Gita Satsangh: Chapter 9 - Verses 20 to 25

[Guest guest]

Namaste. Gitasatsangh continues:

 

traividyaa maa.n somapaaH puuta-paapaa

yaGYairishh{}Tvaa svargatiM praarthayante .

te puNyam-aasaadya surendralokaM

ashnanti divyaan-divi deva-bhogaan.h .. 9\.20..

 

“The knowers of the three Vedas, the drinkers of the soma,

purified of all sins, worshipping me by sacrifices, pray for the

way to heaven; they reach the holy world of the lord of the gods

and enjoy in heaven the divine pleasures of the gods”.

 

 

te taM bhuk{}tvaa svarga-lokaM vishaalaM

kshiiNe puNye martya-lokaM vishanti .

evaM trayii-dharmam-anuprapannaa

gataagataM kaama-kaamaa labhante .. 9\.21..

 

"Having enjoyed the extensive heaven world, they return to this

world of mortals on the stock of their merits beings exhausted;

thus abiding by the injunctions of the three vedas and desiring

objects of desires, they attain to the state of going and

returning.”

 

ananyaash-chintayanto maa.n yejanaaH paryupaasate.

teshhaa.n nityaabhiyuk{}taanaa.n yogakshemaM vahaamyaham.h ..

9\.22..

 

“To those men who worship me alone, thinking of no other, of

those ever-united, I secure that which is not already possessed

and preserve what they already possess”.

 

 

ye.apy-anya-devataa-bhak{}taa yajante shraddhayaanvitaaH .

te.api maam-eva kaunteya yajanty-avidhi-puurvakam.h .. 9\.23..

 

"Arjuna, even those devotees who, endowed with faith, worship

other gods, they too worship Me alone, though through imperfect

methods”.

 

ahaM hi sarva-yaGYaanaaM bhok{}taa cha prabhur-eva cha .

na tu maam-abhijaananti tattvena-atash-chyavanti te .. 9\.24..

 

"For I alone am the enjoyer and also the lord of sacrifices; but

they do not know me in essence, hence they fall from the path

(are subjected to birth and death)."

 

 

yaanti devavrataa devaanpitR^Inyaanti pitR^ivrataaH .

bhuutaani yaanti bhuutejyaa yaanti madyaajino.api maam.h ..

9\.25..

 

Those who take to the worship of gods go to the gods; those who

worship the manes reach the manes; those who adore the spirits

reach the spirits and those who worships Me attain Me.

 

Easy references;

 

The Gita Supersite http://www.gitasupersite.org/ contains most

of

the commentaries including commentaries in many languages.

 

For Gita Dhyana Shlokas/Mantras and Mahatmya

 

/message/advaitin/6987

 

Adi Shankara's commentary, translated by Swami Gambhirananda, at

URL:

advaitinGita/Shankara1/gmbCH9.htm

 

 

Swami Chinmayananda's commentary at URL:

advaitinGita/Chinmaya/COMM9.HTM

 

 

praNAms to all advaitins

profvk

 

 

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Namaste

 

The following are Swami Venkatesananda’s comments on Slokas 19

and 20.

 

The realisation of the Absolute is our goal. We may take the

smooth path or the rugged one. We may swim across or ride in a

ferry-boat. The path of holiness and the path of diabolical

beings are not different. Life is the same. But the insight of

the holy ones shines brightly whilst the eyesight of the insight

of diabolical beings is closed. In our quest we should never for

a moment forget the goal.

The Vedas and other scriptures are like the ferry-boat. And they

are also like the mighty banyan tree that provides cool shade to

the weary traveller scorched by the sun (of austerities and of

the intense inner effort to transcend the mind).They encourage

the despondent soul by providing him with the tangible versions

of the intangible, clothing the immaterial with the material,

the spirit with form. He who complacently surrenders to these

and goes to sleep under the banyan tree, abandoning the quest,

exposes himself to the danger of wild animals (of desires and

evil actions later in this and subsequent lives).

