Bhagwad Gita - Post 248

Verse 73

 

Arjuna said:

Destroyed is my delusion as I have gained my memory (knowledge) through Thy Grace, O Krishna! I am firm; my doubts are gone. I will act according to Thy word.

Now Arjuna says, “My delusion has gone, O Lord!” Naṣṭo mohaḥ (18.73): “I have no more confusion about duty now. I understand what is proper and improper.” 

Chinmaya writes,

“Somewhat like one who has suddenly awakened from an unconscious state, Arjuna, with a regained self-recognition, assuredly confesses that his confusions have ended --- not because he has unquestioningly swallowed the arguments in the discourses of the Gita, but because, as he himself says, "I have gained a Re-cognition of my Real Nature. 

Moha / Delusion is the strongest weapon of Maya to take the Jivas in Her clutch. It is born of ignorance. It is the cause of the whole evil of Samsara. 

The whole aim of Sadhana or spiritual practice and the study of scriptures is the annihilation of delusion and the attainment of the knowledge of the Self. 

When one gets it, the three knots or ties of ignorance viz. ignorance, delusion (desire), and action (Avidya, Kama, Karma) are destroyed, all the doubts are cleared, and all the Karmas are destroyed.

Arjuna says, “The hero in me has now become awakened, and the neurotic condition that had temporarily conquered my mind has totally ended." 

 “All this is by Your grace, O Lord! O Imperishable Being, with Your blessing and kindness I have regained my true consciousness. 

I am steadfast in my duty, and I shall do what You say”, Here am I as Your disciple and Your servant, ready to do whatever You ask me to do.”!

Swami says,

“Arjuna, who was an exceptionally intelligent person, after all his arguments with Krishna, finally came to this conclusion and submitted, “Karishye vachanam tava (I shall carry out whatever You say)”. 

People should depend not on their physical or intellectual strength, but on the power of God. Only the one who relies solely on the power of God can experience true peace and bliss. Such a person need not mind the criticisms of others. 

They can defy the opinions of a multitude of persons and stand up for what they hold to be true. Unmindful of praise or censure, you have to cultivate firm faith in God.

(Divine Discourse, Apr 7, 1989)

While what Swami Has revealed is the essence of surrender in the path of devotion, in the path of wisdom, with the discrimination / viveka that Lord has already blessed us with, To surrender ourselves to our own "higher intellect" and to declare confidently and with faith, "I shall do thy bidding", is the beginning and the end of all spiritual life.

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 247

Verse 70

And he who will study this sacred dialogue of ours, by him I shall have been worshipped by the sacrifice of wisdom; such is My conviction.

Verse 71

The man also who hears this, full of faith and free from malice, he, too, liberated, shall attain to the happy worlds of those of righteous deeds.

Verse 72

Has this been heard, O Arjuna, with one-pointed mind? Has the delusion of thy ignorance been fully destroyed, O Dhananjaya?

“If anyone studies this Gita with love and devotion, full of the feeling of the righteousness of God, if anybody studies this conversation between Me and you intently, daily, with concentration of mind, I shall consider that I am worshiped by jnana yajna.” 

The worship of God through knowledge is called jnana yajna. So, the highest knowledge, or jnana, is here embodied in the Bhagwad gita text.

Swami Chinmayananda writes,

“In a Yajna, Lord Fire is invoked in the sacrificial trough and into it are offered oblations by the devotees. From this analogy, the term Jnaana Yajna has been originally coined and used in the Gita. 

Study of the Scriptures and regular contemplation upon their deep significances kindle the "Fire-of-Knowledge" in us and into this the intelligent seeker offers, as his oblation, his own false values and negative tendencies. 

This is the significance of the metaphorical phrase Jnaana Yajna. Therefore, here the Lord admits but a truth in the Spiritual science when He declares that those who study the Gita --- contemplate upon its meaning, understand it thoroughly --- and those who can, at the altars of their well-kindled understanding, sacrifice their own ego-centric misconceptions about themselves, and about the world around them, are certainly the greatest devotees of the Infinite.

When a rusted key is heated in fire, the rust falls off and the key regains its original brightness. 

