The Genius of Dnyaneshwar Dnyaneshwari Verses 1–122 Geeta Chapter 11
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Chapter 74
From the unusual to the cosmic
It is true that the earth draws its sustenance1 from the sun and the sun our source of light constitutes the most important subconscious2 thought of our lives. The sun is power itself, the brightest thing that we see (or sometimes unbearably bright for us to see). The way it rises and sets, the colours that it brings to the sky, or on the other hand the merciless nature with which it beats on you at midday in the tropics, all this make up our permanent mental environment. The very fact that we see, we owe it to the sun. Be that as it may and having paid our odes3 to the seasons, which owe their passage to the movement of the earth around the sun, man has always had greater fascination for the night sky. The moon appears friendlier; it varies in size and shape and what to say of the twinkling stars and the dome-like tapestry4 that they weave over our heads! The rapid occasional journey of the meteor5 or the clouds that pass across an otherwise clear night sky playing hide and seek with the moon are the stuff not only of children’s stories but also of adult fascination. The sun is a navigational aid but as compared to the stars at night it is far less helpful. Man has somehow identified the night sky with the cosmos6 because there are so many things packed in it and also because during the day the sun dominates the sky too brutally for him to see anything else. In this chapter in the Geeta, Arjun wants to see it all. He has seen the unusual and the exceptional manifestations in the earlier chapter (Chapter 73, Vibhootis) and what he now wishes for is an all-encompassing view, a view that Copernicus, Polish scientist (1473–1543), and Galileo, Italian scientist (1564–1642), and Newton, British physicist, (1642–1727) saw and interpreted and which recently Carl Sagan, American physicist (1934–1996) so beautifully paraphrased7 and produced in a book called Cosmos. In this book Sagan skilfully weaves the history of human thought with that of the discovery of the details of the cosmos. Men of all kinds feature
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in this book. This chapter in the Geeta will give full expression to man as an inquisitive creature and it is not just about the exceptional but also about the all and sundry. The stress, however, will be on the sky and above all the element of time. That ever-encompassing, all-devouring concept of time, which spares nothing. In fact this chapter is about space and time and things we imagine that occur in them, live in them and also pass into oblivion8 in those two entities, space and time. But the readers will have to be patient before they read about and see the cosmic show because Shrikrishna will first need to be persuaded to unveil the show. Dnyaneshwar too adds an introduction. The verses in the Dnyaneshwari, which occur at the beginning of the eleventh chapter, are 122 in number and are presented here in a condensed form. Dnyaneshwar introduces by stating that though marvel9 and wonder constitute the principal ingredient of the cosmic show in this chapter, bliss10, the sentiment that Dnyaneshwar himself has described will constantly remain in the background. In fact all sentiments will be present in some degree. To begin with Dnyaneshwar evokes the image of a marriage party. (For sentiments in language please see Chapter 72.) The sentiment of utter bliss will With a sense of marvel mix And Arjun is all set to see This splendid show cosmic ‌1386 Bliss and marvel Are the groom and bride The others will form the party The groom and bride Will get the presents And so will the marriage party ‌1387 Dnyaneshwar says the marriage party will be carried in a palanquin11 called the Marathi language (not Sanskrit). Together with the groom and bride Sitting side by side All the sentiments will also ride Sitting on either side ‌1388
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Dnyaneshwar then refers to Vishnu, the God of whom Shrikrishna is an incarnation12 and who has narrated the Geeta. However, he does not forget Shankar a somewhat older God in the Indian pantheon13 who has done supra-human things according to tradition and about whom people have a sense of wonder. If Vishnu is bliss And Shankar the marvel king Together they will arrive And lovingly they will cling …1389 Dnyaneshwar then evokes the sun and the moon, the latter traditionally soft and soothing and a source of bliss. This chapter, says Dnyaneshwar, is like When the moon has waned fully On the darkest of the nights The sun and moon will thus have met That then is this wondrous sight …1390 Notice the observation that the sun and the moon are together on a dark night. Dnyaneshwar continues to evoke darkness and light. River Yamuna, a tributary of the river Ganga is traditionally described as dark and their confluence is a very important site and a place of pilgrimage in India. When Yamuna meets the Ganga One is black the other is white The place of holy rites14 A pilgrim’s delight This chapter is that lovely sight …1391 That in this chapter, knowledge will be somewhat hidden but will be on flow is indicated by invoking the river Saraswati (now extinct, see Chapter 17) When Yamuna and Ganga unite Saraswati is hidden from sight In the mix of bliss, and marvellous might Geeta will be the hidden light …1392 Geeta then is the hidden Saraswati in the flow of language describing the cosmic show. Invoking his Guru Nivrutti, Dnyaneshwar says, because of my
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Guru I can understand the Geeta. I am the reason Ever so slight This triple holy site To everyone’s aural15 delight Can be entered with ease Without much of a fight …1393 The river’s rugged banks Have been paved with easy steps To my Guru I give my thanks That’s how I could bathe In this triple holy site …1394 The last verse indicates that the guru has made things easy for a disciple to understand. And now that This cosmic vision Is in sight Time has come for me To push this world aside …1395 The sentiments flow With utter delight And are in form Ears will be adorned And by and by Realization will dawn …1396 Notice the sequence, the beauty of language first, then comes the delight of perception and realization is last. Here is where God does rest This place for sure Arjun will wrest16 But because here in Marathi Geeta is said This place surely The rest* will get …1397 * The importance of the lay tongue for the common man who also needs to
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understand philosophy is underscored in the above verse.
That is why With love I pray To the senior saints I thus say Pay attention to what I say I am your child, make my day …1398 Dnyaneshwar continues to address the senior saints Me the parrot That you taught to talk Your heads will nod As I talk …1399 A child is taught A thing to do When it does this thing When given the cue17 The mother who taught And gave the cue Her heart is lit With delight anew …1400 From me you will hear What you have taught All this for you Is nothing new …1401 This group of verses is Dnyaneshwar’s tradition to pay respect to those of his teachers who have come to listen. He then addresses the assembled saints and particularly his Guru. You planted in me the Saraswati* Please water her with generosity Then fruits will grow on this lovely tree Each fruit will offer a different treat And for the ears offer A sumptuous18 feast …1402 * Saraswati, the goddess of arts and knowledge portrayed here as a tree (please see Chapter 17).
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Dnyaneshwar now turns his attention to what Arjun is thinking and his intense desire to view the cosmic show Arjun fired by a fervent19 desire To see the Lord in cosmic attire20 Though hidden it was This cosmic attire And was in a secret mired21 …1403 He felt shy And did not ask Even Laxmi the wife Had not asked In the Lord’s loving eyes Though she had basked Because to ask for this Was a difficult task …1404 22 Laxmi is Vishnu’s consort The eagle who carried the lord From place to place Across the sky and empty space Even he had not asked For his cosmic face …1405 The eagle is Vishnu’s carrier across space. In the end Dnyaneshwar reverts back to the simile of a mother and a child or more specifically of the cow and the calf and of how a mother can judge what a child will ask. Krishna the cow Arjun the calf The cow is sure What the calf will ask …1406 And then starts a very long string of verses by Arjun pleading with Krishna in a variety of ways so that the Lord (Shrikrishna) will unveil his cosmic form. Arjun admits that the theory and science of Brahma23 and its immanent24 and transcendental25 nature, of which few speak and that too with authority and in the first person, has been divulged to him by Lord Shrikrishna himself. And it is because of this that he is hopeful, even confident that Shrikrishna will reveal to him, his cosmic form. Here go the verses,
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Oh the merciful Lord What is not spoken Or of which Nothing is spoken For my sake You spoke When elements melt The spring of life and nature Comes to be spent That very place Where you rest and spend The final place of rest That state Which from the Vedic26 scriptures27 as well You kept a secret You told me eagerly and in haste ‌1407 To be fair Are we really separate But when I nearly drowned In the river of delusions28 in spate You entered the water And had me saved When the world is nothing but yourself We in our misfortune Imagine in conceit that we are Something ourselves That I am one, called Arjun That thought is fixed in my mental state That these are my enemies And also my cousins Thoughts that on my mind Painfully grate29 And that I may put them to death Then the thing that I will beget Heaven or hell A dream that rent30 My mind When you made me awake I then forsake
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The hallucinatory31 effect Instead of water I was poised to sate32 My thirst from a mirage And its fictitious33 lake ‌1408 A string made of cloth Appeared to me like a snake And to my surprise great As if its venom34 in my body spread And my delusion That I faced death From that delusion You had me saved Like a lion poised To jump on itself By way of its image In a lake Was held back by you And saved In fact so settled I was In my thoughts And my so-called fate That I had in my mind made That even if the seas seven Had joined and been together held And the sky had broken and bent I would not have A single arrow sent At my cousins Even though they were bent For war and the consequent hell ‌1409 But your efforts have not gone waste Because my ignorance Has indeed waned Your eyes like a pair of lotuses Grown in a joyous lake Have come to me and made
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My mind their home How can I not be saved The final fire that engulfs the sea May not by the sea abate What then of water in a mirage Even when it is in a spate But here I am At a banquet35 In your heart Feasting on Brahmic thought What then not Can possibly be got I pray and admit at your feet That I have got whatever I want And completely lost The confusion With which I was wrought36 ‌1410 You with the lotus eyes Through which a million suns shine You showed me From where creatures come And become alive And how with support from you Scriptures dress and thrive When clouds disperse Eyes can see how the sun shines And when algae37 and the lily are dispersed Water comes to be seen When the snakes are rid The sandal tree is freed Or when the ghosts and goblins38 leave Treasures can be reached In that fashion You weeded out Ignorance from my eyes And showed me light But a thing remains Which from my heart I need Who else but You will heed
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This my need How can a child Not ask his mother When it wants to feed Or can a fish be burdened By the favours done by the sea So let me ask for this wish To thee …1411 That, which By your wish Begins and also ends And which you call ‘me’ From where from time to time You spring With two or four limbs To do various things That about which The later scriptures sing Or that which yogis39 enter and see That thing the limitless the vast And for me yet unseen To see I am keen That you occupy everything That scene I wish to see With my eyes …1412 But I don’t know If I deserve this When desire exceeds Man forgets his limits A thirsty man thinks Water is not enough As much as there is in the sea The mother knows What is her child’s capacity and need So judge me And tell me if you will accede What use for the deaf If music even in high note sings
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The Chatak bird which Only on raindrops lives The clouds pour for it But the water is wasted If on the rocks it spills The partridge feeds On moonbeams But for the rest They are wasted it seems But I think I deserve to be redeemed Demons and witches Adversaries and enemies And courtesans40 and dancing girls You blessed and redeemed Let me say And so me as well Make me deserving With your blessings And make my eyes deserving For me to see Your cosmic being ‌1413 And then the Lord relented and started to show his cosmic face And then Shrikrishna the cloud, poured With nothing kept on hold The Lord roared And to Arjun he told Now with your eyes behold Look at my cosmic form manifold Of what the generous Lord was asked He gave a thousandfold ‌1413 What his seat Shesh the cobra With hundred eyes Had not seen From the Vedic scriptures
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Kept unseen And even his consort Laxmi Had not preened41 Was now being seen Arjun indeed had been redeemed Like in a dream Man becomes everything that is seen Lord became a part Of each and everything In that cosmic scene …1414 But even the lord Forgot a little thing Little did he think That Arjun could not see What he was about to see And in haste unreeled Scene after scene …1415
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.
sustenance – a means of support subconscious – that part of the mind which one is unaware of but which influences actions ode – a poem meant to be sung tapestry – a thick fabric with coloured threads woven to form drawings meteor – a small body of matter from outer space which lights up as it enters the atmosphere cosmos – the whole of the universe in a certain order paraphrase – reword, rephrase oblivion – a state of being forgotten marvel – wonder, awe, miracle bliss – perfect joy or happiness palanquin – a covered litter carried on the shoulders incarnation – to appear in flesh pantheon – the deities (idols) of a people rite – a religious or a formal act aural – of the ears wrest – get hold of cue – signal to speak sumptuous – rich, luxurious fervent – passionate or zealous attire – dress mired – trapped in boggy, swampy ground consort – a wife or a husband, especially of royalty
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41.
Brahma – ‘that thing’ from which the world evolved immanent – indwelling, inherent transcendental – not subject to the universe, made of matter Vedic – ancient Indian religious philosophical texts scriptures – sacred writing delusion – false belief grate – have an irritating effect rent – rip, tear, slash, split hallucinatory – mirage-like, like an illusion sate – satisfy fictitious – not true, based on fiction venom – poison banquet – elaborate dinner wrought – beaten into a shape algae – water weeds goblins – mischievous ugly dwarfs in traditional folk stories yogi – a person who harnesses body, mind and soul courtesan – mistress, especially of a wealthy man preen – to admire
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 123–640 Geeta Chapter 11
Chapter 75
God as Cosmos
‘The cosmos1 is all that is or ever was or ever will be.’ ‘The size and the age of the cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding.’ ‘The surface of the earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. From it we have learnt most of what we know. Recently we have waded a little out to sea, enough to dampen our toes or at the most wet our ankles. The water seems inviting. The ocean calls. Some part of our being knows this is from where we came. We long to return. These aspirations are, I think, not irreverent2, although they may trouble whatever Gods might be.’ ‘A galaxy3 is composed of gas and dust and stars, billions upon billions of stars. Every star may be a sun to someone … It may be a proliferation of living things…(But) from afar a galaxy reminds me more of a collection of lovely fond objects, seashells perhaps or corals4, the productions of nature labouring for eons5 in the cosmic ocean.’ ‘Our overwhelming impression, even between the spiral arms (of the m31 galaxy) is of stars streaming by us …some as flimsy as a soap bubble and so large that they could contain ten thousand suns or a trillion earths.’ ‘We have examined our sun, the nearest star in various wavelengths from radio waves to ordinary visible light to X-rays, all of which arise only from its outermost layers …All this incessant roiling6 turbulent activity is in the comparatively cool visible surface. We see only to temperatures of about 6000 degrees. But the hidden interior of the sun where sunlight is being generated is at 40 million degrees.’ ‘(The sun) is not exactly a red hot stone…but rather a great ball of hydrogen and helium gas glowing because of its high temperature, in the same way that a poker7 glows when it is brought to red heat.’ These statements are snatched at random from the book Cosmos by Carl Sagan (American physicist, 1934–1996) (Macdonald, 1981, London and Sydney) because they resemble in some extraordinary way what the Geeta says about the cosmos from Verse 5 to Verse 55, Chapter 11. Even more astonishing is what Dnyaneshwar narrates,
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while commenting on these verses, with what must be exceptional powers of imagination. Arjun, the protagonist8 of our tale (1), first asks to see the cosmos (2), is shown it (3), is unable to see it with his ordinary eyes (4), then is endowed9 with a certain power to see it (5), later is able to see the spectacle(6), is both fascinated and frightened by it ( 7), asks that he be spared this cosmic vision (8), and comes back to earth (9). And Shrikrishna, the narrator of the Geeta, almost admonishingly10 tells him, that he Shrikrishna, the incarnation11, the facilitator who showed Arjun the cosmos is really of no consequence (10), and that the cosmos is everything, God or whatever. Arjun, however, opts not for the cosmos but Shrikrishna’s human form. And Shrikrishna makes a statement to Arjun that to be devoted to his (Shrikrishna’s) human form is at best only a second choice yet faith will realize for him the ultimate cosmic reality. There are about 600 verses in this part of the Dnyaneshwari. Substantive portions of nearly 500 verses have been translated in this chapter. Shrikrishna, as he starts to unravel and show whatever there is in the cosmos first shows a variety of personas Look at them Some wasted Others fat and fed Some are small Others large Some broadly spread A few are thin Others unlimited There are those Uncontrolled Others toe the line And play their role Some are moving Others are still Indifferent some Some moving well Some are sharp and intense Some in their senses Others inebriate12 A few play safe Clear or hidden Stingy or generous
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Some are incensed13 Virtuous or wanton14 Some are fixed, others spirited Some are loud, others are quiet Some at peace with themselves Others full of hope or dismayed15 Some are pure, full of delight Some are steeped16 in pain There are those fast asleep Some are wide awake Some are armed Others unarmed Winsome17 and fearsome Pure and profound Of all possible makes ‌1416 At this stage Shrikrishna draws attention to four types of people that Arjun is supposed to be watching. Productive and destructive, introspective18 and constructive. He (Shrikrishna) then narrates a variety of colours that Arjun is supposed to be watching Look at these colourful sights Uniformly bright Some were yellow Like molten gold Others had a reddish tone Few were ochre19 Deep and bold Some studded with diamonds Others saffron-coloured And abundant Emeralds some were Blue on blue There were some Crystal white For the eyes A sheer delight Some were jet black Others grey And a touch of black in this grey Some were cloudy Dense and dark
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Some were pure Lotus white And others red hot coppery Heated bright …1417 (Dnyaneshwar then takes a small diversion) Some had such Forms and figures That Eros20 himself Would be shy and quiver21 Romance itself Had opened its doors …1418 To come back to physical descriptions, Dnyaneshwar adds Some were fat And full of flesh Some were dry and withered There were those With largish skulls Others with spindly22 spines Enough to fill The heart with fear …1419 But the main thrust of the cosmic show begins with the following verse. Says Shrikrishna of what appears to be the very birth of the cosmos, and on hand is the primal figure When his eyes are opened There are a thousand dawns As his eyebrows knit And are tightly drawn From the steam of his mouth Fires spawn23 This is where Demons rise And all gods are born About this Vedic24 scriptures25 Are not informed
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And time is lost And is forlorn26 …1420 The dawns and the fires are the birth of the universe. But a reminder is given that this birth and what follows cannot be encapsulated in the idea called time. To give some insight into the vastness of what is happening A million blades of grass Under a tree’s expanse Around its hair* Worlds float and dance …1421 * The hair of the primal figure, to indicate its vastness.
And how do these worlds appear? Like in the rays of the sun Atoms dance Stars and planets Jump and prance27 …1422 Shrikrishna then adds Whatever you want You can see Either in me Or around me …1423 But Arjun appears unmoved But Arjun stared And was standing still Wearing desire On his sleeve28 …1424 To which Shrikrishna responds I showed you the cosmos Here I did Lost in your thoughts You are still …1425 Arjun retorts You wiped a mirror And showed the blind
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And for the deaf and mute You have begun to sing Scriptures say And so is given Not for the eyes Is this cosmic vision Arm my mind With truth and reason For me to savour This cosmic vision …1426 To this Shrikrishna admits his error and says Yes it is true That I have erred Love and haste Had me spurred29 The earth must be tended For the seeds to spur …1427 indicating that Arjun has not been primed with knowledge and vision for him to see the cosmos. The courtier (see Chapter 22) who is narrating the whole story to the blind king tells his master how Arjun supercedes each and all as the Lord’s favourite Who is luckier Than Vishnu’s queen Scriptures scratch At what this means Shesh his servant Is loyal and keen All kinds of yogis Make efforts umpteen30 And eagle his carrier Is not on the scene None of them Will be a part of the scene …1428 Yet Shrikrishna the Lord serves Arjun, and how? Shrikrishna has fallen For Arjun the prince Like the lecherous31 falls
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For a harlot’s32 schemes A tutored parrot Will lack such skill And even a pet won’t heed Its owner’s needs With such speed …1429 When Arjun was angry He was spared When he got sulky33 He was cajoled34 …1430 And how does he react to Arjun the prince? That Lord who the yogis35 can see With intense meditation36 Here he is All submission and attention. And then the Lord says Take this vision Of divine light Ignorance fled And gone was the blight37 Garlands poured White and bright …1431 And this is what Arjun saw That primal thing And its cosmic rays The worlds thus made And then they swayed Waves on water Water and waves …1432 And this is what happened to Arjun Arjun was stunned By the brilliant vision The wonders and surprises Were beyond his reason Like the flood in the end Will drown each and all
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With surprise and fear He was ready to fall …1433 And then Arjun talks to himself The roof of the sky Cannot be found There is no up And there is no down Gone is the east So has the west All is round The dream is over And all is drowned Like the stars are doused38 When the sun leaves the ground …1434 Dnyaneshwar describes Arjun His mind had ceased Its confabulations39 His reason was left Without direction The senses withdrawn In awe and admiration Benumbed was his Concentration He was still Without any motion A magical spell of realization …1435 Clouds of rain In all directions Or light engulfs At the final culmination40 The Lord surrounded him In every direction …1436 Then Arjun opened his eyes With fascination And saw Shrikrishna In many formations Some with a royal expression
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Others were charming Full of fascination Gardens of joy And beauty’s coronation41 …1437 But there were gruesome42 spectacles as well Some like armies At the final solution Some like death In its full expression Castles of fear in great formations Like huge tongues of fire At the final consummation43 …1438 Arjun imagined that Shrikrishna’s eyes were like lotuses Hundreds of lotuses Of every hue Like many a sun Were on view The eyebrows were clouds An arching shroud44 The eyes were like lightning Orange and blue …1439 Arjun saw that the lord was decked with ornaments The ornaments he wore Were lustrous and bright Bringing the worlds Within our sight And because of which The sun is our light …1440 The figure of Shrikrishna appeared to fill everything His limbs and his arms The weapons in hand Body and mind And the soul as well The Lord it was In every place …1441
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The weapons in his hands Could cut the terminal flames And the flames then receded Into the ocean and its depths And the sea appeared Full of poisonous waves And his hands were like Lightning staves45 …1442 Frightened by this sight He averted his gaze Looked at his crown And was even more amazed The crown was adorned With beautiful flowers And his neck was adorned With garlands galore …1443 And this is how the Lord’s body appeared to Arjun The radiance of a sun Heavens had worn Or Meru the mountain Was plated with gold His limbs and his waist Were covered with silk Layer on layer Brighter than gold …1444 The sights were such That it benumbed46 his mind If the Lord was on his feet He wanted to find Where was he sitting Or was he reclined …1445 But what he saw Was full of surprise The Lord was all over In front of his eyes Then he resolved
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To shut his eyes But the Lord did not budge From his averted47 sight It was like a night Of an extraordinary light The eyes were not needed For this magical sight …1446 He had swum ashore From an incoming tide But what waited for him Was another tide Darkness or light Did not make up this sight The sun it seemed Was not the author of this light …1447 Thousands of suns And their collective might Lightning after lightning And their confluent48 light The terminal fire And its unbearable sight Together they shone Wondrous and bright But the scene that unfolded For Arjun and his eyes Was searingly white Marked as it was With divine insight …1448 And marked in this vision Were the worlds on one side Bubbles and froth On oceans, massive and wide Molehills being built On earth’s brown hide Like atoms being spread On a hill’s sloping slide …1449
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Of this universe He became a part And there was nothing Of which He was not a part …1450 His heart was filled With joy divine The body had melted And the hair stood fine Like grass sprouts anew After a shower in its time And droplets of sweat Rolled down his spine He swayed in the wind With pleasure sublime49 He cried with joy With tears in his eyes He rose like a tide When the moon comes to shine …1451 But the God at this time Kept Arjun apart So that he could play His role and his part …1452 Then said Arjun Thanks to you Blessed as I am This cosmos was seen By an ordinary man …1453 Now I can see ‘That’ with your help All that there is Comes here to dwell …1454 In mountains and woods Animal dens
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These worlds on your body Are like honeycombed nests …1455 A huge tree is home To many a nest Or the sky is a bag Where stars collect Lie in you Heavens and the rest The elements are here In numbers and their best Brahmadeo is here* And the Everest Shankar and Parvati** And the sages as well And hell too is here Sure as hell …1456 * Brahmadeo –an important God in the Indian pantheon50. The one who creates. ** Shankar (and Parvati) –the third of the Trinity, Vishnu who looks after the universe, Brahmadeo who creates and Shankar who destroys. Parvati is Shankar’s wife.
Your body is a wall On which the worlds are etched Thus I surmise That you are the best …1457 Your heads, faces, and arms Are everywhere And eyes after eyes Shine one on the other There is not a niche51 You do not cover And even an atom cannot enter Your sides or your rear …1458 Where are you from Do you sit or stand How big or broad Who is your mother And how old you are
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What is before and beyond In fact You are you You do not belong Is what I understand Neither short nor tall You do not have A front or back To think that You have a middle And an end Or that you start Is not a fact In fact It is in you that Worlds after worlds End and also start ‌1459 Only trust and devotion Know what you are That you too appear With limbs and also arms Of that knowledge I am now informed That your form Is not your form ‌1460 There you are With your mace52 And your crown And this resplendent53 face On your finger That brilliant disc When hurled kills evil And leaves no trace Your hands Hold the reins Of my horse And at my behest As you show me your cosmic face I am mesmerized and amazed
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I am out of breath A firefly I am Burnt by solar flames And my vision Is turned into ashes The infernal fire Lightning after lightning Huge gulping flames Waves after waves Turned into ashes Is the Brahmic egg* …1461 * Brahmic egg—the cosmological beginning from a dense single entity
You are the ultimate Beyond the sound unmade Search for you The scripture’s texts You are deep, mysterious and unscathed54 Religion’s friend From the beginning perfect Yet new and beyond The 36 things that are said From which man is made Your eyes are the sun and the moon Which show peace and unrest You are beyond the sky And have swallowed the sky and the rest You are so vast I can’t figure Your mass and shape I cannot bear to see Your searing55 face What pleasure this The world holds its breath And is embroiled56 In its sorrowful fate The world normally littered With tempting And tantalizing57 gates Now that I see you In your real form and shape
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On the one hand You can’t be embraced And on the other This world is a waste I am like a man Hot and aflame Reaching the sea Only to bathe And the sea recoils With giant waves I am lost and fearful I tremble and shake …1462 Gods want to merge In this cosmic state And those like me Caught between Temptations and fate Are helpless And before you are prostrate58 That is why Sages and saints Rent the air with your praise And vent their sentiments …1463 Demons and deities59 Angels and gods 60 Goblins and kings, all do stand And fold their arms Humble and modest Are fully disarmed And their heads are bent Crowns on top They sing your praise With simple modest charm …1464 This your visage61 Is fortune itself A welcome song With open arms
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You have so many faces So many eyes And weapons held in your arms Of many colours and many a form The God of death Has lit many a fire And ghosts roam the skies In swarms The blood of the dead Has stained the teeth Of all these mouths Of your fearful forms As if time has invited This dreadful war And death has turned insolent And is reared62 To cause maximum harm And though you might have me warned And asked me to meditate63 And remain calm I Whom death fears And which is in my thrall64 But even I think and know That a pandemic65 of death Is on hand ‌1465 Such searing flames That all the worlds Can be rendered into ash The wind has started to convulse And will blow away this trash And in the great flood That is on hand The seas seem to pour and add Death itself gets ready to die And the fire is ready to swallow poison And then fly Laden with forts is the sky Made of lightning-like shafts ‌1466
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True my eyes are now quenched66 and filled With your true form But me made of earth and sand Will not be able to stand I fear for my life And spirit as well Which I think will wane67 and die The body is known To tremble and perish Rack with fever and die But the soul The essence of joy Should tremble and shiver I do not know the reason why My mind is withered And I pray for courage And pitifully cry But however I try I think the opposite This death will engulf Each and all By and by ‌1467 The flames and fire from your mouth Are ready to fry Each and all The pot of death has broken The final flood rushes With walls of water Waves and more walls The Takshak’s* poisonous mouth Is filled with more poisonous gall68 And the darkest of dark nights Is filled with more darkness overall And is held under a thrall By menacing ghosts Lightning and thunderbolts Are with more heat and fire armed And thus your mouth flows With death upon death in rows
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Fearsome winds, the final flood and the infernal69 fire Have together called …1468 * Takshak – from mythology, a large poisonous snake
I have gone mad I do not know east or west Where is what And I do not know If I am or not Joy it seems is forever lost Please unwind This fearsome onslaught If I had known or thought That this is what I sought I would not have asked Or would have had second thoughts You are my master Save me from this rot You are spirit itself This is not about death or war You are about to blot Me and all This is sheer havoc Do you not know That you are about to swallow Each and all …1469 These sons of the mighty blind king And other princes and kings Have disappeared without a trace Elephants, horses and infantry Missile throwers and sundry Towards your mouth seem to race Bhishma the general Truth itself Drona the brahmin The archer ace Karna the warrior The son of the sun’s rays
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Have been felled With an ease with which Hair are spread or splayed …1470 Me and my damned demands When you showed me Your exceptional forms I was not enough charmed That is how I came to ask for this cosmic form But for this perverse70 desire I am sure to be damned This wind on fire Who will disarm? The sky is filled with poison Time is In its malignant Pandemic, death-like form …1471 But Shrikrishna the Lord Had other thoughts He wanted to show Who kills how and what That to cause death Could not be a part Of Arjun’s plans Nor was it in Arjun’s hands But Arjun would not budge And continued with his thoughts …1472 Said he Hell and heaven are gone Like rivers flowing into the seas Or water on hot metal rods Turns into steam Or valleys full of fire Swallow crickets71 with ease and glee Yet Death’s hunger Is on an unlimited spree72 Like a sick man from his disease Gets free and eats
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Or a hungry beggar Eyes a feast All this there is Has become food to feed The Lord wants to swallow the sea Or mountains he wants to gulp and eat And stars he wants to lick clean Hunger on hunger feeds To rut for sex increases the need This is not the Lord divine But a dismal deadly fate primed Flames from the Lord’s mouth Pour out in streams His body and his form Are flammable wax And the fire pours out Crackles and screams …1473 Oh Lord fire cannot burn itself Nor a weapon turn on itself Or a poison cannot poison self You are not aware What you have become The lord of death Please for heaven’s sake Withdraw this spectacle Of yourself …1474 Thus he laid On the Lord’s feet his head And begged This disaster please unmake For my sake Me who in all innocence Asked for your cosmic form and shape Your anger has now grown So huge That the sky has been put In its proper place And time
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That perpetual father of death Has been left behind In this race Tell me your purpose And what is our fate …1475 And then said the Lord Only you and your brothers Are spared from death And Arjun held his breath Said the Lord I do not like the rest They will be wasted This world like a pack of butter In my mouth will melt This army and their generals Whatever they may say And with pride They might gesticulate73 And aver that they will Conquer the sky, the earth and the rest And will put the enemy To their death These thoughts are Empty castles in their heads Or just wrapped up empty space Or coloured toys made of clay Water from a mirage Has flooded their heads They are not real snakes Coils of cloth, just fakes Stringless puppets Their master has fled They wait to be toppled You just have to push and shake The war has long arrived Kill them This is not about futile success This you do For your kingdom’s sake …1476
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Drona and Bhishma and Karna Are of no avail Mere paintings drawn On crumbling walls Can be wiped with a wet cloth This army this war All is false They are doomed that is all Empty shells Kill them To raise targets And to fell them Is in my hands All in all Temptations and sorrow Must not prevail With insolence74 They swell They are ready To be felled Kill them And write your fate On history’s slate …1477 Thus did Shrikrishna speak Like the torrent of the Ganga in speed Or with the sound Of a mountain churning the sea The rumble of clouds When together they roll and rise And Arjun with pleasure and fear Suffered tremors fine He then bowed With efforts extreme But could not find his voice Because of fear Of what he had seen …1478 Later he found his voice And said In your cosmic form
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I believe and rejoice To create is your art And to destroy your choice But when the world Awaits your succour Your destructive fervour75 Is premature …1479 Youth must slowly Turn to old age The sun must set At a certain pace There is a beginning Then the middle and the end You must go stage by stage The world might have been caught In an evil cage But you must not Unleash your righteous rage …1480 And the Lord assured that barring you and your brothers These two armies Are to be finished The rest of the world Will not be banished …1481 But Arjun responded You are the light of the soul yourself You are the reason Why nature grows so rich and well You are vast and limitless The principle itself You are beyond time and its bell And therefore without an end You are boundless And not something On which ideas can dwell You are truth And falsehood as well …1482
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Of Brahma76 and its nature You are the root Without birth and death Each and everything You predate You are life and fate You are the joy That the scriptures contemplate77 And because of you Nature and maya78 Spate and abate What you are Who can really state You are the wind And God of death The fire in the belly That digests You are the sun and the moon As well The Brahmic God that forever dwells And before you I bend and lie prostrate And prostrate I remain Whatever view I take In everything Of you there is a trace Like the sky dwells And becomes all that space The world is nothing But of your make ‌1483 Fool as I am I did not use you well The wish tree itself I used its wood To make a fence You, God yourself With you, politics I played For this worthless war My charioteer you became And I crossed my limits
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With you when I spake When we were young With you I played Sulked79 and quarrelled With you as my mate And patronized you About what it takes Paid no attention To what you said Such transgressions80 I did make I fear for my fate Pardon me for heaven’s sake And take me Like the ocean Takes in Water in muddied spates …1484 Things that move or stand You propagate Of all the Gods Shankar, Vishnu and the rest You are the greatest And the scriptures and its vulgate81 Learn from you You are sedate82 And in all that lives Equal is your interest and stake You are incomparable You are like yourself Not like anyone else …1485 Pardon me for my faults And save me I drown in this sea of excess You my relative, my friend When you spoke I interrupted But I am your child It is fair, that me, you should berate83 But somehow With me please relate
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Like a wife opens her heart To her husband, her only mate Take me back And with love, me, please accept ‌1486 What Brahmic God and Shankar Could not hear You made me see and hear And what was not known To the scriptures In which you allowed me to peep and peer What reason, mind and heart Could not infer84 You showed me bright and clear You just had to say And with stars and the moon I could play But enough is enough I want to talk to you And hold you But to which of your ears Can I talk and make you hear How can I embrace the cosmic you I cannot run with the wind Clasp this sky-like thing Nor play games In this vast ocean Which resembles sea after sea Fear and diffidence is entrenched in me And I beg you To withdraw this cosmic scene Enough of this cosmic swing I am tired Of my travails85 And need to return home And rest in peace Charity and scriptures Yogic expertise Or whatever my past be One wish, you please grant me Your familiar human form
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I want to see You know my innards Shower benevolence86 on me Your crowned head And that powerful mace Bluish tinged your body and face I want to feel and see This cosmic show Has lost its charm for me Earth, heaven and deliverance In your human form I seek ‌1487 In reply said Shrikrishna I am surprised That you should fear The cosmic me With heart, soul, mind and deed I unveiled the secret that is me For your need None has seen this except thee That thing Far beyond what you can see From where things arise Like me And which cannot be got Even by the greatest deeds Scriptures were rendered dumb Those who strove with vigour Were only rendered numb And of no avail were virtue and penance87 Yet do not fear this vision Do not dread That you will drown In this immortal vision You cannot reject the sun For the shadows that have fallen Or run from a mountain of gold Because it cannot be packed Mounted and then driven You are innocent And by illusions
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You are riven You cling to shadows Instead of the real To you, what is given May appear fearsome This cosmic vision But do not hanker After my manly form Or any other narrow vision …1488 His gold a miser hides And then across the town He strides A mother bird Might traverse the skies Or a cow may roam Beyond pastures tested and tried But their minds Are always by the side Of their little ones You too Whatever you find In my body, form and mind You must never turn blind To this cosmic expanse and vision Which was for you Specially risen You must never waver From this cosmic vision …1489 Then the Lord withdrew the cosmos Which at Arjun’s behest88 Had him shown The cosmic ornament That was honed89 Came to become a gram of gold The seed from which the tree will grow Brahma itself By man comes to be known All the light In the sun comes to be sown
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The tides get hidden In the sea as its own Or a bale of cloth having been shown Is neatly packed And kept in a fold And Arjun was relieved And felt at home After riding the seas Surpassing time All on his own His eyes then shone With starlight grown As the sun went home Back to the earth Arjun was borne As if home And he saw the armies Standing alone ‌1490 Then Arjun said I live again Fear and pain Had dulled my reason Speech from my mouth Had been driven Motivation had fallen And blunted the sensorium90 My body was in tatters and riven By this unusual vision But now the seas are crossed And I have touched the shores Of some semblance Of reason And in my heart A delicate creeper of joy Has now risen ‌1491 Then summed up Shrikrishna You were given What no one was given
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Saints, sages, Gods and yogis Even though they had striven For this vision Were denied For the simple reason That only devotion to me Enables to see this vision A little ant or Brahmic God If they to me Have their full devotion In their body mind soul and reason They alone see this vision Like darkness disappears With the sun’s appearance Or when touched by fire Wood itself fire becomes You in your mind and your mortal vision Must seek through me This reason this vision My manly form is nothing As compared To this universal reason And cosmic vision …1492 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.
