Verse 18.55

Verse 18.55: “Through (that) Devotion he perceives in reality the (infinite) magnitude and essential nature of My being; and so, knowing Me in My real essence, he subsequently enters therein. (1130)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

You have by now heard, that the devotee who gets absorbed in me through knowledge cum devotion, is only myself. In Chapter vii I have declared with outstretched aims, Oh Kapidhvaja [Kapidhvaja] that the knowee is my very soul. This knowledge cum devotion being the best, I preached it to God Brahmadev [Brahmadeva] in the form of Bhagavata [Bhagavata] Scripture, at the beginning of this universe. Men of knowledge (Sankhyas) call it “recognition of the self” (svasaṃvitti) while the devotees of God Shiva call it “the power” (śakti), and we call it ‘the Supreme Devotion of the Self’.

The followers of the path of action (karmayogī) secure this Devotion as the fruit of their labours at the time they get united with Me; and then (to them) the entire universe appears as fully pervaded by my spirit. Then are sunk asceticism along with discrimination, the fetters along with salvation, and activism along with renunciation (or the consciousness of unity with the Self with its counterpart). There remains nothing on the other bank (side), all having been amassed on this bank, in the way the sky alone remains behind (after the universal deluge) swallowing up all the four elements (viz. earth, water, fire and wind). He becomes one with my real essence which is clean beyond the reach of the means and (their) ends, spotlessly clear and enjoys the bliss of my own self. Note that this enjoyment of the bliss of the ‘self’ is like rushing on the part of the Ganges into the sea and shining in its mingled state with the sea. With two clean mirrors placed facing each other, their reflections get united with each other; in that way when the seeing agent gets one with Me he can eternally enjoy the bliss of the self.

Enough however of this: with the removal of the mirror as also the disappearance of the semblance of the face (reflection), the seeing agent abides by himself happily alone: or with the disappearance of the dream after one gets awake, one in that awakened state experiences his own single state and enjoys that state of singleness all alone without anyone else’s company. (Of the same type is the enjoyment of the bliss of the ‘self’).

To such as might say that once one is identified with a certain object, he cannot enjoy that object, we ask “How can a word be uttered by a word”? Is it, that in the country of such, the Sunshine is seen in the light of a lamp? or does it become necessary to give a supporting (forked) prop to the sky? Can a King enjoy the position of royalty, unless he possesses the attributes necessary for a king? Or can darkness ever hold in embrace the Sun? How could a thing have any conception of the sky unless it be the sky itself? How could one parade an ornament prepared of Gunja (guñja) as one of gems? Therefore one, who never tries to identify oneself with Me, can scarcely have any idea of what I am. In the case of such a one the possibility of his enjoying my devotion must verily be ruled out. Therefore I say that one following the path of activism, (first) becomes one with my essence and then enjoys the bliss of my ‘self’, in the way a young woman enjoys (the exuberance of) her youth.

A wave in its entirety kisses the water, the splendour in its entirety shines in the Sun, or ether in its entirety pervades the cavity and rolls in it: in that way one following the path of activism gets one with my essence and abides there worshipping me passively without any manifest action, in the way a gold ornament does, in regard to gold, or in the way the fragrance ever abides in the sandal wood and without doing anything spreads out, or in the way the Moon-light is invariably associated with the Moon. In that way, although activism finds no place in non-dualistic spiritual Principle, yet there is the devotion that finds a place in it, and this can be realized through personal experience alone, it being inexpressible in mere words. Then whatever he talks under the influence of enlightenment or cultural perfection he has attained in his past lives, amounts to imploring me by tender appeals in devotion and I accept it—the talking agent being in fact my own ‘self’. Ordinary talk is not possible when the talking agent meets none else but himself, and in such a state, the best (way of) singing of my praise is only silence. Therefore, when such a devotee “talks” the talking agent is only myself, and then the silence (on the part of the devotee) comes to fruition and his silence amounts, in principle, to singing my praise. Similarly, O Kiriti, whatever he (the devotee) looks to through his intellect or vision-that looking pushes aside the object of vision and shows the agent only his own ‘self.

