Shri Guru Rohidas Maharaj was a North Indian Sant mystic of the bhakti movement who was active in the 15th century CE. Venerated in the region of Uttar Pradesh as well as the Indian state of Maharashtra , his devotional songs and verses made a lasting impact upon the bhakti movement. He is often given the honorific “Bhagat” or “Sant”. Guru Ravidass was also founder of theRavidassia Religion. He was a suave socio-religious reformer, a thinker, a theosophist, a humanist, a poet, a traveller, a pacifist and above all a towering spiritual figure before whom even head-priests of Benaras lay prostrate to pay homage. He was a shoemaker of the Chamar caste Kutbandhla. All of his devotional songs were included in the Sikh holy book, the Adi Granth, by the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan Dev . There is also a larger body of hymns passed on independently that is claimed and attributed to ravidas by some. Ravidas was subversive in that his devotionalism implied a levelling of the social divisions of caste and gender, yet ecumenical in that it tended to promote crossing of sectarian divides in the name of a higher spiritual unity. He taught that one is distinguished not by one’s caste (jāti) but by one’s actions (karma) and that every person has the right to worship God and read holy texts. He opened a frontal attack against the system of Untouchability. He rejected the tradition of Brahmin mediator to reach the Supreme Being. He also said that one need not to hide his caste or leave his low profession to reach God. He became a model for his fellow beings to overcome the hierarchical barriers of Brahminical Social Order and to establishBegumpura – a state without fear and sorrows. Guru Ravidass elevated the status of the labour by emphasizing on the fact that honest labour is empowering.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 10:15:12 +0000
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