Gita Satsang - Chapter 5 : Verses 21-25 - Thu. Feb 8, 2001

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>shaknotiihaiva yaH soDhuM praakshariiravimokshaNaat.h .

>kaamakrodhodbhava.n vega.n sa yuktaH sa sukhii naraH .. 23..

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>shaknoti iha eva yaH soDhum praak-shariira-vimokshaNaat.h .

>kaama-krodha-udbhava.n vega.n saH yuktaH saH sukhii naraH ..

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>23. One who can withstand here itself-before departing from the body-

>the impulse arising from desire and anger, that man is a yogi; he is

>happy.

 

kaama and krodha also stand for raaga dwesha-s or likes and

dislikes - the entire vasana-s.

 

The one who has neutralized all these likes and dislikes - kaama

krodha udbhava vegan - the pressure arising from these raaga dwesha-s

the one who has shaknoti or able to withstand is the one whose mind

is prepared to receive the knowledge of the reality that one is all

ready full and happy. Hence saH yogi and saH sukhii. He is the one

who can yoke the mind to the higher and realize that one is what one

is longing for all the time. The suggestion is that this need to be

done before one kicks the bucket - praak shariira vimokshanaat.

This cannot be done unless one yokes the mind to higher - hence yogi

stands for the goal and the means too.

 

Hari Om!

Sadananda

 

--

K. Sadananda

Code 6323

Naval Research Laboratory

Washington D.C. 20375

Voice (202)767-2117

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Amongst the 42 verses selected by Sri Ramana Maharshi

as the Gita Sara, 3 verses belong to the fifth

chapter. They are the 16th, 26th and 28th.

It seems Sri Ramana Maharshi in reply to a question on

a good English translation of the Gita, recommended

the poetic translation by F.T. Brooks. I give below

F.T. Brooks translation of the 16th, 26th and 28th

verses of the fifth chapter.

 

16. Now, as to Those in whom Knowledge

has scattered this nescience of the Self,

Sunlike in Them it discloses

that Presence transcendent, revealed.

 

26. To those who know Themselves, unyoked

from lust and anger, mind controlled

Heart mastered, Final rest in Brahm,

of Its own Self is drawing nigh.

 

28. Sense-pow'rs, Mind, Will all merged in Self

of Thought deep hushed, on freedom bent,

The Man ever loosed from wish,fear,wrath,

that Man, O Friend, in Truth is Free.

 

Source - Mountain Path, Aradahana 1996

 

 

 

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Re: BG Ch V verses 21 to 25 --- some stray thoughts.

 

Every human being wants to pursue happiness. Generally one thinks that

happiness comes from

sensory enjoyment of external objects. When any one or more of our five organs

of sense comes

in contact with some desirable object external to us, a sensation of pleasure is

felt in the

mind. Sparsha literally means the sense of touch. But here it includes the

other four senses

also, viz. sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Bahya means external. So

bahya-sparsha refers to

contact of the sense organs with external objects. e.g. taste of ice-cream,

watching TV,

listening to rock music,

smell of an exotic perfume, the feel of soft silk, all give a sense of

pleasure. Is such a

sense of pleasure, really the happiness one is looking for ?

 

No. Because the pleasure derived thus is of a fleeting nature, like a flash of

lightning. It

does

not last long. What is worse, such pleasures turn out to be sources(yonayaH) of

sorrow(duhkha). Such pleasures are called duhkha-yonayaH in verse 22..

Shankara

says it is because they are born of worldly objects which constitute avidyaa

(avidyaa-

kR^tatvat ). They have a beginning and an end. They begin when contact is

made between

the objects and the senses, and end when that contact is broken. e.g.

ice-cream tastes good

only as long as it is on the tongue ! Therefore, a wise man (budhaH) does not

seek such

pleasures ( na teshhu ramate) which are fleeting in nature.

 

What then does one who seeks lasting happiness do ? The answer is in verse 21.

While the sense pleasures were called bhogaH in verse 22, here the word sukham

(happiness) is employed.

 

The Seeker of happiness becomes a bahya-sparsheshhu- asakta-aatma i.e. he

trains his mind

(atma here means the antahkaraNa) to be totally immune (asaktaH) to the

interaction

between thet external objects and the sense organs (the baahya-sparshaaH).

He

gains(vindati) the sukham (happiness) which is the svaruupam (natural state) of

the Atman

(sat-chid-ananda svaruupam). This sukham (anandam) is inherent in the

Atman(atmani)

and is not dependent on any external object. So it is everlasting.

