Dnyaneshwar is also known as Jnaneshwar, Mauli, Dnyandev and Jnanadeva and was the founder of the Vithobha-Krishna Bhakthi Movement.
Profile
The year of birth of Dnyaneshwar is conflicted as some state it is 1271 and others say he was born on Krishna Janmashtami in 1275 to Vitthalapant and Rakhumabai, a Brahmin couple. The story behind the birth has conflicting stories on the smaller details but the larger story is the same. Vittalapant came from a linage of great devotees and he was a great devotee too. The death of his father and the fact that he was issueless made him renounce the life of a householder and he took sanyasa. But he was compelled to come back to householder’s life by his guru. He came back and settled down at Alandi and had four children, three sons and one daughter. When it was time for the boys to don the sacred thread there was great opposition from the orthodox Brahmin people as they felt returning to householder’s life after renunciation was heresy.The family left for Nashik and on the way they confronted a tiger and had to escape. In this one childNivruttinath was separated from the family. It is said the family without this son came back to Alandi and Vittalapanth asked for redemption for his sins to conduct the sacred thread ceremony. The couple were asked to take their lives by jumping into the river which they did and after a year the children were accepted into the Nath Hindu tradition to which they really belonged. Nivruttinath who was separated from the family escaped into a cave and was initiated into sanyasa by Gahaninath who was living in that cave. The other three children, Dynaeshwar, Sopan and Mukthbai also became great saints of that time. At the age of 21 in 1296, this great saint desired and went into Sanjeevan Samadhi a practise to die voluntarily.
Philosophy Propounded
Dnyaneshwar was the advocate of Advaita Vedanta and NathVaishnavism which was oneness of Shiva and Vishnu. He was also an ardent devotee of Lord Vitthala of Pandharpur.
Work Done to Spread the Philosophy
There are many miracles attributed to Dnyaneshwar and the most well-known are the stories of how he made a buffalo chant the Vedas to prove a point to the Brahmins. Also he humbled a yogi who travelled on a tiger by mounting a wall and making it move. Dnyaneshwar composed many devotional songs known as Abhangas. His most popular work is the’ Dnyaneshwari ‘, a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita in Marathi. Another text is ‘Amrutanubhav’. This great saint, along with siblings were a great inspiration for many other great saints like Tukaram and Eknath.
