What is true Renunciation? The final chapter begins...

Bg 18.1

arjuna uvāca

sannyāsasya mahā-bāho tattvam icchāmi veditum
tyāgasya ca hṛṣīkeśa pṛthak keśi-niṣūdana

Bg 18.2

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

kāmyānāṁ karmaṇāṁ nyāsaṁ sannyāsaṁ kavayo viduḥ
sarva-karma-phala-tyāgaṁ prāhus tyāgaṁ vicakṣaṇāḥ

Bg 18.3

tyājyaṁ doṣa-vad ity eke karma prāhur manīṣiṇaḥ
yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma na tyājyam iti cāpare


Translation

Arjuna said: 1. I desire to know severally, O mighty-armed, the essence or truth of "Renunciation, " O Hrishikesa, as also of 'Abandonment, ' O slayer of Keshi (Krishna).

The Blessed Lord said: 2. The Sages understand SAMNYASA to be "the renunciation of works with desire" ; the wise declare "the abandonment of the fruits of all actions" as TYAAGA.

3. That all actions should be abandoned as evil, declare some philosophers; while others (declare) that acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity should not be relinquished.

Commentary

The chapter begins with Arjuna's question, demanding of Lord Krishna a precise definition, and an exhaustive explanation, of the two terms used by the Lord in the Geeta, off and on, here and there. 'Renunciation' (Sanyasa) and 'Abandonment' (Tyaga) are the two technical terms used more than once in the Geeta. Though the question is asked in a spirit of academic interest, Krishna takes up the question in all seriousness. When a disciple expresses his doubt, he invariably fails to express his exact difficulty. However, it is the duty of the teacher to discover the difficulty of the student and clear his doubt, as even the Lord of the Geeta does here.

The logic of the entire chapter revolves around the meanings of 'Renunciation' and 'Abandonment.' Samnyasa without the spirit of Tyaga is incomprehensible, and if at all it is ever so practised, it can only be a sham pose. The bulk of the chapter maps out the tendencies, urges, impulses and motives, that are to be abandoned, so that true 'Abandonment' of the undivine personality can effectively take place. We must read the chapter in this spirit, or else it will surely fail to influence us.

SLAYER OF KESHI (Keshi-nishudana) --- Keshi was a Daitya who attacked Krishna in the form of a horse. Krishna killed him by tearing him into two halves.

DEFINING THESE TERMS AND INDICATING THE ENTIRE SIGNIFICANCE OF THEIR CONNOTATIONS, KRISHNA SAYS:

"Totally giving up all desire-prompted activities" is RENUNCIATION, and ABANDONMENT is "giving up of all anxieties for enjoying the fruits-of-action." As they stand, both of them read almost the same to the uninitiated; for, all desires are always for the fruits of our actions. Thus, "renouncing desire-motivated activity" and "renouncing our anxiety for the fruit" would read the same for those who see only their superficial suggestions.

No doubt, both mean giving up desire, but Tyaga is slightly different from Samnyasa; and yet, "abandonment" has an integral relationship with "renunciation." Action is an effort put forth in the present, which, in its own time, will, it is hoped, fulfil itself into the desired fruit. And, the fruit is what we reap later on as a result of the present action. A desireless action, therefore, belongs to the PRESENT, while the anxiety to enjoy the fruit (desire) is a disturbance of our mind regarding a FUTURE period of time. The fruit comes after the action; the fruit is the culmination of an action undertaken in the present.

Desire and agitation bring about restlessness, and the deeper the desire, the greater is the amount of dissipation of our energies within. A dissipated man cannot execute any piece of work with steady efficiency and true ardour. Also, it is to be noticed, desire is always ordered by the ego. Elimination of the ego is at once the sublimation of the individuality and the ascension of the individual from the lower realms of consciousness to the upper-most stratum of the effulgent universal Awareness, the One Eternal God.

The tragedy of life becomes complete if a desire-ridden individual comes under the endless persecution of steady anxiety to enjoy the fruits of his actions. Fruits-of-actions belong to the FUTURE and they are always ordered by the quality and quantity of the action in the PRESENT moment, and also by the circumstances available in the chosen field of activity. Naturally, without the "Abandonment" (Tyaga) of our clinging attachment to the expected FRUITS OF OUR ACTIONS, we will not discover the full potentialities of our own personality. Without this, our activities will naturally become ineffective, and ineffective activities can never provide for us enjoyable fruits.

In short, "Renunciation" is the goal to be reached through the process of "Abandonment" of our moment-to-moment anxiety to enjoy the fruits. "Abandonment" (Tyaaga) is the means to reach the goal of "Renunciation" (Samnyasa).

Both Samnyasa and Tyaaga are disciplines in our activities. Krishna is never tired of emphasising the importance of work. Neither of these terms indicates that work should be ignored; on the other hand both of them insist that WORK WE MUST. Work, however, can gain a total transmutation by the removal of the things that clog our efficiency, and thus every piece of work can be made to yield its fullest reward. Snapping the chains that shackle us with the past and the future, and working without being hustled by anxieties or henpecked by desires, in the full freedom and inspiration of the present, is the noblest way to perform actions. To a large extent, we can say that the definition of these two terms in the Geeta is more broad-minded and tolerant than the implications of these two words as we read in the Vedic lore.

SHOULD THE 'IGNORANT' PERFORM WORK OR NOT?

In the previous stanza it was conclusively declared that ABANDONMENT is the "way" and total RENUNCIATION is the "goal." On this theory of abandonment there is a school of philosophers, the Sankhyas, who declare: "ACTION SHOULD BE ABANDONED AS EVIL." According to them, all actions are productive of vasanas which cloud the realisation of the Self; and therefore, without exception, all actions should be renounced. Some commentators upon the Sankhyan philosophy point out that "WORK IS NOT TO BE ABANDONED, EXCEPT WHEN IT IS GOING IN WRONG CHANNELS, MOTIVATED BY DEMONIAC URGES LIKE PASSION, GREED, DESIRE ETC."

The philosophers not only indicate that all seekers should avoid unhealthy activities which have, in their reactions, a deadening influence upon the spiritual beauty in man, but also advise that every man should engage himself in creative, character-moulding, moral-rebuilding work that can aid the individual's personality-integration. This latter school of thinkers recommends that 'sacrifice' (Yajna), 'charity' (Daana) and 'austerity' (Tapas) should never be abandoned.

As students of the Geeta, we should know that Krishna wants Arjuna only to renounce all evil activities, and perform worldly work in a spirit of dedicated, selfless devotion. Krishna's Geeta calls upon man to make work itself the greatest homage unto the Supreme; this is SPIRITUAL 'Sadhana.'

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Gurudev introduces the final chapter of Geeta

CHAPTER XVIII
Liberation through Renunciation

The Geeta is a piece of art of strange beauty and it stands apart from everything else, in a class all by itself. It is liquid poetry, expounding solid philosophy. In the fluidity of its metre, it crystallises some of the rarest gems of moral and spiritual values. Its breezy discourses have a firm style. The fluidity of its eloquence falls like merciful rain upon every broken personality, making it whole by its magic touch. It is not a book of science, and yet, it is very scientific in its approach to the theme. It has not the airy nothingness of familiar philosophical discourses, and yet, all philosophies seem to meet within its ample stretch.
It is the duty of science to DESCRIBE life; it is the purpose of philosophy to EXPLAIN life. Science describes the natural structures and processes; philosophy attempts their explanations. Thus viewed, the Bhagawad Geeta is an enchanting impossibility; it is at once a science and a philosophy, and yet, strangely enough, it is neither a scientific philosophy nor a philosophical science. In its eighteen chapters, it explains a philosophy of living, and while doing so it also expounds and demonstrates the science of living.

This closing chapter of the Geeta is, in fact, a summary of the entire Song of the Lord. If the second chapter, as we found earlier, is a summary of the Geeta in anticipation, the eighteenth chapter is a report on the Geeta in retrospect. It is already proved that, everywhere, the One Eternal Spirit functions through matter, and It expresses Itself in this pluralistic world of phenomena. The multiple world of plurality is extremely variegated; in the nature, behaviour and quality of the individuals, variations are noticed in thousands of shades.

On the basis of temperaments, the Geeta indicated three types of personalities: The "Good" (Sattwic), the "Passionate" (Rajasic) and the "Dull" (Tamasic). In this chapter we have an elaborate and exhaustive discussion on how these three temperaments, in their variations, create differences among individuals, in sacrifice, in wisdom, in actions, in fortitude and in happiness.

Also in the Geeta, two familiar terms, "renunciation" (Samnyasa) and "abandonment" (Tyaga) were very often used in different contexts with seemingly different imports. The terms have to be re-defined in order to remove all confusions, as an ambiguity in a science is dangerous to true understanding.

This concluding chapter opens with a direct question from Arjuna as to what constitutes "renunciation" and what the contents of "abandonment" are. Lord Krishna takes up the theme and starts defining these two terms; "but," some students of Geeta complain, "the Geetacharya has drifted away into a rambling discourse on various other topics unconnected with the main question." In fact, this is no fair criticism. Having defined what is Samnyasa, the Lord explains Tyaga and shows how, through the latter alone, the former can be achieved and fully lived. Unless we discover in ourselves the capacity to banish from our mind its various unhealthy relationships with the world outside and re-educate it to be continuously vigilant and alert to live in a healthy, intelligent spirit of detachment (Tyaga), the total withering away of the false ego and its endless desire-promptings, Sanyasa without Tyaga spirit is but an empty show; it is a false crown with no kingdom of joy within for it to lord over.

The endless, minute details given here, all true-to-life, analysing and classifying the tendencies, urges, emotions, actions etc., are pointers that help each one to understand himself. They are so many "instruments" on the "dashboard" of our bosom within, which can, by their indications, give us a true picture of the condition of the personality-mechanism working within us. Just as a driver of a car can understand the condition of the engine and the nature of its performance by watching the play of the "pointers" in the metres on the dash-board in front of him --- heat, pressure, oil, charge, speed, fuel, mileage, ignition and what not --- a seeker is asked to check up at similar definite "pointers" within and note their readings. If all are indicating the safe-sign, Sattwic, a smooth life of maximum efficiency and definite progress in cultural evolution is promised. If we can classify ourselves in our tendencies and actions only as Rajasic, we are advised to take note and be cautious. If the tendencies declare a definite Tamasic temperament, better halt the vehicle and attend to the "ENGINE." This seems to be the advice of this concluding chapter.