Rituals, forms and scriptural injunctions are useful only so

long as we do not forget the real, ultimate goal, which is

realisation of the absolute. They do not take us to the

destination, but are only pointers without which it may be

difficult to find the way. However, they should never be

regarded as the goal or a substitute for the goal.

Do all the good you can – obviously because you are convinced

that you will go to heaven. This conviction moulds your citta

(subconscious mind). And it determines your next incarnation –

meaning, on dropping this body you will be convinced that you

are in heaven!

 

praNAms to all advaitins

profvk

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

I find Gita verse 25 to be quite symbolic indicating that the Lord is

just looking for worship from His devotees with love and purity of

heart. The Lord is quite careful in the choice of His words in this

verse. The seekers are many and everyone achieves according to their

deeds! Those who take to the worship of gods go to the gods; those

who worship the manes reach the manes; those who adore the spirits

reach the spirits and those who worships Me attain Me. By using the

word Yah (whosoever) in this connection, the Lord indicated that

anyone and everyone can offer Him leaves, flowers, fruits, and water

etc. , no matter to which caste or community they belongs and

whatever their Asrama or stage in life. The Lord does not

discriminate between one individual and another on the ground of

physical prowess, external appearance, wealth, age, birth, merits and

learning etc. The only condition is that the sentiment of the devotee

who offers these things should be absolutely pure and loving.

 

In almost all Hindu temples the worship is always conducted using

leaves, flowers, fruits and water (also milk and honey). These

materials are available in nature in abundant quantity provided by

the plants and trees (and animals) without looking for any rewards!

Also nature provides these materials in their purest form for

enjoyment of all beings. The Lord symbolically reminds us that we

should learn from the plants and animals to express our love toward

Him. We shoul offer to God (who represent all beings in the Nature)

with a heart overflowing with love and filled with gratitude to think

how magnanimous it is of the Lord that He should condescend to accept

with pleasure even the smallest gift from the hands of an humble

creature. We should remind ourselves that we are just the takers of

all the abundant materials from the nature and we just pretend as

though we are the givers! In reality, in the nature there are no

givers or takers and certainly in appearance there are givers and

takers - we seem to think most of the time that are givers even

though we look for every opportunity and behave as takers!

 

He whose mind is pure is called a Prayatatma and the Lord indicates

that He does not accept any offering from those whose motives are not

pure. In the great epic of Mahabharat, the Lord demonstrates this by

declining the invitation of Duryodhana (an embodiment of impurity and

hatred) for a sumptuous dinner in the palace. Instead, He called on

Vidura (an embodiment of goodness and purity of heart), and fondly

ate a simple dinner at his house. He partook of the parched rice

brought by Sudama (also known as Kuchela) with great relish. He

satiated the whole universe by putting into His mouth a stray leaf

left in the cooking utensil of Draupadi.

 

The Vidura Episode from Mahabharat:

After completing twelve years exile in the forest and one years

incognito existence when the Pandavas demanded of Duryodhana the

restoration of their kingdom, the latter gave a flat refusal. There-

upon Bhagavan Sri Krsna Himself went to the Kaurava Court to

negotiate on behalf of the Pandavas. To maintain an outward show of

courtesy on that occasion, Duryodhan had made elaborate preparations

for the reception of Sri Krsna. When invited to dinner, the Lord

refused to dine with him. Questioned by Duryodhana as to the reason

for this refusal, the Lord gave the following reply. "Meals are taken

under two circumstances," He said, "Where there is love, one partakes

of, with great pleasure, whatever is available, in the house. Or,

when one is starving, one has to fill the belly with whatever is

available anywhere, regardless of the sentiment with which the food

may be served. Both these conditions are absent in the present case.

You have no love in you, and I am not dying of hunger either." With

these words the Lord left his royal palace and proceeded uninvited to

Viduras cottage. He blessed Vidura by partaking of the dishes offered

by him with the utmost love (vide Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva, 91). So

He Refused the rich dishes of Duryodhana in the Royal Palace and

happily partook of boiled vegetables at Viduras's cottage. Similar

examples can also be found in Mahabharat, Ramayana and Puranas

indicating that the Lord is only looking for worship with purity.

