Gyaneshwari -Sant Gyaneshwar
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Chapter-18
Release
Or if on the other hand, he anticipates trouble from such action, he persuades his sense-organs to forsake it. Just as a king makes his servants toil hard to collect his dues, so he makes the sense-organs labour hard, until the cause of misery is removed. Thus when the knower harnesses the sense-organs to perform or avoid some action, he is known as the agent (501-505). Since this agent employs the sense-organs like the plough, we call them the instruments of action. When the agent undertakes some activity by making use of these instruments, that which is pervaded by this activity is the action. Just as the mind of the goldsmith is pervaded by the ornaments, or the moon-light is pervaded by the moonbeams, or the creeper is pervaded by its growth, or the sunlight is pervaded by its splendour, or the sugar-cane juice is pervaded by sweetness, or the sky is pervaded by space, so that which is pervaded by the activity of the agent, is the action. There is no doubt about this (506-510). Thus I have explained to you the characteristics of action, agent and the instrument. Here the knower, the knowledge and the object of knowledge constitute the threefold impulse to action; similarly the agent, the instruments and the action, are the three constituents of action. Just as smoke is latent in fire, the tree in seed, or passion in the mind, or gold in the gold mine, so the triad of the doer, the deed and the instruments form the very essence of action. Therefore, when there arises the egoistic notion, ‘this is the action, and I am its agent’, then the Self stands aloof from all such actions (511-515). Therefore, O talented Arjuna, do I need to tell you more, that the Self is distinct from actions? You know it already. |
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