The
Gospel of Selfless Action. The Message of the Gita (XVIII Discourses)
The
Bhagavad Gita or "Song of God" is one of the world's great
scriptures. The story of the warrior Arjuna's battlefield conversation
with the divine Krishna, it holds the universal essence of Hindu philosophy
and wisdom.
Mahatma
Gandhi's translation and commentary on the Gita, presented to his followers
at prayer meetings over a nine-month period in 1926, is regarded in
India as one of the most important of the twentieth century. In clear
and simple terms, Gandhi addresses the concerns that most directly effect
the spiritual lives of common people. He draws on his extraordinary
life experiences and profound inner searching to illuminate what he
describes as "the gospel of selfless action." His Gita is
a call to detached service to others and devotion to God, for readers
of every faith.
I
| II
No
knowledge is to be found without seeking, no tranquility without travail,
no happiness except through tribulation. Every seeker has, at one time
or another, to pass through a conflict of duties, a heart-churning.
I.
Dhritarashtra
Said:
1. Tell me, O Sanjaya, what my sons and Pandu's assembled, on battle
intent, did on the field of Kuru, the field of duty.
The
human body is the battlefield where the eternal duel between right and
wrong goes on. Therefore it is capable of being turned into a gateway
to Freedom. It is born in sin and becomes the seed-bed of sin. Hence
it is also called the field of Kuru. The Kuravas represent the forces
of Evil, the Pandavas the forces of Good. Who is there that has not
experienced the daily conflict within himself between the forces of
Evil and the forces of Good?
Sanjaya
Said:
2. On seeing the Pandava's army drawn up in battle array, King Duryodhana
approached Drona, the preceptor, and addressed him thus:
3. Behold, O preceptor, this mighty army of the sons of Pandu, set in
array by the son of Drupada, thy wise disciple.
4. Here are brave bowmen, peers of Bhima and Arjuna in fighting: Yuyudhana
and Virata, and the ‘Maharatha' Drupada.
5. Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana, valorous Kashiraja, Purujit the Kuntibhoja,
and Shaibya, chief among men;
6. Valiant Yudhamanyu, valorous Uttamaujas, Subhadra's son, and the
sons of Draupadi--each one of them a 'Maharatha'.
7. Acquaint thyself now, O best of Brahmanas, with the distinguished
among us. I mention for thy information, the names of the captains of
my army.
8. Thy noble self, Bhishma, Karna, and Kripa, victorious in battle,
Ashvatthaman, Vikarna, also Somadatta's son;
9. There is many another hero, known for his skill in wielding diverse
weapons, pledged to lay down his life for my sake, and all adepts in
war.
10. This our force, commanded by Bhishma, is all too inadequate; while
theirs, commanded by Bhima, is quite adequate.
11. Therefore, let each of you, holding your appointed places, at every
entrance, guard only Bhishma.
12. At this, the heroic grandsire, the grand old man of the Kurus, gave
a loud lion's roar and blew his conch to hearten Duryodhana.
13. Thereupon, conches, drums, cymbals and trumpets were sounded all
at once. Terrific was the noise.
14. Then Madhava and Pandava, standing in their great chariot yoked
with white steeds, blew their divine conches.
15. Hrishikesha blew the Panchajanya and Dhananjaya the Devadatta; while
the wolf-bellied Bhima of dread deeds sounded his great conch Paundra.
16. King Yudhishthira, Kunti's son, blew the Anantavijaya, and Nakula
nd Sahadeva their conches, Sughosha and Manipushpaka.
17. And Kashiraja, the great bowman, Shikhandi the 'Maharatha', Dhrishtadyumna,
Virata and Satyaki, the unconquerable;
18. Drupada, Draupadi's sons, the strong-armed son of Subhadra, all
these, O King, blew each his own conch.
19. That terrifying tumult, causing earth and heaven to resound, rent
the hearts of Dhritarashtra's sons.
20-21. Then, O King, the ape-bannered Pandava, seeing Dhritarashtra's
sons arrayed and flight of arrows about to begin, took up his bow, and
spoke thus to Hrishikesha: "Set my chariot between the two armies,
O Achyuta!"
22. That I may behold them drawn up, on battle intent, and know whom
I have to engage in this fearful combat;
23. And that I may survey the fighters assembled here anxious to fulfil
in battle perverse Duryodhana's desire.
Sanjaya Said:
24-25. Thus addressed by Gudakesha, O King, Hrishikesha set the unique
chariot between the two armies in front of Bhishma, Drona and all the
kings and said: Behold, O Partha, the Kurus assembled yonder.
26-28. Then did Partha see, standing there, sires, grandsires, preceptors,
uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, comrades, fathers-in-law and friends
in both armies. Beholding all these kinsmen ranged before him, Kaunteya
was overcome with great compassion and spake thus in anguish:
Arjuna Said:
28-29. As I look upon these kinsmen, O Krishna, assembled here eager
to fight, my limbs fail, my mouth is parched, a tremor shakes my frame
and my hair stands on end.
30. Gandiva slips from my hand, my skin is on fire, I cannot keep my
feet, and my mind reels.
31. I have unhappy forebodings, O Keshava; and I see no good in slaying
kinsmen in battle.
32. I seek not victory, nor sovereign power, nor earthly joys. What
good are sovereign power, worldly pleasures and even life to us, O Govinda?
33. Those for whom we would desire sovereign power, earthly joys and
delights are here arrayed in battle, having renounced life and wealth--
34. Preceptors, sires, grandsires, sons and even grandsons, uncles,
fathers-in-law, brothers-in-law, and other kinsmen.
35. These I would not kill, O Madhusudana, even though they slay me,
not even for kingship of the three worlds, much less for an earthly
kingdom.
36. What pleasure can there be in slaying these sons of Dhritarashtra,
O Janardana? Sin only can be our lot, if we slay these, usurpers though
they be.
37. It does not therefore behove us to kill our kinsmen, these sons
of Dhritarashtra. How may we be happy, O Madhava, in killing our own
kins?
38. Even though these, their wits warped by greed, see not the guilt
that lies in destroying the family, nor the sin of treachery to comrades;
39. How can we, O Janardana, help recoiling from this sin, seeing clearly
as we do the guilt that lies in such destruction?
40. With the destruction of the family perish the eternal family virtues,
and with the perishing of these virtues unrighteousness seizes the whole
family.
41. When unrighteousness prevails, O Krishna, the women of the family
become corrupt, and their corruption, O Varshneya, causes a confusion
of varnas.
42. This confusion verily drags the family-slayer, as well as the family,
to hell, and for want of obsequial offerings and rites their departed
sires fall from blessedness.
43. By the sins of these family-slayers resulting in confusion of varnas,
the eternal tribal and family virtues are brought to naught.
44. For we have had it handed down to us, O Janardana, that the men
whose family virtues have been ruined are doomed to dwell in hell.
45. Alas! What a heinous sin we are about to commit, in that, from greed
of the joy of sovereign power, we are prepared to slay our kith and
kin!
46. Happier far would it be for me if Dhritarashtra's sons, weapons
in hand, should strike me down on the battlefield, unresisting and unarmed.
Sanjaya Said:
47. Thus spake Arjuna on the field of battle, and dropping his bow and
arrows sank down on his seat in the chariot, overwhelmed with anguish.
Thus
ends the first discourse, entitled 'Arjuna Vishada Yoga' in the converse
of Lord Krishna and Arjuna, on the science of Yoga as part of the knowledge
of Brahman in the Upanishad called the Bhagawadgita.
II.
By
reason of delusion, man takes wrong to be right. By reason of delusion
was Arjuna led to make a difference between kinsmen and non-kinsmen.
To demonstrate that this is a vain distinction, Lord Krishna distinguishes
between body (not-Self) and Atman (Self) and shows that whilst bodies
are impermanent and several, Atman is permanent and one. Effort is within
man's control, not the fruit thereof. All he has to do, therefore, is
to decide his course of conduct or duty on each occasion and persevere
in it, unconcerned about the result. Fulfillment of one's duty in the
spirit of detachment or selflessness leads to Freedom.
Sanjaya
Said:
1. To Arjuna, thus overcome with compassion, sorrowing, and his eyes
obscured by flowing tears, Madhusudana spake these words:
The Lord Said:
2. How is it that at this perilous moment this delusion, unworthy of
the noble, leading neither to heaven nor to glory, has overtaken thee?
3. Yield not to unmanliness, O Partha; it does not become thee. Shake
off this miserable faint-heartedness and arise, O Parantapa!