 

Warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

advaitin, "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk> wrote:

[Guest guest]

Namaste

 

The viewpoint of the Theosophy school of Adyar, Madras on these

slokas and Bhagavadgita in general is contained in the following

online edition of Subba Rao's notes on the Bhagavadgita:

 

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/gita-sr/nbg-hp.htm#contents

 

Though there appears to be a substantial difference of the

theosophy viewpoint from the advaita viewpoint, Subba Rao's

notes are very readable and should be read for their clarity of

presentation.

 

praNAms to all advaitins

profvk

 

 

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Namaste

 

The following are Swami Venkatesananda’s comments on the

important sloka No.22.

(Note: Incidentally, there was an error in my earlier post.

Swamiji’s comments posted in the previous post were on slokas 20

and 21 and not, as recorded by me, on slokas 19 and 20. I am

sorry for the inconvenience caused).

 

This is the royal secret, the royal road to the realization of

the absolute! We should disengage ourselves from the

self-manufactured snare of illusion. Thinking of God for a while

and then of the objects of the world for the rest of the time

betrays insincerity and a doubt. The test of our sincerity here

is the natural attitude of our mind to be ever conscious of God.

This habit must be cultivated, realizing that it is on account

of his grace that we are able to speak, see, hear, think and so

on. By merely becoming aware of this tremendous truth, we are

freed from our own motivations and we live free, doing whatever

has to be done. We are able to be intensely active, and at the

same time constantly be aware of God’s existence.

 

Krishna uses a clever psychological approach here: ‘Think of me

always; and I shall protect you’. If God protects only those

who constantly think of him, who protects the others? God alone.

To him all are equal and he is not partial towards any, except

inasmuch as they open themselves to him and therefore receive

his grace in greater abundance. If you have the courage and the

intelligence to investigate life, you find that that you needed

at a certain moment had already been created years ago. The

wheat for the bread that you had this morning grew specifically

for you three years ago!

 

When the devotee meditates upon the assurance contained in this

verse, the hypnotic suggestion of the Lord takes effect upon him

and he lets himself go entirely. It dawns upon him like a flash

of lightning that God and God alone is the protector of all; and

thenceforth he abandons all selfish activity and dedicates

himself to the service of mankind in the spirit of the Gita,

remembering God constantly.

 

It does not mean that such a devotee will be indifferent to the

business of the world; on the contrary he will make himself an

egoless, selfless and dynamic instrument in the hands of the

Lord, for His will to be done. The actual technique of attaining

this stage of being will come up in the further slokas of the

Gita.

 

praNAms to all advaitins

profvk

 

 

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.

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[Guest guest]

Namaste.

(Note: In the following analysis, I am assuming, that the

literal meaning of the slokas is already clear. If not, one may

go back to post # 15351.)

This portion of the Gita, particularly the eight slokas of which

the first sextet are being currently dealt with now, is not

only located almost in the centre of the gita (357 of the 700

slokas have just been over) but it also contains the central

content of the gita. It is in these slokas the unalterable

divine verdict is given, after clearly making a distinction

between, on the one hand, the Vedantic path that emphasizes an

entire self-negation and total surrender to the highest

Absolute and, on the other hand, the worldly path which places

materialist values at a high priority. This latter path, the

worldly path, includes, according to the Lord, all religious

(and secular) paths that seek the obtaining of fruits and

rewards, either here or hereafter. This seeking of fruits serves

only a transient purpose.

pravR^itti is the seeking of outer values by an outer knowledge.

 

nivR^itti is the seeking of inner values by an inner seeking.

The former results in an outer religion.

The latter indicates an internal beatitude.

The former has ceremonies and rituals that lead to heavenly

bliss after the earthly suffering is over.

