Book- Cāṅgadeva Pāsaṣṭī of Jnaneswara Maharaj
Original Author- Jnaneswara Maharaj
Translator- Swami Pitambarananda
First Edition- 2024
Price- 70
Publisher- Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata
Cãngaeva Pãşaşti is written by Śri Jnãneśvara Mahãrãj, a 13th century saint from Maharashtra. The present book is an English translation with commentary written by Swami Pitambarananda, a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order with vast experience in scriptural study and teaching. The original was written in Marathi in poetic form in ovi metre of four lines each.
The book prods the reader for a complete paradigm shift. Set under a background of striking encounter between Jnãneśvara Mahãrãj, a young teenager, as guru and Cãngaeva, a 1400 years old yogi, as a disciple in making. The content, Advaitic teaching, is also set forth in a novel format, devoid of all cumbersome philosophical processes, immersing the reader directly into the wonderful experience of Oneness through appealing similes. Commentary by the learned author gives wonderful insights which would otherwise would have to be gotten only through deep, intense and years of pondering.
Most of the Advaitic works stress on negation of this universe of ours as mere appearance, stressing more on the transcendent aspect of Brahman. Whereas Jnãneśvara Mahãrãj focuses on the immanent aspect of Brahman. His forceful analogies completely transform our vision and thinking. A reader of Swami Vivekananda will invariably like this work for the way it looks at this universe, in an Advaitic way, as a precursor which clears the way for the practical vedanta philosophy.
The book is a must read for any beginner who wants to understand Advaita and also for any advanced who wants to taste the bliss and expanse of Advaita.
Following are some of the striking analogies:
- Brahman is the entire world, without becoming anything. Has the water changed into something else to produce waves? or is it hiding anywhere to create an illusion of waves? No. It is there in front all the time. Similarly, when we see a cloth, are we seeing cloth or thread? Only our acceptance is missing to assert the truth.(5)
- The moon does not know how to cover itself. And, fire is not different from the flame of a lamp. (7) This reminds us of an appealing quote of Swami Vivekananda ‘Do not seek, just see’.
- In whichever shape, jaggery is sweet. Similarly, the universe, created, sustained or dissolved, is nothing but consciousness. (14) A saree is named so only for our convenience of usage. But other than cotton do we have anything else there?(9)
- In our normal thinking or even in philosophical enquiry subjective ‘I’ is taken for granted. But the ‘I’ is manifested because of the manifestation of this objective universe. A face needs to be called the original of a reflection, only if there is a reflection of it. (16, 17)
- “In measuring the distance between.. [the seer and the seen], the seeing becomes lame.” (22)
Similarly profound are some of the observations from the commentary:
- There are six ways to acquire knowledge in the Vedanta philosophy. Anumãna and Upamãna are two of them. Anumãna (knowledge gained through inference) can prove or disprove the veracity of a statement, it cannot lead us to anything novel. Whereas Upamãna (knowledge gained through analogy) leads one towards a new knowledge through analogy of previous experience. Hence all the great spiritual teachers have taught through similes to comprehend a radically different knowledge through experiential understanding.(3)
- There are many people with great intellect, but all are not buddhivãdis who follow pure reason to approach Truth. Most of them are buddhijivis for whom reasoning is only a tool to satisfy one’s own needs and desires.(3)
- “Why am I a subject? Because I see the world. Why “world” is there? Because I see it. So, “world” and “I” are born together… The world has a relative existence in relation to my mind, your mind, everybody’s mind… That is Buddha’s.. pratitya sautpada, dependent origination.” (4)
- Dissolution of the universe that a person experiences entering into nirvikalpa samãdhi can be called as jnãnapralaya.(14)
- “Sphurti is an individual’s experience of coming out of nirvikalpa samãdhi.That itself becomes visvasphurti, the world (as if) coming out of God.” (15)
- “Has the world “come out of Brahman”? That is the common usage, but is there anything outside Brahman?... within Himself He shows the object to Himself." (18)
To such a striking book as this, if the story of Jnãneśvara maharaj and Cãngaeva had been told in a little more detailed way, it would have added depth and richness to the narrative of the book.
Swami Yugeshananda
Swami Yugeshananda is a monk of Ramakrishna order serving at the Alo centre of Arunachal Pradesh. Adept in scriptural studies, he joined the order in 2011 and has since served various centres.
