Geeta Dhara – Gurukul

Being all alone in a place where there are no distractions, restraint of mind, body, and senses, and a complete rejection of attachments are all essential for a man who is engaged in the task of Self-realization.

Lord Krishn sings:

“The yogi, engaged in self-conquest, should devote himself
to the practice of yog in loneliness in a secluded place,
controlling his mind, body and senses, and rid of desire and acquisitiveness.”

The following verse contains an account of the place and the seat which are conducive to the exercise.

“At a clean spot he should devise
a seat of kush-grass or deer-skin covered with a piece of cloth,
which is neither too high nor too low.”

Cleanliness of place is a question of sweeping and wiping it to keep it neat and tidy. In such a clean place, the worshiper should make for himself a seat of grass or deer-skin, on top of which there is spread a cover of fabric such as silk, or of wool. However, the seat may also be just a simple wooden board. But whatever it is, it should be firm, and neither too high nor too low.

The intent behind all this is that something should be spread on the ground to cover it; it may be anything-skin, a mat, a piece of any kind of cloth, or even a wooden plank. It is important that the seat is not shaky. Again, it should be neither too high from the ground nor too low.

My revered accomplished teacher, Gurudev Jee, used to sit on an about five-inch high seat. Once it so happened that some devotees got him a marble seat that was about a foot high. Revered Gurudev Jee sat on it only once and said,

“No, this is too high. A sadhu should not sit too high. It only makes them vain. That does not mean, though, that they should sit too low either, for that gives rise to a sense of inferiority-of contempt for oneself.”

So he had the marble seat put away in the forest. Revered Gurudev Jee never went there, and neither does anybody else now. That really was an exercise in a practical lesson by the great man. So the seat of a worshiper should not be too high. If it is too high, vanity will overtake him even before he commences the task of divine adoration.

Lord Krishn adds:

“He should then sit on it and practice yog,
concentrating his mind and restraining the senses, for self-purification.”

Next, then, the posture of sitting (according to the provision, meditation is done in a sitting posture)-the manner in which the worshiper should sit while engaged in contemplation-is taken up.

Lord Krishn sings:

“Holding his body, head, and neck firmly erect,
his eyes should concentrate on the tip of the nose,
looking neither right nor left.”

In the course of meditation, the worshiper should keep his body, neck, and head straight, steady, and unmoving, like a column of wood as it were. Sitting erect and firm like this, he should keep his eyes fixed on the tip of his nose. Rather than meaning that he should watch the tip of the nose, the directive is that the eyes should look straight in line with the nose. The tendency of eyes of restlessly flitting here and there must be curbed. Looking straight in line with the nose, the worshiper should sit unmoving.

Lord Krishn adds:

“Abiding in continence, fearless, serene at heart,
alert and restrained in mind, he should surrender himself firmly to me.”

What actually does continence (brahmcharya vrat)-celibacy-mean?

People usually say that it is restraint of the sexual urge. But it has been the experience of sages that such restraint is impossible so long as mind is associated with objects, sights, touch, and sounds which inflame the urge.

A true celibate ( brahmchari ) is rather one who is engaged in the task of realizing God (Brahm). The brahmchari is a man of Brahm-like conduct: a doer of the appointed task of yagya that leads men to attainment and ultimate dissolution in the eternal, immutable God.

While doing it, the external sensations of touch and of all such contacts of the mind and other senses have to be excluded in order to concentrate the mind on contemplation of God, on the incoming and the outgoing breath, and on meditation.

There are no external memories when the mind rests on God. So long as these memories last, the absorption in God is incomplete. Currents of deviation flow through the mind, not through the body. When the mind is wholly occupied with its adoration of God, not only does the sexual urge but all the other physical urges also cease.

So dwelling in conduct that will take him to God, free from fear, in a state of repose, and with a restrained mind, the devoted worshiper should surrender himself totally to an accomplished teacher.

But what is the outcome of all this?

Lord Krishn sings:

“The yogi with a restrained mind
who thus meditates on me incessantly at last attains
to the sublime peace that dwells in me.”

The yogi who thus always reflects on Lord Krishn, an ideal, accomplished teacher and dwells in God, with a controlled mind achieves his sublime peace. So Arjun is told to constantly devote himself to the task. The treatment of the subject is now almost complete.

