth are translated by P.V.Bobde in his Garland of Divine

Flowers(1987). There is also the Haripath, a sequence of some twenty-seven four-line

verses of the abhanga type(3).

Jnaneshvara's desire for the spiritual emancipation of the whole world is best expressed in the epilogue to the Jnaneshvari where he requests of the Lord of the

Universe(4):

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Let universal friendship reign among all beings.

Let the darkness of evil disappear. Let the sun of true religion rise in this world.

Let all beings obtain what they desire.

Jnaneshvara had two brothers, Nivrittinath (who had been granted realisation by

the Nath yogi, Gahininatha, and subsequently initiated his younger siblings) and Sopandev, and a sister, Muktabai. Few abhangas have survived for either of the

brothers in Marathi, still less in English(5). The abhangas of Muktabai (literally, "liberated") are remarkable for someone so

young (in her teens). She is best known for her Tatiche Abhanga (Song of the Door)

addressed to her brother Jnaneshvara who had shut himself in a hut, upset after

being abused by a Brahman. This is the first of the eleven verses(6):

Yogis, pure in mind

put up with the people's offences. Cheerfully becoming as water

a saint quenches the world's burning anger. Enduring the onslaught of weaponlike words

the saint treats even these as teachings.

The universe a cloth, Brahma the thread:

Open the door, O Jnaneshvara.

The importance of these young saints to the Marathi tradition cannot be

overestimated. Their near-contemporary, Janabai, expressed this in one of her

abhangas(7):

In 1190 Shalivahan Shak, Nivritti the source of joy was revealed,

In the year ninety three Jnaneshvara was revealed. Sopan was seen in ninety six

and Muktai seen in the year ninety nine.

Jani says these four have won over the whole universe.

NAMDEV AND FELLOW SAINTS

A contemporary of Jnaneshvara, Namdev, was famous for his performance of

kirtans in which he would sing Marathi abhangas praising the Divine. There are

over two thousand Marathi abhangas attributed to Namdev, although some are likely to be the work of a sixteenth century brahmin poet also called Nama. Only a

few are available in English(8).

After returning from an all-India pilgrimage with Namdev, Jnaneshvara took

eternal samadhi, leaving those around him broken-hearted. Namdev composed a

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series of abhangas chronicling the life of his recently departed friend, and then left for North India, reaching the Punjab where he settled and wrote abhangas in a

dialect that is a mixture of Hindi and Punjabi. He was a popular preacher in the Punjab as is testified to by the inclusion of sixty-one of his verses in the Sikh holy

book, the Adi Granth, of which the following is one(9):

Some say He is near, some say He is far,

As if to say the fish in water climbs a date tree. It is all an empty babble.

Whosoever has found Him, has concealed it. The learned scholar praises the Vedas; The ignorant Namdev only knows the Lord.

Namdev's fame in Maharashtra is only partly due to his abhangas. There was a

considerable group of poet-saints that gathered round him. Like Namdev most were from the area surrounding the sacred city of Pandharpur and belong roughly to the

period 1250-1350, with a few from the following century. They came from all strata

of society and number over twenty.

We have already referred to Changadeva, the yogi turned saint, to whom Jnaneshvara addressed his letter known as the Changadeva Pasashti. He gained his

spiritual realisation through Jnaneshvara and Muktabai, the latter becoming his guru. Changadeva's philosophic work, Tattvasara, has not been translated into

English. There are a few abhangas(10).

Parissa Bhagavata was a brahmin of Pandharpur. A parissa is a magic stone which

turns iron into gold. Namdev showed him the fallacy of this materialism and

granted him his spiritual realisation. No abhangas or other writings for this saint

are mentioned in the standard works(11).

Visoba Khechara was a Sivaite (follower of Shiva) who became a disciple of Jnaneshvara, and the guru of Namdev. He is known for a few abhangas, and possibly a Sivaite work known as the Satshala. In an abhanga addressed to Namdev

he says(12):

Meditate on the Supreme Lord... Serve your master, who will impart to you

the secret of the path of true knowledge. Then shall you see the Lord within, and your delusion will vanish.

Within your body is the abode of the Lord, where shines

beautiful light and constantly, day and night, resoundeth "Soham". There you shall meet the Supreme Lord.

