Incidents from Brahmānanda’s life reveal him to be uniquely gifted and talented in the field of music. Seldom can one find one individual that was such an exceptional poet, musician, singer, and linguist. His brilliant artistry reflects his beliefs, struggles, and faith in Bhagavāna Svāminārāyaṇa (Svāminārāyaṇa). His life and work were one; what he felt was explicitly expressed in his poetry. The diversity of his poetry and awareness of the shortcomings of society enriched his writings and made him a pioneer in 19th-century Svāminārāyaṇa Gujarātī literature.

The Versatile Poet

In 18^–19^th century Gujarāta, verses of the bhakti genre from Narasiṃha Mahetā, Mīrābāī, and Brahmānanda’s contemporary Dayārāma were popular and prevalent. Though inspiring artists, they were typically bound to a single style and genre of writing. Brahmānanda, however, was an extremely versatile poet whose poems could evoke a wide range of emotions. He could inspire youths to want to renounce the world and become sādhus, stir bravery and courage to help face life’s struggles, and even invoke the principles of devotion and loyalty to Bhagavāna within listeners’ hearts. Therefore, analyzing events and incidents from Brahmānanda’s life helps understand his struggles, challenges, and beliefs and of those prevailing in society.

Bravery and Courage…

The Svāminārāyaṇa faith that Sahajānanda had established in Gujarāta in the eighteenth century was not universally accepted. Some sections of society treated this new and growing saṃpradāya with skepticism, criticism, and even violence. Svāminārāyaṇa’s sādhus tolerated unfathomable hardships. It was common for them to go days without food because they were insulted, abused, rejected rations, and even killed for their beliefs. Muktānanda and Brahmānanda were once captured by a heretic associated with a spurious cult, tied to a pole, and came very close to being skinned alive and having their ears and nose cut off.¹ However, they were steadfast in their belief and loyalty to Svāminārāyaṇa that no hardship could shake their conviction.

Devotees also endured difficulties for their “crime” of accepting the Svāminārāyaṇa faith; they were ostracized from their communities, tortured, exiled and in some cases even killed. Being a Svāminārāyaṇa devotee meant being a target of abuse, humiliation, and prejudice. Fear, doubts, and uncertainty were a part of everyday life.

It was in this context that Svāminārāyaṇa asked Brahmānanda to compose several poems that would provide a devotee, Rūpābhāī, with the strength, courage, and reassurance to face the aforementioned adversities in his life. Rūpābhāī was the favorite minister of Mahārājā Vajesiṃha, the King of Bhāvanagara. An individual with strong character and trustworthiness, Vajesiṃha always entrusted him with his personal and most important tasks. Other ministers grew jealous and conspired against Rūpābhāī by spreading malicious rumors about him to Vajesiṃha. He did not care to investigate and ordered Rūpābhāī to leave Bhāvanagara altogether; homeless and without a living, Rūpābhāī’s life was cast into confusion.²

A series of poems Brahmānanda composed helped devotees such as Rūpābhāī ignite bravery and courage in the face of opposition and oppression. In the opening of this poem, “Harijan sāchā re,” Brahmānanda emphasizes the necessity of a devotee to keep courage in his heart. Whatever worldly problems he may face, a devotee never forsakes Bhagavāna, the Satsaṅga fellowship, or acts against the commands of Bhagavāna. One of the features of these poems is in the analogies that Brahmānanda employs – simple, meaningful, and the sorts of images and ideas that his contemporary audience were familiar with. According to Raymond Williams, “Brahmānanda (1772-1832) wrote almost a thousand poems in which he extolled the ethical and moral life with the help of simple examples from contemporary life, and illustrations from the cultural history of India.”³

Brahmānanda provides imagery of a lion coming face-to-face with an elephant. Relative to the enormous and immensely powerful elephant, the lion is insignificant. However, the lion never loses faith or courage. So fearless is the lion that with just the sight of it, its enemies will disperse. Similarly, regardless of the difficulties in a devotee’s life, he or she should never lose heart. This was a characteristic of an ideal devotee.

