17 Facts About Bhagat Ravidas

Bhagat Ravidas, or Raidas, was an Indian mystic poet-saint of the bhakti movement during the 15th to 16th century CE.

Bhagat Ravidas taught removal of social divisions of caste and gender, and promoted unity in the pursuit of personal spiritual freedom.

Bhagat Ravidas is the central figure within the Ravidassia religious movement.

Bhagat Ravidas was born in the village of Sir Gobardhan, near Varanasi in what is Uttar Pradesh, India.

Bhagat Ravidas's birthplace is known as Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan.

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Medieval era texts, such as the Bhaktamal suggest that Guru Bhagat Ravidas was the disciple of the Brahmin bhakti-poet Ramananda.

However, the medieval text titled Ratnavali says Guru Bhagat Ravidas gained his spiritual knowledge from Ramananda and was a follower of the Ramanandi Sampradaya tradition.

Bhagat Ravidas travelled extensively, visiting Hindu pilgrimage sites in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and those in the Himalayas.

Bhagat Ravidas abandoned saguna forms of supreme beings, and focussed on the nirguna form of supreme beings.

Bhagat Ravidas is revered in the Sikh scripture, and 41 of Guru Ravidas' poems are included in the Adi Granth.

Bhagat Ravidas's poetry covers topics such as the definition of a just state where there are no second or third class unequal citizens, the need for dispassion, and who is a real Yogi.

Songs of Guru Bhagat Ravidas discuss Nirguna-Saguna themes, as well as ideas that are at the foundation of Nath Yoga philosophy of Hinduism.

Bhagat Ravidas frequently mentions the term Sahaj, a mystical state where there is a union of the truths of the many and the one.

David Lorenzen states Bhagat Ravidas's poetry is imbued with themes of boundless loving devotion to God, wherein this divine is envisioned as Nirguna.

Further, the Bhaktamal text states that Bhagat Ravidas's teachings agreed with Vedic and ancient scriptures, he subscribed to nondualism, discussed spiritual ideas and philosophy with everyone including Brahmins without gender or caste discrimination, and his abilities reflected an individual who had reached the inner content state of the highest ascetic.

Bhagat Ravidas is revered as a saint and well respected by his believers.

Bhagat Ravidas is considered by his devotees as someone who was the living symbol of religious protest, and not as the spiritual symbol of any ultimate unifying cultural principle.