In the next two verses, Lord Krishn then points out the importance of physical discipline, regulated food, and recreation for the worshiper who aims at the conquest of ultimate bliss.

HE adds:

“This yog, O Arjun, is neither achieved by one
who eats too much or too little,
nor by one who sleeps too much or too little.”

Moderation in food and sleep are necessary for a man who wishes to be a yogi. Now, if the man who eats and sleeps immoderately cannot achieve yog, who can?

“Yog, the destroyer of all grief, is achieved only by those
who regulate their food and recreation,
who strive according to their capacity,
and who sleep in moderation.”

If a man eats too much, he is overtaken by lethargy, sleep, and negligence. And the act of meditation is simply not possible in such a condition. On the contrary, fasting will weaken the body and there will not be enough strength to even sit straight and firm.

According to my revered accomplished teacher, one should eat a little less than one’s need. Recreation, as understood here, is walking according to the available space. Some physical exercise is a necessity; circulation is slowed down in the absence of such exertion and one falls prey to illness.

How much a man sleeps or remains awake is determined by age, food, and habit. The most exalted Gurudev Jee used to tell us that a yogi should sleep for four hours and be constantly engaged in meditation. However, men who curb their sleep by force soon lose their sanity.

Along with all these, there should also be sufficient effort for the accomplishment of the undertaken task, for without this the act of worship cannot be carried out well.

Lord Krishn sings:

“A man is said to be endowed with yog when,
restrained by the practice of selfless action and contented with Self,
his mind is freed from all desires.”

Thus, when disciplined by the practice of selfless action, the mind of a man is firmly centered on God and is indeed dissolved in him, and when there remains no desire, the worshiper is said to have attained to yog.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
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Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

Lord Krishn insists that only that man who has made true renunciation or achieved yog who engages in the one action that is worthy of doing with absolutely no desire for any rewards.

No one becomes a sanyasi or a yogi by just desisting from the ordained action.

Lord Krishn sings in Bhagavad Gita:

“The man who performs the ordained task
without desiring its fruits, rather than the one who just gives up
the sacred fire or action, is a sanyasi and a yogi.”

There are many kinds of work, but out of them the action which is fit to be undertaken and which is ordained is only one. And this one action is yagya which means “worship,” the one means for the attainment of God. The practice of it is action; and the man who does it is a sanyasi and a yogi.

If a man has just stopped lighting fire or tells himself complacently that he has no use for action because he possesses Self-knowledge, he is neither a sanyasi nor a doer of selfless action.

Lord Krishn further speaks about this:

“Remember, O Arjun, that yog (selfless action) is the same
as renunciation (knowledge), for no man can be a yogi
without a total rejection of desire.”

What we know as renunciation is also yog, for no man can be a yogi without giving up all his desires. In other words, sacrifice of desire is essential for men who have chosen either of the ways. Superficially it appears so easy, for all that we need to do in order to become a yogi-sanyasi is to claim that we are free from desire. But according to Lord Krishn it is by no means so.

“Whereas selfless action is the means
for the contemplative man who wishes to achieve yog,
a total absence of will is the means for one who has attained to it.”

Performance of action to achieve yog is the way for the reflective man who aspires to selfless action. But when repeated practice of the deed gradually brings one to the stage at which the final outcome of selfless action emerges, absence of all desire is the means. One is not rid of desire before this stage.

Lord Krishn sings:

“A man is said to have achieved yog
when he is unattached to both sensual pleasure and action.”

This is the stage when a man is not given to sensual pleasure, nor to action. When the culmination of yog is once reached, who is there beyond to strive and look for?

So there is no longer any need of even the prescribed task of worship and, therefore, of attachment to action. This is the point when attachments are completely broken. This is renunciation-(sanyas); and this is also achievement of yog. While a worshiper is still on his way and has not yet arrived at this point, there is nothing like renunciation.

Lord Krishn then speaks about the profit that accrues from the attainment of yog:

“Since the Soul enshrined in a man is his friend
as well as foe, it is binding on a man to lift himself
by his own effort rather than degrade himself.”

It is man’s duty to work for the salvation of his Soul. He must not tempt him to damnation, for the embodied Soul is both his friend and enemy. Let us now see, in Lord Krishn’s words, when the Self is a friend and when an adversary.

“The Self is a friend to the man
who has overcome his mind and senses,
but he is an enemy to one who has failed to do so.”

