Bhagawad Gita Ch 2. Verses 68 - End of 2nd Chpter [Swamy Chinmaya nanda's commentary]

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HAVING EXPLAINED THE PROPOSITION ENUNCIATED EARLIER, THE LORD

CONCLUDES BY RE-AFFIRMING HIS STATEMENT:

 

tasmaadyasya mahaabaaho nigR^ihiitaani sarvashaH .

indriyaaNiindriyaarthebhyastasya praGYaa pratishhThitaa .. 2\.68..

 

68. Therefore, O Mighty-armed, his knowledge is steady whose senses are

completely restrained from sense-objects.

 

It is natural, in conversation, that we do not directly give our wise

conclusions upon "the do's

and dont's" of life, without giving the logic of our thoughts leading to our

conclusions. Without

preparing our friend's mind to perceive the logic of these conclusions, we

dare not declare to

him any truth, however divinely acceptable the declarations are. Arjuna has

been told earlier all

the necessary arguments, and here in the stanza, Krishna re-asserts the same

proposition: "Life

in self-control alone is life worth living, if we demand from it anything

more than tears, sobs,

sighs and groans."

 

He alone is a man of Wisdom, rooted in joy and bliss, who has completely

restrained all his

senses from their wild roamings among their sense-objects.

 

"BY DESTROYING THE SENSE ORGANS ROAMING IN THE SENSE-OBJECTS," it

does not mean that a man of Self-development should destroy his capacities

for perception of

the world outside; nor does it mean that he is one who has been rendered

incapable of enjoying

life. Sense-debility is no sign of better-knowledge. It is only meant here

that the sense-objects

filtering through the five archways of knowledge will not, in a Perfect man,

flood his mind to

bring chaos and destruction of his established inner peace and tranquillity.

 

The ordinary individual, in his ego-centric existence, becomes victimized by

the sense-organs,

while he who has conquered the ego and has transcended his

matter-identifications, comes to

live in freedom and perfect control over the tyrannical sense organs.

 

IN ORDER TO MAKE IT CLEAR, THE LORD PROCEEDS:

 

yaa nishaa sarvabhuutaanaaM tasyaa.n jaagarti sa.nyamii .

yasyaa.n jaagrati bhuutaani saa nishaa pashyato muneH .. 2\.69..

 

 

69. That which is night to all beings, in that the self-controlled man keeps

awake; where

all beings are awake, that is the night for the Sage (MUNI) who sees.

 

In order to bring home to Arjuna the idea that the world, as experienced by

an individual

through the goggles of the mind-intellect-body, is different from what is

perceived through the

open windows of spirituality, this stanza is given. The metaphorical

language of this verse is so

complete in detail that the data-mongering modern intellect is not capable

of entering into its

poetic beauty. Of all the peoples of the world, the Aryans alone are capable

of bringing about a

combination of poetry and science, and when the poet-philosopher Vyasa takes

up his pen, to

pour out his art on to the ancient palmyra-leaves to express the Bliss of

Perfection, in the

ecstasy, he could not have used a better medium in the Geeta, than his

poetry.

 

Here, two points-of-view --- of the ignorant and of the wise --- are

contrasted. The ignorant

person never perceives the world as it is; he always throws his own mental

colour on to the

objects and understands the imperfections in his mind to be a part and

parcel of the objects

perceived. The world, viewed through a coloured glass-pane, must look

coloured.When this

colouring medium is removed, the world appears AS IT IS.

 

The Consciousness in us is today capable of recognizing the world only

through the media of the

body, mind, and intellect. Naturally, we see the world imperfect, not

because the world is so,

but because of the ugliness of the media through which we perceive it.

 

A Master-mind is he who, rooted in his Wisdom, opens up the

windows-of-his-perception and

looks at the world through the eye-of-Wisdom.

 

When an electrical engineer comes to a city, and when at dusk, the whole

city

smiles forth with its lights, he immediately enquires: "Is it A. C. or D. C.

current?"; while the

same vision, to an illiterate villager, is a wondrous sight and he only

exclaims: "I have seen

lights that need no wick or oil!" From the stand-point of the villager,

there is no electricity and no

problem of A. C. or D. C. currents. The world the engineer sees among the

very same lamps, is not

realised or known by the unperceiving intellect of the villager. Nor is the

engineer awake to the

world of strange wonderment which the villager enjoys.

