Geeta Dhara – Gurukul

The Self is constant, eternal, unmanifest, changeless, and indestructible. When once this Soul has been known and one is joyous, contented, and absorbed in him, what else is there beyond to search for? And what shall we gain by any further seeking?

For such a selfless man there is no harm in forsaking action, because he no longer has the mind on which impieties can make an impression. He is not the least concerned with beings of the external world or with any of the layer upon layer of inner aspirations.

When he has grasped the very highest, what use has he for anything else?

Lord Krishn sings in Chapter Three of Bhagavad Gita:

“Such a man has neither anything to gain from action
nor anything to lose from inaction,
and he has no interest in any being or any object.”

Previously there was, but now there is for such a man neither any profit in doing- nor any loss in the absence of doing. He ceases to have any selfish relationship with any being.

Lord Krishn adds further:

“So always do what is right for you
to do in the spirit of selflessness,
for in doing his duty the selfless man attains to God.”

In order to achieve this state, Arjun ought to be disinterested and do well what is fit for him to do, for a selfless man realizes God only through selfless action. The action which is worthy of doing is the same as the ordained action.

“Since sages such as Janak had also attained
to the ultimate realization by action,
and keeping in mind, the preservation of the God made order,
it is incumbent upon you to act.”

Janak here does not mean the King of Mithila. “Janak” is an epithet of father-the giver of life. Yog, the way by which the individual Soul may be united with the Supreme Spirit and thus secure absolution, is janak, for it brings out and manifests the embodied Soul.

All those who are endowed with yog are sages like Janak. Many such great men possessing true wisdom have also achieved the final bliss through action aimed at the ultimate attainment.

“Ultimate” stands for realization of the essence that the Supreme Spirit represents. All great saints, such as Janak, have attained to the state of ultimate realization through performance of the action which is yagya. But after attainment they act with the welfare of the world in view. They work for the betterment of mankind. So Arjun, too, is worthy of being a true leader of the people after attainment.

Sri Krishn had said that there was neither any gain in action nor any loss in inaction for a great Soul after he has reached the state of realization. Yet, however, keeping in mind the interest of the world and the preservation of its order, he continues to acquit himself well of his prescribed duty. The reason for this is explained in the following verse.

“Although, O Parth, there is no task
in all the three worlds which I have to do,
and neither is there any worthwhile object
which I have not achieved,
I am yet engaged in action.”

Like other sages of attainment, Lord Krishn has also nothing remaining to do. He said a little earlier that sages have no duty to perform to other beings. Similarly, in all the three worlds he has nothing to do and there is not even the least desirable object that he does not have. And yet he is earnestly engaged in action.

Lord Krishn adds:

“For should I not be diligent
in the performance of my task, O Parth,
other men will follow my example in every way.”

If he is not careful about the due performance of his assigned task, other men will also behave like him. Does it mean that even emulating Sri Krishn (God) may be an error? By his own admission, he will set a bad example if he does not act.

Lord Krishn sings:

“If I do not perform my action well,
the whole world will perish
and I shall be the cause of varnsankar
and so a destroyer of mankind.”

If he does not acquit himself of his task with caution, not only will all the worlds stray, but he will also bring about varnsankar and so the destruction of all mankind. If the enlightened, accomplished sage is not cautiously engaged in meditation, society will be corrupted by imitating his example. There is no loss to the sage if he does not act because he has realized the ultimate goal by successful completion of his act of worship. But that is not true of others who have perhaps not yet even set foot on the path of this spiritual exercise. So great Souls labour for the edification and guidance of those who lag behind.

Lord Krishn is doing the same. The implication is clear that Lord Krishn, too, was a sage-a true yogi. He works just as other sages do for the good of the world.

The mind is very unstable. It desires everything except worshipful meditation. If sages who have realized God do not act, by their example people behind them will also give up action.

Common people will have an excuse for licence if they find that the saint does not meditate, indulges in minor vices, and participates in cheap gossip. Disillusioned, they will withdraw from worship and fall into impiety. That explains why Lord Krishn says that if he does not do his appointed duty, all mankind will fall from grace and he will be the cause of varnsankar.

It is in this sense that a sage is the cause of destruction of mankind if he does not induce others to act while he is himself earnestly engaged in his prescribed task.

