Gita Satsangh; Chapter 9 Verses 30 : Swami Dayananda Saraswati's Commentary

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

Swami Dayananda has the following excellent explanation for verse

#30. This commentary is once again from Bhagavad Gita Homestudy

Course Notes. These notes are available for interested readers at the

Arsha Vidya Gurukulam (Web Site: http:\\www.arshavidya.org).

 

Warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

Swami Dayananda Saraswati's Explanation to Sloka 30:

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THERE IS NO WHOLE-PART RELATIONSHIP WITH ISVARA

 

One may think that they exist in me like the parts exist in the

whole. This is Visistha-advaitam. There are no fractions of atma

because atma is always whole. It cannot be fractioned. It is not

that from the same fire each one has a spark of divinity. There is no

spark here. The spark is the whole. These theologies all exist

because we have psychological issues. Everyone wants to belong to

somebody because he feels empty inside. He wants to be claimed by

somebody and therefore he says he belongs to a big person, Visnu.

It is purely psychological. There is nothing wrong with wanting to

belong to somebody but we are not talking_about simple psychological

issues here. It is more than that. You do not belong to Isvara. You

are Uvara.

 

If you think you belong to Isvara then you will also think IsVara

belongs to you. Then Is"vara will have one million people saying the

same thing. They are all deluded. When they discover there is another

_per son to whom IsVara has given the same feeling, their devotion

will disappear. Isvara becomes like the fellow who was searching for

a greeting card and with the help of the shopkeeper finally found the

one he was looking for. It said, "You are the only one I love." Then

he asked the shopkeeper for a dozen of them. Similarly Isvara gives

every devotee the feeling that he belongs to that devotee. He should,

otherwise no devotee will be a devotee. But among the devotees there

is always an eye upon the other devotee. Each one thinks - "The Lord

belongs to me. I am the only one dear to him. That is what he told

me." When one says to the other, "He told me the same thing." all the

devotion falls apart. This is what happens if you think that you are

a fraction of the Lord. This is visitha-advaitam. If all belong to

Isvara and everyone thinks that Isvara belongs to him, definitely he

will have the feeling, "I am not special to Isvara. He has general

devotees - I am one of them." and devotion will evaporate. There is

no belonging. You are Isvara. There is no question of separation

because Igvara cannot be made into parts so that you have a spark of

that Isvara. Therefore I am in all of them, they are in me means

there is no separation.

 

Bhagavan says I have no dvesa for the people who do not care for me

or raga for the people who for care me. I am available for everyone

because in all beings I am the same, samo'ham sacva bhutesu. It is a

question of owning up. The atma of everyone is Paramesvara. I am not

hiding myself from anybody nor I am choosing to reveal myself to

someone. I do not extend favours to some and punishment to others. It

is all one's own doing. Having said this, he continues to talk about

the nature of the commitment to the pursuit of Isvara, called bhakti.

Sankara declares that the glory of devotion is spelled out in verse

30

 

Even If someone of higly improper conduct seeks me without a sense of

separation, he is to be considered a good person because he is one

whose understanding is clear. He omits all the things that are to be

done and does all the things that are not to be done. He is

completely unmindful of others' happiness or welfare. Such a totally

self-centered person is duracarah. In that, he exceeds everybody

else. There are many criminals but this one excels above all of them.

Generally you do not put a su before dur. But here Lord Krsna uses

this su with duracara. Even though his conduct has been like this and

continues to be like this, if he is ananyabhak, one who does not see

anything else except Isvara. Somehow, in spite of all his duracara,

because of some previous karma, he has discovered a devotion for

Isvara and for the knowledge of Isvara. Therefore he has become

ananyabhak, one who commits one self to the pursuit of the knowledge

of Isvara. He seeks me, Paramesvara, even though his acara is

highly questionable.

 

A PERSON CANNOT ALWAYS BE JUDGED BY HIS CONDUCT

If he has such knowledge, how can his conduct be questionable? It is

only an argument That is why api cet is there. It is a supposition.

Even suppose there is such a person. If he is committed to the

pursuit of or has understood Isvara properly as non-separate from

atma, then who can evaluate his conduct? His ego, ahankaca, is not

there but because of some prior habits picked up from his grandfather

etc., he may continue to do certain things which are looked upon as

questionable.

 

A story is told in Mahabharata that illusrates this.

One brahmana was sitting under a tree doing his prayers and

meditation and tapas invoking the Lord. In the process he developed

some powers which he himself did not know about. One day, when he was

sitting under a tree, a crane on top of the tree dropped some

droppings on him. He looked at it with angry eyes and the crane burnt-

to ashes. Then he knew he had this power. He used to go for bhiksa

daily to the same village. Previously he was humble like a sadhu, but

once he got power, he became very proud. He went and asked for

bhiksa and the woman made him wait for one hour before serving him.

He was very angry and asked her how she could make him wait like

that. She said that she was doing her duties which was more

important. He said "Do you know who you are talking to?" She

said, "Yes I know, but I am no crane." He asked her how she knew

about the crane. And she told him to go and ask the butcher. The

butcher was busy serving his old and ailing father so the brahmana

had to wait again. He was furious and asked the butcher why he had

made him wait. Then the butcher said, "Did that lady send you here?"

The lesson is do not judge people by what they do. One is a house-

holder and the other a butcher but they were both doing their jobs

and were definitely better than the brahmin with all his prayers and

meditations etc.

 

IMPROPER CONDUCT CANNOT CONTINUE

And he is to be considered a sadhu because when he has properly

understood, samyak vyavasltahi hi sah and is pursuing knowledge, his

improper conduct is not going to continue. How can it? All duracara

if you analyze it, is either habit or a real crime. Habit will

naturally drop off in time. Crimes are aiways centered on the person

who is insecure, the small T. Because he is so highly insecure, his

behavior becomes aggressive. If he has devotion to Isvara, in the

very acceptance of Isvara his ego gets diluted. And in the pursuit of

knowledge of Isvara, it gets even further diluted. Thereby ail the

tendencies based upon fear, tendencies to cheat, to deceive, to hurt,

naturally drop off.

 

To give an example. When a cotton cluster is thinned out so that it

becomes fluffy cotton fibres, all the particles sticking to the

cotton drop off. You cannot easily remove them one by one but once

the cotton fibers are separated, you find all the particles drop down

because there is nothing for them to stick to. The ego too, once

diluted cannot hold on to these tendencies. They all drop off because

fear and selfishness which are at the center of ail crimes, are due

to ego. If that ego is diluted, where is the question of these,

things sticking there?