The giving up of these lower impulses of the 'Passionate' (Rajasic) and the 'Dull' (Tamasic) in our moment-to-moment contacts with life, is "abandonment" (Tyaga), which will give us sufficient mastery over ourselves, ultimately to give up the very ego-centre which causes all these deflections. And this final giving up of the perception of the finite in the acquired wisdom of the Infinite is the fulfilment of life, indicated here by the term "Renunciation" (Samnyasa).

|| Chapter - 18 ||

Happy Vishu... Om Tat Sat: Part 3/3

Bg 17.26-27

sad-bhāve sādhu-bhāve ca sad ity etat prayujyate
praśaste karmaṇi tathā sac-chabdaḥ pārtha yujyate

yajñe tapasi dāne ca sthitiḥ sad iti cocyate
karma caiva tad-arthīyaṁ sad ity evābhidhīyate

Bg 17.28

aśraddhayā hutaṁ dattaṁ tapas taptaṁ kṛtaṁ ca yat
asad ity ucyate pārtha na ca tat pretya no iha

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 

śraddhātrayavibhāga yogo nāma saptaśodhyāyaha

Translation

26. The word "SAT" is used in the sense of Reality and of Goodness; and also, O Partha, the word "SAT" is used in the sense of an auspicious act.

27. Steadfastness in sacrifice, austerity and gift is also called 'SAT' and also, action in connection with these (for the sake of the Supreme) is called 'SAT.'

28. Whatever is sacrificed, given or performed, and whatever austerity is practised without faith, it is called 'A-SAT, ' O Partha; it is not for here or hereafter (after death).

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 seventeenth discourse ends entitled:
THE THREE-FOLD FAITH

Commentary

Sat is used to mean both REALITY and GOODNESS. It is also used for all praise-worthy actions. In our everyday contact with the world, we live in a realm of RELATIVE REALITY and a seeker is apt to take the world perceived, felt and thought of --- through the play of his body, mind and intellect equipments --- as ABSOLUTELY REAL. Therefore the term Sat is often used to remind us that all these RELATIVE REALITIES have the self-same substratum Sat, the Absolute Reality.

THE USE OF THE DESIGNATION 'SAT' FOR BRAHMAN IS GIVEN AS FOLLOWS:


The term Sat is used to indicate a man's faith and devotion in sacrifice, austerity and gift. Thus Sat registers one's faith in the principles underlying Yajna, Daana and Tapas and also in his various acts of sacrifice (Yajna), charity (Daana) and austerity (Tapas).

In short, even acts of sacrifice and austerity, when they are not of the Sattwic type can be rendered "good," when they are pursued with this required inner attunement which is gained by invoking in the performer's bosom the concept of --- the Supreme (OM), the Universal (Tat), and the Real (Sat) --- the Infinite Brahman. If these chantings are undertaken with faith and sincerity the seeker's mind expands and gives up all its selfishness and arrogance. Ego and ego-centric desires bring about attachments, which, in their turn, destroy the freedom of the individual to grow into the ampler field of joy of the Spirit.

To cut off these shackles which are forged in the fields of activity, we have to re-enter the very "realm-of-action" and persuade ourselves to perform such 'right' Karmas as will liquidate the bad reactions (Karma-Phala), of the 'wrong' actions of the past. This unwinding of the vasanas, the very creators of our psychological imperfections, can be effected only in the field-of-activity. This is accomplished by an intelligent, right adjustment of our mental attitude all along, when we are at work. The required changes are brought about by the remembrance of the Infinite Reality as indicated by the three terms "OM-TAT-SAT." The fundamental principle is that the actions can leave behind only such reactions as are ordered by the type of motives and attitudes of the performer.

ALL THESE ACTS BECOME PERFECT ONLY WHEN DONE IN FULL FAITH. THEREFORE:

In this thundering negative statement, we have an indication that faith is man, and an individual without faith, even if he performs a most glorious act, "IT IS NOT FOR HERE OR HEREAFTER." Action can create only such effects as are ordered by the ardour of faith and conviction of the performer, together indicated here as 'steadfastness' (Sthiti). The intellectual values entertained by the seeker will supply the glow in his actions, and since the results of his actions always depend upon the sincerity and ardour with which the actions are undertaken, the good or the bad effects of his actions directly depend upon the "strength of faith" with which the actions are undertaken or performed.

Herein, we have a conclusive statement that whatever sacrifice is made, whatever penance is performed, or whatever charity is given, it is called 'Asat,' if it is undertaken 'without faith.' Unreality or non-existence, in Sanskrit, is called Asat. From the unreal, nothing real can ever emerge. From the unreal activity, no real result can come. Therefore, devoted actions, spiritual or religious, when undertaken WITHOUT FAITH, fail to produce any result. By so saying, the Lord is indicating that Shraddhaa is unavoidable, and that without it no progress or evolution can ever take place.

HEREAFTER --- It is not only in the realm-of-the-Spirit that this law holds good but also in the material world of our day-to-day activities. This is a unique, and unquestionable, rule of life. Without "faith," no one can come to shine in any field of activity. No one can hope to gather any profit at all out of any activity, if he has no faith in it. Both in the secular activities of the market-place and in the sacred performance of religious acts, the factor that determines the quality and quantity of the result is our FAITH in our own efficiency and goodness, and in our field of activity.

SUCH ACTS PERFORMED WITHOUT 'FAITH' BECOME BARREN --- "ASAT" --- SAYS LORD KRISHNA.

Om Om Om Om OM

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Om Tat Sat : Part 2/3

Bg 17.25

tad ity anabhisandhāya phalaṁ yajña-tapaḥ-kriyāḥ
dāna-kriyāś ca vividhāḥ kriyante mokṣa-kāṅkṣibhiḥ

Translation

25. Uttering "TAT" without aiming at the fruits, are the acts of sacrifice and austerity and the various acts of gift performed by the seekers of liberation.

Commentary

THOSE WHO ARE SEEKERS OF LIBERATION --- He, who is thus trying to "liberate" himself from his own attachments, selfish desires, self-centredness, and the consequent agitations, should undertake to perform all his activities in such a way that the causes that generate these disturbances (vasanas) in him are not thereby nourished, but are deliberately extinguished. The stanza is providing a TIP to the seekers on how this subtle result can be achieved through actions performed with the right mental attitude.

WITH THE UTTERANCE OF THE "TAT" ALONE, THE ACTS OF SACRIFICE, PENANCE AND GIFT ARE UNDERTAKEN BY THE SEEKERS OF FREEDOM, WITHOUT EXPECTATION OF ANY REWARD. 'Tat' indicates, as we have already explained, the "Universal Truth" and it declares "the oneness of all living creatures." To remember the larger interests of the family is to forget our own self-interest; to work for the community is to obliterate our own family-interests; to work for the national redemption is to overlook the limited community benefits; and to work for the world and humanity is to sink our national interests. Thus, to work in the field of yajna or tapas or daana with a mind that is tuned up to Tat, "the universal oneness of the Spiritual Truth," is to work with no ego, and consequently, redeem ourselves from the thraldom of the flesh, from all the limitations of Matter.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Om Tat Sat - Part 1/3

Bg 17.23

oṁ tat sad iti nirdeśo brahmaṇas tri-vidhaḥ smṛtaḥ
brāhmaṇās tena vedāś ca yajñāś ca vihitāḥ purā

Bg 17.24

tasmād oṁ ity udāhṛtya yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-kriyāḥ
pravartante vidhānoktāḥ satataṁ brahma-vādinām

Translation

23. "OM TAT SAT" --- this has been declared to be the triple designation of BRAHMAN. By that were created formerly, the BRAHMANAS, VEDAS and YAJNAS (sacrifices) .

24. Therefore, with the utterance of 'OM' are begun the acts of sacrifice, gifts and austerity as enjoined in the scriptures, always by the students of BRAHMAN.

Commentary

Om Tat Sat --- This is being declared as the triple designation (Nirdesha) of Brahman. A Nirdesha, generally given in ritualism, is that by performing which any defects that are in the sacred worship are all removed. Each action, no doubt, has its fruit, but the fruit depends not only on the action as such, but also on the purity of the intentions and motives entertained by the performer. However diligent the performer of the sacred acts may be, if the motive behind such acts be foul, they are rendered too ineffective to yield rich dividends. Actions performed by all of us, may appear similar, but the results thereof would vary from individual to individual, according to the essential quality of their intentions.

The brilliance and glory of our intentions can be heightened by the remembrance of the Lord. Dissociation of oneself from one's Matter-envelopments is at once one's awakening and identification with the Lord. To the extent the sacred activity is selfless, to that extent its rewards are pure. To liquidate the ego, the individual must gain the consciousness of his spiritual status.

"Om Tat Sat" is a sentence of three words, each denoting one aspect or the other of the Reality. Om represents the Transcendental and the Pure Self, the Absolute and the Unborn, which is the Infinite Substratum upon which the projections of the body, mind and intellect are maintained. The term Tat is used in our scriptures to indicate the Eternal Goal, the Changeless and the Ever-perfect. In the famous grand declaration of the Vedas, "Tat-twam-asi," the term 'Tat' indicates that from which everything has come, in which everything exists and into which everything merges back in the end. Sat means 'existence.' The "Principle of Existence" functioning through all things --- perceived, felt, and thought of in our everyday life --- is called Sat.

Thus, to invoke the thoughts of Om, which express the TRANSCENDENTAL ABSOLUTE, or to invoke "Tat," the UNIVERSAL TRUTH, or to cherish the concept of "Sat," the REALITY, is to tune up our instruments of action and thereby chasten all our activities in the world outside.

The Eternal Reality, indicated in the triple designation of Brahman "Om Tat Sat," is the Source from which all castes, the Vedas and the sacrifices proceeded, even at the time of Creation. All super-impositions can only arise from, exist in and disappear into that which is their own substratum.

All human activities and endeavours can be classified under the heads: (a) activities (Ahaara) undertaken for the maintenance of the body, and (b) activities (Niyata) that nourish the culture by all co-operative activities pursued with a spirit of dedication (Yajna), all charities (Daana), and all intelligent methods of self-control (Tapas).

WHEN ARE WE TO USE THE TERM "OM"?

