Sanjaya's ecstatic epilogue

This photo shows the Ashwattha (peepal) leaf I brought back from the tree outside the Sidhbari ashram entrance. My greatest good fortune-Punya is to have attended the Geeta Marathon Camp at Sidhbari 21 months ago!


Bg 18.74

sañjaya uvāca 

ity ahaṁ vāsudevasya pārthasya ca mahātmanaḥ
saṁvādam imam aśrauṣam adbhutaṁ roma-harṣaṇam

Bg 18.75

vyāsa-prasādāc chrutavān etad guhyam ahaṁ param
yogaṁ yogeśvarāt kṛṣṇāt sākṣāt kathayataḥ svayam

Bg 18.76

rājan saṁsmṛtya saṁsmṛtya saṁvādam imam adbhutam
keśavārjunayoḥ puṇyaṁ hṛṣyāmi ca muhur muhuḥ

Bg 18.77

tac ca saṁsmṛtya saṁsmṛtya rūpam aty-adbhutaṁ hareḥ
vismayo me mahān rājan hṛṣyāmi ca punaḥ punaḥ

Bg 18.78

yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo yatra pārtho dhanur-dharaḥ
tatra śrīr vijayo bhūtir dhruvā nītir matir mama

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu  brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde  mokṣasannyāsa yogo nāmaaṣṭādaś 'dhyāyaha

Translation

Sanjaya said: 74. Thus have I heard this wonderful dialogue between Vaasudeva and the high-souled Paartha, which causes the hair to stand on end.

75. Through the grace of Vyaasa I have heard, this supreme and most secret YOGA , directly from Krishna, the Lord of YOGA, Himself declaring it.

76. O King, remembering this wonderful and holy dialogue between Keshava and Arjuna, I rejoice again and again.

77. Remembering and again remembering, that most wonderful Form of Hari, great is my wonder, O king; and I rejoice again and again.

78. Wherever is Krishna, the Lord of YOGA , wherever is Paartha, the archer, there are prosperity, victory, happiness and firm (steady or sound) policy; this is my conviction.

Commentary

In the previous stanza, when one carefully understands the full significance of the assertion made by the rediscovered, and therefore, revived Arjuna, one cannot avoid remembering a parallel declaration made by another teacher of the world, when he revived from his temporary confusion (Arjuna-sthiti). When he regained his spiritual balance, which he, as it were, lost temporarily while carrying the cross through the taunting crowd, Jesus also cried: THY WILL BE DONE." Here Arjuna, revived by the Grace of Krishna, similarly cries, "I shall act according to your word (Karishye Vachanam Tava)." In both cases we find that the statements are almost identical.

Earlier, at the opening of the Geeta, the Pandava Prince said to Govinda: "I SHALL NOT FIGHT," and became despondent; it is the same Arjuna, now entirely revived and fully rehabilitated, who declares: "I shall abide by Thy will." The cure is complete and with this the Shastra also ends.

THUS HAVE I HEARD THIS DIALOGUE BETWEEN VAASUDEVA AND THE HIGH-SOULED ARJUNA --- In the context of the Vyasa-literature, the conversation between Vaasudeva, Lord Krishna, and the son of Prithaa, Arjuna, is but a silent mystic dialogue between the "higher" and the "lower" in man, the "Spirit" and the "Matter." Vaasudeva means the Lord (Deva) of the Vasus; the eight Vasus (Ashta-vasu) together preside over Time. Therefore, Vaasudeva, in its mystic symbolism, stands for the Consciousness that illumines the "concept of Time" projected by the intellect of man. In short, Vaasudeva is the Atman, the Self. Paartha represents matter (earth) which is capable of shedding itself, sheath by sheath to emerge as the pure Eternal Spirit, the Supreme. This act of understanding himself as different from his matter vestures is man's highest art, the Art of unveiling the Infinite through the finite. The technique of this art is the theme of the Geeta.

WONDERFUL (Adbhutam) --- This philosophy of the Geeta, listened to so far by Sanjaya, is reviewed by him as "miraculous," as "wonderful." Every philosophy, no doubt, is a marvel of man's intellect and represents its subtle visions and powers of comprehension. But the philosophy of the Geeta was indeed a shade more marvellous and wonderful to Sanjaya, because, it revived the BLASTED personality of Arjuna into a DYNAMIC WHOLE. Because of this practical demonstration of its powers to bless man, the Geeta philosophy has acquired the marvellous lustre of the rare.

It has proved, beyond all doubt, that every average human being is endowed with potential power with which he can easily conquer all the expressions of life in him and command them to manifest exactly as he wants. He is the Lord of his life, the master of the vehicles, and not a victim of some other mightier power that has created him, only to be endlessly teased by the whims and fancies of his own body, mind and intellect. When this truth is revealed, it is but human for Sanjaya, in ecstacy, to exclaim: "Oh! what a marvellous revelation! What a stupendous demonstration!! Adbhutam!!!"

HIGH-SOULED PAARTHA --- In the stanza Arjuna has been glorified and not Lord Krishna, the Parthaasaarathi. The Pandava Prince, Arjuna, had the courage and heroism to come out of his mental confusions, when he gained the right knowledge from his Master's teachings. Certain acts of a child call forth our admiration, but the same acts performed by a grown-up person, look perhaps ridiculous and childish. To the omnipotent Lord, the declaration of the whole Geeta itself is but a love-play. But, for the confused Arjuna to understand the philosophy, and heroically walk out of his confusions is indeed an achievement, worthy of appreciation. Thus Krishna, the All-perfect, is almost ignored, but Arjuna, the mortal, who has understood the art of living as expounded in the Geeta, and has actually revived himself by living it, is heartily congratulated and glorified!

Sanjaya's sympathies were with the Pandavas; but as an employed minister, he was eating the salt of Dhritarashtra, and it was not Dharma for him to be disloyal to his master. At the same time, in the context of the politics of that time, Dhritarashtra was, perhaps, the only one who, even then, could stop the war. Diplomatically, Sanjaya tries his best, in these stanzas, to bring into the blind man's heart the suggestion of a peace treaty. He makes the blind king understand that Lord Krishna has revived and re-awakened the hero in Arjuna. The blind king is reminded of what the consequences would be: the death and disaster to his hundred children, the pangs of separation in his old age, the dishonour of it all --- all these are brought home to Dhritarashtra. But the tottering king's "blindness" seems to be not only physical but also mental and intellectual, for Sanjaya's beseeching moral suggestions fall on the deaf ears of the blind elder.

SANJAYA OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGES HIS INDEBTEDNESS TO SHRI VEDA-VYASA:

Before the great battle started, Vyasa had approached Dhritarashtra to offer him the "power of vision" to witness the war; however, the weak-hearted king had not the courage to accept the offer. The king had then suggested that if this power could be given to Sanjaya, the king could, through the faithful minister, listen to a running commentary of what was happening on the Kurukshetra battle-field. It was thus from Vyasa that Sanjaya, sitting in the carpeted chambers of the Kaurava palace, gained the special faculty of witnessing all that happened and listening to all that was said at the distant battle-field. Grateful to Shri Veda-Vyasa for having given him this wonderful chance of listening to this "Supreme and most profound Yoga," Sanjaya is mentally prostrating to the incomparable poet-sage, the author of the Mahabharata.

DIRECTLY FROM KRISHNA HIMSELF (Yogeshwarat Krishnat) --- The suggestion is NOT that Sanjaya had never heard the philosophy of the Upanishads ever before, and that the novelty of the revelation had stunned him; but that his joy is due to the fact that he got a chance to listen to the Eternal Knowledge of the Upanishads directly from the Lord-of-all-Yogas, Shri Krishna Himself (Saakshaat), from His own sacred lips.

Here also we can see how Sanjaya is sincerely trying to make the blind Dhritarashtra realise that it is not Krishna, the son of Devaki, nor the cowherd boy, but it is the Lord Himself the Yogeshwarah who has revived Arjuna, and who is serving His devotee as his charioteer. The blind king is reminded that his children, though they have marshalled a large army, stand doomed to destruction, since they have to face the Infinite Lord Himself in their enemy ranks.

THE DEEP IMPRESSION CREATED BY THIS IRRESISTIBLE PHILOSOPHY ON THE DEVOTED HEART OF SANJAYA IS VIVIDLY PAINTED:

Herein we have a clear statement of Sanjaya's reactions to his listening to the Lord's Song. He says, "THIS DISCOURSE BETWEEN KRISHNA AND ARJUNA"-between God and man, between the Perfect and the imperfect, between the "higher" and the "lower" --- is at once "WONDERFUL AND HOLY."

The vision and impression created in his heart by the philosophy that was heard are so deep and striking, that Sanjaya admits how irresistibly the memory of those words rises up again and again in his bosom, giving him "the thrill of joy" (Harsham).

Indirectly, Vyasa is prescribing the method of study of the Geeta. It being "a handbook of instruction" on the Art of Living, it has TO BE READ AGAIN AND AGAIN, REPEATEDLY REFLECTED UPON AND CONTINUOUSLY REMEMBERED, until the inner man in us is completely re-educated in the way-of-life that the Geeta charts out for man. The reward for such a painstaking study, and consistency of application has also been clearly pointed out.

One rejoices when one comes to recognise a definite purpose in the otherwise purposeless pilgrimage of man, from the womb to the tomb, called 'life.' The study of the Geeta gives not only a purpose to our every-day existence but also a positive message of hope and cheer to the world. The Geeta picks us up from the by-lanes of life and enthrones us as the sovereign power that rules, commands and orders our own life within.

Thus the Geeta is an infinite fountain-head of inspiration and joy. It provides our mind with a systematic scheme of re-education whereby it can discover a secret power in itself to tackle intelligently the chaotic happenings around us which constitute our world of challenges. The Geeta-educated man learns to RECOGNISE A RHYTHM, to SEE A BEAUTY, and to HEAR A MELODY in the ordinary day-to-day life --- a life which was till then but a mad death-dance of appearances and disappearances of things and beings.

SANJAYA CONFESSES THAT NOT ONLY DOES THE PHILOSOPHY ENCHANT HIS MIND, BUT EVEN THE MEMORY OF THE LORD'S WONDROUS FORM AS THE TOTAL MANIFESTED UNIVERSE HAS A MAGIC OF ITS OWN WHICH WARMS UP HIS HEART:

AS I OFTEN REMEMBER REPEATEDLY THAT MOST WONDERFUL FORM OF HARI --- Lord Krishna, the charioteer, gave the vision of His Cosmic-Form (Vishwaroopa) in an earlier chapter; it is that Form that is indicated by Sanjaya here. The Cosmic-Form of the Lord is as impressive to the man-of-heart, as the philosophy of the Geeta is unforgettable to the man-of-intelligence. The concept of the Lord's "Total-Form" is staggering in the Vedas, and no doubt, highly impressive in the Geeta. But it need not necessarily be a mere poetic vision of the great Vyasa; there are many others whose experiences are almost parallel.