On the other hand, the latter, namely, the internal seeking, is

what is extolled by sloka 22.

The external seeking mentioned in sloka 20, leads to the

extraordinary worlds above, no doubt, as mentioned in sloka 20,

but finally one has to come back to this world, as forewarned in

sloka 21, in order to pursue the real seeking, which is the

internal quest. Until the true aim of mortal existence is made

the (only?) goal of the seeker, the seeking of outer values,

even though it be heavenly values, even though it be worship of

divines as described in sloka 23, will only put you in an

endless loop of slokas 20 and 21 and never beyond.

Final happiness, however, does not lie beyond. The opportunity

given to man in this birth has to be utilized not by means of

slokas 20 and 23, because that will make him subject to the

what-looks-like-never-ending loop of samsAra indicated by sloka

21. All this is imperfect physical human nature. This has to

give place to the godly love hailed in sloka 22. The supreme and

universal divine should be made the whole object of one’s

living. No more egoistic satisfaction, terrestrial or

celestial. The godliness praised in sloka 22 does not mean that

one has to divorce oneself from life. It does not mean that one

has to miss the fullness of life. That is the divine assurance

proclaimed by the Lord in sloka 22.

A few words, now, at the mundane level, about sloka 22. The

bottom line to which He is leading is “My devotee perishes

never” (na me bhaktaH praNashyati -- IX – 31). But we do see

day in and day out, God’s devotees suffering – in fact,

suffering very hard. In fact very often, we see that a person

who has no faith in God, not only gets along well but seems to

prosper without any obstacles to his progress. This observation

has of course a cynical aspect to it and Hinduism explains it

away as a result of prArabdha karma, that is, those aggregate of

actions and thoughts which have brought this birth in the first

place and which have begun to blossom forth into their

consequences and so no force on earth can stop them happening.

In spite of this concept of karma we very often hear people

exclaiming: ‘Oh God! Why are you so cruel to me? I have been

following what all you said in the gita. I have been worshipping

you all the time. ....’ and so on. What exactly is the meaning

of the assurance of God in sloka 22? He seems to say there that

He will take care of all the needs of the devotee.

Now let us analyse our human psychology a bit here. It is

generally true that, on an average, good and bad things happen

to us in a mixed way. But whenever good things happen to us,

most of us have the habit of taking credit by assigning human

causes – either emanating from our own egoistic idea of our

capabilities or generated by us from our wishful thinking in

terms of our friends and relatives. For instance a promotion in

the office may be ascribed to one’s efficiency or to one’s good

contacts.

On the other hand, when unpleasant things happen to us, on an

average the human mind tries to blame somebody else for the

happening, and, if no such alibi is possible, we blame it on

fate or God.

Now comes the relevance of the words ‘yogakshemam vahAmyaham’

from the Lord. Either you believe in it or you don’t. In the

first case, you must hold God responsible both for the good and

the bad that happen to you. In the second case, for both you

are yourself responsible. In either case, there is no logic for

taking the credit on yourself for the good, and alternatively

blaming God when things go wrong.

So far it is easy to understand. But a more profound and

ticklish problem arises in the first case, namely, in the case

of those who believe in the promise of God that He bears the

brunt of our yoga and kshema.

The actual wording of this hypnotic promise in sloka 22 is as

follows:

To those people who worship Me alone, WITH NO OTHER THOUGHT IN

THEIR MINDS, OF THOSE EVER-UNITED, I take it on myself to obtain

for them what is not already possessed and preserve for them

what they already possess.

The capitalized words are important. Who are such people? Only

those who are fully convinced of the thought that Vasudeva, the

Lord, (VII - 19) is everything for them. But once we believe

Vasudeva is everything for us, then there ought to be no

necessity to analyse things that happen to us and weigh which of

them is good and which of them is bad. Whatever happens is

because of the Lord’s will and we have to accept it in that

sense. So the thought that it is a cruel God who brings

suffering to his devotees should have never crossed such a

mind.