To the man who has vanquished his mind and senses, the Soul within is a friend, but to the man who has not subdued his mind and senses, he is an enemy.

Lord Krishn thus insists repeatedly that a man should redeem his Self by his own effort. He must not degrade him, because the Self is a friend. Besides him, besides the Self, there is neither any friend nor any enemy. It is so because, if a man has restrained his mind and senses, his Soul acts as a friend and brings him highest good. But, if a man’s mind and senses are not restrained, his Soul turns into an enemy that drags him to re-birth in lower forms of life and to endless misery.

Men are fond of saying, “I am Soul.” So there is nothing for us to worry about. We cite evidence from the Bhagavad Gita itself. Isn’t it said there, we ask, that weapons cannot pierce and fire cannot burn and wind cannot wither the Self?

He, the deathless, immutable and universal, is therefore me. Believing so, we pay little heed to the warning in Bhagavad Gita that this Soul within us can also descend to an inferior, degraded level. Fortunately, however, he can also be saved and elevated; and Lord Krishn has made known to Arjun the action which is worthy of being done and which leads the Soul to absolution. The following verse indicates the qualities of a benign, friendly Self.

“God is ever and inseparably present
in the serene heart of the Self-abiding man
who is unmoved by the contradictions of heat and cold,
happiness and sorrow, and fame and infame.”

God dwells inextricably in the heart of the man who rests in his own Self and reacts evenly to the dualities of nature such as heat and cold, pain and pleasure, and honour and humiliation. Perfect repose flows through one who has conquered the mind along with the senses.

This is the stage when the Soul is liberated.

Lord Krishn sings further:

“The yogi, whose mind is quenched
with knowledge-both divine and intuitive,
whose devotion is steady and constant,
who has conquered his senses well,
and who makes no distinction between objects ostensibly
as different as earth, rock, and gold, is said to have realized God.”

The yogi who has achieved this state is said to be endowed with yog. He has reached the crowning point of yog which Yogeshwar Krishn has already portrayed. Perception of God and the consequent enlightenment are knowledge. The worshiper is but grovelling in the mire of ignorance if there is even the slightest distance between him and the adored God and the desire to know him remains unfulfilled.

What is called “intuitive” knowledge (vigyan) here is knowledge of God’s functioning through things, acts, and relations (the manifest universe) which reveal how he is all-pervading, how he prompts, how he guides innumerable Souls simultaneously, and how he is knower of all times-past, present, and future.

He begins to guide from the very moment when he makes his advent in a heart as the revered one, but the worshiper is unable to know this at the initial stage.

It is only when he has reached the culmination of his contemplative exercise that he gains full awareness of God’s ways. This is vigyan. The heart of man who is accomplished in yog is satiated with this achievement combined with his knowledge of God and accurate insight.

Lord Krishn adds:

“That man is indeed superior who view all with an equal mind:
friends and foes, the antagonistic, indifferent, neutral or jealous,
kinsmen, and the righteous as well as sinners.”

After perception of god, a sage is both equal and even-minded. Lord Krishn says that sages who are blessed with knowledge regard with an impartial eye a Brahmin, an outcast, and animals so diverse as a cow, a dog, and an elephant. The verse under discussion complements what was said before.

That man is doubtlessly a man of excellence who looks equally at all kinds of people, from the highest to the lowest, from the most virtuous to the most wicked, and from the most loving to the most malicious, irrespective of their feelings for him. He looks at the course of Souls within them rather than at their external deeds.

The only difference he, therefore, sees between diverse beings is that while some have ascended to higher steps and gotten close to the state of purity, others have lagged behind and are still lingering on the lower steps.

All the same, he sees the capacity for salvation in all.

~ Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans ~
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Humble Wishes.
~ mrityunjayanand ~

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The sage who has known God and merged into Him is a person of attainment.

Lord Krishn sings in Bhagavad Gita:

“That equal-minded man dwells in God
who is neither delighted by what others love
nor offended by what others scorn, who is free from doubt,
and who has perceived Him.”

Such a sage transcends feelings of love and hatred. He does not go wild with joy when he gets something which is cherished and admired by others. In the same way, he is also not repelled by what others find distasteful. With such a constant mind, free from doubt, and endowed with knowledge of the divine Self, he always dwells in God.

