Sankardev’s New Creation To Give Base To His Reform

It was not that Sankardev had forgotten his mission to reform the society by  getting again engrossed in family life but he kept discovering new ideas to establish his new humanitarian act. After getting partially rid off his family responsibilities Sankardev was at the height of lord’s devotion and establishing righteous preaching that elevates one’s life to the higher context of divine status where one could find in direct connection with God without any rigorous religious act. He kept himself deeply engrossed in lord’s service and prayer. Praising God’s benevolence through chant, preaching and bhauna (mythological drama with implementation of real  actors to help convey message to the layman in the community) he started to attract people’s mind to his mission. In this process of reformation Sankardev had performed a higher religious act of surrender to lone God only without any deflection to other deities.

He in this context established himself as a firm believer in Bhagavad Gita without any concentration towards idol worship. Sankardev’s main believe  and preaching was to abstain from other deity worship for according to him if we serve the root of a tree which he resembles to God then rest of its parts (like branches, leaves, stems, flowers, seed and fruit) will naturally get nourished. He considered the other parts of the tree to demigods  and  according to him one need not necessarily entertain one’s mind at their services as it does not meets the requirement of the root from where the entire energy is generated to help grow the tree fruitfully.

The main preaching of Sankardev was to pour water  at the root then the entire tree will be served. Why simply to pour one’s devotion to innumerous demigods after serving the main God. In the quest to devote his mind and soul in God’s (Hari) concentration he started to search a suitable solitude place nearby his house. In this search he found a place named as a Tambuwani which was few kilometers from his residence at Alipukhuri. This place Tambuwani had mythological connection about Krishna and Rukmini’s brief shelter when they had fled from the marriage that was arranged at Kuntipur.

It was here in Tambuwani where Sankardev gave creation to Kirtan Ghar (a house of God) where the precious Bhagavad was placed with honor in a 'Manikut' (a decorative case like a house). Kirtan Ghar is like a temple but the difference is that here instead of idol the pious book 'Bhagavad' wasworshipped. The Kirtan Ghar had the capacity to accommodate more than five to hundred people based on the construction  and space area. After constructing it Sankardev started to devote much of his time there and later started to live nearby it in a small hut. Sankardev had to do so as it was the peak time of his reformation  act in the society to bridge people of various cultural backgrounds.

This was stated to be his first step to build the Kirtan Ghar where he could program devotional activities in an engrossed manner. Sankardev at this stage was highly motivated by the main essence of Hari Kirtan (God’s sole concept as described in religious scriptures) and its piousness for which he had even rejected the honor of Bhuyan title that would have bestowed upon him with highest worldly pleasures that a king deserves. He was rather happy to be at his new place where he had constructed a Kirtan Ghar  at a plot allotted by his deceased father Kuhumbor.

The original place of Kirtan Ghar which Sankardev had established is stated now as Shantijan which is located in Nagaon district of Assam. In this mission of reform in cultural activities of Assam to bring harmony in the religion conflicted land, Sankardev was joined in by many other people from his relative side. They equally followed the methods as installed by Sankardev in his new project of reform where the followers had to surrender  only to Bhagavad without any deflection to other concentration.

Sankardev was looked upon as a Guru rather than as a family member. In this process Sankardev took to the Guru Akhon (seat of religious head) to preach and guide people about God’s law as depicted in the holy ‘Bhagavad’. He helped people to realize life in better perspective out of the illusion. Gradually his popularity spread to all the regions as the emerge of a new spiritual reformer who was later graced with highest title as Dharma (law) Guru, Preacher and Maha Purush (Divine Being) Srimanta Sankardev.