BENI
BENI briefly traces the progress of man's spiritual degeneration from the time of birth.
Owing to the great difficulty of his writings it is believed that he is of comparatively ancient date. Unfortunately no account of him is accessible.
SRIRAG
0 man, when thou wast in the pit of the womb and didst meditate and fix thine earnest attention on God ; l
Not proud of the dignity of thy mortal body, thou wast day and night free from the pride which is ignorance.
Recall the travail and great suffering of those days ; now thou hast too much extended thy thoughts to worldly things.
felt alarmed on the approach of the hostile army to the capital, and prayed to Vishnu to save him. Vishnu heard his prayers, caused the defeat of the hostile king, and thus saved the country and its people, including the lover of the king's daughter.
Several gyanis analyse the hymn as follows : In the first two lines Sadhna addresses God, ' Thou hast saved him, why not me ? ' God is supposed to reply, ' This form of death was recorded in thy destiny/ Sadhna then repeated the third and fourth lines. God then said that He would grant him salvation after death. Sadhna replied with the fifth and sixth lines. God then tells him to be of good cheer, after which Sadhna replied with the seventh and eighth lines. The ninth line is frequently paraphrased — I can do nothing for myself, I have no relation and no one to assist me.
Sadhna founded a sect which does not appear to be numerous now, and which is confined to persons of the trade of butcher. The particular tenets of the Sadhnapanthis are nowhere stated, but it is probable they simply consist in worshipping Sadhna as an incarnation of Vishnu.
BENI 89
When thou didst leave the womb and enter this perish able world, thou forgottest God.
Thou shalt afterwards repent, O fool ; through what mental perversity hath superstition attached to thee ?
Remember God ; otherwise thou shalt go to the abode of Death ; stray not in other worship.
A child is anxious for play and sweets ; by degrees its worldly love increaseth.
Under the pretext of its being a sacrifice,1 man tasteth meat as if it were ambrosia, though it is a poison ; then the five evil passions appear and torture him.2
He abandoneth devotion, penance, self-restraint, and good works, and in his heart he worshippeth not God's name.
His lust overfloweth, blackness attacheth to his heart, and he embraceth the strange woman.
In the ardour of youth he stareth at another's wife, and distinguisheth not good from evil.
In the intoxication of lust and the other great sins he goeth astray, and distinguisheth not vice from virtue.
Beholding his children and his wealth, he is proud and forgetteth God in his heart.
He weigheth in his heart the wealth of some one who is dead, then ruineth his life by women and banquets.
When his hair groweth grey — greyer than the jasmine — and his voice becometh feeble ; 3
When his eyes water, and his intellect and strength depart, then his desires are in a whirl.4
His mind is defiled by evil passions, and therefore his body withereth away like the lotus in the rainy season.
He who renounceth God's name in this perishable world shall afterwards repent.
Beholding his near relations he muttereth something, and is proud of them, but they heed him not.
He desireth the distinction of long life, though his eyes see not.1
The fire of his body is spent, the bird of his soul hath fled, and his corpse is disagreeable whether in the house or the courtyard.
Saith Beni, hear me, O saints ; who hath obtained salva tion after death ? 2
Divine instruction is communicated under the allegory of hathjog, the most difficult and painful form of a Jogi's practice.
RAMKALI
Unite the breath of the ira, pingla, and sukhmana to gether in one place ; 3
There is the Beni 4 and Pryag where the three rivers meet ; let the soul lave therein.
0 saints, there is the pure God.
A few understand this when they go to the guru ;
There in the brain the Pure One is.
What are the signs of God's abode ?
There is played the unbeaten music of the Word.5
There nor moon, nor sun, nor wind, nor water is worshipped.
He whose conscience is awakened by the guru's instruc tion knoweth this.
Through him divine knowledge is produced, evil inclina tions depart,
And ambrosial juice trickle th from the brain.
He who knoweth the secret of this science,6
Shall meet the Primal Divine Guru.
) literally— contrivances.
BENI 91
The tenth gate is the abode of the inaccessible and un equalled Supreme Being.
Over the body and on the body is a chamber,1 and within the chamber is the Treasure.
He who watcheth over this shall never fall asleep ;
The three qualities and the three worlds shall vanish for him in contemplation ;
He shall hold the Source 2 of all spells in his heart,
And turning back his mind from the world, fix it on heaven ;
He shall be wakeful and not utter a lie,
And shall keep the five organs of perception in subjection ;
He shall treasure the guru's instruction in his heart,
And devote his soul and body to God's love ;
He shall meditate on the leaves and branches of his body,3
And not lose his life in gambling ; 4
He shall tie up the sphincter ani,
Turn his breath towards his back, and raise it to the brain.
