[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Blessing

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Dear Dr.Saroja Ramanujam, A mind boggling explanation though I find somewhat difficult to grasp as due to lack of much knowledge of scriptures and still that has kindled a desire to learn the subject.Thanks for a fabulous presentation. Hare Krishna, agraman.sarojram18 <sarojram18 wrote: I have given the commentary on the sloka

quotedAn ascetic who is samah is devoid of elation and depression and takes what comes with out being affected by it. He is always convince. that he is not the doer but it is  his gunas which are interacting with those outside. Only other people ascribe agency to him. Thus in spite of continuing his regular activities to maintain his body and soul together he does nothing at all. All his actions get dissolved and do not produce any result that affects him. The reason for this is given by Krishna as gathasangasya mukthasya jnanaavasthithahethasah yajnaayaacharathah karma samagram pavileeyathe,  he is gathasanghah, one whose attachments have vanished, mukthah, liberated and jnanaavasthitha chethaah one whose mind is established in knowledge. His action itself is a yajna..In the third chapter of the Gita it was said that all actions except those done with the spirit of yajna produce

bondage. Here Krishna elaborates on the different kinds of yajna to explain the meaning of yajna. All the actions done in accordance with varnasramadharma without selfish interest are yajnas. Different types of yogis follow different means of attaining salvation which are described here as yajnasWhy does the action fails to produce result that affects the doer but gets dissolved? The reason is given in the verse brahmaarpanam brahmahavih brahmmaagnou brahmanaa hutham brahmaiva thena ganthavyam brahmakarmasamaadhinaa. To the enlightened who  have acquired the perception that sarvam khalu idham brahma, all this is brahman, all their activities are done with a spirit of yajna .The means of a yajna like the ladle with which the offering is put in the fire, brahmaarpanam, the thing that is offered, havih, the fire itself,agnih,  the one who does the yajna and the yajna itself, everything is

Brahman. The word brahmaarpanam is used not as a compound but as arpanam brahma, the means of yajna is Brahman. This sacrificer who concentrates on the act that is Brahman reaches Brahman alone, brahmaiva thena ganthavyam brahmakarmasamaadhinaa. One whose intellect is established in Brahman is one having brahmakarmasamaadhi and the goal to reach for him is Brahman. All his actions lead him to Brahman-realisation. This verse implies that the right perception of Brahman everywhere in everything is the means of emancipation. Such jnana itself becomes the fire that consumes all the karma of the doer so that he experiences no more samsara as a result of his karma.In the foregoing verse the jnani who acts with brahmabhaavana, seeing Brahman in everything was described. This denotes the enlightened soul who is niraseer yathachitthaatmathyakthasarvaparigrahah who is doing only saareeram kevalam

karma.. He is desireless,  has renounced all possessions and  is self-controlled and his actions are only to keep the body and soul together till the time comes to shed his mortal coil when, he attains salvation. What would be the lot of one following the rituals of varnasramadharma but with detachment and without desire? Daivamevaapare yajnam yoginah paryupaasathe, some yogis do the karmanushtaana like worship of the Lord in any form and other activities as laid out in the Vedas according to varna and asrama as yajna. Here the word yogi refers to the one who does all these activities with detachment and without desire, shedding the thought of ‘I’ and ‘Mine.’ The yajna here is deva yajna which includes yaga, ,japa and worship to deities as prescribed in the Vedas.. There are five kinds of yajnas to be performed by a grhastha,  man of the world. They are brahmayajna, the study

of Vedas and acquiring the knowledge of Brahman, devayajna, the performance of worship like japa, homa and the other activities done to propitiate the divine, pitryajna like sraaddha and others done towards the pitrs, manes, manushya yajna which are services of charity, hospitality and welfare of mankind and bhootha yajna, kindness and service to living beings other than humans. Deva yajna has been mentioned above and brahma yajna is denoted by brahmmaagnou apare yajnam yajnenaiva upajuhvathi, others offer their selves in the fire of brahman being endowed with the awareness of their identity with Brahman. The knowledge of their real self being nothing but Brahman as the advaita contends, or that their real Self is the Lord of whom everything including their individual self is the body or part of Him, as professed by visishtadvaita, gives the perception that the world is not as it appears to be but only

Brahman in reality. The purpose of mentioning this kind of yogis as distinct from those described at the outset by the verse ‘brahmaarpanam brahmahavih----- ‘ is to show that while the former is an enlightened soul the latter refers to the state prior to enlightenment as the knowledge that the world is not as it appears to be leads to the awareness of Brahman everywhere.Next Krishna elaborates yet another kind of discipline , namely, self control, indriya nigraha. which when done as a yajna leads one to samaadhi. When mind is integrated in Brahman it is samaadhi. For that to happen the mind must turn away from the sense experience. This control of the mind from running after sense objects is described  as a yajna of which three stages are required. Srothraaneendhriyaanyaadhaou samyamaagnishu juhvathi, sacrifice the ear and other senses in the fire of restraint. Restraining the senses is

described as offering them in the fire of restraint. Once the senses are restrained when they contact the sense objects it is like sacrificing the sense objects like sound, in the fire of senses, sabdhaadheen indhriyaanyanyeindhriyaagnishu juhvathi. The sense objects do not create any reaction as the senses are restrained already. The next stage is when all the activities of the senses sarvaaneendhriya karmaani and of the vital breaths praanakarmaani are sacrificed in the fire of aathmasamyama, self restraint, kindled by knowledge. Jnanadheepithe.Aathmasamyama is the state of samaadhi when there is no activity of the senses or vital breath because the mind is integrated in Brahman consciousness. It is akin to the deep sleep state where body, mind and intellect do not exist and hence no activity can be ascribed to them, yet it is different, since it is not under the influence of ignorance as in deep sleep but

it is full of awareness born out of jnana. This is what is implied by the word jnanadheepithe., illumined by jnana.

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