Geeta Dhara – Gurukul

Lord Krishn himself bears the burden of the ardent worshiper’s progress along the path of yog. He takes upon himself the responsibility for the protection of his yog.

Lord Krishn sings:

“I myself protect the yog of men who abide in me
with steady and undeviating faith and who worship me selflessly,
constantly remembering me as God.”

Despite this, however, men are given to worshiping other gods.

Lord Krishn adds:

“Although even covetous devotees indeed worship me
in worshiping other gods, their worship is against the ordained provision
and therefore enveloped by ignorance.”

Yogeshwar Krishn has here for the second time taken up the subject of other gods. It was in Chapter 7 of Bhagavad Gita that he first told Arjun that deluded men whose wisdom is ravished by desires worship other gods, and that there truly exist no such entities. It is Lord Krishn who steadies and strengthens the faith of such worshipers in whatever it is inclined to, whether a Peepal tree, a piece of rock, some departed Spirit, or a goddess.

He is also the provider of their rewards. The fruits of devotion are doubtlessly achieved by these worshipers, but the rewards they obtain are momentary and ephemeral. They are here today, but they will be consumed tomorrow after they have been enjoyed. They wear out, whereas the rewards of the true worshipers of Lord Krishn are never destroyed. So it is only the ignorant who have been robbed of their wisdom by desire that worship other gods.

Yogeshwar Krishn reiterates that they who adore other gods also really worship him, but their worship is improper because this form of devotion is not ordained. There is no power like gods and to endeavour to realize them is, therefore, like striving for the unreal.

But what exactly is wrong with the worship of other gods if it is in fact a worship of Sri Krishn himself and also a begetter of rewards?

Sri Krishn answers the question in next verse.

“They have to go undergo rebirth
because they are ignorant of the reality
that I am the enjoyer as well as the master of all yagya.”

Lord Krishn is the enjoyer of yagya because whatever is offered as sacrifice is dissolved in him. He is the blessedness that results from yagya and also the master of the sacred rite. But they who do not know this fall from grace. They are destroyed, sometimes caught in the trap of worship of other gods and sometimes in the web of their own desires. Until they have perceived the essence, they are deprived even of the everlasting fulfillment of their desires.

What ultimately becomes of them is disclosed in the next verse?

“Men who are devoted to gods attain to gods,
worshipers of ancestors attain to their ancestors,
worshipers of beings attain to the state of beings,
and my worshipers attain to me.”

Rather than really attaining to gods because they are nonexistent, their worshipers just delude themselves with fancies. They who practise ancestor-worship are trapped in the abyss of the past. Worshipers of beings end up in mortal bodies. But they who are single-mindedly dedicated to Lord Krishn attain to him.

Although yet in their mortal bodies, they truly become him. That is the identity of the worshiper with the adored God. And such worshipers never come to grief. Moreover, even the mode of this worship of Lord Krishn is so simple.

Lord Krishn sings:

“I lovingly accept the offerings of leaves,
flowers, fruit, and water the selfless worshiper makes to me
with true devotion.”

This loving acceptance by Lord Krishn of whatever offering is made to him by the earnest and devoted worshiper is the commencement of devout reverence.

“You should, O son of Kunti,
dedicate to me whatever you do, eat, offer as sacrifice,
give as alms, and also your penance.”

Lord Krishn will bear the responsibility for guarding the sphere of Arjun’s yog if he performs all his deeds, from the humble act of eating to the mortification of his mind and senses to shape them in accordance with the nature of his quest, with a sense of total resignation.

Lord Krishn adds:

“Possessed thus of the yog of renunciation
by the sacrifice of all your acts,
you will be freed from good as well as evil fruits
which are the shackles of action, and attain to me.”

In the above three verses, Lord Krishn has systematically dealt with the means of accomplishment and its outcome. The three suggested ways are: first, offering of humble gifts such as leaves and flowers, fruit, and water with total devotion; secondly, performance of action with a sense of dedication, and; lastly, complete renunciation in the spirit of self-surrender. By practicing them Arjun will be doubtlessly freed from the bonds of action and by this liberation he will attain to the sublime state of Lord Krishn. The terms “liberation” and “achievement” as employed here complement each other.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

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Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

Lord Krishn is the doer-the agent. In truth, the power behind the worshiper who always urges him on is that of the adored God. So the worshiper’s accomplishment is only a gift from him. He is also the yagya which is the appointed mode of worship. The man who tastes the nectar that is generated at the successful completion of yagya is united with the eternal God.

Lord Krishn sings:

“I am the action that is undertaken,
the yagya, the fulfillment of earlier resolutions, the healer,
the sacred prayer, the oblation as well as the sacred fire,
and I am also the sacrificial act of oblation.”

