Mahāmati – An Introduction

Mahāmati – An Introduction

Mahamati (1618 AD –1694AD) was medieval India's great personage who heralded the new age of Renaissance with a vigorous spirit of universalization of all spiritual knowledge known to humanity.  Based on his realization of Tartam Knowledge, he saw that the Absolute Reality is the totality encompassing the graded existences of three main levels (tiers) of collective consciousness, namely perishable Kshar Purusha Narayana, eternal Akshar Brahman and supreme Par-Brahmn Aksharateet. He introduced the concept of Creative Monism or 'Sva-Lila-Adwait' based on his realization of non-dual Par-Brahman, who is beyond all worldly forms (Saakaar) and the formless (Nirakaar) levels of realities. Mahamati's this realization is the hallmark of Shri Nijānand Sampradaya, which began with its founder Nijānand Swami's spiritual queries such as: Who am I? Where have I come from?  Who is my Beloved Lord? Why am I here in this world? What is the ultimate purpose of human existence?

While being a mystic to his deepest core, Mahamati was also a rare to find integral activist of his time.  On one hand, he realized and revealed the oneness of all religions through 'Tartamya-Vani,' the most outstanding piece of knowledge on the essential oneness of the humanity and religions.  And on the other hand, he fought his whole life first to convince the then intolerant Mughal ruler Aurangzeb with his philosophy of religious integration, and then took up direct fight against his animosity towards the Hindus.  Wherever he travelled, he delivered his non-dual wisdom and inspired Hindu religious leaders, kings and community leaders to find common grounds and come together to face the challenge of protecting the culture and the religion of the Hindus.

On one hand, he inspired and guided spiritual aspirants for self-realization of the ultimate Blissful state called Nijānand, while on other, he organized efforts to irradicate irrelevant customs and rituals, social evils such as communalism, untouchability, and sectarianism. With the sword of integral Tāratam knowledge, he worked to annihilate the monster of human being's obsession with mere externalities of religious practices, and also declared that the ritualistic part of the scripture had caused sectarian outlook in human being's minds.  All this and much more, he did to strengthen Hinduism from its roots and evolve.

Mahamati's philosophy of creative monism or 'Sva-Lila-Adwait' is the most unique gift of Hinduism to the world.  He offered a vision of Tartamya, which shows how diverse Hindu belief systems can be integrated into one unified system. On the other hand, he also made unmatched efforts to explain his vision of true Islam and a true Muslim in the most direct way. He demanded that people let go of their absolutistic attitude and respect the values of other wisdom traditions.  As a result, both the Hindus and Muslims were unhappy with Mahamati.  Each thought him to be a preacher of the other religion and that skepticism continues even today. Nobody tried to face the truth that he was a progressive and a serious reformer of all the religions.

Mahamati's wisdom allows for integration of different dimensions of Indian wisdom practices, such as – (1) non-duality (adwait), (2) detachment from things and outcome (Anashakti Yoga), (3) selfless actions (karma yoga), and (4) pure love devotion for the Supreme Beloved. Its ultimate aim is to elevate human consciousness from ego-centric to ethno-centric levels of development to world-centric levels and Kosmo-centric levels, and then ultimately to the super-integral level of development.

Through his life work, he demonstrated how the challenges of human society can be approached with the light of integral awareness and wisdom to establish harmony, peace and love in our interior and outer world.  Today, the path of single-minded love devotion and self-less service paved by Mahamati is inspiring millions of people around the world.  But to realize Mahamati's dream of "Sukh Shital Karun Sansaar" or transforming suffering and chaos of the world into happiness and peace for all" is up to the present leadership, the follower community and the humanity to interpret and apply Tartam Knowledge in new ways using their awakened intelligence, while retaining its previous truths to meet the challenges of the present time.

Inspired by Mahamati's ideals of oneness of all religions many men and women left their homes and accompanied him everywhere in completion of his mission. At last, Maharaja Chhatrasal Bundela, whose parents were killed by the Mughals, was inspired by Mahamati's wisdom.  Mahamati advised Chhatrasal on all fronts – spiritual, physical, social and political. With the sword blessed by Mahamati, Chhatrasal defeated Aurangzeb in fifty-two major wars.  Mahamati also inspired thousands to commit for lifetime, for unique reforms in religion, spirituality, in social and political arena.  

Philosophical clarifications offered by Tāratam Knowledge inspired many scholars from diverse faith practices, who later played an important role in promoting Mahāmati's mission. Among some well-known philosophical clarifications which Mahamati offered are: (1) The resolution of forty questions based on Shrimad Bhāgavatam, (2) The twenty-two questions based on Qurān and Hadiths and the Fifteen Questions based on the Vedanta Darshan.

In today's divided world, Mahāmati's super-integral Wisdom of Tāratamya synthesis is more relevant and much needed to fulfill the dream of world that is harmonious, peaceful and loving. Mahāmati's ideology has positively influenced the world both directly and indirectly.    The ideal of unification of religions visualized and put into practice by Mahāmati was later talked about by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Madame Blavatsky, Dr. Annie Besant and Mahātma Gandhi.  

Gandhi's success on the path of love, peace and non-violence and his prayer "Ishvar Allah Tero Naam" and his use of spinning wheel as a metaphor for spiritual awareness and self-accountability and self-reliance has its roots in Mahamati's supreme wisdom.  Gandhiji had learned about Mahāmati's ideology of unity of religions through his mother Putlibai, who used to take him to the Pranami Mandir in Porbandar, situated very close to his house.  More recently, Gandhiji's work have inspired world leaders of social movement such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Barak Obama and many more intelligencia of modern age.  Now it is up to the present leadership and the collective faith community to shine the wisdom of Tartamya to heal the world. Sada Anand Mangal Mein Rahiye.

Narendra Patel, MS, CSP, Retd.

Lord Prannath Divine Center, Macon, GA, USA

Shri Prannath Global Consciousness Mission, Vadodara