If the philosophy of the Geeta, as it reveals to us the glorious purpose in life, inspires and thrills the thinking aspect in man, the vision of the smiling Lord of Vrindavana BEHIND EVERY NAME AND FORM, BENEATH EVERY EXPERIENCE, UNDER EVERY SITUATION, adds a life-giving joy and a maddening ecstasy to the drunken heart of love.

Given the freedom, I suppose, Sanjaya would have written a full length Sanjaya-song on the Lord's Divine Song! When the head is thrilled with the silence of under-standing, and the heart is intoxicated with the embrace of love, man gets transported into a sense of inspired fulfilment.

TO EXPRESS THAT SATISFACTION, LANGUAGE IS A FRAIL VEHICLE; THEREFORE, WITHOUT DILATING MUCH UPON WHAT IS UPPERMOST IN HIS MIND, SANJAYA SUMMARISES THEM ALL INTO A DECLARATION OF HIS BURNING FAITH, IN THIS CONCLUDING STANZA OF THE BHAGAWAD GEETA:

This is the closing stanza of SRIMAD BHAGAWAD GEETA, which contains altogether seven hundred and one verses. This concluding verse has not been sufficiently thought over and commented upon by the majority of commentators of the Geeta. The superficial word-meaning of the verse, in fact, can only impress any intelligent student, at its best, as rather drab and dry. After all Sanjaya is expressing his private faith in and his personal opinion about something which the readers of Geeta need not necessarily accept as final. Sanjaya, in effect, says: "Where there is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, and Arjuna, ready with his bow, there prosperity (Sree), success (Vijaya), expansion (Bhooti), and sound policy (Dhruva-neeti) will be; this is my sure faith."

After all, a student of the Geeta is not interested in Sanjaya's opinion, and it almost amounts to a foul and secret indoctrination, if Sanjaya means, diplomatically, to inject into us his own personal opinion. The Geeta, as a "Universal Scripture" would have fallen from its own intrinsic dignity as "the Bible of man" had this stanza no Eternal Truth to suggest, which readily invokes a universal appeal.

The perfect artist, Vyasa, could never have made such a mistake; indeed, there is a deeper significance in which an unquestionable truth has been expounded.

KRISHNA, THE LORD OF YOGA (Yogeshwarah Krishnah) --- All through the Geeta, Krishna represented the Self, the Atman. This spiritual core is the Ground upon which the entire play of happenings is staged. He can be invoked within the bosom of each one of us through any one of the Yoga-techniques expounded in the Geeta.

ARJUNA, READY WITH HIS BOW (Paartho-Dhanurdharah) --- Paartha represents, in this text book, "the confused, limited, ordinary mortal, with all his innumerable weaknesses, agitations and fears." When he has thrown down his "instrument" of effort and achievement, his bow, and has reclined to impotent idleness, no doubt, there is no hope for any success or prosperity. But when he is "READY WITH HIS BOW," when he is no more idle but has a willing readiness to use his faculties to brave the challenges of life, there, in that man, we recognise a "PAARTHA READY WITH HIS BOW."

Now putting these two pictures together --- Lord Krishna, the Yogeshwarah, and Arjuna, the Dhanurdharah --- the symbolism of a way-of-life gets completed, wherein, reinforced with spiritual understanding, man gets ready to exert and pour in his endevours, to tame life and master prosperity. In such a case, there is no power that can stop him from success. In short, the creed of the Geeta is that spirituality CAN be lived in life, and true spiritual understanding is an asset to a man engaged in the battle-of-life.

Today's confusions in society and man's helpless insignificance against the flood of events --- inspite of all his achievements in science and mastery over matter --- are seen, because the Yogeshwarah in him is lying neglected, uninvoked. A happy blending of the sacred and the secular is the policy for man as advised in the Geeta. In the vision of Sri Veda-Vyasa, he sees a world-order in which man pursues a way-of-life, wherein the spiritual and the material values are happily wedded to each other. Mere material production can, no doubt, bring immediately a spectacular flood of wealth into the pockets of man, but not peace and joy into his heart. PROSPERITY WITHOUT PEACE WITHIN IS A CALAMITY, GRUESOME AND TERRIBLE!

The stanza at the same time refuses to accept the other extreme; Yogeshwarah Krishna could have achieved nothing on the battle-field of Kurukshetra without the Pandava Prince, Arjuna, "ARMED AND READY TO FIGHT." Mere spirituality without material exertion and secular achievements will not make life dynamic. I have been trying my best to bring out, as clearly as I can, this running vein of thought throughout the Geeta, which expounds the PHILOSOPHY OF HARMONY and explains its plan for man's enduring happiness.

Krishna, in the Geeta, stands for the MARRIAGE BETWEEN THE SECULAR AND THE SACRED. Naturally, it is the ardent faith of Sanjaya that when a community or nation has its masses galvanized to endure, to act, and to achieve (Paartha, the bow-man) and if that generation is conscious of and has sufficiently invoked the spiritual purity of head and heart in themselves (Krishna, the Lord-of-Yoga), in that generation, prosperity, success, expansion, and a sound and sane policy become the natural order.

Even in the arrangement of these terms --- prosperity, success, expansion and sound policy --- there is an under-current of logic which is evident to all students of world history. In the context of modern times and the political experiences, we know that without an intelligent and STEADY POLICY, no government can lead a nation to any substantial achievement. With a sound policy, EXPANSION of all the dormant faculties in the community is brought out, and then only the spirit of co-ordination and brotherhood in the fields of achievement comes to play. In this healthy spirit of love and cooperation, when a disciplined people work hard, and when their efforts are intelligently channelised by the sound policies of the government, SUCCESS cannot be far away. Success thus earned, as a result of national endeavour, disciplined and channelised by a firm, intelligent policy, should necessarily yield true PROSPERITY. A saner philosophy we cannot find even in modern political thought!!

Enduring prosperity must be that which arises from successful endeavour, that is the result of cooperative and loving effort and this cannot yield any success unless it is nurtured and nourished, guarded and protected, by an intelligent and sound policy.

It now becomes quite clear that it is not only Sanjaya's faith, but it is the ardent conviction of all men of self-control and disciplined mind (Sanjayas), trained to think independently.

There are some commentators of the Geeta, who draw our attention to this concluding word in the Geeta, "my" (mama), and to the opening word in the Geeta, "Dharma." Between these two words the seven hundred stanzas are hung together as a garland of immortal beauty, and so these commentators summarize the meaning of the Geeta as "MY Dharma" (Mama Dharma). The Geeta explains the nature of man, MY Dharma, and the nature of Truth, MY Dharma and how the true life starts when these two are in harmony and come to play in one single individual. The ideal nature of all true students of the Geeta, therefore, should be a glorious synthesis of both the SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE expressed in their equipoise and character, and the DYNAMIC LOVE expressed through their service to mankind and their readiness to sacrifice.

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 eighteenth discourse ends entitled:
THE YOGA OF LIBERATION THROUGH RENUNCIATION

The closing chapter is entitled as Liberation through Renunciation (Moksha-samnyasa-Yoga). This term is very closely reminiscent of the Asparsa-Yoga of the Upanishads, and the definition of Yoga as given by Krishna Himself in an earlier chapter To renounce the false values of life in us is at once to rediscover the Divine nature in each one of us which is the essential heritage of man. To discard the beast in us (Samnyasa), is the Liberation (Moksha) of the Divine in us.

OM TAT SAT
MAMA SADGURU TAPOVANA CHARANAYOH

"At The Feet Of My Master Tapovanam."

Om Om Om Om Om

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Wrapping up - Final

Bg 18.72

kaccid etac chrutaṁ pārtha tvayaikāgreṇa cetasā
kaccid ajñāna-sammohaḥ praṇaṣṭas te dhanañ-jaya

Bg 18.73

arjuna uvāca

naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā tvat-prasādān mayācyuta
sthito ’smi gata-sandehaḥ kariṣye vacanaṁ tava


Translation

72. Has this been heard, O son of Pritha, with single-pointed mind? Has the distraction, caused by your 'ignorance, ' been dispelled, O Dhananjaya?

Arjuna said: 73. Destroyed is my delusion, as I have now gained my memory (knowledge) through your grace, O Achyuta. I am firm; my doubts are gone. I will do according to your word (bidding).

Commentary

Here, we find Lord Krishna, the teacher of the Geeta, putting a leading question to his disciple, Arjuna, giving him a chance to say how much he has benefited from the discourses. Of course, Krishna had no doubt about it; but it is only like a doctor, who, confident of his own achieved success, looks at the beaming face of the revived patient and enquires "how are you feeling now?" This is only to enjoy the beaming satisfaction that comes to play on the face of the relieved patient.

HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING WITH AN ATTENTIVE MIND? --- The very question implies that if you have been attentive you must have understood sufficiently the logic in the things, beings and happenings around, and therefore, your relationship with them also. The study of Vedanta broadens our vision, and we start RECOGNISING, in a new light, the same OLD SCHEME-OF-THINGS around us, and then its previous ugliness gets lifted as though by magic.

HAS YOUR DISTRACTION OF THOUGHT, CAUSED BY 'IGNORANCE,' BEEN DISPELLED? --- The false values that we entertain distort our vision of the world and our judgement of its affairs. The delusion of mind was expressed by Arjuna in the opening chapters of the Geeta (I-36 to 46, and II-4 and 5).

Amputating a septic toe to save the body is no crime; on the contrary it is a life-giving blessing; it is not a toe destroyed, but it is a body and its life saved. The CULTURAL CRISIS of those times had egged the Kauravas on to rise up in arms against the beauty of the spiritual culture of the land. Arjuna was called upon by the era to champion the cause of the righteous. It was indeed a false reading of the situation that perverted the judgement of the Pandava Prince, as a consequence of which he became utterly broken down, and came to entertain a neurotic condition in himself. The fundamental cause of all confusions was his own "NON-APPREHENSION OF REALITY" called in Vedanta philosophy as "ignorance" (Ajnaana). When this "ignorance" is removed by the "APPREHENSION OF REALITY," termed as "knowledge" (Jnaana), the entire by-products of "ignorance" are all, in one sweep, eliminated. Hence the logic of this enquiry from the teacher.

True "knowledge" expresses itself in one's own dexterity in action and it should fulfil itself in the splendour of its achievements in the service of society. In case Arjuna has understood the philosophy of the Geeta he will no more hesitate to meet the challenges as they reach him. This seems to be the unsaid idea in the heart of the Lord.

ARJUNA CONFESSES THAT HIS CONFUSIONS HAVE ENDED:

Somewhat like one who has suddenly awakened from an unconscious state, Arjuna, with a regained self-recognition, assuredly confesses that his confusions have ended --- not because he has unquestioningly swallowed the arguments in the discourses of the Geeta, but because, as he himself says, "I have gained a RECOGNITION of my Real Nature. The hero in me has now become awakened, and the neurotic condition that had temporarily conquered my mind has totally ended."

