Biography of Shri Ananya Ali

In 'Rasik Ananya Parichai' it is said in relation to Ananya Ali -

 

 

Shri Ananya Ali Ji was born in a Brahmin family in the year 1683. His former name was Bhagwandas. His family was already following the principles of the Shri Radhavallabh worship Upasana. His elder brother had initiated in the Radhavallabh sect. In Shri Vrindavan, Ananya Ali Ji used to live near Shri Dhruvdas Ji's hut and kept doing devotional service there till the end of his life. He was adamant in nature and was not ready to make any compromise with his principles. Ananya Ali Ji was a disciple of Goswami Govindlal Ji, a descendant of Shri Krishna Chandra Goswami, the second son of Shri Harivansh Mahaprabhu.

 

Some introduction of Shri Ananya Ali's early life is obtained from one of his compositions 'Swapna-Parasang'. In this, fifteen of his dreams are mentioned. In the first nine of these dreams, he has discussed himself. In the first episode, he has told that at the age of eight, he had become a disciple of Shri Govindlal Ji. And he had memorized the verses of Shri Hit Chaurasi at that very young age. These five verses are of Raas 'Venu Mai Baje Vashivat' (Verse No. 64), 'Mohan Madan Tribhangi' (Verse No. 63), 'Aaj Nagri Kishor Bhaanvati Vichitra Jor Kaha Kaho Ang-Ang Param Madhuri' (Verse No. 10), 'Aaj Dekh Sundari Mohan Bani Keli' (Verse No. 17), 'Madan Mathan Ghan Nikunj Khelat Hari Radha Ruchir' (Verse No. 65). He had also memorized a verse of Sphut Vani - 'Raho Kou Kaahu Manahi Diye' (Verse No. 20). He has written that "I used to sing these verses while playing and used to tell other children to sing the same. While walking and sitting, I used to sing these verses with the children. When I went to study, I would sing and recite the same verses to others, I used to write and read the same verses here, teach the same to others."

 

In the second episode, Ananya Ali has mentioned that after this, He memorized 'Shri Vrindavanshat' of the 'Bayalees Leela' of Shri Dhruvadas Ji and kept on memorizing it while sleeping and waking up. Two years have passed in this situation. One day in a dream, someone woke him up and said that Bhagwan Das, go to Shri Vrindavan. After that this dream started appearing to him again and again. In a dream, someone would knock on the doors of the house and wake him up, Ananya Ali would wake up and open the door. Seeing such incidents happening every day, his mother and brother got worried. Bhagwan Das Ji told him that every day someone asks me to go to Vrindavan. His mother could not believe it and started believing that her son had gone mad. But his elder brother was the devotee of Shri Radharani. Seeing his younger brother's condition, he remained calm and kept on accepting Shri Radha's grace on him. Ananya Ali Ji has written that till He didn't reach Shri Vrindavan, He continued to have such dreams.

 

In the third episode, Ananya Ali Ji has mentioned that my brother got me to memorize 'Shri Hit Chaurasi' completely, but I could not memorize a verse of Chaurasi Ji 'Chalahi Kin Manini Kunj Kutir' (Verse No. 37) in any way. By the time I turned twenty, I kept on reciting only 83 verses out of 84 of Hit Chaurasi.

My brother left his body in the twentieth year of my age. When the time came for my brother to leave his body, his disciples asked him what would he say to Bhagwan Das? Brother said what should I say to him, I only say that he should continue to worship Shri Radha. At midnight, my brother woke me up and asked me to recite the text of Hit Chaurasi Ji. I started reciting slowly and kept on reciting till morning. As soon as it was morning, my brother told me that I am about to leave my body. Having said this, he got down from the bed, took a bath, took Mahaprasad, and asked me to sing the Dhamaar of Dhruvdas Ji - 'Dekh Sakhi Navkunj Radha Lal Bane Ri' to me. He himself sang this dhamaar and also made his disciples sing it. While singing this dhamaar, he left his body and after attaining the form of a Sakhi, He entered Nikunj Palace.

Everyone took the body of my brother and cremated him. All his benefactors stayed at our house that day and till midnight, they all performed Naam-Sankirtan together. After that everyone slept and I also slept with them. When the night remained for one hour, eight sakhis came into my dream and woke me up. I told them that who are you and where have you come from. One of them laughed and said that I am your brother. When I asked him how did you become such a form, he said that now I will remain in this form only. You should sit up and I will teach you that verse of Chaurasi Ji, which you were not able to remember in any way. Saying this, he helped me remember the verse 'Chalahi Kin Manini Kunj Kutir'. After that, I woke up and started crying. The family members asked me, why are you crying? You didn't cry when your brother died, but why are you crying now? As everyone used to ask me the reason for crying, in the same way, my heart started to burn even more and I could not even breathe while crying. Seeing this condition of mine, everyone said that now even He will not be saved. I told the people that neither you speak to me nor you should come to me. I cried like this for three days and did not eat or drink anything. On the fourth day, my emotion decreased a bit and everyone got peace.

 

In the fourth episode, Shri Ananya Ali Ji has mentioned that "After the death of my brother, I again started having the same dream in which someone asked me to go to Shri Vrindavan. One day, in a dream I had darshan of the Samadhi Mandal of Shri Harivansh Mahaprabhu, Shriji temple, and Yamuna Ji. After a few days, our spiritual master Shri Goswami Govindlal Ji Maharaj came to our village. He told me not to get married, I will take you to Shri Vrindavan and he brought me to Shri Vrindavan."

