Gita in Daily Life: Ch.6 - Yoga and the Yogi!

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

The following brief excerpts from Swami Krishnananda's book on

Bhagavad Gita provide the importance of `yoga' in God-realization.

Swamiji rightly points out that `yoga' in the beginning will appear

as the most difficult task ahead of us, but those who continue to

practice yoga with Shraddha and Vairaghya will be able to see the

light! His summary below is both complete and profound!

 

Regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

Excerpts from Swami Krishnananda's Book on Bhagavad Gita

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We have been very sincere and honest in our efforts in the direction

of Yoga; and it shall take care of us, it cannot desert us. And Yoga

is a more loving mother than all the mothers that we can think of in

the world. Or, the great Teacher, Krishna, tells us that one may be

born as a child of a Yogi himself, and what can be a greater

blessedness than that to a seeking soul? There is no fear of

destruction or loss of effort. The Fifth Chapter concludes by saying

that God is the Friend and Protector of all. We shall achieve peace

of mind only when we realize that God is our Friend, and the only

Friend, and the most real of all friends. When we turn to Him for

succor, how could He desert us, leave us, and forget us? We can

forget Him, but he cannot forget us, because the Real is more

powerful than the apparent, or the unreal. Our distractions are

movements of the mind towards shadows and not realities. But when

there is a sincere movement towards Reality though without a proper

conception of it, it shall work in its own way in a miraculous

manner. The ways of God are mysterious in themselves and, therefore,

the sincerity, in whatever measure, that we exercise towards God,

whatever our concept of God wholehearted like a child's that shall be

our savior in our future life. Not merely that, here in this life

itself, we shall be taken care of. Krishna says that neither here nor

hereafter will there be any trouble for that person.

 

The difficulties are only in the beginning when one feels as if one

is in hell itself. But, later on, one will see the rays of the

supernal light flashing upon one's face. Everything is difficult and

hard and unpleasant in the beginning. The Gita will tell us sometime

afterwards that things which are good ultimately look very unpleasant

in the beginning, but they yield the fruit of the greatest

satisfaction and delight later on. The pains of life, the sufferings

through Yoga, are inevitable in the face of every kind of spiritual

practice. When we practice Meditation, we are clearing the debris of

our personality. It is as if we are sweeping our room which has not

been dusted for years, clearing the cobwebs, etc. And when we clear

the room of the dirt, there we will find the dust rising up and

blinding our eyes and it may look as if things have become worse than

what they were earlier. But afterwards the dust goes, it has been

swept completely, and we are happy. So, these problems and

difficulties, pains and sorrows and doubts, the agonies that appear

in the course of the practice of Yoga are the inevitable consequences

of our effort in cleansing the mind of all the dirt that is deposited

there since years and incarnations. But a glorious day is to come, we

shall become happy, expecting a blessedness that is supremely divine.

One who believes in God and trusts in God wholly, taking refuge in

God, shall be taken care of by God. "He shall not lose Me, and I

shall not lose him," says the great Master. One who has taken shelter

in God cannot be deserted by God under any circumstance, and peace,

protection and satisfaction of every kind shall be the fruits of

sincerity and honesty. What we are, called upon to be sure of is that

we are honest at the core and there is no duplicity of attitude even

in the least. We are not gambling with God, and we are not testing

Him, and we are not expecting anything from Him with a personal

motive. Let these things be clear to us, and we shall receive the

flood of His Grace descending upon us instantaneously, because God is

Space-less and Timeless.

 

"He sees the Self abiding in all beings: and all beings in the Self,

whose self has been made steadfast by Yoga, who everywhere sees the

same.He who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, to him I

cease not, nor to Me does he cease.Whoso, rooted in oneness,

worships Me who abide in all beings, that Yogi dwells in Me, whatever

be his mode of life.Whoso, by comparison with his own self, sees

the same everywhere (as his own self), O Arjuna, be it pleasure or

pain, he is deemed the highest Yogi."

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advaitin, "Ram Chandran" <RamChandran@a...>

wrote:

> Namaste:

>

> This chapter focuses on the distinction between `renunciation of

the

> fruits of action' and the `renunciation of action itself.'