cosmos – the universe, particularly in its orderly whole irreverent – disrespectful, particularly of a religious teaching galaxy – independent system of stars held together by gravity coral – a red or pink or white substance formed on the bottom of the sea from the bones of tiny creatures eon – vast period of time roil – make turbid by agitation poker – a stiff metal rod for stirring a fire protagonist – the chief person in a drama or story endow – award admonish – give advice, urge, warm, reprove incarnation – appear in flesh (human form) of the spirit inebriated – drunk, out of sense incensed – angered, angry wanton – immoral, shameless, loose dismay – reduce to despair, fill with consternation or anxiety steeped – immersed winsome – attractive
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67.
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introspective – thoughtful ochre – a pigment, light yellow to brown or red Eros – God of love quiver – tremble or vibrate spindly – long and thin spawn – as in give birth to Vedic – from Ved – ancient Indian philosophical and religious literature scripture – sacred writing forlorn – sad, abandoned, lonely prance – behave in an elated stimulated manner to wear on one’s sleeve – ready with a certain purpose, intention, desire spur – stimulate, incite umpteen – many lecherous – lusty, with high sexual desire harlot – prostitute sulk – to be resentfully silent cajole – persuade by flattery Yogi – one who harnesses body, mind and soul meditate – concentrate, reflect, think, ponder blight – an obscure force causing destruction douse – extinguish, throw water over confabulation –converse, chat culmination – end coronation – to crown gruesome – horrible, disgusting consummation – usage shroud – a sheet-like garment that conceals, like for a dead body stave – a staff, like a piece of wood benumb – make numb and deprive of sensation avert – turn away, avoid confluent – flowing together sublime – pure, highly refined pantheon – a group of deities (idols) of people niche – a (shallow) recess, especially in a wall mace – a heavy club resplendent – brilliant, dazzlingly bright unscathed – unharmed, unhurt sear – burn, brand, scorch, cause pain embroil – involve in difficulty tantalize – torment or tease by promise of what is unobtainable prostrate – lying face down in submission deity – God, Goddess, divine statue goblin – ugly dwarf-like figure from popular or folk tales visage – face, countenance rear – to rise on the hind legs as in an animal meditate – think, reflect, ponder thrall – to be under the influence of or be a slave of a person pandemic – disease prevalent over a whole country or world quench – satisfy by drinking wane – reduce in strength or force
522 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90.
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar gall – impudence, rancour, bitterness infernal – of hell or underworld perverse – wrong application away from its proper use or nature cricket – an insect like a grasshopper spree – a bout of fun, a wild party gesticulate – express with gestures insolence – arrogant and insulting fervour – passion, zeal Brahma – ‘that thing’ from which the world evolved contemplate – survey with eyes or mind Maya – a trick, the creative potential of Brahma sulk – be sullen or moody transgression – to go beyond bounds or limits vulgate – traditionally accepted text of an author sedate – composed, peaceful, calm berate – scold, rebuke infer – deduce travails – painful efforts benevolence – goodness, graciousness and kindness penance – act of punishment to self (for sins) behest – on behalf of hone – sharpen sensorium – apparatus for perceiving sensation, touch, taste etc.
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar Dnyaneshwari Verses 1–34 Geeta Chapter 12
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Chapter 76
Back to Square One
Arjun the central figure in our story now finds himself in the same quandary1 that he was in, in the earlier chapters of the Geeta. It had all started with his emotional problems concerning his foes in the battle that he was about to fight. In the modern parlance2, he had gone soft and mouldy3. He had to be told to see through his emotions which were man-made and was also told that karma was spontaneous and incessant4 and had to be undertaken even when the clouds of emotions hung low and heavy, obscuring one’s vision because spontaneity of karma was a fact and the execution of karma happened to be only a series of incidents. He was told how mercurial5 the mind was and how it needed to be controlled and he had also been described a mystical6 way of performing yoga7 to extinguish thoughts, mind and body to achieve peace (Chapter 51). Later he was to be schooled, 1) regarding the unity of the world, 2) that he was transient, a mere appearance and this unity was the real backdrop 3) and that during this, his transient passage through this world, he needed to focus on what was in front of him, 4) even as he realizes that this battle or war that he is about to fight is a mere flicker on the vast ocean of Brahma8 that primordial9 thing, 5) which is everywhere and will be and was everywhere even when the world had not come about. The problem at hand is caused by the sights and sounds and the vastness of the cosmos10, which Shrikrishna shows him and which is the cosmic form of God or that thing or Brahma (see previous Chapter 75). Arjun is not only shaken but also disjointed from a state in which he had leaned on Shrikrishna as a crutch. What is more Shrikrishna himself advises him to throw away this crutch and to stand on his own and to understand that the cosmic form of the Brahma is the only real thing and that it is the history, the geography, the mechanics, and the so-called clock or the measure of time in this universe. Arjun already petrified11 by the cosmic show
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recoils from the choice of throwing away the crutch and perhaps as a diversion repeats questions that resemble the ones asked in the past. Here is what he asks. If in your human form Or when you had not formed Or in your cosmic form You are one and the same Like gold in maunds12 Or a gram of gold Is all but the same Then how can you say That your cosmic form Is alone worth your name What is the truth I want to know With your words You are playing a game …1493 Arjun continues Those who believe in acts and actions And have come to a certain realization …1494 Those in whose hearts you are the soul And devotion to you is their only goal …1495 Those who know that you are far Prior to the primal sound* Where words were barred …1496 * Please see Chapter 1,16 and 104
You are a thing That cannot be shown Nor can it be split Nor finely honed13 That you are within That they know …1497
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Who amongst these is best you think You must tell me what you think …1498 Verse 1494 describes people with a work ethic, Verse 1495 people inclined to devotion and verses 1496 and 1497 in succession describe people with a mystical and metaphysical bent of mind. The question however is quite direct and seeks to know which amongst them are the best. These questions will be answered in the twelfth chapter of the Geeta but prior to these answers Dnyaneshwar in his introduction invokes his teacher Nivrutti. The teacher becomes Dnyaneshwar’s mother with a kind, benevolent14 and blissful15 expression in his eyes. The introduction is quaint16 and full of piety17. Here is how it starts. You are benevolent kind and pure And the bliss that you shower endures …1499 20 That blissful look in your eyes Is my mother I hail you and it is you That I revere18 …1500 Dnyaneshwar continues to address his Guru When by the serpent of Lust and greed, Passion and emotion One has been bitten …1501 A man faints from intoxication Only you and your blissful vision Can salvage man From this experience …1502 And when the tide of bliss and joy Overflows your mind How can this world burn or singe19 And be unkind …1503 In some long convoluted verses Dnyaneshwar then gives a mystical ring to the possibilities that his Guru can unravel.
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Oh my divine mother You cradle the aspirant On the lap Of the coiled Kundalini’s current* And then surround him With that inner brilliant light divine And you give him toys That to the mercurial mind Act as deterrents And make him hear and listen To the divine primal unmade sound** Deep and resonant Please enjoin me To speak on the Geeta At this very instant And let me speak in a way That the sentiment of bliss*** And the other sentiments*** In my speech may Together become consonant20 And let my language With metaphors21 and similes22 Become resplendent23 And the meaning of the Geeta In my narration Appear as mountains And the dialogue that I deliver Bloom like gardens The valleys of non-scriptural24 thoughts Futile talk And animals of vicious logic May be banished and driven And please see that My ability to praise Shrikrishna Is risen Crowned will be Those who have come to listen And the language Marathi Becomes a hive of philosophy and reason Oh my Guru my mother
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From your eyes Let me gather this vision …1504 * Please see Chapter 51 ** Please see Chapter 1, 4, 104 *** Please see Chapter 72 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.
quandary – dilemma parlance – a particular way of speaking mouldy – stale incessant – without a stop mercurial – everchanging mystical – having hidden meaning or spiritual power Yoga – a method to harness body, mind and soul Brahma – the original singularity from which the universe came primordial – existing from the beginning cosmos – the whole of the universe in order petrified – horror struck maunds – measure of weight in India metaphysical – visionary, subtle, based on abstract reasoning benevolent – actively friendly and helpful blissful – full of joy, utter happiness quaint – old-fashioned piety – devotion revere – hold in deep affectionate religious respect singe – burn superficially consonant – speech sound in which (breath) air is partly obstructed metaphor – an imaginative application of name or description to an unrelated thing 22. simile – a literary figure of speech involving comparison of two different things 23. resplendent – brilliant, dazzling 24. scriptures – religious writing, laws, sacred script
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 35–247 Geeta Chapter 12
Chapter 77
Devotion
Why does man enter the narrow confines of a temple or a church to pray and seek God when the whole wide world is also the making of God? Why must he concentrate on an object, a certain history, a figure or figurine1 and further why must he be spoonfed again and again about the reality called God and also God’s appearance on earth for the briefest of periods in one form or another? The answer is simple. Man, by virtue of his body and mind is a limited creature. For the vast majority, a parable2 around a certain person is more palatable than obstruse3 philosophy. Man needs a crutch, a support, something to lean against, a focus for his attention, a certain realistic diversion so that he can share or pass on the burden of his life to someone else. He needs a constant consort4, a senior valuable partner, a mother or a father figure, because truly speaking, however powerful a man might appear to be, he remains a child on account of his circumstances within this vast inscrutable5 world. Shrikrishna has a solution at hand for this state of affairs that his understudy Arjun is now facing. The twelfth chapter of the Geeta is not only occasioned by Arjun’s inability to accept the cosmic form of God but this chapter also supercedes several previous chapters about Karma (action), Dnyan (knowledge and realization) and the yogic school (meditation) as a means to realizing what is called God (!). This method, described in the twelfth chapter in Shrikrishna’s own words, is simple, uncomplicated, easy to follow and available to all. The method involves devotion to the figure of Shrikrishna somewhat reminiscent6 of Chapter 9 of the Geeta, but with a difference. In that chapter, Shrikrishna was symbolic of the Ultimate Truth, Brahma7. The technique here leans towards Shrikrishna in his human form. Shrikrishna also criticizes some yogic methods to arrive at the Brahmic state because they are in fact a tough penance. Here is how the verses go.
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The sun’s rays follow the sun As it sets Or with the rains Rivers rise and crest The devoted Follow me without rest Their devotion rises with each day Never abates8 Or like with the sea When the Ganga mates She continues to gush Her flow never rests Night and day matter not to them To me They are* Firmly and forever wed …1505 * The devotees
At this point Shrikrishna points at what happens when man tries to reach the ultimate truth or realization by pursuing an abstract idea called Brahma by way of a strenuous penance. Shrikrishna in Dnyaneshwar’s words also portrays their difficulties and the terrible state that they are reduced to, as they forsake their normal existence. Brahma that thing With me they equate That thing without parts Difficult to hold They try to wrest9 Where mind cannot enter And reason and its vision fails That thing which is Difficult to contemplate10 It is said Though it is everywhere One fails To grasp it And when one begins to concentrate That thing which Does not begin nor end
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Which is and also not And to get which There are no techniques or instruments The thing that does not walk Nor does it rest That which cannot be stained Nor does it disintegrate11 ‌1506 They these other Men with asceticism12 Burn to cinders13 Passion, emotion, greed, lust They discard ideas Of hope, expectations and fate Fear, they annihilate14 And the nine-holed* body Which drips, gives and takes They block, seal and moderate And they indeed With Brahma may mate But in the end They have to come through my gate ‌1507 * The body is like a machine, so to say, which takes in the world through its holes (e.g. eyes and ears) and also gains pleasures and pain through these holes etc. The body also has holes to give out things.
But before they come to the gates of God they have to go through trials and tribulations15 and challenges, which must be overcome. But they in the process Are tempted by power And their achievements And when they are on their way Lust, anger and greed Rear16 their heads And they must wrestle With hunger and thirst And to be asleep for them Is to remain awake And to suppress the senses
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Is the only thing That makes sense …1508 Dnyaneshwar continues to draw a torrid picture of this difficult path Where trees alone Are your friends Where your wear the cold And the heat is an apparel17 And your home is the rain A daily duel with death This yogic* attempt Is sharper than death When you drink scalding poison Or you eat a mountain What would be your fate What to call a man Who wants to eat iron grains Can one walk the sky With one’s legs Or with the wind Can a cripple race …1509 * a severe penance undertaken to harness body, mind and soul
This then is a man trying to hold Brahma And that then becomes his pitiable state This does not befell Those who to me Are devoted …1510 Shrikrishna makes an important point here, namely that simple devotion is not only effective but also much easier and this is how it is done. They do their deeds Very simply instead Avoid what is prohibited And the rewards that they get They would rather forget On me and their work
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They concentrate And thus I am with them …1511 Heavens, realization and worldly rewards They forsake18 A king’s family never begs The devoted Are my family For their sake I do whatever it takes A child born to a mother The mother never forgets …1512 Shrikrishna then tells Arjun why he had to appear in this world to help people devoted to him. I was perturbed19 by the turmoil That the world unveiled20 That is why here I am In a certain form and incarnate21 And have come running For succour22 and help I banish fear Then with me they sail Across this river of the world Remember Arjun this is The final reward for the devoted …1513 Strengthen your reason, your mind And come to me With all that there is at stake When a flame is blown out The light extinguishes23 Or darkness envelops When the sun sets Or senses are blotted On death That is how Wherever the mind And reason go Your ego follows in haste
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Bring your reason and mind To my gates And then happily and in joy You can rest ‌1514 If this you find beyond you Stay in your present state Let the senses go their way Do what is ordained24 And avoid what is not correct Yet believe that what you do Is not of your make That only the almighty knows All which is done or made Do not if found wanting Feel depressed Do whatever comes by birth Or by your circumstances Like water flows Where the gardener takes Or a chariot is not bothered If the road is straight or crooked Rough or paved ‌1515 When you find difficult This world of give and take Strengthen your reason And learn to avoid rewards And see that they are shed Like a tree for its fruit Does not care Do your thing And then just forget Like rain falling on a rock Appears to waste Or a seed consigned25 to flames Or as if you are In a dreamlike state Or like a father views his daughter Without lust not even a trace Or the sky receives calmly
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Leaping flames This is tough, this mental state But think of the bamboo tree It flowers only once And then dies to forever escape In the same manner Birth and death in this man Get forever tamed This practice is realization, knowledge In which the mind and body wane26 And meditation27 surrounds sense And karma continues to happen But the mind and body are Out of the picture’s frame And peace unveils …1516 Remember, For the spirit All are the same The earth, between bad and good Does not differentiate Everything she accepts And nothing she rejects To the king or the pauper Life gives the same breath Water does not kill a tiger And as if only a cow it saves In this fashion This man is free of hate And here love is ever present And joy and bliss28 grow on him And forever remain …1517 Like the sea ever full With or without the rain His mind is full Yet restrained And his determination Cannot be tamed And where he lives God marks his presence
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He is eager, ready and perfect Yet God he never forgets Thought reared in yogic29 traits His mind and reason To me are firmly wed I love him with my heart Like a husband Loves his wife, his mate ‌1518 And for him So that he can sit My heart and mind I spread By a roaring sea A fish is not upset And with the fish The sea is content He is calm, in a world full of torment30 And the world in turn is happy With his temperament See how limbs attach to the body Without lament31 This world is me Is his sole sentiment And thus neither joy nor anger Does he need to vent Duality ends And he comes to that bend* That he is Brahma itself Here desire cannot enter Only blissful joy pervades ‌1519 * as in a path
Dnyaneshwar then narrates some interesting caricatures of traditional religious methods. It is true pilgrims ascend heaven For which what is needed is death Himalaya* rids you of your sins But you have to watch your step The Ganga* redeems you in the end But a dip in her might bring on death Here in this method
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And in this state There is neither need Nor fear of death As you live and work You enter the final gate …1520 * both the mountain (Himalaya) and the river Ganga (Ganges) are dotted with several centres for pilgrims (note the subtle sarcasm in the verse)
Dnyaneshwar then goes back to some poetic descriptions Like the sun He is Within or without He is unstained The sky is unconcerned And is evenly spread When released by the hunter Wings are spread And the bird soars, finally spared Clothes are no matter When a man is dead Without wood How can fire be lit or made Peaceful and released he is Is then what is said …1521 Part me and part God Is me, is what he says And within himself, he prays For such a man, I come to earth And become incarnate …1522 He is the world itself So from the world What can he take ‘Realized’ is his state And then in his life What can be at stake What he has He knows is without an end
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Sorrow is thus departed And nothing can offend ‌1523 Like the sun For him, day and night are the same It matters little to him If it is a foe or a friend In a home, for a guest Or for the one who dwells Light shines the same To the one who plants it Or the one who comes to fell The tree gives the same shade For the one who sows or the one who crushes Equally sweet is sugarcane In seasons hot or when it gets cold The sky does not change ‌1524 The wind might blow high or low The Meru32 does not shake And moonlight is always enough For anyone who craves And for those who want to drink Water is always the same He is not touched or moved By slander33 or praise Can the sky be smeared With paint To him truth and a lie Are the same Both he does not express To express for him is to become restless And he is neither happy nor unhappy When he loses or gains Like the sea Does not dry when there is no rain With the wind he roams And in one place does not stay And like the wind which fills the sky He is seen every which way
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This universe is me Is what he avers and says This man I crown And before him I am bent And also pray ‌1525 To his qualities I sing odes34 and praise His heel on my heart I want to rest And I wear ornaments Of his praise I am without eyes Yet I get them So that I can see his frame And I get two extra hands So that him I can embrace And to meet him I take birth, body and name And I also adore35 them Who on him shower praise This then is the story Of the devoted I seek them So that I can pray to them And then put them on my head ‌1526 This is the sky, the roof Of deep religious faith Which springs in the hearts of men And they follow me Me their only aim And devotion overflows From the hearts of these men They are sites holy and sacred Fit for a pilgrimage And I consider them the best There is nothing better than them And I am obsessed swept off my feet By them So said the lord
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The source and spring Of those that are devoted …1527 Dnyaneshwar ends by describing the Lord, Shrikrishna Pure, complete and charitable Before whom you can surrender Renowned as the religious saviour In valour incomparable The divine collaborator Adored and adorable …1528 The twelfth chapter thus ends having signed, stamped and sealed the path of devotion, a simple way to lead one’s life once you give up yourself in adoration to God (in this instance Shrikrishna). But the Geeta is to confront her reader with a surprise in the very next chapter. She is to unveil an almost Godless philosophy and that too with Shrikrishna as the narrator. It is true that this Godless philosophic stream is to be later modified and included in the Vedantic 36, Upanishadic37 doctrine38 but that only shows how inclusivistic39 Geeta is and how she offers a variety to a variety of people towards the same end.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.
figurine – small statue parable – an imagined event narrated for a moral or religious lesson obtrusive – from obtrude = to thrust forward unfairly consort – wife or a husband esp (royal) here used as a companion inscrutable – wholly mysterious reminiscent – suggestive of, comparable with Brahma – the original singularity from which the world came about abate – reduce, become less strong or forceful wrest – snatch, wrench (with force) contemplate – survey with eyes or mind disintegrate – break ascetic – one who practises severe self-discipline and denies himself all pleasures cinders – the residue of burning coal or wood, still combustible annihilate – wipe out, exterminate tribulations – great affliction or oppression rear – to get up on the hind legs (as in an animal) apparel – clothing, dress forsake – give up, recounce perturb – disturb mentally, agitate unveil – disclose, reveal, remove cover, veil etc. incarnate – embodied in flesh (particularly in the human form)
540 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39.
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar succour – help, aid, assistance extinguish – put out a flame, cause a flame to die out ordain – order from a holy authority consign – send, hand over wane – decrease in power and size meditation – from meditate = think, ponder, reflect bliss – perfect joy yogic – from the word ‘yog’. The Sanskrit root ‘yuj’ as in to harness. Here used in the meditative practice of penance torment – severe physical and mental suffering lament – passionate expression of sorrow Meru – huge mythical mountain slander – malicious false injurious statement ode – poem meant to be sung adore – regard with deep honour and affection Vedantic – ant=end, Ved =Indian philosophical scriptures Upanishadic – constituting the above (later) last Indian philosophical scriptures doctrine – what is taught, a body of instructions inclusivistic – comprehensive, taking several schools of thought together
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Debate
Is there such a thing called religious philosophy? If philosophy is love for wisdom (or truth) and religion must necessarily include assumptions (or dogma1), how can they be wedded together? 1) To say that God created this world (without describing God), or 2) to say that the world (the product) is quite different from the producer (God) or 3) to say that God is separate from the created world or 4) that he is omnipresent2 yet retains his separate identity or 5) to proclaim that what man experiences is a transient appearance or a mere shadow (as compared to God, the only truth), is all very well but not really and truly well. It is one thing to speculate about the universe, quite another to base speculation on an emotional or even a practical requirement of a paternal3 figure to look after things. The way things stand, it would seem that man has created God rather than vice versa. And in the course of history and history of philosophy, men have stood up and said as much and have tried to speculate on theories which put aside the idea of God and tried to present a ‘construct’ based on natural laws or at least what they thought was nature. In the long Indian philosophical tradition, which dates back to at least 500 years BC, Kapil was such a man. It has often been said that Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, all three religions that India gave to the world were influenced by Kapil’s philosophical doctrine4 and around which the thirteenth chapter of the Geeta is written. As is his wont, Shrikrishna the philosopher who has just finished teaching Arjun the value of devotion5 and adoration 6 to a personal God, is about to don 7 new clothes. Shrikrishna, via the editors of the Geeta is now set to relate how nature works, how it expands and regresses8, how it evolves and involutes9 and how what we call God merely watches as a separate entity and God or this entity has nothing to do with the creation which is only nature’s domain10. For a reader who feels comfortable with dogma , certitude11 and a ‘pucca’12 doctrine, the Geeta is probably
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not a book that he will enjoy. It is true that Kapil’s theory will be modified and will be adapted by the Upanishads13 but here in this and later chapters, the Kapil doctrine is explained in full and Dnyaneshwar uses this opportunity to be a trifle irreverent to other schools of thought. The irreverence14 comes out in a longish introduction in the Dnyaneshwari (while narrating on the thirteenth chapter of the Geeta). Dnyaneshwar as usual starts with an ode15 to his Guru. I invoke Lord Ganesh* Who is all there is to know Ganesh is the symbol Of the body and the soul To invoke Ganesh Is to invoke the Guru Who enables you to say Whatever you know And knowledge then arrives And in its tow16 And the sentiments** in language Then take their bow The nuances17 of wisdom Then sparkle and glow The feet of your Guru When you earnestly hold Fortune comes to smile On what you must know ‌1529 * please see Chapter 3 ** please see Chapter 72
After the introduction come verses which are almost a simple translation (without any elaboration) of the first two verses of the Geeta in the thirteenth chapter. They are deceptively simple and here they are. The body is a field And the one who knows it Is called the knower of the field* Knowledge comes to happen When you know about the field*
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And I am for sure The knower of the field* …1530 * the word field was used several centuries later by physicists to describe energy zones
The ‘I’ here is of course the Lord or Shrikrishna. Shrikrishna is almost equating himself with God (!), an idea not consistent with the Kapil doctrine. But the Geeta is not really a pure philosophical text. Her narrator (Shrikrishna) does intrude in the first person singular I, from time to time. Shrikrishna continues in the words of Dnyaneshwar I will give you some detail Of what all this entails How big it is Or how small it is Fallow18 or fertile Let me relate …1531 To whom it belongs Or is it on its own I will tell you whatever There is to know …1532 Scriptures19 have waxed20 Eloquent21 and galore22 And logic has thought Plenty and more …1533 Philosophy and dialogue Have continued at length But have gone tired and worn With their wits at their end …1534 Ideas don’t match And nothing seems true Parties and partisans23 Sing their tunes …1535 24 25 Atheists and agnostics Quarrel with the scriptures
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And when the scriptures reply Are offered a rupture* …1536 * Denotes a parting of ways between the Jain and the traditional Upanishadic26 philosophy. The Jains do not believe that the world was created.
They accuse the Scriptures Of being without a base And a debate is offered And even a wager27 is placed …1537 Shrikrishna then states that this mystery of body and soul cannot be resolved in a single life, however hard a penance28 you may perform. Those who are Yogis* Being afraid of death Practise their penance In wooded forests …1538 * The word here represents recluses29 who practise austerities in seclusion30 to arrive at the truth about this world, and the verse alludes to the fact that life is short and must be used to its maximum to find life’s secrets.
Their Lord God Shankar The elements he braved And he burnt and killed Eros* Who caused him unrest …1539 * The Indian traditional name for Eros is Madan. The verse shows that an austere31 regime is not necessarily conducive to metaphysical32 introspection33, and one can be disturbed by the natural tendencies of one’s nature.