Lord Krishn is also the oblation, for it is in him that the endless sanskar of the past is dissolved; their ultimate resolution is provided by him. He is also the remedy that cures the malady of worldly misery. Men are rid of this ailment by attaining to him. He is also the sacred incantation that is offered to the deity, for it is he who provides the strength by which the mind is concentrated on breath. Being the one who adds to the ardour of this deed, he is also the matter which is offered as oblation. He is also the sacred fire, because all desires of the mind are burnt out in his radiant flame. And he is also the sacrificial act of yagya.

Here Lord Krishn repeatedly speaks in the first person: “I am…I am”. The implication of this is only that it is he who stands inseparably with the individual Self as an inspiration and leads the observance of yagya to successful completion by constant appraisal.

This is named vigyan.

The most revered Gurudev would repeatedly tell us that the act of devotional adoration does not begin until the revered God appears as the charioteer to restrain each single breath. We may close our eyes, engage in the act of pious adoration, and mortify the senses by severe austerities, but unless the desired God comes down to the level at which we are and stands inseparably and watchful by the Self, the essence of worship cannot be gained. This is why most revered Gurudev used to say, “If you but behold me, I shall give you everything.” It is the same as Lord Krishn’s saying that he is the doer of all.

Lord Krishn adds:

“And I too am the bearer and preserver of the whole world
as also the giver of rewards for action;
father, mother and also the grandsire;
the sacred, imperishable OM who is worthy of being known;
and all Ved-Rig, Sam and Yajur.”

It is Lord Krishn who supports the whole world. He is the “father” who provides, the “mother” who conceives and gives birth, and the “grandsire” who is the ancient source into whom all being also merge at last. He is worthy of being known as also the sacred OM which may also be interpreted as the Self’s resemblance to God (aham+akarah = Omkarah). That OM (God) is identical with him and so his Self is fit for knowing. He is also the agent of the three parts of the observance of yog: Rig-adequate prayer, Sam-evenness of mind; and Yajur- the ordained yagya for union with the Supreme Spirit.

“I am the supreme goal, the sustainer and Lord of all,
the maker of good and evil, the abode and shelter of all,
the benefactor who wants nothing in return, the beginning and the end,
the fountainhead as well as that in whom all beings are dissolved,
and also the indestructible primal energy.”

Lord Krishn is the salvation that is the ultimate goal that everyone wishes to attain to. As the witness who stands as an onlooker and knows everything, he is the master of all beings. He is the imperishable primal cause and he is also the doom (destruction) in whom all good and evil are dissolved. He possesses all these glories.

Lord Krishn sings:

“I am the sun that burns,
I draw the clouds and also make them rain,
and, O Arjun, I am the drought of immortality as well as death,
and I am also both substance and shadow.”

He is the sun, the giver of light, and yet there are many who regard him as unreal. Such men are victims of mortality and so Lord Krishn is also the punishment that is meted out to them.

“Men who do pious deeds enjoined by the three Ved,
who have tasted nectar and freed themselves from sin,
and who wish for heavenly existence through worshiping me by yagya,
go to heaven and enjoy godly pleasures as a reward for their virtuous acts.”

Although they practice all the three parts of worship-prayer (Rig), equal conduct (Sam), and union (Yajur), partake of the dim light of the moon (Rayi, the form-giving substance), rid themselves of sin, and worship Lord Krishn by the prescribed mode of yagya, such men pray for the attainment of heaven because of which they are rewarded with mortality and have to be reborn. They worship him and also adopt the appointed mode, but they beseech for heavenly joys in return. So rewarded for their piety they go to the abode of Indr and enjoy the celestial pleasures of gods.

Lord Krishn is thus also the provider of these pleasures.

Lord Krishn adds:

“With the gradual wearing out of the merits of their piety,
they go back to the mortal world
after enjoying the pleasures of great heaven ;
and it is thus that they who seek refuge in the desire-oriented action
prescribed by the three Ved and covet joy are condemned
to repeated death and birth.”

The yagya they perform as well as its threefold means, prayer, evenness of mind, and dedication that unites, is the same, and they also seek refuge in Lord Krishn, but they have to undergo rebirth because of their desires.

So it is of the utmost importance that desire is thoroughly subdued.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

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Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

By virtue of Lord’s spirit that permeates the whole world, this maya (the three-propertied nature, in both its eightfold insensate and conscious forms) shapes the animate and inanimate world. This is the inferior kalp and it is because of this that the world moves in its cycle of birth and death-of coming and going.