Lord Krishn adds:

“That man becomes one with God
and enjoys eternal bliss who is single-mindedly dedicated to him
and whose heart is free from desire for worldly joys.”

The man who has renounced desire for the pleasure of objects of the external world attains to the felicity of God. His Self is united with God and the resulting happiness is therefore eternal. But this happiness comes only to him who is unattached to pleasures.

Lord Krishn sings:

“Since the pleasures arising from the association of senses
with their objects are a cause of grief and are transitory,
O son of Kunti, men of wisdom do not desire them.”

Not only the skin, but all senses feel the sensation of touch contact. Seeing is the touch of the eye as hearing is the touch of the ear. Although seeming pleasant to experience, all the enjoyment arising form these contacts of senses with their objects only leads to miserable births. Moreover, these sensual gratifications are also transient and destructible. So Arjun is told that men of knowledge are not entangled in them. Lord Krishn then enlightens him on the evil that is embodied by attachment to these pleasures.

“That man in this world is a true and blessed yogi who,
even before the death of his mortal body,
acquires the ability to withstand the onslaughts of passion and anger,
and conquers them for ever.”

He is the real man (nara=na+raman)-one who is not given to physical dalliance. Even while he is living in the mortal body, he is capable of facing the fierce urges of passion and anger, and of destroying them. He has achieved selfless action in the world and he is happy. He has won the happiness of identity with God in which there is no grief. According to divine ordinance, this happiness is acquired in this mortal, worldly life itself and not after the death of the physical body. This is what Sant Kabir intends to convey when he counsels his disciples to place their hope in this life.

The assurance that salvation comes after death is false and given only by unworthy and selfish teachers. Lord Krishn also says that the man who succeeds in overcoming his passion and anger in this life itself is the doer of selfless action in this world, and he is blessed with everlasting happiness. Passion and anger, attraction and repulsion, desire for the touching of objects by the senses, are our mortal enemies whom we have to vanquish and destroy.

Lord Krishn again dwells upon the nature of the doer of selfless action in next verse.

“The man who knows his Self
and whose happiness and peace lie within merges into God,
and he attains to the final beatitude that lies in him.”

The man, who is joyous within, at peace within, and illumined within by his perception of the Self and the identical Universal Spirit, is a realized sage who is united with God and who attains to his ineffable state.

In other words, there is first destruction of perversions-alien impulses such as attachment and aversion, then the emergence of perception, and finally submersion in the all-pervading ocean of final beatitude.

Lord Krishn sings further:

“They attain to the eternal peace of God
whose sins have been destroyed by perception
and whose doubts are resolved,
and who are single-mindedly concerned with the good of all beings.”

He is a man of attainment whose sins have been dispelled by his vision of God, whose doubts have been done away with, and who is wholeheartedly devoted to the service of all mankind. Only a man of this elevated state can help others, for how can he who is fallen in a ditch himself help others to get out?

So compassion appears as a natural attribute of realized sages and they, with their spiritual perception and conquest of the senses, realize the peace that comes with the final dissolution in God.

“Men who are free from passion and wrath,
who have conquered their mind,
and who have had a direct perception of God,
see the all-tranquil Supreme Self wherever they look.”

Lord Krishn thus repeatedly stresses the distinctive features of the character and life of doers of selfless action in order to motivate and encourage Arjun and, through him, all his other disciples. The question is now almost resolved.

To conclude his argument, however, Lord Krishn reverts to the necessity of contemplating the incoming and outgoing breath for the realization of this sage’s state. He has told us of offering pran to apan, of sacrificing apan to pran, and of the regulation of both the life winds while giving his account of the process of yagya. The same subject is taken up again.

Lord Krishn sings:

“That sage is liberated for ever
who shuts out of his mind all objects of sensual pleasure,
keeps his eyes centered between the two brows,
regulates his pran and apan,
conquers his senses, mind and intellect,
and whose mind is fixed on salvation.”

Lord Krishn reminds Arjun of the vital need of excluding from the mind all thoughts of external objects as well as of keeping eyes fixed steadily between the two brows. Keeping eyes between the brows does not simply mean concentrating them at something. It is rather that while the worshiper is sitting erect, his eyes should be pointed ahead in a straight line from the midpoint between the brows; they should not wander about restlessly and look right and left.