Brahmadeo the God With his all four mouths Was unable to unravel The ultimate truth …1540 Brahmadeo is the other important God in the Indian pantheon34. He is supposed to have four mouths so that he could express all that he knows. Dnyaneshwar then comes to more practical theories. There are also those Who think life employs breath
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And the breath in turn Fills the body in its breadth …1541 The breath, never seems to cease Its efforts and toils Noble and evil In turn come to a boil …1542 Dnyaneshwar then puts forward a theory where nature or natural processes (similar to Kapil’s hypothesis, please see Chapter 79) constitute the lynchpin of creation while life or the ‘elan vitale35’ is only a witness. But there are those who think That life just potters36 The body and its nature Is really what matters …1543 And nature in its nature Is made of three parts Caring and cutting And with sowing it starts …1544 The three standard natural traits in man: the desire to create, sow (Raj), the desire to destroy, cut (Tam) and the inclination to protect or to care (Sattwa). Life starts real small When nature is at rest And in time it grows Diverse and great …1545 Having dealt with natural evolution, Dnyaneshwar mentions another theory The combine of nature and life Is not how it came about In the beginning there was nothing About that there is no doubt …1546 The nothing then harboured Motivation and desire
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That is how it came That the world got sired37 …1547 The land that was fallow Slowly grew fertile The elements came together And got animal and man alive …1548 But the question remained as to whether creation had indeed taken place. Dnyaneshwar puts forward this now essential viewpoint. Then there were objections That there was nothing like creation Whatever you see around Defies reason and speculation …1549 To bolster38 this argument it is asked Who makes this roof Which we call the sky Who holds the stars Overhead and high There is water in the clouds A mystery of how and why …1550 And there are more questions Who plants the hair in your skin From where indeed do showers spring And who fills the sea up to its brim …1551 39 A theory is then propounded about that ‘ever-present’ thing called time and how it is ‘time’ that presides over everything that happens in the world. Those who believed In the father called ‘time’ Said that ‘it is in time’ That all is left behind Animal and man, Gods and the Kings Come to dissolve in time …1552 Having thus touched on various theories, Dnyaneshwar makes a definitive statement and does not spare the ancient scriptures40
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Even the scriptures Who sing in musical metres40 And are filled to the full With information Seem to be lost in theories About creation What follows in my verses Are some details of formation …1553 This is how the introductory verses end. What follows in the next chapter of this book is a full-scale description of Kapil’s Sankhya* system which describes how a man comes to be positioned in this world. * To mean a set of numbers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.
dogma – a principle, a tenet laid down by authority omnipresent – present everywhere at the same time paternal – fatherly doctrine – a body of instruction devotion – great love, enthusiastic attachment adoration – worship, idolize don – wear regress – move backwards, return to previous state involute – rolled in domain – a sphere of control or influence certitude – a feeling of absolute certainty pucca – from Hindi into English – definite Upanishad – the last of the Indian philosophical texts irreverence – disrespect, particularly for a religious doctrine ode – poem meant to be sung tow – pull along or behind nuance – subtle difference in meaning, shade etc. fallow – uncultivated scripture – religious law, sacred writing waxed – increasingly eloquent – expressive galore – in abundance partisan – partial, loyal, supporter atheist – non-believer in God agnostic – a person who believes that nothing is known about God Upanishad – concluding portion of the Vedic literature wager – a bet penance – severe punishment to self (for sins) recluse – a person living in isolation (for a religious purpose) seclusion – isolation austere – severely simple/morally strict
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32. metaphysical – from metaphysics, the theoretical philosophy of being and knowing 33. introspection – observing one’s own mental or emotional process 34. pantheon – the deities of a people 35. élan vitale – the verve of life 36. potter (v) – work in a desultory but pleasant manner 37. sire – related to breeding by a male animal 38. bolster – strengthen 39. propound – authoritatively propose or state 40. metre – a certain symmetrical arrangement of words in a poem
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Chapter 79
Randomness and Order The Kapil Construct
It is now accepted that behind what we see as an orderly world, (of rules, regulations, cause and effect relationships and a certain rhythm and seasonal change) lie atoms and molecules, which in their minutest interior, exhibit a randomness1 (almost a bizarre2 flow of activity) which cannot be pinned down to any given pattern. Part of the inscrutability3 of this subatomic milieu4, is no doubt because of the limitations of man’s power of observation. But in spite of what is seen with certainty in the coarser5 world, gaps remain in our understanding of what exactly goes on. These gaps have to be filled later with mathematical entities, of what cannot be directly observed and are mere symbols. However, a monumental6 question that remains unanswered is how do orderly events emerge from this disorderly state? The law of statistics, another scientific tool, explains part of this mystery. Assuming that a few atoms or their constituents seen in isolation will defy any kind of reasonable behaviour, things change when say a million such atoms or molecules gather together. However diverse the activity of the constituents of any group, if the sample is large enough to satisfy the science of statistical sampling, certain order can be discerned in that sample. The saying ‘an exception proves the rule’ is in fact a statistical statement. The larger the sample, the greater the chance that some coherence7 will emerge from it. To put it crudely it might be difficult to predict what a couple of individuals will do but if a large number of people gather a certain sense can be discerned8 in their behaviour. To take an example from the law of diffusion, if a bottle is divided (vertically) into two halves by a filter and on one side a very concentrated solution and the on the other a dilute solution of a pigment is put, it is well known that ultimately the bottle will have the same concentration of the pigment on either side of the filter. Physics tells us that it is foolish to imagine that the pigments have a scheme or a mind by which the equilibrium is established. What happens is
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actually quite simple. Both sides of the filter paper have a certain number of atoms, which move randomly (helter skelter). The side with the higher concentration has a higher number of atoms and therefore a larger amount of movement towards the filter paper. It is therefore natural that more atoms go from the concentrated to the dilute side by a flow determined by the random movement to produce equalization. Once equality is established, random movement too becomes equal. There is no doubt that this random movement of atoms is life itself albeit 9 disorderly by ordinary human standards. The equalization of concentration on either side of the filter paper is to the human reason a certain process, in what we call an inanimate10 substance. From here to the animate11 or living world is a huge jump. That a thing should be able to organize itself and later reproduce, propagate and again reproduce itself conforming to a vast number of rules or laws, is perhaps the most wondrous event in the history of the earth. That on a background of complete randomness an orderly dynamic entity capable of reproduction should emerge and then think out its own essential randomness is fascinating to say the least. It is like saying that the image that I see of myself in the mirror is not me but a play of energy. When an organized man avers12 by way of physics that he is in fact a lot of random movements, he is climbing on his own back via his intellectual ability. That it is difficult to define the random, inscrutable13 nature of ‘that thing’ or ‘Brahma’14 is the lynchpin15 of Indian philosophical thought in the Upanishads. Even earlier, the question as to whether the creator or that thing knew how all this came about (the universe) had been answered in India with a sceptic16 and a crisp answer ‘may not have known’. But the fact that this Brahma or spirit was behind the things that evolved was never doubted by Indian metaphysics17. It is on this background that the assemblage of things on the material side was described by Kapil and he did it with a precision that even today’s rationalists would admire and envy. To Kapil, the spirit was a mere inert spectator as the matter assembled. And the spirit was so much of a spectator that things like motivation, ego, mind, perception, movement and the specific qualities of the product which was produced, were assigned to this separate world of nature. It was nature, which had the ability to form, evolve into events and then lapse18 and involute19. The only thing which shone within this human product by way of the spirit, was intelligence or reason. The
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rest was all a spontaneous natural assembly. Kapil’s thesis goes as under. The numbers that follow each step are the constituents of this hypothetical20 assembly. • Earth, water, fire, wind and space get together to form the basic structure (5). • It is in their character to be inimical to each other, for example, water swallows (dissolves) earth, water is evaporated by fire, the fire is extinguished by wind (air) and air itself is swallowed by space. • In order for the five elements to stay together a binding force is needed, called Dhriti in Sanskrit, (a close English word would be fortitude (6). Expressions in several languages such as ‘he melted with fear’, or ‘his heart melted in his mouth’ or ‘he fell akin to being swallowed by the earth or the sky’, arise from a lack of fortitude which in a sterner man would have held him together under adverse circumstances. • This basic structure gets motivated by ego (7). • Having been motivated, the body acts by way of hands, legs, tongue, anus and the genitals (12) and each of them have a separate function: give and take (hands 13), walk, run, sit and stand (legs 14), speak (tongue 15), excrete (anus 16), and reproduce (genitals 17). • In order to act, the body needs to feel, so as to decide what needs to be done, for which five sense organs, eyes, ears, tongue, nose and skin (22) are given. The eyes see (23), the ears hear (24), the nose smells (25), the tongue can taste (26) and the skin feels (27). • The information from the organs of perception is brought to the mind (28). • On which, intelligence or reason presides (29). • Once the decision as to what needs to be done is made three separate products are possible—pain (30), pleasure (31) or hatred (32). • But these three are end products of desire which springs in the mind by way of the senses (33). • All of this arises out of an imperceptible factor hidden in nature called Mahat (34). • The creature thus formed shines with spirit, which alone is responsible for reason, or intelligence that is harboured within this creature and can lead to bliss21 by going beyond pain, pleasure and hatred (35).
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This conglomeration22 is called a flock (as in a flock of birds) (36), which is possible because of a binding force, fortitude or dhriti (mentioned earlier, 6). This flock will disperse when the spirit leaves it. Here are most of the verses that describe Kapil’s hypothesis: Earth and water Fire and wind Mixed with them Is the sky (elements 1-5) •
That is the crux of the matter And the field comes to happen That is how and why (the factor Mahat 34) …1554 And as to the nature and its evolution, here is how Dreams lie asleep When you are awake Or the moon is not around When the sun comes his way A child is a child But its youth is hidden away Or in the bud of a flower Fragrance held at bay An illness will wait For a man to go astray23 As the field (1to 5) comes to form The ego comes to stay (ego 7) Motivation and ego Cause a man to dance The smarter the man The greater is this chance And by sorrow, pain and torture He will be poked and lanced24 …1555 That is when reason Chooses good and bad From things that happen Which launch from desires’ pad (desire 33) …1556
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Worthless or worthy of praise Pleasure or pain Pure or stained Sin or else Big or small Reason knows it all Wedged between The spirit and the mind It sends its clarion25 call Bright and pure It stands noble and tall (reason 29), (mind 28) …1557 And here are some more verses as to how nature hides or exposes its potential A tree is hidden Within its seed Stars vanish As the night recedes Or as the sun sets Sleep slowly creeps Elements, ego and reason Nature hides within …1558 When the body forms Senses are born Sight and sound Touch and taste And smell as well The body adorns (18 –27) …1559 Between reason and the senses (reason 29) The mind comes to thrive Fickle in every sense Just a useless drive (mind 28) …1560 It is not true That the sky is blue Waves on water In a mirage The mind is neither
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True nor blue Just a useless façade26(mind 28) …1561 Motivation forms its roots Desires are its shoots And with the ego It is in cahoots27 (mind 28) …1562 Here duality is born Ignorance comes to form Where only senses inform (mind 28) …1563 Where the world comes to happen And dissolves Where expectations Arise and evolve Where ignorance Thrives and revolves Moved by the senses Man is in tangles28 and involved (mind 28) Thus the mind is in a frenzy29 Does things it should not Reason goes crazy And desires envelop thought …1564 When desires are unfulfilled Sorrow and pain arise (30) Envy, hatred and anger (32) Do not lag behind …1565 Bliss and joy are different (31) They lock speech, body and mind And when reason rises tall Life turns mellow and mild …1566 Life without joy and bliss (31) Is to be sorry and sad By your senses and their wishes Bliss cannot be had …1567
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The spirit is fresh and forever (35) From your toes up to your head Life is spring and showers In this body otherwise dead …1568 It brings the mind to brightness By asking reason to rise It always shines in earnest In all stages of life …1569 As to the neutrality of spirit, here is how it goes The king is not aware When his army wins the war The moon does not bother When the sea rises tall When the sun starts to walk The world goes about its task The magnet does nothing But iron comes to call It is reason that allows To bring the body and spirit on par …1570 About the coming of the body Dnyaneshwar uses the metaphor of parts A chariot is said to form By wheels, axle30 and car31 From limbs, torso and head A body comes to be born …1571 When words follow each other A sentence can come to happen To oil, wick and fire The name lamp is given From horses, men and arms An army is said to be risen …1572 Hands, legs and tongue Are organs that will act Together with the Limbs and genitals
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With energy that is vital Together perform acts (1 to 10) …1573 After giving this information about Kapil’s hypothesis, Dnyaneshwar avers that information is not the same as wisdom, realization or the experience of bliss. Says he about true knowledge That which banishes Insolence or arrogance And with which vanishes Duality32 and ignorance That which is beyond words And their futile utterance33 But that which is felt In a man’s benevolence34 …1574 Realization, says Dnyaneshwar, cannot be demonstrated but is usually perceived per se. He also says that In a mind by reason purified Goodness gets personified …1575 And this personification is depicted by him thus The spring is noticed By the freshness in the leaves Water in the ground And robust looking trees Softness of the soil Means sprouting of the seeds The love for a guest Lies in the treat35 When greatness is around Respect comes to be seen …1576 In one of the longest descriptions in the Dnyaneshwari, Dnyaneshwar explains virtue or greatness, or the personification of realization through a certain noble attitude or behaviour in man in the thirteenth chapter of the Geeta. Nearly 400 verses are used for this effort. And they will be covered in the chapters that follow, one virtue at a time.
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32.
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random – without aim, method or purpose bizarre – strange in appearance and effect inscrutability – from inscrutable=mysterious by nature milieu – environment, surrounding coarse – rough, lacking refinement monumental – outstanding, extremely great coherence – consistency, orderliness discern – perceive clearly with mind or senses albeit – though inanimate – not endowed with life animate – living aver – assert inscrutable – mysterious Brahma – the singularity from which the world evolved lynchpin – a person or a thing vital to an enterprise skeptic – inclined to doubt all accepted opinion metaphysics – the theoretical philosophy of being and knowing lapse – decline involute – curl around itself hypothetical – theoretical bliss – utter joy conglomerate – collect into a coherent mass astray – to lead to error or lead into sin lance – prick, cut, pierce, puncture clarion – a clear rousing sound façade – an outward, deceptive appearance be in cahoots (with) – in collusion with tangle – confusion, mess frenzy – wild excitement axle – a rod on which wheels are fixed car – passenger compartment duality – a principle where matter and spirit are considered two separate things 33. utterance – word, sound, statement, expression 34. benevolence – charity 35. treat – as in hospitality
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 184–215 Geeta Chapter 13
Chapter 80
The Inherent1 Contradiction The Material Man and Virtue
The following points summarize Kapil’s hypothesis: 1. Man mainly comes from natural evolution from a thing called ‘Mahat’. This evolution involves the creation of material which has to have three qualities or temperaments, namely 1) productive, 2) destructive or 3) preserving or caring. The material comes to exhibit action because of a tension between these qualities. There can be no action unless forces interplay with each other. 2. Depending on the preponderance2 of any one of these qualities, the nature of an action is determined. A man might be lazy or ignorant (tam, destructive), active and moved mainly by the senses (raj, productive) or he may be bright yet calm and lofty3 (sattwa, caring, preserving). The last is the closest to reason or intelligence which according to Kapil are a reflection of the spirit. 3. Each man has an independent spirit, a mere witness to what goes on in nature. It is inactive but endows the material man with reason, which allows man to know about his tendency towards one of the three qualities (tam, raj, sattwa). 4. Material instincts are born out of sensations in the mind which are moved by the ego, and are capable of producing effects such as pain and pleasure, strikingly so in a raj or productive type of person, by way of desires. 5. The sattwa tendency tends to overcome this phenomenon, is allied with reason, is able to recognize the play of senses and desire and harkens4 man towards his spiritual self from his material5 existence. 6. This is where the opposition between man’s material self and his spiritual background lies. To be good to others is easy when the self is fulfilled but the quantum of fulfilment varies. A. The Tamasi man (from tam) is lazy, ignorant and careless.
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The question of being good to self or others just does not arise. B. The rajsi man (from raj) is full of energy and is focused on self. He is a man on the move, feeding on the world that gives him desires and ambition and in turn he is productive in his pursuits. He appears to help others as he goes about through the motions of his life. He is more action than reason, more result-oriented than truly charitable. C. The man dominated by the sattwa principle lives in this world but sees through the world, his energy is well modulated, he is detached from what the world offers him yet gives all that he can to the world. He leads by example, is caring, gives more and takes less, his desires are under control, his ego is on a leash6, his mind is therefore quiet and majestic, not mercurial7 nor in a constant state of excitement or frenzy8. 7. Dominated by the sattwa principle, and enlightened by reason or intelligence when man can put his material self in its proper place, realization is said to have occurred and shows by way of a certain behaviour (the verse in the earlier chapter of the greening of a tree when the spring arrives, Verse 1576). Dnyaneshwar lays great store by virtuous behaviour and writes a total of approximately 400 verses on fifteen facets of virtue in a man’s behaviour. First he describes a man bereft of pride and later a man devoid of conceit. Here are the verses: In the face of competition He surrenders His greatness he thinks Is his greatest burden Like a deer facing a hunter Is frightened and shaken When he is praised He gets undone Or a swimmer caught in the rapids Is thrown asunder9 From all felicitations10 He runs away for certain And wants to be forgotten Acts like a madman Though full of wisdom
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Never ever argues Certainly not at random By friends and peers11 He wishes to be abandoned He hides his achievements And is noticed seldom Solitude is his kingdom The trees are his friends With the wind he is one And only with the sky He speaks with freedom and abandon ‌1577 A miser would rather lose his life Than show his treasure An ageing whore hides her age Is painted young forever ‌1578 A lady hides her skin Whatever place or season Or a farmer buries the seed In the sowing season This man hides The charity he might have done ‌1579 He does not dress For an occasion His clothes are uneven There is neither flattery nor silly fun When his words are spoken Richly read in scriptures12 Yet no credit is taken Emaciated13 and like a skeleton After so much that he has given His house is empty and vacant Even a hint of wind And the clouds are helter skelter driven But when they pour The rivers fill and are risen
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He overflows with benevolence14 Though poor and weak in appearance …1580 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
inherent – existent as a permanent characteristic preponderance – superiority, surpassing in influence lofty – of imposing height, towering (as applied to literary things) harken – listen attentively, to revert back to an earlier topic material – based on matter as opposed to spiritual leash – restraint mercurial – everchanging frenzy – wild excitement asunder – apart into pieces felicitation – words of congratulation peer – a person who is equal in ability, standing or rank scriptures – religious laws, sacred writings emaciated – wasted, shrunken, skinny benevolence – charity
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 216–338 Geeta Chapter 13
Chapter 81
Non-Violence
Notice the word non-violence. It is a derived word, perhaps conveying that violence is more basic than its counterpart. The oft-repeated statement ‘war was essential to achieve peace’ is in the same tradition. In a world where man must eat to survive, and what he eats is mostly living, non-violence is a difficult proposition to begin with. From Socrates (469–399 BC, Greek philosopher) to Gandhi (1869–1948, considered the father of modern India) the subject has been dealt with from different angles but has defied a clear-cut answer. Dnyaneshwar, like his predecessors and those who followed him, is no exception. In addition he is narrating the meaning of the Geeta which goads1 man to wage a justifiable war and indulge in fratricide2 with quiet composure. Those two words ‘quiet composure3’ are the theme of Dnyaneshwar’s exposition4 on non-violence. He suggests that actions are merely incidental, and that what one thinks is what matters in judging violence and non-violence. He starts by admitting that the subject of non-violence is difficult to deal with. About non-violence It is not easy to speak Let me relate What I mean …1581 He then gives some odd examples From its branches To make a fence To save that very tree …1582 To cut one’s hands And then to beg For one’s crying needs …1583
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Wreck a temple And surround the idol With its rubble and bricks …1584 Sacrifice lives For those who live Such nonsense Some scriptures5 speak …1585 Notice the contradictions in these verses. The last verse alludes to ritual religious sacrifices of animals to call on the god of rain in times of famine to save man. Verses 1582, 1583, and 1584 are the paradoxical6 background of this mentality. Dnyaneshwar adds In this scheme How is non-violence seen The science of health as well Has its weird schemes …1586 And then gives examples of what he thinks are these ‘bizarre7 schemes’ Roots, stems, skin and sap And branches of trees Dug, cut, sucked and boiled And stored in salts for a while Ashes from bones and bladders of bile From animals dead and alive This medicine to save life Or just being crude and vile8 …1587 The last two lines are no different from modern attitudes to scientific experiments on animals. Having commented on the traditional form of medicine, Dnyaneshwar then comments on social attitudes. First cheat and deceive And then arrange to hear What the scriptures speak With pomp and sheen9 …1588
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And then follows up with two oddities Wreck your home and with its rubble Build a gate with a fancy canopy10 Burn your blanket To get some heat …1589 The example of an animal is given to indicate a confused man who ends up not doing what he started off to do An elephant in water in the wild Never completely clean and neat …1590 And some odd examples, also involving animals, follow Sell your cattle to build their shed Free your parrot Then buy a cage This is foolish Dnyaneshwar says …1591 Dnyaneshwar cites extreme cults11 who advocate repeated straining of water so that small organisms do not become part of food and drink. They strain water to avoid death But the strain of straining Brings on death …1592 Dnyaneshwar also mentions the practice of eating raw food in this connection and its impracticability They will eat What is unripe And end up Suffering a gripe …1593 And finally adds This is what I mean Non-violence is difficult to define …1594 But comes to grips with the subject with the following verses But listen Let me now come to the point And explain this
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From a different point Watch how Things behave That will open windows To their minds From those windows Truth will shine Which you will Easily find …1595 Watch a crane Catch a fish Its step so neat and fine Hardly a ripple In the lapping stream Does not break its rhyme12 …1596 About a bumblebee come to steal the pollen from a flower Dnyaneshwar writes Gentleness tenderness Is of the essence As the bee lands on the petals Hardly marking its presence …1597 Notice that the acts of eating the fish and taking away the pollen are both unfair acts, so to say, but they are natural acts and Dnyaneshwar concentrates on the gentle nuances13 of the actions rather than on the actors themselves. Thoreau who lived like a hermit at Walden Pond in New England and wrote, has remarked on the slow pace of nature. He said he was never late for what he came to see because nature moved with a grace that only nature can. (Thoreau, 1817–1862, American author and philosopher. Walden Pond, a place where he lived in the woods all by himself.) Taking a cue from the earlier verse on the crane, Dnyaneshwar describes how this non-violent man walks His path is strewn With life small and fine So his measured step Is almost sublime14 …1598
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The road he walks Fills with empathy15 Love flows As he proceeds …1599 A cat holding its kitten With its teeth …1600 Tenderness in her eyes So very mild As the mother gets ready To feed her child …1601 The gentle stirrings Of lotus leaves His every act Soothes the eyes Such careful steps So that gods can sleep …1602 16
Soft and gentle in his tread Because even grass Is rich with life An ant might cross a hill Or a gnat might cross the sea But he won’t cross Another’s path or sight …1603 He breathes gently and with ease His speech is love’s treat His teeth are buttons of sweets Words follow, love precedes Blessings pour before he speaks His counsel he keeps He never butts in When others speak Lest he hurt Who is to speak Or startle others With his speech …1604
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But when he speaks To the ears It’s a treat A divine song come to sing Neither sarcasm17 nor irony18 No incentive19 for sin No words that will hurt Or touch the raw to the quick Neither stubborn nor passionate Without a hidden scheme Not tempting nor given to cheat Face filled with calm repose Eyebrows loosely knit All is peace …1605 The blind refusing to see The dumb giving up speech* …1606 * To show an extreme, how quiet and unseen the atmosphere will be
Never given to staring Lest the stare displease And on occasion when he sees Moonlight flows in streams His limbs follow his speech Actions are not their need He will not hold a truncheon20 Nor a spindly21 stick He does not claw his hands Lest the sky be pricked For fear the hair might be ruffled He does not caress the skin His hands are never free Folded together and neat And he signs with them To those in need To say fear not, blessed be Or he touches another to soothe Hot fevered skin Like a cool mountain breeze …1607
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It is here that Dnyaneshwar delivers the final message – that it is what you think that really matters, that your limbs only obey your thoughts, and that they are subsidiary. That, in fact, they are like the shores of the sea which get filled with tides that arise from the depth of the ocean (that is your mind). Here are examples to stress the point. Are branches not the tree Or water not the same as the sea It is the sun that sends Rays in a stream From the trunk the limbs cannot be free What breeds in the mind Is what is finally seen A sprout from a pregnant seed Action follows life A spring forms a stream Fragrance breaches the petal’s seams A puppet moves on a string A shore filled with tides Or a teacher’s hand that guides …1608 As mentioned in the small introduction to this group of verses, Dnyaneshwar tries to do his best in an inherently22 difficult situation. The original verses are considered a classic in Marathi literature for their soft nuance as well as the sharp edge that they carry when criticizing hypocrisy. But Dnyaneshwar is unable, like all his predecessors, to sort out the problem of defining non-violence precisely. He is somewhat different from the others in highlighting the attitude or the mental frame that precedes a certain action. But at its best this is a compromise rather than a clear-cut exposition of what non-violence is. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
goads – stimulates fratricide – the killing of one’s brother or sister composure – calmness, a tranquil manner exposition – explanation, commentary scriptures – religious law, sacred writing paradoxical – ironic, contradictory bizarre – strange, weird, peculiar vile – disgusting, shameful, morally bad sheen – a gloss or lustre on the surface canopy – a covering held over a throne, bed or person cult – a popular or fashionable or a narrow form of religious practice
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rhyme – used here in the sense of a certain identity of a regular sound nuance – shade, subtle (difference in meaning or shade) sublime – highly refined empathy – to identify and have a feeling for tread – step, foot as in a walk sarcasm – a bitter or a wounding remark, taunt irony – an expression, often humourous or sarcastic but with double meaning incentive – encouragement, inducement truncheon – a short thick stick carried as a weapon spindly – long or thin inherent – innate, inborn, hereditary
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 339–352 Geeta Chapter 13
Chapter 82
Patience, Forbearance and Forgiveness
The last word from the title of this chapter, forgiveness, comes closest to the Sanskrit word ‘kshama’, which Dnyaneshwar explains in this short chapter. Kshama is also a name given to our earth, probably because it gives all it can to man (without complaining) and in return man is probably not as fair as he should be to her. He draws from her, lives off her yet he does not always care for her as much as he should. The earth does not retaliate1, only bears with man and even suffers on account of him. That quality is what Dnyaneshwar describes as he proceeds with his description of various virtues. Adversity is borne As if Ornaments are worn …1609 To wear ornaments brings on a feeling of pleasure for women. The earth in Sanskrit as well is of the feminine gender, called prithvi. Adversities are also borne with the same feeling. It is further added Crisis and want Are endured With carefree aplomb2 …1610 What is desired And what is not Both are received Without any qualms3 …1611 Honoured or disgraced Delighted or distressed Praised or defamed He remains untamed …1612
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To give some examples The mountain is not Weighed down by its peaks The boar* carries the earth With the greatest of ease The earth is not spent As it nurses its breed The rivers might pour But the sea will suffice …1613 * The boar (Indian mythology), one of the various incarnations who carried the earth on its shoulders
The thought That he bears it all That thought Does not exist at all …1614 Whatever happens Good maybe or bad It’s not from without Always in his thoughts And For sure he knows That special he is not …1615 The last verse rejects the tendency to externalize one’s sorrows. A man with forbearance and forgiveness never blames external forces for his predicament4 and realizes that emotions are mind games. By understanding his interior he faces the world without assigning blame to his circumstances. 1. 2. 3. 4.
retaliate – counter, strike back aplomb – assurance, confidence qualm – doubt, second thought predicament – difficulty, crisis
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 353–367 Geeta Chapter 13
Chapter 83
Simplicity and Openheartedness
When a person does not lay great store by his own special identity, he becomes free in a beautiful kind of way. He has nothing left to hide, he has no plans or schemes that he must formulate and his openness allows him to interact with his surroundings in a very natural way which is automatically equitable to all with whom he relates. Here are the verses. The sun shines equal For all Space welcomes whomever That comes to call His mind is the same For one and all …1616 The world he knows From beginning to end As if it is His bosom1 friend …1617 Like the child tells all To its beloved mother And opens its heart Without a bother …1618 Fragrance once released You cannot impound2 His heart is open And cannot be bound …1619 He plans nothing No schemes up his sleeve
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Not stuck to nothing Nor begs for his leave …1620 The above lines indicate that he is not particularly attached to anything nor wants to leave; he is content just where he is. His ideas are simple Straight as the wind Neither doubt nor greed Can twist his mind …1621 1. 2.
bosom friend – close, intimate, cherished friend impound – confiscate, shut up, collect and confine
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 368–460 Geeta Chapter 13
Chapter 84
The Adoration of the Guru
It is only in what Toynbee (1889–1975, English historian) calls Indic civilization that one finds the concept of the Guru, without whom, (except in rare instances of incarnations1) realization of the ultimate truth does not arrive in man. Dnyaneshwar mentions the concept of Guru several times, has written a few verses on the subject in the introduction to the Dnyaneshwari (see Chapter 18 in this book for the meaning and genesis of the word guru) and makes it quite clear that had it not been for his guru Nivrutti (who was also his elder brother), he would not have been able to narrate even one verse of the nine thousand and odd that he ultimately narrates. It is the custom in all Indian writing of any worth to start with the letter Aum, which is the primal uncaused sound that reverberated and spread to create space at the beginning of the universe (see Chapters 1, 16, 104); then to equate this primal sound with Brahma and also to remember one’s guru who teaches you about Brahma (that indescribable singularity2 from which the universe spreads). In fact Dnyaneshwar is known to have called his guru Brahma for the simple reason that the guru is the source of all knowledge for his pupil not unlike Brahma which also must be the origin of all that there is, including the knowledge about Brahma itself. While describing the practice of virtues which is synonymous to the realization of the ultimate truth, Dnyaneshwar pauses the longest on gurubhakti, the word bhakti to mean to adore, honour, worship or devote. Bhakti is a feminine abstract noun and the one who practices bhakti is a bhakta, meaning worshipper, adorer, devotee, votary, or a faithful attendant. Such is the faith that Dnyaneshwar has in the importance, effect, and power of the guru and gurubhakti that he narrates 100 verses on that one concept. Several of them are steeped in mythological stories (nearly 25) and are not translated here but most others have been translated in this chapter. In my mind, (the translator here) surrounded as I am by the modern system
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of education, the concept of a guru may not have vanished entirely. But with all due respect to Dnyaneshwar, I am left wondering if Dnyaneshwar has gone overboard in his verses about the adoration for a guru. Perhaps we moderns are not equipped to understand the concept. Maybe for that very reason the concept does need to be elaborated with great vigour to preserve its pristine3 and age-old significance and its use. Here are the verses. Dnyaneshwar begins by describing the territory of gurubhakti. It is that soil Where fortune smiles Sorrow dissolves And Brahma arrives …1622 And the intensity and nature of the bhakti is described as under. Starting with a river, he explains With all her water She pours into the sea …1623 Into the uncaused sound* Enter the Vedic4 hymns5 …1624 * See introduction to this chapter, the first primal sound Aum and also chapter 1, 16, 104.
To her husband Gives her body and soul A devoted wife …1625 He gives his all For his guru’s life …1626 And yearns for the guru As a beloved might …1627 In case the guru is not near his bhakta (adorer, devotee), this is what transpires If the guru is In a distant land The wind that flows From that land He tries to stop
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With his outstretched hand And speaks to the wind That has arrived From that distant land …1628 And just in case the bhakta does receive a message from his guru, Dnyaneshwar unfolds several metaphors6 to describe the effect that this message produces in the bhakta. A dying man Springs to life A drying seed Sprouts alive A fish from a pond In the sea arrives Gold hidden The wretched find All of a sudden Vision for the blind The beggar happens To be crowned a king Then to the sky He clasps and clings …1629 To describe the state of mind of an ideal bhakta, Dnyaneshwar narrates the following verses: The purity of his heart Is the guru’s home and hearth7 In that space is The guru’s berth His body and mind Are the guru’s décor Bliss and joy In his mind and thoughts His life’s incense*8 Burns bright and hot …1630 * To indicate that his mind burns like incense for his guru.
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Later, in a series of imaginative pairs the following verses are narrated in the words of the bhakta: The guru is the cow I am the calf …1631 In his net I should be caught …1632 He my husband I am betroth9 …1633 I am the slave He my lord …1634 As his entourage Let me walk …1635 I will become His pots and pans …1636 I will capture His loving glance …1637 Then follows a succession of verses in the first person singular where the bhakta imagines his relationship with the guru. His home and servant I will be Across his door I will sleep I want to become The shoes on his feet The cover on his head I will be And it will be held Also by me Him on the way I will guide And to clear his path None but me Water to drink I will give
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And water for his bath I will heat His seat to sit Let me be I will cook Whatever he eat And I will clean up After he eats His bed I will make Fresh and neat I will massage His tired feet I will be the throne On which he will sit Wherever his mind I will be When he wants to hear The words be me Whatever he touches That thing be me I will be the sight That he will see His favourite flavour I want to be The fragrance he likes That will be me Whatever his things I will be I will serve him Till I live When I die Let his thought survive Earth or ashes All at his feet ‌1638 Several verses then follow in the same vein but in a slightly different manner. To the water he touches I the stream ‌1639
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The lamps that are lit For him to see I will merge with those lights With utter delight …1640 The fan that he uses To ward off heat That fan I will become To stir the breeze …1641 In the space That he lives The space in me I will lease Serve I will And never will I cease …1642 Switching to the third person, about the bhakta Dnyaneshwar adds Night or day He forgets Serve he does More or less Happier he is The more he gets (to serve) …1643 When he serves The sky is the limit His body races with His mind and spirit …1644 He is thin and lean He serves so hard But with the guru’s love He grows fat …1645 The guru’s wish Is where he lives The guru’s family Is where he thrives
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On these ideas He survives …1646 The guru is all The guru is God Father and mother Karma and all …1647 The guru’s name Are scriptures10 divine No other prayer Touches his mind …1648 The water that touches The guru’s feet Or the words that come From the guru’s speech Or the dust that flies As he walks with speed All for him Are the heaven’s beat …1649 In this manner Who serves his guru Is the seat of knowledge Pure and true Divine he is And divine truth …1650 Reverting to the first person singular, Dnyaneshwar says I spoke at length It is true My heart is filled With my guru It’s my wish That I serve him true But I will fail To tell you the truth …1651
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And then describes his failure I am a hand But without a palm I have eyes But blind I am Weak and crippled My legs have gone …1652 On this slightly helpless note the verses conclude. Dnyaneshwar sets very high standards in gurubhakti and ends by admitting that he is unable to achieve his own standards. As mentioned in the introduction to this chapter, this is a difficult chapter for a modern man to comprehend but needs to be written for the sake of tradition and also lest the idea of gurubhakti be forgotten in time.
