CHAPTER VI
Meditation
With this chapter we are coming to the close of a definite section in the scheme of thought in the Geeta. This is the opinion of some of the well-known critics and students of the Lord's Song. According to them, the eighteen chapters of the Geeta fall into three definite sections, each of six chapters, and they group themselves to expound the implications and significances of the sacred Vedic mantra "Tat Twam Asi" --- THAT THOU ART. The first six chapters together constitute an explanation of the philosophical significance indicated by the word "Thou" (Twam). In the general scheme of thought developed in that section, the contents of the sixth chapter constitute a fitting conclusion.
In Chapter II, in a language almost foreign to Arjuna, in quick strokes, Lord Krishna painted the philosophical perfection which is the theme of all the Upanishads. He concluded that chapter with a vivid and expressive picture of a Saint of perfection and mental equipoise. Naturally, the interest of a seeker is excited and he seeks to find means and methods by which he too can grow within himself and reach those diviner heights of self-control and equipoise.
The Geeta is personally and specifically addressed to Arjuna, a confused average man, at a moment when he felt completely confounded by the problem that was facing him. Naturally, the highest methods of subtle meditation, the mental drill by which one can renounce all one's preoccupations, etc., are not easy methods that can be practised with confidence. At the same time, it will not be true to say that Vedantic methods are meant only for a few; if they are immediately useful only to a few, there must be, in Vedanta, preliminary techniques by which everyone can steadily grow to become fit to enter the Hall of Perfection.
That there are graded lessons for one's spiritual unfoldment is not really understood by the modern lip-Vedantins. It is this general ignorance that has brought about the misconception in Hinduism that the study of the Vedas is the guarded preserve of some rare ones. But, Vedanta would have been an incomplete science if it did not contain Upasana methods for purifying the students' inner equipments.
Krishna, as a true teacher, understood Arjuna's mental debilities and intellectual incompetency at that particular moment to start right away upon the arduous lines of pure meditation and clear detached thinking. In order to bring him to the level of perfection, various lower methods of self-integration had to be prescribed. Thus in Chapter III we found an exhaustively scientific treatment of the "Karma Yoga" --- the Path of Action.
Activities in the outer world, however noble they may be in their motive, cannot but leave deep ulcerations and painful restlessness in the bosom of the worker. To mitigate the "reactions" of action (Karma-Phala) and as a balm to soothe the bleeding mental wounds, new methods of maintaining the mind in quietude and ease have been expounded in Chapter IV under the title "RENUNCIATION OF ACTION IN KNOWLEDGE." It is the theory of Krishna that, constantly maintaining in the mind the awareness of the Greater Principle that presides over all human endeavours, the worker can, even in the thick of activities, maintain a healthy and well-ventilated inner life.
Naturally, the limited intellect of Arjuna got extremely confused, since the teacher argued in the beginning for "action," and in the conclusion, for "the renunciation of action." In Chapter V, therefore, the "Way of Renunciation" is explained and the technique of guaranteeing to our mind immunity from reactions, even while it is engaged in activity, is explained. The "Yajna spirit" --- the spirit of dedicated activity for the benefit of the larger majority and not for any self-arrogating profit --- is the antiseptic that Krishna prescribes for a mind and intellect that are to work in the world. In Chapter IV is prescribed an unavoidable treatment for curing the mind of its own pox of painful "impressions of the past" (vasanas).
In Chapter V, the "WAY OF RENUNCIATION" is explained under two different categories, which show the two methods of achieving the same goal: renunciation of (a) our sense of agency in activities; and (b) our unintelligent anxieties arising out of our thoughtless preoccupations with the fruits-of-our-action. The chapter exhausts these two techniques and explains how, by the renunciation of agency or by the renunciation of our attachment to the fruits-of-actions, we can come to gain a release from the vasana bondages which generally shackle our personality during our activities.
One who could faithfully follow the technique so far unravelled by the Lord, should have thereby come to a condition wherein the insentient and inert mind has been stirred into a field of intense activity. A mind developed through this training, is taught to come under the intelligent will of its determined trainer, the seeker himself. The mind thus gathered and trained, is certainly a better-equipped instrument for the higher purposes of Self-contemplation and Self-unfoldment.
