Sant Dnyaneshwar
Submitted by ammassridhar on Fri, 09/05/2008 - 01:58.Tags:
Biography
Sant Jñāneshwar / Sant Dnyāneshwar (1275-1296) (ज्ञानेश्वर in Marathi) (also known as Jñanadeva - ज्ञानदेव ) was a 13th century marathi saint, poet, philosopher and a yogi of Nath tradition.
His works Bhavartha deepika teeka (a commentary on Bhagavad Gita, popularly known as "Dnyaneshwari"), and Amrutanubhav are considered to be milestones in marathi literature. Dnyaneshwar entered into "Sanjeevan Samadhi", a yogic path to salvation at the age of 21 in Alandi, Maharashtra.
According to Nath tradition, the following occurred:
Life of his parents
Dnyaneshwar was the second of four children of Vitthal Govind Kulkarni and Rukmini, a pious couple from the village Apegaon near Paithan in Maharashtra on the banks of River Godavari.
Vitthal studied Vedas and became well versed in them at a very young age in accordance with the brahmin tradition in those days. He set out on pilgrimages at a young age in the "search of god". During his visit to Alandi about 30 km from Pune, he met Shridharpant [Sidhopant], a local yejurvedi brahmin, who was very much impressed with him. Shridharpant persuaded reluctant Vitthal to marry his daughter Rukmini. Vitthal was much more interested in the "search of god" than marrying and settling down. But, Shridharpant finally succeeded in arranging his daughter's marriage with vitthal.
After marriage Vitthal stayed in Alandi for some time but, due to his lack of interest in family life, he tried very hard to convince his wife to grant him permission to leave "grihasthashram" and to enter into "sanyasashram", that is to become a "sanyasi". After getting permission from a reluctant Rukmini, Vitthal went to Kashi (Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, India). There he met "Ramananda Swamy / shripad yati / shripad swamy" and requested to be initiated into the "sanyasashram". Vitthal managed to persuade Ramananda Swamy primarily by lying about his past (especially about his marriage). Ramananda Swamy finally accepted Vitthal as his student and initiated him into the sanyasashram.
Ramananda Swamy later set out on a pilgrimage to southern India and came to Alandi where he happened to see Rukmini to whom he granted the boon "ashta putra saubhagyavati bhava" (may you be blessed with 8 sons). After being blessed by the holy man, Rukmini broke down and told him about her past. After listening carefully he was convinced that his student Vitthal was the husband of Rukmini who abandoned her without performing his duties in the "grihastashram". So he returned to Kashi and queried Vitthal about his past again. Upon learning the truth, he ordered Vitthal to return home to his family.
Vitthal returned to his wife in Alandi. The couple was exocommunicated from the brahmin caste as Vitthal had broken the law of accepting grihasthashram after sanyasashram which, was not allowed since the latter was considered the last of the four ashrams. Four children were born to the couple: Nivrutti in 1273, Dnyandev (Dnyaneshwar) in 1275, Sopan in 1277 and daughter Mukta in 1279. According to some scholars their birth years are 1268, 1271, 1274, 1277 respectively.
Teachings
Dyaneshwar’s Gita Has Popular Appeal
Maharashtra has a unique tradition of Bhakti. Great saints propagated the Bhaktimarg, a path of complete devotion and surrender to God. Poetic compositions called abhangas, shilokas and bhajans of saints like Sant Dnyaneshwar, Tukaram Ramdas Namdev and other sare sung or recited in all traditional Maharastrian homes. Dnyaneswari is a critical discourse on bhagavath Gita by Sant Dyaneshwar.
The great Mahabharata war took place between the Pandavas and their cousins Kauravas, some 5000 years ago at kurukshetra. Faced with might of the huge Kaurava army, Arjuna lost his own kith and kin. At that moment ,Krishna who was the charioteer of Arjuna ,exhorted him on the battlefield to perform his duty as a Kshatriya and fight without worrying about the consequences. Krishna’s advice in the Bhagavath Gita is a small chapter in the Mahabharata, comprising 700 shilokas or verses in Sanskrit.
Sant Dyaneshwar realized that the Gitas teaching could be read only by a small Sanskrit-knowing elite. Dyaneshwar, under the advise of his Guru, Ninrathinath, rendered a Marathi version of the Gita known as Dyaneshwari. It contains more than 9000 verses called ovies. So Sant Dyaneshwar brought teaching of the Gita within reach of the common man. Dyaneshwari was composed around the twelfth century, when Dyaneshwar was only 16years old. He took Samadhi at the age of 22 and left this mortal world.
The Bible was originally in the Latin Language and John Wiklif rendered its English translation which is in use today. That was in the year 1365, about 75 years after Dyaneshwari was composed. Dyaneshwari has since been translated to several languages.
Dyaneshwar presented his work to his guru Nivruthinath and sought his blessing. He did this through a poem of just nine vereses called Pasaydan literally means a request, asking boons from god .In the Pasayandan Dyaneshwar asked nothing for himself but he prayed for the well being of entire mankind.
In the second verse Pasayandan Dyaneshwar requests the lord to grant him a boon which will remove all evils from wicked persons putting them on a righteous path. The evils in human beings are indulgence, anger greed, ride; Kama, krodh, Lobh, Matsar & Ahankar. He prayed that these evils be replaced by kindness, humility, tolerance, forgiveness and devotion and surrender to God. Dyaneshwar says let the people of the world be happy and let them do good deeds to make others happy. Dyaneshwar says that while lowing steams provide water needed for life, the banyan tree provides shade and shelter from the sun’s heat ,without any expectation. Being good and doing good to others without evils thoughts or expectations of rewards ,is the first step towards spiritual attainment.
Next Dyaneshwar requests God to remove ignorance from our lives and replace it with enlightenment and divine light to achieve our goal, to let everyone sticks to swadharma or his own scared duty towards others .If everyone sticks to swadharma there will be no conflict and happiness will prevail. Dyaneshwar requests God to fulfil the genuine desires and aspirations of all. All pious persons who perform their duty without any expectations or returns, will ultimately desire to became one with the Supreme.
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