Gita Satsang - Chapter 6 : verses 43 to 45: 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 III : Verses 43 to 45

 

RICHES ARE USUALLY ACCOMPANIED BY A CERTAIN EGO

The saying that a rich man can pass through the gates of heaven as

easily as a camel can pass through the eye of a needle is not directed

at the riches themselves. However, along with riches, there is usually

a certain ego; therefore, there is no humility. A rich man thinks he

can buy anything, accomplish anything. This is the problem; the riches

themselves are not the problem.

Further, Krsna says:

tatra tam buddhisamyogam labhate paurvadehikam

yatate ca tato bhuyah samsiddhau kurunandana Verse 43

tatra — there; paurva-dehikam — what existed in a previous body;

tam — that; buddhisamyogam — connection through the intellect; labhate

— gains; kurunandana — O Joy of the Kuru family! (Arjuna); ca — and;

tatah bhuyah — further than that (gained previously); samsiddhau — for

success (in yoga); yatate — strives

There, he gains a connection through the intellect with that which

existed in his previous body and strives for further success (in yoga)

than that (gained previously), O Joy of the Kuru family!

Tatra refers to either of the two families referred to in the previous

two verses, the cultured, dharmika family of the wealthy man committed

to dharma or the family of yogis. There, the person picks up the

thread of what existed in his previous life when he was a sannyasi.

Previously the person enjoyed a particular body and, in that body, he

began a life of yoga, a pursuit of knowledge which he did not gain

before he died away. Now, in the present body, his buddhi connects

itself to what existed before — tam buddhi-samyogam labhate

paurva-dehikam. What kind of a connection is this? Is it something

like spaceships docking? No. The connection with what existed before

means that the person picks up the thread from where he left behind in

a previous birth and continues to gain greater success.

And then what happens? The person again becomes a sannyasi, a yati,

and because of the previous samskaras, makes an even greater effort to

gain more than he gained before, tatah bhuyah. Why? For success in

yoga, samsiddhau, to gain the knowledge that is moksa.

Krsna uses Arjuna's words again here. Arjuna had asked, `Krsna, having

not gained success in yoga, what end does the person reach — aprapya

yoga-samsiddhim kam gatim Krsna gacchati?' Answering Arjuna's

question, Krsna talks about the same samsiddhi, success in yoga, which

is in the form of self-knowledge. For gaining that samsiddhi, the

person can make further effort because he has the buddhi-samyoga, the

connection with the samskaras he had before.

THE CONNECTION WITH THE PAST IS BY MEANS OF THE INTELLECT

This is why, wherever there is a man studying the sastras, generally

at least one of his children will show an interest at a very young

age. This child will go and sit with the father and will not be

interested in things that children are usually interested in. Why?

Because there is a connection with the previous tendencies,

purva-samskaras, through the intellect.

Arjuna was addressed as Kurunandana here, Kuru being the name of the

family into which Arjuna was born. Kurunandana means the joy of the

Kuru family. Krsna perhaps uses this name here to remind Arjuna of the

advantages of this present birth.

Further, Krsna says:

purvabhyasena tenaiva hriyate hyavaso'pi sah

jijnasurapi yogasya sabdabrahmativartate Verse 44

tena purva-abhyasena —by this previous practice; eva —alone; avasah

api — even helplessly; sah — he; hriyate hi — is indeed carried away;

yogasya — of yoga; jijnasuh api — even as one who is desirous of the

knowledge; sabda-brahma — the Veda; ativartate — goes beyond

By this previous practice alone, he is carried away helplessly. Even

as one who is desirous of the knowledge of yoga goes beyond the Veda —

that is beyond the karma-kanda of the Veda.

Here, Krsna intends to remove any doubt about whether the person would

gain the knowledge once he began the pursuit. `Suppose, just suppose,

he does not gain the knowledge. What will happen to him?' is the

question dealt with here. Suppose he gets caught up in Sesame Street

as a child and then later gets lost on the 42nd Street, what then?

After all, there are no end to the streets in life that one can get

lost on. Suppose the person gets lost in this way, then, how do the

yoga-samskaras stand a chance?

These hypothetical situations have no chance of occurring, Krsna says

here. Even if the person is not interested in this yoga, even if he

wants to avoid it, it will keep popping up for him because the

samskara is there. No matter how hard he tries to avoid it, he will be

taken away by it, helplessly — avasah api hriyate. Why? Because of his

previous practice itself, by the pursuit of yoga that he had

undertaken before — tena purva-abhyasena eva. He need not do anything

now to become a seeker; the old pursuit is enough to carry him along.

