Ravidas or Raidas was an Indian mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti movement during the 15th to 16th century CE.
18 Facts About Ravidas
2.
Ravidas taught removal of social divisions of caste and gender, and promoted unity in the pursuit of personal spiritual freedom.
3.
The details of Guru Ravidas's life are not well known.
4.
Ravidas was born in the village of Sir Gobardhanpur, near Varanasi in what is Uttar Pradesh, India.
5.
At the age of 12, Ravidas was married of to Lona Devi.
6.
Medieval era texts, such as the Bhaktamal suggest that Ravidas was the disciple of the Brahmin bhakti-poet Ramananda.
7.
However, the medieval text Ratnavali says Ravidas gained his spiritual knowledge from Ramananda and was a follower of the Ramanandi Sampradaya tradition.
8.
Ravidas travelled extensively, visiting Hindu pilgrimage sites in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and those in the Himalayas.
9.
Ravidas abandoned saguna forms of supreme beings, and focused on the nirguna form of supreme beings.
10.
Ravidas is revered in the Sikh scripture, and 41 of Guru Ravidas' poems are included in the Adi Granth.
11.
Winnand Callewaert notes that some 30 manuscripts of Anantadas's hagiography on Ravidas have been found in different parts of India.
12.
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.
13.
The songs of Ravidas discuss Nirguna-Saguna themes, as well as ideas that are at the foundation of Nath Yoga philosophy of Hinduism.
14.
Ravidas frequently mentions the term Sahaj, a mystical state where there is a union of the truths of the many and the one.
15.
David Lorenzen states Ravidas's poetry is imbued with themes of boundless loving devotion to God, wherein this divine is envisioned as Nirguna.
16.
Further, the Bhaktamal text states that 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.
17.
Ravidas is revered as a saint and well respected by his believers.
18.
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.