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Newasa - Encountering an unique form of Vishnu, and Sant Jnaneshwar

The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
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Off again, on another trip!


The biggest festival of the year – Diwali – approaches, and, more than anything, we look forward to the vacation that comes in its stead. We usually celebrate the festival at home, lighting lamps and bursting crackers, but this year, as you know already, we can’t celebrate the festival, and are free to travel.



We have chosen to travel into interior Maharashtra this year, combining spiritual destinations with something different. Our main destination will be Nanded, to which I have managed to get train tickets. From then on, it will be us depending on local buses to get around and see as much of the places around as we can. On my radar are Aundha Nagnath and Parli Vaijnath, two important Shaivite shrines in Maharashtra, which also figure on the list of 12 Jyotirlingas. If all goes well, I will be on the verge of completing my Jyotirling circuit soon.

Also on my list is the Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan at Shegaon, a place I have heard lots of, but haven’t yet visited, and that is where we plan to be for Diwali.

After all that spirituality, it is time for us to relax and enjoy a bit of nature before we head back to the concrete jungle, so my final destination will be the Lonar Crater Lake. This is yet another place which I have planned to visit for a long, long time, and am keeping my fingers crossed, hoping it all works out.

This is slated to be a budget trip, trying to keep costs under control, since we have already travelled much more than expected this year (and spent a lot more too, if I may add!). Besides, we are also trying to sneak in some more travel before the year is out! How far we succeed depends on whether we manage to keep to our resolution to avoid hiring vehicles and travel completely by local buses. While that really isn’t as daunting as it sounds, remember that we have Samhith in tow, so it is indeed a challenge. We tried it from Mumbai to Nashik, and were quite successful, but this trip is much longer, and thus more of a challenge. We have booked a few tickets online, so those parts of the journey are already fixed, but the rest has been left to chance, and the efficiency of MSRTC!

I will be away for just over a week, and meanwhile, have tried to schedule posts for most days. Enjoy reading them, keep coming back.... and wish you all a very Happy Diwali! 


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