NAME – Krishna Joo Razdan (“Poet of Kashmiri Poets”)
Born – He lived in Kashmiri somewhere around 19th century.
Contributions – Krishna Joo Razdan was a Kashmiri poet of very high order and has written beautiful poetry in Kashmiri. However, is not known is that he used to write poetry in Dogri, Hindi and surprisingly, even in Persian. Those who had seen him personally would recall that Krishna Joo did poetry almost under impulse or what you call ‘vaikhuri‘ in Kashmiri or even in Hindi. He would recite a poem sometimes at the prodding of his daughter in law. Using his buttocks as substitute for drums he would go on outpouring stanza after stanza that were rhyming beautifully even as the theme in his mind would also be accomplished simultaneously.
The spiritual and poetic heights of Pandit Krishan Joo Razdan do not seem to have been fully explored. Shaktivad is the prominent way of life in maintaining the grand heritage of Kashmir Shaivism. The primary source of the poetic thought of Krishan Joo Razdan is based on the Puranas, and the applied religious thought of Kashmir Shaivism, read with the Agama Shastras of Kashmir. No doubt, he was a Saint-poet par-excellence; a Yogic in spirit and ritualistic in pattern in his Sadhana. He was singing the songs of immortality within the idiom of Bhakti. His words were chiseled, and fermented with the Kashmiri environment, which suggests that he was very close to the Prakriti aspect of the Divine. His poetry speaks of the beauty of the Divine within the Vedic Ritam, to become the recipient of the Divine grace. It is an aspiration of Pandit Krishna Joo Razdan, to see “Satyam-Shivam-Sundaram” within the orbit of Shiva and Shakti read with Purusha and Prakriti.
In some of his lyrics, we observe Razdan Sahib marshalling the basic postulates of objective idealism. There are others in which subjective idealism is the poet’s predominant philosophical preoccupation. He discerns greater rectitude in the subjective philosophical postulates. In one of his poems, he advocates observance of Islamic practices for the enjoyment of spiritual bliss. Razdan Sahib’s lyrics objectify the great bard’s patient perpetual struggle for comprehending the mystery of existence. He perpetually investigates the validity of polytheistic and monistic religious concepts. He is sometimes a polytheist objectifying his devotion separately for Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. In such moods, Rama and Krishna are two different incarnations. But at the same time, he regards all the principal gods of Hindu pantheon a single entity. God appears to him permeating every cosmic object around. In the concluding couplets of Maharaja Mahadevun Che Chuui Saal, he reveals his belief in the essential monistic nature of God. He longs for the realization of the eternal truth of advaita vedantic monism and desires to realize his essential oneness with God.
It is established beyond any shadow of doubt that the true and correct date of Nirvana of Krishna Joo Razdan was 13th December, 1926.
References:
http://www.ikashmir.net/krishnajoorazdan/article1.html
https://www.greaterkashmir.com/todays-paper/krishna-joo-razdan-poet-of-kashmiri-poets
https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/mahatma-krishan-joo-razdan-and-kashmir-shaktivaad/
