THE DASBODHA BY: SADGURU SHREE SAMARTH RAMDAS ...

deals with the day to day affairs and is time bound whereas singularity is endless and is not bound
by time. These two are popularly known in the Hindu religion and the Vedanta as Singularity and
Duality. Only for the sake of fighting the foreign rule he gave some concession to duality to be
practiced as singularity as people understood it, would have forbidden the people from fighting
against the then rulers. This may seem to be a paradox, but though it was against his basic
philosophy he had to painfully allow it as the common man took a very long time, sometimes a
lifetime, most of the times never to really understand the hypothesis of either singularity or duality
or had nothing to do with it, such was the pathetic state of affairs of the prevailing social
environment which he very much yearned and longed for to change.
While explaining the hypothesis of singularity Shree Samarth utilized
the contemporary mindset while explaining the day to day affairs he gave new meanings to the old
imageries. Some part of the Dasbodha refers to the time period during which Shree Samarth lived,
but it is very short yet one can get a fair idea about the society and its ways of living during those
times. The main gist of the Dasbodha is full of principles which are endless, encompassing
everything, truth, applicable to all the times, situations, very minutely meaningful, and based on
real life experiences which helps in making anyone’s life complete in all the senses regardless of
his/her times or the place of living. On one hand the hypothesis of the singularity and duality is
fitted in the worship of the deities and on the other it is woven like a craftsman in the fields of
morality and the correct ways of leading the best possible day to day life by him in the Dasbodha.
To understand the philosophy of Dasbodha everyone should constantly remember the so called ten
commandments of the Hindu religion.
1) Shree Samarth wasn’t an author from the mould of self proclaimed wise pundits. He was a
saint who had acquired the ultimate knowledge through yeoman efforts, had unified with the
Parbrahma and had vast experience in all facets of life. Therefore while explaining what he wanted
to convey, he gave highest importance to realization of the self. His writing should be read not on
the basis of the deduction by thought process but by going beyond that i.e. many a time you have to
read between the lines also.
2) His philosophy about the human life was finally decided before he started writing the
Dasbodha. Despite this he had gone through most of the books written by other philosophers. He
has very honestly told this in the beginning of the Dasbodha.
3) His philosophy resembles that of those who believe in the hypothesis of singularity. This
doesn’t mean that he formulated his opinions after reading the literature of those who also believed
in the same. His hypotheses are based on his own derivations coming out of his vast experience.
4) Dasbodha is a dialogue between the Guru and the disciple. In each of the Samasas Shree
Samarth has answered one or more queries of the disciple. He has through his own genius guessed
what the disciples can ask pertaining to the topic of discussion and then solved those questions. He
knew that he was at times repeating what he had written earlier but he permitted himself this liberty
for the benefit of the mankind, as it was necessary to stress those points again and again for the
achievement of the final goal.
5) The prime reason for which Shree Samarth wrote Dasbodha was to explain what is
Parbrahma, Atman, God, Maya or the illusion, manifestations of the Maya, the visible universe, the
cycle of time, life, cycle of birth, death, rebirth and how to avoid it, real and ultimate knowledge,
worship and all the facets of life on this earth and the interrelationships between all of these.
6) He has strongly advocated worship as the main and the best path to be followed leading to
the God but at the same time his worship and faith is never blind, on the contrary it is strongly