News Excerpt
Sant Ravidas Jayanti was celebrated on February 19th. This year is said to be the 642nd birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas.

About Guru Ravidas
•    Guru Ravidas was a saint in the era of bhakti movement who is believed to be born in 1377 C.E.
•    His birthplace in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi has now been named Shri Guru Ravidas Janam Asthan and has become a major place of pilgrimage for the followers of Guru Ravidas.
•    He belonged to a (so called) “untouchable” caste.
•    The saint chose to focus on spiritual pursuits and also penned several devotional songs which made a huge impact in the Bhakti movement during the 14th to 16th century CE

Teachings of Guru Ravidas
    Guru Ravidas spoke against the caste divisions and spoke of removing them to promote unity.
    He taught about the omnipresence of God and said that a human soul is a particle of God and hence rejected the idea that people considered lower caste cannot meet God.
    He said in his teachings that the only way to meet God was to free the mind from the duality.
    The Adi Granth of Sikhs, in addition to the Panchvani (of Dadupanthis) contains some of his compositions.
    His teachings resonated with the people, leading to a religion being born called the Ravidassia religion, or Ravidassia Dharam based on his teachings.