Bhagwad Gita - Post 255 (Concluding post)

Essence of the Gita

Dear All,

It has been a major journey, with 250 + posts on Bhagwad Gita spread over a period of almost a year.

The author has not taken up Gita as seriously and as sincerely as he had taken up Upanishads, all other related Vedanta treatise of Adi Sankara, Swami Sivananda, Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Krishnananda, Sage Vidyaranya and many others.

As he started writing commentary, it was as though all his study of all other Vedanta treatise were given in an easier way in the Bhagwad Gita.

It has been a joyous journey  for him to refresh all Vedantic truth while writing 250+ posts on the sacred Gita.

Also, Gita had many verses contradicting each other apparently, though there can never be any contradiction in the song divine, in real sense.

Gratitude to all sages, all realized masters, all those whose commentary have been taken wherever necessary for completing the commentary in the post, like Swami Sivananda,  Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Krishnananda.

Wherever possible, Swami’s writings have also been taken, though not fully, as Swami has not written / spoken verse by verse for all 18 chapters.

Hope the blog posts would be of use for the present seekers as well as seekers in years / decades to come.

With Humility and reverence to all beings

Author 

(A sincere sadhaka) 

Supreme Sage from Ananda Kutir writes, 

"The Gita again and again emphasises that one should cultivate an attitude of non-attachment or detachment. It urges repeatedly that an individual should live in the world like water on a lotus leaf. “He who does actions, offering them to Brahman and abandoning attachment, is not tainted by sin as a lotus leaf by water”—V.10.

Attachment is due to infatuation. It is the offspring of the quality of Rajas. Detachment is born of Sattwa. The former is a demoniacal attribute, the latter a divine one.

Attachment is born of ignorance, selfishness and passion and brings with it death; detachment is wisdom and brings with it freedom. The practice of detachment is a rigorous discipline. You may stumble like a baby who is just learning to walk, but you will have to rise up again with a cheerful heart. Failures are not stumbling-blocks but stepping stones to success.

Try to dwell always in your own Self. Abide in your centre. Think of the Self constantly. Then all attachments will die automatically. Attachment to the Lord is a potent antidote to annihilate all worldly attachments. He who has no attachments can really love others, for his love is pure and divine. “Therefore, without attachment do thou always perform action which should be done; for, by performing action without attachment man reaches the Supreme”—III.19.

A critic says: “In XV.7, the Lord says: ‘An eternal portion of Myself, having become a living soul in the world of life, draws to itself the five senses with the mind for the sixth, abiding in Nature’. It is quite clear that the individual soul is a part of Brahman, the Absolute. How can we say that it is identical with Brahman? The doctrine of Advaita is therefore wrong”.

In VII.17, the Lord says: “Of them, the wise, ever steadfast and devoted to the One, excels; for I am exceedingly dear to the wise and he is dear to Me”. Here He speaks of identity. The doctrine of non-dualism is quite correct. Non-dualism is the highest realisation. The Lord gives instructions according to the aspirant’s qualification. Advaita philosophy can be grasped only by a microscopic few. So, He speaks of other philosophical doctrines in different places to suit different kinds of aspirants. From the absolute point of view there is neither the individual soul nor Self-realisation; Brahman alone exists. "

(Swami Sivananda)

Swami concludes Gita Vahini with the lines given below.

"The Mansion of Gita is the mansion of truth and dharma, erected on the soil of India for the benefit of the world. Study it with faith and devotion. Experience the curative and restorative effects of its teachings by actual practice.

For people who do this, the Atma, so full of the spring of sweetness and bliss (Atma-rama), will be ever present as a reality. The Lord will shower His favours on such people in a trice. Pray to the Lord, who has all the fourteen worlds in Him, and you can certainly become master of the eight treasures that give happiness here below and, what is even more desirable, liberation (kaivalya), which is the fountain of eternal bliss, eternal truth, and eternal wisdom .

