Spiritual-Note

Surdas [1478-1581] was born blind to poor parents and because of this he was a victim of neglect and abuse. He left home at the tender age of 6.

The greatest blessing of Surdas’s life came when Sri Vallabhacharya, the celebrated exponent of the Shuddhadvaita, also known as Pushti Marga, accepted him as his disciple. From his teacher he received knowledge of hindu philosophy. He memorized the Srimad Bhagavata and other hymns in Sanskrit.

He portrayed in exquisite poetry the life of Krishna, especially child Krishna, in such vivid detail that he has not been equaled by any saint or poet, not even Kalidasa, in describing childhood. It is one of the marvels in the realms of literature how a blind poet could portray in such meticulous and colourful detail the childhood of Krishna, stage by stage. Krishna’s cutting his first tooth, his uttering of the first word, his taking the first step unaided, are all occasions for Surdas to compose inspired songs which are sung even to this day, in hundreds of homes, by mothers who see child Krishna in their own children.

The love that had been denied to him as a child flows by means of his songs on, the love that was showered on Bala Gopala in Braj by Yashoda, Nandagopa, the Gopis and the Gopas. Surdas never entertained any idea of marriage but saw in Sri Krishna the eternal lover and he portrayed the love between Radha and Krishna as ethereal love-the irresistible attraction the individual soul has for the Oversoul or of the Jivatma for the Paramatma.

His work consists primarily of three major compilations, the Sur-Saravali, the Sahitya-Lahiri and the Sur-Sagar. The Saravali is supposed to have originally one hundred thousand verses but many have been lost forever. It is based on the analogy of the Holi festival, by far the most popular of the festivals of the time, and always associated with Krishna as part of his Divine Play. Apart from being great narrative poetry they are also significant sources of information about the past.

The Sahitya-Lahiri is supposedly a treatise of various forms of poetical composition, dealing primarily with Bhakti.

The Sur-Sagar is his masterpiece, the ‘Oceanic work’ as its name indicates and remains the most influential and important of all his works. It deals with the life of Krishna in detail. His fame was wide spread though he never left his native land, even the Mughal emperor Akbar paid homage to him.

Link: Web Page

Hazrat Tajuddin Baba

Hazrat Tajuddin Baba was one of the five Perfect Masters (Sadgurus) of his Age. Such is the play of nature known as maya (illusion) that this Perfect Master was declared a lunatic and kept in confinement in the Nagpur Lunatic Asylum for more than sixteen years. However, Baba Tajuddin started his divine play from this place and virtually converted the asylum to a place of worship. Baba Tajuddin was born on the 21st of January in the year 1861 at a place called Kamthi situated near Nagpur in the state of Maharashtra.

From the birth itself, there was something unusual about the child, for the new-born baby would not at all cry. He would, at times, open his eyes and look at people and again go to sleep. All normal methods to induce the child to cry having failed, the parents took recourse to a traditional shock method of touching hot iron to the forehead and ear of the child. With the application of this method the child jerked out of its stupor and started crying. The burnt marks thus made on the head and ears of the child remained on his body till the last.

Hazrat Abdulla Shah was guru of Tajuddin Baba. He identified the powers of Tajuddin Baba at a very early age and initiated him into the path of spirituality.

Baba left his mortal body on 17th August 1925 at the age of 64.

Links:

• A web page on Shreeswami.org
• Details of Baba’s life and teaching on Geocities.com

Shri Vasudevanand Saraswathi

Born in 1854 AD, Sri Vasudeva Shastri, who was later to be known to his followers as Shri Vasudevanand Saraswathi, led an ordinary householder’s life before he turned completely to spiritual life. As a householder, he led a rather difficult life, owing to the disputes between his wife and mother. As he turned to spiritual life, he made rapid progress and received direct guidance from Lord Dattatreya. Shri Govind Swami whom he met at Wadi acted as his guide and mentor during these testing times. After his wife’s death, he renounced the worldly life completely and went to Ujjain, where he was initiated into monastic life by Shri Narayananand Saraswati, who also gave him the title of Shri Vasudevanand Saraswati. The Swamiji spent the next 23 years of his life in the service of Lord Dattatreya, traveling to various parts of the country by foot and propagating the Vedic ideals.

Link: Website

Bhagvan Bahubali

Bahubali was the younger son of Lord Rishabha Dev who was the first Jain Tirthankara. Bahubali defeated his elder brother who was puffed up with pride, but at that very moment understood his life’s aim. He gave back the kingdom to his defeated brother and went away to meditate on God. He enriched the lives of his fellowmen with the light he received. The magnificent figure of Gommateshwara at Shravanabelagola in Karnataka State is that of Bahubali.

Main message of Bhagavan Bahubali is:

Happiness through Non-violence
Peace through Renunciation
Progress through Amity
Perfection through Meditation

Link: Web Page

Purandara Dasa

Purandara Dasa was born to a pawnbroker named Varadappa Nayaka. Varadappa Nayaka and his wife Lakshmi Bai had been childless for several years, and finally, after praying to Lord Srinivasa of Tirupati, they became proud parents of a child whom they called Srinivasa. The family are supposed to have hailed from Pandharpur in modern day Maharashtra but Purandara Dasa lived in Hampi during the latter part of his life.

Srinivasa Nayaka grew up and entered his father’s business. However, unlike his father, he was a miser, so much so that it is said that he even balked at spending money on treatment for his father’s illness. His wife Saraswathi bai was the opposite: always wishing to contribute to charity much to the displeasure of her husband.

One day, Lord Vishnu in the guise of a poor priest visited Srinivasa Nayaka’s shop who wanted some alms to perform the thread ceremony for his son. Srinivasa Nayaka, being a miser, asked him to return the following day, and kept the Brahmin coming for another six months. Finally, fed up with the Brahmin’s persistence, he gave him one fake coin that he played with as a child. Vishnu as the priest then told Srinivasa’s wife Saraswathi the pitiful story of how a miserly pawnbroker made him come to his shop every day for six months only to give him a fake coin in the end. Saraswathi’s heart melted and she gave the Brahmin her nose ring as alms (a gift from her parents and thus not something that she got from her husband). The Brahmin promptly took the nose ring back to Srinivasa Nayaka’s shop, where he wanted to pawn it for money. The pawnbroker recognized it, however, so he locked it up in his safe and hurried home. He demanded that Saraswathi produce her nose ring immediately. Struck with fear, Saraswathi locked herself in the kitchen and tried to swallow poison. Miraculously, the nose ring dropped from the heavens into her cup of poison and she was able to produce it for her husband. Upon returning to his shop, he opened the safe, only to find that the nose ring in the safe had vanished. This put his mind into a turmoil. After deep thought, he came to the conclusion that the brahmin was none other than Lord Shri Purandara Vitthala himself. He recalled all the incidents that had transpired in the previous six months. Wonder struck, he was ashamed of his miserliness, Srinivasa Nayaka decided to renounce all material belongings and become a dasa (servant)of god. Thus, Srinivasa Nayaka came to be Purandara Dasa. In gratitude for this event, he would later compose a song dedicated to his wife, for having shown him the path to God. From that day onwards he became a devotee of Shri Hari (Lord Vishnu). The once Navkoti Narayana became a Narayana bhakta, the hands which sported gold and diamond rings now played the tamboora, the neck which used to be resplendent with golden chains now housed the tulasi mala. The man who had turned away countless people away, now himself went around collecting alms and living the life of a mendicant. The Nayaka who would have lived and died an inconsequential life became the Great Purandaradasa, loved and revered even centuries after his death.

Links:

1. Good information about Purandara Dasa on Freeindia.com
2. Good information about life of Purandara Dasa and his literature on Dvaita.org
3. A page on Wikipedia
4. A page on Spiritual-note.com
5. Compositions of Purandara Dasa on www.carnaticmusic.esmartmusic.com