Jnaneshwari (Bhavartha Dipika)

by Ramchandra Keshav Bhagwat | 1954 | 284,137 words | ISBN-10: 8185208123 | ISBN-13: 9788185208121

This is commentary introduction to chapter 12 of the Jnaneshwari (Bhavartha-Dipika), the English translation of 13th-century Marathi commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita.—The Dnyaneshwari (Jnaneshwari) brings to light the deeper meaning of the Gita which represents the essence of the Vedic Religion. This is verse Commentary introduction to Chapter 12 of the chapter called Bhakti-yoga.

Commentary introduction to Chapter 12

Hail you, Oh, Kindness of the Preceptor, holy, and famous as being generous. You always shower joy. The fact that a man’s limbs do not get stiffened after being bitten by the posisonous [poisonous?] snake in the form of the objects of senses, and that the poison has no effect on him, is all due to your grace. Who could then suffer from the heat (of anger) or get burned with grief, should the waves of your kindness come rushing on in tumultuous floods? It is through your kindness that your disciples enjoy the supreme bliss resulting from the practising of Yoga discipline, and their fond longing for being one with the Supreme is also satisfied by you.

You accommodate them (disciples) and fondly maintain and make them grow in the lap of the power in the form of the ‘Adhar’ (ādhāra—the circle of pelvis), and placing them in the cradle in the form of the sky-region of the heart, you give them swings in the form of the knowledge of the Self. You wave around them the individual souls, and give them mind and life-wind for playing with and make them wear on their persons tiny ornaments in the form of the Self-bliss. You feed them with milk from the bosom of the seventeenth phase (extra brilliance) of the Moon, and sing to them the song in the form of ‘Anahata’ sound (in the heart region) and lull them into slumber, in the form of enwrapped concentration in spiritual meditation. You are the sole mother to the seekers: art and culture germinate and grow under the shelter of your feet. I shall consequently never forsake your cool shade. Oh you the Kindness of the worthy Preceptor, one who secures your compassion becomes the very God Brahmadev [Brahmadeva], having the power of creating culture in all its branches.

Therefore, O you goddess possessed of all wealth, and acting like the Kalpataru creeping plant to her servants, give me a mandate to discourse on this cultural work (grantha). Oh mother, let there be created oceans of the nine sentiments in my discourse, and let it become a storage of the best gems, and let there be created mountains of interpretations conveying real meaning (as meant by Bhagwan). Let there be opened in the land of the mother tongue (deśīyācyā) mines of gold in the form of literature, and let there be planted rows after rows of the creeping plant in the form of right thinking. Let there be wreathed garlands of serious problems to be settled (prameya), with plenty of fruit in the form of discussions. Let the den of the heterodox, the crooked ways of those indulging in vexatious wranglings, and the wicked animals in the form of wicked thinkers be all demolished and destroyed.

Endow me with a capacity of describing correctly the superb qualities of Lord Krishna, and let the hearers also secure the kingdom in the form of the bliss resulting from hearing them (qualities). Let there be super-abundance of Brahman-Lore (metaphysics) in the town of this Marathi language; and let the people living there have all their dealings to their heart’s content in the bliss of the learning. Oh Mother, I shall bring about all this instantaneously, should 1 be so lucky as to be enveloped (sheltered) in the affectionate skirt of your garments.

Hearing this request of the disciple, the preceptor, throwing a kindly glance at him said, “Get you along with your sermon on the teachings of Gita, without saying anything further.”

“Very well, this is a great boon from you”, said the disciple feeling very pleased, and said to the hearers, “Now I begin with the discourse and you be attentive.”

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