1. 2.
incarnation – spirit appearing in flesh (human) singularity – a term used in physics, a dense single thing without surrounding space from which the world came about 3. pristine – pure, in its original condition 4. Vedic – from Ved, Indian religious and philosophical literature 5. hymns – songs sung to God 6. metaphor – imaginative use of word, term or phrase 7. hearth – a warm place in a home, usually near a fire 8. incense – a gum producing a sweet smell when burnt for religious purposes 9. betroth – married 10. scriptures – religious law, sacred writings
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 461–482 Geeta Chapter 13
Chapter 85
Purity
Like non-violence purity is a virtue which has something to do with a man’s inner self and shines through (please see Chapter 81). But Dnyaneshwar warns that hypocrisy can present with similar appearances which must be guarded against. Here are the verses which show purity in its proper light. A diamond’s lustre Is its inner core Though it appears to shine From its outer pores …1653 In and out The sun shines bright The sun is nothing But shining light …1654 Dnyaneshwar then gives many examples of inner purity and external appearances. Water and soap Can wash your skin In a dhobi’s1 pot Cloth turns clean A mirror is wiped To regain its sheen But a man is pure By the truth within When he is not Pure within Whatever he does Is like sin …1655
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A garland of flowers On a derelict2 home Golden paint On hollow domes …1656 Painted fruits Of clay and dung Holy bath For a smelly skunk* …1657 * The original verse features a donkey
A widow’s make-up** With rouge and paint A hungry creature On whom food is spread (but not put in the mouth) …1658 ** Traditionally, in India, a widow cannot use any external embellishments
A cadaver covered with livery Bitter gourd3 dipped in jaggery4 …1659 The inside must be Clean and true The body will then Sing in tune Purity shines Through and through A crystal lamp glows With a soothing hue …1660 When doubts Enter the mind Unfair deeds Are not far behind …1661 He does listen And sees it all But his reason remains Pure and tall …1662
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Clouds appear Across the sky But the sky is not Touched at all …1663 His senses do Savour the world But trapped he is not By the sensuous5 world …1664 A royal lady Or of a lower caste He sees them not And lets them pass …1665 A woman embracing Spouse and son One with desire The other wholesome …1666 With noble thoughts His heart does swell Fair and unfair The mind knows well …1667 A diamond in water Will not dissolve Cooking will not soften Gravel hard …1668 The verses end with a diamond and also gravel, which is accidentally being cooked with rice. The hardness of both the objects is purity, it has nothing soft about it, it (purity) has to be practised with a certain determination, and then alone can its manifestations6 appear in a man’s behaviour which benefit society. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
dhobi – a man who washes clothes (Indian word) derelict – in bad condition, not used or cared for gourd – a climbing or trailing plant which bears fleshy fruit jaggery – a raw vegetable sugar sensuous – of the senses, bodily pleasures manifestation – a happening, an occurrence
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar Dnyaneshwari Verses 483–511 Geeta Chapter 13
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Chapter 86
Restraint
In a manner of speaking, purity, described in the preceding chapter is a twin of the virtue ‘restraint’ described in this chapter. It is only by restraint that the mind can be kept away from the sensuous1 world, and when the mind is thus conditioned to go empty of the senses, purity can dwell in one’s mind. Reason can then shine forth in all its splendour. It follows that, unencumbered2 by desire, reason can contemplate3 the true meaning of life. The body and the mind, after all, are sheer appendages4 grown out of ‘that thing’ or the soul, or Brahma5. The appendages go about their task but reason tells man that they have to be taken in his stride. Here is how the verses go. A cow at pasture Her thoughts with her calf The greedy might travel But their mind is on their stocks* A man of restraint Busy at his task But his mind is firm and taut** And never distraught6 …1669 * To indicate business interests ** To mean, he is not swayed by the effects or results of the task at hand
The verses are in a way, a parody7. For a cow to eat grass away from its shed, for a businessman to travel or for a man to earn a living through work are natural preoccupations. Yet the verses show where the minds and hearts of these subjects are or how fixed they are. It is an oblique kind of way to show the nature of restraint, by showing examples which are exactly the opposite, as in the cow or the businessman, later ending with a man whose mind is restrained though occupied with a certain job.
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Dnyaneshwar continues by giving examples of firmness. The clouds might fly But not the sky …1670 Planets will circle Near and far Never does move The northern star* …1671 * To indicate the pole star called Dhruv, from the root ‘Dhru’, in Sanskrit to mean stable.
Men might come Or they might go The road still lies Where it was …1672 The earth will remain Steady and firm As the storm comes to gather And then comes to pass …1673 To describe this restrained man further From the pangs of poverty He is safe By fear and sorrow Does not shake At the time of death Does not break …1674 Hope and agony Illness or age Greed and sex Censure8 or praise The sky may vanish Or the earth might melt His mind is fixed To the soul, his mate …1675 This man’s real mate is the soul, not the mind. The soul remains untrammelled9 and unspoilt by the vicissitudes10 that the mind believes the world brings. In the company of this mate (his soul), he becomes like his mate.
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To give further examples of this man’s strength Can an elephant cower11 When goaded12 with flowers …1676 This man When showered with abuse Neither pales nor glowers13 …1677 Further The sky will not burn From a forest fire The Mandar* cannot be shaken By the ocean’s ire** …1678 * A huge mythological mountain ** Anger, to indicate a high tide
And this man By billowing14 winds of greed or pain He cannot be tossed, such is his grain15 …1679 To give more examples of how he will not give up restraint As the bee is to the honey Or the miser to his money …1680 Or A soldier cannot Let go of his arms A mother keeps her child Away from harm …1681 This man He looks after his reason With care and alarm Lest from the senses* He comes to be harmed …1682 * sense organs/associated with bodily pleasures
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Says this man If my reason with senses Are together brought …1683 Greed, lust and anger May tie Their dreaded knots …1684 To give an amusing example, Dnyaneshwar brings together the tendency to gossip and that thing called mind. A gossiping wife Is best locked at home This man locks his mind And leaves it all alone …1685 And further His body too is harnessed To this effort and this cause And the senses are restrained Without a pause …1686 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
sensuous – derived from the senses encumber – burden, hamper; unencumbered is the opposite contemplate – survey with eyes or mind appendage – something attached Brahma – ‘that thing’ from which the universe evolved distraught – troubled with worry or fear parody – a travesty, to mean in this case, a deliberate misinterpretation, as a literary style censure - criticism untrammelled – not restricted, not restrained vicissitude – variation in fortune cower – shrink back goad – a spiked stick used to incite or move cattle (or animals) glower – stare or scowl angrily billowing – rising or rolling like waves grain – here, to indicate a certain tough nature
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar Dnyaneshwari Verses 512–523 Geeta Chapter 13
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Chapter 87
Asceticism1
Asceticism, in a way, arises from purity and restraint, described in the two previous chapters and that asceticism is not meant for ordinary mortals is evident from the verses that Dnyaneshwar narrates here. The verses, in fact, touch on the morbid2, perhaps because he wanted to show how strongly he feels on the subject. Asceticism, after all, means a very severe form of discipline, a complete rejection of bodily pleasures and a practice of restraint for spiritual reasons. Here are the verses. In order to show how an ascetic rejects desire, Dnyaneshwar says To embrace the dead Is not thought fit Poison is not What you eat The mouth does not water At a vomit …1687 No one enters A burning house A tiger’s lair3 You do not arouse …1688 Near a smelting furnace Who will go Of a boa’s4 coils Make a pillow …1689 This is how He treats desire Keeps away From its fire …1690
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The ascetic man is then described Thin and lean Full of restraint Desires tamed Penance5 and austerities6 Vows and faith …1691 His way of life itself is a penance, he practises austerities, he does not fall prey to temptations and he has full faith in the way he leads his life and any doubts on this score have been completely dispersed from his mind. To describe him further, Dnyaneshwar describes a hermit7 He likes to live By himself With yogic* drills He tames himself Even the thought of people He dispels …1692 * a set of physical postures
The end of this group of verses is very morbid6. As has been elaborated in an earlier chapter, in the Indian philosophical thinking, heaven is only a modified form of hell because to seek heaven is to seek a reward. That thought is reflected in this morbid verse. This ascetic thinks To enjoy the world Is to bathe in pus To think of heaven Is to eat rotten flesh …1693
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
asceticism – severe self-discipline and restraint, rejection of all pleasures for spiritual reasons morbid – unhealthy, not wholesome, sick lair – tiger’s abode boa – a large, non-venomous snake penance – to punish oneself (usually for sins) austerity – severe simplicity hermit – any person living in solitude
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar Dnyaneshwari Verses 524–592 Geeta Chapter 13
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Chapter 88
Lack of Pride and Conceit
Pride is defined as a feeling of elation or satisfaction at achievements or qualities or possessions. Its meaning is also given as a high or overbearing opinion of one’s worth, achievements or importance. Conceit is a word in the same genre1. Notice the title of this chapter. Like the word non-violence (see Chapter 81), here too the words pride and conceit have been prefixed with ‘lack of’ to convey a certain state of mind, when pride and conceit, the mind’s natural inhabitants, are disowned. What emerges is more than humility or a humble individual. For example What is his He surely does But never does think He who does …1694 His actions are spontaneous, as in nature, where taking credit cannot even be imagined. The Ganga* flowing to the east The sun’s daily tryst2 The freedom with which roams the breeze Fruits growing on trees Clouds run with fleeting feet The ease with which scriptures3 speak The speed with which beads will slip (From a broken string) …1695 * the river Ganges, considered sacred, holy
Notice the natural flow in all the lines of this verse. This man is so engrossed in work that he has completely forgotten who he is
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and what he once set to achieve. He is like a drunkard, drunk with work, but not with its consequences. What a drunkard wears Knows he not A weapon given In a picture’s hand (as in a painting) On an animal’s back Scriptures land …1696 A weapon in a painting is only that much, a picture, and scriptures are of no use to an animal. Such is the mental state of this man, totally oblivious to his identity vis-à-vis his achievements. This man knows that pride and conceit are his greatest enemies and he remembers these enemies like A weapon in a wound Always hurts And does not melt Gravel4 in the eye Is always felt …1697 He knows that pride and conceit mean attachment, and that this embedding in attachments and expectations will hinder realization and a release from the cycle of birth and death. Karma or duty has to be done dispassionately. If not, he will have to go through life again This man knows Why he was born His previous karma* Had him formed …1698 * deeds in his previous life
indicating the cyclical nature of the world, a theme common to all Indian philosophical systems. That is why he strives harder to achieve release. A losing gambler Raises his stake (to give up all) A son’s revenge For his father’s sake (to eliminate the past) …1699
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Notice in the above verses the passage of time and change in attitude and a greater effort on the part of the subject to rid himself of attachment and involvement. Notice also the metaphors5 from the everyday world. An insult shames A decent man He is ashamed That he was born …1700 To be born was an insult and he is going to redress this situation. And this is how he will take care to see that he is not born again Ready to fight Before the war gets due Ready to swim As the river is viewed …1701 He knows the precautions that he must take The shield is used Before the weapon is on you Medicines are a must Before disease kills you …1702 And he knows how life will progress He anticipates Birth and age Disease and death Sorrow and fate …1703 He knows that going through life is not child’s play, it requires thinking A man must be armed If the enemy is strong He is amply warned Before desires throng …1704 Desires are a very strong enemy. So well prepared is he and so dispassionately he will spend his life that With this life itself The future is stalled (of recurring death and birth)
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Of death and its throes6 Not afraid at all …1705 The cycles of birth and death are a constant thought in his mind. He knows that the cycles occur because of attachment and that pride and conceit are its symptoms. Gnaw7 at his heart The cycles of lives And many a death And avert the threat Of recurring death …1706 That gnawing is a constant reminder. He welcomes ageing and is not filled with trepidation8 on its arrival. When he is young He knows he will age He is ready and willing For this ripe old age …1707 He knows that his body will become a burden, that he will need help, that old age has no cure. This body so full All shapely flesh He knows for sure Will shrivel and age Like a luckless man’s Wretched9 phase A majestic king Without his aides …1708 And he knows how he will look and feel. Dnyaneshwar is withering10 in this section. His nose in his youth Shapely and keen Will soon resemble A camel’s knee* Unable to smell And useless be
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As if cattle have straddled** And trod upon His head so full of hair Will be bare and shorn …1709 * The camel’s knee is large and unshapely ** The original simile draws upon the floor in a cattle-shed pockmarked with hoofs
Eyes so pretty Like lotus flowers Will hang like gourds** Ripe and lower …1710 ** A specific, long, spindly gourd is mentioned in the original verse. It becomes yellowish and wrinkly when overripe. With muscles gone weak, the eyelids become ptotic11 in old age.
Eyebrows will hang Loose and low The chest will fill (with phlegm12) And tears will flow …1711 This is a combined imagery of a tired old man with half-closed eyes, coughing, expectorating sputum, and unable to control tears because of the flaccid muscles of the eyelids (also called senile epiphora). Like the babul’s stem* Is messed by lizards** Spit and stains Crowd his mouth’s innards13 …1712 * Babul is a tree common to the Deccan plateau with a rough stem, sparse leaves and plenty of spines on which small lizards thrive ** Lizard’s mess, both spit and excreta
Like the niche14 in the kitchen Where waste is kept The nose will fill With a bubbly paste …1713 From an old traditional Indian kitchen with an earthen stove and without proper drainage, where waste would be kept, and from where it would drain to the outskirts of the dwelling.
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The teeth that shine And the mouth that speaks The teeth will fall And with the phlegm will reek (the mouth) The tongue won’t lift And refuse to speak …1714 Hair will fall From the chin and the face Like bristles will fly* Without a trace …1715 * The image evoked here is that of barren patches of land in the wild common to the Deccan plateau.
When rains arrive Hills flow and ooze Spit will spill From gaping teeth Wide and loose …1716 15
Speech will wane Ears will close The body will look Like a monkey’s pose …1717 In the wind that blows Scarecrows16 wave With passage of time The body will shake …1718 Legs will wobble Hands won’t move A man will appear Like a joker on show …1719 The world will hope That he will soon die The family will tire But he won’t die …1720
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Women will shriek He looks like a ghost Children will faint When they see him up close …1721 This is what Our man foresees And plans his life Careful and wise …1722 Listens to the good word Till he turns deaf Becomes a pilgrim Till his legs can take Sings those verses That wisdom make Gives in charity Before the hands start to shake Thinks of the truth Till his mind is awake …1723 He thinks Give your wealth Before robbed by stealth17 Packs up in time Till the lamp shines All he hives18 Before old age arrives …1724 In order to inform man that he should be prudent in what he does at every stage, Dnyaneshwar gives the following example: When darkness comes And the birds fly home If a man was to enter An abandoned dome19 He would be nabbed By sinister gnomes20 He should have chosen The safety of his home …1725
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Travel you must But be back on time Do not surrender To your youth and prime …1726 Sesame*21 tree May magical be But it too has limits Can’t shake it for free …1727 * Sesame seeds are valuable for their oil, which also has medicinal value, to indicate that everything has limits
Those who know That the end will come To them in their youth Wisdom has come …1728 And in this regard prompt action is warranted When a finger is bit By a venomous snake It better be cut Because life is at stake …1729 And finally, this man’s technique of insulating himself from this world is graphically23 described. Separation or sorrow Calamity or grief Enter the mind From the bodily sieves*24 This he perceives And chokes up the sieves And whatever they offer Does not receive …1730 22
* ear, nose, eyes, etc., the nine holes
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
genre – kind, style tryst – a time and a place for a meeting (usually for lovers) scriptures – religious law, sacred writings gravel – a coarse sand particle metaphor – imaginative use of word, term or phrase throe – severe pain associated with death
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gnaw – bite persistently trepidation – a feeling of fear or alarm wretched – sad, miserable withering – scornful ptotic – hanging lower, drooping phlegm – a thick viscous substance secreted by the mucous membrane innards – insides, usually used to describe intestines niche – a shallow recess to store things wane – reduce in intensity, vigour scarecrow – human figure dressed in old clothes and set up in a field to scare away birds by stealth – by an underhand method hive – to separate from a larger group, usually used in commercial or financial reporting dome – a round roof with a circular base gnome – a figure with a sinister influence, a goblin, a mischievous dwarf-like figure sesame (tree) – Indian plant with seeds yielding edible oil; also used in Arabian folklore to obtain what is normally unobtainable insulate – isolate, protect graphically – here used to indicate creation of images by words sieve – a perforated utensil
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 593–602 Geeta Chapter 13
Chapter 89
Detachment
To be a part of this world (perforce1) yet to not be involved in the goings-on, to participate yet be a witness, to be an automaton2 (in a sense) is the art and virtue of detachment. Detachment is the opposite of attachment. The verses on this quality are few but at least one is quite jarring. That lack of feeling For a rented home That is how he sees His flesh and bones …1731 When in the shade Of a tree he rests Or when he walks this life Far and long Or the shadow that he casts Whether short or long Hardly does he notice And not for long To the woman in his life He does not belong For sex and its pleasure He does not long …1732 Cattle sit and rest Under an uncaring tree From the love for his children He is completely free …1733 The man is Neither joy nor lament3 As a witness to an event
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He views the world And its varied fervent4 In poverty or riches Serene and content …1734 In the original verse the witness is mentioned to have been called to narrate an event to which he is not connected. And lastly The sea In scorching summer Or pouring rain The sky When seasons come Or when they change The sun Morning and noon And when it fades In fact Are unchanged And the same …1735
1. 2. 3. 4.
perforce – forcibly automaton – a person who behaves mechanically lament – a passionate expression of sorrow fervent – agitation, excitement
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 603–614 Geeta Chapter 13
Chapter 90
Undivided Faith (and solitude)
It is in the nature of undivided and complete faith that man will yearn1 for solitude from and in this world. Shrikrishna (symbolic of Brahma), describes in the words of Dnyaneshwar such men whose faith is complete and undivided (in him). Says Shrikrishna They have decided In their body speech and mind I am the only one of a kind …1736 They have vowed That it is only me Whom they desire And wish to find …1737 They want to be In the same bed as me And with me in a bind …1738 Or as in a loving devoted wife Surrender to her husband With her body, thought and mind …1739 Or as in the oft-repeated metaphor2 of the river A river pours into the sea Never looking behind …1740 The unity of the faithful with their God is such that one is always with the other It is in our eyes That waves rise But it’s only water In another guise3
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Light arrives With the rising sun And departs hand in hand With the setting sun …1741 And this undivided faith brings an intense desire for solitude Lives by a lake Or a river To people and towns He is averse4 A lonely cave He prefers And lives in that cave For ever …1742
1. 2. 3. 4.
yearn – to have a strong emotional longing metaphor – imaginative use of word, term or phrase guise – dress, appearance, pretence averse – unwilling, reluctant
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 615–654 Geeta Chapter 13
Chapter 91
Brahma1 Realization/Final destination
Faith by itself is said to be a great saviour. But it saves from what? It protects you from distraction from the ultimate truth and therefore from spiritual destitution2. It is true that the world is real, it must be lived in, even enjoyed, so to say, by the dint of work that a man is enjoined to do. Karma cannot be brushed aside, it surrounds us, is a part of us, in fact we are a bundle or an embodiment3 of karma. But all that notwithstanding, the transfigured4 world is less real than Brahma4, the all-pervading pristine5 entity. From an intangible6 purity to the act of formation is, in a way, a certain deformation. The world can therefore become an infatuating7 and distracting maze8 and the faithful counters this by remembering the principle called Brahma. If virtue and goodness transcend9 the material aspect of man and are therefore pure, they only replicate Brahma which transcends the whole of the material world. Therefore, Shrikrishna, while summing up the narration on goodness and virtue ends this section by alluding to the ultimate pristine principle ‘Brahma’ or ‘that thing’ which must be man’s objective. Man must want to know about ‘that thing’, which is what is to be known and in the process man gets ultimate knowledge or the knowledge of the ultimate. It is an arduous10 distracting journey but as your passage takes you near the objective, even that nearness is like an arrival. Those who do not venture on this journey are in danger of spiritual destitution (please see Chapter 92). That thing Brahma Is the final station Heaven cannot be A consideration And this life here Must not be a distraction All roads except the one to Brahma And their permutations11
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Deserve rejection The world and its knowledge Is mere infatuation Only the knowledge of Brahma Is perfection And that decision Must be firm and full of conviction And even the anticipation Of the final destination Can amount to divine emancipation12 And for that final near approximation What is needed is vision Reason and its illumination Lest you remain blind And plunge in ignorance And spiritual destitution* …1743 * see next chapter 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
Brahma – the singularity from which the world spread destitution – a state in which one is impoverished, down and out, bankrupt embodiment – expression, concretisation transfigure – change in form or appearance pristine – in its original condition intangible – unable to be grasped infatuating – fascinating, capable of holding spellbound maze – a puzzling network, confused mass transcend – go beyond the range or grasp of human reason arduous – difficult to achieve permutation – any combination or selection from a specified number of things emancipation – release, freedom from restraint, freedom, liberation
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 655–863 Geeta Chapter 13
Chapter 92
Spiritual Destitution1
In the ultimate analysis, ‘realization’ or ‘truth’ must mean knowledge about the fundamental constituent of this universe, whatever name we may call it by, (‘Brahma’ or ‘that thing’ or ‘God’). Even assuming that some of us come to this realization of the truth spontaneously, that awakening lacks objective evidence for others. Mysticism2 or revealed truth do have a certain standing amongst some of us and some have faith which allows them to constructively shut out the external world and attain peace of mind. But many of us are not lucky enough, (or gullible3 enough) to be able to follow these paths. The world beckons our enquiring mind and a natural albeit 4 incomplete attempt gets launched, by which the mysteries of this universe unfold bit by bit. The word ‘discover’ implies that the cover is removed. It is a long process, this of discovery, and it is generally assumed that each discovery takes us nearer the ultimate truth. Though this route is labelled as science, and though science brings forth images only of test tubes and laboratories, and computers and refrigerators and complicated calculations, science, in fact, has wider ramifications. In the Indian philosophical context dating to 500 BC, science implies everything that deals with the evolved world. That includes everything form grammar to geography, from etymology5 to the laws of energy. Even culinary6 arts is a science, so is sexology and psychology. Science enables us to know about the world and as is being said now, information is power, and power in turn allows you to rule the world. But power is a double-edged weapon. Scientific knowledge and power not only enables man and but also has the potential to intoxicate him. The control of germs may mean eradication of disease but it can also mean germ warfare. The great irony of the modern world is that Alfred Nobel (1833–1896) who made money by manufacturing explosives should also be commemorated with a peace prize. Fires have always occurred in the universe at large and on this earth even before man started to
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walk its surface. But its entrapment in a matchbox has meant power. A fire used to be lit to gather warmth; it is now also lit for causing wanton7 destruction. Theoretically, the choice as to how man will harness science rests with man, but only theoretically. In practical terms, man, endowed as he is with intelligence on the one hand, and motivation, ego, instinct for survival, aggression, greed, passion and lust on the other, is in fact, now perched on the edge of a disastrous finale8. The pristine9, original, non-material beginning of this universe is not even a memory, leave aside a reality in our minds and that truth needs to be grilled into man, like the alphabet is taught to the child. That, empowerment by information about the world hangs on the fringes10 of a malignant change is a fact, which we tend more often to forget than remember. Material want is natural to our bodies, intelligence is capable of supplying the information in this regard and ethics11 can with reason, restrain us from indulging in excess. That is the real trinity12 of our short-lived existence. Dnyaneshwar, following the text of the Geeta, has extolled13 virtue in the previous chapters. To quote from the introduction of the earlier chapter, ‘karma14 (or activity) cannot be brushed aside. It surrounds us, is a part of us, in fact, we are ourselves a bundle or an embodiment15 of karma’. But all that notwithstanding the transfigured16 world in which karma happens, is recent and temporary as compared to the Brahma, the all-pervasive and persistent pristine entity. From an intangible17 purity to the act of formation is in a way a certain deformation. The world can therefore become an infatuating18 and distracting maze19 and the faithful counter this by remembering the principle called Brahma. If virtue or goodness transcends20 the material aspect of man, they (virtues) only replicate21 Brahma, which transcends the whole of the material world. If man is ignorant of the above, he resembles a body standing on the edge of a precipice22, and he discards the basic foundation of a reasoned existence. Leave aside being a useful member of his social group, this man even in purely technical terms, becomes his own enemy; his system incapable of tolerating the effects of his sensual23 avarice24. The mind described as an empty receptacle by Indian philosophers, is now filled with frenzy25. Like food leading to hunger, the body is now trapped in a vicious cycle. Slowly, but surely reason fails, and prudence26 ebbs. Ignorance of one’s spiritual content and a dependence only on the material world leads to destitution. The vehicle called the body is out of control, its engine
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(mind) suffers, the driver (reason) finds it difficult to cope and an accident is inevitable and this can kill innocent bystanders (society) as well. Dnyaneshwar, while commenting on the thirteenth chapter of the Geeta has already described a variety of virtues or the spiritual qualities in man and says that the lack of these should automatically point to what is not virtuous, what is not spiritual and what is not good. Then he pauses and adds ‘but that is not true because man also needs to be shown with examples what ignorance of spirituality is and how this ignorance can lead to destitution’. And he proceeds to narrate no less than 210 verses on the subject almost equal to what he had narrated on the signs of spirituality in man. Here is how he goes about this man rendered dangerous without spirituality His pre-eminence27 is what matters to him As also his position (in the society) And he awaits honours And felicitations28 The peaks on mountains don’t bend or break Because of their foundations But this man Based on wrong presumptions29 Tries not to bend Nor condescends30 To descend From his vaunted31 position …1744 When he prays, he makes sure That the temple is full of decorations And it is here that all his good deeds Are laid open for an exhibition Every little act of his He hopes will bring admiration And he makes sure that every one knows That he is filled with all kinds of information Like a holy man He smears himself with ashes And to show his religion Paints his forehead with vermilion slashes And then fraudulently blesses
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The masses This man is an epitome32 of destitution …1745 A forest fire spares none Animal, man and vegetation This man like this fire Is an abomination33 His words are capable of lacerations And when he chooses He is poison itself With its potential for destruction He spoils things in all directions And of violence He is a personification This man is nothing But spiritual destitution …1746 34
He is like the bellows Pumped up when pleased Horribly deflated With a downturn in his fate He is quickly punctured When someone attempts To castigate35 (him) Like dust that rises with the whirlwind He flies high with praise But when censured36 Holds his head and laments37 Becomes mud By a few drops of rain And then when the rain abates And the wind circulates He of that mud becomes A brittle cake That then is how he is made A portrait of spiritual destitution …1747 He is twisted within Says one and does another thing One never knows What is in him
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Watch a hunter How he feeds his prey So that he can kill He spoils innocent minds A marble covered by velvety moss Or a ripe tempting berry bitter within That is destitution of the spirit …1748 He learns from his guru From him earns commendations But then is embarrassed And even hides his guru’s tradition And over time Is ready and willing for retaliation38 When tempted by adoration39 From another tradition …1749 40
He is lazy about his chores In his mind suspicions are galore Like in the wilderness A stale abandoned water hole Covered with weeds And strewn with bones He is full of vile41 deeds And rotten to the core …1750 He is like a dog He runs after food Rotten, stale or good Climbs atop a bitch Does not matter which Time or place are no matter As long as he fulfils his itch. …1751 He has no clue As to what from him is needed or due For him to sin needs no excuse Good he will rarely choose He will doubt whatever he views And to avoid what is good He will choose any ruse42
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But money, wealth and power He is Forever in their noose43 …1752 Like an ant easily moves The seed of a weed This man too drops his resolve44 For the smallest possible need Just to step in a pond Is to muddy the water Even the thought of fear Makes him totter45 The wind carries smoke To all parts of the sky Sorrow fills his heart When he hears something sad A pumpkin floats on water And is carried with its flow This man’s thoughts drag him Before he comes to know …1753 He moves like a whirlwind And is a faithless unsteady pilgrim Like a lizard pumped up with heat Goes up and down a tree This man’s thoughts mean nothing Like that of a monkey Jumping on the branches of a tree Like a reckless monsoon stream A stud bull loose and free Wind on a howling spree Unafraid of sin A blind elephant in heat Like a forest fire’s leap …1754 He breaks his vows What he will do No one knows He never pays heed To good deeds For him there is no such thing as shame
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He is not concerned If he spoils his family’s name To sin for him is an easy game Scriptures46 what they say Or what they do not For him, is all the same He is an animal gone astray A whore’s47 willing easy prey Food given to a free loader on a tray A garbage dump where food is splayed And a plebeian’s48 power play …1755 Sensual pleasure is his name Whether he is dead or living It is the same He strives and works In heaven’s name And when he comes across virtuous men He thinks that their sight Is a dreadful bane49 And bathes and showers To atone for the same Like a leper eats With rotten palms His deeds he does without any qualms50 Only those thoughts Have him driven Which he thinks will get him heaven Pleasure is his sole aim And in that pursuit all is game …1756 As in the story of the asses When the male in heat approaches The she-ass kicks him with her legs But the ass does not run But waits for another turn …1757 He is fired by lust and anger To jump into the sensual world of fire Of his dreadful habits He does not tire
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In fact he thinks They should be admired …1758 Like a deer He pants and is on a breathless run For water created By the magic of the sun (maya51 and a mirage) …1759 First as a child He dotes on his parents Then he embraces his woman or wife When young When a child he fathers He can see nothing but that child And resembles a mother Obsessed with her crippled child …1760 In his mind His body is all that counts He thinks no end of himself With his wealth he swells And thinks that he is the epitome of success itself And struts52 ramrod53-like With his pelf54 …1761 Averse to pleasure Are those who are ill For those who succeed He has ill will In the same vein55 …1762 This man is like a bad lamp Eats up the wick56 With its soot he makes everyone sick And uses the oil real quick Drops of water cause him to crackle He is doused by the slightest wind But he can burn down everything And there is more heat than light from him …1763
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He is like a fever That cannot be fed Poison is made When a snake is fed He is jealous of the good He thinks he is wise And therefore rude And with his power He is crude And like a boa57 He becomes bloated When it has swallowed A huge piece of wood …1764 Like a rolling pin he is rigid Or like a stone he is frigid A viper’s bite Makes even a sorcerer58 timid Such is this man with his bite A classic case of blight59 …1765 He forgets his past Because life gives him a lot Ungrateful to those From whom favours he sought And got A mongrel60, vagrant61, unclaimed dog Though caned, cut and punished Returns to your door Without a thought A frog half swallowed from the back By a boa Licks at the flies that swarm At its mouth Resist them it cannot Though death has it already bought For him pleasures so enchant62 That he forgets that Death Will in the end knock And again he will be born And for that he will be in the uterus locked
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Float in his own fluids and spit And almost rot To a lamp, a moth On the baited hook a fish is caught A fish merry in a drying pond Of the river or sea Thinks it not …1766 A man asleep In a house that burns Does not realise Death awaits its turn To sleep with a whore Means you are soon to be Shown the door A glutton63 Feeding on poisoned food An urbane64 swindler65 Means no good To be swollen from anaemia Means not strength Death just awaits the final breath To eat, to sleep, to rut To lust and rest Is death by stealth66 A man running into a trident’s67 blades Salt in water will surely melt …1767 Youth captivates The thoughts of old age and death fade Like a boulder knows not That as it rolls down the hill It is sure to break A monsoon stream in instant spate Wild animals in their heat Fight and gesticulate68 The blind hit a wall And then come to rest For a lazy man, eyes covered by dross69 Are the best
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Because he can’t see And therefore rests He laughs and teases the old And those who are bent Forgets that it is also to be his fate This man is spiritually spent And bereft …1768 A bull escapes from a tiger’s den But returns again A treasure covered by snakes Stolen once but to try again A sleeping enemy does not mean He is tamed Pleasure, wealth family and fame Are a tempting game Entanglement and deception is their name …1769 His mind body and thoughts Are obsessed by his woman He forgets his duty His responsibilities, his identity All that he can think of Is this so-called comely70 entity Called his woman And dances like a monkey To the drums of his corinder71 …1770 Of him His friends his family kith and kin Get tired, He neglects his parents Who are retired Only by the desires and needs Of his woman is he fired …1771 He abandons his guru He prays little And even those prayers are not true His prayers are a fraud
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Like the wife of a cuckold72 Who feigns73 passion When there is not When he fails to get What he has sought He blames God And calls him false And then turns to another idol Another God He is a rudderless74 boat On a choppy sea Being whipped and tossed …1772 He judges his guru by his following Idols of stones he finds inspiring To all living things he is cruel and uncaring He keeps my (so-called) idol In some corner And on all kinds of pilgrimages All over the earth And every nook and corner He wanders …1773 To a variety of Gods he prays Even to a deity of a snake It is Shankar* one day Ganesh** the next And then prays to his ancestors And calls that prayer Proper and correct And for a different God A different day Of the week is fixed and set For a town’s whore any man does This man is home to a hundred faiths In what he does And the way he prays …1774 Solitude is what he hates In crowds and their noise he revels And the truth about Brahma
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He rejects Upanishads*** he sweeps aside And even the idea of introspection He does not let inside And his reason is on a wanton75 slide …1775 * An important God in the Indian pantheon ** God of knowledge (see Chapter 3) *** The concluding texts in the Indian philosophical tradition
Towards the end, Dnyaneshwar pens a long verse describing a material man who lacks a spiritual base. He is adept76 At method, work and etiquette …1776 All the ancient lore77 And stories of yore78 He knows them all And some more …1777 Both astronomy and astrology Are within his grasp He will foretell the future You just have to ask …1778 He is ahead of others In all the arts And he knows the ins and outs Of the culinary79 arts …1779 Science is at his fingertips And if need be He can be an exorcist80 …1780 He knows what is right And what is wrong And in powers of Alchemy81 He is known to be strong …1781 He knows every drug And medicine on the list
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And surgical technique Lies in his fist …1782 Sexology is his forte82 Eroticism83 and foreplay He knows every part And has them on a chart …1783 With words and grammar He is smart Phrases and idioms On the dot …1784 History and tradition Are his great fascination He explains how it happened And their correlation …1785 The art and craft of magic Or the opposite The rationale of logic Thesis84, antithesis85 and synthesis86 Substance, principle and précis87 He knows every treatis88 …1786 89
But with insolence He is rife90 He knows not The essence of his life And his life lies wasted Full of turmoil and strife …1787 Dnyaneshwar adds Useless is A ton of information And its refinements Without the spirit Its knowledge and its acknowledgement …1788 Only a particle of a certain plant Can bring the dead back to life
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That is what really matters Not a cartload of any roots and vines …1789 Dnyaneshwar says, to rely on materialism without spirituality is like Peacock feathers With its eye-like spots See they cannot Just useless dots A lucky chart* But life is short A body without a head On which ornaments are laid Wedding music with pious tunes What is missing are bride and groom …1790 * Astrological chart
Dnyaneshwar ends this section by saying, ‘It may appear that I have wasted so many words on the subject of lack of spirituality’. But he argues that it is equally important to show the reverse image of virtue and goodness to stress on the minds of his listeners, the depth to which man can descend in the absence of a spiritual perspective. He further adds that the alphabet when shown in reverse can alone allow man to see the meaning of letters in the proper order. He sums up by saying: Man is vulnerable and blind and has to be brought to a feast by someone who can see. Because the real is difficult to grasp the unreal has to be shown. The real is hidden and the false is apparent. The journey therefore must include the false and the unreal, so that the real can be perceived if not reached.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
destitution – complete impoverishment mysticism – supernatural secret mysterious method gullible – easily persuaded albeit – of course etymology – the source of the formation of a word culinary – of cooking or the kitchen wanton – licentious, immoral
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57.
