Sant Dnyaneshwar, referred to as Jnaneshwar, Jnanadeva, Dnyandev or Mauli or Dnyaneshwar Vitthal Kulkarni, was a 13th-century Indian Marathi saint, poet, philosopher and yogi of the Nath Shaiva and Varkari tradition.
25 Facts About Dnyaneshwar
2.
Sant Dnyaneshwar's ideas reflect the non-dualistic Advaita Vedanta philosophy and an emphasis on Yoga and bhakti towards Vithoba, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
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Dnyaneshwar's legacy inspired saint-poets such as Eknath and Tukaram, and he is one of the founders of the Varkari Bhakti movement tradition of Hinduism in Maharashtra.
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Dnyaneshwar undertook samadhi at Alandi in 1296 by entombing himself in an underground chamber.
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Dnyaneshwar was born in 1275 in a Marathi-speaking Deshastha Brahmin family in Apegaon village on the banks of Godavari river near Paithan in Maharashtra during the reign of the Yadava king Ramadevarava.
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Biographical details of Sant Dnyaneshwar's life are preserved in the writings of his disciples, Satyamalanath and Sachchidanand.
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Dnyaneshwar married Rakhumabai, the daughter of the Kulkarni of Alandi.
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Some scholars accept the traditional view that Namdev and Dnyaneshwar were contemporaries; however, others such as W B Patwardhan, R G Bhandarkar and R Bharadvaj disagree with this view and date Namdev to the late 14th century instead.
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Dnyaneshwar asked the buffalo owner to stop out of concern for the animal.
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Dnyaneshwar retorted that the Vedas themselves held all life to be sacred and a manifestation of the Brahman.
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An undeterred Dnyaneshwar then placed his hand on the buffalo's forehead and it started reciting a Vedic verse in a deep voice.
12.
Bahirat, Dnyaneshwar was the first known philosopher who wrote in the Marathi language.
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Dnyaneshwar's words were recorded by Sacchidananda, who agreed to become Dnyaneshwar's amanuensis.
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Dnyaneshwar is to the Marathi literature what Dante is to the Italian, states Bhagwat.
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Dnyaneshwar becomes the disciple of the guru who is surrounded by worldly pomp, gets initiated by him and is unwilling to see any other person who has got real spiritual dignity.
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Dnyaneshwar is cruel to every being, worships various stone images and has no consistency of heart.
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Dnyaneshwar's thought was founded on the philosophy of the later Vedic texts such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, and devotion to Vitthala formed the cornerstone of the egalitarian Varkari sect founded by Dnyaneshwar.
18.
Dnyaneshwar was initiated into the Nath Yogi tradition by his brother Nivruttinath, sometime after the death of their parents; Sopana and Muktabai were initiated into the tradition by Dnyaneshwar himself.
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Dnyaneshwar takes up the examination of being or brahman in Amrutanubhava.
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Dnyaneshwar considers being to be the substratum of thought which enables thought and cognition.
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Dnyaneshwar writes that saints do not perceive distinctions and are humble because they identify all objects, animate or inanimate, with their own Self.
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Dnyaneshwar's metaphysical conclusion that the world is a manifestation of the divine, and not an illusion, creates an ethical framework which rejects renunciation and recommends performing one's duties and actions in the spirit of worship.
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Dnyaneshwar is in agreement with tradition; he believes that divine order and moral order are one and the same and are inherent in the universe itself.
24.
The Padukas of Dnyaneshwar are carried in a Palkhi for the Dnyaneshwar inspired works of later poet-saints of the Varkari movement.
25.
Since 2021, a Marathi language TV serial named 'Dnyaneshwar Mauli' is airing on the Sony Marathi channel.