Gyaneshwari -Sant Gyaneshwar
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Chapter-17
Three Kinds of Faith
16. Serenity of mind, gentleness, silence, self-control and purity of the heart are called austerities of the mind. Like the lake without waves, the sky without clouds, or the garden of sandalwood trees without serpents (221-225) or the full moon without its phases, or the king without anxiety or the Milky Sea without the Mandara mountain, his mind remains steady in the Supreme Self, free from entanglements. He realises his own Self, like light without heat, food without fat or the sky without space. Just as the benumbed limbs are not afflicted by cold, so he is rid of his fickle nature. Then his mind becomes clear and full of love like the unchanging and spotless moon’s disc (226-230). In this state, he does not feel the hardship of dispassion, his mind becomes free from desire and fear, and there remains only the warmth of Self-knowledge. The mouth which was used to give instruction on the scripture, does not now use the faculty of speech and observes silence. Just as the salt, when dropped in water, which is its original state, becomes merged in it, so the mind, having realised the Self, loses its essential nature. How then could emotions and other tendencies arise in such a mind? How could his mind rush along the road of the senses and reach the town of sense-objects? Then the tendencies of the mind become pure, in the way the palm of a person is free from hair (231-235). O Arjuna, when the mind reaches this state, it is said to possess the austerity of the mind. Such are the characteristics of the austerity of the mind. I have explained to you, the three classes of austerities, viz., of body, speech and mind. I shall now tell you, how this threefold austerity gets transformed because of its association with the three gunas. Bring to bear upon it, your powerful intellect and listen.
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