Geeta Dhara – Gurukul

Arjun asks three questions.

What are the features of the man who has risen
above the properties of nature?

How does he conduct himself?

And what is the way of transcending the three properties?

And sings Lord Krishn:

“The man, O Pandav,
who
neither
abhors radiance,
inclination to action,
and
attachment that are generated respectively
by the operations of sattwa, rajas, and tamas
when he is involved in them,
nor
aspires for them when he is liberated;…”

“And who,
like a dispassionate onlooker, is unmoved by the properties
and is steady
and
unshaken by dint of his realization
that
these properties of nature but abide in themselves;…”

“And who, ever dwelling in his Self,
views joy, sorrow, earth, stone,
and gold as equal, is patient,
and
evenly regards the pleasant and the unpleasant,
slander and praise;…”

“And who puts up with honour and dishonour,
as also with friend and foe,
with equanimity,
and
who gives up the undertaking of action is said
to have
transcended all the properties.”

Above expositions disclose the attributes of the man
who has risen above the three properties
so that he is unagitated,
unswayed by the properties,
and
steady.

What follows now is clarification of the means
by which
one is liberated from these properties.

Lord Krishn adds:

“And the man who serves me
with the yog of unswerving devotion
overcomes the three properties
and
secures the state of oneness with God.”

One who worships Lord Krishn with unwavering dedication,
that is,
with only the adored goal in his mind
and
oblivious of all other worldly memories,
constantly serves him by performing the ordained action,
goes well across the three properties and is worthy of being one
with the Supreme Spirit.

This union with God is the true kalp or cure.
No one can go beyond these properties
without undertaking the prescribed task with perfect intentness.
So the Yogeshwar at last gives his judgement.

“For I am the one in which the eternal God,
immortal life, the imperishable dharm,
and the ultimate bliss all abide.”

Lord Krishn is the dwelling of immortal God
(through a single-minded access
to whom
the seeker is cured of all worldly maladies),
of everlasting life, of eternal Dharm,
and
of the unblemished pure joy of attaining to the Supreme goal.
In other words, a God-oriented saint is the abode of all this bliss.
Such a sage was Lord Krishn-a yogi.

So if we are seeking for the ineffable, indestructible God,
the eternal dharm, and the pure, ultimate bliss,
we have to take refuge in some great Soul
that dwells in the incommunicable essence.

Only such a sage can enable a devotee
to achieve
what he is questing for.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

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Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

Knowledge is defined as apprehension of the Supreme Spirit who is the end of the quest for truth. Knowledge makes its advent only after the distinction between kshetr and kshetragya, matter and spirit, is comprehended. Knowledge is not logical arguments and neither is it just the memorizing of holy texts. That state of practice is knowledge in which there is awareness of truth. The experience that is had with direct perception of God is knowledge, and whatever is opposed to it is ignorance.

Even after having dwelt upon all this, however, Lord Krishn tells Arjun that he will again explain that sublime knowledge to him. He is going to repeat what he has already said. This is so because, as it has been rightly said, we should time and again turn to even well studied scriptures. Moreover, the further a worshiper proceeds on the path of spiritual quest the nearer he goes to the desired goal and has new experiences of God. This awareness is made possible by an accomplished teacher that is, a realized sage who has attained to the Supreme Spirit and who stands inseparably with the worshiper’s Self. It is for this reason that Lord Krishn is resolved to enlighten Arjun again on the nature of true knowledge.

Memory is a film on which impressions and influences are constantly recorded. If the awareness that takes one to the supreme goal is blurred, nature which is the cause of grief begins to be imprinted on the slate of memory. So the worshiper should constantly revise the knowledge pertaining to realization of the final goal right till the moment of attainment.

Memory is alive and strong today, but the same might not be the case with progress to further stages. It is for this reason that the revered Gurudev used to say, “Tell your beads at least once everyday to refresh your awareness of God. But these beads are told in thought rather than externally by audible voice.”

This is recommended for the seeker, but they who are accomplished teacher-preceptors are constantly after the seeker to acquaint him with novel situations by arising from his Soul as well as by the example of their own conduct. Yogeshwar Krishn was such a teacher-sage. Arjun who occupies the position of his pupil has beseeched him to support him. So Yogeshwar Krishn says that he will tell him again of the knowledge which is the most sublime of all knowledge.

Lord Krishn sings:

“I shall tell you again that supreme knowledge
which is the noblest of all knowledge and,
having possessed which sages have escaped from worldly bondage
to achieve the ultimate perfection.”