Why wander about for ghee when you have butter with you? Acquire butter, that is to say, the grace of the Lord, by implicit obedience to the rules of life laid down by Him. 

When that grace is won, there is no need to pray separately for liberation. He knows best what you should get and when. He will confer what you deserve and what is beneficial. Yearn for Him, suffer anguish for Him; then there is no need to yearn for moksha. If that is done with no second thought, He will destroy all sin. Hold fast to Him; He can make you immortal, like Arjuna. 

Those who seek to escape from this cycle of birth and death must obey the command of the Lord as laid down in the Gita and surrender to Him. Then, they will be crowned with success in every undertaking. They will achieve victory."

 Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 254

Summary of 'Bhagwad Gita' ... Continued

This discourse is entitled “Purushottama Yoga” or the “Yoga of the Supreme Person”. Here Lord Krishna tells us about the ultimate source of this visible phenomenal universe from which all things have come into being, just like a great tree with all its roots, trunk, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers and fruits which spring forth from the earth, which itself supports the tree and in which it is rooted.

Sri Krishna declares that the Supreme Being is the source of all existence, and refers allegorically to this universe as being like an inverted tree whose roots are in Para Brahman, and whose spreading branches and foliage constitute all the things and factors that go to make up this creation of variegated phenomena. 

This is a very mysterious “Tree” which is very difficult to understand, being a product of His inscrutable power of Maya; and hence a marvelous, apparent appearance without having actual reality. One who fully understands the nature of this Samsara-Tree goes beyond Maya. 

To be attached to it is to be caught in it. The surest way of transcending this Samsara or worldly life is by wielding the excellent weapon of dispassion and non-attachment.

Lord Krishna also describes for us the wonderful mystery of His Presence in this universe and the supreme place He occupies in sustaining everything here. 

The Lord declares that it is a part of Himself that manifests here as the individual soul in each body. He Himself is the indwelling Oversoul beyond the self. He is the effulgence inherent in the sun, moon and fire. He is present as the nourishing element in the earth. He is the inner witness of all beings. 

He is the Supreme Knower even beyond Vedic knowledge. He is the resplendent Person who is beyond both this perishable phenomenal creation as well as the imperishable individual soul which is a part of His eternal essence. 

Thus, because He is beyond perishable matter and superior to the imperishable soul (enveloped in Maya), He is known in this world as well as in the Vedas as the Supreme Person.

This discourse is important and very instructive to all persons who wish to attain happiness, prosperity and blessedness, and to seekers in particular, who wish to attain success in their spiritual life. 

Lord Krishna brings out quite clearly and unmistakably here the intimate connection between ethics and spirituality, between a life of virtue and God-realization and liberation. 

Listing two sets of qualities of opposite kinds, the Lord classifies them as divine and demoniacal (undivine), and urges us to eradicate the latter and cultivate the divine qualities.

What kind of nature should one develop? What conduct must one follow? What way should one live and act if one must attain God and obtain divine bliss? These questions are answered with perfect clarity and very definitely. 

The pure divine qualities are conducive to peace and liberation and the undivine qualities lead to bondage. 

Purity, good conduct and truth are indispensable to spiritual progress and even to an honorable life here.

Devoid of purity, good conduct and truth, and having no faith in God or a higher Reality beyond this visible world, man degenerates into a two-legged beast of ugly character and cruel actions, and sinks into darkness. 

Such a person becomes his own enemy and the destroyer of the happiness of others as well as his own. 

Therefore, a wise person, desiring success, must eradicate vice and cultivate virtue.

In this world three gates lead to hell—the gates of passion, anger and greed. Released from these three qualities one can succeed in attaining salvation and reaching the highest goal, namely God. 

The goodness or the badness of a particular quality or action, the divinity or the demoniacal nature of any behavior, cannot be asserted entirely by social standards. They become acceptable or not acceptable on account of their relevance to the ultimate goal of life. 

If there is total harmony and relevance with the final attainment, that attitude, that conduct, that behavior, that thought and feeling will be considered as holy, divine, ethical and moral. 

