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
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
