The Gnostic Mystery, Part 3,

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spiritualawakening writes: This is another excerpt from the

online book: " The Gnostic Mystery, " by Andrea Grace Diem:

http://members.tripod.com/~andrea65

 

Andrea writes:

 

Chapter Three

>

>THE SANT TRADITION

>

>The most comparable strand of Indian spirituality to the Gnostic tradition

>is the medieval and modern Sant tradition, an eclectic philosophy concerned

>with traversing spiritual realms to reach God. Resembling Gnostic

>metaphysics, there is a God beyond all gods, and this God invites the soul

>to know It. One achieves God-Realization by turning within one's own

>consciousness, realizing the microcosm/macrocosm relationship with the

>Divine.[1] A Sant is one who has accomplished this--an enlightened soul.

>

>For a Westerner the term " saint " usually connotes a holy person, one who

>has sacrificed one's life to serve humankind in some way. In India, these

>attributes are likewise inherent in a Sant, but, more importantly, a Sant

>has merged the spirit entity (jiva [2]) into the Highest Reality, losing

>all identity. Having reached the highest state of consciousness, one is no

>longer subject to any form of illusion (maya) or ego (ahamkara). Such a

>person is considered, in effect, the embodiment of the Divine. This

>ineffable being, also called the satguru (the true guru), is believed to

>appear/return in every age to awaken souls from ignorance. Thus, unlike

>Christianity, salvation is not a onetime event in which the Son of God

>incarnates once and for all for the salvation of humankind. In other words,

>the salvific process in the Sant tradition is a continuous one, and a Sant

>is born in every age to enlighten/free human beings from their ignorance.

>

>While this tradition can clearly be traced back to the North Indian mystic

>Kabir in the fifteenth century C.E. (as well as Guru Nanak [3] and Dadu),

>some speculate that it has even earlier roots, manifesting in the twelfth

>or thirteenth century in Maharashtra under the non-sectarian Vaishnava

>poet-Sants Namdev and Jnaneshvar(otherwise known as Jnanadeva), and later

>spread under the influence of Eknath (1548-1600) and Tukaram (1598-1649).

>

>Recent scholarship suggests that there are really two distinct yet related

>strands of the " tradition of the Sants " : The first, the Maharashtra

>poet-Sants who flourished from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century,

>are devotees of the god Vitthala or Vithoba of Pandharpur and contemplate

>his form (svarupa). Saguna bhakti, worship of a manifestation of the

>Divine, characterizes the attitude of the Maharashtrian Sants. Vaishnava

>Hinduism, which was based upon Bhagavata Purana and promoted bhakti (or

>devotion), plays an extremely important role in shaping this movement; in

>fact, early in their history, these Sants did not set themselves apart from

>it. Yet, this group of poet-Sants appear as more or less heterodox, since

>they pride themselves in being advocates of " true " Vaishnavism, challenging

>many of the practices and beliefs of the orthodox Vaishnava bhakti

>tradition. For instance, the Sants, often belonging to the lower strata of

>the Hindu and the Muslim society, emphasize egalitarian social values,

>believing in essence that salvation was not the exclusive rite of the

> " twice-born. " Along with the rejection of the caste system, they

>emphatically insist that ethical behavior is a basic requirement for every

>devotee, not just the priestly caste. And perhaps what sets this religious

>tradition apart the most from orthodox Hinduism is the claim that devotion

>to the Divine Name of God is the only means to attain salvation.

>Altogether, however, the Maharashtrian Sants are generally placed within

>the Hindu milieu, primarily because they do not openly reject the authority

>of the Vedas.

>

>The second branch of the Sant tradition spans the area of the Punjab and

>Rajasthan as well as eastern Uttar Pradesh and has been active from the

>fifteenth century up until today. Like the Maharashtrian Sants, the

>northern Sants rebuff orthodox Hinduism for the value it places on rituals,

>holy books, and idol worship, and they ridicule the caste system, which

>presents moksha as the privilege of the Brahmin pandit. But, even. more

>extremely, they vehemently reject the authority of the Vedas. Such a severe

>anti-Brahminical attitude places the northern Sants outside the Hindu fold.

