bhagavatgita adetailed study- chapter12 - Bhakthiyoga

July 14, 2009

Sreebhagavaan uvaacha

2. mayyaaveSya mano ye maam nithyayukthaa upaasathe

SradDhayaa parayaa upethaaH the me yukthathamaa

mathaaH

Those who worship Me with their mind engrossed in Me constantly and with great faith they are the most integrated yogis.

The best yogis are those who worship the Lord constantly with full concentration and great faith The best example of the expression 'mayyaavesyamanaah' are the gopies who never had any other thought except that of Krishna. Without rigorous disciplines of yoga and meditation they were able to attain mukthi easily through their madhurabhakthi.

Prahladha illustrates the paraa sradhdha , With full faith in the power of the Lord he did not fear from the acts of his father to kill him. When in the end Hiranyakasipu asked Prahlada "Will your Lord protect you if I cut your head with my sword?" Prahlada replied " No, because he would not allow you to bring your sword near me in the first place." That is the sradhdha paraa, great faith.

3. ye thu aksharam anirdhesyam avyaktham paryupaasathe

sarvathragam achinthyam cha kooTasRham achalam

Dhruvam

Those who worship the imperishable, indefineable, unmanifest Brahman who is all-pervading, incomprehensible, immutable, immovable and unwavering.

At the same time Krishna hastens to add that those whose minds are integrated on the unmanifest Brahman are not inferior in any way because they also attain the Lord only, meaning that they are one with the Lord,' brahmavit brahmaiva bhavathi ` The reason the bhakthas were extolled is given in the subsequent verses while in this and the next Krishna defines the nirgunopaasana, the worship of Nirguna Brahman.

The Nirguna Brahman is aksharam, Imperishable, anirdesyam Indefinable, avyaktham, Unmanifest, sarvathragam Omnipresent, achinthyam, Imponderable, kutastham, Immutable, achalam, Immovable and dhruvam , unwavering. Brahman is indefinable and imponderable because it is beyond description and imagination , transcending word and thought. As the Upanishad declares that Yatho vaacho nivarthanthe apraapyamansaa saha, both speech and mind returned without seeing Him. It is unmanifest being atheendhriya , beyond the cognition of sense organs. Thus it cannot be established by any means of cognition It is also immutable, immovable and unwavering because it is all pervading.

4. sanniyamya indhriyagraamam sarvathra samabudDhayaH

the praapnuvanthi maam eva sarvabhoothahithe rathaaH

They attain Me only by controlling their senses and maintaining equanimity throughout being intent of the welfare of all beings.

Then how could the jnanayogis become integrated in the Unmanifest Brahman? The answer is given in this sloka. They attain the infinite by controlling their sense organs through mind and when the mind is stilled there is no ragadvesha and hence they become samabuddhayah, equanimous in their attitude , and since they are devoid of likes and dislikes they become sarvabhootha hithe rathaah intent on the welfare of all beings.

5.kleSo aDhikatharaH theshaam avyakthaasakthachethasam

avyakthaa hi gathiH duhkham dhehavadhbhiH avaapyathe

But the for those who contemplate on the unmanifest Brahman the path is painful because in the embodied state the path to attain the unmanifest is very hard.

Presentation of the picture of jnana yogis leads to the reason as to why Krishna extols the superiority of bhakthi yoga. The distinction between a jnani and a bhaktha lies not in their comparative merits as such but in the relative efficacy of the two methods. Krishna describes jnana yoga as being wrought with difficulties and therefore painful to follow.. The path of the unmanifest is harder, while being conscious of the body. This is because the self-realisation will happen only when one transcends the body, mind and intellect and the rigorous discipline involved in controlling senses and the mind is full of obstacles and it is easy to swerve from the path without constant vigil over oneself..