 

In the fifth episode, Ananya Ali Ji has mentioned that I had reached Shri Vrindavan on the 2nd day of the dark fortnight in the month of Jyeshta (May-June) in 1702. At that time Shri Radhavallabhlal used to reside in Ajangarh (Kamyavan). About 25-26 years before Ananya Ali reached Shri Vrindavan, the temple of Shri Radhavallabh Ji was destroyed by the order of Emperor Aurangzeb. In Kamyavan, Ananya Ali Ji saw that only Shri Shyamsundar's form is there in the service and a seat is placed near him. "Despite the predominance of Shri Radha in the sect, I was confused by not seeing her manifest form in the service. That day, when I slept at night, I saw that I am standing at Jagmohan in the temple and having darshan of Shri Radhavallabh lal and Shri Radha. Suddenly I saw that the form of Shri Priya Ji, who had put the radiance of millions of lightning to shame, appeared from the seat of Shri Radha. Shri Ladili Ji called me with a smiling gesture and I went inside the temple (Garbha Grih) and stood near the throne and saw that my brother was also standing there in the form of a Sakhi. He scolded me and said that why did you come inside the temple? I said that I have come by the call of Shri Radha. She smiled and said that he is mine. When I woke up in the morning, I kept crying for one and a half or two hours.

 

Once Ananya Ali Ji left food and water in Sewakunj and sat under the dense tree for three days. On the fourth day, in a dream, Shri Radha told him that, 'Don't be stubborn, I keep performing various pastimes in your heart. You go to your hut and take food." After this, I woke up and started weeping considering myself to be ineligible for grace. In the morning, some Rasik devotees came to Sewakunj to search me and they also told me that there is no place for stubbornness in this path. You will not achieve anything by doing this. In this way, after persuading me, they took me from there.

 

In the tenth and eleventh chapters, Ananya Ali has given an example of the ill effects of eating food of the evil peoples. His spiritual master Shri Govindlal Goswami had a prostitute disciple whose father and brother were in the service of Emperor Aurangzeb. The prostitute kept urging Ananya Ali Ji to accept some food, but he would not accept it considering the wealth of the mlecchas in her house. He used to say to her that 'Bibi, you have cereals of the mlecchas. By eating it the heart becomes filthy, the devotional sentiments are weakened and one becomes estranged from the worshipful deity. But that prostitute remained behind him and kept on insisting. Being helpless, one day she got the sweet rice cooked at his spiritual master's mother's place and gave her an oath that you should not tell Ananya Ali Ji that I have offered this sweet rice and feed him prasad. When Ananya Ali Ji reached Mother to receive the prasad, she also served him sweet rice. When Ananya Ali Ji asked who cooked this sweet rice, Mother said that it was made by me. Without any thought, take the prasad with joy.

When Ananya Ali Ji slept at night, he saw in a dream that he was standing at a gate in Delhi's fort, and in his hand was an earthen pot for defecation. Within a short time, he saw a ride coming from the front. He asked the people whose ride is this, then they said that "Don't you recognize him, he is emperor Aurangzeb. Ananya Ali Ji saw that the army was coming from all around and the emperor was sitting in a palanquin. He has a long white beard, a heavy neck and he is wearing plain white clothes. A copy of the Quran is placed in front of him, which he has been reading. Seeing all this, Ananya Ali Ji was terrified and he woke up.

On the second day when he went to the spiritual master's place to get prasad, he asked Mother that you tell me the truth, who made the sweet rice? Mother said that first, you tell me what effect did you see? Ananya Ali ji told her the complete dream of Aurangzeb. Hearing this, Mother was very upset and her eyes filled with tears. She called the prostitute and reprimanded her a lot and asked her to apologize for her crime. The prostitute panicked and took an oath not to do any such thing in the future. In the eleventh episode, Ananya Ali Ji has given another example of food defects.

 

In the twelfth episode, Ananya Ali Ji has quoted from an incident in his life the ill effects of speaking harsh words. He has mentioned that "one day I said very harsh words to Radharani's devotee Shyamdas Gujarati. I scolded him and said that you keep sleeping throughout the day, do not do Japa at all. This is very unfair. You should take Radharani's name, recite Vanis of the Rasik saints, and should not sleep. My scolding caused great pain in the mind of Shyamdas and due to this crime, I had the vision of Yamraj (God of hell) in the night. I saw a great form running towards me with a bow and arrows from the sky. I was very scared and started running to avoid him. The more I ran, the more I found him in front of me. My eyes opened in panic. I got up and went straight to Shyamdas and asked for forgiveness of my crime by placing my head at his feet."

 

In the fifteenth and last episode, Ananya Ali Ji had mentioned that one day he had a very strong fever and he became unconscious. He used to do Mansi service (service in meditation). In his unconscious state during the night, he forgot to offer food to Shri Radha Krishn in Mansi service. After midnight, someone called in his hut and said, 'Ananya Ali, get up and offer food to us. We have been waiting for you sitting for a long time.' Hearing this in a dream, he woke up and after being attentive, offered food to Shri Radha Krishn in Mansi (meditative state).

 

Shri Ananya Ali Ji has composed much literature. He has written 80 big and small compositions. The smallest of these 'Jeevika Ko Nem' has four verses and the largest 'Shri Hit Harivansh Ju Ki Namavali' has 351 couplets. Some examples of his verses are given below -