The seeing agent sees the same face (when looking) into a mirror as existed before (looking into) the mirror, in that way the looking on the part of the seer makes him view his own ‘self’. With the disappearance in this way of the object of vision what the seeing agent sees is his own ‘self’. Since there thus remains nothing else but the seeing agent, the attribute of seeing has no locus and significance. A woman seeing a lover in a dream and moving forward (also in a dream) to embrace him, should just then get awake and find herself all alone with neither the dream nor the lover, (or) when fire is kindled through the friction of two pieces of firewood, there is an end to all talk of duality (viz two pieces of firewood) fire alone remaining on the spot; (or) if the Sun were to go out to grasp his own reflection (in water), the primary thing (the Sun as “bimba”) would lose its significance; in that way, when one getting united with my ‘self’ goes to embrace the object to be seen, then the (act of) seeing as also the object to be seen both disappear.

As the Sun goes to shed his light on the darkness, there remains no darkness at all on which to shed light; in that way with the seeing agent getting one with my essence, there remains no object to be seen in the object of seeing. Then such a state, in which there is pure existence left, and of which one cannot say that it is the product of seeing or not seeing, is my real vision. This vision, O Kiriti, he (devotee) secures with his meeting any object whatsoever, and then he enjoys for all times this vision which transcends the seeing agent and the object to be seen. He remains ever unshaken, having merged in the essence of my ‘self’, in the way the sky never shakes being fully stuffed as it is by itself. Water being stuffed everywhere at the world dissolution, uniformly remains still as one sheet of water having no scope either for a flow or a current; in that way the self, (of the devotee) being fully stuffed in the Supreme Self, becomes all still.

How could the legs go in advance of oneself, or how could the fire bum itself, or how could water bathe itself? He (devotee) having entirely merged into myself, all his movements such as going out or coming in, come to a standstill, and this state of cessation of all movements is the pilgrimage to my monistic state. However fast a wave might sweep upon water it cannot encroach on land. Its (wave’s) upsurge or subsidence, its locomotion or means of locomotion is nothing but one and the same mass of water. However big (the volume of) the surging tide of water be, its watery condition remains unaffected, with the result that the oneness of the waves with it, Oh Son of Pandu, never gets disturbed. In that way, however widely he might drift away on his own account, it (drifting) being all within myself, he, with all his movements, only proves a pilgrim of mine. And were he to perform any actions following the bent of his bodily disposition, it is only myself that he meets with under the pretence of such actions.

In such a state, all the terms (such as) ‘action’ or ‘doing agent’ get eliminated, Oh Son of Pandu, and he becomes only myself—getting one with my essence. The looking of a mirror into another is no looking at all; or it is not possible to give a (gold) coating to gold; or it is no shedding of light for a lamp to shed light on another lamp; in that way, it is no doing (of action) at all, when the devotee looks upon it (action) as identical with Me. When the phraseology “it should be done” disappears while an action is being actually performed, the doing of that very act amounts to ‘not doing it at all’. The aggregate of actions having merged in me, ‘doing nothing’ is the designation of my esoteric worship. Therefore, Oh ‘Kapidhvaja’ (an epithet of Arjuna) ‘doing nothing’ is also brought about through activism and he (the devotee) worships Me following this (model of) great worship.

In short, whatever he talks is (singing) my own praise; whatever he looks at, is my own vision, or wherever he goes to, is my own movement, I who transcend dualism; whatever he does is all my own worship, whatever he contemplates upon, is repeating in a muttering tone (japa) my own name, and his abiding in peace is enrapt concentration of meditation of my own self (samādhi). A (gold) bracelet is invariably associated with gold; in that way, he through his devotion, is inextricably linked with me. My devotee remains united with me in the way the waves inhere in water, or the fragrance does in camphor, or the brilliance in the gems, or a piece of cloth in the threads, or an earthen pot in the clay.