But if there is behavior which is opposed to the consciousness of the ultimate goal of life by encouraging attachment, egoism, possessiveness, cruelty and associated qualities, then it becomes unethical, immoral, bad, ugly, undivine. 

This discourse is termed the “Yoga of the Division of the Three Kinds of Faith”. The theme of this discourse arises out of the question asked by Arjuna in Verse 1 with reference to the final and closing advice of Lord Krishna in the previous discourse, contained in the last two verses therein (Verses 23 and 24). Arjuna asks, “What about those who, even though setting aside scriptural injunctions yet perform worship with faith?”

The Lord replies and states that the faith of such men who ignore the injunctions of the scriptures could be either Sattwic, Rajasic or Tamasic. This would be in accordance with the basic nature of the person himself. And, conversely, as is the kind of faith, so develops the nature of the man.

Thus, in all things like sacrifice, worship, charity, penance, etc., these qualities become expressed in accordance with the kind of faith in which the person concerned is based. 

Three kinds of worship:

Satvika people worship gods and goddesses, rajasika people worship angels and demons, while tamasika people worship ghosts and spirits.

Three kinds of food:

Sattvika people like food that improves health and increases appetite, joy, strength, and longevity. Such food is also tasty, not very dry, cooked with balanced spices, nutritious, and pleasing to the heart. 

The food rajasika people prefer is extremely bitter, sour, salty, dry, hot in temperature and with the spices that burn the tongue and the body.  Such food causes pain, worries and disease.

Tamasika people like food that is ill-cooked, tasteless, putrid, stale, left-over, and filthy.

Three kinds of Yajna

Sattvika yajna is one which is performed following the guidelines of scriptures and saints.

Rajasika yajna is performed with a clear motive of material gain and just to project oneself as a spiritual person.

Tamasika yajna is performed without following any guidelines.  

Three kinds of austerities: 

There are three kinds of austerities, namely, physical, verbal and mental.  Each of these austerities is of three types: sattvika, rajasika, and tamasika.

Each of these austerities is sattvika if it is performed with supreme faith and for spiritual development only, not for any worldly gain.

The rajasika way of performing austerity is to gain honor, attain higher status, receive reverence from people in the society, and is filled with hypocrisy.  The result of such austerity is uncertain and short-lived.

When a person picks up a few ideas and practices them as austerity to torture their own body and mind and simply to harm others, then it is called tamsika austerity.

  

Three kinds of charity: 

When charity is done with noble purpose it is called sattvika charity.

Rajasika charity is done in order to receive a worldly favor and for material gain.

Charity to an unworthy, at improper place and time, and given with insults and disrespect is called tamasika charity. 

All the above produce results in accordance with the quality of the doer’s faith. These acts done with right faith lead to supreme blessedness. 

When taken up without any faith whatsoever, all these actions become barren and useless.

Om, Tat and Sat 

Om, Tat and Sat are three epithets of Brahman.  By that were created formerly the Brahmanas, the Vedas, and the yajnas. 

Therefore, the followers of the Vedas always begin all yajnas, tapa and charity enjoined by the scriptures with the utterance of “Om”.

People seeking liberation, uttering the word “Tat”, perform yajna, tapa, and charity only for spiritual development.

The word “Sat” is used whenever one refers to the Ultimate Reality or something good or noble.

The eighteenth discourse, which is the conclusion of the divine discourse of Lord Krishna, is in many ways a summary of the foregoing portions of the Gita. 

It covers in brief numerous important points dealt with in the previous discourses. Here you behold the ultimate result or effect of the Lord’s discourse to Arjuna. The drama of Arjuna’s utter despondency and breakdown is finally resolved in triumphant self-mastery, strength and bold resoluteness. 

Its central message emerges as an assurance that in and through the performance of one’s respective duties in life one can qualify for the highest liberation, if one performs actions by renouncing egoism and attachment and surrendering all desire for selfish, personal gain. By regarding the performance of your duties as worship offered to God, you obtain the Grace of the Lord and attain the eternal One.

