Verse 18.53

Verse 18.53: “Egotism, (sense of) strength, desire, wrath and possession; relinquishing these, devoid of ‘My’-ness, and at peace (within), he comes to realize his oneness of essence with Brahman. (1050)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

Here, he deals heavy blows to the wicked enemies that cause obstruction in his way, and amongst these egotism for the body-form is the foremost. It does not release the being even after his death nor yet allows the being to live peacefully after he takes (re)–birth, but keeps him fettered in the stocks of bones. The body citadel is the abode of this egotism, and the warrior (seeker) invades this very citadel and reduces it (egotism) to dust. Similarly, he also kills the second enemy, the (sense of) strength. This enemy flies up with fourfold excitment [excitement?] at the very mention of ‘desire’ with the result that a moribund state quickly seizes (pervades) the entire universe.

This desire should be taken as a spot of poisonous deep water, as also the king amongst the demerits: but how could such (enemy) bear a stab with a sword in the form of meditation? He puts on the veil of objects that are dear and pleasant and attacks the body (i.e. puffs a person up). He makes the being, the wayfarer, miss the right way and deludes him into entering the very jaws of the tiger in the form of hell in the jungle of impiety. He (the Warrior) also destroys the enemy ‘pride’ who betrays and kills one who puts faith in his words. Similarly, the enemy ‘desire’, before whom tremble even the ascetics, and from whom is begotten the big evil of wrath; and the more it is fed the more lean (hungry) it gets-that enemy ‘desire’ is also totally destroyed by the warrior, and with the destruction of desire, gets automatically destroyed also the ‘wrath’.

The destruction of desires, brings about without any effort the destruction of wrath, in the way the cutting down of roots also serves the purpose of cutting down the branches. Therefore when the enemy ‘desire’ is stilled the dance (movement) of wrath also comes automatically to a dead stop. A person in high authority seldom fails forcibly to put his own load on the head of another, in that way, the enemy ‘possession’ (parigraha) once accepted goes on increasing its tyranny; it rides over the head, (i.e. corrupts the mind) and makes vices stick to the being, and makes him hold in his hand the stick of attachment. It sets up a stage and makes a show of disciples and Scriptures, of a hermitage and Yogic postures, and entangles the ascetics in its snares.

Although one tries to shake it off by abandoning the responsibilities of a householder (and leading the life of a hermit) it still pursues one in the forest in a sylvan garb, and does not leave free even a nude one. Such an unconquerable enemy, “possession” has its very bottom knocked out by the warrior (the perfected seeker), who then abides in the enjoyment of the bliss resulting from victory over the worldly affairs. The groups of qualities like non-arrogance and others, that constitute knowledge come and stand (paying homage), groups that are like princes ruling over the countries of salvation and offering him tribute in the form of mastery over true knowledge, they rank themselves as his dependents. Then as he (the warrior seeker) proceeds along the royal road of activism, young ladies in the form of wakefulness, dream and slumber wave around him salt and mustard seeds (maṭhi-moharī) in the form of the pleasure.

(As he proceeds along), the (herald) discrimination, holding (in hand) the bar (mace) in the form of the knowledge of Supreme Brahman marches ahead clearing the crowd (standing in the way) in the form of the material world manifestations, while the Yogic stages come forward with five small (lit) lamps placed on a plate (pacāratī), to felicitate him (as it were). The groups of occult powers^[1] (ṛddhisiddhi) come there to witness the procession and the warrior gets a bath of the flowers showered on him by them. With the approach of Self-government (svarājya) in the form of union with Supreme Brahman all the three worlds appear to him to be completely bedecked with bliss.

With the evenness of the mind (attained by him) there remains, Oh Dhananjaya, nothing which he could call as ‘my enemy or my friend’. Were he on some (rare) occasion to call another person as his own, the latter cannot take a dual stand before him, since he (the latter) has already become all one (with the seeker), with no duality whatever. He embraces (views) the entire world as one single entity, Oh Son of Pandu, with the result that no limitation like attachment ever finds place in him since he has (already) discarded it altogether. Thus the warrior having conquered the entire class of enemies and reduced to mere non-entity the entire universe, the horse in the form of Yoga study (he was riding), gets steady and cool. He then loosens a bit the tight and close fitting heavy (steel) armour of asceticism he had donned. He then breaks the sword of meditation, (there having remained no further use of it), and slackens the hands of his activism, there remaining nothing else but the ‘self.’

A chemical medical preparation of mercury fully serves its purpose and afterwards becomes itself non-existent; such becomes the state here. As a man sights his destination, his running feet automatically get slack; in that way, the pressure of study also slackens as Supreme Brahman comes within his ken. The seeker gradually lays down the weapons in the form of different modes and means, once he attains the realization of Supreme Brahman, in the way the holy Ganges slackens its velocity as it merges into the sea or as a wife (beloved) is in a tranquil mood when she contacts her husband (lover) or the further growth of the plantain tree stops as the tree bears fruit or the road ends as it reaches the town. Consequent on the occasion of the union with Supreme Brahman the means of attaining it recede Oh Dhananjaya.

The stage viz. the perfect peace of mind (constituted by) the setting up of the completeness of the state of asceticism, the end of the study of knowledge and the ripening of the fruit of Yoga-study—that state of perfect peace of mind gets completely established in him (the perfected seeker) and when this takes place he becomes fully qualified to be Supreme Brahman himself. The same degree of difference (deficiency) as exists between i) the Moon’s phase on the full moon night and that on the previous night, or ii) between 16 points fine gold and 15 points fine gold, or iii) between the calmness of the sea-water in general and that of the particular part of it where a river enters into it—(also) exists between Supreme Brahman itself and the perfected seeker qualified to be Supreme Brahman. And it is on account of the quality of the perfect peace of mind that he becomes Supreme Brahman itself in a short time. The Brahmic state that he experiences before being actually Supreme Brahman itself, is called the ‘qualification to be Supreme Brahman itself.’

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Occult powers symbolize Gods and demigods showering flowers from the sky.