Bhagat Parmanand

Who is Bhagat Parmanand?

PARMANAND, a Maharashtrian saint-poet, one of whose hymns is included in the Guru Granth Sahib. Born probably in 1483, he is believed to have resided at Bãrsi, situated to the north of Pandharpur, in present-day Sholãpur district of Mahãrãshtra. Parmãnand was a devotee of Vishnu and used in his songs the nom de plume Sarañg, the name of a bird ever thirsty for the raindrop. He always longed for God whom he worshiped in the Vaisnavite manifestation of Krsna. He used to make, it is said, seven hundred genuflections daily to God on his uncovered, often bleeding, knees. He believe for a long time that God could be worshiped as an Image only, but later he had the realization that the nirguna Supreme, God unmanifest, could also be loved and prayed to. Parminand’s one hymn incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib subscribes to this view. In this hymn, he disapproves of the ritualistic reading and hearing of the sacred books If that has not disposed to the service of fellow beings.He commends sincere devotion which could be imbibed from the company of holy saints. Lust, wrath, avarice, slander have to be expunged for they render all seva, i.e. service, fruitless.