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Category Archives: nishthaa

Bhagavad Gita Verse 50, Chapter 18

08 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by in 18.50, aapnoti, brahma, chapter 18 verse 50, jnyaanasya, kaunteya, nibodha, nishthaa, paraa, praaptaha, samaasena, siddhi, tathaa, yathaa

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siddhim praapto yathaa brahma tathaapnoti nibodha me |
samaasenaiva kaunteya nishthaa jnyaanasya yaa paraa || 50 ||
 
How one who has attained perfection also undoubtedly achieves the eternal essence, learn from me in brief, O Kaunteya, that supreme devotion to knowledge.
 
siddhi : perfection
praaptaha : one attained
yathaa : how
brahma : eternal essence
tathaa : also
aapnoti : achieves
nibodha : learn
me : from me
samaasena : in brief
eva : undoubtedly
kaunteya : O Kaunteya
nishthaa : devotion
jnyaanasya : of knowledge
yaha : which
paraa : supreme
 
Shri Krishna now starts to recap the content from chapters five and six. Chapter three and four covered the topic of karma yoga, and how karma yoga gradually evolves into jnyaana yoga. Once the seeker has reduced his stock of desires, has purified his mind, and has gained knowledge about the aatmaa, the self, from a competent teacher, he then enters into the stage of sanyaasa, complete renunciation of action. Chapters five and six explain the process of entering into, and maturing of, the state of renunciation.
 
Siddhi here refers to the purification of mind obtained as a result of karma yoga. Jnyaana nishthaa, devotion to knowledge, also known as nidhidhyaasana or meditation, is the culmination of sanyaasa. If we ever wonder how monks spend most of their time, this is it. Besides doing the bare minimum needed to maintain the body, the monk is engaged in one and only one thing – constant contemplation, constant abidance upon the self.
 
For most of us, just contemplating on the self may seem a bit odd. How can such a seemingly mundane engagement result in liberation? So we need to remember that the self is already attained, there is no work that is needed to attain it. The only work that we have to do is to get rid of what is the no-self, in other words, purify our mind through karma and bhakti. Shri Krishna emphasizes this point by using the word nibodha, which means to know. There is nothing else that needs to be done in sanyaasa since it is the last stage of yoga.

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Bhagavad Gita Verse 1, Chapter 17

21 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by in 17.1, aaho, anvitaahaa, chapter 17 verse 1, kaa, krishna, nishthaa, rajas, sattvam, shaastravidhim, shraddhayaa, tamaha, teshaam, utrisrijya, yajante

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Arjuna uvaacha:
ye shaastravidhimutrisrijya yajante shraddhayaanvitaahaa |
teshaam nishthaa tu kaa krishna sattvamoho rajastamaha || 1 ||
 
Arjuna said:
Those who, setting aside laws of scripture, perform worship endowed with faith, O Krishna, what is their position? Is it of sattva, rajas or tamas?
 
ye : those who
shaastravidhim : laws of scripture
utrisrijya : setting aside
yajante : perform worship
shraddhayaa : faith
anvitaahaa : endowed with
teshaam : their
nishthaa : position
tu : then
kaa : what
krishna : O Krishna
sattvam : sattva
aaho : or
rajas : rajas
tamaha : tamas
 
In order to prevent the prompting of actions by selfish desire, we should use the scriptures as a guide to decide what to do or what not to do. This was the concluding message of the previous chapter. Hearing this, the word “shaastra” or scripture stuck in Arjuna’s mind. Perhaps he foresaw that over the course of time, most people will not have access to scriptures. They will not be able to receive the guidance of a real guru who truly cares about their spiritual growth versus extracting money from them. He wanted to know, like all of us do, how to use our judgement without access to scriptural laws.
 
Let us now investigate what category of people Arjuna is speaking about. There are those who may have access to the scriptures, may even understand the scriptures, but have no inclination of following them. Such people were covered in the last chapter under the category of devilish qualities. Conversely, there are people who understand the scriptures and also conduct their life according to scriptures. These people were covered under the category of divine qualities. This chapter covers those people who do not have access to the scriptures, but yet try to lead their lives through faith, sincerity and honesty.
 
So then, Arjuna asks this extremely practical question on behalf of common people who have faith in some higher principle. Some may be devotees of Shri Krishna, some of Lord Shiva, some of Lord Ganesha. Some may not have faith in a deity but may have faith in a spiritual text such as the Gita. Some may have not have faith in any of these but may have faith in a friend, spouse or relative who has faith in a deity or a spiritual text. Some may have faith in their nation or in a higher cause such as improving the state of the nation’s education system.
 
Regardless of what their faith is, such people would like to set themselves on a path that gains them happiness in the material world, and also enables them to pursue the supreme goal of self realization or liberation. In the absence of scripture as the authority, faith determines the course of action for such people. How can they determine whether their faith is saattvic, rajasic or tamasic? How can they ensure that their faith is leading them in the right direction?

Bhagavad Gita Verse 3, Chapter 3

11 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in 3.3, anagha, asmin, chapter 3 verse 3, dvividhaa, jnyaanayoga, karmayoga, loke, mayaa, naam, nishthaa, proktaa, puraa, saankhyaa, yogi

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Shree Bhagavaan uvaacha:
lokesmindvividhaa nishthaa puraa proktaa mayaanagha |
jnyaanayogena saankhyaanaam karmayogena yoginaam || 3 ||

Shri Bhagavaan said:
In this world, since time immemorial, I have created a two-fold path, O sinless one; the yoga of knowledge for contemplative individuals, and the yoga of action for yogis.

loke : world
asmin : this
dvividhaa : two-fold
nishthaa : path
puraa : since time immemorial
proktaa : spoken
mayaa : by me
anagha : O sinless one
jnyaanayogena : the yoga of knowledge
saankhyaanaam : for contemplative individuals
karmayogena : the yoga of action
yoginaam : for yogis

Earlier, we saw that Arjuna wanted to know which of the two paths, i.e. the yoga of action and the yoga of knowledge, is superior. Shri Krishna addresses that question here. According to him, none of the two is either superior or inferior.

Sant Jnyaneshwar provides an example to show that none of these paths are superior or inferior: like a west-flowing river and an east-flowing river that both meet the same ocean, both paths are same.

Now, even thought the paths are complementary, there is a subtle difference between them. Let us explore this difference. Consider a child who is in the first grade. Even if he wants to, he cannot jump straight to a masters degree. He would have to finish high school, then college, and only then will he be ready for his masters degree.

In the same way, most of us are at a stage in life where we are active and want to make a contribution to the world. For such yogis or active individuals, the path of action is the most appropriate. Once we reach a stage where we exhaust all of our desires, we can transcend the path of action to pursue the path of knowledge, just like we transcend college education to pursue our masters degree.

I used to know a classmate from school that was a math prodigy. He could solve advanced calculus equations in sixth grade. The teachers used to check with him whether they were teaching sixth grade math correctly, such was his prowess. He did not need to go through elementary math, he was ready for his math PhD even at that young age.

Similarly, there are a few rare individuals who are at an advanced stage of their spiritual journey. They have eliminated most of their desires. Only such rare contemplative individuals can directly pursue the path of knowledge. For most of us, the path of action is the way to go. And karmayoga, or the path of action, is the main subject covered in this chapter.

On a different note, we see that Shri Krishna is hinting that he is something more that the cowherd son of Vasudeva here. We know this because he mentions that he himself has created this two-fold path for realizing the eternal essence. This has not slipped past Arjuna, he will ask this question at the right time.