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
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