Even at a more elementary level, it is not legitimate to

complain. Very often we tend to think that the Lord should take

care of all our needs, because of his promise in sloka 22. Our

needs could be as trivial as our being able to be in time to

catch the daily chartered limousine to our office. They could be

as substantial as a project report being accepted by the boss

for a reward. Or it could have a life-time importance as the

decision on a wedding proposal. Or it might be a life and death

problem involving cure of a long-suffered sickness. Whatever it

may be, the veracity of the promise made by the Lord in sloka 22

should not be tested by any such matters of the material mundane

world. Because, when the Lord promises to take care of us, His

promise is in terms of our ultimate spiritual uplift. Maybe, as

we go along, we may experience the bounties of the Lord in terms

of a reward, a cure of a sickness, or a spouse that we have been

longing to decide on. All these are just the overflowing of His

Grace for which we should be thankful no doubt; but we cannot

demand them of the Lord. This is the punchline of the whole

thing. When God promises to save us, He promises to save our

soul from slipping down the ladder of spirituality. It is unfair

to His omnipotence and His omniscience to fault Him for

‘failure’ to take care of our daily needs. When He says ‘My

devotee never perishes’ He probably only means: ‘My devotee

never slips back from the level of spirituality to which he (or

she) has evolved’. The so-called ‘failure’ to take care of our

needs may after all be the manner in which He is lifting us from

our lower levels of spiritual evolution. The 'yoga-kshema' of

taking us beyond the loop of sloka 21 is a greater 'yoga-kshema'

than the yoga-kshema of our earthly existence.

 

praNAms to all advaitins

profvk

 

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Namaste all.

 

Hardly anything can now be added to the wealth of meaning conveyed by

the several interpretations we already have.

 

However, duality versus Unity strikes me as the central theme of

these group of verses.

 

On one side is almost the whole of this world that sees God as

separate from itself and endeavours hard to supplicate Him. On the

other side are the enlightened, courageous few, who have reasoned out

and realized that there is nothing, not even themselves, but God.

 

Thus, the case also becomes limited versus the limitless.

 

As long as I see something other than me, I am creating. Creating

what? Space, time and an infinite number of worlds (lokas).

Naturally, therefore, I have a lot of places to go. I need a full-

fledged travel agency to take care of my travel needs. When I go, I

naturally can return. I can get tired too which is hurting!

Perambulation becomes my nature. So it is said: "People who do not

know My true transcendental nature (in essence) fall into repeated

cycles of birth and death (9.24)".

 

Whereas, when unity reigns, there are no me, no separate God, no

space-time and no worlds. I, therefore, have no going and

returning. The One without a second does not go and come. It is

Everywhereness and Alwaysness.

 

All dharmAs belong to the realm of duality. The instruction by the

Lord (at the end of BG) to renounce all dharmas is, therefore, a call

to reason out and eliminate the sense of duality. The reward is

spontaneous yogakshema resulting from Absolute Unity without any

sense of separation. That yogakshema in fact is our real nature

which we are not aware of and deluded to think we must seek out in a

world of plurality. When separation ends, our yogakshema nature

(fullness, wantlessness, full self-adeqacy) shines out marking the

end of frantic perambulations.

 

Pranams.

 

Madathil Nair

[Guest guest]

Namaste Nairji:

 

Thanks for bringing the essence of Gita within the preview of the

advaita philosophy. The points that you have brought out are quite

important for a clearer understanding of Gita. Let me provide the

following points as additional clarifications for the

statement, "renounce all Dharmas."

 

The Lord certainly doesn't want us to take this statement literally

and provide us the license to abandon all dharms and take this as a

the path for liberation! As you correctly pointed out, the message

is quite subtle and we need to renounce all pluralities of thoughts.

