Eknath was born after two hundred years after Namdev and Dynaneshwar and he was responsible in reviving the works of Dynaneshwar.
Profile
EknathSuryajipantKulkarni was born in 1533 (some say the year was 1550) in Paithan into an illustrious Deshaastha Brahmin family who were believed to be the descendants of Sage Viswamitra. His great grandfather SantBhanudas was the one who brought idol of Lord of Pandurang from Vijayanagar to Pandharpur.His parents died when he was still a baby. He was looked after by his grandparents. When he was five years old he began to ask for a guru and someone told him to ask the river Godavari which he promptly did. It is believed that the river answered him that his Guru was waiting for him in Daulatabad. He immediately left for Daulatabad to meet his guru Janardhan Swami. The guru also recognised his disciple and taught him Vedanta, Nyaya, Yoga, Meemansa and more. He was taught SantDnyaneshwar’s works. After spending few years with the guru, Janardhan Swami asked him to go for a pilgrimage. He visited many holy places of north and west India and then he went to his hometown in Paithan. He grandparents were extremely delighted and got him married to Girijia and they had three children, two girls and a boy. After working for the revival of culture and religion he accepted Jal Samadhi in 1599. He went into Godavari and gave up his life on an auspicious day.
Philosophy Propounded
Janardhan Swami was a devotee of Lord Dattatreya and Eknath was taught to be tolerant and kind to all beings. His path was that of devotion but he wrote books on self and oneness of the world. His teaching can be put in three words, Vihcar, Uchar and Achar meaning purity in thought, word and action. He was strong advocate against untouchability.
Work Done to Spread the Philosophy
Eknath was born into times where the glories of the saints of the previous centuries were lost and the Muslim invasion had completely destroyed the fabric of the society. Eknath took upon himself the revival work of this lost glory. He brought to people the works of Dnyanehswar. He located the samadhisthal of Dnyaneshwar and put together ‘Dnyaneshwari’, the work of the saint and offered it to the people. Eknath wrote many verses in Marathi. His most famous contribution were‘EknathiBhagavata’ his version of the BhagavadaPurana and ‘Bhavarth Ramayana’. He created a new form of devotional music and called it Bharrod and wrote around 300 songs in this form. Eknath was the bridge between his successors Ramdas and Tukaramand his predecessors Namdev and Dnyaneshwar.