Arjuna Said:
4. How shall I, with arrows, engage Bhishma and Drona in battle, O Madhusudana,
they who are worthy of reverence, O Arisudana?
5. It were better far to live on alms of this world than to slay these
venerable elders. Having slain them I should but have blood-stained
enjoyments.
6. Nor do we know which is better for us, that we conquer them or that
they conquer us, for here stand before us Dhritarashtra's sons having
killed whom we should have no desire to live.
7. My being is paralysed by faint-heartedness; my mind discerns not
duty; hence I ask thee; tell me, I pray thee, in no uncertain language,
wherein lies my good. I am thy disciple; guide me; I see refuge in thee.
8. For I see nothing that can dispel the anguish that shrivels up my
senses even if I should win on earth uncontested sovereignty over a
thriving kingdom or lordship over the gods.
Sanjaya Said:
9. Thus spoke Gudakesha Parantapa to Hrishikesha Govinda, and with the
words 'I will not fight' became speechless.
10. To him thus stricken with anguish, O Bharata! between the two armies,
Hrishikesha, as though mocking, addressed these words:
The Lord Said:
11. Thou mournest for them whom thou shouldst not mourn and utterest
vain words of wisdom. The wise mourn neither for the living nor for
the dead.
12. For never was I not, nor thou, nor these kings; nor will any of
us cease to be hereafter.
13. As the embodied one has, in the present body, infancy, youth and
age, even so does he receive another body. The wise man is not deceived
therein.
14. O Kaunteya! contacts of the senses with their objects bring cold
and heat, pleasure and pain; they come and go and are transient. Endure
them, O Bharata.
15. O noblest of men, the wise man who is not disturbed by these, who
is unmoved by pleasure and pain, he is fitted for immortality.
16. What is non-Being is never known to have been, and what is Being
is never known not to have been. Of both these the secret has been seen
by the seers of the Truth.
17. Know that to be imperishable whereby all this is pervaded. No one
can destroy that immutable being.
18. These bodies of the embodied one who is eternal, imperishable and
immeasurable are finite. Fight, therefore, O Bharata.
19. He who thinks of This (Atman) as slayer and he who believes This
to be slain, are both ignorant. This neither slays nor is ever slain.
20. This is never born nor ever dies, nor having been will ever not
be any more; unborn, eternal, everlasting, ancient, This is not slain
when the body is slain.
21. He who knows This, O Partha, to be imperishable, eternal, unborn,
and immutable—whom and how can that man slay or cause to be slain?
22. As a man casts off worn-out garments and takes others that are new,
even so the embodied one casts off worn-out bodies and passes on to
others new.
23. This no weapons wound, This no fire burns, This no waters wet, This
no wind doth dry.
24. Beyond all cutting, burning, wetting and drying is This-eternal,
all-pervading, stable, immovable, everlasting.
25. Perceivable neither by the senses nor by the mind, This is called
unchangeable; therefore knowing This as such thou shouldst not grieve.
26. And if thou deemest This to be always coming to birth and always
dying, even then, O Mahabahu, thou shouldst not grieve.
27. For certain is the death of the born, and certain is the birth of
the dead; therefore what is unavoidable thou shouldst not regret.
28. The state of all beings before birth is unmanifest; their middle
state manifest; their state after death is again unmanifest. What occasion
is there for lament, O Bharata?
29. One looks upon This as a marvel; another speaks of This as such;
another hears thereof as a marvel; yet having heard This none truly
knows This.
30. This embodied one in the body of every being is ever beyond all
harm, O Bharata; thou shouldst not, therefore, grieve for any one.
Thus
far Lord Krishna, by force of argument based on pure reason, has demonstrated
that Atman is abiding while the physical body is fleeting, and has explained
that if, under certain circumstances, the destruction of a physical
body is deemed justifiable, it is delusion to imagine that the Kauravas
should not be slain because they are kinsmen. Now he reminds Arjuna
of the duty of a Kshatriya.
31. Again,
seeing thine own duty thou shouldst not shrink from it; for there is
no higher good for a Kshatriya than a righteous war.
32. Such a fight, coming unsought, as a gateway to heaven thrown open,
falls only to the lot of happy Kshatriyas, O Partha.
33. But if thou wilt not fight this righteous fight, then failing in
thy duty and losing thine honour thou wilt incur sin.
34. The world will for ever recount the story of thy disgrace; and for
a man of honour disgrace is worse than death.
35. The Maharathas will think that fear made thee retire from battle;
and thou wilt fall in the esteem of those very ones who have held thee
high.
36. Thine enemies will deride thy prowess and speak many unspeakable
words about thee. What can be more painful than that?
37. Slain, thou shalt gain heaven; victorious, thou shall inherit the
earth: therefore arise, O Kaunteya, determined to fight.
Having
declared the highest truth, viz. the immortality of the eternal Atman
and the fleeting nature of the physical body (11-30), Krishna reminds
Arjuna that a Kshatriya may not flinch from a fight which comes unsought
(31-32). He then (33-37) shows how the highest truth and the performance
of duty incidentally coincide with expediency. Next he proceeds to foreshadow
the central teaching of the Gita in the following shloka.
38. Hold
alike pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, and gird
up thy loins for the fight; so doing thou shalt not incur sin.
39. Thus have I set before thee the attitude of Knowledge; hear now
the attitude of Action; resorting to this attitude thou shalt cast off
the bondage of action.
40. Here no effort undertaken is lost, no disaster befalls. Even a little
of this righteous course delivers one from great fear.
41. The attitude, in this matter, springing, as it does, from fixed
resolve is but one, O Kurunandana; but for those who have no fixed resolve
the attitudes are many-branched and unending.
When the attitude ceases to be one and undivided and becomes many and
divided, it ceases to be one settled will, and is broken up into various
wills of desires between which man is tossed about.
42-44. The ignorant, revelling in the letter of the Vedas, declare that
there is naught else; carnally-minded, holding heaven to be their goal,
they utter swelling words which promise birth as the fruit of action
and which dwell on the many and varied rites to be performed for the
sake of pleasure and power; intent, as they are, on pleasure and power
their swelling words rob them of their wits, and they have no settled
attitude which can be centered on the supreme goal.
The
Vedic ritual, as opposed to the doctrine of Yoga laid down in the Gita,
is alluded to here. The Vedic ritual lays countless ceremonies and rites
with a view to attaining merit and heaven. These, divorced as they are
from the essence of the Vedas and short-lived in their result, are worthless.
45. The
Vedas have as their domain the three gunas; eschew them, O Arjuna. Free
thyself from the pairs of opposites, abide in eternal truth, scorn to
gain or guard anything, remain the master of thy soul.
46. To the extent that a well is of use when there is a flood of water
on all sides, to the same extent are all the Vedas of use to an enlightened
Brahmana.
47. Action alone is thy province, never the fruits thereof; let not
thy motive be the fruit of action, nor shouldst thou desire to avoid
action.
48. Act thou, O Dhananjaya, without attachment, steadfast in Yoga, even-minded
in success and failure. Even-mindedness is Yoga.
49. For action, O Dhananjaya, is far inferior to unattached action;
seek refuge in the attitude of detached action. Pitiable are those who
make fruit their motive.
50. Here in this world a man gifted with that attitude of detachment
escapes the fruit of both good and evil deeds. Gird thyself up for Yoga,
therefore. Yoga is skill in action.
51. For sages, gifted with the attitude of detachment, who renounce
the fruit of action, are released from the bondage of birth and attain
to the state which is free from all ills.
52. When thy understanding will have passed through the slough of delusion,
then wilt thou be indifferent alike to what thou hast heard and wilt
hear.
53. When thy understanding, distracted by much hearing, will rest steadfast
and unmoved in concentration, then wilt thou attain Yoga.
Arjuna Said:
54. What, O Keshava, is the mark of the man whose understanding is secure,
whose mind is fixed in concentration? How does he talk? How sit? How
move.
The Lord Said:
55. When a man puts away, O partha, all the cravings that arise in the
mind and finds comfort for himself only from Atman, then he is called
the man of secure understanding.
To
find comfort for oneself from Atman means to look to the spirit within
for spiritual comfort, not to outside objects which in their very nature
must give pleasure as well as pain. Spiritual comfort or bliss must
be distinguished from pleasure or happiness. The pleasure I may derive
from the possession of wealth, for instance, is delusive; real spiritual
comfort or bliss can be attained only if I rise superior to every temptation
even though troubled by the pangs of poverty and hunger.
