Haridasa Thakur
Haridasa Thakur (born 1451 or 1450) was a
prominent Vaishnava saint, instrumental in the early appearance and spread
of the Hare Krishna movement. He is considered to be the most famous convert
of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, apart from Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami
themselves, and the story of his heroism in the face of torture is told in
Chaitanya Charitamrta, Antya lila. Besides being an ex-Muslim, he is famous
because of his dedication to the religious practice of constantly chanting
the names of God. Haridasa Thakura and Advaita Acharya are two senior and
well-respected religious personalities of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the local
area of Mayapur, prayed for the descent of the yugavatara, (avatara of the
era) believed to be Chaitanya.As an associate of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he is
named the acharya of the holy name and he embodied concern for others. Its
believed that Chaitanya himself installed Haridasa as His nāmācarya, meaning
the 'teacher of the Name', disregarding the fact that he was Muslim-born.
Haridasa Thakura, was a devotee of Lord Krishna and had practiced chanting
the names of the Lord, Hare Krishna, 300,000 times daily. The Muslim name of
Haridasa is not known.
Born in the village of Buron (Budana) in the present
district of Sat-kira, which was previously a sub-division of Khulna, now in
Bangladesh. Haridasa was 35 years older than Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his
prayers along with prayers of Advaita Acharya were the reason for Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu descent. Ishana Nagara in his book Advaita Prakasha, explains in
great length that Haridasa Thakur was a follower of Advaita Acharya and also
his close friend, he was raised in a Muslim family and then converted to
Vaishnavism as a young man. Advaita Acharya repeatedly proclaims that
becoming a Vaishnava, regardless of one's background, removes all past
conditioning.
When Haridasa Thakura was a young devotee of the Lord, he was allured by the
incarnation of Maya-devi, but Haridasa easily passed the test because of his
unalloyed devotion to Lord Krsna. He also believed to have stayed and
chanted in a cave with a notorious snake, however, seemed unaffected by all
of this. He did not even seem to be aware of the snake's presence.
Haridasa first became associated with Advaita Acarya. Haricarana Dasa, the
biographer of Advaita Acharya says that all the demigods in heaven heard
prayers of Advaita and reveal themselves to him, therefore when Advaita saw
Haridasa, he could immediately recognizes that he was Brahma incarnate and
named him Hari-dasa (literary meaning servant of God). He instructs Haridasa
to recite Krishna's names and assures him that Krishna will always show
mercy to Haridasa. The close relationship between the two and the fact that
Advaita was feeding a Muslim, became a subject of malicious gossip. This
apparent anomaly create a stir in a brahmana community, where others could
not understand how a powerful ascetic was disregarding a convention of
keeping a distance from Muslims. The fact that community was disturbed is
reflected in both Chaitanya Charitamrita and in Chaitanya Bhagavata.
Haricarana Dasa in his historical records, confirms that while Advaita was
from the higher ranks of Bengali brahmana community, he completely ignored
the facts about Haridasa's background, being impressed with the young man's
heartfelt devotion. While others became upset with Advaitas attention to
Haridasa, and threatened to excommunicate Advaita, Advaita tells Haridasa to
pay no attention to 'those petty people' and Advaita schedules a fire
ceremony, agnihotra for the morning, and when preparations for this ritual
to begin, there is no fire to be found in the whole town, and because of
this whole life of the village is at a standstill. Advaita points out to all
local brahmana priests that if priests are true to their religious
teachings, there must be fire, and tells them to approach Haridasa with
dried grass in their hands. When Haridasa relights all the fires with his
potency, he also according to this record, manifests his four-faced
Brahma-like form. While Agni, deity of Vedas responsible for fire is under
control of the brahmanas, its Muslim born Haridasa, who lights the fires
lost by all brahmanas in the village by the power of his devotion, 'the
purity those born brahmana have lost.
Teachings
According to the philosophy of the holy name given by Haridasa Thakura, if
you are on the platform of namabhasa (early or reflective stage of the pure
chanting), it gives the chanter liberation, moksa. hereas pure chanting
gives prema, or 'Love of God'.
An episode from Chaitanya Charitamrita illustrates different side of the
life of Haridasa Thakura, and does not alludes to the trial of the Haridasa
by the Muslim ruler, but gives details of a sakta brahmana, who would hire a
harlot to try (unsuccessfully) to seduce the celibate saint. In this story
the avenging instruments of diving justice are none other then the agents of
the Muslim king, who eventually punishes Ramachandra Khan.(CC Antya.
3.98-163)
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