The word avasa here implies that he has no control over the matter. He

is absorbed by the yoga, taken away by it, pulled into it by the

previous practice — even if he is not interested!

But, he is interested in it; in fact, he is interested in nothing

else. He wants to know what it is all about. And, even if he is not

that interested, even if he is only mildly curious, this yoga will

keep popping into his head and he will want to know what

self-knowledge is, what all the talk about enlightenment means, and so

on.

Even a simple, curious desire is enough, Krsna says here, for him to

be above the Veda, to transcend the Veda, i.e., the karma portion of

the Veda — sabda-brahma ativartate. It will cause him to give up all

the karmas again, become a sannyasi, and continue his pursuit of the

knowledge.

Nothing will interest him except the subject matter known as Vedanta.

Nothing else, none of the means and ends discussed in the Veda, will

interest him at all. In other words, in no time this person will

discover vairagya, dispassion, because it is natural for him.

ONCE SELF-INQUIRY HAS BEGUN, THERE IS NO GOING BACK

Krsna answers Arjuna's question by telling him that once you have

started to inquire into the self, there is no going back. Nor is there

a bad end of any kind; there is only a continuous pursuit until what

is to be gained — self-knowledge — is gained. Until then, the pursuit

is never stopped, is never affected, in any way. This, then, was an

assurance. Krsna's words are the pramana here. Although there is some

supporting logic, the words alone are the pramana, there being no

other way of proving them to be right or wrong.

In the next verse, Krsna describes the ultimate result of this

pursuit.

prayatnadyatamanastu yogi samsuddhakilbisah

anekajanmasamsiddhastato yati param gatim Verse 45

tu — whereas; prayatnat — by means of the will; yatamanah — one who

makes effort; yogi — the yogi; samsuddha-kilbisah — the one who is

cleansed of all impurities; aneka-janma-samsiddhah — accomplished in

many births; tatah — then; param — ultimate; gatim — end; yati — gains

Whereas the yogi who makes an effort by means of the will (and who),

cleansed of all impurities, is successful after many births. Then, he

(or she) gains the ultimate end.

In this verse, Krsna picks up from where he left off when he had been

talking about yoga and the yogi before Arjuna asked his question.

Having defined yoga as the vision of sameness in all beings, he now

talks about the yogi who has this vision, first referring to him as

yatamana, a person who is making effort. The word prayatna also means

effort. Sankara clarifies the use of these two words here, saying that

prayatna refers to the will of the person, meaning that there is great

will on the person's part because what is to be gained is very

difficult to accomplish. It is against all odds, so to speak. Thus,

`prayatnat yatamanah' refers to the one who is making effort with his

or her will.

The yogi discussed here is also the one for whom all the impurities

have been removed, cleansed — samsuddha-kilbisa. These impurities are

the raga-dvesas, the papas and their psychological outcome like guilt,

etc. The person who has cleansed himself or herself from all of them,

by living a life of karma-yoga is samsuddha-kilbisa. This purification

is not something that is accomplished in one lifetime, Krsna says. It

has taken many births to remove these impurities.

TO BE A SEEKER IS NO ORDINARY ACCOMPLISHMENT

Even to have gained the upadhi, the body, of a seeker, a mumuksu, to

have the desire for moksa, is itself not an ordinary accomplishment.

It has taken many births to come to this pursuit. The many births,

aneka-janma, is only with reference to the past because now the person

is studying the Gita. Therefore, the person being addressed here is

called aneka-janma-samsiddha, one who has taken many births to come to

the point of wanting to inquire.

The desire for liberation itself is something born out of aneka-janma.

The proper antah-karana, the mind, and the proper upadhi, body, has to

be gained for gaining this knowledge — all of which has now been

accomplished by this person after many births. In each janma the

person gathered a little bit of yoga-samskara, the samskara that is

conducive to the pursuit of knowledge.

Gathering adequate yoga-samskara over many births is a little like

becoming a millionaire after you have gathered coupons for a long

period of time. Even at the cost of money, you gather this kind of

samskara, which is an entirely different type of wealth. The person

under discussion here has amassed yoga-samskara; he went on gathering

it and accumulating it like some great miser until, finally, the punya

gathered makes him an aneka-janma-samsiddha. Therefore, tatah, having

prepared himself in this way, the person is qualified for the

knowledge.

We can also take samsiddha here to mean one who has clear knowledge,

since the person is said to be a samsuddha-kilbisa, one whose mind is

pure and who has gained samsiddhi, the vision of sameness. This clear

knowledge is the result of a number of janmas in which the

yoga-samskara was gathered. Having this clear knowledge, then, the

person is called aneka-janma-samsiddha.