Gora the potter-saint tested the spirituality of those who professed to be saints in

Pandharpur, including Namdev who he originally judged to be an unbaked pot (ie.

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not yet spiritually evolved), sending him to Visoba Khechara as mentioned above. A few abhangas have survived(13).

Savatamali was a gardener-saint whose Marathi abhangas are sung to this day by

those who till the soil in Maharashtra. They still await their English translation(14).

Narhari Sonar was a goldsmith in Pandharpur who initially differentiated between

the gods Shiva and Vishnu, but under the guidance of Jnaneshvara and Namdev rose above the relativ ity of duality and merged himself into the infinite Oneness of

the Divine. His Marathi abhangas are still sung throughout Maharashtra. They await English translation(15).

Sena Nhavi was a barber employed by a Muslim king, who, when not needed at the palace, sang bhajans and led kirtans in praise of the Divine. His abhangas have

survived in Marathi and at least one has been translated into English, by the Scottish missionary, Nicol Macnicol(16):

Saints great of heart and kind are ye, Father and mothe rs unto me.

So great the blessings you bestow, How can I praise you, I so low?

For you have saved us, you have showed

To us, dull men, the proper road.

My debt, I, Sena barber, say,

Ah, never, never can I pay.

Chokhamela was of the Mahar caste, the untouchables of Maharashtra. His

abhangas are full of a deep awareness of his low caste. In recent years several

western academics have studied the modern Mahars of Maharashtra, and some

have studied Chokhamela as an early Untouchable. Their academic papers include

English translations of some of the over three hundred surviving abhangas. This translation is by the Marathi scholar S.G.Tulpule(17):

A sugarcane may be crooked, and yet its juice is not crooked.

A bow may be curved, and yet the arrow is not.

A river may have windings, and yet its water is even. So also, Chokha may be a pariah, but his heart is pure.

Jagamitra Naga was a brahmin banker turned beggar who spent his time singing

kirtans praising the Divine. He left many abhangas, none of which have been

translated into English(18).

Kanhopatra was the beautiful daughter of a dancer who came to the attention of a Muslim king. Rather than submit to his desires, she took her eternal samadhi at the

foot of the altar in the temple in Pandharpur. She left some abhangas of which only

a handful have been translated into English. This is her final abhanga(19):

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O Lord of the fallen.

Why do you torment your devotees so? They are O Lord but your other form.

Who else, O Pandarinath, is there to go to?

Alas, who is to blame if the jackal has taken the share of the lion? Kanhoptra says, take me from my body which I offer at Your feet!

Jani, or Janabai, was the maid-servant of Namdev, though treated more like a

daughter, gaining her spiritual realisation from him. As a poetess-saint she is regarded as being second only to Muktabai. Her abhangas have remained popular in Maharashtra, and some have been translated into English. One of Janabai's most

popular verses depicts Lord Vitthal or Vithoba as a loving parent to his devotees(20):

My Vithoba has many children -

a company of children surrounds him.

He has Nivritti sitting on his shoulder, and holds Sopan by the hand.

Jnaneshvara walks ahead, and beautiful Muktai behind. Gora the potter is in his lap, and with him are Chokha and Jiva.

Banka sits on his back, and Namdev holds his finger.

Jani says, look at this Gopal who loves his bhaktas.

THE AGE OF EKNATH

Eknath was a sixteenth century saint from the town of Paithan who took his birth

(1533) in the family of the fifteenth century saint, Bhanudas.

Bhanudas (1448-1513) was a prominent figure in the history of the cult of Pandharpur, having brought back the image of god Vittala from Vijayanagar where

it had been taken by the ruling prince. There are some ninety abhangas ascribed to

Bhanudas, although some are clearly not his. A few have been translated into

English. What little we know of Bhanudas comes, as with so many others, from the

writings of Mahipati. A sample abhanga(21):

As the bumble bee seeks the pollen, as the bee seeks the honey,

So my heart seeks this God, Pandurang.

Says Bhanudas, Take me to Pandhari, and make of me a glad offering to Vithoba.

Janardana Swami was the guru of Eknath. He was a devotee of the god Dattatreya.

He served as fort governor for a Muslim king, being respected by both Hindus and

Muslims for his ability to attend to both spiritual and material matters with

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equanimity. Some of his abhangas have survived, though not in English translation(22).

