Gita Satsang: Chapter 6 - Swami Dayananadaji's Commentary

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Namaste,

 

On behalf of all of you I sincerely express my appreciation to Swamiji for

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regards,

 

Ram Chandran

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GÎHASTHA- ASRAMA HAS ITS BASIS IN SANNYASA ALONE

We have seen that the status of grhastha, householder, is one of the four

stages, asrama, of a person's life. First, the person is a brahmacari and then

a grhastha, which is important because this stage prepares one for the third

and fourth stages, vanaprastha and sannyasa. Once a person becomes a sannyasi

he or she leaves home and is no more a grhastha. Thus, grhastha, which means

literally, ‘one who remains at home,' is from the standpoint of sannyasa

alone. For instance, when a man leaves home as a sannyasi, there is no sense

of divorce implied in terms of his marriage. He is not renouncing his wife in

order to be free to remarry, which is not renunciation at all; it is simply

frustration. Rather, it is a growing out of, a maturing, because of which the

marriage has served its purpose; neither person requires the other; they are

both sannyasis. So he walks away and she remains where she is, protected no

doubt, but also living like a sadhu, the home having become an asrama.

Thus, the word grhastha itself has its basis in sannyasa, sannyasa being the

ultimate goal of the grhastha. Sannyasa is not a choice; it is the ultimate

goal. A person who is alone, who remains in a quiet place, and who has the

attributes of a yogi can meditate constantly, whereas a person who has a home

and family cannot. It is impossible. Therefore, Sankara says that Krsna is

talking about a sannyasi here. First, he had talked about the karma-yogi, and

now he is talking about the dhyana-yogi, the sannyasi, one who lives a life of

meditation.

This dhyana-yogi is further described by Krsna as yata-citta-atma. Citta means

memory, but here it refers more generally to the antah-karana, the mind, which

includes memory, usually the predominant factor that disturbs you in

meditation. Because your mind continues to operate in meditation, when as

sound comes, you are definitely going to hear it. This is why you withdraw the

sense organs to the extent possible — closing the eyes, for example — so that

you can be absorbed with the object of meditation. What, then, is left to

disturb you? Citta, memory — memories from the past. Therefore, citta is

mentioned here.

Since citta stands for the mind in the compound, yata-citta-atma, the word

atma in this compound is taken to mean deha, the physical body, and yata

refers to both the body and mind being brought under one's mastery. The body

is totally relaxed and the mind is absorbed. Whatever problems there may be,

they are taken care of, which is all a part of meditation. Thus, yatacittatma

is both a name for the yogi and a qualification. Whenever a disturbance comes,

the body is kept relaxed, and whenever a memory comes, the mind is brought

back again to the object of meditation, all of which Krsna discusses later.

MEDITATION REQUIRES FREEDOM FROM LONGING

Further, if you have to sit in meditation, you have to be a person who is free

from longings, nirasih. To sit in meditation means that there should be no

pressure from inside; otherwise, you cannot sit. This inner pressure is

longing, and nirasih, refers to the one for whom all longings are gone. If you

simply close your eyes, and if longings are there in your mind, you will not

even be able to keep your eyes closed, let alone sit quietly. And, in no time

at all, you will feel the fuming and fretting inside. Just by closing the

eyes, all the longings well up. At least with the eyes open, your mind is

arrested by the objects you see because there is something going on and that

gives you a direction. But if the eyes are closed, then the whole world is

within you and the longings will create so much disturbance that you cannot

remain sitting.

Whereas the nirasih is dispassionate, free from longing. The nirasih is

relatively satisfied with himself or herself and is therefore, a cheerful

person. Because the meditator is a person who has been living the life of

karma-yoga, Krsna mentions these particular qualifications here, which,

according to Sankara's definition of sannyasa, are the qualities of a

sannyasi.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FREE OF POSSESSIONS

Finally, Krsna describes the dhyana-yogi as aparigraha, one who is free from

possessions. Parigraha means hoarding or gathering, which can be a big

problem. In fact, it is a disease that everyone has to some extent. Because it

is so difficult for people to give up things, they keep on gathering. Even if

you give them away, you go on gathering more. This capacity to give things up

is to be retained always so that you are the boss. The person who is alert to

this fact is called aparigraha here.

Sankara himself questions how the word aparigraha could apply to a sannyasi,

one who is supposed to be free from gathering things. But even a sannyasi has

the tendency to gather. A person may be alone in terms of other people, but in

terms of possessions, he or she may not be aparigraha. Therefore, this

gathering tendency has to be kept away by continually giving things away.

Aparigraha is a very interesting word here. Not only does it mean to be free

from gathering things, but also from the longing to gather. This tendency to

gather various objects is a common trait of the samsari — and an old habit.

Because this habit may still be there, and also because things do have a

tendency to gather, the sannyasi has to constantly maintain the status of

being an aparigraha.

After this Krsna goes on to say that, all the necessary qualifications being

there, may one unite one's mind to the object of meditation — atmanam yunjita;

in other words, may one meditate. Although Krsna's advice may look as though

it is directed to a sannyasi, it is really for anyone because everyone is

ekaki, in fact. Even though you may be married and have a family, you are

ekaki, one who is alone, at least when you close your eyes! Freeing yourself

from all duties and roles, you become ekaki, whereas if you think of the

father you are, the mother you are, or the daughter or son you are, then you

are not ekaki. It is as though all these people, all these roles, are inside

of you. Therefore, to just be yourself, ekaki, you drop the roles and their

problems when you meditate. You strip yourself to be the simple person you

are, whatever that person may be, the one who is meditating, the one called

ekaki, dhyayi, yogi.

