Biography of Saint Dnyaneshwar

Dnyaneshwar is a great philosopher poet from Maharashtra, India. He was borne in a small town called Alandi near Pune in 1271. He had two brothers, Nivruttinath and Sopandeo,and a sister named Mukta. These children were borne to a father who had earlier taken sanyas(renunciation of family and earthly life) and gone to Benaras or Kashi to study religion. He returned to family life at insistance of his Guru or mentor. These siblings borne to a sanayasi were subject to ridicule, and were outcasted. They had to live in isolation. From this isolation and philosophical studies during this period emerged a great poet and saint " Saint Dnaneshwar", who in a way has become an immortal man. Seven hundred years after he took Samadhi ( buried himself alive and thus became one with that eternal spirit) in 1296, he is still worshiped and studied fervently in Maharashtra by millions.



At age of 15 he wrote the treatise on Bhagwat Gita (immortal song) in Marathi for the first time. By doing this, he made knowledge available for a common man, which was so far only in Sanskrit and was only available to priviledged Brahmin caste. I plan to give translations of his poems (commonly reffered as owi) from his great book "Dnyaneshwari alias Bhawarthdeepika".



Bhagwat geeta is collection of poems in which Lord Krishna guides his disciple Arjuna on battlefield of Kurukshetra. Bhagwat Geeta is part of an epic "Mahabharat". It is the story of King Bharat and his descendents and oldtimes of India. India is also called Bharat. This name comes from King Bharat. He and his descendednts ruled in ancient India.





Arjun is faced with a battle in which he had to kill his relatives and elders of his family. This he is reluctant to do and so is in a dilema. Originaly this commentary was told by Dhyaneshwar to a gathering of saints, devotees and his elder brother Nivruttinath who is also his mentor or Guru. Dnyaneshwar is extremely humble throughout and gives credit of his writing to the grace of his Guru "Nivruttinath". Dhyaneshwar begins with praying Lord Ganesh in first stanza.