Category Archives: anya

Bhagavad Gita Verse 15, Chapter 16

10 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by in 16.15, aadhaha, abhijanavaan, ajnyaanavimohitaahaa, anya, asmi, chapter 15 verse 16, daasyaami, kaha, mayaa, modishya, sadrishaha, yakshye

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aadhyobhijanavaanasmi konyosti sadrisho mayaa |
yakshye daasyaami modishya ityajnyaanavimohitaahaa || 15 ||
 
I am wealthy, I am from a good family, who else is equal to me? I will conduct sacrifice, I will enjoy. In this manner, (he is) deluded by ignorance.
 
aadhaha : I am wealthy
abhijanavaan : good family
asmi : I am
kaha : who
anya : else
asti : is
sadrishaha : equal to
mayaa : me
yakshye : I will conduct sacrifice
daasyaami : I will conduct charity
modishya : I will enjoy
iti : in this manner
ajnyaanavimohitaahaa : deluded by ignorance
 
In the last shloka, we saw the mindset of those who derive pride from their power. Here Shri Krishna describes the mindset of people who derive pride from other things such as wealth and family. An excess of wealth, especially for those who did not come from wealthy families, is the most common source of pride. Such people boast about their latest expensive toy, their net worth, their membership in elite clubs and so on. They are only interested in consumption and enjoyment.
 
Others derive pride from their ancestry and their lineage. For some, this pride comes from the fact that their ancestors were kings or landowners. For some, this pride comes from the fact that everyone in their family has always been a doctor or a lawyer. Some others even boast about the number of sacrifices they have conducted and amount of charity they have donated. Instead of charity and sacrifice leading to purification of one’s mind, such grandiose spectacles have gaining publicity and favours as their goal.
 
If we were to summarize the attitude in these three shlokas, it is this – no one is equal to me. I am superior to everyone else. So the net result is the strengthening, the hardening of the I notion, the ego, the aham. Each step taken towards the ego is one step taken away from self realization. There is no scope for detachment or renunciation. Attachment grows by leaps and bounds in such people. The root cause of all this is ignorance of one’s true nature.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 20, Chapter 7

16 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by in 7.20, aasthaaya, anya, chapter 7 verse 20, devataahaa, hritajnyaanaahaa, kamaihi, niyamam, niyataahaa, prakrityaa, prapadyante, svayaa, taihi, tam

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kamaistaistairhritajnyaanaahaa prapadyantenyadevataahaa |
tam tam niyamamaasthaaya prakrityaa niyataahaa svayaa || 20 ||
 
They, whose knowledge has been usurped by desires, seek refuge of other deities. They resort to rites, compelled by their own nature.
 
kamaihi : desires
taihi, taihi : those
hritajnyaanaahaa : they whose knowledge has been usurped
prapadyante : seek refuge
anya : other
devataahaa : deities
tam, tam : those
niyamam : rites
aasthaaya : resort
prakrityaa : nature
niyataahaa : compelled
svayaa : their own
 
Shri Krishna praised the wise devotee’s quest for the infinite Ishvara in the previous shlokas. He now proceeds to describe the other category of devotees. These devotees feel a sense of incompleteness. They keep looking for finite things such as people, objects and situations to make themselves feel complete. Shri Krishna says that such devotees, compelled by their nature, seek the refuge of finite deities. They do so because their discrimination is usurped by the force of their desires.
 
First, let us look at what is meant by usurping of knowledge by desires. We have seen the example earlier of a family walking through a shopping mall. The husband and the wife see the exact same shops. Both their intellects give them the same knowledge of objects. In other words, both of them recognize that “this is a nice outfit” and “this is an Ipod”. But their behaviour towards these objects will be different due to the difference in their respective desires. The husband will think “I want that Ipod” whereas the wife will think “I want that outfit”.
 
Now, unlike the wise devotees, such devotees still have not shifted their focus towards the ultimate goal that will give them infinitude – Ishvara. They still harbour desires for material objects, people and situations that prevents them from contacting the infinite. So then, due to the force of their desires, they look for something finite to give them happiness. To that end, they propitiate deities that will give them their finite objects of desire. They approach Lord Ganesha to remove obstacles in their line of work, for example.
 
Their situation is no different than a businessman who wants to build a factory. He will have to appease the local minister to get land clearances. He will have to appease the local union leader to ensure the smooth running of his factory. He will have to appease his customers so that they will keep placing orders for his goods. But in doing so, he will have to dance to their tune. He may have to give someone’s son-in-law a job in his factory, and so on and so forth. Similarly, in order to propitiate these deities, we may also have to follow prescribed rites and rituals that are specific to each deity.
 
Shri Krishna says that even if pursuing limited or finite goals is not the way to go, Ishvara will still demonstrate compassion towards such devotees, indicated by the next shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 26, Chapter 4

16 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in 4.26, anya, anye, indriyaagnishu, indriyaani, juhvati, saiyamaagnishu, shabdaadeen, shrotraadeeni, vishyayaan

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shrotraadeeneendriyaanyanye saiyamaagnishu juhvati |
shabdaadeenvishayaananya indriyaagnishu juhvati || 26 ||

Other yogis offer hearing and other senses into the sacrificial flame of self-restraint. Yet others offer sense objects into the sacrificial flame of the senses.

shrotraadeeni : hearing and other
indriyaani : senses
anye : others
saiyamaagnishu : flame in the form of self-restraint
juhvati : offer
shabdaadeen : speech and other
vishayaan : sense objects
anya : yet others
indriyaagnishu : flame in the form of senses
juhvati : offer

Two more practical yajnyas are highlighted in this shloka by Shri Krishna. In the first yajyna, we use our discrimination to limit the activities of our senses. Symbolically, self control is like the fire to which the senses are offered.

The world comprises both good and bad influences. Our senses are exposed to thousands of such influences each day. If we keep senses open all the time without proper discrimination, so many negative influences would enter that it would take a lifetime to clean them up. Therefore, in this yajnya, we exercise our discretion over what we see, eat and hear everyday. Such withdrawal of energy from the senses is called pratyaahaara. It is the fourth “limb” or aspect of yoga in the tradition of Patanjali, the first three being yama (restraint), niyama (positive restraint, covered in a later shloka) and aasana (steadying the body).

The Ramaayana illustrates this very well with the example of Raavana and Dasharatha. Raavana’s ten heads are representative of the ten senses (5 sense organs + 5 organs of action). He was under such influence of his senses, he used them so much for enjoyment that they became ten heads. Conversely, Dasharatha exerted such control over his senses that they led him to his destination like a chariot (ratha).

The second yagnya is a more sophisticated version of the first yagnya. Instead of offering the senses to the fire of self restraint, the objects themselves, or more accurately, the notion of an object is sacrificed. We had come across the example of a gold jeweller who is only interested in the weight of the jewellery, regardless of how beautiful the ornament is. Similarly, advanced yogis sacrifice the notion that they are living in the world of objects. They recognize that objects are nothing but configurations of the same three cosmic forces: sattva, rajas and tamas. Like the jeweller, they “melt” the object so that it no longer draws their self outward.