Swami
Gobind Kaul
What
his Poems Convey
by V.
N. Drabu
It
is reasonable to believe that a site has some form
of consciousness in the same way as the human body
has an animating consciousness. It is the outer
form of our self that comes into contact with the
phenomenal world through the senses which implant
thoughts and feelings in our consciousness. The
site and the self thus interact with each other
imperceptibly in a significant way. To one such
site of our blessed valley of Kashmir belonged
Gobind Kaul. The place is popularly known as
Vanpoh in Anantnag, which in earlier times must
have been a beautiful meadow in the close vicinity
of a forest fragrant with wild flowers and
therefore originally called Vana-Posha. The son of
Swami Aftab Kaul and Vishvamalya, born in
Dattataraya Gotra, Gobind Kaul naturally followed
the tradition of his forefathers and became an
ardent Shaivite. To his elder brother Harishwara
and to his Guru Bharatlal he owed his proficiency
in the Sastras andyoga. His association with other
saints, particularly Swami Krishanjoo Razdan (his
maternal uncle, who was a celebrated poet of his
time), and their impact on him are evident from
his 'rosary of hymns' (bhajanmala),
published under the title Gobind
Amrit. Tankodi Chandra (Sant of Varanasi),
Sant Lal of Shahpur and Swami Rama (looked upon by
his devotees as the Sakshat Shiva) of Kashmir,
besides other Pranyogis and Jnanayogis of his
time, showered many benedictions on him. (Poem No.
8, Shiva Lagyo, pp.10-11).
Swami
Govind Kaul
His
devotional lyrics reveal that he was deeply
influenced by the thought-current of
Mansurul-Halaj as well and he freely used the
popular idiom of his own Kashmiri dialect, being a
blend of Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic. His songs
are rich in imagery, and the vocabulary he employees
to convey his inner experiences suggests,
unmistakably, how he too must have followed the
same spiritual path that Lalleshwari had treaded
several centuries before him.
We
notice that the devotional strain is marked in
Gobind Kaul's lyrics, from which we infer that it
was as a devotee that he began his spiritual
journey to the Divine and in course of time,
through sustained devotion and sadhana, attained
Self-realization. He is so much devoted to Gopala
Bala Krishna that he loses the consciousness of
his limited self in his bout of 'lolamasa'
(love-drink). He offers himself wholly to his
rasalila (sport of love) involving measured
movements of the body. Beside himself with joy, he
would like to accompany Balakrishna in his
ramblings on the bank of the river Yamuna and give
his all to kissing his feet (moni-padan). He hears
the sound of Om from his flute and wishes to play
rasa in all forms with him. All the time the sound
of Om reverberates and he perspires profusely at
the sight of his lover's hair (poem No. 27 'Shyam-Sunderah.....
p. 31) that Manmohan gets complete hold of his
mind, and he feels charmed ! Rukmani could not see
Cidanand (consciousness - bliss) as something
different from Caitanya Krishna and, likewise,
Gobind sees the Lord's playing-sites as the very
states of wakefulness Yagrat), dreaminess (svapna),
and deep sleep (Susapti). In the ocean of divine
knowledge (jnana) and bliss (ananda) that Gobind
delves deep into, he attains the summit of
contemplation (samadhi) (Poem No. 25, 'Satcit-ananda
atma Krishnan', pp. 28-29) .Hereth Swami
completely identifies himself with his beloved
Krishna, offering his all for love - his body,
mind, intellect and what not !
The
same devotional strain is discernible in the
Swami's approach to the divine Mother. The true
bhakta finds no flowers or ablations suitable
enough to propitiate the Mother, even though he
wholeheartedly selects the best ones for her. She
represents the primeval energy that pervades all
objects; her immanence is felt all around. Bhakti
for the divine Mother leads one to salvation (she
is muktidayaka). Gobind Kaul, the saint-poet,
invokes the all-powerful energy (Sakti) to remove
his impediments and lead him to self-recognition.
All the jivas (individual beings) and devas (gods)
turn to the divine Mother for granting them the
boon of final emancipation. She is sat-cit-ananda
and dayasyand (sea of Mercy); she is both our
father and mother. Addressing her, Gobind says.