So too, our personality, when reacted with the knowledge of the Gita, is chastened, since our wrong tendencies, unhealthy vasanas and false sense-of-ego which have risen from false-knowledge (Ajnaana), all get burnt up in Right- Knowledge (Jnaana).”

Whoever studies this lovingly, devotedly, every day, is veritably performing jnana yajna, the wisdom sacrifice. This is My opinion,” says the Lord. 

(Incidentally, Bhagwad Gita Jnana Yagna, which is an integral part of Satsangh / Study circle  in all Chinmaya kendras world over, owes its origin way back when Swami Sivananda entrusted the duty of starting this Gita Jnana Yagna in Hrishikesh to His two dedicated disciple- Chinmaya and Krishnananda. This was before Chinmaya went to Sri Tapovan Maharaj for  his next part of learning, with the blessings of Swami Sivananda)

Śraddhāvān anasūyaś ca śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ 

Not only those people who study this every day, but even those who listen to this affectionately and with faith, with no prejudice, with no dubious mind, no doubts, and without the evil of faithlessness. 

Śraddhāvān is a person endowed with real faith. Anasūyaś ca: With no doubt in the mind. 

Śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ sopi muktaḥ: One who hears in this manner, such a person also should be considered as really liberated. One who is united with God is liberated, one who studies the Gita is also liberated, and even one who listens to it is also said to be liberated. Very great compassion indeed! 

Sopi muktaḥ śubhāṁl lokān prāpnuyāt puṇyakarmaṇām: Even such a person who merely listens to this great wisdom and teaching shall attain to the higher regions of the blessed ones. 

“Arjuna, have you listened to what I said with concentration of mind—ekagrena chetasa—or was your mind wandering and you were listening some of the things, and not to everything? 

Did you listen to everything that I said with concentration of mind? Has your delusion gone? Have I dispelled your delusion?” 

Kaccid ajñānasaṁmohaḥ pranaṣṭas te: “Please tell Me whether or not your delusion, with which you began speaking to Me in the beginning, has gone.”

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 246

Verse 69

Nor is there any among men who does dearer service to Me, nor shall there be another on earth dearer to Me than he.

I have no friend dearer than this person who is intently thinking of Me, and who glorifies Me wherever it is possible by teaching this wisdom to those who are really devoted. 

I consider that person as very dear to Me indeed. No one is equal to that person in devotion to Me.” 

Krishna again takes up, in this stanza, the glorification of the teacher who teaches the Gita-knowledge. 

Not only is there none to compare with him amongst the present generation, but there shall  never be (Bhavita-Na-Cha) anyone, even in future times, so dear to Him, the Lord says, as such an individual who spends his time in spreading the knowledge of what little he has understood from the Gita.

The essence of this verse can also be extended to sharing the knowledge of Shrutis with the world of spiritual seekers.

In Ashtavakra Gita, Janaka asks his Guru, “The transcendental knowledge you have bestowed upon me is so precious that I feel deeply indebted to you. What can I give you in return?” 

Guru Ashtavakra replies, “There is nothing you can give that will relinquish you from your debt. The knowledge I gave was divine and all that you possess is material. Worldly objects can never be a price for divine knowledge. 

But you can do one thing. If ever you find someone who is thirsty for this knowledge, share it with him.” 

(That is what precisely the author has been doing all along through the blog, through satsangh, through talks, through messages etc. as per the command received from his own Sadguru and God, Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)

Dearest to God is one who is always considering God as his dearest. If to us God is the dearest, then God also will consider us as the dearest. 

“No one is equal to him. No one in the world can compare with this devotee whose soul is rooted in Me and who is spending his entire life in communicating this wisdom to others who are truly devoted to Me.”

 
Why does Ishvara love such a preceptor so much? The teacher assists Ishvara in His mission to rid the world of ignorance. 

Swami’s words to the author on 13.3.2005 in vision,

(“Swami needs you, Swami has a definite task for you in His mission, He has chosen you, lifted you to use in His task at some point of time”)

A teacher can assess the needs of the seeker, and give him the guidance from the Gita / from Shrutis needed for that particular situation of the seeker. 

Only a qualified teacher is able to do that, as opposed to someone randomly reading shlokas from the Gita. Furthermore, very few people are able to teach the true meaning of the Gita and convey to the student exactly what Ishvara wants to convey, without distorting anything.

Love.