|
“Madhuradwait” was the
new school of thought introduced by him. The people well versed
in Vedanta know that ‘adwaita’ (non-dualism) philosophy of
Vedanta do not accept any name and form visible or non-visible
that could be different from God (soul, Atma or Brahma). Vedanta
very explicitly proclaims, “When everything has become
one-soul, where is any other thing to smell ? who will see whom
? who will listen to whom ? who will talk to whom ? where is any
other thing to think about ? who will know whom ? How to know
him who knows everything ?” (Asy sarva atmaivabhuta, tat
ken kam jighnet ? , tat ken kam pashyet ?.. ………
brihadaranyaka). “What exists is only one thing i.e.
Brahma and what we see and experience as world is illusionary”
is the teachings of “adwaita”. Madhura Bhakti is
the devotional love for lord Krishna. In Vedanta all the
three words viz. devotee, devotion and deity are not different
from each other where as in Madhura Bhakti one has to be a deity
and other a devotee.
Adwaita do not recognize Bhakti at all.
Probably the great saint who possessed the eternal knowledge
since childhood by dint of providence due to his past karma, had
advocated Madhurabhakti for the “after-attaining-knowledge”
stage to his disciple.
His full name was Gulab Gundoji Mohod. He was born on July
6, 1881 in a small village named Madhan in Amravati district in
Maharashtra and died merely at the age of 34 i.e. in the
year 1915. Though he had lost his eyesight at the early
age, he wrote about 133 books on various subjects containing
more than 6000 pages, 130 commentaries and about 25,000 stanza
in poetry. His mother died in the year 1885 when he was four
years old. He then stayed at the house of his maternal
grand mother at the place known as Loni Takli for about 6 years.
In this period people came to know about his extra ordinary
intelligence and his “brain-sight” though he had lost his
eye-sight. There was a community well in front of the
house where he stayed and the women from the village would come
to well for water. Small Gulab would call them all by their
names, and the women would be wonderstruck and would think
as to how the blind boy came to know about their individual
names ? He was found many times in deep samadhi stage in the
night. Initially his grand mother and others
were frightened to see Gulabrao sitting in Yoga position with is
respiration stopped completely. However, some elderly and
wise men understood the conditions of Gulabrao and asked
his relatives to refrain from disturbing him during samadhi.
He very much liked the holy songs(Bhajans), holy verses (Slokas)
and reading the occult books. He would ask his
friends to read the books and would repeat the contents
immediately as was heard by him. He had extra ordinary
memory. He knew all the Vedas and Shastras at the age of ten
years.
He was married to Mankarnika,
daughter of Ganaji Bhuyar a farmer in nearby village in
the year 1896. He started writing essays and poetry on the
religious philosophy since 1897. i.e. from his age of sixteen.
Since then he would visit the nearby cities, villages and towns
and meet the people to discuss on the various topics of
religion. This is incredible but true that in the year
1901 the great saint of 12th century Sant Dnyneshwar
Maharaj met Gulabrao and accepted him as his disciple.
Sant Gulabrao Maharaj would call
himself to be a daughter of Sant Dnyneshwara and wife of
Lord Krishna. He married to lord Krishna in the year 1905.
He used to put on the dress and the ornaments like woman.
He would lay kumkum ( a red spot) on his forehead and put on
managalsutra ( a golden chain with black beads) around his
neck which are usually worn by the Hindu married
women.
In the year 1902 when he was 21, he wrote the commentary on the
theories of Darwin and Spencer. He had written books on
various subjects like dhnyan, yoga and bhakti and written
commentaries on ancient treatises. He wrote on the “Manas
Ayurveda”, i.e. psychological part in the Ayurveda. He
had given valuable guidelines to those who want to attain the
salvation and gain the eternal knowledge. It is beyond
one’s imagination that a blind man could write on the subjects
like Yoga, Upanishads and Brahmasutras and many occult sciences
which are difficult subjects to understand even by the highly
educated and intelligent persons. When he found time to
study these sciences ? How he received old treatises and from
whom ? Who explained him the secret meanings of the Sanskrit
verses ? Many questions like these arise in the mind
when one reads his biography and the books written by him.
His style of writing is of his own and he has put forth his own
views absolutely keeping the Vedic discipline. He has
boldly revealed many secrets of the Hindu religious sciences
which are not generally made public by the saints.
Though belonged to Sudra
class (Kunabi Caste) most of his disciples were Brahmin Pundits.
He was openly telling people that he had no right to study the
Vedas according to old traditions, but he knew Vedas without
studying them and since he knew the “Atmadhnyan”
(knowledge of self-realization) he was not bound by many old
rules. He used to respect Vedas, Brahmins and the guidance
received from great wealth of old Indian religious treatises.
He was straight forward and would
defeat many Pundits and Intelligent people in the debate on the
Shastras (sciences).
It is generally found in India
that the great persons who really had lived only for the cause
of welfare of mankind were truly recognized by the people after
their death only. Samartha Satguru Padnychakshu
Madhuradwaitacharya Saint Gulabrao Maharaj is becoming more and
more popular after his Samadhi on 20th September 1915.
His many disciples attained the knowledge of self-realization
and are known in the public as the great saints. His main
disciple, Baba Maharaj Pundit (death 1964) who wrote many
books was recognized as a great intellectual, and saint.
His commentary on “Bhavartha Deepika” written by
Dnyaneshwara Maharaj is published by Geeta Press, Gorakhpur.
The great saints like Gulabrao
Maharaj guide the people even after their death by volumes
of knowledge written by them.
(Courtesy: sugway.com)
TOP
|