Let me give an example here to illustrate the point (please note that

any example or analogy is only useful for illustrating a specific

point). The first time when we try to learn Bicycle, we do not want

to ride due to the 'fear' of falling. The fear arose in our mind

because of the false notion (in complete understanding of Dharma)

that the cycle with two-wheels is unstable and is likely to fall

sometime or later. Also, we fear that we are not capable to ride the

bike even though others were successful. But the Guru (parent or

friend or relative), who has driven the cycle assured us that the

Bicycle is very stable in motion and all that required is that the

person who rides the cycle should just practice it for few days! Most

important, the Guru also provides guidance and support during the

learning process. After few rides, our fear and false notion

disappear, slowly self confidence emerges and we remove the plural

thoughts of fall and injuries. While learning, we might have fallen

few times but we are convinced that our fall is due to our own faults

and not due to bike..

 

Arjuna's situation is quite similar in that he has created false

notions on fighting a war where killing his friends and relatives

become inevitable. Arjuna explained his understanding of 'Dharmas'

and why he wanted to abandon fighting. The Lord removed all his

false notions during the 18 chapters of Gita and finally asks Arjuna

to renounce his false notions of Dharma (I believe that Dharma here

is in reference to "intellectual reasoning which including self

created notion of right and wrong." With thorough understanding and

practice of Dharma we pursue actions without entertaining thoughts

such as `consequences.' (Chapter 2, Verse 47 on Karma Yoga).

 

Our True Divine Nature adopt to the Dharma which is free from

thoughts, notions, logic and explanations. Human Dharma with divine

nature is to conduct actions for 'Yogakshema - universal happiness

and well-being.' Our problem is that become dual – human and divine

and entertain dualities and pluralities and fail to perform our

actions spontaneously without fear. The Lord comes to Arjuna's (and

ours) to rescue us from the duality and ask us to renounce such

thoughts. Now coming back to the bicycle example, our action of

riding the bike can become spontaneous only with practice and strong

conviction. When we earnestly practice (sadhana) with sraddha (faith

and strong conviction and dedication), all notions will spontaneously

disappear and our actions also will become spontaneous. The subtle

message that `the renunciation of dharmas' should be also spontaneous

and this is the end and not the means!

 

Warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandrran

 

 

advaitin, "Madathil Rajendran Nair

<madathilnair>" <madathilnair> wrote:

> Namaste all.

> ..............

> However, duality versus Unity strikes me as the central theme of

> these group of verses.

> .................

> All dharmAs belong to the realm of duality. The instruction by

the

> Lord (at the end of BG) to renounce all dharmas is, therefore, a

call

> to reason out and eliminate the sense of duality. The reward is

> spontaneous yogakshema resulting from Absolute Unity without any

> sense of separation. .....

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

Let me add some additional thoughts in continuation of my earlier

post on the subject of 'renunciation of dharma.' The ultimate goal

of Gita is to help us to achieve the peak of spiritual maturity

while pursuing the worldly life. Gita is a great manual for the

practical vedantins (all of us fall into this category) who have to

cope up with situations where one dharma overlaps another dharma. We

play multiple roles of duties and we need to recognize the

hierarchical order of the Dharmas. For example, while raising our

kids, we have multiple roles to play - the teacher, judge and parent.

We need to know the dharmas of a parent, teacher and a judge and

should apply them at appropriate times. Gita suggests that we should

apply our discriminating intellect and renounce (detach) the father

dharma, the teacher dharma and the judge dharma at appropriate

times. The prison guard who execute a prisoner on death penalty has

to renounce the notion of adharma of killing another human being and

the dharma of prison guard supersedes all secondary dharmas. The

doctor who performs a surgery should not worry about the consequences

of a failure of the treatment.

