Dnyaaneshwar Maharaj Samadhi Din

 

Dnyaaneshwara Mauli Samadhi Utsav

Today is a very special day for the warkaris of Maharashtra. In the year 1296 this brightest star among the saints took samadhi at a tender age of 21 in the small town of Alandi near Pune. The body of work he left behind is gigantic and entirely belies his chronological age and physical frame. 

Despite being in Pune on this day I decided against going to Alandi today because of the expected crowds. I will go on a quieter day. Nevertheless even from home it is still calling to take a few minutes to reflect on the teachings of this great son of Maharashtra who showed the light for every aspiring devotee to attain to the final state of salvation or moksha.

Sharing here my humble understanding of one of his very famous abhangas. This song has been recorded in the youthful voice of Smt Asha Bhosale and highly recommended listening to.

Unlike my other posts I will not go strictly into word by word translation of this poem. Instead I will write about the gist of it. The word by word translation can be found from other sources.

पांडुरंगकांती दिव्यतेज झळकती। रत्नकीळ फांकती प्रभा ।अगणित लावण्य तेज पुंजाळले। न वर्णवे तेथची शोभा।

कानडा हो विठ्ठलु कर्नाटकू। येणे मज लावियला वेधू।खोळ बुंथी घेऊनी खुणेची पालवी। आळविल्या नेदी सादु।

शब्देविण संवादु दुजेवीण अनुवादू। हे तव कैसेनि गमे।परेहि परते बोलणे खुंटले। वैखरी कैसेनि सांगे।

दर्पणे पाहता मुख नदिसे ओ आपुले । बापरखुमादेविवरे मज ऐसे केले।

पायां पडू गेले तंव पाउलचि न दिसे। उभाचि स्वयंभू असे।समोर की पाठीमोरा न कळे। ठकचि पडिले कैसे।

क्षेमालागी मन उतावीळ माझे। म्हणवोनी स्फुरताति बाहो।क्षेम देऊं गेले तंव मीचि मी एकली। आसावला जीव राहो।

बाप रखुमादेवीवरू हृदयीचा जाणुनी। अनुभवु सौरसु केला।दृष्टीचा डोळा पाहों मी गेले तंव। भीतरी पालटु झाला।

This poem is laden with deeply mysterious concepts that can be understood by someone with a good background of adhyatma vidya( knowledge of the divine spirit).

Dnyaaneshwar Mauli gives an account of his darshan of Vithoba or Panduranga, the deity of Pandharpur. Much has been documented about the idol of this deity and much is known firsthand about this idol by the millions of devotees who throng the temple each day, each year. The deity stands on a brick, famously thrown by Pundalik, his ardent devotee, while the latter was busy serving his parents. Vithoba stands patiently with both hands on his hips and feet neatly placed next to each other, balanced (sama charan) on that brick. The idol consists of black stone which is said to match the stone used at the ancient archeological temple site in Hubli in Karnataka. History narrates the story of the idol being transferred back and forth between Pandharpur and Hubli by royal orders when Muslim invaders were advancing and the safety of the idol was threatened. There is always an ongoing debate linking these historical details with the literary texts from various saints, poets and authors that use the terms such as Kanada, Karnataku as we see in the present poem as well. However, I will not go into that discussion here.

Today’s discussion is about Dnyaaneshwar’s spiritual experience in the context of his darshan of the deity. Any person who visits the temple sees the idol both objectively and subjectively. The stone image is bathed ceremoniously and dressed up meticulously in colorful attire twice daily by the temple priests, adorning a variety of precious jewelry as well as anointed with fragrant pastes of sandalwood, turmeric and kumkum, and  beautiful garlands of fresh flowers and herbs like tulsi leaves. The devotees usually get barely a minute or two in the presence of the idol and try to capture the visual into their memory to the best they can. They converse with the deity simultaneously and get a personalized subjective experience, each one according to their mental state.

Dnyaaneshwar Mauli documents in this abhang his personal experience when he came face to face with Vithhala. From the opening lines it is clear that it was an exalted experience in every way. The divine radiance was so intense and captivating, it felt like a heap of gems were emitting rays of light at once. The beauty was unquantifiable(अगणित) and indescribable (न वर्णवे). Through this brilliant appearance Vitthala captured my( Mauli’s)attention, mind and soul. येणे मज लावियला वेधू!

Up to this point perhaps any ordinary person may be able to relate or understand how mesmerizing it can be for a devotee to be in the presence of God. 

What follows next however is the experience of a mystic. 

खोळ बुंथी घेऊनी खुणेची पालवी। आळविल्या नेदी सादु।

The image, the idol was resplendent and attracting attention no doubt. But that was just a garb!

Dnyaaneshwar was wise enough to know this. 

The physical appearance, the garb was a disguise. It was just symbolic representation of the real entity. A pointer. खुणेची पालवी! 

The real thing could not be grasped by simple visualization. It called for more. 

Vitthala asked for a deep emotional pang coming from the heart. Without the piercing call of intense longing HIS veil could not be penetrated.