Keeping the eyes aligned with the ridge of the nose-we must be careful that we do not start watching the nose-and balancing pran against apan and keeping the eyes steadily fixed all the while, we should direct the vision of mind, the Soul, to the breath and let him watch it: when does the breath go in, how long is it held-if it is held in for only half a second, we should not try to prolong it by force, and how long does it stay out? It is hardly necessary to say that the name in the breath will ring audibly. Thus when the vision of mind learns to concentrate steadily on the inhaled and exhaled breath, breathing will gradually become constant, firm, and balanced.

There will be then neither generation of inner desires nor assaults on the mind and heart by desires from external sources. Thoughts of external pleasure have already been shut out; now there will not even arise inner desires. Contemplation then stands steady and straight like a stream of oil. A stream of oil does not descend like water, drop by drop; it comes down in a constant, unbroken line.

Similar to this is the motion of the breath of a sage of attainment. So the man, who has balanced his pran and apan, conquered his senses, mind and intellect, freed himself from desire, and fear and anger, perfected contemplative discipline, and taken refuge in salvation, is ever-liberated.

Sri Krishn finally discourses upon where this sage goes after liberation and what he achieves.

“Knowing the truth that it is I
who enjoy the offerings of yagya and penances,
that I am God of all the worlds,
and that l am the selfless benefactor of all beings,
he attains to final tranquillity.”

This liberated man, who knows that Lord Krishn-God of the gods of all worlds-is the recipient and enjoyer of the offerings of all yagya and penances, and that he is the selfless well-wisher of all beings-knowing all this he achieves the ultimate repose.

Lord Krishn says that he is the enjoyer of the worshiper’s yagya of inhaled and exhaled breath as well as of austerities. He is the one in whom yagya and penances are at last dissolved and so their doer comes to Him, the ultimate serenity that results from the completion of yagya. The worshiper, liberated from desire by selfless action, knows Lord Krishn and realizes him as soon as he is blessed with this knowledge.

This is named peace; and the one who achieves it becomes like God of gods just as Lord Krishn is.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
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Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

The mind, whose darkness has been pierced through by knowledge of the Self and which has thus acquired true wisdom, is lit up as if with the light of the sun and God is clearly manifested to it.

Lord Krishn sings:

“But the knowledge of one
whose ignorance has been dispelled by Self-perception
shines like the sun and renders God brilliantly visible.”

This does not by any means imply that God is some kind of darkness, for he is truly the source of all light. He is the fountain of all light, but his light-it appears-is not for us because it is not seen by us.

When darkness is swept away by perception of the Self-like the Self, like the sun, the resulting knowledge absorbs his brightness within itself. After this there is no longer any darkness. Here is what Sri Krishn has to say about the nature of this knowledge in next verse.

“Those men attain salvation-after which
there is no next birth-whose mind and intellect are free from delusion,
who dwell with a single mind in God and put themselves at his mercy,
and who are freed from all sin by knowledge.”

That state is knowledge in which a man dedicates himself wholly to God and is dependent on him, with a mind and an intellect shaped accordingly, and overflowing with his essence.

Knowledge is not garrulousness or being argumentative.

The man who is endowed with this knowledge attains to salvation and is liberated from physical ties. It is such men who are called pandit, men of profound learning and wisdom. Only a man who has achieved this ultimate state deserves the name of pandit.

Lord Krishn sings:

“Sages who look evenly at a Brahmin, a cow, an elephant,
a dog, and even the most despicable of men are blessed
with the highest degree of knowledge.”

They are realized sages whose sins have been destroyed by knowledge and who have achieved the state in which there is no further birth. And such men regard all creatures impartially, making no distinction between a discerning Brahmin and an outcast, or between a dog and an elephant. In their eyes there is neither any special merit in the wise and learned Brahmin nor any special demerit in the ostracized man.

For him neither is a cow holy nor a dog unholy. He does not find any special greatness about a massive elephant. Such men of knowledge are impartial of view and equalminded. Their eyes are fixed not on the skin, on the external form, but on the Soul-the inner essence. The difference is only this: men who know and are reverent to the Self are close to God, whereas others straggle behind. Some have gone a stage ahead, while some are yet lingering behind. Men of knowledge are conscious that the body is but an apparel. So they look at the embodied Soul and attach no significance to the outward form. They do not discriminate.

Lord Krishn was a cowherd and he had tended cows. So he should have spoken of this creature in reverential terms. He has only admitted that like other beings she, too has a Soul. Lord Krishn has said that ignorant minds are riven with dissensions, because of which they devise an endless variety of deeds.

