Spiritual path- Bhagwad Gita
Various paths in spiritual journey can not be read/gathered in one single place except in the initial verses in chapter 12 of Bhagwad Gita and the translation of those verses in English are given below:-
Chapter XII - The Yoga of Devotion
Arjuna said:
Those ever-steadfast devotees
Who thus worship You
And those who worship
The eternal unmanifest Brahman,
Which of these has the best knowledge of yoga? (12.01)
Krishna said:
(BHAKTI MARGA/ BHAKTI YOGA)
Those ever steadfast devotees who worship
With supreme faith by fixing
Their mind on Me as personal God,
I consider them to be the best yogis. (12.02)
JNANA MARGA/JNANA YOGA
But those who worship the imperishable,
The undefinable, the unmanifest, the omnipresent,
The unthinkable, the unchanging, the immovable,
And the eternal Brahman; (12.03)
KARMA MARGA/ KARMA YOGA
Restraining all the senses,
Even minded under all circumstances,
Engaged in the welfare
Of all creatures, they also attain Me. (12.04)
FURTHER EXPOSITION OF THE THREE PATH
Self-realization is more difficult
For those who fix their mind on the formless Brahman,
Because the comprehension of the unmanifest Brahman
By the average embodied human being is very difficult. (12.05)
But, to those who worship Me as the personal God,
Renouncing all actions to Me;
Setting Me as their supreme goal,
and meditating on Me with single minded devotion; (12.06)
I swiftly become their savior,
From the world that is the ocean
Of death and transmigration,
Whose thoughts are set on Me, O Arjuna. (12.07)
Therefore, focus your mind on Me alone
And let your intellect dwell upon Me
Through meditation and contemplation.
Thereafter you shall certainly come to Me. (12.08)
If you are unable to meditate steadily on Me,
Then seek to reach Me, O Arjuna,
By practice of spiritual discipline. (12.09)
If you are unable even to do any Sadhana,
Then be intent on performing your duty for Me.
You shall attain perfection just by working for Me (12.10)
If you are unable to work for Me
Then just surrender unto My will with subdued mind,
And renounce the fruits of all work. (12.11)
The Truth is One, but the paths are many.
The Bhagwad Gita extols three major margas or paths of Yoga which help the aspirant frame his personal nature with the highest goal, realization and union with Brahman, or the all-knowing and pervasive consciousness that governs the universe.
Although each path is different, the destination is ultimately the same. One path is not higher than the other; rather the lessons of each contain its own unique wisdom that provides an integrated and balanced view of one’s relationship to oneself and the higher reality.
KARMA YOGA
BRAHMANY ADHAYA KARMANI
SANGAM TYAKTVA KAROTI YAH
LIPYATE NA SA PAPENA
PADMA-PATRAM IVAMBHASA
One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme God, is not affected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water.
Karma Yoga is essentially Acting, or doing one’s duties in life as per his/her dharma, or duty, without concern of results – a sort of constant sacrifice of action to the Supreme. It is action done without thought of gain.
One cannot live in the world without performing actions, and thus a proper mindset should be established when doing these actions.
Karma Yoga purifies the heart by teaching one to act selflessly, without thought of gain or reward. By detaching oneself from the fruits of one’s actions and offering them up to God, one learns to sublimate the ego.
This is the difference between simply performing actions for personal gains, and performing actions without attachment (vairagya) as a spiritual practice where all fruits are given to God. This is the most arduous of all paths as most of us are attached to the fruits of our actions.
SUMMARY LINE- TO TAKE UP ACTION WITHOUT EXPECTING RESULTS, UNATTACHED TO THE FRUITS OF ACTIONS.
BHAKTI YOGA
SRI-BHAGAVAN UVACA
MAYY AVESYA MANO YE MAM
NITYA-YUKTA UPASATE
SRADDHAYA PARAYOPETAS
TE ME
YUKTATAMA MATAH
The Blessed Lord said: He whose mind is fixed on My personal form, always engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith, is considered by Me to be most perfect.
YE TU DHARMAMRTAM IDAM
YATHOKTAM PARYUPASATE
SRADDADHANA MAT-PARAMA
BHAKTAS
TE ‘TIVA ME PRIYAH
He who follows this imperishable path of devotional service and who completely engages himself with faith, making Me the supreme goal, is very, very dear to Me.
Bhakti yoga is based on the doctrine “Love is God and God is Love”. The Deity is the beloved and the devotee is the lover. In Bhakti yoga, everything is but a manifestation of the divine and all else is meaningless, including the Ego. When the Bhakta is blessed by divine grace he feels an undivided union and non-dual consciousness prevails. Bhakti Yoga is regarded as the most direct method to merge in cosmic consciousness.
This path appeals particularly to those of an emotional nature. Through prayer, worship, chanting and ritual one surrenders himself to God or object of faith, channeling and transmuting his emotions into unconditional love and devotion. Continuous meditation of God or object of faith gradually decreases the ego of the practitioner. Suppressed emotions get released and the purification of the inner self takes place. Slowly the practitioner loses the self identity and becomes one with God or the object of faith, this is the state of self-realization.
SUMMARY- EVEN WHILE UNDERTAKING ACTIONS, OFFERING ACTIONS AND THE FRUITS OF ACTIONS AT THE LORD’S FEET, EVER ENGAGED IN WORSHIP OF LORD (Thus, karma is combined with Bhakti and thus combined, all karmas/ actions get sanctified).
JNANA YOGA
UDDHARED ATMANATMANAM
NATMANAM AVASADAYET
ATMAIVA HY ATMANO BANDHUR
ATMAIVA RIPUR ATMANAH
A man must elevate himself by his own mind, not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.
Jnana Yoga is a process of learning to discriminate between what is real and what is not, what is eternal and what is not. Through a steady advancement in realization of the distinction between Real and the Unreal, the Eternal and the Temporal, one develops into a Jnani.
This is essentially a path of knowledge and discrimination in regards to the difference between the immortal soul (atman) and the body.
Jnana Yoga is the process of converting intellectual knowledge into practical wisdom. Jnana literally means ‘knowledge’, but in the context of yoga it means the process of meditative awareness which leads to illuminative wisdom.
It is not a method by which we try to find rational answers to eternal questions, rather it is a part of meditation leading to self-enquiry and self-realization.
Before practicing Jnana Yoga, the aspirant needs to have integrated the lessons of the other yogic paths – for without selflessness and love of God, strength of body and mind, the search for self-realization can become mere idle speculation.
SUMMARY-
Tireless actions taken up in many years/ many births, without attaching to the fruits of actions removes the demonic ego in a man.
With reduced ego, tireless, whole-hearted worship of the Lord divine in many years/ many births enables the man to further take his mind away from all objects of the world and to steadily focus on the form of his chosen God.
Incessant meditation/whole-hearted devotion on God with Form results secretly in total devotion transforming into total love.
With unwavering mind, least thoughts flowing, mind withdraws itself within and it is here that a devotee is able to meditate on unmanifest Lord to ultimately discover the Lord/ Truth/ SELF within the cave of his own heart, as shruthis say.
We shall dive further into the three path, how each one’s sanskaras/ nature decide on which of the three paths to be chosen, in further posts.
Love.
