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 53, Chapter 18

11 Thursday Jul 2013

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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 52, Chapter 18

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

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viviktasevee laghvaashee yatavaakkaayamaanasaha |
dhyaanayogaparo nityam vairaagyam samupaashritaha || 52 ||
 
One who stays in seclusion, eats very little, regulates speech, body and mind, considers meditation as supreme, fully possessed of dispassion.
 
viviktasevee : staying in seclusion
laghvaashee : eating very little
yatavaakkaayamaanasaha : regulating speech, body and mind
dhyaanayogaparaha : to whom meditation is considered supreme
nityam : ever
vairaagyam : dispassion
samupaashritaha : fully possessed
 
Shri Krishna continues describing the lifestyle of a sanyaasi, a monk or a renunciate, which is a recap of ideas covered in the sixth chapter. He says that such a monk like places that are vivikta, meaning isolated, solitary, away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Such places are conducive for contemplation, since they do not have too many distractions. He is also laghvaashee, eating only the quantity of nutritious food necessary to sustain the body. Eating heavy meals causes drowsiness in the short term, and health problems in the long term.
 
Now even if the mind is placed in quiet surroundings, it will generate thoughts that will eventually result in actions of the body, or in speech. By regulating physical actions and speech, the monk will be able to regulate his mind as well. The end result of all this regulation is two fold. He will be able to fix his mind on the self, which is dhyaana, and will be able to contemplate upon the nature of the self, which is yoga. The nature of the self was expounded in the second chapter to be infinite, indestructible and so on.
 
The quality of dispassion or vairagyam comes up again in this shloka. In the last shloka, it was implicitly mentioned as absence of raaha and dvesha, like and dislike. The level of vairagya cultivated by the monk, however, is much greater than that which is harboured by seekers in early stages of spiritual practice. The monk has rid himself of even a tinge of belief that there is any real happiness to be found in the material world. He is samupaashritaha, fully possessed of the conviction that the self alone is worth pursuing, nothing else.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 51, Chapter 18

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

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buddhayaa vishuddhayaa yukto dhrityaatmaanam niyamya cha |
shabdaadeenvishayaamstyaktvaa raagadveshau vyudasya cha || 51 ||
 
Endowed with a pure intellect, and regulating oneself with fortitude, giving up sense objects beginning with sound, and eliminating like and dislike.
 
buddhayaa : with intellect
vishuddhayaa : pure
yuktaha : endowed
dhrityaa : with fortitude
aatmaanam : oneself
niyamya : regulating
cha : and
shabdaadeen : beginning with sound
vishayaan : sense objects
tyaktvaa : give up
raagadveshau : like and dislike
vyudasya : eliminating
cha : and
 
In this and the next two shlokas, Shri Krishna illustrates the lifestyle the monk who has entered the stage of sanyaasa or renunciation. The urge to perform a lot of physical actions is low for such a person, otherwise it is impossible for him to even enter a monastic life. Now, the focus shifts towards regulating the mind. Since the monk has already eliminated his strongest material desires, he has to focus on the ones that are weaker, with a view of completely eradicating them as well.
 
Such a sanyaasi has a buddhi or intellect which is vishuddha, extremely pure, free from any doubts and misconceptions about the nature of the material world. There is not even a trace of doubt about the existence of joy in inert objects. His dhriti or fortitude is saattvic, as we have seen earlier in the section on fortitude. He has complete mastery over his mind. He is able regulate his mind by his intellect, and prevent it from wandering into materialistic thoughts. Even if that does happen, his vision prevents those thoughts from causing desire. How is he able to do that?
 
This world is nothing but names and forms, and forms are comprised of five elements – space, air, fire, water and earth. Shabda adeen in this verse refers to these five elements. The sanyaasi is able to look at any object or person, see through the name and form, and understand that it is nothing but the five elements combined together. Realizing that any combination of these elements is nothing but Prakriti or matter, he is able to eliminate any sense of raaga or dvesha, like or dislike, towards that object or person.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 50, Chapter 18

08 Monday Jul 2013

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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.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 49, Chapter 18

07 Sunday Jul 2013

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asaktabuddhihi sarvatra jitaatmaa vigatasprihaa |
naishkarmyasiddhim paramaam sanyaasenaadhigachhati || 49 ||
 
One whose mind is unattached from all aspects, who is self controlled, from whom desires have departed, attains the supreme state of freedom from action by sanyaasa.
 
asaktabuddhihi : one with unattached mind
sarvatra : from all aspects
jitaatmaa : who is self controlled
vigatasprihaa : from whom desires have departed
naishkarmyasiddhim : state of freedom from action
paramaam : supreme
sanyaasena : by sanyaasa
adhigachhati : attains
 
Most government jobs, and even private sector jobs, come with a built in end date known as the retirement date, which signifies the culmination of career-related actions. Similarly, when we perform our duty observing the tenets of karma yoga, we will eventually reach a point where we are ready to move onto the next stage in the spiritual journey known as sanyaasa. The aashrama system in Indian culture appoints sanyaasa as the last aashrama, the last stage in life, where the individual should renounce all their duties and life a lifestle of a sanyaasi, a monk.
 
