Bhagat Ravidass

Guru Ravidass ji Maharaj was the founder of Ravidassia Community. His teachings are documented in the Holy book of Sikhs Shree Guru Garanth Sahib ji. He was born in 1376 AD in Kanshi, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.

He was a chamar, meaning his profession was dealing with leather business. He was a born genius. From early childhood he observed the society closely. He noted that at the time the religion and caste system was at its height. The main religion was Hinduism, that was divided into 4 main castes - Brahmins, Kashtrias, Vaisias and Shudras. The Shudras were the lowest caste and were treated badly. He grew up in a caste that was exploited by other castes. Shudras were treated badly, ignoring their basic human rights, their children were not allowed to go to school, Shudras were barred from entering religious places. He was frustrated to see the people behaving in an inhuman way. He rebelled against the false rules and decided to fight for human rights. He preached against these and made his own group. He traveled to far away places learning and preaching to people. A lot of people understood him and decided to follow his path. They started to write about the wrongs at the time. During his traveling he met very famous people, poets, kings, queens and leaders. Ravidas, poet and mystic, was born to Raghu and Ghurbinia, who lived near the city of Varanasi. Not much biographical information about him is available, but, from what can be made out of his own compositions, he belonged to a low-caste family. He followed the family profession of tanning hides and making shoes. Gradually he started spending most of his time in the company of saints and Sadhus and built himself a thatched hut wherein he received and entertained wandering ascetics. Many stories became current about his simplicity and piety of nature.

He became famous as a vaisnava saint in the tradition of Ramanand. In the course of his spiritual quest, he reached a stage when he discarded images and idols and turned to the worship of the one supreme being. He wrote deeply impassioned devotional verses and left his mark on Braj Bhasha literature for the fusion of religious sentiment with the vernacular medium. Forty of his hymns have been incorporated in the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. He travelled fairly widely and visited Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhdra Pradesh, Maharashtra besides a number of places in the northern India such as Prayab, Mathura, Vrindavan Haridvar, Gurgaon and Multan. At most of these places , there are monuments honouring his memory. In his lifetime, he had thousands of followers, including members of High Castes, among them being Mirabai, the Rajput princess. They hymns Ravidas included in the Guru Granth Sahib fall under Raga - Siri(1), Gauri (5), Asa(6), Gujari(1), Sorathi(7), Dhanasari(3), Jaitsari(1),Suhi(3), Bilaval(2),Gaund(2),Ramkali(1),Maru(2),Kedara(1),Bhairau(1),Basant(1), and Malhar. One of the hymns in raga Maru is the same (with a few minor changes) as included in raga Sorathi.

Ravidas acknowledged the unicity and imnopresence and omnipotence of God. According to him human soul is only a particle of the Divine; the different between the two is like the difference between Gold and the ornament, the water and the wave (GG,, 93). He rejects distinctions between man and man on the basis of caste or creed, for, as he says, in the world beyond no such differentiations will be acknowledges( GG, 345). To realize God, which is the ultimate end of human life, man should concentrate on His/Her name, giving up mere forms and ritualism (GG, 658, 1106). Birth in a low caste is no hindrance in the way to spiritual development. The only condition required is freedom from duality; all else including pilgrimage to and bathing in the sixty-eight centres is in vain (GG, 875).

Harbans Singh "The encyclopedia of Sikhism