“They who have achieved my state by seeking shelter
in this knowledge are neither born at the beginning of creation
nor alarmed in the event of doom.”

They who are close io this knowledge and have taken refuge in it by attaining to Lord Krishn’sstate through treading the path of action are neither born nor frightened by the prospect of death, because the physical entity of the sage ceases to be at the very moment when he attains to the state of the Supreme Spirit. His body is henceforth a mere dwelling.

Now which is that point up to which men are reborn?
This is the question Lord Krishn next takes up.

“Like the great Creator, O Bharat, is my eight-propertied primal nature,
the womb of which I fertilize with the seed of consciousness
by which all beings are shaped.”

Lord Krishn’s eight-part primal nature, is the womb in which he sows the seed of consciousness, and all beings are born from this union of the insensate and the conscious.

“The eightfold nature, O son of Kunti, is the mother
that bears all the beings of different births
and I am the father that casts the seed.”

There is no other mother except this primal nature, and no other father except Lord Krishn. No matter who the root is, there will be births so long as there is meeting of the insensate and the conscious.

But why is the conscious Self bound to insensible nature?
Lord Krishn adds:

“The three nature-born properties (sattwa, rajas, and tamas),
O the mighty-armed, bind the imperishable Self to the body.”

The following verse throws light upon how this is effected.

“Know, O son of Kunti, that the property of rajas,
born from desire and infatuation,
binds the Self with attachment to action and its fruits.
Rajas, an embodiment of passion, inclines one to action.”

“And, O Bharat, know that the property of tamas,
which deludes all beings, arises from ignorance and binds the Soul
with carelessness, sloth, and slumber.”

Tamas binds the Self with laziness, the tendency to put off a task to the next day, and with sleep. “Sleep” here does not mean that a man possessed of tamas sleeps too much. It is not a question of the body sleeping at all. As Lord Krishn has said, the world itself with its ephemeral pleasures is like night in which the man endowed with the property of tamas ever toils in a state of unconsciousness of the effulgent God. This is the slumber of tamas and one who is trapped in it sleeps.

Lord Krishn now discourses on the collective form of the three properties.

“And, O Bharat, just as sattwa grows by overcoming
properties of rajas and tamas,
tamas grows by overpowering rajas and sattwa,
and property of rajas grows by suppressing tamas and sattwa.”

But how should we know which property is dominant at a certain time?

“When the mind and senses are suffused
with light of knowledge and consciousness,
it should be taken as a sign of the growing strength of sattwa.”

“When the property of rajas is ascendant,
O the best of Bharat, greed, worldly inclination,
tendency to undertake action , restlessness,
and desire for sensual pleasures arise.”

What happens, however, when tamas grows dominant?

Lord Krishn sings:

“If the Soul departs when the property of sattwa is dominant,
it attains to the pure worlds of the virtuous.”

“If he meets with death when rajas is presiding,
he is born as one of humans who are attached to action;
and he is born in the form of unintelligent beings
if he leaves the body when tamas is prevailing.”

So of all properties man should be endowed with sattwa. The bank of nature refunds the earned merits even after death.

Now let us see its consequence.

“While righteousness is said to be the pure outcome of action
that is governed by sattwa, the outcome of rajas is sorrow,
and the outcome of tamas is ignorance”.

Absolute happiness, knowledge, renunciation, and such other qualities are said to be outcome of action inspired by sattwa. On the other hand, sorrow is the outcome of action characterized by rajas, and ignorance of action dominated by tamas.

“Knowledge arises from the property of sattwa,
greed beyond any doubt from rajas, and carelessness,
delusion, and ignorance from tamas.”

What mode of existence does the generation of these properties result into?

“Whereas they who dwell in sattwa ascend to higher worlds,
they who sojourn in rajas remain in the middle (the world of men),
and they who abide in the meanest of properties tamas are doomed
to the lowest state.”

The current of life that is founded on sattwa flows towards the transcendental, primal God and the man with such a life attains to purer worlds. Souls who are dominated by rajas end up as common mortals. Lacking in discernment and renunciation, although they do not transmigrate into lower forms of life, they have to undergo rebirth. Ignorant and immoral men who are ruled by the rightly maligned tamas are reborn in the lowest forms. Thus the consequence of all the three properties is some kind of birth or the other. Only they who go beyond these properties are freed from the shackle of rebirth and they alone realize Lord Krishn’s sublime state.

