study circle

SESSION 6

“What is spirituality? Spirituality is not merely singing bhajans, performing worship, visiting temples, going on pilgrimages, or undertaking any other good activity. Recognizing the oneness of all beings is spirituality.
To understand the principle of Truth and visualize the blissful form of Divinity, hidden in the objective world is true spirituality. But few are making any effort in this direction.
People sit for meditation, close their eyes and start imagining a particular form. But these forms are only reflections and not the Reality.”
--- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai

Notes:

Most people believe that doing namasmaran, worshipping a god of their choice, visiting temples, taking bath in holy rivers, making offerings in temples, getting certain rituals done by engaging priests and such other activities constitute spirituality. Swami disagrees with that interpretation given to such activities. No doubt they are good actions by themselves and may confer temporary worldly benefits on the devotee, but they cannot be considered as a path to the achievement of the final goal of human birth.

What is the goal of human birth and what is the path to it? Swami often says that man came from the Atman, the Supreme Consciousness and he has to go back to It. The universe and all its contents, ae projections of the one Consciousness, and all have to ultimately merge back into It. This is the basic principle of Truth and Swami says that the understanding of this principle and achieving this goal is the true aim of spirituality. Of course it is not just the intellectual understanding, but experiencing the presence of that Truth or Divinity which is hidden in all the creation. Swami considers only this as true spirituality, and says that few people really make any effort towards this. Those, who do not understand the true implcations of this statement may ask, why Swami has all along been laying stress on namasmaran and certain other religious practices, to be undertaken by His devotees. He knows that few people can straight away understand the meaning of real spirituality and they have to be slowly led into it. But, most people get stuck at the religious level and stagnate. This is in reality what is known as samsara. Worship of forms should ultimately lead to the formless. Basically it should be understood that all religious practices should lead the practitioner ultimately to the realization of the Atman, residing inside himself, and that in turn should result in the feeling and experiencing of the oneness of all creation. Then he realizes that all that exists is the One Supreme Consciousness hidden in the many. Swami said on another occasion that man can attain liberation only when he realizes that there is only ONE and not two.That is to say that he should move from the dvaitic to the advaitic experience. If all the religious activities, man engages himself in, do not lead him to this ultimate realization, they will remain only as empty rituals.

A person who has realized the oneness of all creation is no longer affected by the feelings of hatred or attachments. He has then understood and realized that all that exists is the Atman only and that he himself is an integral part of that apparent multiplicity. This state is really the state of liberation or Mukhti. Swami often says that seeing oneself in everything and everything in oneself is real love. He advises that everything one does must be linked and be in tune with the functioning of the Totality.He cites the example of the functioning of our own body. Every cell in our body functions for the welfare of the whole body. The body of ours like all others is condensed energy which itself is a manifestation of the Supreme Consciousness. The manifested Universe is all energy and nothing but energy, which is partly free and partly condensed into matter.Thus the Universe is the body of God or the Supreme Conciousness and each one of us is like a cell in that body and hence all the work we undertake is part of the functioning of that universal body. When one performs all activities with that knowledge and attitude, one’s ego slowly disappears.Then the individualized consciousnes suddenly expands and becomes one with everything and with every being in the Universe. That is the state of real bliss. Swami says that nobody undertakes this type of sadhana.

The above state can be achieved only by the practice of meditation. But Swami says that very few people adopt the correct procedure in their so-called practice of.meditation. He criticizes the way people sit with closed eyes and imagine some form and contemplate on it. Imagination is a product of the functioning mind. If the mind is functioning, and focussed on any form, it is not true meditation. It is only contemplation. All imagined forms do not mean God. He says that the depiction God in a variety of forms, by people belonging to various faiths, is only the product of egoistic minds. All images are only reflections and not the original.They are all man-made gods! Meditation has nothing to do with religious beliefs. Anyone belonging to any religious group, even those who have no religious affiliations or who are atheists can undertake meditation. True meditation is on the formless consciousness which is the indwelling Atman, the Self in all. We shall discuss about this in greater detail in some of the future sessions. (To be continued)

study circle

Session 5

“Bliss cannot be achieved through (so called) spiritual practices which confer only temporary mental satisfaction. It is attained only by awareness of the Atma, which is true and eternal.
While singing bhajans, you may sing various songs with different tunes and beats, but your mind should be constantly fixed on the Atma.
You can never attain peace by performing rituals. Peace is embodied in love. You can develop love only when you have faith in the Self.”
--- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai

Notes:

Most of the common people ordinarily think that worshipping some form of divinity or performing various rituals is same as spirituality. Here Swami points out that they are wrong. Religious practices are not necessarily spiritual.It is wrong to hope that external practices like religious worship and rituals will automaitcally result in inner realization. Indulging in such activities, according to Him, can confer only temporary mental satifaction and not lasting happiness. Bliss is attained only by awareness of the Atman. So all these external practices should be understood as only steps in the direction of understanding the Atman and fixing one’s attention on It. When we are travelling along a road, we find at cross roads sign-posts indicating the direction we should proceed to reach our destination and at regular intervals are fixed milestones showing the name of the place the road leads to and the distance left to be covered. Just as it is foolish to hug the post or the mile-stone and think that we have reached our destination, it is sheer ignorance to think that we have attained Atmic realization by performing these worships and rituals.

What should be our attitude when we engage ourselves in such activities? For instance let us take bhajans, which we, as Sai devotees, regularly engage ourselves in. Swami says that if even we are singing various songs using different names of the Godhead, in different tunes, ragas and beats, our attention should be rooted in the Atman. Invariably our attention is on the words of the song or on the divine forms referred to therein. The formless Atman hardly ever becomes the point of attention. This applies to all the rituals and methods of worship we indulge in.At the most our attention is focussed on the form we are worshipping or on the names and mantras we are uttering.

Swami says that we can never attain peace by performing rituals.Temporary peace and some bliss may follow ritualistic practices. But these disappear when a person is confronted with adversities in life. A person in divine bliss is neither dejected nor overjoyed under any situation. Such a bliss can be attained only when a person developes constant awareness of the Atman, present inside him. Swami says that peace is embodied in love. What is the meaning of this statement? Earlier He said that bliss is attained only by the awareness of the Atman. How do we connect these two statements? Of all the forces acting in the Universe the most powerful is that of attraction. Just as all forms of energies are manifestations of the Supreme Consciousness this force is also an integral part of It. Everything, from the electron inside the atom to the galaxies of stars, attracts everything else, to merge with itself. That is real love and not the one we humans exhibit ordinarily because real divine love, unlike human love does not expect anything in return. All the beings in the Universe are the manifestations of the Supreme Consciousness. Talking about this process of manifestation, Swami once said, “In the beginning I was alone and I wanted to love Myself. So I separated Myself from Myself so that I could love Myself.” What is the Ultimate purpose of love? It is to make the loved one part of the lover, or merge with each other. What has been separated should go back to the source. The Atman inside us, which is identical with the Supreme Consciousness is the source of this divine love, and is constantly trying to attract us back to itself. There is a constant flow of love from It. It is equated with love itself. Shiva, the third aspect of the manifestation of Consciousness, the individualized mode, is identical with the Atman and hence Shiva is equated with love. ‘Anbe Sivam’, a saying in Tamil, corroborates this truth, that ‘God is love’. We, human beings, are in essence, physical manifestations of the formless Atman. That is why, Swami often addresses us, ‘atma swarupalara, prema swrupalara and prematma swarupalara’. Swami being the exclusive manifestation of the Atman in physical form, we also hail Him as ‘Prematman’. He has already selected the name ‘Prema Sai’ for his next Avtar! Does He not say often that when He sees His devotees, love swells out of Him! Has He not said that whatever gifts He gives to the devotees are manifestations of His love for them! When a human is established in the awareness of the Atman, he enjoys eternal bliss and love automatically flows out of such a person. He develops equanimity of mind and identifies himself with the entire creation.

It is this truth that Swami enunciated in the above staterment. Without understanding this direct path to lasting bliss, we are aimlessly wandering in the wilderness of religious rituals and observances. If all our religious efforts and observances do no ultimately lead us to this ultimate goal of Self-awareness, they will remain only as empty meaningless rituals. They should be regarded only as steps in the ladder to spirituality. Means and end are not the same. Sitting on one of the steps of the ladder and imaginning that we have climbed to the top is sheer ignorance. That is what is referred to as ‘samsara’, spiritual stagnation. A question may arise here: should a person who has attained Self-awareness give up all religious practices? Not necessarily. As Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says, a person who has climbed to the upper floor of a house using a ladder, may if he likes, kick away the ladder or keep it in place, in case he desires now and then, to come down to meet others! Then he may be in a position to give a hand to others also to come up the ladder. (To be continued)

study circle

Session 4

“We have slid down into the present state mainly because we have lost faith in the Atma, that omnipotence, that motivator of all, who is the warp and woof of our body and mind, our emotions and intellect. Strengthening faith in Him is the only means of realizing the highest goal of man.
You are born again and again, seeing, doing, and experiencing what you have already seen, done, and experienced. You should realize that you are born not to be born again. You should see and experience that by which you will find fulfillment.That is oneness of the Atmic principle. Once you have experienced the Atma, you do not need to experience anything else.”
--- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai

Notes:

What is the ultimate aim of human birth? As, often mentioned by Bhagavan, man came from the Atman and he has to ultimately go back to the Atman. What does that mean? The essence of all living beings is Consciousness. Like all other beings the human organism, physically, is the condensed form of various energies, originating from the Consciousness and activated by the same Consciousness residing in him as the Atman. The body is basically inert and not only its structure but its mind, intelligence and their functioning all depend on the Atman, which uses them for Its own purpose. As Swami often says, a cloth is woven with threads, which ultimately are nothing but cotton. Of all the beings man is the only one who has the ability to know about the presence of the Atman inside him and, at the death of his energy-based body, can revert back to the Consciousness. Atman only can guide him in his life, lead him along the correct path and finally meet him at the end of the road. All others beings on earth, also taking their origin from the same Consciousness, after death perhaps go back to the energy state, and not beyond. If man does not realize the presence of the Atman which is activating his body, and that his physical activities, mind and intelligence owe their existence to the Atman, or ignores It, he is subject to all the endless problems in life and suffers.This exactly is the present state of man.The only solution to his problems, Swami says, is for man to realize the above truth and strengthen his faith in the Atman.

Why does man forget the presence of the Atman inside him? The faculty of cognition, the mind, endowed to him as to all other living beings, starts identifying itself with the particular physical body it is occupying and as a result an imaginary individual pops up and takes control of the man. We shall discuss about this ego, in deatil, on some other occasion. It is enough for the time being to realize that it is this ego that acts as a veil in front of the Atman and prevents man from knowing the latter. The effect of this is that man imagines that he is the doer of all actions, as well as the enjoyer of the ensuing fruits. As a result of this he accumulates karma, which covers his mind as an impurity. Because of this, after death, the mind is unable to merge with the Universal mind, and is reborn in a new body to get rid of this impurity. When a man is born on the earth he sees, does and experience many things in life and when reborn he again goes through the same experiences, adding a few more, as a result of his karma. During the new birth he adds more karma. The only way to break this cycle is for man to return to the state of Consciousness after death, and not to the interim energy state. In other words everytime he is born his aim has to be, to avoid rebirth.

In our prayer we pray to God, ‘Mrtyorma amrtam gamaya’, that is, ‘lead me from death to immortality.’ That does not mean that we want death to be prevented. Every living being born on the earth has to die. Hence in this prayer we are not asking that we should go on living indefinitely, but that we are not to be born again. We should, once for all merge back into the Supreme Consciousness from which we came. What is the way to achieve this? The only way, Bhagavan says is to know the Atman and merge with it. It is the real immortal sate. We also pray, to the Supreme, ‘Asatoma Sat gamaya’, that is, ‘lead me to Truth from untruth.’ Truth is something which can neither change nor get destroyed at any time. Everything that was created in the Universe is subject to change and hence is ‘asat’. Only the Atman, which is synonymous with the Supreme Consciousness, the source of all creation, is unchanging and indestructible. It is immortal, ‘Sat’.

Not to be aware of the Atman is ignorance. In is equivalent to blinding darkness. The Upanishads say that one who does not know the Atman goes to the world of the demons, which means that he lives a miserable life. So what is the remedy? Swami says: “the darkness and the light required to remove it are both inside you. All that you have to do is to go in and light that lamp.” What is this process of going in? That is meditation wherein the mind stops wandering and gets fixed on the Atman. It loses its infatuation with the physical body, resulting in the release of man from the tyranny of the ego, and the individual surrenders to the Atman.This effort is purely an individual one and no one else can make it on his behalf. Now he sees and experiences what he should and moves towards the purpose of his taking the human birth. The Atman takes back charge of the sadhak and conducts his life in the right direction. Then man realizes his oneness with the Atman. Now he does not need any other experience. He will then be automatically taken to the goal. Once he reaches that goal, known as Atmasakshatkaram or Brahmanirvanam, his journey ends. He does not return, that is, he is not born again. (To be continued)

study circle

Session 3

“The hub is calm, steady, unmoved. But the mind will be dragged along the spokes, the objective desires, to revolve over mud and stones. It will not believe that it can get bliss from the centre, rather than from the circumference, without undergoing a rough journey over turbulent terrain.
Go to the centre of the cyclone, to the rod in the centre of the grinding stone; you will not be affected by the pressures, or by what goes on around you; I am where stillness and silence are, to help you to establish yourselves in yourselves.
No matter where you go, always know that I will be there, inside you guiding every step of the way. You are My very, very own, dearer than dear to Me. I will protect you as the eyelids protect the eyes.”
--- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai

Notes:

In these words Bhagavan seeks to confirm that He is none other than the Atman residing inside each one of us. He also assures us of His protection, provided we constantly stay tuned to Him, and do not get carried away by the external world and its false enticements and fall prey to the accompanying turbulance around us. He gives three examples to clarify this assurance of His and what we should do, to become eligible to enjoy His guidance and protection.

We are all familiar with the working of a wheel. The central hub or nave of a wheel, though it has to move, does so smoothly around the central axle or arbor. The axle itself does not move and can be taken as to represent the Atman, but without that the wheel cannot function. The axle itself is an extension of the axle-tree whis is equivalent to the Universal Consciousness. We know what will happen if the wheel comes off the axle, only a disaster! A human being living wihout the knowledge of the Atman, present within him, is bound to get involved in, and affected by, trials and tribulations in life at some stage or the other, and succumb to them.. Even if he is aware of the Atman, but does not cling to It, and surrender to It, he is bound to suffer. Just like the hub of the wheel has to be well greased for smooth rotation, and fixed with a linchpin to avoid disaster, man must attach himself to the Atman with his mind, and consciously remain so, even when he is engaged in action. He should position himself like the hub and lead his life, which will then be smooth and hazard free. Clay can be shaped into a pretty and smooth pot only in the centre of the potter’s wheel and not at the periphery.Unfortunately man’s mind always tends to move along the spokes of the wheel to position itself on the rim or felloe of the wheel. It does not realize that it is the rim that has to tumble over stones and rubble or sink in sand or get bogged in mud. Hence Swami advises us to control the mind from flowing along the spokes towards sense objects, but position ourselves in the hub!

In the second analogy Swami talks of the cyclone. All of us are familiar with the satellite picture of an impending cyclone, published by meteorological stations. In the centre of the ominous looking spiralling clouds can be seen a dark spot. While tremendous air pressure is building up all around, this centre is calm. This spot represents the Atman in us which is free from and unaffected by the tumultuous situations outside. Swami advises us to position ourselves in the centre of the storm, to remain attached to the Atman, so that we are not affeccted by the pressures and by what goes on around us. The third analogy given by Swami is equally illustrative. In olden days when electric grinders were not in vogue, and even today in Indian villages, women use grinding stones for preparing flour out of rice or wheat. It is a two piece stone gadget, where the bottom stone has on its centre a fixed wooden peg. The upper stone has a handle and a central hole to fit on the peg of the lower stone. When the grains are fed into the central hole and the upper stone is rotated the grains slowly move out between the two stones and get ground into flour. Of the grains fed into the grinder, those which remain close to the central peg will escape the crushing. Swami uses this simple illustration to clarify that when we live closely tuned to the Atman inside us, we can escape from the difficuties and sorrows of life. This does not mean that in life, difficult situations will not arise at all. But when they do come up we will not be affected by them. Life, like the hub of the wheel, will go on smoothly.

In these illustrations Swami confirms that He is none other than our own Atman and tells us that He is always present at the centre, where silence and stillness prevail. By this He indicates that only when we maitain silence and stillness we will be able to feel His presence inside us. Silence of course does not mean only verbal silence. It means mental stillness, because we all know that even when we are verbally silent, our mind goes on chattering inside. Once we achieve that state of mental stillness our attention automatically turns to and rests on the Atman inside. In all the three illustrations, when Swami is talking of the centre, it should not be construed that the Atman resides at some point, in the centre of our body. It is only a symbolic location to enable the mind to rest on some point in the body. It should be clear that the Atman is present in every cell of the body.