 

Here, we are told that the ego-centric, finite, mortal is asleep to the

World-of-Perception

enjoyed and lived by the Man-of-Steady-Wisdom; and that the Perfect One

cannot see and feel

the thrills and sobs which the ego experiences in its selfish life of

finite-experience.

 

THE LORD PROCEEDS TO TEACH BY AN ILLUSTRATION THAT A WISE

DEVOTEE ALONE, WHO HAS ABANDONED DESIRES AND WHOSE WISDOM IS

STEADY, CAN ATTAIN MOKSHA, AND NOT HE WHO, WITHOUT RENOUNCING,

CHERISHES DESIRES:

 

aapuuryamaaNamachalapratishhTha.n

samudramaapaH pravishanti yadvat.h .

tadvatkaamaa yaM pravishanti sarve

sa shaantimaap{}noti na kaamakaamii .. 2\.70..

 

70. He attains Peace into whom all desires enter as waters enter the ocean,

which, filled

from all sides, remains unmoved; but not the "desirer of desires. "

 

It is very well-known that although millions of gallons of water reach the

ocean through the

various rivers, yet the level of water in the ocean does not change even by

a fraction. Similarly,

even though the infinite number of sense-objects may pour in their stimuli,

and reach the mental

zone of the Perfect Man through his five sense-channels, they do not create

any commotion or

flux, in his bosom.

 

Such an individual, who always finds his own level in spite of the fact that

he is living amidst the

sense-objects, and with his sense-organs unavoidably ever in contact with

the objects, is called

a Man-of-Perfection, a true Saint. And Krishna asserts that such an

individual alone can truly

discover peace and happiness in himself. The Lord, in the Geeta, not

satisfied with this negative

assertion, positively denies any true peace or joy to those who are

"desirers of desires."

 

This idea is totally in opposition with the modern belief in the material

world. The materialists

believe that by fanning up their desires, and satisfying as many of them as

possible, one is helped

to live a life of joy and happiness. Modern civilisation, based upon

industrialisation and large-

scale production, is attempting to whip up desires, and this attempt has now

succeeded to such

an extent that the average man has a million times more desires today than

his fore-father ever

entertained, a century ago. The financiers and the industrialists, with the

aid of modern scientific

knowledge, struggle hard to discover and to satisfy new desires, and to the

extent an individual

has come to fulfil his newly-created desires, he is taught by the day's

civilisation that he is more

happy than ever before.

 

On the other hand, the great thinkers of the past in India, perhaps through

their experience, or

through their more careful and exhaustive thinking, discovered that the joy

created through

satisfaction of desires can never be complete. They discovered that joy or

happiness, at any

given time, is a quotient when the "number of desires fulfilled" is divided

by the "total number of

desires entertained" by the same individual at that time. This mathematical

truth has been

accepted by the modern preachers of secularism also; but in their practical

application, the old

Rishis and the modern politicians seem to differ to a large extent.

 

In the modern world, the attempt is to increase the numerator, which is

represented by the

"number of the desires fulfilled." The Scriptural Masters of India also were

living in a world

peopled by a society of men, and their philosophical contemplations were

upon man as a social

being, and their aim too was to bring more happiness in their society.

Unlike the present

prophets of profit, these Rishis of Religion did not conceive that an

attempt to increase the

NUMERATOR without a corresponding attention upon the rate of increase of the

 

DENOMINATOR, could produce any palpable increase in joy. On the other hand,

today, we are struggling hard to increase the "number of desires fulfilled"

without at the

same time, trying to control the "number of desires entertained." That this

state of affairs cannot produce any

palpable increase in the QUOTIENT OF HAPPINESS is the scriptural verdict

which seems to

be an easily understandable scientific truth.

 

Herein, the Geeta is only repeating what the Upanishadic Rishis never get

tired of emphasising

in the Scriptures of India. The "desirer of desires" can never come to

perfect peace (Shanti).

