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Jnaneshvar: The Life and Works of the Celebrated Thirteenth Century Indian Mystic-Poet (Classics of Mystical Literature)

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With extreme care, with a sense of play, of popular poetry, of 'real' poetry, of history, war, politics; with knowledge of transcendence of all that is -- with all that -- and, therefore, with a sense of the far and extreme reaches attained by the pendulum of human attention, S. Abhyayananda has gifted us with an in-depth look at the life and times and rare poetry of Jnaneshvar.

Half the book tells of the life of Jnaneshvar, the thirteenth century Indian mystic-poet. Years, names, and maps are based on historical fact (and supported by a bibliography), yet freshened and brought to life by incorporating -- without diluting or misrepresenting history -- dramatic elements reserved for historical fiction.

The other half of the book is devoted mostly to the author's translation of Jnaneshvar's Amritanubhav, The Nectar of Mystical Experience. Amritanubhav rates alongside the works of Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj as an accessible confession of the highest spiritual state, being as lucid and fundamentally grounded in truth, and perhaps more so.

In fact, in Amritanubhav, Jnaneshvar explores subtleties of inner knowledge that Ramana and Nisargadatta may not have touched upon, not because the latter did not "know" them, but because their work was largely a response to the questions of visitors, and apparently Ramana and Nisargadatta may not have found themselves required to discuss certain kinds of subtle knowledge.

When Jnaneshvar says, "....although the four levels of speech are destroyed along with ignorance, they continue to live as knowledge of Reality," he is touching on the most subtle kind of knowledge. He is coming as close to saying what cannot be said, as has anyone. He brings such a confession to commonplace, when he alternatively says, "Salt dissolved in water continues to exist as taste," which, though more easily comprehensible, invites the crudeness of sensory experience. One description requires the reader know the nature of salt and the taste of salt water; the other requires the reader know the utter subtleties of the four levels of speech, ignorance, knowledge of Reality.

Can a reader, though, take that leap from salt water to knowledge of Reality, merely as a result of meditatively reading Jnaneshvar? Yes. Such is the potency of this particular confession. It can serve to nudge one toward a higher understanding. The nature of such a nudging is this: just as a very slight movement of a telescope focused on the heavens, brings new worlds into view, the slight nudging of the focus of attention can similarly bring into view a whole new world.

Notes, introduction to the author/translator, a complete index, bibliography, and translations of two other brief works by Jnaneshvar, are included in this volume.