Gyandev and Nivrutti Nath

 

An excerpt from The Path, by Swami Kriyananda:

A group of Paramhansa Yogananda's disciples had gone with him to see a movie about the life of Gyandev, a great saint of medieval India. Afterwards they gathered and listened to the Master explain certain, subtler, aspects of that inspiring story. A young man in the group mentioned another film he had seen years earlier, in India, about the life of Mirabai, a famous woman saint.

"If you'd seen that movie," he exclaimed, "you wouldn't have even liked this one!"

The Guru rebuked him. "Why make such comparisons? The lives of great saints manifest in various ways the same, one God."

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Sant Dnyaneshwar

Gyandev, also know as Sant Dnyaneshwar (1275-1296) was a saint-poet in Maharashtra. He was a yogi born in a socially marginalized high-caste family. He was the first noteworthy proponent of Bhagawat dharma, a sect of bhakti (devotional worship) tradition in Hinduism. Gyandev composed the first commentary of the Bhagavad Gita in Marathi, to explain the sacred knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita to the masses. He took Samadhi by giving up life at the young age of 21.

Gyandev was born in a Brahmin family to Vitthal Pant Kulkarni and Rukmini Bai, in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. He was the second of their four children. His elder brother was Nivrutti Nath, and younger brother was Sopandev and his sister was Muktabai.

Vitthal Pant, a devoted Brahmin, left his wife and home to attain a hermit's life. Upon learning that Vitthal was married, his guru sent him back to family life. A sannyasi returning to family life was unacceptable to the establishment, and a social boycott was called on the family. The couple and children suffered much with the boycott, but kept on with their quest for spiritual knowledge. The couple set out on a pilgrimage with their children to Trimbakeshwar where their elder son Nivrutti (at age 10) wandered off and entered a cave. There Nivrutti met Gahininath, one of the 10 gurus of the Nath tradition, who initiated him. He learnt and mastered the philosophy and techniques of kundalini yoga which is considered the speciality of Nath cult. Nivrutti later became the guru of Gyandev (at age 8), Sopandev, and Muktabai and initiated them into the Nath tradition.

At a certain point, unable to bear social ostracism, Gyandev's parents committed what was perhaps a suicide in the deep waters of the Ganges as atonement for their actions, in the hope that their children's lives would improve. However, that didn't save the children from social wrath. Gyandev and his brothers were denied basic needs like food and water. The children continued their path of meditation and spiritual knowledge. This knowledge, and some miracles from their yogic life, finally gave all four children the place they deserved in the society, under the condition that none of them had children. Gyandev took samadhi at Alandi in Pune District, at age 21.

Gyandev's writing is a combination of scholarly intelligence and poetic beauty. He, along with Sant Namdev, propagated the devotional Warkari tradition, that has been alive for over 700 years.

His major works include his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, written in the local language of Marathi, and nearly a thousand Marathi devotional songs. His Bhagavad Gita is considered one of the masterpieces of Marathi literature. The book reflects the outstanding intelligence of Gyandev, his understanding of the subject, and command not only of Marathi, but also of Sanskrit, at such a young age. The poetry of Gyandev and Muktabai is still very popular in Maharashtra even after 700 years.

The stories about Sant Gyandev's life are full of miracles. These stories include baking bread on his heated back, making a wall move and making a bull recite vedic hymns. Logic and rational thought have denied such miracles. But it should be noted that yogic texts describe these abilities and say they can be acquired at an advanced stage in yogic practices.

The earliest version of the board game, "Chutes and Ladders" or "Snakes and Ladders" is credited to Gyandev, who called his creation Mokshapat (Moksha = Salvation, pat = cloth). The 'game', however, was not about entertainment; it was created to explain the basic tenets of Hinduism to the common man. The game was drawn out on a cloth divided into blocks called houses, each representing emotions like daya, karuna and darr. The ladders represented virtues and the snakes, vices.

Nivrutti Nath

The elder brother of Gyandev, Nivrutti Nath was an authority in Nath sect. Gyandev accepted his elder brother as his guru. After Gyandev's passing, Nivrutti Nath travelled with his sister on a pilgrimage along the Tapi river, where they were caught in a thunderstorm, and Muktabai was lost without a trace. Nivrutti Nath took salvation (Samadhi) at Trimbakeshwar. The place in Trimbakeshwar where he took Samadhi is still preserved as a shrine.

—Largely drawn from "Sant Dnyaneshwar," http://thesaintsofmaharasht.tripod.com/

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