56. Whose
mind is untroubled in sorrows and longeth not for joys, who is free
from passion, fear and wrath—he is called the ascetic of secure
understanding.
57. Who owns attachment nowhere, who feels neither joy nor resentment
whether good or bad comes his way—that man's understanding is
secure.
58. And when, like the tortoise drawing in its limbs from every side,
this man draws in his senses from their objects, his understanding is
secure.
59. When a man starves his senses, the objects of those senses disappear
from him, but not the yearning for them; the yearning too departs when
he beholds the Supreme.
The
shloka does not rule out fasting and other forms of self-restraint,
but indicates their limitations, these restraints are needed for subduing
the desire for sense-objects, which however is rooted out only when
one has a vision of the Supreme. The higher yearning conquers all the
lower yearnings.
60. For,
in spite of the wise man's endeavour, O Kaunteya, the unruly senses
distract his mind perforce.
61. Holding all these in check, the yogi should sit intent on Me; for
he whose senses are under control is secure of understanding.
This
means that without devotion and the consequent grace of God, man's endeavour
is vain.
62. In
a man brooding on objects of the senses, attachment to them springs
up; attachment begets craving and craving begets wrath.
Craving
cannot but lead to resentment, for it is unending and unsatisfied.
63. Wrath
breeds stupefaction, stupefaction leads to loss of memory, loss of memory
ruins the reason, and the ruin of reason spells utter destruction.
64. But the disciplined soul, moving among sense-objects with the senses
weaned from likes and dislikes and brought under the control of Atman,
attains peace of mind.
65. Peace of mind means the end to all ills, for the understanding of
him whose mind is at peace stands secure.
66. The undisciplined man has neither understanding nor devotion; for
him who has no devotion there is no peace, and for him who has no peace
whence happiness?
67. For when his mind runs after any of the roaming senses, it sweeps
away his understanding, as the wind a vessel upon the waters.
68. Therefore, O Mahabahu, he, whose senses are reined in on all sides
from their objects, is the man of secure understanding.
69. When it is night for all other beings, the disciplined soul is awake;
when all other beings are awake, it is night for the seeing ascetic.
This
verse indicates the divergent paths of the discipline ascetic and sensual
man. Whereas the ascetic is dead to the things of the world and lives
in God, the sensual man is alive only to the things of the world and
dead to the things of the spirit.
70. He
in whom all longings subside, even as the waters subside in the ocean
which, though ever being filled by them, never overflows—that
man finds peace; not he who cherishes longing.
71. The man who sheds all longing and moves without concern, free from
the sense of ‘I' and ‘Mine'—he attains peace.
72. This is the state, O partha, of the man who rests in Brahman; having
attained to it, he is not deluded. He who abides in this state even
at the hour of death passes into oneness with Brahman.
Thus
ends the second discourse, entitled ‘Sankhya Yoga' in the converse
of Lord Krishna and Arjuna, on the science of Yoga as part of the knowledge
of Brahman in the Upanishad called the Bhagawadgita.
III.
This
discourse may be said to be the key to the essence of the Gita. It makes
absolutely clear the spirit and the nature of right action and shows
how true knowledge must express itself in acts of selfless service.
Arjuna
Said:
1. If, O Janardana, thou holdest that the attitude of detachment is
superior to action, then why, O Keshava, dost thou urge me to dreadful
action?
2. Thou dost seem to confuse my understanding with perplexing speech;
tell me, therefore, in no uncertain voice, that alone whereby I may
attain salvation.
Arjuna
is sore perplexed, for whilst on the one hand he is rebuked for his
faint-heartedness, on the other he seems to be advised to refrain from
action (II.49-50). But this, in reality, is not the case as the following
shlokas will show.
The Lord
Said:
3. I have spoken, before, O sinless one, of two attitudes in this world—the
Sankhayas', that of Jnana yoga and the Yogins', that of karma yoga.
4. Never does man enjoy freedom from action by not undertaking action,
nor does he attain that freedom by mere renunciation of action.
‘Freedom
from action' is freedom from the bondage of action. This freedom is
not to be gained by cessation of all activity, apart from the fact that
this cessation is in the very nature of things impossible (see following
shloka). How then may it be gained? The following shlokas will explain.
5. For
none ever remains inactive even for a moment; for all are compelled
to action by the gunas inherent in prakriti.
6. He who curbs the organs of action but allows the mind to dwell on
the sense-objects,—such a one, wholly deluded, is called a hypocrite.
The
man who curbs his tongue but mentally swears at another is a hypocrite.
But that does not mean that free rein should be given to the organs
of action so long as the mind cannot be brought under control. Self-imposed
physical restraint is a condition precedent to mental restraint. Physical
restraint should be entirely self-imposed and not super-imposed from
outside, e.g. by fear. The hypocrite who is held up to contempt here
is not the humble aspirant after self-restraint. The shloka has reference
to the man who curbs the body because he cannot help it while indulging
the mind, and who would indulge the body too if he possibly could. The
next shloka puts the thing conversely.
7. But
he, O Arjuna, who keeping all the senses under control of the mind,
engages the organs in Karma yoga, without attachment—that man
excels.
The
mind and body should be made to accord well. Even with the mind kept
in control, the body will be active in one way or another. But he whose
mind is truly restrained will, for instance, close his ears to foul
talk and open them only to listen to the praise of God or of good men.
He will have no relish for sensual pleasures and will keep himself occupied
with such activity as ennobles the soul. That is the path of action.
Karma yoga is the yoga (means) which will deliver the self from the
bondage of the body, and in it there is no room for self-indulgence.
8. Do
thou thy allotted task; for action is superior to inaction; with inaction
even life's normal course is not possible.
9. This world of men suffers bondage from all action save that which
is done for the sake of sacrifice; to this end, O Kaunteya, perform
action without attachment.
‘Action
for the sake of sacrifice' means acts of selfless service dedicated
to God.
10. Together
with sacrifice did the Lord of beings create, of old, mankind, declaring:
"By this shall ye increase; may this be to you the giver of all
your desires.
11. "With this may you cherish the gods and may the gods cherish
you; thus cherishing one another may you attain the highest good.
12. "Cherished with sacrifice, the gods will bestow on you the
desired boons." He who enjoys their gifts without rendering aught
unto them is verily a thief.
"Gods"
in shlokas 11 and 12 must be taken to mean the whole creation of God.
The service of all created beings is the service of the gods and the
same is sacrifice.
13. The
righteous men who eat the residue of the sacrifice are freed from all
sin, but the wicked who cook for themselves eat sin.
14. From food springs all life, from rain is born food; from sacrifice
comes rain and sacrifice is the result of action.
15. Know that action springs from Brahman and Brahman from the Imperishable;
hence the all-pervading Brahman is ever firm-founded on sacrifice.
16. He who does not follow the wheel thus set in motion here below,
he, living in sin, sating his senses, lives, O Partha, in vain.
17. But the man who revels in Atman, who is content in Atman and who
is satisfied only with Atman, for him no action exists.
18. He has no interest whatever in anything done, nor in anything not
done, nor has he need to rely on anything for personal ends.
19. Therefore, do thou ever perform without attachment the work that
thou must do; for performing action without attachment man attains the
Supreme.
20. For through action alone Janaka and others achieved perfection;
even with a view to the guidance of mankind thou must act.
21. Whatever the best man does, is also done by other men, what example
he sets, the world follows.
22. For me, O Partha, there is naught to do in the three worlds, nothing
worth gaining that I have not gained; yet I am ever in action.
An
objection is sometimes raised that God being impersonal is not likely
to perform any physical activity, at best He may be supposed to act
mentally. This is not correct. For the unceasing movement of the sun,
the moon, the earth etc. signifies God in action. This is not mental
but physical activity. Though God is without form and impersonal, He
acts as though He had form and body. Hence though He is ever in action,
He is free from action, unaffected by action. What must be borne in
mind is that, just as all Nature's movements and processes are mechanical
and yet guided by Divine Intelligence or Will, even so man must reduce
his daily conduct to mechanical regularity and precision, but he must
do so intelligently. Man's merit lies in observing divine guidance at
the back of these processes and in an intelligent imitation of it rather
than in emphasizing the mechanical nature thereof and reducing himself
to an automation. One has but to withdraw the self, withdraw attachment
to fruit from all action, and then not only mechanical precision but
security from all wear and tear will be ensured. Acting thus man remains
fresh until the end of his days. His body will perish in due course,
but his soul will remain evergreen without a crease or a wrinkle.
