Gyaneshwari -Sant Gyaneshwar
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Chapter-18
Release
One has to swallow the currents of prana and apana by the mouth of the sushumna nadi. One has to suffer such great hardships from the very beginning. Intense grief is suffered by the chakravaka pair at their forced separation, by the calf when it is dragged away from the cow’s udder, or by the beggar when he is removed from his dining plate (781-785) or by the mother whose only child is snatched away by death, or by the fish which is taken out of water. In the same way, the sense-organs feel that the end of the epoch has come, when they have to part from their objects. Yet being free from attachment, they face that pain with great courage. So by bearing hardships at the very beginning, they attain to Supreme bliss, as the gods secured nectar by churning the Sea of Milk. If steadiness in the form of Lord Shiva, comes forward to drink the venom in the form of asceticism, then it feasts upon the nectar of knowledge. The sour taste of unripe grapes is more burning to the tongue than the touch of a firebrand; yet the same grapes, when ripe, become sweet (786-790). So when dispassion becomes ripe in the light of the knowledge of Self, all pain born of ignorance vanishes along with dispassion. As the river meets the sea, so intellect merges in the Self, revealing the mine of non-dual bliss. So that which is rooted in dispassion and culminates in the peace of Self-realisation is said to be sattvic happiness. |
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