Swami, as the permanent resident of our body, assures us that from there He will be activating us and leading every step of ours on the right path. Wherever we go physically, He is there always and we cannot escape from His hold! Why is He so much interested in us? Because He says that we are part of Him and are His exclusive property! We are dearer than the dearest to Him! So He is constantly protecting us like the eyelids protect the eyes. What a pity that most of us live without the knowledge of His benevolent presence inside us!
(To be continued)

study circle

Session 2

“You crazy ones! There is no need for a new path for you. You go back the way you came.You came from the Atma. Go back to the Atma.
Having born from the Atma, man should always contemplate on the Atma. He will become restless and face hardships if he forgets the Atma. Have faith in the Atma. Treat the Atma as the basis for your life. This is the dharma that man has to adhere to.
Every man must necessarily make efforts to realize the principle of the Atma, which is present in all. The sweetness of Atmic experience is unparalleled. This has to be realized and experienced by every individual.”
--- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai

Notes:

The Universe and all its contents, both living and non-living have originated from one source, the Supreme Consciousness which has been designated by various names like God, Brahman, Allah, Jehova, Ahura Mazda, etc. We have seen that the same Consciousness which pervades the Universe and beyond has been automatically included inside all the objects of manifestation, since they are all being fashioned within that very same Consciousness.That individualized Consciousness inside the objects is referred to as the Atman. Since there is no difference between the Atman residing inside the beings and the Consciousness outside, it is obvious that we all came from the Atman. Why has the Atman or Consciousness projected Itself as these various forms? While various explanations have been given by scriptures, Jnanis and scientists, let us for the present discussion accept the one given by some of the enlightened scientists. The Consciousness wanted to reveal Its own unlimited potentials and wanted suitable instruments for that purpose and man, fashioned by the evolutionary process, appears to be the most suitable, at least for the present, for such a purpose. It is but logical that any person who goes out of his home for doing some business has to return home after his work is over. If, during his business, he had forgotten his home and the way back, he will have to wander helplessly and be subject to lot of unhappiness and troubles. Such will be the position of the man who had forgotten that his real home is the Atman and he has to get back to It at the end of his sojourn on the earth.
Each individual has to constantly remember that any work he is engaged in is the work of the Atman, who always leads him in the right direction. That is his ordained duty, or dharma, what is known as vyakti or individual dharma, the Atma dharma. No one can afford to forget the Atman, which is one’s real home, and one has to constantly remember this and look forward to getting back to the source. Otherwise, if he functions according to his will and forgets the Atman, he has to face a lot of troubles and tribulations in life. For knowing the Atman one need not go outside searching for the human mahatmas to learn about the path to the Atman. One has only to turn inside himself to find the ‘Maha Atman’!
This ability to know the Atman and finally merge with It, has been given only to man, and no other living being is capable of that. He is the only one who can ask the Question ‘Who am I?’ and arrive at the answer, ‘I am I’.This effort coupled with the practice of meditation, that is a constant attention on the Atman, is the only way which man can resort to, by which he can attain the Atman. All rituals and religious practices should ultimately lead us to that path. Otherwise they will only amount to meaningless exercises. Swami Himself said on one occasion that external observances cannot lead to internal realization. They can only point out the direction to the path, and are not the path by themselves. This experience of realizing the Atman, is an exhilerating one , the sweetness of which is unparelled. That realization is the duty and the right of every human being. One who is on this path, the only true and direct path, knows that he need not go about searching for other paths to attain the ultimate goal of his life. Once he progresses on this right path he goes through life with perfect peace and happiness, unperturbed by any adversities.He accepts that everything that happens is the working of the Atman.
In this context one is reminded of a story related by someone: A realized soul was living at the outskirts of a village, and people used to flock around him to listen to his teachings. It so happened that in the village an unmarried girl became pregnant. When her parents questioned her as to who was responsible for her pregnancy, she, obviously to protect her lover, told them that the saint living outside the village was responsible. The whole village heard this and people were furious with the saint and abused him for this. When he heard this, his only answer was, “is that so”. People stopped going to him for anymore spiritual guidance. Finally when the girl delivered, the parents carried the child to the saint and told him that since he was the father of the child, he only should take care of it. The saint again said “is that so” and took charge of the baby. Months later the girl who was feeling guilty, finally revealed to her parents the real culprit who was responsible for the incident. Hearing this the villagers rushed to the saint and profusely apologizing for the mistake, told him that he was not the father of the child and asked him to hand over the child back to the mother. Now again the saint said, “is that so” and gave the child back to them. On none of the occasions the saint felt perturbed and took everything as the doings of the Atman!
Every Sai devotee who takes to this path will realize that Swami guides him at every step in that destined direction. But, as Swami says, we must take the first step and then only He will take ten steps towards us! Once we step in the right direction, any adversity that we meet with in our life should be accepted as caused by Swami Himself, to test the steadfastness of our faith, to ensure that our step is not a slippery one! (To be continued)

Aum Sri Sai Ram

STUDY CIRCLE

The material published herein, formed the subject matter of a number of sessions of study circle held under the auspices of one of the units of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organization. It was felt that the material may be of use to other devotees of Bhagavan, to understand some of His teachings. Each session has taken one statement of Swami, followed by a short explanatory note which may form the basis for further discussions.
All the discussions at the sessions were based on certain basic understanding of the creation of the Universe and the nature of avtarhood. That the whole universe with all its contents is a projection of the Supreme Consciousness, and not the creation of a Supreme Being called ‘God’, is described in many of our spiritual texts and is accepted by most of the modern scientists. In these discussions, the terms, ‘God’ and ‘Consciousness’ are used synonymously. The all-pervading Consciousness, automatically gets incorporated in all the created objects, as the Atman in them. This individualized Consciousness, though not different from that pervading the space outside the being, is the one which activates and constantly guides each living being, the Jivatma. When the Jivatmas ignore the continuous promptings from inside and a majority of them fail to respond, the formless Atman decides to take a special form and appear outside in front of man to teach and redeem him, by reminding him of the purpose of his life in the world and his final goal. This is the Avtar, and there is no need to accept the common man’s view that an Avtar is a descent, of some god-form from a place high up somewhere, on to the earth. So Sai is none other than a special manifestation of the Atman residing in each one of us.

Session 1

“My mission is to raise the consciousness of man to a level at which he neither rejoices nor mourns over anything. In that supreme state, one is going through re-birth and re-death every moment, for these acts are one and the same, emerging from the formless into form, merging from form into the formless.Then there is no success, adversity, no joy or pain. When the devotee attains this Oneness, his journey towards Me ceases. For he is with Me endlessly.”
--- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai

Notes:

Here Bhagavan is revealing the purpose of His avtarhood. How is it possible for anyone to attain a state wherein one will not rejoice or mourn over any happenings in his life? When do such emotions arise in life? All are based on the way man’s mind is functioning. If we carefully analyse the activities of the human mind we can find that the mind always functions in two directions, namely in the past or future. Brooding on the past events, what he himself did or failed to do, what others had done to him or failed to do, he is subject to a variety of emotions like rejoicing or mourning, anger, disgust and many others. Thinking of the future he is subject to anxieties, fear, doubts and similar emotions. Thus man’s mind is always swinging from the thoughts of the past and of the future. It rarely functions in the present. Why is it so?
What is time? Everyone knows about time but no one can define it in words. Scientists say that time and space, as a continuum, was part of the condensed mass of energy (? inside Supreme Consciousness) before the Big Bang. Our scriptures say that God or Supreme Consciousness is beyond time, ‘Kalateeta’. Time in the universe is whole without divisions and our concept of the three divisions of it is only a product of the human mind and is applicable only to the earth and the solar universe. The present is only a thin dividing line between the so called past and the future. It is an imaginary line like the equator dividing the earth into two hemisphres.It lasts hardly for a very minute fraction of a second, and even a syllable of a word moves into the past before we utter the next syllable.Anything achieved in the past was done only when it was present then and anything to be achieved in the future can happen only when that moves into the present. So Jnanis say that all that exists is only the present.
For the human mind to function it needs time and space. Since that is not available in the present, the mind cannot function in the ‘present’ and keeps moving between the past and the future. This can be illustrated by the example of the pendulum of a wall clock which keeps constantly moving from left to right and when it is stopped in the middle, time as shown by the clock also ‘stops’. When, as mentioned above, thoughts about the past and the future diappear all the emotions are eliminated.Then what happens to the mind? Mind is a form of energy and, if it cannot function, it does not disappear, but like the other forms of energy, will remain in its source. When electricity is switched off it just stops activating the connected gadgets but does not disappear. It remains in its source. Its presence can be known only when it functions. Simiarly the presence of the mind can be known only when thoughts flow from it. This is why Jnanis defined the mind as a bundle of thoughts. So when thoughts of the past and of the future are stopped the mind stops functioning and returns to its source.The source of the mind is the Atman which is Itself formless. When a necessity arises to do some work with the physical body the mind comes out of its resting place and functions. The body has a form and hence Swami says that the mind moves from the formless state to a state with form. When a man dies he moves from a form to a formless state and when he is reborn he again assumes a form. This is what Swami means by saying that such person goes through re-birth and re-death every moment.
Man came from the Atman (Consciousness) and after he finishes the alloted work on earth he has to go back to the Atman. That is his final goal, a state known as ‘Atmasakshatkaram’. As mentioned in the introduction, Atman is the same Supreme Consciousness or Brahman pervading the Universe and hence the sadhak attains ‘Brahma nirvanam’. His journey ends there! Thereafter he resides with the Atman endlessly. Swami being the special manifestation of the Atman, such a sadhak finally merges with Him. That is Swami’s mission!
(To be continued)

gita

This treatise is not for publication. It is for private circulation only.
Aum Sri Sai Ram

Gleanings from the Gita

The scripture
The Bhagavad Gita, which is the most respected and often quoted Hindu scripture, forms part of the Itihasa, a historical treatise, the Mahabharata in its chapters, twentyfive to fortytwo. It is accepted by all as the teaching given by an Avtar, Lord Krishna.The scripture consists of seven hundred verses spread over eighteen chapters. It is said to have been given by the Lord to Arjuna in the battle field at Kuruksetra, before the fighting began between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. A question that is always raised is, how could have, such a long discourse been given in the battle field when the armies were ready to strike at each other. Among the many explanations given a very plausible one is, that Krishna gave the message in only seven slokas and these were elaborated by sage Vyasa into seven hundred verses. This teaching of Krishna is the most sacred of all spiritual literature, and were by no means meant for Arjuna only. It is meant for all of us, human beings who are constantly engaged in a fight going on inside us between good and evil forces.It is possible that certain ideas, especially those which had relevance to the age when it was written might have found place in the text and may not apply to modern times.Yet the basic principles enunciated therein are of universal nature and apply to all times.It is for us to interpret them correctly and apply them to our lives. All of us are dear to our Creator, as much as Arjuna was, and hence His supreme teachings are equally good for us also, and hence let us listen to them “sarva guhya tamam bhuyah, srnu me, paramam vacah, istah asi me drdham, iti tatah vaksyami, te hitam” (XVIII:64). Of course all this teaching is contained in the hundreds of Upanisads attached to the four Vedas, but we are lucky to have all those ideas, summarized and presented to us in a concise form, by Krishna.
Here no attempt is made to comment on all the slokas or in any particular order. The comments are based on certain selected topics of spiritual interest, with an attempt to link them to the relevant slokas and to base them on thoughts, which wil not be contrary to our modern scientific temper. (The references given in parenthesis pertain to the concerned chapter and verse of the scripture. The words ‘Consciousness’ and ‘God’ are used as synonyms, to refer to the original divine source of creation).


