Gita Satsang - Chapter 6 : verses 37-40: Swami Dayananda's Commentary

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Namaste,

 

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

Pujyaswami Dayanandasaraswati for providing his commentary to the

benefit of the advaitin list members.

 

regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

Part I: Verses 37 to 40

 

NOT SOMETHING TO BE DONE

Krsna mentions in this verse that this yoga is gained by a particular

means, upayatah. And what is that means, upaya? Abhyasa and vairagya

are the means for gaining this vision, as Krsna had already told

Arjuna. Because abhyasa and vairagya are the means, Arjuna's gaining

the yoga was no longer in Krsna's hands, because Krsna has already

covered the subject matter. Now, this is something that has to be done

and it is up to Arjuna to do it. He has to pay attention to his mind.

Krsna had said everything he could say. There was nothing more to be

taught, only something to be done. Vairagya and abhyasa would take

care of any problems, any obstructions to gaining the knowledge. This

is why Krsna does not say very much about the doing of it.

When there is something to be discussed, like the vastu, brahma-atma,

then one can talk indefinitely, which is what Krsna does and which is

why there are eighteen chapters of the Gita. But, here, there is

something to be done now by Arjuna; therefore, Krsna leaves it at

that. You will find that Krsna talks a lot about atma, about the wise

person, about the vision, but when it comes to meditation, which is to

be done, there are only a few verses because it is something to be

done.

Wherever there is something to be done, Krsna states it briefly and

adequately, and then continues on. Whereas, wherever something is to

be unfolded, he goes on and on because it is something that has to be

understood, not something that has to be done.

In the next verse, Arjuna presents another problem, which is purely an

imagined problem.

arjuna uvaca

ayatih sraddhayopeto yogaccalitamanasah

aprapya yogasamsiddhim kam gatim krsna gacchati Verse 37

arjunah — Arjuna; uvaca — said;

krsna — O Krsna!; sraddhaya— with faith in the sastra; upetah —

endowed; ayatih — one of inadequate effort; yogat — from yoga;

calita-manasah — one whose mind wanders away; yoga-samsiddhim —

success in yoga; aprapya — not gaining; kam gatim gacchati — to which

end does he (or she) go

Arjuna said:

O Krsna, not gaining success in yoga, to which end does the one who is

endowed with faith in the sastra (but) whose effort is inadequate, and

whose mind wanders away from yoga go?

Just look at Arjuna's question. Suppose there is a man who has

renounced all karmas, meaning vaidika-karmas and laukika-karmas, all

the spiritual, social, and family duties that he is allowed to give up

if he takes to a life of renunciation, sannyasa. Why does anyone give

up all this? In the hope of what? In the hope of gaining this yoga,

the vision of atma in all beings and all beings in atma (samadarsana),

he gives up all types of karma. This particular vision was the end in

view when the person, Arjuna was talking about, became a sannyasi.

As a sannyasi, he denied himself the various pleasures that can be

picked up by living in the society and became a bhiksu, a person who

lives on alms. He has no money and does not know from where his next

meal will come — that is, he lives on whatever comes his way. But,

although he does not have the pleasures that a life of samsara would

have given him, renunciation is a good investment because he is going

to get the great vision, liberation, moksa. It was for the sake of

moksa alone that he gave up the other three human pursuits security,

artha, pleasure, kama, and dharma.

A CERTAIN EFFORT IS ALSO REQUIRED

This person has great sraddha in the vision of the sastra and the

possibility of his gaining the knowledge of himself, atma, being

Brahman is definitely there. He knows that this knowledge is the moksa

that he seeks. In the hope of gaining this knowledge, he has taken to

the life of sannyasa and continues to be a sannyasi. In time, however,

having not yet gained the knowledge, he becomes frustrated. He may

have started his pursuit when he was very young and now he is old.

Something has prevented him from gaining the knowledge. The teaching

may not have been proper or, perhaps, he did not have enough

inspiration. Or the problem may have been from the past, some backlog,

some obstacle, from the past. Having reached this point, although he

still has sraddha, he is now an ayati, meaning that he does not have

adequate effort.

