Gurudev introduces Chapter 13: kshetra Kshetrajna Yoga

CHAPTER XIII
The field and its Knower

This is one of the most famous chapters in the Geeta which gives the student a very direct explanation for, and almost a personal experience of, the Subject in him, the Self, free from his material equipments and their mis-interpretations --- the world-of-objects. Here we have an exhaustive exposition of how to meditate directly upon the Imperishable Formless Spirit.
The Geeta, being a philosophical poem --- however much it may try to hide its austere beauty behind an enchanting veil of its own lyricism, fragrant with the human touches provided by the Krishna-love and the Arjuna-weaknesses --- is a thunderous pronouncement of the wisdom of the Rishis. As such, the theme developed in this philosophical poem is unrelentingly logical and uncompromisingly scientific. And it has an unyielding frame-work in the very continuity of its systematic thought-development.

This chapter has its direct theme-parentage in the ideas discussed already in the chapter-VII entitled "KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE," and in the chapter-VIII entitled the "IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN." The intervening four chapters (IX, X, XI and XII) were occasioned due to Arjuna's intellectual hesitations and mental doubts. But the philosopher in Krishna never forgets the main theme that he has developed upon the "IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN." And when once he has consoled his disciple, and temporarily removed his doubts, he serenely goes back to take up the melody of his discussion.

The eighteen chapters of the Geeta fall into three distinct groups each of six chapters according to some reviewers of the Lord's Song. These three sections explain, according to them, the three sacred words in one of the great Vedantik maxims (Mahavakyas): "THAT THOU ART." The first section consisting of the first six chapters, explained the term "THOU"; the second section constituted of the next six chapters, explained the term "THAT"; and the last set of six chapters will explain the correlative verb "ART" in the sacred commandment, and so in this section we have an explanation of the term "ART."

Spirit functioning through matter-envelopments is the living organism. "THAT" dressed up in matter is the vainful "THOU." Therefore, man undressed of matter, is the Eternal and the Infinite Spirit.

To undress, and thereby to get rid of matter, we must have a precise knowledge of all that constitutes matter in us. This discrimination between the inert matter-equipments and the vibrant Spark-of-Life, the Spirit, is presented to us in this chapter which is rightly called the Field and the Knower-of-the-Field --- Kshetra-Kshetrajna Yoga.

The process of undressing is the process of meditation. The pose, the attitude, and the other technical secrets of meditation were all exhaustively explained earlier (in chapter V & VI). But having sat in meditation, what exactly has our integrated mind-and-intellect to do now? Can we draw ourselves from ourselves and seek our identity with the Infinite? These are exhaustively explained in this chapter.

The matter-equipments and their perceived worlds-of-objects together constitute the FIELD; and the Supreme Consciousness, illumining them, and therefore, seemingly functioning within the field, gathers to itself as a consequence, the status of the "KNOWER OF THE FIELD." One is a knower only as long as one is in the field-of-knowables.

A driver is one who is driving; a rider is one who is riding a horse; a swimmer is one who is swimming at the moment. Off the steering-wheel, off the saddle, away from the waters, the driver, the rider and the swimmer are but three individuals. While functioning in a given field, the subject gathers to itself a certain special status depending upon the nature of the field and the type of functions performed by him therein.

The Pure Consciousness, perceiving the world-of-plurality through Its own conditionings, becomes the "KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD," and this knower thereby comes to experience joys and sorrows, successes and failures, peace and agitation, jealousies, fears and a million other wrecking storms and upheavals. The sorrows of Samsara are thus entirely the private wealth of the "KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD" --- the Jiva.

If, through discrimination, the "Field" and its "Knower" are known separately, through meditation the student can detach himself from the matter-equipments, and therefore, get away from the "Field" of these sorrow-ridden experiences. Thereby the KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD, who was the "experiencer" of the sorrows transforms himself to be the experiencer of Absolute Knowledge.

Mathematically, Knowledge in a field of known things and happenings, becomes the Knower which suffers the imperfections of the known. The knower minus the FIELD-OF-THE-KNOWN becomes Pure Knowledge, Itself ever perfect and joyous. A careful study of the chapter will open up enough secret windows on to the vast amphitheatre of spiritual insight within ourselves.

|| Chapter-13 ||

Bhakti Yoga conclusion: November 9, 2016

Bg 12.20

ye tu dharmyāmṛtam idaṁ yathoktaṁ paryupāsate
śraddadhānā mat-paramā bhaktās te ’tīva me priyāḥ

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 

bhaktiyogo nāma dvadaśodhyāyaha

Translation

20. They indeed, who follow this 'Immortal DHARMA' (Law of Life) as described above, endowed with faith, regarding Me as their Supreme Goal --- such devotees are exceedingly dear to Me.

Commentary

THIS IMMORTAL LAW PRESCRIBED ABOVE --- The Sanatana Dharma is summarised in the above lines. To realise the Self and live in that wisdom at all our personality levels --- physical, mental and intellectual --- is the fulfilment of the life of a Hindu. It is not sufficient that a Hindu understands this, or reads regularly his scriptures, or even explains them intelligently. He must be able to digest them properly, assimilate them fully, and become Perfect. Therefore, Bhagavan says that he must be "ENDOWED WITH FAITH" here the term 'faith' means "the necessary capacity to assimilate spiritual ideas into ourselves through subjective personal experience."

SUCH DEVOTEES ARE SUPREMELY DEAR TO ME --- This concluding stanza of the chapter constitutes the SIXTH SECTION adding no definite trait to the list of THIRTY-SIX QUALITIES already explained. But it forms a commandment, a divine reassurance to all spiritual seekers that when they accomplish these qualities in themselves they will gain the Supreme Love of the Lord.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad-Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA, in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the twelfth discourse ends entitled:
THE YOGA OF DEVOTION

Though this chapter is styled as Bhakti Yoga, to read and assimilate it is to cherish true love for the Lord and cure ourselves of the various misconceptions that we have today in our practice of Devotion. The 'Path-of-Devotion' is not a mere sentimental explosion, or an excessive emotional display. It is not a mere frivolous hysteria. It is the blossoming of the human personality through the surrender of our limitations and by acquiring new vitality during the inspired moments of deep contemplation.

Om Om Om Om Om

Daily Shloka: November 2, 2016

Bg 12.12

śreyo hi jñānam abhyāsāj jñānād dhyānaṁ viśiṣyate
dhyānāt karma-phala-tyāgas tyāgāc chāntir anantaram

Translation

12. 'Knowledge' is indeed better than 'practice' ; 'meditation' is better than 'knowledge' ; 'renunciation of the fruits-of-actions' is better than 'meditation' ; peace immediately follows 'renunciation.'

Commentary

When a divine philosopher gives a discourse for the benefit of a disciple who is confused and broken-down, it is not sufficient if he merely enumerates the dry philosophical truths; he must so beautifully arrange his ideas that the very scheme of the discourse must help the student to gather all the ideas together in a bunch. The stanza, now under review, gives us one of the typical examples in Krishna's discourse wherein he directly makes an attempt to systematise his theoretical disquisitions into a well-arranged pattern of thought.

Here we find a sequence of ideas, arranged in a descending order of importance. When once this ladder-of-ideas is brought completely within a seeker's comprehension and when he learns the art of moving up and down this ladder, he will master almost all the salient points so far expounded in this chapter.

BETTER INDEED IS KNOWLEDGE THAN PRACTICE --- Spiritual practices are not mere physical acts but are disciplines that should ultimately tune up our mental and intellectual levels. The inner personality cannot be persuaded to toe the line with the physical acts of devotion unless the practitioner has a correct grasp of what he is doing. An intellectual conversion is a pre-requisite to force the mind to act in the right spirit and to gain a perfect attunement with the physical act. A correct and exhaustive knowledge of what we are doing, and why we are doing it, is an unavoidable pre-condition for making our Yoga fruitful. Therefore, it is said here that a knowledge of the psychological, intellectual and spiritual implications of our practices is greater in importance than the very external Yogic acts, or 'devotional performances.'

MEDITATION IS SUPERIOR TO KNOWLEDGE --- More important than mere KNOWLEDGE is meditation upon the very 'knowledge' so gathered. The technical explanation --- of the why and the wherefore of religious practices --- can be more easily learnt than understood. To convert our learning into our understanding, there must be necessarily a process of intellectual assimilation and absorption. This cannot be accomplished by a mere factual learning of the word-meanings. The students will have to understand, in a hearty enthusiasm, the very meaning of the Shastra, and this is possible only through long, subjective, independent ponderings over the significant terms in the Shastra-declarations. The process of inward assimilation of knowledge can take place only through meditation. Hence, in the hierarchy of importance, "meditation" has been given a greater place than the "KNOWLEDGE OF THE TECHNIQUE."

BETTER THAN MEDITATION IS THE ABANDON-MENT OF FRUITS-OF-ACTION --- Meditation is an attempt of the intellect to fly from the fields of its present knowledge to a yonder destination of a better understanding. In this flight to a vaster field, the intellect must have the necessary energy and equipoise. Meditation can never be possible for an individual in whom all energies and steadiness of mind are shattered by the agitations created by his own ruinous imaginations of the future. In our discourses upon the previous stanza, we have already shown how our anxiety for the future generally depletes our vitality to face the present. All fruits-of-actions definitely belong to the FUTURE, and to be over-anxious about them is to invite a lot of idle agitations into our bosom. Stormed by these agitations, we lose all our equipoise and such an individual has no ability to meditate upon and thereby assimilate the silent significance of the great Shastras. Therefore, Krishna here gives a greater place of importance in his ladder-of-ideas to "THE RENUNCIATION OF THE FRUITS-OF-ACTION."

