Bhagwad Gita- Post 152

Quality # 19

Sarva arambha parityagee        

        

Renounced all undertakings and all  Commencements

The phrase sarva-arambha-parityagi means renouncing all endeavors that are colored with ego. 

He does not take initiative. If something happens, he acts in accordance with that happening. If nothing happens, he keeps quiet. 

He does not plan what he will do tomorrow or the day after that. He remains quiet, as if nothing is happening and the world itself does not exist. 

Why would a True devotee will not make a beginning in any thing?? Will he just sit idle?? 

For such apparently contradictory verses, Sri Chinmaya’s lines  always illumine and clears the confusion when we read such verses

He writes,

“To perceive any definite beginning in an undertaking, the individual actor must have a solid and gross egoistic claim that he had begun it himself. 

He must have the strong feeling that he is beginning an activity, for the purpose of gaining a definite goal, whereby he will be fulfilling a specific desire of his, or will thereby be gaining a positive profit. 

One who is a seeker of the Divine, striving to reach the higher cultural perfections, must renounce this egoistic sense of self-importance and work on in the world."

An example would clarify this state of “not beginning anything on his own ( with ego)"

The series of Samarpan bhajans taken up in a Sai centre in Oman. somewhere in 2007, was stopped after taking up bhajan teaching as well as satsangh for 251 bhajans, few years before.

Never did an Idea strike to the Author that he should re-start the same. After nearly 5 years or so, when the Sadan talk series on Realization through the path of devotion, Attraction to Atma Nivedanam got over, one of the devotees messaged, “ Why don’t you start the Samarpan again?”. 

There was no time space gap between the suggestion received and his replying, “ yes, we will start”.

This shows that, on his own, a true devotee may not rush to start any thing on his own, which is propelled by ego, any thought that “ I will take the initiative”. 

However, it does not mean that he will never rise to take up anything. Everything that he starts, does, is based on intuition and the decision to start, when the intuition is received, is instant and then the work is taken up with  highest spirit. 

Quality # 20

Yona hrishyati na dweshti         

Neither rejoices, nor hates

Again, both these qualities owe  their state of existence to  the devotee’s transcending the root cause- EGO, which has been sufficiently explained , yet, it deserves a recap.

Clouded with ignorance ( Avidya)  of our divine nature, developing the “ I” or “ mine ness”( Asmita) , when we usually encounter a situation or obtain an object, we are either attracted ( Raga)  to it, repulsed (Dvesha) by it. 

Attraction generates desires that are stored in our mind, and repulsion generates negative desires, a list of things we would like to stay away from. If we eventually get the favorable object, or hold on to the favorable situation long enough, we become “harshita”, we rejoice. 

But if we lose that object or situation, which is bound to happen sometime, we become “shochita”, we grieve. Attraction, revulsion, desire, hatred, joy, grief – this is how most of us usually operate.

 
The perfected devotee has tackled this problem at its root, he has transcended Avidya and has become one with the Lord.

He has stopped labelling any object, person, situation or thought as either good or bad, because it is exactly this labelling that starts the chain reaction of attraction, desire, joy and sorrow. The perfected devotee accepts all objects and situations as Easwara’s blessings, does what he has to do, and moves on. 

Love

Bhagwad Gita- Post 151

Quality # 17

Udaseeno    

Unconcerned

He is Udaaseenaha, unconcerned and unattached, not because he does not care about the action, but because he doesn’t get attached to the result of the action.

In Panchadasi, there is this  description of a Jivanmukhta, which exactly aligns with this quality.

“Nothing worries them. If somebody is cutting a tree in the forest, we are not bothered. Let them cut it. Nothing is happening, though the tree in the forest is being cut by somebody. 

So many are climbing trees and chopping off branches for fuel. Are we worried about all these things? We look at these events taking place as if they are not taking place at all. 

Many events in the world which are causes of great anxiety to people like us are no events at all for these Godmen, as if they do not take place. If the prarabdha which is working through this body manifests itself in the form of some experience—as Jadabharata had an experience, for instance—it matters not to them. 

Whether they are alive or dead, it makes no difference, because  essentially they cannot die. And even if they are alive, it is not a great virtue for them because, after all, what is this life except through this body born of prarabdha? Birth and death mean the same thing.

Why at all we are concerned about something?? Because, as per our attachment, certain things, when they happen, we are happy about it  and on the other hand, certain things, if they happen or if they do not happen,  we are very concerned as to why it happened or why it did not happen. So, if we reach to the root cause of this “ excessive concern”, we will find that our ego is the cause for the same.

And, we have elaborately dealt with this “ Ego” and how a devotee transcends the same.

Hence, a sincere devotee who has no ego any more, is not concerned with any material aspects in the world as other persons would be concerned. 

How ever, wherever any action is required, any one needs to be served, without deliberations, without propelled by any thoughts arising out of Ego, he ends up acting/ serving spontaneously. 

In short, each move by/ from such a devotee/ Jnani is based on intuitions, not driven by mind.

