Sutra 46. Kastarati kastarati maayaam? Ya sangam tyajati yo mahaanubhaavam sevate, nirmamo bhavati.
[Who crosses, who crosses the Maya? Only he who avoids
all contact with such objects of senses as are likely to inflame passions, who resorts to
a great spiritual soul and serves him and who is free from mineness or idea of possession.]
ip: Kah: who
tarati: crosses kah: who
tarati: crosses
maayaam: the world of senses
Yah: he who
sangam: contact
tyajati: gives up
Yah: who
Mahaanubhaavam: a great spiritual man
Sevate: resorts to and serves
Nirmamah: free from mineness
Bhavati: becomes .
A saint is the supreme refuge for those who are immersed
in the formidable ocean of Samsara or worldly existence .
Worldly attachments and sins are easily got rid of
through service of saints. Just as fire removes cold, fear and darkness, so
also service of saints removes cold in the form of sin, fear of rebirth and the
darkness.
Benefits of being in the company of Saint / Masters have been explained in detail in earlier verses and it is assumed that the readers have absorbed the same. So, Author is not getting into further detail on the same which is emphasized in this Sutra.
A line which is worth repeating a million times on being in company of Saints / Masters:-
"When you approach a master do not carry your mind which is already colored with your ego, your vasanas or mental impressions. Your Ego covers all your likes, dislikes, fear etc.
As Guru Yukteswar requested his disciple mukunda (Paramahamsa yogananda as He was known later on), "Allow the master to work through you" and for that, you have to surrender only one thing at His lotus feet- YOUR MIND!!Sutra 47. Yo viviktasthaanam sevate, yo loka- bandhamunmoolayati nistraigunyo bhavati, yogakshemam tyajati.
[He who resorts to a solitary
and holy place, he who roots out worldly desires or bonds, transcends the three
gunas and gives up all ideas of acquisition and preservation.]
Ya: who
viviktasthaanam: a lonely
and holy place
sevate: resorts to
ya: who
Lokabandham: worldly desires
or bonds
Unmoolayati: roots out
nisthraigunya: free from the
effects of the three Gunas
bhavati: becomes
Yogakshemam: acquisition and
preservation
Tyajati: gives up.
A solitary place is one where
the din and noise of the talk of sensual desires and craving for sensual objects
does not penetrate.
Mere retirement to a forest
is of little spiritual value. He who has cravings and desires meets temptations
even in a forest.
Solitary place here actually refers to withdrawal of senses and to sit with a silenced mind.
This can be achieved even in a busy place / city or in a forest, depending upon the level of a sadhaka.
Solitary thus is silence at mental level.
Silence is not merely Maunam or silence of speech. it is neither only silencing the body (physical needs). Real Silence is Silence of Mind. Thus these three silence together helps a spiritual seeker to evolve in his sadhana by leaps and bounds.
Only at the peak of sadhana, in the depth of meditation, when the devotee / sadhaka almost gets a glimpse of God / Pure consciousness within, then the word silence itself loses its purpose as there is no mind any more which has to be silenced.
This is the stage where, as poured by Sankara, "Na muktir na bandaha", for the one who realizes God / Self, there is no relevance of even the last and subtlest duality - Moksha or freedom or Bondage. How?? Because the mind, which thinks about "whether I am bound or whether I am liberated", that mind itself is transcended.
So, this duality also goes and then, it is all SHIVOHAM, SHIVOHAM, "I am the SELF, the pure, auspicious" (Shiva).
One can reach a certain stage either
in Yoga, Bhakti or Gyana in the world. For attaining advanced stages
solitude is indispensably requisite.
About the three qualities mentioned in the sutra,
Sattva is the enlightening
quality ;
Rajas is the inflaming quality and
Tamas is the enveloping or obscuring
quality.
Sattva is light, harmony; Rajas is passion, motion and Tamas is
inertia, darkness. These are the forces that bind the
soul to the world.
In sadhana / Spiritual evolvement, a man moves from Tamas to Rajas first and then from Rajas to Satvic.
Only when he moves to / embraces Satvic quality, his mind is conducive to devotion / meditation / dhyana / satsangh etc.
At the pinnacle of spiritual sadhana, a sadhaka transcends static quality also. He transcends all qualities and such a state is known as pure satva.
Lokabandham: They are the
binding forces of the world. They are Rajas and Tamas, desires, cravings,
attachments, sensual pleasures.
The whole Sadhana or practice
is transcendence of the three Gunas.
By discipline, worship, by
cultivating virtues, study, kirtan, meditation, service of the preceptor and the
grace of the Lord the devotee or the Yogi transcends all the three Gunas.
The feeling of ‘mine-ness’
grows through constant association with sensual objects. It is very difficult to
eradicate this feeling of ‘mineness’.
Yoga Kshema: Yoga means
applying one’s needs and Kshema means the preservation of what is already in our
possession.
In the spiritual sense Yoga
means union with God or God-realisation or the practice of Yoga Sadhana or
discipline through which God is realised.
Kshema means maintaining one’s
progress on the path of God realisation. As a devotee entirely depends upon
God, as he has made total self-surrender to God, as he is ever united with the
Lord, the Lord Himself looks after the Yoga and Kshema of
the devotee.
Lord Krishna says in the
Gita. “Those who are exclusively devoted to Me and worship Me in a disinterested
way, fixing their thought on Me, I Myself bear the burden of their Yoga
and Kshema, as they are ever united with Me.” Chapter IX-22.
When the aspirant develops
intense Bhakti he will be able to give up Yoga and Kshema.
The ideas of this Sutra come
in Gita, Chapter 11-45. “The Vedas deal with the three Gunas; be thou above
these three qualities, O Arjuna ! beyond the pairs of opposites, ever
steadfast in purity, careless of possession, full of the Self.”
Love.
Love.
