Verse 18.16

Verse 18.16: “The case being thus, he who, owing to untrained judgment, views the self as the exclusive agent; he, the man of bad judgment, does not view (aright). (377)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

There are thus five causes for the action consisting of five-fold cause. Now just see how the soul has found itself in their clutches. The Sun assumes no form; yet he makes discernible the eyes and forms. In that way the soul does not itself perform any action, but he reveals them all. Although not himself either the reflection or the mirror, one looking into a mirror, Oh Warrior, makes them discernible: or the Sun without himself experiencing either the day or the night, creates them, Oh Son of Pandu; in that way the soul, without being himself the doer (of actions) and actions, makes them discernible. But getting infatuated with the conceit viz. I am the body-form, his intellect gets entangled in the body itself, with the result that he remains in total darkness (like that of the midnight) in regard to the knowledge of the Self. One whose conception of sentience, God, and Supreme Brahman, does not extend beyond the idea that they are entities invested with a body, considers it as established and firm truth that the soul is the doer of actions.

He has really no (firm) conviction that the soul alone is the doer; he rather thinks, “I am myself the body—the doer of actions.”

He is never prepared even to hear with his ears the language viz. “I am that soul which is above (transcends) actions and a neutral on-looker in regard to all actions”.

Therefore, there is nothing strange in it that he should equate his infinite self (soul) with his (finite) body. Does not the owl convert the broad day into a dark night? Why should a person who has never seen the real Sun, not call his (Sun’s) reflection in the pond as the real Sun? He is bound to hold the belief that 1) the Sun exists because there is the pond, 2) with its (pond’s) disappearance, he (the Sun) will cease to exist, and 3) the vibration (of water) in the pond is responsible for the flickerings of the Sun himself. So long as the one asleep is not awakened, he is bound to feel as real (whatever he sees in) his dream. Is there any wonder that a rope should be mistaken for a serpent, and fear felt for it, so long as there does not dawn the knowledge that it is only a rope.

The Moon is bound to appear yellow, so long as there is the jaundiced eye. It is not surprising that deer should be allured by a mirage. He only leads a fool’s life, who does not permit even the breeze wafting the name (i.e. even a casual reference is detested) either of the Scriptures or of the Preceptor to touch his body. The jackals impute motion to the moon, which (really) belongs to the clouds; in that way he covers and entangles the soul with a net in the form of the body on account of his (wrong) view that the body is the soul. With such a (false) impression, he (soul) gets fettered, Oh Kiriti, in the prison in the form of the body, with the strong bonds of activism. Just see, does not the parrot (in the parrot and tube story) go on holding fast to the tube, in the belief that his feet are tied down to it, and does not free (move away) his feet from it (tube) even though not tied down! Therefore, one attributing to the spotless and clean soul the actions done through Nescience, one abides counting them by crores. Now I shall tell you the signs by which you can recognise one who remains quite untouched by actions even while abiding in them in the way the submarine fire, even though in the sea itself, does not get touched by the sea-water, and also abides independently of the actions even though in their midst.

One attains deliverance by always) contemplating the merits of those that have already secured deliverance: just as one discovers a lost article by keeping on searching for it in lamplight; (or) one can see clearly one’s own reflection in a mirror by rubbing it clean with a polishing composition (uṭaṇa [uṭaṇeṃ]); (or) salt becomes water itself forthwith it is put into it; or a reflection turning back to see the disc (its original) automatically becomes itself the original; in all these ways a person can get restored to himself the missing (essence of Supreme Brahman) by beholding the saints; and so he should ever sing their praises and hear their sermons only. The (faculty of) vision abiding in the physical eyes is not intercepted by the outer skin-lids; in that way one, even while immersed in the actions themselves, does not get fettered by them—the signs of such a liberated one, I now preach to you expounding fully coherent reasons.