Quality # 18

Gatavyatah 

Untroubled

Free from grief of every kind. He has no sorrow, no grief, no feeling that something has come which he does not want, or something that he wants has not come. 

This grief does not touch him because there is nothing that he wants, and there is nothing that he does not want.

With no mental agitations caused by future expectations or past anxiety, the karma yogi performs actions with great dexterity and fearlessness. “Yogaha karmasu kaushalam” – dexterity in action is karma yoga as we saw in the second chapter. 

The karma yogi devotes all his attention and brings great focus to the task at hand, keeping all distractions aside. He also performs the work as an emissary of Easwara, which removes any notion of fear, hesitation or doubt from his mind. Sri Krishna says that this type of devotee, the perfected karma yogi, is very dear to him.

Love

Bhagwad Gita - Post 150

Quality#14

Anapeksha

Free from wants

Devotees are rich in divine love for God and they consider it to be the highest treasure worthy of possessing.

Want comes from where?? Again, it traces back its origin to Avidya, Ignorance of our divine nature leading to ---- Asmita (Mine-ness, I-ness) ---- Raga, Attachment. From attachment comes desire to own the object / being, to whom you are attached.

A small kid sees a toy, develops attachment to it, then only the WANT to own the toy crops up, then only it rushes to own it.

It does not mean that such a devotee will not own anything at all.

In Vivekachudamani, Chinmaya, while commenting on a verse,  explains the nature of such a person (call him Bhakta, call him Jnani, it does not matter, the state of existence is the same for both of them), in the following manner:

“Like child sleeping in cold , when a blanket is wrapped around it by someone, it feels the warmth of blanket, it does not reject it, it accepts in innocence and returns to sleep”.

Since all human beings are filled with wants, when they look at such a bhakta / jnana wrapped in a blanket or coat, says, 

“See, this person calls himself a Jnani, still he is adorning such a cosy coat”.

Swami Sivananda used to wear a long coat and when someone commented on the same, he smiled and said, “ for you, it may be a long overcoat, for me, it is rugged woolen cloth, worn by me so that, in this cold climate (Hrishikesh), when a call comes from someone who needs my service, I can run to him easily with this cloth”!!!!

Quality#15

Suchi

Pure 

We know by now that we are created PURE by God.

Then why is it that we ever get impure??

When we are filled with Ego, we develop attachment, Hatred and then along with them come  all their byproducts- Anger, Greed, Lust, Envy etc. 

And, we undertake actions, propelled by such undesirable qualities, our  actions fetch us Karma. Caught in this vicious circle, we develop our Sanskara and the whole sequence  explained, renders our thoughts / our actions impure.

On the other hand, what would be the nature of a true devotee / jnani?

Since his  minds are constantly absorbed in the all-pure Lord, devotees become internally cleansed from the defects of lust, anger, greed, envy, ego, etc.  

In this state of mind, they naturally prefer to keep the external body and environment pure as well.  Thus, in accordance with the old saying, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” they are also externally pure.  

Quality#16

Daksha

Expert

Author cannot but look at Sri Krishna awestuck at the sequence in which the qualities have been enumerated in this chapter by the Lord!!

This quality - EXPERT, is but the manifestation of the previous quality - PURE.

He writes this from his real lifetime experience and hence, you may or may not find this alignment of being PURE with being EXPERT, in any other commentary on this verse. 

We have understood about “Suchi” and how such a devotee is internally and externally pure. 

Now, with this purity, he goes about in the world, performing  the necessary duties.

If internally he is not pure, what happens?? He will have preconceived thoughts / notions / impressions about each and every person whom he comes into contact throughout the day, while performing his / her duties as house holder or pursuing career etc. 

And his interaction with all beings during the day is with the background of his impressions about them, it could be excessive attachment or excessive hatred or greed or lust etc. 

What happens?? His planning, his acts, his behavior, is all colored by these bad qualities and the results are often not to a total perfection level.

Whereas, with inner purity, his heart, his body, his mind is fully charged up, full of energy and spirit as he is approaching the day with utmost purity, with no ego to  being down / deflate his energy, focus, concentration and spirit.

How would be the results of actions undertaken with such energy level, with such focus and attention??

Obviously, everything turns out to be perfect, as if they are planned, organized and executed by AN EXPERT, though he may not be an expert in that field in worldly terms. 

Whatever he talks, whatever he does, is experienced by the world as PERFECT, done with EXPERTISE.

A Master writes on a devotee endowed with this quality, an EXPERT, thus:-

“He is very able in the performance of his duties. Whether they are spiritual duties in the form of meditation or external duties in the form of relations with society, he is expert, adroit and very precise in his behavior, and he will not bungle in his attitude. But he looks like an uninterested person. He does not talk much. He does not take any initiative, and keeps quiet, as if he is not interested in anything in this world. Yet he is very able, a very great expert, and when he starts doing a thing, he will do it in a more expert manner than anybody else”.

Love.