Such a revival within and a rediscovery of our personality are possible for all of us if only we truly understand the significance of the Geeta philosophy. The Infinite nature of Perfection is our own. It is not something that we have to gain from somewhere by the intervention of some outer agency. This Mighty Being within ourselves is now lying veiled beneath our own ego-centric confusions and abject fears. Even while we are confused and confounded, and helplessly suffering the tragic sorrows of our ego, we are IN REALITY, none other than our own Self. When the dream ends, the confusions also end, and we awaken to our Real Nature. So too, in life. This awakening of the Divine in us is the ending of the beast within.

In this new-found equilibrium, born out of Wisdom, he experiences an unshakable balance established upon firm foundations. All vacillations of the mind, doubts and despairs, dejections and hesitations, fears and weaknesses have left him (gata sandehah).

With such a revived personality, when Arjuna re-evaluates the situation, he finds no difficulty at all in discovering what exactly his duty is. He openly declares, "I WILL DO ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD," for in the Geeta, Lord Krishna stands for the Divine-Spark-of-Existence manifested as "pure-intelligence."

All students --- who have thus fully understood the Geeta, have a clear picture of the goal-of-life, who know what 'path' to follow and how to withdraw from the false by-lanes of existence --- will surrender themselves, each to his own integrated inner personality. To surrender ourselves to our own "higher intellect" and to declare confidently and with faith, "I SHALL DO THY BIDDING," is the beginning and the end of all spiritual life.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Wrapping up - Part 2

Bg 18.70

adhyeṣyate ca ya imaṁ dharmyaṁ saṁvādam āvayoḥ
jñāna-yajñena tenāham iṣṭaḥ syām iti me matiḥ

Bg 18.71

śraddhāvān anasūyaś ca śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ
so ’pi muktaḥ śubhāḻ lokān prāpnuyāt puṇya-karmaṇām

Translation

70. And he who will study this sacred dialogue of ours, by him I shall have been worshipped by the "sacrifice-of-wisdom," such is My conviction.

71. That man also, who hears this, full of faith and free from malice, he too, liberated, shall attain to the happy worlds of those righteous deeds.

Commentary

Having thus glorified all teachers of the Geeta who carry the "Wisdom-of-the-sacred-discourse" to the masses, the Geeta, here, is glorifying even the students who are studying this Sacred text of the Lord's Song. The great philosophy of life given out here as a conversation between Krishna --- the Infinite, and Arjuna --- the finite, has such a compelling charm about it, that even those who read it superficially will also be slowly dragged into the very sanctifying depths of it. Such an individual is, even unconsciously, egged on to make a pilgrimage to the greater possibilities within himself, and naturally, he comes to evolve through what Krishna terms here as "Jnaana Yajna."

In a Yajna, Lord Fire is invoked in the sacrificial trough and into it are offered oblations by the devotees. From this analogy, the term Jnaana Yajna has been originally coined and used in the Geeta. Study of the Scriptures and regular contemplation upon their deep significances kindle the "Fire-of-Knowledge" in us and into this the intelligent seeker offers, as his oblation, his own false values and negative tendencies. This is the significance of the metaphorical phrase Jnaana Yajna. Therefore, here the Lord admits but a truth in the Spiritual science when He declares that those who study the Geeta --- contemplate upon its meaning, understand it thoroughly --- and those who can, at the altars of their well-kindled understanding, sacrifice their own ego-centric misconceptions about themselves, and about the world around them, are certainly the greatest devotees of the Infinite.

When a rusted key is heated in fire, the rust falls off and the key regains its original brightness. So too, our personality, when reacted with the knowledge of the Geeta, is chastened, since our wrong tendencies, unhealthy vasanas and false sense-of-ego which have risen from false-knowledge (Ajnaana), all get burnt up in Right-Knowledge (Jnaana).

AFTER THUS EXPLAINING THE GLORY OF THE TEACHER AND THE BENEFITS OF THE STUDY SO FAR, KRISHNA INDICATES IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA, THAT EVEN "LISTENING" TO THE GEETA DISCOURSES IS BENEFICIAL:

A student of the Geeta cannot stand apart from his text book, and merely learn to appreciate the theme of the Lord's Song. An all-out, ardent wooing of the Geeta by the student at all levels is necessary, if the study of the Geeta is really to fulfil the student's spiritual unfoldment. Consequently, Krishna indicates here two conditions, fulfilling which alone can one profitably listen to the Geeta discourses and hope to gather a large dividend of joy and perfection.

ONE OF FAITH (Shraddhaavaan) --- The term Shraddhaa in Sanskrit, though usually translated as "faith," actually means much more than what it indicates in the English language and in the Western tradition. Shraddha has been defined as "that faculty in the human intellect which gives it the capacity to dive deep into and discover the subtler meaning of the scriptural declarations, and thus helps the individual to absorb that understanding into the warp and the woof of his own intellect."

Therefore, that faculty in the intellect, (1) to understand the subtle import of the sacred words, (2) to absorb the same, (3) to assimilate, and (4) to make the student live up to those very same ideals, is Shraddhaa. Naturally, listening to the Lord's discourses can be fruitful only to those who have developed this essential faculty in themselves.

FREE FROM MALICE (Anasooyah) --- They alone who are free from malice against the teachings of the Geeta can undertake, with a healthy attitude of mind, a deeper and detailed study of it. No doubt, Hinduism never asks any student to read and study a philosophy with an implicit and ready faith. But the human mind, as it is, will grow dull and unresponsive when it has idle prejudices against the very theme of its study.

The intellect can receive the ideals preached in the Geeta only through the sense-organs, and these ideas must reach the intellect, filtered through the mind. If the mind contains any malice towards the very philosophy or the philosopher, the arguments and the goal indicated therein can never appeal to the student's intellect. No doubt, the student should bring in his own constructive criticism of an independent judgement upon what he studies, but he must be reasonably available to listen patiently to what the scripture has to say. In short, a student of religion must learn to keep an open mind and not condemn the philosophy before understanding what it has to say.

Such an individual who has attentively listened to the Geeta, who has intellectually absorbed, and assimilated the knowledge, "he too," says the Lord, "gets liberated" from the present state of confusions and sorrows, entanglements and bondages in his personality, and reaches a state of inner tranquillity and happiness.

JOY IS AN INSIDE JOB --- The kingdom of joy lies within all of us. Heaven is not somewhere yonder; it is HERE AND NOW. Happiness and sorrow are both within us. To the extent we learn and live the principles of right living, as enunciated in the Geeta, to that extent, we shall come to gain a cultural eminence within ourselves and live an ampler life of greater achievements.

It is the duty of a teacher to see that the student understands the great Goal and the 'path' completely. If the 'path' advised is found to be inadequate to bless the student, it is the duty of the teacher to find out ways and means of making the student discover his own balance.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Wrapping up - Part 1

Bg 18.67

idaṁ te nātapaskāya nābhaktāya kadācana
na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṁ na ca māṁ yo ’bhyasūyati

Bg 18.68

ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ mad-bhakteṣv abhidhāsyati
bhaktiṁ mayi parāṁ kṛtvā mām evaiṣyaty asaṁśayaḥ

Bg 18.69

na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ
bhavitā na ca me tasmād anyaḥ priya-taro bhuvi

Translation

67. This is never to be spoken by you to one who is devoid of austerities or devotion, nor to one who does not render service, nor to one who desires not to listen, nor to one who cavils at Me.

68. He who, with supreme devotion to Me, will teach this supreme secret to My devotees, shall doubtless come to Me.

69. Nor is there any among men who does dearer service to Me, nor shall there be another on earth dearer to Me than he.

Commentary

In almost all scriptural texts we find, in their closing stanzas, a description of the type of students to whom this knowledge can be imparted. Following faithfully this great tradition, here also we have this enumeration of the necessary qualifications for a true student of the Geeta. These are not so many fortresses raised round the treasure-house of the Geeta in order to protect some interests and provide some people with a kind of monopoly in trading upon the wealth of ideas in these discourses. On the other hand, we shall find that these qualifications are essential adjustments in the inner personality of the student. And a bosom so tuned up is the right vehicle that can daringly invest that knowledge in living one's life and thus earn the joy-of-' wisdom.'

THOSE WHO DO NOT LIVE AN AUSTERE LIFE --- Those who do not have any control over their body and mind; who have dissipated their physical and mental energies in the wrong direction and have thus become impotent bodily, mentally and intellectually --- to them "NEVER IS THIS TO BE SPOKEN BY YOU"; for, it will not be beneficial to them. There is not a trace of prejudice in this stanza. It is equivalent to saying "please do not sow seeds upon rocks," for, the sower will never be able to reap, as nothing can grow on rocks.

THOSE WHO HAVE NO DEVOTION --- That is, those who do not have the capacity to identify themselves with the ideal that they want to reach. If one cannot sympathise with an ideal one can much less absorb or assimilate it. An ideal, however well understood intellectually, cannot yield its full benefit unless it is expressed in life. To hug on to the ideal, in a clasp of love, is devotion.

THOSE WHO DO NOT RENDER SERVICE --- We have seen earlier, almost in all chapters, Krishna again and again insisting that selfless activity is not only a means for the Saadhaka, but it is at once also the field where the perfect masters discover their fulfilment. Seekers who are not able to serve others, who are selfish, who have no human qualities, who have never felt a sympathetic love for others --- such persons are merely consumers and not producers of joy for others, and they invariably fail to understand or appreciate or come to live the joys of the Krishna way-of-life.

THOSE WHO CAVIL AT ME --- Those who murmur against Me. If we do not respect and revere our teacher we can never learn from him. The first person singular used in the Geeta is identical with the Self, the Goal, and therefore, it means, "those who are not able to respect philosophy." Forceful conversion may enhance the numerical strength of a faith, but self-development and inner unfoldment cannot come that way. Religion should not be forced upon anyone. One who has mentally rejected a philosophy can never, even when one has understood it, live up to it. Therefore, those who are entertaining a secret disrespect for a philosophy should NOT BE FORCED to study it.

Stanzas like this in a Shastra are meant as instructions for the students on how to attune themselves properly so that they can make a profitable study of the Shastra. None should expect an immediate result from his study of the Geeta. Personality readjustments cannot be made overnight. There is no miracle promised in the Geeta.

Indirectly, the stanza also gives some sane instructions by its suggestions. If a student feels that he cannot satisfactorily understand the Geeta, he has only to sharpen his inner nature further by the above subjective processes. Just as we cleanse a mirror to remove the dimness of the reflection, so too, by properly readjusting the mind-intellect-equipment, its sensitivity to absorb the Geeta-philosophy can be increased.

