Sant Ravidas Ki Pothi: The President addressed the ‘Shri Guru Ravidas Vishva Mahapeeth Rashtriya Adhiveshan-2021’ in New Delhi appreciating the steps taken by Sant Ravidas for the welfare of the entire humanity.
Analysis of Sant Ravidas Ki Pothi
- Sant Ravidas was a 14th-century saint and founder of the Bhakti movement in North India. The devotional songs of Ravidas made a lasting impact upon the bhakti movement.
- He is venerated as a guru (teacher) in the regions of Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh
- Lakhs of people converge at Shri Guru Ravidas Janam Asthan Mandir, Seer Goverdhanpur in Varanasi to celebrate his anniversary.
- Ravidas was one of the disciples of the bhakti saint-poet Ramananda.
- Ravidas spoke against social divisions of caste and gender, and promoted unity in the pursuit of personal spiritual freedoms.
- The devotional songs of Ravidas have been included inAdi Granth of Sikhs.
- Guru Granth Sahib: Adi Granth was further expanded in 1678 under the 10th guru Guru Gobind Singh. It is of great regard to the Sikhs. It is regarded as the 11th and final spiritual authority of the Sikhs.
- It is written in Gurmukhi script and is in a language called ‘Sant Bhasha’.
- The book also contains the teachings of Bhakti saints, called ‘Bhagats’ like Ramananda, Namdev, Ravidas, Parmanand, Sain, Surdas, etc. and two Muslim Bhagats- Kabir and Baba Farid.
- The Panch Vani text of the Dadupanthi tradition within Hinduism also includes numerous poems of Ravidas.
- Ravidas’s gave the concept of “Begampura”,a city that knows no sorrow; and a society where caste and class have ceased to matter.
- One of his famous disciples was the saint Mirabai.
- Guru Ravidas spoke against the caste divisions and spoke of removing them to promote unity.
- His teachings resonated with the people, leading to a religion being born called the Ravidassia religion or Ravidassia Dharambased on his teachings.
- He taught about the omnipresence of God and said that a human soul is a particle of God
- He rejected the idea that people considered lower caste cannot meet God.
- He taught that only way to meet God was to free the mind from duality.