finale – the conclusion pristine – not spoilt, in its original condition fringe – an outer edge or margin ethics – moral law in human conduct trinity – a group of three extol – praise enthusiastically karma – activity, duty, deed, the active nature of the world embodiment – form into a body transfigure – change form or appearance intangible – untouchable, beyond mental grasp, abstract infatuating – a feeling of intense admiration maze – a network of a puzzle transcend – surpass beyond the range of human grasp replicate – repeat, make a replica precipice – vertical steep face of a rock sensuous – depending on the senses, not on intelligence avarice – extremely good frenzy – wild excitement or agitation prudence – discretion pre-eminence – excelling others, outstanding felicitations – congratulations presumption – arrogance condescend – behave as if on equal terms with an inferior vaunted – boastful epitome – a person or a thing embodying a class abomination – an object of disgust bellow – as in an air bag castigate – rebuke, scold, pull up censured – harshly criticized lament – a severe expression of sorrow retaliation – attack in return adoration – worship, idolize chore – a routine task vile – disgusting, shameful ruse – a trick noose – a snare, a loop with a running knot resolve – decide firmly, make up one’s mind totter – stand or totter unsteadily scripture – religious law, sacred writing whore – prostitute plebeian – commoner bane – curse qualms – misgivings maya – trick, creative potential of Brahma strut – walk in a rigid, erect, pompous manner ramrod – a thing that is very straight and rigid pelf – money, wealth in the same vein – in the same manner wick – a strip or thread feeding a flame with oil or wax boa – a large venomous reptile who can swallow small animals
621
622 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90.
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar sorcerer – a magician blight – an obscure destructive force mongrel – a dog of no specific type or breed vagrant – without a specific home enchant – charm, delight glutton – excessively greedy eater urbane – elegant and refined in manner swindler – cheat stealth – by an underhand deal trident – a three-pronged spear gesticulate – express with gestures dross – rubbish/referred to in this verse as the secretions from the eye comely – pleasant to look at (usually used for a woman) corinder – a man who plays with animals on the streets for a living cuckold – the husband of an adulteress feign – pretend to be affected by pretence rudder – an instrument for steering a ship wanton – licentious, immoral adept – proficient, skilled lore – a body of tradition and knowledge on a subject, held by one group yore – of old days culinary – of the kitchen exorcist – the one who frees from evil spirits alchemy – the medieval forerunner of chemistry forte – strength eroticism – related to arousing sexual desire thesis – a proposition to be proved antithesis – the opposite of the above synthesis – a combination arising out of thesis and antithesis précis – summary or abstract treatise – a written work dealing formally and systematically with a subject insolent – offensively, arrogantly insulting rife – teeming with, widespread
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar Dnyaneshwari Verses 864–1169 Geeta Chapter 13
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Chapter 93
Brahma1, Nature and Man Vedantic2 Synthesis
There is no denying that Dnyaneshwar considers the Kapil hypothesis3 (on how everything comes about) as one of the most important arms of the Indian philosophical systems because he narrates almost 1200 verses on a mere 34 verses of the Geeta. The Geeta herself has alluded to Kapil’s hypothesis in her previous chapters. But it is equally obvious that both the Geeta and Dnyaneshwar want to build on and modify the Kapil theory while keeping its description of the material world intact by incorporating a subtle but radical change (in the theory). Kapil had divided things into the spiritual and the material and had given the latter a certain pre-eminence. Birth, growth and death, all occurred in nature’s domain4. And this occurred because nature had the ability to harbour all three. Kapil stated that nature was the basic and fundamental substance yet also put a rider to this theorem. He envisaged that for nature to unleash its processes, a certain spirit had to activate it. The spirit was external, was a cause, was alien5 to nature, was lame and blind, without a mind. And what is more, every time a natural process evolved, a separate spirit activated the evolution. The only concession that Kapil might have made to the role of the spirit in the natural process was to endow it (the spirit) with the ability (and probably responsibility) to give reason (or intelligence) to the natural process. Man therefore was a culmination of a natural process except for his reason or intelligence which came directly from the spark of the spirit which triggered the natural evolution. What the later Upanishads6 and Vedant did was to affect a change in this duality by giving spirit or Brahma a certain potential which for some unknown reasons started the natural processes. In one stroke the two entities had become one, Brahma or spirit maintained its pre-eminence, it was still old, infirm, blind and lame, was disinterested in natural processes, it defied descriptions (unlike in nature where variety and descriptions abound) yet was the source
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of things which were exactly its opposite. This opposition had originally brought names like Purush (man) and Prakriti (woman) or man and wife or husband and spouse in the original Kapil descriptions. While the tradition of the names continued and nature (or prakriti) was still referred to as the female gender, her opposite had to be depicted as a neuter for lack of will, desire, thought, aggression or design. The spirit was omnipresent7 but it had a certain potency which allowed the universe to form. It was not as if two things joined to make a third or that nature the fundamental entity was spurred by another but that there is only one thing, Brahma, which somehow manifested as nature, variegated8, a passing show which presents itself, lapses and then withdraws into Brahma. Brahma is the supreme truth, the only real thing, the only thing, all else is less true, less real. When there is only Brahma and nothing else, there is nothing to behold Brahma. When another thing appears in Brahma and subjectively (subject) starts thinking about Brahma (the object) and merges with it, both disappear. This is how the verses begin which explain this thinking It is only For the sake of convenience and form That ‘that thing’ Is called an object Also because We are, what we call subjects We, who think about This objective or object And by knowing which Nothing is left to get And where we the subjects Merge and become one With ‘that thing’ Called by us as the object And the world then we forget And merge and become The wholesome bliss9 Of both the subject and the object …1791 It is without a beginning It has not come Nor will it wane10 It cannot be said
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That this is how it came Brahma is just Its natural given name ‌1792 It presents as this universe But can we be sure That this universe is real In fact it is said That it is not real but exactly the reverse Brahma is the only truth and thing real It has neither size, form nor colour There is no one to see it Nor can anything be seen here This thing is quite queer11 And if we aver12 That Brahma also is not real Then how do all these things Come to occur There is neither a yes nor a no Nothing can be confirmed here Language has gone mute and infirm A certain size of an earthen pot You may choose and prefer But is it not true that It is from the earth That it comes to happen and occur ‌1793 In all the waters and all the land And at all times It is and is always the same It acts on the body and mind One act is coarse and the other fine And when it acts And it does And does it all the time It is called universal arms And because at all times It pervades all there is And as if stands erect It is called universal legs The sun it is
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That sees and is seen And sees itself With its own eyes In fact its whole body is its eyes So also Brahma Present in each And sees And therefore called Universal eyes It is the Brahma Which rules everyone’s head In every way And therefore named The universal head Fire consumes and so does a mouth And all that is consumed Brahma takes And is thus called the universal mouth And thus it is said Through the scriptures’13 mouth And because space encloses all And so does Brahma In fact Brahma encloses and pervades space And it is space That allows us to hear And Brahma the eternal and all-pervading space Is called the universal ears …1794 But all this cannot be proven Brahma is beyond a zero That is what is given And even that is not certain Then how can these Eyes and ears get Any kind of sustenance14 When waves appear on water It is just water on water Waves do not swallow one another When nothing needs to be shown A zero is made to appear Only as a figure
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And for showing non-appearance Appearance has to appear For unity to be proved and deciphered15 Duality must present and appear …1795 Space is occupied by the sky Or brightness becomes a lamp Gold is gold in a heap or a small gram Karma comes to be known as man Woven thread becomes a yarn From wetness, it is said, water is formed So does Brahma appear to perform …1796 A stream might undulate But water is straight In whatever it may be Space does not change its shape Heat or fire do not change When they enter a metal plate A mind thinks in different ways But the soul remains unchanged …1797 Brahma has none of the following Name, form and differentiation Type, action and connections Qualities and characterizations …1798 Are clouds held by the sky Or does an image in the water lie A mirror catches your eye A mirage forms on the sly From sunrays far and high …1799 A beggar dreams And becomes a king Man imagines All these things Brahma is real Not these things
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Nor these things Are Brahmic things …1800 Whichever the flame The heat is the same Objects whatever Their form or shape Brahma remains the same …1801 And then the idea is elaborated further Without and within Forever and fine Far and near The same forever …1802 Thousand images In water Of the moon Does not make Many a moon Salt is salty In a can or a spoon …1803 It occupies one and all And becomes the reason For each and all It’s the sea on which Waves crest and fall …1804 Childhood, youth or age All in the bodies range Morn noon or night The sky does not change Birth, life and death From Brahma somehow get arranged …1805 Dnyaneshwar then mentions the three principal Indian gods. Brahmadeo, who creates, Vishnu who administers, and Shankar, who destroys (this universe). What is interesting is what Dnyaneshwar describes after the universe has disappeared
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And then there is nothing Even the sky goes missing Only that is living The big zero or nothing …1806 Dnyaneshwar qualifies the Brahma further It ignites the fire And mellows the moon Lights the sun Gives it eyes And happily the sun Then runs …1807 The beginning of beginning Growth of a being Reason’s reason And life’s age and living …1808 That which you see And the one who sees And the act of seeing Here all come into being …1809 The last verse is remarkable though it is a very old idea from the Upanishad. The one who sees (the subject), what is seen (the object), and the seeing or the scene (the event) appear fragmented in the world in which we live but in reality are a conjoint fact made possible by the original entity16 which allows you to have eyes, offers objects to see and lets you enjoy the scene. That original entity is the nondual, unitary, singular, incomparable Brahma which to our mortal senses appears divided in this world. That thing from which All appears And on seeing which (that thing) Duality17 disappears …1810 Like a balance sheet Where sums and subtractions Must cancel and meet In Brahma duality retreats …1811
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At this juncture, Dnyaneshwar pauses to review the thirteenth chapter of the Geeta very briefly. Says he First we told you about the field And how with Brahma it was filled …1812 Then I explained Brahma’s signs and their perception And when body bends with temptation The possible spectre18 Of spiritual destitution* …1813 * see the previous chapter
That when reason can grasp Brahmic thoughts Far from me (Shrikrishna) You are not …1814 You are me In spirit and soul And merge with me As a whole …1815 Dnyaneshwar adds, ‘I took some time and went at length because’ Steps on a precipice You cannot carve Or throw a ladder To climb the sky A small boat in waters deep Is not easy to ply …1816 He also says that for a child a morsel of food has to be divided into small portions. Going back to the supremacy of the Brahma, Dnyaneshwar gives the metaphor19 of the sun and the water on earth and reminds man that what he sees as the world is only an image. The reality or Brahma is in the background The sun in water Does not wet It has been around Before water was made
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Only the image is what Man collects …1817 To indicate in relative terms that the sun pre-existed the earth and her water. The already familiar theme of the mirror is used in the verse below It is said That the soul is in the body In fact everywhere it is Silent and steady When you see in a mirror Your image is already ready …1818 And then Dnyaneshwar explains with these examples the impossibility of tying up, so to say, the soul or Brahma with the body, A feather and fire A stone and the sky The wind and sand Together you cannot band …1819 Dnyaneshwar explains further the disparity between Brahma and the body One to the east The other to the west The one is living The other is dead …1820 He gives more comparisons Cotton and gold Night and day Light and shade …1821 This body by nature With elements is made Woven with karma It just gyrates20 …1822 The body, he says, In a fire called time Is a piece of butter
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Before a fly can flap its wings It melts and withers21 …1823 To explain how short our life is, and on the nature of the death of a body, this is what is narrated Ashes it becomes With fire and heat When eaten by animals It turns into spit And if neither things happen Then insects feast …1824 Dnyaneshwar then homes in to the point that he has wanted to make from the beginning of the thirteenth chapter. Dnyaneshwar and the Geeta are aware that Kapil’s doctrine (see Chapter 79), for all theoretical purposes, is dualistic. This (Kapil’s) arrangement of the material side of life can be described as extremely practical and precise and his insistence that mother nature is the source of all that comes about stands on its own. But his insistence that mother nature is impregnated22 by a Brahma-like thing or soul or spirit and this impregnator is in great numbers, one each for all things, is according to Vedant too far-fetched. For some reason Kapil wanted the preeminence of natural phenomena to supersede everything else and seemed to have used the impregnator as a causal23 agent. The reader will notice that in the verses in this chapter, Dnyaneshwar has quietly built up his case to indicate that Brahma or ‘that thing’ is neither the causal nor the casual thing that Kapil envisaged. Vedant or the later Upanishads have very astutely24 used the materialistic side of the Kapil doctrine with one profound and far-reaching rider25, i.e. nature itself is an unexplained occurrence arising from Brahma. Brahma is pure, indescribable energy somehow transformed into matter and then into what Kapil describes as living matter. Nothing is dead in the universe. Everything lives either through appearances or nonappearances. When one says ‘I spoke thus’ the I, the sound, and the substance of the speech are discernible26 to the ‘I’ for a certain very short period of time. It is a tiny wave on the vast sea of the cosmos which all together is Brahma. Brahma has no mind but can produce one, it has no body but can evolve into bodies, it does not have reason or intelligence but can support an analytical mind. It is the living backdrop in front of which events occur. Vedant or the later Upanishads in one stroke solved the metaphysical problem of duality
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by saying that nature was after all an evolved product of Brahma with which it was suffused27. Here is how Dnyaneshwar (and the Geeta and Upanishad) both eulogize28 and circumvent29 but also absorb Kapil’s doctrine Listen to me my friend says he to Arjun You must become all ears And must carefully hear So that all will be clear This theory of Brahma and nature Was told by Kapil the preacher …1825 30 Kapil was my incarnation For philosophy’s reformation …1826 Like night and day Stick to one another Twins are the two Brahma and nature …1827 The body and its shadow Are really not two Are they not stuck And firmly glued …1828 The field* that we now know It is in that That nature grows …1829 *See Chapter 78
Nature is reason and mind In bodies of different kinds And it is here Where karma you find …1830 31
Desire goads reason And ego comes to grow And things come to be wanted By the force of life as we know …1831
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When all this becomes a want It becomes a trait32 It is then called karma And becomes the body’s fate …1832 And when this trait And body’s fate Come to mate Insolence33 can breed And it is said That man obligates34 …1833 Of purpose, work and obligation Nature is the source And with these three in formation Karma gets on course …1834 When the reason is noble Karma is called good When the reason is unstable It is neither bad nor good …1835 35
But when the reason is indolent Lazy, futile and dark Karma comes to happen Which is mean vile36 and stark
…1836 When good karma happens Man is said to get joy And when bad deeds are done With sorrow he is said to cry …1837 But ‘that thing’ beyond man Watches with utmost calm …1838 ‘That thing’ and nature Are an odd man and wife Nature breeds and nurtures Without the man having to strive …1839
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That thing This so-called husband or man Is lame Older than the oldest in age And to call it a man Woman or neuter Is in fact a sham37 …1840 It has neither eyes nor ears Legs or arms No form no colour No name it has …1841 This thing Then is called nature’s spouse38 It does nothing Is beyond envy and joy It cannot be aroused And is said to suffer In nature’s cause …1842 But nature This woman With the slightest of motion Can bring forth emotions And this mirage-like world She spawns39 Nature full of traits and qualities Filled with variety And in the most inert40 She provokes creativity …1843 Nature is queer An impotent mind, by her Is quivered41 It is in her That names and forms appear To fulfil her desires That thing called love Is spurred by her
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And that the body works and strives She ensures …1844 She is an island of false notions The source of deformation Or the so-called formation On Brahma’s pole She climbs like a vine of passion The spring amongst seasons The maya42, the root and the body of creation Words in various configurations43 A mass of locusts in formation Also art and information Desire, knowledge and action Procreation44 and dissolution …1845 Of sound and rhythm She is a mine The source of all wondrous things Is her play From the very beginning …1846 And the so-called husband or man Not in touch with her of any sort Is her consort45 She becomes his part And grows till he is engorged And though he is nothing She becomes his everything She becomes creation And his manifestation46 His abode47 and destination He is desireless She becomes his desire He is complete With him she becomes replete He is without an antecedent48 She becomes as if his precedent49 He vast and shapeless Him she casts into shape He is without motivation
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She spurs action He is calm She becomes his turbulence50 He is beyond any discussion She becomes his description She manicures51 borders Of his vast ocean He is without a mind She feigns52 for him reason And spawns53 mental confabulations54 Nameless he is She becomes his nomenclature He is without birth She becomes his karma and creation He is without any quality or traits She gives him size, colour and shape He the earless, she the ears Blind he is, she the eyes She the legs of him who is lame Thus it would seem He is tamed With these worldly games ‌1847 And it is because Brahma is so captured by natural phenomena that the spirit, the soul appears as if under a cloud Moon on a dark night Gold touched by rust and blight55 Or a ghost tempts man from the good and the right A day rendered dark and dull When clouds block the light Within the cow Milk does not appear white Fire hidden in wood cannot appear bright A diamond wrapped in cloth Cannot sparkle with light A king captured by his enemy Is listless without his might An old ill lion Is a forlorn pitiful sight ‌1848
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But adds Dnyaneshwar, natural transformations are evanescent56 and are not real, yet they move man. But this is like a dream In which a frightened man screams Happy and sad, good or bad He becomes in his dream …1849 One becomes two With the help of a mirror In water stirred by the wind The moon appears to quiver A crystal glows ruddy When saffron is placed near Though the crystal is pure …1850 Dnyaneshwar avers that Brahma is different That thing is forever Does not shake nor quiver Does not enjoy nor suffer All things only seem to occur In this thing called nature …1851 Yet Brahma is not far because nature is its so-called part It stands amidst nature A pole supporting a creeper Like space and earth are not far So also Brahma and nature …1852 Dnyaneshwar compares Brahma to a hill near a river in which it gets reflected but does not flow with it nor gets carried away with it. Yet Brahma’s role is central, It is with and beyond nature And it by its presence breeds nature An ant, a God, and every creature It helps create through its nature …1853 And whatever comes From nature And what will lapse in future
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To grasp and take it within itself Is its classical feature …1854 And a wise man, arrived via this philosophical idea Shuns a mirage And knows real water Knows a shadow And does not run after Works his body Without pause or falter …1855 Water and mirage The real and the façade57 Shadow and substance Emotion and gumption58 …1856 This man is aloof and serene Smoke might rise However high It cannot touch Nor stain the sky …1857 A point is made here of how different people gain spiritual insight in different ways. Some of these people are just followers, others arrive at a decision after careful thought. Some work hard With philosophical thoughts Others look at their body As mere joints and parts And think of the soul As gold without a blot And lead their life As if their body was a nought …1858 There are those Who don’t think on their own From their mentor and their guru Their way comes to be shown …1859 They listen and follow Whatever they are told
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Release and realization Thus they come to behold …1860 Coming back to the subject of Brahma and nature, Dnyaneshwar stresses that both together are needed for the world to emerge Water and waves Sand and sunrays* Seeds come to sprout With water from the rains …1861 * referring to a mirage
It needs two For things to grow Brahma and nature Make life grow …1862 But reverting back to the primacy of Brahma, Dnyaneshwar reiterates that cloth is made, after all, from a thread, that differences might exist in different things but they all give a similar ring, a gourd59 round, crooked or straight comes from the same vine, and a jejube tree whatever its form is not a pine and lastly, space within a pot or a hut is the same and sparks, flame or embers60 are only different names (for heat). He warns man not to be fooled by variety and says Duality and variety If you come to trust With cycles of birth and death You will be trussed61 …1863 Duality and variety are recurring things and if they become the philosophy of your life then your life too will become a recurring theme and final liberation will be hindered. Narrating on this theme further, Dnyaneshwar says This world of things Is a passing show That the soul is deathless You must know That it pervades all But has nothing to show That truth When is finally sown
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That then is the final bow Of the man who really knows …1864 As opposed to the above the body is quite different The body is like A barber’s bag Phlegm62, bile and gas And five elements rag tag63 …1865 Describing the body further he calls it A five-tailed fire Or a lion amuck64 in a deer’s lair65 …1866 When one does not realize this truth When reason fails Of his essence Man cannot avail Of this truth …1867 As opposed to this When reason shines Man’s fate becomes sublime And this man Crosses rebirth, crosses death And Brahma is his eternal mate Like in the oceans Rivers rest Whether slow or steady Or in spate …1868 Man must realize In different lamps The light is one In different men The spirit is one Thus death is won And life for him Gets wholesome …1869
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Describing further the relationship between the body and the soul The sky is still But clouds do run The house stands still As people take turns The soul lights up For nature to churn …1870 Some more examples are given Waves on water Atoms on earth Sparks from a fire Rays from the sun …1871 Limbs on a body Thoughts in the mind That then is a method For Brahma to find …1872 Waves, atoms, sparks, rays, limbs, thoughts are products of a larger thing. The message is to look at the larger picture to understand fully the scope of life of which we are only a small part and this is what follows When, wherever you see Brahma you find The ship of philosophy Has entered your mind …1873 After this rather morbid description of the body Dnyaneshwar again describes Brahma, briefly It is by, and with itself Without karma and its effects Neither occult66 nor manifest Without attributes or parts Neither thin nor fat Neither less nor more Not dark or lighted Without joy or sadness Not one not many Cannot be counted Like the world
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It is not born And cannot be dead Does not speak Nor mute nor deaf To be or not to be Is not on Brahma’s plate …1874 Light and day Happen to the sky These it makes not Nor does it try …1875 It does not do Nor gets things done It cannot be blamed For what gets done …1876 If parallels are to be drawn with modern physics what the Geeta and more elaborately, Dnyaneshwar, are trying to explain, are the seeming dualities in the universe, namely mind and matter or energy and mass. Of the latter pair, it is well known by now that all mass is in fact a ball of energy. Energy is everywhere, not always visible, but doing its thing, gravity being the simplest example. It is only when energy or force coalesce67 in a small area and appear to become somewhat stable, that mass appears. This mass or matter then exhibits qualities. This matter can be a living organism and this living organism is in a position to appreciate the qualities that matter exhibits. To imagine that this energetic principle has a design or a creative thought is to impose on it the qualities that we discern in the material world. Brahma or this energetic principle is vastly spread all over the universe, only a tiny part of which is what we call matter and only the smallest particle of this matter is inhabited by life as we know and a very little portion of this living world is capable of organized thought. It can therefore be justifiably argued that Brahma or the energy principle is the source and support of matter but neither its succour68 nor its saviour. The material world must therefore be dealt with by its own rules. It is true that man confronts the unexpected while dealing with this world but that is because either exceptions prove the rules or alternatively because we do not understand all the rules. This world is dominated by another principle of physics—action and reaction. The ideas of rewards and
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retribution69 fall in this category. But the rhetorical question ‘ why would such a saintly man have got cancer so early?’ is very poorly posed. For one, one does not become saintly to prevent cancer or disease. One becomes saintly and should become saintly by a conviction that to be good is good for both yourself and for the society. Cancer is something else. It occurs because of environmental factors or because of the genes that you inherit at conception or the manipulations that your ancestors’ genes have undergone over centuries. Lastly, it could occur by a mutation70 during one’s lifetime and there is no point in fretting71 about mutation. We would not be around, had mutations not begun in the original biomass. The saying ‘ Life goes on’ is not about human activities. We narrow down the saying’s scope because we are narrow-minded. Life transcends man, not only in plants and animals but also across the universe. The spots on the sun, the rings around Saturn, the whirling stardust in the Milky Way, even the movement of the Milky Way are also life. The saying ‘Life goes on’ should actually be ‘Brahma goes on’ because for man, life is only that which walks, talks, grows and dies which according to the Geeta and Dnyaneshwari is a falsehood. The cancer in the saintly man bothers the non-saintly, not the saint who is said to suffer. The true saint’s life is not a quid pro quo72. Dnyaneshwar has in the earlier chapters while dealing with virtue clearly stated that virtue transcends man’s material aspirations and is representative of Brahma. The saint who has cancer is convinced that ‘Brahma goes on’. The saint appeared only to disappear, never mind the fact that his timetable did not fit the average lifespan of man. Dnyaneshwar ends his narration of the thirteenth chapter of the Geeta by telling man that a seashell in the sun which appears as silver, a rope which man imagines to be a snake or a mirage in the desert which offers water, are tricks of nature. The word maya in Sanskrit has many meanings but at least two are worth noting here, creativity and trick. In fact, maya in its broader sense is used alternatively for nature. The above examples are given not to make man reject the world or be perpetually despondent but to make him aware that it is in his nature to be tricked away from the ultimate truth or Brahma. It is only a question of the degrees of truth, nature is only partly true, Brahma absolutely true. Brahma does not manage nature but man might be able to manage things better if he was to think in terms of Brahma. In this section Dnyaneshwar also mentions a magnet to remind man that the organization of iron files around the magnet might
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appear to be a conjoint phenomenon but it is not. The magnet, also a metal, is different because the force within it is heightened and purer. We are all balls of energy or Brahma but some of us are special. He also gives the example of a lamp that allows activities within a house or a piece of wood that can burn but hides its potential to burn but says categorically that a lamp and a house on the one hand and on the other fire and wood are somewhat disparate pairs. The energy or the force principle is far more evident in the former, namely the lamp and the fire. The narration ends by Dnyaneshwar describing the pair of Shrikrishna and Arjun as unique and stating that Shrikrishna the lord has fulfilled all expectations aroused by Arjun who himself is an excellent pupil. He (Dnyaneshwar) then turns to his guru Nivrutti, requesting him to inspire and guide him so that he can speak on the remaining five chapters of the Geeta with greater enthusiasm and spirit, and assures the audience that the language and the substance that will follow will be made up of scintillating73 words embroidered by all the sentiments (please see Chapter 72) that language can offer. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
Brahma – the primal singularity Vedanta – last of the Vedic writings hypothesis – theory domain – an area under one’s rule alien – not in accordance, not in harmony Upanishad – ‘Up’ = near, ‘nishad’ = to sit, indicating a dialogue rather than a lecture omnipresent – present everywhere at the same time variegated – having irregular patches or streaks bliss – perfect joy or a state of blessedness wane – reduce in strength or vigour queer – strange, odd aver – state with force scriptures – religious law, sacred writing sustenance – nourishment, means of support decipher – determine the meaning entity – a distinct thing duality – philosophical principle that there are two constituents in this universe spectre – haunting presentation, vision metaphor – imaginative use of word, term or phrase gyrate – revolve, circle wither – make dry or shrivel impregnate – make pregnant causal – be a cause astutely – shrewdly rider – a problem arising out of a theorem or a principle
646 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73.