NOW THE LORD PROCEEDS TO STATE WHAT BENEFITS WILL ACCRUE TO HIM WHO HANDS DOWN HIS KNOWLEDGE TO OTHERS IN SOCIETY:

The stanza under review and the following one are both glorifications of a teacher who can give the correct interpretation of the Geeta and make the listener follow the Krishna way-of-life. "Fight the evil down, whether it be within or without" is the cardinal principle that Krishna advocates to Prince Arjuna. In order to impart such a culture, it is not enough that the teacher be a mere scholar, but he must have the Krishna-ability. Hence the glorification. The Lord's Song has a special appeal to those who have the mysterious spiritual thirst to live a fuller and more dynamic life. Hence it is said: "This deeply profound philosophy" (Paramam Guhyam) must be imparted to "My devotees" (Mad-bhakteshu). Devotion to the Lord (Bhakti) means the capacity to identify with the ideal, and therefore, the philosophy of the ideal way-of-life can profitably be imparted only to those persons who have a capacity to identify themselves with the ideal and thereafter live up to it.

It is not sufficient that the student alone has this capacity to identify himself with the higher ideal, but the teacher also must have (Bhakti) "perfect attunement" with the Supreme Krishna-Reality. Such an individual, who is himself rooted in his attunement, and who tries to impart this knowledge to others and thereby constantly occupies himself in reflections upon the philosophical ideals of the Geeta --- "shall certainly (Asamshayah) come to Me alone."

An educated man should, in his gratitude, feel much indebted to the Muse-of-Wisdom. In fact, this indebtedness is actually called, in our tradition, Rishi-indebtedness (Rishi-Rinam), to absolve ourselves from which, we are asked to study their works and preach their ideas everyday.

Philosophy is the basis of every culture. The Hindu culture can revive and assert its glory only when it is nurtured and nourished by the philosophy of India which is contained in the Upanishads. The fathers of our culture, the great Rishis, knowing this secret, urged the students of the Scriptures not to keep this knowledge to themselves, but to impart it freely to others. In this way alone the culture can be successfully brought into the dim-lit chambers of people's lives.

If a student, who has understood even a wee bit of our cultural tradition, does not convey it to others, it means that there is no mobility of intelligence or fluidity of inspiration in him. He who is thus capable of conveying the truths of the Geeta to others is complimented here with the promise of the highest reward: "HE SHALL DOUBTLESS COME TO ME."

NOT ONLY THIS, BUT THE LORD EXPRESSES THAT HE LOVES SUCH A TEACHER MUCH MORE THAN ANYBODY ELSE:

Krishna again takes up, in this stanza, the glorification of the teacher who teaches the Geeta-knowledge. Herein, Krishna explains how such a man can reach Him easily, as declared in the previous verse. The Geetaacharya emphasises that such an individual is "DEAREST TO MY HEART, AS I FIND NONE EQUAL TO HIM IN THE WORLD." Not only is there none to compare with him amongst the present generation, but there SHALL never be (Bhavita-Na-Cha) anyone, even in future times, so dear to Him, the Lord says, as such an individual who spends his time in spreading the knowledge of what little he has understood from the Geeta.

Earlier, in the Geeta, a great psychological truth has been hinted at, which is often repeated throughout the entire length of the Divine Song, and this cardinal secret is that he who can bring his entire mind to the contemplation of the Divine, to the total exclusion of all dissimilar thought-currents, will come to experience the Infinite Divine. A student of the Geeta who is spending his time in serious studies and in deep reflection upon them, and in preaching what he has understood, comes to revere the knowledge and thus reach an identification with an inner peace that is the essence of truth. Therefore, Krishna says: "THERE CAN NEVER BE ANY OTHER MAN MORE DEAR TO ME THAN SUCH A PREACHER; FOR, HE IS DOING THE GREATEST SERVICE TO ME BY EARNESTLY AND DEVOTEDLY TRYING TO CONVEY THE IMMORTAL PRINCIPLES EXPOUNDED IN THE GEETA."

It is not necessary in this context, that we must first ourselves become masters of the entire Geeta-Knowledge. Whatever one has understood one must immediately, with an anxious love, give out to those who are completely ignorant. Also, one must sincerely and honestly try to live the principles in one's own life --- "SUCH A MAN IS DEAREST TO ME."

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

The Final Takeaway: Surrender to the Lord

Bg 18.64

sarva-guhyatamaṁ bhūyaḥ śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ
iṣṭo ’si me dṛḍham iti tato vakṣyāmi te hitam

Bg 18.65

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te pratijāne priyo ’si me

Bg 18.66

sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ


Translation

64. Hear again My supreme word, most secret of all; because you are dearly beloved of Me, therefore, I will tell you what is good (for you).

65. Fix your mind upon Me; be devoted to Me; sacrifice for Me; bow down to Me; you shall come, surely then, to Me alone; truly do I promise to you, (for) you are dear to Me.

66. Abandoning all DHARMAS, (of the body, mind, and intellect), take refuge in Me alone; I will liberate thee from all sins; grieve not.

Commentary

When the Lord has concluded His entire discourse with the words, "THE WISDOM HAS BEEN DECLARED BY ME; NOW DO AS YOU PLEASE," Arjuna, who has been all along devotedly and attentively listening to the expounded philosophy, seems to register an expression of confusion on his face. Arjuna wants to get some more instructions. The Pandava Prince, perhaps, feels that he has not fully assimilated the deep and intimate philosophy of life as expounded by the Lord. Therefore, Krishna continues, "AGAIN I WILL REPEAT THE PROFOUNDEST 'WISDOM'; PLEASE, ARJUNA, LISTEN ONCE AGAIN TO THIS SUPREME 'WISDOM'."

The motive force behind every teacher coming out into the world to preach, to explain and to expound, is his abundant love for mankind. Krishna repeats here the salient factors of his philosophical goal and the means of realising it, to Arjuna, "BECAUSE YOU ARE DEARLY BELOVED OF ME," meaning "YOU ARE MY FAST FRIEND." For this reason, Krishna tries to recapitulate his scheme of right living and noble endeavour in brief.

Arjuna is by temperament a soldier; and a soldier's intellect has no patience with a dialectical discourse. What he can best appreciate is only a cut-and-dried order shouted at him, and he has been trained by his vocation always to follow it implicitly. Arjuna is expecting Krishna to recast the whole philosophy into a precise, definite, decisive commandment. Understanding this silent demand of the soldier's heart, Krishna promises here that He shall now declare the truth which is "the most secret of all" (Sarva-guhya-tamam).

WHAT IS IT?


Four conditions are laid down for a successful seeker; and to those who have accomplished them all in themselves, an assurance of realisation, "YOU SHALL REACH ME," is given here. When a philosophy is summarised and enumerated in a few points, it has a deceptive look of utter simplicity, and a student is apt to take it lightly, or ignore it IN TOTO. In order to avoid such a mistake, the teacher invariably endorses his statement that it is indeed all Truth: I PROMISE YOU TRULY."

To add a punch to this personal endorsement, Krishna guarantees the motive behind His discourses: "YOU ARE DEAR TO ME." Love is the correct motive force behind all spiritual teachings. Unless a teacher has infinite love for the taught there is no inspired joy in teaching; a professional teacher is, at best, only a wage earner. He can neither inspire the student nor, while teaching, come to experience within himself the joyous ecstasy of satisfaction and fulfilment, which are the true rewards of teaching.

A substantial part of the philosophy and the "path" declared herein have already been taught in an earlier chapter (IX-34). And the same thing is repeated here with the endorsement that what He is declaring is no pleasant compromise but the total unadulterated truth.

WITH THE MIND FIXED ON ME --- Meaning "ever remembering Me, ever devotedly identifying with Me" through the process of dedicating all your activities unto Me, in an attitude of reverence unto the All-pervading Life, if you work in the service of the world, the promise is that you will reach the Supreme Goal.

In all other religions the Goal is other than the Prophet; only in the Geeta the Supreme Himself is advising the seeker, and therefore He has to declare: "YOU WILL REACH ME."

Looking up to Vaasudeva alone as your aim, means and end, "you shall reach Me." Knowing that the Lord's declarations are true, and being convinced that liberation is a necessary result of devotion to the Lord, one should look up to the Lord as the highest and the sole refuge.

The maladjusted "ego" in us has, by its own false concepts and imaginations, spooled us all up into cocoons of confusion and has tied us down with our own self-created shackles. Now, it is up to us to snap these cords that bind us and gain freedom from them all. The All-perfect Supreme has been as though shackled by our mind and intellect, and now the same mind and intellect must be utilised to unwind the binding cords. If we lock ourselves up in a room, it is left to us only to unlock its doors and walk out into freedom. Vaasanaas are created by our ego-centric activities (Sa-kaama-Karma) and by self-less work (Nish-kaama-Karma) alone can these vaasanaas be ended. Therefore, Krishna advises us: "Act on with mind fixed on Me. Devotedly work for Me. Dedicate all your activities as a sacrifice, as an offering unto Me."

An attitude of reverence to the Supreme is necessary in order to re-incorporate into the texture of our own life, the qualities of the Supreme. Like water, knowledge also flows only from a higher to a lower level. Therefore, our minds must be in an attitude of surrender to Him in utter reverence and devotion.

When you work in the world with such an attitude, Krishna says, "YOU SHALL REACH THE SUPREME."

ACCORDING TO SHANKARA, "HAVING TAUGHT, IN CONCLUSION, THAT THE SUPREME SECRET OF KARMA YOGA IS IN REGARDING THE LORD AS THE SOLE REFUGE, KRISHNA NOW PROCEEDS TO SPEAK OF THE INFINITE KNOWLEDGE, THE FRUIT OF KARMA YOGA, AS TAUGHT IN THE ESSENTIAL PORTIONS OF ALL THE UPANISHADS":

This is the noblest of all the stanzas in the Divine Song and this is yet the most controversial. Translators, reviewers, critics and commentators have invested all their originality in commenting upon this stanza, and various philosophers, each maintaining his own point of view, has ploughed the words to plant his ideas into the ample bosom of this great verse of brilliant import. To Sri Ramanuja, this is the final verse (Charama-Shloka) of the whole Geeta.

Most often used, and yet in no two places having the same shade of suggestion, the term, 'Dharma' has become the very heart of the Hindu culture. This explains why the religion of India was called by the people who lived in the land and enjoyed its spiritual wealth as the 'Sanatana Dharma.'

Dharma, as used in our scriptures is, to put it directly and precisely, "THE LAW OF BEING." That because of which a THING continues to be the THING itself, without which the THING cannot continue to be that THING, is the Dharma of the THING. Heat, because of which fire maintains itself as fire, without which fire can no more be fire, is the Dharma of fire. Heat is the Dharma of fire; cold fire we have yet to come across! Sweetness is the Dharma of sugar; sour sugar is a myth!