23. Indeed,
for were I not, unslumbering, ever to remain in action, O Partha, men
would follow my example in every way.
24. If I were not to perform my task, these worlds would be ruined;
I should be the same cause of chaos and of the end of all mankind.
25. Just as, with attachment, the unenlightened perform all actions,
O Bharata, even so, but unattached, should the enlightened man act,
with a desire for the welfare of humanity.
26. The enlightened may not confuse the mind of the unenlightened, who
are attached to action; rather must he perform all actions unattached,
and thus encourage them to do likewise.
27. All action is entirely done by the gunas of prakriti. Man, deluded
by the sense of ‘I', thinks, ‘I am the doer'.
28. But he, O Mahabahu, who understands the truth of the various gunas
and their various activities, knows that it is the gunas that operate
on the gunas; he does not claim to be the doer.
As
breathing, winking and similar processes are automatic and man claims
no agency for them, he being conscious of the processes only when disease
or similar cause arrests them, in a similar manner all his acclivities
should be automatic, without his arrogating to himself the agency or
responsibility thereof. A man of charity does not even know that he
is doing charitable acts, it is his nature to do so, he cannot help
it. This detachment can only come from tireless endeavour and God's
grace.
29. Deluded
by the gunas of prakriti men become attached to the activities of the
gunas; he who knows the truth of things should not unhinge the slow-witted
who have not the knowledge.
30. Cast all thy acts on Me, with thy mind fixed on the indwelling Atman,
and without any thought of fruit, or sense of ‘mine' shake off
thy fever and fight!
He
who knows the Atman inhabiting the body and realizes Him to be a part
of the supreme Atman will dedicate everything to Him, even as a faithful
servant acts as a mere shadow of his master and dedicates to him all
that he does. For the master is the real doer, the servant but the instrument.
31. Those
who always act according to the rule I have here laid down, in faith
and without cavilling—they too are released from the bondage of
their actions.
32. But those who cavil at the rule and refuse to conform to it are
fools, dead to all knowledge; know that they are lost.
33. Even a man of knowledge acts according to his nature; all creatures
follow their nature; what then will constraint avail?
This
does not run counter to the teaching in II. 61 and II. 68. Self-restraint
is the means of salvation (VI. 35; XIII. 7). Man's energies should be
bent towards achieving complete self-restraint until the end of his
days. But if he does not succeed, neither will constraint help him.
The shloka does not rule out restraint but explains that nature prevails.
He who justifies himself saying, ‘I cannot do this, it is not
in my nature,' misreads the shloka. True we do not know our nature,
but habit is not nature. Progress, not decline, ascent, not descent,
is the nature of the soul, and therefore every threatened decline or
descent ought to be resisted. The next verse makes this abundantly clear.
34. Each
sense has its settled likes and dislikes towards its objects; man should
not come under the sway of these, for they are his besetters.
Hearing,
for instance, is the object of the ears which may be inclined to hear
something and disinclined to hear something else. Man may not allow
himself to be swayed by these likes and dislikes, but must decide for
himself what is conducive to his growth, his ultimate end being to reach
the state beyond happiness and misery.
35. Better
one's own duty, bereft of merit, than another's well-performed; better
is death in the discharge of one's duty; another's duty is fraught with
danger.
One
man's duty may be to serve the community by working as a sweeper, another's
may be to work as an accountant. An accountant's work may be more inviting,
but that need not draw the sweeper away from his work. Should he allow
himself to be drawn away he would himself be lost and put the community
into danger. Before God the work of man will be judged by the spirit
in which it is done, not by the nature of the work which makes no difference
whatsoever. Whoever acts in a spirit of dedication fits himself for
salvation.
Arjuna
Said:
36. Then what impels man to sin, O Varshneya, even against his will,
as though by force compelled?
The Lord Said:
37. It is Lust, it is Wrath, born of the guna—Rajas. It is the
arch-devourer, the arch-sinner. Know this to be man's enemy here.
38. As fire is obscured by smoke, a mirror by dirt, and the embryo by
the amnion, so is knowledge obscured by this.
39. Knowledge is obscured, O Kaunteya, by this eternal enemy of the
wise man, in the form of Lust, the insatiable fire.
40. The senses, the mind and the reason are said to be its great seat;
by means of these it obscures knowledge and stupefies man.
When
Lust seizes the senses, the mind is corrupted, discrimination is obscured
and reason ruined. See II. 62-64.
41. Therefore,
O Bharatarshabha, bridle thou first the senses and then rid thyself
of this sinner, the destroyer of knowledge and discrimination.
42. Subtle, they say, are the senses; subtler than the senses is the
mind; subtler than the mind is the reason; but subtler even than the
reason is He.
43. Thus realizing Him to be subtler than the reason, and controlling
the self by the Self (Atman), destroy, O Mahabahu, this enemy—Lust,
so hard to overcome.
When
man realizes Him, his mind will be under his control, not swayed by
the senses. And when the mind is conquered, what power has Lust? It
is indeed a subtle enemy, but when once the senses, the mind and the
reason are under the control of the subtlemost Self, Lust is extinguished.
Thus
ends the third discourse entitled ‘Karma Yoga' in the converse
of Lord Krishna and Arjuna, on the science of Yoga, as part of the knowledge
of Brahman in the Upanishad called the Bhagawadgita.
IV.
This
discourse further explains the subject-matter of the third and describes
the various kinds of sacrifice.
The Lord
Said:
1. I expounded this imperishable yoga to Vivasvat; Vivasvat communicated
it to Manu, and Manu to Ikshvaku.
2. Thus handed down in succession, the royal sages learnt it; with long
lapse of time it dwindled away in this world, O Parantapa.
3. The same ancient yoga have I expounded to thee today; for thou art
My devotee and My friend, and this is the supreme mystery.
Arjuna Said:
4. Later was Thy birth, my Lord, earlier that of Vivasvat. How then
am I to understand that Thou didst expound it in the beginning?
The Lord Said:
5. Many births have we passed through, O Arjuna, both thou and I; I
know them all, thou knowest them not, O Parantapa.
Though unborn and inexhaustible in My essence, though Lord of all beings,
yet assuming control over My Nature, I come into being by My mysterious
power.
7. For whenever Right declines and Wrong prevails, then O Bharata, I
come to birth.
8. To save the righteous, to destroy the wicked, and to re-establish
Right I am born from age to age.
Here
is comfort for the faithful and affirmation of the truth that Right
ever prevails. An eternal conflict between Right and Wrong goes on.
Sometimes the latter seems to get the upper hand, but it is Right which
ultimately prevails. The good are never destroyed, for Right—which
is Truth—cannot perish; the wicked are destroyed, because Wrong
has no independent existence. Knowing this let man cease to arrogate
to himself authorship and eschew untruth, violence and evil. Inscrutable
Providence—the unique power of the Lord—is ever at work.
This in fact is avatara, incarnation. Strictly speaking there can be
no birth for God.
9. He
who knows the secret of this My divine birth and action is not born
again, after leaving the body; he comes to Me, O Arjuna.
For
when a man is secure in the faith that Right always prevails, he never
swerves therefrom, pursuing to the bitterest end and against serious
odds, and as no part of the effort proceeds from his ego, but all is
dedicated to Him, being ever one with Him, he is released from birth
to death.
10. Freed
from passion, fear and wrath, filled full with Me, relying on Me, and
refined by the fiery ordeal of knowledge, many have become one with
Me.
11. In whatever way men resort to Me, even so do I render to them. In
every way, O Partha, the path men follow is Mine.
That
is, the whole world is under His ordinance. No one may break God's law
with impunity. As we sow, so shall we reap. This law operates inexorably
without fear or favor.
12. Those
who desire their actions to bear fruit worship the gods here; for in
this world of men the fruit of action is quickly obtainable.
Gods,
as indicated before, must not be taken to mean the heavenly beings of
tradition, but whatever reflects the divine. In that sense man is also
a god. Steam, electricity and the other great forces of Nature are all
gods. Propitiation of these forces quickly bears fruit, as we well know,
but it is short-lived. It fails to bring comfort to the soul and it
certainly does not take one even a short step towards salvation.
13. The
order of the four varnas was created by Me according to the different
gunas and karma of each; yet know that though, therefore, author thereof,
being changeless I am not the author.
