Raskhan’s initiation under Vithalnathji had great effect on him. He turned out to be one of the leading devotees of his period and his verses were on every devotee’s lips, writes MEERA S. SASHITAL
Krishna Bhakti has much in common with Ram Bhakti and basically both enjoin devotion to a personal God in human form. The devotees of the Krishna cult however widened the scope of their devotion by making bhakti a matter of not only emotion, bringing merely reverence and awe into play, but also a kind of fellow feeling, a kinship between themselves and Krishna.
This new bhakti was an emotion which impelled the bhakta, the devotee to worship the Lord, to seek him everywhere, to yearn for him, to quarrel with him, to remove the distance which reverence implies; in short, to love him passionately as one would a human lover.
Another remarkable feature of Krishna bhakti was that it attracted quite a number of Muslims who not only wrote devotional poetry in Brajabhasha but were also ardent devotees.
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On their own they felt attracted towards the Krishna bhakti cult, and, like other devotees started singing and composing in Brajabhasha in the traditional style. This aspect of Krishna bhakti was responsible for making it more popular and vesting it with a universality of appeal.
Alluding to this aspect of Krishna bhakti, M Mujeeb says: “It is curious that of the two embodiments of the divine in the Hindu pantheon, Rama does seems to have appealed to the imagination or the religious sentiment of the Muslims, but Krishna the naughty boy of Gokul, whose spirituality evolved out of fun and frolic, who was god. Lover and beloved all in one, caught their fancy.”
One of the most important devotees of Krishna Bhakti was Syed Ibrahim a Muslim who came to be known as Raskhan (b.1573). One of the remarkable features of Krishna Bhakti was that many Muslims composed devotional poetry and were great devotees of Krishna.
They felt greatly attracted to the Krishna cult and wrote their works in Brajabhasha. Of the two divine embodiments in the Hindu pantheon, Krishna seemed to have appealed more to the religious sentiments of the Muslims than Rama due to Krishna’s fun and frolic and who was a combination of God and spiritual love.
Raskhan was a Pathan Sardar of Delhi. He has acknowledged himself as belonging to the Shahi family in his ‘Premvatika. It is leant that he was related to the Pathan Badshah dynasty. Raskhan was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and a disciple of Goswami Vithalnathji. It is said at one time he was deeply attached to a son of a Baniya.
But, once he heard someone saying “If one loves God, it should be like Raskhan’s love for the Baniya’s son.”
Raskhan was greatly stung by these remarks and instantly he sets off in search of Goswami Vithalnathji whom he finally finds in Gokul. There he takes ‘Diksha’ or Initiation from Goswami Vithalnathji and becomes his disciple.
There is another version as to how Raskhan was inspired to take up Diksha. It seems Raskhan was infatuated with a woman who was too proud and treated him very badly. He was very fond of reading Hindu scriptures.
One day as he was reading the Persian translation of ‘Shrimad Bhagvat’, he was profoundly impressed by the description of the ecstatic love of the Gopis for Lord Krishna. Instantly he realizes “why not turn my mind to Him like the gopis instead of wasting my life on trifles”. Immediately he makes a stern determination and goes to Vrindavan. In his ‘Premvatika’ there is a couplet referring to this.
Raskhan’s initiation under Vithalnathji had great effect on him. He turned out to be one of the leading devotees of his period and his verses were on every devotee’s lips. Two of his prominent works were ‘Premvatika’ and ‘Sujan Raskhan’. The first one consists of fifty-two dohas or couplets and sorathas which picturizes true devotion and love. The latter work which is more popular, comprises of 121 chhandas (Kavittasavalya). Raskhan has described the frolics of infant and other sportive acts of Krishna’s childhood in excellent verses.
In course of time, Raskhan became the most ardent Krishna devotee. Despite being a Muslim, he attained great honour amongst the devotees due to his intense devotion to Krishna. His poetic language was very flowing and easy and he used pure Brajabhasha in his compositions which was rarely found with others. His verses fully reveal his depth of love for Krishna and are regarded to be of the highest quality and excellence for its sweetness and mellifluence. Raskhan’s love for Krishna and Brajbhumi can be traced in many of his other memorable verses too.
His best known Chandas are those which express his yearning to be in Vrindavan. For example:
Your wealth may be the shame of Kubera and your beauty a challenge to Kama.
In the extent of your pleasures you may rival Indra, You may solicit the descent of the Ganges to earth
Through the power of your Yoga. But what, asks Raskhan, is the use of it,
If your tongue has not tasted The rippling waters of devotion.
If your mind is not dyed in the love of Him Whose mind was dyed in the love of Radha?
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But, one of his best known and most popular verses is: Says Raskhan (to the Lord):
Manush honn to wahi Rasakhan Basaun sang gokul ganv ke gwaran.
Jo pasu hon to kahan bas mero Charaun nit Nand ki dhenu majharan.
Pahan hon to wahi giri ko Jo kiyo Braj Chhatra Purandar dharan.
Jo khag hon to basero karaun wahi Kalindi kul kadamb ki daran.
(which translates as)
If you want to give me human rebirth, make me one of the Cowherds in (Your) cowherd village (Gokula)’
If you are to give me an animal rebirth, Let me be a cow grazing daily with other cows of Nanda:
If you are to transform me into a stone, May I become a part of the very hill (Govardhan)
Which you lifted by your hand, As one would an umbrella to teach a lesson to Indra;
If I am to be a bird let me live As one on the boughs of the Kadamba trees on the banks of the Yamuna.