This verse suggests that there are two kinds of sages. First, there are sages whose knowledge is perfect. Secondly, there are sages who are possessed of reverent knowledge.

Let us linger for a moment to see how they are different. It is an axiom that everything has at least two stages, the highest-the ultimate stage-and the initial-the lowest stage.

The lowest stage of worship is the one at which it is commenced, when it is taken up with discernment, detachment, and dedication, while the highest stage is that at which the final outcome of the act of worship is about to emerge.

The same is true of the Brahmin class-the state of sattwa, when there is the advent of properties that provide access to the Supreme Spirit and there is the presence of knowledge and a reverential attitude. At this stage all the faculties that take one to God are spontaneously active within-control of mind, restraint of senses, beginning of the process of intuition-direct perception, steady contemplation, concentration, and abstract meditation. This is the lowest stage of the state that is named Brahmin.

Its highest stage is reached when with gradual perfection the Self at last stands face to face with God and is dissolved in him. Now that which had to be known is perfectly known. The sage who has achieved this is the one with perfect knowledge.

This sage, who is now beyond rebirth, looks equally at creatures, because his eyes are turned within to see the enshrined Self. So Lord Krishn now describes what is the ultimate lot of this sage in next verse.

Lord Krishn adds:

“They who achieve the state of equality
conquer the whole world within the mortal life itself,
because they rest in God who is also unblemished and impartial.”

Sages with perfectly poised minds are freed from material nature during their worldly life itself. But what is the relation between an even mind and conquest of nature? When the world itself is annihilated, what is the position of the Self?

In Lord Krishn’s view, since God is immaculate and impartial, the minds of sages who have known Him are also freed from all blemishes and inequalities. The sage becomes one with God. This is the ultimate birthless state and it is acquired when the ability to overcome the enemy, the world of appearances, is fully developed.

This ability is there when the mind is controlled and when one has achieved the state of equality, for the world of appearances, is but an extension of the mind.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
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Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

That man is possessed of yog, of selfless action, who has conquered the body, whose senses are subdued, whose thoughts and feelings are spotlessly clean, and who has realized his identity with God, the Spirit of all beings.

Lord Krishn sings in Bhagavad Gita:

“The doer, who is in perfect control of his body
through a conquest of his senses, pure at heart
and singlemindedly devoted to the God of all beings,
is untainted by action even though he is engaged in it.”

He remains unblemished even though he is involved in action, because his deeds are aimed at garnering seeds of the highest good for those who lag behind. He is untainted because he dwells in the essence that is God, the fountain head of the vitality of all beings.

There is nothing for him hereafter for which he should quest. At the same time, there can be no attachment to what he has left behind, because they have all paled into insignificance. So he is not engulfed by his deeds. Thus we have here a picture of the ultimate stage of the worshiper who has achieved selfless action.

Lord Krishn explains again why this man, blessed with yog, remains unattached to action.

“The man who perceives, in whatever he is doing,
whether hearing, touching smelling, eating, walking, sleeping, breathing,
giving up or seizing, and opening or closing his eyes,
that only his senses are acting according to their properties
and that he himself is a non-doer, is indeed the one with true knowledge.”

It is a belief, or rather experience, of the man to whom God is visibly present that he does absolutely nothing. Rather than being a mere fancy, it is a firm conviction he has arrived at through the performance of action. After having known this he cannot but believe that whatever he appears to be doing is really the operation of his senses according to their natural properties.

And, when there is nothing higher than God whom he has apprehended, what greater joy can he aspire to have by touching any other object or being? Had there been something better beyond, there must have been attachment?

But after the attainment of God there is no further goal to strive for. And neither is there anything left behind for him to renounce. So the man endowed with attainment is unimmersed in action.

Lord Krishn sings:

“The man who acts,
dedicating all his actions to God and abandoning all attachment,
is untouched by sin as a lotus leaf is untouched by water.”

The lotus grows in mud, but its leaf floats above the water. Ripples pass over it night and day, but if you look at the leaf it is always dry. Not a drop of water clings to it. So the lotus growing in mud and water is yet unsullied by them. Just so, the man, all of whose actions are merged into God (this dissolution occurs only with perception, not before), and who acts with total detachment because there is nothing beyond to be desired, is unaffected by action. Yet he is busy with the performance of action for the guidance and good of the ones who are behind him.