Yati means a person of effort, one who has the capacity to make right

effort, which is why a sannyasi is called a yati. The person has a

direction and is committed to a life of renunciation in pursuit of

self-knowledge. But the sannyasi Arjuna was talking about cannot be

called a yati; he has become an ayati because adequate effort is not

there and he does not know what it is, and is incapable of that

effort.

That the effort is not adequate is very clear. Why? Because the

problems continue. Things are not very clear to the person and

therefore, he is ayati. He may have studied and done a lot of

meditation. But all that he has accomplished is to become more aged,

tired, and frustrated, calitamanasa. Arjuna wanted to know what would

become of this tired, frustrated sannyasi? He has sraddha and

therefore, he wants this knowledge. But things are not clear to him at

all. Now Arjuna's doubt is, `What would be his lot if he dies away

before gaining the knowledge?' Therefore, Arjuna asks, `What does he

gain Krsna — kam gatim krsna gacchati?'

We know very well what his lot in this life is. He has neither the

joys of samsara nor the joy of moksa. The small pleasures of samsara

are denied to him and also the pleasures of heaven, since he gave up

all the karma that would earn him such pleasure in the hope of gaining

jnana. And he does not get jnana either! What then? Is he just left

hanging somewhere or what?

A person who performs no karma obviously cannot gain the results of

karma; therefore, there is no karma-phala for him. Instead of

performing karma, he spent his time sitting with his eyes closed, but

nothing happened inside — except sleep perhaps. And nothing can be

accomplished by sleep! Dreaming or day-dreaming at least gives a

person some kick, but what does sleep give? Nothing. Therefore, the

ayati has not picked up any of the simple joys of samsara. Nor has he

picked up any punya for the next life; much less has he gained the

knowledge that is liberation.

DOES THE PERSON JUST FIZZLE OUT?

Will he become like a cloudlet that has become separated from a body

of clouds, will he just disappear, fizzle out? Is this kingdom lost

and the promised kingdom as well? For the sannyasi of inadequate

effort who has died, moksa is gone and samsara is also gone, there

being no accrued punya. With both of them gone, what will happen to

him? Where will he go?

Of course, this was an imagined situation on Arjuna's part. He was not

himself a sannyasi, but perhaps he planned to become a sannyasi. This

did seem to be on his mind, as we saw earlier in the Gita. In any

case, Arjuna wants to know exactly what would happen to the sannyasi

who did not gain the vision. Although this was not Arjuna's immediate

problem, his question was a relevant one in terms of understanding

what the sastra has to say about sannyasa and karma-yoga. Arjuna knew

Krsna to be the all-knowing Isvara and therefore, qualified to remove

this particular doubt. No one else was equal to Krsna; only he could

answer this question, which was not a simple one, dealing as it did

with what happens after one's life, as we know it, comes to an end.

Therefore, Arjuna says, `Please tell me, Krsna, where does such a

person go who has not gained success in yoga (in the form of gain of

knowledge) — aprapya yoga-samsiddhim kam gatim krsna gacchati?' When

knowledge is gained, moksa is gained. Therefore, knowledge is called a

means for moksa. Thus, between the knowledge and moksa there is a

connection, a connection of `means and end' —

sadhana-sadhya-sambandha.

Arjuna wants to know what happens to the person who, having sraddha in

the vision, renounces everything and lives a life of yoga but does not

gain the knowledge that is moksa. Having denied himself the pleasures

of samsara and also those of the other world, the person has been

performing this yoga, this meditation, for a long time and now he is

very old and is dying away. He has given up all hope of gaining

anything more in this life, let alone the knowledge that he has

pursued for so long. What will happen to him? Will he not be

completely destroyed?

Arjuna puts this question to Krsna in the next verse:

kaccinnobhayavibhras¶aschinnabhramiva nasyati

apratis¶ho mahabaho vimudho brahmanah pathi Verse 38

mahabaho — O Mighty-armed! (Krsna); brahmanah pathi — in the path

(knowledge) of Brahman; vimudhah — the one who is deluded; apratis¶hah

— one who is without any support; ubhaya-vibhras¶ah — one who has

fallen from both; chinna-abhram iva — like a cloudlet torn asunder;

kaccit na nasyati — is he not destroyed?

Deluded in the path (knowledge) of Brahman, is one who has fallen from

both, being without any support, not destroyed, O Mighty-armed

(Krsna), like a cloudlet torn asunder?

