Surdas

One of the great saint-poets of India

Surdas, like Homer, was born blind. He was chief among the eight poets, who were considered reprints of their mas­ter — Vallabhacharya. Hence the name ashtachhapa kavis of the Vallabha Sampradaya. The pa­das composed by the eight poets are sung during darshan of Shrinathji, a form of Krishna, at Nathdvara in modern-day Rajasthan. Krishna is always shown as a seven-year-old boy. Surdas was specially commissioned by Vallabhacharya to cel­ebrate Krishna’s lila in song. It was a Herculean task and Surdas carried out the assignment in all humility. Before starting, Surdas submitted to the acharya that he was not aware of Krishna’s lila, so how was he to carry out his command. Surdas was already versed in the Bhagavata Puran and other shastras. Vallabhacharya enlightened him on Hindu philosophy and God’s lila through discourses. Vallabhacharya administered diksha to Surdas and made him his disciple. The Vallabha Sampradaya, also called Pushti Marga, believes in a personal God and the need to win his grace (pushti). The gopis of Vrindavan are held as an example of this grace. They looked upon Krishna as everything and saw everything in him; where­as jnanis (men of knowledge) see everything in Brahman. The gopis loved Krishna more than anyone else. They left their homes on hearing the melody of his flute; setting aside everything else. This type of devotion is called madhurya bhakti. This is considered to be the highest form of bhakti. One need not be learned in the Vedic lore to acquire this form of devotion. Devotion is everything if one wants to attain the Divine. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita, “If one offers me a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water with devotion, I will accept it.’’

The Vallabha Sampradaya does not subscribe to the theory that the jivas and the world are il­lusory. Its door is open to all, irrespective of caste, creed and gender.

Surdas had a melodious voice. After compos­ing a bhajan each day he would sing it before the murti of Krishna at a mandir in Vrindavan. He is reputed to have composed many thousands of bhajans; only 8,000 of them have come down to us. He wrote the Sur Sagar (the Ocean of Melody), which depicts the childhood pranks and exploits of Krishna. Surdas’s standing among the poets of the Vallabha Sampradaya was such that the founding acharya called him the ‘Ocean of Devotion’ and his son, Vithalnathji, named him the ‘Ship of Pushti Marga’. Before meet­ing the acharya, Surdas used to sing devotional songs on Gau Ghat. He had also spent some time in the company of sadhus in Runakta but found it distracting as it was interfering with his devotion.

Surdas means ‘Humble Servant of Melody’. He was born in Sihi, near Delhi, in 1479 in a poor Brahmin family in modern-day Haryana and spent most of his life in Braj bhoomi (Mathura- Vrindavan). Because of his blindness, the saint was neglected from childhood by his father and other members of the family. This attitude had sown in his mind a feeling of detachment. One day, he left home and began to live under a pipal tree outside his village Sihi. Surdas was six years old when he left home.

UNIQUE FACULTY

The boy was gifted with a unique faculty. He could interpret omens and also help people in recovering things they had lost. His father, who used to act as a priest, was given two gold coins for performing a ritual, which some rats carried away at night. When his father was searching for them, Surdas led him to the place where the rats had hidden them. Similarly, he once helped a rich landlord find his missing cow. Out of gratitude, the landlord got a hut built for him. Surdas felt disturbed as his services were much in demand and people would crowd around him. He left the village to be away from such consultation as he felt it was coming in the way of his devo­tions. He also spent some time in Runakta. These uncertain activities continued till he ran into Vallabhacharya at Gau Ghat. After this meeting a transformation came about in Surdas’s life. He became a follower of the Vallabha Sampradaya and a fulltime poet-composer to highlight Krishna’s exploits. The acharya appointed him as musician of the Srinath Mandir in Gokul, where the poet started spending a major portion of his life. Several stories are current about the poet’s devotion to Krishna.

Once, Surdas fell into a well. He earnestly prayed to Krishna for help, and he got him out. At that time Radha was also by Krishna’s side. Surdas grasped her anklets. She declared she was Radha and requested him to let go of her anklets. The poet-saint said that he being blind could not ascertain the truth of her identity. So, Krishna blessed him with vision and he had the darshan of both of them. After that Krishna asked Surdas to seek a boon. Surdas reportedly told Krishna that he would prefer to remain blind as he did not wish to see anything else with those eyes that had had the darshan of Krishna.

Another famous episode narrated about the blind saint-poet was about his ability to describe the murti of Krishna as it was. Vithalnathji, the son of Vallabhacharya, wanted to test him. He asked his son, Giridharlalji to dress Krishna only in a garland of pearls. The saint-poet burst out laughing on ‘seeing’ the murti of Krishna bereft of clothing. He started singing. The purport of the bhajan is as follows:

See the Lord (Hari) is stark naked,
He looks beautiful in every limb,
Clothed in pearls,
His nakedness adds to the beauty in every limb,
Surdas joins the maidens of Vraj in the laughter.

After this incident, everybody was convinced of his unique ability to see his beloved Lord even without eyesight.

The ashtachhapa poets were supposed to be the companions of Krishna in their past exist­ence. Akrura, who was reborn as Surdas, had incurred the wrath of Krishna for impersonating him. He had done it to help Satyabhama who felt neglected, as Krishna was showing more at­tention to Rukmini. She threatened suicide if her Lord did not come to her and then she became unconscious. Akrura was distressed at the turn of events and wanted to save Satyabhama at any cost. He took Krishna’s form and announced to Satyabhama that Krishna had come. On hearing his name she regained consciousness. But Krishna was not amused. As a result of Krishna’s curse, Akrura had to take birth as the blind poet. Satyabhama was also cursed and was born as a servant maid.

Surdas’s meeting with Akbar, the Mughal em­peror, came about in a fortuitous manner. The emperor praised Tansen for his skill as a musi­cian. He wondered if there was anyone who sur­passed him at singing. Tansen mentioned Surdas’s name. A meeting was arranged and Surdas be­came a favorite of Akbar. It is worth noting here that Akbar did not pester Surdas to sing his praises. Only once he issued that command and Surdas sang in praise of Krishna. The song im­pressed Akbar.

Surdas suffered a serious illness at the age of 103, and two years later he passed away in 1584 CE to attain the divine abode of Shri Krishna.

Surdas raised the status of Hindi by writing a religious book in Hindi. Before this, most of the books on religious topics used to be written in Sanskrit. His Sur Sagar is the Bhagvat Puran in Braj language. It celebrates the exploits of Bal Krishna and highlights his lila.

Besides Sur Sagar, the poet wrote Sur Saravali, Sahitya Lahiri and Nala Damayanti.

Swaminarayan Bliss | Jan / Feb 2014