Realization of the indestructible God, the root from which everything is born, is life, whereas to be engrossed in the innumerable objects of nature and stray from the divine path is death. So that sage who does not induce other men to walk along the path of action is a destroyer-verily a murderer, of humanity.

He is a destroyer of mankind if he does not check the frittering away of minds and senses, and compel other men to keep to the right path. He is then an embodiment of violence.

True nonviolence is cultivating one’s own Self and, simultaneously, also urging others to spiritual discipline and growth.

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

Totally enlightened and fully accomplished sages with their beings in the Supreme Spirit gave a proper shape to spiritual excellence and yagya, and instructed men that they would prosper through the observance of yagya. By this prosperity they did not mean that clay houses would change into brick-and-plaster mansions. Neither did they promise that men would begin to make more money. They rather wished men to know that yagya would fulfil their God-inclined aspirations. A logical question that confronts us here is whether yagya leads to immediate attainment of God or only by gradual steps.

Lord Krishn sings in Chapter three of Bhagavad Gita:

“And may you cherish gods by yagya
and may gods foster you,
for this is the means by which
you will finally achieve the ultimate state.”

Cherishing gods by yagya means fostering sacred impulses. And that is also how gods foster mankind. Thus, by mutual augmentation men will ultimately achieve that final bliss after which there is nothing more to achieve. The deeper we enter into yagya (worshiping of God), the more is the heart enriched with divinity. The Supreme Spirit is the only God and the means-the impulses-that provide access to that God are the “divine treasure” because they bring the ultimate God within reach.

Lord Krishn adds further:

“The gods you foster by yagya will shower upon you
without asking all the joys you wish for,
but the man who avails himself of these joys
without having paid for them is truly a thief.”

The divine riches we earn and store by yagya will give us nothing else besides joys related to the revered God. They are the only powers which give. There is no other way to attain to the adored God.

The man who tries to enjoy this state without making an offering of divine riches, the righteous impulses, is doubtlessly a thief who is given nothing. And since he gets nothing, what is there for him to enjoy?

But he pretends all the same that he is perfect, a knower of the essence. Such a braggart is shy of the path of righteousness and so he is truly a thief (albeit an unsuccessful one).

But what do the attainers gain?

Sri Krishn preaches in next verse:

” The wise who partake of what is left over
from yagya are rid of all evil,
but the sinners who cook only for the sustenance of their bodies
partake of nothing but sin.”

They who subsist on the food derived from yagya are absolved of all sins. The moment of achievement in the course of augmenting the divine plenty is also the moment of its completion. When yagya is complete, the leftover is God himself. The same has been said by Sri Krishn in a different way: the one who feeds on what is generated by yagya merges into the Supreme Spirit. The sage who feeds on God’s manna that issues from yagya is liberated from all sins or, in other words, from birth and death.

Sages eat for liberation, but a sinner eats for the sake of the body that is born through the medium of attachment. He feeds on evil. He may have sung hymns, known the way of worship, and also made a little bit of the way, but despite all this there arises in him a cloying desire that he should achieve something for the body and its objects of attachment. And it is quite likely that he will also get what he desires. But then, after this “joy”, he will find himself stationary at the very point from which he had begun his spiritual quest.

What greater loss can there be than this? When the body itself is destructible, how long can its pleasures and joys be with us? So, irrespective of their divine adoration, such men partake only of sin.

They are not destroyed, but they do not progress on the way. That is why Sri Krishn stresses action (worship) undertaken in a self-effacing spirit. He has so far said that the practice of yagya confers the highest glory and that it is a creation of accomplished realized sages.

But why do such sages undertake the shaping and refinement of mankind?

Lord Krishn adds:

“All beings get their life from food, food grows from rain,
rain emerges from yagya, and yagya is an outcome of action.”

“Be it known to you that action arose from the Ved
and the Ved from the indestructible Supreme Spirit,
so that the all-pervasive, imperishable God is ever present in yagya.”

All creatures are born from food. Food is God himself whose breath is life. A man turns to yagya with his mind fixed on that divine manna. Food results from rain: not rain that falls from clouds, but the shower of grace. Yagya which have been undertaken and stored earlier themselves come down as a shower of grace. Today’s worship is given back to us as grace the next day.

