Saint Jnaneshwar
Vithalpant studied Vedas and Shastras and became well versed in them at a very young age. Being extremely pious and detached towards worldly matters he spent much of his time on pilgrimages. During one of the pilgrimages,
One day Ramanandswami set upon a pilgrimage to Rameshwar and on the way halted at Alandi. While he was camping there Rukminibai who now spent her time in worship and other spiritual pre-occupations to ward off her grief, went and met Ramanandswami who uttered the words of blessing to her saying, “Putravati Bhava” or "May you have children". Rukminibai started laughing at these words and when asked to explain, told the Swamiji the situation that her husband had deserted her. Swamiji enquired from her and realised that the description of her husband fitted exactly with his disciple Chaitanyashram. According to the religious scriptures, he was also to blame for having initiated Vithalpant as a sanyasi. He immediately abandoned his onward pilgrimage and returned to Varanasi and questioned Chaitanyashram who confessed what had happened. He then asked Chaitanyashram immediately to return to his wife and establish a family. Vithalpant returned to Alandi but was excommunicated from the community because it was unheard of and against religious scriptures to abandon sanyas and adopt family life again. Vithalpant managed to spend his time in the study of Vedas and Shastras. In the course of time, four children were born to the couple: Nivrutti in the year 1273, Jnanadeo (Jnaneshwar) in 1275, Sopan in 1277 and the fourth, a daughter Muktabai in 1279. Jnaneshwar was born in 1275 (on the auspicious day of Krishna Janmashtami) in Apegaon village on the bank of Godavari river near Paithan. Nivritti was regarded as an incarnation of Siva, Jnanadev as an incarnation of Hari, Sopan of Brahma and Muktabai of Sarasvati. Everything was fine until Nivrutti was seven years old which was the time when a boy of Brahmin parentage had to undergo thread ceremony to be inducted as a Brahmin. He approached the Brahmins of Alandi to permit them to perform the thread ceremony but the conservative orthodox community refused. Vithalpant entreated the Brahmins in various ways and requested them to suggest some way out for atoning the sin committed by him; but the orthodox Brahmins were not prepared to budge an inch and to give permission for the thread ceremony. Ultimately, they referred to all the religious books and said that, for the purpose of getting relief from his sins committed, Vithalpant and his wife Rukminibai should sacrifice their lives at the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna. Vithalpant who was really a Godfearing person, accepted the unanimous decision of the Brahmins and with his wife jumped in the holy waters of the Ganga and the Yamuna at Prayag. The four children were thus rendered destitute at a very young age due to the orthodoxy and uncompromising attitude of the Brahmins of Alandi. At that time Nivritti might hardly be about 10 years of age, and the others still younger. The eldest son Nivritti, bravely bore the massive grief due the loss of his parents, consoled his two younger brothers and the sister and went to Apegaon to get some support at least from the other relatives of his father; but in the absence of Vithalpant all his relatives at Apegaon shut their doors for these homeless orphans. Nirvtti and Jnaneshwar therefore started begging alms for their livelihood. Completely baffled, all the four children then left Apegaon and came to Alandi; but as they were being treated as outcastes, their minds were not at ease. Paithan was in those days a great seat of learning and a stronghold of the orthodox Brahmins. It was at this stage that their relative, Bhojling Kaka Deul, their uncle took care of all the siblings under his protection. Hence Jnaneshwar had a feeling that the learned Brahmins in Paithan might give a certificate of purity for which he approached them. Because of this feeling, Nivritti, Jnaneshwar, their brother and sister came to Paithan all the way on foot, withstanding many dangers on the way. All the Brahmins of Paithan were looking upon them with scorn. The Brahmins then asked them to which gothram did they belong to. Jnaneshwar replied to them saying that if the gothram was not known for someone the guru could use his gothram for performing the ceremony as per sastras. They were surprised at this answer and thought how such a young boy knew so much about the sastras, but then said that they would not perform the ceremony without knowing if they really were Brahmins. Jnaneshwar then told them the different stages that a man went through before becoming a Brahmin and said that they all had crossed that stage, but still wanted to have the ceremony performed as it was customary. He also said that a Brahmin was one who had seen the Brahmam and as they had seen the Brahmam they could perform the ceremony for them. The Brahmins then asked them if they had seen the Brahmam then why they needed all these rituals. Jnaneshwar told them that as it was put in the Vedas that one should stick to their dharmas and religious rituals; they wanted to have the ceremony done. Hence when Jnaneshwar said that the God was alike in all the living beings, he was then asked to make the passing he-buffalo recite the Vedas and it was said that no sooner Jnaneshwar placed his hand on the head of the animal, than the he-buffalo started reciting the Vedas (religious scriptures) to the utter surprise of the Brahmins. The animal continued to recite Vedas for hours together and all the Brahmins gathered there to see this miracle. The performance of this miracle made the Brahmins accept the greatness and supernatural powers of Jnaneshwar. Ultimately the certificate of purity was granted to the children by the Brahmins of Paithan; but the thread ceremonies of Nivritti and others were never performed.
