Gyaneshwari -Sant Gyaneshwar
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Chapter-14
The Three Qualities
The blessed Lord said, 1. I shall again proclaim the wisdom, the highest of all knowledges, knowing which all the sages have attained liberation from here. Now, I shall tell you again the meaning of the word highest (para), which is applied to the spiritual knowledge, by the scriptures. The other knowledges, do not take us beyond worldly existence and heaven and so the word ‘highest’ has been used to indicate that the knowledge of the Self is ‘beyond’ them. I call this knowledge of the Self as highest, because this knowledge is like fire and the other knowledges mere straw before it. Those knowledges, which esteem only worldly life and heaven, which value only works such as sacrificial rites, which entertain the notion of duality, appear like dreams before this knowledge of the Self. Just as the whirlwind gets dissolved in the sky (41-45) or the moon and other stars lose their splendour with the rising of the sun, or deluge obliterates all distinction between small and great rivers, so all other knowledges are dissolved with the dawn of Self-knowledge. It is for this reason, O Arjuna, we call the latter the ‘highest’ knowledge. O son of Pandu, that pristine state which is within us, from time immemorial, known as complete deliverance, is attained only through this knowledge. With the realisation of this knowledge, the thoughtful persons do not allow worldly existence to raise its head. By withdrawing the mind from the sense-objects, they become tranquil and do not come under the sway of the body, even though possessed of the body (46-50). Then, they cross over the hedge of the body and come up to the same level as Myself, with an equable mind. |
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