SRI PANDURANGA DASA

Sri Panduranga Dasa (1284-1364) was a devotee of Lord Panduranga, and a poet and saint. He was the disciple of the great saint Sri Pandarinath, and along with his Guru, he has written many bhakti songs on Lord Panduranga. His Guru has praised him for his great efficiency in writing and singing songs in praise of Lord Panduranga. He contributed a lot to the Carnatic music. He is also praised by the people as the master of Carnatic music. He is considered as an avatar of Madhav(One of the Gopalas), who was a close cowherd Yadava friend to Lord Krishna, during the previous Dwapara Yuga.

Sri Panduranga Dasa was a big merchant of garments items who had hailed from Pandharpur, and he had donated his entire wealth to the poor people at Pandharpur for serving Lord Panduranga. He mesmerized the people through his melodious bhakti songs on Panduranga. He was one of the most important scholars of India.  He was named as Pandurang and brought up by his parents in a comfortable manner. He was well educated in basic education and in the languages of Sanskrit and devotional music. At his younger age itself, he was married to a noble young girl. After the death of his parents, he started doing his father’s business of dealing with garments items. Due to his good concentration on business, very soon he has become rich and he was called as Pandurangakubera.

Though he was a rich man, yet, he was a miser by nature. He never gave money for any charitable services or donated money to the poor. Once, due to the grace of the Lord, Lord Panduranga took the form of a poor woman, and approached Pandurang and asked him for some money.

Pandurang didn’t show any mercy on the poor woman and sent her out from his place. But his wife felt pity with the poor woman, and she gave away one of her nice silk sari, to her, and when Pandurang came to know about this incident from his servant maid, he got very angry with his wife and immediately he went to his home and called her for enquiring about the incident. His wife was very much afraid and prayed to the god. To her great surprise, she found the same silk sari in front of her. She got very happy and narrated the entire incident to her husband, and both of them searched for the poor woman but they couldn’t find her anywhere in the surrounding area. Both of them immediately realized that the poor woman was none other than their beloved god Panduranga himself. Immediately he donated his entire wealth to the poor people, and left his house along with family to live a saintly life. He lived his life by taking alms and sang the glory of the lord and become a great HARIDASA.

After some time, he met the great saint Sri Pandarinath, a Vaishnavite saint and the Guru of the then king of Pandharipur kingdom. He was given the title Sri Panduranga Dasa by his guru. Sri Panduranga Dasa had travelled throughout Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Dwaraka and Pandharpur and composed beautiful songs on Lord Panduranga, and he established a small Ashram for himself and his family at the banks of the Holy Chandrabaga River and continued his divine service of singing songs on Panduranga till the time of his death.

Some of the honey dipped songs sung by him in praise of Lord Sri Panduranga are as follows:-

1. Lord Panduranga is the Supreme Brahman and he is the creator of happiness. He came to the holy river Bhimarathi with impressive beauty, and waited in a stone to bless and to give boons for his devotee Pundarika.
2. I worship Paanduranga sincerely, who is the supreme among all the other gods, and he wears beautiful dresses, and he appears in blue colour. He is the consort of Ma Rukmani, who is the incarnation of Ma Lakshmi, and he removes the sorrows and gives spiritual pleasure to us.
3. I worship the great Paanduranga, who holds his waist with his two hands, and he is the father of Lord Brahma. He removes the worldly pleasures from his devotees and instead of that he gives the true spiritual pleasures.
4. I bow my heads before the divine Paanduranga, who wears the holy kaustubha Gem around his neck and he looks calm and always appears with a lovely smile.
5. I worship the holy Paanduranga, whose cheeks are covered by glittering ear-rings, and his eyes are similar to the lotus flowers, and he shines like the sun.
6. I salute the mighty Paanduranga, who wears peacock feathers and flower garlands, and
   he may be approached by anyone at any time.
7. I praise the divine Paanduranga, who is reserved a permanent seat near to him for his sincere devotees. He is the one who removes our sins, and gives spiritual enlightenment to us, and there are no words to praise him, since he is the Lord of the Lords, and the King of Kings.
8. O mind, by thinking about the endless cycle of birth and death, keep utmost faith on Lord Vitthal. By chanting his holy names itself, we could get rid from this materialistic world, and can attain liberation.
9. Oh Lord Vitthal, by singing songs on you, I am getting very much delighted, and even the animals and birds are eagerly listening to your divine songs, and they are raising a cheerful noise.
10. Oh Lord Vitthala, I have tightened yourself in my soul, and I never leave you from that place, since by keeping you in my soul, I am getting the everlasting bliss.
11. Oh my dear Vitthal Maharaj, due to your divine presence, the Holy River Chandrabaga glitters like the sun, and it has attained purity due to your grace.
12. Oh my sweet Vitthala, your significance cannot be explained fully even by your lovely consort Ma Rukmini, and you act as a saviour to the entire universe.
13. Oh Lord Vitthala, even during the time of destruction you are there, and there is no end for you. Through your blessings, the entire universe is functioning smoothly.
14. Oh my dear Vitthal Mahaprabhu, your devotees are highly addicted on you, they are praising on you through their wonderful songs and their entire thoughts focuses on you only.
15. I bow my head before my beloved Paanduranga, and I offer my humble salutation to him. He is the one, who removes our sins, diseases and our all sorts of problems in our life and would give great spiritual satisfaction in our life.
16. I bow my head before my beloved Panduranga, and I offer my humble salutation to him. Though I don’t have sufficient wealth to offer precious ornaments to my Lord, but, however, in my imagination, I have already offered nice clothes and rich garments to him, and I have seen his divine form also.
17. I bow my head before my beloved Panduranga, and I offer my humble salutation to him. He is the one who adorns the precious kaustubha Gem on his body, and he is a soft, gentle and a wonderful protector of the world.
    He can be easily found in the souls of the noble sages, saints and the Bhagavathas like Prahalada and Dhruva.
18. I bow my head before my beloved Panduranga, and I offer my humble salutation to him. He is called as Kamala Kannan, since his eyes looks like the beautiful lotus flowers, and his divine beauty can be compared with the beauty of the full moon.
19. I bow my head before my beloved Panduranga, and I offer my humble salutation to him. He contains a crown on his head, which is filled up with full of precious gems, and he wears beautiful peacock feathers and flower garlands, and he has been offered delicious sweets as Holy Prasad to him by his devotees.
20. I bow my head before my beloved Panduranga, and I offer my humble salutation to him. He gives a peaceful and prosperous life to the pious ones, and would give punishments to the wicked ones, in order to correct them. He can be easily approached by anyone, who contains sincere bhakti on him.
21. I bow my head before my beloved Paanduranga, and I offer my humble salutation to him. He shows kindness on his devotees and removes the stress of those who seek refuge under him. He is the lord of the lords, and the king of the kings. He is known by various names, and he is my beloved Vithal Mahaprabhu. He cannot be defeated by anyone, and there is no end for him. Those who take shelter under his holy feet would realise the true happiness, and thereafter, there is no birth and death for them.

Whoever recites these divine songs, at least once in a day would get the blessings of Lord Panduranga, and they would prosper in their life.

 “OM SREE PANDURANGA DASARE NAMAHA”

WRITTEN BY

R.HARISHANKAR