>

>While the Maharashtra poet-Sants attribute anthropomorphic characteristics

>to God by referring to It as " father and mother, " the North India Sants

>generally do not. They seem to reject a saguna God, and, instead, direct

>their efforts towards a nirguna one. Nirguna bhakti suggests that God

>cannot be captured in an icon or temple, since God is beyond all attributes

>and distinctions. Yet, several scholars have pointed out that while the

>northern Sants may conceptually conceive of a Supreme Being beyond

>qualities (nirguna brahman), there are also strong elements of saguna

>bhakti, especially in relation to the satguru [4]. The dual structure

>between the devotee and the object of devotion (the guru) allows for an

>intense emotional experience (anubhava), which is said to pull the devotee

>towards (but not into) the nirguna God. This religious quest (based both

>upon separation and union) certainly presents contradictions that are not

>easily reconcilable (and perhaps not meant to be). [5] Also, repeating the

>name of God, their primary meditative practice, inherently concedes some

>form to God by suggesting a quality of saguna bhakti.

>

>On ethical issues, there is little differentiation between the northern and

>southern Sants. [6] While frowning upon rigid asceticism, both greatly

>stress living a moral life that entails three basic requirements: 1) ahimsa

>(non-violence), which implies maintaining a strict vegetarian diet, free of

>meat, fish, chicken, and eggs; 2) no intoxicants, such as alcohol; and 3) a

>moral life in society, including sexual restraint (i.e., no illicit sex).

>

>If we look at the Sant tradition as a whole, it seems to be a mixture of

>Vaishnava bhakti and the esoteric Tantric tradition of the Nath yogis: the

>Maharashtrian Sants present a " purified " Vaishnavism and the northern

>group, led by Kabir, advocate a form of Tantric Buddhism in which there is

>an ineffable Reality transcending all attributes (i.e., sunya). According

>to Charlotte Vaudeville, a renowned scholar of this movement, " the Sant

>sadhana or the Sant ideal of sanctity therefore may be viewed as a subtle

>blending of two main traditions of Hindu mysticism, apparently antagonistic

>to each other: Vaishnava bhakti and an esoteric Tantric tradition, whose

>most popular representatives are Gorakhnath and the Nath Yogis, often

>referred to by Kabir and his followers. " [7]

>

>Additionally, several scholars argue that there is a great deal of Sufi

>influence on the Sants. As Bruce Lawrence points out, there is an apparent

>affinity between Sant poetry and the Sufi worldview--namely, the

>repudiation of scriptural authority, the inner vision of a Transcendent

>God, the emphasis on the pangs of separation of a bereaved soul and God

>(viraha), and intense love and devotion to God (prema-bhakti). [8]

>

 

 

>Notes

>

>1. To illustrate this microcosm and macrocosm relationship with the Divine

>a simple analogy is employed. As an individual one is a bubble floating on

>the Ocean going through life outwardly looking through a bubble shell,

>assuming one's existence is unique and divisible. The Sants of this

>tradition petition humans to turn their attention inward, to look within

>themselves, and realize that the bubble is not separate from the Ocean but

>is part of the Ocean. This is true gnosis, according to the Sants. Hence,

>from the ultimate viewpoint, as with the Gnostics, there is non-duality.

>But until that realization, until that bubble bursts, one remains misled in

>a world of dualism.

>

>With respect to Indian terms, I will try to be consistent with the forms

>used in Sant

>

>literature. Since a large number of books have been published in English,

>there is some consensus on how to spell key theological terms. For

>instance, the English Sant Mat and Radhasoami books usually refer to divine

>sound as shabd, and not the Sanskrit form sabd.

>

>3. W. H. McLeod argues that the origins of the Sikh tradition came from the

>teachings of the Sants. He says, " Nanak did not found Sikhism, for this

>would have meant founding something which already existed. " See W. H.

>McLeod, " The Sikhs: History, Religion and Society (New York: Columbia

>University Press, 1989), p. 16. Also see McLeod, The Evolution of the Sikh

>Community (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), pp. 6-7, and Daniel Gold, The

>Lord as Guru: Hindi Sants in North Indian Tradition (New York: Oxford

>University Press, 1987), p. 14.

>

>4. See John Stratton Hawley, ed., Saints and Virtues: Comparative Studies

>of Religion and Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987).

>

>5. Frits Staal asserts that pure nirguna bhakti in the Sant tradition is a

>logical impossibility. He questions how can one have a relationship with

>that which is ineffable or without qualities. See Frits Staal, " The

>Ineffable Nirguna Brahman, " in Karine Schomer and W. H. McLeod (eds.), The

>Sants (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1987), pp. 41-46.

>

>6. See Charlotte Vaudeville, " Sant Mat: Santism as the Universal Path to

>Sanctity, " in Karine Schomer and W. H. McLeod (eds.), The Sants (Delhi:

>Motilal Banarsidass, 1987), pp. 38-39.

>

>7. Ibid., p. 36.

>

>8. Bruce Lawrence, " The Sant Movement and the Indian Sufis " , in Karine

>Schomer and W. H. McLeod, The Sants (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1987), pp.

>360-373.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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