Panchajanyam Hrshikesah-chapter26-end of 18th adhyaya

August 14, 2007

Chapter 26- jnanayoga and bhakthiyoga(adhyaya18)

Who is qualified for sanyasa? The answer is given as,

Askthabuddhih sarvathra jithAthmA vigathassprhah

Naishkarmyasiddhim paramAmsannyAsena aDhigacchathi

(BG.18-49)

He, who is detached in all respects, who has conquered himself, who is free from desires, attains perfection that transcends all activity by renunciation. Dhyana or contemplation is the consummation of jnanayoga consisting of cessation of all activities.

Then Krishna gives a description of the one who has attained perfection.

buddhyA viSuddhyA yukthah DhrthyAthmAnam niyamya cha

SabdhAdheen vishayAn thyakthvArAgadhveshou vyudhasyacha

(BG.18-51)

Viviktha sevee laghvaSee yathavAkkAyamAnasah

DhyAnayogaparo nithyam vairAgyaaaamsamupASrithah

(BG.18-52)

Ahamkarambalam dharpam kAmamkroDham parigraham

Vimuchya nirmamaSSAnthah brahmabhooyAya kalpathe

(BG.18-53)

He is endowed with purified understanding that the Self is the reality. He makes his mind ready for meditation by turning it away from the sense objects and casting aside love or hate of them.

He resorts to a lonely place away from hindrances to meditation and eats a little just to keep himself alive, restrains the activities of body, mind and intellect, engaged fully in meditation, with detachment from all other objects not conducive to meditation.

He abandons ego, that is considering non-self as self, which causes pride, desire, anger and possessiveness. Free from the notion of `I' and `mine,' he becomes worthy of the state of Brahman.

Next Krishna refers to the bhakthiyoga.

Brahmabhoothah prasannAthmA na Sochathi na kAnkshathi

amassarvEshu bhoothEshu madhbhakthim labhathe parAm

(BG.18-54)

This refers to the fourth class of devotees outlined in the seventh adhyaya, 16th sloka, namely jnani.

He who resorts to the Lord, acquires jnana as a result of his devotion as it was said `dhadhAmi buddhiyogam tham,' in adhyaya10, sloka 10. Such a jnani, who is brahmabhootha, realized the state of Brahman, is tranquil, prasannAthmA, who has neither grief or longing, regarding everything to be equal. He is the one who has parA bhakthi.

He sees the Lord everywhere and does all his actions as an offering to Him and attains the eternal abode of peace and bliss due to the grace of the Lord.

Hence Krishna tells Arjuna to relinquish all sense of agency and surrender to the Lord, mentally offering all the actions to Him. Then, the Lord will steer His devotee through all difficulties. As the nature is stronger no resolve to give up action, as in the case of Arjuna who said that he will not fight, will be fruitful because the natural instinct will overpower him soon and when that happens he will find that the circumstances are not as favourable as they are at the moment. This refers to the sloka 32 of adhyaya 2 where Krishna told Arjuna that the battle which he finds himself in is not of his own making and according to dharma and he is fortunate to get such an opportunity to discharge his duty as a kshathriya whose main role is to protect dharma.

Ten comes the final advice to Arjuna and through him to the whole mankind.

Eesvarah sarva bhoothAnAm hrddhese arjuna thishTathi

bhrAmayan sarvabhoothAni yanthrArooDAnimAyayA

(BG.18-61)

The Lord is situated in the heart of all beings, spinning them as though mounted on a wheel, by His power of maya.

The wheel of maya is the prakrthi consisting of three gunas according to which the individual self is propelled into action. The Lord is the inner self of all as mentioned in the Upanishad `yah srveshu bhootheshu thishTan sarvebhyo bhoothebhyo antharah, yam sarvANI bhoothAni na vedha,yasya sarvANi bhoothAni Sareeram,yah sarvANi bhoothANii antharo yamayathi,esha tha AthmA antharyAmyamrthaH.' (Brhd.Up.3-7-15)

This means,

`He who dwells in all beings and is within them, whom none of the beings know, whose body is all beings,, and who controls all beings from within, is the inner controller, your own self and immortal.'

This idea has already been expressed in the sloka 8of the 10th adhyaya and in sloka 15 of the 15th adhyaya as `And I am seated in the hearts of all,' and ` from Me proceed everything,' etc.

"So," says Krishna , " seek refuge in Him alone by whose grace you shall find supreme peace and eternal abode."

Then Krishna winds up His discourse by saying that the secrets of janayoga, karmayoga and bhakthi yoga have been instructed thus and asks Arjuna to choose which ever suits him. But at the same time Krishna did not want to leave His disciple in doubt and as the Jagatguru He says that bhakthi yoga is the most secret of all and is it good for him to follow the bhakthi marga.

Next are the two most quoted and well remembered slokas of the Gita.

manmanAbhava madhbhakthah madhyAjee mAm namaskuru

mAmeva eshyasi sathyam the prathijAne priyoasi me

(BG.18-65)

`Focus your mind on Me. Be My devotee. Be My worshipper. Bow down to Me. You shall come to Me only. I promise you truly as you are dear to Me. `

This is the promise given by the Lord not only to Arjuna but to the whole mankind.

In SvethASvathara Upanishad we have the passage, `vedhAhametham purusham mahAntham , Adhithya varNam thamasah parasthAth; thameva vidhithvA athi mrthyum ethi, nAnyah panTha vidhyathe ayanAya.'

