Gyaneshwari -Sant Gyaneshwar
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Chapter-17
Three Kinds of Faith
28. Whatever sacrifice is offered, charity given, austerity practised, and whatever is done without faith, is said to be ‘asat’; it is of no use here or after death. If one gives up this path of faith and performs, on the strength of obduracy, numerous sacrifices, gives in charity the whole earth, full of gems, practises thousands of austerities, standing on the toes (411-415), or constructs lakes as big as the sea, all that is of no avail. Like rain fallen on rocks, oblations made into ashes, or like an embrace given to a shadow, or the slapping of the sky, all actions undertaken become fruitless. Just as by crushing pebbles in an oil-mill, one gets neither oil nor oil-cake, such action is worthless. If a person ties up potsherds in the hem of his garment and goes on a journey in his country or to a foreign land, he suffers starvation (416-420). In the same way, if actions do not bring him happiness in this world, how could he expect it in the next world? So any transaction undertaken in this world, without faith in the name of God, is so much labour lost in this and the next world.
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