14. Actions do not affect Me, nor am I concerned with the fruits thereof.
He who recognizes Me as such is not bound by actions.
For
man has thus before him the supreme example of one who though in action
is not the doer thereof. And when we are but instruments in His hands,
where then is the room for arrogating responsibility for action?
15. Knowing
this did men of old, desirous of freedom, perform action; do thou, then,
just as they did—the men of old in days gone by.
16. ‘What is action? What is inaction?'—here even the wise
are perplexed. I will then expound to thee that action knowing which
thou shalt be saved from evil.
17. For it is meet to know the meaning of action, of forbidden action,
as also inaction. Impenetrable is the secret of action.
18. Who sees action in action and action in inaction, he is enlightened
among men, he is a yogi, he has done all he need do.
The
‘action' of him who, though ever active, does not claim to be
the doer, is inaction; and the ‘inaction' of him who, though outwardly
avoiding action, is always building castles in his own mind, is action.
The enlightened man who has grasped the secret of action knows that
no action proceeds from him, all proceeds from God and hence he selflessly
remains absorbed in action. He is the true yogi. The man who acts self-fully
misses the secret of action and cannot distinguish between Right and
Wrong. The soul's natural progress is towards selflessness and purity
and one might, therefore, say that the man who strays from the path
of purity strays from selflessness. All actions of the selfless man
are naturally pure.
19. He
whose every undertaking is free from desire and selfish purpose, and
he who has burnt all his actions in the fire of knowledge—such
an one the wise call a pandita.
20. He who has renounced attachment to the fruit of action, who is ever
content, and free from all dependence,—he, though immersed in
action, yet acts not.
That
is, his action does not bind him.
21. Expecting
naught, holding his mind and body in check, putting away every possession,
and going through action only in the body he incurs no stain.
The
purest act, if tainted by ‘self', binds. But when it is done in
a spirit of dedication, it ceases to bind. When ‘self' has completely
subsided, it is only the body that works. For instance, in the case
of a man who is asleep his body alone is working. A prisoner doing his
prison tasks has surrendered his body to the prison authorities and
only his body, therefore, works. Similarly, he who has voluntarily made
himself God's prisoner, does nothing himself. His body mechanically
acts, the doer is God, hot he. He has reduced himself to nothingness.
22. Content
with whatever chance may bring, rid of the pairs of opposites, free
from ill-will, even-minded in success and failure, he is not bound though
he acts.
23. Of the free soul who has shred all attachment, whose mind is firmly
grounded in knowledge, who acts only for sacrifice, all karma is extinguished.
24. The offering of sacrifice is Brahman; the oblation is Brahman; it
is offered by Brahman in the fire that is Brahman; thus he whose mind
is fixed on acts dedicated to Brahman must needs pass on to Brahman.
25. Some yogins perform sacrifice in the form of worship of the gods,
others offer sacrifice of sacrifice itself in the fire that is Brahman.
26. Some offer as sacrifice the sense of hearing and the other senses
in the fires of restraint; others sacrifice sound and the other objects
of sense in the fires of the senses.
The
restraint of the senses—hearing and others—is one thing;
and directing them only to legitimate objects, e.g. listening to hymns
in the praise of god, is another, although ultimately both amount to
the same thing.
27. Others
again sacrifice all the activities of the senses and of the vital energy
in the yogic fire of self-control kindled by knowledge.
That
is to say, they lose themselves in the contemplation of the Supreme.
28. Some
sacrifice with material gifts; with austerities; with yoga; some with
the acquiring and some with the imparting of knowledge. All these are
sacrifices of stern vows and serious endeavour.
29. Others absorbed in the practices of the control of the vital energy
sacrifice the outward in the inward and the inward in the outward, or
check the flow of both the inward and the outward vital airs.
The
reference here is to the three kinds of practices of the control of
vital energy—puraka, rechaka, and kumbhaka.
30. Yet
others, abstemious in food, sacrifice one form of vital energy in another.
All these know what sacrifice is and purge themselves of all impurities
by sacrifice.
31. Those who partake of the residue of sacrifice—called amrita
(ambrosia)—attain to everlasting Brahman. Even this world is not
for a non-sacrificer; how then the next, O Kurusattama?
32. Even so various sacrifices have been described in the Vedas; know
them all to proceed from action; knowing this thou shalt be released.
Action
here means mental, physical and spiritual action. No sacrifice is possible
without this triple action and no salvation without sacrifice. To know
this and to put the knowledge into practice is to know the secret of
sacrifice. In fine, unless man uses all his physical, mental and spiritual
gifts in the service of mankind, he is a thief unfit for Freedom. He
who uses his intellect only and spares his body is not a full sacrificer.
Unless the mind and the body and the soul are made to work in unison,
they cannot be adequately used for the service of mankind. Physical,
mental and spiritual purity is essential for the harmonious working.
Therefore man should concentrate on developing, purifying, and turning
to the best of all his faculties.
33. Knowledge-sacrifice
is better, O-Parantapa, than material sacrifice, for all action which
does not bind finds its consummation in Knowledge (jnana).
Who
does not know that works of charity performed without knowledge often
result in great harm? Unless every act, however nobel its motive, is
informed with knowledge, it lacks perfection. Hence the complete fulfillment
of all action is in knowledge.
34. The
masters of knowledge who have seen the Truth will impart to thee this
Knowledge; learn it through humble homage and service and by repeated
questioning.
The
three conditions of knowledge—homage, repeated questioning and
service—deserve to be carefully borne in mind in this age. Homage
or obeisance means humility and service is a necessary accompaniment;
else it would be mock homage. Repeated questioning is equally essential,
for without a keen spirit of inquiry, there is no knowledge. All this
presupposes devotion to and faith in the person approached. There can
be no humility, much less service, without faith.
35. When
thou hast gained this knowledge, O Pandava, thou shalt not again fall
into such error; by virtue of it thou shalt see all beings without exception
in thyself and thus in Me.
The
adage ‘Yatha pinde tatha brahmande'—‘as with the self
so with the universe') means the same thing. He who has attained Self-realization
sees no difference between himself and others.
36. Even
though thou be the most sinful of sinners, thou shalt cross the ocean
of sin by the boat of knowledge.
37. As a blazing fire turns its fuel to ashes, O Arjuna, even so the
fire of Knowledge turns all actions to ashes.
38. There is nothing in this world so purifying as Knowledge. He who
is perfected by yoga finds it in himself in the fullness of time.
39. It is the man of faith who gains knowledge—the man who is
intent on it and who has mastery over his senses; having gained knowledge,
he comes ere long to the supreme peace.
40. But the man of doubt, without knowledge and without faith, is lost;
for him who is given to doubt there is neither this world nor that beyond,
nor happiness.
41. He who has renounced all action by means of yoga, who has severed
all doubt by means of knowledge—him self-possessed, no actions
bind, O Dhananjaya!
42. Therefore, with the sword of Self-realization sever thou this doubt,
bred of ignorance, which has crept into thy heart! Betake thyself to
yoga and arise, O Bharata!
Thus
ends the fourth discourse, entitled ‘Jnana-Karma-Sannyasa-Yoga'
in the converse of Lord Krishna and Arjuna, on the science of Yoga,
as part of the knowledge of Brahman in the Upanishad called the Bhagawadgita.
V.
This
discourse is devoted to showing that renunciation of action as such
is impossible without the discipline of selfless action and that both
are ultimately one.
Arjuna
Said:
1. Thou laudest renunciation of actions, O Krishna, whilst at the same
time thou laudest performance of action; tell me for a certainty which
is the better.
The Lord Said:
2. Renunciation and performance of action both lead to salvation; but
of the two, karmayoga (performance) is better than sannyasa (renunciation).
3. Him one should know as ever renouncing who has no dislikes and likes;
for he who is free from the pairs of opposites is easily released from
bondage.
That
is, not renunciation of action but of attachment to the pairs determines
true renunciation. A man who is always in action may be a good sannyasa
(renouncer) and another who may be doing no work may well be a hypocrite.
See III. 6.
4. It
is the ignorant who speak of sankhya and yoga as different, not so those
who have knowledge. He who is rightly established even in one wins to
the fruit of both.
The
yogi engrossed in sankhya (knowledge)lives even in thought for the good
of the world and attains the fruit of karmayoga by the sheer power of
his thought. The karmayogi ever engrossed in unattached action naturally
enjoys the peace of the jnanayogi.
5. The
goal that the sankhyas attain is also reached by the yogins. He sees
truly who sees both sankhya and yoga as one.
