Blessing

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I have given the commentary on the sloka quoted

 

An 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.

 

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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 yajnas

 

Why 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.