When he restraineth his breath difficult of restraint,5 nectar trickleth forth,
And he converseth with the Lord of the world.
In the tenth gate is the light of a four-faced lamp 6 to behold all things ;
There are endless petals of the lotus,7 and its cup is in the centre ;
God dwelleth there with all His power.
Let man string the precious jewel of God's name within him —
He hath a lotus in his brain and gems 8 around it ;
In the centre is the Spotless One, the Lord of the three worlds ;
The five species of musical instruments are clearly heard ;
Chauris appear to wave and a shell to reverberate like thunder —
The pious by divine knowledge trample on their evil passions.1
Beni beggeth Thy name, 0 Lord, since the practice of Jog is profitless.
PRABHATI
The following was addressed to a hypocritical Brahman : —
Thou rubbest sandal on thy body, and puttest leaves on thy forehead,2
But thou hast a murderous knife in thy heart.
Thou lookest on people like a thag, and watchest them like a crane looking for fish.
The life of the Vaishnav when he seeth thee escapeth through his mouth.3
Thou bowest daily to the beautiful idol of Vishnu for a long time ;
With the evil eye art thou affected, and at night thou quarrellest ; 4
Thou ever bathest thy body ;
Thou hast two dhotis,5 thou ostensibly performest thy religious duties, and livest on milk alone,
But in thy heart thou hast a knife to stab with.
It is thy custom to plunder the property of others.
BENI 93
Thou adorest a stone, and in the worship of Kali makest a circle for Ganesh.1
Thou watchest at night so that men may think thou hast entered on God's service ;
With thy feet dost thou dance, but thy heart meditateth evil —
O sinner, thy dancing is wicked —
Thou sittest on a deer-skin, and carriest a rosary of sweet basil ;
Thou puttest a showy tilak on thy forehead ;
In thy heart is falsehood, though thou wearest a neck lace2 on thy neck.
O sinner, thou repeatest not God's name.
All that man's worship is vain, atnd he is blind
Who hath not recognized the Supreme God.
Saith Beni, meditate on God by the guru's instruction ;
Without a true guru the way is not found.
RAMANAND
A SHORT account of Ramanuj appears to be neces sary to explain the doctrines of Ramanand, and the progress of Hindu religious reform in India. Swami Ramanuj 3 flourished in the eleventh century of the Christian era. He was born in the village of Bhutnagari, also called Perumbhudur, south-east of Kanchipur, the modern Kanjeveram, in the
Madras Presidency, in the year A.D. 1017 during the reign of Betawardhan, King of Dwar Samudra in the Maisur (Mysore) state. The date of his birth is attested by the Sanskrit chronogram dhirlabdha, a word which yields the date 939 of the Saka era, and means that men received patience or consola tion at his birth. Ramanuj's father was Keshav Jajjwa, a Brahman said to be of the illustrious race of Harit, the spiritual and literary king of the Rikhis. His mother was called Kantimati. For a long time she was childless. Her husband prayed to heaven for a son when, it is said, a god appeared to him and told him his desire should be granted. To effect this, it is related that Sheshnag, the wise serpent, which according to the Hindus supports the earth, became incarnate as Ramanuj.
On the mother's side also Ramanuj belonged to an intellectual family, for it was his mother's brother Yadav Acharya,1 who was Ramanuj's first pre ceptor and taught him the principles of the Hindu religion as expounded in the Simritis. Ramanuj became an apt pupil, and at a very early age mastered the Veds and the Shastars. While pur suing his studies he delighted to sit under a tamarind tree near Perumbhudur, which is still worshipped by his followers.
Ramanuj propounded new opinions with refer ence to the relation between the Creator and his creatures. He refuted the theories of the famous Shankar Acharya who was a Vedantist, and he began to inculcate the superiority of the worship of Vishnu to that of Shiv, the principal object of worship in southern India.