This is the point that is stressed in the next following verse.

“Sages give up the attachment of their senses,
mind, intellect and body, and act for inner purification.”

A sage abandons all desires of his senses, mind, intellect, and body, and practices selfless action for inner sanctity. Does that mean that the Self is tainted with impurities even after he has merged into God? It cannot be so because after this dissolution the Self becomes one with all beings; he sees his own extension in all beings. So he acts, not for himself, but for the purification and guidance of other beings. He acts with his mind, intellect and physical organs, but his Self is in a state of actionlessness and constant peace. He appears to be active outwardly, but inside him there is only endless tranquility. The rope cannot bind any longer because it is burnt out and what remains is only the impression of its twist.

Lord Krishn sings:

“The sage who sacrifices the fruits of his action to God
attains to his state of sublime repose,
but the man who desires rewards of action is chained by desire.”

The man who is blessed with the final outcome of selfless action and who dwells in God-the root of all beings, and who has forsaken desire for the fruits of action because the God who was the goal of his action is no longer distant from him, achieves the state of sublime peace beyond which there is no greater peace and beyond which he will never again know restlessness. But the wayfarer, who is still on his way and attached (he has to be attached because the “fruit” of his action, God, is still unattained) to the consequence of his action, is fettered by it. So desires continue to arise until the moment of attainment, and the worshiper has to be on his guard right till that point.

My most revered accomplished teacher, Gurudev, used to say, “Mark me, maya prevails if we are even in the least removed from God and he is removed from us.” Even if the attainment is to be tomorrow, today the worshiper is at best only an ignorant man. So the questing worshiper ought not to be careless.

Let us see what is further said about this.

“The man who is in perfect control of his heart and mind,
and acts accordingly , dwells blissfully in the abode of his body
with its nine apertures because he neither acts himself nor makes others act.”

The man who is in perfect control of himself and dwells, beyond his body, mind, intellect, and material nature, in his own Self-this man of restraint undoubtedly neither acts nor is a cause of action. Even prompting the men left behind to act does not affect his serenity. This man who has realized his Self and abides in him, and who has subdued all his organs which provide him with objects of physical pleasure, dwells in the ultimate bliss that is God. In truth, thus, he neither acts nor effects any undertaking of action.

The same idea is stated differently when Sri Krishn says that God, too, neither acts nor gets any action accomplished. The accomplished teacher, God, the adored one, the realized sage, an enlightened guru, and the endowed one-are all synonymous. No God descends from heaven to accomplish anything. When he functions, he operates through these Self-abiding, reverent, and loving Souls. The body is a mere dwelling place for such a Soul. So the action of the Supreme Self is the same as that of the individual Self, because he acts through him. So, in truth, the Self who has become one with God does nothing even while he is engaged in action. The next-verse is again related to the same problem.

Lord Krishn adds:

“God creates neither action nor the capacity for action,
and not even the association of action with its fruits,
but at the same time, vitalized by his spirit, it is nature that acts.’’

God makes neither the power of beings to act nor actions, nor does he decide the fruits of action, and all objects and beings act only under the pressure of innate natural properties. One acts according to the three properties, tamas, rajas and sattwa. Nature is vast, but it affects a man only to the extent to which his natural disposition is virtuous or vitiated – divine or devilish.

People usually say that it is God who does or gets things done, and we are mere instruments. It is he who makes us do well or ill. But Sri Krishn maintains that God neither acts nor prompts action, and that he also does not produce favourable or unfavourable circumstances. Men act by themselves according to the compulsions of their inborn nature. They are impelled to act by the inevitability of their inherent traits; it is not God who acts. Then why do people say that everything is done by God?

Sri Krishn dwells upon the problem in next verse.

“The all-pervading God, the Glorious One,
accepts neither men’s sinful acts nor attachment
because their knowledge is enveloped by ignorance (maya).”

The one who has been named God is now described as the Glorious One because he is embellished with sublime glory. That God, all powerful and radiant, accepts neither our sins nor our righteous actions. But people yet say that he does everything, because their knowledge is clouded with ignorance. As yet the men who speak so are only mortal beings, enclosed within bodies. Subject to delusion they can say anything.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

_/l\_
Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

Lord Krishn has extolled action by the Way of Knowledge through Renunciation and then he has spoken approvingly of action done with a selfless attitude. So Arjun now wishes to be enlightened on the specific way which is in Lord Krishn’s well considered view more conducive to his well-being.

