Shri Jnanadeva
was the greatest
apostle of Bhakti school
in Maharashtra. Jnaneshwari is his Magnum Opus. It is his celebrated commentary on the
Bhagavadgita. It is
in Marathi for
the use of
common folk. It is a work of high
literary excellence where poetic elegance intermingle with the profundity of
thought and sublime religious insight.
Hence it is rightly selected by
the famous world organization, UNESCO,
for translation into English, French and Spanish for international propagation.
Shri Jnanadeva was a great Yogi, a great Jnani as well as a great Bhakta, but
the pathway of Bhakti or loving devotion was dearer to him than those of Yoga
and Jnana. So he has brought out in his commentary full implications of the
Bhaktiyoga or the path of loving devotion as propounded in the Bhagavadgita.
The dignity of
Human Life.
It is said in
the Bhagawata Purana that the creator of the universe created various objects
like trees, serpents, animals, birds and insects but he was not satisfied. At last when human being was created the
Lord was pleased to see in him the capacity to know his Creator (13-9-28). Jnanadeva says that the relation of man
and God is like that of Earth and its particle or the Sun and its rays of
light. (Jn, XIV, 385-86). Arjuna was like a mirror in which Lord
Shri Krishna loved to see His fair and happy complexion, (VI-25). Arjuna may
be taken as representing individual self and Shri Krishna the Lord. So the human
being is like a mirror which reflects the image of God. This means that a human
being has the capacity of God-realization which is the
supreme religious value.
Broadly
speaking there are eight kinds of values (1) Bodily values (2) Economic Values (3) Recreational values (4)
Values of Association (5)
Intellectual values (6) Aesthetic values (7) Moral values and (8)
Religious values. The worth and
dignity of human life depend upon the proper arrangement of these values. Proper gradation is necessary in the light
of a right standard. If there is a
perverted scheme of values, consequences will be disastrous. If, for instance,
bodily or physical values are regarded as central with other values as merely
instrumental, human life will be dominated by passions for mere material
prosperity. The spirit in man is over-shadowed with ignorance.
Man, at times, behaves like a beast. If the scheme of values is the right one,
his whole life is transformed and by his own effort and by the grace of God, he
becomes a superman, a blessed soul, bringing the kingdom of heaven upon the
earth.
The Summum
Bonum of Life.
Instead of the
eight fold scheme of values put forth by Western thinkers like Prof. Urban,
ancient Indian thinkers put forth a four fold scheme of values Dharma, Artha,
Kama and Moksha. Artha—wealth — and Kama — pleasure — stand for economic and
the hedonistic good — the useful and the pleasant. Dharma in its narrower sense
is religious merit but in a broader aspect it can be taken as the moral good.
Moksha is spiritual good. Artha and Kama are secular or empirical values. They
are subserviant to Dharma and Moksha that are spiritual and real values. Moksha
or liberation is the highest spiritual ideal. All the other values are to be pursued as means to this final
aim.
Discarding the
traditional concept, Shri Jnanadeva regards Bhakti as the fifth Purusharth or
aim of life, higher than Moksha (or liberation). Moksha means the experience of
complete merger of the individual self with the Absolute or God. The
experience of Bhakti involves union with God as well as preserving the
individuality for tasting the sweetness of Love Divine. According to Jnanadeva
the higher Bhakti is the Supreme acme of human life. He describes how Lord Shri Krishna did not like the total
merging of the Arjuna in Himself. The
Lord did not wish to remain alone and deprive Himself of the seperate entity of
the Bhakta, by which He could enjoy the
bliss of seeing, talking and embracing His devotee. So, He preserved a
thin curtain of duality between Arjuna and Himself. He safeguarded the love of
Arjuna from evil eye of one hankering after Moksha or liberation (Jnaneshwari VI, 113-119). Not
only was the devotee anxious for the experience of Divine Love but God Himself
was equally desirous of it. Man's love
of God is reciprocated by God's love for His devotee. The ascent of man to God
is at the same time the descent of God to man.
Bhakti as
Sadhana or Pathway to God.
The higher kind
of Bhakti is the fulfilment of human life. This state of consummation is
reached gradually. One has to tread the path of Bhakti. Bhakti-sadhana
culminates in the higher Bhakti. Bhakti is the means as well as the end. It is,
like virtue or like love, its own reward. Bhakti as a means or sadhana is
called upasana or worship. Worship includes feeling of awe, reverence and
love. So long as man is conscious of only a supernatural and mysterious power,
he tries to propitiate a God whom he views with fear. Genuine worship is
possible when there is a knowledge of God which enlightens the worshipper on
His true nature bringing home to him His infinite excellences and intimate and
cordial relation with human life "A very important consequence follows
from such enlightenment. As the idea of God becomes clarified, the awe which
is a fundamental feature of the religious attitude gradually passes into love
mingled with veneration, for we spontaneously love and admire the highest when
we know it." (M. Hiriyanna-Essays in Indian Philosophy p. 98).