Eknath is the link in the Maharashtrian religious tradition between Jnaneshvara

and Namdev in the thirteenth century (AD) and Ramdas and Tukaram in the

seventeenth century. He was aware of the work of the earlier saints, writing songs in praise of Jnaneshvara, Nivrittinath, Sopandev and Muktabai; and composing

biographies of Namdev, Gora, Savatamali and Chokhamela. Even more so, he gathered the various versions of the Jnaneshvari extant in the sixteenth century and

edited what he felt to be the authentic version, which has, for the most part, been followed by later scholars(23).

Eknath's other major work is his translation and commentary in Marathi of the eleventh skanda (or part) of the Sanskrit Bhagavata Purana, popularly known as the

Ekanathi Bhagavata. Whilst the full work (of eighteen thousand verses) has not been

translated into English, the twenty-third chapter has been translated by Justin Abbott as Bhikshugita: The Mendicant's Song(24).

Eknath also composed a commentary on the ninth chapter of the second skanda of

the Bhagavata Purana, known as the Chatusloki Bhagavata. His Rukmini-

svayamvara is a poem on the marriage of Rukmini to Lord Krishna based on the narrative in the tenth skanda of the Bhagavata. His unfinished Bhavartha-

Ramayana is a Marathi version of the Valmiki Ramayana(25).

The bharuds are dramatic poems similar to folk-songs but with a double meaning, one secular and the other spiritual. Eknath, a brahmin, used this dramatic form to

present the views of the untouchable Mahars and others lowly placed, often in a

humorous way, to get his message across. This is Eknath as a married woman

addressing the Goddess, Bhawani(26):

Save me now, Mother - I'll offer you bread, Bhawani.

Father-in-law is out of town -

Let him die there.

I'll offer you bread, Mother Bhawani.

Mother-in-law torments me - Kill her off.

I'll offer you bread, Mother Bhawani.

Sister-in-law nags and nags -

Make her a widow. I'll offer you bread, Mother Bhawani.

Her brat cries and cries -

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Give him the itch. I'll offer you bread, Mother Bhawani.

I'll give my husband as a sacrifice!

Free me, Mother!

I'll offer you bread, Mother Bhawani.

Eka-Janardan says, Let them all die!

Let me live alone! The Johar is a type of bharud in which Eknath uses the form of the Mahar

salutation to a village superior(27):

I sweep the four Vedas I collect the rubbish of the six Shastras,

I gather together all the Puranas,

I bring this to the street of the Saints.

Eknath also composed some philosophical works such as the Hastamalaka, the Sukastaka, the Svatmasukha , and the Ananadalahari. He is also said to have written

some four thousand abhangas(28).

Eknath along with four of his contemporaries forms a pentad known traditionally

as the Eknath-pancaka. Of the other four we need only note Dasopant whose voluminous writings are for the most part unpublished, and only his biography, the Dasopant Charita has been translated into English(29). We also need to note

Eknath's grandson, Mukteshvara, whose Marathi poetry is still much admired by

scholars(30).

THE MUSLIM SAINTS OF MAHARASHTRA

Brief mention should be made of the Muslim saints of Maharashtra. Little is known

of this aspect of the Maharashtrian religious tradition. However it is clear that some Muslim Marathas also achieved their union with the Divine, and were accepted as

such by contemporary saints.

Latib Shah was a sixteenth century Muslim who become a follower of the great

Eknath and a fervent devotee of Lord Krishna. His Marathi abhangas have survived but have not been translated into English.

Sheikh Mohammad (1560-1650), a contemporary of Tukaram and Ramdas, is the

best known the Muslim Maharashtran saints, his major work being the Yogasangrama, written in 1645. In his poem, Kavitasangraha, he says of himself(31):

69

Through the grace of (god) Gopala,

I have transgressed all notions of purity and impurity. The jack-fruit has a thorny skin, but inside it

are lumps of sugar.

The bee-hive with all its humming bees contains the very nectar inside.

(So also) Sheikh Mohammed may be an avindha, But in his heart he has the very Govinda.

RAMDAS

Guru Samartha Ramdas devoted his energies to establishing what he called

Maharashstradharma, using religious faith to install a sense of integrity and

greatness in the Maratha people. He became the guru of Shivaji, the founder of the

Maratha empire, who drove the Mughal conquerors from Maharashtra(32).