Significantly, this discourse opens with a question by Arjuna asking what is true Sannyasa and true Tyaga (renunciation). 

In reply to this important and crucial query, the blessed Lord makes it clear to us that real Sannyasa or renunciation lies in renunciation of selfish actions, and even more in the renunciation of the desire or greed for the fruits of any action. 

Now, what is it that we abandon, and what is it that we relinquish? 

The word ‘sannyasa’ suggests renunciation, but it does not suggest what should be renounced. Here is the difficulty before all Sannyasins. They know very well that when they take to Sannyasa, something has to be renounced, because the very word ‘sannyasa’ means renunciation; but what are they to renounce? Generally they renounce their old clothes and put on new clothes, or they renounce their land and property, their family, etc., if that could be possible.

Actually, according to the Bhagavad Gita at least, such a kind of relinquishment cannot be regarded as Sannyasa. This is because a person may be physically away from the object of attraction and attachment, but physical distance from the object of attachment does not necessarily mean absence of attachment. 

Sannyasins may, even after entering into the holy order, keep in their minds the memory of large estates of land that they had, etc. Renunciation is a difficult thing to understand; and so is the case with tyaga, or abandonment.

Very clearly we are told that selfless and virtuous actions, and actions conducive to the welfare of others should not be abandoned. You must engage yourself in performing such action but renouncing attachment and greed. The true and proper renunciation is giving up of selfishness and attachment while performing one’s legitimate duties. This is called Sattwic Tyaga. 

We neither hate unpleasant action nor are we attached to pleasurable action. As it is not possible for you to renounce all action, the renunciation of egoism, selfishness and attachment in your activity is declared as true renunciation.

  

Karma does not accumulate and bind one who is thus established in such inner renunciation. The divine injunction is that God must be made the sole object of one’s life. This is the heart of the Gita gospel. This is the central message in its teaching. This is the one way to your welfare here.

Now Sanjaya concludes his narrative by declaring that where there is such obedience as that of Arjuna, and such willing readiness to carry out the divine teachings, there surely prosperity, victory, glory and all blessedness will prevail.

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 253

Summary of 'Bhagwad Gita' ... Continued

Then Arjuna puts a question: “I have understood everything that You say, but I want to know how You are visibly present in this world. What are Your special manifestations? I understand that You are, generally speaking, present everywhere; but where are You especially manifest?”

Then Lord Sri Krishna gave a long list of special manifestations of great glories, powers and magnificence.

The whole point is that the Lord wants to drive into the mind of Arjuna the truth of God not merely being all things, or God being everywhere, God being present in highly excellent manifestations, God being the Creator, and God being the Procurer of all the welfare of people. 

There is no question of transmigration, going to another realm, taking rebirth in some other place, becoming a yogi and again practising yoga to reach God, and contemplating on the creation of the universe as if creation is outside God—as if there is a material out of which He fashions the world. These ideas must be completely removed from the mind. 

Also, all doubts of Arjuna having been removed through a clear description of the nature of the Atman and the origin and destruction of all created things, he is now ready to behold the Cosmic Vision. Krishna grants him the divine sight by means of which Arjuna beholds the Lord as the vast Cosmic Manifestation. 

The vision is at once all-comprehensive and simultaneous. In every direction Arjuna sees the Lord as the entire universe. All the created worlds, gods, beings, creatures and things stand revealed as the one gigantic body ( cosmic form being just an indication of the all pervasiveness, where the entire creation must be within the All Pervading Brahman) of the Lord. 

The Lord exhorts him to fight, he being only an apparent cause of the destruction of his enemies. Arjuna is unable to bear the pressure of the sudden expansion of consciousness and is filled with fear. He begs the Lord to assume once more His usual form. 

Krishna reiterates that this vision cannot be had through any amount of austerities, study, sacrifices or philanthropic acts. Supreme devotion is the only means by which one can have access to His grand vision.