As a foot-note to his own declaration, he adds how renunciation of our anxiety for the future immediately brings about a healthy condition within ourselves. "PEACE IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWS RENUNCIATION." In fact, in Hinduism, renunciation (Sannyasa) is nothing other than "giving up all our clinging attachments to the pleasures arising out of our contact with the external sense objects."

As a result of this renunciation, therefore, a dynamic quietude comes to pervade the bosom in which the intellect can meditate upon the knowledge of the Shastras, and thereby understand the ways of self-development as explained therein. And when, with this knowledge, one uses one's seat of meditation, one is assured of definite success and steady progress.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

First Anniversary of Geeta Musings blog!

Chapter 12- Bhakti Yoga Introduction

CHAPTER XII
Path-of-Devotion

Knowing full well the essential temperament of Arjuna, the royal hero, Krishna had tickled his kingly ambition at the closing of the last chapter (XI-54). To a true king, the challenge of a greater glory is too strong to resist. Wherever a vaster field, a greater profit, a more glowing resplendency is recognised, he cannot resist the temptation to fight for it, to conquer it and bring it within his ruling hand, and thereby spread his unquestioned sway over the conquered domain. Expecting this reaction in his royal friend of endless heroism, Krishna had not only exhibited the divine glory of the Lord and His cosmic-form, but also declared to Arjuna that "THROUGH SINGLE-MINDED DEVOTION CAN THIS COSMIC-FORM BE KNOWN AND SEEN AND ENTERED INTO BY ANYONE." On hearing that this Infinite glory can be his through devotion, the Pandava Prince optimistically determines to make an attempt to conquer and bring to himself this spiritual glory.
Psychologically, Arjuna was already prepared to feel this heroic urge and he had the divine inspiration to make any sacrifice necessary and to put forth all the efforts needed for the conquest of the spiritual goal. We have found in the last two chapters how Arjuna, as an intelligent man, was hesitant to accept his charioteer as Divine. The Prince demanded an analytical explanation for the Lord's philosophical exposition. "I AM NOT IN THEM, THEY ARE IN ME." This was given out earlier (IX-4) but the scepticism in the intelligent Arjuna was still too deep to be totally annihilated by a mere verbal declaration of the glory of the Divine.

Naturally, the Prince demanded a physical demonstration of the same and the Lord showed the total Cosmic-Form. Once fully convinced by the double process of analysis and synthesis --- discussion and a demonstration of the same --- Arjuna's intellect surrenders totally with an aspiration to realise and become the Spirit.

Every individual wants to become and live what he is convinced of; as the thoughts, so the man. And, one who is convinced, is a greater seeker than a man of blind faith jogging along the thorny Path of time-worn habits.

It is a fact that the subtler personality can come to assert itself only when the grosser one is completely satisfied. As long as one is hungry, one's emotional nature goes on choking one's heart. When the stomach is full, the heart has the freedom to demand its emotional satisfaction of love and affection. The intellect can come to its full play only when the physical and the emotional aspects are at rest --- or, temporarily at least, satisfied. If there is an imperfection or incompleteness, either in the physical or in the emotional personality of man, he is not capable of invoking and directing the efficient play of his emotional and intellectual abilities.

In the same way, the spiritual urge for intuitive experience in a seeker expresses itself only when all earlier and outer demands are fully satisfied. This truth is beautifully brought out to us in the discussions contained in the chapter on the "PATH OF DEVOTION." When Arjuna is intellectually convinced and emotionally satisfied that the cowherd-boy is the Infinite's own playful manifestation, his scepticism as a soldier ends and he feels an urge to seek, to discover, to conquer, to possess and to rule over the kingdom of the Spirit.

In the Form-Terrible, Arjuna had observed the endless thraldom of the PAST, passing through the avenues of the PRESENT, to reach the courtyard of the FUTURE and meet the "Lord of Time" Krishna Himself there. Similarly, in the Lord, the Infinite, he saw "here" and "there" mingling with each other, and the farthest horizons nestling in the lap of the "here"! Naturally, Arjuna raised the question as to whether he should seek, love, and meditate upon the infinite form of the Formless, or upon the manifest divinity in the Cosmic-Form of Krishna.

The previous two chapters had completely satisfied the sceptic in Arjuna through 'discussion' (Ch.-X) and actual 'demonstration' (Ch.-XI) of the Lord's Cosmic-Form. The newly converted Royal Prince now feels an irresistible urge to conquer the Kingdom Divine within himself. The secret strategy for the sure conquerer was also indicated in the concluding stanza of the last chapter; devotion and consistency of self-application, free from all ego-centric attachment to the world-of-objects is the way charted out in the Geeta, and it is assured that thereby, "YOU SHALL ENTER INTO ME, O PANDAVA" (XI-55).

As a practical man-of-action, Arjuna is no idle philosopher, seeking a vain satisfaction in mere bookish erudition and profitless scholarship. He was not at all charmed by the theory as such. The warrior was impatient to enter the field of strife and bring under this sway the realm of glory demonstrated by his Charioteer. Therefore, the chapter starts rightly with a question that means business.

As a student of the Vedas, from his childhood, Arjuna was taught that the Absolute is Formless and Nameless and beyond the perceptions of the sense organs, feelings of the mind, and comprehensions of the intellect. But the Prince had a vivid first-hand experience of Krishna and His Cosmic-Form. Naturally, the doubt is raised by him as to whether it is more profitable to meditate upon the Truth as unmanifest or as manifest --- like the one shown by Sri Krishna.

The question raises a very moot point in religion. From time to time, Prophets and Masters had appeared to support, or to condemn, the worship of the God-Principle in and through a Divine-Form. Can the ocean be fully realised through the knowledge of the waves, or will the knowledge of the waves obstruct our comprehension of the ocean? In short, is idol-worship justified? Can it provide a helpful prop for the meditative mind to swing on and dive into the Infinite? If it can, what exactly is the technique? The entire chapter is dedicated to answer this question.

For its scientific thoroughness and for its wealth of details, the Geeta can always stand a good comparison with any of the modern text-books on secular sciences. Lord Krishna is ever conscious that He is talking to a man-of-action, Arjuna, a brainy sceptic.

|| Chapter-12 ||

Source: The Holy Geeta

Chapter 11 concludes: October 24, 2016

Bg 11.52

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

su-durdarśam idaṁ rūpaṁ dṛṣṭavān asi yan mama
devā apy asya rūpasya nityaṁ darśana-kāṅkṣiṇaḥ

Bg 11.53

nāhaṁ vedair na tapasā na dānena na cejyayā
śakya evaṁ-vidho draṣṭuṁ dṛṣṭavān asi māṁ yathā

Bg 11.54

bhaktyā tv ananyayā śakya aham evaṁ-vidho ’rjuna
jñātuṁ draṣṭuṁ ca tattvena praveṣṭuṁ ca paran-tapa

Bg 11.55

mat-karma-kṛn mat-paramo mad-bhaktaḥ saṅga-varjitaḥ
nirvairaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ sa mām eti pāṇḍava

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 
viśvarūpadarśanayogo nāma ekādaśodhyāyaha

Translation

The Blessed Lord said: 52.   Very hard, indeed, it is to see this Form of Mine which you have seen. Even the gods are ever longing to behold this Form.

53. Neither by the VEDAS, nor by austerity, nor by gift, nor by sacrifices, can I be seen in this Form as you have seen Me (in your present mental condition).

54. But, by single-minded devotion, can I, of this Form, be 'known' and 'seen' in reality, and also 'entered' into, O Parantapa (O scorcher of your foes)!

55. He who does actions for Me, who looks upon Me as the Supreme, who is devoted to Me, who is free from attachment, who bears enmity towards none, he comes to Me, O Pandava.

Commentary

The Universal-Form of the Lord is no easy experience for anyone, and it can be gained neither by study of the Vedas, nor by austerities, nor by gifts, nor by a sacrifice. Even the gods, the denizens of heaven, with their ampler intellects, longer lives, and harder endeavours, are unable to behold this Universal-Form, and they keep on longing for this experience.

And yet, Krishna has shown this Form, mighty and wondrous, to His friend through His Grace, as He Himself admitted earlier.

We may wonder what makes the Lord shower His grace upon one, and not upon another. It CANNOT be a haphazard distribution of an Omnipotent, who does things as He likes, arbitrarily, without any rhyme or reason! For, in that case the Lord will be accused of partiality and arbitrariness.

HERE, IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA, WE GET THE SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION OF WHAT COMPELS THE LORD TO SHOWER HIS SPECIAL FAVOURS UPON SOMEONE SOMETIMES, AND NOT UPON ALL AT ALL TIMES:

Regarding devotion Shankara says: "No doubt, of the means available for liberating ourselves, the most substantial hardware is Bhakti; and identifying ourselves with the Self is called Bhakti."

Identification is the truest measure of Love. The devotee, forgetting his own individual existence and, in his love, identifying to become one with his beloved Lord, is the culmination of Divine Love. The Vedantic student who is the seeker of the Self, is spiritually obliged to renounced all his abject identification with his matter vestures and to discover his true nature to be the Self.

Only those who are thus capable of identifying themselves with the One unifying Truth that holds together, in its web-of-love, the plurality, can experience, "ME IN THIS FASHION" --- in my Cosmic Form.

