Ashadhi Ekadashi
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Ashadhi Ekadashi and Sant Dnyaneshwar
Deepak Ranade, June 29, 2023: The Times of India
A shadhi Ekadashi marks the culmination of the ‘pilgrims’ progress’ that carries the palkis of Sant Dnyaneshwar and Sant Tukaram, from Alandi and Dehu, respectively, to the temple town of Pandharpur in Solapur district, Maharashtra.
This ocean of devotees, one of the largest gatherings of pilgrims in the world, exults in ecstasy on reaching Pandharpur and meeting their beloved Lord Vithoba.
The Warkaris, as these pilgrims are called, hail from all walks of life to participate in this annual walk of over 250 km, spread over 21 days. The atmosphere is charged with bhakti and devotees are oblivious to any physical discomfort or exertion. They address one another as Mauli, mother, nickname for Sant Dnyaneshwar. This nickname stems from a matriarchal bond the Warkaris share with Dnyaneshwar, a bond that is an alchemy of faith, love, trust, respect, devotion, adulation, and abject surrender.
Dnyaneshwar was truly a saint ahead of his times. In his brief earthly sojourn, he compiled three spiritual texts: the Gnaneshwari, Anubhavamrut, and Changdev Pasashtee. The last one is a discourse of 65 verses addressed to a yogi named Changdev. These verses attempt to elucidate the ultimate truth of the very nature of existence. He explains that the tattva, essence, emerges as a ‘Will’ by manifesting as an intensification of consciousness – the Self, drishta, seer, and a rarefaction that becomes drishya, seen, the material world, which are connected by the process of darshan. This trinity emerges simultaneously. And after the ‘Will’ is fulfilled, this trinity merges as a wave of knowledge in the very essence from which it emerged. He says that consciousness, in order to remain conscious, must constantly go on becoming self-conscious.
In one of the verses, Sant Dnyaneshwar says: ‘The being of consciousness to becoming of consciousness is a holomovement that is in a perpetual continuum. ” This observer-centric approach is what contemporary Quantum Physics now confirms. For any event to have occurred, it has to be observed by an intelligent observer, for the collapse of the superposition states. Quantum Physics has broken the shackles of determinism that bound Classical Physics.
Phenomenon like Quantum Entanglement underline the need to review our understanding and obsession with the cause-effect paradigm. Winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics have unequivocally settled the debate as to whether reality at its fundamental level conforms to the tenets of local realism. The conclusions of their research indicate the Universe to be illusory. Non-locality, Einstein’s ‘Spooky Action at a Distance’, has been proven to be spooky.
Reductionism has led scientific endeavour down the garden path that gets murkier with every step. The search for answers in the tangible domain leads only to intangible conclusions. Consciousness can never study itself. It can at best experience itself. Dnyaneshwar refers to this as Swasamvedya. Intelligence that sublimates to become selfaware. Dnyaneshwar very unambiguously elucidates on the ultimate truth. The entire universe is a cosmic dance of differential frequencies. It is a manifestation of intelligence consciousness. We need to urgently realise this truth to foster harmony and ensure our salvation.
The march of pilgrims is a reminder for us to embark on a journey of consciousness from becoming to being.
The writer is a consultant neurosurgeon and honorary faculty member at MIT-WPU School of Consciousness Studies, Pune
