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Jnaneshwar (meaning Lord of Knowledge or Jnana) was one of the greatest saints of Maharashtra and the founder of the Bhakti Movement. All the subsequent poet-saints of Maharashtra looked up to him for inspiration. Jnaneshwar was the one who first explained the Gita in Marathi thereby bringing it to the masses who had no knowledge of Sanskrit. He wrote in Jnaneshwari (his commentary on the Gita): "Let the city of the Marathi language be enriched with spiritual knowledge so that the merchandise of happiness will be cheap and customers in this market can take as much happiness as they want." With this motive in mind, he explained the Gita in a simple way, providing examples from daily life. It was not his intention to establish a sect. He wanted only to share the joy of the Gita with the masses. "I want to fill the whole world with divine joy," he wrote. And so he did. His Jnaneshwari is widely read to this day, throughout Maharashtra. Besides Jnaneshwari, Jnaneshwar's other works include Anubhavamrita, Changdev Pasashti and over a thousand verses known as Abhangas. With his mission accomplished, Jnaneshwar entered samadhi, the state of blissful consciousness, and withdrew from the world in Alandi when he was just 21 years old in 1297 AD. Namdev, in his Jnanadevachi Adi, has recorded the events in the life of his spiritual preceptor in great detail.
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