' I know this great person who is resplendent like the Sun and is beyond darkness. By knowing Him alone one transcends death. There is no other path to go by.'

The words manmanA bhava means that one should know, meditate and worship that which is the object of direct perception with constant remembrance, dhruvasmrthi, with love and devotion.

Madhbhakthah madhyAjee mAm namaskuru means to worship with excessive love as the one who is most dear and bowing down in submission and love.

Renouncing thus all ego-centric impulses the devotee becomes dear to the Lord as He has said in the seventh adhyaya, sloka 17 that the jnani who is with single minded devotion is dear to the Lord. To such a person the Lord promises "You will come to Me."

The next sloka is the famous one taken to teach bhakthiyoga and called the caramasloka, considered to be the sloka enjoining prapatthi by vaishnavites. It forms one of the three important chants of vaishanvas the other two being the moola manthra and dhvaya.

sarvaDharmAn parithyajya mAmekam saraNam vraja.

Aham thvA sarvapApebhyah mokshayishyAmi mA Suchah

(BG-18-65)

Completely relinquishing all Dharmas, seek Me alone for refuge.

Relinquishing all dharmas means complete relinquishment of all sense of agency, fruits etc., whatever may be the path pursued, jnana, karma or bhakthi. This has reference to the concept of abandonment , thyaga, elucidated in the beginning of the chapter.

If one practices such abandonment, the Lord says that He will be released from all sins, meaning the sins which results from time immemorial due to past karma, because once a man becomes a devotee giving up agency and fruits of action no sin can accrue to him any more.

This sloka gives solace to the devotees who may fear that they may not attain the goal due to the evil karma that they have done before the rise of bhakthi. Krishna has already given a promise to this effect in the ninth ahdyaya in sloka 30-31 where He said that even a worst sinner will be redeemed if he resorts to the Lord.

Krishna ends up saying that this discourse which contains most secret doctrine, should not be disclosed to anyone lacking austerity or devotion or indifferent or one who slander the Lord. And one who expounds this to other devotees of the Lord will attain Him and he is the dearest to the Lord. The study of this discourse is tantamount to the worship of the Lord through jnanayoga and one who listens to it with faith and without cavilling shall also be released from bondage.

Any work should have four requisites, anubandhachathushtayam, namely, the grantha, work , vishaya, subject matter, adhikari, one qualified to study it and prayojana, utility or the fruit. Even though Bhagavatgita is not a separate work but a part of the epic Mahabharatha, it has come to be treated as an independent work by itself and hence we could say that the first two have been set out in the beginning by Sanjaya that it is a discourse of Krishna to Arjuna and by the words of Arjuna himself `yacchreyassyAth nischitham broohi thanme,' that it is Sreyas, about what is good for him. Now the other two, namely, the adhikari and prayojana are specified.

The adhikari is the one possessing devotion, austerity, wish to serve the Lord etc. and the prayojana, or the fruit is set out as attaining the supreme by listening, studying and expounding the discourse.

The particular prayojana, that of extricating Arjuna from the delusion is also specified by the question Krishna puts to him next.

Kaschith ethath Srutham pArThathvayA ekAgreNa chethasA

Kaschith ajAnasammohah praNashtasthe paramthapa

(BG.18-72)

Krishna says,

"Have you heard attentively all that was told and has your delusion caused by ignorance vanished?"

This is the question we should ask ourselves after the study of the Gita and should be able to answer as Arjuna did as,

Nashto mohah smrthirlabDhA thvath prasAdhAth mayA achyutha

sThithosmi gatha sandhehah karishye vachanam thava

(Bg.18-73)

" Destroyed is the illusion and I have gained knowledge by Thy grace. Freed from doubts I am steadfast and will do Thy command."

Not only Arjuna but also Sanjaya was elated to have heard the conc versation between Krishna and Arjuna due to the grace of the sage Vyasa and extols the discourse as `yogam yogesvarAth krishnAth sAkshAth kaThayathah svayam,' the highest knowledge from the mouth of the Lord Himself who is the master of all yoga, and says that remembering it he rejoices at his good fortune again and again and filled with wonder. He concludes by saying,

Yathrayogesvarah Krishnah yathrapArTho DhanurDharah

Thathra sreeh vijayo bhoothih DhruvAneethih mathirmama

(BG.18-78)

Wherever there is Sri Krishna, the Lord of the yoga and Arjuna the archer, there is always fortune, victory, wealth and firm justice .

The implied meaning of this statement is that when the Lord is there to command and when the individual is fully equipped to do His command and acts as the instrument in the hands of God always ready to listen to the voice within, the success is waiting for such an individual.

Let us also be like Arjuna , armed with detachment and discrimination born out of devotion, act on in this world as the servants of the Lord to do His bidding out of love and attain peace and joy.

This is the end of the great gospel of humanity, the Bhagavatgita.

OM thath sath

August 20, 2007

Hi Sarojaji,

Hare Krishnsa.

I am a new member of the group and have been reading your commentaries on Bhagvad Gita with great interest. It is wonderful that you have presented the deep wisdom of Bhagvad Gita in concise texts as it is enlightening to spiritual novices like me.

Saroja ji, in your commentary on the last chapter, text 65 you have mentioned about the importance of this sloka along with two other chants - moola mantra and dhvaya. Would you please share with us these two chants?

Thanks and Regards,

Sanju