Verse 12.5

Verse 12.5: “Theirs (however) is the greatest toil, since their thoughts are fixed upon the Unmanifest; for, passage into the Unmanifest is with difficulty attainable by those who are (trammelled) with this body. (60)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

There are (those) that wish to attain, without resorting to devotion, the (supportless and nonmanifest) essence which does good to all the living beings. But the office of God Indra delivers attacks on them (i.e. tempts them in order to cause their downfall), so also come in their way Riddhi and Siddhi (Goddesses of success and prosperity). The passions and anger cause them nuisance and they have got to fight them out, relying on the power of the great void, the Supreme Brahman. The thirst is required to be quenched with thirst only, and the hunger to be satisfied with hunger, and the wind has to be kept stirring up (blowing) with both the hands. They have to sleep in the Sun during day-time and to enjoy the happiness of the restraint of the senses and to form friendship with trees.

They have to wear the cold and the heat (Sun) as garments, (i.e. expose their limbs to cold and heat) and live in a continuous drizzle of rain. In short, Oh Son of Pandu, this is somewhat like entering into a pyre (in the manner of a sati) by a woman without having a husband. Oh, in this path of Yoga (there is) nothing like serving the cause of the master, or any plea of observing the family rites and customs, but it involves a continuous struggle with death. Why should one take such boiling poison which is even more subtle than death itself? Would not the mouth get tom were one to try to swallow a hill? Therefore, those that follow this path of Yoga, have got to share the hardest lot of misery.

Just you consider, were one, with mouth hollow without teeth, compelled to swallow a (grains of) gram of iron would that satisfy his hunger or put him to death? Is it possible for one to swim across the sea (solely) on the strength of his own arms? Is it ever possible to walk in the sky? Once one leaps into the arena of the battlefield, is it possible for him to ascend the steps of the Sun-region without receiving a single stick-blow (on his person)? Therefore, O Son of Pandu, just as it is impudent for a cripple to contest with the wind, similarly it is sheer fool-hardiness for an embodied being to worship the unmanifest. But those who venture and get themselves prepared to struggle with the great void (Supreme Brahman) have necessarily to suffer extreme misery. On the other hand, the other Yogins that have taken to the path of devotion are never called upon to experience such misery.