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar discern – see clearly with mind or senses suffused – immersed, covered, bathed eulogize – praise in speech or writing circumvent – evade, find a way around incarnation – spirit appearing as flesh (human) goad – torment, incite, stimulate trait – quality, a distinguishing feature insolence – arrogance obligation – a duty, task indolent – lazy vile – disgusting, shameful sham – pretence spouse – mate spawn – generate, produce, progeny inert – without inherent power of action quiver – shiver, shudder, vibrate maya – magic, trick, creative impulse, property of Brahma configuration – an arrangement of parts procreation – bringing into existence by natural reproduction consort – partner, companion manifestation – happening, occurrence abode – one’s home antecedent – preceding thing or circumstance precedent – priority in time, order or importance turbulence – stormy conditions, disturbance manicure – professional cosmetic treatment (hands, nails), involves trimming as in a lawn feign – pretend spawn – produce, generate (as in eggs, fish) confabulation – conversation, chat blight – an obscure destructive force evanescent – fleeting, passing, temporary, brief façade – a front, outer appearance gumption – enterprising spirit, resourcefulness gourd – fleshy, large fruit with hard skin embers – pieces of glowing coal truss – tie up, support phlegm – thick, viscous mucous from the respiratory tract rag tag – rabble, common people amuck – run wildly lair – a wild animal’s resting place occult – hidden coalesce – come together and form a whole succour – help and support in times of hardship and distress retribution – punishment, revenge mutation – a process of alteration fret – worry, fuss, vex quid pro quo – thing given as compensation scintillate – be brilliant, witty, to sparkle
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Introduction to Chapter 14
The fourteenth chapter in the Geeta is about man getting overwhelmed by nature in general and his own nature in particular. The spirit of man or the fuel for his engine is as if surrounded by the rest of the vehicle which seems to cast a certain spell on him. The gadgets and accoutrements1 that a vehicle offers fascinate him. He uses them to lead and modify his life as he will and must, but in the process forgets on what the car runs. The nature and degree of man’s involvement in the car depends on his temperament, his nature and character. As has been reiterated earlier, the very act of formation of matter means the arrival of certain attributes2 or qualities or a certain nature. In order to reach back to the spirit, these qualities need to be overcome. The spirit, soul, Brahma3, ‘that thing’ or the pristine4 energy cannot be characterized or described in man’s language according to the Upanishadic5 philosophy but has to be realized indirectly. The discussion on the nature of man actually starts after the fortieth verse in this chapter of the Dnyaneshwari. What Dnyaneshwar narrates in the first forty verses is an introduction. And this introduction is an ode 6 to his guru, Nivrutti not to Shrikrishna, the narrator of the Geeta. Says Dnyaneshwar to his Guru equating him with Brahma You are greater Than the greatest Gods It is you who ushers Reason’s dawn It is in you That the universe Comes to rest And then again spawns7 And because of you
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Thoughts of Brahma Man comes upon …1877 You are the beloved Of philosophy To a strife-torn man An ocean of mercy …1878 To indicate that the appearance of God or Brahma or guru is overwhelming When you hide The world comes on its own When you appear Nothing else can be known …1879 Dnyaneshwar, then by a clever verse compares a magician with his guru who is now being equated with Brahma. A magician can mesmerize8 But himself he cannot hide To create the world and then to hide Is your special side … 1880 All this world is you A fact known To only a few But there are those Who know you not That is the wondrous you …1881 Dnyaneshwar then writes a string of verses, in three parts, depicting how Brahma comes to be seen as the world, how difficult it is to see it in its pristine reality and lastly how man or his scriptures9 fail to describe it and therefore surrender before it. The wetness of the water is you The earth forgives because of you The rustling wind is you The shining seashells The sun and the stars Shine because of you And the sky that plays
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Hide and seek Plays because of you …1882 But all this is About the world on view When it comes To figuring you Even the scriptures Are without a clue Of the final flood Tall and huge It would seem Even a drop We can’t view Like with the rising sun The moon does fade And we too pale And become mere fireflies At the height of the midday noon …1883 When it is a question of you The argument of me and you Cannot be held as true Words and grammar Speech and sound Fail to give their due The only thing that I can do Is to fall at your feet In front of you …1884 Then coming to the human level Dnyaneshwar says to his guru For my venture Be my lender Fill my reason with mercy Loving and tender Help me rise And verses of wisdom I will render …1885
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In an unusual metaphor Dnyaneshwar says With trinkets10 Of words, phrases and nouns Your ears I hope to crown …1886 To indicate that his narration will adorn the ears of his guru and his listeners. He adds and suggests For verses to sprout On my reason’s vine11 You must become the spring …1887 My reason’s river Will flood and roar When your loving eyes Will shower …1888 12 And to state that his language will be embellished with all the literary sentiment. Let my mind Swell with tides And on this tide All the sentiments* May joyously ride …1889 * Sentiments (ras) please see Chapter 72
At this juncture, Nivrutti, Dnyaneshwar’s teacher reminds him to desist from verbal excess, to get on with his narration and teases him for bringing him (his guru) from his Brahmic pedestal to that of a mortal13, thereby imposing a duality14 on their relationship, when they are actually one. Dnyaneshwar responds with joy, agrees to start his narration, thanks his guru for the encouragement and says ‘I am like a weed with roots that are imperishable, but with my guru’s blessings I have now come to become immortal’. In summing up the earlier chapter, he says The Lord described Brahma and nature Nature’s variety And her features …1890
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The impure mixed With the pure The deed And the so-called doer And adds that From sorrow and strife15 A lasting permanent cure …1891 The last two verses reiterate the purity of Brahma from which nature springs, she (nature) is full of variety, qualities, traits or temperaments (as in man), how things that form must also lapse and how this waxing and waning or life and death bring a certain infirmity16 to man’s existence. That infirmity or transience is the source of his emotions and which results in perturbation17. The fourteenth chapter of the Geeta will concentrate on man as a product of nature and therefore perforce endowed with a mixture of three types of temperament. The narration regarding temperament, which follows in the next chapter, begins with the assertion that the truth or Brahma is hidden within man. And it is hidden because of his nature, his wants, his desires, and his need to be preoccupied with his ‘own’ life.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.
accoutrements – equipment, trappings attribute – a quality ascribed to a person or thing Brahma – ‘that thing’ from which the world comes about pristine – not spoilt, in its original condition Upanishadic – from the word Upanishad, the culmination of Vedic philosophy ode – a poem used as an address spawn – produce, generate in large numbers mesmerize – a hypnotic state induced by another person scriptures – religious law, sacred writing trinkets – a small ornament or a jewel vine – creeper (as in a plant) embellish – beautify mortal – subject to death duality – a philosophical idea where spirit and matter are considered separate strife – discord, lack of harmony, disagreement infirmity – weakness perturbation – disturbance, confusion, disorder
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 41–137 Geeta Chapter 14
Chapter 95
Consciousness and Creation
The fourteenth chapter of the Geeta addresses the issue of the nature of man or more specifically the nature of his temperament. However, as a prelude1 to this description she touches on the subject of consciousness, by which man is able to view the world around him, and before that to view himself. The question as to whether consciousness can exist without having to observe anything, is very old and profound, but the Upanishads (the end of Vedic literature) or the Geeta take a certain stand on this issue which may be paraphrased as under: a) Man is conscious of himself/ his own self and his environment. b) When man wakes up from a very deep sleep, first he becomes conscious, then he becomes conscious of himself and almost immediately of his surroundings, for example, physical (bed, walls) and mental (his family, his job, etc). c) This phenomenon of consciousness, that of ‘I am’ has a certain continuity, that is, a man recognizes that he is the same man who went to sleep. d) Consciousness cannot be the prerogative2 of man alone. He is a late entrant on the world stage. Animals and plant life preceded him and all of them have been conscious one way or another. Also consciousness cannot have occurred de novo3 only in certain things. It must owe its origin to something else, because the so-called conscious things come and go. Consciousness is as if borrowed and then is given up. e) The awareness of other things in the world is also consciousness but unlike that certain feeling of ‘I am’ which is absolute and which one gets when one wakes up, this awareness of man’s environment is relative, the same object appearing differently to different people, for example, ‘beauty is in the eyes of the beholder4’. f) The fundamental thing, Brahma, or that thing, or this pure
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consciousness or the goings on in the subatomic world which defy a cogent5 description is the thing on which the world comes to build. It is the canvas on which a picture is painted. g) A conscious organism called man is born in this world, grows in this world, perceives this world and is pulled between the feeling ‘I am’ and the later feelings of ‘all this’. The ‘all this’ around man is the evolved world, which includes himself. This world has qualities or attributes6, can be given adjectives and is referred to in the past, present, and future tense. Primal consciousness has none of these. It is forever and is indescribable. h) This universe or rather its predecessor7 offers this consciousness to man, and this universal consciousness will also remain after man passes away. i) The more man delves8 into or gets involved in this world of observed things, the farther he is distracted from his primal consciousness. j) To delve in the world, but to know that the ability to delve comes from ‘that thing’ independent of this existent world is to truly organize oneself. k) The interpretive9 faculty of observing the world belongs to this world, not to the primal consciousness. For example, a jaundiced eye thinks that the world is yellow. Man is, so to say, jaundiced by his emotions which overcome reason. Reason is the closest that you can get to one’s soul or one’s primal consciousness l) The created world abounds in consciousness but is somewhat removed from it because it comes and goes. m) The created world comes and goes, is transient, in a sense is not reliable, can be called a trick or is magical, or false or to use the Upanishadic10 term maya11 as compared to the soul, the primal consciousness, which is the fundamental truth. n) When man is aware of this fundamental truth, he cannot be swayed by the world and is able to face it successfully. The verses that follow encapsulate the above ideas. Brahma or ‘that thing’ is the universal or the primal consciousness. It is the source of creation but remains aloof from it. Figuratively, it impregnates12 without cohabitation13, a man-woman pair so to say where the man watches and the woman conceives without recourse to the normal, or to an act. When creation reaches its height like a cresting wave, it starts to ebb and a devolution comes about. The
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creative impulse then abates to hide within pure consciousness where there is nothing to observe and where the ‘so called’ creation is lacking. Man supposedly floats in this creation when it comes about, is a part of the creation and therefore draws sustenance14 from this universal consciousness. Here are the verses. What the revealed texts Called beyond thoughts That truth, to you Will now be brought …1892 Truth is what we are But the ideas of heaven and hell And the cares of our life Has it marred …1893 Indicating that man forgets his real self Fire is what This truth is The rest is just grass (which gets burnt) …1894 To convey that all other facts are like weeds burnt down by this (fiery) truth. Devils and demons Rituals and heavens And for heavens To be craven15 Is all false …1895 The idea of heaven and hell and rewards and retribution are of no consequence in Upanishadic philosophy. The sky comes to swallow The wind and its waves As the sun comes to rise Starlight fades When the final flood roars The rivers abate …1896 These verses by using three metaphors16 explain, what happens when the final truth dawns and the ordinary idea about rewards
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and retribution17 or heaven and hell are vanquished. When the real truth shines Your release is sublime18 And this release is thine19 …1897 To indicate that the release belongs to man The wise don’t let This life to overtake This sublime state …1898 To indicate that man must not allow the experiences of this world to overtake this liberation. When the mind Turns back (From this world) The body in turn Is put on the rack20 …1899 Shrikrishna, narrating in the first person singular, equates himself with Brahma and states When the body is overcome Man is with me and one …1900 In the earlier verses he has related how the mind is overcome, how the body is put in its proper place and a true sublime state is reached. Shrikrishna adds I am forever They too are forever I am without parts They too are not apart I am truth and bliss21 And they too are not amiss From this …1901 When a lamp joins My row of lamps That lamp is lost And joins my camp …1902
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The idea of duality22 Is vanquished23 And separateness Is relinquished24 …1903 And in the process When nature comes to be born There is not a chance That he will form or be born* …1904 * to indicate there will be no rebirth
At this stage Arjun is ecstatic25 Arjun was full of fascination With this description And such were his expectations That he was all ears In anticipation …1905 Shrikrishna realizes this and says You have earned my love You deserve to reach My eloquence26 and speech …1906 Shrikrishna then explains creation: 1) the role nature plays, 2) how nature is a potential of Brahma27 itself, 3) how figuratively Brahma impregnates it, 4) how nature breeds, 5) creates a variegated28 universe, 6) a universe which is really nothing because she (nature) is really the indescribable Brahma in form, 7) and therefore to equate truth with natural phenomena alone is to be ignorant of the real truth, 8) or be ignorant of the ultimate reality of Brahma27. The nature With her tricks and traits29 Snares man Within her gates …1907
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All this happens In the field* And with my seed Nature breeds …1908 * Chapter 78 – Debate
And it is this truth that is forgotten, that nature is but a potential of the Brahma27, and the process of so-called creation though unexplained owes all to the Brahma. This fact nature hides And man forgets That is how ignorance begets Whether you call this nature Mahat or unmanifest* You may call it maya Or by any other name Ignorance it is About your real state …1909 * The unmanifest potential of creation in Kapil’s doctrine based on duality (Chapter 79 – Kapil Construct).
To indicate that one tends to forget the truth, or knowledge, or Brahma as one imagines that he has become a separate entity because of the natural evolution. Dnyaneshwar explains this with similes30 When a lamp shines with light Darkness is difficult to sight Ignorance comes to vanish When thoughts are pure and right …1910 And this darkness or this ignorance is described by Dnyaneshwar as under Neither day nor night In that eerie31 twilight32 Is it a man or is it a pole Becomes difficult to decide Neither awake nor dreaming A deep sleep at night Without the stirrings of a breeze The sky seems Vacant and sterile …1911
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And this is a consequence of what is called creation which haunts man’s reason and mind. This is my seed Which when comes to life Ignorance can thrive Full of notions which are false The mind is full and rife This nature is like my wife Without birth but thrives Youthful and full of life She means nothing for the wise But for the ignorant She is their life …1912 To explain the sequence that follows She gets pregnant by me And rears33 the world In her womb, does she Reason comes to form first Then mind comes to be The mind has a consort34 Called desire which hankers35 After all that is Ego and motivation Then follow with fleeting feet The elements* happen to be around The body and senses They naturally bring And man in three different ways** Together comes to conceive …1913 * earth, water, fire, air, space ** see Chapter 96 – Tempers of man
More verses follow on how nature diversifies A seed touched by water Grows into a tree Nature also grows Fresh and worldly things
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From wombs and genitalia From eggs, vapour, sweat and heat Or as plants from seeds In a million ways Nature careens36 Names and features Nature wears And all this comes to be And then as a child would In its time fall asleep Nature too goes to sleep And when ignorance is rife37 With a magical trick She again becomes alive ‌1914 Later, explaining the unity of all things, this is what Dnyaneshwar has to say in the words of Shrikrishna Many bodies but a single me Mind and reason Ego and elements Once were free They came together because of me Many branches but a single tree Many limbs but man is me Earthen pots but earth it is Many a wave but a single sea Whatever cloth cotton it is Fire and flame are not different things This is maya, but all is me If I hide what can shine Diamond cannot a diamond hide In a bud or bloom Lotus it is A cob of corn from a single seed Don’t shun the world To look for me In three different strains Man comes to be Bound he looks In three different strings*
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And man is nothing But me and me …1915 * See Chapter 96 – Tempers of man
Dnyaneshwar adds that to take any different philosophical position is To suffer a death In your dream Jaundiced eyes See yellow in cream …1916 And reminds man, that with the sun Clouds may play Hide and seek But the clouds that hide The sun lets you see …1917 Dnyaneshwar ends his section by evoking the image of a shadow Your own shadow How can you fear …1918 These various bodies I happen to wear And it is me who shows How they appear …1919 Indicating that a shadow is what you cast and which you see and in the end adds To be free yet to appear And not to be bound In a fetter38 I will now speak On this matter …1920 This section of the Dnyaneshwari ends with a statement that a package called man bound by three different strings is to be described in the next chapter. 1. 2. 3.
prelude – the introductory part prerogative – a right or a privilege de novo – starting again
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38.
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beholder – the one who sees cogent – convincing, compelling attribute – a quality of a thing or a person predecessor – an ancestor, a former holder of a position delve – search energetically or labouriously interpret – make out the meaning Upanishad – the concluding portion of the Vedic literature maya – trick, magic, the creative aspect of Brahma impregnate – to make pregnant cohabitation – live together sustenance – nourishment, help craven – cowardly, abject metaphor – imaginative use of word, term or phrase retribution – punishment, revenge sublime – pure, highly refined thine – yours rack – put on the rack bliss – utter joy, blessedness duality – philosophical theory stating that universe has two distinct parts, spirit and matter vanquish – conquer, overcome relinquish – give up ecstatic – thrilled, enchanted eloquence – fluent and effective use of language Brahma – ‘that thing’ from which the world evolves variegated – multicoloured, flecked trait – a characteristic quality simile – compare one to another eerie – strange, gloomy twilight – the light before sunrise or after sunset to rear – to raise and look after consort – husband or wife (particularly of a royal person) hanker – to crave, to yearn, to want careen – sway, lurch, totter, swing rife – widespread fetter – a bond to hold a prisoner by his ankles
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 138–415 Geeta Chapter 14
Chapter 96
The World of Matter and the Temper1 of Man
Every created thing, whatever the source of creation, has to have a certain ‘configuration2’ or character. When it is said ‘he is quite a character!’ what is implied is that the characteristics that the person exhibits are not quite run-of-the-mill or the person in some ways is more an exception than a rule. What the rules are, is left to the imagination because it is extremely difficult to create a certain box in which a given man can be fitted. Perhaps the boxes required for this effort will be too many. On the other hand, when it is said of a man that ‘he is full of character’ what is implied is more obvious. What is indicated is a certain fortitude3 by way of which the man would not easily break down in the face of adversity. Everything in this world has certain qualities, certain attributes4, and these are perceived by the effects that they produce. Some objects are easy to describe, others not so easy but in the ultimate analysis, an object is perceived not ‘per se’ but via the effect that it produces on our sensory organs—eyes, ears, skin, tongue or nose. In the science (!) called parapsychology5 it is said that all things have an ‘aura’6 which influences the one who perceives but this effect is not perceived through normal channels but via extrasensory perception (not through the five sense organs; eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin). But even leaving this parapsychological aura apart, a living creature usually produces a complex effect on us, not necessarily attributable to a given sensory organ or organs. The final effect defies a mathematical analysis. For example, the descriptions, a naughty boy, a tomboy7, a ferocious dog, a docile cat, a sly man, or a grave8 visage9 are gathered by way of a variety of stimuli that reach us via different sense organs, are then analyzed and a conclusion is drawn and then expressed via words. With so many steps on the way to a final articulated10 conclusion, mistakes are commonplace. The description ‘tomboy’ of a girl might be based on inadequate data and the girl in question might be an archetypical11 female in all her
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other characteristics. A person with a grave visage might be a scholar or a villain or both, depending upon what he does. A naughty boy might not be an endearing or a loving offspring but an autistic12 child, little aware of what it does. The question that arises on this background is, should a living creature, and man in particular, and his character be put in a box? The answer is ‘perhaps not’. There are at least two reasons for this. For one, we must and do realize that it is a formidable and almost unachievable task, the other, such a decision borders on being unfairly judgemental. Be that as it may, the creature called man is unique in the sense that he will try everything that comes to his mind, and the one thing uppermost in his mind is to analyze the mind itself, both in its pathological state and in what he calls its normal variations. But here begins the real difficulty. The mind itself is a concept13 not an object. Intelligence or reason or the lack of both preside over this conceptual entity14 and these two, intelligence and reason, too cannot be seized by hand. What can at the most be done is to see and analyze what effects are produced by the working of the mind when it is directed by an intelligence of a certain type. Consciousness, unlike the mind, is a different concept. It is a blank screen, not black but blank, it is lighted and on which and with the help of which the mind writes darkly. The word darkly is used here to imply the material being of man, something that casts a shadow. And it is through the play of shadows that conclusions must be drawn about man’s nature or temper. In the context of Vedanta (the final portion of what are called as Hindu scriptures or philosophy) (Ved is the word for revealed wisdom and ‘ant’ is the Sanskrit equivalent of end) the cosmos evolved out of Brahma15 which is forever, without limits, and indescribable. It is from this that matter evolves accidentally, without purpose or reason. Having evolved, matter follows its own rules and in a way is an exact antithesis16 of Brahma or the universal spirit. Matter can be described by way of its qualities, size, shape, colour, smell or feel, and its behaviour can be anticipated via close and prolonged observations. The living creature which is a very special form of matter, not only has qualities but also a certain temper. A man, for example, can be good, bad or worse, haughty17, cool or oblivious. To go a step further, if life implies activity or motion or movement, a creature like man can exhibit action, inaction or renunciation18. It must be stressed that renunciation must not be confused with inaction. An
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inactive individual is indolent19 and does not participate. An individual who renounces is aware and active but not trapped by what the world of nature offers. It is a mental state in which, above everything else, man is aware of the titillating20 world of nature, the rewards and retributions21 that it offers but is focused on the idea of Brahma, that unchanging, limitless, forever thing to which the ups and downs of a natural life are ‘as if’ an anathema22. This quality in man is called sattwa and is related to the word sat, not very different from the word ‘that’ which points to the primordial23 substance, and therefore to consciousness, the most basic constituent of man. It would be relevant to reproduce what S. Radhakrishnan has written about these qualities or tempers (called the gunas—plural of guna —in Sanskrit) (from Indian Philosophy, S. Radhakrishnan, Vol. II, New York: The Macmillan Company, London, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1930, II edition). ‘‘In the Sankhya system of Kapil, sattwa is said to be potential consciousness. In a secondary sense ‘sat’ also means perfection and so the sattwa element is what produces goodness and happiness. It is said to be buoyant24 or light. The second, rajas, is the source of all activity and produces pain. Rajas leads to a life of feverish enjoyment and restless effort. The third is tamas, which resists activity and produces apathy25 or indifference. It lends to ignorance and sloth26. The ‘sattwa’ signifies the essence or the form which is to be realized, the ‘tamas’ the obstacles to its realization, and ‘rajas’ represents the force by which the obstacles are overcome and the essential form is manifested. While ‘sattwa’ and ‘tamas’ answer to the affirmative27 being and the negative non-being (respectively), rajas refers to the struggle between the two. In material things at rest, ‘tamas’ is preponderant 28 while ‘sattwa’ and ‘rajas’ are subordinate. So the terms ‘sattwa’, ‘rajas’ and ‘tamas’ are employed to mark predominant aspects, rather than exclusive temperaments. Though these gunas or tempers, or qualities work together for the production of the world of effects, they never coalesce29. They are modified by mutual influence on one another or by their proximity. They evolve. It is as if they join and separate. No one loses its power though the other may be actively at work.’’ The fourteenth chapter of the Geeta deals with these tempers.The verses follow Sattwa, Raj and Tam Are their names Nature is
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From where they came Sattwa is best Raj occupies the middle space And Tam is base30 …1921 Childhood, the middle And old age Occupy at different times The body’s cage So too these traits31 Are in the mind’s space Like Gold increases in weight In its impure state But in fact it weighs less When laziness overtakes Sleep becomes heavy and dense So also when ignorance overtakes reason and sense With sattwa, Raj and Tam The mind appears laden Heavy and weighed And as reason or intellect or the soul itself Enters the conscious state Ignorance starts to say I am this body This mortal cage And starts to think That birth and death Are its real states As when fish is tempted And swallows a bait And the fisherman Pulls on the line or his net So also Sattwa Like a hunter Tightens its noose trap or net And man is caught in a cage And with information and knowledge He bloats and swells And then he pontificates32 His eminence he celebrates And with pride he oscillates33
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As if a ghost has entered His physical and mental space Little does he realize That knowledge and realization Is the soul itself To the skies, with pride, he rises And imagines that he is a sage34 Like a king dreams and turns into a beggar And for a pittance35 begs And when he gets a few grains Imagines he is at the royal gates Such then is the soul As if trapped in the body’s cage Imagines he knows the worlds (this man of Sattwa) And about heaven and hell And thinks he is unique Like him, there is no one else And as a fettered36 holy bull37 would His head he worthlessly shakes …1922 The verses are a warning that however exalted the quality called sattwa might be, like all qualities, it too is fallible39 and that it can lend to arrogance. Just because ‘sattwa’ is inclined to be aware that there is more to life than this perishable world does not make it immune to being carried away. Information is not knowledge and knowledge may not lead to realization. Next comes raj The King not of real sense But of the senses The youth of desire For pleasure aspires A shower of oil on fire Desires and wishes in a heap Tier on tier40 And though he gets What he desires He struggles more and more Is never tired There is no limit To what he can acquire …1923 38
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Even a penny Is worth his while And for a blade of grass Will walk a mile Prepares for heavens Behind every act there is a design Like the summer wind Never rests Even for a little while A woman’s passing glance Or like the fish are agile41 Faster than lightning With speed and guile42 For heaven and earth All his acts line up in a file …1924 And now listen to the effects of the quality called Tam Where ordinary vision or foresight Is not proper or right Like a dark cloud clouds A dark night Where ignorance is sought And wins every fight And man is tempted And weird43 are his acts And does them with delight …1925 Indiscretion44 is its name A container of stale liquor Leading to foolish games A weapon that tempts again and again And man comes to believe That the body and the soul Are the same …1926 Indolence thrives Foolishness arrives Man twists and turns and yawns Wherever lies All acts he avoids Open are his eyes, as if he sees
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But for him nothing shines And though no one speaks to him He responds with cries Like a stone Heavy and laden he lies Earth may turn to hell Or crashing down may come the skies He just lies there, refusing to rise Palms on cheeks Heads between his knees Listless he sits And to him even heaven is not worth If he can sleep Because it is sleep that he likes That he can become God is his wish So that he can rest and sleep Like the blind are wont to go astray With anger he drifts And no one can say where he is Or with whom and what He will speak What is wrong or right He cannot think or see What is possible and what is not Such thoughts are beyond his reach A moth to a fire Trying to wipe it With its wings ‌1927 After the description of individual qualities what follows is a sequence where no single quality supersedes entirely over the other two and the cumulative effect that is produced. Dnyaneshwar describes this by examples in one of which he uses the humours45, bile46, phlegm47 and in another, a foetus48 as a simile. He also uses the examples of the seasons and that of sleep, dreams and the waking state. Here are the verses When phlegm and flatus49 abate And bile rears its head Man appears agitated and red ‌1928
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When rain and summer fade Winter comes and cools the air Over our heads …1929 When you neither dream Nor are you awake Sleep is deep and mind in a dull state …1930 When sattwa supervenes Over the other two It teaches the mind to say I am happy, good and true When tam overcomes The other two About right and wrong The mind has no clue …1931 When raj overrides The other two Only by work and action That man is ruled …1932 The rise of sattwa Brings forth a state sublime50 Like spring ushers From flowers a fragrance divine Discretion rules And the senses Think proper and fine Balance and restraint Show up as cardinal51 signs Ears refuse to hear Eyes will not see And the tongue will not speak What is not decent and fine Like darkness runs When a lamp begins to shine Lust and avarice, anger and greed Run away from his mind After the rains
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The way a river will rise Or a full moon means The sky will fill With a light sublime The mind withdraws From the worldly grind And thoughts collect Only to see Brahma divine And if death was to come In this state and at this time He is born again With similar signs …1933 Dnyaneshwar mentions at this point that the qualities that a man exhibits during his life do not go up in smoke or disappear but reappear again at another time and place when nature breeds. They, the qualities are indestructible parts of nature. For example, A king is a king On his throne Or while on a hunt In the hills or valleys A lamp is a lamp Wherever you may carry …1934 Dnyaneshwar also reminds his listeners that the quality called “sattwa” is most proximate52 to the spirit of man. Next comes the description of when the raj temperament is on the ascendant. Senses go amok53 When Raj is in force Any woman will do Like a goat eats anything on view Whatever can be stolen Is vigorously pursued And any business or commerce will do Buildings and temples Tanks and towns Are within his ambition’s preview Hope springs eternal And the senses are one And when death comes calling
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And he disappears From view Born again he is And can’t be subdued …1935 Dnyaneshwar repeats his earlier thesis54 that qualities are indestructible and a certain temper or a personality will manifest again and again. A beggar is a beggar Though he may sit on a throne …1936 Narrating in this connection what happens when a marriage party travels to another town in a bullock cart, The marriage party Is welcomed with sweets But it is just grass That the bull must eat …1937 This man drowns In his productive deeds …1938 Continuing further Dnyaneshwar now dwells over the tam quality The man’s mind is Like a dark moonless night Discretion55 has taken a flight The mind a thoughtless idiot’s delight It is so heavy That a boulder appears light Memory is nowhere in sight All his actions are covered by blight56 Motivation is never right Like an owl He sees only in the night …1939 He leers and lurches Without drinking liquor Without a fever He stupidly mutters Without love Is tempted and then dithers57 …1940
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And to reiterate the earlier statement of the indestructible nature of human temper A mustard seed may be small But a mustard tree grows tall And mustard seeds it will give In whichever field it may fall …1941 Comparing the three qualities, Dnyaneshwar tells his listeners The sattwa actions Are pure bliss And without sins …1942 The raj temper Is a tempting fruit But bitter within …1943 The tam deeds Are poison born From noxious things …1944 The day rises With the sun With sattwa it is That the final journey is begun …1945 When duality is the final sum And life is begun For greed and avarice It is raj season …1946 Tam the last The least benign The only real reason For ignorance and sin …1947 ‘Tam’ and ‘raj’ Hallmarks of the fallen ones For the journey to truth ‘Sattwa’, the chosen one …1948
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Dnyaneshwar mentions in passing at this stage that Brahma is nothing but purity. These three qualities sattwa, raj and tam appear in nature, which in turn are an accidental (!) product of Brahma and when man comes about he misses the final truth (the Brahma). Says Dnyaneshwar When a king dreams of war Both victory and defeat Become his parts Qualities might make or mar But Brahma stays pure and apart …1949 Here the dreams are unreal but man with his pure soul gets involved in these dreams. What follows is a long sequence of verses about Brahma. To begin with it is hinted that Brahma is limitless but appears to take a shape. Fire appears the size of wood A tree is what is around its roots Into sugar sugarcane turns It is from milk that sour cream comes …1950 Dnyaneshwar adds It is in Brahma Things take root Sattwa, raj and tam Come home to roost58 These three Will make man move They decide too His temper and mood But Brahma is free Forever and for good …1951 It is advised that man must recognize the principle narrated in the verses above. An actor must not be fooled By the parts he plays Man must know That his image is Splintered and splayed …1952
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The verse indicates how an image can splinter but not the original object. Qualities can splinter an individual but not his soul. To describe Brahma further The sky is the place Where seasons come and go The trees will grow But the spring won’t know …1953 Stars fade As the night retreats A day dawns To everyone’s delight A lotus blooms With a touch from the light …1954 That things come to happen The sun does not know Though the sun is the reason For the natural flow …1955 The nature at large And the things she will adorn Are owed to Brahma In detail and form …1956 When the variety will lapse And nature withdraws What remains is Brahma Free of form …1957 The idea of narrating this philosophy, says Dnyaneshwar, is to know the final truth, after crossing the forest of nature, which man encounters at every turn in his life. This particular man who assimilates the final truth is described by Dnyaneshwar as follows A parrot from a cage Now, perched on a tree Is like a river Merged into the sea Awake and alert From snoring and sleep In a mirror that is broken
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No images can be seen The mind having fallen All becomes one The waves and the sea …1958 It is the mind with which ego is born. And it is this ego which separates man from the rest of the world. Says Shrikrishna representing the Brahma in the words of Dnyaneshwar When he is with me All else is gone Clouds merge in the sky When the rains have withdrawn …1959 This state that the man enters is non-defeatable A cover of mica59 Cannot stop the light Or the final fire The sea can never fight …1960 To describe this man further, Dnyaneshwar explains how this man has merged with everything near and far and cannot be held by hand. Like the moon shines in water But is not within Or a snake is free From its discarded skin The fragrance of flowers Spreads far and thin And will not return In this natural scheme …1961 What is this body And how little it means Childhood or Middle age Or maybe death it is He is freed from all this When with me he is …1962
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Shrikrishna in the words of Dnyaneshwar conveys the following, When a pot is broken Into hundreds of parts The space in the pot Is no more apart* His body he carries Knows what is within When he is aware There is only one thing to be seen …1963 * from the space at large
The general idea is to be a witness to what goes on in your body and mind and in your environment. Your most important assets are your consciousness, intelligence and reason and since they are nearest to Brahma (from where they must come) and to which you must attempt to go, they (intelligence and reason) must be used as tools to observe the other two, that is raj with its feverish activity and struggle and tam with its sloth and indifference. Work is raj in nature and inevitable, sleep is of tam’s origin but is required and sattwa is nearest to you, the basic manifestation60. Each quality has a purpose and the total human purpose can be achieved if a balance is met, lest the organism be disturbed and die. The play of the three must be observed carefully and dispassionately by man like it is done by his timeless predecessor Brahma. When raj is on the ascent And actions ascend He does what is asked Without involvement and dissent …1964 When sattwa tends to rise And realization is on the rise Neither proud nor unhappy In whatever thoughts arise …1965 When tam comes to boil Delusions61 abound with greed To neither of them His mind will cede …1966
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Dnyaneshwar explains this with examples What is to the sun Morning, noon or eve Rain might pour But what is to the sea Cold it might get But Himalayas don’t feel Raj, tam or sattwa Don’t bother him a bit A traveller on a journey Staying at an inn62 …1967 A battleground remains a ground Whoever loses or wins Like the breath of our body Just goes out or in A pillar in the market place Just stands, quiet and still Water in a mirage Cannot break a hill …1968 The sky remains as it is However the wind may blow However dark it might get The sun cannot be swallowed …1969 A woken man can never be Bothered by his dreams This man watches the show Of puppets on their strings …1970 The sun and the sun alone Makes the world come and go Sattwa, raj, tam too Because of me* take their bow The sea comes to rise and ebb But the moon has nothing to show …1971 * me = Shrikrishna symbolizing Brahma
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Having related how nature at large moves and works and that the basic upholder of nature is Brahma, man’s attitude becomes as described in the verses below, in the words of Shrikrishna. He knows that in a cloth There is nothing but the thread That is how he thinks And thus his thoughts are made That in this world It is only me who pervades63 That I give equally To my foes and those devoted …1972 And here is the actual description of the man He too then is equal To life’s pleasures and pain Only when in water Fish can swim and play He knows what his body is And knows chaff 64 from grain When the river comes to meet the sea It feels calm and safe Whether it is day or night To a pillar both are same To a man who is fast asleep Same are nymph65 or snake Dung or gold Jewel or stone Heaven or hell Or become a tiger’s prey When a man is dead He cannot dream or wake Or once a seed is burnt It cannot sprout again To godliness he might be raised Insulted or praised The sun knows not Light and shade Such then is this realized man Beyond pleasure and pain And with realization instead …1973
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He may be called divine Or a thief or a king Surrounded by elephants, bulls or swine Friends may come calling Or enemies climb Seasons come and go But the sky shows no signs All actions, motivations and designs Stand in their own ruins And rewards and retribution To his fire are consigned66 This world or that heaven Are far from his mind Like a rock will not Feel sad or fine He is beyond All that arrives in its time …1974 Shrikrishna then advises Arjun that to be able to achieve the state described in the earlier verses man must know him (Shrikrishna). Says he in the words of Dnyaneshwar But to achieve this state Devotion to me is the gate And to know me fully What I am I must state …1975 Lustre of a diamond Is the diamond itself Wetness of water The vacuum of space Sugar in its sweetness Fire in its flames Petals are the flower And from branches and leaves Is how a tree is made From milk that is curdled Is how sour cream came I am everything For me all is the same …1976
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A moon cannot be pared To look at its phases A cloth need not be torn To know it is made of thread To get at me The world need not be spared Take not my parts I am a single head A bead of gold on gold That is how I am beheld ‌1977 A ray is full of light With this light And of light It is made Every atom is earth itself And however big the ocean be It is nothing But the tiniest wave Such thinking When your vision will pave Devotion is what is felt Through this thought and this vision Truth and goodness is wed Clouds to the sea And from the sea to the clouds Water is borrowed and sent What you think and what you do And the reason why you think or do Is Brahma itself From a thing to its image Straight are the rays So you be towards the rest And then everything comes to rest When in the sea Salt comes to melt But the melting Is what you forget Or the grass in flames
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Gone is the grass And so too the flames …1978 Sattwa, raj and tam In this state Have gone limp and lame In fact nothing remains This then is only a state Of which I am not the cause or effect But for man I am Object and subject Steady and forever Occult67 and manifest Limitless and by itself This is religion and nothing else …1979 Having thus defined in a way what religion ought to be, the fourteenth chapter of the Geeta comes to an end. To remind the readers, all that is happening on the battlefield, including this discourse by Shrikrishna for the benefit of Arjun, is in fact being related to the blind villainous king by his courtier (see Chapter 22) who as has been mentioned earlier is already deeply devoted to the Lord (Shrikrishna). The Lord is the charioteer to Arjun whose army the blind king’s sons are ready to do battle with. The king says to the courtier Enough of this philosophical din I want to hear How my sons Are going to win …1980 The courtier because of his job keeps quiet and says to himself I am surprised By what kind of a man is this Such enmity with God he feels Instead of joy and bliss …1981
1. 2. 3. 4.
temper – a disposition of mind configuration – arrangement of parts in a certain form fortitude – courage in adversity attribute – a characteristic, a quality to describe a thing
682 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53.
