Bg 3.42
indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ
manasas tu parā buddhir yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ
Bg 3.43
evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā saṁstabhyātmānam ātmanā
jahi śatruṁ mahā-bāho kāma-rūpaṁ durāsadam
Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde karmayogo nāma tṛtīyodhyāyaha
Translation:
42. They say that the senses are superior (to the body) ; superior to the senses is the mind; superior to the mind is the intellect; one who is even superior to the intellect is He, (the Atman ) .
43. Thus knowing Him, who is superior to intellect, and restraining the self by the Self, slay you, O mighty-armed, the enemy in the form of 'desire, ' no doubt hard indeed to conquer.
Commentary Excerpts:
This and the following stanza with which Vyasa concludes the third chapter of his incomparable Geeta, give every seeker a perfect technique by which he can bring about a successful hunting and capture of his inner enemy, "desire."
Although we cannot expect in the Bhagawad Geeta --- especially in one of the very opening chapters --- an exhaustive treatment of the technique of meditation, yet we find that, in these stanzas, the Lord has etched out a complete outline of the "Scheme-for-Self-discovery."
Compared with the objects of the world, we can easily understand that the sense-organs are more sacred and divine. Of the instruments that constitute our physical structure, certainly the sense-organs are subtler than the organs-of-action. Everyone of us can easily experience that our mind controls and orders our sense-organs, and, therefore, we know that the mind is subtler than the Indriyas.
No doubt, the mind has a vast kingdom to roam about in, but, even so, it has its own limitations and fixed frontiers. From knowledge to knowledge we extend the frontiers of our mind and all along this aggressive march of new conquests it is the intellect that first crosses the existing frontiers of the mind, and wins for it the neighbouring kingdoms of "fresh knowledge." In this sense, the intellect has a greater pervasiveness than the mind, and, therefore, it is conceived of as being subtler than the mind. That which lies beyond the intellect is called the Supreme, the Atman.
The Consciousness in man which lights up the very intellectual ideas in him must necessarily be subtler than the intellect itself. In the Upanishads it has been finally declared that there is nothing subtler than the Self, the Atman. The technique of meditation lies in the conscious withdrawal of all our identifications with our body, mind and intellect. All efforts end when we have thus gathered our entire awareness from its delusory pre-occupations and made it live in Itself as Itself --- as Objectless Awareness.
With the final stanza, not only does the chapter conclude, but, the special advice demanded by Arjuna has also been finally given. Through 'knowledge' alone is 'ignorance'ended; through a lived experience of the Self alone can we end our 'ignorance-of-the-Self.' This spiritual 'ignorance,' we have already found, creates 'desires.' The Lord has indicated earlier that 'desire' functions and thrives in the fields of the sense-organs, the mind, and the intellect. Through the processes of meditation, when we withdraw from our false identifications with the objects, the body and the mind, the 'desire'-faculty, that was till now roaming about and functioning in the outer fields, is gathered and established in the intellect.
As long as we maintain in ourselves the limiting adjuncts of the matter-envelopments, so long we cannot realise our divine potentialities, but instead, in our delusion, we will understand ourselves to be nothing more than the little ego --- limited, bound, finite and ever-sobbing. After the re-discovery of our own diviner existence we will be able to live "restraining the self by the Self." In a perfect Buddha's life, his ego functions completely under the control of the diviner in him. No more then can the 'desire'-impulses, if at all they arise in the mind, play their mischiefs and bring about any devastations in his inner life.
It is very interesting to note that the philosophy of the Geeta preaches a constructive re-organisation of life and not the destruction or rejection of life's possibilities. "Desire," being a painful leprous oozing wound, we are lovingly advised about the balm to cure the malady, and to live thereafter, in all efficiency, as a Master of circumstances and a Lord of our own emotions. A seeker who has accomplished this in himself is called a God-man, a Sage, a Prophet!
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 third discourse ends entitled:
THE KARMA YOGA
This chapter is called Karma Yoga. The term Yoga means the act of connecting the lower with the higher, through a technique consisting of one's own self-evolution. Any method by which the lower in us is educated and trained to live a Higher way-of-life --- wherein we gain a more effective control upon both our life without and life within --- is called Yoga.
Here is a method of self-development pointed out to the Arjuna-type of men, who, fully armed and standing on the battle-field of life, facing an array of opposing forces, more powerful, better organised, and well-supplied with equipments, are ready to fight and destroy them. In fact every honest man in life is to a large extent --- be he a fool, be he a saint --- an Arjuna facing his problems with hesitations... wanting to run away, and yet, not daring to do so! The training of Karma Yoga prepares us for the greater fights on life's battle-fields.