Ramanuj exorcised an evil spirit, of which the daughter of the king of Kanchipur had become possessed. The king was well pleased and gave
RAMANAND 95
him munificent remuneration. Finding the king in a mood to listen to his teaching, he preached to him the advantages of the Vaishnav doctrines. His superior intellectual attainments and his success in everything to which he turned his attention excited the jealousy of his preceptor, who formed a plot to take him on a pilgrimage to Banaras, and secretly drown him in the Ganges. Ramanuj was saved from this fate by the timely information received from his aunt's son.1
Ramanuj for a considerable time worshipped an idol called Bardraj , the tutelary deity of Kanchipur. Desirous to extend his theological studies, and thoroughly distrustful of his uncle, he went to Sri Rang Nath, the modern Srirangam at the parting of the rivers Kavari and Kolarun, near Trichinoply, to visit Yamun Acharya, the great representative of the Sri sect, and obtain initiation from him and adoption as his disciple. Unfortunately Yamun Acharya had died before the arrival of Ramanuj. The latter then put himself under the tutelage of Mahapuran, Yamun Acharya's disciple and successor. He subsequently became the disciple of Goshtipuran, who sent him back eighteen times before he was satisfied of h's fitness for initiation.
Nabhaji, writing from a Vaishnav standpoint, enumerates four great sects of Hindus, the Sri, the Shiv, the Brahma, and the Sankadik. The members of the Sri sect worship Vishnu under the form of his energy or consort Lakshmi. Indeed, it is said that Vishnu himself taught the proper form of his worship to Lakshmi, and she handed it down in a direct line to Ramanuj.
Ramanuj continued his studies with ardour at Sri Rang Nath, and there composed his commen taries on the Sutras of Vyas and other Vedic works.
When past fifty years of age he left his family and devoted himself to the salvation of his fellow men. Mahapuran had communicated to him the spell by which God's protection might be obtained, and told him that whoever heard it should be saved from the pain of transmigration. At the same time he informed Ramanuj that he was never to disclose the secret. Ramanuj pondered on the prohibition, and came to the conclusion that it was on every account proper to divulge to men the secret of salvation, even though he were to suffer eternal punishment for the disclosure. He accordingly went from place to place repeating with a loud voice the spell of human deliverance. He made pilgrimages to Triputi, Jagannath, and Banaras, and having successfully preached the Vaishnav doctrines at these holy places erected buildings for worship at them all. From Banaras he proceeded to Badri- nath in the Himalayas, where he did homage to Vishnu under his dual form of Nar Narayan. He is said to have made converts by thousands and tens of thousands.
In the Prapann Amrit, a Sanskrit work devoted to Ramanuj and his doctrines, it is stated that in the month of Poh in the year 1012 of the Salava- hana era, corresponding to 1090 of the Christian era, he dedicated an idol to God under the name of Narayan at a place called Yadavachala.1
The chroniclers disclose the extent to which religious zeal and its allies, religious bigotry and persecution, even then prevailed in India. The Chola king Karikala, called Krimi Kantha on account of some affection of the throat from which he suffered, was a bigoted worshipper of Shiv, and held the doctrines of the Sri sect in devout abhor rence. He engaged in controversy with Mahapuran, Ramanuj 's religious guide, and Kruresh, a disciple of Ramanuj. The monarch on being vanquished in
RAMANAND 97
argument resorted to physical force for revenge, and put out the eyes of his antagonists. Mahapuran died in a few days, but Kruresh survived and sub sequently rendered Ramanuj invaluable service in the dissemination of his doctrines.
Ramanuj himself, in order to escape from the fury of Krimi Kantha, took shelter in the court of Bitta or Vitala Deva, the Jain monarch of Dwar Samudra in the Maisur state, who reigned from A.D. 1104 to H4I.1 After a controversy with Ramanuj the king changed his faith and sought the protection of God in his teachings. Filled with new zeal he changed his name also to Vishnu Vardhana and set to work to convert his numerous subjects, who are stated to have been all of the Jain religion. Most of them were converted, but some fled, and the rest the monarch piously put to the sword. In A. D. 1117 the king erected the Belur temple in commemoration of his conversion to Vaishnavism by Ramanuj.
Ramanuj fearing for his own safety in his native country and pleased with the holy zeal, friendship, and protection of the Maisur king, resided at his capital for twelve years, during which time he induced him to erect a temple to Krishan at Mailkot. Here Ramanuj continued to preach his doctrines, and made numerous converts among the Brahmans, whom he withdrew from their allegiance to Shiv.
Ramanuj 's religious teachings began to be adopted at Purushotampuri, the modern Jagannath, then as now one of the greatest strongholds of the Hindu religion. His rules for daily life, however, were of a very exclusive character, and such as could hardly