The Creation
At this stage, a short review of the process of creation of the Universe and its contents will help in the better understanding of the teachings of the Avtar. Recent scientific findings have more or less confirmed our scriptural views regarding the formation of the Universe. The source of all creation is, the Supreme Consciousness which has been designated by various names in different traditions.The word Prajna or Consciousness is found in many of the Upanisads. The Hindu tradition calls it Brahman. Its nature is indicated by the definition, ‘Prajnanam Brahma’, which means Consciousness with total Divine knowledge. This entity cannot be described in words, and is said to pervade and surround the entire Universe.We shall consider later, in detail, about the nature of this entity. It is common knowledge that the Universe along with all the objects contained in it is, in essence, only energy in its varied manifestations. And it is the same energy which supports and sustains all the created objects on the earth. “gam avisya, ca bhutani, dharayamy aham ojasa” (XV:13).That the Supreme Cosciousness is the source of all this energy was known to our ancients for a long time and is now accepted by most of the scientists. Only a small fraction of the Consciousness is said to have manifested as the Universe and the rest if It remains unmanifested pervading the Universe and beyond. All the living as well as non-living components of the Universe are only condensed and compressed forms of energy. Thus everything has originated and evolved from Consciousness only. “aham sarvasya prabhavah, mattah sarvam pravartate” (X:8). So the Universe is not a creation by God, using some extraneous material, but is only a projection of the Consciousness Itself. Since space is already pervaded by the Consciousness, and the objects are fashioned in It, the ubiquitous Consciousness is automatically included inside them.And the human being is no exception. This apparently separated Consciousness inside the individual, but continuous with Itself outside, is referred to as the Atman. Thus there are three modes in which the Supreme Consciousness exists. The first is the unmanifested Consciousness, pervading the Universe and beyond, the second as manifested energy mode in the Universe and the third as the indwelling Consciousness in the beings. These three, though essentially one, correspond to the three divine forms designated in Hindu scriptures as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva respectively. These three are credited with the duties of creation, sustenance and dissolution respectively. Brahma, also referred to as Hiranyagarbha, the golden womb, is the Prakrti, which is poised for manifestation, is a minute fragment of Supreme Consciousness, Brahman. “mama yonir mahad brahma, tasmin garbham dadhamy aham, sambhavah sarvbhutanam tatah bhavati” (XIV:3). All the wombs that produce the beings on the earth, irrespective of the type of being, are Brahma and the seed, the father, is the manifested Supreme Consciousness. “sarva yonisu murtayaha sambhavanti yah, tasam brahma mahat yonir aham bijapradah pita” (XIV:4).According to scientific views the visible universe is hardly five percent of the manifested Consciouness, and of the remaining only twenty five percent is manifested, but invisible to the naked eye, the rest remaining unmanifested! This corroborates the scriptural view that only a minute fraction of Brahman became the Hiranyagarbha, the rest remaining as ‘Suddha Brahman.’ Vishnu is the manifested energy mode in space, supporting and sustaining the manifested objects. Shiva is continuously involved in presiding over the energy based activities of the beings. He, equated with the the Atman residing in the bodies of beings, also decides when a created being, the instrument for the above activity, is to be dismantled back to energy. At the appropriate time It withdraws the life force, rendering the body inert, ready for dismantling. Hence Shiva is considred to be the destroyer, and one of His places of residence, as mentioned in the scriptures, is the burial or cremation ground, obviously a symbolic reference to His duty. He is said to smear His body with sacred ash or vibhuti! Ash is a substance obtained as an end product of burning matter and it cannot undergo any further change in its physical quality. It is a symbolic representation of the Atman which is an unchangeable entity. Shiva, being equated with the Atman, is said to cover His body with the ash. It is obvious from the above that it is the same Consciousness whch carries out all the three types of activity, manifestation, sustenance and dissolution.
The concept of Time
At this stage it may be useful to consider some more details of the process of creation. One of the intrigueing factors in the universe is time.Everybody knows about time but none can define it. Scientists say that time and space were one with the Supreme Consciousness before the Big Bang explosion. In one of the verses Krishna describes Himself as the all devouring time. But the Supreme Consciousness is Itself beyond time and is designated as ‘kalatita’. After the explosion, of the unimaginably dense compressed mass, which was accompanied by great sound and heat, the released energy started spreading out at great speeds. During the following millions of years, the various objects, both celestial and terrestrial, were formed. According to our scripture the first five elements to be created are Akasa or space, Wind or gases, Fire or heat, Water or liquids and Earth or solids.It is obvious that this refers to the physical stages of evolution of the celestial bodies, some of which are still in the early stages of their formation, gaseous or liquid state. Now we know from our scientific findings that space is not a vacuum but is filled with ever appearing and disappearing particles of energy. According to some scientists the Universe is still expanding, while some say that it has started contracting. However, they all agree that at some distant future the entire Universe will fall back to the original compressed state. They also postulate that once again, after an unknown interval, the whole process will repeat itself. They don’t know how many cycles had gone by in the past. Our scriptures had described this phenomenon long ago and they had divided time into four yugas, each covering many thousands of years. A thousand yugas are said to constitute a day of Brahma and an equal number of them, His night! “sahasra yuga paryantam ahah, yat brahmanah viduh, ratrim yuga sahasrantam” (VIII:17). By daybreak He is said to manfest the Universe and by nightfall to withdraw unto Himself the entire creation, only to manifest again at the next daybreak.“avyaktat, vyaktayah sarvah prabhavanti aharagame, ratri agame praliyante tatra eva, avyakta samjnake” (VIII:18) Each such cycle constitutes a ‘kalpa’. According to one calculation Brahma is said to be in His fifty second year of life, each year consisting of three hundred and sixty five such days and nights! At that magnititude, all calculations of time become irrelevant.
The Creator
Another name often used in scriptures to designate the Supreme Consciousness is ‘Om Tat Sat’. “om tat sat, iti nirdesah brahmanah, trividhah smrtah” (XVII:23). The term ‘Om’ itself refers to Brahman, who is considered to be the origin of the primordial sound at the time of creation, and is said to be still vibrating in the Universe. It is always uttered, by the Hindus, at the beginning of all ritualistic worship, implying that the same is offered to Brahman Himself. It is added in the beginning of every name of all deities, recited during their worship, by the Hindus, again implying that all names refer to Him only. The sound, a form of energy, which originated from the great explosion, the ‘Big Bang’, is said to be still persisting in the Universe. The scientists, having been confronted with certain background vibration coming from all directions, have confirmed this view. The all pervasive and all powerful Consciousness had to be given a name, an exclusive one, which when uttered will refer to It only. We know that this name ‘Om’ and when uttered, nothing else but God, comes to our mind. Hence this sound is referred to as Nada Brahmam. There is also an etymological significance to this word. It consists of three syllables, A,U,and M. The first sound emanates from the throat, a guttoral sound. The second, a lingual sound, is fashioned by the tongue and the palate. The third, a labial sound, emanates after closing the lips. All words uttered by the human voice are composed of one or more of these three basic components of sound. The word ‘Tat’ meaning ‘It’ also refers to Consciousness. Though in common parlance Godhead is refered to in masculine gender “He”, but, being neither male nor female, the use of the common gender “It” is more appropriate. “Sat” means Truth or Reality, which refers to true existence which cannot be destroyed. The term ‘asat’, meaning untruth is used to refer to all the entities manifested from the Consciousness, they being subject to modifications and dissolution.
The word ‘sat’ is also used in the sense of reality as well as goodness, and for auspicious acts as well, since they are undertaken with the thought of ‘Tat’ in mind. “sadbhave sadhubhave ca sat iti etat prayujyate. prasaste karmani tatha sat sabdah yujyate” (XVII:26). Similarly ritualistic sacrifice, austerity or ascetic practices and gifts are also called sat, because they are all acts done for the sake of attaining ‘Sat’, the Supreme. “yajne, tapasi, dane ca sthitih, sat iti ca ucyate, karma ca eva tadarthivam sat iti eva abhidhiyate” (XVII:27).On the contrary, all these acts though they may by themselves be good, if they are done without deep faith and commitment, and done mechanically or with a selfish motive, they are deemed to be ‘asat’. Asat has no beneficial effect in this life or beyond. “asraddhaya hutam dattam tapah taptam krtam ca yat asat iti ucyate, na ca tat pretya na iha” (XVII:28).
The Avtar
Before proceeding further, it wil be good to refresh our ideas about the concept of Avtar and the process of Avtarhood. The common Hindu concept is that whenever there is a decline of Dharma among the humans on the earth, Divinity takes a special human form and is born amongst men, as an Avtar, to destroy the wicked, protect the good, and restore Dharma on the earth. Krishna Himself asserts this: “yada-yada hi dharmasya glanih bhavati, abhyutthanam adharmasya,---paritranaya sadhunam, vinasaya ca duskrtam, dharma samsthapanarthaya— tada atmanam, srjami aham—sambhavami yuge-yuge” (IV:7,8). The Saivite school holds the view that Lord Shiva does not manifest as Avtars, and only Lord Vishnu is credited with the assumption of this avtarhood. However, when you consider that Godhead is one, it is immaterial what name you give to It. All that matters is that Divinity takes an exclusive human form and is born among men to teach them and wean them away from the wrong path along which they are going.
What is the process of this avtarhood? Krishna explains: He, though as the Supreme Consciousness, the Lord of all beings, is not subject to birth and destruction, subjugates His own Prakrti and comes into being through His power of deluding . “ajah, api san avyayatma, bhutanam isvarah api san, prakrtim svam adhisthaya, sambhavami, atmamayaya” (IV:6). Having taken a human form voluntarily, He deludes human beings in believing that He is one among them. Foolish men, not knowing His higher nature as the Lord of all beings disregard Him as one in human form.“avajananti mam mudhah, manusim tanum asritam, param bhavam, ajanantah mama bhuta mahesvaram” (IX:11). Those who are not capable of understanding Him as the immutable and most excellent, think of Him, the unmanifested Consciousness, as manifested.“avyaktam vyaktim apannam, manyante mam abuddhayah, param bhavam ajanantah, mama avyayam anuttamam” (VII:24).He does not reveal Himself to everyone because of His veiling power and hence, the ordinary, world does not know Him.“na aham prakasah sarvasa, yoga maya samavrtah, mudhah, ayam na abhijanati lokah mam, ajam avyayam” (VII:25). The degree of divinity revealed during the life time of the Avtar varies with each Avtar.The Avtar of Rama was known only to a few, while that of Krishna was known to many. Similarly the purpose of a particular Avtar’s manifestation also varies. All this depends on the depth of understanding of the Avtar by man, besides his own level of spiritual evolution.On the other hand, man who is helplessly subject to the dominance of Prakrti, is created by animating the Prakrti and sent forth again and again by Him.“prakrtim svam avastabhya, visrjami punah punah, bhuta gramam imam krtsnam, avasam prakrteh vasat” (IX:8). Thus man, who is also an embodiment of Consciousness, is also an avtar, but eternal, who keeps on coming and going. On the other hand, the exclusive manifested Avtar, as mentioned above dominates and subjugates the Prakrti. That is the secret of the appearance of the manifested Avtar. Taking this special form of an Avtar, the Atman instructs humanity, reminding it of its Dharma, the Atma dharma as it will be described below, and leads it back to Itself
In the Gita, Krishna, though generally considered to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the energy mode of Divinity, identifies Himself with all the three modes of Consciousness. In this context let us consider some more details about the unmanifested Supreme Consciousness. That It is the highest Power and there is nothing higher than It, is clear from Krishna’s own words: “mattah parataram na anyat kimcit asti” (VII:7). He is the source of origin and dissolution of the whole Universe. “aham krtsnasya jagatah, prabhavah pralayah tatha” (VII:6). He is, as already mentioned the eternal seed of all beings. “bijam mam sarvabhutanam” (VII:10), and since Consciousness is omnipresent, all beings exist in Him as rows of beads on a string. “mayi sarvam idam, protam sutre maniganah iva”(VII:7), adorning Him as garlands of different hues.
Since the Consciousness is the original source of all the beings, present and past, and many of them have been appearing on the earth repeatedly, It certainly knows all of them, the past and the present and also those yet to come. Yet none of these beings knows fully about the Consciousness. “veda aham, samatitani, vartamanani ca, bhavisyani ca, bhutani mam tu, veda na kascana” (VII:26). That imperishable supreme Consciousness, Brahman, when It takes residence in the individual body of a being is called Atman.“aksaram brahma paramam, svabhavah adhyatmam ucyate” (VIII:3). Though the original material forms of beings are subject to decay and death, the Purusha or Atman, the original imperishable Divinity, is responsible for all the actions of the beings. “adhibhutam ksarah bhavah, purusah ca adhidaivatam, adhiyajnah aham eva atra dehe” (VIII:4). It is omniscient and ancient, bcause nobody knows how and when It came about. Smaller than the atom, with an inconceivable form, which is beyond darkness and shining like the sun, It is the supreme ruler of the Universe, and remembers and supports all.“kavim, puranam, anusasitaram, anoh aniyamsam, anusmaret yah, sarvasya dhataram, acintya rupam, aditya varnam, tamasah parastat” (VIII:9). But that is not all; we shall see more about It later.
The identity of Krishna
. We had already seen how Krishna is identified with the Atman residing in us. The Avtar, Krishna also refers to Himself in many terms which are consistent with those used in connection with the Supreme Consciousness, filling the manifested Universe, and remaining unmanifested beyond the Universe. He says that the entire Universe is pervaded by His unmanifested aspect and that all beings exist in Him.Yet He does not identify Himself with the beings as such. “maya tatam idam sarvam jagat, avyakta murtina, matsthani sarva bhutani, na ca aham tesu avasthitah” (IX:4).
. But for the various forms of energy, originating from the Supreme Consciouness, none of the objects in creation can exhibit their varied qualities. Krishna, identifying Himself with Consciousness, enumerates a few of them by way of illustrating this truth: “I am the sapidity in water (rasah aham apsu), the radiance in the moon and sun (prabha asmi sasisuryayoh), sound in ether or space (sabdah khe), manliness in men (paurusam nrsu), sweet fragrance in earth (punyah, gandhah prthivyam), brilliance in fire (tejah, ca asmi vibhavasau), life in all beings (jivanam sarva bhutesu), intelligence of the intelligent (buddhih buddhimatam), splendour of the splendid (tejah tejasvinam), strength of the strong (balam balvatam), dharma based desire in beings (dharmaviruddhah, bhutesu kamah)” (VII: 8,9,10,11). Only desires based on one’s duty, and not illegitimate and base desires, are refered to here. In short He is everything: the goal, the supporter, the Lord, the witness, the abode, the shelter, the friend, the origin, the dissolution, the foundation, the treasure house, the imperishble seed. “gatih, bharta, prabhuh, saksi, nivasah, saranam, suhrt, prabhavah, pralayah, sthanam, nidhanam, bijam avyayam” (IX:18). He is the Supreme Consciousness, existence as well as non-existence. “sat ca asat”(IX:19).Existence is the indestructible unmanifested, sat, and destructible manifested, asat. He is unborn and beginningless–“ajam, anadim” (X:3). Scriptures call Consciousness “swayambhuh”, self-evolved. Scientists also have no answer to Its origin. Arjuna adds to this list: he says, “You are Supreme Brahman, the supreme abode, supreme purifier, the eternal Purusha, the ancient Deity, the unborn and the omnipresent, “param brahma, param dhama, pavitram paramam, purusam sasvatam, divyam, adidevam, ajam, vibhum”(X:12), Supreme Purusha, the Purushottama, is the source, and the Lord of all beings, God of gods, ruler of the world”.“purusottama, bhuta bhavana, bhutesa, devadeva, jagatpate” (X:15). He adds a few more after witnessing the Viswarupa Dharsan of Krishna: Highest Atman “mahatman” (XI:20), Lord of the Devas, Abode of the Universe “ devesa, jagannivasa” (XI:25), Primal God, Ancient Purusha “adi devah, purusah puranah” (XI:38).
Krishna also identifies Himself with the various deities likeVaruna, Agni, Indra, Vayu and Yama. This has to be understood properly.All these devas represent the various forms of energy in the Cosmos. Since they all manifested from Consciousness, they are also held to be divine, but of a category lower than Consciousness. But, considering that all forms of energy arise from the Consciousness, the identity between them and their source can be easily appreciated, and that is the reason for our people considering them also as minor gods, and worshipping them. For the same reason Krishna identifies Himself with the famous among human beings, Kings, Rishis, Munis, Yakshas and even Rakshasas, and also declares His oneness with other entities like the sound ‘Om’, the wind, the ocean, river Ganges, mountains like the Himalayas, and peaks like the Meru, the Asvattha tree, animals like the powerful shark, cow Kamadhenu, horse Ucchaisravas, the elephant Airavata, serpent Vasuki some of which are linked with the mytholoical churning of the ocean. He identifies Himself even with His devotees like Prahlada.(X:24-40). He says that He is the Self seated in the hearts of all beings and is the beginning, middle and end of all beings.“aham atma, sarva bhuta asayasthitah, aham adih, ca madhyam, ca bhutanam antah” (X:20). Among the sciences, He is the science of the Self, the highest, and among those who debate He is logic “adhyatma vidya vidyanam, vadah pravadatam, aham” (X:32). He is the origin of all and from Him all things evolve. “aham sarvasya prabhavah, mattah sarvam pravartate” (X:8). He is the first letter ‘A’ of all languages. He is Time, and He is death also. Perhaps we may add a few more attributes culled out from the scriptures: He is Nirguna Brahman-the Pure Consciousness with no attributes, anirdesyam-one that cannot be defined, avyaktam-the unmanifest, sarvatragam-omnipresent, acintyam-the unthinkable, kutastham-the unchangeable, achalam-the immovable, and dhruvam-the eternal. Summing up His glories, Krishna, says that there is no being, whether moving or unmoving that can exist without Him and that there is no end to His divine glories.“na tat asti vina yat syat maya bhutam caracaram” (X:39), “na antah asti, mama divyanam vibhutinam” (X:40). After hearing all this perhaps it would have been easier to tell what He is not, because there is nothing which He is not! In spite of all this vast manifestations He says that He supports the whole Universe with a single fragment of Himself “vistabhya aham idam krtsnam, ekamsena sthitah jagat” X:42)! As we saw earlier, only a small fraction of the Supreme Cosciousness manifested as the Universe.
Dharma
One of the early topics, which the Gita deals with, is Dharma. What is Dharma? It is generally defined as the duty ordained for every living being, more so for every human being. Most people understand this duty of the human organism as relating to the old Hindu tradition of Varnasrama Dharma, which of course does not hold good anymore in the modern society. As Arjuna says, due to impiety the society becomes corrupt and results in not only admixture of, but also in the multiplication of castes..“adharma abhi bhavat, jayate varna samkarah” (I:41), a statement very relevant to modern times. The ancient grouping of individuals into four categories based on their birth, and the nature of work ordained for them, no longer holds good, since now anybody may take up any type of work. So now Dharma has to be reinterpreted as related to whatever work an individual has undertaken. By and large most people do understand their duties in whatever work they are engaged in and try their best to fulfill them. Then where does the Avtar come into the picture? Here, we have to undertand that any work undertaken by anyone is initially induced by the Atman, the activating force, residing inside that person. Due to lack of understanding this inducement may be ignored by the concerned individual, who may proceed in the direction dictated by his egoistic mind. Hence, a deeper meaning has to be found for the word Dharma.
Duty connected with any occupation, has to be considered against a spiritual background and linked with the benefits to the society. What is the spiritual background to duty performed by a human being? Here one has to understand the purpose for which Consciousness has put in so much of evolutionary effort to evolve the human being, and endow him with many special faculties not found in other living beings. Many enlightened scientists say that man has been created as the most suitable instrument, to reveal the inexhaustible hidden potentialities of Consciousness. This is substantiated by the enormous progress made by man, during the last two or three centuries, discovering many secrets of nature, and using them for the welfare of humanity. All these discoveries are only revelations of knowledge already present in the Universe and are meant to be used for the benefit of the entire creation, the Totality. That is the Dharma underlying all the work undertaken by every individual. This is individual Dharma or Vyakti Dharma. When man is devoted to his own duty he attains perfection. “sve sve karmani abhiratah, samsiddhim labhate narah” (XVIII:45). That is so because he is worshipping, with his own duty, the Consciousness, the Godhead, from which all beings have manifested and which pervades everything.“yatah pravrttih bhutanam, yena sarvam idam tatam, sva karmana tam abhyarcya” (XVIII:46). This needs further clarification.
There is another important aspect to this Dharma, which has to be considered. Every human being, after he has finished his duties based on the above Dharma, has to return to his source, that is to say, merge back with the Consciousness. According to our ancient wisdom thought, the main aim of human birth in this world is for man to know his divine origin and finally merge with that source.This law of merging with the source of creation is universal and everything that is created is taken back into the source.This phenomenon of destruction and reabsorption is inborn in the Universe, as seen not only in the fate of various object of creation on the earth, but also witnessed in the explosion of stars, and the swallowing of smaller stars by the great black holes that are formed out of larger stars and galaxies.That is why the Supreme Brahman is referred to as ‘sarvasya atta bhavati’, one who swallows everything! Fulfilling this aspect of Dharma, the merging, can be achieved by the individual only by keeping his attention constantly on the Atman or Consciousness, residing inside him, and acting according to Its inducements. Hence this Vyakti Dharma is also refered to as Atmadharma. Pursuing this Atmadharma amounts to worshipping the Atman or the Consciousness, by which man attains perfection.