Lord Krishn sings:

“In association with me, O son of Kunti,
my maya shapes this world of the animate and the inanimate,
and the world revolves like a wheel of recurrence for the aforesaid reason.”

This lowly kalp that nature brings about, mutable and destructive, is accomplished by maya by virtue of Lord Krishn’s innate property. It is not made by him, but the kalp which marks the commencement of the Supreme goal, is a creation of the sage himself. In this kalp he himself is the doer who creates with special care, but in the other kalp, nature is the agent which by mere reflection of its might creates the state of transience in which there is change of bodies, of time, and of ages. But although Lord Krishn is so all-pervasive, the deluded do not yet know him.

Lord Krishn adds:

“The deluded who do not know my ultimate being regard me
in the human form as but an inferior mortal.”

The ignorant who do not know his identity with the Supreme Spirit, the God of all beings, regard Lord Krishn as human and therefore paltry. He dwells in the exalted state of that Supreme Spirit who is the God of all beings, but ignorant men do not know it because he is in mortal form. They address him as a man. And they are hardly to blame. When they look at Lord Krishn, they see only the body of the great Soul. How then are they to know that he dwells in the being of the great God?

It is now explained why they are unable to realize the truth.

“The ignorant are , like evil spirits,
afflicted with the property of darkness
and so their hopes and actions and knowledge are all futile.”

The unaware are possessed of futile hope which can never be fulfilled, futile action which binds, and futile knowledge which is really ignorance. Lying in the chasm of unconsciousness and characterized by the gullible nature of devils and demons, by demoniacal nature, they believe Lord Krishn to be but a man. Demons and devils merely represent a property of the mind which has nothing to do with any caste or class. Men with such an inclination are unable to know the reality of Lord Krishn, but sages know him and adore him.

“But, O Parth, they who have found shelter in divine nature
and know me as the eternal, imperishable source of all beings,
worship me with perfect devotion.”

The sages who take refuge in pious impulses, the treasure of divinity, and regard Lord Krishn as the primal source of all beings, unamanifest and eternal, always meditate upon him with devotion only to him and without permitting the thought of anyone else into their mind.

The next verse dwells upon the mode of this worship.

Lord Krishn sings:

“Always engaged in the recital of my name and virtues,
ever-active to realize me, and constantly offering obeisance to me,
devotees with a firm determination worship me with undivided faith.”

Abiding firmly in the observance of the act of devotion, bowing low to Lord Krishn in homage and dwelling in him, men who know the truth endeavour to realize him and worship him with staunch devotion. They are constantly engaged in the act of remembrance and recital, which is nothing else than the yagya that has already been illumined. The same rite is here restated in brief.

“While some worship me by gyan-yagya
as the all-encompassing Supreme Spirit with the feeling that I am all,
some worship me with a sense of identity,
some with a sense of being separate from me,
while yet others worship me in many a different fashion.”

Men who are aware of reality worship Lord Krishn by practicing the appointed Way of Knowledge after a due appraisal of their assets and liabilities as well as of their own strength. Some others worship him with a feeling of being identical with him-the feeling that they have to be one with him by dissociating themselves from everything that is other than him; and they devote themselves to him with the total dedication of the Way of Selfless Action.

Similarly, there are many other forms of worship. In fact, however, these are all only the higher and lower phases of the same spiritual observance that is called yagya. Yagya begins with reverent service, but how is it performed? By his own admission, Yogeshwar Krishn is himself the doer of yagya.

If the sage does not act as the charioteer, the successful accomplishment of yagya is impossible. It is only by his guidance that the worshiper is able to know the stage of spiritual accomplishment at which he stands and the point on the way he has reached.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

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Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

An accomplished Yogi reshapes beings
with special care at the beginning of a phase.
They had existed earlier,
but they were misshapen.

Now he gives them a more refined, more perfect shape.
They who were lying in a state of insensibility,
he now renders conscious.
He also prompts beings to kalp in the other sense of the word.
Besides “cycle of time’’,
kalp also means a change for the better.

It is the beginning of a kalp when,
escaping from demoniacal and negative impulses,
a man comes by the treasure of divinity;
and
it comes to a close with the worshiper’s becoming one with God.

Lord Krishn sings:

“All beings, O son of Kunti, attain to my nature and merge into it
at the end of a cycle (kalp)
and
I recreate them
at
the beginning of another cycle.”

A kalp ceases to be after its purpose is achieved.
The commencement of worship is the beginning,
while the culmination at which the goal is perceived is its end-the point
when the Soul, freed from such feelings as attachment and repulsion
which effect the creation of all beings
who have to be reborn,
dwells in his identical, eternal form.

This is what Lord Krishn means by saying
that
beings merge into his nature.

