Pearls from Pasaayadaan: Part 10

 Pearls from Pasaayadaan: Part 10

येथे म्हणे श्रीविश्वेशरावो
हा होईल दानपसावो
येणें वरें ज्ञानदेवो
सुखिया झाला

Yeth  येथ here/ now/ at this point 

Mhane म्हणे says

Shree Vishweshwaraavo श्रीविश्वेशरावो The Universal Lord

Haa हा This

Hoyil होईल will be (fulfilled)

Daan pasaavo दानपसावो gift/ blessing 

Yene येणें by this

Varey वरें blessing 

Dnyaanadevo ज्ञानदेवो Dnyaaneshwar 

Sukhiyaa सुखिया happy/ joyous

Zaalaa झाला became

Now ( having listened to the prayer from Dnyaaneshwar) Nivrittinath, (who is Dnyaaneshwar’s Guru), the Lord of the entire Universe Himself, spoke giving his blessings to Dnyaaneshwar. Your wishes will be granted, Nivrittinath declared. Upon hearing this affirmation from his Guru Dnyaaneshwar was filled with utmost joy!

Perfected saints like Dnyaaneshwar are like oceans in terms of inner joy. Oceans are full at all times whether it rains or not, whether rivers flow into them or not. They never dry up. But they do have tides. Dnyaaneshwar “filling up with joy” when showered with blessings from his Guru is akin to an ocean rising at high tide. The prospect of the world rising to the ultimate good and attaining perfection brought this “additional” joy to his heart. 

What are the blessings that Nivrittinath asserted will come true ?

The evil minded will turn away from wickedness and develop liking for good acts.

All beings on earth will nurture friendships between themselves.

The sinners will rid themselves of the darkness of ignorance.

Every person will awaken to devote himself to his righteous duty.

Every living being’s good desires will be fulfilled.

Everyone will be blessed for a lifetime in the holy company of saints who will become their closest allies, advisers, well wishers, confidants(soyare).

The worries and problems of all people will be dissolved.

All three worlds will meditate upon the Primordial Supreme Being and attain to lasting peace and happiness. 

All beings will devote themselves to a  righteous life conforming to the teachings of holy textbooks and gain victory over all present and future adversities.

These are affirmed by the Lord Himself hence no reason to doubt the promise. However this must not be mistaken as being an automatic deal. There is onus upon each individual to work for that goal.

उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् |
आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मन: || 

uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet

ātmaiva hyātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ

 Each one must elevate himself with self efforts, not stoop to lower levels. Our mind is our friend but the same mind can be our own enemy. We choose which direction we go. 

Before we can dream of universal friendship we need to become our own friend. Make a commitment towards a life of righteous duty! Seek the company of good people. Make a conscious effort to conquer our greed, anger and other vices. Help our family and friends to make the right choices in their lives. Teach by example. Make the study of scriptures and saint literature a part of our daily lives. Invest in our future with acts of kindness and charity today. 

If I were to simplify for myself it would be threefold tasks :

Continue Self effort 

Seek good company 

Meditate on God and the scriptures

We need to set the sails on our boats! The Divine Winds have promised to remain favorable and take us safely to the shore!  

Nivrittinath has ascertained that our efforts will be duly rewarded. Ultimately however even the expectation of those rewards must be relinquished. That would catapult us into an orbit of a karma yogi. 

If we take a close look, the 9 verses of the Pasaayadaan contain the complete summary of the teachings of the Bhagwad Geeta. On one hand Dnyaaneshwar expanded the original 700 verses of the Bhagwad Geeta to over 9000 ovis. And then condensed it into a 9 verse high potency capsule called the Pasaayadaan! Incredible!! The 9 verses touch upon karma yoga, bhakti yoga and dnyaan yoga. They talk about working towards perfection by turning from tamas and rajas towards sattva guna with self effort. They hint at dissolving the ego and upholding universal brotherhood. Memorizing the nine verses and chanting them every single day with a good understanding of the meaning of each phrase is equivalent to what Dnyaaneshwar has described as “granthopajeeviye”. Can we do it ? Yes we can ! 

I reiterate now the quote from Sant Namdev that I shared in part 1 of this series. 

“ Naamaa mhane grantha shreshtha Dnyaandevi , eka tari ovi anubhavaavi “

 May the blessings of Dnyaaneshwar and Nivrittinath and all saints and God be upon me to keep this commitment to continually contemplate on the Pasaayadaan and integrate it into my life.

I wish for all what I wish for myself. 🙏🏼🙏🏼

Credits:

I was inspired to write about the Pasaayadaan after watching a video pravachan by Prof Ram Shevalkar sent to me by a dear friend in India through WhatsApp. Initial plan was to simply transliterate into English what was said by Prof Shevalkar. Then I came across a blog by another writer Mr Nilesh Bhosale where he had already done the English transliteration of the same lecture. I didn’t see a reason to repeat what’s already done. But my friend persuaded me to pursue it in my style. With this encouragement I set forth to write. Besides Prof Shevalkar’s aforesaid lecture I also found valuable thoughts from the talks of Shri Shankar Abhyankar. As I went on writing one verse at a time I found inspiration from within myself with the grace of Shri Krishna who I consider my true Guru. This humble attempt I offer at his feet with much gratitude. It was a valuable exercise for me to think over the verses from the Dnyaaneshwari in a way that I had not done before. I have no doubts that I can visit these over and over again to renew my understanding and commitment in the path of self improvement and take me closer to my Krishna with every small step. 🙏🏼🙏🏼