Gyaneshwari -Sant Gyaneshwar
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Chapter-16
The Divine and Demoniacal Natures
Then for attaining this Self, one has to make one’s mind steady on either knowledge or Yoga and discard all other worldly ideas. Just as a person free from desire, should make his final offering at the conclusion of the sacrifice, or a man of good family should give his daughter in marriage to a boy from a noble family and live in peace, or the goddess Lakshmi, after coming out of the churning of the Milky Sea, should wed only Lord Vishnu, so he should engage himself in the Yoga of knowledge, being free from doubts. This is the third characteristic of knowledge, so said Lord Krishna. Now true charity consists in not refusing help through body, speech and mind to a person in distress, even though he be an enemy and in not sending him empty-handed (81-85). O winner of wealth, just as a roadside tree never fails to give to a passer by its flowers and fruits, shade, roots and its leaves, so one offers wholeheartedly, as the occasion demands, corn or money, to a tired guest to his satisfaction. This is charity and it is a sort of antimony, which helps a person to discover the hidden treasure of liberation. Now I shall tell you, the characteristics of sense-restraint. Like a warrior who kills his enemy with his sword, the yogi does not allow the senses to combine against him, but instead, he brings about their separation. He prevents sense-objects from storming his mind, through the doors of the senses and so by harnessing the senses through regular practice, brings them under the sway of self-restraint (86-90). He sets fire of non-attachment to the ten senses, so that their natural propensity to activity, deserts the mind. He observes many vows more rigorous than breath-control, without a moment’s pause. This is the sign of what is known as dama or restraint of the senses. |
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