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar parapsychology – the study of mental phenomena outside normal psychology aura – the distinctive atmosphere diffused by or attending a person tomboy – a girl who behaves in a boyish way grave – serious, weighty, important visage – a face, a countenance articulated – having spoken correctly archetypical – a typical specimen autistic – mental condition since childhood, with complete self-absorption and inability to adjudge the world concept – a general notion, an abstract idea entity – a thing Brahma – the singularity from which the cosmos evolved antithesis – the direct opposite haughty – arrogantly self-admiring renunciation – the act of giving up, self-denial indolent – lazy, wishing to avoid activity titillate – excite pleasantly retribution – punishment, revenge anathema – a detested thing or person primordial – original, fundamental, existing from the beginning buoyant – apt to rise to the top apathy – lack of interest or feeling sloth – laziness, indolence, reluctant to make effort affirmative – expressing approval preponderance – domination coalesce – come together base – lacking moral worth trait – a distinguishing feature or characteristic pontificate – be pompously dogmatic, pretend to be infallible oscillate – swing to and fro like a pendulum sage – profoundly wise from experience pittance – scanty, paltry, small amount fettered – shackled, restrained holy bull—related to God Shiva whose vehicle is a bull exalted – eminent, celebrated fallible – prone to error or mistake tier – a row placed one above the other agile – quick moving guile – cunning behaviour, deceit weird – strange, queer indiscretion – imprudence humours – blood, sputum, colour, melancholy (depressed) bile – a bad temper, (peevish) anger phlegm – a thick viscid substance from the airway foetus – unborn child flatus – wind from the intestine sublime – pure, highly refined cardinal – chief, fundamental proximate – near amok – run wildly in uncontrolled anger
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67.
thesis – theory, argument discretion – prudence, tact, care blight – harm, destroy, spoil dither – hesitate roost – settle for rest or sleep mica – a silicate mineral transparent when thin manifestation – a happening, an occurrence delusion – false belief inn – a place offering accommodation for travellers pervades – spreads throughout chaff – chopped or separated grass etc. from seeds nymph – a beautiful young woman consign – hand over, deliver, assign, transmit occult – not obvious on inspection
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 1–29 Geeta Chapter 15
Chapter 97
Return to Gurubhakti* Introduction to Chapter 15
The fifteenth chapter of the Geeta in its first four verses uses a tree as a metaphor1 to describe this world. This tree, like any other, is a symbol of incessant2 change, and what is more, this tree grows roots from its branches as well. Also, this tree is inverted and hangs upside down in front of man with its roots unseen (and on top) and only its periphery is observable to man. More on the metaphor in the next chapter but before the description of the tree begins (a total of nearly 250 verses in the Dnyaneshwari), Dnyaneshwar returns to his guru not only to pray but to praise and eulogize3 him, to tell readers how important his guru is, how dependent he is on his guru for not only his spiritual existence, but also for the inspiration by which he will speak on the Geeta. Let my pure passion Become a seat On which are marked My guru’s feet Let my mind be firmly held With that single thought That my guru and me Are not apart Petals of my bodily parts I offer at his feet With all my heart Let my devotion be the water For his bath And with my love for him His forehead I will mark** …1982 * Please see Chapter 84, Adoration of the Guru, for the genesis of the word bhakti; please see Chapter 18 for guru. ** normally done with sandalwood paste
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The fragrance of Joy and bliss4 Of them made lotus this I will place on his feet …1983 Pride and ego Of my various Gods Let them burn like incense5 And also with the lustrous6 thought That I am nothing Let me pray And let me knot At my guru’s feet And with my body and breath Let his feet be shod7 Virtue, wealth and charity Desire, work and liberty In this world Let all this fall to my lot …1984 Dnyaneshwar further prays for a ‘certain fortune’ in the following words That fortune On which grows knowledge Of deliverance And endows8 words With oceans of exuberance9 By which the alphabet shines With the sweet luminescence10 Of a million moons And listeners are then filled With speech of an extraordinary radiance Like the sun fills the sky With its brilliant effulgence11 Bestow on me, my guru, that fortune That my tale will drown Even the Brahmic12 resonance And the world can partake The spring of this eloquence13 And let Brahma be found in this speech Which defies knowledge and penance14
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The fragrance of the guru’s feet Is why all this happens That fortune let be with me And inspire me with its presence Because I am the child of my guru And his only son Like the Chatak15 bird’s thirst Is quenched with not a drop But every possible shower The guru May pour in me His all and all his benevolence16 That is how my empty mouth Will be filled with the brilliance Of she, the Geeta And her Brahmic sustenance17 …1985 Dnyaneshwar then continues to explain the effect that the guru can produce on his loyal devotee. When fortune smiles Even sand becomes diamonds And the one who wants to kill you Comes to love with abundance A gravel hurting a boil Becomes fragrant rice A source of sustenance That then is the power of the guru And his wholehearted acceptance Remember the story Of Arjun’s family’s blemished18 past With a stroke from the Lord Became a history of just governance My guru too in this manner Offers me deliverance From my innocence and ignorance But let that be To describe the guru’s love in words Is to defile19 its majestic manifestation20
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There is no known way To define the guru’s benevolence …1986 Thus end the first 29 verses of the Dnyaneshwari’s Chapter 15, one of its most difficult passages to translate because of its reference to Indian rituals, the reverence for the guru (so very alien21 to the modern mind), the use of the hyperbole22 and the complex arrangement of the verse itself. But let that be. We are soon to embark23 on the description of the mythical tree hanging upside down, which is a metaphor on the world at large , which follows in the next chapter of this book.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.
metaphor – imaginative application of a name or a phrase to an object or action incessant – continual, neverending eulogize – praise in speech and writing bliss – utter joy, blessed incense – a form of gum burnt as a religious ritual lustrous – shiny, glossy, gleaming shod – as in being fixed with a shoe endow – provide, give, award, bless exuberance – excited joyful liveliness luminescence – light emission by a substance effulgence – brilliantly shining Brahmic – from Brahma, the original singularity eloquence – fluent and effective use of language penance – punishment to self (usually for sin) Chatak bird – a mythical bird pining for water benevolence – charity sustenance – nourishment, help blemished – physical or moral defect defile – make dirty, corrupt munificence – splendid generosity alien – different, separate, strange, unfamiliar, not harmonious hyperbole – exaggerated statement embark – begin, undertake, launch
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 29–266 Geeta Chapter 15
Chapter 98
The Inverted Tree The Myth and the Reality
Samuel Beckett (1906–89) the English (Irish) playwright, has said that language was like a veil1 that obscured meaning and it (language) must be torn apart in order to get to the thing behind it. The question is, what is behind the thing or things that a language attempts or fails to describe. This question is far more easily asked than answered. The cosmos2 for example is silence personified, till our ears intrude and perceive sound in it, and that ubiquitous3 thing called the visible light (which an encyclopaedia refuses to define because it is far removed from our language) makes its appearance only when our eyes appear on the scene. Visible light as is well known now, is only a part of a cascade4 of waves or particles that form our environment and the rest of the cascade is not visible to us in spite of our eyes. What man sees and hears or feels is only a part of the whole and what is more what is perceived is not really waiting to be perceived by man. In a sense, man is an interpolater5 who by virtue of his physiological construction, cannot escape what he calls the sounds and the lights of this world. But even here, the results of his perceptions are not quite uniform. Perception in the raw has to be tempered with interpretation and the result that follows can be diverse in different individuals. As we take this argument through the animal kingdom, things appear even more bizzare6. Animals see, hear, smell and feel in a way we do not and vice versa. On this background, to deduce truth by way of appearances and then call it the only truth and nothing but the truth is unscientific. For example, it can be argued that the cosmos is dark and silent when man is not around but gets lighted and is full of sounds when man emerges. Or that the cosmos is nothing but a vast knot of energy or collectively a force field in essence but it is only when living things appear that it is perceived as part matter and part empty space. Nietzsche, German philosopher (1844–1900) once said that we calculate, but so that we can calculate we had to make fiction7 first. Man must encounter
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matter first (fiction) and then deduce that after all it is only energy locally condensed (the final calculation). Man is versatile in creating useful myths, when dealing with what he thinks is tangible8. Take the idea of zero, or nothing. Is it an idea or a number? A zero cannot be subtracted from a sum, the sum remains constant. You multiply a number with zero and it disappears. You put a zero in front of a number and it grows exponentially9. This play of the tangible (a number) with zero (which is nothing) invented by man is both ridiculous and incredibly clever. What also indeed can be a greater paradox10 than the fact that man searches for the ‘reality’ within the minutest constituents of nature by mathematical symbols? Reality and symbols make an imperfect pair. In classical science (or the science of the big) symbolic representation is looked down upon. What is demanded is hard (!) proof. In the science of the subatomic world symbols are justified because hard proof is lacking. All this is not written to rubbish man’s achievements in this world. Man perceives a certain reality and has so far dealt with it cleverly if not with wisdom. If wisdom is lacking it is because man takes the perceived gross reality too seriously, little realizing that this may not be the whole truth. As science has advanced, man has been made aware that behind the magic of this bewitching11 world, there is something far less romantic. That thing around which the web of the world is woven is just a mass (!) of throbbing, colourless, odourless, characterless energy or force or a ‘force field’. As compared to the world of man, it would seem to be nothing (a zero?). But that is the wondrous nature of this cosmos. Faraday, English physicist (1791–1867), who first drew our attention to the networks of flowing energy ‘in everything there is’ once said that this (seeming) nothing is too wonderful to be true! Indeed! Because we are so fixated to our local wonderful kind of truth that this so-called characterless thing and therefore a nothingness eludes our appreciation, though it is the father and mother of all relative truths. To put it in Einsteinian (German physicist, 1879–1955) language, man is trapped in his local time zone, when trillions of such imaginary (?) time zones abound in this universe. All of them are real for their inhabitants. To go a step further, is there a single composite truth that can encompass all these individual (partial!) truths? What has been written so far is susceptible to be branded as pseudoscientific philosophical humbug. This characterization could be true in two parts, pseudoscientific and useless (humbug) because it is philosophical. There is no denying that man within his nation
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state, in the midst of his social and economic environment and his family, must encounter the world with the help of the so-called ‘limited truth’ which he perceives. But like in all useful things, too much reliance on useful things can be counterproductive. Partial truth or this seeming world therefore needs to be explained not only in its glory but also with its gory12 detail. As to the charge that all this is pseudoscientific, it can be said in defence that all religious philosophies in the past have unabashedly13 and without an iota of any scientific discussion extolled14 on a higher truth. All that science is now doing is to make a statement that the final fact or truth is almost at hand but not in hand. This introduction so far takes a middle path, where scientific truth (!) as perceived by the author is used to make a point supportive of basic tenets of old religions. In the Indian stream of religions, metaphysics15 is discussed frequently with the ornamentation of metaphors16. Upanishads (the last of the Hindu philosophical discussions) are a case in point. In two of them mention is made of an inverted tree with roots above and branches below in which life thrives. The tree is a picture of incessant17 activity, life, death and birth, is full of variety, is nature itself, and has qualities, attributes and is described as bewitching and magical (maya) in the middle of which man lives. The tree is both his abode and his trap. Such is the speed with which this tree transforms, that man has no time to think it out. Unlike the higher truth or Brahma18, which is changeless, this tree, which is exactly the opposite and nothing but ‘change’, becomes the focus for man. He both enjoys it and suffers on account of it. In order do reduce his suffering, man tries to attack it, uproot it, tear it down but to no avail. The Geeta, which includes very few verses on this tree, is almost forgotten by Dnyaneshwar, who ends up writing a couple of hundred verses on the subject. The advice that the Geeta and Dnyaneshwar offer man on the subject of this tree is to neglect it, consider it as a ‘now’, call it a ‘dream’ or just ‘imagination’ and thereby vanquish19 it. The advice is, live in the tree but look at it with amusement. Says Dnyaneshwar, Why and how/ can you clip/ the hare’s horns/ when they are/ never going to be formed? These verses are too full of botanical terms and Sanskrit philosophical words, which are impossible to translate into English. But most verses relevant to the principal thesis that man views the world but is unable to grasp its whole truth are included. Some of the ideas that Dnyaneshwar narrates are extraordinary.
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Here is how the verses go To come to the subject proper The Lord has said in this matter That rituals and their practice Can bring man to heavens* proper …1987 * Considered a lower aim, because man has to return from heaven after his good deeds are exhausted.
But only introspection of the essence Will attain for him deliverance …1988 The release is here and now when you think properly. Only the eyes can see The sun’s light Only knowledge will rid Man of his worldly plight But that knowledge Must be pure and lasting Which happens with the help Of asceticism’s20 might And an ascetic sight dawns When the world Comes to be known Not what seems, not quite And is abandoned Like a man, who comes to know That his food is not right Because it is poisoned And therefore takes flight That is how Asceticism with all its might Stays on this man’s side …1989 And the Lord then describes This world, which is An inverted tree Neither felled, uprooted nor shrivelled But a living thriving tree When a man wants to be set free What comes in the way Is this tree
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Because its roots are above An axe cannot chop And kill this tree Nor can you fathom21 Its expanse Like the sun It is far and beyond Only its rays Arrive here to dance And as when the sun sets Everywhere darkness falls This tree blocks Everything that there is Space and all As the water of the final flood Fills everything with its waves Huge and tall ‌1999 But though Above it has roots This tree From its branches Also grows roots Which dangle free And on them grow Small little trees Like moss and weeds In a marsh grow with speed But this tree Has neither flower, nor fruit The sky is embroidered Only with its branches And its roots ‌2000 The Lord then said I will explain to thee All about this perennial22 tree Because you alone are fit To listen to this treat
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And so please become all ears And let us meet …2001 Arjun then became Attention itself And grasped with vigour All that was said …2002 The sage Agasti Did swallow the sea Or the sky is vast But is put to its limits By north and south West and east …2003 But not so the Brahma It is said (of this tree) That Brahma is its top But Brahma has nothing Such as bottom, middle and top According to scriptures23 It has no parts …2004 Its sound is Not the subject for the ears The fragrance of which The nose cannot gather (It is) The light and seeing Without the presence of a seer Neither here nor there Yet everywhere Without sex and orgasm24 The absolute pleasure, sheer …2005 Without a subject nor an object Reality and essence Thinner than the sky Joy in the pure sense …2006 Without a creator Or a cause
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Without a second Nor is it a cause All by itself Without a pause …2007 That then Is supposed to be The top of this tree From which magic trick or maya25 Are sprouts that hang, loose or free …2008 But mainly By the word maya It is known But it is really nothing As has been shown A barren woman’s child In man’s mind has grown Discretion26, thought and reason To this tree are unknown It is the seed From which The world appears to have grown Elements and land Man and life All its very own A flaming torch From the light of which Ignorance is shone …2009 It is a box Of many a trick It is the sky Where worlds like clouds Wander and creep In it the world is a bale of cloth Folded neat From the real and the true It puts you to sleep It is the soot27 That darkens the lamp
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With an ominous sheet It the woman Arouses a man In his dreams The essence from which It will arise Of that essence Ignorance it breeds And this ignorance Is the seed That makes you Feel, hear and see When you are awake Or dream when you sleep Even the deep dreamless sleep Is a prelude to be awakened And then for you to Dream and sleep ‌2010 From the spirit When maya comes to be Her roots strengthen Near the spirit Then out come clusters Of sharp, pointed spines From the occult28 to the manifest The first, a tender luscious leaf Ego comes next, sattwa, raj, tam* Form a robust trifoliate29 leaf Reason then differentiates Mind comes on, a delicate lovely twig Elements then form and grow Like robust branches quick The senses30 are next Leaves after leaves Some small others big ‌2011 *
the three attributes of man, please Chapter 96
To touch is to feel To hear may be to fear
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To see is to need The tongue wants the sweet The nose wants to poke The tree is thus on a growing spree31 And life as we know Desire and senses Ego and mind Thrives and comes to be But this tree Is not for real A silvery seashell Is not really silver And not greater than the shell If it is silver Wherever there are waves There is a sea Brahma and ignorance That is the tree …2012 By himself he is But a man in a dream Becomes and sees His family tree …2013 So is this Magical tree Tomorrow is not What today it is Like clouds do change Their colour and sheen The lightning vanishes With lightning speed The agitated state Of a bewildered mind From an undulating rosebud Water does slide Forever it dies This magical tree …2014 Clouds by their nature Suck at the sea
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The rivers then fill up That very sea For the mind that sees That sea is the same The rivers and clouds Help in this scene …2015 The same with this tree Which changes with speed It appears the same For the observing mind …2016 When charity is done Money is given But the charitable man Better he becomes …2017 With tremendous speed When a wheel is in motion To the observing mind It loses its motion Rapid is the change In branches and leaves A new growth arrives As the earlier dies …2018 Clouds come to gather When rains are to pour How they arrive and where do they go Nobody knows …2019 When the worlds are to die Things fall apart In that very death New ones are to start …2020 Cane after cane Sugarcane will grow Men follow men Taking their bow …2021
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The receding year Is the birth of the new Day follows day Before you knew …2022 A breeze comes in waves But the waves have no joint This incessant tree Is beyond one’s mind …2023 Water that flows Has a front and behind But such is its flow That it benumbs the mind Front and behind Are difficult to find …2024 Before you can wink A million waves arise Yet waves are what matter To your eyes …2025 A spinning top in speed Appears fixed to the ground A flaming torch in a circle Makes an apparent round …2026 This magical tree Lives and also dies Every second on the way That is why It seems the same To those who have lost their way …2027 It is born a million times And a million times it dies I tell you, it is not real With ignorance it is primed32 …2028
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Those who know That this tree is not Are realized souls With Upanishadic33 thoughts …2029 This is the tree That freely breeds Occult becomes manifest34 Life grows with speed Man, woman and neuter Every possible creed Ego and motivation Passion, lust and greed And man comes to occupy The middle of this tree …2030 When raj or action Holds its sway Karma comes to the fore All else gives way Rewards and retributions Are what come to stay Heaven and hell Prosperity and wealth A rebirth is sure When death finds its way …2031 When tam is on flow Bad deeds grow The good word from the scriptures Are put to shame and bow The animal in man Then puts up its show To violence and sex Man becomes prone …2032 When sattwa is strong Virtues throng Discretion and reason Are naturally born
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The good word from the scriptures Are on a song …2033 Strength and endurance Ethics35 and penance36 Asceticism in ascendance Religion and forbearance37 All together grow tall But in the end With their weight They too droop and fall …2034 Gods are a little above Within reach and call But Brahma is beyond reach Luminous38 pristine39 and tall …2035 The question is How can this tree Be uprooted and torn …2036 In answer to this I tell you, ‘why exert’ When it is not even formed …2037 How can you banish The bogeyman40 Can you clip The hare’s horns Castles in the air Cannot be felled or torn Out of thin air and the sky Can a flower form If sterile is a woman What children can be born Speeches in dreams, when awakened Disappear and are gone The sky will not fly Whichever way you blow Or however strong Bananas and rice
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Out of a watery mirage Unless the wind falls Waves will crest Tall and long When ignorance is banished The tree will not form (in your mind) …2038 To the question as to whether this tree has a beginning, middle or an end Dnyaneshwar says what is false and not true cannot have a beginning and therefore no middle or an end. It can be called ancient and original because fear and falsehood are very old and have grown in the human mind ever since man encountered this world, which is only half of the truth. The final, or the basic truth or the substrate on which everything subsists one way or another, Brahma, is without a beginning or an end and therefore none of its so-called products can have these attributes41. The rainbow deceives you By many a colour And the sky is not Blue in colour …2039 The monkey tries to catch The images in water And the ripples and waves That form on that water Are similes that fit This mythical matter …2040 Such is this Mythical tree Its form and its shape It is the mind that breeds What is to uproot, what is to cut Once your mind is totally free …2041 Hammers and sticks To beat at a snake When it is a rope Coiled like a snake …2042
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This section of the Dnyaneshwari is now coming to a close. In a ridiculously humorous simile, Dnyaneshwar talks of a man looking for wood in a forest, to make a boat to cross a mirage, and in the process drowns in a real stream flowing through the forest. Dnyaneshwar also asks a rhetorical question, ‘‘what medicine, except waking him up, can cure a man of his fearful dreams’’? He adds that knowledge is the weapon to deal with this magical tree and for this weapon to act, reason must be aided by dispassion. Such is the strength of this dispassion and asceticism that man looks at this world with the disdain with which he would look at the fresh vomit of a dog. This weapon is unleashed from the scabbard42 of personal ego and held firmly in the fist of reason tempered with introspection by rubbing against the whetstone of discretion43 and should have the sharp edge of the thought ‘I am Brahma’. With such a weapon in hand Realization dawns That there is nothing left To cut tear, or disband …2043 Dnyaneshwar adds Like the autumn Clears the clouds From the sky Or darkness succumbs To the sun Rising in the sky A mirage dissolves When stars start to twinkle In the night sky Or Dreams fail to gather When man rises from his stupor44 …2044 Thus the magical tree will vanish from your reasoned thoughts. The next group of verses included in the following chapter will again focus and concentrate on Brahma, the primal, from which (but not because of which) the tree appears to spring.
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44.
