Janabai
Janabai was a maid-servant at the home of Namdev, the great devotee of Vitthal. All her poetry is signed “Dasi Jani.” Jani is the diminutive of Janabai. “Dasi” means servant or slave. This refers to her being a maid at Namdev’s home, and also to her being in service to Vitthal, the Lord. The word “servant” or “slave” may shock our current day sensibilities. Actually, “dasi” conveys a deep intimacy, an intimacy that, ironically, mocks at duality. The great woman saint from the north, Meerabai, often used that same epithet. Utpaladeva, the founder of the Shaivite Pratyabhijna school, used the same word, dasyam, when describing how he came about finding the highest truth. The word thus signifies surrender. By surrendering their smaller self, the ego, they found the infinite. We can’t find an English word that quite conveys these overtones; so we translate “Dasi Jani” simply as “Your Jani.” We hope that conveys the belonging and surrender intended.
It is said that Jani’s devotion to Vitthal, or Krishna, was so great that the Lord Himself used to join her at the grinding stone and happily grind away wheat with her.
All the pictures depicting Jani show her in this way – playfully lost in her company with Krishna as the two grind away the wheat. She wrote over 300 poems. The poems are filled with a deep yearning, a rare intimacy and an unshakeable knowledge. A perfect example of the intricate mix of devotion, dispassion and knowledge that characterized the Marathi poet-saints, her poems are at once intensely personal and filled to the brim with an insight into life.
We share here one of her poems, poem #32, from the section devoted to her in Sakala Sant Gaathaa by Sakhare Maharaj.
Tuzyaa nijaroopaakaarane…
You are so near, so - always at hand,
intoxicating everyone, every form*;
yet the holy books go mad,
trying to figure you out.
Every station of life,
tires itself out,
and so do the philosophies and the sciences,
looking for you in vain.
None finds you;
no trick, no jargon, not ever.
If you’d just take a little mercy on me,
take a little liking, a little inclination**,
your Jani would surely sing
your name
again and again.
The poem reminds us of the verse from Katha Upanishad that says:
Naayamaatmaa pravachanena labhyo …
This Atman can’t be found through discourses or learning. It is found by one whom the Atman chooses (chooses is vrunute; it can also be translated as “weds.”)
notes:
* The original literally says, “your self-same nature drives the six darshanas mad.”
** The word is “kripa” which means benefaction or mercy.