Every object in the world has two types of properties: (a) the essential, and (b) the non-essential. A substance can remain itself, intact, when its "non-essential" qualities are absent, but it cannot remain ever for a split moment without its "essential" property. The colour of the flame, the length and width of the tongues of flame, are all the "non-essential" properties of fire, but the essential property of it is heat. This essential property of a substance is called its Dharma.

Then what exactly is the Dharma of man? The colour of the skin, the innumerable endless varieties of emotions and thoughts --- the nature, the conditions and the capacities of the body, mind and intellect --- are the "non-essential" factors in the human personality, as against the Touch of Life, the Divine Consciousness, expressed through them all. Without the Atman man cannot exist; it is TRUTH which is the basis of existence. Therefore, the "essential Dharma" of man is the Divine Spark of Existence, the Infinite Lord.

With this understanding of the term Dharma, we shall appreciate its difference from mere ethical and moral rules of conduct, all duties in life, all duties towards relations, friends, community, nation and the world, all our obligations to our environment, all our affections, reverence, charity, and sense of goodwill --- all that have been considered as our Dharma in our books. In and through such actions, physical, mental and intellectual, a man will bring forth the expression of his true Dharma --- his Divine Status as the All-pervading Self. To live truly as the Atman, and to express Its Infinite Perfection through all our actions and in all our contacts with the outer world is to rediscover our Dharma.

There are, no doubt, a few other stanzas in the Geeta wherein the Lord has almost directly commanded us to live a certain way-of-life, and has promised that if we obey His instructions, He will directly take the responsibility of guiding us towards HIS OWN BEING. But nowhere has the Lord so directly and openly expressed His divine willingness to undertake the service of His devotee as in this stanza.

He wants the meditator to accomplish three distinct adjustments in his inner personality. They are: (1) Renounce all Dharmas through meditation; (2) surrender to My refuge alone; and while in the state of meditation, (3) stop all worries. And as a reward Lord Krishna promises: "I SHALL RELEASE YOU FROM ALL SINS." This is a promise given to all mankind. The Geeta is a universal scripture; it is the Bible of Man, the Koran of Humanity, the dynamic scripture of the Hindus.

ABANDONING ALL DHARMA (Sarva-Dharman Parityajya) --- As we have said above, Dharma is "the law of being," and we have already noted that nothing can continue its existence when once it is divorced from its Dharma. And yet, Krishna says, "COME TO MY REFUGE, AFTER RENOUNCING ALL DHARMAS." Does it then mean that our definition of Dharma is wrong? Or is there a contradiction in this stanza? Let us see.

As a mortal, finite ego, the seeker is living, due to his identification with them, the Dharmas of his body, mind and intellect, and exists in life as a mere perceiver, feeler, and thinker. The perceiver-feeler-thinker personality in us is the "individuality" which expresses itself as the "ego." These are not our 'essential' Dharmas. And since these are the 'non-essentials,' "RENOUNCING ALL DHARMAS" means "ENDING THE EGO."

"To renounce" therefore means "not to allow ourselves to fall again and again into this state of identification with the outer envelopments of matter around us." Extrovert tendencies of the mind are to be renounced. "Develop introspection diligently" is the deep suggestion in the phrase "RENOUNCING ALL DHARMAS."

COME TO ME ALONE FOR SHELTER (Mam-ekam Sharanam Vraja) --- Self-withdrawal from our extrovert nature will be impossible unless the mind is given a positive method of developing its introvert attention. By single-pointed, steady contemplation upon Me, the Self, which is the One-without-a-second, we can successfully accomplish our total withdrawal from the misinterpreting equipments of the body, mind and intellect.

Philosophers in India were never satisfied with a negative approach in their instructions; there are more DO's than DONT'S with them. This practical nature of our philosophy, which is native to our traditions, is amply illustrated in this stanza when Lord Krishna commands His devotees to come to His shelter whereby they can accomplish the renunciation of all their false identifications.

BE NOT GRIEVED (Maa shuchah) --- When both the above conditions are accomplished, the seeker reaches a state of growing tranquillity in meditation. But it will all be a waste if this subjective peace, created after so much labour, were not to form a steady and firm platform for his personality to spring forth from, into the realms of the Divine Consciousness. The spring-board must stay under our feet, supply the required propulsion for our inward dive. But unfortunately, the very anxiety to reach the Infinite weakens the platform. Like a dream-bridge, it disappears at the withering touch of the anxieties in the meditator. During meditation, when the mind has been persuaded away from all its restless preoccupations with the outer vehicles, and brought, again and again, to contemplate upon the Self, the Infinite, Lord Krishna wants the seeker to renounce all his "ANXIETIES TO REALISE." Even a desire to realise is a disturbing thought that can obstruct the final achievement.

I SHALL RELEASE YOU FROM ALL SINS --- That which brings about agitations in the bosom and thereby causes dissipation of the energies is called "sin." The actions themselves can cause subtle exhaustions of the human power, as no action can be undertaken without bringing our mind and intellect into it. In short, the mind and intellect will always have to come and control every action. Actions thus leave their "foot prints," as it were, upon the mental stuff, and these marks which channelise the thought-flow and shape the psychological personality, when our mind has gone through its experiences, are called vasanas.

Good vasanas bring forth a steady stream of good thoughts as efficiently as bad vasanas erupt bad thoughts. As long as thoughts are flowing, the mind survives --- whether good or bad. To erase all vasanas completely is to stop all thoughts i. e. the total cessation of thought-flow viz. "mind." Transcending the mind-intellect-equipment is to reach the plane of Pure Consciousness, the Krishna-Reality.

As a seeker renounces more and more of his identifications with his outer envelopments through a process of steady contemplation and meditation upon the Lord of his heart, he grows in his vision. In the newly awakened sensitive consciousness, he becomes more and more poignantly aware of the number of vasanas he has to exhaust. "BE NOT GRIEVED," assures the Lord, for, "I SHALL RELEASE YOU FROM ALL SINS" --- the disturbing, thought-gurgling, action-prompting, desire-breeding, agitation-brewing vasanas, the "sins."

The stanza is important inasmuch as it is one of the most powerfully worded verses in the Geeta wherein the Lord, the Infinite, personally undertakes to do something helpful for the seeker in case the spiritual hero in him is ready to offer his ardent co-operation and put forth his best efforts. All through the days of seeking, a Saadhaka can assure himself steady progress in spirituality only when he is able to keep within himself a salubrious mental climate of warm optimism. To despair and to weep, to feel dejected and disappointed, is to invite restlessness of the mind, and naturally, therefore, spiritual unfoldment is never in the offing. The stanza, in its deep imports and wafting suggestions, is indeed a peroration in itself of the entire philosophical poem.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

The last mile - Part 3

Bg 18.61

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

Bg 18.62

tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha sarva-bhāvena bhārata
tat-prasādāt parāṁ śāntiṁ sthānaṁ prāpsyasi śāśvatam

Bg 18.63

iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ guhyād guhya-taraṁ mayā
vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa yathecchasi tathā kuru

Translation

61. The Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, causing all beings, by His illusive power, to revolve, as if mounted on a machine.

62. Fly unto Him for refuge with all your being, O Bharata; by His grace you shall obtain Supreme Peace (and) the Eternal Abode.

63. Thus, the "Wisdom" which is a greater secret than all secrets, has been declared to you by Me; having reflected upon it fully, you now act as you choose.

Commentary

The advice given by the Lord is clear and beyond all shades of doubt. "Remember the Lord," says the Geetaacharaya, "as the One who organises, controls and directs all things in the world and without Whose command nothing ever happens. In His 'presence' alone everything can happen --- therefore remember Him as Ishwara." The steam functioning in the cylinder of the engine is the "Lord" of the engine, and without it the piston can never move. It is the steam which provides the locomotion and renders the train dynamic.

Do not remember the Lord as merely a personified Power, as Shiva in Kailasha, as Vishnu in Vaikuntha, as the Father in Heaven etc., but recognise Him as one who dwells in the heart of EVERY CREATURE. Just as the address of a person is given, in order that the seeker of that person may locate the individual in a busy town, so also in order to seek, discover and identify with the Lord, His "Local address" is being provided here by Bhagawan Krishna!

When we say that "THE LORD DWELLS IN THE HEART OF ALL LIVING BEINGS," we do not mean the physical heart. In philosophy the use of the word "heart" is more figurative than literal.

RESIDING THUS IN THE HEART --- meaning, in the mind of one who has cultivated the divine qualities such as love, kindness, patience, cheer, affection, tenderness, forgiveness, charity etc. The Lord lends His Power to all living creatures to act on. He energizes everyone. Everything revolves around Him --- like the unseen hand that manipulates the dolls in the marionette-play. The puppets have no existence, no vitality, no emotions of their own; they are only the expressions of the will and intention of the unseen hand behind them.

It is not the matter in us that moves or becomes conscious of the world of transactions; or else the cucumber and the pumpkin, the corn and the tomato of which our bodies are made, will also have locomotion or Consciousness. When the same vegetables are consumed as food and are digested and assimilated to become part of our physical body, the matter, in contact with the Life-Principle in us becomes vibrant and dynamic, capable of perceiving, feeling and thinking. The Spark-of-Life presiding over the body, the Pure Eternal Consciousness, is that which, as it were, vitalises inert matter. Pure Consciousness in itself does not act; but in Its Presence the matter envelopments get vitalised, and then they SEEM to act.

The Atman, conditioned by the body, mind and intellect, expresses dynamism and action, and creates what we recognise as the manifested individuality. "The Supreme functioning through the total bodies as the cause of all action" is called Ishwara. Life functioning in each one of us is the master, the controller, the director and the Lord of our individual activities.

The essential Life in all of us is one and the same; therefore, the Total Life functions through and manifests as the entire universe, energising all existing equipments. Thus expressing through all activities, is the Lord of the Universe, Ishwara. With this understanding, if you read the stanza again, you will comprehend the metaphor employed herein.

IF THERE BE THUS A LORD WITHIN, MEANING A POWER THAT RULES OVER AND GUIDES ALL MY ACTIVITIES, WHAT ARE MY RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES TOWARDS HIM?

Such an elaborate description has been given of the Spiritual Presence which vitalises the world-of-matter around man, only to bring about ultimately an evolutionary self-development in the student. The very core of this Geeta-philosophy is the theme that is indicated in the opening stanza of the 'Ishaavasya Upanishad.' "The Infinite Truth pervades everything in the world, and therefore, renouncing all the multiplicity, enjoy the Infinitude, and covet not anybody's wealth."

Recognition of the body through our abject identifications with it, creates a false sense of individuality, and it is this "ego" that suffers and sighs.

The one commandment that has been repeated all through the Divine Song with great insistence is: "Renounce the ego and act." The ego is the cause for all our sense of imperfections and sorrows. To the extent we liquidate this sense of separateness and individuality, to that extent we climb into an experience of greater perfection and joy within ourselves.