How this is done through the famous technique of meditation is, in a nutshell, the theme of the sixth chapter. During our discussions, we shall not stand in sheer surprise and wonderment and swallow down the ideas in the verses without dissecting, discovering, analysing and understanding every facet of each of those ideas. This chapter promises to give us all the means by which we can give up our known weaknesses and grow positively into a healthier and more potent life of virtue and strength. This technique is called meditation, which in one form or another, is the common method advocated and advised in all religions, by all prophets, at all times, in the history of man.
|| Chapter-6 ||
Source: The Holy Geeta
Meditation
With this chapter we are coming to the close of a definite section in the scheme of thought in the Geeta. This is the opinion of some of the well-known critics and students of the Lord's Song. According to them, the eighteen chapters of the Geeta fall into three definite sections, each of six chapters, and they group themselves to expound the implications and significances of the sacred Vedic mantra "Tat Twam Asi" --- THAT THOU ART. The first six chapters together constitute an explanation of the philosophical significance indicated by the word "Thou" (Twam). In the general scheme of thought developed in that section, the contents of the sixth chapter constitute a fitting conclusion.
In Chapter II, in a language almost foreign to Arjuna, in quick strokes, Lord Krishna painted the philosophical perfection which is the theme of all the Upanishads. He concluded that chapter with a vivid and expressive picture of a Saint of perfection and mental equipoise. Naturally, the interest of a seeker is excited and he seeks to find means and methods by which he too can grow within himself and reach those diviner heights of self-control and equipoise.
The Geeta is personally and specifically addressed to Arjuna, a confused average man, at a moment when he felt completely confounded by the problem that was facing him. Naturally, the highest methods of subtle meditation, the mental drill by which one can renounce all one's preoccupations, etc., are not easy methods that can be practised with confidence. At the same time, it will not be true to say that Vedantic methods are meant only for a few; if they are immediately useful only to a few, there must be, in Vedanta, preliminary techniques by which everyone can steadily grow to become fit to enter the Hall of Perfection.
That there are graded lessons for one's spiritual unfoldment is not really understood by the modern lip-Vedantins. It is this general ignorance that has brought about the misconception in Hinduism that the study of the Vedas is the guarded preserve of some rare ones. But, Vedanta would have been an incomplete science if it did not contain Upasana methods for purifying the students' inner equipments.
Krishna, as a true teacher, understood Arjuna's mental debilities and intellectual incompetency at that particular moment to start right away upon the arduous lines of pure meditation and clear detached thinking. In order to bring him to the level of perfection, various lower methods of self-integration had to be prescribed. Thus in Chapter III we found an exhaustively scientific treatment of the "Karma Yoga" --- the Path of Action.
Activities in the outer world, however noble they may be in their motive, cannot but leave deep ulcerations and painful restlessness in the bosom of the worker. To mitigate the "reactions" of action (Karma-Phala) and as a balm to soothe the bleeding mental wounds, new methods of maintaining the mind in quietude and ease have been expounded in Chapter IV under the title "RENUNCIATION OF ACTION IN KNOWLEDGE." It is the theory of Krishna that, constantly maintaining in the mind the awareness of the Greater Principle that presides over all human endeavours, the worker can, even in the thick of activities, maintain a healthy and well-ventilated inner life.
Naturally, the limited intellect of Arjuna got extremely confused, since the teacher argued in the beginning for "action," and in the conclusion, for "the renunciation of action." In Chapter V, therefore, the "Way of Renunciation" is explained and the technique of guaranteeing to our mind immunity from reactions, even while it is engaged in activity, is explained. The "Yajna spirit" --- the spirit of dedicated activity for the benefit of the larger majority and not for any self-arrogating profit --- is the antiseptic that Krishna prescribes for a mind and intellect that are to work in the world. In Chapter IV is prescribed an unavoidable treatment for curing the mind of its own pox of painful "impressions of the past" (vasanas).
In Chapter V, the "WAY OF RENUNCIATION" is explained under two different categories, which show the two methods of achieving the same goal: renunciation of (a) our sense of agency in activities; and (b) our unintelligent anxieties arising out of our thoughtless preoccupations with the fruits-of-our-action. The chapter exhausts these two techniques and explains how, by the renunciation of agency or by the renunciation of our attachment to the fruits-of-actions, we can come to gain a release from the vasana bondages which generally shackle our personality during our activities.
One who could faithfully follow the technique so far unravelled by the Lord, should have thereby come to a condition wherein the insentient and inert mind has been stirred into a field of intense activity. A mind developed through this training, is taught to come under the intelligent will of its determined trainer, the seeker himself. The mind thus gathered and trained, is certainly a better-equipped instrument for the higher purposes of Self-contemplation and Self-unfoldment.
How this is done through the famous technique of meditation is, in a nutshell, the theme of the sixth chapter. During our discussions, we shall not stand in sheer surprise and wonderment and swallow down the ideas in the verses without dissecting, discovering, analysing and understanding every facet of each of those ideas. This chapter promises to give us all the means by which we can give up our known weaknesses and grow positively into a healthier and more potent life of virtue and strength. This technique is called meditation, which in one form or another, is the common method advocated and advised in all religions, by all prophets, at all times, in the history of man.
|| Chapter-6 ||
Source: The Holy Geeta