Many people do not understand these two spiritual aspects of work and are confused in their minds about duty and invariably always relate it to personal benefits only.“dharma sammudhacetah” (II:7). Such work amounts to adharma.To understand his own divinity man should, with the help of the mind and intelligence, he is endowed with, become aware of the presence of the Consciousness within him as the Atman. Being subject to the nature of matter or Prakrti, and often driven by the force of his attachment to his body, by accentuated egoism, man is unaware of the presence of the Atman inside him or ignores It. He does not realize that it is the Atman in him that is the driving force behind all his activities and that merging with It is his final objective.This Atma Dharma cannot be destroyed but, when a vast majority of humanity fails to realize this objective, and fails to respond to the frequent reminders from inside, there is a decline of this Dharma.To restore this Dharma, the formless Atman, whch has always been trying from inside to attract man towards Itself, now decides to manifest Itself in an exclusive physical form to instuct him and remind him of his goal. This is the Avtar, whch is a ‘descent’, a transition of the formless into a special form. As already mentioned, man, being a manifestation of the Atman in a physical form is indeed, also an avtar but he is an eternal avtar who keeps coming and going, till he finally reaches the goal, prescribed for him.
The Created
The created or projected universe cnsistingof the living and the nonliving, is referred to as Prakrti. The bodies are a part of Prakrti and the Atman is the Consciousness apparently divided in each body, but one.The former is referred to as Puri, a city and the one who owns it and operates in it is the Jivatma, also referred to as the lower Purusha. (Puri + saya). The Jivatma is the living body activated by the Atman, the higher Purusha, and hence basically there is no difference between the two. Traditionally energy, and the matter which originated from it, are referred to as feminine, Consciousnes is referred to as masculine. What are the characteristics of the body? It is made of the five basic elements, earth or solid matter, water or liquid, heat or fire, gases or wind and their salts or compounds and space or akasa. Just like the Consciousness Itself, and often equated with It, space is ubiquitous and is present even inside the body of beings, both between the cells as well as inside them.It exists even inside the atom.Thus each cell in the body is endowed with all the potentialities of the Consciousness.This is the basis of the modern cloning procedure.The body, to enable it to function, is also provided with five organs of sense and five organs of action. The former are the eye, ear, tongue, nose and skin and the corresponding faculties of seeing, hearing, taste, smell and touch.The organs of action are the hands, feet, mouth, the excretory and the genital organs, with their corresponding potentialities to act, namely working, moving, eating, excreting waste, and procreation. Besides these, two other important faculties are endowed by the Consciousness. They are the mind and intellect, without which the normal, useful and diligent functioning of the ten organs is not possible. Besides all these, a minimum basic awareness of the body by the Jivatma, known as egoism is also important. “maha bhutani, ahamkarah, buddhih, avyaktam eva ca, indriyani dasa, ekam ca, panca ca indriyagocarah” (XIII:5). With the help of these various components, the body exhibits varous qualities like desire, hatred, pleasure, pain, coordination of the various functions, intelligence and firmness.“iccha, dvesah, sukham, duhkham samghatah, cetana, dhrtih” (XIII:6). Using these senses, the hearing, the seeing, the touch, the taste, and the smell, along with the mind as instruments, the Jivatma experiences the objects. “srotram, caksuh, sparsanam, ca rasanam, ghranam, eva ca adhisthaya manah, ca ayam visayan, upasevate” (XV:9). This goes on till the individual reaches its point of death. Thus the Consciousness dwells in the hearts of all beings and by Its power of illusion, makes all the beings to revolve helplessly as though mounted on a machine.“isvarah sarva bhutanam hrddese tisthati, bhramayan sarva bhutani, yantra arudhani mayaya” (XVIII:61).
The manifested Universe, Prakrti, as already pointed out, consists of five components, earth or solid, water or liquid, fire or heat, air or gases and akash or space, “bhumih, apah, analah, vayuh, kham”, the pancabhutas or five elements. Now we know that space is not empty but is filled with energy particles, and hence it can be equated with Consciousness Itself. To these five elements are added three more, namely mind, intellect, or the faculties of cognition and judgment, and the ego or attachment to the body, “manah, buddhih, eva ca ahamkarah” making a total of eight characteritics of nature, “bhinna prakrtih astadha”.(VII:4), as explaind earlier. In addition to these, the Consciousness endows suitably evolved matter with life force, to sustain the created beings. “jivabhutam yaya idam dharyate jagat” (VII:5). Life force, mind and intelligence are also forms of energy, three among the many in the Cosmos.They exist in the Universe as aspects of cosmic energy and fractions of them become individualized when the Consciousness manifests in beings. The living body with the help of the mind becomes aware of its surroundings. In the case of man, he is not only aware of his environment but is also aware of his own existence.The living body thus activated by the Atman, is the Jivatma, mentioned earlier. It is the instrument of the Atman to function in the world. Since it is activated by the Atman and is associated with it, it is equally divine. Here it is to be clearly understood that the Jivatma is completely individualized, and multiple, while the Atman is single and is common to all beings, and cannot be divided. This body is called Kshetra and the Jivatman who is aware of it and resides in it is known as the Kshetrajna. “idam sariram, ksetrem iti abhidhiyate. etat yah vetti tam, prahuh ksetrajna” (XIII:1). In other words, the Atman, manifesting as the Jivatma, is the Ksetrajna in all the bodies. “ksetrajnam ca api mam sarva ksetresu” (XIII:2). *
Death
All the manifested objects, both living and non-living are subject to decay and death, since they all originated from energy which is subject to constant change. What is death? What happens to the beings when they die? In the lower animals which have no ability to know about the Creator, namely the Consciousness, their bodies after death get dismantled back to energy and merge with the energy in space.Thus they take part in the energy-material body-energy cycle, which is an essential part of the functioning of the manifested Universe. But the case is different in the case of the human. Man, being endowed with a well developed mind and intelligence, is given an opportunity to understand about the Creator and thus is in a position to revert back, after death not only into energy state but to Consciousness Itself. Incidentally, the energies who are themselves referred to as devas are not capable of returning to the state of Consciousness since they, unlike man, do not possess a mind or intelligence, to know about the creator.In other words, these two cosmic forms of energy are probably not usable by them due to lack of suitable instruments. Hence our scriptures declare that to be born as a human being is rare, and even devas want to be born as humans! “jantunam narajanmam durlabham”. This state, of reverting back to Consciousness, after death is the Brahman state, also called Brahma-nirvanam or oneness with Brahman. “esa brahmi sthitih, antakale api, brahma nirvanam rcchati” (II:72).Of all the variety of forces functioning in the Universe, by far the strongest primordial force is that of attraction. This force causes the attraction of everything to everything else in the Universe. This powerful universal force is what is commonly referred to as Love and is manifested by every created object. It is the same force which causes the Consciousness to attract everything back to Itself, all that was separated from It, in the process of manifestation. While the attraction of the energy of the lower beings, after death, back to the energy in the Cosmos is an automatic process, return of the human being, after death, to the Consciousness is not an automatic process. Man has to strive for that. If he does not, his fate is the same as that of the lower forms, but with a difference. The Jivatman, the lord of the body, while living in the body accumulates certain traits, which he carries with him into the cosmos after death. It is like the wind carrying the scent from the flowers and other sources.“sariram yat avapnoti yat, ca api utkramati, isvarah grhitva etani, samyati, vayuh gandhan iva asayat” (XV:8). We already saw that the Jivatman is the living body that is activated by the Atman for the purpose of Its functioning in the world. It has three components, the materialistic body, the life force and the mind-intelligence complex. The body being matter, is converted back to energy on being cremated or by disintegrating in the earth after burial.The life force, and intelligence, being cosmic forces, are immortal and hence on leaving the body they mingle with those in the cosmos.
The Atman, being synonymous with the Consciousness does not go anywhere, but, the enclosing matter having been dismantled, simply merges with the Consciousness outside. This is beautifully illustrated by the well known ‘madka’ philosophy, which describes how when a pot is broken, the space inside it merges with the space outside.Thus the Atman is always existent and is immortal. It is the real person in the human body. Krishna, obviously referring to the Atman, tells Arjuna, “Neither of these ruling princes, and nor you and I were nonexistent before, and nor shall we cease to exist in the future”. “na tu eva aham jatu na asam na, tvam na, ime janadhipah na, ca eva na, bhavisyamah sarve vayam atah param” (II:12). All bodies have an end. “antavantah ime dehah” (II:18).). Consciousness or the Atman is immutable and no one can destroy It. “vinasam avyayasya asya na kascit kartum arhati” (II:17). The body is unreal while Atman is the real. The unreal does not exist and the real never ceases to exist.“na asatah vidyate bhavah, na abhavah vidyate satah” (II:16). The Atman is neither born, nor does It die. “na jayate mryate va kadacit” (II:20). It is eternal, all-pervading, immovable, stable and everlasting. “nityah, sarvagatah, sthanuh, acalah, ayam sanatanah” (II:24). Since Consciousness or the Atman is ever-lasting, Krishna says that He knows all the beings of the past present and future, but no one knows Him, “veda, aham samatitani, vartamanani ca, bhavisyani ca, bhutani mam tu veda kascana” (VII:26), because He is veiled by Yoga Maya “yoga maya samavrtah” (VII:25).
Rebirth
Then, what else, besides the life force and intelligence, goes out? What is rebirth? The mind, which originally came from the cosmic mind, hence also immortal, goes out. It should, like the others, merge with its source, the Cosmic Mind, but it is unable to, because it had become corrupted and impure during the lifetime of the individual. This truth can be illustrated by a simple analogy. Sugar candy when placed in water will go into solution, inseparably becoming one with the water. The same candy, if it is first immersed in molten wax and then placed in water will not dissolve and will mainain its identity. To enable it to go into solution the wax coating will have to be removed first. Simiarly the impurities which cover the mind prevent it from merging with the Cosmic Mind. By identifying itself with a particular body, and thereby acquiring a feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, the mind starts considering itself as a separate, but imaginary, individual, the ego. The ego, completely overcome by body consciousness, is functioning during the life time as an independant entity. This leads on to the acquisition of a karmic load.
What does this karmic load consist of? An ego-centered man goes on multiplying his desires so much that many of them will not be fulfilled before he leaves the body. Similarly a man does many actions with the sole motive of reaping the fruits of such actions. Again many of these motive oriented actions may not fructify before he leaves this world. Thirdly, the body based ego developes during life a variety of attachments, which keep the individual ego, world oriented even after it leaves the body.All these three constitute the karmic load for the mind-ego complex. This load goes on accumulating birth after birth. Though at every birth some of it, called the Prarabdha karma, is got rid of, further karmic load, known as Agami karma is added during the currency of the new birth, so that there is a growing left over balance, known as the Sanchita karma. Besides these, every action done by the individual leaves behind an impression on his mind, and these are also carried over by the mind, after death of the body. These are called Vasanas and they influnce the actions of the individual in his new birth. This ego-centered mind force, burdened with the karmic load as explained above, because of which is unable to merge wth the Cosmic Mind, keeps waiting, in a formless state, in the energy mode, to enter into a new form, wherein it may get a fresh opportunity to render itself pure. But, of course, there is no certainty that it will be able to get rid of the impurities, while there is every possibility that more of them may accrue in that new stint in life.Thus as long as the impurities are still there the ego keeps on coming back repeatedly, entering new bodies as they are created out of the energy in space. This process of death and rebirth is just like a man casting off worn out clothes and putting on new ones. The Jiva casts off worn out bodies of the previous birth and enters into new bodies in the next birth.“vasamsi jirnani, yatha vihaya, navani grhnati narah aparani, tatha, sarirani vihaya jirnani, anyani samyati navani, dehi” (II:22). Thus, all beings are unmanifested in the beginning, manifested in form in the middle, and unmanifested again in the end. “avyaktadini bhutani, vyakta madhyani, avyakta nidhanani” (II:28).
Is there any thing which may determine the type of rebirth, a man gets?It is almost impossible to know the real mechanism by which a suitable body and environment are chosen for each waiting ego, since the karmic load of each must be different. Krishna says that whatever a man thinks of at the last moment of the approaching death of his body, he attains that. But it is obvious that only those thoughts in which he had been absorbed continuously during life will come to his mind at the last moment.“yam yam va api smaran bhavam, tyajati ante kalevaram, tam tam eva eti, sada tad bhava bhavitah ” (VIII:6). There is no way of proving this, and we have to accept Krishna’s words and those of other scriptures. He says that at the time of death going out, leaving the body behind, if one remembers Him alone will, without any doubt, reach Him only. “antakale ca, mam eva smaran, muktva kalevaram, yah prayati sah, madbhavam yati, na asti atra samsayah” (VIII:5). So He advises that all the time man should think of Him only, so that it will become a habit with him. Then, with his mind and intellect fixed on Him he will surely reach Him only, avoiding rebirth. “tasmat sarvesu kalesu mam anusmara, ca mayi arpita manah buddhih, mam eva esyasi, asamsayah” (VIII:7). “prayana kale, sah tam param purusam upaiti” (VIII:10). After reaching Him there is no rebirth. “punar janma na vidyate” (VIII:16). Of course for a person to be constantly absorbed in the thought of the Lord, his life and actions should have been such as to avoid gathering of the karmic load. Fixing the mind and intellect on Him means, developing a steady Atmic consciousness. That is possible only by meditation. Krishna describes the details of the practice of this yoga, which we shall see later.
Purpose of creation of man
What is the purpose of the Supreme Consciousness in creating man with great evolutionary effort, spread over a long period of time, over seven hundred million years, starting with microbes in the vast oceans that covered the earth? Enlightened scientists say that the Consciousness wanted an instrument to reveal Its own vast unlimited powers. None of the species of animals in the lower rungs of the evolutionary ladder, other than man, as mentioned earlier, is capableof this task. Secondly, the Consciousness was alone in the beginning, and there was no one to know It. As It wanted to know Itself, It separated Itself from Itself, and evolved the human being. Man is the only being capable of asking the quetion, ‘Who am I?’ and arrive at the answer that he is himself the Consciousness in a physical frame.That is the reason why millions of species created during the long period of time had to be allowed by nature to become extinct. Only those which could help in the maintenance of life, especially human, on the earth, were allowed to thrive. Of course this fact should not lead to the erroneous idea that man is the ruler of the manifested Universe, but it should, on the other hand, enable him to realize the oneness of the creation. Now what is the final aim of life after man finishes the above work allotted to him by the Supreme? It is obvious that he has to return to the source from whch he manifested. The owner of the instrument will also be equally interested in taking it back to Himself, after its alloted work is over, because He loves it! “mat karmakrt mat paramah mad bhaktah sah mam eti” (XI:55). This final outcome is called ‘Mukhti’, the summum bonum of life.This state is the same as ‘Brahma nirvanam’ refered to earlier.
This final goal can be reached only by undertaking spiritual practices as will be detailed below. But all those who take to spirituality have to practice certain preliminary and accompanying steps of austerity.Tapas or austerity refers to leading a stern and simple life as a prelude to and accompanying all spiritual activities. They are procedures adopted to renew and rejuvenate oneself, to lift onself from the lower to a higher order of existence.Tapas is of three forms, one concerning the body, the second concerning speech and the third that of the mind. Worship of the devas, the twice born, the teachers and the wise people, along with purity, straight forwardness, celibacy, and ahimsa, is called austerity of the body “deva, dvija guru, prajna, pujanam, saucam, arjavam, brahmacaryam, ahimsa ca, sariram tapah ucyate” (XVII:14). Austerity of speech consists of, that which causes no excitement, which is truthful and beneficial, and of recitation of sacred texts “anudvegakaram vakyam, satyam, priya hitam, ca yat, svadhyaya abhyasanam ca eva, vanmayam tapah ucyate” (XVII:15). Thirdly, serenity of the mind, good heartedness, silence, self control, and purity of nature, constitute austeriy of the mind. “manah prasadah, saumyatvam, maunam, atma vinigrahah, bhava samsuddhih, iti etat tapah manasam ucyate” (XVII:16).
For those taking to spirituality with the ultimate goal of reaching and merging with the Consciousness, three paths are available, namely the path of action or Karma, the path of knowledge or Jnana, and that of devotion or Bhakti. All the three are called Yogas, Karma yoga, Jnana yoga and Bhakti yoga. The word ‘yoga’, literally means ‘to yoke’; it enables the human being to join or link with, and to merge into, the Divine. As we proceed to discuss the three paths, it should not be construed that one is higher than the other. They are all equally effective but the time taken to reach the goal may vary with each type of practice; one may be direct and quick while the others may take time. The suitability of a particular method may depend on the gunas or attributes of each sadhaka. First we shall discuss the Karma yoga, the path of action.
Action
Anyone, who carefully observes the Universe, will understand that it is not an inert entity but an enormous and continuous activity is going on in it. What is this activity? An in-depth analysis will reveal that all activity is energy based, and it involves, in essence, a continuous process of one form of energy changing into another, including condensation into matter and its subsequent dismantling.Just as in the case of all living beings, man’s activity also involves such a process. The energy he has taken in, in the form of food is again converted into energy and spent as he indulges in physical activities and in thinking. What is the basis of this activity in man? In the human body there are five factors responsible for undertaking actions. They are the body itself, which is made up of energy, the Jivatman who is the real agent, the various senses, the different functions of energy as mentioned above, and fifthly the presiding deity or the Atman. “adhisthanam tatha karta, karanam ca prthagvidham, vividhah ca prthak cestah, daivam ca eva, atra pancamam” (XVIII:14). The so-called creation is not a one time phenomenon but a continuous activity going on in the Universe. As we know the human body is made up of trillions of cells, each one of them engaged in some designated activity, with the sole objective of keeping the body alive and functioning. Since energy, by nature, cannot remain bottled up, it has to come out of the confinement and function. The Universe is the body of the Supreme Consciousness and each living being is like a cell in that body. All living beings have to be continuously involved in action to keep the Universe functioning. Here one has to differentiate between activity and action or work. In our day-to-day life actions happen in three different ways: one is an unconscious activity where the body mechanism is working automatically without our being aware of it. The second is sub-conscious work, wherein any work done by us repeatedly becomes embedded in the sub-conscious mind and thereafter it is carried out without our being consciously aware of it. The third is the work we undertake and carry out consciously.This third type is obligatory, and is, as explained above, the first Dharma of all living beings. No one, including Avtars, can escape action.There is nothing to be done by Divinity in all the three worlds or anything to be attained by acting, and still when It manifests as an Avtar, It has to perform actions.“na me asti kartavyam, trisu lokesu, kimcana na anavaptam avaptavyam varte, eva ca karmani” (III:22) says Krishna and adds, “these worlds would perish if I do not perform action”.“utsideyuh ime lokah na kuryam karma cet aham” (III:24). Moreover an Avtar’s work is not only to preach but also to set an example by its own life, itself performing actions, so that human beings will follow His example. “yadi hi aham na varteyam jatu karmani atandritah, mama vartma, anuvartante manusyah sarvasah” (III:23). Its life has to be Its message!