The term OM is uttered while acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity are undertaken by the followers of higher life. To cherish in our minds the divine awareness and the absolute supremacy of the Infinite, as expressed in OM, is to add purpose and meaning to all our acts of sacrifice, charity and austerity. To invoke in our minds the divine concept of the Absolute is to free our personality from its limited fields of ego-centric attachments. When a mind is thus liberated from its limitations, it becomes more efficient in all austerities, more selfless in all Yajnas, and more liberal in all charities.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Krishna on Diet and Lifestyle 😃

Bg 17.7

āhāras tv api sarvasya tri-vidho bhavati priyaḥ

yajñas tapas tathā dānaṁ teṣāṁ bhedam imaṁ śṛṇu

Bg 17.8

āyuḥ-sattva-balārogya- sukha-prīti-vivardhanāḥ

rasyāḥ snigdhāḥ sthirā hṛdyā āhārāḥ sāttvika-priyāḥ

Bg 17.9

kaṭv-amla-lavaṇāty-uṣṇa- tīkṣṇa-rūkṣa-vidāhinaḥ

āhārā rājasasyeṣṭā duḥkha-śokāmaya-pradāḥ

Bg 17.10

yāta-yāmaṁ gata-rasaṁ pūti paryuṣitaṁ ca yat

ucchiṣṭam api cāmedhyaṁ bhojanaṁ tāmasa-priyam

Translation

7. The food also which is dear to each is three-fold, as also sacrifice, austerity and alms-giving. You may now hear the distinction of these.

8. The foods which increase life, purity, strength, health, joy and cheerfulness (good appetite) , which are savoury and oleaginous, substantial and agreeable, are dear to the SATTWIC (Pure).

9. The foods that are bitter, sour, saline, excessively hot, pungent, dry and burning, are liked by the RAJASIC, and are productive of pain, grief and disease.

10. That which is stale, tasteless, putrid and rotten, refuse and impure, is the food liked by the 'TAMASIC.'

Commentary

Introducing the theme that is to follow, Lord Krishna enumerates the topics that He is going to discuss. The temperamental influences that govern the mind and its thought-life express themselves in all departments of activity in which the individual employs himself. His choice of food, of friends, of the type of emotions in his bosom, of the view-of-life that he will be entertaining are all indicative of the type to which the seeker belongs. As a matter of fact, everyone living on the surface of the earth expresses himself in one of these classifications, due to the preponderance of one or the other of the three temperaments (gunas).

Yajna, Tapa, Daana --- In the choice of 'food,' in the type of 'sacrifices' which he would feel inspired to make, in the texture of his 'self-denials,' and in the quality and quantity of his 'charity,' he will declare himself as belonging to one or the other of the three types.

Here follows a detailed analysis of one's inner nature, and naturally, one's outward expressions, when one is under the irresistible influence of any one particular guna. These verses are NOT to be misconstrued as ready-reckoners TO CLASSIFY OTHERS. Hinduism, in its essential beauty, is a subjective science for bringing about a fuller unfoldment of the dormant potentialities in AN INDIVIDUAL'S OWN PERSONALITY. In unravelling the beauties of the soul and in exploiting the strength of the heart, each one will have to purify himself from the dullness of Tamas, and from the agitations of Rajas, and keep oneself in the creative alertness and spiritual glow of Sattwa.

HEREUNDER, WE FIND ENUMERATED A SERIES OF SYMPTOMS BY WHICH WE CAN CORRECTLY CLASSIFY OURSELVES:

In describing the natural taste for some particular types of food in good men of spiritual urges (Sattwa), it is said that they like only such diet which increases the vitality (Aayuh), and not sheer bulk; which supplies the energy for meditative purposes (Veerya); which discovers for them a secret strength (Bala) to resist the temptations for the sense-objects; which provide health (Aarogya) so that they may not often fall ill and suffer a break in their regular sadhana. Such people will have a natural inclination to take food which will augment joy (Preeti) and inner cheerfulness (Sukha). In short, such creative men, by their own choice, enjoy only food that is clean and wholesome with no chance for them, when consumed, to putrefy within.

All the different types of food eaten by man in the world have been classified and brought under four types on the basis of their physical properties. They are the savoury, the greasy, the firm and the cordial types of food. Men of purity instinctively like all these types of foods when they have the above-mentioned effects upon the consumers --- when they (the consumers) have digested and assimilated them.

No doubt, food has certain effects upon the eater. Generally, an eater is, to some extent, conditioned by the type of diet he eats. Not only is our inner nature built by the type of food consumed, but the inner nature, in its turn, commands our tastes; and we find very often that we have developed an irresistible appetite for certain types of food. In the case of animals it is noticed that sometimes they change their diet, according to their physical need in life; dogs and cats are often seen eating grass, cows licking salt-slabs, etc., children eating sand, and pregnant women manifesting different tastes at different periods of their pregnancy.

EXPLAINING THE RAJASIC TYPE OF MEN AND THEIR TASTE IN FOOD, THE LORD SAYS:

Men of energy, the 'passionate,' desire such food (Rajasasya ishtaah) that have strong flavour and dense taste. Bitter, sour, saltish, very hot, pungent, harsh, burning tastes are to the liking of all vigorous men, restlessly striving to fulfil their uncontrolled passions and desires (Rajasic).

Such a diet, no doubt, creates in an individual brilliant energies, but in their wildness, they are, to a degree, un-controllable; and therefore, in their final reactions they lead the eater towards a life productive of 'PAIN, GRIEF AND DISEASE.'

A student of these discussions in the Geeta is NOT justified, if he considers that, by a control of diet the thought-discipline in himself will also be brought about. From these stanzas, we have to understand that, when the texture of thought improves, the individual finds himself changing his tastes: even his choice of food which would give him full satisfaction in totally revolutionised.

WHAT TYPE OF FOOD WOULD MEN OF DARKNESS (TAMAS) CHOOSE?

(Yaata-yaamam) --- A day is divided, in our old calculations in the Shastras, into eight Yaamas, wherein a period of three hours constitutes a Yaama. Therefore, food cooked three hours earlier, 'gone cold' is that which is considered as spoiled. In these days of canned food, preserved fruits, stored vegetables and refrigeration facilities, almost a substantial majority of us have come to love stale food.

TASTELESS (Gata-rasam) --- In South India, we find a peculiar hunger for taking rice that has been kept soaked in water the previous night. The next morning, it becomes both stale and tasteless. I suppose, in the north, some like old roti.

FOUL-SMELLING (Pooti) --- Men of inertia have a natural liking for stinking food that has an insufferable smell for others. The pulav of the modern tables perhaps belongs to this category; so too, prawns --- we can multiply examples. 'Men of purity,' however, would instinctively revolt against a diet that has any stink about it, e. g., seafood.

STALE (Paryushitam) --- Food that has been cooked over-night, or that has been kept for days together. Here we can include all the fermented drinks, which the Tamasic people love to drink. All drinks are fermented and the 'kick' in them increases as the time after preparation increases.

Unsanitary and unclean food seems to attract the taste of all despicable men of insufferable ignorance and low culture. They love to eat 'refuse' (Ucchishtam) that is left over, and impure (Amedhyam) filthy food that is not fit for human consumption. The above-enumerated list is a comprehensive report on the base and disgusting tastes of Tamasic men of low culture and dull discrimination.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Gurudev introduces Chapter 17: The Threefold Faith

CHAPTER XVII

The Three-Fold Faith

The concluding two verses of the last chapter introduced an idea that the Shastra is the final court of appeal in all doubts, and for the power of discrimination in us to arrive at all its moment-to-moment judgements. But it is very difficult for the average person to develop that amount of proficiency in the spiritual codes. Thus we cannot get a ready-reckoner which will easily guide us in our life's pilgrimage. Now, Arjuna's appetite to live the Higher-life more intensely has been fully whetted and he is mentally planning to give Krishna's philosophy a fair trial. As a man of action, when he mentally plans to live the Geeta way-of-life, he finds it hard, because of its insistence upon the 'knowledge" of the Shastras. At the same time, he is confident that he has developed in himself a sufficient 'faith' (Shraddhaa) in the nobler way-of-life, as enunciated in this sacred scripture.
This chapter opens with these doubts: is it sufficient if one lives with 'faith' a life of good conduct and noble aspirations, or is it necessary that he must 'know' the Shastra and work with 'faith,' implicitly obedient to the injunctions laid down in the Shastra?

Earlier also in the Geeta, on more than one occasion, (IV-39; XVI-23). 'faith' (Shraddhaa) has been prescribed as the fuel required for the seeker to soar higher. The emphasis and importance given to Shraddhaa are almost equal to those given to the Shastra, and therefore, Arjuna has every right to raise the question whether, even without the knowledge of the Shastras, blind-faith alone can take the seeker far!

The special capacity of the human intellect, not only to know and appreciate the Shastra, but also, to absorb and assimilate the noble ideals, so completely as to bear upon all one's actions, is called 'Shraddhaa.' It is that powerful, impelling force which springs forth spontaneously from within, and propelled by which, all layers of personality in an individual act in their appointed fields. 'Faith' is the content and the very essence of the equipments of man's whole being. 'Faith' gives the direction, the dash, and provides a destination for one's determination.

Instead of directly answering the question, the philosopher in Krishna takes this opportunity to give a thorough exposition of 'Faith' as seen in the various fields of man's endeavours --- his physical indulgences (ahara), his dedicated activities (yajna), his self-denials (tapas), and his charities (daana).

In the scheme of this discourse, the Lord first of all explains that Shraddhaa is of three kinds, according to the nature of the temperament (gunas) which the individual entertains in himself. The three classifications under which the temperaments fall are (1) balanced joy (Sattwa), (2) ambitious and feverish activities (Rajas), (3) vegetative existence and heedlessness (Tamas). Earlier this topic of the three gunas governing and controlling the mental and intellectual life of men was exhaustively dealt with. How men, under the influence of these gunas in varying proportions, would come to live the religious values, and strive for spiritual unfoldment is now being discussed. From a close study of this discourse, we can direct our activities away from the influence of the lower urges and guide our spiritual practices consistently on the royal path of sure success.

|| Chapter - 17 ||

Source: The Holy Geeta

End of Chapter 16 - March 29, 2017

Bg 16.23

yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ
na sa siddhim avāpnoti na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim

Bg 16.24

tasmāc chāstraṁ pramāṇaṁ te kāryākārya-vyavasthitau
jñātvā śāstra-vidhānoktaṁ karma kartum ihārhasi

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 
daivāsurasampadvibhāga yogo nāma ṣodaśodhyāyaha

Translation

23. He who, having cast aside the ordinance of the scriptures, acts under the impulse of desire, attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the Supreme Goal.