The Dasbodha is his magnum opus. This huge work of 7752 ovis (verses) is a

compendium of advice for his followers. It has only recently been fully translated into English(33).

The earliest writings of Ramdas are the Karunastakas ("Pathetic verses") which

have not yet appeared in English translation. There is also the Manache Shloka

("Verses addressed to the Mind"), sometimes known as Manobodha, which remains

popular, being sung by the followers of the Ramdasi cult(34).

Of the rest of Ramdas' varied output, there are hymns addressed to Shri Hanuman

(the Bhimarupi stotras), and hundreds of ovis, abhangas, and other Marathi literary

forms, few of which have been translated into English(35).

There are some followers of Ramdas who have left writings, such as Dinkar Gosavi

and the poetess-saint, Venabai(36).

TUKARAM

The Maharashtrian bhakti movement, begun by Jnaneshvara and Namdev, and continued by Eknath, found its culmination in Tukaram. Born in Dehu, near Poona,

in 1598, in a low caste family of grocers, Tukaram's abhangas are known throughout Maharashtra. The Gatha (collection) of his abhangas amounts to over

4600. When the foreign Christian missionaries reached western India in the

nineteenth century, they soon became, aware of the influence of Tukaram on the Maratha population. There are many English translations of Tukaram, mostly by

the missionaries in that peculiar style of English they used based on the English of

the King James Bible. Tukaram has continued to be translated throughout the

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twentieth century. Unlike earlier poet-saints who used the full range of Marathi poetic-expression, Tukaram only composed abhangas to use in his kirtans. There

are no other works credited to him. His death (c.1649) remains a mystery, though it seems likely that he was being poisoned by the local brahmins jealous of his fame

and chose to accept this as his eternal samadhi(37).

Bahinabai (1628-1700) was a disciple of Tukaram whose autobiography has

survived and has been translated into English as have many of her abhangas. Along with Muktabai and Janabai, Bahinabai has been much revered by later generations

of Maharashtrian women. A sample abhanga(38): You cannot buy bhakti in the market-place.

You cannot find it by wandering in the forest. In exchange for bhakti you have to give your heart as its value:

any other consideration is without meaning. Look you, bhakti is not to be found in the home of the learned.

It is not to be found in the palaces of the rich.

Bhakti is not to be sought in the dwellings of kings or their officials.

Says Bahini, in order to acquire bhakti, one must possess the perfect and Right thinking.

THE PANDITS

The Pandits, or poet-scholars, are not regarded as saints, although several wrote

eloquently in praise of the Divine. Perhaps their very erudition prevented them

from achieving their yoga, or union with the Divine. The eighteenth century pandits

such as Sridhar, Moropanta, Waman and the Marathi hagiographer Mahipati, all

left much written material some of which has been translated into English(39).

LATER MAHARASHTRIAN

Although the classical period ends with Tukaram, mention should be made of two later Maharashtran saints.

Sai Nath of Shirdi (died 1918), also known as Sai Baba, tried to unite Hindus and

Muslims(40).

Her Holiness Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi is a contemporary Maharashtrian saint who

has travelled widely in the west spreading the message of self-realisation through Kundalini awakening. Her message is contained in several thousand talks given

since the mid-1970s in English, Marathi and Hindi.

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In this chapter readers have been introduced to those historical figures who traditionally are known as the poet-saints of Maharashtra. What is known today of

these saints has come down to the present day largely through the oral tradition in Maharashtra, mostly being written down in Marathi (in manuscript) in the

eighteenth century by pandits such as Mahipati, and then appearing in print, first in

Marathi and then in English, in the nineteenth century. Consequently there is debate amongst Maharashtrian scholars as to the genuineness of the various texts.

In presenting this chapter the present writer has relied on the English writings of the doyen of Marathi scholars, S.G.Tulpule(41).

