Surdas

[venkatakailasam]

I could not find a seperate thread on the life of Surdas. Hence I have opened a new thread. If there is one already , this can be merged.

Surdas (1478/1479 - 1581/1584 in Braj near Mathura-his birth and death is controversial.
Surdas was born blind and hence received harsh treatment from his family during his early childhood. One day at age 6, when he heard a group of devotional singers passing by his home, he simply followed them, and left home forever. [2]
At age eighteen, Surdas met his future guru, the sant Sri Vallabhacharya on the banks of river Yamuna. Vallabhacharya took him under his tutelage and thus began Surdas's teaching in prevalent Bhakti Shuddha advaita (Non-dualism philosophy), as Vallabhacharya was the founder of the Pushti sect (Pushtimarg) in India.
Soon Surdas memorized the entire Shrimad Bhagvat and started reciting it to throngs of people, and immersed himself into deep devotion to Krishna.[3] Subsequently he went on to write some of greatest works in Hindu philosophy and Bhakti literature, the "Sur Sagar" (Ocean of Melody), Sur Saravali and Sahitya Lahiri.
Surdas was a very prolific composer. He is best known for his "Sur Sagar" (Ocean of Melody). This magnum opus is said to originally contain 100,000 poems or songs; however, today only 8,000 have survived. These songs on the life and adventures of Krishna were dictated by him to an assistant, who had to write faster than the poet could dictate. Endowed with an inner vision, the poet dictates as if he is seeing the exploits of Krishna directly
Surdas was never married, and made a living by singing bhajans and giving discourses on religious subjects, and lived all these years in Braj. (Courtesy Wiki)

http://www.esnips.com/doc/4e6ee690-83bb ... i---Surdas
This was by Smt. MS Subbulakshmi

There are a few songs by Surdas in my collections at mediafire which can be reached through my blog blog 'E'-SWARA

venkatakailasam

[Pratyaksham Bala]

SURDAS -- 4 As. postage stamp issued by Indian Postal Department on 1.10.1952:-

[rshankar]

To my mind sUrdAs of the north is like annamayya of the south. Like annamayya, sUrdAs has composed songs like the delectable maiyyAn mori mein nahin mAkhan khAyO and hE gOvind hE gOpAl, but his sUrsAgar has many compositions that can only be considered erotic poetry, describing the passion of rAdha and kRshNa - rather like annamayyA and his descriptions of erotic love between veMkaTagiri nAthuDu and alamelumangA.

[venkatakailasam]

22 songs of Surdas are available for listening at my blog saieswara at this link:

http://e-swari.blogspot.com/2011/03/sur ... sidas.html
venkatakailasam

[mannari]

the stamp is a beauty !!! P Bala must be a good boy at hobbies when young ! thanks for producing it.