24. Therefore, let the Scriptures be your authority, in determining what ought to be done and what ought not to be done. Having known what is said in the commandments of the Scripture, you should act here (in this world) .

Commentary

The Divine Teacher of the Geeta explains that when the ruinous expenditure of vitality, both psychological and intellectual, is stopped and energy is conserved, it has to be applied in the right direction. If again the energy is misused, the chances are that the seeker would dash himself down with a mightier bump to the depths of a miserable life. Ravana and such other mighty Asuras of the Puranas are typical examples of personalities that performed fierce tapashcharya (penance), accumulated inner dynamism, and yet achieved but a thorough self-destruction! So mighty was their strength that they made their own generation rock, crumble and bite the dust. To avoid such a calamity to the individual, as well as to the world around him, a severe warning must necessarily be given; and these two closing stanzas contain such a warning.

HE WHO DISOBEYS THE SHASTRAS AND ACTS UNDER THE IMPULSE OF DESIRE --- Such a man stands to gain no benefit at all. Here the term Shastra need not necessarily be understood as a bundle of ritualistic injunctions, strictly followed and sacredly insisted upon by the fanatic orthodox. The text-books discussing the Theory-of-Truth (Brahma-Vidya) and the technique of self-perfection (Yoga) are called Shastras, while other subsidiary books which explain and throw light upon the Shastras are called Prakarana texts; the latter explain the categories in the Science of Vedanta. Since the Geeta is a philosophical poem, exhaustively explaining the theory and practice of God-realisation, IT IS CONSIDERED AS A Shastra.

UNDER THE IMPULSE OF DESIRE --- The theme developed in the previous two stanzas is that a seeker of the Higher, should of necessity renounce "desire, anger, and greed." We have explained earlier that ANGER is a product when desire is throttled, and GREED is a logical consequence when a passionate heart gains some fulfilment of desires. Therefore, desire is the root cause. Naturally, Krishna contrasts the way-of-life advocated in the Geeta with our ordinary way-of-life, wherein the main impulse is desire. The seekers are advised not to disobey the commands given in the Geeta Shastra and live under the impulse of their baser appetites and lower instincts.

ATTAINS NEITHER JOY NOR SUCCESS, NOR GOAL --- What exactly would be the harm if one did not implicitly live the way-of-life advocated in the Geeta? The consequences of such an unintelligent and naughty disregard of the right-way-of-life is clearly indicated here. Propelled by desires, coaxed by greed, torn by anger and constantly dancing to the changing tunes of the lusty flesh, an individual comes to live a life of restless agitations and tyrannical passions. Such a man cannot feel any happiness or attain any cultural development.

THEREFORE THE NATURAL CONCLUSION IS:

THEREFORE --- Because of the line of argument given in the last three stanzas, the seeker of an ampler life must necessarily follow the authority of the Scriptures in planning his way-of-life. The right conduct in life can be determined only when the individual has correct knowledge of WHAT IS TO BE PURSUED AND WHAT IS TO BE AVOIDED. The grand road to Truth is the same for all. It cannot be determined by each pilgrim according to his own whims and fancies. Shastras are declared by those, who had travelled the road many a time. And when the Rishis supply us with a map of the road-to-Perfection, we, the humble pedestrians, must pursue the path faithfully and come to bless ourselves.

HAVING KNOWN --- Therefore, before setting out on a pilgrimage to that Goal, every seeker is required to study intelligently the Scriptures, which are the reports left for our guidance by those who successfully walked the 'Path' earlier. A correct knowledge and a clear intellectual vision of the Goal and of the direction in which It lies, and perhaps, of the possible difficulties en route --- are the unavoidable pre-requisites for a seeker.

YOU SHOULD ACT HERE --- Ninety per cent of the seekers, perhaps, 'know' the Shastra exhaustively, in all detail as explained above, but alas, how few of them discover in themselves the courage to live, the will to pursue, and the patience to wait till the Supreme is realised within themselves. Naturally, Lord Krishna closes the chapter with the injunction that man should act, without desire, anger, or greed. This is the right way of action as exhaustively discussed in the third chapter on Karma yoga).

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 sixteenth discourse ends entitled:
THE DIVINE AND THE DEVILISH ESTATES
Om Om Om Om Om

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Introducing Chapter XVI: The Divine & the Devilish

(

{Photo I took in Prambanan, Indonesia, in 2005. Looks like Astavakra Gita!}

Gurudev introduces Chapter 16:
CHAPTER XVI 
Divine and Devilish Estates

Every system of ethics catalogues a series of virtues and vices, and strangely enough all such systems read the same although their Prophets belonged to different times and places. Irrespective of clime, creed, race and tongue, a good man is a good man. No doubt, there are slight differences between faith and faith, but such differences are found only in the Prophets' emphasis on the peoples' abstinence from certain vices and/or cultivation of certain virtues. And their special advice and appeals to the people are obviously determined by the sort of life lived by the majority of the people in their respective eras and areas.
The very same qualities accepted as virtues some three thousand years ago, are still regarded as virtues, and even today, those who live them are considered virtuous and noble. Strangely enough, we find that human beings are the same in this uproarious present as they were in the peaceful past. In this chapter, the entire mankind, of all times and of all ages, has been classified under three types: (a) the Divinely Good (Devas), (b) the Diabolically Fallen (Asuras), and (c) the Incorrigibly Indifferent (Rakshasas). However, the Rakshasic type is not taken up for discussion in the following stanzas, most probably because, for that type, no conscious self-development programme is ever possible unless it be broken, recast and moulded again by the relentless hand of adversity.

Earlier, (in Chapter IX) we had a discussion in which Krishna explained the three kinds of nature of the sentient beings, Prakritis. Later on (in Chapter XIII) the Field-of-Experience (Kshetra), and the Knower-of-the-Field (Kshetrajna) were discussed in detail. In conclusion, it was established that the Subject, the 'Knower,' is one in all "Fields."

The natural question of a brilliant intellect, at this stage of discussion, could only be how and why the experiences are so varied from individual to individual, even though the "Subject" is one and the same. It was explained (in Chapter XIV) that the "Field," being under the influence of different temperaments (gunas), no two individuals can experience a given field of happenings in the same fashion. After thus discussing exhaustively, how the Fields-of-Experience differ from one another under changing temperaments, we had a discourse from the Geetaacharya, (in Chapter XV) on the essential nature of the Infinite and Eternal" Subject," the Knower-of-the-Field. This Purushottama had been ably painted therein as the Transcendental State of Perfection and as Pure Knowledge.

Naturally, therefore, in the logical development of thought in the Geeta, this chapter discusses the types of manifestations that are available in the living world when the same "Knower", the one Eternal Spirit, expresses Itself through various "Fields." The logic of the Sixteenth Chapter can generally be a bit confusing to all hasty students; and there are daring critics who have come to the conclusion that, more often than not, "the Divine Song of the Lord is a rambling poem." This is very unfair. The sequence in the thought development in Chapter Sixteen is from the ideas not yet concluded in Chapter Nine and from the ideas merely touched upon during the explanations in the preceding three chapters.

Another severe criticism generally levelled against Hindus is that as believers in the Non-dual Reality, the Brahman, they have no respect for moral and ethical values. Some critics compare the devotional religions, semetic or otherwise, with Vedanta, and desperately strive to establish an unsubstantiated superiority for themselves. But here a lie is given to this criticism; how consistently Vedanta insists upon the moral virtues, as a prerequisite even for entering its portals, is evident from the chapters of the Geeta. And this chapter will reveal how exhaustively the Rishis had pointed out the mental contents of the good as compared with those of the bad.

The anxiety of the Geeta is not to classify mankind as good and bad, to promise a paradise to the good and to curse the bad to endless damnation in hell. The qualities enumerated here are the result of scientific observations made in the physical, mental, and intellectual behaviours, when life, the "Knower," pulsates through a DISCIPLINED "Field," and an UNDISCIPLINED "Field" of experience.

|| Chapter - 16 ||

Source: The Holy Geeta

Chapter 15 concludes...

Bg 15.18

yasmāt kṣaram atīto ’ham akṣarād api cottamaḥ
ato ’smi loke vede ca prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ

Bg 15.19

yo mām evam asammūḍho jānāti puruṣottamam
sa sarva-vid bhajati māṁ sarva-bhāvena bhārata

Bg 15.20

iti guhya-tamaṁ śāstram idam uktaṁ mayānagha
etad buddhvā buddhimān syāt kṛta-kṛtyaś ca bhārata

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 
puruṣottamayogo nāma pañcadaśosdhyāyaha

Translation

18. As I transcend the perishable and I am even Higher than the Imperishable, I am declared as the PURUSHOTTAMA (the Highest -PURUSHA) in the world and in the VEDAS.

19. He who undeluded, thus knows Me, the Supreme PURUSHA , he, all-knowing, worships Me with his whole being, O Bharata.

20. Thus, this most secret science (teaching) , has been taught by Me, O sinless one. On knowing this (a man) becomes 'wise' , and all his duties are accomplished, O Bharata.

Commentary

SHOWING THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE VERY TERM, PURUSHOTTAMA, THE LORD SHOWS HOW HE IS REALLY THE SUPREME:

Explaining the very word Purushottama, Lord Krishna says that Pure Consciousness is HIGHER than both the 'Perishable 'and the 'Imperishable.' The Perishable can continue its processes of change only against the Imperishable Truth. It is a scientific fact that no change is perceptible without reference to a changeless factor. If two trains are both moving at the same speed no movement is recognised by perceivers in both the trains. If the changes in the world of Matter --- the body, the mind and the intellect are recognised, then there must be a steady principle that illumines all these different changes. This constant factor among the Perishing is called the Imperishable.

This illumining factor gathers its status as the "Imperishable" only with reference to the "Perishable" realms. Once the perishable realms are transcended, the Imperishable amidst them Itself comes to shine forth as the Pure Infinite, which is the Purushottama. Since the Truth, Purushottama, is experienced only on transcending both the 'Perishable' and the 'Imperishable,' It is known by the term the 'Highest-Spirit' --- Purushottama. This term is used to indicate the Supreme-most Self, both by the ancient sacred volumes (Vedas), and by the poets and writers of the world.

NOW THE LORD SPEAKS OF THE FRUITS GAINED BY ONE WHO REALISES THE SUPREME TRUTH AS DESCRIBED ABOVE:

'Undeluded' means, one who has totally detached oneself from one's wrong identifications with body, mind, and intellect, and therefore, also from the world of perceptions, feelings, and thoughts, which these vehicles provide.