Bbrahma-yoga is the recognition of the oneness of atman and brahman. One

whose antahkaraNa

( the word atma is used again here in this sense) is endowed with this knowledge

is

brahma-yoga-yukta-atma . The atma- sukham he enjoys by being immersed in the

Atman

is described as akshayam, everlasting ; brahman /atman being ananta.

 

Verse 23 :

Kaama (desire) and krodha (anger) are very powerful emotions. They can give

rise to

irresistible urges that lead one to do things on the spur of the moment which he

will repent

later. e.g. Murders have been committed in a fit of anger. Such irresistible

urge is called

 

kaama-krodha-udbhavam-vegam. One has to learn to control himself when such

surges of emotion

occur.

This not a one shot operation. It is not enough if you are able to do it once.

These evil

forces

keep recurring often. A yogi should be able to resist them instantly as they

rear their

ugly head every moment of his life till death. Such a yogi enjoys real

happiness (sukhii).

Prak-shariira-vimokshhanaat is interpreted by Shankara as aa-maraNaat

 

 

Corrections, comments, criticisms, are as welcome as concurrence.

 

Regards.

V.M.Sundaram

 

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Verse 20

Things which are agreeable to the mind, intellect, senses and body are

called `pleasing'. The ignorant suffer from attachment for such things

and feel delighted on obtaining them. The knower of Reality, however,

being established in unity, does not feel the least attachment for

anything. In the eyes of the sage who has realized the Truth nothing

is real in this world except the one Absolute. The intellect of such a

stage is ever steady and firm. It remains ever and under all

circumstances immovably fixed in the Absolute, the embodiment of

Truth, Knowledge and Bliss.

The use of the word `Asammudhah' signifies that the mind of the wise

man is absolutely free from doubts, errors and infatuation, All doubts

disappear along with their root, viz., ignorance. The word `Brahmavit'

denotes one who has attained full Knowledge of the reality of Brahma,

the embodiment of Truth, Knowledge and Bliss. Such a `Brahmavit'

comes to know every thing not only about Brahman but also about the

world, the relation of the world with Brahman, the soul and the Over-

soul, the difference between the individual soul and God, and so on.

Nothing about Brahman remains to be known by him who has come face to

face with the Reality. Such a knower of Brahman remains constantly

established in Brahman all the time, no matter whether he (she) is

awake, dreaming or fast asleep. The idea is that at no time and in no

circumstance does he (she) dwell in the body. Having become one with

the Absolute, he (she) is never and on no account disunited from Him,

He remains unaltered in all circumstances. That is why he has been

called `Brahmani Sthitah'.

 

Verse 21

Object of senses such as sound, touch, color, taste and smell etc, are

denoted by the word `Bahyasparsesu'. The sage with the wisdom drives

out all attachments for these sense objects, withdraws all enjoyments

from the mind and develops the feeling of indifference towards them,

is referred to here by the words `Bahyasparsesu Asaktatma'. The

phrase `Eternal Bliss' stands here for the Imperishable God who is

ever the same and is the very embodiment of supreme Bliss. And the

enjoyment of this bliss consists in realizing one's identity with Him,

as a result of constant and unbroken meditation. No other joy can

stand in comparison with this. The joy that one finds in worldly

enjoyments is utterly negligible and momentary. The joy born of

dispassion and that resulting from quietism, being conducive to the

joy derived from meditation, are comparatively lasting; while the joy

derived from meditation being the direct cause of God-Realization is

still more lasting. But none of these joys, connected with the period

of spiritual practice, can be called `eternal'. Eternal Bliss is the

same as God. Having thus declared renunciation of attachment for

sense-objects as conducive to 'God-Realization, the Lord now

indirectly calls upon Arjuna in the following verse to renounce

attachment for sense-objects, proclaiming them to be the source of

suffering and transient:-

 

Verse 22

The unintelligent moth, which cannot foresee the result of its

instinctive action, erroneously considers the flame to be a source of

joy, rushes towards it to hug it and falling into it undergoes severe

roasting and scorches itself to death. Even so the ignorant man,

considering sense-enjoyments to be a source of joy, gets attached to

them, and seeks to enjoy them and reaps great sorrows and sufferings

through their enjoyment. Sense-enjoyments are fleeting and momentary

as a dream or a flash of lightning. This is what is meant by calling

them `Adyantavantah'. In reality there is no joy in them; but due to

ignorance they appear as full of joy. Hence even if we assume them to

be a source of joy in some degree, that joy too is not lasting but

only ephemeral. For that which is fleeting itself cannot give

permanent joy. In verse 14 of the second chapter the sense-objects

have been declared as transient, because they come and go.