With such exclusive devotion, he views me the all seer in all objects as his own. He dances (in a state of ecstacy) setting himself up as a great personage (dheṇḍā) on account of his self experience and the realization that I, the all-seer, am all that visible universe that abides in its existing or non-existing state on account of the attribute viz. the field and the one with such attribute viz. the field knower (and) consequent on the three states (viz. awakened state, dream and slumber). After actually seeing the rope one becomes definite that the semblance of serpent is really a rope; or one comes to realize after melting an ornament that not even a particle of that ornament was different from gold; or no one takes up a ripple (in that form) knowing fully well that it is nothing but water, or one taking an account, in his awakened state, of the feelings that he experienced in the dream, sees nothing but himself; in that way, he (the devotee) abides in the experience that all that is felt as the object to be seen either in a manifested or unmanifested form, is nothing else but my own ‘self.’

He knows (about himself) “I am immune from birth and death: I am eternal and immutable; I am the unique and Supreme (boundless) Bliss: I am immovable and not liable to drop down (acyuta); I am endless and beyond duality (advaita); I am the first person and unmanifested as also the manifested; I am sovereign Lord: I am beginningless and unwasting: I am fearless: I am the support as also the object of support: I am the eternal seed innate and perpetual: I am am immanent in all (mobile and immobile) and transcend all; I am new as also ancient: I am void: I am complete: I am neither bulky nor minute (atom-like): I am actionless and non-dual: I am associationless as also griefless: I am that Purushottama who is pervadable as also all-pervading: I am beyond speech (sound) and hearing: I am formless as also Gotra-less (agotra—without dynasty). I am even, self-dependent and Supreme Brahman.

In this way, he knows me as unique truly through his reflexive devotion as part and parcel of his own self and also knows that he is that knowledge (viz.)—the realization of the self. There remains only the state of his singleness, once one gets awake and the semblance (of what he saw) in the dream disappears; and this he knows by himself alone: or when the Sun rises, he (thereby) is also himself and thus proclaims that the displayed and the displayer are not different. In that way with the disappearance of the objects of knowledge, there remains only the knowing agent, and one that knows this is also himself (alone). He further realizes that the power—knowledge that knows the state of monism is also myself.

Then he comes to know that the self, which is above monism and duality, is undoubtedly my self: and when he actually gets experience of this, he enters into me, the realization (on his part) that ‘I am he’ getting dissolved in the tranquil state arising out of his experiencing the bliss of the self in the way one cannot say what state he might actually be in, when the realization of the fact of his remaining all above by himself after getting awake (from sleep) vanishes, or in the way it is immaterial if an ornament (of gold) is melted or remains unmelted, once the state of gold in it is perceived with the eyes, or when salt is dissolved in water the salt taste adheres to water, but water having evaporated there is no longer any liquid having that taste. And then the term ‘he’ ceases to exist and there also remains no scope for the term ‘I’ and in this way the notions such as ‘he’ and ‘I’ cease to exist and then he merges into my existence. When camphor is getting burnt it is called fire, but when both the camphor and fire disappear there only remains behind the eternal sky: or just as deducting one from one, the remainder is zero; in that way, what remains behind after making proper adjustment (such as plus or minus) of ‘is’ and ‘is not’ or ‘being’ and ‘not being’, the remainder is myself.

In such state, the terms ‘Brahman’—‘soul’ or ‘God’ strike a discordant note in the harmony of the self; nay, even refraining from speech i.e. silence (about Self) has no scope there. (The position therefore that arises is somewhat as under): Its negation (silence) should be described with full verbosity (toṇḍabhara[?]) without uttering the word ‘no’ or it (Brahman) is to be cognised after setting aside the two correlated notions of knowing and not ‘knowing’. Here the realization should satisfy realization, the bliss should be enjoyed through bliss, happiness should enjoy happiness. (Further) in this state benefit secures benefit, lustre embraces lustre, surprise is fully drowned in surprise, the peace of mind secures peacefulness, the rest secures rest and (self) experience goes mad owing to the state of experience.