MEDITATION REQUIRES A CERTAIN DISCIPLINE

The next section of this chapter deals with what has to be done by the person

striving for this meditation in terms of discipline, niyama, beginning with

where and how to sit, asana. In this section, Krsna discusses the eating

habits, ahara, of the meditator, saying that one who does not eat at all will

have no yoga, nor will the one who eats too much. In fact, both of them may

have roga, disease, instead. Discipline in terms of other activities, vihara,

that are conducive to yoga, to meditation, are also mentioned by Krsna in this

section.

Meditation itself is a means for the steadiness and clarity of mind that leads

to knowledge. But to live a life of meditation also requires a certain

discipline, which is considered to be a secondary means or sadhana for

meditation. The remainder of this section of chapter six is devoted to the

accomplishment of this yoga — the discipline and its results.

sucau dese pratis¶hapya sthiramasanamatmanah

tatraikagram manah krtva yatacittendriyakriyah

upavisyasane yunjyad yogamatmavisuddhaye Verse 12

sucau — in a clean; dese — place; sthiram — firm; na atyucchritam — not too

high; na atinicam — not too low; caila-ajina-kusa-uttaram — a piece of soft

cloth, a skin, and a grass mat layered in (reverse) order; asanam — seat;

atmanah — for oneself; pratis¶hapya — having arranged; tatra — there; asane —

on the seat; upavisya — sitting; manah — mind; ekagram — one-pointed (absorbed

in the object of meditation); krtva — making; yata-citta-indriya-kriyah — one

who has mastered the mind and senses; atma-visuddhaye — for the purification

of the mind; yogam — meditation; yunjyat — may one practice

Having arranged one's seat in a clean place, firm, not too high (and) not too

low, (made of) a piece of soft cloth, a skin, and a grass mat layered in

(reverse) order, there, sitting on the seat, making one's mind one-pointed

(absorbed in the object of meditation), may the one who has mastered the mind

and senses practice meditation for the purification of the mind.

In these verses, the word asana is used for the actual seat upon which the

meditator should sit. How one sits is also called asana, which Krsna discusses

later. The words, sucau dese, describe the place where one sits, meaning that

it should be a clean place. You cannot sit in a garage, for instance, simply

because you bought a house that has a garage and you do not have a car to put

in it.

The place of meditation must be clean. For every action, everything you want

to do, you require an appropriate place. And meditation is no exception. It

requires a place that is inspiring and, if not inspiring, at least clean.

Thus, Krsna says sucau dese. In his commentary of this verse, Sankara adds

that the place should also be quiet, vivikta.

A riverside, a mountain, or some wooded area is considered to be clean and

quiet because there is usually no one there and the natural surroundings tend

to be inspiring. For a place to be inspiring, meaning conducive to meditation,

there should be nothing to draw your attention away from meditation and a

clean, quiet place meets this requirement. In such places, people can observe

nature and spend time with themselves. They need not be always meditating, but

they can be meditative while watching.

This does not mean that one must say, I have to meditate and therefore, I have

to find a mountain or a riverside. By your own action you can make the place

clean. Wherever you are, you can make that a place where you can sit quietly.

Does this mean that you have to drive away the people who may be there? No,

you need not do that; nor can you do it if the people are a part of your life.

How, then, you might ask, are you going to meditate?

YOU CAN ALWAYS FIND A QUIET CORNER IN WHICH TO MEDITATE

You can find a time, early in the morning perhaps, before the others get up,

to do meditation. When everyone is sleeping and you are the only one

interested in meditation, this is a good time to do it. If others in the house

were interested in meditation and also wanted to do it early in the morning,

it could be a problem. So, by getting up a little earlier, you have a quiet

place. Some quiet corner is always available. Or, if your home is always

noisy, you can go to a nearby park or some other quiet place.

When Krsna says here that one should arrange his or her own asana, he does not

mean it in a possessive sense. It is not that you have a particular seat upon

which you must sit every day; this is not the emphasis here. Rather, one's

asana, one's seat of meditation, is in terms of what is most conducive to

meditation. For example, the seat should be positioned firmly, meaning that it

should not wobble. The seat may be a bench, a plank, or whatever, but it

should be firm, sthira. It should not be too high, na atyucchrita, a seat from

which you could fall, nor too low, na atinica, meaning that you should not sit

directly on the ground lest you be bothered by insects and the dampness.

Because the body has a tendency to become very relaxed in meditation, and may

even fall asleep, the fear of falling will be there if the asana is too high.

Instead of meditating, you will be afraid and then distracted by the thought

that you should not be afraid. Similarly, if you sit directly on the ground

there may be a fear of being bitten by creepy, crawly creatures, a real

concern for those who inhabited the jungle areas of India.

Na atyucchrita and na atinica can also be taken in another way. Some people

think that if they want to meditate they should go to the higher altitudes,

atyucchrita, or into a cave below the ground, atinica. But, here Krsna advises

against both locations. Meditation may seem to be very successful at the

higher altitudes, like in Gangotri at about 10,000 feet, because the person

who meditates will have no disturbance in his or her mind. But this is because

the mind cannot think due to a lack of oxygen. We meditate with a thinking

mind, not an incapacitated mind.

Therefore, to incapacitate the mind by going to high altitudes is not an

accomplishment; in fact, you do not even know what is going on. Arranging

one's asana in too low a place is also a problem for the same reason. There

may be no sounds to disturb you in a cave dug into the ground, but, again,

there is the problem of the mind not being able to think because the oxygen

supply is extremely limited in such places. Therefore, Krsna says here that

one's seat of meditation should not be too high, na atyucchrita, nor too low,

na atinica — in other words, neither on a mountain top nor under the ground.