Category Archives: brahmabhooyaaya

Bhagavad Gita Verse 53, Chapter 18

11 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by in 18.53, ahankaaram, balam, brahmabhooyaaya, chapter 18 verse 53, darpam, kaamam, kalpate, krodham, nirmamaha, parigraham, shaantaha, vimuchya

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ahankaaram balam darpam kaamam krodham parigraham |
vimuchya nirmamaha shaanto brahmabhooyaaya kalpate || 53 ||
 
On who has given up egoism, force, arrogance, desire, anger, possessions, free from mineness, and serene, is fit for becoming the eternal essence.
 
ahankaaram : egoism
balam : force
darpam : arrogance
kaamam : desire
krodham : anger
parigraham : possessions
vimuchya : given up
nirmamaha : free from mineness
shaantaha : serene
brahmabhooyaaya : becoming the eternal essence
kalpate : is fit
 
When the monk has decided to focus on contemplation upon the self, he should take care to not harbour tendencies or traits that are remnants of life in the material world. Shri Krishna enumerates those traits in this shloka, beginning with ahankaara or egoism. Egoism refers to the notion of I-ness in anything that is in the realm of Prakriti. For most people, their body is their self. For some others, it is the intellect. Even if these are temporary, they will become obstacles in meditation. A similar obstacle is the sense of mine-ness or mamataa.
 
Kaama refers to desire and passion, and balam or force refers to power of desire and passion. If these is are not checked, then the mind will always rush towards some object or the other, and do so with an intensity that is hard to control. Darpam is arrogance, which makes one feel that he is above others, and therefore, can do whatever he wants. This will prevent the monk from following a strict regimen of meditation. Another obstacle in meditation is parigrah, the sense of possessing or hoarding things, which can distract the monk from pursuing his path.
 
Ultimately, when the monk has done his best to remove all notions of I and mine from his mind, ensured that his surroundings are calm and free of distractions, ensured that likes and dislikes are conquered, convinced himself that the world is nothing but a collection of names and forms, he gets the wonderful reward in the form of serenity or shaantihi. He recognizes his true self as the shuddha saakshi, the pure witness, free from identification from the mind or body. He is now ready for resting in, which is the same as becoming, the eternal essence, brahman.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 26, Chapter 14

03 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by in 14.26, avyabhichaarena :, bhakti, brahmabhooyaaya, chapter 14 verse 26, etaan, gunaan, kalpate, maam, saha, samateetya, sevate, yaha, yogena

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maam cha yovyabhichaarena bhaktiyogena sevate |
sa gunaansamateetyaitaanbrahmabhooyaaya kalpate || 26 ||
 
And he who worships me with the unwavering yoga of devotion, having gone beyond these gunas, becomes fit for attaining brahman.
 
maam : my
cha : and
yaha : he who
avyabhichaarena : unwavering
bhakti : devotion
yogena : with yoga
sevate : worship
saha : he
gunaan : gunas
samateetya : gone beyond
etaan : these
brahmabhooyaaya : attaining Brahman
kalpate : fit
 
Since this chapter is coming to an end, let us do a quick recap. We learned that this entire universe, including our mind and body, is nothing but the play of the three gunas of Prakriti – sattva, rajas and tamas. Only when we learn to stand apart from the gunas, when we separate ourselves from the gunas, can we attain liberation from the endless cycle of sorrow known as samsaara. For most of us, such a high degree of discrimination is extremely difficult. Moreover, such discrimination needs to be combined with dispassion as well as total control of the mind and the sense organs.
 
Knowing the impediments of fulfilling all these requirements, Arjuna wanted to know whether there was a straightforward way of releasing oneself from the influence of the gunas. Shri Krishna says that yes, it is possible. The answer is the yoga of unwavering devotion, which was the topic of chapters seven to twelve. In a nutshell, we detach ourselves from the gunas by attaching ourselves to something higher, which is Ishvara. It is like the child who gives up his toys because he loves poetry now that he is a teenager.
 
This yoga of devotion is not completely without effort, however. Shri Krishna adds an adjective that we need to bear in mind – avyabhichaarena or unwavering. We cannot keep Ishvara as our goal from 7 am to 8 am and then start thinking about how to demolish our competitors from 8 am to 11 am. The one and only goal should be Ishvara. If all our goals are within the scope of our svadharma, our prescribed role in this world, they very naturally are part and parcel of our devotion towards Ishvara.
 
Having made Ishvara our only goal, and having maintained such an awareness throughout our life, we become fit to attain brahman. How does that happen? The next and last shloka of this chapter addresses this topic.