But what kind of “nature” can belong to a sage
who has annihilated all nature
and
become one with God?
Does his nature still survive?

As Lord Krishn has said that all beings attain to their own nature.
They act according to their predominant property;
and
even the sage who has achieved knowledge
by direct perception acts according to his disposition.
He works for the good of those who have straggled.

The conduct-the way of life – of the sage
who dwells in the ultimate essence is his nature.
He conducts himself according to the state of his being.
At the end of kalp,
men attain to this conduct-this way of life-of accomplished teacher,
of
realized sages.

Lord Krishn then throws further light on the accomplishment
by
such great Souls.

“I repeatedly shape all these beings,
who are helplessly dependent on their innate properties,
according to their action.”

Accepting the way of life which is given to him;
Lord Krishn continuously and with special care fashions
and
refashions all beings who dwell in their own nature
and are dominated by the three properties:
he prompts them to advance towards the state of his own Self.

Does this mean, however, that he also is bound by action?

Lord Krishn adds:

“Unattached and disinterested in these acts,
O Dhananjay,
I am not bound by action.”

According to teachings of Bhagavad Gita,
a sage’s way of action is unworldly.
He works in an unmanifest way.

Now Lord Krishn says the same thing here again:
that he is not attached to the actions he performs imperceptibly.
Since the union of his Soul with the Supreme Spirit has bestowed
a state of detachment on him,
he is no longer bound by action.
Since he is now abiding in the very goal
that is achieved by action,
he is not compelled to do it.

So the question of the relationship
between
acts of nature and the innate property-of the sage’s way of life
and
action gets answered.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

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Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

By offering to impart this knowledge with “vigyan,” Lord Krishn means that he will illustrate it with the achievements of a great Soul of attainment: how he functions simultaneously at all places, how he enlightens, and how as a charioteer he always stands beside the Self. Knowing this Arjun will be emancipated from this world of misery where happiness is impermanent.

Lord Krishn sings:

“This knowledge is the monarch of all learning
as well as of all mysteries, most sacred,
doubtlessly propitious, easy to practice, and indestructible.”

Substantiated by illustration, this knowledge is the sovereign of all learning. But “learning” here does not mean mastering a language or scholarship in its usual sense. True learning is that which enables the man who has acquired it to go along God’s way until he has won salvation. If he gets entangled in the vanity of his achievements or in the material world while he is on the way, it is evident that his learning has failed. His learning, then, is not knowledge but a veil of ignorance.

It is only regal learning (rajvidya), spiritual enlightenment, which is profitable beyond any doubt. It is the king of all “secret teaching” because one can approach it only after the practice of yog is brought to perfection by the unraveling of the knots of both knowledge and ignorance.

Holiest of the holy and blessed with excellence, it is also manifestly fruitful. The profit from it is so transparent. No sooner does a man have it than he is rewarded. It is not the blind faith that we will be rewarded in the next life if we are virtuous in this life.

Yogeshwar Krishn has told Arjun that the seed of yog never perishes. Practising it in even a small measure provides liberation from the great fear of repeated birth and death. Arjun requested the Lord to tell him the lot of the feeble worshiper who strays from yog and is, therefore, deprived of the perception which is its final achievement.

Lord Krishn then said that the primary need is to know the way of this action (yog) after which, if a man just takes a couple of steps on it, the merit earned by them is never destroyed. He carries this sanskar along with him to the next life and by virtue of it performs the same action with every birth.

Thus practicing yog over many lives, he at last arrives at the state of salvation, the supreme goal. Sri Krishn says that although the practice of yog is easy and indestructible, faith is its indispensable requirement.

Lord Krishn adds:

“Men who have no faith in this knowledge,
O Parantap, do not attain to me and are doomed to roaming
about the mortal world.”

Even the smallest bit of practice of this dharm is never destroyed, but the man whose mind is not fully centered on the object of his worship undergoes repeated birth and death instead of attaining to Lord Krishn.

Now the Yogeshwar speaks about God’s omnipresence.

“The whole world is pervaded by me,
the unmanifest Supreme Being,
and all beings dwell within my will but I am not in them.”

The unmanifest form in which Lord Krishn exists spreads through every atom of the universe and all beings have their life within him. But he is not in them because he exists in an unmanifest form. Since accomplished sages are one with the unmanifest God, they discard their bodies and act in the same divine state.

“And even all beings are not within me,
and such is the power of my yog-maya that my Spirit,
the creator and preserver of all beings, is not within them.”

Even all beings are not within Lord Krishn, because they are mortal and dependent on nature. But such is the greatness of his yog that although he creates and sustains all beings, his Spirit is not in them. I am in the form of the Self not within those beings. This is the achievement of yog.