The three stages in which realisation of Truth comes to man are indicated here when the Lord says, "TO KNOW, TO SEE, AND TO ENTER." A definite intellectual knowledge of the goal and the path is the beginning of a seeker's pilgrimage --- TO KNOW. Next comes the seeker's attempt to masticate the ideas intellectually understood through his own personal reflections upon the information which he has already gathered --- TO SEE. Having thus 'known' and 'seen' the goal, thereafter, the seeker, through a process of detachment from the false and attachment to the Real, comes to experience the Truth as no object other than himself --- TO ENTER. By the term 'entering,' it is also indicated that the fulfilled seeker becomes the very essence of the sought. The dreamer, suffering from the sorrows of the dream, ends it all, when he no more sees, but "enters" the waking-state, himself to become the waker.

HOW? ... I SHALL EXPLAIN, SAYS THE LORD AND ADDS:

When he heard that anyone can, through undivided devotion, not only recognise the cosmic might of the Lord but also experience that glory in himself, the Pandava Prince's face must have reflected an anxiety to acquire this status. As an answer to this unasked question from Arjuna, Krishna explains here how one can grow towards this great fulfilment in life.

The Krishna-plan, for finite man to gain the stature and strength of the Cosmic, seems to consist of five distinct schemes. This is clear from the conditions required of a seeker as given in this verse. They are: (1) whose work is all dedicated to the Lord, (2) whose goal is the Lord, (3) who is a devotee of the Lord, (4) who is free from all attachments, and (5) who is devoid of all sense of enmity towards everyone.

In these five schemes, we find the entire line of self-discipline summarised. Detachment from all activities, whether physical or mental or intellectual can take place only when one is constantly thinking of the Self. Enmity is possible only when one considers the other as separate from oneself. There cannot be enmity between my own right hand and my left hand. The awareness of the Oneness should be experienced through the vision of the same Self everywhere and then alone can the total avoidance of enmity with any creature be fully accomplished.

Total detachment is an impossibility at the mind-and-intellect level. The mind and intellect cannot live without attaching themselves to some thing or being. Therefore, the seeker, through God-dedicated activity, learns first to withdraw all his attachments from other things, and then to turn his mind with the fervour of devoted attachment to the Lord. In accomplishing this, all the schemes explained earlier are, indeed, very helpful.

Thus, when the whole scheme is re-evaluated, we can find in it a logic quite acceptable and perfectly psychological. Each subsequent item in the scheme is beautifully supported and nourished by the previous one. From the stanza, it is evident that the spiritual seeker's great pilgrimage starts with God-dedicated activities. Soon, that God-principle Itself becomes his very goal in life. He will develop, in himself, a consummate liking for this glorious goal. Naturally, all his other finite attachments with the world-of-objects will end, and at last, he will come to contact the Self. Having become the Self, he recognises himself everywhere, in everything, and so, in him there cannot be any sense of enmity at all.

LOVE FOR ALL AND HATRED FOR NONE can be considered the Geeta 'touch-stone' to know the quality of realisation and intensity of experience a seeker has gained through his Sadhana.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad-Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA, in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the eleventh discourse ends titled:

THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM

The Chapter is rightly named as the vision of the Universal-Form. In Sanskrit scriptural terminology, it is pointed out that the term Vishwa Roopa used here is actually the Virata Roopa. The Self, identifying itself with an 'individual physical body,' experiences the waking-state happenings, and in this condition the Self is called in Vedanta as Vishwa. When the same Self identifies Itself with the total-physical-gross-bodies of the Universe, in that condition the Self is called the Cosmic-Virata. Here the Lord showed His Cosmic-Form but the Chapter is titled as Vishwa-Roopa.

Om Om Om Om Om

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Introducing Vishwaroopa: September 23, 2016

From The Holy Geeta:

CHAPTER XI
The Cosmic-Form Divine

IN THE GENERAL SCHEME of developing the theme, Lord Krishna had already explained His immanence in all subjects of the world (Vibhuti). This expansion of Himself in all objects and beings, as a perceptible Divine Presence, is exhaustively explained in the previous chapter entitled 'Vibhuti-yoga' --- the Divine Glories.

Studying this chapter, keeping in view this scheme of development in the Geeta, we detect here that a perfectly modern and scientific method of investigation is employed. An intellectual enquiry seeks, first of all, to GATHER ENOUGH DATA to support a theory, and thereafter, it demands an EXPERIMENTAL DEMONSTRATION of the same, without which, the theory cannot be established. If in the previous chapter, therefore, the Geeta has supplied us with enough data to prove that the Self is the substratum for the multiple world, in this chapter, the attempt is to supply Arjuna with a practical demonstration that everything does exist only in the Self.

The declaration that the mud is the essence of all pots, is established only when we prove, not only that all pots have mud in them, but also that the mud always potentially contains all pots of all shapes and dimensions. To see the mud in every pot, one has only to train one's eyes to detect the mud as separate from the pot-shapes, but to see all pots in the mud, no doubt, the observer needs a special 'eye.' He needs a sufficient sense of detachment and a scholarly amount of imagination without which it is impossible for him to detect the world-of-pots in any sample of mud.

Similarly, as was described in the last chapter, to see the Self peeping through the windows of finite objects is relatively an easy task; but it is hard, indeed, for a mortal to cognise at once the entire Universe in one Reality, the Self. And yet, this is possible with the 'eye' of knowledge, which knows so well the art of discrimination, and which has developed in itself a sufficient sense of detachment, so that the observer can forget, for the moment, all his attachments, and view on, in a spirit of hushed expectancy and thrilled wonderment.

What exactly makes the things of the world exist separately from one another? My physical structure is certainly separated from the form and substance of the book that I am reading, or the chair in which I sit, or the table that is in front of me. I am separated from all others, and everyone of them is separate from everything else. Scientifically viewed, the factor that determines the physical existence of all things in the world is the same. And yet, we do not feel the oneness --- they, being separated from each other, exist as individualised entities. What exactly are the factors that divide body from body, that separate object from object?

On a careful analysis, it will be quite clear to the thinker that it is the concept of space that divides the physical structures into independent islands. That which separates me from you, or me from my book, is the intervening space. Within my forearm, from the elbow to the wrist, there is certainly a sense of oneness, because, there is no intervening space present within the homogeneity of its entire length, while my fingers are separate, each being interleaved with space. If the concept of space is totally blotted out, it will be clear that all objects will immediately come together into a happy embrace, and will represent themselves as one congenial, homogeneous whole. And, in this mass of things, there must be all the shapes and forms of all the things of this world at one and the same place and time. This is the concept of the Cosmic-Man; the vision of the world, when viewed by a mind in which the concept of time and space has been dried up! Though, not totally.

Supposing a toy-maker makes out of wax hundreds of forms of animals, birds and creatures and stocks them in a cupboard. Viewed through its glass panes, no doubt, the monkey-doll is different from the cow-doll and both of them are separate from the baby-doll. But suppose the doll-maker changes his mind and he decides to destroy the whole lot and to make out of the stuff something more profitable. On the shelf of the cupboard, the same toys are separated from each other by the intervening space. Suppose the toy-maker decides to squeeze them into one ball of wax. In this act, the maker of the dolls has eliminated the spaces that were there, between the dolls, and in this bringing them together he created a huge ball-of-wax on the surface of which we could see the traces of almost all the dolls that were brought together: perhaps, the tail of the monkey, the face of the cow, the smile of the child, and the head of the dog!

Similarly, if Krishna could dry up "the concept of space" in the mind of Arjuna, the Prince would be able to see the whole Universe as though on his own palm. However, here we find that Arjuna's mind was given enough freedom to move above within the space-limit of Krishna's divine structure. Naturally, he sees in the Krishna-form the entire Universe compressed and packed.

This concept of the Cosmic-Man, and the actual vision of it in the Geeta, satisfies the demand for demonstration in any age of intellectual self-assertion. Having seen the form Arjuna gets completely converted both in his faith and in his understanding.

In this chapter, we find how the exquisite dramatist in Vyasa has squeezed the Sanskrit language dry to feed the beauty of his literary masterpiece. Apart from the chosen words and the mellifluous phrases, every metrical dexterity is being employed here, as an effective strategy to heighten the dramatic situation and to paint clearly the emotions of wonderment, amazement, fear, reverence, devotion, etc., in Arjuna. Altogether, in the dignity of concept, in the beauty of diction, in the artistry of its depiction and in its inner stream of drama, this chapter has been rightly upheld by all as one of the highest philosophical poems in the world's treasure-house of Sacred Books.

|| Chapter - 11 ||

End of Chapter Ten: September 21, 2016

Bg 10.40

nānto ’sti mama divyānāṁ vibhūtīnāṁ paran-tapa
eṣa tūddeśataḥ prokto vibhūter vistaro mayā

Bg 10.41

yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā
tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṁ mama tejo-’ṁśa-sambhavam

Bg 10.42

atha vā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 

vibhūti yogo nāma daśamodhyāyaha

Translation

40. There is no end to My Divine Glories, O Parantapa; but, this is but a brief statement by Me of the particulars of My Divine Glories.

41. Whatever it is that is glorious, prosperous or powerful in any being, know that to be a manifestation of a part of My splendour.

42. But, of what avail to thee is the knowledge of all these details, O Arjuna? I exist, supporting this whole world by one part of Myself.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad-Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA , in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the tenth discourse ends entitled:
THE YOGA OF DIVINE GLORIES

Commentary

THERE IS NO END TO MY GLORIES --- These enumerations of the transcendental glories of the Eternal were actually started in this chapter, in a cry of intelligent despair at the magnitude of the task and at the frailty of language to express them all. And yet, out of sheer love for the disciple, the Eternal Master in Krishna took the job in hand and tried to make the best of a bad job. No pot-maker can ever indicate to an enquirer, the "mud essence" distinctly in each of the existing pots and congratulate himself in the end that he has exhausted all the pots that were, are, and shall ever be. It will be foolish vanity to hope to succeed in such a hopeless endeavour. And, in fact, it is not necessary also. If, in ten or twenty specimens, the Knower-of-the-Essence indicates to the seeker, the "Essential Stuff" in each distinctly, as separate from their names and forms and other attributes, it should be possible for the seeker to recognise for himself the Essence when he meets the next specimen.

