Jnaneshvar teaches #4 ( last)

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Jnaneshvar and his father complete their conversation and his father agrees to return to town...

Father: Is it possible to conquer the grief-causing sense objects and

to become one with the all-pervading blissful Self by not doing any

other sadhana but merely realizing as the result of jnana vichara

that one is himself Brahman?

Jnaneswar: If even a live cow cannot kill a tiger, can a dead cow do

so? Similarly, what can the sense objects do to the Self, which is

eternal, free from all defects, which extends everywhere and is of

the nature of bliss? As even a fat cow will be afraid to face a

tiger, sense objects will not dare to come before a jnani, who by

steady jnana has attained perfection. But even if they do, they will

be extinguished, as the cow by the tiger.

Father: What if the jnani (he who knows), by mixing with ajnanis (the

ignorant) should get entangled in sense objects, yield to

disturbances of the mind and become entirely sorrow stricken, like a

chaste woman becoming unchaste by mixing with prostitutes?

Jnaneswar: The steadfast chaste woman will maintain her chastity in

spite of the company of any number of prostitutes. The unsteady one

will find occasion for erring even without any evil company.

Similarly, the firm jnani will never lose his perfect realization

though surrounded by any number of ajnanis (erring ones). The

unsteady one will lose his jnana, even when in solitude.

Father: How can one become a sahaja jnani (one who has spontaneously

realized) if engaged in domestic affairs?

Jnaneswar: Though the jnani (sage) mixes with ajnanis and acts many

parts with them, he will ever remain the experiencer of the supreme

bliss, just as a brahmin though acting the part of a scavenger on the

stage, and behaving accordingly, ever remains only a brahmin without

becoming a scavenger.

Father: However firm the jnana or the spiritual insight of a man may

be, unless he contemplates at least for some time every day that he

is Brahman, it is very difficult for him to become a Brahma jnani.

Jnaneswar: Is it necessary for the brahmin, who is acting the part of

a scavenger, to frequently think that he is a brahmin? Will he become

a scavenger if he does not think so? Are sacred strings necessary to

distinguish one, whom the entire world knows to be a brahmin? After

the annihilation of the ego, “I”, should one still retain the knot of

the ego consciousness and go on meditating “I am Brahman”? As the

world-known brahmin is adored as a brahmin by everybody, even when he

does not wear sacred strings, one who has renounced notions of “I” and

“mine” will always be respected by all and will always be enjoying the

supreme bliss of Self, even if he does not practice any meditation.

Father: Even if one is equal to Jagadish (the Almighty), if one does

not daily practice the meditation “I am Brahman,” he will undoubtedly

become an ajnani. The ego sense, which identifies one with body, etc.,

will never vanish.

Jnaneswar: If one holds the light in his hands and asks darkness to

remain, will it remain? Similarly, if, after vanquishing the

ignorance that one is the body or its internal organs, after one has

attained the knowledge that one is the Supreme itself, will ajnana

remain even if it is bidden to remain? If one holds the cat in one’s

hand and asks the parrot to talk, will it talk? After realizing that

self, Iswara and the world, etc. are all unreal, will maya come, even

if it is invited? The eunuch will stand ashamed to declare himself a

man before a woman who knows his impotence. Similarly, to one who has

recognized beyond all doubt, in the presence of his Guru, that Brahman

alone is real while maya is unreal, that Brahman is transcendent of

all thoughts while maya consists of desires and aversions, and that

one is Brahman and Brahman is one’s Self, where is the desire or

aversion, bondage or freedom, birth or death, country or forest,

charity, penance, renunciation or family life? Can the power of maya

avail even a bit against one who is in the world, like the eye of a

dead sheep (which seems as if it can see while it does not)? Can it

turn him again into ajnana (error)? Please consider deeply.

Thereupon Vithoba agreed to leave the forest and return home.

July/August 2004, Vol. 14 - No. 4

http://www.arunachala.org/Publications/NewsLetters/2004/jul_aug.shtml

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