 

Arjuna's mother, Kunti, was very intelligent, sensible,

self-controlled and averse to sense-enjoyments. Though belonging to

the fair sex, which is traditionally associated with frailty, she

spent all her life in piety combined with dispassion and devotion.

Therefore, by addressing Arjuna as `Kaunteya' the Lord reminds him of

the greatness of his mother and conveys to him the hint that having

been born of such a saintly and pious mother it was beyond expectation

that he would ever feel attracted to-wards sense-enjoyments.

 

Verse 23

The Lord warns us to resist the urges of lust and anger calmly in this

very life before casting off the mortal frame. If through negligence

and carelessness this rare boon of human existence is frittered away

in accumulating and enjoying sense-objects alone vain repentance will

be the only course left to us. It is laid down in the Kena Upanisad:

"If one comes to know the Reality in this human life it is very

satisfactory; if one fails to realize it here, it is an incalculable

loss." * (II.5)

The body is perishable; it is sure to drop off eventually and no one

knows which is going to be the last moment for one. Hence lust and

anger should be conquered before the hour of death arrives. At the

same time, through spiritual practice, the practician should acquire

necessary strength to resist the repeated onslaughts of these

arch-enemies in the form of lust and anger. We must see to it that

these enemies in the form of lust, anger, etc, disappear and take

leave of us with all their force, even as the waters of so many rivers

get lost into the ocean along with their currents.

 

Everybody in the world seeks happiness. But very few know what is real

happiness and how to attain it. Due to this ignorance they run away

with the wrong idea that happiness consists only in enjoying the

objects of senses. That is why they hanker after them and strive to

attain them. And when they find themselves balked in their efforts,

they are seized with anger. But as a rule one who is habitually under

the sway of lust and anger can never be happy. One who is under the

sway of desire and the one who is under the sway of anger, both betake

themselves to all sorts of mischief's and vices-the former for the

sake of a wife, progeny; wealth and honor, etc, and the latter with

view to harming others. 'They thereby expose themselves to illness,

grief, ignominy, infamy, perturbation, unrest, anxiety and various

kinds of agonies in this world and have to undergo tortures in hell

and sufferings of various kinds in the lower species of animals, such

as birds and, beasts, insects and reptiles, when born hereafter (XVI.

18-20). In this way they never attain happiness, and always suffer

pain. Those, on the other hand, who having realized that enjoyments

breed misery and are ephemeral in nature have fully subdued their

enemies in the form of lust and anger and have completely extricated

themselves from their grip, are always happy.

 

Verse 24

Here the word `Antah' denotes God, who indwells or permeates the

whole universe, and not the inner sense. `Antahsukhah' therefore,

refers to the sage who finds no joy in worldly pleasures consisting in

the enjoyment of external objects of senses, which the sage regards as

ephemeral like a dream, but finds joy in God alone, who is the

embodiment of supreme Bliss and is immanent in all. Such a Yogi does

not even recognize the existence of external enjoyments, much less

their being a source of joy. Hence the Yogi does not indulge in them,

and renouncing attachment for all these, takes delight in God alone.

In other words, the Yogi is constantly absorbed in meditation on God,

the embodiment of supreme Bliss, as identical with Him

(brahmanirvAna). The term `Brahmanirvanam' denotes God, who is all

peace, the embodiment of Truth, Knowledge and Bliss, Attribute-less,

Formless and Absolute.

 

Verse 25

Latencies of actions performed in this as well as in other lives,

evils such as likes and dislikes and heaps of their tendencies,

accumulated in man's mind, are all covered by the word `Kalmasa' or

sin, inasmuch as they lead to bondage. With the attainment of

God-Realization all these get eradicated, and no trace of an evil is

left in man's mind. Thus absence of the evil of `impurity' is shown by

the use of the adjective `Ksinakalmasah'. The Sruti says: "With the

realization of God, who is both the cause of this universe and the

universe itself, the knot of ignorance in the heart of the

God-realized soul is broken, all doubts are slashed to pieces and the

latencies of all actions wiped out."* (Mund. Up., II.ii.8.)