REFERENCES:

BCR Bhakti in current research, 1979-1982 Edited by M.Thiel-Horstmann (Berlin,

1983) CML S.G.Tulpule, Classical Marathi literature (Wiesbaden, 1979)

MBM Medieval bhakti movements in India. Edited by N.N.Bhattacharya (New

Delhi, 1989) MM R.G.Ranade, Mysticism in Mahrashtra (Poona, 1933)

MMI S.G.Tulpule, Mysticism in medieval India (Wiesbaden, 1984) PSM Poet saints of Maharashtra series

SIS Stories of Indian Saints. Translation of Mahipati’s Marathi Bhaktivijaya by

J.E.Abbott and N.R.Godbole (Poona, 1933) SOM S.Khanolkar, Saints of Maharashtra (Bombay, 1978)

TWS Ruth Vanita, ‘Three women sants of Maharashtra’ Manushi (Delhi) 1989;

no.50:45-61

1) The variant names are based on three Sanskrit words: Jnana meaning

knowledge, -ishvar, used in the sense of lord, and deva, god. Thus Jnaneshvara, or

Jnanadeva. The Marathi can also be transcribed in roman script as Dnyan, thus Dnyaneshvara, or Dnyandeo; also as Gyan, thus Gyaneshvara, or Gyandeo.

Additionally the ending -vara can also be transcribed as -wara, thus Jnaneshwara,

etc.

2) I have not seen the recent translation by M.R.Yardi (Pune 1991). For Eknath's editing see CML p359.

3) CML p333. For a French translation see L'invocation: le Haripath de Dnyandev

[Edited and translated by] C.Vaudeville (Paris, 1969).

4) CML p333.

5) Ranade notes forty-three abhangas by Nivritti (MM pp166-6,431) and five by

Sopandev (MM pp176,432)

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6) TWS p46. An English edition of Muktabai's abhangas is long overdue. There are eleven abhangas translated in M.Macnicol, editor, Poems by Indian women

(Calcutta, 1923); some others in TWS.

7) TWS p57. The dates are according to the Shalivan calendar (approximately

seventy-eight years different from the modern western calendar).

8) CML pp335-6. A selection is included in J.K.Puri and V.K.Sethi, Saint Namdev

(Punjab, 1978).

9) Ibid p63. For an account of Namdev in the Punjab, and the bibliographic sources, see M.A.Karandikar, Saint Namdev (Bombay, 1985) esp pp6-7.

10) CML p337; SOM pp18-20; MM pp177,432.

11) CML p337; SOM pp46-48.

12) Puri & Sethi, op cit, p5. See also CML pp334,337; SOM pp41-42; MM pp189,202,433.

13) CML pp334,337; SOM pp41-42,68-71; MM pp201-2,433.

14) SOM pp55-57; MM pp202-3,434.

15) SOM pp64-67; MM pp203-4,434. For a pictorial representation of part of the life of Narhari see Amar Chitra Katha no.298.

16) N.Macnicol, Psalms of the Maratha saints (Calcutta, 1919) p55; SOM pp87-89;

CML p337; MM pp207-8.

17) CML p337. See also C.Vaudeville, Cokhamela, an Untouchable saint of Maharashtra, South Asia Digest Regional Writing 1977, v6:60-79; E.Zelliot,

Chokhamela and Eknath: two bhakti modes of legitimacy for modern change, JAAS, 1980, v15:136-156; SOM pp58-63; MM pp204-5,434.

18) SOM pp83-86; CML p337.

19) SOM p92. See also CML p347; MM p208. Tulpule dates Kanhopatra to the mid 15

th century in his 1979 survey (CML p347), but places her as a contemporary of

Namdev in his 1984 study of Indian mysticism (MMI p35).

20) TWS pp47,49; Jiva was a brahman given his realisation by the great north

Indian bhakta saint, Kabir. Banka was the wife of Raka the potter. See SIS v1 pp278-85(Raka, Banka),387-9(Jiva). For Janabai see also SOM pp50-54, CML p337,

TWS pp55-58, MM pp205-7.

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21) Bhanudas, a translation from the Bhaktavijaya by J.E.Abbott (Poona,

1926)(PSM1). The abhangas are refered to in Abbott's introduction, pp8-11 (quoted

verse from p11); also MM p218. For a summary of Bhanudas' life see SOM pp94-98; MM pp213-4.

22) CML pp353-4; SOM pp99-102; MM pp214,218-220.

23) CML p359.

24) As PSM3; see also CML pp354-5; MM pp228-255. 25) CML pp354-6.