Only he who has, in his spirit of detachment, gained a complete control over

his mind, so that

the sense-objects of the outer world cannot create in him an infinite number

of yearnings or

desires, is the Man-of-Peace-and-Joy. The objects in the outer world cannot

themselves tease

a man by their existence, or by their non-existence. The outer world can

borrow its capacity to

ill-treat man only when he exposes himself unguarded, and gets wounded and

crushed by his

own attachments to a wrong valuation of the sense-objects.

 

In this stanza Bhagawan is only giving a more elaborate and complete

commentary upon the

opening line of this section where He started the description of a

Man-of-Steady-Wisdom.

There He explained that, "When a man completely casts off all the desires in

his mind, then he is

said to be one of Steady-Knowledge."

 

BECAUSE IT IS SO, THEREFORE:

 

vihaaya kaamaanyaH sarvaanpumaa.nshcharati niHspR^ihaH .

nirmamo nirahaN^kaaraH sa shaantimadhigach{}chhati .. 2\.71..

 

 

71. That man attains peace who, abandoning all desires, moves about without

longing,

without the sense of 'l-ness' and 'my-ness. '

 

There are commentators who believe that this and the following stanza

explain the Path of

Renunciation, which is, in fact, not altogether ignored in the text of the

Geeta. Since, as we said

earlier, the second chapter is almost a summary of the entire Divine Song,

it has to indicate even

this Samnyasa Yoga, which will be later on explained at length and hinted at

different places

during the entire length of the Geeta.

 

This stanza seems to ring clearly the significant advice given earlier by

Krishna, almost at the

very opening of his philosophical discussions, in this chapter. He had

advised therein: "HAVING

CONQUERED THE MENTAL AGITATIONS CREATED BY THE PAIRS-OF-OPPOSITES,

FIGHT THE BATTLE OF LIFE." The same idea seems to be resounding here at the

close of the chapter.

The first line of the stanza explains the mental condition of one who comes

to discover Real

Peace in himself. Such an individual, it says, renounces all desires and has

no attachments or

longings. The second line describes the condition of such an individual's

intellect and it asserts

that it is without any sense of 'I-ness' or 'my-ness.' The ego is the cause

for the sense-

attachments and longings. Where the ego is not perceptible, as in sleep,

there are no longings or

desires in the individual or, at least, they are dormant. Thus, if the first

line of the stanza is

describing a negation of the effects of "ignorance," the second line asserts

the absence of the

very cause from which desires and the agitations arise.

 

Earlier, in the introduction, we explained that the split in the personality

of Arjuna was caused by

the intervention of the sense of his ego and his egoistic-desires, which

broke up the subjective

and objective aspects of his mind into two independent islands with a vast

ocean of surging

waves of desires between them. With a soft suggestion, after explaining all

the logic of thought,

Krishna is carefully placing his finger on the very ulcer in the Pandava's

mind.

 

The stanza, in its sum-total suggestions, advises us that all our sufferings

in the world are caused

by our own ego-centric misconception and the consequent arrogance

characterised by our

ever-multiplying demands for wealth and our endless desires.

 

Samnyasa means sacrifice, and to live in a spirit of sacrifice after

renouncing completely one's

ego and its desires is true Samnyasa, wherein an individual comes to live in

constant awareness

of his fuller and ampler Divinity. The general misunderstanding that to run

away from life is

Samnyasa, or to colour the cloth is to become a true monk, has cast an

irreparable slur on the

philosophy of the Upanishads. Hinduism considers him alone to be a Samnyasin

"who has

learnt the art of living his life in constant inspiration, which is gained

through an intelligent

renunciation of his ego-centric misconceptions."

 

Shankara beautifully explains this point of view in his commentary on the

stanza.

