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.
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
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
