The other side of Ignorance - Jnaneshvar

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"Jnaneshvar: The Life and Works of the Celebrated Thirteenth

Century Indian Mystic-Poet," by S. Abhyayananda.

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Chapter Four: Knowledge and Ignorance

 

From Abhayananda's Introduction to Chapter Four:

 

"Chapter Four is a continuation on the same theme (as Chapter 3). The

understanding of the nature of reality which arises through discursive

thought dispels ignorance, says Jnaneshvar, but that knowledge is,

itself, an illusory knowledge compared to the Knowledge which is

synonymous with the absolute Self. The knowledge consisting of logical

reasonings and proofs may produce intellectual understanding, but that

is merely the other side of the coin of ignorance; such word-knowledge

can never produce Knowledge; i.e., the revelation of the Self."

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Chapter Four (excerpts):

 

Fire, in the process of annihilating camphor,

Annihilates itself as well;

This is exactly what happens to knowledge

In the process of destroying ignorance.

 

This absolute Knowledge is like

The intrinsic fullness of the moon,

Which is unaffected

By its apparent waxing and waning.

 

Likewise, that which is Consciousness Itself

Does not possess the quality of being conscious,

And is, therefore, not conscious of Itself.

 

If absolute Knowledge required the aid

Of some other kind of knowledge to know Itself,

It would be nothing but ignorance.

 

If there is a pot, a pot is perceived,

And if the pot is broken, its brokenness is perceived;

If there is no pot at all,

Is not its absence perceived as well?

 

It can be seen, therefore,

That he who perceives that there is nothing

Does not himself become nothing.

The Self has this same unique kind of existence,

Beyond both existence and non-existence.

 

The ultimate Reality

Is neither an object to Itself

Nor is It an object to anyone else.

Should it then be regarded as non-existent?

 

In a tank the water may be so clear

That it appears non-existent;

Though one who looks into the tank may not see it,

Still it is there.

 

Similarly,

The ultimate Reality exists in Itself,

And is beyond the conceptions

Of existence or non-existence.

 

When a jar is placed on the ground,

We have the ground with a jar;

When the jar is taken away,

We have the ground without a jar;

 

But when neither of these conditions exists,

The ground exists in its unqualified state.

It is in this same way

That the ultimate Reality exists.

 

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