Wager of Ambrosia

A Study of Jnaneshwari


Chapter 11

The Invocation and the Boon

I know not how to use words nor do I know how to state a  proposition or premise, and I have no knowledge of the figures of speech,” says Jnaneshwar while coming towards the conclusion of his Marathi discourse on the Gita.


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(Jnaneshwari: 18.1767)

Whatever he has done, presenting the scripture in his language, he could do that because of the blessings he had received from his guru Nivritti, as much as by the gracious and encouraging patronage of the well-versed in the audience. Their keen understanding and appreciation of the literary composition was a reciprocation that inspired him and gave him confidence in pursuing this difficult undertaking. They were to him the proverbial magic-stone that transmutes the baser metal into pure and shining gold. In this whole process the merit of the little mountain-brook lies merely in rushing towards the Ganges and merging itself into those sacred waters. That is all he tried to do, to mingle in its holiness,—and he is happy that he could do it. It is really because he derived inspiration and illumination from the saintly elders and preceptors, that he could accomplish this miracle of giving the substance and meaning of the Gita in Marathi. He owes all to them only. Because of them he could carry out this formidable if not impossible task,—more arduous and difficult than pouring gold in the form of a huge globe of the size of the earth, or creating a mountain of the mythical chintamani gems, or of flooding the seven seas of ambrosia with sweetness, or of transforming all these little stars into countless moons, or of planting and taking care of the wish-fulfilling trees in gardens and orchards. The Gita is really a vast ocean and it is difficult to swim across it and reach the other shore. But he has been able to do it, to complete this commentary on it, precisely because of the grace showered upon him by them. This marvellous world of literary excellence that has come into existence

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surely stands out more significantly than even the mid-world which Vishwamitra, to belittle the Creator, had brought out by the power of his tapasya for the sake of Trishanku. He is certain that in the three worlds there is nothing that can bear comparison with what the saintly audience has given to the young speaker. The religious discourse praising and singing the glories of God, dharma kirtana, has now come to a happy successful conclusion and Jnaneshwar feels that his role in this creative enterprise was only that of a scribe, that of an ordinary devotee or servant attending small household matters.


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(Jnaneshwari: 18.1791-92)

But then while the ceremonial thanksgiving is being conducted, he also becomes a priest or Purohit making sacrificial offerings to the Fire-God, Agni. On the yajna-altar the mystic fire is bright-lit and, as it receives a handful of rice and ghee, the flames leap up in jubilation of the benedictive chant. Agni is pleased and stands luminously in front of the sacrificer to bestow whatever boon he desires to receive. The high moment of Jnaneshwar’s poetry has now arrived and he prepares himself to invoke the supreme grace that it is about to bring to him. The words have become silent and from the depths of the yogic calm rises a voice speaking for the soul of man.


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(Jnaneshwari: 18.1793-1800)

Now let the universal Self as God be pleased by the offering of this literary work in the nature of a Yajna and, in that gladness, bestow upon me a favouring boon.

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Those who are wicked and evil-minded, let them be rid of the crooked ways of seeing things; let them increasingly engage themselves in happy virtuous actions; among men and men let there grow a feeling of friendship and intimacy.


May those who are unethical and sinful be free of that darkness; may the world behold the sun of one’s own righteous conduct; may each and every living creature, each one, whatever he desires or wishes to have be happy in its gainful accomplishment.


Let the assembly of those who are God-founded, steady and firm in their beliefs, shower all over and always every kind of benignity; let them arrive here on the earth in great numbers.


For they are verily the tender shoots of the tree that fulfils every kind of wish, but then they are the shoots of a tree that stays not at one place and walks and moves around everywhere; or else they are a little town inhabited by the heavenly gems of senscience and awareness; or else we may consider them to be an ocean of nectarine sweetness that indeed can talk to us.


These saintly people are like the moons that have no blemish on them; and they are the unscorching suns that pour out no burning heat, and to all they are loving and affable kinsmen in every respect.


Nay, essentially, and in their manner, fulfilling him in all the three worlds, and in that happiness, let each one worship, without cease, the first excellent Being.


Those who dwell, especially, in the spirit of this work, in the revealed Word, let them gather the merit of twofold victory in the worlds visible and invisible.