In this chapter, the Lord has given to Arjuna and over his shoulders to the entire generations of Geeta-students who may listen to Him in the world, the above FIFTY-FOUR instances, wherein the play of the Infinite, as recognised through the apparent veils of matter, has been shown. By now, any student who has meditated sufficiently upon those instances, must have educated his mind fully to discover for himself the One Infinite behind the finite multiplicity.

In utter despair at not being able to exhaust the infinite varieties of the pluralistic phenomenal world, Krishna declares that "there is no end to the 'rays' of My glory when I, being resplendent in My Absolute Perfection, shine out in my self-effulgence."

If this knowledge was already with the Lord, why did He, as a spiritual teacher, bluff His disciples all along in a futile attempt to reveal Himself through the finite forms? Why this deception by the Divine? Why disappoint the students after straining them so long? Is this the general trait of all the religious teachers, prophets, seers and masters?

The answer to such accusations against the technique of religion is that --- "there is no other way"! A medical college student is asked to do a series of operations, upon a dead body, that has become cold last week-end!! This is no bluff; but, it is true, for all the careful and efficient surgery, the "patient" dead as he is, will not start his life again. Such training on the dumb objects is necessary to give the student the required experience before he can start his independent activities in the profession. Similarly, here too, the Lord provides Arjuna with some specific examples in order to teach him the ART OF SEEING THE UNSEEN THROUGH THE SEEN.

This intention in his heart is clear in his own confession in the second line: "BUT, BY BRIEF EXAMPLES ONLY HAVE I DECLARED MY DIVINE GLORY." The Lord has not exhausted Himself; but He chooses a few effective examples to educate the mind of His listeners. Those who have ardently meditated upon these examples, will learn to recognise the Infinite in all its unending resplendence enthroned in the bosom of every finite form.

IN SHORT, THE LORD SUMMARISES ALL THAT HE HAS SAID SO FAR:

The above examples have made a frail attempt to indicate the glories of the Lord, but in no sense can those descriptions be considered as having defined the Truth. However, we have been given an idea that the Divine, the Imperishable, can be detected in the realm of the undivine and the perishable, if we look for it with discriminative judgement. From the above examples it becomes clear that the Lord is present in all names and forms, revealing Himself as the glorious, or the great, or the mighty aspect in all things and beings.

Here, Krishna directly summarises what exactly constitutes the Divine Presence in the world of plurality, and provides Arjuna with an acid test in knowing it. Whatever is great, or glorious, or mighty is nothing but the expression of a ray of the Lord's own Infinite Splendour. This is no doubt, a wonderful summary of the above mentioned FIFTY-FOUR assorted items. Each one of these examples is a clear-cut instance, indicating the Lord, either as the Great one in the whole species, or as the noblest and the most glorious thing, or happening, or as the most mighty among all that is powerful.

This indication was given expressly to facilitate Arjuna's recognition of the IMMANENT glory of the Lord in the things of the world. It can be equally useful for us, students of the Geeta, in seeking and perceiving the play of the Infinite among the finite and the changing phenomena of names and forms.

IN THE END, PANTINGLY CONCLUDING THE ENUMERATIONS, THE LORD SAYS:

In an inspired surge of friendliness and love, though Krishna, in all haste, promised that He would explain "His expression in the individual" (Yoga) apart from the description of "His glory as the Cosmic man" (Vibhuti), He Himself realised, whilst trying to indicate Himself object by object, the impossibility of exhausting the treatment. Infinite are the total number of things and beings in the Universe, and it is never possible to exhaust all of them one by one. With a cry of despair, and yet in an attitude of extreme love for his disciple, Lord Krishna brilliantly summarises this chapter in this closing stanza.

WHAT WILL IT AVAIL THEE TO KNOW ALL THESE DIVERSITIES --- In fact it is useless to explain the presence of the Infinite in every finite form. It is impossible for a pot-maker to show the mud in all the existing pots in the world; nor can any one indicate the ocean-aspect in every wave in the sea. All that we can do is explain to the student the art of recognising the mud aspect in a few pots so that the student can independently come to recognise mud in all existing pots. It is never possible for a mathematics teacher to exhaust all the examples, but the student is taught the art of solving problems through a limited number of typical examples, and thereafter, the student, all by himself, gains the capacity to solve any similar problem independently.

I, WITH ONE PART OF MYSELF, SUPPORT THIS WHOLE UNIVERSE --- In philosophical usage, the term Jagat means "all the fields of experiences which man has, as a physical body, as a psychological being and as an intellectual entity." This would mean that the Jagat is the sum-total of the world perceived by my senses, plus the world of my emotions and sentiments, plus the world of my ideas and ideologies. The entire field that is comprehended by the sense organs, the mind and the intellect, is to be understood in its totality as Jagat. In short, this term conveniently embraces, in its meaning and import, the entire "realm of objects."

The declaration here in the last line, therefore means that the total world-of-objects is supported, tended and nourished by a quarter of --- meaning, a portion of --- the Subject, the Self. Krishna, as the Self, naturally declares here that the whole Jagat is supported by a portion of His glory. The statement has yet another philosophical implication, inasmuch as it declares that there are in the Truth vast portions which are uncontaminated by the disturbances which we call Jagat. No doubt, in the homogeneous Truth, there cannot be distinctly separate portions of different features; however, this is a kindly method of indicating a transcendental idea with the terrestrial words of finite language.

We have already explained the Term 'Vibhuti' during our discussions in this chapter. This becomes a Yoga inasmuch as students, earnestly following the path, would try to attune their mental perception and intellectual comprehensions so as to recognise the greatness, or the glory, or the might in the things and situations, and recognise them as a pencil of the Divine ray in themselves emerging from the glorious effulgence of the Self, to peep through the manifold finite embodiments.

Om Om Om Om Om

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Gurudev introduces Chapter X- The Divine Glories

CHAPTER X
The Divine Glories

In any text-book of a systematic exposition of thought, later chapters will have their roots in earlier ones, and the continuity of narration in and the consistency of development of the themes are both unavoidable. Although these chapters are named separately, and therefore look almost completely independent of one another, there is an imperceptible matrix of ideas holding them all together. Viewed thus, this chapter may be traced back to some dozen different verses in different earlier chapters. Of them, the most predominant and striking source is the stanza in the seventh chapter (VII-6) wherein, after describing the Higher and the Lower Nature of the Eternal, the Lord concludes "I AM THE ORIGIN AND THE DISSOLUTION OF THE WHOLE UNIVERSE"; and therefore, he adds, "BEYOND ME THERE IS NAUGHT. ALL THIS IS STRUNG IN ME, AS A ROW OF JEWELS IN A THREAD" (VII-6, 7).
Similarly, although Krishna, as the Self, Eternal and All-pervading, is the Source of all names and forms, He has to indicate to Arjuna His exact place and worth in the comity of things and beings in the Universe.

This chapter is called the Vibhuti yoga inasmuch as it describes (a) the Power or Lordship, and (b) the Pervasive-ness, or Immanence of the Self. The Self is the Essence in the world of plurality as described in this chapter; therefore, we find Krishna indicating Himself both as (1) the most prominent and Chief Factor in all classes of beings, and (2) as that Supreme Factor without which specimens belonging to each class cannot maintain themselves as existent beings. We shall notice these as we dissect the stanzas one by one to discover their individual contents.

In this chapter, we discover that Arjuna feels extremely inspired when he gets re-educated in his knowledge of the Vedas, through the sparkling words of Lord Krishna. The teacher in Krishna confesses that He Himself feels encouraged by Arjuna's happiness, and therefore, this chapter is added.

In this chapter Arjuna enquires of Krishna as to how one can constantly keep in touch with the Eternal aspect of Truth, even while one is perceiving the pluralistic world and transacting with its objects (X-17). As an answer to this particular question, the rest of the chapter is packed with indications of the joyous Infinite among the joyless finite objects.

However, the chapter concludes with a cry of despair on the part of Krishna which drives home to Arjuna, the impossibility of a teacher ever exhausting the analysis of all the things and beings in the world, and indicating in each the glorious spirit, both as separate and yet not separate from matter. No electrical engineer can ever hope to exhaust all the bulbs and fans and other electrical equipments in the world, one by one, to indicate to a student of Electrical Engineering what exactly constitutes, in each, the equipment as separate from the electrical current. The chapter concludes: "OF WHAT AVAIL IS IT TO YOU TO KNOW ALL THESE DIVERSITIES? I EXIST SUPPORTING THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE BY A PORTION OF MYSELF."

In Vedanta, the Self, seemingly conditioned by, or reflected in, or functioning through, THE INDIVIDUAL MIND-AND-INTELLECT is the ego (Jiva), limited and thwarted by its own imperfections. While, the same Eternal Self, conditioned by, reflected in, or functioning through, THE TOTAL MIND-AND-INTELLECT is the God-principle (Ishwara), unlimited and ever a Master of its own Perfection. If once this idea of the Self, as seen through the individual-mind and the cosmic-mind, is understood properly, both the chapters X and XI become amply self-evident and self-explanatory.

In the tradition of democracy, the concept of a Government or the idea of a nation should give us a healthy analogy with which we can vaguely comprehend to a certain extent, the entire suggestiveness underlying this ancient Vedantic concept of the God-principle. In democracy with adult franchise, every grown-up member of society has his vote to express his will and he alone can come up to govern the country who represents, in himself, the will of the majority. Such an individual may be considered as one who has identified himself with the will of the largest number of the people in that nation during that particular period of its history. One, who has been thus elected to govern, will have to rule the nation according to the demands of the people. The Government is thus created out of the powers and rights surrendered to a central pool by each individual; yet, once a Government is formed, it is very well-known, how the Governors become mightier than those governed!