Om Om Om Om Om
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ
manasas tu parā buddhir yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ
Bg 3.43
evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā saṁstabhyātmānam ātmanā
jahi śatruṁ mahā-bāho kāma-rūpaṁ durāsadam
Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde karmayogo nāma tṛtīyodhyāyaha
Translation:
42. They say that the senses are superior (to the body) ; superior to the senses is the mind; superior to the mind is the intellect; one who is even superior to the intellect is He, (the Atman ) .
43. Thus knowing Him, who is superior to intellect, and restraining the self by the Self, slay you, O mighty-armed, the enemy in the form of 'desire, ' no doubt hard indeed to conquer.
Commentary Excerpts:
This and the following stanza with which Vyasa concludes the third chapter of his incomparable Geeta, give every seeker a perfect technique by which he can bring about a successful hunting and capture of his inner enemy, "desire."
Although we cannot expect in the Bhagawad Geeta --- especially in one of the very opening chapters --- an exhaustive treatment of the technique of meditation, yet we find that, in these stanzas, the Lord has etched out a complete outline of the "Scheme-for-Self-discovery."
Compared with the objects of the world, we can easily understand that the sense-organs are more sacred and divine. Of the instruments that constitute our physical structure, certainly the sense-organs are subtler than the organs-of-action. Everyone of us can easily experience that our mind controls and orders our sense-organs, and, therefore, we know that the mind is subtler than the Indriyas.
No doubt, the mind has a vast kingdom to roam about in, but, even so, it has its own limitations and fixed frontiers. From knowledge to knowledge we extend the frontiers of our mind and all along this aggressive march of new conquests it is the intellect that first crosses the existing frontiers of the mind, and wins for it the neighbouring kingdoms of "fresh knowledge." In this sense, the intellect has a greater pervasiveness than the mind, and, therefore, it is conceived of as being subtler than the mind. That which lies beyond the intellect is called the Supreme, the Atman.
The Consciousness in man which lights up the very intellectual ideas in him must necessarily be subtler than the intellect itself. In the Upanishads it has been finally declared that there is nothing subtler than the Self, the Atman. The technique of meditation lies in the conscious withdrawal of all our identifications with our body, mind and intellect. All efforts end when we have thus gathered our entire awareness from its delusory pre-occupations and made it live in Itself as Itself --- as Objectless Awareness.
With the final stanza, not only does the chapter conclude, but, the special advice demanded by Arjuna has also been finally given. Through 'knowledge' alone is 'ignorance'ended; through a lived experience of the Self alone can we end our 'ignorance-of-the-Self.' This spiritual 'ignorance,' we have already found, creates 'desires.' The Lord has indicated earlier that 'desire' functions and thrives in the fields of the sense-organs, the mind, and the intellect. Through the processes of meditation, when we withdraw from our false identifications with the objects, the body and the mind, the 'desire'-faculty, that was till now roaming about and functioning in the outer fields, is gathered and established in the intellect.
As long as we maintain in ourselves the limiting adjuncts of the matter-envelopments, so long we cannot realise our divine potentialities, but instead, in our delusion, we will understand ourselves to be nothing more than the little ego --- limited, bound, finite and ever-sobbing. After the re-discovery of our own diviner existence we will be able to live "restraining the self by the Self." In a perfect Buddha's life, his ego functions completely under the control of the diviner in him. No more then can the 'desire'-impulses, if at all they arise in the mind, play their mischiefs and bring about any devastations in his inner life.
It is very interesting to note that the philosophy of the Geeta preaches a constructive re-organisation of life and not the destruction or rejection of life's possibilities. "Desire," being a painful leprous oozing wound, we are lovingly advised about the balm to cure the malady, and to live thereafter, in all efficiency, as a Master of circumstances and a Lord of our own emotions. A seeker who has accomplished this in himself is called a God-man, a Sage, a Prophet!
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 third discourse ends entitled:
THE KARMA YOGA
This chapter is called Karma Yoga. The term Yoga means the act of connecting the lower with the higher, through a technique consisting of one's own self-evolution. Any method by which the lower in us is educated and trained to live a Higher way-of-life --- wherein we gain a more effective control upon both our life without and life within --- is called Yoga.
Here is a method of self-development pointed out to the Arjuna-type of men, who, fully armed and standing on the battle-field of life, facing an array of opposing forces, more powerful, better organised, and well-supplied with equipments, are ready to fight and destroy them. In fact every honest man in life is to a large extent --- be he a fool, be he a saint --- an Arjuna facing his problems with hesitations... wanting to run away, and yet, not daring to do so! The training of Karma Yoga prepares us for the greater fights on life's battle-fields.
Om Om Om Om Om
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