 

"THAT MAN OF RENUNCIATION, WHO, ENTIRELY ABANDONING ALL DESIRES, GOES

THROUGH LIFE CONTENTED WITH THE BARE NECESSITIES OF LIFE, WHO

REGARDS NOT AS HIS, EVEN THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE NEEDED FOR MERE

BODILY EXISTENCE, WHO IS NOT VAIN OF HIS KNOWLEDGE, --- SUCH A

MAN-OF-STEADY-KNOWLEDGE, WHO KNOWS BRAHMAN, ATTAINS PEACE

(NIRVANA), THE END OF ALL THE MISERY OF MUNDANE EXISTENCE

(SAMSARA). IN SHORT, HE BECOMES BRAHMAN.

THIS DEVOTION TO KNOWLEDGE IS EXTOLLED AS FOLLOWS:

 

eshhaa braahmii sthitiH paartha nainaaM praapya vimuhyati .

sthitvaasyaamantakaale.api brahmanirvaaNamR^ich{}chhati .. 2\.72..

 

72. This is the BRAHMIC -state, O Son of Pritha. Attaining this, none is

deluded. Being

established therein, even at the end of life, one attains to oneness with

BRAHMAN.

 

To renounce all desires is to destroy completely the last vestures of one's

ego. Renunciation of

ego is not a state of dull, meaningless emptiness. Where the delusory ego

has ended, the State

of Full-Knowledge, or Selfhood, has dawned. To realise the Self in one's own

bosom is to

realise at once the Self which is All-pervading and Eternal (Brahman).

 

When the ego has ended, the Consciousness is not known to be anything other

than the Eternal,

and as such the Knower of Truth, in a brilliant experience of the Self,

becomes the Self, and

therefore, this state is called Self-hood (Brahmi-sthitih).

 

A doubt may still arise that even after this realisation, we may again fall

into the delusion of the

ego and come to suffer the ego's world of imperfections and sorrows. To deny

this tragedy, we

have been told how, having realised the Self once, no more can the

individual fall back into his

ancient delusions. This experience of the Self need not necessarily take

place in the very youthful

days of one's life. Even in old age --- nay, even in the last moment of this

embodiment --- if a

seeker can come to experience, even for a moment, this egoless State of

Tranquillity and Poise,

even a passing glimpse of the Selfhood, it is sufficient to gain this

Brahmic-State pointed out in

Vedantic literature.

 

"Negation of the false and assertion of the True" is the Path that has been

indicated in the

Upanishads. The very same path, in its practical application, is designated

here in the Geeta, in

Vyasa's original contribution, as Karma Yoga. To work without attachment and

desires, egoism

and vanity, ever in perfect equilibrium in both success and failure, is to

deny the ego its entire

field of activity, and unconsciously to assert the greater Truth, the Self.

 

Thus, in technique, the Geeta's Karma Yoga is not at all different from the

Vedantic Technique of

Meditation. But Arjuna got confused and perplexed because he took Krishna's

words too literally, and

therefore, in the following chapter, he expresses his mental confusion in

the opening lines. The

Lord, therefore, explains Karma Yoga exhaustively in the next chapter.

 

AUM tatsaditi shriimad.h bhagavad.hgiitaasuupanishhatsu

brahmavidyaayaa.n yogashaastre shriikR^ishhNaarjunasa.nvaade

saaN^khyayogo naama dvitiiyo.adhyaayaH .. 2..

 

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad Geeta, in the Science of

the

Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA, in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and

Arjuna, the

second discourse ends entitled:

 

THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE

This chapter is named as 'Sankhya Yoga' not in the sense that it is the

Sankhyan philosophy

here summarised or borrowed by Krishna. Here the word Sankhya is used only

in its

etymological sense as "the sequence of logic in any line of correct thinking

and the logical

enumeration of the arguments based on which a certain intellectual

conclusion has been arrived

at." It is in this sense that the highly philosophical Chapter II of the

Geeta is termed as Sankhya

Yoga in its epilogue (Sankalpa Vakya).

 

It is true that in the original Mahabharata, the Geeta chapters do not carry

this Sankalpa

Vakya. Commentators differ in attributing to any single individual the

authorship of this

Sankalpa Vakya. However, it has been accepted that some scholar, or

scholars, analysed the

contents of each chapter and gave an appropriate title to each. To all

students of the Geeta, it is

indeed a great help. Shankara, however, does not comment upon this portion

at all.

 

Om Om Om Om Om