Shri Krishna lists three characteristics of a person who has reached the stage of sanyaasa or monkhood. His intellect is asakta, it is unattached from all objects, people and situations. It no longer entertains the notions that this object is mine, or this person is my daughter and so on. He is able to do so because he is jitaatmaa, he has fully conquered his mind, it does not get agitated or excited by external stimuli. And even without external stimuli, it does not feel the need to act in the world, because it is devoid of sprihaa or desires.
 
Arjuna wanted to know the difference between tyaaga and sanyaasa at the beginning of this chapter. We can glean the primary difference from the teaching so far. The end goal of tyaaga or karma yoga is purity of mind, also known as sattva shuddhi. The end goal of sanyaasa is the attainment of brahman or the eternal essence. It is also known as naishkarmya siddhi, the state, the accomplishment where one becomes actionless, or all actions become totally spontaneous, like a river entering the ocean. There are no more internal cravings or external goals since one has completely transcended the effect of the three gunaas.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 48, Chapter 18

06 Saturday Jul 2013

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sahajam karma kaunteya sadoshamapi na tyajet |
sarvaarambhaa hi doshena dhoomenaagnirivaavritaahaa || 48 ||
 
Natural duty, even though fraught with defect, should not be abandoned. For, all undertakings are covered with defect, like fire by smoke.
 
sahajam : natural
karma : duty
kaunteya : O Kaunteya
sadosham : with defect
api : even
na : not
tyajet : abandoned
sarvaarambhaa : all undertakings
hi : for
doshena : with defect
dhoomen : by smoke
agnihi : fire
iva : like
aavritaahaa : covered
 
Some people in this world are perfectionists. Either we know such people as friends or co-workers, or we may be one ourselves. Perfectionism is a recipe for constant sorrow, because no matter who performs the actions, they will never be perfect. As we have seen earlier, an action is based on several factors, including the mental state of the performer, the instruments used, the state of the outside world and so on. It is next to impossible to expect all these factors to line up in such a manner that the action and its result will be perfect.
 
Shri Krishna says that any undertaking, any project, any action will always have some imperfection built into it, just like any fire will have some smoke covering it. So there is no point giving up our actions and our duties because they contain some imperfection or the other. Even the human body, the most intricate organism on this earth, has some minor defect in one form or the other, in the form of ill health or deformity and so on. Therefore, we have to accept this fact and continue to perform our best actions, not focus too much on the result.
 
With this shloka, the topic of karma yoga is concluded. If we recall, this topic was prompted by Arjuna in the beginning of this chapter, when he wanted to know the difference between sanyaasa and tyaaga. Tyaaga was redefined by Shri Krishna to mean karma yoga, and was analyzed in great detail. Tyaaga or karma yoga, combined with bhakti, is a process, is a means to get us to a destination. When practised properly, it lifts us from our materialistic life and places us on the path towards liberation. So then, if tyaaga is the means, what is the goal? This is taken up next.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 47, Chapter 18

05 Friday Jul 2013

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shreyansvadharmo vigunaha paradharmaatsvanushthataat |
svabhaavaniyatam karma kurvannaapnoti kilbisham || 47 ||
 
One’s duty, though devoid of merits, is superior to another’s duty well performed. Doing the duty prescribed for one’s nature, one does not incur sin.
 
shreyan : superior
svadharmaha : one’s duty
vigunaha : devoid of merits
paradharmaat : than another’s duty
svanushthataat : well performed
svabhaavaniyatam : prescribed for per one’s nature
karma : duty
kurvann : doing
na : does not
aapnoti : incur
kilbisham : sin
 
We now focus on the subject of svadharma, which is the set of actions termed as duty. As we saw earlier, our duty can only be understood by conducting self analysis to understand what our mental makeup, what our varna is. Some of us may be well suited for starting businesses, whereas some of us may be better suited for the service sector. But it is quite common to get enchanted by another person’s occupation since it generates more money, since it has glamour and fame, and so on. How should we deal with this situation?
 