In this way, concluding his Gita commentary, the Yogi-Poet has offered his prayer and asked the Lord of the Universe for an exceptional boon. The Giver of every spiritual beneficence was immensely pleased by Jnaneshwar’s invocation for the welfare of the world and said to him: “Be it so, tathastu.”

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Appendix


We give here Jnaneshwar’s Invocation, commonly known as Pasayadan, rendered into English by a few authors.


1: In his owi-by-owi translation of Jnaneshwari Ramachandra Keshav Bhagwat renders the Pasayadana as follows. (Samata Edition 1989, p. 671, first published in 1954)


Now the Supreme Self should get itself propitiated by this sacrifice in the form of a literary production and should grant me in charity the only boon (pasaya) that the evil vision of the vile and wicked should drop all its crookedness and sting and they should develop a love towards good actions, and further there should be created fellow-feeling (towards one another) amongst the beings. May the darkness in the form of sins get destroyed and may the entire universe (people) conduct itself in the light of the rising Sun in the form of one’s own (religious) duty; and may each and every being (as a class) get the fulfilment of each and every wish of his. Let the concourse of saints that shower down all that is propitious on the universe, appear and visit perpetually the aggregate of beings on this earth. These saints are as it were the blossoms of the moving (walking) Kalpataru trees, or the inhabited places (towns) of sentient Chintamani gems or the talking oceans of the nectar. May these saints who are uncontaminated Moons and heatless (cool) Suns be the constant kinsmen (soyaré) of all. In short, let all the three worlds be all happy and perfected (with the bliss of Monism), and let them render service eternally to the Primeval Male Supreme Being. And especially those in this universe that (literally) live on (the constant study of ) this work (Gita) may they have the perfect happiness temporal as well as spiritual.


2: M. K. Naik’s Prayer for Grace circulated in a seminar held in Pune sometime in 1996 runs as follows:


Now, may the Cosmic Soul Divine

Be pleased with this word-offering of mine

And grant me, in its goodwill benign

This Grace:

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May the evil-minded their crookedness shed
May they increasingly turn to good works instead
May all beings find themselves bonded,—
By ties of soul-companionship.


May the darkness of evil dissolve, likewise
May the sun of right life greet our eyes
And whatever every being should prize
Shall attain it.


May the host of God-loyal saints who shower
Eternal goodness on the world dower
Everyone always with the righteous power
Of their presence.


A mobile orchard of wish-granting trees are they,
A colony of live, wish-fulfilling diamonds are they,
A veritable ocean of nectar are they
In guise living.


A moon without a smear are they,
A sun that doesn’t sear are they,
To all always near and dear are they,
Those hallowed saints.


What remains for me to say?
May beatitude fill the universe, may
Everyone worship, night and day
The Being Primeval.


And may those who mostly by the word make a living
Find all felicity their way arriving
Both in this world of here and now of Being,
And of the Great Beyond.


Then said the Lord of Earth and Heaven,

‘This Grace shall unto you be given’

And this Holy Boon did enliven

The spirits of Jnanadeva.


3: V. L. Date’s Pasayadan entitled Gift of Grace is based on Sartha Jnaneshwari edited by Shankar Waman Dandekar, 9th edition, page 824.

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May God manifested in the world
be pleased by this literary sacrifice
and having been pleased
bestow on me the gift of his grace —


That the crookedness of the wicked be sublated.
Interest in noble deeds grow,
and intense mutual friendship
emerge among beings.


May the darkness of misdeeds disappear,
the sun of righteousness shine in the universe,
whoever of the creatures desires whatsoever
may achieve it.


May the assembly of god-devoted
showering auspiciousness
visit uninterruptedly
the creatures in the world.


The righteous men who are a moving garden
of wish-fulfilling trees,
are mines of live wish-fulfilling gems,
are talking oceans of nectar,


The moons sans spots,
the suns sans heat,—
such righteous men
be always kinsmen of all.


What more, everyone be perfectly happy
in three worlds
and uninterruptedly
worship primeval Being.


And particularly those earnings their living
by this literary work
may particularly in this world make gains
seen and unseen.


Upon this, said the Lord of the universe,
“This gift of grace is granted.”
By this boon
Jnandeo became happy.

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