Lord Krishn adds:

“When the Soul (that is a mere witness) does not see anyone
besides the three properties as doer and when he knows
the essence of the Supreme Spirit who is beyond these properties,
he attains to my state.”

The assumption that the three properties only duplicate themselves is not based on true knowledge. The process of accomplishment at last leads to the state in which after the perception of God no other agent except the three properties is visible, and in such a state a man goes beyond them. What Lord Krishn has to say about this next is a proof that this is not just a flight of fancy.

“Transcending the properties that are the germ of the gross,
corporal body and liberated from the miseries of birth,
death, and old age, the Soul achieves the ultimate bliss.”

After a man is liberated from the three properties, his Soul tastes the nectar of immortality.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

_/l\_
Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

The ultimate God who is without a beginning and end is said to be neither a being nor a non-being, because so long as he is removed he is an entity, but who can say what he is when a worshiper-a-sage-is assimilated in him?

Lord Krishn sings:

“I shall discourse to you well upon the God
without a beginning or end,
who is worthy of being known and after knowing whom
the stuff of immortality is gained and who is said to be
neither a being nor a non-being.”

Now there is only a single entity and the consciousness of otherness is obliterated. In such a state God is neither an entity nor a non-entity; he is only that which is spontaneously perceived. Lord Krishn now elaborates the ways of this great Soul:

“He has hands and feet, eyes, heads, mouths,
and ears on all sides, because he exists pervading all in the world.”

“Knowing the objects of all senses he is yet without senses;
unattached to and beyond the properties of nature
he is yet the sustainer of all; and he is also the one into whom
all the properties merge.”

Devoid of senses, unattached, and beyond the properties of matter, he yet sustains all and is the enjoyer of all properties. As Lord Krishn has said before, he is the enjoyer of all yagya and penances. All the three properties are thus dissolved in him at last.

Lord Krishn adds:

“Existing in all animate and inanimate beings,
he is both animate and inanimate;
he is also unmanifest because he is so subtle,
and both distant and close.”

He is all-pervading, both animate and inanimate, imperceptible because of his fineness, beyond knowing by the mind and the senses, and both close and far away.

“The Supreme Spirit who is worth knowing,
and who appears to be different in different beings
although he is one and undivided, is the begetter,
sustainer, and destroyer of all beings.”

Both external and inner phenomena have been indicated here: for instance, external birth and inner awakening, external sustenance and inner adherence to the beneficial yog, external change of body and inner dissolution of all, that is, the disintegration of the causes that lead to the generation of beings, and along with this dissolution-access to the identitical God. These are all attributes of that Supreme Being.

Lord Krishn sings:

“The light among lights and said to be beyond darkness,
that God, the embodiment of knowledge, worthy of being known,
and attainable only through knowledge, dwells in the hearts of all.”

The awareness that comes with intuitive perception is knowledge. And by this knowledge alone can there be realization of God. He dwells in the hearts of all; the heart is his dwelling and we cannot find him if we search for him anywhere else. Therefore, it is laid down by the canon that God can be attained only through inner contemplation and conduct of yog.

“Knowing the truth of what has been briefly said of kshetr,
knowledge, and of God, who ought to be known,
my devotee attains to my state.”

Lord Krishn now makes use of the terms “nature” (prakriti) and “Soul” (purush) for what he earlier described as kshetr and kshetragya.

“Be it known to you that both nature and Soul are without
beginning and end, and also that maladies such as attachment,
revulsion, and all the objects that are possessed
of the three properties are born from nature.”

“Whereas nature is said to be the begetter of deed and doer,
the Soul is said to be begetter of the experience of pleasure and pain.”

Nature is said to generate deed and the agent by whom a deed is accomplished. Discrimination and renunciation are the doers of good, while passion and anger are the doers of evil deeds. On the contrary, the Soul engenders feelings of pleasure and pain.

Will man always continue to suffer, we may well ask, or will he also ever be rid of it? How can one be liberated from nature and Soul when both of them are eternal?

Lord Krishn answers:

“The nature-based Soul experiences nature-born objects
which are characterized by the three properties
and it is association with these properties
that is the cause of his birth in higher or lower forms.”

That means that liberation from birth and death is to be had only after the cessation of the properties of nature which prompt them.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

_/l\_
Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

Dharmkshetr and Kurukshetr were named right at the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita but they were not located, but in Chapter Thirteen, Lord Krishn points out to Arjun that the human body itself is kshetr. And the one who knows it is a kshetragya. However, rather than being entangled in it he is liberated, and he provides direction to it.