Lord Krishn cites an instance to elucidate the point:

“Be it known to you that all beings dwell in me
just as the great wind that roams everywhere always dwells in the sky.”

The wind is always in the sky, but cannot taint and affect its brightness. Similarly, all beings are within Lord Krishn, but he is unblemished like the sky.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

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Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

Eternal unmanifest state is immortal and that is called enlightenment (or attainment) of the supreme goal. way of achieving that eternal, unmanifest state. Lord Krishn tells Arjun this way of achieving that eternal, unmanifest state.

HE sings:

“O Parth that God in whom all beings exist
and who permeates the whole world is realized by steady devotion.”

Steady, unswerving devotion means the act of remembering none else except God so as to be one with him.

Lord Krishn then reveals when even men of such devotion are within the limits of rebirth and when they are beyond it?

“And, O the best of Bharat,
I shall now enlighten you on the ways by which,
after giving up their bodies,
yogi arrive at the state of birth-lessness as well as of rebirth.”

Freedom from rebirth, as we are about to see, is achieved by those who dwell in the light of knowledge.

Lord Krishn adds:

“They who depart from the body in the presence of bright flames,
daylight, the sun, the waxing moon of the bright half of a month,
and the dazzlingly clear sky of the time when the sun moves northwards,
attain to God.”

Fire is a symbol of God’s radiance as day is of knowledge. The bright half of a lunar month stands for purity. The six virtues of discrimination, renunciation, restraint, tranquility, courage and intellect are the six months of the ascendant motion of the sun. The state of upward motion is the progress of the sun to the north of the equator. Enlightened by knowledge of the reality which is quite beyond nature, sages attain to God and they are then not reborn.

But what happens to the worshipers who do not realize this state of divine magnificence in spite of their devotion?

Lord Krishn teaches in next verse.

“Dying during prevalence of the darkness of a gloomy night,
the dark half of a lunar month,
and the six months of the downward course of the sun,
the yogi who desires fruits of his action attains to the dim light of the moon
and is reborn after enjoying his rewards in heaven.”

That Soul is yet far removed from God who departs from the body when the sacred fire of his yagya is smothered by smoke, when the night of ignorance prevails, when the moon is waning in the dark half of a month, when gloom prevails on all sides and the outward-looking mind is infested with the six vices of passion, wrath, greed, delusion, vanity and malice; and he is reborn.

Does it mean, however, that along with his body the worship, too, of this seeker is destroyed?

Lord Krishn adds:

“The way of brightness that leads to God
and the way of darkness that takes one to the afterworld
are the two eternal ways in the world.
One who takes the first achieves birthlessness,
whereas the treader on the second is subject to repeated birth and death.”

Both the ways, of light and darkness, of knowledge and ignorance, have been forever. But the merits of worship are never destroyed. The one who dies in the state of knowledge and brightness achieves ultimate salvation, but the one who departs from the body in the state of ignorance and obscurity has to come back and undergo yet another birth. And this succession of one birth after another goes on until there is perfect light; until that moment the seeker has to carry on his worship.

The problem is fully resolved at this point and Lord Krishn then dwells upon the means which are essential for the attainment of final liberation.

HE sings:

“You should always rest upon yog, O Parth,
for the yogi who knows the reality of the two ways is never deceived.”

Knowing the two ways well, the yogi is aware that his act of worship will not be destroyed even if he is reborn because of dying in ignorance. Both the ways have also been forever. So Arjun should at all time practice yog and devote himself to worship.

“Knowing this secret, the yogi transcends the rewards of Vedic study,
sacrificial rites, penance, and charity, and so achieves salvation.”

By his contemplation of God, the fruit of yagya, the yogi who comes to know the identical Supreme Spirit by direct perception rather than by just belief or assumption goes beyond the promised rewards, and is liberated for ever. This direct perception of the Supreme Spirit is named Ved-that which has been directly revealed by God himself.

So when that unmanifest essence itself is known, there remains nothing more to know. After this even the need for the Ved is therefore done away with, for the knower is now no different from him who had revealed it to their seer-composers. Yagya or the appointed task was a necessity earlier, but once the reality is known there remains nothing else to pray for.

To subject the senses along with the mind to austerities is penance, but even that is unnecessary now. A total self-surrender, in thought, speech and action, is charity. And the auspicious fruit of all these is the attainment of God. And all these are now unnecessary because the desired goal is no longer away from the seeker.

The yogi who has realized God transcends the rewards of all these virtuous acts-yagya, penance, charity, and others, and achieves absolution.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

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Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~