Arjuna asks: “Are You the Supreme Person? Sometimes You refer to Yourself as Parama-Purusha—Supreme Person. 

Sometimes You say that You are indestructible, transcendent, and impossible even to conceive. In what way are we to worship You, O Lord? There are people who adore You as the Supreme Mahapurusha, Purushottama. 

With immense devotion they sing of You, they dance in ecstasy by taking Your name, they adore You day in and day out, and glorify You in all ways. 

There are others who are unified in their being with Your indestructible Super Being. Between these two great souls, whom do You regard as the best of yogins?”

Krishna replies, “I consider those people very near to Me and really united with Me whose mind is fixed on Me, who worship Me ever considering Me as their highest beloved, who have faith in Me only, and center their faith in nothing else. 

  

I certainly consider them as united with Me because their mind is wholly centered in Me in their utter devotion. But there are others who are united with Me in a different way.” 

The distinction drawn here is between those devotees who

worship the Supreme Being as the Parama Purushottama and those who are devoted to the Universal Inclusiveness, outside which even they do not exist. 

We may call these two ways of approach as bhakti and jnana, if we like; but the jnana referred to here is actually a kind of bhakti in the highest sense. It is called para bhakti, which is the same as jnana.

The Lord goes on to describe the qualities that a true devotee possesses. He neither attaches himself to anything nor does he have any aversion to things. 

He has a balanced mind under all circumstances. He is not agitated by the happenings of the world, nor does he himself cause any agitation in others. 

He is perfectly desire less and rejoices in the Lord within. He sees equality everywhere, being untouched by sorrow, fear, honor as also dishonor. He is perfectly content as he has surrendered his entire being to the Lord.

The path of devotion communicated during the conversation between Sri Arjuna and Lord Krishna is highlighted by providing answer to the following key questions:

1.    Should One Worship a Personal or an Impersonal God?

2.  What are the four Paths to God Realization explained in this chapter?

3.  Why Karma-Yoga is recommended to be the Best Starting Point for God Realization?

4.  What are the Key Attributes of a true devotee?

5.   Finally, why One Should Sincerely Strive to develop Divine Qualities?

In this Chapter, we have one of the most significant, most illuminating, most inspiring and most mystical portions of the Bhagwad Gita. 

The Lord gives us a wonderfully revealing insight into the human individual. It is the metaphysics of man, the unknown. The immortal Soul, with its physical embodiment, is the main theme of this discourse. 

The Supreme transcendental Spirit, which is the eternal substratum beyond both, is also described in a wonderful manner. The knower of the Supreme Reality is instantly liberated.

The blessed Lord tells us that the knowledge of the Field and the Knower of the Field is the true knowledge. This highest and the best knowledge grants us divine wisdom and spiritual illumination that lead to divine beatitude. This body is the Field. 

The Immortal Soul (yourself), dwelling in the body is the Knower of the Field. Verily, it is the Supreme Being who has projected Himself and assumed the form of this Knower of the Field within this body. 

This Self is none other than That. Thus, Lord Krishna explains the mystery of the individual soul dwelling within this mortal body. This knowledge constitutes the main subject matter of all the scriptures and the highest philosophical works.

The five elements, the ego, the mind, intellect and the ten organs, desire and aversion and such factors constitute the Field. Next follows a wonderful summing-up of what constitutes true knowledge. Then follows the declaration of the Supreme Soul, the knowledge of which grants us immortality. 

That Supreme Reality is the one universal Essence present everywhere. It pervades all. It shines within the inmost chambers of our heart, it is everything, it is the one seer, the witness, the guide, sustainer, experiencer and Lord of all. One who knows this mystery is not bound by activity even in the midst of life. 

When we perceive this supreme Presence dwelling in all beings we cannot injure anyone. Krishna asks us to see and know the difference between the Field (body or Prakriti) and the Knower of the Field (Spirit or Purusha), and thus reach the Self. This is the teaching and the message of this illuminating discourse.