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veil – a screen/thing that hides or disguises cosmos – the universe ubiquitous – seeming to be everywhere or in several places at the same time cascade – a thing that falls or hangs in a way that suggests a waterfall interpolator – from interpolate=add something to text,etc bizarre – very strange, not at all logical fiction – a thing that is invented or imagined and is not true tangible – clear and definite; real exponential – of or indicated by an exponent, here exponent=a figure or symbol that shows how many times a quantity must be multiplied by itself paradox – a statement containing opposite ideas that make it seem absurd or unlikely although it is or may be true bewitching – very attractive and delightful gory – showing violence and blood unabashed – not embarrassed, ashamed or discouraged in circumstances in which others might be extol – praise highly metaphysics – the theoretical philosophy of being or knowing metaphor – imaginative use of word, term or phrase incessant – continual, without an end Brahma – the original singularity vanquish – conquer asceticism – from ascetic=not allowing oneself pleasure and comforts; having a very simple life fathom – understand perennial – lasting for a long time scripture – religious law, sacred writing orgasm – the most intense moment of sexual excitement Maya – magic, trick, creative impulse, property of Brahma discretion – good judgement soot – black powder in the smoke of wood, coal, etc occult – concealed, hidden trifoliate – having three leaflets senses – the five powers of the body—sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch spree – a short period of lively activity to prime – prepare for use or action Upanishad – the concluding portion of Vedic literature manifest – apparent, clear, evident ethics – the laws of moral conduct penance – punishment to self (usually for sins) forbearance – patient self-control, tolerance luminous – emitting light pristine – in its original form, not spoilt bogeyman – a person (many times imaginary) causing fear attribute – a quality or a characteristic scabbard – a sheath in which a sword is kept discretion – prudence, care stupor – daze, unconsciousness, coma
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Dnyaneshwari Verses 267–598 Geeta Chapter 15
Chapter 99
The Perishable1, the Imperishable and the Third
It was Faraday, English physicist (1791–1867) who first showed in modern times that there was ‘something out there’ where we thought there was nothing. He was talking specifically about electromagnetic waves with the potential for attraction and repulsion, and it was these waves that arranged particles of iron in a certain order around a magnet. Later, it was shown that the universe was a criss-crossed hive, a jumble of shafts of energy or force, and light was only one of them. Soon enough the nature of light was shown to be both waves and matter and it is around this discovery that Einstein showed that energy converts to matter and vice versa according to a certain law. The law is popularly known as E=mc2 where c is the velocity of light which is enormous and its square defies imagination. The equation showed that enormous amounts of energy are needed to produce (or create in nature) even very little matter. And the greater the energy in a given space, the denser the matter. For example, a cotton pillow packs less energy than a wooden partition because far more energy is utilized to make wood than cotton. Einstein also showed that shafts of energy (for example, light or a beam of light) bend when they come near a dense object. Like a man falls to the ground from a tree because of the gravity of the earth, a beam of light passing near the earth may not fall on the earth but bends as it passes the earth because of gravity. That beam of light has to bend in its course as it passes the earth, and therefore has to traverse a longer distance to reach its destination. In other words, gravity has an effect on time. Though light travels at the same speed under all circumstances, when it is bent it takes longer to travel the same distance and for our purposes time elongates or clocks go slower. The next step that Einstein, German physicist (1879–1955) took was even more startling. He postulated that gravity does not bend the contents of space but gravity in fact bends space and therefore it appears that it bends everything within it. To give an example, it is not the sea that rises
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during a tide because of the gravitational force of the moon but it is the space around the sea that gets pulled towards the moon, dragging water with it. From the above it becomes quite clear that greater the gravity, the greater is the pull on space and its contents. If gravity assumes enormous unimaginable proportions, space will curl up with its contents till a point will arrive where it will become a crumpled ball in which all its contents will be trapped, including light. Light will not be able to travel and light up things and everything will be dark. More interestingly, because everything will be nothing but gravity, things will be at a standstill. Things will just stand and be still, no movement, no change, no progression, no regression and therefore what we call time, will also stand still. This is a situation that man can only imagine because this is the exact opposite of what man experiences, i.e. movement, time, space and its contents. It would appear, (at least to this author), that so far in the Geeta and Dnyaneshwari, energy has been certified as supreme and permanent while matter forms and dissolves. Matter has qualities that can be described, touched, felt, smelt and seen. Man is matter and material, has a short lifespan, is a product of energy or spirit, is subject to birth, change and death. In the example of the inverted tree in the previous chapter (Chapter 99), all matter that made the tree changed ceaselessly and was therefore waiting to perish1 from its previous state. The rider to this change was that the tendency to change was imperishable. The only thing that did not change was the tendency to change. These two were then the qualities that the tree showed. It is in relation to these two qualities that the third had to be introduced, which could harbour both the perishable aspect and the imperishable need to change and perish. That third in this section of the Geeta and the Dnyaneshwari has been portrayed as neither, nothing, everything, a potential, the zone in which the two can be accommodated. The dark (!) standstill zone which is the culmination of intense attraction, and which has a potential to burst forth into everything of which the universe is made is the third category and that is how the title of this chapter comes about. In a way this presentation in the Geeta and the Dnyaneshwari is a distraction from the earlier hypothesis of energy and matter or Brahma2 and the manifested3 world. At one point, the Geeta and the Dnyaneshwari hint and also state that this third entity of this chapter transcends4 Brahma or this third entity transcends what has so far
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been described as immanent 5 as well as transcendental. Not surprisingly, this section of the Dnyaneshwari has the potential to confuse. Dnyaneshwar, in particular, a confirmed Vedantic6, who has so far narrated the established line of spirit and matter must digress and yet hold on to his earlier line and it shows in the verses he narrates. The specific mention of the third entity comes towards the end of the fifteenth chapter of the Geeta but it casts its shadow throughout Dnyaneshwar’s earlier narration in this chapter. Added to this is the fact that there is some mythology7 used as a metaphor as well as a long postscript8, which makes this section of the Dnyaneshwari unwieldy. In order that this chapter’s narration is kept to the bone because it introduces a new idea, the translation is restricted to its philosophical content. Once you know That there is Nothing to prove Put this, that, or the other Or to take out or remove Is it me or another Is beyond A viable proof That all is one That alone is true …2045 To see oneself in the mirror And to think there is another …2046 The water is in place Before the well is dug It only comes face to face When the spring is struck …2047 To see one’s real self Is like the tongue Tasting itself How can the eye See its pupil Itself The sky cannot float on itself Or water cannot be collected
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By water itself …2048 This here seeing is Without sight This kind of knowing Defies reason’s might …2049 That thing to be seen Or is to be felt And when scriptures9 speak About this real and only self Words or throngs of words Definitions, aphorisms10 and names Are of no avail …2050 For you to realize this real self The thought of unity Must fill your heart Like when the final flood Will fill everything and all …2051 The great enemy of unity is individual ego Like clouds recede When rains abate Ego must flee From his mind’s gate …2052 In a twisted simile, Dnyaneshwar evokes the image of a sick and infirm relation who exhausts the other members of the family, particularly when the one who is sick is also poor. Dnyaneshwar compares the ‘realized’ man to the one who shuns and the world to the sick and poor. Of the poor and ill The kin are tired He shuns the world And thus will not be mired11 …2053 To arrive at wisdom is fruction. To avoid the tantalizing12 world is the technique and to reach the end stage is to become silent because expression belongs to the external world. Here is the verse
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When the plantain tree Is full of fruit The tree falls From its roots And from a forest on fire Birds will scoot When wisdom grows He goes quiet and mute …2054 Only when you shun duality , realize the unity of everything, can you attain the perfect state. The very basis of duality, the world of me, he and the other, needs to be banished from one’s mind. The land on which Duality grows (as weeds) That land itself He refuses to know …2055 The night must flee When the sun appears In the Brahmic thought Pride disappears …2056 Life has fled From a body that is dead With Brahmic thoughts Duality is shed …2057 It is in this state that duality is banished The sun cannot find Darkness and night Signs of duality Are out of sight …2058 This world is a mere appearance, and so are joy and sorrow, which form a part of this appearance. Life is a dream Joy and sorrow Are not for him He is not bothered Of death in a dream …2059 13
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Dnyaneshwar cleverly states that death is a frightening reality for men but he disputes the very reality that man assumes to be real. He compares life to a dream and indirectly suggests that what we call life is also equally unreal. How can an eagle Be caught by a snake For this man Neither pleasure nor pain …2060 The eagle here in this verse, is invulnerable to a snake. This man having realized his essence is not vulnerable to pleasure and pain. He, the eagle cannot be bothered by pleasure or pain, the snakes of this world. He lives in the midst of nature, watches it unfold but is not taken in by it, in fact returns it with compliments. The sun sucks water And then showers again That then we call By the name of rain He sees this world And returns the same And remains as one Beyond this bewitching14 game …2061 Everything that he experiences, he knows is a mere product of ‘that thing’ or ‘Brahma. All his experiences are judged with wisdom and discretion15 and put firmly back in his soul which in a way represents the universal soul or Brahma. The river must flow Into the heart of the sea His wisdom and discretion15 Are with the soul within …2062 Notice in the above verse that the river is flowing and the sea is the calm recipient. Experiences too are moving but discretion allows him to focus on the soul with the help of which experiences grow. The sky does not move From place to place Clear as the sky He is firmly in place …2063
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The hint in the above verse is clear. It is the clouds that move, come and go, and are the worldly experiences, not the sky, which is compared to the soul. The next verse is a study in contradiction yet is apt. A seed will not sprout Once burnt in a fire Their minds are solemn16 Where all needs retire …2064 The fire mentioned here is that of knowledge or realization. This fire tempers his mind and does not allow the seed of desire to sprout. To continue further When the moon is full Its phases are past That is how this man Is elegantly cast …2065 Motes of dust A wind blows far Tantalizing senses Are blown apart (from him) …2066 In a description as to where these people have reached, Dnyaneshwar says Where nothing need be known And nothing can be seen Nor can there be Any specific thing That is where you find These great beings …2067 In a further description of this place several verses are narrated The lamp, moon or the sun And their so-called light A seashell looks silvery Because of maya’s17 might A rope looks like a snake In fading light All these come From that original light Where the sun and moon drown
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And are no more bright Melting reflections From that light of the light ...2068 That the world that we live in is secondary, an after-effect, an effect that does not last and is ephemeral18 has been stressed by Vedant and the Geeta, and by Dnyaneshwar as well. Here is a familiar verse Dreams withdraw When you are awake (to the reality) Where goes the mirage When the light comes to fade Illusions no more Where that thing stays …2069 And the realized men who are being described here transcend this ephemeral world in the following manner A river enters the sea Never to return Salt put in the sea Into water it turns Or flames once risen Can never again burn …2070 And such transcendence implies that such men will be released once and for all and will not repeat another cycle of life. At this juncture Arjun raises an objection or put in dialogical terms, raises questions. The substance of his arguments is twofold and simple. If there is unity in this universe, man is not a separate entity. Why then does he have to travel towards unity? The other question is if man, during his life does indeed transcend his individual existence, how does he return to live his individual existence. Here is how Arjun fashions his arguments in Dnyaneshwar’s words. If they were Different from you And then become One with you That they were different Cannot be true …2071
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A bumblebee Cannot be One with the rose An arrow and its target Cannot be one However close …2072 Arjun adds the following queries If you and man Are really one What then is different In substance and sum …2073 Says Arjun further How can a weapon Hurt itself The body and limbs Cannot be different selves …2074 Shrikrishna, in the words of Dnyaneshwar, gives a fairly long answer. That they are with me Or they are not Both is possible In human thought But when you think With care and deep You will see That man is with me …2075 They appear different Like on water ride waves So many ornaments But the gold is the same …2076 Shrikrishna then talks about the universal expanse and the singleness of Brahma When the sun fills the sky What of its rays
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In what can they shine When there is no space When the final flood comes Water is all Neither river nor lakes And no waterfalls How can you catch This huge broad sky Either in a pot Or under a roof however high …2077 Water is straight But is bent in its stream The sun is mighty But in water is lean …2078 A man asleep Is a king in his dreams The world seems filled Only by him …2079 When with ignorance Of me they come to think Their body is me Is what they will think …2080 When the body is in focus It appears to be my part Like waves on water Are called my parts The spirit I am By which the body comes alive The life of that body Is called me by the naive19 …2081 Notice the distinction that is being made between life and spirit. We identify life with our body but it is much more than that. The theme continues in the next verse
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This reason and this thought Which comes to man’s mind He calls it life In this world which grinds …2082 This world grinds, man comes and goes, and in a short span imagines that his existence was synonymous20 with spirit, which is far more than what man imagines. That the body and the mind Are born and then die Means not that I too Must be born and then die And that I create and strive Is a very big lie …2083 Notice the clear-cut separation. There is this vast background on which light lights up and extinguishes and the lights seem to imagine a relationship between themselves and their source. The same theme is continued in the next verse The life that lurks In body and flesh Thinks it is the spirit And worships itself It climbs the chariot Which is called a mind Enters a forest Of words that delight The skin is next With its sensorial21 touch Pleasures his mind So very much Out of his eyes Scans beauty and form Via the tongue Tastes are informed And as the nose comes to poke Smells come to be born …2084
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This thing called life Travels from place to place But appears to shine Only in the mortal space …2085 In a very interesting simile, Dnyaneshwar mentions that for a man to indulge in his wealth, he needs to live in a city where alone opportunities exist for him to use his wealth. The rich can dally22 Only in the capital’s* light Thus life comes to light Only within the body’s might …2086 * as in a large city
Organs and senses Set on an ego trip Life comes to erupt In the bodily crypt23 …2087 The relationship between life, body, and the senses is brought out in this long verse narrated below When the sun is set With it goes light When the string is broken Puppets are released The scent of flowers With the air it flees Senses will grow Where life comes to thrive It is not the lamp But the flame that shines To be born or to die To work or strive The soul is untouched By what is called life …2088 In a further elucidation of the distance or the separation of life from the universal being, Dnyaneshwar gives the following examples The proof of air Is not a swaying tree When the tree is not
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Air there is The mirror proves not That you are thee24 When the mirror is removed You are still that thee The moon is steady When the clouds run free They may rumble But the sky is the father Of the sound that is Bodies will come and bodies may die But the soul is free …2089 To bolster 25 the argument further that there is something permanent and forever and there are other things that come and go, the following verses are narrated The stars don’t fall In the mirror of the sea And they don’t break When the water has tides Ponds may form Or they may dry But the sun is the sun It just shines …2090 This truth is the truth and those who look at the world in this manner are described below Like the rays will pierce Cloud-filled skies They see the truth At all the times …2091 And what is the truth? The spirit is spirit Neither does it grow Nor does it die It does no work Nor does it try …2092 To continue the description further, Dnyaneshwar explains the limitations of information or science and the so-called knowledge
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that is derived from these two sources. Atoms might be counted Or knowledge may dawn Science might be grasped And the world come in hand But prejudice and pride Passion and greed Which go hand in hand Will come in the way And lead to me not …2093 To continue the description of me (Shrikrishna figuratively) or that thing or Brahma or even beyond, this is how Dnyaneshwar explains what is narrated in the Geeta. The light that shows Earth and sunlight That special light Is really my might And when my light has sucked Whatever is moist Moonlight it is Tender and moist I enter the earth To hold it firm And the sea can’t dissolve her However it churns Man, animal and tree Are held together by me The soft tender moonbeams That nourish crops and trees And the fire in the belly That nourishes thee Is all because of me All animals are me All food is me And the fire that digests That too is me …2094
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In a very unusual situation in the Dnyaneshwari what follows are questions posed by Shrikrishna himself. Here are the questions If all that there is Is me Then how come there is joy And some are left to cry How come some are pure And others impure and sly If that is your question Let me tell you why ‌2095 And what follow are some interesting examples narrated by Shrikrishna in the words of Dnyaneshwar Sound is one But instruments many Each makes music In its way uncanny26 To light or to heat To cook or see The sun is the same But used in different ways Clouds and rain Water is the same Look at different trees Each gives different things From their different seeds A woven string of beads Might appear to some as a snake The same water of the sea Makes pearls or venom of snakes It is me and only me But different forms I take Each man and his reason Has him broken or made ‌2096
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Dnyaneshwar points out that for the sun to be seen, nothing can help except the sun itself. You can see the sun rise When the sun comes to rise …2097 In applying this theorem to man he states that good deeds, a certain asceticism27, the company of saints and advice from the guru will help the rise of the sun in man which will shine in him to show his true self, as under Each man thinks of himself That thought is also me I can only be seen With the help of only me …2098 To give an interesting twist to the above, Dnyaneshwar says The clouds hide the sun But watch the real fun The clouds can be seen Only because of the sun …2099 To continue in the same vein, here is another verse You are awake And then you sleep But it is wakefulness That lets you sleep Truth and falsehood Both are me …2100 Though Dnyaneshwar draws these ideas from the philosophical content of the existing scriptures, he makes a point that mere ideas or thoughts are not enough. They may show you a direction but in the final analysis, it is man himself who must rise with reason to enable him to grasp the whole truth where reason too dissolves. Here are the verses which put philosophy and scriptures in their proper place. When scriptures sought What is me They broke in parts* To look for me …2101 * not a single document
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A fragrant breeze Is lost in space Scriptures can’t reach Brahma’s gates The scriptures fall Silent in shame I get them going To restore their name …2102 When a man wakes Dreams abate And he realizes then His singleness …2103 In a clever metaphor , Dnyaneshwar compares the Brahma to a thief The thief that steals All of this world Who is left To show his worth Unique I am Beyond human words …2104 It is at this point in his narration that Dnyaneshwar starts to unravel the idea that while the world is perishable, man counters the idea of the perishable world with the principle of the imperishable. But Dnyaneshwar hints that the two together fall into a void like in the idea of matter and antimatter in modern physics. The invisible antimatter is everywhere, far more potent than matter. It is when they meet that everything vanishes, leaving behind a potential void. Both these words, potential and void are important because in the sense that they are used, void for nothing, and potential for a hidden ability— the words do not quite match. Here is how Dnyaneshwar puts forth the idea I alone know my singularity Without the aid of duality For man to understand I become the causality29 …2105 28
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What is left When reality rings Is not nothing Nor any other thing …2106 Notice the use of the words ‘nothing’ and ‘any other thing’ so that he can dangle a certain concept before man. Dnyaneshwar says A painted wall Appears neat and clear When faced with a mirror Shining and clear …2107 And then continues his theme with the following verse The lips are two But the word is one Two legs there are But the walk is one Things look different But in fact one …2108 Dnyaneshwar, in the last line of the above verse, is treading back to the ordinary world as he explains that he (Shrikrishna, the philosopher) and Arjun are two individuals exchanging ideas—a classic case of duality, where singularity or oneness is being discussed. He justifies the duality in the following verses But just being one Would not be fair Arjun had to learn And be made aware …2109 In Krishna’s being Arjun had merged But for this reason He then emerged …2110 He had pined For the transcendental form But Shrikrishna showed The immanent norm …2111
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Gold can be seen When the blot is removed The sky becomes sky When the clouds are moved …2112 When the chaff is removed Seeds are seen Water is seen When the algae are cleaned The world must be shown For me to be gleaned …2113 In an extraordinary metaphor , Dnyaneshwar mentions the case of a young nubile Indian bride who blushes when her future husband’s name is mentioned. He also points out that the very same bride shows no effects when hundred other names are mentioned earlier in her presence. This method shows the whole world first and then arrives at the truth indirectly, (to see the real truth). As a corollary30 to the above, he also gives the example of the moon in its first phase before it starts to grow. That moon is pencil-thin and in order to appreciate its beauty you have to see it across or counterpoised31 against the limb of a tree. In this city Called life Only two things reside Like the sky Can harbour Only day and night There is another, the third Which when in sight With its might Envelops both these And puts them to flight As if eats them up With great delight …2114 But first The first of the two Let me describe 28
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He is blind Because untouched by reality Is his mind And is insane Because he thinks The body is might And is lame Because without worldly things He cannot fight …2115 The second of the two On all counts Is proper and right But because they live Within each other’s sight Have a friendship tight And cannot be separated By ordinary sight …2116 The former is perishable The latter is not But let us see How the former is wrought32 …2117 Whatever there is Small or big Filled with movement Or steady it is What reason can know And from matter it is From which man comes to be Or time gambles or plays with which Where ignorance thrives Change is rife33 And from the wood of illusions This forest it is …2118
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This is where the other Comes to live And man imagines This is how to live Like the sky Wide and high In water shines To dream of a bed And in your dream On that bed to sleep And then snore with joy And with sorrow to weep And this my father This my son Is what man speaks This my woman This my wealth All these thoughts Are silly tricks And all this nonsense Perishable it is …2119 The manifestation called man is not the whole story of the spirit. When man identifies himself with his sense organs or his body gets emotionally attached to creatures and rises or falls with success or failure, he is in the perishable mode. When the moon is reflected in water it is the reflection that gets perturbed when the water moves, not the moon. In fact when the water dries, the reflection disappears. Man is part reflection, part moon; part body, part spirit; and for man to get tied down to the body or the reflection is an inferior choice. In the well-known story of the lion who pounces on his own image in a deep well and dies, man too could die a hundred deaths if he were to love or hate his image. On the other hand, for man there is no death or its fear if he can rationally think about his short-lived existence. From a mental frame, ‘I can or may perish’, to the one of ‘I am imperishable34’, is a big leap. Dnyaneshwar, while describing the two ideas, perishable1 and imperishable, takes recourse to the nomenclature of the Kapil doctrine (Chapter 79) spirit and nature, man and woman, husband and spouse, creativity and its trigger. As has been explained in an earlier chapter, this dual mechanism has been incorporated into one
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by encompassing the creative impulse within Brahma (in the later Upanishads). But here and only here, in relation to the idea of the inverted tree which is prone to perish because it changes incessantly, does the Geeta take a novel stand. It signifies the tree as that which does not last, the urge to create the tree as everlasting and a third force, the supreme which encompasses both. The technical terms used for the three are Kshar (as in salt, which dissolves), Akshar (as in not soluble, or not dissolvable or permanent), and the supreme (which encompasses all). The fascinating aspect of this theory lies in the description (!) of the supreme which really is nothing, neither perishable nor imperishable. In one verse Dnyaneshwar even hints that in this supreme state, even Brahma is transcended. Here are the verses that describe the supreme That light without light With its huge might Without any thing In sight ...2120 The sound heard By the sound The taste that is Tasted by the tongue …2121 The lustre35 of lustre Joy touched by joy The void so devoid That it can hide When rest Comes to rest And fullness itself Fulfils self …2122 The end of the thing That causes the end …2123 That which sees And which is seen And that which will see When all is gone From the scene …2124
726 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35.
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar perish – expire, lose life, die Brahma – ‘that thing’ from which the world evolved manifested – happened, occurred transcend – beyond the material world, beyond reason, go beyond immanent – indwelling, inherent Vedantic – related to the Upanishads, the concluding part of the Vedas mythology – a body of legends and traditional imaginary stories postscript – a portion added after the main text scripture – religious law, sacred writing aphorism – brief statement of a principle mire – bog, mud, to be stuck in such tantalize – tease by way of appearance duality – a philosophy which assumes spirit and matter as separate bewitch – cast a spell, delight greatly discretion – prudence, care solemn – weighty, sober maya – a trick, magic, creative potential ephemeral – transient, lasting for a short time naïve – innocent, foolish synonymous – same as, usually related to the meaning of a word sensorial – related to sense organs as in giving pleasure or pain dally – play about, flirt crypt – cellar, basement, grave thee – you bolster – strengthen uncanny – mysterious asceticism – severe self-discipline, denying all forms of pleasure metaphor – clever use of word, term or phrase causality – to become a cause corollary – an immediate deduction counterpoise – counterbalance wrought – beaten or shaped (by hammering) rife – widespread imperishable – enduring, eternal, everlasting lustre – brilliance
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar Dnyaneshwari Verses 1–67 Geeta Chapter 16
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Introduction to Chapter 16
The sixteenth chapter of the Geeta is about the good and the bad, vice and virtue, about being godly and devilish. It is about the aspirations of a civilized man to be nice, cultured and proper. It is also about the need not to fall prey to too much temptation while looking after one’s needs. However in the Indian philosophical context, virtue is not an instrument by which heaven, realization or God is achieved. Realization cannot be counterposed against its lack nor can wisdom be said to have been achieved when ignorance is banished1. The arrival of the ultimate truth banishes all duality2 including the common metaphor3 of light and darkness. The ‘final light’ (!) is without what we call light or wisdom or propriety, the latter three belonging to the category called ‘this world’. Man is an interpolator4 arrived in this world with a notion of separateness, individual identity, ego, motivation and a certain mentality which breeds a plan, a design, a structure. Nature at large or the cosmos5 though variegated6 in appearance (like man), in the final analysis, according to the Upanishadic7 thought, brooks8 no division. Here all is one, and there is no place for opposites or duality either in the gross9 or the subatomic world. But all this is only a thought, an idea, a view, which springs in man’s mind, an entity10, possible, because man exists. This whole concept ‘of one whole’ is supplied to ordinary men by their guru, in Dnyaneshwar’s case Nivrutti, his elder brother. And however brilliant a mind Dnyaneshwar may have possessed, he does not forget to pay his tribute to his guru at the beginning of his narration on the sixteen chapter of the Geeta. Virtue and vice are human ideas, social, cultural, historical even anthropological11 but have no bearing on ‘that thing’ from which the world springs, comes to live and in which it finally dissolves to start again at a future ‘date or time’ both of which are also human ideas. ‘That thing’ or
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‘Brahma’ is unitary,12 all-encompassing13, continuous without a beginning or an end. Here are the verses The sun Lights up the world But the sun and the world Are not one but two But the sun of my guru having risen Has blanked out the world And the lotus of unity has bloomed In my mind’s vision …2125 This sun of the guru Which banishes Maya’s14 might With twinkling stars Of her* night Both wisdom and ignorance Are put to flight And man can then bask In true light …2126 * her=maya
Maya is what produces this (spurious15) world. She (maya) is compared to darkness (night). Knowledge and ignorance both are relegated to being twinkling stars which are banished and put to flight by the real sun (guru) so that man can bask in real light, as the day breaks (of the guru’s light). That I am the body That thought is forgot And a fresh dawn Of this (guru’s) light Allows the birds To take flight From their nests Of worldly thoughts To wondrous sights …2127 To fly away from a nest is a well-known metaphor indicating freedom and deliverance (that of the open sky) from a restrictive nest. This flight is occasioned by the dawn ushered in by the guru’s sun.
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That dawn Which releases the bumblebee From the clasp Of lotus petals So elegantly formed Yet so locked And sets it free …2128 This is another metaphor on release. The bumblebee is depicted here as the spirit, the temptations of the world are the nectar16 and the fragrance of the lotus. The petals lock up the bumblebee in the night (of ignorance). A pair of beloved birds Cooing17 with sorrow Separated only by a river Of maya Or ignorance Are lost and forlorn18 Reason pines19 for conclusion Now to be united With the rising of this sun (of the guru) …2129 The metaphor used here is that of a pair of Charvak birds (male and female) who though very near to each other have lost each other’s whereabouts. Similarly, reason or intelligence because of the impediment20 of maya finds it difficult to arrive at a conclusion. But the guru will take away the veil of the maya and unite reason and conclusion to arrive at the final and only light. That dawn Before which Thievery is on At this dawn The pilgrims are set on Their journey That journey For truth Within and beyond …2130 It is well known that most thefts occur well past midnight when sleep is deep. That is the zone of ignorance. Then comes the dawn or early light which is the harbinger21 of vision which will expand
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over time till the sun comes overhead and show that realization is both within and beyond (the pilgrim). That sun Whose rays of reason And discretion22 Sends sparks That burn Forests of ignorance Thick and dark …2131 This is about the passage of the pilgrim who encounters forests (of ignorance) which are man-made (unlike jungles which are natural) but which are burnt down by sparks from the rays of the guru’s sun. That sun On the pilgrims head Banishes the shadow Of life and death Because it falls beneath Realization’s tread23 Having become small Maya the night For good has left What of sleep Or perverse24 dreams ‘Sealed’ is their fate …2132 The pilgrim stands at noon, the guru’s sun is overhead, the pilgrim’s shadow (his worldly figure’s shadow) is now almost nil or small, is hidden under his feet, light is everywhere, maya is not in sight, the night of ignorance has disappeared so there is no sleep nor dreams (perverse because they are contrary to truth) and their fate is automatically sealed and the pilgrim searching for truth is wide awake to reality. The sun (of the guru) The monarch25 Of the sky of realization Banishes east and west Nothing rises Nor sets To know or not to know
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Both now are together and mate And the only real state Is unveiled26 An extraordinary event …2133 Knowledge or information belongs to this world and their lack is called ignorance. But because these attributes belong to this world they have a form and therefore have dimensions and directions, for example, east and west. All of these are shown in their proper perspective by the guru and an extraordinary situation comes about where everything melts into one. That which is beyond The day and the night Realization’s light That light without light Or that light Which lights up our lights Who indeed can have this vision To savour the delight Of this extraordinary insight (Except those who are helped by the guru) …2134 27 This state, of the light which lights up our light, transcends what is in this mortal perishable28 world and can be understood only with the help of the guru. But to praise him (My guru) Is not for him That is why I only repeatedly bow Before him When devotion and the devotee Merge with he Then praise and adoration29 Will truly realize What they aim to be …2135 Praise and adoration are external forms of your desire to merge with the guru. What is needed is a psychological state where the devotee is so steeped in devotion and his mind is so much on the guru that all external forms of devotion fall by the wayside.
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Utter silence No expression Neither speech And the feeling That there is Nothing to me Can alone Bring the guru to me They can’t Praise or loudly adore thee30 …2136 This is in continuation of the earlier verse which criticizes and negates all external forms of devotion. But when the poor sees The immortal, the size of a sea He is so thrilled By what he sees That he runs to welcome What he sees With trifling31 gifts But look at the joy In his eyes Which all can see …2137 But a man will be a man and must belong to the world and play by the customs of this world. That is what is portrayed in the above verse. A man experiences something extraordinary and runs to offer gifts. Dnyaneshwar points out that even this devotion must be appreciated. For example, as in the verse above, he points out the expression and feeling in the devotee’s eyes. When a lamp is used In adoration of the sun Of the lamp Don’t make fun Just look in the eyes Of the adoring one …2138 The use of a lamp to praise and invoke the source of all light (the sun) is a common practise in India. In a way this is quite comical. But Dnyaneshwar advises the reader to look behind this act of the devotee.32
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What does a child know But this it knows not But he will grow And come to know This the mother surely knows …2139 One approaches the guru slowly. Methods of devotion evolve. The discipline, the devotee, the pilgrim begins as a child, then grows in stature and knowledge. Like a mother who is confident of her child so is the guru of his disciple. The gutters in town Flow and surge And in the Ganga They fearlessly merge But the Ganga does not Turn its back And surely knows their urge …2140 The guru welcomes all, like the Ganga (the river) welcomes gutters. She has the potential to purify. For immature devotees and the guru, Dnyaneshwar uses the metaphor of the gutters and a river. Bhrugu the sage In a sudden rage Kicked God In his rib cage But God’s mercy and wisdom Pardoned Bhrugu Saw guru’s blessings In that rage …2141 This refers to the story of Bhrugu a great wise sage who once kicked God. But God perceived this as a form of adoration and accepted it as such. Dnyaneshwar continues with the following words, addressing the guru I am sorry I measured you Against the sun Such duality In your philosophy Is just not done
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But remember Those who saw you Through a penance33 Or those who described you With the help of words You offered them A welcome Let me too therefore Come in your presence I will not leave Till I feel fulfilled And till my work is done That the Geeta Should be sung By me Is the only wish With which I am stung34 I have been Utterly truthful In whatever I have done And in this sea Of this world My speech has now won And I have been abandoned On this island Called the Geeta All the good deeds That I have done Have now borne This fruit That this battle Of life and death Of recurring death and birth I seem to have won The Geeta which banishes ignorance And which when sung Is you and your praise Has to me Graciously come If the Goddess of wealth Lakshmi
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Visits the poor Who can call them poor Or if the sun visits darkness Will darkness not become Light or itself the sun The world compared to God Is like an atom But devotion to God Has in the past Wonders done For me to speak on the Geeta Is to grab and swell From the sky A flower grown Under the sun But with your blessings This will and can be done …2142 Dnyaneshwar then approaches the subject proper through the words of Shrikrishna: Me, the third, (neither the perishable nor the imperishable) as described in the preceding chapter is all important. Once you know this all-encompassing entity, realization follows automatically, to those who seek deliverance. But on a more practical level, the mind needs to be prepared for this transition by the way of practice of virtues already described in the thirteenth chapter of the Geeta. But as things stand they are difficult to define, even more difficult to cultivate and this cultivation is hampered by the demonic35 traits in man’s nature. This duel between the good and the bad which the good must win is very dear to my heart and will be elaborated upon one by one in the verses that follow.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
banish – deport, expel duality – a philosophical idea which assumes two fundamental things, e.g. spirit and matter metaphor – imaginative use of word, term or phrase interpolator – one who creates a false impression cosmos – the whole of the universe in a certain order variegated – diverse Upanishad – concluding portion of the Vedas, India’s religious and philosophical literature
736 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35.
The Genius of Dnyaneshwar brook – tolerate, allow gross – as opposed to fine entity – a thing with distinct existence anthropological – study of the society and customs of mankind unitary – marked by unity or uniformity encompass – contain, surround maya – a trick, magic, creative potential in the Brahma spurious – false nectar – sugary substance made by plants turned into honey by bees coo – soft murmuring sound of a dove or a pigeon forlorn – sad, abandoned or lonely pine – long for, yearn impediment – obstruction harbinger – a person or a thing that announces or signals the approach of another discretion – prudence, care tread – used here as a foot or a step perverse – wrong application from its proper use or nature monarch – king unveil – uncover transcend – go beyond the material world perish – die adoration – worship or idolize thee – you trifling – small, inconsequential devotion – religious worship penance – punishment to self (usually for sins) stung – bitten demonic – related to a demon, cruel, unholy
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and their compulsions. It must never be forgotten that the British changed India perhaps as much as the Greeks had done nearly 2000 years ago. The British did this through the numerous educational institutions that they helped establish in India, by exposing India to the scientific temper, and by creating a formal administrative machinery so that they could rule this vast, unwieldy and a somewhat puzzling subcontinent. Some of them studied Indian literature, philosophy, languages and the Indian systems of medicine. A large number of modern Indian schools were opened and though the medium of instruction continued to be the numerous Indian languages, English too was taught first by the British and later by the Indians themselves. British history was taught in great detail and this contained the ‘Magna Carta’ which asserted the right of a people to control their destiny though a parliamentary system of governance. Macaulay who framed a single uniform Indian penal code and was mainly responsible for the advent of English education in India had said then, ‘It may be that the public mind of India may expand under our system, until it has outgrown that system, that by a good Government we may educate our subjects into a capacity for better government, that having become in European knowledge, they may in some future date demand European institutions. To have found a great people sunk in the lowest depths of slavery and superstition, to have ruled them, as to have made them desirous of all the privileges of citizens, would indeed be a title of glory all our own.’ India’s affair with the English language and British traditions was thus begun. Though Macaulay had also said ‘inter alia’ that he did not know if such a day would ever come the day was not far away. Within seventy years of the final battle near Pune in 1818, Dnyaneshwar’s Maratha country was aglow with a protestant flame, this time armed with the English language and modern ideas. From 1880 till India gained independence in 1947, the Maratha country threw up giant after giant, in a broad spectrum, from the very moderate to the armed ruthless revolutionary. Savarkar tried to smuggle arms from England for a patriotic battle but also argued for social reform, Agarkar argued for social reform before political freedom. Tilak argued for political freedom through his newspaper, Phule and Karve strove for education for women, Gokhale a moderate politician became Gandhi’s guru. Kane rose to become a great Indologist and wrote 3000 pages in English on Indian religious
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literature and last but not the least Ambedkar, a lower caste Hindu fearlessly bargained with the British for greater rights to the lower castes. He had the audacity in those days to oppose Gandhi and say ‘We would any day prefer the British to the Brahmins and the Banias who are likely to rule the country after the British leave.’ Ambedkar had said that he was born a Hindu but will not die a Hindu and kept his word by becoming a Buddhist with a large number of his followers. It was an act of ultimate protest and it was not surprising because Ambedkar’s father was a great believer of the Dnyaneshwar school. Even today scholars argue that Dnyaneshwari is more Buddhist than Hindu. India, however, had the last say because she chose Ambedkar as the head of the Constituent Assembly which framed India’s Constitution. Last but not the least, after India became a republic and was ruled by a somewhat monolithic and hegemonistic Congress party through Parliament, the leaders of almost all opposition parties in the Parliament belonged to the Maratha country and the protestant flame continued to glow in another form. And each and every one, named or unnamed, in the above description, grew up in a perimeter not more than 200 miles from Alandi, where Dnyaneshwar, according to tradition had voluntarily embraced death by entering a crypt which is the centre of great devotion for the Marathi people! Even this book can claim to be a small distant ripple in the tradition that Dnyaneshwar started and is written in English because of Macaulay. But it would be despicable on my part to so imprison Dnyaneshwar in a parochial frame. It is true that Dnyaneshwar aroused the Marathi mind once and for all but towards the end of his Dnyaneshwari, he has narrated a few verses whose appeal is nothing less than universal and these verses are sung whenever Marathi people gather at any formal social occasion. Here he appeals to the universal soul, as opposed to describing the Ganesha idol to which he took recourse to, at the beginning of the Dnyaneshwari. He thus crosses the sectarian rubicon and arrives at a destination to which his mind always belonged, a fact obvious to any discerning reader of the Dnyaneshwari. Dnyaneshwar says to the universal soul This to you is my offering In return will you give me your blessing
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so that The villains of the world will Be rid of their evil designs And they do deeds That are benign and fine And all that lives May in love join And let the darkness Be dispelled of sin and I want A benevolent religious sun Over the universe risen And whoever wishes whatever Their wish by you be given I want people to meet men and women who are Gentle as the moon and moonshine Without its dark craters And without its oppressive heat Like the sun as bright as ever and I pray to you to see that The universe immerses in bliss And that people will pray to God As they go about with their deeds.