I, the Self, identifying with my limited intellect and mind, become the mortal ego, bound and conditioned on all sides; while I, the Self identifying with the Total-Mind-and-Intellect become the Mighty and Powerful, the Omnipotent and Omniscient God-principle, constituting in Myself the Creator (Brahma), the Sustainer (Vishnu), and the Annihilator (Maheshwara).

It is a matter of common experience that our world gets coloured by the condition of our minds. When we are happy, the world, to us, is a dance-hall of light and laughter, mirth and happiness, while the same world becomes a miserable dungeon of agony and tears when our mental conditions change. Also, in each one of us, our world of success and joy, or of misery and sorrow becomes completely and totally extinct whenever we are in the state of deep-sleep --- meaning, whenever our mind-intellect-equipment does not function. Classifying all these observations, it can be enunciated that "as the mind, so is the world, and where there is no mind, there is no world."

Thus, I create my world with my mind; you create your world with your mind; and he creates his world with his mind. No doubt, into the pool of my world, certain aspects and portions of the world of others creep in to overlap, for varying periods of time. Philosophically viewed, therefore, the total world of forms and beings is created, sustained, and destroyed by the number of minds totally available to cognize and to experience this whole Universe. This Total-mind includes, in itself, even the rudimentary perceptions of a 'mind' in the plant kingdom, the relatively better-developed minds and intellects of the animal kingdom, and also the well-developed mind of man. When the theory of the God-principle, as propounded by Vedanta, is understood completely, it appeals to the faculty of reasoning in all intelligent creatures.

The implications of this theory are vast. It not only proves and explains the omniscience and the omnipotence of God but it also lends a comprehensible import to the term generally employed in describing the Supreme as "The Lord of the Universe" (Sarva loka maheshwarah).

While listening to this discourse, Arjuna seems to have lost himself in an experience bordering upon the transcendental. This preparation, given to Arjuna, provides a necessary mental elevation in cosmic self-expansion, without which the special power of cognition to experience the concept of the Cosmic-Man as described in the following chapter would never have been possible.

|| Chapter-10 ||

Source: The Holy Geeta

End of Chapter 9: August 31, 2016

Bg 9.32

māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye ’pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās te ’pi yānti parāṁ gatim

Bg 9.33

kiṁ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyā bhaktā rājarṣayas tathā
anityam asukhaṁ lokam imaṁ prāpya bhajasva mām

Bg 9.34

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 
rājavidyā-rājaguha yogo nāma navamodhyāyaha

Translation

32. For, taking refuge in Me, they also, who O Partha, may be of a "sinful birth" --- WOMEN, VAISHYAS as well as SHUDRAS --- even they attain the Supreme Goal.

33. How much more (easily) then the holy BRAHMINS, and devoted Royal saints (attain the goal) . Having reached (obtained) this impermanent and joyless world, do worship Me devoutly.

34. Fix your mind on Me; be devoted to Me, sacrifice to Me, bow down to Me; having thus united your (whole) Self with Me, taking me as the Supreme Goal, you shall come to Me.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad-Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA, in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the ninth discourse ends entitled:
THE YOGA OF ROYAL KNOWLEDGE AND ROYAL SECRET

Commentary

As an annotation and an explanatory appendix to the immediately preceding pair of stanzas, it is added that it is not only those who are placed under wrong influences and unfavourable external conditions who are redeemed by the constant remembrance of the Divine. Those who are victims of congenital maladjustments, both in their mental make-up and in their intellectual constitution, also can get their equipments readjusted and tuned up properly by the same process of constant remembrance of the Truth Eternal.

No doubt, there are expressions in the Vedas, in the Puranas, and in the Smritis, which seemingly fall in line with the language of this stanza. To condemn women, traders (Vaishyas) and workers (Shudras) as individuals of inferior births is equivalent to accepting that religion has an effective influence ONLY upon a mere handful of members of our society. This would be a denial of what Krishna had been hammering upon from the opening stanza onward. Therefore, we have to understand the true implications of His words as He uses them here.

Religion is not a technique for developing the physical body, nor is it an art to be fulfilled through the play of the physical body. The condition and status of the physical body have nothing to do with the evolutionary progress which religion aims at through all its preachings. The spiritual practices contribute to the integration of the mind and intellect and to their progressive unfoldment, until, in their ripeness, they shed themselves, leaving the Spirit naked in all its divine glory. Thus, these terms, as used in this stanza, are to be understood as indicating some special qualities of the human mind-and-intellect, manifested in varying degrees in different individuals, at different times.

The "feminine-minds" (Striyah) are those that have a larger share of deep affections and binding attachments. So too, there are people, who have a "commercial attitude" in all their thoughts and actions and who live in their mental life as traders (Vaishyas), ever calculating the profits that would accrue from all their psychological investments. Such a calculating mind, ever looking to the profits that could be raised, is not fit for easily evolving through the "Path-of-Meditation." To surrender all fruits of actions is the secret of holding the mind still, and of making it live vitally, the Infinite, that is the content of a single present-moment. Thus, when the Science of Spirit-development condemns the traders, it is only a denunciation of the particular commercial tendency of the mind. Those who fall under the group of 'traders' PSYCHOLOGICALLY cannot hope to progress on the Path Divine.

Lastly, mental attitudes of "slumber and slothfulness" are indicated by the term "Shudra" here.

When we have understood that these terms, familiar in that age, are borrowed by Krishna to indicate special types of mind-intellect-equipments, we have understood the stanza rightly, without pulling down the entire Geeta from its well-merited pedestal of dignity as a Scripture of Man.

The verse promises that, through constant remembrance of the Lord, not are only all men of evil ways redeemed, but even those who are not able to walk the "Path Divine," because of some psychological and intellectual debilities in them, will be cured and steadily strengthened to walk the "Path" efficiently, if they too, with single-pointed mind and sincere devotion, learn to remember continuously, and meditate daily upon the Divine Self.

BORN OUT OF THE WOMB OF SIN --- Sin, according to Vedanta, is a wrong tendency in the mind created out of the past unhealthy thought and negative living. These wrong channels of thought (vasanas), irresistibly drive man to live false values and bring about confusion and chaos into his life, as well as into the lives of others. It is these wrong tendencies, ploughed on the mental fields, that are the sources of the feminine nature of the mind (Stritvam), or the commercial attitude of the intellect (Vaishyatwam), or the general dullness and somnolent morbidity in one's inner life (Shudratwam). A dull-witted pundita alone will have the audacity to commit the folly of interpreting this stanza, adhering faithfully to the literal meaning, conveniently forgetting Sri Krishna's own definition of Varnashrama Dharma given previously in his discourses.

In short, when these wrong tendencies are in the mind, the Rishis have declared, in sheer kindness, that it is useless for that mind to undertake a study of the Vedas. Therefore, such minds were debarred from doing so. To attain the necessary qualification for a successful study of the sacred lore, the prescription is Sadhana. Of all the spiritual practices (Sadhana), the most efficient is the constant remembrance of the Lord with a heart overflowing with love and devotion (Upasana). It is the Vedantic declaration that through Upasana the mind gets purified --- purified of its debilities which are classified and indicated by the terms, "WOMEN, TRADERS AND WORKERS."

When once these negative qualities have been removed from a mind, it gains in its powers of achieving concentration, single-pointedness and balance for its flight to the very horizons of thought. When once the equipment is ready and rigged for the pilgrimage, the destination will soon be reached; and therefore, Krishna promises "EVEN THEY ATTAIN THE SUPREME GOAL."

KRISHNA GOADS ARJUNA TO WALK THE PATH OF SELF-REALISATION.

If the above-mentioned mental types are highly handicapped in the race for the divine, Krishna, by a self-answering question, very emphatically points out here, how easy and almost natural Self-realisation and godly life must be to those who have the mental purity of a brahmin, or the large heart and the clear head of a Rajarshi. A king who, having enjoyed intelligently his power and wealth, in his complete satiation arising out of his growing inner discrimination, comes to experience the inward peace of true contemplation upon the Self, is called a Rajarshi.

After describing all possible types of "heads-and-hearts" and after prescribing treatment for all of them to rediscover their own Divine Nature, the Lord, concluding the section, makes a general statement in the second line. "HAVING ATTAINED THIS TRANSIENT AND JOYLESS WORLD, WORSHIP ME DEVOUTLY." This instruction to Arjuna is an instruction for all, since, in the Geeta if Lord Krishna represents the Self, Arjuna represents the confused man standing impotent against the challenges of life.

Life is lived in a field always constituted of objects, instruments, and mental moods. These three are ever in a state of change. Naturally, the flickering joys that come to us in life prove to be transient. And the intervals between any two experiences of joy are only FULL OF PAIN.

In tune with the positive and energising philosophy of optimism which the Geeta preaches, here Krishna declares the world to be a mere pit of sorrows, or a ditch of despair, or a mire of disappointments, or a field of joylessness (Asukham).

HAVING REACHED THIS WORLD, IMPERMANENT AND JOYLESS, Krishna advises Arjuna, that he must occupy himself in the worship of the Self. In this spiritual activity, Arjuna has been well encouraged by the Lord with his statements that to a heart that has not the weakness natural to the lower evolute but has a wealth of poise and understanding which are the hall-marks of a higher evolute (brahmins and Rajarshis), success is easy and sure. Therefore "WORSHIP ME DEVOUTLY."