THUS KNOWS ME --- To 'know' here is not a mere intellectual comprehension, but a deep subjective spiritual apprehension. That the undeluded one thus experiences in himself that he is the Purushottama-principle Itself, seems to be the suggestion here.

Such a man who has fully identified himself with the Infinite "Me" alone is a true devotee, who 'WORSHIPS ME WITH ALL HIS BEING'; such a one is the greatest of devotees, declares the Geetaacharya. Identification with the beloved is everywhere the measure of love; the greater the love, the greater is our identification with the object of our love. Therefore, arithmetically, total identification should be the maximum Love or devotion.

The Highest Spirit, Purushottama, being the Infinite Consciousness, it is the 'All-knower', inasmuch as whenever anything is known through perception, feeling, or thought, it is the Principle of Consciousness that illumines it. One who has transcended one's matter-equipments and has successfully sought and discovered one's spiritual nature as the Infinite Consciousness, that individual, as the Supreme Awareness, is indicated here as the "All-knower" (Sarvavit).

THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUE NATURE OF THE LORD IS THE THEME OF THIS CHAPTER AND THE FOLLOWING CONCLUDING VERSE KRISHNA EXTOLS THIS THEME, WHICH GIVES LIBERATION TO MAN FROM ALL HIS FLESH-BORN SORROWS, MIND-BORN AGITATIONS AND INTELLECT-BORN RESTLESS-NESS:

In this concluding verse Krishna says that He has taught in this chapter 'THE MOST SECRET SCIENCE.' The spiritual science (Brahma-vidya) is termed as 'secret,' not in the sense that it should not be given out to anybody, but that it is a knowledge which cannot, of its own accord come to anyone, unless one is initiated into it by a 'Knower of Reality.'

O SINLESS ONE --- 'Sin' means an act, a feeling or a thought, which having been perpetrated, entertained, or thought of, comes back after a time to agitate our bosom with its insulting taunts and helpless regrets. In short, SIN is the resultant of the past that comes to demean our self-estimate and creates in us a lot of mental storm and consequent dissipation. One who has thus an inner personality which carries disturbing memories of undignified acts and cruel schemes, has indeed, a bosom that is ever agitated and restless. Such a mind-intellect-equipment cannot consistently apply itself to any serious and deep investigation into the subtle realm of the Pure Awareness that lies beyond the frontiers of the intellect. Therefore, the term 'sinless' in the context here only means "O STEADY-MINDED, ALERT AND VIGILANT STUDENT."

He who has realised this PURUSHOTTAMA-STATE of Consciousness becomes 'wise,' for he cannot thereafter make any error of judgement in life and thereby create confusions and sorrows for himself and for others around him.

The second of the benefits accrued by entering the Purushottama State is the enjoyment of a complete sense of fulfilment (Krita-krityataa) --- a total and overwhelming joy that comes to a man when he realises that he has fully accomplished what is expected of him. This is promised here in this verse as the reward for the realisation of the Purushottama-stage.

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 fifteenth discourse ends entitled:
THE YOGA OF THE SUPREME SPIRIT

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Introducing Purushottama Yoga - Chapter 15, the cornerstone of Gita

CHAPTER XV
The Supreme Spirit

In this section consisting of the concluding six chapters of the Geeta, there is, as all through the Geeta, a systematic development of ideas and a logical building up of the theory that the ever-changing, finite world of multiplicity is but a PROJECTION on the Infinite, and that the endless painful experiences are all caused by our own MIS-APPREHENSION OF REALITY. In the Thirteenth Chapter, the World-of-Matter and the Realm-of-Spirit were beautifully described and brought within our intellectual comprehension. The Field-of-Experience (Kshetra), and the Knower-of-the-Field (Kshetrajna) were clearly pictured and it was shown that the "Knower-of-the-Field" minus the "Field-of-Experience" is the Pure Awareness, at once Infinite and Permanent.
In this chapter the Geeta acharya discusses the nature of the Spirit in all its implications. In terms of the known alone can the unknown be indicated. The world of the known is the manifested objects of perception, emotions and thoughts. "No effect can be without a cause," and all effects sustain themselves in their own material cause. Basing his arguments upon this logical fact, the Divine Charioteer helps us lift our minds from the known phenomena to the unknown Noumenon.

With reference to the perishable, finite world of constant change, the Spirit is defined, in this chapter, as the Imperishable, Infinite, Changeless Factor, which is at once the substratum and the nourishment for the imperfect world-of-plurality. The Infinite is thus defined as the Imperishable (Akshara) with reference to the perishable (Kshara) equipments-of-Matter. After thus indicating the antithesis of change as changelessness, He will explain how the Experiencer of the changes, which are infinite in variety, is even something other than that which we know as the CHANGELESS. This Unconditional Eternal Factor, is called by the Geeta as the Purushottama.

In the concluding lines, Lord Krishna assures Arjuna that He has given out this greatest secret: "HE WHO WITHOUT CONFUSIONS, KNOWS ME THUS AS THE PERSON SUPREME, KNOWS ALL; AND WITH HIS WHOLE BEING DEVOTEDLY WORSHIPS ME." In short, this chapter is one of the rarest pieces of literature available in the world, that so directly indicates the Infinite. For the beauty and brevity of the stanzas in this chapter, no other portion even in the Geeta can stand a favourable comparison. In India, from the ancient days onwards, this chapter has been recited before taking food as a prayer by the Brahmins.

|| Chapter - 15 ||

Source: The Holy Geeta

Human Behaviour - A General Theory

In an expansive mood, I recently came up with a general theory of human actions, choices, aspirations and prayers.

I think my action always falls into one of three categories, at least as a dominant descriptor. So I am always either surviving, relating, or creating.

,When I walk on the road, I am in surviving mode, especially watching out for oncoming traffic, potholes and pits, garbage dumps and dogs.

Of course, at that time, if I am walking with a friend, especially someone I like very much and whose company I don't get much of, I am relating to him/her first and foremost. Then only comes surviving the travails of walking on the road.

When I am at a party, I am mostly relating. If I am called to introduce my friend to the audience, I go into the creating mode. I am not implying that I am making up tales, but that I am verbalising and communicating to the audience in a way that best describes my friend and our friendship, and there is an element of creativity in it.

So I am always primarily in one of three modes. But consciously, I am choosing my mode because I am actually experiencing "being". In other words, I can do any of these three only when I am consciously being.

What if I am thoughtlessly acting, sleepily passing time, and actually mindlessly moving about? Either by choice or by a kind of mental inertia, I am then choosing to be not in the "being" mode. Then this discussion is actually irrelevant.

As I grow and evolve, I start becoming better at each of these three actions, by a kind of conscious effort. I survive illness, hardship, emotional turmoil, and environmental challenges, better. I relate to people better, by being more centred in them and their welfare. I go beyond my immediate selfish ends and think and act for a larger social purpose.

I create better, too. I get trained, or become more efficient in doing what I like, as a creator.

I start enjoying in the next stage my being, in its essence, with an innate sense of well-being. My need to defend against perceived or non-existent threats goes down. I can relate even to strangers, and become a more vibrant, positive, member of the social circle. People start enjoying my company. It seems that my being is enriched by my relating.

Similarly, when I rest after joyfully creating something, it is less of an ego-trip and more of a sense of being a part of a beautiful whole.

Do you see where I come from?

In the next post, I will talk about my choices, aspirations, and even prayers in these three modes.

Concluding Chapter 14: February 23, 2017

Bg 14.26

māṁ ca yo ’vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

Bg 14.27

brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham amṛtasyāvyayasya ca
śāśvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya ca

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 
guṇatrayavibhāgayogo nāma caturdaśosdhyāyaha

Translation

26. And he, serving Me with unswerving devotion, and crossing beyond the GUNAS, is fit to become BRAHMAN.

27. For I am the Abode of BRAHMAN, the Immortal and the Immutable, of everlasting DHARMA and of Absolute Bliss.

Commentary

Being a practical text-book of religion, the Geeta is never satisfied by giving mere philosophical discourses. Every discourse, after explaining a definite aspect of our philosophy, prescribes immediately a way of training by which the imperfect can aspire to be and ultimately achieve Perfection.

HE WHO SERVES ME WITH UNSWERVING DEVOTION --- Love for God is called "devotion." Our minds revel readily and with pleasure wherever there is love. Our entire nature is fed by our thoughts, and, as the thoughts, so the mind. To contemplate steadily upon the Infinite Nature of the Self is, ultimately, to become the Self, and thus end our limited, mortal ego.

Contemplation upon the nature of the Lord in all sincerity and intensity cannot be maintained effectively at all times. As we are today, we are not capable of maintaining the mind in a state of meditation all the time. Therefore, Krishna, knowing this weakness of man, advises a practical method of maintaining this thought for a longer period of time through the process of dedicated service (seva). That all work, if intelligently undertaken in a spirit of dedication and service, can be readily converted into a worship, has already been explained in Chapter-III. This clearly and evidently shows that mere devotion to the Lord is not enough. The Gita Acharya expects his devotees to bring religion from the Pooja-rooms and temples to the fields of their every-day-life of activities and in all their contacts with others around.

Such a practice of constant God-awareness and dedicated service removes the agitations of the mind and tunes up the inner instrument for a more efficient flight through meditation. Tamas and Rajas get more and more reduced, and thereby the proportion of Sattwa in the seeker's subtle constitution increases. And such a seeker "IS FIT TO BECOME BRAHMAN." Such an individual who has gained a wealth of Sattwa in his inward composition will discover in himself a greater ability and poise during his meditation. The re-awakening to the consciousness of the Self cannot then be very far off.

Here, it is said that the seeker is fit for becoming Brahman. To realise Brahman is to become Brahman, to realise the waker, is to become the waker.

HOW CAN THE SAGE HIMSELF BE BRAHMAN? LISTEN:

In describing the Yoga of Devotion and its ultimate goal, the Geeta has already indicated: (XII-8) "YOU SHALL NO DOUBT LIVE IN ME THEREAFTER"; and the devotee, under the inspiration of his love, will forget himself as a separate individual, and his mind will merge with his point-of-contemplation, the Lord. In the previous stanza, we were told, "HE WHO SERVES ME WITH UNSWERVING YOGA-OF-DEVOTION", will steadily transcend his identification with his Matter-envelopments. To the extent the ego dies, to that extent the experience of the Divine can manifest. To retire from waking is to enter the hall-of-sleep; and while one is dozing, one is walking further and further away from the realm-of-wakefulness and proportionately entering the peaceful abode-of-sleep.

