Sri Sathya Sai Baba

To experience divine love there is no need to practise any kind of meditation, worship or rituals. Selfless love (Prema) can be obtained only by complete absorption in spirituality. It was for this reason that Sri Krishna declared in the Gita: “Surrender unto Me, transcending all rules (Sarva Dharman Parityajya)".

Likewise, Jesus also declared: "I am the Path." Buddha, conveying the same meaning, declared, "Surrender everything" (Sarvam Sharanam Gachchami). 

These statements clearly convey that the essence of all religions, the root of all scriptures, the goal of all virtues, is the experience of spiritual oneness and unity (Sarvatmika Bhavam). The Gopikas exemplified such a spirit of surrender and oneness. Gopikas symbolise thoughts. 

Radha symbolises the combination of all thoughts in the mind. So all our thoughts, desires and aspirations and our mind should merge in Krishna, represented by Prajna in a human being. Constant Integrated Awareness (Prajna) of the Divine is the significance of the Vedantic declaration, ‘Prajnanam Brahma.’ 

(Divine Discourse, Aug 21, 1992.)

Bhagwad Gita - Post 243

Continuing with the same verse of last week, let us see what the worthy disciple of Swami Sivananda, Swami Krishnananda, has to say on this verse.

Swami Krishnananda writes,

“The power of God is greater than the power of all the people in the world, in all creation. Renounce all the rules and regulations of the temporal world, which are temporary because they require transformation, change, emendation from moment to moment; but stick to the supreme dharma which is devotion to Me. 

Leave other dharmas which are characteristic of performance of work, etc., in the world of diversity, because all that variety of dharma is subsumed under this greatest of dharmas, that is, love of God. There is no dharma equal to that.”

There are varieties of dharmas in this world: family dharma, individual dharma, social dharma, political dharma, Kshatriya dharma, Brahmana dharma, and so on. 

They are all good in their own way, in their own place, but they are all nothing before the utter surrender of the soul to God. And all these dharmas, these rules, these Smirtis, these law codes—these systems of operation of secular dharma—are all included in that highest of spiritual dharmas, namely, unity with God. 

Mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: “Surrender yourself to Me, and resort to Me only. I shall destroy all your sins.” This is a great statement indeed, because it is believed that sins cannot be destroyed. 

Avashyameva bhoktavyamkrtamkarma shubhā shubham, nābhuktamkśiiyate karma (B.V.): These verses tell us that unexperienced karma cannot leave us; we have to undergo the effect of what we have done. Wherever we go, the karmas will follow us. 

The greatest sin is ignorance of God, and every other form of crime, offence and sin is an offshoot of this ignorance of the Ultimate Reality. Because the final sin is the separation from God Himself, unity with God will destroy all sins—just as all evil that we perform in the dream state will be destroyed automatically by waking up. 

In dream we have borrowed so much wealth from somebody, we have committed offence, and against that offence, all our property is likely to be taken away, we are in a state of great grief. 

All the experiences, all the sorrows, all the agonies, all the obligations, all the duties, all kinds of relationships that we were involved in during the state of dream do not produce any effect whatsoever when we wake up into a consciousness higher in quality than the dreaming state.

The mere transformation of consciousness is equal to the fulfillment of all duties. Otherwise, even after waking up from dream we have to pay the debts that we have incurred in dream. We have to take care of all the children that we produced in the dream state because deserting our own children is a great sin, so why should we not also think of them when we wake up? 

Nothing will affect us, because consciousness determines everything. God-consciousness being the highest of awakenings, the world stands in relation to it as a dream. So, all the values, all the goodness and the badness, evil and sin in this world, whatever we call it, is like mist before the sun. 

When we unite with God, God takes care of us to see that we shall not be punished, because we have done the greatest duty, more than anything that the world can conceive; and we have performed the greatest sacrifice, not comparable with any sacrifice that we can think of in this world; and we have cut at the root of all sin by uniting ourselves with God. Therefore it is that the Lord says: “I shall free you from all sins.” Ahaṁ tvā sarvapāpebhyo mokṣyayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ. 

