Category Archives: uchayte

Bhagavad Gita Verse 3, Chapter 6

05 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by in 6.3, aarurkshoho, chapter 6 verse 3, eva, kaaranam, munehe, shamah, tasya, uchayte, uchyate, yogam, yogaroodhasya

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aarurukshormuneryogam karma kaaranamuchyate |
yogaroodhasya tasyaiva shamah kaaranamuchyate || 3 ||

For that contemplative person who desires to ascend to yoga, action is said to be the means. For one who is established in yoga, tranquility is said to be the means.

aarurukshoho : one who desires to ascend
munehe : contemplative person
yogam : yoga
karma : action
kaaranam : means
uchyate : is said to be
yogaroodhasya : one who is established in yoga
tasya : that person
eva : only
shamah : tranquility
kaaranam : means
uchyate : is said to be

In the shlokas so far, Shri Krishna has pointed out the similarity between a karmayogi and a monk in regards to their suitability for practicing meditation. Now, he begins to go one level deeper and tell us where we stand, and how should we prepare ourselves for meditation.

Let’s first understand what is meant by a muni or a contemplative person. Most people in this world harbour the notion that worldly objects, people and situations yield happiness. The contemplative person is one who has spent enough time observing the world and understood that notion to be false. He need not have retreated to the forest to contemplate on this. He knows from his daily life experience that the world cannot give joy. Such a muni, who has the desire to go higher, ascend above the material world, is called “aarurkshoho”.

So for such a muni, there are two possibilities. One is that he is not established in dhyaana yoga or meditation. His mind still harbours desires. His proportion of sattva guna is lower compared to rajas and tamas. For such a seeker, the only means to get established in meditation is karmayoga. Diligent observance of karmayoga will develop the qualities of discrimination and dispassion (viveka and vairagya), which will ultimately purge desires from the mind.

The second possibility is the muni who has achieved a high level of viveka and vairagya. His mind does not harbour desires due to the predominance of sattva. He only performs the bare minimum of actions that are in line with his obligatory duties. Such a person is “aarudha” or elevated. For such a person, meditation will come naturally. All he has to is to follow the instructions given later in this chapter towards “shamaha”, which is quietening the mind.

Consider this illustration. When a child wants to ride a heavy bicycle, he usually cannot climb it directly. He has to put one foot on the pedal and kick the ground with the other foot till the bicycle gathers speed. Only then can he climb the bicycle. So in the initial stage, the child is “aarurkshoho” and has to kick the ground until the bike gathers speed. Then when he ascends the bicycle, he becomes “aarudha”.

Now, when exactly does the seeker become ready to meditate? This is tackled in the next shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 40, Chapter 3

17 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in 3.40, aavritya, adhisthaanam, asya, buddih, chapter 3 verse 40, dehinam, eshah, etaih, indriyaani, jnyaanam, manah, uchayte, vimohayati

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indriyaani mano buddhirasyaadhishthaanamuchyate |
etairvimohayatyesha jnyaanamaavritya dehinam || 40 ||

The senses, mind and intellect are said to be its residence. Through them, this (desire) covers the body-dweller’s wisdom.

indriyaani : senses
manah : mind
buddhih : intellect
asya : this
adhishthaanam : residence
uchyate: it is said
etaih : these
vimohayati : delude
eshah : this (desire)
jnyaanam : wisdom
aavritya : cover
dehinam : body-dweller

Like a military strategist reveals the location of the enemy to the warrior, Shri Krishna in this shloka reveals the location of the karmayogi’s enemy. The enemy in the form of desire has three residences. The first residence is the senses, the second is the mind, and the third is the intellect. Note that he uses the term “body-dweller” to remind us that the body, mind and intellect are separate than the eternal essence.

In the senses, desire and anger manifest as likes and dislikes, as we have seen before. Now, each sense organ has its own likes and dislikes. For example, the ear may find some sounds pleasing and others harsh. These likes and dislikes come from our natural tendencies or prakriti. You can see likes and dislikes in animals as well. Your pet dog may prefer one kind of food over another.

There is not much that we can do about our natural tendencies. We just need to ensure that they do not obstruct us from our goals. But when we feed them by giving them time and attention, they get charged by our emotions and take residence in our mind. Our mind is the faculty that gathers data from the senses and creates a coherent picture of what is being senses. It also generates thoughts based on current and past impressions.

Our language will give us an indication of whether a like is residing in our senses or in our mind. If we say, “I like to eat fries” or “I prefer fries”, it is still at the level of senses. But if we say, “I absolutely love fries, I cannot do without them”, it means that the like has now gone into the mind.

There is another indication that a desire has penetrated into the mind. A desire can be active even if the object of the desire is not perceived by the senses. If we dislike a person only when we meet him, then that dislike is at the level of the senses. But if we keep thinking “I hate that person” even when he is not in front of us, then that dislike has become hatred and has penetrated our mind.

The last and most dangerous place for a desire to reside is in our intellect, which is the faculty that takes decisions based on analysis and rationality. If we begin to justify and rationalize our loves and hates, it means that the desire has penetrated into our intellect. It is extremely difficult to tackle such desires, because they have completely taken hold of us: our senses, our mind and our intellect. Someone who resorts to violence and is utterly convinced of his position will even quote from scriptures to justify his actions, for instance.

So therefore, Shri Krishna provided Arjuna with the location and nature of the enemy that he needed to tackle. He explains the technique of tacking the enemy in the next shloka.