Gyaneshwari -Sant Gyaneshwar
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Chapter-17
Three Kinds of Faith
17. This three-fold austerity, performed with supreme faith by self-controlled persons, without the expectation of a reward, is said to be of sattva quality. O wise Arjuna, you should practise this three-fold austerity with full faith, dropping all desire for its fruit (236-240). When this three-fold austerity is performed faithfully, with a pure mind, the wise call it sattvic austerity. 18. That austerity performed with ostentation to gain respect, honour and homage, is declared to be of rajas quality; it is unstable and transient. This austerity is also performed to secure the top-ranking position in society or the top-most honour in the three worlds by depriving others or a seat of honour in the audience or at a feast or to win universal praise. It is also practiced with the motive, that people should come to see him, seek his support to the exclusion of others and render homage to him and that he alone should be able to enjoy all the important pleasures of life (241-245). Just as a deformed person puts on a glittering dress (to hide his deformity), he performs the austerity sanctimoniously, to enhance his own importance. The austerity, which is undertaken with the desire of securing riches and respect, is known as rajasic austerity. When the teats of a cow big with young are infested with worms, it yields no milk after calving. The field does not yield any harvest after its standing crop is allowed to be grazed by cattle. In the same way the austerities undertaken for the sake of publicity become futile. Then seeing that his austerities are fruitless, he leaves them half-way and is not steadfast in performing them (246-250). The unseasonal clouds which appear in the sky, make the whole world resound with their thunder, yet do they last long? In the same way, the rajasic austerity proves barren and its practice does not last long. But if that austerity is of tamas quality, then it does not lead to renown in this world or heaven. |
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