That is why yagya is said to generate rain. If an indiscriminate oblation or offering to all of the so-called gods and burning of barley grains and oil seeds could produce rain, why should deserts have remained barren? Thus rain here is the shower of grace that is an outcome of yagya. This yagya, again, arises from action and is indeed brought to completion by action.

Arjun is told to remember that this action is born from the Ved. The Ved is the voice of sages who live in God. The vivid perception, rather than cramming of certain verses, of the unmanifest essence is named Ved. The Ved is born from the imperishable God. The truths of the Ved have been proclaimed by great souls, but, since they have become one with God, the imperishable God himself speaks through them.

It is for this that the Ved is said to be of divine origin. The Ved came from God. And the sages, being one with Him, are only instruments. It is he whose spokesmen they are. God manifests himself to them when they have restrained the desires of their mind by yagya. The omnipresent, ultimate, and imperishable God is, therefore, always present in yagya. So yagya is the only way to attain to him. This is what Sri Krishn tells Arjun.

Lord Krishn adds further:

“The man in this world, O Parth,
who loves sensual pleasure and lead an impious life,
and does not conduct himself in accordance with
the thus prescribed cycle of Self-realization,
leads but a futile life.”

The pleasure-loving, sinful man who, despite his birth in human form, does not conduct himself in keeping with the means of the ordained action or, to put it differently, does not follow the way of attaining to the state of immortality through fostering gods and so also himself by tending the divine riches of his nature, lives but in vain.

Yagya is an action in which there is no comfort for the senses. The injunction demands participation in the act with complete subjugation of the senses. Sinful are they who yearn for sensual comforts.

And now, whether we have to practice yagya forever, or will there also be an end to it?

Yogeshwar Sri Krishn speaks about it:

“But there remains nothing more to do
for the man who rejoices in his Self,
finds contentment in his Self,
and feels adequate in his Self.”

The man who is utterly devoted to his embodied Soul, finds satisfaction in him and feels that he needs nothing more besides him-has nothing more left to do. After all, the Self was the goal.

Once the unmanifest, immortal, indestructible essence of the Soul has been realized, there is nothing beyond to seek. A man such as this needs neither action nor worship. Soul and God-Self and the Supreme Spirit-are synonymous.

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

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Lord Krishn told Arjun that the knowledge he had discoursed upon was related to the Way of Knowledge. And what is that knowledge except that Arjun ought to fight? If he is a victor he will be rewarded with the most exalted state and, even in defeat, he will have a godly existence in heaven. There is everything in victory, including success, and godhood even in defeat. More or less, in either case there is some gain and absolutely no loss.

Lord Krishn then explained the same knowledge in relation to the Way of Selfless Action, by which Arjun could be completely free from the compulsions of action. He also indicated the characteristic features of the way and stressed the essential precautions that have to be observed in the course of such action. Arjun will be liberated from the fetters of action if he does not desire its fruits and engages in it selflessly, but without any weakening of his dedication to its performance. However, although ultimately there will be absolution, this way-the Way of Selfless Action-is one on which Arjun could not see the continuance of his own individual being.

So he thought the Way of Knowledge easier and more readily accessible than the Way of Selfless Action and wished to know why Sri Krishn was urging him, although he himself believed the Way of Knowledge to be superior to the Way of Selfless Action, to engage in such a dreadful act as killing his own kinsmen. It was a reasonable query. If we really have to go somewhere to which there are two ways, we shall surely try to find which one of the two is less hazardous. If we do not ask this question, we are not true way fares-not true seekers.

So Arjun asks to Lord Krishn:

“O Janardan, if you think knowledge superior to action,
why do you, O Keshav, ask me to engage in fearsome action?”

“Janardan” is one who is merciful to his people. So Arjun is hopeful that Sri Krishn will enlighten him on why he is prompting him to adopt the dreadful way. Arjun finds the way frightening because on this way he has only the right to act, but without entitlement at any time to the rewards of his action. There should also be no loss of dedication and, with constant submission and his eyes fixed on the way, he has to be incessantly engaged in the task.

Has not Lord Krishn promised him that following the Way of Knowledge, he will in the case of victory attain to the Supreme Spirit, whereas even in the event of defeat he will be privileged to lead a godly life?

