Bhagwad Gita - Post 145

Dear All,

Let us start getting deeper on some of the qualities out of the 26 qualities given by Sri Krishna in the previous post.

Quality#1

Adweshta Sarva Bhootaanaam 

No Hatred towards any Being in the creation.

We will focus on Swami’s  direct instructions / discourse on this quality, referring to few discourses.

“It would be utter foolishness to give a golden cup to a child or to give a sword to a madman. A golden cup, which is highly valuable, should be given only to a person who would appreciate its value. Such a person will derive great joy from it and know how to use it. 

In the same way, the one who knows the value of devotion will use it to fill himself and others with pure joy. Genuine love will never give trouble to anyone, it will never lead one to hate another. 

In the 12th chapter of the Gita, the desirable qualities of a devotee are enumerated; they start with 'Let there be no enmity directed towards any creature in the world.' Repeating parrot-like, "Lord, I love You", "Lord, I love You", while at the same time giving trouble to others cannot be considered devotion.

You become a devotee, filled with love and devotion, when you surrender yourself completely and are ready to carry out every command of the Lord. Arjuna, out of pride and egoism was feeling dejected; but after listening to the Lord, Arjuna fell at the divine feet and said, "Lord, I am Your disciple. Teach me what is good for me. I surrender myself fully to You." 

Up until that time they were treating each other as brothers-in-law. Arjuna was married to Krishna's sister. But once Arjuna said, "I will do as You say. I will carry out Your commands!", he became a devotee. 

The transformation took place in his mind, as he changed the relationship from a brother-in-law to that of a disciple, with the Lord as his teacher. Such a mental transformation is absolutely essential for a devotee. Without this, whatever level of closeness you feel you may have developed with the Lord, your devotion will remain fruitless and useless.

Being aware of these high principles, do your duty in life. Maintain an even mind and make sure that the work you do is good, and that it is always appropriate to the occasion. 

These verses from the Gita should not merely be memorized but they must be put into practice. When you fully understand their meaning and practice them in your daily life, your worries will soon leave you and all your sorrows will disappear.

(Extract from divine discourse delivered in September 1984)

I quote Swami

“ Love is transformed into poison if hate contaminates it”.

“Devotion towards God goes ill with hatred towards fellow men”.

“Despising brother man, you cannot at the time worship God, if you do, God will not accept that hypocrisy”.

And Swami goes beyond all this when He says,

“The mere removal of hate from the heart will not ensure Ananda. Love must be cultivated, uproot hate and plant love…. The Bhakta must be free from hate and be full of Love. Besides, his love must express itself as service of the distressed and the grieving”.

Unquote.

(All the  above quotes are extracts  from the book -  "Message of the Lord".) 

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 144

Verse 13

Adweshtaa sarvabhootaanaam

Maitrah karuna eva cha;

Nirmamo nirahankaarah

Samaduhkhasukhah kshamee.

He who hates no creature, who is friendly and compassionate to all, who is free from attachment and egoism, balanced in pleasure and pain, and forgiving,

Verse 14

Santushtah satatam yogee

Yataatmaa dridhanishchayah;

Mayyarpitamanobuddhiryo

Madbhaktah sa me priyah.

Ever content, steady in meditation, possessed of firm conviction, self-controlled, with mind and intellect dedicated to Me, he, My devotee, is dear to Me.

Verse 15

Yasmaannodwijate loko

Lokaannodwijate cha yah;

Harshaamarshabhayodwegairmukto

Yah sa cha me priyah.

He by whom the world is not agitated and who cannot be agitated by the world, and who is freed from joy, envy, fear and anxiety — he is dear to Me.

Verse 16

Anapekshah shuchirdaksha

Udaaseeno gatavyathah;

Sarvaarambhaparityaagee yo

Madbhaktah sa me priyah.

He who is free from wants, pure, expert, unconcerned, and untroubled, renouncing all undertakings or commencements — he who is (thus) devoted to Me, is dear to Me.

Verse 17

Yona hrishyati na dweshti

Na shochati na kaangkshati;

Shubhaashubhaparityaagee

Bhaktimaan yah sa me priyah.

He who neither rejoices, nor hates, nor grieves, nor desires, renouncing good and evil, and who is full of devotion, is dear to Me.

Verse 18

Samah shatrau cha mitre cha

Tathaa maanaapamaanayoh;

Sheetoshnasukhaduhkheshu

Samah sangavivarjitah.

He who is the same to foe and friend, and in honour and dishonour, who is the same in cold and heat and in pleasure and pain, who is free from attachment.

Verse 19

Tulyanindaastutirmaunee

Santushto yena kenachit:

Aniketah sthiramatir

Bhaktimaan me priyo narah.

He to whom censure and praise are equal, who is silent, content with anything, homeless, of a steady mind, and full of devotion—that man is dear to Me.

Dear All,

In the above verses, Sri Krishna has given the qualities of a true devotee whom He considers as dear to Him.

Let us list down all of them.

1	Advestha sarva bhhotanam	Hates no creature
2	Maitrah, Karuna	Friendly
3	Nirmamo	Free from attachment
4	Nir ahankarah	Free from ego
5	Sama Dukha sukha	Balanced in pleasure  and pain
6	Kshamee	Forgiving
7	Santushta   satatam	Ever content
8	Yogee	Steady in meditation
9	Yataatmaa dridhanishchayah	Possessing form conviction
10	Madbaktah	Mind and intellect dedicated to the Lord
11	Yasmaan nodwijate loko	By whom world is not agitated
12	Lokaan nodwijate cha yah	cannot be agitated by the world
13	Harshaam arshabhyod wegair Mukto	Free from joy, fear, envy, Anxiety
14	An apekshah	Free from wants
15	Suchi	Pure
16	Daksha	Expert
17	Udaseeno	Unconcerned
18	Gatavyatah	Untroubled
19	Sarva arambha parityagee	Renounced all undertakings and all commencements
20	Yona hrishyati na dweshti	Neither rejoices, nor hates
21	Na sochati na kaangkshati	Neither grieves nor desires
22	Shubha Ashubha parityagee	Renouncing good and evil
23	Tulya nindaa stutir maunee	censure, praise equal
24	Santushto yena kenachit	Silent, content with anything
25	Aniketah	Homeless
26	Sthiramatir	Steady mind

  

Dear All,

There was a time in his youth when the author used to write down these qualities, take up 3 qualities per month and used to practice them, rank himself daily whether he succeeded or failed in those qualities.

He could know at that time that it is impossible for anyone to possess all these 26 qualities, all the time, at any point of time.

Even if few striking qualities out of the 26 are practiced by a devotee, the Lord again and again assures that the devotee is near to Him (Me priyo narah).

In the coming posts, we will try to focus on some of them.

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 143

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. 

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.

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.