 

Arjuna faced a similar situation and he has the role of a soldier and

he assumed the roles of friend, relative and disciple. It seems that

he more importance to the dharma of a friend, a relative or a

student than the dharma of a soldier. Lord came to his rescue and

suggested the necessity for him to renounce his roles as a friend, a

relative and a teacher. Here the renunciation of dharma is just a

reference to the roles that he inappropriately assumed. The Lord

asks Arjuna to detach his multiple roles focus only as the role of a

soldier. Everyday all of us face a similar situation like Arjuna and

we should remember that - the world is a stage directed by the Lord

and we are just actors playing different roles directed by Him. Just

like the actors of the drama, if we play our roles without emotional

attachment to the consequences, we can focus fully on our role

without worrying. The world that we live exhibit diversity but there

is perfect unity within that diversity. We fail to recognize the

unity and we treat our multiple roles 'real' and create multiple

personalities that never existed!

 

In conclusion, with true devotion (as demonstrated by Arjuna) we can

attain the spiritual maturity and we will reach the peak of spiritual

maturity to spontaneously renounce the dharmas and conduct our

actions spontaneously. How do we recognize the hierarchical order of

the dharmas of the roles that we play? The answer to this question

is not easy and we should look for guidance from the Shastras,

Puranas and the Epics (Ramayana and Mahabharat). Sage Vyasa has

skillfully developed the manual of Gita and provided necessary

reference materials in the form of Puranas and Mahabharat. We can't

attain spiritual maturity by just renouncing the dharmas and lead an

adharmic life. Spiritual maturity happens slowly and steadily and the

most important ingredients are His Grace and 'shraddha'. This

transformation begins with strict adherence to dharmas and the

spiritual person recognizes that 'dharmas' are just the tools to

reach the peak and at the peak the tools (dharmas) are to be

renounced.

 

Warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin, "Ram Chandran <rchandran@c...>"

<rchandran@c...> wrote:

> ¡K¡K¡K

„« When we earnestly practice (sadhana) with sraddha (faith and

strong

„« conviction and dedication), all notions will spontaneously

> disappear and our actions also will become spontaneous. The subtle

„« message is that `the renunciation of dharmas' should be

also spontaneous and this is the end and not the means!

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk>

wrote:

> This portion of the Gita, particularly the eight slokas of which

> the first sextet are being currently dealt with now, is not

> only located almost in the centre of the gita (357 of the 700

> slokas have just been over) but it also contains the central

> content of the gita. It is in these slokas the unalterable

> divine verdict is given,

 

 

Namaste,

 

Jnaneshvara says this about the 9th chapter:

 

http://www.bvbpune.org/chap10.html

 

...."Now the Mahabharata contains in its hundred thousand verses the

numerous views contained in the Vedas (26-30). And all the import of

the Mahabharata has found its way in the seven hundred verses of the

Gita, which embodies the conversation between lord Krishna and

Arjuna. That import is contained in the single ninth chapter. I was,

therefore, doubtful whether I shall be able to explain clearly the

import of this chapter. Why should I flaunt my ability to do so? For

lumps of jaggery and sugar are made from the same sugarcane juice,

and yet they have different flavours. Similarly, some chapters

describe in clear words the doctrine of Brahman; some show the way to

the abode of Brahman and some, which try to know Brahman, lose

themselves, along with the knowledge, in the nature of Brahman. Such

are the chapter of the Gita, but the ninth chapter is such that one

cannot describe it adequately. O my master, if I have lain open the

truth in it, it is entirely due to your grace (31-35). The outer

garment of a sage (Vashishtha) shed light like the sun; another sage

(Vishvamitra) created another world; and one (Shri Ram) built a

bridge of stones and took his army across the sea; one (Hanuman),

immediately after his birth, seized the sun in his hand, thinking it

to be a fruit and sage Agastya drank the sea in one sip. In the same

way, you made a dumb creature like me speak about the

incomprehensible Brahman. Just as you cannot compare the war between

Ram and Ravana with any war except itself, so I say that Lord

Krishna's talk in the ninth chapter cannot be matched by anything

except itself. Only the knowers of truth, who have comprehended the

meaning of the Gita, can settle the question. I have thus explained

to you the nine chapters according to my ability...."

 

It is said that Jnaneshvara was reciting this

chapter when he entered 'Sanjivana' samadhi in Alandi.

 

 

Regards,

 

Sunder