There is a belief among commentators of the Bhagwad Gita that the great Upanishadic statement ‘tat tvam asi’ has something to do with this threefold classification of the chapters of the Gita. The individual is tvam—‘thou’. This ‘thou’, or individual, is taken up for an intensified form of study in the first six chapters. 

Tat means ‘That’—the Supreme. The nature of ‘That’ is taken up for study in the next six chapters. Asi means ‘art’; ‘thou That art’. The unification of the ‘thou’ and the ‘That’, the methodology of attaining the unity between the individual and the Universal, in all its details, is supposed to be delineated in the coming chapters, from the Thirteenth onwards.

Knowledge of the three cosmic qualities or Gunas, namely, Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas is now given through this discourse. 

The knowledge of these three Gunas, which hold the entire universe and all creatures under their sway, is of vital importance to each and everyone for their progress and happiness in life. 

Without this knowledge one will be forever bound by sorrow. In this knowledge we have the secret of success in worldly life as well as in spiritual life. Therefore, one should acquire this precious knowledge.

Lord Krishna reveals that these three qualities compose the Cosmic Nature. This Cosmic Nature is the primal source and origin of the entire creation and all things in it. Hence all things created are subject to their influence and irresistible power. 

The individual soul also is bound to the body by these three qualities present in Cosmic Nature. The Supreme Being brings about creation through the help of His Prakriti (Nature) endowed with these threefold qualities.

The highest of the three qualities is Sattwa. It is pure. It brings about happiness, wisdom and also illumination. 

The second quality of Rajas gives rise to passion manifested by intense attachment and greed. It causes sorrow and suffering. 

The third, termed Tamas, is the worst of all. It arises due to ignorance and results in darkness, lethargy and delusion.

Krishna asks us to diligently endeavor to cast out Tamas from our nature. We should control and master Rajas, and by holding it in check, wisely divert its power towards good kinds of activities. 

Sattwa should be carefully cultivated, developed and conserved in order to enable us to attain immortality. 

Lord Krishna teaches us this important subject in this discourse from the ninth to the eighteenth verse. He declares that one who rises beyond all the three Gunas through spiritual practices, becomes free from birth, death, old age and sorrow, and enjoys immortality.

In reply to a question from Arjuna, the blessed Lord describes the marks of one who has risen above the three Gunas. 

He states that if one constantly worships Him with exclusive devotion one will attain the highest divine experience and supreme peace and blessedness.

Krishna gives more details about the nature of the three gunas. Attachment to any one of the gunas will hold a person back, keeping them in the cycle of death and rebirth. 

However, the gunas of Rajas and Tamas are particularly detrimental to a person's process of enlightenment. 

Although Sattwa seems desirable, when it is held as an attachment it can keep one bound. For example, over attachment to the pursuit of knowledge or joy (without striving for inner experience of Knowledge gained) can keep a person embodied. 

Conversely, Sattwa without attachment can help a person leave the cycle of death and rebirth. 

The "light of knowledge shines forth / through all the gates of the body" in these people. This is one way such a person can be recognized and set apart from those still ruled primarily by Rajas or Tamas.

Many things can affect the rebirth of a person. The ruling guna at the time of death will determine the situation a person will experience when reborn into the next life. 

Those who die while ruled by Rajas are born to people who are attached to action, whereas those who die while ruled by Tamas are born to people who are deluded. 

This distinction could imply that a person who has led a good life could be reborn into a poor incarnation if they die in a state of anger. 

Although a person is ruled primarily by one guna or another, it is possible for that person to move back and forth between secondary gun-as over the course of a lifetime.

The realized sage, of course, goes beyond all these qualities, for, although it is Sattwa that enables him to reach God, even this quality will bind him if he is attached to it.

The aspirant should know the symptoms and signs of their presence in his personality and acquire a knowledge of their subtle workings. Then only can he maintain an unhampered and smooth progress in all activities of his life, both secular as well as spiritual. 

Love.