Epilogue

Now the Supreme Self should get itself propitiated by this sacrifice in the form of a literary production and should grant me in charity the only boon (pasāya) that the evil vision of the vile and wicked should drop all its crookedness and sting and they should develop a love towards good actions, and further there should be created fellow-feeling (towards one other) amongst the beings. May the darkness in the form of sins get destroyed and may the entire universe (people) conduct itself in the light of the rising Sun in the form of one’s own (religious) duty; and may each and every being (as a class) get the fulfilment of each and every wish of his. Let the concourse of saints that shower down all that is propitious on the universe, appear and visit perpetually the aggregate of beings on this earth.

These saints are as it were the blossoms of the moving (walking) ‘Kalpataru’ trees, or the inhabited places (towns) of sentient ‘Chintamani’ gems or the talking oceans of the nectar. May these saints who are uncontaminated Moons and heatless (cool) Suns be the constant kinsmen (soyara [soyare]) of all. In short, let all the three worlds be all happy and perfected (with the bliss of Monism), and let them render service eternally to the Primeval Male Supreme Being. And especially those in this universe that (literally) live on (the constant study of) this work (Gita) may they have the perfect happiness both temporal as well as spiritual.

Hearing this, the Lord of the Universe (in the form of the preceptor Nivrittinath [Nivritti Natha]) said, “This boon has been granted to you”, at which Jnanadev [Jnanadeva] became very happy. There is in this ‘Kali-age’, the most holy in all the three worlds, and a very ancient place called (Panchakrosha—pañcakrośa—the modem town named ‘Newase’), on the southern bank of the river Godavari, in (the province of) Maharashtra (modern Deccan), where there dwells the deity named ‘Mahalaya’ (known as ‘Mohaniraja’ in modem times) the living thread (the root-cause) of the universe. In this holy place rules most justly King Shri Ramachandra, the crown gem in the Soma Dynasty of the Kshatriya race, and the very abode of all the arts. At this place, Jnanadev, the Disciple of Nivrittinath,-the follower of the traditional Sect (School of Mahesha (the Great God Shiva), gave the Gita the garb of Marathi (language).

I, Jnanadev, the disciple of Nivrittinath, declare that this 18th Chapter is the pinnacle (śikhara) of the beautiful dialogue named Gita, that took place between Lord Krishna and Arjuna (and is described) in the celebrated ‘Bhishma’ Parva (part)of the Great epic ‘Maha-Bharata’, and which is the very essence of the ‘Upanishads’ and also the parental home of all the Scriptures, and in which (Gita lake) the Supreme Swans—the Yogins—take resort, in the way do the swans in the lake (known as ‘Manasa’). May the aggregate of beings derive complete happiness day by day from the wealth, in the form of the holy Scriptures. Jnanadev composed (edited) this commentary (on the (Gita), in the year Shake 1212 and ‘Sachhidanandbaba [Sachidanand Baba]’, with great reverence became its writer (copyist) (1810).