Verse 13.12

Verse 13.12: “That which constitutes the Object of Knowledge I shall (now) expound: that by knowing which one attains the ‘immortal.’ (It is) that which is other than the things with a beginning, the Highest Brahman which is said to be neither the existent nor the non-existent: (865)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

Supreme Spirit is called the object of knowledge, simply because it is not securable except through knowledge, and once this knowledge is secured, there remains nothing for one to do, since with the attainment of knowledge one gets absorbed into it (the object of knowledge). The seeker, once he secures this knowledge, is enabled to keep the mundane existence (bundled up) on the bank of the sea of eternal bliss and with a dive, is merged into it. That object of knowledge is such that it has no beginning, and is by itself called ‘Supreme Spirit’. If it is said that it is non-existent, then it actually appears to the vision in the form of the universe, whereas if one calls it the universe itself, the universe is all illusion. It has neither form, nor colour nor manifest existence. It can neither be an object of perception, or the perceiver, or the act of perception; who can then say and how, that it does exist? And if really it is non-existent, whence and how arose this formation of the (manifest) primeval principle and its derivatives (mahadādi) and what (else) really exists besides it? Therefore all talk of ‘existent’ or mon-existent’ is silenced with the attainment (vision) of knowledge (of object of knowledge) and there the power of thinking comes to a dead halt (at the end of a blind lane). Just as the element of earth abides in the respective forms of pots or earthen jars etc. so abides eternally the Supreme Spirit in all things and is Omnipresent.