The Hindu : Dasas' role in fostering Bhakti

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 13, 2002

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - Religion

Dasas' role in fostering Bhakti

CHENNAI SEPT. 13 . Barring exceptional cases, possession of too much wealth, acquisition of extraordinary knowledge and wielding power, will usually result in a person displaying arrogance and intolerance. This attitude will be absent in saintly persons, who, if by an unfortunate circumstance turn proud, will later realise their mistake and repent for their wrong action. But in general all people should display due regard to spiritual leaders and refrain from insulting them or showing any discourtesy to them. There is always the possibility of their getting punished for such misbehaviour.

A scholar once declined the invitation of a saintly person to come to his camp and receive holy water and the food offered to God. He gave the excuse that he was suffering from stomach pain though it was not true. God willed that this man should experience real pain. All his efforts to get cured of it having failed, he sought Divine intervention, went to Mantralaya and prayed to Sri Raghavendra, who in his dream directed him to go back to the saint whom he had earlier insulted and seek his pardon.

The latter godman, popular as a bard spreading the message of God, known as Vijayadasa, asked him to meet one of his ardent disciples, with due instructions. This great devotee prayed to the God of Medicine (Dhanvantri) to relieve the penitent's ailment. The pride of the intellectual vanished and he went about adoring Panduranga Vittala and came to be known as famous Jagannatha Dasa.

To make even lay men approach God, as they could not go through the scriptural texts, a band of bards, known as "Dasas", brought about a change in the society through their songs saturated with Bhakti. Familiar among them are Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa and Jagannatha Dasa, who was initiated by Gopala Dasa, who was the outstanding disciple of Vijaya Dasa, (whom Jagannatha Dasa, before becoming a saint insulted).

All the Dasas extolled Hari and assured people that God will certainly respond to their sincere prayers. In a lecture, Sri Vidyasagara Madhava Theertha Swami mentioned about the numerous devotional compositions of this bard in Kannada, which had the insignia of "Jagannatha Vittala". His outstanding poem with 32 "Sandhis", called "Harikathmritasara", is a valuable treatise on the themes of devotion and practice as expounded by Sri Madhvacharya.

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Solution to puzzle 7466

Dasas' role in fostering Bhakti

dated September 13, 1952: Anti-Apartheid agitation:

dated September 13, 1952: Of music and loudspeakers:

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