When the body is only one, how can there be two spheres- Dharmkshetr and Kurukshetr-in it?

Lord Krishn sings:

“This body is, O son of Kunti, a battlefield (kshetr)
and the men who know it (kshetragya) are called wise
because they have grown spiritually dexterous by perceiving its essence.”

Instead of being involved in this sphere, the kshetragya dominate it. So it has been said by sages who knew and comprehended its reality.

In truth, within the one body there exist two distinct, primeval instincts. There is first the pious treasure of divinity that provides access to the Supreme Spirit who stands for the most sublime dharm. On the other hand, there are the demoniacal impulses made up of impiety which lead a man to accept the mortal world as real.

When there is abundance of divinity in the realm of the heart, the body is transmuted into a Dharmkshetr (field of dharm), but it degenerates into a Kurukshetr when it is dominated by devilish forces. This process of alternate rise and fall, of ascent and descent, operates at all times, but a decisive war commences between the two opposing impulses when an earnest devotee engages in the task of worship in association with a sage who has perceived the reality. Gradually, then, while the treasure of divinity grows, impious impulses are enfeebled and destroyed.

The stage of God-realization is reached only after the complete elimination of the ill-gotten hoard of unrighteousness. And even the utility of the treasure of divinity is dispensed with after the stage of perception, for it is also then subsumed in the revered God.

In Chapter 11, Arjun saw after the Kaurav also the warriors of his own army plunging and vanishing into the mouth of the all pervading God. Kshetragya is the character of the Self after this final dissolution.

Lord Krishn adds:

“And be it known to you,
O Bharat, that I am the all-knowing Self (kshetragya) in all spheres;
and to me awareness of the reality of kshetr and kshetragya,
of mutable nature and the Self, is knowledge.”

The one who knows the reality of the sphere of the body is a kshetragya. This is vouched for by sages who have known the essence of this sphere by direct experience. Now Lord Krishn proclaims that he too is a kshetragya. In other words, he too was a yogi-indeed a Yogeshwar. Perception of the reality of kshetr and kshetragya, of nature with its contradictions and the Soul, is knowledge. Knowledge is not mere dispute.

“Listen to me briefly on the whence and what of that sphere
and its variations and properties,
as well on the kshetragya and his abilities.”

The sphere of action, of life and death, is mutable because it has evolved from some cause, whereas the kshetragya is possessed of authority. It is not only Lord Krishn who says this; other sages have also said the same.

“This has also been said in various distinct ways by sages
in different scriptural verses and well-reasoned,
definitive aphorisms on the knowledge of the Supreme Spirit (Brahmsutr).”

That is so say that Vedant, great sages, Brahmsutr, and Lord Krishn all say the same thing. Lord Krishn is, therefore, only saying what others have already said.

Is the corporal body just what is visible of it?

Lord Krishn sings:

“Speaking briefly,
mutable physical body is the aggregate of the five elements,
ego, intellect, even the unmanifest, the ten sense organs,
mind and the five objects of sense, as well as desire, malice,
pleasure and pain, and intelligence and fortitude.”

Summarizing the constitution of the body which is kshetr with all its variants, Lord Krishn tells Arjun that it is made up of the five great elements (earth, water, fire, ether, and air), ego, intellect and thought (which, instead of being named, has been called the unmanifest, metaphysical nature), and thus throws light upon primal nature with its eight parts.

Apart from this the other components are the ten senses (eyes, ears, nose, skin, tongue, organ of taste, hands, feet, genital organ, and anus), mind, the five objects of sense (form, taste, smell, sound, and touch), desire, malice, pleasure and pain, and consciousness and calm courage.

The body, the gross corporal frame, is the composite of all these parts. This in brief is kshetr and the good or bad seeds sown in it sprout as sanskar. Made up of components which have evolved from a previous source or nature (prakriti), the body must exist so long as these components survive.

Lord Krishn adds:

“Absence of pride and arrogant conduct,
disinclination to do injury to anyone, forgiveness,
integrity of thought and speech, devoted service to the teacher,
outward as well as inner purity, moral firmness,
restraint of the body along with the mind and senses, …”

These are only some of the attributes of the kshetragya who is not inclined but totally declined with this sphere : indifference to honour and dishonour, freedom from vanity, and reluctance to hurt anyone (ahinsa). Ahinsa does not only mean desisting from acts of physical violence.

