Verse 18.49

Verse 18.49: “With the mind everywhere unattached, with the Self conquered, and devoid of every craving: he achieves the highest Perfection of Actionlessness through Renunciation. (956)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

He is not entangled in the snare spread out (exhibited) by mundane existence—the snare in the form of his body and the visible world in the way the wind is not entangled (in any net). As a fruit gets ripened it cannot remain attached to the stem, nor can the stem itself retain it attached to itself. In that way, the attachment for the worldly affairs on the part of such (a perfected one) gets relaxed and feeble (in his perfected state). He does not call “as his own” his son, wealth, and wife, although they are under his domination, in the way one never says that it is his own cup of poison and he would swallow it (poison).

In short, the intellect feels a disgust for and recedes (recoils) from all the sense-objects as if they had scorched it (the intellect), and goes and enters into the solitude of the heart. Then even though the mind (of such a one) might be moving about and coming in contact with worldly objects, it does not even transgress the limits (set by one) like a faithful maid-servant who, out of feeling of awe, never disobeys her master’s orders. He then holds the mind in the grip of unity and compels it to fix its gaze on the Self, Oh Kiriti. Then automatically die out all desires for (the enjoyment of) sense-objects either in this or in the other world, like the smoke when the fire is covered over and pressed down.

The mind being thus restrained, the desires disappear of their own accord. In short the seeker attains the state of such signs, the semblance of knowledge arising out of Maya (delusion) vanishes completely and the being secures a place in the real knowledge, Oh Son of Pandu. (The fruit of) his actions in the past lives is all spent up being enjoyed by the body-form, in the way the stored water supply gets exhausted by its (gradual) use, while the mind helps in no way in doing fresh actions (that could replenish the store of spent-up actions). It is through righteous actions, Oh Great Warrior, that the state of perfect equanimity is attained (sāmyadaśā) and in such a state, the being, without any effort on his part, gets a vision of (meets) the worthy preceptor.

The eyes get the vision of the Sun—the enemy of the darkness—with the expiry of four Prahars [Praharas] (duration of three hours each) of the night; or the growth of a plantain tree comes to an end, with the tree bearing a bunch of fruit; and similar result ensues in the seeker getting the vision of the preceptor. The seeker becomes fully perfected by the grace of the preceptor, Oh Warrior, in the way there remains nothing wanting in the Moon, viz. she gets into the full phases of her splendour, when she embraces the Full Moon-Light (paurṇimā). Nescience in its subtle form that still lingers in him, is all removed through the kind favour of the preceptor. Then, just as the darkness should all disappear along with the night, in that way the triad-action, the doing agent, and the instrument of action lying in the womb of ignorance, is killed just as a pregnant female should be slaughtered.

With the destruction of ignorance the aggregate of actions also perishes automatically, and thus renunciation reaches up to the very roots. With the total elimination of ignorance from its very root through knowledge, also gets wiped out the very idea of mundane manifestation, and then what remains is the seeker himself as the object (worthy) of knowledge. Does a person ever try to rescue himself from a deep spot (in a river or a lake etc.) where he finds himself in a dream, after he gets awake? In that way, the dream ‘I am ignorant and shall secure knowledge’ ends and one himself becomes all-pervading knowledge, getting free from the notions such as the knowing agent or the object of knowledge. When a mirror reflecting one’s face is removed far away, there remains behind, Oh Warrior, only the seer getting stripped off the act of looking (into the mirror). In that way, with the elimination of ignorance, the knowledge (the act of knowing) also gets eliminated simultaneously, and then there remains behind, only the actionless sentience.

The sentience being by nature actionless is, Oh Dhananjaya, called actionlessness. The original form (of the Self) gets restored, and the appearance of distinction born of ignorance gets eliminated, in the way the waves get extinguished into and become the sea itself with the stopping of the blowing of the wind. In that way, what emerges as the state “Not to be,” i.e. ceasing to be distinct, is what is called ‘Perfection of Actionlessness’ and it is the highest of all Perfections. To reach this state after the elimination of both the ignorance as also the knowledge is, what the top is to the edifice of a temple, or what the entrance into the sea is to the holy Ganges, or what the 16 points fineness is to pure gold. There remains nothing to emerge beyond, when this state is attained, and therefore it is called the Highest of Perfections.