Moreover, he has to proceed on the way only after a due evaluation of his assets and liabilities. So he finds knowledge easier than selfless action, and he begs of Sri Krishn:

“Since your complex words are so confusing to my mind,
kindly tell me the one way by which
I may attain to the state of blessedness.”

Sri Krishn had, in fact, set out to dispel Arjun’s irresolution, but his words have only added to his doubts. So he requests Lord Krishn to tell him unambiguously the one way by which he may achieve emancipation.

Lord Krishn then speaks to him:

“I told you before, O the sinless (Arjun),
two ways of spiritual discipline,
the Way of Knowledge for sages
and the Way of Selfless Action for men of action.”

“Before” here does not mean a bygone era (yug) like the Golden or Treta Age. It rather refers to the previous references in which Lord Krishn had spoken of the two ways, recommending the Way of Knowledge for men of wisdom and the Way of Selfless Action for those who are actively engaged in the task that will finally make them one with God. In both the ways, action has to be performed. So action is an essential.

Lord Krishn adds:

“Man neither attains to the final state of actionlessness
by desisting from work, nor does he achieve Godlike perfection
by just renunciation of work.”

There is no escape from action. A man cannot achieve the state of actionlessness by not commencing work, nor can he attain to the state of divine perfection by merely giving up an undertaken task. So, whether Arjun prefers, the Way of Knowledge or the Way of Selfless Action, he has to toil alike for each of them.

Usually, at this point, seekers on the way to God begin to look for shortcuts and escapes. We have to be on our guard against the common misconception that we become “selfless doers” just because we do not undertake any work. That is why Lord Krishn emphasizes the point that one does not achieve the state of actionlessness by just not beginning work.

The point where both good and evil deeds cease completely, where alone there is true “actionlessness,”can be reached only through action.

There are the misguided ones, on the other hand, who believe that they are unconcerned with action because they are men of intellect and discernment, and because there is no action as such on their chosen path. But they who renounce action under such an impression are not really men of wisdom. Just renunciation of an undertaken task cannot lead anyone to the attainment of realizing and becoming one with God.

Lord Krishn sings further:

“Since all men have doubtlessly sprung from nature,
no one can at any time live even for a moment without action.”

No man can ever even for a fraction of a second live without action because the three properties of matter born from nature compel him to act. As long as nature and its properties are, no man can be without action.

Lord Krishn teaches that all actions cease to be and dissolve into the most exalted knowledge: the knowledge obtained from meditation on the sublime truths which teach man to be aware of his own Self and how he may be reunited with the Supreme Spirit.

The fire of this knowledge annihilates all action.

What really the Yogeshwar means by this is that action ceases to be when yog has gone beyond the three properties of the material world, and when a clear outcome of the meditative process comes forth in the form of a direct perception of as well as dissolution of the Self in God? But before this completion of the ordained task, action does not end and we are not rid of it. We will see this in next coming verses.

“That deluded man is a dissembler
who apparently restrains his senses by violence
but whose mind continues to be preoccupied
with objects of their gratification.”

Such ignorant men who dwell upon sensual objects while restraining the senses outwardly by hath yog are false men and not men of wisdom at all.

It is evident that such practices were prevalent in the age of Lord Krishn, too. There were some who, instead of practicing what ought to be practiced just restrained their senses by unnatural means and claimed that they were wise and perfect. But according to Lord Krishn such people are cunning liars. Whether our preference is the Way of Discrimination or the Way of Selfless Action, work has to be undertaken for each of them.

Lord Krishn concludes:

“And, O Arjun, that man is meritorious who restrains his senses
with his mind and employs his organs of action
to do selfless work in a spirit of complete detachment.”

He is a superior man who exerts inner (rather than external) control over his senses, so that his mind is freed from passions, and who does his duty in a state of total desirelessness. Now, although we have known that work has to be done, the difficulty is that we do not yet understand the precise nature of this work. That is also Arjun’s problem and Sri Krishn now proceeds to resolve it.

“You ought to do your prescribed action as enjoined by scripture,
for doing work is better than not doing any,
and in the absence of it even the journey of your body may not be completed.”

Arjun is prompted to do prescribed action-the ordained task-which is distinct from all other kinds of work. Performance of this action is preferable to inaction, because if we do it and traverse even a small part of our way, it can rescue us from great fear of birth and death.

