Thirteenth-century India saw a huge revival of religious devotion among the common folk, similar to the waves of religious fervor that swept over late medieval Europe. One of the pillars of this revival was the poet-saint Jnaneshwar, author of an exquisite commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. Like his contemporary Dante, Jnaneshwar was a poet of the vernacular, who wrote in Marathi, the language of ordinary villagers, rather than the Sanskrit of the brahmin orthodoxy. Over the centuries, the Jnaneshwari, as his commentary is known, has become a scripture in its own right. Expanding the Gita’s seven hundred verses to approximately nine thousand, and using the images of ordinary life to explain its lofty teachings, Jnaneshwar fashioned from human language one of the most sublime visions of the Absolute that has ever been put into speech. The Jnaneshwari is one of the marvels of world literature. The greatest study of the Jnaneshwar is still this work by the philosopher R. D. Ranade, originally published in 1933. In addition to being a renowned scholar, Ranade was also a mystic and an initiated disciple, and he brings all these broad currents of the Indian tradition to his analysis of the Jnaneshwari. Readers who are sometimes intoxicated by the richness of Jnaneshwar’s imagery, will appreciate the way Ranade has here uncovered the work’s inner structure, and how he has briefly summarized its approach to the Gita’s great themes: action vs. renunciation; devotion and dharma; the form and the formless aspects of God; and the subject dearest to Jnaneshwar’s heart, the nature of the spiritual Master. This book also includes Ranade’s study of Jnaneshwar’s abhangas, his religious songs, as well as an analysis of his magnificent Amritanubhav, “The Nectar of Self-Awareness,” an inspired synthesis of Samkhya and Shaivism.

Jnaneshwar: The Guru's Guru

Religion & Spirituality

Ranade, R. D.

Hinduism

State University of New York Press

Three centuries after Jnaneshwar, devotional poetry had another full flowering in Western India. Tukaram Maharaj was a merchant and householder who seemed to fail at everything. Bankruptcy, the death of his first wife during a famine, and castigation by the Brahmin orthodoxy forced him into isolation―and there he poured out his longing and devotion in hundreds of songs. At first regarded as mad, musicians, singers, and ordinary villagers began to gather around him by the hundreds to hear his kirtans, celebrations of the Name of God. Tukaram’s songs seem to have possessed some magical ability to exactly capture the devotional, egalitarian feeling of the community of bhaktas. In this brilliant pioneering study of Tukaram by the philosopher and mystic R. D. Ranade, written in the 1930s, Ranade describes what he refers to as the Hegelian dialectic of Tuka’s life and poetry: his withdrawal from society, his dark night of the soul, and his emergence from humiliation, confusion and doubt into the state of mystical knowledge and inner joy. While Jnaneshwar always writes from the lofty mountain top of spiritual realization, Tukaram takes us with him on the journey itself, with all its subtle ordeals and breakthroughs. Tukaram is an important poet, one whose stature in Marathi literature is comparable to that of Shakespeare in English. Ranade’s study is an indispensable introduction.

Tukaram

Biographies & Memoirs

Mysticism in India: The Poet-Saints of Maharashtra

Mysticism in India is a complete and informative description of the teachings, works, and lives of the great poet-saints of Maharashtra written by a scholar and professor who was also a mystic. Jnaneshwar, Namadev, Tukaram, Eknath, Ramdas, and the other saints discussed belonged to the great devotional religious movement that spread through medieval India. With the exception of Ramdas, they all belonged to the tradition of the Varkaris, the most popular sect in contemporary Maharashtra. Their compositions exemplify the universality of their faith and practice, and are recognized as literary treasures. Ranade was primarily interested in the poet-saints as mystics―teachers of the perennial philosophy―whose experiences have general metaphysical and religious implications. At the heart of his classic is a comprehensive, objective presentation of the thought of these saints, augmented by a deep appreciation of their value and relevance to present-day scholars and seekers. Mysticism in India is the only major study in English of medieval Indian religious literature. The book’s enduring value has been enhanced by the addition of a foreword by a scholar currently working in Marathi literature, and a preface by a present-day poet-saint of Maharashtra.

History

Asia

This book contains Volume VII of R.D. Ranade’s comprehensive guide to Indian mysticism. This volume covers most of the important mystical saints in the Maharashtra, giving a full discussion of each, together with philosophical comparisons. “Indian Mysticism: Mysticism In Maharashtra - History Of Indian Philosophy” is highly recommended for students of philosophy and Indian mysticism, and would make for a worthy addition to collections of allied literature. Contents include: “Bhanudasa”, “Janardana Swami”, “Date of Ekariatha”, “Ekanatha's Life”, “Ekanatha's Works”, “The Abhangas of Bhanudiisa”, “The Abhangas of Janardana Swami”, “Ekanatha on his Spiritual Teacher”, “Ekanatha's Moral and Spiritual Instruction”, etcetera. Many vintage texts such as this are becoming increasingly rare and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now, in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

Indian Mysticism: Mysticism In Maharashtra - History Of Indian Philosophy - Vol VII

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Moran Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ranade, R. D.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Ranade, R. D.