Ravidassia

Sara Gogna

Ravidassia

While every known religion is well known to everyone, at least by their name, there are many others that are not so famous. Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam are some of the religions that are on top of every one’s tongue every time they hear the word religion. However, for the ones that are not yet known as much as the ones above, one of them is the Ravidassia religion.

Guru Ravidas ; Source: Zee News

The religion is a sect of Sikhism which is a wider religion than this one. Ravidassia was founded in the 14th century. It is based on the teachings of Guru Ravidas and is also known as Ravidas Panth. This religion has also complied a holy book of their own which hae all the teachings and writings given by Guru Ravidas. That holy scripture was known as Amritbani Guru Ravidass Ji.

When this religion emerged, it was made as a sect of Sikhism. However, the Ravidassia believed they had different traditions than what is there in Sikhism. Hence, they declared that they weren’t Sikhs and Guru Ravidas was their one true supreme.

Regardless of that, all the followers of Ravidas Ji gave utmost respect to all the gurus and also to the holy book of the Sikhs - Guru Granth Sahib. However, they considered Guru Ravidas to have the highest position. Due to the same reason, Guru Ravidas was given the title of Satguru.

Coming to the religion of Ravidassia, it is based on the principles and beliefs of Guru Ravidas. Some of his beliefs include that the human body is a particle of God; if the mind is healthy, everything is fine; the way to meet God is to free the mind of duality, along with others.

Despite having these beliefs in oneself, there were some other conditions that one needs to have in order to become a part of the Ravidassia community. One had to preach the teachings and philosophy of Guru Ravidas. There is also no rule that one had to be born as a Ravidassia in order to be one. One of the most important ones was to celebrate the Jayanti of Satguru Ravidas Ji.

Guru Ravidas was treated equally to God as he was considered the Supreme one in his founded religion. Hence, his place of worship was of different kinds with different names. There were Sabhas, Deras, Mandirs, Gurudwaras, and Bhawans where a Ravidassia could go in order to take the blessings of Guru Ravidas.

Just as in every other place of worship, it is considered respectful when one goes in with their head covered and taking off their shoes, it is the same here. That was the number of beliefs people had in Guru Ravidas.

Whichever place of worship it might be of Guru Ravidas, the holy scripture, Amritbani Guru Ravidas Ji was only used and followed. This holy book contains hymns that are said to have Guru Ravidas’ beliefs and philosophy written in them.

The book Amritbani contains 240 hymns which are taken care of in order to be followed by sadhus. These sadhus are the ones who are directing the Ravidassias in the right direction when it comes to religion. The sadhus are a part of the Sant Samaj who are considered to be the heads of the Ravidassias.

The motto of this unknown religion is Jai Gurudev which means hail the good teacher. This religion is unlike every other but just a bit similar to that of Sikhism. Guru Ravidas, being the one true supreme, is still there with his every follower, every Ravidassia at every point of time with his principles and his beliefs.