But we should not be under the impression that we can go on committing some foolish acts and God will come to our aid. He comes to our aid only when we are oblivious of our own existence, we are totally unaware of even the existence of the world, and we are absorbed in the Universal God utterly. 

It is in that condition of total transcendence of oneself that it is possible to expect this kind of blessing from the Almighty whereby all our offences are pardoned. 

Otherwise, as long as we are world-conscious and body-conscious—we know that there is a world and we know that there are people and that we also exist—then this law does not apply. 

We will have to reap the fruits of our karmas. Therefore, this is not a blanket cover for every kind of state of consciousness. It is applicable only to one state of consciousness—which is unity with God, not otherwise.

Continued…….

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 242

Verse 66

Abandoning all duties, take refuge in Me alone; I will liberate thee from all sins; grieve not.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba writes on this verse,

Note that the Lord said, “Abandon all dharmas (sarva dharmaan parithyajya)”, not “abandon all actions (sarva karmaan parithyajya)”. What then is the meaning of this statement? It means, “Perform all acts enjoined by the Lord for His glorification, without getting involved and lost in discussions of dharma and non-dharma.”

Although you know that there is nothing for you to acquire, for you have placed complete trust in the Lord and live only as an offering to the Lord, still, like Janaka and others, you have to engage in activity for the well-being of the world. 

The soul immanent in every being is not distinct from the Atma or soul that is in you. So, be eager to promote the well-being of all beings. Perform all acts enjoined by the scriptures for this sake, in the spirit of dedication, with no eye on the fruits thereof. This is true renunciation of the fruit of action (nish-kama-karma).

Understand the Gita well and, observing its injunctions, establish yourselves in the attitude of renunciation of the fruit of action. Do all duties as acts of worship, offerings to God. That is the sole task. Leave the rest to Him: the fruit, the consequence, the result. Then, you receive the grace of Hari and your life on earth is sanctified and becomes worthwhile.

(Gita Vahini)

Swami Sivananda writes,

This is the answer given by the Lord to the question put by Arjuna in chapter II verse 7, 

"I ask Thee which may be the better tell me that decidedly. I am Thy disciple, Suppliant to Thee teach me. All Dharmas, all action- righteous or unrighteous."

As per Vedanta 

Absolute freedom from all actions is intended to be taught here. Taking refuge in Me alone implies the knowledge of unity without any thought of duality knowing that there is nothing else except Me, the Self of all, dwelling the same in all. If thou art established in this faith, I shall liberate thee from all sins, from all bonds of Dharma and Adharma by manifesting Myself as thy own Self.

To behold forms is the Dharma of the eye. The support or substratum of all forms is Brahman. When you look at an object behold Brahman, Which is the one essence and abandon the form as it is illusory and unreal. 

Have the same attitude towards the other objects which pertain to the other senses. Give up the Jiva Dharma (the notions - I am the doer of actions, I enjoy. I am a Brahmana, I am a Brahmachari, I am endowed with a little knowledge and power, etc. and get yourself established in Brahma Bhavana (the understanding or knowledge I am Brahman). This is what is meant by taking refuge in Lord Krishna, according to the Vedantins.

In the path of devotion

Work ceaselessly for the Lord but surrender the fruits of all actions to the Lord. Take the Lord as your sole refuge. Live for Him. Work for Him. Serve Him in all forms. Think of Him only. Meditate on Him alone. See Him in all forms. 

Think of Him only. Meditate on Him alone. See Him everywhere. Worship Him in your heart. Consecrate your life, all actions, feelings and thoughts to the Lord. You will rest in Him. You will attain union with Him. You will attain immortal supreme peace and eternal bliss. This is the view of another school of thought.

Sankara's views on karma 

Sri Sankara very strongly refutes the idea that knowledge in conjunction with Karma (action) produces or leads to liberation. He says that Karma and knowledge may not go together in the same man, that karma helps the man to get purification of the heart, and that right knowledge of the Self alone will give him absolute freedom from Samsara. 

He says that work and knowledge are like darkness and light; that action is possible only in this universe of illusory phenomena which is the projection of ignorance and knowledge dispels this ignorance. 

We will continue contemplating on this verse in the next post as well and arrive at some conclusion after knowing what few other Masters have said on this unique verse.

Love.