Krishna has been advising surrender of the "ego" unto the Lord by developing a devoted attitude of dedication. Arjuna, like a true intelligent sceptic, asks: "To which Lord should I renounce all my action? --- and dedicate all my activities at which altar? Krishna has defined the Infinite Lord in the previous verse, and now, here He advises Arjuna to surrender his "ego" unto HIM. "FLY UNTO HIM FOR REFUGE WITH ALL YOUR WILL."

Ours is an age of scepticism. The Arjuna of the Geeta is rather like a typical representative of our own age in this respect. A sceptic is one who questions the existing beliefs; he wants to be intellectually convinced of the logical grounds upon which the existing beliefs stand.

Earlier, Krishna has explained to Arjuna what is indicated by the term Ishwara. Now the call of the Geeta to Arjuna is to surrender himself unto the Lord. The Geeta requires all of us to live and act with our hearts resting in self-dedicated surrender to the Consciousness, the harmonious oneness of Life that pulsates everywhere through all equipments. In short, we are asked to identify ourselves with the Spirit rather than the vehicles of Its expression. He who has thus surrendered totally (Sarva-bhaavena) gains an intellect fully awakened, and thereafter, external circumstances cannot toss and crush his individuality.

The body and mind of such an individual who has learnt ever to keep the refreshing memory of the present cannot make any foolish demands. And when one brings such a brilliant intellect into the affairs of life, all his problems wither away and carpet his path to strive progressively ahead.

To the extent we identify ourselves with Him, to that extent His light and power become ours, and they are called "His Grace" (Prasaada). Ere long, as a result of this "grace" accumulated within, through the integration of the personality and constant surrender of the ego, the individual shall obtain "THE SUPREME PEACE, THE ETERNAL RESTING PLACE."

WITH ALL ONE'S BEING (Sarva-bhaavena) --- This surrender unto the Lord should not be a temporary self-deception. We must grow into a consciousness of the Presence of the Divine in all the planes of our existence. To illustrate such a total devotion, we have the examples of Radha, Hanuman, Prahlada, and others. Without bringing all the levels of our being, and all the facets of our personality, into our love for Him, we cannot drown our finite ego-sense into the joyous lap of the Infinite Lord. Thus, a true devotee must re-orientate his being and must surrender himself as a willing vehicle for His expression. Then and then alone, all the delusions end, and the mortal gains divine experience, and comes to live fully the State of Immortality of the Godhood.

IN CONCLUSION KRISHNA ADDS:

This can be considered as THE CLOSING VERSE of the Geeta discourses on the battle-field of Kurukshetra. The word "thus" (Iti) is generally used in Sanskrit to indicate what we mean nowadays, by the phrase "quotation closes." The Lord has ended His discourses here.

A GREATER SECRET THAN ALL SECRETS (Guhyaat-Guhyataram) --- A secret can be so called only as long as it is not divulged. The moment we come to know of a thing it is no longer a secret at all. The spiritual truth and the right way-of-living as discussed in the Geeta are termed as "THE SECRET OF ALL SECRETS" in the sense that it is not easy for one to know the Geeta way of dynamic life and the Geeta vision-of-Truth, unless one is initiated into them. Even a subtle intellect, very efficient in knowing the material world, both in its arrangement of things and their mutual interaction, must necessarily fail to feel the Presence of this Subtle, Eternal and Infinite Self.

Guhyam --- This is a term that has gone into much misuse and abuse in India in our recent past. The term was misconstrued to mean that the spiritual knowledge, which is the core of our culture, is a great secret to be carefully preserved and jealously guarded by the privileged few against anybody else coming to learn it. This orthodox view has no sanction in the scriptures if we read them with the same large-heartedness of the Rishis who gave them to us. No doubt, there are persons who have not the intellectual vision, nor the mental steadiness, nor the physical discipline to understand correctly this great Truth in all its subtle implications, and therefore, this is kept away from them lest they should come to harm themselves by falsely living a misunderstood philosophy.

REFLECT OVER IT ALL --- Any amount of listening cannot make one gain in "wisdom." The knowledge gained through reading or listening must be assimilated and brought within the warp and the woof of our understanding; then alone can knowledge become wisdom. Therefore, Arjuna is asked not to tamely accept Krishna's Song of Life as truth, but he has been asked to independently think over all that the Lord has declared. To put the ideas between the mind and the intellect and to chew them properly is "reflection." Each one will have to get his own individual confirmation from his own bosom.

HEREAFTER ACT AS YOU PLEASE --- Krishna ultimately leaves the decision to act, the will to live the higher life, to Arjuna's own choice. Each one must reach the Lord by his own free choice. There is no compulsion; for, spontaneity is an invaluable requisite for all new births. Having placed before him all the facts and figures of life, principles and methods of living, Krishna rightly invites Arjuna to make his own independent decision after considering all these points. Spiritual teachers should never compel. And in India there has never been any form of indoctrination.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

The last mile - Part 2

Bg 18.58

mac-cittaḥ sarva-durgāṇi mat-prasādāt tariṣyasi
atha cet tvam ahaṅkārān na śroṣyasi vinaṅkṣyasi

Bg 18.59

yad ahaṅkāram āśritya na yotsya iti manyase
mithyaiṣa vyavasāyas te prakṛtis tvāṁ niyokṣyati

Bg 18.60

svabhāva-jena kaunteya nibaddhaḥ svena karmaṇā
kartuṁ necchasi yan mohāt kariṣyasy avaśo ’pi tat

Translation

58. Fixing your mind upon Me, you shall, by My grace, overcome all obstacles, but if, from egoism, you will not hear Me, you shall perish.

59. Filled with egoism, if you think, "I will not fight, " vain is this, your resolve; (for) nature will compel you.

60. O son of Kunti, bound by your own KARMA (action) born of your own nature, that which, through delusion you wish not to do, even that you shall do, helplessly.

Commentary

Lord Krishna, in essence, says: "By your thoughts, renounce all your activities in Me." All activities in the world are only expressions of the Divine Consciousness flashing Its brilliance through the body. In all activities be conscious of the Lord, without Whom no action is ever possible. Keep Him as your Goal. Make your intellect constantly aware of this "Lord of all actions." Gradually, the mind and the body will begin to work under the command of such an inspired intellect.

How will this constant remembrance of the Lord help? This is now being answered. Krishna says: "HE, WHO HAS COMPLETELY FIXED ALL HIS THOUGHTS UPON ME, WILL CROSS OVER ALL DIFFICULTIES BY MY GRACE." Most of our obstacles in life are imaginary --- created by false fears and deceitful anxieties of our own confused mind. The "grace" referred to here is "the result accrued in our mind when it is properly tuned up to and peacefully settled in contemplation upon the Infinite." It does not mean any special consideration shown by the all-loving Lord to some rare persons of His own choice. The Grace of the all-pervading is present everywhere because Grace is His form. Just as the ever-present sunlight on a bright day cannot illumine my room as long as the windows are closed, so too, the harmony and joy of life of the Infinite cannot penetrate into our life, as long as the windows of discrimination in us are tightly shut. To the extent the windows of my room are opened, to that extent the room is flooded by the sunlight; to the extent a seeker pursues his saadhanaa and brings about the above-mentioned adjustments, to that extent the Grace of the Self shall flood his within.

In the second line of the verse, the Lord warns against all those who, in their utter ignorance, disobey this Law of Life. Natural laws are irrevocable; they have neither eyes, nor ears. They just continue in their own rhythm and that man is happy who discovers the law and obeys it implicitly.

BUT IF, FROM EGOISM, YOU WILL NOT HEAR ME, YOU SHALL PERISH --- This is not a threat hurled down upon mankind by a tyrannical power, to frighten the human beings into obedience. This is not comparable with the threat of hell held out by other religions. This is a mere statement of fact; even if Newton himself were to jump from the third floor balcony of his house, the gravitational force would indeed, act upon him also! There is an inevitability in nature's laws. Man is free to choose freedom or bondage. The path of freedom is described above, and in this open and sincere statement, the Lord is only showing great anxiety, not to mince matters, but to be callously frank in His expressions.

Guidance to this true "way-of-life" always comes to us from the depth of our nature, expressed in the language of "the soft, small voice of the within." But man's ego and ego-centric desires force him to disobey the ringing voice of the Lord and such a one pursues a life of base vulgarity, seeking sense-gratification and ultimately bringing himself down to be punished by his own uncontrolled emotions and unchastened ideas. Hence the warning: "YOU SHALL PERISH."

TO WEAVE THE IDEA INTO THE VERY WARP AND WOOF OF ARJUNA'S LIFE, THE LORD SAYS:


General statements of truth are too volatile to be retained in one's understanding permanently. But the general statements of life's principles, when woven into the texture of one's own experiences, remain as one's own earned "knowledge," and they become permanent WISDOM. Therefore, Krishna is trying to bring the philosophical contents of his discourse into the very substance of Arjuna's own immediate problem.

If, due to a sense of self-importance, the self-conceited Arjuna were to think "I WILL NOT FIGHT," he shall be thinking so in vain! The temperament of Arjuna must seek its expression, and being a Kshatriya of "passionate" nature, his Rajoguna will assert itself; "NATURE WILL COMPEL YOU." One who has eaten salt must feel terribly thirsty, ere long. The false arguments raised by Arjuna for not fighting the battle are all compromises made by his ego with the situation which he is compelled to face in the crush of events around him.

Even if he were to follow his temporary attitude of escapism and desist from fighting, it is a law of nature that his mental temperament would assert itself at a later period, when, alas! he may not have the field to express himself in and exhaust his vasanas.

ALSO BECAUSE OF THE FOLLOWING REASON, "YOU MUST FIGHT."

Continuing, the Lord, in effect, says: "I am asking you to fight, not because I have no personal sympathies for you, but because that is the only course left for you. You have no other choice. Though you now insist that you "WILL NOT FIGHT," it is merely an illusion. You will have to fight, because, your nature will assert itself."

The actions, we do, are propelled by our own vaasanaas and they shackle our personality. Arjuna is essentially of the Rajoguna type, and therefore, he must fight. The Pandava Prince cannot, all of a sudden, pose to have the beauties of the Sattwic nature of heart and retire to a solitary place to live a serene life of steady contemplation and come to experience the consequent self-unfoldment.

Because of wrong thinking and miscalculations, Arjuna feels that he does not like war, and therefore, he is not ready to face it. But in spite of his determination, he will be compelled to fight by his own nature, ordered by the existing vasanas in him. This is the irrevocable law of life.

He who has no control over his mind becomes a victim of circumstances. He gets thrown up and down by the whim and fancy of things around him. But he who gains inner mastery over the mind and stands firmly rooted and unshaken by the circumstances is the one who will revel (Rati) in the Pure Light (Bhaa) of wisdom; and the country that recognises this culture has acquired its immortal name 'Bhaarata.'

