Hari bhajana vina kaal : Part 1

 

My last post was dedicated to taking care of physical and mental health. There is one more dimension we need to pay attention to and that is our spiritual health. I decided to elaborate on a popular abhang, one of my personal favorites, that very effectively addresses spiritual growth and wellbeing. I will discuss it in five parts to do it justice. 

Part 1:

Goa is more than beautiful beaches, great food, pheni and hospitality. It is home to some of the most beautiful temples and churches. It is the birthplace of renowned freedom fighters, artists, singers, as well as saints. One such saint was Sohiroba!

Sohirobanath Ambiye ! He was a Marathi saint of the 18th century( 1714-1792). Born in Paliyem village in Goa, he gained spiritual knowledge from his guru Gahininath in the forests of Insuli in Sawantwadi. Like Sant Namdev he made a pilgrimage to northern India. Over sixteen thousand of his compositions were meticulously compiled by one of his ardent followers, Bhagwan Balakrishna Pai Raikar in the early twentieth century and published in six or so books namely Akshayabodha, Mahadanubhaveshwari , Purnakshari, Advayananda, Siddhanta Samhita, and Padasangraha. These verses are found to be composed in four languages, Marathi, Konkani, Hindi and Gujarati.

Hari bhajanavina kaal ghalavu nako re is one of his most well known abhangas . It was brought to the masses when rendered in the voices of several accomplished singers like Mr. Dasharath Pujari, Goa’s very own Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki and in the present day, Pt Abhisheki’s disciple Mr Mahesh Kale, to name a few. 

The knowledge of the self is the ultimate goal of all human endeavor. The saints reached sainthood through this. The journey begins as a seeker and culminates with realizing oneness with the entire creation and creator. 

In his abhanga Sohiroba has emphasized several behaviors that would help a seeker. A primary one is maintaining consistency in efforts to achieve the goal. The single pointedness that is required to reach the ultimate stage of realization couldn’t have been described more eloquently than how he has done in these few verses.This abhanga is also one that has employed some really beautiful, rich and effective metaphors.

हरिभजनाविण काळ घालवू नको रे ॥१॥

दोरीच्या सापा भिवुनी भवा ।
भेटी नाही जिवा-शिवा ।
अंतरीचा ज्ञानदिवा मालवू नको रे ॥२॥

विवेकाची ठरेल ओल ।
ऐसे की बोलावे बोल ।
आपुल्या मते उगीच चिखल कालवू नको रे ॥३॥

संत संगतीने उमज ।
आणुनि मनी पुरते समज ।
अनुभवावीण मान हालवू नको रे ॥४॥

सोहिरा म्हणे ज्ञानज्योती ।
तेथ कैचि दिवस-राती ।
तयावीण नेत्रपाती हालवू नको रे ॥५॥

Discussion to be continued in part 2. 

Saree is my very first Kunbi from Goa.