"You are the atman and the light of
Intelligence, of whom the bhakta asks for calm of
mind and pure intelligence to overcome the
darkness of ignorance." Where the Mother sits
in her visible and embodied forms, that place
turns into siddha-pitha (seat of success). Those
who serve her feet are surely blessed and cured of
all worldly ailments and sufferings. (Poem No. 4,
'Om
Jaya Bhavinai ...,'pp. 5-6) Gobind Jee enshrines
her lotus feet in his heart and taking them as
Omkar-bindu, he surrenders himself to the Mother
(as Vaikhuri, the Goddess of speech). At her feet,
he listens to the sat-sabda (true word). Gobind is
suffused with Lola (love) for his Mother, with
tears running down his eyes. He invokes her grace
for gaining admittance into her abode - all the
hurldes from top to bottom being removed - so that
he is united with the Transcendent. She is Gayatri,
Savitri, Sarasvati, Rajna, Omkara as also Amba,
Uma, Durga, Tripura, Sarika, Hari. She is pure,
without duality, and Sat-cit-Ananda (Poem No. 2,
'Saran Amate...... pp. 2-3). She is the dynamic
aspect of the Absolute and the real object of
worship. Obviously, the worship of Sakti forms an
essential element of the Saiva aspirant's sadhana.
That explains why Gobind meditates and
contemplates upon the Sakti (dynamic) aspect of
the Absolute.
When
we talk of Gobind's devotion to the holy Mother,
we, in fact, refer to the ever dynamic inunanent
aspect of the Divine. Siva is the Absolute/
Brahman Parmesvara, in His transcendent aspect.
Adorned with the crescent moon and bearing matted
locks of hair, Mrtyunjaya Gangadhara, carrying the
trident and damaru in his hands, Gobind believes
that He would keep him ever awake with the sound
of the damaru and his sat will be stabilized.
While chanting the monosyllable Om of love, he
will turn the water-mill to steady his japa to
produce the sweet suham tune. Gobind prays:
"May the sun of Dvadasanta Mandala shine
forth within and outside myself." He praises
Siva as the light of pure Consciousness whose
grace the devotee seeks, and also earnestly seeks
the Yogesvara's help in having a spiritual bath in
the Mansarovara (the tranquil lake of the mind)
like the fabled swans 'that can sift milk from
water': representing the highest state of
consciouness that Parmahamsas (like Sri Rama
Krishna) are believed to atain as embodied human
beings. Gobind invokes the skullbearer, white
Spotless Sankara to bum his very marrow as his
oven of love is fully ablaze. To Him, stationed in
the temple of his heart, he would offer the
flowers of love in worship. He naturally regards
love as the very fountain-head of spirituality,
the very source and culmination of life. He pins
his hopes on Sankara, imagining that in his
horoscope the planets are ideally positioned in
favourable signs - Jupiter in the ninth house, the
moon in the kendra, exalted Saturn in Libra. He
urges him not to be indifferent to him considering
the fact that he had shown mercy and kindness
towards Markandeya. As
the devotee's sadhana deepens, the Sadguru draws
closer to him. The more he concentrates on his
lotus feet, the more resonant does the sound of
nada-bind get. He sees the sahasrar (thousand-petal
lotus) in full bloom and the divine light all
around himself. The sound of Om reverberates as he
fondles the Chhanda, the way being shown by the
Guru. With his gaze fixed on the ether (akasa),
the devotee sees the Lord and the rising sun and
the moon in the midst of the shining galaxy of
stars. Gobind addresses the spiritual seeker,
exhorting him not to get enmeshed in the shackles
of Maya but listen to the word of the Guru. For
surely once he repeats the five divine names and
concentrates his gaze on the Ajna Chakra, the
central point between the eyebrows (called
brumadya), he will reach the abode of Sadguru (alakh,
agam, anamaya). In no uncertain terms the aspirant
is instructed to look to Omkara binda. This is
what Lord Siva has revealed to his consort, Gauri,
in the privacy of perfect solitude. Gobind
instructs the sadhak to deepen his attention (what
he calls surat) and concentrate it on the sabad
till all sounds merge into one and thus Surat
Sabda yoga is realized. (Poem No 40 'Guru-dhyana',
pp 44-45).