Let us go into some more details about this yoga of action. Action is one of the two paths given in the beginning by the Supreme, the path of knowledge for the discerning individual and that of work for the active. “loke asmin dvividha nistha, pura prokta maya, jnanayogena samkhyanam, karmayogena yoginam” (III:3). The word samkhya means the discerning, those having deep or true insight. This path of action is quite mysterious. One has to distinguish between action, forbidden action and inaction. “karmanah hi api boddhavyam, boddhavyam ca vikarmanah, akarmanah ca boddhavyam, gahana karmanah gatih” (IV:17). Yogi is one who is dedicated to action. Who is a Yogi? He is a yogi who sees inaction, that is, the actionless Atman in action, and action in inaction. This may appear to be a confusing statement, but has a very deep significance. The yogi realizes all his own actions are initiated and guided by the Atman which is Itself actionless, but It is the one which makes the yogi’s body act. Such a yogi, performing all actions, is wise among men, says Krishna. “karmani akarma yah pasyet, akarmani ca karma yah, sah buddhiman manusyesu, sah yuktah krtsnakarmakrt” (IV:18). Man cannot reach the final state of actionlessness, that is freedom from all actions, which means Atmasakshatkaram, becoming one with the Atman, simply by avoiding action or knowingly renouncing action.“na karmanam anarambhat, naiskarmyam purusah asnute na, ca samnyasanat eva, siddhim samadhigacchati” (III:4). There is a common feeling that by avoiding the activities of the world, and taking to sanyasa or renunciation one can reach the Supreme. It is true that both renunciation and performance of action can lead to liberation or bliss, but of the two action is superior. “samnyasah, karmayogah ca, nihsreyasakarau ubhau, tayoh, tu karmasamnyasat karmayogah visisyate” (V:2). No one can remain without performing actions even for a moment, because action, as mentioned above, is the very nature of all beings created out of Prakrti, which is basically manifested energy, and energy as we already know is dynamic. “na hi kascit ksanam api, jatu tisthati akarmakrt, karyate hi avasah karma sarvah prakrtijaih gunaih” (III:5). If a person sits actionless by controlling his organs of action, but his mind constantly dwelling in the sense objects, he is still allowing the mind energy to function. Such a person is one with deluded understanding, a hypocrite.“karmendriyani samyamya yah aste, manasa smaran indriyarthan, vimudhatma mithyacarah sah ucyate” (III:6). On the other hand, one who controls his sense organs with his mind and dispassionately engages his organs of action in work, is far superior to the other. “yah tu indriyani manasa niyamya, arabhate karmendriyaih karmayogam, asaktah, sah visisyate” (III:7). Moreover, action is superior to inaction because even one’s own body cannot be maintained without action.“karma jyayah hi akarmanah, sarirayatra api ca te na prasiddhyet, akarmanah” (III:8).
Dedicated action done for the benefit of others is called Yajna, which literally means sacrifice.The ritualistic Yajna performed by man, as a part of his worship, with the aim of getting something from the worshipped deity, cannot be considered as self-dedication. We shall refer to it later.If actions are performed without self-dedication, without the motive of sacrifice, such actions, not being free from attachment, cause bondage, which in turn, is detrimental to man’s spiritual progress. “yajnarthat karmanah, anyatra lokah ayam karma bandhanah, tad artham, karma mukta sangah samacara” (III:9). Actions are to be dedicated to the Self, the Atman. That is the real meaning of Self-dedication. They should be undertaken with the full awareness that all work is His, and surrendering them to Him, with the mind centred on the Self, without hoping for any personal benefits, and free from ownership.“mayi sarvani karmani samnyasya, adhyatmacetasa, nirasih, nir mamah” (III:30).What does it mean , to surrender all work to Him? The karma yogi performs actions without the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, without egoism.He thinks that he does not, of his own volition, do anything at all, but it is the Atman who does everything, or makes him perform all actions.This includes even the common bodily activities like seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping, breathing, speaking, letting go, seizing, opening and closing the eyes, which he thinks that his senses are performing, but are actually being performed by the Atman. “na eva kimcit karomi, iti yuktah manyeta, tattvavit, pasyan, srnvan, sprsan, jighran, asnan, gacchan, svapan, svasan, pralapan, visrjan, grhnan, unmisan nimisan api, indriyani indriyarthesu vartante, iti dharayan” (V:8-9). This dedication of all activities to the Supreme is not easy, because even for a wise man striving for perfection the turbulant senses violently carry away the mind. “yatatah hi api, purusasya vipascitah, indriyani pramathini, haranti prasabham manah” (II:60). In a person who has controlled his senses, his wisdom is constant “vase hi yasya indriyani, tasya prajna pratisthita” (II:61).
The second part of the advice, Krishna gives regarding action, is that one has only the obligation to work but not have a desire for its fruits. Gain should not be the motive for work. Such a person, who has abandoned attachment to the fruits of action, is contented because he is not dependant on anything. Though engaged in action, he is not really doing anything himself. In other words it is the Atman which is getting actions done through him. “tyaktva karmaphalasangam, nityatrptah, nirasrayah, karmani abhipravrttah api, na eva kimcit karoti sah” (IV:20). A question that may arise here is, ‘then why should I, with all those conditions, undertake work?’ Krishna warns against inaction, using this argument. We have only a right to perform duty, and not to lay claim to the fruits thereof. This does not mean that fruits of actions when they come, on their own without looking for them, should not be enjoyed. Man has right to enjoy them, when they come but has no right to make them the objective of his actions. Fruits of action should not be his motive. But this should not be the argument against performing action. “karmani eva adhikarah te, ma phalesu kadacana, ma karma phala hetuh bhuh, ma te sangah astu akarmani” (II:47). Working with the attitude of non-attachment to fruit, one gets peace, and freedom from bondage. On the other hand one who is impelled by desire for the fruit gets bound. “yuktah, karma phalam tyaktva, santim apnoti naisthikim, ayuktah kamakarena phale saktah, nibaddhyate” (V:12). How does he get bound? When the fruits expected by him do not materialize, he developes a sense of disappointment and despair that is carried in his mind adding to his karmic load. On the other hand one who, aspiring for nothing, controlling his mind and ego, abandoning all possessiveness, performs actions by his body alone, incurs no sin. “nirasih, yatacittatma, tyakta sarva parigrahah, sariram kevalam, karma kurvan, na apnoti k1ilbisam” (IV:21).Because he is performing selfless work, he does not acquire any karma. For him who performs work as selfless sacrifice, who is unattached, liberated wth his mind fixed in Atmajnana, all binding karma melts away. “gatasangasya, muktasya, jnanavasthita cetasah, yajnaya acaratah, karma samagram praviliyate” (IV:23). What is the mechanism involved here? When a person is doing dedicated selfless work, his ego is subdued. Ego is the cause for all bondage and is the container or pot which carries all the karmic load from one birth to another. So in the absence of or by breaking the pot, all binding karma melts away.
Performance of such obligatory duty without attachment is the sure way for man to reach the Supreme. “asaktah satatam karyam, karma samacara asaktah param apnoti purusah” ( III:19).The supremacy of action is stressed by Krishna when He says that even if one is unable to practise meditation it is enough if one performs duties for His sake,dedicating all actions to Him. “abhyase api asamarthah, asi matkarma paramah bhava, mad artham api karmani kurvan, siddhim avapsyasi” (XII:10).One who performs his duty with this attitude realizes that such action itself amounts to a great ritualistic yajna wherein everything, the Godhead to be propitiated, the offerings, the fire into which the offerings are made, and the one who is offering are all the same Atman. The offerings as well as the one who offers and the fire are only modifications of energy manifesting out of Consciousness. He who understands this and peforms action accordingly reaches that Godhead, that is to say, he attains Atmasakshatkaram. “brahma arpanam, brahma havih, brahmagnau, brahmana hutam, brahma eva tena gantavyam, brahma karma samadhina” (IV:24). Krishna goes further by saying that if one is not able to do even this, he can, relying on Him, simply subduing the ego, abandon the fruits of all actions. “atha etat api asaktah asi kartum, mad yogam asritah, sarva karma phala tyagam, tatah kuru, yatatmavan” (XII:11). This is better than knowledge, ritualistic practices, and even meditation, because renouncing the fruits of action is immediately followed by peace. “sreyah hi jnanam abhyasat, jnanat dhyanam visisyate, dhyanat karma phala tyagah, tyagat santih anantaram” (XII:12). He adds that one can reach the Self by this karma yoga. “apare pasyanti atmanam karma yogena” (XIII:24), because the karma yogi, since he believes that all actions are those of the Self, constantly keeps his attention on the Atman. He is like a worker who who works hard and diligently, since he is aware of the presence of his master, who is constantly watchig. Krishna says that this yoga of action is an ancient one and is the supreme secret which He taught to Arjuna because he was His devotee and friend. “sah eva ayam maya te adya yogah proktah puratanah, bhaktah asi me sakha ca, iti rahasyam hi etat uttamam” (IV:3), and we are lucky to be privy to it even without our having the qualifications, Arjuna had!
It was seen above, that actions done with selfish motive cause bondage. What does this mean? On of the important concepts enunciated in our scriptures is the theory of binding Karma. Karma in this context includes all work undertaken by the ego of man, totally ignoring the presence of the Atman inside him. Such karma adheres to the mind force in man and renders it impure. Such impure mind, as was explained earlier, is unable to merge with the Universal Mind after death of the individual. On the other hand all work dedicated to the Atman with full knowledge that it is only the Atman that is making him act, the bonds of karma can be broken. “imam srnu buddhya yuktah yaya, karma bandham prahasyasi” (II:39).
Here we should consider another aspect of action or Karma yoga. While dedicating all actions to the Atman or the Self, is the highest law of life, the term self-dedication also means acts of offering for welfare of others.While in the former the giver gains all the benefits, the Atman or the divine forces to whom all actions are offered have nothing to gain nor do they have any need. In the case offerings made to the welfare of others, both the giver as well as the receiver stand to gain. This type of offering is referred to as Yajna, which literally means sacrifice. Yajnas are performed with various objectives. They may be performed to destroy wickedness in the world, like fighting righteous wars for the welfare of mankind, for the welfare of the society, to which everyone owes his living and progress.It is an act of sharing what one has, with those who were in a direct or indirect way responsible for its growth. Work of any kind performed for the welfare of others, and that too with the full understanding of the totality of creation, that all creatures are the Lord’s forms, such work becomes a yajna.
Our scriptures declare that the act of creation or manifestation by the Divine Consciousness itself is a Yajna performed by It, sacrificing Itself, a part of Itself, in that act. By this creative act Consciousness has set an example for mankind. “sahayajnah prajah srstva pura, uvaca prajapatih, anena prasavisyadhvam, esah vah astu ista kama dhuk” (III:10). This example was given to man with the objective of enabling him to get his desires fulfilled. But it should not be taken as a selfish act for personal gain. Here both the giver and the receiver are benefitted. The giver enjoys more prosperity, often getting more than what he offered. Since what he offered to the created was to the Creator Himself, he receives more from the Creator than what he gave as offering. If one does not return to the Creator what he has received from Him but only enjoys what was given to him is really a thief, says Krishna “taih dattan apradaya ebhyah, yah bhunkte stenah eva sah” (III:12). Returning to the Creator does not mean giving to Him, since He does not require anything from us. It means that since He is present in all His creation, offering anything to the created goes to Him only.
This act of selfless service is symbolically represented in the ritualistic Vedic sacrifices performed with the recitation of appropriate mantras or holy verses. Such rituals are traditionally offered with the lighting of the sacred fire and offerings made into it. Generally such rituals are directed to the various Devas, who represent the various forms of energies manifested in the Universe. Since they all originate from the Supreme Divine, they are also considered divine. In the worldly sense they can be considered as messengers that will carry our prayers to the Supreme Divine. Some times they are offered to the Supreme Itself.These yajnas are performed sometimes by individuals for their personal good and sometimes by the society for the welfare of all. If we carefully observe the articles that are offered into the sacred fire we can see that they are all objects which nourish and protect us in our worldly life. We know that all objects are only condensed forms of energies derived from the Universe. The performer of the Yajna is only returning some of those objects back into energy, as thanks- giving, using the services of another form of energy, Agni.There cannot be anything more effective than fire to get all matter back into the energy mode. Krishna says that by nourishing the Devas with Yajna, they in turn will nourish us and nourishing each other we can gain the supreme good.“devan bhavayata anena, te devah bhavayantu vah, parasparam bhavayantah sreyah param avapsyatha” (III:11). He says that by cherishing the Devas by the yajnas, they in turn will give us all the objects of enjoyment desired by us “istan bhogan hi vah devah dasyante yajnabhavitah” (III:12).
The scriptural injunction is that the yajnas are to be performed as a daily obligation by everyone.But that need not involve elaborate rituals like in those performed on special occasions. These are referred to as nitya karmas and are of five kinds, the panca maha yajnas.The five are: Deva yajna, the worship of the Divine; Rishi yajna, the devotional reading of scriptures authored by the Rishis; Pitru yajna, service to one’s living parents, or gratefully remembering them if they are dead; Nara yajna, performing some good act for the benefit of the community, may be by daily offering of food or some charity to other human beings in the society; lastly Bhuta yajna, offerings made to other kinds of living beings which may include animals, birds and even insects, with the full knowledge that the Lord abides in all creatures. The importance of these daily yajnas is stressed by Krishna, by taking food as a symbolic representation of the offering. People who eat after performing the yajnas are freed from all sins while those who cook food only for themselves are sinners.“yajnasistasinah santah mucyante, sarva kilbisaih, bhunjate tu agham papah, ye pacanti atmakaranat” (III:13). The words ‘sin’ and ‘sinners; should be understood correctly.They are not meant to frighten people but to remind them that they are part of the totality and it will be wrong judgment to think themselves to be independent of the rest of the creation. This wrong judgment is called sin. In other words one should partake in food only after performing the above five yajnas or offerings. This kind of life followed by everyone forms the basis for the great wheel of life on the earth, the wheel of energy condensing into matter and matter reverting back to energy. He says that beings come from food, food is produced by rain, and rain is produced by sacrifice or yajna. “annat bhavanti bhutani, parjanyat annasambhavah, yajnat bhavati parjanyah” (III:14). Those who do not understand and follow this wheel of life on the earth, but rejoice only in their personal sensual life, a sinful life, they live in vain. “evam pravartitam cakram na anuvartayati iha, yah aghayuh indriyaramah, mogham sah jivati” (III:16). Of course all these injunctions do not apply to the individual who has already realized the Atman and is rejoicing in his Self, has attained Atma sakshatkaram “yah tu atmaratih eva, syat atmatrptah ca, manavah atmani eva ca samtustah, tasya karyam na vidyate” (III:17). This is so because, for him there is nothing to be obtained by doing action or to lose by not doing action. He no longer depends on anybody or on anything because he has become one with the Atman, who is actionless, and looks after all his needs “na eva tasya krtena arthah, na akrtena, iha kascana na ca asya sarvabhutesu kascit arthavyapasrayah”(III:18).He will automatically observe all the injunctions with the full knowledge that he is part of the Totality.
Renunciation or sannyasa
Ordinarily the word sannyasa raises in the minds of people the idea that one should renounce the world, wear saffron clothes and go to the mountains or forest to do tapas.When Krishna talks of renunciation He does not imply this meaning. The word refers only to mentally renouncing, but the person continuing to remain in the society. The sages understand sannyasa as renunciation of kamya karma or desireful actions, it is the abandonment of fruits of all works “kamyanam karmanam nyasam samnyasam, kavayah viduh, sarva karma phala tyagam, prahuh tyagam vicaksanah” (XVIII:2). Here a question arises, whether all actions are to be abandoned as evil or only those other than acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity are to be relinquished. “tyajyam dosa vat iti eke karma, prahuh manisinah, yajna, dana, tapah, karma na tyajyam, iti ca apare” (XVIII:3). Krishna says that renunciation is of three kinds. The ritualistic yajnas, giving away gifts and austerity should not be abandoned since they help wise people to purify themselves. “yajna, dana, tapah karma, na tyajyam, karyam, eva tat yajnah danam tapah ca, eva pavanani manisinam” (XVIII:5). But even these actions should be performed, giving up attachment to the fruits of such actions. “etani api tu karmam sangam tyaktva phalani ca, kartavyani” (XVIII:6). So it is imposible for any embodied being to totally renounce actions, because it is made of both inert matter and active energy. But the person who renounces the fruits of actions is considered to be one who has really renounced. “na hi dehabhrta sakyam tyaktum karmani asesatah, yah tu karma phala tyagi, sah tyagi, iti abhidhiyate” (XVIII:11). Then what is the difference between those who relinquish all actions and those who relinquish only the fruits of actions. The fruits that accrue from actions may be good, evil, or mixed and one who does not relinquish them, acquire those fruits after death. On the other hand those who relinquish them the fruits do not accrue at all. If at all any fruits come they are accepted with gratitude and enjoyed by the person then and there. The sannyasi does not expect anything and hence no unfulfiled desires are left at the time of his death and no karmic load added. “anistam, istam, misram ca trividham karmanah phalam, bhavati atyaginam pretya, na tu samnyasinam kvacit” (XVIII:12).
According to Krishna a sannyasin is one who does not hate anyone, has no desires, is free from pairs of opposites and is free from bondage. “jneyah sah nitya samnyasi, yah na dvesti, na kanksati, nirdvandvah, hi sukham bandhat pramucyate” (V:3).This state which is reached by persons who practise jnana yoga, the samkhyas, is reachable by the karma yogi also, since the latter sees both jnana and karma as one. “yat samkhyaih prapyate sthanam, tat yogaih api gamyate, ekam samkhyam ca yogam ca, yah pasyati sah pasyati” (V:5).As mentioned earlier He says that it is hard to attain sannyasa without karma yoga. The one who has reached this state is not tainted by sins and remains pure as the lotus leaf on water. “lipyate na sah papena, padma patram iva ambhasa” (V:10). This is so because now the karmayogi performs actions with his body, mind, intellect and senses only for self purification. “kayena, manasa, buddhya kevalaih, indriyaih api, yoginah karma kurvanti, sangam tyaktva atmasuddhaye” (V:11). Such a person, who has mentally renouncd all actions rests happily and self controlled in the nine gated city, neither acting nor causing to act “sarva karmani manasa samnyasya, aste sukham vasi, nava dvare pure, dehi na eva kurvan na karayan” (V:13). The nine gated city refers to the body, the puri. He rests, means that he constantly remains aware of the Atman, the Purusha. Having identified himself with the Atman he remains actionless, performing only with his body any further action that comes on his way. As mentioned earlier, all his taints have been dispelled by knowledge and once he has reached the supreme goal through this Atma nishta, he does not return, is not reborn. “tad atmanah tannisthah, tat parayanah gacchanti, apunaravrttim, jnana nirdhuta kalmasah” (V:17). Since his happiness is within, he delights remaining within, and is illuminated within, he becomes Brahman Himself, attaining Brahma nirvanam. “yah antah sukhah, antararamah, tatha antarjyotih eva, yah sah yogi brahma nirvanam brahma bhutah adhigacchati” (V:24).
The obligatory duties of man fall under two categories: One concerned with ordinary people who are engaged with the upkeep of their bodies and earning a livelihood. The second refers to spiritually oriented and advanced individuals, whose obligatory duties we had already discussed. In both the cases giving up the obligaotry duties shows ignorance and that is to be considered as tamasic. “niyatasya tu samnyasah karmanah, na upapadyate, mohat tasya parityagah tamasah” (XVIII:7).Some people abandon action which involves bodily trouble, because it is painful. Such an abandonment is considered rajasic and they do not gain any benfits from that renunciation “duhkam iti eva yat karma kaya klesa bhayat tyajet sah krtva rajasam, tyagam na eva tyaga phalam labhet” (XVIII:8). Second, when obligatory work is done, by abandoning attachment and the fruits thereof, that renunciation is to be regarded as sattvik. “karyam iti eva yat karma niyatam kriyate, sangam tyaktva phalam ca eva sah tyagah sattvikah matah” (XVIII:9). Such a sattvik relinquisher develops steady understanding and all his doubts are dispelled. Then he neither hates diagreeable work nor is he attached to agreeable work. He does not differentiate between the two. “na dvesti akusalam karma, kusale na anusajjate, tyagi sattva samavistah medhavi chinna samsayah” (XVIII:10).
Knowledge.
We had already discussed in detail about the pathway of action.The second is the pathway of knowledge. What is knowledge? Knowledge is of two types: The first pertains to the two Ksetras or the bodies, the perishable body of man and the body of Totality, the Universe, which, though subject to changes, is indestructible, till it is withdrawn by the Creator.The second type of knowledge pertains to the Ksetrajna or the one who owns and resides in both these bodies.It is the same Consciousness which in Its unmanifested and manifested modes owns the Universal body as well as all the bodies of man and of other beings.The Ksetrajna of the Universal body is the Supreme Consciousness., functioning through the energies manifesting from Itself. The Ksetrajna of the individual bodies of beings is the Atman, identical with the Consciousnes, who functions through the Jivatman. Every human being is aware of his body but very few are aware of the Jivatman and the Atman, both residing in the same body. Incidentally, the very scene in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, with both Krishna and Arjuna riding the chariot, symbolizes the endless war that goes on inside each one of us, a fight between the evil and good forces. The chariot represents the body drawn by the horses, the senses, and driven by Krishna, the Atman. The actual fighter is Arjuna, the Jivatman, also seated in the same chariot. Knowledge, when it is limited to the bodies alone is not complete knowledge.Only knowledge of both, the body and the owner, together will constitute total knowledge, according to Krishna. “ksetra ksetrajnayoh jnanam tat jnanam matam mama” (XIII:2). Knowledge of the Atman who resides in the body is Self-knowledge. The constant perception of the Atman leads to the Truth, the Supreme Comsciousness, the ultimate goal of all knowledge. Actually that is true Knowledge. “adhyatma jnana nityatvam, tattva jnana artha darsanam etat jnanam” (XIII:11).
The Atman
Now let us consider the Atman in some more detail. of the many names used to refer to Krishna is ‘hrsikesah’ which means ruler of the senses. The Atman is the ruler of the senses, and Krishna identifies Himself with this ‘ksetrajna’. He is the Supreme Purusha, the great Lord and the supreme Self in the body, an onlooker, one who permits, supports and enjoys. “upadrasta, anumanta, ca bharta, bhokta, mahesvarah, paramatma, iti ca api uktah dehe, asmin purusah parah” (XIII:22). Seated in the hearts of all, It is the light of all lights, beyond darkness, It is knowledge, the knowable, the goal of all knowledge. “jyotisam api tat jyotih, tamasah param ucyate, jnanam, jneyam, jnanagamyam, hrdi sarvasya visthitam” (XIII:17). What does the Atman do in the body? Though It has no senses, yet, using the senses of the body, but unattached to them, It is experiencing the gunas through them. “sarva indriya vivarjitam, sarva indriya guna abhasam, asaktam, sarvabhrt, gunabhoktr ca” (XIII:14). Presiding over the senses, the ear, the eyes, the touch, the taste, smell and also the mind It enjoys the objects.“srotram, caksuh, sparsanam, ca rasanam, ghranam eva, ca adhisthaya manah ca, ayam visayan upasevate” (XV:9).
