Category Archives: munih

Bhagavad Gita Verse 28, Chapter 5

31 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by in 5.28, bhayaha, chapter 5 verse 28, eva, ichhaa, krodaha, moksha, mukta, munih, paraayanaha, sadaa, saha, vigata, yaha, yatendriyamanobuddhihi

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yatendriyamanobuddhirmunirmokshaparaayanaha |
vigatechhaabhayakrodo yaha sadaa mukta eva saha || 28 ||

That person who has restrained his senses, mind and intellect, and whose ultimate goal is liberation, who is devoid of desire, fear and anger; that person is also a monk, he is ever liberated.

yatendriyamanobuddhihi : restrained senses, mind and intellect
munihi : monk
moksha : liberation
paraayanaha: ultimate goal
vigata : devoid
ichhaa : desire
bhayaha : fear
krodaha : anger
yaha : one who
sadaa : ever
mukta : liberated
eva : also
saha : that person

Shri Krishna continues the preview of steps needed for preparing ourselves for meditation. The “that person” refers to the person from the previous shloka who has prepared himself physically for meditation. Now, the internal preparation is pointed out.

First, Shri Krishna says that while sitting for meditation, there should be no other objective but that of liberation. If the objective is not pure, if one wants to harm someone by meditation, then the practice will be distracted and the goal will not be reached. In the Puraanic literature, there are many examples of demons that practiced meditation for powers that would help them destroy others. Such goals are not to be harboured. The only goal should be liberation.

Also important is the role that we identify with when we sit for meditation. If sit down as father, we will always think of children. If sit down as an employee, we will think of job-related problems all the time. These roles do not go away easily due to our strong identification with one or many roles. There should be no role while meditation, only the goal of liberation.

So therefore, one who through karmayoga and purified his mind of fear, anger and desire, who has restrained his sense organs, and whose ultimate goal is liberation and not some worldly goal, that person is ready for meditation. But what is the object of meditation? The last shloka of this chapter addresses this point.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 6, Chapter 5

09 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in 5.6, aaptum, ayogataha, brahma, chapter 5 verse 6, duhkham, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, mahaabaaho, munih, nachirena, sannyaasaha, tu, yogayuktaha

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sannyaasastu mahaabaaho duhkhamaaptumayogataha |
yogayukto munirbrahma nachirenaadhigachchati || 6 ||

For renunciation, O mighty-armed, is difficult to attain without yoga. The contemplative person established in yoga swiftly attains the eternal essence.

sannyaasaha : renunciation
tu : for
mahaabaaho : O mighty-armed
duhkham : difficult
aaptum : to obtain
ayogataha : without yoga
yogayuktaha : established in yoga
munih : contemplative person
brahma : eternal essence
nachirena : swiftly
adhigachchati : attains

In this shloka, Shri Krishna says that for a seeker that has not fully exhausted his desires, bypassing the first stage of karmayoga will make attainment of the eternal essence difficult. The best option is to start with karmayoga, because like the yoga of knowledge, it too will yield the same result of self-realization.

To understand this, let us examine a different question: Why are there so few PhDs in the world? It takes a certain kind of person to obtain a PhD. One has to be ready to spend most of their life in a lab. One has to do what it takes to get their experiment right. They have to survive on their petty stipend for several years. And all this is for the sole objective of discovering something that benefits mankind.

Similarly, not many people can minimize their worldly activities so much that they retire to an ashram to gain knowledge from a teacher. For most of us, the pull of our desires is so strong that we will continue to work in this world. Therefore, liberation has to come from our actions, not through renunciation.

Furthermore, Shri Krishna also mentions a caveat about action. One should not perform actions just like that. Karmayoga advocates thoughtful action, where one thinks before one acts. The biggest obstacle in moving forward spiritually is our ego. It creates selfish desires that move us towards the material world. So when we performs actions thoughtfully, in other words, when we ensure that our actions are performed without attachment towards the result, our selfish desires automatically get slowly eliminated.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 56, Chapter 2

23 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by in 2.56, anuvignamanaah, chapter 2 verse 56, duhkeshu, munih, sthitadheeh, sukheshu, uchyate, veetaraagabhayakrodah, vigatspruhah

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duhkeshvanudvignamanaah sukheshu vigatspruhah |
veetaraagabhayakrodaha sthitadheermuniruchyate || 56 ||

One whose mind is not agitated in sorrow, and remains indifferent in joy, and is free from attachment, fear and anger; that contemplative individual is known as a person of steady intellect.

duhkeshu : in sorrow
anudvignamanaah : mind is not agitated
sukheshu : in joy
vigatspruhah: indifferent
veetaraagabhayakrodaha : free from attachment, fear and anger
sthitadheeh : person of steady intellect
munih : contemplative person
uchyate : called

Shri Krishna continues giving us factors that can destabilize our state of equanimity. In this shloka, he says that the person of steady intellect does not let joy or sorrow upset his equanimity. Now does that mean that the person becomes a stone? No. As long as we are alive, it is natural to experience joy and sorrow. But if we notice that any joyful or sorrowful situation has upset our equanimity for a prolonged period of time, we should be on guard. There usually is an underlying selfish desire at work.

For instance, if you know that your favourite dish was planned to be cooked for dinner, but is no longer being cooked because of some reason, you will get disappointed. But if this disappointment persists for a long period of time, it means that you have a deep-seated desire for that dish, which can resurface anytime to cause you further agitation. The goal pointed our in the prior shloka is to free ourselves of as many material desires as possible, and to be “self satisfied with one’s self”.

The second part of the shloka goes deeper into this point by describing how a desire can give rise to fear and anger, both of which cause instability of mind. At the time of writing this, it is the thanksgiving holiday, so it is apt to look at a shopping example. Let’s say that you go window shopping and see an ipod that is on sale with a huge discount. Later, you head home but all you can think about is that ipod. That’s all it takes – you have developed attachment to it.

But that’s not all. Right there, you will also develop a fear that it may go out of stock tomorrow, and that you will lose the deal. So you go to the store to buy it the very next day. Now, after a couple of days it stops working. You call the tech support phone number and are kept on hold for 20 minutes. What do you think has arisen in your mind? Anger, of course. And all it took was a desire to take hold of your mind when you saw the ipod. In later shlokas, Shri Krishna gives a more detailed, step by step breakdown of how a simple little thought can bring about one’s downfall.

Footnotes
1. In the example, the individual imagined that the Ipod, which is nothing but a material object, would give him happiness. Whereas in reality, there is no happiness “built into” the ipod. This projection of happiness onto a material object is termed as “shobhana adhyasa”.