6. But renunciation, O Mahabahu, is hard to attain except by yoga; the
ascetic equipped with yoga attains Brahman ere long.
7. The yogi who has cleared himself, has gained mastery over his mind
and all his senses, who has become one with the Atman in all creation,
although he acts he remains unaffected.
8. The yogi who has seen the Truth knows that it is not he that acts
whilst seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping,
or breathing,
9. Talking, letting go, holding fast, opening or closing the eyes—in
the conviction that is the senses that are moving in their respective
spheres.
So
long as ‘self' endures, this detachment cannot be achieved. A
sensual man therefore may not shelter himself under the pretence that
it is not he but his senses that are acting. Such a mischievous interpretation
betrays a gross ignorance of the Gita and right conduct. The next shloka
makes this clear.
10. He
who dedicates his actions to Brahman and performs them without attachment
is not smeared by sin, as the lotus-leaf by water.
11. Only with the body, mind and intellect and also with the senses,
do the yogins perform action without attachment for the sake of self-purification.
12. A man of yoga obtains everlasting peace by abandoning the fruit
of action; the man ignorant of yoga, selfishly attached to fruit, remains
bound.
13. Renouncing with the mind all actions, the dweller in the body, who
is master of himself, rests happily in his city of nine gates, neither
doing nor getting anything done.
The
principal gates of the body are the two eyes, the two nostrils, the
two ears, the mouth, and the two organs of excretion—though really
speaking the countless pores of the skin are no less gates. If the gatekeeper
always remains on the alert and performs his task, letting in or out
only the objects that deserve ingress or egress, then of him it can
truly be said that he has no part in the ingress or egress, but that
he is a passive witness. He thus does nothing nor gets any thing done.
14. The
Lord creates neither agency nor action for the world; neither does he
connect action with its fruit. It is nature that is at work.
God
is no doer. The inexorable law of karma prevails, and in the very fulfillment
of the law—giving everyone his deserts, making everyone reap what
he sows—lies God's abounding mercy and justice. In undiluted justice
is mercy. Mercy which is inconsistent with justice is not mercy but
its opposite. But man is not a judge knowing past, present, and future.
So for him the law is reversed and mercy or forgiveness is the purest
justice. Being himself ever liable to be judged he must accord to others
what he would accord to himself, viz. forgiveness. Only by cultivating
the spirit of forgiveness can he reach the state of a yogi, whom no
actions bind, the man of even-mindedness, the man skilled in action.
15. The
Lord does not take upon Himself anyone's vice or virtue; it is ignorance
that veils knowledge and deludes all creatures.
The
delusion lies in man arrogating to himself the authorship of action
and the attributing to God the consequences thereof—punishment
or reward as the case may be.
16. But
to them whose ignorance is destroyed by the knowledge of Atman, this
their knowledge, like the sun, reveals the Supreme.
17. Those whose intellect is suffused with That, whose self has become
one with That, who abide in That, and whose end and aim is that, wipe
out their sins with knowledge, and go whence there is no return.
18. The men of Self-realization look with an equal eye on a brahmana
possessed of learning and humility, a cow, an elephant, a dog and even
a dog-eater.
That
is to say, they serve every one of them alike, according to the needs
of each. Treating a brahmana and shwapaka (dog-eater) alike means that
the wise man will suck the poison off a snake-bitten shwapaka with as
much eagerness and readiness as he would from a snake-bitten brahmana.
19. In
this very body they have conquered the round of birth and death, whose
mind is anchored in sameness; for perfect Brahman is same to all, therefore
in Brahman they rest.
As
a man thinks, so he becomes, and therefore those whose minds are bent
on being the same to all achieve that sameness and become one with Brahman.
20. He
whose understanding is secure, who is undeluded, who knows Brahman and
who rests in Brahman, will neither be glad to get what is pleasant,
nor sad to get what is unpleasant.
21. He who has detached himself from contacts without, finds bliss in
Atman; having achieved union with Brahman he enjoys eternal bliss.
He
who has weaned himself from outward objects to the inner Atman is fitted
for union with Brahman and the highest bliss. To withdraw oneself from
contacts without and to bask in the sunshine of union with Brahman are
two aspects of the same state, two sides of the same coin.
22. For
the joys derived from sense-contacts are nothing but mines of misery;
they have beginning and end, O Kaunteya; the wise man does not revel
therein.
23. The man who is able even here on earth, ere he is released from
the body, to hold out against the floodtide of lust and wrath,—he
is a yogi, he is happy.
As
a corpse has no likes and dislikes, no sensibility to pleasure and pain,
even so he who though alive is dead to these, he truly lives, he is
truly happy.
24. He
who finds happiness only within, rest only within, light only within,—that
yogi, having become one with nature, attains to oneness with Brahman.
25. They win oneness with Brahman—the seers whose sins are wiped
out, whose doubts are resolved, who have mastered themselves, and who
are engrossed in the welfare of all beings.
26. Rid of lust and wrath, masters of themselves, the ascetics who have
realized Atman find oneness with Brahman everywhere around them.
27-28. That ascetic is ever free—who, having shut out the outward
sense-contacts, sits with his gaze fixed between the brows, outward
and inward breathing in the nostrils made equal; his senses, mind, and
reason held in check; rid of longing, fear and wrath; and intent on
Freedom.
These
shlokas refer to some of the yogic practices laid down in the Yoga-sutras.
A word of caution is necessary regarding these practices. They serve
for the yogin the same purpose as athletics and gymnastics do for the
bhogin (who pursues worldly pleasures). His physical exercises help
the latter to keep his senses of enjoyment in full vigour. The yogic
practices help the yogin to keep his body in condition and his senses
in subjection. Men versed in these practices are rare in these days,
and few of them turn them to good account. He who has achieved the preliminary
stage on the path to self-discipline, he who has a passion for Freedom,
and who having rid himself of the pairs of opposites has conquered fear,
would do well to go in for these practices which will surely help him.
It is such a disciplined man alone who can, through these practices,
render his body a holy temple of God. Purity both of the mind and body
is a sine qua non, without which these processes are likely, in the
first instance, to lead a man astray and then drive him deeper into
the slough of delusion. That this has been the result in some cases
many know from actual experience. That is why that prince of yogins,
Patanjali gave the first place to yamas (cardinal vows) and niyamas
(casual vows), and held as eligible for yogic practices only those who
have gone through the preliminary discipline.
The five cardinal vows are: non-violence, truth, non-stealing, celibacy,
non-possession. The five casual vows are: bodily purity, contentment,
the study of the scriptures, austerity, and meditation of God.
29. Knowing
Me as the Acceptor of sacrifice and austerity, the great Lord of all
the worlds, the Friend of all creation, the yogi attains to peace.
This
shloka may appear to be in conflict with shlokas 14 and 15 of this discourse
and similar ones in other discourses. It is not really so. Almighty
God is Doer and non-Doer, Enjoyer and non-Enjoyer both. He is indescribably,
beyond the power of human speech. Man somehow strives to have a glimpse
of Him and in so doing invests Him with diverse and even contradictory
attributes.
Thus
ends the fifth discourse, entitled ‘Sannyasa Yoga' in the converse
of Lord Krishna and Arjuna, on the science of Yoga, as part of the knowledge
of Brahman, in the Upanishad called the Bhagawadgita.
VI.
This
discourse deals with some of the means for the accomplishment of Yoga
or the discipline of the mind and its activities.
The Lord
Said:
1. He who performs all obligatory action, without depending on the fruit
thereof, is a sannyasin and a yogin—not the man who neglects the
sacrificial fire nor he who neglects action.
Fire
here may be taken to mean all possible instruments of action. Fire was
needed when sacrifices used to be performed with its help. Assuming
that spinning were a means of universal service in this age, a man by
neglecting the spinning wheel would not become a sannyasi.
2. What
is called sannyasa, know thou to be yoga, O Pandava; for none can become
a yogin who has not renounced selfish purpose.
3. For the man who seeks to scale the heights of yoga, action is said
to be the means; for the same man, when he has scaled those heights,
repose is said to be the means.
He
who has purged himself of all impurities and who has achieved even-mindedness
will easily achieve Self-realization. But this does not mean that he
who has scaled the heights of yoga will disdain to work for the guidance
of the world. On the contrary that work will be to him not only the
breath of his nostrils, but also as natural to him as breathing. He
will do so by the sheer force of will. See V. 4.