In his second analogy, Brahmānanda paints an image of a battlefield, in which a valiant soldier never takes a step back regardless of the strength of the opposition.

The analogy represents the immense difficulties followers of Svāminārāyaṇa faced at the time. Sādhus and devotees had given their lives for the faith, and the poem attempts to eradicate the fear in the hearts of the devotees and replaces it with courage. The soldier in the example stabs himself before the battle even begins and happily embraces death; thus, he remains joyful and carefree regardless of the swords, arrows and spears that fly from both sides. There is a finality about this analogy that Brahmānanda wanted to highlight. He wants to emphasize that for a true devotee of God, walking away was not even an option. Irrespective of who or what stood in his way, he would never forsake God. However, this was not simply a mindless soldier walking to his death. Brahmānanda explains further that the devotee’s victory was guaranteed because Bhagavāna helps his brave and courageous followers.

Brahmānanda emphasizes at the end that Bhagavāna is extremely pleased with such a devotee; he ensures the audience that their bravery and courage became their devotion to Bhagavāna, and a medium through which they are able to earn Bhagavāna’s grace.

Another feature of Brahmānanda’s poems is they always have a deeper, more poignant meaning, and this series of poems is a fine example of that. As discussed above, the lion and soldier never give up in the face of insurmountable odds. Likewise, a brave devotee earns Bhagavāna’s grace and their ultimate victory. However, Brahmānanda tells us that a devotee must keep the inner strength required, not to only fight against external enemies, but the true battle that is against our inner adversaries such as ego, lust, greed, anger etc.

Internal vices affect a devotee on a deeper, spiritual level than any external opposition. A devotee may decide to relocate to another town where there is no opposition, however to run from these instincts is impossible. Where persevering through hardships would earn Bhagavāna’s grace, these inner vices would ultimately push him away from Bhagavāna and the Satsaṅga fellowship.

For example, when Svāminārāyaṇa was once travelling from Vartāla to Gaḍhaḍā, Arjuna Bhagata, a sādhu, approached Svāminārāyaṇa and confessed that he was constantly being troubled by worldly thoughts and desires. Svāminārāyaṇa instructed him to sing the “Harijan sāchā re” series of poems and think about their meanings whilst walking to Gaḍhaḍā. Brahmānanda’s poems contained such power, that by reaching Gaḍhaḍā, Arjuna Bhagata received great encouragement from within, to continue fighting his mind, and experienced profound peace.⁹

His poetic writings are not only rich in rhymes, rhythm, alliteration, analogies, metaphors, but also stir the emotions of those who were singing them. Due to these sublime, much deeper messages, Brahmānanda’s poems not only were relevant for his contemporary audience, but for any one thereafter. He addresses the root cause of all of life’s issues, struggles, and our base instincts. Therefore, Brahmānanda’s poems were able to not only inspire from within, but weave courage and bravery into the very fabric of Svāminārāyaṇa’s followers. Furthermore, they were equally important on a deeper, more spiritual level for devotees fighting against their personal vices that lure them away from the path of God.

Detachment and Renunciation…

When Lādudān first met Svāminārāyaṇa in Gaḍhaḍā his life was transformed. Furthermore, when he met Jīvubā and Lāḍubā, two staunch female devotees who taught him that the world’s pleasures are fleeting and temporary, he received the final inspiration to renounce his opulent lifestyle and become a sādhu.¹⁰ He describes his initiation into the sādhu – fold in the following verse:

Then Brahmānanda’s true test began. Brahmānanda’s mother Lālubā, father Śambhudānajī, and fiancée came to Gaḍhaḍā to implore him to return home. However, Brahmānanda’s mind was fixed. He composed three poems to convince his family to return home without him – “Re sagpaṇ Harivarnu sāchu,” “Re shir sāṭe Naṭvarne varīe,” and “Vā’lā lāgo chho vishva ādhār re, sagpaṇ tam sāthe.” These poems stand witness to his thoughts and struggles as Brahmānanda projects the inner struggles of his mind during this very emotional incident. Without refrain, one can witness vividly Brahmānanda’s strength of character, devotion to Svāminārāyaṇa, and his qualities of an ideal spiritual aspirant.

