Talk:Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa Blesses his Bhakta Puṇḍalika:Bahinābāī
By Vishal Agarwal
Bahinābāī was born in a brāhmaṇa family in the year 1628 CE in Devagaon, a town located close to the famous Ellora Caves in the Indian state of Maharashtra. While she was still a little girl, she was married to a widower, Gaṅgādhara Pāṭhaka, who was more than 20 years older than her. Gaṅgādhara was a fairly well-off man, a renowned astrologer, and a scholar of the Vedas. But he had no faith in Bhagavān and was not at all religious.
On the contrary, Bahinābāī was a deeply spiritual person who liked to attend spiritual discourses given by visiting sādhus in her village. In particular, she listened very intently to the kīrtanas conducted by a paṇḍita named Jayarāma Gosāvī. Gaṅgādhara did not like his wife attending these sermons. Therefore, he made her pregnant while she was still 11 years of age so that she would stay at home.
However, her pregnancy did not deter her from attending the spiritual sermons. One day, when she was three months pregnant, Gaṅgādhara was furious when she returned from Gosāvī’s kīrtana. In a fit of rage, he tied her in a bundle and threw her around. He did not care whether she or the unborn child would be killed. When people around heard the commotion, they rushed and called Jayarāma Gosāvī.
Jayarāma scolded Gaṅgādhara and said that he should consider himself lucky to have married a lady like Bahinābāī. He told him that she had been a great yoginī in one of her previous lives, but due to some faults, she had become a yogabhrashta (a person who has temporarily fallen from the path of yog). In this life, she would complete her spiritual journey and unite with Bhagavān. He told him that he must not treat her harshly and should thank his good karm from previous lives that he had been given a chance to be associated with her now.
A calf in their home was very devoted to Bahinābāī. When it saw the tortures inflicted on her, the calf stopped eating and died within a few days.
Gaṅgādhara calmed down. But Bahinābāī became seriously ill. She fainted until she heard a brāhmaṇa urging her to open her eyes. When she opened them, she had a darśana of Viṭhobā. She also felt an intense longing to meet with Sant Tukārām, who lived in the town of Dehu and was a great bhakta of Viṭhobā.
When Gaṅgādhara heard of her dream and her desire to meet with Tukārām, he became furious once again. He insulted her for desiring to meet Tukārām, who was a śūdra whereas they were brāhmaṇas. He insulted the sant and Viṭhobā and resolved to leave his wife. But the day before he was to leave her, he became seriously ill.
Gaṅgādhara now regretted his actions of insulting a sant like Tukārām. His sickness too brought about a drastic change in his behavior. As he got better, he started shedding his hatred for sants and Bhagavān. Another sādhu arrived at their home and advised him to recognize the spiritual greatness of his wife.
A few days later, Gaṅgādhara actually asked her to go with him to Dehu to have a meeting with Tukārām. There, he accepted the sant as his guru. Sant Tukārām also acknowledged that Bahinābāī was spiritually very advanced from her previous births, and advised Gaṅgādhara to always treat her with love and respect.
Many years passed and Bahinābāī lived peacefully with her husband. They had several children together. She also met Sant Samartha Rāmadāsa, who gave her a mūrti of Hanumān that is still worshipped by her descendants today.
At the age of 72 years, Bahinābāī was finally at her deathbed. She summoned her son, saying that she would attain mokṣa in 5 days’ time. She told him that in her last twelve births, she had been striving to attain mokṣa without success, but that this time she would be united with Bhagavān. She also told him that he had been associated with her in some way or the other in all of these 12 births.
In the first three of these 12 births, she was born in the homes of vaiśya families. However, in all those cases, her family was advised not to marry her and to let her be devoted to Bhagavān. She lived to the ages of 13, 28, and 24 in these three lives. In the next four births, she was born in the families of milkmen. Again, she was very devoted to Bhagavān. In the last of these (the seventh lifetime), a sādhu came to her family and declared that she was a yogabhrashta a person who was spiritually very advanced but not yet united with Bhagavān. As a result, her family asked the sādhu to take her away. She advanced spiritually under the guidance of her guru and lived to the age of 63.
In her lives 8–12, she was born in brāhmaṇa families. In her 8th birth, she was married and also became a widow very early, dying at the age of 18. In her 9th birth, she lived only till the age of 9 years. In her 10th lifetime, she lived till the age of 42, and her son in this life was her eldest son in that life. In her 11th lifetime, she was married at the young age of 7 years. Fortunately, her husband was a yogi and also became her guru. She lived to the age of 43 in that life. In her previous or 12th life, she was born in the home of a very pious and religious couple. They married her to a man who was also very spiritual. Together, they advanced spiritually till she died at the age of 36.
She told her son that now, in this life, she had already seen how she would die. When her breath stopped, her soul would depart and unite with Brahman the Supreme Being and she would not be reborn thereafter. Just like the waters of a river merge with the ocean, she would merge with Bhagavān. When the water puddle dries up, no one talks of the reflection of a pot in it. Likewise, of what use is the body when the soul has united with Brahman? She said she was crossing this physical and material world and would pass over into the infinite joy of Brahman. [1]
Regarding her life, a modern sādhvī aptly says that from Bahinābāī’s songs one can understand that her spiritual path was a mixture of bhakti and jñāna, and that she was highly learned in Advaita Vedānta. In those days, a woman would not have any chance for education, so it seems probable that her learning came from both her spiritual experiences and from listening to discourses. Though Bahinābāī had to suffer much at the hands of her husband, her firm faith and devotion, courage, and steadfastness are certainly a great inspiration to women all over the world. She showed that a person can attain the highest even in the face of great afflictions. [2]