4. When
a man is not attached either to the objects of sense or to actions and
sheds all selfish purpose, then he is said to have scaled the heights
of yoga.
5. By one's Self should one raise oneself, and not allow oneself to
fall; for Atman (Self) alone is the friend of self, and Self alone is
self's foe.
6. His Self alone is friend, who has conquered himself by his Self:
but to him who has not conquered himself and is thus inimical to himself,
even his Self behaves as foe.
7. Of him who has conquered himself and who rests in perfect calm the
self is completely composed, in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain,
in honour and dishonour.
8. The yogin who is filled with the contentment of wisdom and discriminative
knowledge, who is firm as a rock, who has mastered his senses, and to
whom a clod of earth, a stone and gold are the same, is possessed of
yoga.
9. He excels who regards alike the boon companion, the friend, the enemy,
the stranger, the mediator, the alien and the ally, as also the saint
and the sinner.
10. Let the yogi constantly apply his thought to Atman remaining alone
in a scheduled place, his mind and body in control, rid of desires and
possessions.
11. Fixing for himself, in a pure spot, a firm seat, neither too high
nor yet too low, covered with kusha grass, thereon a deerskin, and thereon
a cloth;
12. Sitting on that seat, with mind concentrated, the functions of thought
and sense of control, he should set himself to the practice of yoga
for the sake of self-purification.
13. Keeping himself steady, holding the trunk, the neck and the head
in a straight line and motionless, fixing his eye on the tip of his
nose, and looking not around.
14. Tranquil in spirit, free from fear, steadfast in the vow of brahmacharya,
holding his mind in control, the yogi should sit, with all his thoughts
on Me, absorbed in Me.
Brahmacharya
(usually translated ‘celibacy') means not only sexual continence
but observance of all the cardinal vows for the attainment of Brahman.
15. The
yogi, who ever thus, with mind controlled, unites himself to Atman,
wins the peace which culminates in Nirvana, the peace that is in Me.
16. Yoga is not for him who eats too much, nor for him who fasts too
much, neither for him who sleeps too much, nor yet for him who is too
wakeful.
17. To him who is disciplined in food and recreation, in effort in all
activities, and in sleep and waking, yoga (discipline) becomes a relief
from all ills.
18. When one's thought, completely controlled, rests steadily on only
Atman, when one is free from longing for all objects of desire, then
one is called a yogin.
19. As a taper in a windless spot flickers not, even so is a yogin,
with his thought controlled, seeking to unite himself with Atman.
20. Where thought curbed by the practice of yoga completely ceases,
where a man sits content within himself, Atman having seen Atman;
21. Where he experiences that endless bliss beyond the senses which
can be grasped by reason alone; wherein established he swerves not from
the Truth;
22. Where he holds no other gain greater than that which he has gained;
and where, securely seated, he is not shaken by any calamity however
great;
23. That state should be known as yoga (union with the Supreme), the
disunion from all union with pain. This yoga must one practice with
firm resolve and unwearying zeal.
24. Shaking oneself completely free from longings born of selfish purpose;
reining in the whole host of senses, from all sides, with the mind itself;
25. With reason held securely by the will, he should gradually attain
calm and with the mind established in Atman think of nothing.
26. Wherever the fickle and unsteady mind wanders, thence should it
be reined and brought under the sole sway of Atman.
28. The yogin, cleansed of all stain, unites himself ever thus to Atman,
easily enjoys the endless bliss of contact with Brahman.
29. The man equipped with yoga looks on all with an impartial eye, seeing
Atman in all beings and all beings in Atman.
30. He who sees Me everywhere and everything in Me, never vanishes from
Me nor I from him.
31. The yogin who, anchored in unity, worships Me abiding in all beings,
lives and moves in me, no matter how he live and move.
So
long as ‘self' subsists, the Supreme Self is absent; when ‘self'
is extinguished, the Supreme Self is seen everywhere. Also see note
on XIII. 23.
32. He
who, by likening himself with others, senses pleasure and pain equally
for all as for himself, is deemed to be the highest yogi, O Arjuna.
Arjuna Said:
33. I do not see, O Madhusudana, how this yoga, based on the equal-mindedness
that Thou hast expounded to me, can steadily endure, because of fickleness
(of the mind).
34. For fickle is the mind, O Krishna, unruly, overpowering and stubborn;
to curb it is, I think, as hard as to curb the wind.
The Lord Said:
35. Undoubtedly, O Mahabahu, the mind is fickle and hard to curb; yet,
O Kaunteya, it can be held in check by constant practice and dispassion.
36. Without self-restraint, yoga, I hold, is difficult to attain; but
the self-governed soul can attain it by proper means, if he strives
for it.
Arjuna Said:
37. If one, possessed of faith, but slack of effort, because of his
mind straying from yoga, reach not perfection in yoga, what end does
he come to, O Krishna?
38. Without a foothold, and floundering in the path to Brahman fallen
from both, is he indeed not lost, O Mahabahu, like a dissipated cloud?
39. This my doubt, O Krishna, do thou dispel utterly; for there is to
be found none other than thou to banish this doubt.
The Lord Said:
40. Neither in this world, nor in the next, can there be ruin for him,
O Partha; no well-doer, oh loved one, meets with a sad end.
41. Fallen from yoga, a man attains the worlds of righteous souls, and
having dwelt there for numberless years is then born in a house of pure
and gentle blood.
42. Or he may even be born into a family of yogins, though such birth
as this is all too rare in this world.
43. There, O Kurunandana, he discovers the intellectual stage he had
reached in previous birth, and thence he stretches forward again towards
perfection.
44. By virtue of that previous practice he is borne on, whether he will
it or not, even he with a desire to know yoga passes beyond the Vedic
ritual.
45. But the yogi who perseveres in his striving, cleansed of sin, perfected
through many births, reaches the highest state.
46. The yogin is deemed higher than the man of austerities; he is deemed
also higher than the man of knowledge; higher is he than the man engrossed
in ritual; therefore be thou a yogin, O Arjuna!
47. And among all yogins, he who worships Me with faith, his inmost
self all rapt in Me, is deemed by me to be the best yogin.
Thus
ends the sixth discourse entitled ‘Dhyana Yoga' in the converse
of Lord Krishna and Arjuna, on the science of Yoga, as part of the knowledge
of Brahman in the Upanishad called the Bhagawadgita.
VII.
With
this discourse begins an exposition of the nature of Reality and the
secret of devotion.
The Lord
Said:
1. Hear, O Partha, how, with thy mind rivetted on me, by practicing
yoga and making me the sole refuge, thou shalt, without doubt, know
me fully.
2. I will declare to thee, in its entirety, this knowledge, combined
with discriminative knowledge, which when thou hast known there remains
here nothing more to be known.
3. Among thousands of men hardly one strives after perfection; among
those who strive hardly one knows Me in truth.
4. Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Ether, Mind, Reason and Ego—thus eightfold
is my prakriti divided.
The
eightfold prakriti is substantially the same as the field described
in XIII. 5 and the perishable Being in XV. 16.
5. This
is My lower aspect; but know thou My other aspect, the higher—which
is Jiva (the Vital Essence) by which, O Mahabahu, this world is sustained.
6. Know that these two compose the source from which all beings spring;
I am the origin and end of the entire universe.
7. There is nothing higher than I, O Dhananjaya; all this is strung
on Me as a row of gems upon a thread.
8. In water I am the savour, O Kaunteya; in the sun and the moon I am
the light; the syllable AUM in all the Vedas; the sound in ether, and
manliness in men.
9. I am the sweet fragrance in earth; the brilliance in fire; the life
in all beings; and the austerity in ascetics.
10. Know Me, O Partha, to be the primeval seed of all beings; I am the
reason of rational beings and the splendour of the splendid.
11. Of the strong, I am the strength, divorced from lust and passion;
in beings I am desire undivorced from righteousness.
12. Know that all the manifestations of the three gunas, sattva, rajas,
and tamas, proceed from none but Me; yet I am not in them; they are
in Me.
God
is not dependent on them, they are dependent on Him. Without Him those
various manifestations would be impossible.
13. Befogged
by these manifestations of the three gunas, the entire world fails to
recognize Me, the imperishable, as transcending them.
14. For this My divine delusive mystery made up of the three gunas is
hard to pierce; but those who make Me their sole refuge pierce the veil.
15. The deluded evil-doers, lowest of men, do not see refuge in Me;
for, by reason of this delusive mystery, they are bereft of knowledge
and given to devilish ways.
