SRI GURU NABHA DAS
INTRODUCTION
Sri Guru Nabha Das was a saint and the author of the holy text, The Bhaktamal. In this sacred text, Nabha Das wrote the life history of several saints, and explained their greatness and their dedication to the god. He was born in the year 1537 at Bhadrachalam, on the banks of the Godavari River in Telangana in Dumna community. The Dumna community people are well-versed musicians, who lived their life by singing the glories of Lord Rama, and they considered Lord Rama as their Ishta Deva.
His birth name was Narayan Das, and he was an ardent devotee of Lord Rama. He lost his parents at his younger age, and due to that he lived his life by visiting Temples, and chanted the glorious names of Lord Rama. He lived lonely and bravely with the blessings of Lord Rama. One fine day, he met two saints and he went along with them to a temple at Jaipur. He served in the temple by feeding the hungry devotees. He was given the holy name Nabha Das by the saints, and through their guidance, he wrote the life history of the holy saints. After finishing his wonderful devotional writings on the great saints, he went to Varanasi and had a holy dip in the Holy River Mata Ganga. He also took many saints along with him during his travel to Varanasi.
Then he went to Mathura and Vrindavan and worshipped Lord Krishna and met the great saint Sri Tulsidas, the author of Tulasi Ramayana. Both of them shared their joyful feelings and experiences, since both of them are great devotional writers. During his travels to the holy places, he cured the ailments of the people, and invoked them in the “SRIRAMA BHAKTI”, and asked them to chant the Rama Mantra regularly in their life. Nabha Dass died in the year 1643 and attained the Lotus feet of Lord Rama. His other famous works are Ramashtayam, Astayam and Ramcharitar.
“JAI SRIRAM”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR