Commentary introduction to Chapter 16

Obeisance to the wonderful rising Sun (in the form of) the preceptor, who dispels the illusion of the world-existence and blows open the lotus of monism. He dispels the night of ignorance, and extinguishing the stars in the form of both knowledge and ignorance, shows to the learned, the auspicious day of self-realization. His appearance in the morning gives vision of knowledge of the Self, making the birds in the form of beings leave their nests in the form of conceit for their bodies. The black bee in the form of sentience, shut up in the lotus in the form of human body, is released from imprisonment at the (Sun) rise of the preceptor. The couple of Chakravaka birds (cakravāka—the Brahmany goose) in the form of intellect and knowledge (buddhibodha), getting trapped in the difficult situation in the form of Scriptures involving infatuation of intellect, lament their separation from each other, on either bank of the river in the form of distinction; that couple secures happiness in the form of getting re-united with the rise of the Sun, who illumines the entire sky in the form of sentience, just as the lamp lights a house.

With the dawn (appearance of the Sun), the fearful time of thieves in the form of distinction vanishes and then the wayfarer-Yogin-walks along the path of the realisation of the Supreme Self. With the touch of the Sun’s rays in the form of right discrimination, sparks issue forth from the Suryakanta (sūryakānta—a fabulous stone bright and glittering and sending forth flames when sunbeams strike upon it) in the form of knowledge, and bum the forests of world-affairs. There is a flood of the mirage in the form of occult powers when the cluster of his (Sun’s) rays gets hardened (becomes fierce) and steadies itself on the sandy plain in the form of the Self; but when the (Sun) gets to the top of the Knowledge of the Self and sparkles at the meridian in the form of Brahmic state, the shadow of the soul in the form of illusion hides itself (i.e. becomes non-existent) under his own feet (rays).

Where could then the dream of the universe, as also the slumber of the adverse knowledge get any shelter, when there exists no longer the night of illusion, with the result that dealing in the form of experience of happiness becomes dull, the town of the realization of monism being fully packed up with Supreme Bliss. In short, with the light of the Sun (preceptor) is secured the perpetual benefit of the auspicious day of complete liberation. The moment he, the king of the Sky, in the form of the abode of the Self, rises all trace, not only of the rising and of the setting, but even of all directions such as the East and others, vanishes. He dispels both the knowledge as also the ignorance, and displays the spirit of the Self, which had remained hidden under them, and in this way, creates a unique dawn; what to say more? Who is able enough to see such a Sun of knowledge, far beyond the region of day and night—the Sun who is a globe of illumination without being a thing that could be illuminated? To such a Sun of knowledge of the Supreme (citsūrya)—Shri Nivrittinath—I bow again and again, since words are routed (prove too feeble), when one attempts to praise him through their medium.

Were the object of the praise as also the intellect (of the composer of praise), to identify themselves with each other, realizing in the heart the glory of the preceptor, then only the praise would attain excellence. He can be known only with the wiping off of name and form, and can be praised while in the embrace of silence, and can be attained by the experience of forgetting one’s egoism (in the Self). -While singing your praise adequately, the ‘Para’ and ‘Vaikhari’ enter into the womb of ‘Pashyanti’ and ‘Madhyama’ and get extinguished there. Such a one you are and I, as your devoted servant, shall make you wear ornaments in the form of praise sung by me, which (you) Oh preceptor, do please accept even though doing such a thing will amount to bringing ridicule to the bliss of non-duality (preceptor). An humble person, seeing the ocean of nectar, gets confounded and forgetting the proper form of reception runs about to extend a welcome to it by offering vegetable dishes! But on an occasion like this, the vegetable offerings should be considered greatly befitting, taking into account the fervent joy the person feels in offering it.

In that way you should light up your own splendour and view the stickwick (kāḍavāta) in the form of my devotion. Who could call it a small child, were it to realize what is desirable (and what is not so) for it; yet, in truth, its mother feels gratified at it (inspite of its ignorance). Oh, the dirty water of a village site flows and treads over (runs into) the holy Ganges: does the Ganges ever tell it to go back? Oh, what a grave offence did sage Bhrigu commit in giving a kick (to Lord Vishnu)! Yet, did not God Vishnu (śāraṅgadhara [śārṅgadhara?]) take it as an affectionate treatment and receive it with satisfaction considering it a mark of honour? Does the Sun ever ask contemptuously the sky—which is overcast with darkness and which confronts him—to move away? In that way, you should put up (with my action) were I, once in a way, to weigh you in the (pair of) scales in the form a pun (śleṣa) in regard to the Sun, hung on the beam in the form of duality. The Yogins discerned you through their concentrated meditation of you, and the Vedas praised you in words (spoken); and you have put up with all this! In the same way put up also with me. I have taken to singing fondly your praise; and (you) do not count it as an offence on my part.