People deluded
by desires forget that God, the ocean of bliss, resides in their very heart and
hanker after objects of the senses. They are like a cattle louse sucking blood
instead of sweet milk or like a frog feasting upon mud instead of enjoying the
sweet pollens from the nearby lotus. At the sight of the illusory mirage, they
eschew the draught of elixir. As a matter of fact, God is ever present like the
sun in front with steady light. (Jn. DC, 57-63).
Knowledge and
Devotion.
Knowledge and
Love are interdependent. "Love speaks with better knowledge and knowledge
with dearer love." (Dr. Bosamquet:
What Religion is, pp 77). Knowledge of God culminates in devotion to Him-(Jn.
XVIII-1248). Mere knowledge however is powerless. It requires the aid of the
discipline of devotion. The heart must be prepared for the reception of Divine
Love. The first thing required for a spiritual aspirant to set his feet on the
path of Bhakti is to conquer his Ahankar or pride. The self conceipt assumes
many forms. It may be of scholarship and learning, or rank and birth or of
wealth and fortune. Any one of these raise a wall between man and God whom he
knows and worships. What is needed is humility the complete surrender of the
pride, the childlike attitude of. the soul, its sweetness, innocence, purity
and trust.
There are
natural inclinations in man which lead him to pursue merely objects of sensual
enjoyment. He has to lift his mind to a higher plane in order to direct these
to a higher object. Contact with pious and saintly souls is very helpful.
"Let your mental inclinations follow the footsteps of saints and make God
your own" says Jnanadeva in his Haripath (Ab,g. 8). Saints are the very
incarnations of pure knowledge and there is an incessant flow of Divine Loves
from their heart. They have the vision of God in every object and have
compassion for every being. The aspirant should look to such a sage with a longing
eye as a faithful wife looks to her loving husband (Jn. XVIII, 1357). Contact
with saints accelerates the growth of devotion.
The Sadhaka
cannot surrender himself immediately to God. So he should think of God at
least for a moment during the 24 hours of a day. Then every moment spent in the
enjoyment of God will help him in taking his mind away from senses. As, with
the setting in of Autumn, the flow of water in the river dwindles, similarly
his mind will gradually get out of the bonds of Samsara. (Jn. XII, 104-6).
Peculiarity
of the Path.
The peculiar
excellence of the path of Bhakti is that it does not require the renunciation
of family or social life. Man is not required to give up his station and its
duties. In one of his Abhangas Jnanadeva says "If you say that you would
renounce your parents there is the couple of Ahankar and Avidya egotism and
ignorance. If you renounce your brothers there remain lust, anger and jealousy.
If you renounce sisters, there remain hunger and hankerings. So, stay where you
are and remember the grace of God. God accepts acts done in disinterested
spirit as the flowers of worship" (Jn. XVIII-917). Then the Path of Bhakti
is an easy one and not too difficult like Yogic and other Sadhanas. So, it is
open to all without distinction of caste or birth, learning or ignorance,
oldage or childhood, manhood or womanhood. By resorting to this path even a
sinner can become a saint. "Even though a man may be quite sinful at
first, still by believing in Me, he becomes the best of men, as one who is
dying in the ocean, might just escape death in the waters". (Jn.
IX-418-20).
God accepts
from His devotees any offering however humble. If he offers a flower, God
forgets to smell it and puts it in his mouth. If a dry leaf, He regards it as a
feast of nectar. If he offers merely water, God regards it as building a palace
richer than Vaikunth or like that of ornaments richer than Kaustubh Jewel; (Jn.
IX-392-396).
'Devotees are
like children of God. If their steps falter, God rushes to help them. Lake a
loving mother, God spreads a curtain of affection on the path of His darling. God
himself takes the responsibility of nourishing: the devotion (Jn. IX, 33-35).
If a devotee is frightened in the waters of ocean of existence, God runs to
help him with a ship and various boats of His Names to relieve him. If he feels
lonely, He enables him to catch hold the hem of His garment. The devotee with
a family is put on a, raft. (Jn. XII, 88-91).
So the devotion
of God is the most precious, thing in human life. Jnanadeva tells us that the
life without Bhakti is worthless. Such life he likens to a deserted city
without a single being, a dried up lake without water, a body without soul, a
barren tree without any fruit. (Jn. IX, 433-36).
There are
various deities. So whom should we
worship? Jnanadeva's answer is that we should not worship minor deities. They are only various aspects or
caricatures of the main Godhead. If
we worship a minor deity, we get only a limited fruit according to the limited
power of the deity. If it is a
caricature, we are involved in a superstitious tangle. Such a worship is a crooked one. We should worship the Godhead in His
ultimate Real form. The form of Universal Love. Worshipping minor deities is like cooking food and putting it in
the ears instead of in the mouth.
Worshipping the highest Godhead, who is pure Love, is a straight forward
way of devotion. It leads the devotee gradually to the Para Bhakti or the
highest devotion where the devotee is united with the Godhead and yet keeps
seperate his personality to experience the sweetness of Divine Love like the
water of the Ganga that intermingles with that of the ocean and plays upon its
bosom (Jn. IX-345-49, XVIII-1138).