The person being discussed here is the same sannyasi described

previously by Arjuna as ayati one whose effort has not been adequate

to gain the knowledge that is moksa. Ubhaya-vibhras¶a refers to the

one who has fallen away from both life-styles, karma-yoga and

sannyasa. This person has given up, fallen away from the way of life

called karma-marga or karma-yoga. This karma-yoga is a life of

activity in which one also pursues the knowledge. The purpose of this

lifestyle is to make one ready eventually to pursue knowledge by

taking to a life of sannyasa. Because he has slipped away from

karma-marga, the person is called vibhras¶a with reference to the

karma-marga. And, the life of renunciation, yoga-marga, brahmanah

pantha, for which he gave up karma-marga, has also proved to be

abortive, fruitless. Therefore, in both, he is the loser; from both he

has fallen away —he is ubhaya-vibhras¶a.

Having fallen away from both, where will he go now? He cannot go back

to karma-marga because he is perhaps too old to do anything. Besides,

it is not proper to go from sannyasa to karma-marga. Nor does he have

any enthusiasm to do so because he knows the anityatva of it all. Any

enthusiasm he may have had for a life of samsara as an aviveki, one

without discrimination, is all gone and he does not have the

satisfaction of being a jnani, a wise man, either. Therefore, he is

ubhaya-vibhras¶a, hanging somewhere in the middle, with no place to

go. He cannot identify with the wise sannyasis nor with the ordinary

people.

Not only does he have no place, no group to identify with, he is also

deluded vimudha. He either feels he has made a mistake or he feels

confused about whether he is a jiva, an individual, or param-brahma.

Since this doubt remains, he has not accomplished anything by having

taken to this path, this pursuit of the knowledge of Brahman.

THERE IS NO PATH TO BRAHMAN

Sankara clarified the meaning of the word pathi – in the path, in his

commentary of this verse by adding the word marga, thereby indicating

that the life-style of sannyasa is what is implied here. There is no

`way,' no `path,' to Brahman as such; you are Brahman. And to gain

this knowledge of Brahman, there is a pursuit, the pursuit of

knowledge. And in this pursuit, the sannyasi under discussion is

deluded, vimudha. Thus, `deluded in the path of Brahman' means that in

gaining the knowledge of Brahman, in the pursuit of that knowledge, he

is still confused, still deluded.

Does such a person not destroy himself, nasyati na kim? Asking this

question, Arjuna compared the destruction to that of a cloudlet that

has separated itself from a large body of clouds, chinna-abhram iva.

Not wanting to wait for the big body of clouds perhaps, this cloudlet

separates itself in its haste to reach the Himalayas where it can sit

on top of the mountains and not be disturbed. Instead, somewhere in

the middle of India, tossed about by the howling winds, it just

disappears, fizzles out.

So too, this person had dropped out of conventional society in his

attempt to reach moksa quickly. He may even have gone to sit in the

rarefied air of the Himalayas, but instead of becoming a true

sannyasi, he became a dropout, just like the cloudlet. Does he not

destroy himself in the same way that the cloudlet does?

Just as a cloudlet that remains with the large body of clouds can

travel along and enjoy the view, so too, you can attach yourself to

the main body of society and have some of the joys that such a life

has to offer. The cloudlet that is prepared to travel at the same slow

speed as the big body of clouds can look down at the mountains, up at

the stars, and be protected by the winds of destruction. Otherwise, it

gets destroyed.

IF THERE IS NO STRUCTURE, YOU CAN BECOME ANYTHING

Similarly, when you hurry ahead, you can become completely lost in the

process because you have left the structure behind. Sannyasa means

just that — no structure. You can become anything. Without a

structure, without any particular mode of life, nothing to pressure

you into doing anything, you can become lazy also.

As a sannyasi, you can also become lazy. When you are hungry, you can

go for bhiksa and then lie down back again without doing anything. The

life of sannyasa gives you this kind of licence. No one is going to

question you. Society is not going to question you. And, since there

is no work for you to do, there is no employer or employee. There is

also no father or mother to worry about you, which sometimes keeps

people on track. If the sannyasi once had a wife and children, he has

given them up also. Therefore, none of the societal norms are there

for the sannyasi. Nor is there any religious norm because the person

who takes sannyasa is absolved from performing all the karmas enjoined

by the Veda. Therefore, there is no problem; you can be anything you

want, even a hippie!