HOW THEN AM I TO WORSHIP YOU, MY LORD, WHEN I AM TO FACE MY ENEMIES AND FIGHT MY BATTLE?

This stanza is a beautiful summary of the entire chapter for it throws a flood of light upon many of the other stanzas. We may say that this stanza especially serves as a commentary to more than one verse in the chapter (Verses 14 and 27).

In all text-books of Vedanta (Brahma-Vidya), the technique of self-development and self-perfection through the "Paths of right-Knowledge and Meditation," has been defined as, "Contemplation on That, talks on That, mutual discussion on That --- and thus, to live ever mentally drowned in the Bliss-concept of the spiritual Reality, is called by the knowers of It, as the pursuit of Brahman." Keeping this classical definition in mind, Vyasa steadily delineates his aesthetic "Path of Devotion" in this stanza. The same idea has already been brought out earlier in the chapter on more than one occasion.

With "THE MIND EVER FILLED WITH ME, MY DEVOTEE MAKES ALL SACRIFICES, ALL SALUTATIONS TO ME," at all times, whatever be the type of work that engages him. In brief, the evolution of the mind is the very essence of all spiritual reformation in life. Neither the conditions in which we are, our circumstances and habits, nor the available ways of life, nor our past, nor our present --- none of these is a bar for evolving spiritually.

Constant awareness, maintained diligently, is the secret of success.

When thus "YOU TAKE ME AS THE SUPREME GOAL" Krishna promises Arjuna, "YOU SHALL COME TO ME." We are what we are because of our thoughts. If the thoughts are noble and divine, we become noble and divine.

This chapter has been rightly entitled as the chapter discussing the Royal Knowledge and the Royal Secret. These two terms have been already discussed at length. Earlier in the chapter (Verse 2) we find that, since Pure Consciousness is the Knowledge, in whose light all conditioned-knowledges are made possible, this Science, dealing with the Absolute, has been rightly called as the Royal-Knowledge. Elsewhere in the Upanishads, it has been termed as the "Knowledge of all Knowledges" because, "having known which there is nothing more to be known," declares Mundakopanishad.

Om Om Om Om Om

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

My Post in Faking News- Indiranagar Dog-Owners want Garbage Clearance!

Faking News Society
Indiranagar dog-lovers want garbage clearance
22, Jul 2016 By rsachi
     
Bangalore. The dog-owners of upmarket locality Indiranagar in the eastern part of Bangalore are up in arms, demanding that the BBMP remove mounds of garbage lying around, for the better health and mental peace of their beloved canines.

This protest is from not only the affluent dog-owners who cuddle, groom and medicate their expensive breeds but also those several residents who casually throw food to street dogs and demand that in turn the canines guard their houses and belongings round the clock. When last estimated, the number of canines- strays and domestics, in Indiranagar, was over 3000.

Readers need to know that garbage management in Indiranagar is a multipronged attempt of BBMP. They have noisy and over-laden garbage carts going around streets and being parked at street corners advertising the business of garbage collection. Then BBMP have alllowed local residents (mostly irresponsible newcomers and diehard locals) to throw mounds of garbage at strategic points in street corners and near major residential complexes. This is supposed to encourage a dialogue between aggrieved residents and enterprising BBMP staff for mutual “consideration”. There are also several mounds of sledge and garbage taken out by BWSSB from blocked drains and then dumped everywhere on the street in the hope that some godly act will make them disappear, at least back into the drains again during rains. Residents don’t seem to mind this menace, there being ample proof of the food carts parked near such dumps attracting young and old to their tasty fare.

Then there are innumerable pubs and restaurants rampant in the area round the clock creating vast amounts of garbage which finds its way to street corners and carts in an unpredictable manner.

The present protest of dog-owners is that their dogs, often used to roaming and sniffing at garbage, apart from dropping their own excreta a few times every day on any and every street, are distressed by the unpredictability and unsortability of the highly smelly garbage at street corners. The dogs dare not go and rummage in the rubbish as deadly diseases lurk there. The dogs are even afraid to chase intruders and bark at strangers because who knows, everyone looks like a potential garbage thrower or a garbage collector. Normally, expensive cars provide vantage points for dogs to mark their territory by raising a leg. But even these cars are now being parked randomly by valets from restaurants and bars and this causes a huge spatial disorientation for dogs.

Dog-lovers have traditionally not bothered about garbage on streets, being too busy with getting and spending when they aren’t attending to their dogs. But the disturbed biology and psychology of their canines has triggered this act of socially responsible protest. BBMP has stated that their hands are already too full of garbage and even more important issues and they may not attend to this problem till 2018.

Topics:#Dog-owners #garbage #Indiranagar
     

The central Shloka of the Gita: August 3, 2016

Bg 9.22

ananyāś cintayanto māṁ ye janāḥ paryupāsate
teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham

Translation

22. To those men who worship Me alone, thinking of no other, to those ever self-controlled, I secure for them that which is not already possessed (YOGA) by them, and preserve for them what they already possess (KSHEMA) .

Commentary

Here is a stanza which, with equal emphasis, discloses a secret by which glorious success can be assured for the spiritual as well as the material seekers. It is significant that this stanza is almost in the centre of the Geeta. We shall try to follow the implications, both spiritual as well as secular, of this stanza, one by one.

Those who, with a single-pointed mind, thus meditate upon Him as the One and the Only Reality behind the entire universe, Krishna promises here that "TO THEM EVER SELF-CONTROLLED, I BRING YOGA AND KSHEMA," meaning more and more spiritual vigour (Yoga) and the final experience of Beatitude (Kshema) which is liberation resulting from the fulfilled Yoga.

Now, considering it as a tip for the men in the market-place, sweating and toiling in the world, the very same stanza yields a code of secret instructions by which they can assure for themselves complete success in their worldly life. In any undertaking, if a man is capable of pouring out his self-willed thought (sankalpa) constantly and with a singleness-of-purpose, he is sure to succeed. But unfortunately, the ordinary man is not capable of successfully keeping his thoughts in one channel of thinking. Therefore, his goal seems to be ever receding and flickering. His determination to achieve a particular goal ever changes, since his goal itself seems to be ever-changing. To such a man of haphazard determination, no progress is ever possible in any line of undertaking.

The greatest tragedy of the age seems to be that we ignore the obvious fact that thoughts alone create. Activities gain a potency from the thought-power that feeds them. When the feeder behind is choked and dissipated, the execution-power in the external activities becomes feeble in strength and efficiency. Thoughts, from a single-pointed mind, must flow steadily in full inspiration, enthusiasm and vigour towards the determined goal which the individual has chosen for himself in life.

Mere thinking, in itself, is not sufficient. No doubt, actions are necessary. Many of the present-day youths, though capable of consistently maintaining a goal-of-life in their intellect, are not ready to get into the field and act as best as they can for its achievement. The term 'Upasana' means "worship." Through worship we invoke the deity, meaning "the profit potential in any given field" and the prefix Pari to this familiar term 'Upasana,' indicates a total-effort in which no stone is left unturned for carving out one's victories in one's field of endeavour.

So far, two main secret factors without which success in life will not be assured are revealed --- (a) CONSISTENCY OF WILLING AND THINKING, and (b) POURING OUT OURSELVES WITH A SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE in meeting the situation in its entirety. The third main factor that is essential in the constitution of one who is marked out for spectacular success and brilliant gains in life is (c) SELF-CONTROL.

As an aspiring individual, consistently maintaining his ambition in mind, walks out into his fields of activity to battle with the immediate problems, he will meet with many a tempting channel of more fascinating plans, through which he can dissipate himself and get exhausted, rendering himself incapable of conquering the highest success in his own field. To keep oneself SELF-CONTROLLED, so that one may not thus get derailed as one shoots forward to reach the temple of success, is the third great factor that is to be kept in mind and lived fully, in order that success in life be assured.

The terms 'Yoga' and 'Kshema' defined as "the power to gain (Yoga), and the power to guard (Kshema)" respectively, by Shankara in his commentary, are quite applicable in the context of our discussion. In life, all conflict and contests, all struggles and sorrows, whatever be the form in which they may appear, are always different from individual to individual, from place to place, and from time to time, and all of them distinctly fall into two groups, as (a) the struggles to gain, and (b) the efforts to guard what might have been gained. These two tensions tear into bits the joy and tranquillity of life. He who is without these two preoccupations is the luckiest, in the sense that he has gained all that is to be gained; and when these two factors are totally blotted out from one's life, one is dead to the world of sorrows --- and one awakens to the world of joy imperishable.

It is promised here by the Lord that to the one who is capable of maintaining the three factors described above, and pursuing them diligently, there need be NO ANXIETY TO GAIN, NOR WORRY TO GUARD, because these two responsibilities will be voluntarily undertaken by the 'Lord Himself.' Here the term Lord may be understood as the "Law" behind the world-of-plurality and all the happening therein. When water is let out from a height for purposes of irrigating the lower planes, we have only to allow it to flow in the right direction, to reach the required area --- and nature itself will carry it down, for, it is the 'law of nature' that water always flows from a higher to a lower level. Similarly here, to one who is working, fulfilling the three great laws pertaining to the physical, mental and intellectual disciplines, success SHALL dog the heels of such a careful ruler of circumstances.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Gurudev introduces the Royal Secret - 9th Chapter

CHAPTER IX
The Royal Secret

Srimad-Bhagawad-Geeta, as a text-book of Hindu renaissance, has necessarily to carry within it the seeds of a complete reformation, almost revolutionary in its dynamic onslaught. The fundamental principles remaining the same, a religion that keeps pace with life has to readjust itself to accommodate current social problems and political conditions. Religion was not extinct in the era of the Mahabharata. But the Vedic principles needed a re-adjustment and a re-affirmation in the context of the life available in that era.

