EK-SARAN NAM-DHARMA - WHAT IT MEANS

"Sarva dharman parityayya mamekam saranam vraja:
Aham tvam sarvapapebhyoh moksayisyami ma sucah"
Gita. 18/66

'Seek shelter in me alone leaving all (other) religions. Grieve not, I will relieve you from all sins.' This is the quintessence of the Gita, and the final message for all people of all times and of all claims. This is also the purport of Mahapurusism which on the ground, is called Ek-Saran (self surrender to the One and to the One alone). "Ek Dew, Ek Sew, Ek bine nai kew"-(One God, One shelter, none else but one) are the watch words of this faith. It is monotheism uncompromising. As a matter of fact, there can be no compromise of true principles. So it is that Sankardew wrote:

"Anya devi-dew / nakariba sew / prasado nakhaiba tar:
Murtiko nacaiba / Grho napasiba / Bhakti haiba byabhicar."

'Bow not to other God and Goddesses. Enter not the house where it is worshipped. Cast not a glance on the images. Partake not of their offerings, lest thy devotion to the One should be polluted.'

Uddhawa Sambad , probably the self-same work with which Sankardew initiated the first batch of his learned disciples, observes:

"Vede yene kay tak suna prana-sakhi:
Mayamay dewa-dharma savako upeksi.
Kewale amat matra laibeka sarana:
Haibe karma-mala tyaji tevese prasanna. 31.
Mai bine Vede kichu ana nabakhane:
Janio Vedar tattva artha ehimane." 32.

(Krsna says to Uddhaba) 'Hear me, dearest friend, what the Vedas say: Avoid all religions that relate to worship of Gods and Goddesses, for they are illusory. Take shelter in Me and Me alone. Then alone people may be free from the consequences of their work. The Vedas speak nothing else than Me. Know this to be the purport of the Vedas.'

In Hariscandra Upakhyan, the next earliest work of Sankardew, he hardly used the mythological story of the Markandeya Puran for propagating his monotheism. King Hariscandra sat down to perform a great sacrifice; but trouble arose when his priest Vasista asked him to start with the worship of Ganes, which the king flatly refused to do:

"Param Purus Hari tanka edi age:
Kiba gune Ganesak pujibak lage. 25.
Visnut arpibo yata puja yajna dan:
Visnu byatireke dewa najanoho an. 26.
Vasistha lailanta ar rsit sammati:
Ganesak edi pujilanta Laksmipati. 30.

'Hari is God supreme. For what reason should I worship Ganes first in preference to Him? I will offer all sacrifices to Visnu(God). I know no other God but Him. Vasistha consulted other Sages. Visnu (God) was worshipped leaving off Ganes.'

Bhakti-Pradip, another early work of Sankardew, stresses on this Ek-Saran more strongly:

"Anacar kari aparadhi mor nuhi:
An dewa puje yito sei mor drohi. 35.
Yito maha meleccha khay kukurak mari:
Tato kari apavitra sito ahamkari. 36.
Dekhi bur diba lage nai tat citra:
Candalaro asprsya sehise apavitra." 37.

'One cannot be guilty in My estimation by already moral rules, but one becomes accountable to Me by worshipping other gods or goddesses. Such self-centered persons are more impure than very vile people who eat the flesh of dogs. There is no wonder that one has to take bath at the sight of such people, for they are untouchable even for those who are outcaste.' And he supports this view by one story from Garuda Puran.

Mahapurusism is also called Nam-Dharma on the ground that it stresses on constant recitation of the nama(name) of God in prayer. In his Prahlad Caritra Sankardew enumerates nine method of bhakti:

"Srawan kirttan / smaran Visnur / arcan pada-sewan:
Dasya sakhitva / vandan Visnut / kariba deha arpan." 341.

'Hearing, singing, thinking, worshipping, prostrating, behaving as a slave or as a friend, by invocation or by dedicating the body. Of these nine methods, Sankardew extols Kirttan (singing) as the most suitable. It is because in it all the other eight methods join in greater or lesser degree. In singing His glory, we ourselves hear, think, worship and prostrate(mentally) and so forth. So prayer is considered to be most useful in every religion. Sankardew extols Kirttan (Nam) in endless ways; in the Pasanda Mardan he say:

"Karia kalit krittan ati:
Pawe Vaikunthak cautrisjati. 73.
Satya yuge kari dhyan Samadhi:
Tretat samasta yajna aradhi.
Dvapare puji nana bhakti bhawe:
Kalit kirttane si gati pawe." 74.

'All the thrity four castes of people can attain God's region in the Iron Age by Krittan. Salvation that had been attained through meditation in the Golden Age, through sacrifices in the Silver Age, through worship in the Copper Age, can be attained through Krittan in the Iron Age,'

"Sito candalaka garistha mani:
Yar jihbagre thake Hari vani. 112.
Sehise kulin Vedak buje:
Yahar mukhe Hari Nam sije." 113.

'That Candal is glorious who has the name of God in the tip of his tongue. He alone is pure and is versed in the Vedas in whose mouth God's name is fructified.' In the Ajamil Upakhyan, Sankardew pushes his point deeper and declares finally:

"Kali yuge ara/anyatra dharmata/karo nahi adhikar." 207.


'In the Iron Age no body has any claim to any other religion (save Kirttan)'. More beautiful still: Sankardew says in (Ekadas Skandha, 19315-317): When a person goes uttering the name of God, other gods and goddesses follow invoking him. The five kinds of salvation become incarnated and each of them prays: 'Do accept me, O Father.' God's name is strong in destroying sins. The satan of vice flies trembling on hearing Nam thundering.'

Sankardew gives a scientific analysis as to how Nam kirttan acts and reacts on the mind for spiritual uplift. In the Namaparadh, he describes the seven stages:

"Prathame dahibe patakacay:
Kariba maha punya abhyuday:
Karawe bisayat birakati:
Krsnat badhiba prem-bhakati. 65.
Opajaiba ati Vaisnawa jnan:
Mayak kariba dahi niryan.
Caitanya-murti Purnananda Hari:
Thaibeka tente-ere kari." 66.

'First, (Nam-kirttan) will burn out the sins. (Second), it will arouse great merits. (Third), it will create aversion for wordly pleasures. (Fourth), it will develop loving devotion to God. (Fifth), it will give birth to the mood of a Vaisnawa. (Sixth), it will extinguish illusions from the mind. (Seventh and last), it will merge (the devotee) in God who is all life and all joy.'

As to whatever be the mood of a Vaisnawa, Sankardew gives a negative definition in Pasanda Mardan:

'Sarira sawak Mai bole citte:
Mamata kare putrabharyya-bitte. 132.
Tirtha buli kare jalat suddhi:
Pratimat kare dewata buddhi.
Vaisnawat nai isawa mati:
Garuto adham krsna badati." 133.

'To call this corpes of a body Me with all one's heart; to be attached to the son, wife and pelf; to make purification in water calling it Vaisnawa. (He who does so) must be worse than a bull, says Krsna.'

Thus we are confirmed that Mahapurusism is really "a genuine life process and not an intellectual speculation." It provides not so much of a gymnasium for dialecticians as it affords scope enough, as a practical religion, for the stormstricken man of the world to find a true shelter. No only so, it gives him that eternal bliss or amrtam, attainment of which is the real goal of all life. ## #