Category Archives: brahmabhootaha

Bhagavad Gita Verse 54, Chapter 18

12 Friday Jul 2013

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brahmabhootaha prasannaatmaa nashochati na kaankshati |
samaha sarveshu bhooteshu madbhaktim labhate paraam || 54 ||
 
One who has become the eternal essence, who has attained the joyful self, does not grieve nor desire. Equanimous towards all beings, he attains supreme devotion to me.
 
brahmabhootaha : one who has become the eternal essence
prasannaatmaa : attained the joyful self
na : not
shochati : grieve
na : not
kaankshati : desire
samaha : equanimous
sarveshu : towards all
bhooteshu : beings
madbhaktim : devotion to me
labhate : attains
paraam : supreme
 
Having described the duties of a monk or a sanyaasi in the previous three shlokas, Shri Krishna explains the result of assiduously following those duties. The monk develops supreme devotion, paraa bhakti, towards Ishvara. As the monk decreases his involvement in the material world, makes his mind pure, his devotion towards Ishvara starts to increase. The culmination of this devotion is complete equanimity towards everyone and everything. He sees everyone’s joy as his joy, and everyone’s sorrow as his sorrow. He feels fulfilled in himself, therefore he has no desire for anything new, or no grief for anything that he does not have. Only joy remains.
 
From the standpoint of Vedanta, the first six chapters of the Gita covered the analysis of “tvam”, the individual. Starting with karma yoga, then the purification of mind, then the study of scriptures, followed by taking up renunciation of all actions or monkhood, the seeker comes to know himself as the pure self, as distinct from his body and mind, which are products of maaya. But so long as he sees even a tinge of difference between his self and the world, that tinge of difference will eventually bring back raaga and dvesha, like and dislike. Therefore, he also needs to conduct analysis on the “tat”, which is Ishvara.
 
Analysis of Ishvara, knowing Ishvara in essence, was the topic of the chapters seven to twelve in the Gita. The seeker realizes that Ishvara creates, supports and destroys the world, through his power known as maaya. Maaya has the power to cover the true nature of Ishvara, and project a world of dazzling name and form. But, by listing Ishvara’s vibhootis, and by eventually describing his universal form, Shri Krishna informs the seeker that Ishvara also, like the self, is distinct from the universal body and the universal mind. All that the seeker needs to do is to see the oneness between his pure self and Ishvara’s pure self, distinct from all effects of maaya.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 24, Chapter 5

27 Tuesday Mar 2012

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yontahasukhontaraaraamastathaantarjyotireva yaha |
sa yogi brahmanirvaanam brahmabhootodhigachchati || 24 ||

One who finds bliss in the self, who revels in his self, whose knowledge is the self; he is a yogi, and attains liberation through identification with the eternal essence.

yaha : one who
antahasukhaha : inner bliss
antaraaraamaha : revels in his inner self
tathaa : and
antarjyotihi : inner light (knowledge)
eva : only
yaha : he who
saha : that person
yogi : true seeker
brahma : eternal essence
nirvaanam : liberated
brahmabhootaha : identified with the eternal essence
adhigachchati : attains

Shri Krishna now starts describing how one who is established in the eternal essence eventually attains the eternal essence, in other words, is liberated. The word yogi here refers to a realized seeker. The entire personality of such a seeker is completely turned inward toward the eternal essence. This state is described by three words: antahasukhaha, antaraaraamaha and antarjyotihi.

The person who finds bliss within is called antahasukhaha. He does not expect anything from the outside world. The idea that something other than himself will make him happy, that idea has completely gone. To recap a point from the earlier shloka, he experience bliss by seeking positivity within him, it is not negating what is outside. It is like the sun reflected in water. The reflection will never match the brightness of the sun itself. Similarly the joy obtained through the senses is “reflected happiness”. But a yogi who has shifted attention to his inner self gets the real deal.

Typically, our mind needs to constantly come into contact with an object, person or situation. This  causes agitation in our minds. However, objects, people and situations keep changing. The economy changes, our friends change, our health changes and so on. But the realized seeker is antararaamaha. He revels in himself. Another way to look at this word is “antara-aarama”, which means that he rests in himself. He has eliminated all agitations and is completely at ease with himself. There is nothing that compels him to do anything, he just “is”.

Furthermore, the realized seeker stops looking towards more and more sources of knowledge. He is antarjyotihi. He knows that the eternal essence alone is the ultimate knowledge, the ultimate source of light. In most traditional temples, the only source of light is inside the central room where the deity is located. Symbolically, it depicts the internal light of the self.

In this manner, one who is happy in his own self, revels in his own self and finds knowledge in one’s own self, such a person is a true enlightened seeker. By such deep identification with the eternal essence, he becomes the eternal essence. In other words, he attains the ultimate liberation or “nirvaana”. Liberation is the destruction of all limitations and all notions of finitude. It is the realization that what is in oneself is the same as what is in everything else.