16. Four types of well-doers are devoted to Me, O Arjuna; they are,
O Bharatarshabha, the afflicted, the spiritual seeker, the material
seeker, and the enlightened.
17. Of these the enlightened, ever attached to Me in single-minded devotion,
is the best; for to the enlightened I am exceedingly dear and he is
dear to Me.
18. All these are estimable indeed, but the enlightened I hold to be
My very self; for he, the true yogi, is stayed on Me alone, the supreme
goal.
19. At the end of many births the enlightened man finds refuge in Me;
rare indeed is this great soul to whom ‘Vasudeva is all'.
20. Men, bereft of knowledge by reason of various longings, seek refuge
in other gods, pinning their faith on diverse rites, guided by their
own nature.
21. Whatever form one desires to worship in faith and devotion, in that
very form I make that faith of his secure.
22. Possessed of that faith he seeks a propitiate that one, and obtains
therethrough his longings, dispensed in truth by none but Me.
23. But limited is the fruit that falls to those shortsighted ones;
those who worship the gods go to the gods, those who worship Me come
unto Me.
24. Not knowing My transcendent, imperishable, supreme character, the
undiscerning think Me who am unmanifest to have become manifest.
25. Veiled by the delusive mystery created by My unique power, I am
not manifest to all; this bewildered world does not recognize Me, birthless
and changeless.
Having
the power to create this world of sense and yet unaffected by it, He
is described as having unique power.
26. I
know, O Arjuna, all creatures past, present and to be; but no one knows
Me.
27. All creatures in this universe are bewildered, O Parantapa, by virtue
of the delusion of the pairs of opposite sprung from likes and dislikes,
O Bharata.
28. But those virtuous men whose sin has come to an end, freed from
delusion and of the pairs of opposites, worship Me in steadfast faith.
29. Those who endeavour for freedom from age and death by taking refuge
in Me, know in full that Brahman, Adhyatma and all Karma.
30. Those who know Me, including Adhibhuta, Adhidaiva, Adhiyajna, possessed
of even-mindedness, they know Me even at the time of passing away.
The
terms in italics are defined in the next discourse the subject of which
is indicated in 29-30. The sense is that every nook and cranny of the
universe is filled with Brahman, that He is the sole Agent of all action,
and that the man who imbued to Him, becomes one with Him at the time
of passing hence. All his desires are extinguished in his vision of
Him and he wins his freedom.
Thus
ends the seventh discourse, entitled ‘Jananvijnana Yoga' in the
converse of Lord Krishna and Arjuna, on the science of Yoga, as part
of the knowledge of Brahman in the Upanishad called the Bhagawadgita.
VIII.
The
nature of the Supreme is further expounded in this discourse.
Arjuna
Said:
1. What is that Brahman? What is Adhyatma? What Karma, O Purushottama?
What is called Adhibhuta? And what Adhidaiva?
2. And who here in this body is Adhiyajna and how? And how at the time
of death art Thou to be known by the self-controlled?
The Lord Said:
3. The Supreme, the Imperishable is Brahman; its manifestation is Adhyatma;
the creative process whereby all beings are created is called Karma.
4. Adhibhuta is My perishable form; Adhidaivata is the individual self
in that form; and O best among the embodied, Adhiyajna am I in this
body, purified by sacrifice.
That
is, from Imperishable Unmanifest down to the perishable atom everything
in the universe is the Supreme and an expression of the Supreme. Why
then should mortal man arrogate to himself authorship of anything rather
than do His bidding and dedicate all action to Him?
5. And
he who, at the last hour remembering Me only, departs leaving the body,
enters into Me; of that there is no doubt.
6. Or whatever form a man continually contemplates, that same he remembers
in the hour of death, and to that very form he goes, O Kaunteya.
7. Therefore at all times remember Me and fight on; thy mind and reason
thus on Me fixed thou shalt surely come to Me.
8. With thought steadied by constant practice, and wandering nowhere,
he who meditates on the Supreme Celestial Being, O Partha, goes to Him.
9-10. Whoso, at the time of death, with unwavering mind, with devotion,
and fixing the breath rightly between the brows by the power of yoga,
meditates on the Sage, the Ancient, the Ruler, subtler than the subtlest,
the Supporter of all, the Inconceivable, glorious as the sun beyond
the darkness,—he goes to that Supreme Celestial Being.
11. That which the knowers of the Vedas call the Imperishable (or that
word which the knowers of the Vedas repeat), wherein the ascetics freed
from passion enter and desiring which they practice brahmacharya, that
Goal (or Word) I will declare to thee in brief.
12. Closing all the gates, locking up the mind in the hridaya, fixing
his breath within the head, rapt in yogic meditation;
13. Whoso departs leaving the body uttering AUM—Brahman in one
syllable—repeatedly thinking on Me, he reaches the highest state.
14. That yogi easily wins to Me, O Partha, who, ever attached to Me,
constantly remembers Me with undivided mind.
15. Great souls, having come to Me, reach the highest perfection; they
come not again to birth, unlasting and (withal) an abode of misery.
16. From the world of Brahma down, all the worlds are subject to return,
O Arjuna; but on coming to Me there is no rebirth.
17. Those men indeed know what is Day and what is Night, who know that
Brahma's day lasts a thousand yugas and that his night too is a thousand
yugas long.
That
is to say, our day and night of a dozen hours each are less than the
infinitesimal fraction of a moment in that vast cycle of time. Pleasures
pursued during these incalculably small moments are as illusory as a
mirage. Rather than waste these brief moments, we should devote them
to serving God through service of mankind. On the other hand, our time
is such a small drop in the ocean of eternity that if we fail of our
object here, viz. Self-realization, we need not despair. She should
bide our time.
18. At
the coming of Day all the manifest spring forth from the Unmanifest,
and at the coming of Night they are dissolved into that same Unmanifest.
Knowing
this too, man should understand that he has very little power over things,
the round of birth and death is ceaseless.
19. This
same multitude of creatures come to birth, O Partha, again and again;
they are dissolved at the coming of Night, whether they will or not;
and at the break of Day they are re-born.
20. But higher than the Unmanifest is another Unmanifest Being, everlasting,
which perisheth not when all creatures perish.
21. This Unmanifest, named the Imperishable, is declared to be the highest
goal. For those who reach it there is no return. That is my highest
abode.
22. This Supreme Being, O Partha, may be won by undivided devotion;
in It all beings dwell, by It all is pervaded.
23. Now I will tell thee, Bharatarshabha, the conditions which determine
the exemption from return, as also the return, of yogins after they
pass away hence.
24. Fire, Light, Day, the Bright Fortnight, the six months of the Northern
Solstice—through these departing men knowing Brahman go to Brahman.
25. Smoke, Night, the Dark Fortnight, the six months of the Southern
Solstice—Therethrough the yogin attains to the lunar light and
thence returns.
I
do not understand the meaning of these two shlokas. They do not seem
to me to be consistent with the teaching of the Gita. The Gita teaches
that he whose heart is meek with devotion, who is devoted to unattached
action and has seen the Truth must win salvation, no matter when he
dies. These shlokas seem to run counter to this. They may perhaps be
stretched to mean broadly that a man of sacrifice, a man of light, a
man who has known Brahman finds release from birth if he retains that
enlightenment at the time of death, and that on the contrary the man
who has none of these attributes goes to the world of the moon—not
at all lasting—and returns to birth. The moon, after all, shines
with borrowed light.
26. These
two paths—bright and dark—are deemed to be the eternal paths
of the world; by the one a man goes to return not, by the other he returns
again.
The
Bright one may be taken to mean the path of knowledge and the dark one
that of ignorance.
27. The
Yogin knowing these two paths falls not into delusion, O Partha; therefore,
at all times, O Arjuna, remain steadfast in yoga.
"Will
not fall into delusion" means that he who knows the two paths and
has known the secret of even-mindedness will not take the path of ignorance.
28. Whatever
fruit of good deeds is laid down as accruing from (a study of) the Vedas,
from sacrifices, austerities, and acts of charity—all that the
yogin transcends, on knowing this, and reaches the Supreme and Primal
Abode.
He
who has achieved even-mindedness by dint of devotion, knowledge and
service not only obtains the fruit of all his good actions, but also
wins salvation.
Thus
ends the eighth discourse entitled ‘Brahma Yoga' in the converse
of Lord Krishna and Arjuna, on the science of Yoga, as part of the knowledge
of Brahman in the Upanishad called the Bhagawadgita.
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