Lord Krishn told Arjun earlier that he ought not to degrade his Soul. To lead the Soul to degradation is true violence (hinsa), whereas to elevate it is non-violence (ahinsa).

A man who is inclined to the amelioration of his own Soul is also actively devoted to the well-being of other Souls. It is true, though, that this virtue has its inception from not hurting others; the one is but a necessary concomitant of the other.

So ahinsa, mercy, honest thought and speech, faithful service to and worship of the teacher, purity, firmness of mind and heart, and control of the body along with the mind and senses, and-

“Disinterest in pleasures of both the world and heaven,
absence of ego, constant reflection over the maladies of birth, death,
old age, sickness, and pain,…”

“Detachment from son, wife, home and the like,
freedom from infatuation, bearing with both
the pleasant and the unpleasant with equanimity,…”

“Unswerving devotion to me with a single-minded concern for yog,
fondness of living in sequestered places, distaste for human society,…”

Fixing the mind firmly on Lord Krishn, a Yogeshwar, or on some sage like him, so that there is remembrance of nothing else except yog and devout contemplation of nothing besides the desired goal, dwelling in solitary places, disinterest in the company of men, and-

“Constantly resting in the awareness that is called adhyatm
and perception of the Supreme Spirit
who is the end of realization of truth are all knowledge
and whatever is contrary to them is ignorance.”

Adhyatm is knowledge of God’s dominance. The awareness that is derived from a direct perception of the Supreme Spirit, the ultimate essence, is knowledge. Sri Krishn said in Chapter 4 that the man who tastes the manna of knowledge generated by the accomplishment of yagya becomes one with the eternal God. Here, too, he says that apprehension of the reality that the Supreme Spirit is knowledge. Whatever is opposed towards it is ignorance.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

_/l\_
Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~

Lord Krishn has enumerated attributes of the devotee who achieves ultimate peace. Free from ill-will towards all beings, he is endowed with compassion and pity. Free equally from attachment and vanity, this devotee is beloved of Lord Krishn.

Lord Krishn sings:

“The devotee who has malice towards none and loves all,
who is compassionate and free from attachment and vanity,
who views sorrow and joy equally and is forgiving,
endowed with steady yog, contented alike with both profit and loss,
restrained in mind, and dedicated to me with firm conviction, is dear to me.

“The devotee who does not upset anyone,
nor is upset by anyone,
and who is free from the contradictions of joy, envy,
and fear, is dear to me.”

Apart from these qualities, this worshiper is also one who neither agitates any being nor is agitated by any being, and who is free from joy, misery, fear, and all such distractions. Such a worshiper is beloved of Lord Krishn. This verse is most salutary for worshipers, for they should so conduct themselves that they do not hurt anyone’s feeling. They have to be so, although others will not act in the same way. Being worldly-minded they cannot but indulge in venomous fulminations. However, whatever they say to denounce and hurt should not disturb and interrupt the seeker’s meditation. Whatever they do, his thoughts should be steadily and constantly set on the coveted God. It is his duty to protect himself from the onslaughts of men who are-as it were-intoxicated and out of their senses.

Lord Krishn adds:

“The devotee who is emancipated from desire,
pure, dexterous at his task, impartial, free from sorrow,
and who has achieved the state of actionlessness, is dear to me.”

That man is pure who is liberated from desire. “Dexterous” means that he is adept in worship and meditation, the one ordained action. He is unaffected by fortune and misfortune, free from sorrow, and one who has given up all undertakings because there is left no worthwhile enterprise on which he can embark.

“The devotee who is neither joyous nor envious,
neither troubled nor concerned,
and who has given up all good and evil actions, is dear to me.”

This is the crowning point of devotion when the worshiper is not wanting in anything that is worthy nor in possession of anything that is impious. The worshiper who has reached this stage is dear to Lord Krishn.

“The steady worshiper, who regards friends and foes,
honour and dishonour, cold and heat,
happiness and sorrow, as equal, and who is detached from the world, indifferent to slander and praise, meditative,
contented with any manner of physical sustenance, and free from infatuation for the place where he dwells, is dear to me.”

“And the devotees who rest in me
and taste well the aforesaid nectar of dharm
in a spirit of selflessness are the dearest to me.”

In the concluding verse, Lord Krishn adds that he loves those devotees most who take refuge in him and partake well of the aforesaid imperishable substance of dharm.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

_/l\_
Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~