Gyaneshwari -Sant Gyaneshwar
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Chapter-15
The Supreme Person
But when that water dries up, the reflection of the moon disappears and in the same way with the destruction of the limiting conditions, the Self remains in his pristine form. It is because of his association with the transitory limiting conditions, he got the name kshara i.e. perishable (496-500). In this way, all embodied Selves should be called ‘perishable’. Now, I shall disclose to you the characteristics of the imperishable Self. O Arjuna, this other imperishable Self is situated in the middle and does not get involved in either knowledge or ignorance, as the Meru mountain stands perpetually in the three worlds, the earth, the nether world and heaven. True knowledge does not affect his unity nor does he suffer dualism because of false knowledge. The state of unknowing which is in between these two states, is his nature. When the particles of earth change into a lump of wet clay, it ceases to be earth, but has not yet assumed the form of a pitcher, pot etc; so this imperishable purusha stands midway like this wet lump (501-505). O Partha, know that his nature is like the formless state of the sea, which becomes dried and has neither waves nor water or like the drowsy state which is in between the wakeful and dreamy states. This state of unknowing which is midway between the disappearance of the illusory world and the dawn of the knowledge of the Self is called the imperishable purusha. There is total absence of knowledge in this state, like the moon which is stripped of all its phases on the New Moon night. With the ripening of the fruit, the tree is contained in it in the seed form (506-510); in the same way when all the limiting conditions are destroyed, that state in which the embodied Self along with his limiting conditions becomes merged, is known as the ‘Unmanifest’ (avyakta). In the state of deep sleep (sushupti), there is total ignorance and so this state is known as the seed-state (bija-bhava) and the states of wakefulness and dream are known as the fruit-state (bija-phalabhava). |
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