The Atman being the source of all energy in the Cosmos and the body being only condensed energy, all the activities of the Jivatma in the body are energy based. All the digestive and metabolic activities going on in the body are concerned with the conversion of energy form one form to another.The digestive juices found in the body have also been designated as ‘agni’. For example the juice secreted by the stomach is called ‘Jataragni’. They are aptly called agni, since food which is compressed energy is converted into usabe form of energy, by these juices, just like the role played by the fire in ritualistic Yajnas. The energy based activities of the body generate heat, which keeps the body warm.This is an essential sign of life in the body, since soon after death these activities stop and the body becomes cold. It means that the Atman has terminated Its support by withdrawing the life force from the being. All the energies in the living body are in a stage of equilibrium. When the body is engaged in actions, energy is expended and the equilibrium is disturbed. This state referred to by scientists as entropy, has to be set right by taking in new energy. New energy comes from four sources. First is the food we normally eat. Second is from the oxygen from the atmosphere, we breathe in. The third is from other living beings, including man, from whose energy-based bodies constant energy vibrations or waves are emanating, and are absorbed by other living forms. Fourthly there is the perennial source of energy, the Atman Itself, residing in the body. With the taking in of energy from these four sources and utilizing them, the Jivatma keeps the energies of the body in a state of equilibrium. This whole process in succinctly told by Krishna speaking from the position of His identity with the Atman.“aham, vaisvanara bhutva, praninam deham asritah, prana apana samayuktah, pacami annam, catur vidham”(XV:14). In short, He is the basis of all the metabolic activity in the living body.
From the above statements it should not be construed that the Atman Itself is directly involved in action. Just as the sun lights up the whole world without being part of it, the Lord of the field, the ksetram, illumines the whole field.“yatha prakasayati ekah krtsnam lokam imam ravih, ksetram, ksetri, tatha krtsnam prakasayati”(XIII:33).Only people with wrong understanding think that it is the Atman that is the agent of all actions.“tatra evam sati kartaram, atmanam, kevalam tu yah pasyati, akrta budditvat” (XVIII:16). All actions are done by the Prakrti alone, in the form of the Jivatma, and Atman Itself is actionless. “prakrtya eva ca karmani kriyamanani sarvasah,atmanam akartaram” (XIII:29). However all actions are induced by the Atman seated in all humans, and only through the mind gifted by It, all knowledge, memory as well as their loss result. So It is the ultimate source of the Vedas and the Vedanta, which were given to humanity by the Rishis, through the intuitive knowledge gifted to them by the Atman. “sarvasya ca, aham hrdi samnivistah, mattah smrtih jnanam apohanam ca, vedaih ca sarvaih, aham eva vedyah vedanta krt, vedavit eva ca, aham” (XV:15). It will be useful at this point to deviate from the subject under discussion, and to understand what is meant by the Rishis being gifted by intuitive knowledge by the Atman. In the human being the two halves of the brain , the right and the left, work in different ways.The left side works logically and is concerned with the mundane day-to-day activities of the individual. The right side works in an intuitive fashion and if trained can establish contact with the Cosmic mind and intelligence, to obtain higher knowledge directly from higher sources. This is what happens to the Rishis who are engaged in Atman induced spiritual activity, and obtain higher knowledge intuitively.
While the Jivatma, who as the real performer of actions, is the one who is likely to be corrupted by them, the Atman is not corrupted since It is Itself actionless. “paramatma sarirasthah api na karoti, na lipyate” (XIII:31). It is like space or Akasa which, though it contains all the bodies in itself, is not tainted-“akasam na upalipyate sarvatra” (XIII:32).The Atman is neither born nor does It die at any time.“na jayate, mriyate va kadacit”. When the body is destroyed the Atman is not killed because It is unborn, eternal, constant and ancient. “ajah, nityah, sasvatah, ayam puranah, na hanyate, hanyamane sarire” (II:20). This indweller of all the bodies is invulnerable. Hence wise people should not grieve for the dead. “dehi nityam avadyah, ayam dehe sarvasya” (II:30)… “gatasun na anusocanti panditah” (II:11).
The Unmanifested in the Universe
Now let us consider about this Ksetrajna of the Universal body. Beyond this unmanifested Consciousness filling the Universe, there is yet another or more of the Unmanifested, surrounding the Universe. That is eternal and does not perish even if the entire manifested Universe perishes or is withdrawn back into Consciousness, by Brahma. “parah tasmat tu bhavah, anyah avyaktah avyaktat, sanatanah, yah sah sarvesu bhutesu nasyatsu, na vinasyati”(VIII:20).This unmanifested is imperishable and has to be the ultimate goal of all human beings, after their soujourn on the earth is over. “avyaktah, aksarah, iti uktah tam ahuh, paramam gatim” (VIII:21).It must be again stressed here that Consciousness is one and indivisible and the three aspects, beyond the Universe, in the Universe and in the created beings are one and the same. The term Atman is often used as a common name to refer to all the three aspects
. Krishna gives some more details about Brahman, the Supreme Consciousness, the ultimate goal of the human being. Man can attain immortality only by knowing about that highest Being. “jneyam yat, tat pravaksyami, yat jnatva, amrtam asnute, anadimat param brahma, na sat, tat na asat, ucyate” (XIII:12). The pure Consciousness, in Its pre-manifestation state, cannot be described as manifest or unmanifest becaused at that original state It had no attributes and hence is beyond description or definition. It can neither be called ‘Sat’ nor ‘Asat’. Many scriptures describe It as ‘sunya’ or nothingness, since It is not an object of perception, ‘no-thing’. And yet the Consciousness, both in the unmanifested as well as in the manifested states in the Universe, can be comprehended to a certain extent by the human mind. A clear understanding of that state is only given to those who have developed a deep insight, based on wisdom. Enveloping everything in the manifested Universe, the Consciousness presents Itself with hands and feet, and eyes, heads, mouths and ears everywhere. “sarvatah pani padam, tat sarvatah aksi, sirah, mukham, sarvatah srutimat” (XIII:13). It is present inside as well as outside of all beings, It does not move because It is filling all space ouside, and yet as the indweller of all beings, It moves. For the same reason It is far and near.Because of Its subtle nature It eludes observation or analysis, and is, in that sense, incomprehensible. “bahih, antah ca, bhutanam acaram, caram eva, ca suksmatvat tat avijneyam, durastham ca, antike ca tat” (XIII:15). Dwelling in all beings It is beyond darkness, and is the light of all lights, since it is the source of light energy emanating from the sun and the stars. Shining inside the body of every being as the Atman It is like a lamp burning without oil and wick, and hence inextinguishable. It is knowledge itself and is also the goal of all knowledge, and is to be known by the beings. “jyotisam api tat jyotih, tamasah param ucyate, jnanam, jneyam, jnanagamyam, hrdi sarvasya visthitam” (XIII:17). It is Itself the final consummation of all knowledge. “jnanasya ya para” (XVIII:50).That is why It is refered to as ‘Prajnanam Brahma’. Acquiring this supreme knowledge, compared to a penance in fire, the fire of knowledge, one is purified and reaches the goal. “jnana tapasa putah mad bhavam agatah” (IV:10). One who is engaged in this penance soon realizes himself that there is no purifier higher than this. “na hi jnanena sadrsam pavitram, iha vidyate, tat svayam yoga samsiddhah,kalena atmani vindati” (IV:38). Acquisition of this knowledge, acts like a sword cutting away all the ignorance-born doubts about the Atman “ajnanasambhutam, jnanasina, atmanah chittva, enam samsayam” (IV::42). Another benefit that accrues from this is that his doubts are all cleared and his actions do not create any bondage “jnana samchinna samsayam, atmavantam na karmani, nibadhnanti” (IV::41). People who, like children, do not have deep understanding, who have immature understanding, think that performing actions is different from acquiring knowledge. On the contrary one who is truly, with full understanding, engaged in either of the two paths achieves the common goal of both, which is reaching the Supreme “samkhyayogau prthak, balah pravadanti na, panditah ekam api asthitah, samyak, ubhayoh vindate phalam” (V:4). One who is engaged in this task with great faith and devotion attains the knowledge and quickly reaches the Supreme goal “sraddhavan labhate jnanam, tatparah, samyatendriyah, jnanam labdhva, param santim acirena, adhigacchati” (IV:39).
The Totality
Another understanding that accrues to this knowledge seeking person is getting rid of all delusions and seeing the whole of creation in his own Self and in the Supreme. “yat jnatva,na punah moham evam yasyasi, yena, bhutani asesena draksyasi atmani, atho mayi” (IV:35).When one who is engaged in karmayoga realizes his own Self in all the beings, his actions are not binding, since he knows all his actions are part of the functioning of the Totality. “yogayuktah, sarvabhutatma bhutatma, kurvan api na lipyate” (V:7). A person who has steadied his mind by meditation sees himself in all beings and all beings in himself. “sarva bhuta stham, atmanam sarva bhutani, ca atmani iksate, yoga yuktatma, sarvatra sama darsanah” (VI:29).This man of Self-knowledge has an equal view of a highly learned and humble human being, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcaste and sage “vidya vinaya sampanne, brahmane, gavi, hastini, suni ca eva svapake, ca panditah, sama darsinah” (V:18). Such a person, who has an equal regard for the good-hearted, friends, enemies, neutrals, haters, relatives, saints and sinners, stands supreme among men. “suhrt, mitra, ari udasina, madhyastha, dvesya, bandhusu, sadhusu, api ca papesu, sama buddhih visisyate” (VI:9).
In those who have knowledge of the Self, their ignorance is destroyed and knowledge shines like the sun and reveals to them the Supreme Consciousness Itself. “jnanena tu tat ajnanam yesam nasitam, atmanah tesam, adityavat jnanam prakasayati tatparam” (V;16). A person who feels one with everything in creation naturally will himself feel all pleasure and pain, wherever they occur in the Universe. Surely he is a supreme person. “atmaupamyena, sarvatra samam pasyati, yah sukham va yadi va duhkham, sah yogi paramah matah” (VI: 32). When the body suffers every part of the body is in some way or other affected. Similarly if part of the body suffers, say from pain, the entire body and mind are involvd in it. No one is afraid of his own body nor does he hate any part of his body, because it is causing some trouble. For the one who is established in Totality, the Universe is his body and hence he is not afraid of or hate anything in the Universe. Krishna says that such a person, who sees Him everywhere and everything in Him, is never lost to Him and He is never lost to him either, in other words he is one with Him. “yah, mam pasyati sarvatra sarvam ca, mayi pasyati tasya aham, na pranasyami sah, ca me na pranasyati” (VI:30). Such a devotee, who is established in the Totality and worships the Atman abiding in all beings, really lives in the Atman, irespective of the type of life he leads. “sarva bhuta sthitam, yah mam bhajati, ekatvam asthitah sarvatha, vartamanah api, sah yogi mayi vartate” (VI:31). Such a wise man who is devoted to the Atman is dear to the Lord and the Lord is dear to him. “jnani, nitya yuktah eka bhaktih, priyah hi atyartham aham, sah ca mama priyah” (VII:17). The Lord considers him as Himself. “jnani tu atma eva me matam” (VII:18). It is hard to find such a wise man, a great soul, who at the end of many births has realized that all that is, is the Lord Himself, and reaches Him.“bahunam janmanam ante, jnanavan mam prapadyate, vasudeva sarvam iti, sah mahatma sudurlabhah” (VII:19).
It is this great truth, that all creation is one, representing the wholeness of the Universe and that everything abides in the Supreme Consciousness, was revealed to Arjuna by Krishna in His Visvarupa Dharsan. He says all the manifested forms, hundreds and thousands of them, of all colours and shapes are His only and indicates that, for that reason, they are all divine. “pasya, me rupani satasah atha sahasrasah, nanavidhani, divyani, nanavarna, akrtini ca” (XI:5). The whole Universe, moving and unmoving, all centered in One, forms part of His body. “iha ekastham jagat krtsnam, sacaracaram mama dehe” (XI:7). It is described as the Lord of the devas or divine energies and as the Abode of the Universe. “devesa jagannivasa” (XI:25) The cosmic form of the all pervading Consciousness is so vast that neither its beginning, nor its middle, nor its end could be seen or even mentally visualized. “sarvatah ananta rupam, na antam, na madhyam, na punah tava adim, pasyami” (XI:16). It is without beginning, middle or end, possesses infinite power. “anadi madhya antam, ananta viryam” (XI:19). Not only is the Supreme Conciousness the origin of all created objects, It is also the final power which absorbs everything back into Itself. “grasamanah samantat lokan” (XI:30). Krishna in His Visvarupa describes Himself as the mighty world destroying time. “kalah asmi loka ksaya krt” (XI:32). Time is the Kala or Yama, the Lord of death, which is again a manifestation from Consciousness. On the earth we calculate time on the basis of the movement of the Sun, or rather on the rotation of the earth and its crcumambulation around the Sun. So Kala or Yama, the lord of death has been pictured as the son of Sun god. Though Consciouness is using Time as the force to destroy all created objects, It is not influenced by it. That is why It is known as ‘kalatita’. This Universal form of Consciousness, the Visvarupa, cannot be visually seen or comprehended by human beings by studying Vedas, or by performing yajnas, rituals or sacrifices. “na veda, yajna adhyayanaih, na kriyabhih,evam rupah sakyah aham nrloke drastum” (XI:48). Only by devotion to that totality, without any thought of duality, and worshipping It only, can any human being hope to get a glimpse of this Universal form and merge with it. “bhaktya tu ananyaya, sakyah aham evam vidhah, jnatum, drastum ca, tattvena pravestum ca” (XI:54).
Meditation
Now let us return to the Ksetrajna of the bodies of the beings.How is one to acquire this knowledge of the Atman and experience Its presence? This is possible only through the practice of meditation.What is meditation? When a disciplined mind rests on the Self alone and maintains that state continuously, that is referred to as meditation. “yada viniyatam, cittam atmani eva avatisthate, tada, yuktah iti ucyate” (VI:18). What is this Self? It is the sense of one’s own presence, the awareness of being present, that is the sense of ‘I AM’ It was mentioned earlier that any method which helps to link or yoke the Jivatma with the Supreme Consciousness is called Yoga. Since the Atman is identical with the Universal Consciousness, but residing in each individual, to realize the Atman through meditation, to stay in the awareness ‘I AM’, is the direct way,an indeed the only way, to achieve this goal. So meditation has been designated as Dhyana Yoga. It is the highest yoga one can practice to achieve the goal. Krishna says that if one knows, or merely wishes to know, about this yoga, he is superior to those who know the Vedas. “sah jijnasuh, api yogasya, sabda brahma ativartate” (VI:44). This is so because, very often people go through life, all the time performing rituals only, without knowing or even making an attempt to know about the presence of the Atman inside them. The yogi is considered to be superior to an ascetic, superior to men of knowledge and men of action. “tapasvibhyah adhikah yogi , jnanibhyah api matah adhikah, karmibhyah ca adhikah yogi” (VI:46). Here men of action can be interpreted as ritualists or those who perform actions without Self knowledge. It is only by this yoga of meditation one can achieve serenity of the mind, and such a person is called a Muni. He achieves concentration of mind which is essential for the practice of karma yoga or actions also. Through this concentrarion and serenity he is able to attain the yoga or yoking to the Atman or Consciousness. “aruruksoh muneh yogam karma karanam ucyate, yogarudhasya tasya eva samah karanam ucyate” (VI:3). This concentration of the mind on the Self is not easy.To achieve this concentration certain prelimnary procedures have to be adopted. These are living in solitude, subduing the mind and body and getting rid of desires and greed. “yogi yunjita satatam atmanam rahasi sthitah ekaki, yatacittatma, nir asih, aparigrahah” (VI:10).
What is meant by subduing the mind? What is solitude? It is not running away from the world of men to some isolated place like a mountain or a forest. In such a place, one may think, that the mind can be quietened without anyone around or any noise to disturb it. But it will be found that for a fresher such a location becomes even more disturbing, because the mind now tends to think even more about things, the sadhaka possessed and enjoyed earlier.Thus though the outside noise might have ceased the mind goes on chattering inside. Hence solitude is shutting off the mind from external stimuli and silence is not verbal but mental, stillness of the mind. One who has achieved stillness of the mind can be in solitude even amongst a crowd of men, while one who is in physical solitude alone will continue to be in a crowd. Subduing the mind, is not an easy procedure, because as Arjuna complained to Krishna, mind is always restless, turbulant, strong and unyielding and is uncontrollable like the wind. “cancalam hi manah, pramathi, balavat, drdham, nigraham vayoh suduskaram” (VI:34). One can close the windows to stop the howling wind outside from disturbing you but you cannot stop the wind blowing outside. But Krishna, while agreeing with him, says that it is possible to control the mind by practice and non-attachment. “asamsayam manah durnigraham, calam, abhyasena, vairagyena ca, grhyate”(VI:35). What is this attachment He is talking about? One of the greatest drawbacks is, the mind getting subordinated to the senses and follow them towards sense objects, to which it gets attached. Krishna warns that though attachment or aversion of the senses to their objects in natural, the mind should not get under their sway, because they are surely his enemies “indriyasya indriyasya arthe ragadvesau vyavasthitau, tayoh na vasam agacchet, tau hi asya paripanthinau” (III:34). The mind always tends to hover round the objects and ideas it is attached or averse to.
When one carefully analyses the ways of the mind, one finds that it is all the time engaged in thinking about the past or the future. It never stays and works in the present. It has to be trained to stay in the present by paying total attention to the work it is engaged in at the particular moment. This total attention includes working with a full knowledge that the work one is engaged in, is part of the work of the Totality, and that it is prompted by the indwelling Atman. With such a practice the mind learns to be quiet when the work on hand is finished and till another piece of work comes along to engage its attention. That quiet interval is the best time to move the attention to, and keep it focussed on, the Atman inside. Energy, when it is not dynamic, remains locked up in its source, as the switched off electrical energy does. Electrical energy does not disappear when the switch is off, it only remains at the source without acting. Atman is the source of the mind, which is a form of energy, and an inactive mind always rests in its source.This method of controlling the mind, though not directly referred to by Krishna, is implied in the various details He gave about the path of action, and in the other conditions prescribed by Him above, like getting rid of desires and possessions. Desirelessness is a sure way of stopping the mind wandering in the future since all desires can be fulfilled only in the future. Once the mind realizes that what is gone as the past cannot be retrieved, it stops ruminating over the past also.
What is meant by subduing the body. It is not denying the body of the essential requirements needed for its maintenance. It means curbing of excessive attention to, or pampering of, the body. Subduing the mind also means, besides stillness, reducing its body consciousness. Krishna advocates moderation in everything. Meditation is not possible for one who eats too much, or one who does not eat at all, nor is it for one who sleeps too much or too little.“na atyasnatah tu yogah asti, na ca ekantam, anasnatah, na ca ati svapna silasya, jagratah na eva ca” VI:16). He advocates moderation in everything, in eating, exercise, exertion in action, and in sleep and wakefulness.When that is adhered to, meditation becomes the destroyer of pain. In other words he is much less afflicted by disease, pain and suffering, both physical and mental. “yukta ahara viharasya, yukta cestasya karmasu, yukta svapna avabodhasya, yogah bhavati duhkhaha” (VI:17). He is not affected by even heavy affliction. “na duhkhena guruna api vicalyate” (VI:22). Regarding the physical conditions, like place, time, seat, and posture, advocated by Krishna for meditation, they may be necessary for the beginner, to train his mind to remain quiet by habituating it and the body to those physical conditions. Some people have difficulty in directing attention towards inside. For such persons paying attention to the breath, to follow every breath going in and coming out, will be of help.Where do we locate the Atman? Though generally It is said to be located in the middle of the chest, slightly to the right of the mid-point, It is not present there only .It is present in every cell of the body. Every cell has in it all the the potential powers of the Consciousness present in the Universe. This has been accepted by the scientists.-“As is above so is below”, and is getting confirmed by recent stem cell research and cloning as mentioned earlier. That is what is meant by saying that man is God, both in the physical and the spiritual sense. Only he is not aware of it. So locating the Atman in the chest is only symbolic since the mind requires some point to pin down its attention.However, such physical conditions are not essential for those already initiated into the technique of keeping the attention pivoted on the Atman. The main stress is on intensive non-wavering attention on Him and Him alone, as the final supreme goal. “sthitah manah, maccittah yuktah asita matparah” (VI:14). Moreover Meditation is not restricted to any place and time; it is a state that has to be maintained all the twentyfour hours of the day and at all places and circumstances. It is compared to the tune of the tanbura, which goes on in the background, while an experienced singer, a vidhvan, may be singing any song, in any raga or tala. His singing is automatically tuned to the strains of the tanbura. Similarly, whatever work one is engaged in, one’s attention on the Atman should be continuously maintained in the background. This intensive attention on the Atman is compared to a lamp that does not flicker when kept in a windless place. “yatha dipah nivatasthah na ingate” (VI: 19).