To leave completely one plane-of-Consciousness, is to enter entirely into another plane of Consciousness. The waker himself totally becomes the DREAMER and the DREAMER knows no waking-state. The DREAMER ends his dream when he either wakes up to the world or slides into the joys of peaceful slumber. There is no transaction across the frontiers of these distinct planes-of-Consciousness.

FOR, I AM THE ABODE OF BRAHMAN --- The Self that vitalises the seeker's bosom is the Pure Consciousness, that is the same everywhere, "IMMORTAL and IMMUTABLE, ETERNAL and BLISSFUL." To realise the Self within, is to realise the Infinite Self. To taste a piece of cake is to taste all cakes of all times and for all times, because the KNOWLEDGE OF the taste of cake is ever the same. In the realm of experience, if a meditator apprehends the Self in him, he at once experiences the Omnipresence of the Self. As long as a pot exists, the pot-space is seen distinct from the space around. Once the pot is broken, the pot-space itself becomes the unbounded space in the Universe; similarly, when life's false identifications with the body, mind and intellect are broken down --- in short, when the ego is dead, the Awareness of the Infinitude rises up to flood the bosom with THE ETERNAL DHARMA AND THE UNFAILING BLISS.

Shri Shankara, in his extremely rational and analytical commentary, gives for this stanza three alternative interpretations, each one not contrary to the others, but each one elucidating more and more the philosophical contents of this verse. Shankara says "BRAHMAN IS PARAMATMAN, IMMORTAL AND INDESTRUCTIBLE. HE ABIDES IN ME WHO AM THE SELF (PRATYAG-ATMAN). THAT BEING THE SELF, ONE RECOGNISES, BY RIGHT KNOWLEDGE, THE IDENTITY OF THE SELF IN ONESELF AND THE SELF EVERYWHERE."

Shankara gives an alternative meaning to the verse: "IT IS THROUGH THE POWER (MAYA) INHERENT IN BRAHMAN, AS ISHWARA, THAT HE SHOWS GRACE TO HIS DEVOTEES. I AM THAT POWER IN MANIFESTATION, AND THEREFORE, BRAHMAN AM I."

Again, as another alternative interpretation, he suggests a third meaning which, as we said earlier, is not contrary to the former two suggestions, but, in fact, paints in greater detail, the beauty of the stanza and its contents. "BY BRAHMAN IS MEANT HERE THE 'CONDITIONED-BRAHMAN'; WHO ALONE CAN BE SPOKEN OF BY SUCH WORD AS 'BRAHMAN'... CONDITIONED-BRAHMAN ALONE CAN BE CONCEIVED OF IN THE FINITE INTELLECT, PERCEIVED BY THE MIND AND EXPRESSED THROUGH LANGUAGE AS A CONTRAST TO MATTER. Here the term Brahman only means Spirit as opposed in nature to inert Matter. Thus, Matter and Spirit, both factors conceived by the limited intellect, are limited and so finite objects of knowledge. But both are known by the Consciousness, the Supreme. Therefore "I, THE UNCONDITIONED AND THE UNUTTERABLE, AM THE ABODE OF THE CONDITIONED-BRAHMAN, WHO IS IMMORTAL AND INDESTRUCTIBLE."

The Illuminator is always different from the illumined. The "subject" is the knower, and the "object" is the known. Krishna, the Infinite, represents the Eternal Subject, and therefore, He is the Abode of all "objects," including the concept of the Self which is the Spirit that vitalises and gives a similitude of sentiency and appearance of activity to all the Matter-envelopments. The conditioned Brahman (sa-upadhika) rests upon the Consciousness that is aware of it, which is the Unconditioned (nir-upadhika) Brahman.

In the following chapter (XV-16, 17 and 18) it will be explained as the three Atmans: Anatman, Jivatman and Paramatman.

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 fourteenth discourse ends entitled:
THE YOGA OF GUNAS
Om Om Om Om Om

Source: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

Introduction to Chapter XIV

CHAPTER XIV
The Gunas-(THE THREE MOODS)

We have been told so far that the Spirit, functioning through Matter, brings forth the expression of an individual who lives his experiences in the world. It is very well known to students of science that the world-of-Matter is the same everywhere. The minerals, the liquids and the gases --- each true to its own properties, is the same everywhere. The spiritual teachers of all times have uniformly declared that the vitalising principle in Matter is the Spirit, and this Spirit is universally the same everywhere. It is all-pervading and eternally dynamic. In short, we are told that when the One Truth expresses through a world-of-Matter --- which is also homogeneously the same --- the varieties that constitute the Universe arise --- obviously, this contains in itself an uncompromising paradox.
The above idea, expounded exhaustively in the previous chapter, does not provide us with any explanation for the innumerable varieties that we meet with in the world. There are evident distinctions in nature between the kingdom of plant and that of animal, and the world of man. Even within each species we observe a variety of specimens; no two species express the same features, either physical or mental. There is no explanation for the endless varieties, if we accept the idea that the One Spirit, enveloped in the same Matter, could produce such a heterogeneous multiplicity.

The explanation for the observed variety of experiences in life, has been indicated in haste in the earlier chapter. (XIII-22). "The Purusha, seated in Matter, experiences the gunas born of Matter." This, no doubt, gives us a truly scientific explanation as to why the same Spirit, when expressed through Matter, manifests Itself differently from expression to expression.

When the same Ganges water is poured into a hundred different bottles, each one will look different from the other, not because the waters are different but because of the shape and colour of each bottle. They are but qualities of the bottles, belonging to the glass-material of the bottles, and when the same sacred water is seen through the coloured bottles, the properties of the bottles get super-imposed upon the contents: the blue-water, the yellow-water, the red-water, the green-water etc. Similarly, the One Eternal Principle expresses Itself in the various matter equipments as different individuals, even though the elements that constitute Matter are one and the same everywhere --- due to the "gunas born of Prakriti."

The term guna, used in the dialectics of the Geeta, indicates not the 'properties' of a material but the 'attitude' with which the mind functions. The psychological being in everyone of us comes under the influence of three different "climatic conditions" prevalent in our bosom. These three are called the gunas: Unactivity (sattwa), Activity (rajas) and Inactivity (tamas).

These three, in different proportions, influence the mental and the intellectual caliber of every individual and these influences provide the distinct flavour in each personality. All three are always present in every bosom, but from man to man their proportion slightly differs; hence the distinct aroma in the character, conduct and behaviour of each individual.

The Geeta, being a discourse upon the Science-of-Self-perfection, has to be extremely logical in the development of the theme. We have been watching how, from chapter to chapter, the theme has been evolving, very systematically. Ideas hinted at in a previous chapter are taken up one by one in the following chapters for a thorough treatment and an exhaustive investigation. Dozens of fresh, regulated ideas are supplied at the right time to facilitate perfect digestion and right assimilation for the student's understanding. In the context of the theme-development in Geeta, this is the most appropriate occasion when the seeker must know precisely what are the nature and behaviour of these gunas. In the exhaustive discussions in this chapter we are introduced to each one of these gunas.

The three gunas function within each one of us, and therefore, each seeker must know the art of subjectively diagnosing them in himself. Diagnosis is generally accomplished through the observation of symptoms manifest in the patient. Symptomatic treatment is one of the methods of medical treatment. In this chapter. certain symptoms are enumerated by the Geeta-acharya and they indicate the preponderance of one or the other of the gunas in an individual.

Thus, a careful study of the chapter provides us with the secret capacity of detecting within ourselves the most powerful tendency that rises up to rule our mental life at any given moment. A seeker, who is sensitive enough to recognise the various influences under which he is forced to function from time to time in the world outside, will be able to discard all wrong impulses, immoral tendencies, unethical urges and animal passions, and keep himself safely balanced in righteous living, in self-control and in serene purity.

This chapter is an exhaustive hand-book of instructions explaining the working of the subtle body and providing us with some tips as to how we can re-adjust ourselves when the inner mechanism gets choked up and starts misfiring. If a man, totally ignorant of the behaviour and nature of the machine under the bonnet, were to drive a car wishing to make a long pilgrimage, he may not have a very pleasant journey if and when the engine starts mis-behaving. On the other hand, if he be an experienced driver, knowing the nature and behaviour of the engine, he can immediately stop the car, open the bonnet, readjust the machine and drive on towards the goal.

Many a seeker ends his brilliant and promising spiritual career because, on his way to self-perfection, he develops "engine trouble," and, not knowing why his mind behaves in the peculiar fashion, he gets victimised by lust or passion and suffers from the sorrows of his spiritual fall. A knowledge of this chapter assures us of a steady progress on our path, as it introduces us to the secret methods of the mind on all occasions. This chapter is very important for all seekers.

|| Chapter - 14 ||

Source: The Holy Geeta

Gurudev introduces Chapter 13: kshetra Kshetrajna Yoga

CHAPTER XIII
The field and its Knower

This is one of the most famous chapters in the Geeta which gives the student a very direct explanation for, and almost a personal experience of, the Subject in him, the Self, free from his material equipments and their mis-interpretations --- the world-of-objects. Here we have an exhaustive exposition of how to meditate directly upon the Imperishable Formless Spirit.
The Geeta, being a philosophical poem --- however much it may try to hide its austere beauty behind an enchanting veil of its own lyricism, fragrant with the human touches provided by the Krishna-love and the Arjuna-weaknesses --- is a thunderous pronouncement of the wisdom of the Rishis. As such, the theme developed in this philosophical poem is unrelentingly logical and uncompromisingly scientific. And it has an unyielding frame-work in the very continuity of its systematic thought-development.

This chapter has its direct theme-parentage in the ideas discussed already in the chapter-VII entitled "KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE," and in the chapter-VIII entitled the "IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN." The intervening four chapters (IX, X, XI and XII) were occasioned due to Arjuna's intellectual hesitations and mental doubts. But the philosopher in Krishna never forgets the main theme that he has developed upon the "IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN." And when once he has consoled his disciple, and temporarily removed his doubts, he serenely goes back to take up the melody of his discussion.

The eighteen chapters of the Geeta fall into three distinct groups each of six chapters according to some reviewers of the Lord's Song. These three sections explain, according to them, the three sacred words in one of the great Vedantik maxims (Mahavakyas): "THAT THOU ART." The first section consisting of the first six chapters, explained the term "THOU"; the second section constituted of the next six chapters, explained the term "THAT"; and the last set of six chapters will explain the correlative verb "ART" in the sacred commandment, and so in this section we have an explanation of the term "ART."

