84-yr-old’s labour of love, Jnaneshwari, on the Net

As he did after retiring in 1974, when he resumed his passion for the Sanskrit language and the immense volumes of works that contained it. The Bhagwad Gita had always fascinated him and the 13th century critique, Jnaneshwari on the Gita has a special place.

What irked Yardi the most was the interpretation of numerous Western scholars. To prove his point, he introduced the Janeshwari to the world in its Englishavtar.

“The book goes much beyond the Gita and tells people that rituals don’t matter. In fact it even points out that worship with a pure heart is enough,” says Yardi. For him, the Jnaneshwari espouses a humility that is unique.

The Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan which published Yardi’s work in 1990, saw an opportunity to put across this philosophy on a wider platform. According to S R Rairikar, honorary secretary of the BVB, Pune Kendra the popularity of the book abroad was the clinching factor.

“The book proved to be a great success in Germany, United Kingdom and the United States of America. With more and more people enquiring about it we thought the Internet was the ideal place for a work of this magnitude.”

With the BVB, Pune Kendra already planning a website on the institution, the work was jump started two months ago. Says Prasad Gogte, the director of the BVB Computer Institute and project in-charge, “We started two months back and scanned the whole work to put it on the Net. Allthe 18 chapters plus a note on the author and his original foreword have been included.”

The translated work, considered by many as the exact translation of the original, contains a lucidity that has unique charm. When Gogte began work on the project, the Wavefront Technologies stepped in to help with the webpage hosting and part of the designing.

Meanwhile, back home Yardi is happy that the philosophy of the core work will get a wider audience. “The book says that every person should be judged by his actions rather than his birth. That is the essence of the work. That is a philosophy that all should embrace,” he says.

With the new website, hopefully another generation will enjoy the teachings of an ancient culture…till Yardi discovers a perspective to another work.