What are the changes that take place in one who has thus practiced constant Atmanishta. In that state, the yogi perceiving the Self with his lower self, is centered peacefully in the Self Itself. “yoga sevaya, yatra ca eva atmana atmanam, pasyan atmani tusyati” (VI:20). Here, the lower self refers to the Jivatman, and not to ego, because the ego can never think or even want to think of the Atman. This perception of the Lord residing in him is possible only for the refined and the intelligent, because the unrefined and the unintelligent do not take to meditation in the right way. “yatantah yoginah ca enam pasyanti atmani avasthitam, yatantah api akrta atmanah na enam pasyanti, acetasah” (XV:11). It is not uncommon for people to mistake contemplation for meditation. Contemplation has an object, a name or form as its focus whereas meditation has as its focus only the formless Atman
One who is constantly centered in the Self, is free from pride and delusion, victorious over attachments, has turned away from all desires, and is free from the pairs of opposites as happiness and sorrow. Such an undeluded person reaches that eternal goal. “nirmana mohah, jita sanga dosah, adyatma nityah, vinivrtta kamah, dvandvaih vimuktah, sukha duhkha samjnaih, gacchanti amudhah padam avyayam tat” (XV:5).This attitude of reconciling to polar opposites was stressed upon by Krishna, even in the earlier part of His teaching to Arjuna. He advised him to treat alike pain and pleasure, gain and loss, victory and defeat and fight. “sukha duhkhe same krtva, labhalabhau, jayajayau, tatah yuddhaya yujyasva” (II: 38) Such a person is unaffected even by physical discomforts like cold and heat, pleasure and pain, and by mental experiences like honor and dishonour. “samahitah, sitosna sukha duhkhesu, tatha manapamanayoh” (VI:7). “Free from the pairs of opposites, ever remaining in Truth, free from desire for acquisition and preservation, be established in the Self,” advised Krishna. “bhava nirdvandvah, nitya sattvasthah, niryoga ksemah, atmavan” (II:45). Accordig to Him, “abandoning attachments, and treating success and failure as same, performing actions with even mindedness is Yoga.” “kuru karmani, sangam tyaktva, siddhy asiddhyoh samah, bhutva samatvam, yogah ucyate”(II:48). One who has this type of steady mindedness, a stithaprajna, is called a Muni “sthitadhih munih ucyate” (II:56). He is satisfied with the knowledge and wisdom he has gained and having conquered his senses, he remains harmonized. Then, it is said that a lump of clay, a stone, and gold are same to him. “jnana vijnana trptatma, kutasthah, vijitendriyah, yuktah, iti ucyate, yogi sama lostasma kancanah” (VI:8). A yogi never moves away from Reality “na ca eva ayam sthitah calati tattvatah” (VI:21).One who rejoices in the Self, satisfied in the Self, and centered in the Self only, has no duty to be done, he has no Dharma to be followed. “yah tu atmaratih eva syat, atmatrptah ca manavah, atmani eva ca samtustah, tasya karyam na vidyate” (III:17). All his actions are dharmic. That is so because, as we had already seen, the basic Dharma of man is Atmadharma, which the sadhaka has achieved through this yoga.
What is the main purpose and outcome of practicing this yoga? Krishna says that one shoud practice this yoga for self-purification. “yunjyat yogam atma visuddhaye” (VI:12). What are the impurities a man has accumulated? Of course there are many impurities acquired by man during many births and continues to gather during the current birth. While it is impossible to enumerate all of them, let us consider the basic one that is common to all human beings, one that the human being is born with, on which is based the acquisition of all other impurities.That basic impurity is a wrong judgment made by the human that he is separate from the rest of the creation. That led to the appearance of the ego in him, and we know that the ego is responsible for all the ills of mankind, and for all the other the impurities acquired by him. The ignorant man suffers from two delusions: First he does not know that the Supreme Consciousness resides in himself as the Atman; second, even if he knows about the Atman, he thinks that the Atman is separate in each individual being. Meditation, while helping to remove the multitude of impurities in him, culminates in the removal of this basic impurity and the resulting two delusions. So, the most important and final quality attained by the meditating yogi is to realize the oneness of all creation by seeing himself in all beings and seeing all beings in his own Self. This is the Visvarupa Dharsan, a grand view of the entire Universe as the body of the Supreme! To the sadhaka who has reached his goal and become one with the Consciousness the Universe becomes his indestructible body. We had discussed this earlier.He, who always keeps his mind steady on the Atman, attains peace, that finally results in his attaining Nirvana or Moksha. “yunjan evam sada atmanam yogi niyata manasah, santim, nirvana paramam matsamstham adhigacchati” (VI:15). If he remains established in this thought, even at the hour of death, he attains Brahma Nirvanam. “sthitva asyam antakale api, brahma nirvanam rcchati” (II:72) He becomes one with Brahman, “brahma bhutam” (VI:27). Thus meditation leads to Purity, Purity leads to Unity, and Unity leads to Divinity! When one contemplates on the Gita carefully, one will come to the conclusion that the Visvarupa Dharsan which Krishna blessed Arjuna with, is the pivotal point of the scripture, the ultimate goal of all the types of yogas elaborated by Krishna.
The Atman always means well to those who strive to know Him.To him who has conquered the ego-self by his divine Self, the Atman turns out to be his best friend and guide. Krishna advises and warns: “If you fix your mind on me, by My grace, you will overcome all obstacles, but if you from egoism do not listen to me, you will perish.” “maccittah, sarva durgani, matprasadat, tarisyasi. atha, cet tvam ahamkarat na srosyasi, vinanksyasi” (XVIII:58). “Those who talk lightlyof my teachings and do not act on them, such people are deluded and lack discrimination and are ruined.” “ye tu etat abhyasuyantah na anutisthanti me matam, sarvajnana vimudhan, tan viddhi nastan, acetasah” (III:32). Inspite of repeated promptings from inside if one ignores the Atman continuously, It can turn violent, in the sense, It can create situations leading on to suffering by the individual. Its intention is not to punish him but to correct him, because very often one turns to the Divine only when one suffers. “bandhuh atma atmanah tasya, yena atma eva atmana jitah, anatmanah tu satrutve vareta atma, eva satruvat” (VI:6). Suffering drives man towards God! Through the suffering one has to learn the lessons and truly speaking life on the earth is only for learning lessons out of experiences.The world is like a school where the Jiva, residing in a room, his body, learns the lessons. He has to move from class to class, passing all the tests, till he graduates.
Bhakti
This path is said to be suitable for those who are emotionlly oriented. But this need not necessarily be true for every Bhakta. It may apply to those who are mainly inclined towards ritualistic worship, consistng of the nine steps mentioned in scriptures or to those who engage themselves in procedures like Namasmaran, recitation of mantras, etc. However all forms of worship are based on love for the Divine. As mentioned earlier the most powerful force in the Universe is that of attraction, which manifests itself in all creation as love. This divine love is different from ordinary human love, which always aims at receiving something from the loved one. Divine love is exhibited towards the entire creation without expecting anything in return.This love is same as love towards God, since the Totality of creation is itself the Divinity. We saw earlier that the Supreme Consciousness separated Itself from Itself so that It can become aware of Itself. This can also be interpreted as loving Itself, with a sole aim of taking back to Itself what was separated from It. Similarly man is equally anxioius to go back to the source though all may not be aware of it due to various reasons, like getting distracted by worldly pleasures. This inborn desire to go back to the Source is present in everyone as, what is known as Sadvasana. It is like homesickness in a person who had gone far away leaving his home behind. Most people suffer from this, feeling occasionally that something is missing in their life. But soon they forget it because of their preoccupation with the world.
Though many people take to Bhakti marga, they often do so with the sole purpose of getting the grace of the god-form they worship, so that their wants in life will be fulfilled. Many are prepared even to bribe Him, or bargain with Him, to win his favour! Thus their love for Divinity is tinged with anticipation for some return. Some have fear of divine punishment for their misdeeds and take to worship to pacify the deity. They do not know that God never punishes anyone, but they punish themselves by their own misdeeds. Only a small number of people, a rare few, perhaps of the older age group perform worship with sole aim of merging with divinity. However all of them take refuge in the Divine, for some purpose or the other, worldly or spiritual. Who are those who, in Krishna’s view can be considered as real Bhaktas? Those who worship Him with steadfastness and supreme faith, and their minds fixed on Him, He considers them as true yogis “mayi avesya manah, ye mam nitya yuktah upasate, sraddhaya paraya upetah, te me yukta tamah matah” (XII:2). The essence of this yoga as defined by Krishna is fixing our mind on Him alone, with all our intellect placed on Him. There is no doubt, that thereafter we will live in Him only. In other words we will merge with Him “mayi eva manah adhatsva, mayi buddhim nivesaya, nivasisyasi mayi eva ata urdhvam, na samsayah” (XII:8).
Who are those who do not seek refuge in God? Krishna says, the evil doers, the deluded, the lowest of men, those having been overcome by maya lack the power of discrimination, and behave like demons, such people do not seek Him. “na mam duskrtinah, mudhah, prapadyante, nara adhamah, mayaya apahrtajnanah asuram bhavam asritah” (VII:15). Who are those who worship Him? They are four types of virtuous people, the distressed person, a person who seeks knowledge, a man seeking worldly wealth and those who are wise “caturvidhah bhajante mam janah sukrtinah, artah, jijnasuh, artharthi, jnani ca” (VII:16). Of these the first three worship God with the purpose of getting some benefits from Him. But the man of wisdom is different from the others.He excels the others, because he is devoted to the One, the Totality, and is not expecting anything in return, except to go back to the Source, after shedding his body. “To such a wise devotee, I am exceedingly dear and he is dear to Me,” says Krishna “tesam jnani nitya yuktah, eka bhaktih visisyate, priyah hi jnaninah atyartham aham, sah ca mama priyah” (VII:17). However, He does not decry the other three types of people; they are also noble, He says “udarah sarve eva ete” (VII:18).
What are the ways in which the Lord is worshipped? Worship is done based on one of the three beliefs, namely Advaitic, Dvaidic and Visishtadvaidic. Though reading through the Gita one gets the impression that the stress is on Advaita, commentators have interpreted the scripture in all the three different ways according to their beliefs. Krishna says, people worship Him, in various ways, as the One, manifested and unmanifested, as the Creator distinct and standing aloof from His creation, and thirdly as the Creator, appearing as the many-faced Universe, but not identical with it “mam upasate, ekatvena, prthaktvena, bahudha visvato mukham” (IX:15). But judging from the way Krishna identifies Himself with everything in the Universe and beyond, one cannot but conclude that His approach is Advaitic. What are the benefits of worship? If we worship Him with single mindedness, thinking of none other, He promises to look after our welfare by providing us with what we do not have and securing whatever we already have. “ananyah cintayantah, mam ye janah paryupasate, tesam nitya abhiyuktanam, yoga ksemam, vahami aham” (IX:22). Here, ‘ananyah cintayantah’ can be interpreted as ‘not thinking of anyone else’ or as ‘thinking that there is nothing other than Him’. Certainly the latter interpretation is more appealing, in view of our earlier discussions that the Totality is Divinity. But what about those, who worship other gods with faith? He assures that they are also worshipping Him only, but they are following the wrong method “ye api anya devatah bhaktah yajante sraddhaya anvitah, te api mam eva yajanti, avidhi purvakam” (IX:23). It is a well known fact that in India people worship a variety of deities, each one based on one or the other mythological belief. Yet everyone understands that God is only One and what they worship are only different forms of the One. It is another interesting and unique tradition, in this country, that each family usually has its own ‘Ishta Devata’ or family deity, which they look up to, for protection, and for granting their prayers. This naturally gives them a feeling of closeness to God. Against this background it will be clear that Hinduism is not pantheistic but very much monotheistic.
Of the three modes, mentioned earlier, in which Consciousness exists in the Universe, which mode is to be worshipped by man? When we carefuly study Krishna’s discourse on Bhakti marga, it will be obvious that He does not differentiate between the three modes. That is so because all the three refer to the same Divinity, the One and the only One. But it is very difficult for any one to straight away worship the Unmanifested Supreme Consciousness, the ultimate goal to be reached by man, because the embodied human being is deeply involved in body consciousness, and he is senses oriented in all his actions. “klesah adhikatarah tesam, avyakta asakta cetasam, avyaktah hi gatih, duhkham dehavadbhih avapyate” (XII:5). Approaching that mode is possible only through the understanding of the Divinity residing in man, namely the Atman. So the real worship has to be that of the Atman. Worship of the Atman does not need any elaborate procedures or offerings, neither flowers and agarbhati, nor camphor and waving of lamps. All that is needed is to worship Him with one’s own duty “sva karmana tam abhyarcya” (XVIII:46), mentally resigning all actions to Him “cetasa sarva karmani mayi samnyasya” (XVIII:57), and turning the sight inwards and fixing the attention on the Atman. The direct route to the Unmanifested is through the individualized Consciousness, the Atman and so all worship shoud culminate in the worshipped and the worshipper becoming one, that is the advaitic bhava.When Krishna refers to Himself as the ultimate goal, He speaks from the position of the Unmanifested. When He talks of worshipping Him, He speaks from the aspect of Atman. As we saw in the beginning the Avtar is considered to be a special manifestation of the Atman reisiding in man. How is the Atman to be worshipped? Constantly abiding in the Atman is the real worship of the Atman.What is the outcome of such worship?
Intense devotion to Him should lead a devotee to understand what and who He is. Once he understands that truth, Krishna assures that the devotee will enter Him forthwith, that is to say that he will merge with Him. “bhaktya mam abhijanati, yavan yah ca asmi tattvatah, tatah mam tattvatah jnatva, visate tad anantaram” (XVIII:55). What is this intense devotion He is referring to? Doing all actions, taking refuge in Him, by His grace, the devotee reaches the eternal indestructible abode. “sarva karmani api sada kurvanah, mad vyapasrayah, mat prasadat , avapnoti sasvatam padam avyayam” (XVIII:56).These statements of the Lord should be understood correctly. This attainment is not necessarily a status to be reached after death of the physical body. Staying with the Atman, in constant Atmic consciousness is the state that the devotee should aim for.This can be achieved only by achieving a state wherein, the mind attends to any work with the full conviction that all actions are initiated by the Atman, and that he is only an instrument. When a particular piece of work is over, the mind automatically rests in the Atman till such a time another piece of work comes up for execution. So the devotee alternately moves between the actionless Atman and the external world, performing actions.This has been described as dying every moment and being reborn every moment, that is, the devotee moves alternatingly from the formless state of the Atman to the physical level and back to the formless state. There is nothing more to be achieved by the devotee in life till he finally discards the body. It means that he has reached his goal during this life itself. In other words he becomes a Jivanmukta.
But many cannot understand this mode of Divinity, straight away, because most people are, ‘out sighted’, and because of their egoism they do not want to take the advice given in this regard. In other words they are continuously involved in the external world. Krishna warns that such people will perish “cet tvam ahamkarat na srosyasi vinanksyasi” (XVIII:58). Of course, it is difficult for many to worship a formless Divinity to start with, and Atman is formless. They find it easier to give a form to Divinity and then worship It, because it is easier to love something with a form rather than an imaginary thing. But what form should be given to God? In Hinduism the choice is left to the individual and tradition. There are any number of conceived forms of Divinity available to the Hindu, and he can choose any one according to his liking. The same applies to idol worship also. Again this worship of form is based on the fact that everything in the Universe is the image of God. So one may choose any form one likes but it should be clear that all forms refer to the One Divinity, and that all such traditional forms by themselves have a lot of spiritual significance. Worshipping a form may be necessary in the early stages but it should be undertaken with the feeling that he is only installing the formless Atman in the idol, which should be discarded as soon as he is able to transfer his attention to the formless Atman inside himself. However many people do not understand that they have to ultimately move from worship of the form to that of the formless and have become used to imprison their God inside temples or puja rooms in their houses, in idols and pictures.
Whatever the form worshipped, it is sraddha or faith that is important. Because God is same to all beings; none is dear or hateful to Him. But those who worship Him with devotion and faith they are in Him and He is in them “samah aham sarva bhutesu, na me dvesyah, asti na priyah, ye bhajanti tu mam bhaktya, mayi te, tesu ca api aham” (IX:29).What about those who worship the so-called minor gods? Krishna says that the worshippers of gods are of poor intelligence and they may get finte benfits from such worship.They go to those gods while those who worship Him go to Him “antavat tu phalam tesam tat bhavati, alpa medhasam, devan devayajah yanti, mad bhaktah yanti mam api” VII:23). Who are these minor gods or devas? They represent the various forms of energies manifest in the Universe, which as we had seen earlier, are also divine, since they take origin from the Consciousness, but they should not be equated with the Supreme Consciousness.When worshipped with deep faith they can grant the worsipper fulfilment of their desires, certain benefits of finite nature. But Krishna says that even such benefits are granted or ordained by Him only “sah taya sraddhaya, yuktah tasya aradhanam thate, labhate ca tatah kaman, maya eva vihitan hi tan” (VII:22). It is something like the officers at the lower level recommending certain benefits to the person who petitioned them, but the final granting authority is the Government only. Such worship of minor gods cannot take the worshipper to the final goal of liberation. Though it should, in course of time, lead to the worship of the Supreme, many people stagnate at the lower level. Krishna asserts that the Supreme Consciousness, the Purushottama can be attained by devotion to Him only “purusah sah parah bhaktya labhyah tu ananyaya” (VIII:22)
What about the method of worship? Based on traditions, developed during centuries, people have taken to a variety of forms of worship, but many of the procedures have become ritualistic and ostentatious. These are often based on the wrong assumption that God, to be pleased with us, wants us to give Him many offerings.Though many of these may have been designed as expression of our gratitude to Him for all the favours bestowed upon us, He is not interested in getting anything from us except offering ourselves to Him. Krishna says that He will accept a leaf, or a flower or a fruit or even water provided it is offered with a pure heart and deep devotion. “patram, puspam, phalam, toyam, yah me bhaktya prayacchati, tat aham, bhakti upahrtam, asnami, prayata atmanah” (IX:26). But even these articles are His creations. Hence there is nothing, we can offer Him, which is not His! Hence these articles, which Krishna is asking for, are rightly interpreted as to mean, the body of ours equivalent to a perishable leaf, our pure mind to the flower, our love filled heart to the ripe fruit, and our tears of bliss ato the water.The only things which we can claim as ours is our corrupted mind and our ego.The pure mind is not ours, because it is again a gift from Him.There is another way of looking at our offerings to Him: Anything we eat, anything we offer in yajna, or the gifts we give away to people, or our practice of austerity, all can be done with the attitude of offering to Him only “yat karosi, yat asnasi, yat juhosi, dadasi yat, yat tapasyasi, tat kurusva mad arpanam” (IX:27). That is one way of seeing Him as the indweller of every being. In other words everything is the Lord, to the devotee. He fixes his mind on God, he is devoted to Him, he sacrifices everything to Him, he bows down to Him, and takes Him as the Supreme Goal to be reached. Such a devotee, Krishna assures, will certainly go to Him “manmanah bhava, mad bhaktah, madyaji, mam namaskuru, mam eva esyasi, yuktva evam atmanam matparayanah” (IX:34). Those who worship the minor gods, they go to them only. In other words such people, after death, like animals, reach the domain of the energies and not the Supreme goal. There are some people who practice violent methods like fasting and other forms of torturing their bodies, methods which are not enjoined by the scriptures. Krishna decries such practices as evidence of egoism and lust and attachment. “asastra vihitam, ghoram tapyante ye tapah janah, dambha ahamkara samyuktah, kama raga bala anvitah” (XVII:5).He says that such fools by torturing their bodies they are torturing Him. who is residing inside them. He chides them as being asuric in nature. “karsayantah sarirastham bhuta gramam acetasah, mam ca eva,antah sarira stham, tan viddhi asura niscayan” (XVII:6).
Whatever is the form of worship it is the faih that matters.Earlier Krishna mentioned that even if people worship other divine forms, if they do it with intense faith, that worship too reaches Him only, because all are His forms only, and there is nothing else besides Him. So all that matters is the intensity of the faith in the worship.We already saw that all sacrifices made and austerities performed without deep faith is called Asat, and that it does not confer any benefits in this life or in next birth even.