Spirit functioning through matter-envelopments is the living organism. "THAT" dressed up in matter is the vainful "THOU." Therefore, man undressed of matter, is the Eternal and the Infinite Spirit.

To undress, and thereby to get rid of matter, we must have a precise knowledge of all that constitutes matter in us. This discrimination between the inert matter-equipments and the vibrant Spark-of-Life, the Spirit, is presented to us in this chapter which is rightly called the Field and the Knower-of-the-Field --- Kshetra-Kshetrajna Yoga.

The process of undressing is the process of meditation. The pose, the attitude, and the other technical secrets of meditation were all exhaustively explained earlier (in chapter V & VI). But having sat in meditation, what exactly has our integrated mind-and-intellect to do now? Can we draw ourselves from ourselves and seek our identity with the Infinite? These are exhaustively explained in this chapter.

The matter-equipments and their perceived worlds-of-objects together constitute the FIELD; and the Supreme Consciousness, illumining them, and therefore, seemingly functioning within the field, gathers to itself as a consequence, the status of the "KNOWER OF THE FIELD." One is a knower only as long as one is in the field-of-knowables.

A driver is one who is driving; a rider is one who is riding a horse; a swimmer is one who is swimming at the moment. Off the steering-wheel, off the saddle, away from the waters, the driver, the rider and the swimmer are but three individuals. While functioning in a given field, the subject gathers to itself a certain special status depending upon the nature of the field and the type of functions performed by him therein.

The Pure Consciousness, perceiving the world-of-plurality through Its own conditionings, becomes the "KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD," and this knower thereby comes to experience joys and sorrows, successes and failures, peace and agitation, jealousies, fears and a million other wrecking storms and upheavals. The sorrows of Samsara are thus entirely the private wealth of the "KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD" --- the Jiva.

If, through discrimination, the "Field" and its "Knower" are known separately, through meditation the student can detach himself from the matter-equipments, and therefore, get away from the "Field" of these sorrow-ridden experiences. Thereby the KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD, who was the "experiencer" of the sorrows transforms himself to be the experiencer of Absolute Knowledge.

Mathematically, Knowledge in a field of known things and happenings, becomes the Knower which suffers the imperfections of the known. The knower minus the FIELD-OF-THE-KNOWN becomes Pure Knowledge, Itself ever perfect and joyous. A careful study of the chapter will open up enough secret windows on to the vast amphitheatre of spiritual insight within ourselves.

|| Chapter-13 ||

Bhakti Yoga conclusion: November 9, 2016

Bg 12.20

ye tu dharmyāmṛtam idaṁ yathoktaṁ paryupāsate
śraddadhānā mat-paramā bhaktās te ’tīva me priyāḥ

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 

bhaktiyogo nāma dvadaśodhyāyaha

Translation

20. They indeed, who follow this 'Immortal DHARMA' (Law of Life) as described above, endowed with faith, regarding Me as their Supreme Goal --- such devotees are exceedingly dear to Me.

Commentary

THIS IMMORTAL LAW PRESCRIBED ABOVE --- The Sanatana Dharma is summarised in the above lines. To realise the Self and live in that wisdom at all our personality levels --- physical, mental and intellectual --- is the fulfilment of the life of a Hindu. It is not sufficient that a Hindu understands this, or reads regularly his scriptures, or even explains them intelligently. He must be able to digest them properly, assimilate them fully, and become Perfect. Therefore, Bhagavan says that he must be "ENDOWED WITH FAITH" here the term 'faith' means "the necessary capacity to assimilate spiritual ideas into ourselves through subjective personal experience."

SUCH DEVOTEES ARE SUPREMELY DEAR TO ME --- This concluding stanza of the chapter constitutes the SIXTH SECTION adding no definite trait to the list of THIRTY-SIX QUALITIES already explained. But it forms a commandment, a divine reassurance to all spiritual seekers that when they accomplish these qualities in themselves they will gain the Supreme Love of the Lord.

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 twelfth discourse ends entitled:
THE YOGA OF DEVOTION

Though this chapter is styled as Bhakti Yoga, to read and assimilate it is to cherish true love for the Lord and cure ourselves of the various misconceptions that we have today in our practice of Devotion. The 'Path-of-Devotion' is not a mere sentimental explosion, or an excessive emotional display. It is not a mere frivolous hysteria. It is the blossoming of the human personality through the surrender of our limitations and by acquiring new vitality during the inspired moments of deep contemplation.

Om Om Om Om Om

Daily Shloka: November 2, 2016

Bg 12.12

śreyo hi jñānam abhyāsāj jñānād dhyānaṁ viśiṣyate
dhyānāt karma-phala-tyāgas tyāgāc chāntir anantaram

Translation

12. 'Knowledge' is indeed better than 'practice' ; 'meditation' is better than 'knowledge' ; 'renunciation of the fruits-of-actions' is better than 'meditation' ; peace immediately follows 'renunciation.'

Commentary

When a divine philosopher gives a discourse for the benefit of a disciple who is confused and broken-down, it is not sufficient if he merely enumerates the dry philosophical truths; he must so beautifully arrange his ideas that the very scheme of the discourse must help the student to gather all the ideas together in a bunch. The stanza, now under review, gives us one of the typical examples in Krishna's discourse wherein he directly makes an attempt to systematise his theoretical disquisitions into a well-arranged pattern of thought.

Here we find a sequence of ideas, arranged in a descending order of importance. When once this ladder-of-ideas is brought completely within a seeker's comprehension and when he learns the art of moving up and down this ladder, he will master almost all the salient points so far expounded in this chapter.

BETTER INDEED IS KNOWLEDGE THAN PRACTICE --- Spiritual practices are not mere physical acts but are disciplines that should ultimately tune up our mental and intellectual levels. The inner personality cannot be persuaded to toe the line with the physical acts of devotion unless the practitioner has a correct grasp of what he is doing. An intellectual conversion is a pre-requisite to force the mind to act in the right spirit and to gain a perfect attunement with the physical act. A correct and exhaustive knowledge of what we are doing, and why we are doing it, is an unavoidable pre-condition for making our Yoga fruitful. Therefore, it is said here that a knowledge of the psychological, intellectual and spiritual implications of our practices is greater in importance than the very external Yogic acts, or 'devotional performances.'

MEDITATION IS SUPERIOR TO KNOWLEDGE --- More important than mere KNOWLEDGE is meditation upon the very 'knowledge' so gathered. The technical explanation --- of the why and the wherefore of religious practices --- can be more easily learnt than understood. To convert our learning into our understanding, there must be necessarily a process of intellectual assimilation and absorption. This cannot be accomplished by a mere factual learning of the word-meanings. The students will have to understand, in a hearty enthusiasm, the very meaning of the Shastra, and this is possible only through long, subjective, independent ponderings over the significant terms in the Shastra-declarations. The process of inward assimilation of knowledge can take place only through meditation. Hence, in the hierarchy of importance, "meditation" has been given a greater place than the "KNOWLEDGE OF THE TECHNIQUE."

BETTER THAN MEDITATION IS THE ABANDON-MENT OF FRUITS-OF-ACTION --- Meditation is an attempt of the intellect to fly from the fields of its present knowledge to a yonder destination of a better understanding. In this flight to a vaster field, the intellect must have the necessary energy and equipoise. Meditation can never be possible for an individual in whom all energies and steadiness of mind are shattered by the agitations created by his own ruinous imaginations of the future. In our discourses upon the previous stanza, we have already shown how our anxiety for the future generally depletes our vitality to face the present. All fruits-of-actions definitely belong to the FUTURE, and to be over-anxious about them is to invite a lot of idle agitations into our bosom. Stormed by these agitations, we lose all our equipoise and such an individual has no ability to meditate upon and thereby assimilate the silent significance of the great Shastras. Therefore, Krishna here gives a greater place of importance in his ladder-of-ideas to "THE RENUNCIATION OF THE FRUITS-OF-ACTION."

As a foot-note to his own declaration, he adds how renunciation of our anxiety for the future immediately brings about a healthy condition within ourselves. "PEACE IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWS RENUNCIATION." In fact, in Hinduism, renunciation (Sannyasa) is nothing other than "giving up all our clinging attachments to the pleasures arising out of our contact with the external sense objects."

As a result of this renunciation, therefore, a dynamic quietude comes to pervade the bosom in which the intellect can meditate upon the knowledge of the Shastras, and thereby understand the ways of self-development as explained therein. And when, with this knowledge, one uses one's seat of meditation, one is assured of definite success and steady progress.

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta

First Anniversary of Geeta Musings blog!

Chapter 12- Bhakti Yoga Introduction

CHAPTER XII
Path-of-Devotion

Knowing full well the essential temperament of Arjuna, the royal hero, Krishna had tickled his kingly ambition at the closing of the last chapter (XI-54). To a true king, the challenge of a greater glory is too strong to resist. Wherever a vaster field, a greater profit, a more glowing resplendency is recognised, he cannot resist the temptation to fight for it, to conquer it and bring it within his ruling hand, and thereby spread his unquestioned sway over the conquered domain. Expecting this reaction in his royal friend of endless heroism, Krishna had not only exhibited the divine glory of the Lord and His cosmic-form, but also declared to Arjuna that "THROUGH SINGLE-MINDED DEVOTION CAN THIS COSMIC-FORM BE KNOWN AND SEEN AND ENTERED INTO BY ANYONE." On hearing that this Infinite glory can be his through devotion, the Pandava Prince optimistically determines to make an attempt to conquer and bring to himself this spiritual glory.
Psychologically, Arjuna was already prepared to feel this heroic urge and he had the divine inspiration to make any sacrifice necessary and to put forth all the efforts needed for the conquest of the spiritual goal. We have found in the last two chapters how Arjuna, as an intelligent man, was hesitant to accept his charioteer as Divine. The Prince demanded an analytical explanation for the Lord's philosophical exposition. "I AM NOT IN THEM, THEY ARE IN ME." This was given out earlier (IX-4) but the scepticism in the intelligent Arjuna was still too deep to be totally annihilated by a mere verbal declaration of the glory of the Divine.

Naturally, the Prince demanded a physical demonstration of the same and the Lord showed the total Cosmic-Form. Once fully convinced by the double process of analysis and synthesis --- discussion and a demonstration of the same --- Arjuna's intellect surrenders totally with an aspiration to realise and become the Spirit.

