“Ravidas is a saint amongst the saints”. Kabir’s line captures the place of Sant Shiromani Guru Ravidas Ji Maharaj in awakening the consciousness of the Bhakti era. To carry that consciousness to every household, BJP President Nitin Nabin has launched a special campaign from Varanasi, running from Guru Purnima on July 29 to Magh Purnima on February 20, the 650th Jayanti of Sant Ravidas.

This is not just an occasion for remembrance but also a chance to reaffirm our faith in the long-neglected, unbroken line of Indian social and spiritual thought. To understand Ravidas, one must revisit the Bhakti movement and the consciousness it produced, which expressed itself not in the language of philosophers but in lok bhasha, the language of the people.

Modernity is often confused with Western influence, but the seeds of Indian modernity lie in the Bhakti movement, especially the teachings of Ravidas.

Modernity rests on four pillars. The first is equality and human dignity. To speak of equality in a society divided by jati and varna, and to carry spiritual democracy into social equality, was the movement’s greatest........

© Indian Express