Sheikh Muhammad

• Illustration — Vithoba, the patron god of Sheikh Muhammad Sheikh Muhammad is the author of the Yoga-samgrama, the Pavana-vijaya, the Nishkalanka-prabodha, and the Jnanasagara, in addition to many songs and abhangas (devotional poems). His writings show the influence of both Hindu bhakti and Muslim Sufi traditions, and he was a follower of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. These writings reveal his knowledge of the tenets of bhakti traditions, as well as his literary skills in "chaste idiomatic Marathi". The Yoga-samgrama, composed in 1645 and containing 2319 ovis (poems), is his magnum opus. The central theme of this philosophical work is "the soul's struggle to realize and experience God". It adopts a similar metaphor from the Dnyaneshwari by the saint-poet Dnyaneshwar (1275–1296), in which the atman (soul) is the warrior riding the horse of the Mind and battles the armies of Ego and other passions in its quest to attain glory as Brahman ("Supreme Reality"). Sheikh Muhammad cites examples from the Hindu scriptures such as the Puranas and other philosophical treatises to convey his ideas. The Yoga-samgrama has references to the Hindu gods Rama, Krishna (both forms of Vishnu), Vishnu, and Shiva. Each of the eighteen chapters of the treatise begins with a prayer to Ganesha, the god of beginnings, who is invoked at the start of a book in keeping with Hindu tradition. However, Sheik Muhammad's writings reveal his monotheistic beliefs, which are rooted in Islam. He describes Hindu gods as formless (Nirakari), unmanifest (Avyakta), without form or qualities (Nirguna), and invisible (alaksa) (see Hindu views on monotheism). Sheikh Muhammad preaches the Oneness of God: Even though Sheikh Muhammad identified himself as Muslim by birth, he had chosen the Hindu god Vithoba, a form of Krishna-Vishnu in Maharashtra, as his patron deity. His "socio-religious awareness" is evident in this poem dedicated to Vithoba as Krishna: Through the grace of Gopala (a name of Krishna), I have transgressed all notions of purity and impurity. The jack fruit has a thorny skin, but inside it are lumps of sugar, The bee-hive with all its humming bees contains the very nectar inside. (So also) Sheikh Muhammad may be an avindha (Muslim), But in his heart he has the very Govinda (a name of Krishna). The Yoga-samgrama contains an account of the originating legend of Vithoba and his devotee Pundalik, based on the Hindu scripture Skanda Purana. Sheikh Muhammad also wrote abhangas in praise of Vithoba. According to Sontheimer and Kulke, the Yoga-samgrama is an "unusually frank critique" of Hindu Brahmanical ritualism and folk Hinduism. While Sheikh Muhammad accepts classical Hindu deities, he vilifies folk Hindu deities. He mocks the shrines of the Hindu mother goddess placed on roads and in fields: "If the deities were all that powerful, how come the dogs urinate on them?" He also criticizes self-torture rituals like hook-swinging, performed to appease folk deities. Sheikh Muhammad especially condemned the popular folk god Khandoba and the rituals of his cult. He criticized the practice of muralis, girls offered to Khandoba to serve the god, but who were forced into prostitution. Sheikh Muhammad does not spare Islam and criticizes some of its aspects.