Jnaneshvar

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A few nights ago when it was way past my Ayurvedic bedtime, I was

online looking for poetry of Jnaneshvar. I only know one of his

poems but that was enough to get me- Amritanubhav (The Nectar of

Mystical Experience :-) I never got further than this short

biography below. Moral of the story? Even those who refer to

themselves as Brahmins often need a lesson ot two in love and

forgiveness. Or a miracle from God. Miracles do still happen...this

I know to be true :-) Thank you, God, for everything. I have no

complaints.

May all beings live in peace and harmony...Love and Holi Hugs, Joyce

 

 

Biographies of Indian saints

Jnanadeva

If you ask a person from Maharashtra (a state in India) what the

greatest philosophical work of his state is, he would most likely

reply 'Jnanaveshvari written by Jnanashvar (also known as

Jnanadeva).' The dates proposed for Jnanadeva are 1271-1293 (or

1275-1297). He voluntarily abandoned his body at the age of 22. He is

quite famous for the excellent commentary on Bhagvad-gita called

Jnaneshvari. He received hatha yoga teachings from his brother,

Nivritti-natha and tries to combine this yoga with the gita. As he

correctly notes, hatha yoga practiconers (most of them anyway)

measure the wind with upstretched arms day and night and lack the

slightest devotion. They should expect only sorrow in their path.

Jnanadeva's father was Vitthalpant, who tradition identifies as

belonging to the Nath sampradaya (lineage). However, at a young age,

Vitthalpant was disinterested in life, and decided to take sanyas. He

took permission from his wife (though she actually did not want to

give him permission) and went to Benares, and beacme a renowned

disciple of the famous Swami Ramanand. Vitthalpant's wife,

Rukhamabhai, hearing the news decided her married life was over and

practiced chanting and other devotional austerities under a tree and

many people in the village of Alandi considered her pious. Once, when

Swami Ramanand visited Alandi, Rukhamabhai prostrated towards him in

reverence. Seeing the spirituality in her face, Ramanand blessed her

with good spiritual children. Rukhamabhai smiled wryly and told him

that her husband was an ascetic and was actually his disciple.

Ramanand went back to Benares and told Vitthalpant to go back to

Alandi and resume the married life and have progeny. Vitthalpant went

back and shocked the whole community by resuming his married life (In

India, once a person takes sanyas, one can not resume the material

life under any circumstances). They had four children in quick

succession. Jnaneshvar (hereafter refered as Jnanadeva) was the

second child. The eldest was nivritti and Sopana was the third male

child. The last child was his sister, Mukti. One may appreciate the

names: nivritti, and jnana are sopana (ladder) for attaining mukti.

Because the four children was born to a person who was once a sanyas,

all of them were ostracized from the community and lived in a small

hut. At the age of seven/eight, Nivritti had to be invested with the

sacred thread to become a Brahmin. However, no one in Alandi was even

willing to look at the children, let alone perform ceremonies for

them. Therefore, Vitthalpant moved his family to Nasik, and the whole

family used to circumbulate the hill from which the holy river

Godavari originates (this is a beautiful sight, even to this day. One

finds the river originates drop by drop, and passes thro' a linga at

the bottom of the hill before becoming a full fledged river). They

circumbulated the hill to expiate their sins. However, one day, as

fate would have it, a tiger attacked the family. When the family ran

away, Nivrtti got separated from the family. He took refuge in a cave

where he met Gahininatha, the fourth in the Natha lineage who

initiated him. However, the problem of the scared thread ceremony

remained and the family returned to Alandi. The brahmins at Alandi

were stubborn and would not perform ceremonies for the child of a

sanyas. Finally, they said the only expiation from the sin was death

of the parents. Therefore, Vitthalpant and his wife went to Prayag

and drowned themselves in the river Ganga (While it is true that

Hinduism prohibits suicide, it is not completely forbidden. In fact,

scriptures give four different methods of dying in Prayag by which

one can attain liberation. However, it does prohibit suicide as an

escape from material life). Even after the self-immolation, the

brahmins could only advise them to visit Paithan, the center of

learning and obtain a testimonial from the pundits. The pundits at

Paithan took pity on the four small children, but still could not

decide since there was no precedence in the scriptures. Finally, an

interesting episode happened here. A brahmin decided to make fun of

the children and asked the meaning of their names. Jnaneshvar replied

that his name signified Jnana, to which the brahmin retorted that the

buffalo on the road was also named Jnana. Jnaneshvar replied that the

essence of the buffalo and himself were not different. Irritated by

this, the brahmin took a whip and flung it at the buffalo. When the

whip hit the buffalo, it left scars on Jnaneshvar, a young child of

seven. The crowd of pundits were astonished at this. Jnaneshvar went

to the buffalo and asked it to recite a verse from the Vedas to prove

that the essence of the buffalo and himself were not different. Lo and

Behold, the buffalo spoke ! All the Brahmins and pundits prostrated at

the feet of Jnaneshvar. On their return to Alandi, the news of the

miracles had already reached them and they gladly performed the

ceremonies for the boys. Jnanadeva wrote his exposition on Bhagvad

gita at Nevase and called it the Bhavartha-dipika (the lamp of simple

explanation) which later became known as Jnaneshvari. He met Namadeva,

the well known bhagavata of pandharpur and toured various pilgrimage

spots in North India. Jnanadeva attained eternal samadhi in Alandi,

near Poona in 1296 at the age of 22 (25 by some other scholars). That

he not only produced the exposition but also other works at such an

age stands testimonial to the greatness of a person. He himself

remarks in the sixth chapter that knowledge can be brought over from

the previous birth but does not mention him as an example. That's a

mark of humbleness, considering that he produced Jnaneshvari at the

age of 15 (or 19). Though the brahmins had made fun of him as an

outcaste, he never ridiculed them in retaliation. Maybe he considered

them to be God's children also, or rather the same as himself.

Jnanadeva brought together the advaitic tradition, the saiva outlook

and yoga of the Nath sampradaya and the bhakti of the bhagavatas and

is not unlike the work of Madhusudana Sarasvati. Jnanadeva founded

the vaarakarii sampradaya. Among his four works are Amritanubhava,

Cangadeeva-pasasti, gatha and, of course, Jnaneshvari itself. The

gatha-s are a collection of beautiful devotional poems. Amritanubhava

(the nectar of divine experience) is well known among Advaitins,

especially those in the Nath sampradaya. This beautiful book talks in

detail about the unity of Shiva-Shakti, consciousness at rest and at

motion i.e noumenon and phenomenon. The Jnaneshwari contains nearly

9000 verses written in the ovi meter of old marathi. The Jnaneshwari

is highly poetical and differs in style from bhagvad gita

commentaries by Shankara. Jnanadeva's intention was not to write an

explanation of gita for upholding a philosophy but born out of pure

love. For example, his 42 verse explanation for 9.32 brings out that

he treated everyone equally with Love and no one was barred from

singing the glory of God. In the same chapter, he describes the

miseries of the world, and says we should pray to God all the time

just like one should escape while being surrounded by fire. It

teaches that the path of devotion (bhakti) is supreme and a devotee

finally attains unity with the Lord. Jnanadeva's bhakti for Krishna,

his reverence for his guru are supreme. No wonder that Saint Eknath,

who established the text, says that Jnanadeva is the mother and

father of all Sadhakas. Namadev, the famous saint, has written a

brief biography of Jnanadeva's life. His commentary of the Bhagvad

gita is chanted to this day in the temples of Maharashtra.

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