Verse 8
Mayyeva mana aadhatswa
Mayi buddhim niveshaya;
Nivasishyasi mayyeva ata
Oordhwam na samshayah.
Fix thy mind on Me only, thy intellect in Me,
(then) thou shait no doubt live in Me alone hereafter.
Verse 9
Atha chittam samaadhaatum
Na shaknoshi mayi sthiram;
Abhyaasayogena tato
Maamicchaaptum dhananjaya.
If thou art unable to fix thy mind steadily
on Me, then by the Yoga of constant practice do thou seek to reach Me, O Arjuna!
Verse 10
Abhyaase’pyasamartho’si
Matkarmaparamo bhava;
Madarthamapi karmaani Kurvansiddhimavaapsyasi.
If thou art unable to practice even this
Abhyasa Yoga, be thou intent on doing actions for My sake; even by doing
actions for My sake, thou shalt attain perfection.
Types of practices are described in the
coming verses, almost referring to the four yogas — jnana yoga, raja yoga, bhakti yoga
and karma yoga.
JNANA
The first makes reference to the jnana yoga
technique.
Mayy eva mana ādhatsva : “Let your mind be fixed on Me”;
Mayi buddhiṁ niveśaya: “Let your intellect also be rooted in Me”;
Nivasiṣyasi mayyeva: “You are already in Me”;
Ata ūrdhvaṁ na saṁśayaḥ: “There is no doubt that you are in Me only, provided that your mind and intellect shake not.”
The same point is also mentioned in the
definition of yoga given in the Katha Upanishad.
Yadā pañcāvatiṣṭhante jñānāni manasā saha, buddhiś ca na viceṣṭati, tām āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim (Katha 2.3.10):
When the mind and the intellect are unified,
and they do not stand as separate faculties of observation and perception, and
this united psyche gets rooted in God Himself, the abode is immediately
reached. But, we may find this difficult.
Lord says here, “Arjuna, if you really want
to worship me, you don’t have to go hither and thither, I am always with you
as your indweller. So, all you have to do is to look inwards and I
am always there!!
If Arjuna has to ask, “O Lord, how do I
undertake this worship, the reply from the lord as though is, “Fix your mind on
me”
RAJA / DHYANA
If Arjuna has to think, “Krishna gave a while
discourse on how to control the mind and here he says, “Fix your mind on me,
give your mind to me, as if it is in my control”, then Krishna has a solution
to this problem.
Sri Krishna anticipates the difficulty of the
devotee in continuously establishing the unity of the mind and intellect in God
always. “If you cannot do this, I shall prescribe to you another method,” says
the Lord.
That next method is almost the
same as the raja yoga.
“Continued practice at concentration on Me
may be attempted if whole-souled fixing of attention on Me is difficult. If you
can unite yourself with Me wholly, fine; that should be considered as the jnana yoga
technique.
But if that is not possible, repeated attempts have to be made in fixing your mind on Me by techniques of daily routine — abhyasa yoga.”
KARMA YOGA
Arjuna might say, “This is not going to work for me Krishna. Why don’t you give me something more practical and feasible?”
Krishna says,
“If this is also not possible — neither are
you able to completely unite yourself with Me, nor are you able to practice
concentration with effort every day — then devote yourself to Me in your daily
behavior.” Here matkarma means ‘all actions devoted to Me’.
Krishna says, “Do selfless service, if you
pursue this path steadily and without wavering, then eventually, you will come
to me!!
Dear All,
Author has dealt with the above verses in few
other theme posts, as the three stages in spiritual path - Karma, Upasana (Dhyana yoga which is prescribed in today’s verses as yoga
of constant practice can also be considered for constantly practicing
devotion in one way) and Jnana.
A man filled with avidya / ignorance of his true identity, passes through these stages one by one.
He takes up Karma , Actions which reduces his ego a little bit.
Then he moves to Upasana / Devotion, which further purifies his heart.
The heart purified, is now ready to take up the path of Jnana.
Swami Sivananda writes,
“In the mind there are three defects, viz.,
Mala or impurity, Vikshepa or tossing, and Avarana or veil.
KARMA
The impurities of the mind should be removed by the practice of Karma Yoga, by selfless service.
UPASANA
The tossing should be removed by worship or Upasana, by Japa and devotion.
The tossing should be removed by worship or Upasana, by Japa and devotion.
JNANA
The veil should be torn down by the practice of Jnana Yoga, i.e., by study of Vedantic literature, enquiry, self-analysis, service to the Guru, and deep meditation. Only then Self-realization is possible.
The veil should be torn down by the practice of Jnana Yoga, i.e., by study of Vedantic literature, enquiry, self-analysis, service to the Guru, and deep meditation. Only then Self-realization is possible.
If you want to see your face clearly in a mirror, you must remove the dirt in the mirror, keep it steady, and remove the covering also. You can see your face clearly in the bottom of a lake only if the turbidity is removed, if the water that is agitated by the wind is rendered still, and if the moss that is lying on the surface is removed. Even so is the case with Self-realization.
Action , emotion and intelligence are the three horses that are linked to this body-chariot. They should work in perfect harmony or unison. Then only the chariot will run smoothly. There must be integral development. You must have the head of Sankara, the heart of Buddha, and the hand of Janaka.
To become harmoniously balanced in all directions is the ideal of religion and of Yoga.”
Love.