Most devotees, me included, have one foot in our worldly engagements( samsara) and one foot into bhakti (devotion). Attention is divided. Even on the few occasions when we are in the presence of God , this attention is only transiently placed on the deity. It doesn’t steady there much longer. Other commitments are pulling us in other directions. 

Where then is the scope for genuine longing?

 And Vitthala is fastidious. He will not come out of hiding unless our call is genuine. He can’t be fooled by our half hearted approach and part time devotion.

आळविल्या नेदी सादु। 

Only with heart wrenching calls will He answer and appear before us in his true form. Until then He remains खोळ बुंथी घेऊनी! Dressed up to hide behind the garb. 

All of us who go to the temple for the darshan reach up to this stage. We see the garb. Not the real thing.

What happens when God is approached by a genuine devotee like Dnyaaneshwar Mauli? These are documented experiences for subsequent generations of seekers to anticipate and strive for. These sensory and supra sensory experiences become possible when all the faculties of the human body work cohesively. When there is assimilation of acquired knowledge and innate function translating into personal experience. When conscious awareness, intelligence and emotion are collected and focused on a single point and in surrender mode.

What happens under such perfect conditions?

Thoughts are stopped from finding form and expression .

Speech stands still. Motionless. Paralyzed. Stunned.

परेहि परते बोलणे खुंटले। वैखरी कैसेनि सांगे।

Communion occurs without overt dialogue between two entities. In fact two entities cease to exist separately. Oneness is experienced.

शब्देविण संवादु दुजेवीण अनुवादू।

Even Dnyaaneshwar Mauli has expressed amazement at this phenomenon. 

 हे तव कैसेनि गमे! How is this possible?

दर्पणे पाहता मुख नदिसे ओ आपुले । बापरखुमादेविवरे मज ऐसे केले।

Not only does the devotee know his beloved deity as distinct from His image but he also finds his own image wiped out from his mind. I am not the face, or the body I see in the mirror or photograph! Vitthala has brought about this change, he acknowledges.

With the destruction of body identification comes the unique experience of infinitude and omnipresence. Mauli has described this very beautifully in his signature style of metaphor. When I sought to touch Your Holy Feet to seek blessings, I couldn’t find the feet, he says. पायां पडू गेले तंव पाउलचि न दिसे।

The Divine Reality was stand-alone. He needed no grounds to rest upon. No support.

उभाचि स्वयंभू असे।

Even though he was experiencing the full presence of Vitthala, Mauli couldn’t say whether Vitthala was front facing or standing with His back to Mauli. 

समोर की पाठीमोरा न कळे।

It was rather confusing because usual concepts of dimensions and direction or orientation could not be applied in this situation.

 ठकचि पडिले कैसे।

When scientists endeavor to find universal truths and basis of creation their approach is through reasoning and finding physical evidence to prove their theory. In contrast mystics and saints reach out to That Reality through faith and emotion. The primary approach is through the heart rather than brain.

 Eventually scientists may be required to surrender their intellect and include compassionate thought to reconcile their observations and interpretations of Truth, whereas mystics may have to supplement their emotional intelligence with rational thinking before that final stage of realization. 

In the present context, Dnyaaneshwar Mauli coming from a lineage of mystics, was naturally inclined to approach The Divine Reality through pure emotion, through devotional love. In that spirit, he says, when I passionately moving forward to embrace Vitthala, I was taken by surprise that my hands wrapped around myself! 

क्षेमालागी मन उतावीळ माझे। म्हणवोनी स्फुरताति बाहो।

क्षेम देऊं गेले तंव मीचि मी एकली। आसावला जीव राहो।

This experience was beyond the scope of mind or mental perception. Mind can never grasp Reality in its original form. It ( mind) comes to realize its limitations. It had expected to feel Vitthala like any other person or object but that didn’t happen. It proved to be wishful thinking.

Having said that, it doesn’t mean Mauli couldn’t experience Vitthala fully.

बाप रखुमादेवीवरू हृदयीचा जाणुनी। अनुभवु सौरसु केला।दृष्टीचा डोळा पाहों मी गेले तंव। भीतरी पालटु झाला।

My father, Vitthala, seeing that my heart is filled with pure love for Him, made it possible for the ultimate sweet experience of unifying with Him. I couldn’t have seen him with the physical eye, the outward eye that sees things. When I turned my vision inwards, towards the eye of the eye दृष्टीचा डोळा पाहों मी गेले तंव, that’s when I could see Him. In that moment duality dropped, He and me became One.

 Everything changed forever within me. भीतरी पालटु झाला।

Such positive and lasting change can happen only when our worldly self merges into the higher divine self.

The ultimate message is to integrate our thoughts, emotions and actions with the recognition of the omnipresent divinity within ourselves and everything around us and live in the spirit of service with constant identification with the Divine Truth. Rational thinking, scientific knowledge must be matched with honesty, integrity, humility and compassion. If we are stuck in just one out of these broader requirements we will not get the full experience. Kindness without rationality would be stupidity. Rationality without kindness would be insensitivity. 

May we strive earnestly for the full experience and not compromise for anything lesser.

Hari Om 🙏🏼🙏🏼