Early Life and Devotion of Namdev Ji (Devotee of Vithal/Lord Krishna)
Namdev ji was born 800 years ago in 1200 AD in Maharashtra (Pandharpur).Namdev ji was born as a great follower and devotee of Vitthal (Lord Krishna) since childhood.
In Gurbani the shabad of Namdev ji ; "Edhar Bithal Ubeh Vithal ", This shabad conveys us a message of omnipresent Vithal/God everywhere on this earth, in each and every species.
Back time there was a hitch of caste system. People with upper caste are considered prior to the ones with lower caste. Even the lower caste people aren’t allowed to enter the premises of temple to worship or sing carols. This tradition even has an influence on Sikhism, where the separate queues were formed based on the castes system. Later on as the time drive this caste system was abolished by Great God Messenger’s and Saint’s. Even in Sikhism third Guru Amar Das ji prop a stop to this tradition of differentiating people based on caste system.
One day in childhood, Namdev ji went to Lord Vitthal temple in the eagerness to sing carol for Vitthal. Namdev ji's inner bond for Vitthal was so strong that he used to spend most of his time chanting the name of Vitthal near the Vitthal temple. Seeing Namdev ji sitting in the temple, the priest threw Namdev ji out of the temple; holding him from his hand and heave him out of the temple stating the lower caste like you aren’t allowed to sit inside the premises.
Namdev ji in his childhood was shattered with such incident; with tears in his eyes he went on the back side of the temple and sing the bhajan for Vithal sitting there gratifying his massive love for Vithal.
He creep Vithal saying-
“Hasat Khelat Tere Dehure Aia, Bhagat Karat Nama Pakar Uthaia..
hinari jat meri jadim raia, shipe ke janam kahe kau aia..
lai kamali chalio palatai, dehurai pashai baitha jai”
(I came to your Temple with happiness in my heart, in your premises I have been scolded out for the bhakti I was performing at our feet. Why have you given me lower caste of “Shimpe”, due to which I have been dragged off from the Temple? Namdev ji took his stall and sat behind the temple to complete his singing the praise of Vithal.)
The same day supernatural phenomenon under the mercy of God Vithal happen; when the face of the temple gets relocated to the direction where Namdev was sitting (Back side of Temple). Such a miracle amazed the people of Village there and from that day Namdev was considered as a special soul of God, not just an ordinary human.
Later Namdev Ji's true devotion towards Vitthal made him receive the grace of divine darshan of Vitthal 67 times in his entire lifetime and 27 times before attaining true spiritual master in his life.. After getting Divine Darshan 23 times of Vithal, bhagat Namdev ji gets the inner proud of being very special, in contrary to the others.
One day a great Saint Goroba Kumbhar invited the Saints to his place, Namdev ji was invited too. Goroba Kumbhar was a great Saint and a true devotee of Vithal.In the gathering one of the Great Saints Gyanehswar ji’s sister Mukhtah Bhai was present too, she had special Spiritual blessings of Divine sight; for knowing whether the person is connected to God or still needs to work out on self devotion to get sturdy bond with Almighty God.
In the meanwhile a talk arises within the Saints for requesting to see who is strongly bonded and who is weak bonded. As per the tradition Mukhtah Bhai usually pats the stick to the person who is still weak in God’s connection, some of the Saints were strongly bonded and some were weak. When the turn arrives for Namdev ji to pat the stick; Namdev ji impatiently and overconfidently said;
I am sure you will not pat the stick to me as I have done Divine Darshan of Vithal 27 times, None of the person present here have ever done Darshan once. So I am for sure the strongest bondable devote to my Vithal. She being blessed with the Supernatural Divine sight power pats the stick to Namdev Ji and said;
I have to say that Namdev ji is the most weakest bondable to his God !
Saints smirks at the situation, seeing everybody smiling on Namdev ji’s reaction to the statement made, Namdev ji left the bash. Namdev ji very disturbingly went to the Vithal Temple and question Vithal to give his Divine Darshan, now its the 24th times Vithal gave the Divine Darshan to Namdev ji ;
“Hey Vithal everybody there made fun of my True Strong devotion for you,
They said; I am still weak in my journey of Spirituality. Your devotee got humiliated in front of everybody”.
God Vithal gives Darshan to Namdev ji and said that Mukhtah Bhai said correct, she was not wrong.
Namdev ji replied;
But how could I be weak for you? How is it possible, I have you with your Divine Darshan so many times!
God Vithal replied;
Namdev; the reason is you don’t have any Holy Master in your life !The Saints present there in the gathering are more bondable then you, as they have Holy Master with them. Also, I gave my Darshan to both weak and strong bonded devotees. It’s on the devotees love and faith I get present in that form. I even commanded Narad Muni to go back to earth and get under the company of True Holy Master; even I myself have two Master Guru Gargacharya & Guru Sandhipani.
Namdev ji asked God Vithal where can I get the True Holy Master, you are my guider; I don’t know where to search for; please guide me.
God Vithal ji told Namdev ji to go Guru Visoba Khenchar great follower of Lord Shiva.
Namdev ji vigorously went to Sant Visoba Khenchar. There he saw Guru Visoba resting with his feet on the Shivalinga of Lord Shiva in a very small temple and chanting the name Mahadev. Namdev ji forget that God Vithal command him to get under the feet of Visoba. After seeing his feet placed on the Diety his heart gets filled with sourness. Namdev ji very savagely asked Visoba ;
The reason for placing his feet on Diety, Visoba smiled and replies “Namdev to move his feet with his hand where he do not see Mahadev, kindly place my feet there.”
When Namdev ji moved the feet of Visoba the presence of Diety arise there. Namdev ji could not find any spot where he could place the feet of Guru Visoba. Having realized Guru Visoba is correct, Mahadev/God is everywhere! Namdev ji very gratefully in humble voice requested Visoba to share the reason for such miracle. Visoba ji teaches Namdev that God is omnipresent and present in each and every species on this earth, not limited to just the temple we worship.
Guru Visoba advised Namdev,
"If you want me to teach you as a holy guru, you will have to change yourself and become a new Namdev". Namdev Ji strongly agreed with Guru Visoba and participated in his philosophy of understanding God and following the path of God.
Namdev have now developed more knowledgeable in the understanding for God, that visiting to God Vithal temple has now being changed to chanting God’s name anywhere, not restricting just to one place.
God Vithal took a lot of tests of Namdev ji in his life journey towards the True devotion to God Vithal. One of them was when Vithal test Namdev ji after he pertains the teaching from his Guru and know the fact of God is omnipresent.
Namdev was preparing his food, but now his vision to prepare the food was transposed. He knows consider God Vithal in each and every activity he performs.
He made 3 chapattis and closed his eyes for a few seconds thinking of Vithal coming and accepting this prepared food. In the meanwhile Namdev ji saw a dog took all the Chapatti’s, Namdev ji very excitingly ran behind the dog saying.
“Oh Vithal I know this is you, please stop I forgot to apply Butter on the Chapatti’s”.
Vithal while giving his divine darshan said that Namdev, you now understand the real fact of worshiping God, seeing God in every species on this earth and not just restricting yourself to a specific place.