Gyaneshwari -Sant Gyaneshwar
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Chapter-18
Release
If a person dreams that he was drowning in deep waters in a river, will he make an effort after waking up, to save himself from drowning? In the same way, when the bad dream that ‘I am ignorant, now I have attained knowledge’, comes to an end, his notions of the knowing agent and the object of knowledge cease and he himself becomes all-pervasive knowledge (971-975). When the mirror is set aside, the reflection as well as the act of seeing in the mirror stop and the seer then remains alone. So when ignorance ceases, that act of knowing also ceases and only the inactive Self remains behind. O Arjuna, as the Self by nature is not active, this state is called actionlessness (naishkarmya). Until now, we thought ourselves to be different from our essential nature. But when the breeze stops, the waves in the ocean also get dissolved in the sea; so this state of cessation of activity, is known as the perfect state of actionlessness and it is the highest of all perfection (976-980). Just as the temple reaches its final stage, with the construction of the dome, or the flow of the Ganges stops when it joins the sea, or the gold is purified after it becomes twenty-four carat gold, so with the cessation of ignorance, knowledge also ceases and the stage is reached when all activity comes to an end. When this state is attained, nothing remains to be achieved and so it is called the highest perfection. But this state of self-realization, is attained by a lucky one, only through the grace of his teacher. |
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