During the time of Guru Srimanta
Sankaradeva the human society was divided on the basis of caste and creed. Mankind
was divided into four varnas (or castes):
Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. Ancient Hindu texts suggest
caste system was not rigid. There are examples of men born to families
belonging to various castes and later with the help of devotion becoming
maharishis. This flexibility permitted lower cast Valmiki who was a Shudra by
birth becomes Maharishi and composed the Holy Ramayana. However, with the
passes of time, those in the privileged position, for their own selfish
motives, made the caste system rigid and then the caste of a person was
determined by his birth, not by his occupation. This means that a person’s
social status was obligated to which caste they were born into. Although this
or other forms of differentiation exist in all human societies, however, it
becomes a problem when such narrow minded caste system becomes the sole basis
of systematic ranking and unequal access to valued resources like wealth,
income, education, power and prestige. The Brahmans, usually priests, were at
the top. The next were the Kshatriyas, or political rulers and soldiers. The
Kshatriyas were followed by the Vaishyas, or merchants, and the fourth were the
Shudras, who were usually laborers, peasants, artisans, craftsman, and
servants. There were limits on interaction and behavior of people belonging to
one caste with people from another caste.
The Priests (Brahmans) and warriors
(Kshatriyas) were said to be “better” than or “superior” to the other castes,
and in general the Brahmans and Kshatriyas were regarded as united into a
ruling class. But although the Brahmans and Kshatriyas together proclaimed to
be superior to the commoners, the Brahmans never hesitated to declare their own
caste as higher than the Kshatriyas. The Vaishya’s duty was to ensure the
community’s prosperity through agriculture, cattle rearing and trade. The
Vaishyas were considered inferior to the Brahmins and Kshatriyas and expected
to be weak in comparison to their rulers, and were infinitely exploitable and
regenerative. These oppressions however, were usually not boycotted because
this was presented as a natural state of affairs in the social real. Later, the
Shudras took over agriculture and cattle rearing while the Vaishyas became
traders and merchants. Then Shudras, who were usually laborers, peasants,
artisans, craftsman and servants, were thought to not have any special
abilities and were considered only capable of serving as slaves to the upper
three class. Shudras enjoyed no rights or privileges, and were not permitted to
perform any prayer, read or learn the Vedas or recite the mantras (prayer
rituals). They were also not allowed to enter temples and could only serve the
upper three castes as a slave, barber, blacksmith or cobbler (Gurjari). The
upper castes started to almost exploit the lower castes for their own profit.
Financially, the upper castes become richer and the lower castes become poorer
day by day.
At that time, education and schooling
was also reserved only for the upper castes, especially the Brahmins. Moreover,
education and schooling was very costly. Thus, at any cost, the commoners could
not afford education. Paper was not yet discovered by mankind. People used to
write on leaves and on the bark of tree, in Assamese language we call it “hasi
pat”. Also the books written in “hasi pat” (bark of tree) were very few in numbers.
Books were not easily available even to the educated people. The schools were
run by Brahmins. However, in some of the schools like the school of the great Guru
Mahendra Kandali, which was located at Rampur (in Nagaon district of Assam,
India), the guru admit all the upper caste children. That means, the children
belonging to Brahman and Kayastha families. Still education was a dream for the
rest of the people. Even if the guru want to offer free education to all,
irrespective of their caste and creed, it was still not possible to educate all
because the cost of stationery were too high and needed to be incurred by the
student. As a result, a majority of the people were illiterate. Education and knowledge
(”Gyan”) became limited only to a few number of people. Through education we
acquire knowledge. In the life of a man, knowledge is like the Sun. Without knowledge a man becomes ignorant. It is knowledge
(“gyan”) that makes us a human. Humanity and morality is lost when people
lack knowledge. Even to know God one needs knowledge. So, with majority of the
people being illiterate, the knowledge and morality was lost. The people
belonging to the lower castes were fooled in the name of religion, in the name
of God. People were made to do many wrong things and perform many rituals which
were actually designed for the profit of those in a privileged position. The
path of righteousness was lost. Thus, the path of enlightenment and the path of
realizing the Gracious Almighty were lost. Unity among the people was lost. The
people become cruel and unjust. People lacked knowledge and become
superstitious. Ultimately, the people were in misery. At such a time, to save
the people from being fooled, to put an end to the sufferings of the people, to
tie mankind with the thread of unity, for the upliftment of the poor, for the
well being of mankind, to protect righteousness, to pave the path of
enlightenment, to reveal the true meaning of the Vedas, to insert the supremacy
of the Holy Bhagavata Purana and the sacred Srimad Bhagavata Gita, to show the
path of Loving Devotion (prema-bhakti), to spread the Holy name and virtue of
Lord Krishna, to establish the Bhagavata dharma, the Supreme Lord incarnated as
Srimanta Sankaradeva.