This was in 1287 when Jnaneshwar was twelve years old, Nivrutinath initiated Jnaneshwar into the Nath sect and instructed him to write a commentary on Gita. Thus this was a unique situation of a fourteen year old elder brother-Guru instructing his twelve year old younger brother-disciple to write something which had become the hope of humanity. The children then moved to Nevase, a village in Admednagar district on the banks of Pravara river. There Jnaneshwar began his commentary on Gita in Mohiniraj (Lord Vishnu took the form of a female as Mohini) Temple (the picture of the temple is given above). He started writing commentary on Jyaneshari Geeta at the age of about 12 years and completed it at the age of 15 years. Jnaneshwar started on his commentary which he called Bhavartha Deepika in the year 1287 when he was merely twelve year old. He finished it two and half years later in 1290. The Jyaneshwari or Bhavartha Deepika was written down by Sacchidananand Baba from the discourses delivered by Jnaneshwar. A prominent person among the audience was the saint Namdev known for the miracle where Vithoba the presiding deity of Pandharpur had eaten the food offering brought by Namdev when he was a mere boy. There is a legend regarding Sacchitananda Baba mentioned above. On the day Nivrutiinath, Jnaneshwar and others entered Nevase, Sacchitanand Baba had died and was being carried to the cremation ground accompanied by his wife Soudamini who wanted to commit Sati. Somebody suggested that a saint had come and she should get his blessings before committing Sati. She found Jnaneshwar sitting in meditation under a tree. She bowed to him when he blessed her with the words "Akhand Saubhagyavati Bhava" meaning, “may you never be a widow”. At this she was shocked. When he came out of meditation, he realised the predicament but praying to God and Guru and using his powers he brought back Sacchitananda Baba to life. His words in Jyaneshwari were recorded by Sacchitananda, who agreed to become Dnyaneshwar's amanuensis/secretary. The latter remained his devotee for life. Considered a masterpiece of Marathi literature, the 18 chapters of the Jyaneshwari are composed in a metre called "ovi"; a metre, which was first used to compose women's songs in Maharashtra, of four lines where the first three or the first and third lines rhyme and the fourth line has a sharp and short ending. Jnanadev liberated the "divine knowledge" locked in the Sanskrit language to bring out that knowledge into Prakrit (Marathi) and made it available to the common man. He was confident that he would write in Marathi in as good or better manner than Sanskrit. Jnaneshvari, Eknath Bhagavat, Tukaram Gatha and Das Bodh, all composed in Marathi language are considered as the four Vedas of Maharashtra.
(Saint Jnaneshwar was the second of the four children of Vithalpant. Vithalpant was excommunicated from the community as he abandoned sanyas and adopted family life again against the religious scriptures. He approached the Brahmins of Alandi to permit them to perform the thread ceremony of his sons but the conservative orthodox community refused. Jnaneshwar was born in 1275 (on the auspicious day of Krishna Janmashtami) in Apegaon village on the bank of Godavari river near Paithan. Once Jnaneshwar placed his hand on the head of a he-buffalo, the animal started reciting the Vedas (religious scriptures) to the utter surprise of the Brahmins. Many miracles are associated with Jnaneshwar. However, considering the excellent behaviour of the children and their erudition, the Brahmins permitted them to live in the community in Paithan on the condition that they would observe celibacy. The children then moved to Nevase, a village on the banks of Pravara river. There Jnaneshwar began his commentary in Marathi on Bhagwat Gita in Mohiniraj Temple. Jnaneshwar felt that the mission of his life was over. He therefore, expressed his intention to take live Samadhi. Jnaneshwar was only 21 years of age at the time of his Samadhi. He was the first Varkari saint. He is widely revered as an incarnation of Krishna.)