In the previous two or three stanzas, we are told by Krishna, "REMEMBER ME CONSTANTLY." What does this mean? How should we remember? Does it mean meditating upon the Lord? What should be our relationship with Him? Are we to remember Him as a historical event, or remember Him as intimately connected with us as a 'Presence' expressing Itself at all times in and through us?

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

The last mile- Part 1

Bg 18.56

sarva-karmāṇy api sadā kurvāṇo mad-vyapāśrayaḥ
mat-prasādād avāpnoti śāśvataṁ padam avyayam

Bg 18.57

cetasā sarva-karmāṇi mayi sannyasya mat-paraḥ
buddhi-yogam upāśritya mac-cittaḥ satataṁ bhava

Translation

56. Doing all actions, always taking refuge in Me, by My grace he obtains the Eternal, Indestructible State or Abode.

57. Mentally renouncing all actions in Me, having Me as the Highest Goal, resorting to the YOGA -of-discrimination, ever fix your mind in Me.

Commentary

The philosophy of the Geeta is extremely dynamic. The Song of the Lord is an innocent-looking magazine of power which can be detonated by correct understanding. The warmth of living makes it explode, blasting the crust of ignorance that has grown around the noble personality and its divine possibilities in the student.

Devotion to the Lord (Bhakti), in the Geeta, is not a mere passive surrender unto the ideal, nor a mere physical ritualism. Lord Krishna insists, not only upon our identification with the Higher through an intelligent process of detachment, from both the senses, of "AGENCY" and "ENJOYMENT," but also upon the understanding and the inner experience positively brought out in all our contacts with the outer world, in all our relationships.

Religion, to Lord Krishna, is not fulfilled by a mere withdrawal from the outer world of sense objects, but in a definite come-back into the world, bringing into it the fragrance of peace and joy of the yonder, to brighten and beautify the drab, inert objects that constitute the world. Therefore, after describing one who can be considered as the higher devotee, in this stanza, Krishna now adds another condition to be fulfilled by all seekers.

The Geetaacharya never wants to receive any devotee at His gate, nor will He give an audience to anyone, unless the seeker caries the passport of self-less service to society --- "PERFORMING CONTINUOUSLY ALL ACTIONS, ALWAYS TAKING REFUGE IN ME."

In order to serve without the "sense-of-agency," the practical method is "TAKE REFUGE IN ME." Such a seeker, who is constantly working in fulfilling his obligatory duties to society and towards himself has "My grace" (Mat prasaada).

The Supreme has no existence apart from His Grace; He is His Grace, His Grace is He. The Grace of the Self, therefore, means more and more the play of divine Consciousness in and through the personality layers in the individual. In an individual, to the extent his mind and intellect are available, in their discipline to be ruled over by spiritual truth, to that extent he is under the blessing of His Grace.

HE ATTAINS THE ETERNAL IMMUTABLE STATE --- When thus working in the world, without the sense of agency and enjoyment, the existing vasanas become exhausted and the ego gets eliminated. Awakening thus from the delusory projections of the ego, the individual attains the State of Pure Consciousness and comes to live thereafter the Eternal, Immortal State --- THE KRISHNA-STATE OF PERFECTION.

In the preceding three stanzas the "Paths" of Knowledge, Devotion and Action are indicated, and in all of them the same goal of realising the seeker's oneness with the Supreme has been indicated. Integral saadhanaa is the core of the Geeta technique. To synthesize the methods of Work, Devotion and Knowledge is at once the discipline of the body, mind, and intellect. For, all disciplines PURSUED AT THE BODY LEVEL, in order to control the mind and turn it towards the ideal, are called Karma Yoga; all methods of channelising emotions in order to DISCIPLINE THE MIND to contemplate upon the Higher are called Bhakti Yoga and all study and reflection, detachment and meditation, PRACTISED AT THE INTELLECTUAL LEVEL, whereby, again the mind is lifted to the realm of the silent experience of its own Infinitude are called Jnaana Yoga. To practise all the three during our life is to discipline all the three layers in us. Thus, the philosophy of total spiritual transformation of the perceiver, the feeler and the thinker, all at once, is the prime contribution that the Geeta has to make to the timeless tradition of the Hindu culture, as available for us in the Upanishads.

THEREFORE:

RESIGNING MENTALLY ALL DEEDS TO ME --- Both the ego and the ego-centric anxieties for enjoying are to be renounced at the altar of the Lord, and thus to act in the world is the 'path,' through which a man of action reaches the greater cultural climes. This idea of surrender has been discussed earlier, very exhaustively. This spirit of surrender can come only when the student has infinite courage to maintain a steady aspiration for "HAVING ME AS THE HIGHEST GOAL." The mind needs a positive hold upon something, before it can be persuaded to leave its present props.

RESORTING TO BUDDHI YOGA --- The intellect's main function is discrimination. To discriminate the false from the true, and to fix ourselves on the path of seeking the true, is called Buddhi yoga. Controlling life and regulating its movements through discrimination is Karma Yoga. And thus the term 'Buddhi yoga' is an original coined-word, met with only in the Geeta, to indicate in essence the "Path-of-Selfless-Action." It has been used in the very early portions of the Geeta and there it has been very exhaustively explained.

PLEASE EVER FIX YOUR MIND UPON ME --- One who has fixed Krishna - Tattwa as the goal of his life, one who surrenders himself mentally at all times at this altar, and serves all His creatures, one who ever discriminates and avoids all undivine thoughts and ego-centric self-assertions --- such a one alone can naturally come to fix his thoughts constantly upon the Lord.

It is an eternal law of mental life that "AS WE THINK SO WE BECOME." A devotee who has thus come to live all his activities in dedication to his goal, the Krishna-Consciousness, must necessarily come to live as Krishna, and experience the Eternal, Immutable, State of the Self.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

The path- summarised (Part 2)

Bg 18.53

ahaṅkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ kāmaṁ krodhaṁ parigraham
vimucya nirmamaḥ śānto brahma-bhūyāya kalpate


Bg 18.54

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

Bg 18.55

bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram


Translation

53. Having abandoned egoism, power, arrogance, desire, anger and aggrandisement, and freed from the notion of 'mine, ' and so peaceful --- he is fit to become BRAHMAN.

54. Becoming BRAHMAN, serene in the Self, he neither grieves nor desires; the same to all beings, he obtains a supreme devotion towards Me.

55. By devotion he knows Me in Essence, what and who I am; then, having known Me in My Essence, he forthwith enters into the Supreme.

Commentary

If the preceding verse indicated things that are to be acquired and brought about in the relatively outer surfaces of the meditator's personality, here we have a list of things which are to be renounced from the inner core of the meditator's personality. Here are the enduring values-of-life a meditator must learn to live.

The items enumerated in the stanza are not, in fact, so many different items, but they are all different manifestations of one and the same wrong notion, namely the "I-act-mentality" (Ahamkara). When this "sense-of-agency" develops, ego-centric vanities intensify within our bosom, and they manifest as "power" (Balam) --- the "power" to strive and struggle, sweat and strain, to fulfil passions and desires. A powerful ego will, with each success in the sensuous world, gather to itself more and more "pride," or "arrogance" (Darpam).

To an individual personality, working under the influence of both "power" and "arrogance," "lust and anger" (Kaama and Krodha) are but natural, and thereafter, he becomes a mad machine of restlessness within and of disturbances around, ever anxiously bearing himself down upon the society in order that he may, by means fair or foul, acquire, possess and aggrandise the objects of his fancy, indicated here by the term "aggrandisement" (Parigraha).

The six items listed above are nothing but manifestations of the "sense-of-agency" --- the 'I-act-mentality' (Ahamkaara). Krishna asks the meditator to forsake these and thus to immediately become egoless (Nirmamah) and peaceful (Shaantah). This is not the peace of the grave nor the quiet of the desert; this is the peace that arises out of the fullness of 'wisdom,' out of our absolute satisfaction experienced in the Realm-of-Perfection.

All restlessness is caused by the ego and its onward rush towards finite objects, seeking among the ephemeral, a satisfaction and joy that is permanent and enduring. When this sense-of-agency and endless seeking of sense-gratifications have been renounced, the seeker (saadhaka) experiences a relative quiet within his bosom. He who is tuned thus, through understanding and discipline, can discover in himself the required balance and equipoise to rocket his total personality into the higher climbs of "conscious unfoldment." The stanza does not say that such an individual has reached Perfection, but it definitely says that "HE IS FIT TO BECOME BRAHMAN." The above is but a preliminary preparation for the final realisation.

WHAT THEN IS THE NEXT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT? THE GEETA EXPLAINS:

After liquidating the ego and its manifestations --- enumerated in the preceding stanza as power, pride, lust, passion and sense of possession --- the seeker comes to experience a relatively greater peace within, as he is released from all the confusions generally created by the psychological mal-adjustments and intellectual false evaluations of life. This newly discovered inner tranquillity, no doubt artificially propped up for the time being by severe self-discipline, should be positively reinforced by definite efforts and constant vigilance.

With constant self-effort, relative peace in the mind is to be maintained for longer periods of time and zealously guarded. Joys and sorrows will be constantly reaching our bosom from the outer world; we are helpless before them. For, even when the "sense-of-agency" has been renounced, the other aspect of the ego, "I-enjoy-mentality" (Bhoktritwa-bhaavanaa) will assert itself and poison the mind of the meditator. A worm cut into two pieces becomes two separate, independent living worms ere long. So too, if one aspect of the ego, the "I-do-mentality" is conquered, we must equally attend to the destruction of the other aspect of the ego, the "I-enjoy-mentality;" or else, the surviving part will revive within a very short time and we shall discover a healthier ego, potentially more powerful, dangerously rising out of the seemingly dead individuality.

One who has read well, reflected upon and understood the theme of the Absolute Reality as discussed in the Scriptures, is indicated here by the term "Brahma-Bhootah." This word employed in this verse should not be construed as "one who has become Brahman." It can only mean "one who has convinced oneself of the existence and nature of the Reality as discussed in the Scriptures." Once this Spiritual Truth is understood, the student necessarily becomes less agitated, because, all disturbances enter our life through our identification with the equipments-of-experiences only. To the extent an intellect realises the existence of the diviner aspect in it, and so automatically withdraws its all-out clinging to the matter-realm, to that extent it is not disturbed by the objects of perception, feeling and thought. Thus it discovers a growing tranquillity (Prasannaatmaa) within itself.

A seeker who has gained the "knowledge" of Brahman through STUDY, and make it his own through REFLECTION, gains the tranquillity of composure as a result of his understanding, and therefore experiences a partial liquidation of his ego-sense. Thereby he discovers in himself the courage to stand apart, both from grief and desire. He grieves not (Na Shochati) because he feels no incompleteness in himself, as he used to feel in the earlier days of his arrogant ego. Since there is no sense of imperfection, his intellect no longer spins new and novel plans for satisfactions and temporary gratifications, which are called desires. Naturally, one who grieves not in life desires not (Na Kaankshati) for the possession of anything to make his happiness complete.