The world is full of misery. Desire is
the root of all miseries. Desire leads to anger, hatred and jealousy, which are
all the enemies of one’s own self. Anger is a fire inside us and before this
fire could destroy someone else, it would first destroy us. Now, the main
question is could anybody give up desire? Answer is “No”. We are human beings
and we are always seeking pleasure. Today, (in this Kali age) human beings
don’t have any control over their senses. Everybody wants to satisfy their
senses at any cost. Human beings are greedy and are full of pride. But some
wise man had said that the pride of goodness is the root of evil. One’s pride
in intellect prevents absorption of the words of the sastras and saints into
the inner faculty. The sole objective of human life is to realize the Supreme
and Gracious Lord Krishna, and to make use of this precious human life for the upliftment of one’s own self. God could be realized only and only through
devotion. But where there is pride of class, devotion is difficult because
devotion is through the self, not through the body. And class and caste belongs
to the body and not to the self. So, in such a situation, to end the worldly
sufferings, to spread the supreme knowledge among all, the Guru Srimanta
Sankaradeva decided to impart the knowledge of the Holly Bhagavata Purana and Srimad
Bhagavata Gita. He decided to establish the Bhagavata dharma.
In this Kali age, the sinners could
get purified only and only through Sravana and Kirttana of the Holy names and
virtues of the Supreme Lord Krishna (sravana means listening to the Holy names
and virtue of Lord Krishna and Kirttana means singing/reading the same). Hari’s
name is the greatest friend of man. Whoever utters the same, surely his seven
deeds are performed. Now, let us take note of these seven deeds:
- First, Hari’s name burns up all the sins
- It creates virtue in great abundance,
- It makes one detached from earthly matters,
- It helps attain loving devotion at Krishna’s Lotus Feet,
- It helps attain supreme Vaishnavite wisdom,
- It leads to the burning of all illusions,
- Finally, with supremely conscious and blissful Hari’s image, Hari’s name would unite the devotee in the final stage.
The person who sings Hari’s name
surely gets salvation, being free from other offences.
The people in the Kali age would
indulge in sins. And since the people would be very sinful they have no right
over anything. Except Hari’s name, there is no other means that could rescue
the people and end their sufferings. Hari’s name is the sole rescue. In the
path of devotion (bhakti), one need not have to be a deva, dvija, a sage, one
need not have to be of a pure mind and heart, one need not have to perform any
sacrifice, penance or ritual, Hari is satisfied only and only in loving
devotion. Hari is the father of all, He is all merciful, God Supreme. Even the most
sinful and degenerate person gets redeemed from all the sins if he takes refuge
at Hari’s feet.
In Satya, Treta, and Dwapara age, the
people had to make a lot of effort to get the meditation, sacrificial
ceremonies and worship done. And to perform these one requires a lot of virtue,
patience, hard work, purity of heart and mind, wealth and so on. However, even
if they get these rituals done, they rarely get the opportunity to become a
devotee of Supreme Lord Hari. Also, the result of all such performance was only
heavenly pleasure, wealth and prosperity, which were all perishable. Even if one attains the heaven, there too
their fear and misery doesn’t end. Thus, we could say that there was no end to
misery. There was no way to attain salvation; there was no way to attain the
Gracious Lord Krishna. Today, although Kali age is the epitome of all evil,
becoming a devotee of Krishna become very easy and simple, and Sravana and
Kirttana alone makes a person a devotee of Lord Almighty Krishna. Thus, by
chanting and listening to the Holy name of Hari one could realize one’s own
self and serving the illusory ties one gets identified with Hari. Chanting the
Holy name alone helps one cross the world.