Many people who take to ritualistic methods of worship believe that the more and more they adopt those practices they will become dearer to God. Krishna apparently does not agree with that presumption and enumerates the type of devotees who are dear to Him. One who does not hate other beings, and is friendly and compassionate to all, who has no feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, without egoism and remains balanced in pleasure and pain and of forgiving nature are dear to Him. “advesta, sarvabhutanam, maitrah, karunah, eva ca nir mamah, nir ahamkarah, sama duhkha sukhah, ksami” (XII:13). With these qualities, the devotee is contented, is steady in meditation, self-controlled, and has firm conviction with his mind and intellect fixed on the Lord “samtustah, satatam yogi, yatatma, drdha niscayah, mayi arpita mano buddhih” (XII:14).Such a devotee, Krishna says, is dear to Him “madbhaktah sah me priyah.” Not only that; because of him others are not agitated, nor does he get agitated by the world, he is free from overjoy, envy, fear and anxiety “yasmat na udvijate lokah, lokat na udvijate, ca yah harsa amarsa bhaya udvegaih muktah, yah sah ca me priyah” (XII:15). Further such a devotee is free from wants,is pure, is an expert in all his activities, unconcerned and untroubled, does not rejoice over anything, has no selfish motives in all his undertakings and is devoted to the Lord, “anapeksah, sucih, daksah, udasinah, gatavyathah, sarva arambha parityagi, yah mad bhaktah” (XII:16), nor hates, nor grieves over, nor desires anything, renounces good and evil “yah na hrsyati, na dvesti, na socati, na kanksati, subha asubha parityagi” (XII:17). Krishna again stresses on the need for an equipoised mind, a sthitaprajna posture: same to foe and friend, treating as same honour and dishonour, cold and heat, pleasure and pain, censure and praise, exhibiting an attitude of reconciling polar opposites, and freed from body consciousness. Further he is free from attachments, silent both verbally and mentally, content with anything, not attached to any particular place as his home, and has a steady minded devotion to the Supreme. “samah satrau ca mitre, ca tatha mana apamanayoh,sita usna sukha duhkhesu samah, sanga vivarjitah, tulya ninda stutih, mauni, samtustah yenakenacit, aniketah, sthiramatih bhaktiman” (XII:18,19).In the advice given above Krishna has been repeatedly referring to constant devotion to Him. He is fully aware that devotees do have difficulty in steadying their mind. He suggests possible ways of keeping the mind steady. A mind that is constantly wavering between divine and worldly thoughts has to be made steady by constant practice, which He calls Abhyasa-yoga “atha cittam sama dhatum na saknosi mayi sthiram, abhyasa yogena tatah mam iccha aptum” (XII:9). If one is unable to undertake this practice, he can simply dedicate all his actions to the Divine “abhyase api asamarthah, asi matkarma paramah bhava” (XII:10). If one is unable to do even this, he can at least subdue his ego and abandon the fruits of actions “atha etat api asaktah asi kartum, sarva karma phala tyagam tatah kuru yatatmavan” (XII:11)
The traits of the Jivatman
We already saw that the Atman residing in the body is actionless and It only activates the material body, the Prakrti, by endowing it with the life force.This working entity is known as the Jivatman, that which performs all actions while the Atman is only a witness. So it is actually the Prakrti which is performing the actions. It is always an enigma, why people who come from the same divine source, behave in such diverse ways. Though basically man is of divine origin, since his manifestation is so much intertwined with matter and energy or Prakriti, the inherent basic qualities or attributes of matter and activated energy influence all his actions and behaviour. These basic qualities or traits are three in number and are referred to as gunas, tamas, rajas, and sattva. These gunas influence only the Jivatman while the Atman is beyond these gunas, He is Gunatita. Both the Purusha and Prakrti are beginingless, in the sense that they are ancient in their origin, but it is the Prakrti from which all the gunas are born “prakrtim purusam ca eva, viddhi anadi ubhau, api vikaran ca gunan ca eva, viddhi prakrti sambhavan” (XIII:19).Prakriti does not mean only the earth and its inhabitants. It includes the various energies acting in the universe as well. We have seen earlier that these energies are referred to as devas or divine beings and the universal space they are functioning in is referred to as heaven. None of the beings on earth or the devas functioning in the heaven are free from these three gunas. “na tat asti prthivyam, va divi devesu, va punah satvam prakrtijaih, muktam yat ebhih syat tribhih gunaih” (XVIII:40). All non-living matter, though composed of energy only, exhibit inertia or thamas. They themselves do not move or act unless pushed by some other force. Even after the life force has been introduced into matter, and the energy rendered active, it may be slow moving and continue to exhibit some inertia. An individual who exhibits such a trait is said to be tamasic in nature. Such a person exhibits a mind enveloped in darkness, inertness, heedlessness and delusion. “aprakasah, apravrttih, ca pramadah, mohah, eva ca tamasi etani jayante vivrddhe” (XIV:13). On the other hand in some, the energy may be overactive, and influence all the actions of such an individual. That person is said to be of a rajasic nature.That person usually exhibits greed, enhanced activity by undertaking actions, restlessness and longing. “lobhah, pravrttih, arambhah karmanam, asamah, sprha, rajasi etani jayante vivrddhe” (XIV::12).Thirdly there may be perfect equilibrium of the forces of energy acting in and through the body and this manifestes in all the actions of such individuals. They are said to be of sattvic nature.Such a person exhibits the light of knowledge beaming through all his senses, which are the gateways of the body. “sarva dvaresu dehe asmin prakasa upajayate jnanam.” (XIV:11). It must be clear that all the three gunas are present in all the individuals but when one predominates the other two tend to recede to the background or remain subdued. Sattva arises by overpowering rajas and tamas, rajas over sattva and tamas and tamas over sattva and rajas. “rajah tamah ca abhibhuya sattvam bhavati, rajah sattvam tamah ca, eva tamah sattvam rajah tatha” (XIV:10). Thus it will be seen that all the three attributes, tamas, rajas and satva are related to the Prakriti and the Jivatman getting involved with the body may exhibit these traits in all his behaviour and actions, and also feel that he is the doer. “prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah, ahamkara vimudhatma karta aham iti manyate” (III:27). One who knows that all actions are based on these three gunas of the sense organs which get involved with objects, themselves being of the nature of gunas, does not get entangled, himself. “tattvavit, tu guna karma vibhagayoh, gunah gunesu vartante, iti matva na sajjate” (III:28). Only those who are deluded by the gunas of Prakrti get attached to the gunas “prakrteh guna sammudhah, sajjante guna karmasu” (III:29). This is so because the embodied Jivatman, though indestructible, gets bound fast to the gunas, that are characteristic of Prakriti “gunah prakriti smbhavah, nibadhnanti dehe, dehinam avyayam” (XIV:5). To what does each of these gunas bind the embodied? Tamoguna which results from ignorance, deludes the individual and binds him fast to heedlessness, indolence and sleep “tamah ajnanajam viddhi mohanam sarva dehinam, pramada alasya nidrabhih, tat nibadhnati” (XIV::8).Rajoguna resulting from passion, which is the source of thirst and attachment, binds fast the embodied to action “rajah ragatmakam , trsna sanga samudbhavam, tat nibadnati karma sangena dehinam” (XIV::7). Satvaguna, being stainless, luminous and healthy, binds by attachment to happiness and to knowledge “sattvam nirmalatvat, prakasakam, anamayam, sukha sangena badhnati, jnana sangena ca” (XIV:6). Thus it will be seen that all the three gunas ae binding, sattva to happiness, rajas to action, and tamas to heedlessness. “sattvam sukhe sanjayati, rajah karmani, tamah pramade sanjayati” (XIV:9). What are the fruits to be obtained by these three gunas? Good actions arise as fruits of sattva, pain as that of rajas, and ignorance as that of tamas. “karmanah sukrtasya ahuh sattvikam nirmalam phalam, rajasah tu phalam duhkham, ajnanam tamasah phalam.” (XIV:16). If one is seeking final merger with the Gunatita, the Supreme, to be free from birth, death, decay and pain and attain immortality one has to get rid of all the three gunas. “gunan etan atitya trin dehi, deha samudbhavan janma mrtyu jara duhkhaih vimuktah amrtam asnute” (XIV:20). It is wrong to think that sattva guna can be retained till death of the individual.It will still be a hindrance to the attainment of the Supreme Goal. Only when a person goes beyond the gunas and worships the Supreme with unwavering devotion, he is fit to attain brahma jnana. “mam ca yah avyabhicarena bhakti yogena sevate, sah gunan samatitya etan, brahma bhuyaya kalpate” (XIV: 26).Otherwise a rebirth ensues, the type of birth depending on the guna that is predominent at the time of death. Dying when sattva is dominant, one is born among those with the highest knowledge, “yada sattve pravrddhe tu pralayam yati, dehabhrt tada uttama vidam lokan amalan pratipadyate” (XIV:14). Dying in rajas one is born among those attached to action, dying in tamas one is born in the wombs of the deluded “rajasi pralayam gatva, karma sangisu jayate, tatha pralinah tamasi, mudha yonisu jayate” (XIV:15).
Now let us see in detail how these three gunas influence the actions and behaviour of human beings. How does one recognize the dominance of one or the other of these gunas in an individual?. Desires and anger are the greatest, all-devouring, all-sinful enemy of man, and they are initiated by the rajoguna. “kamah esah, krodhah esah, rajoguna samudbhavah, mahasanah, mahapapma, viddhi enam iha vairinam” (III:37). These desires are, like unquenchable fire, constant enemies of even wise people, since their knowledge tends to be covered by them “avrtam jnanam etena jnaninah, nityavairina kamarupena duspurena analena ca” (III:39). The three gunas of Prakrti delude the world so much that he is unable to recognize even the Lord who is beyond these gunas “tribhih gunamayaih bhavaih ebhih, sarvam idam jagat mohitam, na abhijanati, mam ebhyah param avyayam” (VII:13). All actions undertaken from delusion, without regard for consequence, loss, injury and one’s own ability, are considered tamasic in nature. “anubandham, ksayam, himsam, anapeksya ca paurusam, mohat arabhyate, karma yat tat tamasam” (XVIII:25). Actions done with a longing for desires, or with egoism, or performed with much effort are considered to be rajasic. “yat tu kamepsuna karma, sahamkarena, va punah kriyate bahulayasam tat rajasam udahrtam” (XVIII:24).All ordained actions done, free from attachment, without love or hatred, without any desire for the fruit are considered sattvik. “niyatam, sanga rahitam, araga dvesatah, krtam, aphala prepsuna, karma yat tat sattvikam ucyate” (XVIII:23). What are the qualities of the agents of these actions? One who is unsteady, vulgar, stubborn, cheating, malicious, lazy, despondent, and procrastinating he is considered to be tamasic. “ayuktah, prakrtah, stabdhah, sathah, naiskrtikah, alasah, visadi, dirgha sutri ca, karta tamasah ucyate” (XVIII:28). One who is desirous of the fruits of action, greedy, cruel, impure, moved by joy and sorrow, he is said to be rajasic. “ragi, karma phala prepsuh, lubdhah, himsatmakah, asucih, harsa soka anvitah, karta rajasah parikirtitah” (XVIII:27). An agent, free from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm, unaffected in success or failure, is termed sattvik “muktasangah, anahamvadi, dhrti utsaha samanvitah, siddhi asiddhyoh, nirvikarah, karta sattvikah ucyate” (XVIII:26).
Krishna says that every quality and activity of man, is influenced by the gunas.Even his intellect is influenced by the gunas. The intellect of one who has a perverted understanding of everything including dharma and adharma is of tamasic nature “adharmam, dharmam, iti ya manyate, tamasa avrta sarvarthan viparitan, ca buddhih sa tamasi” (XVIII:32). One who does not correctly understand what dharma and adharma mean, and what should be and what should not be done, his intellect is of rajasic nature “yaya dharmam adharmam ca, karyam ca akaryam eva ca, ayathavat prajanati buddhih, sa rajasi” (XVIII:31). The intellect of one who knows action and renunciation of actions, right and wrong action, fear and fearlessness, and bondage and liberation is sattvik “pravrttim ca nivrttim, karya akarye ca, bhaya abhaye, bandham moksam ca ya vetti, buddhih sa sattviki” (XVIII:30).Similarly knowledge is also of three types. When one hangs on without reason to a particular trivial idea, holding it to be the whole without any reason or foundation, his knowledge is tamasic in nature “yat tu krtsnavat, ekasmin karye saktam ahaitukam, atattvarthavat, alpam ca, tat tamasam udahrtam” (XVIII:22). On the other hand if one sees various entities and beings as of distinct kinds, his knowledge is rajasic in nature “prthaktvena tu yat jnanam, nana bhavan prthag vidhan, vetti sarvesu bhutesu, tat jnanam rajasam” (XVIII:21). But if one sees the indestructible Reality as the undvided in all the divided entities, his knowledge is sattvik “sarva bhutesu yena ekam bhavam, avyayam iksate, avibhaktam vibhaktesu, tat jnanam sattvikam” (XVIII:20).
Even in their determination people vary. When a stupid man, due to lack of discrimination, does not give up sleep, fear, grief, despair, and conceit, that firmness is tamasic “yaya svapnam, bhayam, sokam, visadam, madam, eva na vimuncati, durmedha, dhrtih sa tamasi” (XVIII:35). Some people undertake activities, considering them as means meant only to fulfill their desires and are guided by an expectation of the fruits for such actions. The determination of such a person who holds fast to dharma, desires and wealth, and is attached to the fruits of these, is rajasic “yaya tu dharma kama arthan dhrtya dharayate, prasangena phalakanksi, dhrtih sa rajasi” (XVIII:34). There are people who take to spiritual activities like meditation, with great determination, and control their mind and senses. The firmness of such a person who through yogic practices is able to regulate the functioning of his mind, his breath and senses, is sattvik “dhrtya yaya dharayate, manah prana indriya kriyah, yogena avyabhicarinya dhrtih, sa sattviki” (XVIII:33).
Even happiness enjoyed by people fall under these three categories. Many people live a lazy and leisurely life taking eating and sleeping as only things that matter and they remain happy and contented in that state. The happiness which ensues from sleep, laziness and lack of attention, and deludes the individual from the beginning to the end is tamasic “yat agre ca anubandhe ca, sukham mohanam atmanah, nidra alasya pramada uttham, tat tamasam udahrtam” (XVIII:39). There are many others who recklessly enjoy a sensual life, feeling that it is the beginnng and end of all. But soon they come to despair. If the happiness which arises as a result of the sense organs contacting the sense objects, is like nectar in the beginning and at the end becomes like poison, such happiness is termed as rajasic “visaya indriya samyogat yat tat agre amrta upamam, pariname visam iva, tat sukham rajasam smrtam” (XVIII:38). The various spiritual sadhanas undertaken, may at the beginning taste like poison to the sadhaka, but at the end become like nectar, since by then his mind and intellect become pure and clear due to Self-realization. Such a happiness is termed sattvik “yat tat agre visam iva, pariname amrta upamam, tat sukham sattvikam proktam, atma buddhi prasadajam” (XVIII:37).
Three gunas have their influenc in many other objects and activities related to man. Food which is stale, tasteless, putrid, rotten, left over, impure are liked by thamasic persons “yata yamam, gata rasam, puti, paryusitam, ca yat ucchistam, api ca amedhyam, bhojanam tamasa priyam” (XVII:10).The rajasic people prefer food that is bitter, sour, saltish, excessively hot, pungent, dry, burning , foods which cause pain, grief, and disease are liked by rajasic people “katuh, amlah, lavanah, atyusnah, tiksnah, ruksah, vidahi, aharah rajasasya istah, duhkha soka amaya, pradah” (XVII:9).The foods taken by the sattvic person is life giving, pure, strength giving, healthy, joyful, cheerful and appetizing, savoury, oleaginous, substantial, and agreeable “ayuh, sattva, bala, arogya, sukha, priti, vivardhanah, rasyah, snigdhah, sthirah, hrdyah, aharah sattvika priyah” (XVII:8).
Even the gifts people give to others are influenced by the gunas of the giver. A thamasic person gives gifts at a wrong place and at a wrong time, to unworthy persons, without respect, with insult “adesa kale, yat danam apatrebhyah ca diyate, asatkrtam, avajnatam, tat tamasam udahrtam” (XVII:22).The gift which is given with a view to receive something in return, looking for fruit, and given reluctantly is considered to be rajasic in nature “yat tu, pratyupakarartham, phalam uddisya, va punah diyate, ca pariklistam, tat danam rajasam smrtam” (XVII:21). A sattvik gift is that which is made as a duty, given to one who does no service in return, and at the right place and right time, and to a worthy person “datavyam iti yat danam diyate, anupakarine, dese, kale ca, patre ca, tat danam, sattvikam smrtam” (XVII:20).
The ritualistic yajnas performed by people also fall under these three categories.When the yajnas are performed without following the scriptural injunctions, where no food is distributed, mantras are not recited, no gifts are made, and which are devoid of faith, such yajnas are said to be tamasic in nature. “vidhihinam, asrsta annam, mantra hinam, adaksinam, sraddha virahitam, yajnam tamasam paricaksate” (XVII:13). When a yajna is performed seeking some personal benefits, and for ostentation or self-glorification, that is said to be rajasic yajna “abhisamdhaya tu phalam, dambhartham api ca eva yat ijyate, tam yajnam rajasm” (XVII:12). When men perform yajna for its own sake, without desire for fruits, according to the scriptural injunctions, and offered with the mind full of faith, that yajna is said to be sattvik in nature “aphala akanksibhih, yajnah vidhi drstah, yah ijyate, yastavyam eva iti manah samadhaya, sah sattvikah” (XVII:11).
Tapas or austerity of the body, speech and mind referred to earlier, are also influenced by the three gunas. Practising austerities with foolish notions, torturing oneself or for harming others is considered tamasic in nature. “mudha grahena, atmanah yat pidaya, kriyate tapah, parasya utsadana artham va, tat, tamasam udahrtam” (XVII:19). The austerity practised with the object of gainng respectability, honour and reverence, and with hypocrisy, is said to be rajasic and it is unstable and transitory. “satkara mana puja artham tapah, dambhena ca eva yat kriyate, tat iha proktam rajasam, calam adhruvam” (XVII:18). When the threefold austerity is practised with deep faith, by men desiring no fruit and with steadfastness, it is declared as sattvik. “sraddhaya paraya taptam tapah tat trividham naraih, aphala akanksibhih, yuktaih, sattvikam paricaksate” (XVII:17).
The Goal
We saw earlier that the purpose behind the creation of man is to make him an instrument for revealing the unlimited potentialities of the Supreme Consciousness, a job he only is capable of. Having done his part of this work each individual has to go back to the source, from where he came.When a sadhaka finally realizes and expriences that all beings in the Universe are supported by the ONE, and that they have all evolved from that single source, he becomes a Brahma Jnani. “yada, bhuta prthag bhavam ekastham anupasyati, tatah eva ca vistaram, brahma sampadyate tada” (XIII: 30).That is the goal and once he has reached it, he himself becomes God, Brahman. The Supreme Consciousness remains the same in all mortal beings as the undying entity “samam sarvesu bhutesu tisthantam, paramesvaram vinasyatsu avinasyantam” (XIII:27). The sadhaka, who realizes that the same Lord dwells in everything and that the Atman does not die when the being dies, reaches the highest goal. “samam pasyam hi sarvatra samavasthitam isvaram, na hinasti atmana atmanam, tatah yati param gatim” (XIII:28). That goal, which is to be sought for, and having reached it one does not return, is the original Purusha. One should take refuge in that entity from which eternal activity streamed forth. “tatah padam tat parimargitavyam, yasmin gatah na nivartanti bhuyah, tam eva ca adyam purusam prapadye yatah pravrttih prasrta purani” (XV:4).It is higher than the Jivatman which is the lower Pursha which activated by the Atman functions in the body, as the ksetrajna of the perishable body.That higher Purusha is the imperishable Consciousness, which manifests as the Universe. It is the Atman of the Universe. It is the ksetrajna of the Universal body. It is the same as the Atman of the perishable body also.Beyond that Purusha, above that imperishable Purusha is the unmanifested, imperishable highest Purusha, the Supreme Consciousness, called Purushottama, in the scriptures. “aksarat api ca uttamah, atah asmi loke vede ca, prathitah purusottamah” (XV:18).That supreme abode is not illumined by the sun or the moon or the fire. This does not mean that it is a dark place! It means that the Consciousness Itself shines on Its own, and does not depend on an external source of light. It is the source of origin of photons, the energy particles of light. If one reaches that goal he does not return, he has no rebirth. “na tat bhasayate suryah na sasankah na pavakah, yat gatva na nivartante tat dhama paramam mama” (XV:6).These descriptions of the three Purushas, it will be seen, refer to the three modes of existence of Consciousness, refered to earlier.
. .We had seen in detail the three paths that have been prescribed for man to attain this goal, which is referred to as Moksha or Mukhti. Of course man has to make hmself eligible to attain this goal. What are the qualifications that will make him eligible for this? First he has to attain perfection by performing actions as detailed earlier and reach the state of freedom from action. Freedom from action means to reach the state of identity with the Atman, which is actionless. When he was indulged in actions it was the Prakrti which was performing the actions. Now his intellect is not attached to anything, he has overpowered his ego, as a result of which all his desires have disappeared, he has renounced everything, and now reaches the supreme state of freedom from action. “asakta buddhih sarvtra, jitatma, vigata sprhah, naiskarmya siddhim paramam, samnyasena adhigacchati” (XVIII:49). Having attained this perfection, now he is ready to reach the state of Brahman, the ultimate consummation of knowledge.Krishna explains how: “siddhim praptah, yatha brahma tatha apnoti, nistha jnanasya ya para” (XVIII:50). Endued with a pure intellect, controlling his lower self with firmness, relinquishing the sense objects, and abandoning attraction and hatred, “buddhya visuddhaya yuktah, dhrtya atmanam niyamya, ca sabdadin visayan, tyaktva raga dvesau vyudasya ca” (XVIII:51), dwelling in solitude, eating but little, subduing the speech, body and mind, always engaged in meditation, endued with dispassion “vivikta sevi, laghvasi, yata vak kaya manasah, dhyana yoga parah nityam, vairagyam samupasritah” XVIII: 52), having abandoned egoism, violence, arrogance, desire, anger, covetousness, without the feeling of ‘mine’, and peaceful, such a person is fit to become Brahman himself. “ahamkaram, balam, darpam, kamam, krodham, parigraham vimucya, nirmamah, santah, brahma bhuyaya kalpate” (XVIII: 53).
Krishna’s final advice is: with mind fixed on Me, devoted to Me, sacrificing to me, bow down to Me, and you will surely come to Me. He wants us to surrender to Him totally and makes this promise to us, because we are dear to Him. “manmanah bhava, madbhaktah, madyaji mam, namskuru mam eva, esyasi satyam te pratijane, priyah asi me” (XVIII:65). He assures that, if we renounce all duties and surrender to Him alone He will liberate us from all sins. Grieve not, He advises! “sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja, aham tva sarva papebhyah moksayisyami, ma sucah”(XVIII:66).
. Concluding His long discourse Krishna says that He has declared the secret of all secrets, and wants us to reflect upon it fully, and act upon it as we choose. “iti jnanam akhyatam guhyat guhyataram maya, vimrsya etat asesena yatha icchasi tatha kuru” (XVIII:63).True! Whoever studies this scripture carefully will realize that all the philosophical truths contained in the countless scriptures of our country have been so well and concisely presented to us, that there is hardly any need to study the others. He says that whoever studies this sacred discourse, full of wisdom, will be deemed to have worshipped Him with Jnana yoga. “adhyesyate ca yah imam dharmyam samvadam, jnana yajnena tena, aham istah syam” (XVIII:70). He warns that this secret is not to be told to one who is devoid of austerity, one who is not devoted or interested, one who does not care to listen, and one who speaks ill of Him. “idam te na, atapaskaya, na abhaktaya, kadacana na, ca asusrusave, vacyam na, ca mam yah abhyasuyati” (XVIII:67). If this supreme secret is told to the deserving devotees of the Lord, the one who does so, with supreme devotion to Him, will also go to Him without any doubt. “yah idam paramam guhyam, madbhaktesu abhidhasyati, bhaktim mayi param krtva, mam eva esyati asamsayah” (XVIII:68).











is not tainted by sins and remains pure as a “mam