Performance of one’s spiritual duty – the ordained action- is, therefore, the better course. By not doing it we cannot even complete journey of our Soul through different bodies. This journey is usually interpreted as “sustenance of the physical body.” But what kind of sustenance is this? Are we a physical body?

This Soul, the embodied Self, that we know by the name of Purush-what else has he been doing except making his physical journey through endless lives?

When clothes are worn out, we change them and put on new ones. Just so, this whole world, from lowest creatures to most highly evolved, from Brahma to its most distant limits, is mutable.

Through births, low and high, this Soul has been making his physical journey since an unknown beginning. Action is something that completes this journey. If there is yet to be another birth, the journey is still incomplete. The seeker is still on his way, travelling through bodies. A journey is complete only when the destination is reached.

After being dissolved in God, Self does not have to travel any further through physical births. The chain of the Self’s rejection of old bodies and assumption of new ones is now broken. So action is something that frees the Self, the Purush, from the necessity of journeying through bodies.

Lord Krishn tells Arjun in Bhagavad Gita:

“By this action you shall be freed from the evil that binds the world.”

So action, as used in the Bhagavad Gita, is something that liberates from the bondage of world which is worshiping of God only.

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

The substance of the Way of Discrimination or Knowledge is only that if we fight according to our disposition after a careful appraisal of our capacity as well as of profit and loss, we shall attain to the state of ultimate bliss if we win, and to heavenly, godlike existence even if we are vanquished.

There is gain in both cases. If we do not act, others will speak disparagingly of us and look upon us as having retreated like cowards, and we shall be disgraced. So to forge ahead on the path of action with a careful understanding of one’s innate nature is itself the Way of Knowledge or Discernment.

We usually come across the misconception that no war needs to be fought on the Path of Knowledge. It is said that knowledge involves no action. We think in our vanity: “I am pure.” “I am enlightened.”- “I am a part of God himself.” Accepting it as an axiom that excellence be gets excellence, we sit idly. But this is not the Way of Knowledge according to Yogeshwar Krishn.

The “action” which has to be performed in following the Way of Knowledge is similar to that which has to be undertaken for the Way of Selfless Action. The only difference between the two ways is that of attitude.

The man who treads the Path of Knowledge acts with a proper evaluation of his situation and with self-reliance, whereas the man who takes to the Path of Selfless Action also acts, but with reliance upon the mercy of the adored God.

Action is a basic requirement of both the ways and in each of them it is the same, although it has to be done in two different ways. The attitudes behind the action in the two ways are different.

So Lord Krishn asks Arjun to listen to him while he speaks of the Way of Selfless Action, armed with which he can effectively destroy the bonds of action and its consequence. Instead of dwelling upon the nature of action, he describes its characteristic traits.

Lord Krishn sings:

ne’hā’bhikramanāśo’sti
pratyavāyo na vidyate,
svalpam apy asya dharmasya
trāyate mahato bhayāt

“Since selfless action neither wears out the seed
from which it sprang nor has any adverse consequence,
even a partial observance of this dharm liberates one
from the dire terror of repeated birth and death”.

In the performance of action without coveting the fruits there of, the initial impulse or the seed is not destroyed. It also does not give rise to any evil. So selfless action, even though done in small measures, frees us from the great fear represented by birth and death.

That necessitates reflecting over the nature of such action and walking at least a few steps along its path. Worshipers who have renounced the vanity of earthly possessions have trodden this path, but so can those who lead the life of householders.

Lord Krishn tells Arjun to just sow the seed, for the seed is never destroyed. There is no power in nature, no weapon, which can destroy it. The material world can only cover it up momentarily and hide it for a while, but it cannot wipe out the initial inspiration, the seed, of the act of spiritual accomplishment.

According to Lord Krishn, even the gravest of sinners can doubtlessly cross over by the ark of knowledge. He means exactly this when he says that if the seed of selfless action is just planted, it is imperishable. It does not even have any adverse outcome in so much as it does not abandon us midway after showing us how we can progress towards spiritual attainment. Even if we give it up, it works doggedly on for our final liberation.

This is why selfless action, even in a small measure, provides freedom from the great dread of birth and death. Once planted, even after repeated birth, the seed of such ordained action takes us to the realization of God and to emancipation alike from pleasure and from pain.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

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Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~