In the first poem, Brahmānanda relay to his fiancée and family, that the world, his relationships in it, wealth and belongings, are all temporary.

He stresses that his relationship with God, Bhagavāna Svāminārāyaṇa, is everlasting. Brahmānanda explains that life is also uncertain and the world trivial; therefore, he has renounced his worldly attachment. Brahmānanda defiantly writes that against the wishes of his mind, he has turned his back on the world and become a sādhu.

Hearing these words, the family decided to return home without Brahmānanda. However, his mother and father tried once more. Even his mother, who was reserved till now, asserted her opinion. She warned her son that he was acting impetuously, that his detachment will not last. Therefore, in the long run, he will neither be happy as a sādhu, nor be able to return home.¹⁴ The mother was not wrong in her logic as these were the exact teachings of Svāminārāyaṇa recorded in Vacanāmṛta Kariyāṇī – 7,

Not easily swayed, Brahmānanda was unequivocal with his response. He spontaneously composed and sang the “Re shir sāṭe Naṭvarne varīe” poem where the conclusiveness of his language, much like in the examples he used in the “Re sagpaṇ Harivarnu sāchu” poem, is vivid and full of imagery. Brahmānanda, in this poem, discusses very candidly the struggle and fight that is ensuing.

He expresses that now that he has wedded Bhagavāna, he will never turn back. Brahmānanda utilizes one of his favorite analogies, the battlefield. He says that he has thoroughly thought through what he has done by entering this battlefield, and if need be will die there. Having once stepped onto the battlefield, walking back is cowardly and reprehensible. These words accomplished their task and his parents returned to Rājasthāna.

When the Mahārājā of Vaḍodarā found out about Lādudān’s decision to become a sādhu, he tried to entice him to return and become his official royal poet. The Mahārājā Sayājī Rāva showed his willingness to give twenty-five villages along with Vaḍodarā City’s mansion and garden, an elephant¹⁷, chariot, and a seat in the court worth twice as much than the richest person in the state.¹⁸ The Mahārājā believed he could convince Brahmānanda to change his mind, and the parents’ dashed hopes received new life. However, Brahmānanda sternly responded with utter conviction:

In these series of events, Svāminārāyaṇa, quite unexpectedly, sympathized with the family. The person for whom he had decided to give up everything suddenly switched sides. Brahmānanda’s responded to this final impediment with a spontaneous poem, “Vālā lāgo chho vishva ādhār re, sagpaṇ tam sāthe.”

Brahmānanda unequivocally stresses that his previously-infatuated mind is now firmly affixed to Bhagavāna. Brahmānanda expands on his relationship with Svāminārāyaṇa. Previously, Lādudān, who made such a lasting impression on kings with his poetic ability and supreme intelligence, had been humbled and become a servant of Svāminārāyaṇa, his only master.

In these poems, Brahmānanda is able to intertwine detachment and renouncement with devotion in a unique way.²¹, ²² He severed his materialistic ties to the world and simultaneously attached himself to Bhagavāna. So strong was his message that his family, fiancée, and the Mahārājā of Vaḍodarā failed to pry Brahmānanda away from Svāminārāyaṇa.

Poetically, his works fit pre-defined meters combined with a strong sense of rhythm, rhyme, allegory, and alliteration.²³ However, as for his thoughts and message, Brahmānanda effortlessly introduces and employs many different features into his poetry: the topical references; an encyclopedic knowledge of history; a pervasive spirit of benevolence and geniality; inexhaustible powers of character creation; and a prose style that was captivating.