Every individual wants to become and live what he is convinced of; as the thoughts, so the man. And, one who is convinced, is a greater seeker than a man of blind faith jogging along the thorny Path of time-worn habits.

It is a fact that the subtler personality can come to assert itself only when the grosser one is completely satisfied. As long as one is hungry, one's emotional nature goes on choking one's heart. When the stomach is full, the heart has the freedom to demand its emotional satisfaction of love and affection. The intellect can come to its full play only when the physical and the emotional aspects are at rest --- or, temporarily at least, satisfied. If there is an imperfection or incompleteness, either in the physical or in the emotional personality of man, he is not capable of invoking and directing the efficient play of his emotional and intellectual abilities.

In the same way, the spiritual urge for intuitive experience in a seeker expresses itself only when all earlier and outer demands are fully satisfied. This truth is beautifully brought out to us in the discussions contained in the chapter on the "PATH OF DEVOTION." When Arjuna is intellectually convinced and emotionally satisfied that the cowherd-boy is the Infinite's own playful manifestation, his scepticism as a soldier ends and he feels an urge to seek, to discover, to conquer, to possess and to rule over the kingdom of the Spirit.

In the Form-Terrible, Arjuna had observed the endless thraldom of the PAST, passing through the avenues of the PRESENT, to reach the courtyard of the FUTURE and meet the "Lord of Time" Krishna Himself there. Similarly, in the Lord, the Infinite, he saw "here" and "there" mingling with each other, and the farthest horizons nestling in the lap of the "here"! Naturally, Arjuna raised the question as to whether he should seek, love, and meditate upon the infinite form of the Formless, or upon the manifest divinity in the Cosmic-Form of Krishna.

The previous two chapters had completely satisfied the sceptic in Arjuna through 'discussion' (Ch.-X) and actual 'demonstration' (Ch.-XI) of the Lord's Cosmic-Form. The newly converted Royal Prince now feels an irresistible urge to conquer the Kingdom Divine within himself. The secret strategy for the sure conquerer was also indicated in the concluding stanza of the last chapter; devotion and consistency of self-application, free from all ego-centric attachment to the world-of-objects is the way charted out in the Geeta, and it is assured that thereby, "YOU SHALL ENTER INTO ME, O PANDAVA" (XI-55).

As a practical man-of-action, Arjuna is no idle philosopher, seeking a vain satisfaction in mere bookish erudition and profitless scholarship. He was not at all charmed by the theory as such. The warrior was impatient to enter the field of strife and bring under this sway the realm of glory demonstrated by his Charioteer. Therefore, the chapter starts rightly with a question that means business.

As a student of the Vedas, from his childhood, Arjuna was taught that the Absolute is Formless and Nameless and beyond the perceptions of the sense organs, feelings of the mind, and comprehensions of the intellect. But the Prince had a vivid first-hand experience of Krishna and His Cosmic-Form. Naturally, the doubt is raised by him as to whether it is more profitable to meditate upon the Truth as unmanifest or as manifest --- like the one shown by Sri Krishna.

The question raises a very moot point in religion. From time to time, Prophets and Masters had appeared to support, or to condemn, the worship of the God-Principle in and through a Divine-Form. Can the ocean be fully realised through the knowledge of the waves, or will the knowledge of the waves obstruct our comprehension of the ocean? In short, is idol-worship justified? Can it provide a helpful prop for the meditative mind to swing on and dive into the Infinite? If it can, what exactly is the technique? The entire chapter is dedicated to answer this question.

For its scientific thoroughness and for its wealth of details, the Geeta can always stand a good comparison with any of the modern text-books on secular sciences. Lord Krishna is ever conscious that He is talking to a man-of-action, Arjuna, a brainy sceptic.

|| Chapter-12 ||

Source: The Holy Geeta

Chapter 11 concludes: October 24, 2016

Bg 11.52

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

su-durdarśam idaṁ rūpaṁ dṛṣṭavān asi yan mama
devā apy asya rūpasya nityaṁ darśana-kāṅkṣiṇaḥ

Bg 11.53

nāhaṁ vedair na tapasā na dānena na cejyayā
śakya evaṁ-vidho draṣṭuṁ dṛṣṭavān asi māṁ yathā

Bg 11.54

bhaktyā tv ananyayā śakya aham evaṁ-vidho ’rjuna
jñātuṁ draṣṭuṁ ca tattvena praveṣṭuṁ ca paran-tapa

Bg 11.55

mat-karma-kṛn mat-paramo mad-bhaktaḥ saṅga-varjitaḥ
nirvairaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ sa mām eti pāṇḍava

Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu 
brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde 
viśvarūpadarśanayogo nāma ekādaśodhyāyaha

Translation

The Blessed Lord said: 52.   Very hard, indeed, it is to see this Form of Mine which you have seen. Even the gods are ever longing to behold this Form.

53. Neither by the VEDAS, nor by austerity, nor by gift, nor by sacrifices, can I be seen in this Form as you have seen Me (in your present mental condition).

54. But, by single-minded devotion, can I, of this Form, be 'known' and 'seen' in reality, and also 'entered' into, O Parantapa (O scorcher of your foes)!

55. He who does actions for Me, who looks upon Me as the Supreme, who is devoted to Me, who is free from attachment, who bears enmity towards none, he comes to Me, O Pandava.

Commentary

The Universal-Form of the Lord is no easy experience for anyone, and it can be gained neither by study of the Vedas, nor by austerities, nor by gifts, nor by a sacrifice. Even the gods, the denizens of heaven, with their ampler intellects, longer lives, and harder endeavours, are unable to behold this Universal-Form, and they keep on longing for this experience.

And yet, Krishna has shown this Form, mighty and wondrous, to His friend through His Grace, as He Himself admitted earlier.

We may wonder what makes the Lord shower His grace upon one, and not upon another. It CANNOT be a haphazard distribution of an Omnipotent, who does things as He likes, arbitrarily, without any rhyme or reason! For, in that case the Lord will be accused of partiality and arbitrariness.

HERE, IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA, WE GET THE SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION OF WHAT COMPELS THE LORD TO SHOWER HIS SPECIAL FAVOURS UPON SOMEONE SOMETIMES, AND NOT UPON ALL AT ALL TIMES:

Regarding devotion Shankara says: "No doubt, of the means available for liberating ourselves, the most substantial hardware is Bhakti; and identifying ourselves with the Self is called Bhakti."

Identification is the truest measure of Love. The devotee, forgetting his own individual existence and, in his love, identifying to become one with his beloved Lord, is the culmination of Divine Love. The Vedantic student who is the seeker of the Self, is spiritually obliged to renounced all his abject identification with his matter vestures and to discover his true nature to be the Self.

Only those who are thus capable of identifying themselves with the One unifying Truth that holds together, in its web-of-love, the plurality, can experience, "ME IN THIS FASHION" --- in my Cosmic Form.

The three stages in which realisation of Truth comes to man are indicated here when the Lord says, "TO KNOW, TO SEE, AND TO ENTER." A definite intellectual knowledge of the goal and the path is the beginning of a seeker's pilgrimage --- TO KNOW. Next comes the seeker's attempt to masticate the ideas intellectually understood through his own personal reflections upon the information which he has already gathered --- TO SEE. Having thus 'known' and 'seen' the goal, thereafter, the seeker, through a process of detachment from the false and attachment to the Real, comes to experience the Truth as no object other than himself --- TO ENTER. By the term 'entering,' it is also indicated that the fulfilled seeker becomes the very essence of the sought. The dreamer, suffering from the sorrows of the dream, ends it all, when he no more sees, but "enters" the waking-state, himself to become the waker.

HOW? ... I SHALL EXPLAIN, SAYS THE LORD AND ADDS:

When he heard that anyone can, through undivided devotion, not only recognise the cosmic might of the Lord but also experience that glory in himself, the Pandava Prince's face must have reflected an anxiety to acquire this status. As an answer to this unasked question from Arjuna, Krishna explains here how one can grow towards this great fulfilment in life.

The Krishna-plan, for finite man to gain the stature and strength of the Cosmic, seems to consist of five distinct schemes. This is clear from the conditions required of a seeker as given in this verse. They are: (1) whose work is all dedicated to the Lord, (2) whose goal is the Lord, (3) who is a devotee of the Lord, (4) who is free from all attachments, and (5) who is devoid of all sense of enmity towards everyone.

In these five schemes, we find the entire line of self-discipline summarised. Detachment from all activities, whether physical or mental or intellectual can take place only when one is constantly thinking of the Self. Enmity is possible only when one considers the other as separate from oneself. There cannot be enmity between my own right hand and my left hand. The awareness of the Oneness should be experienced through the vision of the same Self everywhere and then alone can the total avoidance of enmity with any creature be fully accomplished.

Total detachment is an impossibility at the mind-and-intellect level. The mind and intellect cannot live without attaching themselves to some thing or being. Therefore, the seeker, through God-dedicated activity, learns first to withdraw all his attachments from other things, and then to turn his mind with the fervour of devoted attachment to the Lord. In accomplishing this, all the schemes explained earlier are, indeed, very helpful.

Thus, when the whole scheme is re-evaluated, we can find in it a logic quite acceptable and perfectly psychological. Each subsequent item in the scheme is beautifully supported and nourished by the previous one. From the stanza, it is evident that the spiritual seeker's great pilgrimage starts with God-dedicated activities. Soon, that God-principle Itself becomes his very goal in life. He will develop, in himself, a consummate liking for this glorious goal. Naturally, all his other finite attachments with the world-of-objects will end, and at last, he will come to contact the Self. Having become the Self, he recognises himself everywhere, in everything, and so, in him there cannot be any sense of enmity at all.

LOVE FOR ALL AND HATRED FOR NONE can be considered the Geeta 'touch-stone' to know the quality of realisation and intensity of experience a seeker has gained through his Sadhana.

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 eleventh discourse ends titled:

THE YOGA OF THE VISION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM

The Chapter is rightly named as the vision of the Universal-Form. In Sanskrit scriptural terminology, it is pointed out that the term Vishwa Roopa used here is actually the Virata Roopa. The Self, identifying itself with an 'individual physical body,' experiences the waking-state happenings, and in this condition the Self is called in Vedanta as Vishwa. When the same Self identifies Itself with the total-physical-gross-bodies of the Universe, in that condition the Self is called the Cosmic-Virata. Here the Lord showed His Cosmic-Form but the Chapter is titled as Vishwa-Roopa.

Om Om Om Om Om

Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta