-01_Publisher^s Note.htm The Wager of Ambrosia A Study of Jnaneshwari R Y Deshpande ********************************* Publisher's Note "The first Marathi poet... at once a devotee, a Yogin and a thinker,"—this was how Sri Aurobindo spoke of Jnaneshwar in the context of Indian culture and literature. His magnum opus Bhavartha Deepika, popularly known as Jnaneshwari, was written seven hundred years ago when the Yogi-Poet was just about fifteen years of age. It is a marvellous literary work and presents the Gita in the form of a series of discourses. Jnaneshwar gave these discourses in the temple of Mhalsa at Newase on the bank of the river Pravara, in Maharashtra. In

The Debt we Owe to Vyasa Chapter 2 Jnaneshwar likens the Gita to a rain-bearing cloud. No doubt   from its gleaming contents it is the abundant sea that supplies water to the nimbus; but it is the cloud, and not the sea, which pours beneficences on creature-kind. In that sense it proves more gainworthy than the source from which it comes. The formless incomprehensible Brahman is All-Knowledge and may be all right; but it is not accessible to the understanding and cannot be seized by expression, nor does it in any immediate way participate in our affairs. Of what direct use is it then for us? Yet it is the same All-Knowledge that the Gita brings to us in

Chapter 11 The Invocation and the Boon “I know not how to use words nor do I know how to state a  proposition or premise, and I have no knowledge of the figures of speech,” says Jnaneshwar while coming towards the conclusion of his Marathi discourse on the Gita. (Jnaneshwari: 18.1767) Whatever he has done, presenting the scripture in his language, he could do that because of the blessings he had received from his guru Nivritti, as much as by the gracious and encouraging patronage of the well-versed in the audience. Their keen understanding and appreciation of the literary composition was a reciprocation that inspir

Chapter 8 Awakening the Kundalini The sixth chapter of the Gita begins with a description of the Sannyasin-Yogin who, though engaged in action, is without the expectation of returns from it. He desires no fruit and is not like men hankering after rewards and trophies. Certainly, he is not like those who never light the sacrificial fire and make no offerings to it. As a matter of fact, the real meaning of Sannyasa is to remove the desire that binds the doer of the works with work. The purpose of asceticism and renunciation is only to get rid of the bondage of the lower nature, so that the enlightened will can have its free play in him. By overcomi

Chapter 4 Exordium (Jnaneshwari: 1.1) Om! Salutations to the venerable Foremost, the Veda-propounded, the Pre-eminent; glory be to the Self-Aware, in the nature of Being. Victory! Victory! With this invocation to the Supreme Jnaneshwar begins his poetic composition. The greatness of the Gita is its subject; the leader of the path is none other than Rishi Vyasa himself; the grace of his Guru Nivritti gives him the necessary confidence and capacity to undertake the daunting task; the rapt and attentive audience of saints and simple people encourages him and makes him speak what he is going to speak. The dimensions of the poem thus persp

Chapter 3 Glory be to the Guru The traditional wisdom tells us that you have to give yourself to the Guru in order to be taken over entirely by him for your soul’s and your life’s fulfilment. The mother-child and the father-son are but only two types among the innumerable rela­tionships there can be with the relationless Divine. Not only Father or Mother, he is also Teacher, Master, Lord, Friend, Philosopher, Guide, Precep­tor, Playmate, Com­rade, Lover, even Antagonist. When on the battlefield Arjuna witnessed in the Avatar the aspect of the Dreadful Cosmic Spirit, he repented and spoke of the casualness with which he had behaved with him;* Ravana wished

-02_Vyasa^s Savitri Canto-2.htm Savitri's Firm Decision to Marry Satyavan. Markandeya said: O Yudhishthira, on one particular occasion, afterwards, the King, the ruler of the Madra country, was in the company of Narad; seated in the royal Hall, he was engaged in conversation with him. Then, about the same time Savitri, after visiting all the holy places and the cloistered ashramas, returned along with the ministers back to her father's house. Seeing there her father seated in the company of Narad she, the bright and graceful one, went around and bowed respectfully at the feet of both of them. Page – 12 Narad said:

-06_Vyasa^s Savitri Canto-6.htm The Grief-Stricken Parents, the Rishis Consoling Them and Giving Them Assurances, the Return of Satyavan and Savitri, and Savitri's Narration of the Reasons for their Coming Back Late. Page – 72 Markandeya said: At about the same time the mighty King Dyumatsena got back the sight, clear and pellucid, with which he began seeing everything very well. But, O Yudhishthira, greatly perturbed as he was, for his son, he along with his wife Shaibya went to the several hermitages enquiring about him. That night they, husband and wife, went to the

-04_Vyasa^s Savitri Canto-4.htm The Three-Night Vow of Savitri and, with the Permission of the Parents-in-Law, her Going to the Forest along with her Husband. Markandeya said: O Yudhishthira, with the rolling of several lunar" days as the time was passing, the fated hour when Satyavan was to die, was also approaching soon. Savitri was counting down the day with each lost day; what Narad had foretold about the impending doom, those words were ever fixed in her heart. The virtuous and noble lady, now much worried, when she saw that only four days were left, undertook Page – 29 the t