The nature of Brahm, adhyatm, action, adhibhoot and adhidaiv are the five questions of Arjun’s mind and then who is adhiyagya, how is he enshrined in the body: and how does the man with a restrained mind know God at the end?

The words adhyatm, action, adhibhoot and adhidaiv are all mysteries to seekers. It is evident that the doer of yagya is some Soul who is based in a human body. And, at last, how does a man with a fully controlled mind know Lord Krishn at the end?

So there are seven questions in all.

Lord Krishn sings in Bhagavad Gita:

“The one who is imperishable is the Supreme Spirit (Brahm);
abiding in a body he is adhyatm;
and the cessation of properties in beings
which produce something or the other is action.”

The one who is indestructible, who never dies, is the Supreme Spirit. Steady devotion to the Self-dominance of the Soul-is adhyatm. Before this stage everyone is ruled by maya, but when a man dwells firmly in God and so in his own Self, he is infused with the sense of supremacy of his Self. This is the culmination of adhyatm.

The ceasing-the discontinuance-of the will of beings which results in the creation of both good and evil is, on the other hand, the crowning point of action. This is the perfect action which Lord Krishn had spoken of earlier as known to yogi. Action is now complete and henceforth there is no further need of it. Action is perfected when the desires of beings which create sanskar that are propitious as well as unpropitious are stilled. Beyond this there is no further need of action.

So true action is that which brings an end to desires. Such action, therefore, means worship and contemplation that are inherent in yagya.

Sri Krishn sings further:

“Adhibhoot is all that is subject to birth and death;
the Supreme Spirit is adhidaiv;
and, O the unparalleled among men (Arjun),
I (Vasudev) am the adhiyagya in the body.”

Until the state of immortality is achieved, all the transient, destructible desires are adhibhoot, or, in other words, spheres of beings. They are the source of the origin of beings. And the Supreme Spirit who is beyond nature is adhidaiv, the creator of all gods, that is, righteous impulses-the divine treasure that is finally dissolved in him.

Vasudev-Lord Krishn-is adhiyagya in the human body, the performer of all yagya. Thus God himself, dwelling as the unmanifest Soul in the body, is adhiyagya. Lord Krishn was a yogi, the enjoyer of all oblations. And all yagya are at last absorbed in him. That is the moment of realization of the Supreme Soul.

At last, Lord Krishn takes up the question of how he is known at the end and never forgotten thereafter?

Lord Krishn adds:

“The man who departs from the body remembering me
doubtlessly attains to me.”

That accounts for Lord Krishn’s assertion that the man who finally, that is, when he has perfect control over his mind and when even this mind is dissolved, severs his relationship with the body and departs from it with remembrance of him, surely achieves total oneness with him.

Death of the body is not the final end, for the succession of bodies continues even after death. It is only when the last crust of earned merits or demerits (sanskar) has disintegrated, and so also the restrained mind along with it, that the final end comes, and after that the Soul does not have to assume a new body. But this is a process of action and it cannot be rendered comprehensible by just words.

As long as the transfer from one body to another, like a change of clothes, persists, there is no real end of the physical person. But even while the body is yet alive, with control of the mind and dissolution of the restrained mind itself, physical relationships are sundered. If this state were possible after the event of death, even Lord Krishn could not be perfect. He has said that only by worship carried on through innumerable births does a sage gain identity with him. The worshiper then dwells in him and he in the worshiper. There is then not even the least distance between them. But this achievement is made during a physical life. When the Soul does not have to assume a new body-that is the real end of the physical body.

This is a portrayal of real death after which there is no rebirth. At the other end there is physical death which the world accepts as death, but after which the Soul has to be born again.

Lord Krishn sings:

“A man attains, O son of Kunti,
to the slate with the thought of which he departs from the body
because of his constant preoccupation with that state.”

A man achieves what he bears in mind at the time of his death. How very easy, we may be led to assume? All that we have to do is just remember God before dying after a lifelong indulgence in pleasures. According to Lord Krishn, however, it is not like this at all. At the moment of his death a man can remember only that which he has thought of all his life. So what is needed is lifelong contemplation. In the absence of this, there is no remembrance at the moment of death of the ideal state which has to be achieved.

Lord Krishn adds:

“So you will doubtless realize me if,
with your mind and intellect dedicated to me,
you always wage war.”

How are uninterrupted meditation and combat accomplished simultaneously? It is perhaps the practice of warriors: one goes on shooting arrows while at the same time intoning and yelling names of deities. But the true meaning of remembrance (internal recitation of the name) is something else and it is clarified by the Yogeshwar in the next verse.

Lord Krishn concludes:

“Possessed of the yog of meditation and a restrained mind,
O Parth, the man who is always absorbed in my thought
attains to the sublime radiance of God.”

Contemplation of God and practice of yog have an identical meaning. The remembrance, which Lord Krishn has spoken of, requires the worshiper to be possessed of yog and a mind so well subdued that it never strays from God. If these conditions are met and the worshiper then remembers constantly, he attains to the magnificence of God. If the thought of other objects comes to mind, one’s remembrance is still imperfect.

Now, when, it is so subtle that it has no room for any other thought except God and does not countenance any other urges, how can it be possible along with the act of waging war? What kind of war is it?

When the mind is pulled back from all sides and centered on the object of worship, prompted by natural properties, feelings of attachment and anger, of love and hatred appear as impediments in the way. We try to remember and concentrate, but these feelings agitate the mind and do their utmost to force it away from the desired memory.

Overcoming these external impulses is fighting a war; and they can be destroyed only by continuous meditation. This is the war that the Bhagavad Gita portrays.

~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©

_/l\_
Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~