Whatever you might do, I would not rise up (from here) halffed (i.e. I would sing your praises to my satisfaction). By my good luck, my strength is increased two-fold, just as I began singing, with great liking, the praise of your gift of nectar in the form of Gita-teaching. I have secured this fruit in the form of a great island named Gita, as the result of austerities I observed for ages, of speaking only the truth. The inordinate merit, I have been able to secure so far, has this day, discharged its obligations to me, by making me sing your praise. I was fettered in the town of Death, having entered into the forest of living beings. I am now discharged from that predicament. I have now been enabled to sing your fame, which is well-known by the name of Gita teaching and which possesses the power of vanquishing the sturdy and rude Ignorance.

When the Goddess of Riches—the Great Lakshmi—visits the house of a poor man how could such a one be called poverty-stricken? or were the Sun to visit the house of darkness, could not that very darkness give light to the world? The entire world could not compare even as a small atom, placed side by side with the glory of God; yet what form would He (God) not assume for the sake of his devotee, once He finds Himself in the flood of His devotion. In that way, my preaching the Gita, is like smelling the sky-flower; yet your strength has gratified this ambition on my part. Therefore Jnaneshwar said, ‘I’ shall, through your grace, preach in an easy and clear way, the Gita verses whose sense is so profound (unfathomable).

In Chapter XV Lord Krishna preached the established truths (theorems—siddhānta) contained in different Scriptures. He (Lord Krishna) discoursed in figurative language, on the entire universe full of attributes by resorting to the metaphor of a tree naming its soul as ‘Purusha’—the unperturbed Akshara (Immutable), in the way a good doctor diagnoses a chronic disease (of a patient). He also preached how the attributes permeated the sentience (by making it take a form), and then giving it the name ‘Highest Person’ (Purushottam [Purushottama]), he explained the clear essence of his own Self. Next, he explained in a clear way how knowledge is the strong internal means for securing the Self. There is thus left nothing (new) to be preached in this Chapter. (There have only remained) the cordial relation between the preceptor and the disciple. The learned and the wise have thus fully understood the subject; yet there are other seekers, who have got doubts lingering in their minds.

In the previous Chapter the Lord of the three worlds said, “He is all-knowing, and he alone has reached the acme of (my) devotion who has through knowledge attained me—the ‘Highest Person’, and has described in different ways the importance of knowledge. God said that there was no other (more) effective remedy than knowledge—in fact the very king amongst all the remedies—that could bring about results such as the dissolution of all worries arising out of wordly affairs, the union of the seer and the object of seeing as also securing mastery over the empire of Supreme Bliss. Those that were eager to secure knowledge, waved their very lives around it (knowledge) with great regard and with minds all pleased. The more the mind feels a liking for a subject, the more that subject enters into the mind, this is what is called ‘love’ (prema). Therefore, such of those as are eager, but have not experienced any such love of knowledge, naturally felt anxious as to how to secure it and having secured it, how to retain the same (knowledge). It must, therefore, first be considered how right knowledge could be secured and how it could be increased once it is secured: or why knowledge could not be secured or whether there is any strong anti-knowledge agency or force that would lead astray, (into wrong channels) knowledge which is already secured.

These (forces) which stand blocking the way—these that are obstructions to knowledge must be cleared off; then we should take zealously into consideration, such (forces) as are conducive to the increase of it (knowledge). Oh for you all, who cherish in your hearts the desire to have knowledge, the Lord of Lakshmi will now hold a discourse in order to fulfill your desire. He will sing the glory of the ‘Divine Estate’ that gives birth to knowledge and also increases the peace of mind. He will also describe the terrible aspect of the ‘Demoniac Estate’ that lends support to the disorders such as wrath and hatred, with the help of knowledge of sense-objects. It has, by way of an introduction to the subject, been mentioned in Chapter IX before, that both these (Divine and Demoniac) Estates that assume airs and affectations, lead naturally to the performance of good and evil acts respectively. It was proposed to deal with these directly there; but other subjects intervened and (this topic was crowded out and) so God is preaching that subject now.

This Chapter XVI should, therefore, be taken as a continuation of the former portion. Suffice this for the present. Both these Estates alone are capable of being conducive to and destructive of knowledge respectively. Hear now first about the ‘Divine Estate’, which leads the seekers to the path of salvation and like (the flame of) a holy lamp sheds light on the darkness of the night of infatuation. To bring together into one place, diverse matters mutually supporting one another, is what is popularly called an ‘Estate’. Because it produces divine happiness and since in it alone are concentrated (all) Godly virtues, it is (called) ‘Divine Estate’.