When the fundamentals forming the foundation are to be kept sacredly the same, the only adjustment that is possible for the expansion of Science of Life, is to discover a more liberal means for its application, and to annotate the same in the language of the conflict and struggle available in that period. Blind faith can have a compelling charm only in the early history of a people, and, when they grow and become stalwart in their reason and muscular in their movements, the impetuosity of the generation can no more be tamed and kept within bounds by the sandy beaches of barren faith. It demands and expects walls of unshakable logic and reason to support the stream of assertions in the philosophy of the thinkers. To a large extent, an interpreter of a philosophy --- not the philosopher himself --- will have to dance to the rhythm of the inundations and the direction of the current of thought and life in his age.

This new interpretation, at once intelligent and meaningful, has, no doubt, injected a new vigour and brought fresh blood into the senile values of life and their ineffectual application in society. Such repeated transfusions of youthfulness and vitality into the dilapidated body of religion has sustained the ageless tradition of the Hindus through its chequered career down the aisles of Time. One of the most powerful rejuvenation treatments that the immortal lore received in recent times was from the hands of Vyasa, and the Bhagawad-Geeta reports that operation divine.

In Chapter Seven, we find how the Champion of the Revolt throws His gloves down, in a challenge, when He says: "I shall tell you about KNOWLEDGE, both speculative and practical." Thereafter, Krishna has been pursuing the theme of spiritual practices, like a mathematician solving his problem, stage by stage, for the benefit of his students. Nowhere has He insisted upon any blind faith in what He said. On the other hand, at every stage, He has been scrupulously careful to supply the necessary data and the rational arguments for the why and the wherefore of the Vedantic beliefs and the ways of self-perfection advocated by Vedanta.

The same tempo of ruthless intellectual estimation is being continued in Chapter Nine also and its very opening stanza promises that the Lord will be giving, during His discourse, not only the theory of self-perfection but also the logic behind it all. It is very clear, if sympathetically considered, that the kind teacher in Krishna is carefully avoiding the usage of vague and mystic technical terms then in use in the Vedantic literature, except for the most elementary ones.

Ideas have been simplified here, so that they can be easily grasped by Arjuna, the representative of the ordinary, educated men of his time. However, the same principles will be found to have been explained again in a later chapter (XIII) under the orthodox terminology of Vedanta as Kshetra, Kshetrajna, Jnana, Jneya, Purusha, Prakriti, etc.

"Dividing the subject of enquiry into its main divisions; analytical explanation of the divisions; categorical treatment of the subject under each division; discussion of the relation between the various parts and setting down the conclusions drawn therefrom" --- these would in our days be considered as the proper scientific method for the treatment of a subject. In this sense of the term, the Geeta is not at all scientific. But, at the same time, the conversational style of the Geeta has its own characteristic clarity and Shastraic precision. Krishna Himself calls it "the most Secret (profound) Science." To every careful student of the Geeta, it will be clear that in its scientific outlook and systematic explanations the discourses leave nothing to be desired.

|| Chapter-9 ||

Source: The Holy Geeta

End of Chapter Eight: July 21, 2016

Bg 8.26

śukla-kṛṣṇe gatī hy ete jagataḥ śāśvate mate
ekayā yāty anāvṛttim anyayāvartate punaḥ

Bg 8.27

naite sṛtī pārtha jānan yogī muhyati kaścana
tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu yoga-yukto bhavārjuna

Bg 8.28

vedeṣu yajñeṣu tapaḥsu caivadāneṣu yat puṇya-phalaṁ pradiṣṭam
atyeti tat sarvam idaṁ viditvā yogī paraṁ sthānam upaiti cādyam

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 

aksharabrahma yogo nāma ashtamodhyāyaha

Translation

26. The Path of Light and the Path of Darkness available for the world are verily thought to be both eternal; by the one, the "Path of Light, " a man goes to return not; by the other, the "Path of Darkness," he returns again.

27. Knowing these paths, O Partha, no YOGIN is deluded; therefore, at all times be steadfast in YOGA , O Arjuna.

28. Whether fruit of merit is declared (in the scriptures) as springing up from study of the VEDAS, from performance of sacrifices, from practice of austerities, and from charity --- beyond all these goes the YOGIN, who having known this (the two 'paths' ) attains to the Supreme, Primeval (Essence) .

Commentary

The two paths so vividly described above, are renamed here as the 'Path-of-Light' and the 'Path-of-Darkness,' according to the goal to which each "path" leads the pilgrims. One takes the travellers to the brilliant heights of evolutionary success; the other into the dark abyss of devolutionary sorrow. These two "paths" described here, in their general implications, can be considered as showing the 'Path-of-Moksha' and the 'Path-of-Samsara.'

The ways of life in any given generation always fall under two categories --- the secular and the sacred. The former, the secular, is pursued by those who feel that food, clothing, and shelter are the absolutes and the fulfillment of life lies in the satisfaction of the largest number of physical and emotional sense-ticklers, and whose intellects are cold and satisfied, feeling no urge to seek anything nobler and diviner. The latter, the sacred, however, is pursued by those who can feel no encouragement in their bosom, when the sense-objects giggle and dance in front of their sense-organs, and whose intellects are ever on fire with a great seeking of something beyond, something deeper than the mere surface existence in life.

These two 'paths' --- which mean not only the two impulses of the sacred and the secular, but also all those who follow these two paths --- the seekers of materialism and the seekers of spirituality --- "ARE TO BE CONSIDERED AS TRULY ETERNAL." In the largest sense of the term, these two impulses together constitute the entire Samsara, and since the world of finitude and change is eternal, these two contrary impulses are also eternal. But it is the Vedantic theory, approved and upheld by the lived experiences of the Seers and Sages, that Samsara for the individual can be ended.

Subjectively considered, this stanza may perhaps have a secret suggestion to make to true Yogis --- meaning, the sincere meditators. Even in an elderly Sadhaka, who has been on the 'path' for years, the existing vasanas in him may now and then come up to insist upon his extroversion. At such moments of inner revolt in us, we, as seekers and meditators, need not at all get flabbergasted because, as the Lord explains, the aspirations for the higher-life and the temptations for the lower-existence are the two opposing forces that are eternally at tug-of-war with each other.

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE GAIN IN KNOWING THESE TWO PATHS, AND THEIR ETERNAL NATURE?

After knowing that the "Path of Light" and the "Path of Darkness" are the two opposing forces that function in our mental life eternally, a true seeker will not fall into any sense of despair, when he watches a revolt rising in his bosom. "NO 'YOGI' IS DELUDED, KNOWING THESE PATHS."

The entire line of argument pursued by Krishna, is to reveal slowly and steadily the "Path of Return" and the "Path of No-Return" and now, in this, the penultimate stanza of this chapter, the Lord summarises the thesis and purpose, and says, "THEREFORE, ARJUNA, YOU BE A 'YOGI' AT ALL TIMES." Here, he who has withdrawn himself from his false identifications and has come to fix his single-pointed mind in the contemplation of the Self, is a Yogi.

In short, the entire chapter is a divinely powerful plea recommending that Arjuna should, even while acting in the world, continuously strive to be one living in the awareness of the Divine, through a process of selfless identification with the Eternal, Imperishable Purusha.

BY MERE MEDITATION HOW WILL WE GAIN THE SPECIFIC MERITS THAT ARE PROMISED BY THE SHRUTI AND THE SMRITI WHEN WE FOLLOW CERTAIN NOBLE ACTIONS IN LIFE?

Here Krishna is emphasizing that meditation can be undertaken by anyone who is even slightly capable of it, because, the Lord explains, "WHATEVER MERITORIOUS RESULTS ARE PROMISED IN THE SCRIPTURES TO ACCRUE FROM THE STUDY OF THE VEDAS, PERFORMANCE OF YAJNAS, PRACTICE OF AUSTERITIES, AND SELFLESS CHARITY," a true Yogi, meaning, a sincere meditator, gains them all. Besides, the Lord is emphatic when He says, "THE YOGI EVER RISES OVER ALL THESE." Attempts at meditation can integrate the personality a million times more easily and quickly than by the slower processes described above --- it being understood that the devoted meditator has developed in himself the necessary amount of dispassion, and discriminative thinking. Even these can grow when meditation is pursued regularly and sincerely.

When thus, a meditator who has, through meditation, gained the results of selfless Karma and Upasanas, continued his practices, he learns to soar higher and higher, until at last he comes to realise "THIS," the Imperishable Purusha, and ATTAINS TO THE PRIMEVAL, SUPREME ABODE --- having attained which, MY HIGHEST STATE, there is no return.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad-Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA , in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the eightth discourse ends entitled:  THE YOGA OF IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN.

Here the term "YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN" is to be understood as "THE WAY TO THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN." After answering in this chapter the questions raised by Arjuna, the Lord was borne away on the high tides of His Divine inspiration, to explain how those who can remember the Infinite at the time of their departure from the body will reach the Infinite. Therefore, He advised Arjuna to remember the Infinite always and face his life diligently.

Naturally, Krishna has to explain what is the nature of that Infinite upon which the seeker is to fix his single-pointed mind. We had thus, in stanzas 9 and 10, a set of brilliant phrases, which, in their suggestiveness, explain the Inexplicable. Having described the Imperishable BRAHMAN, Krishna explains the "Path-of-Light" and the "Path-of-Darkness," the former leading to the Imperishable, and the latter abducting the ego away from its divine ]home into the 'house of pain and finitude.' Rightly, indeed, has the chapter been captioned as "THE WAY TO THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN."