The
leitmotiv of Gobind Kaul's bhajans is to identify
oneself with Omkara. Like a true Saiva he follows
the Guru tradition and in the footsteps of the
Guru finds every pore of his being filled with the
sound of Omkar and every hair vibrant with it.
Gobind encounters an extra-ordinary spiritual
experience (Poems 40-44, pp. 44-49). He sees the
Light Divine, hears the drum being played upon,
the ringing of the bell and sound of the conch,
enjoys the charms of the dawn, finds the Beloved
seated there, the fairies singing in chorus, the
flash of lightening, etc. The eclipse of his sun
is gone with the spread of bright sunshine and the
moon emerges from behind the clouds. The path of
Omkara is verily the path of union with the
Absolute. Om is the root but the path is beset
with so many pitfalls which the Guru helps the
sadhaka to overcome, sifting milk from water and
helping him to see the pure luminous self. The
Anahat Sabda (unstruck sound) awakens the Jivatma
and the night is turned, as it were, into mid-day.
Many a secret is revealed to Gobind through the
grace of his Guru who opened his 'wooden bolts'
from within, what is described as Chakra-bedan in
yogic literature. (Poem No. 84, 'sapud jivatma
...,' p. 93).
Every
morning Gobind reflects on su and su (Poem No. 72,
'Prath prabhatan,' p. 81) on Om and its resonance,
on Sat as su and su. It is ever pure, taintless
and free. It is sat-cit-ananda and self-luminous.
It is All Absolute (Paripuran). Gobind considers
himself lucky to have got the human frame, a thing
even the devas pine to obtain as a boon. He has
thus been enabled to practise meditation on sat as
su su ! The Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas have
sought to illuminate the distinction between the
questions 'who he is' and "who I am".
Gobind says he has reflected on 'su su' in the
company of truth seekers, and tasted the divine
nectar. He exhorts the sadhaka to enter through
the door of the heart (Poem No. 115, 'hradayik
darvaza,' pp. 121-122) and listen to zeer (fall)
and bam (rise) of the inward music (the sound
produced by the yogic practice of pranava. He
should be ever wakeful to listen to the anahat
sound of Om sabda that signals the dawn of
superconsciousness; it serves as it were on the
aircraft that carries the sadhak into the higher
space (gaganas). Let the sadhak become the royal
eagle to traverse the outer space, the dwelling of
the famakan (the disembodied being). That is
Gobind's instruction to the sadhak.
Gobind
lays utmost emphasis on steady and constant
spiritual practice that alone ensures success in
the path: the spiritual aspirant attains his goal.
Every moment of consciousness for the practising
seeker ensures the blooming of his heart-lotus
accompanied by illumination - rise of the
spiritual sun of consciousness. (Poem No. 114. 'Alimai
Khotai', pp. 120-12 1). He has to give up his ham
(ego) and caress su su, Gobind communicates his
spiritual experience to the truth-seeker,
enjoining upon him to ascend to the sky of
dvadasanta, drink the divine nectar to become
nishkal (desireless) and cross the barriers
courageously, and not get frightened by the
deafening noise enroute. The Guru, he assures the
sadhak, will take full care of him. His grace
alone would ensure for him the enjoyment of
uniterrupted flow of the sound of om: listening to
the satsabda day and night accompanied by the
experience of inward illumination. Gobind
maintains that su su is the source of divine love
(lola) that chases away death. As the wise alone
can understand and appreciate the art of a
florist, so can the yogi understand what su su
conveys.
Gobind's
state of mind is not difficult to judge. Like
other mystic poets, he sings of pain and
separation, of joy and fulfillment in the same
breath. The Beloved just tempted me, says the
mystic, and then abruptly disappeared. This has
made him restless and sick. How he longs for the
Beloved to return and the bulbul (a song bird) to
see the flowers in bloom ! He does not aspire for
anything other than the Beloved and has offered to
buy his wares as the sole purchaser. He has
sacrificed his body and mind to him. He considers
the cycle of coming and going (what the word
sansar conveys) fierce as a blazing fire and
something that nothing can excel in cheating. He
is helpless and tears roll down his eyes. He now
decides to withdraw himself to the inward melody
of omkara which sounds like a guitar.
[The
author, Dr. V. N. Drabu, is a well - known scholar
in the field of history and an accomplished
writer. He lives in Jammu.]
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