Surdas and Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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Surdas and Mahatma Gandhi

 

Surdas was a famous devotee poet. Mahatma Gandhi loved his poems very much. He quoted it many times in his speech and writings. It is not easy to become a bhakta. Tulsidas described himself as a rogue; while Surdas called himself a sinner and a sick man. What are we before them? It would he enough if we are alert and careful. Your letter does show that you are so. A man who keeps alert and careful and does not deceive himself, is bound to progress, for he is ever aware of his errors and tries to avoid them. 1 Tulsidas and Surdas were saying in their poems that there was no greater sinner in the world than they. We sin from the moment we are born, and that is why we are born again and again. Being confined in the cage of this body, we cannot soar as high as we wish. But we can do so if we reflect over the mystery of God’s incarnations and actions in the world of men. If we realize the truth about the atman which is a lion, we shall become lions. 2 

Millions could not be expected to learn Sanskrit but they could receive the message of the Vedas through Tulsidas, Surdas, Kabir and a host of other saints who kept the well of religion undefiled. They were moreover to teach Hindi as also Hindustani, not as a rival to Urdu. It was to be a blend of Hindi and Urdu. They had therefore to be repositories of purity of character and strength of purpose. Theirs was a noble mission demanding nobility of conduct. 3 Tulsidas, Surdas, Tukaram saw their own faults and described them. Besides, whatever Premabehn is, she is your teacher. How strange it is that you could not see any virtue in her! I observe many good qualities in her. I have not told you that in one of her letters to me Premabehn had actually praised you. Look, many people know about your idle nature and your habit of telling lies. You yourself are aware of them. But you have not so much as mentioned that bad habit. I insist that you make good of your great ability and bring credit to your parents, the Ashram and me. 4

As the poet Surdas has sung, Rama is the strength of the weak. This strength is not to be obtained by taking up arms or by similar means. It is to be had by throwing oneself on His name. Rama is but a synonym of God. You may say God or Allah or whatever other name you like, but the moment you trust naught but Him, you are strong, all disappointment disappears. The hymn alludes to the story of the Lord of elephants who was in the jaws of a crocodile and who had been all but drowned in water. There was only the tip of his trunk left above water when he invoked God’s name and he was saved. No doubt it is an allegory. But it conceals a truth. Over and over again in my life I have found it. Even in darkest despair, when there seems no helper and no comfort in the wide wide world, His name inspires us with strength and puts all doubts and despair to flight. The sky may be overcast today with clouds, but a fervent prayer to Him is enough to dispel them. It is because of prayer that I have known no disappointment. Though I have retired from the Congress, I have not closed my eyes or stopped my ears. I know all that is happening about me, and if anyone must give way to despair, it should be I. But I have known no despair. Why then should you give way to it? Let us pray that He may cleanse our hearts of pettiness’s, meanness’s and deceit, and He will surely answer our prayers. Many I know have always turned to that unfailing source of strength. 5

The language of Tulsidas and Surdas cannot die, even as the language in which Shibli wrote cannot die. But the best of both will be quite at home with Hindustani speech. 6 So also Surdas who sings: “Who can be so crooked, wicked, or dissolute as I?”2 Neither Tulsidas nor Surdas was such a person; but they regarded themselves as such. The more they remained away from God, the unhappy they felt, even if they were surrounded by brothers, sisters, sons, friends and everybody else. They reflect with a sigh that there is none as crooked, wicked or dissolute as themselves. It is good that they searched within themselves for faults. This bhajan also expresses the same sentiment. Here the poet asks why he is alive though he has not seen God so far. As a rule it was Pandit Khare who used to sing this bhajan; but sometimes when he was not present or was ill, Maganlal used to sing it. Maganlal was no musician but he had a good voice. That bhajan as he sang it, still rings in my ears. He was the pillar of the Ashram. He was like a rock in the management of the Ashram. He was very sturdy. He would be always ahead of everyone else in digging with the pickaxe. He used to have a very strong body when he was in South Africa. But when he came here he lost weight, though he was not ill. Though he had to shoulder the entire responsibility there, here the unusual thing was that he had to work among crores of people. He shared considerable responsibility of the constructive programme. How can we dispense with the constructive programme? What can swaraj mean without the constructive programme? We have attained independence, but what is it worth? What if we have achieved independence? Today we realize that if we had done sufficient constructive work in those days we would not be witnessing the scenes we see today. Is this the swaraj we had in mind? If we had done that much in those days, India’s history would have been different. I have no doubt about it at all. Maganlal’s God was in swaraj. His swaraj was Ramarajya. 7

 

References:

 

1. Letter to N. M. Khare, October 22, 1924
2. May 8, 1926
3. Young India, 10-1-1929
4. Letter to Ramchandra N. Khare
5. Harijan, 1-6-1935
6. Harijan, 29-10-1938  
7. Prarthana Pravachan—I, pp. 436