26) E.Zelliot, Eknath's bharuds: the sant as link betwen cultures. In: The Sants

(edited by K.Schomer and W.H.McLeod. Delhi, 1987) pp91-109, quotation at pp98-99; also CML pp356-7. For a variant translation see R.W.Crow, The bharuds of the

Marathi sant Eknath (PhD thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1988).

27) Zelliot, Eknath's bharuds, op cit, p104.

28) CML pp357-8; MM pp220-27; Zelliot, op cit, p95. Mahipati presented the biography of Eknath twice, once in the Bhaktalilamrita (PSM2) and later in the

Bhaktavijaya (SIS v2 pp154-88).

29) Dasopant's commentary on the Gita, the Gitarnava, runs to over one hundred

thousand ovis (verses). Tulpule notes that "a sample study has shown that where

Jnanadeva writes five ovis by way of commentary on the Gita, Dasopanta writes about thirteen hundred" (CML p360). For his biography see Dasopanta Digambar:

translation of the Dasopant Charitra by J.E.Abbott (Pune, 1928)(PSM4).

30) CML pp367-71.

31) CML p378; see also SOM pp173-5, and Y.M.Pathan, Contribution of the

Muslim saints of Maharashtra to early devotional literature in Marathi. BCR:295-

300; N.H.Kulkarnee, Medieval Maharashtra and Muslim saint-poets. MBM:198-

231.

32) Much of the relationship between Ramdas and Shivaji is still a matter of controversy. For an understanding of Shivaji and his times see S.Doshi, Shivaji and

facets of Maratha culture (Bombay, 1983). For a historical perspective see

M.G.Ranade, Rise of the Maratha power (Bombay, 1900); also E.E.McDonald, The growth of regional consciousness in Maharashtra. Indian Economic and Social

History Review 1968;5(3):223-243.

33) Dasbodh:an English version [by] W.G.Tambwekar (Bombay, 1992). There are two earlier partial translation/summaries: V.H.Date, Spiritual treasures of

74

St.Ramadasa (Delhi, 1975), Dasabodha: English version [by] V.S.Kanvinde (Nagpur,

1963).

34) CML p395.

35) Several are given in Marathi verse with English summary translation in M.S.Mate, Temples and legends of Maharashtra (Bombay, 1988) especially pp76-

8,100-1,120-1,138-9. For Tulpule's discussion of Ramdas and his writings see CML pp394-400 & MMI pp69-72.

36) CML pp401-2.

37) A view confirmed by the contemporary Maharashtrian saint, Her Holiness Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (unpublished talk). The main sources for Tukaram's

biography are his autobiographic abhangas The Poems of Tukarama translated by

J.Nelson Fraser and K.B.Marathe, v2 (Madras, 1913; reprinted Delhi, 1981) pp5-47), and two works of Mahipati, the Bhaktalilamrita Tukaram, translation from

Mahipati's Bhaktalilamrita chapters 25 to 40 by J.E.Abbott (Poona, 1930)(PSM7)) and the Bhaktavijaya (SIS v2 pp201-94).

38) Bahina Bai: a translation of her autobiography and verses by J.E.Abbott (Poona,

1929 (PSM5); reprinted Delhi, 1985) p120. See also A.Feldhaus, Bahina Bai: wife and saint, JAAR 1982, v50:591-604; TWS pp58-61; CML p393.

39) CML pp406-8(Sridhar),422-6(Moropanta),429-32(Mahipati). Also I.M.P.Raeside, The Panduranga-Mahatmya of Sridhar, BSOAS 1965, v28:81-100;

and S.G.Kanhere, Waman Pandit - scholar and Marathi poet, BSOAS 1926, v4:305-

314.

40) See A.Osborne, The incredible Sai Baba: the life and miracles of a modern-day

saint (Bombay, 1957); K.R.D.Shepherd, Gurus rediscovered: biographies of Sai Baba of Shirdi and Upasni Maharaj of Sakori (Cambridge, 1986). This saint should not be

confused with the present-day fake Sai Baba.

41) Mainly his Classical Marathi literature (Wiesbaden, 1979), supplemented by

others sources as noted in footnotes. His most recent book in English is The Divine Name in the English tradition (Shimla, 1991).

[This is chapter 2 of my Monash MLib thesis, The Poet-Saints of Maharashtra.

Written in 1992 and awarded the degree of Master of Librarianship in 1994]