In short that person secures the fruit of the pure and spotless ‘I’ ness (aham brahma) owing to the growth of the beautiful creeper plant in the form of ‘Karmayoga’ (even-tempered activism) and 1 become, Oh Kiriti, the gem in the form of sentience, in the diadem on the brow of the king of ‘Karmayoga’ and reciprocally, he also becomes my crown jewel: or liberation is the pinnacle (śikhara) of the temple in the form of ‘Karmayoga’ and the expanse of the sky over this pinnacle of the ‘Karmayogin’: or the ‘Karmayoga’ is a fine road in woods of worldly affairs, and the road reaches straight the town in the form of union with me; or he reaches with great speed the ocean in the form of the bliss of the Self by moving along the Ganges in the form of knowledge and devotion having joined it (the Ganges) through the brook of ‘Karmayoga.’

Such is the greatness of the path of even-tempered activism, Oh you clad in excellent armour, and it is for this that I preach it to you over and over again. I am not such a one as one could secure through means such as suitable time, place and appurtenances, but I already exist in all in my entirety. Therefore it is not necessary to undergo any hardships in order to secure me. me. ‘I’ can truly be secured through these means (viz. through even -tempered activism).

The tradition of the institution of a preceptor and a disciple has sprung up only for knowing the way to secure me. There exists ready, Oh Kiriti, i) hidden treasures in the womb of earth, ii) fire (in latent form) in firewood, and iii) milk in the udder of the cow; yet one that makes efforts secures them: in that way, although I am existent, I am (to be) secured through efforts. Were one to ask why God is (at this stage) referring to the means after having so far discoursed on the fruit, the answer is as follows: The main function of the Gita teachings is to expound in all its bearings the means of attaining liberation; the means mentioned in other scriptures are not necessarily authoritative. The wind disperses the clouds (and makes the Sun visible); yet it cannot create the sun: the hand can put aside the moss (from the water-surface), yet it cannot create water. In that way other Scriptures only remove the dirt of ignorance that places obstacles in the way of attaining the ‘self’. Therefore all these Scriptures are only ‘tubs’ (pātra [pātreṃ]) for washing out (destroying) the dirt of ignorance. Beyond this they have no authority independently to grant the realization of the ‘self.’

When these Scriptures are asked to prove their veracity, the place where they go to (for reference) is this ‘Gita’. When the Sun adorns the East, all the other directions also get brightened; in that way the Gita Scripture, that is sovereign among other Scriptures, has provided them with a patron (sanātha). In its previous parts (of this Gita) this leader of the Scriptures has described in detail different means through which the Self (Soul) could be secured. But Shri Hari, holding with a feeling of compassion that Arjuna could hardly grasp the subject matter at the first hearing, is going to discourse on it over again, (yet) in brief, to have it impressed indelibly on the (mind of the) disciple. And now that the concluding stage of the Gita has simultaneously been reached, he is stressing the unity of purpose (underlying the doctrine) which is found at the beginning as well as at the end (of Gita).

Diverse extraneous problems, the discussion of which was relevant to the occasion, cropped up in the interval, between the beginning and the end and authoritative conclusions were drawn and made clear in regard to them. Some might take it, without a proper grasp of the various references (ante and post), that all those conclusions form the main principles and proper subject matter of the Scripture; but those are only minor and subsidiary theories and conclusions coming in as ‘fill ups’ to make complete the principal ones, and with their help the beginning and the end (of the Gita) are made to harmonise with each other. Here the destruction of ignorance is the main topic, while the securing of liberation is the fruit, knowledge being the means of attaining the two, and this sole subject has been discoursed in various ways in this big work and is being repeated but in a couple of words only (very briefly). With this end in view the Lord got prepared to discourse on the means (to attain the fruit), even though the fruit has actually been secured.