Sant or Saint Jnaneshwar was the second of the four children of Vithalpant and Rukminibai Kulkarni, a pious couple from the village Apegaon near Paithan (old Pratishthan or Pratishthanpuram) in Maharashtra on the banks of River Godavari. He was also called Dhyanadev or Jnanadev or Jnaneshwar (Lord of Jnana or knowledge).
Vithalpant studied Vedas and Shastras and became well versed in them at a very young age. Being extremely pious and detached towards worldly matters he spent much of his time on pilgrimages. During one of the pilgrimages,
he visited Alandi about 30 Km from Pune and camped in the local Hanuman temple. Sidhopant, a local Brahmin, was very much impressed with him and thought that he would be a suitable match for his daughter Rukmini. He met Vithalpant and after making enquiries proposed the marriage. Not having any interest in setting up a family, Vithalpant declined but because of instructions later received in a vision, he consented for marriage.
After marriage Vithalpant remained at Alandi for some time but due to his lack of interest in family life and worldly matters, his father-in-law took him to Apegaon where Vithalpant’s father Govindpant and mother were happy to see their married son. Unfortunately both passed away shortly thereafter leaving the family responsibilities to Vithalpant who could not make the both ends meet due to his disinterest in worldly matters. Finally Sidhopant took the couple back to Alandi under his shelter. But that did not make any difference to Vithalpant who one fine day went for bath on the river and instead of returning home, went to Varanasi. In Varanasi Vithalpant met a great saint Ramanandswami. Suppressing the fact that he was a married person, he requested Ramanandswami to accept him as a disciple and for initiation as a sanyasi. Now, according to the prevailing customs, a married person was not supposed to become a sanyasi unless he was permitted by his wife. The ritual of becoming a sanyas required undergoing the rituals performed for a dead person. All his past is supposed to be erased and he will start a new life with a new name. Vithalpant was thus renamed as Chaitanyashram.
One day Ramanandswami set upon a pilgrimage to Rameshwar and on the way halted at Alandi. While he was camping there Rukminibai who now spent her time in worship and other spiritual pre-occupations to ward off her grief, went and met Ramanandswami who uttered the words of blessing to her saying, “Putravati Bhava” or "May you have children". Rukminibai started laughing at these words and when asked to explain, told the Swamiji the situation that her husband had deserted her. Swamiji enquired from her and realised that the description of her husband fitted exactly with his disciple Chaitanyashram. According to the religious scriptures, he was also to blame for having initiated Vithalpant as a sanyasi. He immediately abandoned his onward pilgrimage and returned to Varanasi and questioned Chaitanyashram who confessed what had happened. He then asked Chaitanyashram immediately to return to his wife and establish a family. Vithalpant returned to Alandi but was excommunicated from the community because it was unheard of and against religious scriptures to abandon sanyas and adopt family life again. Vithalpant managed to spend his time in the study of Vedas and Shastras. In the course of time, four children were born to the couple: Nivrutti in the year 1273, Jnanadeo (Jnaneshwar) in 1275, Sopan in 1277 and the fourth, a daughter Muktabai in 1279. Jnaneshwar was born in 1275 (on the auspicious day of Krishna Janmashtami) in Apegaon village on the bank of Godavari river near Paithan. Nivritti was regarded as an incarnation of Siva, Jnanadev as an incarnation of Hari, Sopan of Brahma and Muktabai of Sarasvati. Everything was fine until Nivrutti was seven years old which was the time when a boy of Brahmin parentage had to undergo thread ceremony to be inducted as a Brahmin. He approached the Brahmins of Alandi to permit them to perform the thread ceremony but the conservative orthodox community refused. Vithalpant entreated the Brahmins in various ways and requested them to suggest some way out for atoning the sin committed by him; but the orthodox Brahmins were not prepared to budge an inch and to give permission for the thread ceremony. Ultimately, they referred to all the religious books and said that, for the purpose of getting relief from his sins committed, Vithalpant and his wife Rukminibai should sacrifice their lives at the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna. Vithalpant who was really a Godfearing person, accepted the unanimous decision of the Brahmins and with his wife jumped in the holy waters of the Ganga and the Yamuna at Prayag. The four children were thus rendered destitute at a very young age due to the orthodoxy and uncompromising attitude of the Brahmins of Alandi. At that time Nivritti might hardly be about 10 years of age, and the others still younger. The eldest son Nivritti, bravely bore the massive grief due the loss of his parents, consoled his two younger brothers and the sister and went to Apegaon to get some support at least from the other relatives of his father; but in the absence of Vithalpant all his relatives at Apegaon shut their doors for these homeless orphans. Nirvtti and Jnaneshwar therefore started begging alms for their livelihood. Completely baffled, all the four children then left Apegaon and came to Alandi; but as they were being treated as outcastes, their minds were not at ease. Paithan was in those days a great seat of learning and a stronghold of the orthodox Brahmins. It was at this stage that their relative, Bhojling Kaka Deul, their uncle took care of all the siblings under his protection. Hence Jnaneshwar had a feeling that the learned Brahmins in Paithan might give a certificate of purity for which he approached them. Because of this feeling, Nivritti, Jnaneshwar, their brother and sister came to Paithan all the way on foot, withstanding many dangers on the way. All the Brahmins of Paithan were looking upon them with scorn. The Brahmins then asked them to which gothram did they belong to. Jnaneshwar replied to them saying that if the gothram was not known for someone the guru could use his gothram for performing the ceremony as per sastras. They were surprised at this answer and thought how such a young boy knew so much about the sastras, but then said that they would not perform the ceremony without knowing if they really were Brahmins. Jnaneshwar then told them the different stages that a man went through before becoming a Brahmin and said that they all had crossed that stage, but still wanted to have the ceremony performed as it was customary. He also said that a Brahmin was one who had seen the Brahmam and as they had seen the Brahmam they could perform the ceremony for them. The Brahmins then asked them if they had seen the Brahmam then why they needed all these rituals. Jnaneshwar told them that as it was put in the Vedas that one should stick to their dharmas and religious rituals; they wanted to have the ceremony done. Hence when Jnaneshwar said that the God was alike in all the living beings, he was then asked to make the passing he-buffalo recite the Vedas and it was said that no sooner Jnaneshwar placed his hand on the head of the animal, than the he-buffalo started reciting the Vedas (religious scriptures) to the utter surprise of the Brahmins. The animal continued to recite Vedas for hours together and all the Brahmins gathered there to see this miracle. The performance of this miracle made the Brahmins accept the greatness and supernatural powers of Jnaneshwar. Ultimately the certificate of purity was granted to the children by the Brahmins of Paithan; but the thread ceremonies of Nivritti and others were never performed.
Once all of them went to Triambakeshwar which is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas or luminary lingas of Lord Shiva. While they had gone for performing pradakshina (circumambulation) of the temple one night they encountered a ferocious tiger (in thirteenth century the area was a deep forest). The members of the family ran helter skelter and were dispersed. Nivrutti wandered into a cave in the Anjani mountain where Gahininath, one of the nine Naths was staying at that time. He was attracted towards Nivrutti and in spite of his young age initiated him into Nath sect assigning him the mantra "Ramakrishna Hari" instructing him to propagate devotion to Lord Krishna. That is how Nivrutti became Nivruttinath. In very ancient times, Shri Shankara, the slayer of demon Tripura, whispered in the ears of goddess Parvati the secret knowledge on the shore of the Milky Sea. Vishnu who was in the stomach of a fish, heard it and attained knowledge. As Matsyendranath he imparted it to Gorakshnath, who in turn bestowed it upon Gahininath and that knowledge came down from Gahininath to Nivrittinath and from Nivrittinath to Jnaneshwar. The matter of excommunication did not affect this because the Nath sect does not bother about caste system and though socially it may be observed it is ignored in spiritual matters. All the four children were very intelligent and pious.They studied the Vedas and Shastras under their father. However, considering the excellent behaviour of the children and their erudition they permitted them to live in the community in Paithan on the condition that they would observe celibacy and produce no progeny.