Om Om Om Om Om

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

ಕಸದೈವ ಕುಟುಂಬಕಮ್ - Kasadaiva Kutumbakam

Our beloved PM is very fond of uttering these words, "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam".

"The World is one large family"- Mahopanishad, VI.71-73

I feel we should slightly modify this statement to make more sense to us Bengaluru residents.

ಕಸದೈವ ಕುಟುಂಬಕಮ್ - Kasadaiva Kutumbakam, means that the family lives solely for all aspects of garbage. Kasa in Kannada means garbage. It is a generic word. Namma Bengaluru should contribute it to the world vocabulary.

Don't screw up your face or grimace in disgust. One drive through any locality of Bengaluru (except where the stinkingly rich or ministers live) will convince you that namma Bengaluru has a HUGE garbage problem.

Hold your breath, (you need to, the stink is unbearable!), Bengaluru generates about 5000 tonnes of waste a day. 

If you take the population as 15 million, this is a small 333 gm per person per day. (=5000000000/15000000).

Just recollect all the stuff you bought, used, and threw away yesterday, didn't you generate more garbage than 330g per person?

Now BBMP used to take the garbage, as and when collected whimsically or sporadically, outside the city in large trucks and dump them on agricultural land unfit for cultivation or owned by people unfit for cultivating the land. This has resulted in large areas of land near neighbouring villages which present a horrendous and desolate picture of ugliness and disease.

Nowadays, the BBMP has a fancy, audio-blaring open dumper type of 3 wheeler truck that comes by at unpredictable times every morning (8 am - 11 am) in front of our house in Indiranagar. There are songs, and cameos. Someone with a PhD in Kannada has scripted the words spoken by a loving couple, which describes the programme for garbage collection, your role in this programme, as well as your garbage itself, as "ಅಮೂಲ್ಯ" or priceless!
I do not know, or even care to know, how my priceless garbage is sorted, reprocessed, sold and marketed later. I am sure good people are working on this 24/7 in some BPO soon to have its IPO.

I assiduously collect our garbage in several different containers (wet and dry separately) and rush out as soon as I hear the ear-piercing announcement. I go and wait outside as the procession of the van ambles down like a juggernaut, with each maxi-clad housewife or unshaven hero going up to it and depositing her or his priceless contribution with a sense of triumph and a day full of purpose. I do the same. The vehicle drives past, with that sense of well-being and happiness and my priceless joy engulfing me in a nice, rosy pink, cosy feeling.

India should also patent the "International Garbage Day" and call it "ಕಸದೈವ ಕುಟುಂಬಕಮ್ - Kasadaiva Kutumbakam".

What do you think?

Gurudev introduces Chapter 8 : July 8, 2016

CHAPTER VIII
Imperishable Brahman

To discriminate between the higher and the lower nature of the Eternal Self, and identifying with the Higher, to play at will with all freedom and joy in the fields of its lower manifestations, is to be the perfect Man-of-Wisdom--a God upon the earth, ever-liberated from the threats and sorrows of the finite. The aim of Vedanta is to carve out of ordinary folk such blissful Men-of-Wisdom. In the earlier chapter, therefore, a vivid description of both Knowledge and Wisdom was elaborately given.
Continuing the idea contained in the previous chapter, Krishna starts with the glorification of the Man-of-Wisdom and declares that he is perfect not only because of his special knowledge and experience of the Self, but also because he becomes thereby a well-integrated personality at all levels of his existence and contacts with the world. He easily proves himself to be a man of godly efficiency and balance, in all situations and conditions, at all places and times.

In the preceding chapter, a mere mention was made that there is a practical aspect of Vedanta, apart from its theoretical literature, but no definite technique for carving out the Vedantic ideals in practice was given there. Here, however, the technique has been completely and fully explained, and the relationship between the Eternal Spirit and the delusory realm of names and forms, the lower prakriti, has been clearly indicated. Exemplary definitions indicating the Inexpressible, the Absolute Truth, are found in this chapter. Only a dull simpleton, vainly labouring to follow the path of pure reason and discrimination, cannot feel thrilled or uplifted to a divine height of inspiration by this chapter.

The last chapter concluded with a statement that the Man-of-Wisdom not only realises the Absolute Essence that sustains the world, but that he also, at once, comes to master the world-of-objects, the organs of perception-and-action, and the instruments-of-comprehension, so that he proves himself to be a dynamic "doer," ever carving out enduring successes all along, everywhere. Herein, this idea has been made more and more clear by Lord Krishna, with His explanations; when once we know the ocean, the waves, wavelets, the foam, and the lather are all known by us. Similarly, the Self is the Reality upon which all actions, the instruments-of-action, and the world-of-perceptions are super-imposed, and therefore, by knowing the Self everything is known.

|| Chapter-8 ||

Sources: The Holy Geeta

End of Seventh Chapter: July 5, 2016

Bg 7.30

sādhibhūtādhidaivaṁ māṁ sādhiyajñaṁ ca ye viduḥ
prayāṇa-kāle ’pi ca māṁ te vidur yukta-cetasaḥ

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 
 jñānavijñānayogo nāma saptamodhyāyaḥ

Translation

30. Those who know Me with the ADHIBHUTA (pertaining to elements; the world-of-objects) , ADHIDAIVA (pertaining to the gods; the sense-organs) and the ADHIYAJNA (pertaining to the sacrifice; all perceptions) , even at the time of death, steadfast in mind, know Me.

Commentary

Not only that the man of realisation understands all the vagaries of the mind and the nature of all activities, but he also gains a perfect knowledge of the world-of-objects (Adhibhuta), the secrets behind the workings of the sense-organs, mind, and intellect (Adhidaiva), and the conditions under which all perceptions --- physical, mental and intellectual (Adhiyajna) can best take place.

The common idea that a man-of-God is an impractical man, inefficient to live a successful life in the world, may be true as far as a dedicated devotee of a particular god-form, or a prophet, is concerned. The Upasaka is one who is so fully engrossed with his emotions and thoughts, dedicated to the Lord of his heart, that he has neither the interest nor the capacity to know the ways of the world. But the man-of-Perfection, as conceived by the Science of Vedanta, is not only a man of experience in the realm of Spirit, but he is also, at all times, on all occasions, under all situations, a master of himself, and a dynamic force to be reckoned with.

He essentially becomes the leader of the world, as he is a master of his own mind, as well as the minds of the entire living kingdom. To him, thereafter, everything becomes clear, and such a Man-of-Perfection lives in the world as God in his Knowledge of the worlds, both within and without.

In short, the chapter closes with a total assertion that "HE WHO KNOWS ME KNOWS EVERYTHING"; he is the man who will guide the destinies of the world, not only in his own times, but in the days to come, as Lord Krishna Himself did.

These two closing stanzas of this chapter do not of themselves explain all the terms used in them. They represent a summary of the following chapter. In a Shastra this is one of the traditional methods in the art of connecting two consecutive chapters together. In the form of mantras, these two stanzas indicate the contents and the theme of the following chapter.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the Scripture of YOGA, in the dialogue between Shri Krishna and Arjuna, the seventh discourse ends entitled:
THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM

Vedantic ideologies, preached in the Upanishads had become, by the time of Vyasa, mere speculative narrations of poetic perfection, divorced from the actualities of life. The Hindus, thus estranged from the essential glory and strength of their culture, were to be resurrected by showing them the particular beauty and fire that lie concealed in the philosophical speculations. In this chapter, Krishna has emphasized and indicated beyond all doubt, how Vedantic perfection can be achieved and lived to the glory of the successful seeker and to the blessing of the generation in which he lives. It is most appropriate, therefore, that the chapter is entitled "THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM."

Mere knowledge is of no particular use. Wisdom is the glow that knowledge imparts to the individual. The fulfilment of knowledge in an individual is possible only when he becomes a Man-of-Wisdom. Knowledge can be imparted, but Wisdom cannot be given. The philosophical portion of all religions provides the knowledge, the instructional section of all religions provides techniques by which knowledge can be assimilated and digested into the very texture of the devotees' inner lives, and thereby every religion seeks to create Men-of-Wisdom, who have fulfilled their lives, justified their religion, and blessed their generation.

Om Om Om Om Om

Who's really a Guru?- Vivekachudamani

Tonight, in the wonderful weekend programme called Satya Darshana (running for 12 years!) on DD Chandana, Prof. Pavagada Prakasha Rao was answering a query as to how one can repay one's guru or kulaguru.

He began by stating that we often mistake teachers for gurus. All those who teach for a living or as a profession, or those who take fees from students to impart some textual knowledge and training, are not to be confused as Gurus.

The word Guru has a deep meaning in Hindu Dharma. He quoted a verse from Vivekachudamani of Adi Shankara. It was so wonderful that I felt compelled to research and share it tonight itself.

Here is the verse, from the translation by Swami Madhavananda (Advaita Ashrama, 1921):

As explained by Sri Prakasha Rao:

The real guru is at peace, equanimous in all circumstances. He is indeed great, and inspires reverence instantly, at first sight. He doesn't stay in one place, but moves about like the spring breeze. And inspires a welcome from everyone wherever he moves. That is because of his transformative impact, and appealing, pleasing, personality. He has himself crossed the ocean of Samsara, the dreadful ocean of suffering and bondage called life. And he freely, ungrudgingly, aids one and all, with no partiality or discrimination, to cross this ocean, too, WITHOUT any expectation of any return favour, reward or gratitude. Such a person is a true guru.

When I am touched by such a guru, how can I ever repay him? Sri Prakasha Rao said he will take up the answer to this part next weekend!

What a great shloka, what great expression in poetry by the one and only Jagadguru Adi Shankara!

Amen! Hari Om Tat Sat!!