Shri Krishna says that we should stick to performing our svadharma, no matter how profitable or how glamourous other occupations seem like. In the short term, if we pick up another occupation, it may seem like we are doing a great job. But in the long run, we will fall into trouble. We will run into some problem or the other on account of not being suitable for someone else’s occupation. We also will deprive society from giving it the level of service possible if we had stuck with what we are good at.
 
Harbouring likes and dislikes towards actions, preferring someone else’s occupation to ours, has the effect of strengthening the ego, and hence should be avoided. Furthermore, in karma yoga, we are only expected to perform our best actions, and to not worry about the result. By performing our svadharma, by doing the best we can, we automatically the fear of the consequence of our action, whether or not it will be a merit or a sin. To perform actions fearlessly is a blessing in itself.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 46, Chapter 18

04 Thursday Jul 2013

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yataha pravrittirbhootaanaam yena sarvamidam tatam |
svakarmanaa tambhyarchya siddhim vindanti maanavaha || 46 ||
 
From whom arises the origin of all beings, by which this entire creation is pervaded, having worshipped that through his duty, the person attains perfection.
 
yataha : from whom
pravrittihi : origin
bhootaanaam : of all beings
yena : by which
sarvam : entire creation
idam : this
tatam : is pervaded
svakarmanaa : his duty
tam : that
abhyarchya : having worshipped
siddhim : perfection
vindanti : attains
maanavaha : person
 
Shri Krishna says that we should submit the performance of our duty as an offering to Ishvara. Only then does it result in the samsiddhi, the foremost accomplishment, the perfection that was spoken of earlier. Otherwise, mere performance of our duty will result in merits and demerits, paapa and punya, which will further trap us in the cycle of samsaara. We have to inject bhakti or devotion to Ishvara into all our actions. In other words, karma yoga and bhakti yoga need to go together. Performance of duty with devotion to Ishvara reduces the ego, the gigantic bundle of likes, dislikes and fears which is an obstacle to liberation.
 
Even in our daily lives, actions performed with devotion to someone or something have a different kind of feeling. They allow us to channel energy that we never thought we had. A mother will work tirelessly, day and night, for the benefit of her children. Freedom fighters gave their lives for the service of the nation. Offering actions to Ishvara, however, has the effect of reducing the sense of enjoyership, the bhokta bhaava, the pursuit of actions driven by likes and dislikes. Selfless service reduces the sense of kartaa bhaava, the notion that the I has to perform an action to remove some incompleteness. We become instruments of Ishvara’s will, so there is no room for personal will.
 
Now, who is this Ishvara? He is the source, the origin of all beings, the intelligence cause, like the potter of a clay pot. He is also the material cause, the stuff by which everything is created, like the clay in a clay pot. When we offer our actions to the creator and sustainer of the universe, we lose all fear of the future, since we accept whatever comes our way as a prasaada, a gift from Ishvara. So there is no personal will, there is no personal preference, there is no fear. Doership, likes, dislikes and fears are nothing but the ego. It then, slowly withers away through karma yoga.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 45, Chapter 18

03 Wednesday Jul 2013

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sve sve karmanyabhirataha samsiddhim labhate naraha |
svakarmanirataha siddhim yathaa vindanti tachhrunu || 45 ||
 
Engaged in his own duty, each person attains the foremost accomplishment. How one can attain this accomplishment by being content in his duty, that you hear from me.
 
sve : own
karmani : through duty
abhirataha : engaged
samsiddhim : foremost accomplishment
labhate : attains
naraha : person
svakarmanirataha : content in his duty
siddhim : accomplishment
yathaa : how
vindanti : attains
tat : that
shrunu : hear from me
 
The Vedas recognized the system of varna as a means for every individual to realize their potential. They enabled everyone to contribute to society as per their mental makeup and aptitude. Every action performed in accordance with one’s duty yielded a meritorious fruit or punya, and every, and every action that went against one’s duty yielded a demerit or a paapa. The net result of punyas and paapas decided the fate of every individual. One would gain a life that was better or worse than the current one based on their actions.
 
But there is more to the performance of duty than the cycle of action, reaction and rebirth. Shri Krishna says that performance of duty can become the gateway towards liberation. As we have seen earlier, the Gita enables each and every individual, regardless of their occupation or stage in life, to pursue the path of liberation. We do not have to renounce our actions and become sadhus or monks. We just have to keep doing our duty. The result of doing our duty is samsiddhi, perfection, the foremost accomplishment.
 
The ultimate goal of karma yoga is purification of the mind. It cleans the mind of all its impurities in the form of selfish desires created by raaga and dvesha, likes and dislikes. It is this purification of the mind that becomes the foremost accomplishment, samsiddhi, for one who is performing karma yoga. But mere performance of duty will not result in samsiddhi. There is something else needed, which Shri Krishna will reveal in the next shloka.