Arjun raises a question :

“You have so far commended, O Krishn,
both the Way of knowledge through Renunciation
and then the Way of Selfless Action;
so now tell me which one of the two is decidedly more propitious?”

If we are told two ways for going to a certain place, it is but proper to inquire which one of the two is more convenient. If we do not raise this question, the implication is that we do not have to go anywhere.

Yogeshwar Krishn responds to Arjun’s submission thus:

“Both renunciation and selfless action achieve salvation,
but of the two the Way of Selfless Action is the better
because it is easier to practice.”

If both the ways are equally effective in bringing about the final absolution, why is the Way of Selfless Action described as superior? This is what Lord Krishn has to say about it.

Lord Krishn sings:

“He, O the mighty-armed Arjun,
who envies none and desires nothing is fit
to be regarded as a true sanyasi and,
liberated from the conflicts of passion and repugnance,
he breaks away from worldly bondage.”

The one who is free alike from love and animosity is a sanyasi, a man of renunciation, irrespective of whether he has chosen Way of Knowledge or the Way of Selfless Action. Emancipated from both attachment and repugnance, he is happily released from the great fear of repeated births.

Lord Krishn adds:

“It is the ignorant rather than men of wisdom
who make distinction between Way of Knowledge
and the Way of Selfless Action,
for he who dwells well in any one of the two attains to God.”

“That man perceives reality who regards the Way of Knowledge
and the Way of Selfless Action as identical,
because the liberation attained by knowledge is also achieved
by selfless action.”

The goal which is reached by the worshiper of knowledge is also achieved by the doer of selfless action. So he knows the truth who regards the two ways as similar from the point of view of consequence.

Now, when the two ways converge at the same point, why does Sri Krishn pronounce one preferable to the other?

HE explains in next verse:

“But, O the mighty-armed,
renunciation is well nigh impossible to achieve without selfless action,
but the one whose mind is set on God is soon united with him.”

The giving up of all that we have is most painful without selfless action. It is indeed impossible if selfless action has not been initiated at all. Therefore, the sage who reflects on the identical God, and whose mind and senses are stilled, soon attains to that God by the performance of selfless action.

It is but evident that selfless action has also to be practiced on the Way of Knowledge, because the requisite action for both the ways is the same. This is the act of yagya, which precisely means “worship”. The difference between the two ways is only a matter of the worshiper’s attitude.

Whereas one devotes himself to the deed after a thorough appraisal of his own ability and with self-dependence, the other-the doer of selfless action-engages in the task with total reliance upon the adored God. So, whereas the former is like a student who studies for an examination privately, the other is like one who is enrolled in a school or college. Both of them have an accomplished teacher to master the same course, take the same test, and even the certificate to be awarded to them is the same. Only their attitudes to their task are different.

Saying that passion and anger are formidable enemies, Sri Krishn urged Arjun to kill them. Arjun found it most painful.

Sri Krishn thereupon told him that beyond the body there are the senses, beyond the senses there is the mind, beyond the mind there is the intellect, and beyond all these there is the Self, the power at whose behest he is driven to all his actions.

To act with a clear understanding of one’s own strength and with dependence on one’s own ability is the Way of Knowledge. Lord Krishn prompted Arjun to concentrate his mind on him and fight, dedicating all his actions to him and in total freedom from attachment and grief. To perform a deed with a sense of surrender to the worshiped God is the Way of Selfless Action. So the action in the two ways is the same and so is the final outcome.

Stressing the same, Lord Krishn now says that the achievement of renunciation, of the ultimate cessation of good as well as evil actions, is impossible without selfless action. There is no way by which we may sit idly, just telling ourselves:

“I am God, pure and wise. For me there is no action and no bondage. Even if I may appear as participating in evil, it is really only my senses functioning according to their nature.”

There is no such hypocrisy in Lord Krishn’s words.

Even he, the Yogeshwar, cannot, without the required action, bestow the ultimate state upon a beloved friend like Arjun. If he were able to do this, there would be no need for the Bhagavad Gita. Action has to be accomplished.

The stage of renunciation can be achieved only through action and the one who does it soon realizes God.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

_/l\_
Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~