A tranquil seeker --- who, in his understanding, comes to desire nothing and has developed an independent source of happiness which is free from the presence of the absence of any external environment --- lives in the world, with a totally new set of values of life, in which, according to him, there is nothing but the constant experience of the Divine presence. Naturally, he develops an equanimity of vision (V-18, 19 and 20).

THIS TYPE OF AN INDIVIDUAL ATTAINS SUPREME DEVOTION UNTO ME --- Earlier, an entire chapter has been devoted to the discussion on devotion (Ch. XII) wherein we found that, according to the Scripture, devotion is measured by our sense of identification with the Higher Ideal. In order to identify with the Infinite Truth, the seeker must have a definite amount of detachment from his usual channels of dissipation, both in the outer world and the realms within.

The previous verse indicated the methods of detachment and it was said that he who has accomplished them in his inner composition is the only one who is capable of striving for and succeeding in a true identification with the play of the Infinite in and through the finite. The expansiveness of vision, the catholicity of love and the release from sense preoccupation --- all these are necessary in order to produce in the seeker, supreme love for the Lord. There is yet another stage in one's pilgrimage to Truth.

WHAT THEN IS THE NEXT STAGE?

BY DEVOTION HE COMES TO KNOW ME --- Devotion, as we have explained, is "love for the Supreme." Love is measured by the degree of identification the lover maintains with the beloved. When an ego-centric individuality, having made all the above adjustments, increasingly seeks and discovers its identity with the Self, it comes to experience the true nature of the Self more and more clearly. Such a seeker comes to understand "WHAT AND WHO I AM."

In the entire Geeta, the first person singular is used by the Lord to indicate the Supreme Goal. It is not Lord Krishna, as an individual person who is indicated by the terms 'I' and 'Me' as used in these discourses. Remember, this is the Lord's own Song, sung to revive His devotees, and the pronouns used here represent the Paramatman. To know the Self means to know both Its nature and identity. These are the topics in all scriptures. But the scriptural study gives us only an intellectual comprehension of Truth and not its Essence (Tattwatah), a spiritual apprehension of Truth as a lived experience.

THEN, HAVING KNOWN ME IN ESSENCE --- When this experience comes through a slow and steady unfoldment of the Light of Consciousness, through the dropping of the veils of 'ignorance'created by our identifications with the body, we come to apprehend, IN TOTO, the Infinite. The individuality or the ego, ends and "HE THEREAFTER ENTERS ME."

The "ENTRY" mentioned here is not like that of a man entering a structure, a house separate from himself. There is no ego to enter into the plane of God-consciousness. The term "ENTRY" is used here exactly in the same fashion as "the dreamer ENTERS the waking state." The dreamer cannot retain his own individuality when he ENTERS the waking world, but he himself becomes the "waker." Similarly, when the ego ENTERS God-consciousness, the individuality cannot retain itself as such. The misconception that he is an individual ends and he rediscovers, becomes or awakens to, the Infinite Brahmanhood --- the State of Krishna-Consciousness.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

The path - summarised (Part 1)

Bg 18.50

siddhiṁ prāpto yathā brahma tathāpnoti nibodha me
samāsenaiva kaunteya niṣṭhā jñānasya yā parā

Bg 18.51

buddhyā viśuddhayā yukto dhṛtyātmānaṁ niyamya ca
śabdādīn viṣayāṁs tyaktvā rāga-dveṣau vyudasya ca

Bg 18.52

vivikta-sevī laghv-āśī yata-vāk-kāya-mānasaḥ
dhyāna-yoga-paro nityaṁ vairāgyaṁ samupāśritaḥ


Translation

50. How he, who has attained perfection, reaches BRAHMAN (the Eternal) , that in brief do you learn from Me, O! Kaunteya, that Supreme State-of-Knowledge.

51. Endowed with a pure intellect; controlling the self by firmness; relinquishing sound and other objects; and abandoning attraction and hatred;

52. Dwelling in solitude; eating but little; speech, body and mind subdued; always engaged in meditation and concentration; taking refuge in dispassion;

Commentary

Here we are told how to get detached from the wrong tendencies in life, and how, to that extent, we attain serenity and composure. Detachment from matter-hallucinations itself is the rediscovery of the spiritual beauty. The following few stanzas make a beautiful section of this chapter which refreshingly reminds us of the various descriptions of a Man-of-Perfection that were given earlier, throughout the Lord's Song. When we thus get purified, meaning, when the intellect becomes free from its attachments, and the mind and body come well under the control of the intellect, then alone are we fit for the "Path-of-Meditation," which is the process of accomplishing and fulfilling renunciation of the lower, base, ego-sense.

It is not possible to renounce all attachments completely, unless one experiences the Truth, and thereby becomes the Infinite Self. Our attempt now is to reduce our attachments to the irreducible minimum, leaving but the thinnest film of 'ignorance'veiling the Supreme. Krishna says here, "LEARN THAT FROM ME IN BRIEF, O, son of Kunti, how to remove this last lingering film of 'ignorance'and thereby get permanently established in that Supreme God-consciousness, which is the Self."

THE TECHNIQUE-OF-MEDITATION IS BEING DESCRIBED NOW; THIS AND THE FOLLOWING TWO STANZAS EXPLAIN WHAT SHOULD BE THE CONDITION OF THE EQUIPMENTS OF PERCEPTION, FEELING, AND THINKING AT THE TIME OF PERFECT MEDITATION:


ENDOWED WITH PURE UNDERSTANDING --- An intellect that has grown to remain without vaasanaas. An intellect that has thus purified itself of all its tendencies of joy-hunting is indicated here as pure (Vishuddha) understanding.

CONTROLLING THE MIND AND THE SENSE WITH FORTITUDE --- These two sabotage the harmony and balance in a meditator when he is at his seat of meditation. At that moment the sense-organs receive a rush of stimuli with which they can disturb the music of meditation in the mind; or, often the mind can topple down from its steady concentration, by itself remembering its own experiences of the past. By controlling both these, which were earlier described as Shama and Dama, the seeker comes to tune himself up properly. He becomes invulnerable to all such attacks.

The idea of controlling the mind and sense-organs described in the earlier epithet is clearly elucidated in the second line of the stanza. RENOUNCING SENSE-OBJECTS --- controlling the sense-organs means allowing none of the stimuli such as sound, form, touch, taste or smell to infiltrate through their respective gateways of ears, eyes, skin, tongue and the nose. When thus a complete wall-of-understanding has been built around the mind, protecting it from any onslaught from the outer world, the mind can, of its own accord, either dance in some REMEMBERED joy, or sob in grief at some EXPECTED sorrow --- because of its likes and dislikes, loves and hates. Therefore, these instinctive impulses of the mind are also to be controlled.

To summarise, a meditator is one who has: (1) an intellect purified of all its extrovert desires; (2) a mind, together with the sense-organs, brought well under the control of this intellect, so purified; (3) the sense-organs no more contacting the sense-objects; and (4) a mind that has given up its ideas of likes and dislikes. It is this individual who becomes a successful meditator.

AGAIN:

DWELLING IN SOLITUDE (Vivikta-Sevee) --- A seeker who has developed all the above-mentioned physical, mental and intellectual adjustments, must now seek a sequestered spot of loneliness. This does not mean that he must move out of a town to a jungle. The term indicates only a spot "wherein there is the least disturbance." Even in the midst of a market there are moments when it is deserted and quiet. If the seeker is sincere, he can discover such moments of complete solitude under his own roof.

EATING BUT LITTLE --- Over-indulgence and stuffing oneself with highly nutritive food is fattening the body and thickening the subtlety of one's intellectual activities. Temperance is the law for all spiritual students (VI-17).

CONTROLLING SPEECH, BODY AND MIND --- The mind cannot be subdued unless the body is brought under its command. The body is constituted of the sense-organs of perception and action. The grossest manifestation of the mind is action, and to control action is to discipline the mind. The term SPEECH used here indicates "all sense-organs-of-action and their functions"; and the term BODY represents "the organs-of-perception and all their activities of perceiving their respective objects." Unless these two sets of organs are controlled, the mind cannot be subdued.

In fact, the mind ITSELF, at the body-level, becomes the sense-organs, and the mind projected away from the body is the great universe of sense-objects. When the mind, playing through the body, identifies itself with its own projections --- the objects --- it is called PERCEPTION; and when it comes in contact with the world-of-objects seeking satisfaction and entertainment, it is called ACTION. Disciplining action and regulating perception --- in short, eliminating the ego-centric attitude in all our perceptions, in all our relationships with the world-of-objects, is what is advised here.

EVER ENGAGED IN MEDITATION --- Controlling the actions and perceptions of the mind is not possible as long as the mind is constantly flowing out through the sense-organs towards the sense-objects. Seeking sense-gratifications, the mind is in a constant state of agitation. To quieten such a mind, it is necessary that we must give it some "point-of-contemplation" wherein, as it engages itself more and more, it shall discover consummate happiness and get sufficiently disengaged from everything else. Diverting the mind from the world of sense-objects and maintaining it in a steady flow towards contemplation of the Lord in an utter attitude of identification, is called MEDITATION. To be steadily in a state of such an all-consuming dedication unto a nobler and higher ideal is the method of cooling down the mind's boiling lust for sense-enjoyments.

POSSESSED OF DISPASSION --- Dispassion is Vairaagya. It is not a mere self-denial of any object of enchantment, but it is a state when the mind rebounds upon itself from the objects as a result of its discovery that the objects contain no glow of happiness. The essence of dispassion is not in our running away from the object; from a truly dispassionate man, the objects run away in inexplicable despair.

When the old interests of a person die away and when he is ordered by new intellectual visions, new interests rise up in his mind; then the old world-of-objects around him suddenly retires, yielding place to the new set of things that he has willed around him by his newly developed mind. As long as I was a vicious man, sensuous friends and pleasure-seekers crowded my drawing-room; when I changed my way-of-life and took to serious social work and political activities, the group of idlers went away yielding their places to politicians and social workers. After a time I grew in my mental make-up, and so, in my spiritual interests, even these politicians with their power-politics, and the social workers with their unspeakable jealousies and rivalries retired, yielding their places to men of thought and spiritual benediction. This is a typical example of how, as a mind grows, it leaves its old toys behind and enters totally into a greater field of the nobler gains of life.

To sum up, a true seeker of the Higher Life must seek solitude, live in temperance, subdue his speech, body and mind, and must live in a spirit of dispassion, a true life of aspiration to heave himself towards the ideal.

THESE EFFORTS CAN BUILD UP A TEMPLE OF SUCCESS ONLY WHEN THE INNER PERSONALITY HAS A DEEP FOUNDATION UPON CERTAIN ENDURING VALUES OF LIFE. THESE ARE ENUMERATED IN THE FOLLOWING.....

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta