One day, a desire welled up in my mind, I ground up sandalwood, along with several fragment oils, I went to the temple, to worship Him there. Then my Guru showed me brahman (the supreme being) within my heart,” writes Bhagat Ramananda. The creator resides not in any place or structure but resides within one’s own self as says Bhagat Ramananda, the founder of sant-tradition. Though Ramananda accepted the existence of the supreme being as with attributes (sarguna) and without attributes (nirguna), he firmly believed that austerity, penance and meaningless rituals are useless if the heart is devoid of love and devotion. No wonder, Bhagat Ramananda exclaims, “where should I go? I am happy at home. My heart will not go with me. My mind has become crippled.”
Ramananda, a fourteenth century Vaishnava devotional poet sant, was born in 1366 in Allahabad. The child of Sushila Devi and Punyasadan Sharma, he was attracted to spiritualism at a very young age. He received his initial education in Kashi and became a disciple of Raghavananda, a great scholar of his time and the fourth acharya in the line of Ramanujam.
Ramananada was a man of liberal views and he did not agree with his guru on the issue of “caste”. Raghavananda was not in favour of admitting everyone into his cult but Ramananda, born in a Kanyakubaj brahmin family, believed that caste did not matter in the path of salvation and everyone was entitled to perform prayers. “Wherever I go, I find only water and stones, But brahmin (the supreme being) is in everything. I have searched through all the Vedas and the Puranas, You go there, only if brahmin were not here,” writes bhagat Ramananda.
He attracted followers from all castes and religions when he started preaching gospel in Kashi. Birth, family, gender-nothing was given any importance except devotion. He was a social reformer who refused to discriminate among the followers in the path of highest truth. He rightly says, “Let no one ask a man’s caste or with whom he eats. If a man is devoted to Hari, he becomes Hari’s own.”
Bhagat Ramananda founded a Ramanandi Sampradaya, the ascetic community in India and his followers were known as Ramanandis or Bairagis, who led a highly disciplined life. His message of love, equality and devotion was spread by his disciples which included people of all casts and creeds, and even women. Some of the prominent followers of Bhagat Ramananda are Kabir (weaver), Ravidas (leather worker), Sain (barber), Dhanna (Jat peasant), Sursura, the wife of Sursura, Padmavati and many others.
Ramananda criticised observances of rituals, especially when heart is devoid of love and pure conduct. God does not discriminate so why should we? He says, “I am a sacrifice to you, O my true guru. You have cut through all my confusion and doubt. Ramananda’s Lord is the all pervading brahman. The word of the guru ends millions of karma.” Bhagat Ramananda was not only a saint but a poet also. He has written a number of devotional poems and instead of Sanskrit, he preferred to use vernacular language to connect with the people. His one verse, highlighting the nirakar, supreme being without attributes and form, is included in the Guru Granth Sahib. Bhagat Ramananda is regarded not only a founder of the Bhakti Movement but also a link between the North and South Bhakti Movements.