Thinking that such a person destroys himself, Arjuna asks Krsna to

clear his doubt with reference to the fate of the ubhaya-vibhras¶a.

etanme samsayam krsna chettumarhasyasesatah

tvadanyah samsayasyasya chetta na hyupapadyate Verse 39

krsna — O Krsna!; me — of mine; etat — this; samsayam — doubt;

asesatah — totally; chettum — to eliminate; arhasi — you should; hi —

for; tvadanyah — other than you; asya samsayasya — of this doubt;

chetta — the remover; na upapadyate — is not there

You should eliminate this doubt of mine totally, O Krsna. For, other

than you, there is no one who can be the remover of this doubt.

Arjuna knows that there was no one else who could answer his question.

Only the all-knowing Krsna, as Isvara, could answer it because only

Isvara knows what will happen to the sannyasi after he dies away from

this life without gaining knowledge of the self.

Chetta means the one who cuts or removes. Here it refers to the one

who removes the doubt. Krsna, then, was the hit-man for the doubt — in

fact, the only possible hit-man. He alone was capable of eliminating

Arjuna's doubts totally. Anyone else would have to say, `This is what

the sastra says.' Whereas, Krsna is the one who initiated the sastra

itself, as he said at the beginning of the fourth chapter. `I gave

this eternal knowledge to Vivasvan who gave it to Manu, who gave it to

Iksvaku — imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam, vivasvan manave

praha manuriksvakave'bravit. Therefore, Krsna as Isvara knew what it

was all about. He also told Arjuna earlier that they had a number of

births before, but only he, Krsna, knew these births while Arjuna did

not — bahuni me vyatitani janmani tava carjuna tanyaham veda sarvani

na tvam vettha parantapa.

>From this, Arjuna concludes that Krsna knows what happens to a soul

after death and therefore, is the right person to talk about it.

Arjuna is praising his guru here, saying that there was no one equal

to Krsna, no one who could eliminate his doubt totally. In other

words, no one else is qualified to answer his question.

Had Arjuna not asked this question, the Gita would have ended three

verses ago. But, because Arjuna asks the question, Krsna begins

talking again.

sribhagavanuvaca

partha naiveha namutra vinasastasya vidyate

na hi kalyanakrt kascid durgatim tata gacchati Verse 40

sribhagavan — Lord Krsna; uvaca — said;

partha — O Son of Prtha!; tasya — for him (or her); vinasah —

destruction; iha — here; na eva vidyate — indeed is not; na — nor;

amutra — in the hereafter; tata — O My son! (Arjuna); hi — because;

kascit — any one; kalyanakrt — the one who performs good actions;

durgatim — bad end; na gacchati — reaches

Sri Bhagavan said:

Indeed, O Son of Prtha (Arjuna), there is no destruction for him (or

her), neither here nor in the hereafter, because any one who performs

good actions never reaches a bad end.

Again, the person being discussed in this verse is that sannyasi, that

yogi, who was referred to previously as ubhaya-vibhras¶a, one who had

fallen from both karma-marga and yoga-marga for the reasons we have

already seen. In fact, the person is not ubhaya-vibhras¶a because,

here, Krsna says that there is no falling as such.

For the sannyasi who has not completed the job properly, destruction

is not there, vinasah na vidyate, either here in this world, iha, or

in any other world, amutra. Why? Because this person, although an

ayati, has sraddha in the sastra. Having sraddha, there can be no loss

for him in this life and, therefore, the life of sannyasa is not a bad

investment. He knows what it is all about. Because he has sraddha,

there is no question of his being frustrated or sad in this world. He

will simply continue to pursue the knowledge, pleasantly, happily,

until he gains it. And, if sraddha were not to be there, the person

would naturally think that he had made a mistake. Thinking so, he

would always go back. In either case, then, the problem of his being

sad for what he has undertaken would not be there for the person.

`Nor will there be a problem later, i.e., after death, amutra,' Krsna

says. He will come back to a situation that is conducive to the

continuation of his pursuit of the knowledge that will give him moksa.

Thus, Krsna assures Arjuna, that destruction is definitely not there

for him — vinasah tasya na vidyate.