Crowds of pilgrims were waiting patiently on a cold winter morning on the banks of the Indrayani river at Alandi, near Pune, before the samadhi-shrine of Jnaneswar. The young sage-mystic’s interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita, titled Bhavartha-Deepika — The Light of Meaning — is popularly known as the Jnaneswari. Referred to also as the common man’s Gita, Jnaneswari is part of the traditions of many households in Maharashtra for centuries.
The mystical dimension of the Jnaneswari gives a new hue to the Krishna-Arjuna samvad (dialogue) of the Gita. In Chapter IV of his bhashya, Jnaneswar comments on the strenuous efforts people make to achieve wealth, fame and comforts through various means including yajnas and pujas, and then exhorts all to do the real yajna of selfcontrol, in which the fire of yoga will burn all desires and ambitions.
The pleasure of attaining to knowledge of the Self far exceeds any sense pleasure, and that alone can bring the equipoise so necessary for consciousness elevation. Jnaneswar alludes to the awakening of the kundalini through yogic practices in detail, pointing out the transformation of the psycho-physical body through such practices, and mystical divine experiences which accompany such a rejuvenation of the prana.
Jnaneswar reiterates the Upanishadic call of alertness on this path to go beyond maya or illusion: “Those who try to cross it on the strength of their intellect get lost, those who try to cross using knowledge are swallowed by pride, those who take the help of the books are consumed by ego and arrogance, those who perform ritualistic actions get caught in issues of right or wrong, those who use youthful strength get consumed by lust, those who perform external yajnas are caught in the web of desire and ambition...”.
Jnaneswar says a wise master can help the seeker beyond dualities of the mind. He sees spiritual devotion as the highest form of jnana to “avoid the pitfalls of desire”. Bhakti and jnana coalesce in his description of Arjuna’s vision of Krishna’s vishwarupa wherein he sees Krishna in cosmic form, revealing the depth of Jnaneswar’s devotion and knowledge.
It is this call of spiritual devotion which Jnaneswar extends into a paradigm of cosmic love in his other major work, the Amritanubhava or “the nectar of wisdom”, an insight into the experience of the ultimate merger. Jnaneswar extends the bhakti principle to include a love for all beings, for that alone can provide an ambience of sharing, love and care in the realm of maya and duality. Jnaneswar puts this concept in the context of the union of Shiva-Shakti as “parents engendering this universe”. It is this divine parental love which is replicated on the existential plane and manifests either as bhakti towards the Self or as mutual love towards fellow human beings.
Miracle stories abound about Jnaneswar’s yogic feats, like making the bull recite the Vedas or riding on a wall to meet the yogi Changdev to crush his ego, but perhaps, the real miracle is the short lifespan of Jnaneswar in which he encapsulated many lifetimes, ending with what is called sanjivan-samadhi or the voluntary entombment of his physical body in the meditation pose. The samadhi-shrine of Jnaneswar at Alandi still draws the devout, particularly the common man with whom Jnaneswar forged a special bond.
The mystical dimension of the Jnaneswari gives a new hue to the Krishna-Arjuna samvad (dialogue) of the Gita. In Chapter IV of his bhashya, Jnaneswar comments on the strenuous efforts people make to achieve wealth, fame and comforts through various means including yajnas and pujas, and then exhorts all to do the real yajna of selfcontrol, in which the fire of yoga will burn all desires and ambitions.
The pleasure of attaining to knowledge of the Self far exceeds any sense pleasure, and that alone can bring the equipoise so necessary for consciousness elevation. Jnaneswar alludes to the awakening of the kundalini through yogic practices in detail, pointing out the transformation of the psycho-physical body through such practices, and mystical divine experiences which accompany such a rejuvenation of the prana.
Jnaneswar reiterates the Upanishadic call of alertness on this path to go beyond maya or illusion: “Those who try to cross it on the strength of their intellect get lost, those who try to cross using knowledge are swallowed by pride, those who take the help of the books are consumed by ego and arrogance, those who perform ritualistic actions get caught in issues of right or wrong, those who use youthful strength get consumed by lust, those who perform external yajnas are caught in the web of desire and ambition...”.
Jnaneswar says a wise master can help the seeker beyond dualities of the mind. He sees spiritual devotion as the highest form of jnana to “avoid the pitfalls of desire”. Bhakti and jnana coalesce in his description of Arjuna’s vision of Krishna’s vishwarupa wherein he sees Krishna in cosmic form, revealing the depth of Jnaneswar’s devotion and knowledge.
It is this call of spiritual devotion which Jnaneswar extends into a paradigm of cosmic love in his other major work, the Amritanubhava or “the nectar of wisdom”, an insight into the experience of the ultimate merger. Jnaneswar extends the bhakti principle to include a love for all beings, for that alone can provide an ambience of sharing, love and care in the realm of maya and duality. Jnaneswar puts this concept in the context of the union of Shiva-Shakti as “parents engendering this universe”. It is this divine parental love which is replicated on the existential plane and manifests either as bhakti towards the Self or as mutual love towards fellow human beings.
Miracle stories abound about Jnaneswar’s yogic feats, like making the bull recite the Vedas or riding on a wall to meet the yogi Changdev to crush his ego, but perhaps, the real miracle is the short lifespan of Jnaneswar in which he encapsulated many lifetimes, ending with what is called sanjivan-samadhi or the voluntary entombment of his physical body in the meditation pose. The samadhi-shrine of Jnaneswar at Alandi still draws the devout, particularly the common man with whom Jnaneswar forged a special bond.
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