Liberation from birth and death is to be had only
after the cessation of the properties
of
nature which prompt them.

Lord Krishn sings in Bhagavad Gita:

“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.”

But how the Soul dwells amidst nature?

Lord Krishn adds:

“Although residing in the body,
the Soul is transcendental
and
said to be the witness,
the granter, the enjoyer,
and
the great God and Supreme Spirit.”

The Soul dwelling in the sphere of the heart is even closer
than one’s hands, feet, and mind.
Whether we do good or evil, he is unconcerned.
He just stands as a witness-an onlooker (updrashta).

When the right course of worship is taken
and the wayfarer rises a little higher,
the approach of the witnessing Soul changes
and
he becomes the granter (anumanta).
Now he begins to grant and confer intuitions.

When the seeker is yet closer to the goal
by further spiritual discipline,
the Soul begins to support and sustain (bharta).
Now he also provides the propitious yog.

Then he turns into the enjoyer (bhokta)
when the worship is even more refined.
He accepts whatever yagya or penance is performed,
and
at the stage after this acceptance he is transformed
into
the great God
(Maheshwar).

He is now master of nature,
but since he is master of nature
it follows that nature yet abides in some part of him.

At even a higher stage than this,
after the soul is endowed with the attributes of the ultimate,
he comes to be known as the the Supreme Spirit.
Thus although dwelling in the body,
this soul or Purush is yet transcedental- quite beyond nature.
Witness at the beginning is transformed
into the
Supreme Spirit
himself.

And then:

“In whatever manner he conducts himself,
the man who knows the truth of the Soul and nature
with its three properties is never born again.’’

This is salvation.

Yogeshwar Krishn has so far spoken to Arjun
on
the freedom from rebirth which is the final outcome
of
the intuitive knowledge of God and nature.

But he now stresses yog whose mode is worship,
for attainment is impossible
without the accomplishment of this action.

Lord Krishn sings:

“While some perceive the Supreme Spirit in their heart
by
contemplation with their refined mind,
some others know him by the yog of knowledge,
and
yet others by the yog of action.”

Some men perceive the Supreme Spirit in the realm of their heart
by inner remembrance and meditation.
Some others engage in the same task
by
Sankhya Yog or the Way of Discrimination and Knowledge
after a due appraisal of their strength.
And yet others see him by the Way of Selfless Action.

The chief means pointed out in the verse above is meditation.

The Way of Knowledge
and
the Way of Selfless Action
are
the two modes of embarking on this deed of meditation and worship.

HE adds:

“But ignorant of these ways,
there are yet others
who worship by just learning the truth
from
accomplished sages and,
relying upon what they hear,
they also doubtlessly steer across
the gulf of the mortal world.”

So, if we can do nothing else,
we should at least seek the company of accomplished sage.

And then:

“Remember, O the best of Bharat,
that
whatever animate or inanimate being exists is born
from
the coming together of the insentient kshetr
and
the sentient kshetragya,”

On the state in which the final attainment is made,
Sri Krishn has this to say:

“He alone knows the truth
who
steadily sees the imperishable God
in all animate and inanimate beings
that
are
destructible.

That Soul alone apprehends reality
who
has a steady perception of the immortal God
in the animate and inanimate beings
that are annihilated
in their own special ways.

In other words,
he is of the state of the Supreme Spirit
only after the characteristic destruction of that nature,
never before it.

The same idea was expressed in the third verse in Chapter 8
when
Sri Krishn pronounced that the destruction of that condition of beings
which generates good or evil impressions (sanskar)
is
the culmination of action.
Action is then complete.

Lord Krishn sings:

“He achieves the supreme goal because,
evenly perceiving the existence
of
the identical God in all beings,
he does not himself degrade his Self.”

He does not destroy himself
because
he constantly sees God as akin
to
his own Self.
So he attains to the final bliss of salvation.

Now the qualities of the accomplished Soul are pointed out.

Lord Krishn adds:

“And that man knows the truth
who regards all action
as
performed by nature
and
his own Soul
as
a non-doer.’’

Viewing all action as accomplished by nature implies
that he sees the occurrence of action only
as long as nature survives.
He also sees the Soul as a non-agent
and
thus he comes by awareness of reality.

“He realizes God when he sees the whole variety of beings
as
resting upon
and
as an extension of the will
of
that one Supreme Spirit.”

When a man sees the diffusion of God
through all the various states
of
beings and regards them as but an extension of the same God,
he attains to him.
No sooner is this stage reached than he realizes God.
This, too, is an attribute of a sage-a great Soul-with a steady wisdom.

Lord Krishn concludes in Chapter 13 of Bhagavad Gita:

“Although embodied,
the imperishable Supreme Spirit
is
neither a doer nor tainted because,
O son of Kunti,
he is without beginning or end
and
transcending all properties.”

How it is so is illustrated in the following verse:

“As the all-extensive sky is unsullied
because of its subtlety,
even so the embodied Soul is neither a doer nor tainted
because
he is beyond all the properties.’’

It is further said of him:

“The Soul illuminates
the whole kshetr
just as the one sun lights up
the entire world.’’

“They who have thus perceived the distinction
between
kshetr and kshetragya,
and
the way of liberation
from
the maladies of nature,
with the eye of wisdom
attain to the
Supreme Spirit.”

Sages who know the difference between nature and Soul,
as
also the way of liberation from mutable nature,
realize God.

That is to say that knowledge is the eye
with which
one may see the reality of kshetr and kshetragya,
and
that knowledge here
is
a synonym
for
intuitive perception.

~ Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans ~
©

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Humble Wishes.

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