To impart the supreme knowledge and to
end the miseries of the sinful man, the Guru, Srimanta Sankaradeva faced a lot
of hardship. The difficulties faced by the Guru while working for the well being of mankind and the upliftment of the downtrodden and deprived sections of the society could not be expressed in words. To rescue the people
from their worldly sufferings and to pave the path of enlightenment, to pave
the path of salvation, and to establish the great Bhagavata Dharma, the Guru
needs to inspire loving devotion (bhakti) at the Lotus Feet of Sri Hari, and to
achieve this He need to impart the teachings of the Holy Bhagavata Purana and
Srimad Bhagavata Gita to the people. Now, one of the major challenges was the
illiteracy rate in the society. A majority of the people were illiterate.
Another problem was that the sastras were available only in the Sanskrit
language. Sanskrit was not a spoken language. It was used only by the Brahmins
and the literate people like the Kayasthas. For the rest of the people,
Sanskrit was a language of the Devas. So, the sastras must have to be
translated into a language understood by the common people. After translating
the sastras, the teachings must have to be narrated to the people. Moreover, the copies of the sastras were very few in number and were not easily available. Thus, it was
not an easy task to impart the divine knowledge to the messes when the people
were mostly illiterate, poor and busy in earning two meals a day. To impart the
supreme knowledge from the Holy Srimad Bhagavata Purana and Srimad Bhagavata
Gita equally to all the sections of the society the Guru translated the sastras
in Sanskrit into a language understood by the common people and authored many
sacred books, and wrote many songs and dramas. Since the people were mostly
illiterate, the Guru composed songs from the lessons of the Holy Bhagavata
Purana and Srimad Bhagavata Gita and sang the same in a melodious voice, so
that the people could listen to the songs, enjoy the songs and most
importantly, gain the knowledge from the songs. The Guru also wrote many dramas
like the “ankia-nat” and these dramas too contain the lessons of the Holy
Bhagavata Purana. Thus, the teachings from the holy sastras were presented in a
very artistic way to the people in an easily accessible, immediate, and
enjoyable manner. And the Guru, Srimanta Sankaradeva spread the Holy name and virtues
of Lord Almighty Krishna and the supreme knowledge of the Holy Srimad Bhagavata
Purana and Srimad Bhagavata Gita among the messes. The knowledge which was not
easily available even to the Devas and Maharishis in the Satya age was now
available to all. With the blessings of Guru Srimanta Sankara, that supreme
knowledge which Lord Sri Krishna imparted to Arjuna in the battle of
Kurukshetra, was made known to all. It was the knowledge supreme, knowing which
one could easily and very quickly get rid of all the worldly sufferings, attain
perpetual bliss, and get salvation. It fulfills all the desires. This knowledge
leads to the realization of Sri Hari. Knowing this knowledge one gets freedom
from the circle of birth and death and departs to Vaikuntha (the supreme abode of Lord Krishna). The Knowledge and the sastras, which were earlier confined only to the upper
castes and the learned people, were now available to all, even to the illiterate
people.
The Guru Srimanta Sankaradeva imparted
the Supreme knowledge to all. He tied the society with the thread of
brotherhood and unity, and spread the message of love, devotion and compassion. He established equality among the people. He burnt like a lamp of knowledge and dispelled the darkness born of ignorance. He was an incarnation of Lord
Sri Krishna. However, instead of calling him God we call Him “The Guru” because
He came in the form of a guru, and only with the blessings of the guru one
could gain knowledge, and attain Sri Hari.
"Srimanta Sankara Hari Bhakatara
Jānā yena kalpataru
Tāhānta bināi nāi nāi nāi
Āmāra parama Guru ." 375(Naam Ghukha)
Know ye that Srimanta Sankaradeva is like the wish-yielding tree (kalpataru) of all the devotees of Hari. Be triple sure that there is no (other) Guru than Sankaradeva himself.