Jnanadev and Namdev had met earlier at Pandharpur and developed mutual friendship. In course of time he had developed a great friendship with Namdev. Jnanadev’s view was that irrespective of caste, creed and religion, one could follow the path of devotion. Perhaps he was influenced by Namdev who was a tailor by profession and therefore traditionally belonged to Shudra caste. Jnanadev joined Varkari group. Shortly after the completion of Bhavarthadeepika, Jnanadev joined the varkari movement probably under the influence of Namdev and virtually became their leader. The Varkari sect is known by that name because it is considered essential to visit Pandharpur at least twice a year. It is a path of devotion to Vithoba, the presiding deity of Pandharpur who is same as Lord Shri Krishna. Peculiarity of this deity at Pandharpur is that it wears a crown with Shivalinga on it, thus linking the Shaivaites and Vaishnavaites. This deity used to be in Hampi, Karnataka and was later brought to Pandharpur.
According to tradition, Nivruttinath was not satisfied with the Jnaneshwari commentary and asked Jnaneshwar to write an independent philosophical work. This work later came to be known as Amrutanubhava. Jnaneshwar thus wrote his book "Amrutanubhav" sometime after he completed Jnaneshwari. It is quite complicated as compared to Jnaneshwari. It constitutes 10 chapters and 806 Ovis. The basis of this book is Advaita Siddhanta (non dualism). This book is one of the most highly respected books in Marathi literature. As its title indicates, the Amritanubhav is meant to be a "nectar of wisdom" by offering readers a glimpse into the nature of ultimate experience." In the language of the Upanishads and also of much of Western philosophy, the text is meant to serve as a guide to the understanding of "Brahman" or "being" (although Jnaneshwar refrains from using the term Brahman). Jnanadev wrote Amritanubhava, in verse form dealing with spiritual and devotional topics. Both Jnaneshwari and Amritanubhava are holy texts for the Varkari sect today.
According to tradition, Nivruttinath was not satisfied with the Jnaneshwari commentary and asked Jnaneshwar to write an independent philosophical work. This work later came to be known as Amrutanubhava. Jnaneshwar thus wrote his book "Amrutanubhav" sometime after he completed Jnaneshwari. It is quite complicated as compared to Jnaneshwari. It constitutes 10 chapters and 806 Ovis. The basis of this book is Advaita Siddhanta (non dualism). This book is one of the most highly respected books in Marathi literature. As its title indicates, the Amritanubhav is meant to be a "nectar of wisdom" by offering readers a glimpse into the nature of ultimate experience." In the language of the Upanishads and also of much of Western philosophy, the text is meant to serve as a guide to the understanding of "Brahman" or "being" (although Jnaneshwar refrains from using the term Brahman). Jnanadev wrote Amritanubhava, in verse form dealing with spiritual and devotional topics. Both Jnaneshwari and Amritanubhava are holy texts for the Varkari sect today.
Jnanadev then accompanied by Namdev and several other followers, began a pilgrimage of all the holy places of north, east and west India. Jnaneshwar then came to Pandharpur and met Namdev. Namdev prostrated to Jnaneshwar and they hugged each other. He then told him that he wanted to go on a pilgrimage around the country and wanted Namdev to come with him. Namdev told him that he was happy in Pandharpur and that he could not leave Vitthal and go out of Pandharpur. Jnaneshwar then told Namdev that he was going to visit all the places like Ayodhya, Vrindavan etc where God had lived in his earlier avatars and that he should come to see all of them with him. Namdev then told him that Vitthal was still living and playing with his devotees in Pandharpur and said that he would be happier to be with him in Pandharpur than go and visit the places where he lived earlier. Jnaneshwar then told him that he greatly desired to have Namdev’s company for the pilgrimage. Namdev then asked him to approach Vitthal and also said that he would go with him if permitted by Vitthal. Jnaneshwar went to Vitthal and told him that he had come to him to ask for something. Vitthal asked him what he wanted and Jnaneshwar told him that he wanted to go on a pilgrimage. Vitthal then told him that it was a good decision and told him that he would be liberating so many lives in this world by doing so. Jnaneshwar then asked Vitthal to send Namdev along
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