Bhagavatgita a detailed study chapter12 bhakthiyoga

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13.adhveshtaa sarvabhoothaanaam maithraH karuNa eva

cha

 

Nirmamo

nirahankaaraH samadhuhkha sukhaH kshamee

 

One who has no

hatred and friendly and merciful towards all living beings, is devoid of attachment and ego and has

equanimity at pleasure and pain and is tolerant,

 

14. santhushtaH sathatham yogee yathaathmaa

dhrDaniSchayaH

mayyarpitha manobudDhiHyo madhbhakthaH sa me priyaH

 

Contented always

and established in meditation, self controlled, with firm resolve and a devotee

with mind and intellect engrossed in Me, he is very dear to Me.

 

 

Once the jnana

has risen there is absolutely no difference between the saguna and nirguna

upasanas. Even a devotee who starts worshipping God with form comes to realize

that God is all pervading and not limited to a particular form and the form is

only for convenience of concentration. So the description of a jnani that

follows is applicable to both

bhakthiyoga and jnanayoga and is similar to what has been outlined in the

second chapter regarding the man of

realization.

 

He has no hatred towards any living

being, and friendly and kind to all. He is without the ego and possessiveness.

He is patient and shows equanimity

towards sukha and duhkha This corresponds to the description of sThithaprajna

given in chapter2. Duhkheshvanudvignamanaah sukeshu vigatha sprhah veetaragabhayakrodhah

sthithadheermnuiruchyathe – Ch.2-56.

 

 

He is always contented. Because

he has self control and of steadfast resolve (sthithaprajna.) Why he is so, is indicated by the word mayyarpitha manobuddhih. ` His mind and intellect is absorbed in

Me,' says Krishna, and adds that such a

devotee is dear to Me.

 

In this chapter

the portrait of a devotee is drawn step by step in the concluding slokas and it

is clear that the qualities enumerated are non-different from that of the jnani

mentioned in chapter 7 sloka 17 as the one who is very dear to the Lord. Priyo hi jnaaninaH athyarThamaham sa cha

mamapriyaH. The implication is that jnana resulting from bhakthi is the

highest and closest to the Lord.

adhveshtaa sarvabhoothaanaam- no hatred towards any living being. A devotee feels the presence

of the Lord everywhere and hence he has no hatred towards any one. Swami Rama,

a great devotee and saint once was beaten by some evil minded people and left

unconscious, His disciples finding him in that state nursed him back to

consciousness. They asked him whether he recognized who they were. The swami

replied "The same hands of Rama which beat me are attending on me now."

 

maithraH karunaH –

friendship and mercy towards all. This is because he knows that the Lord is the

inner self of all and to serve and help others is the true worship. In

Srimadbhagavatham the Lord says that the one who does pooja but is unkind to

the fellow creatures does not please the Lord and He refuses to accept the offerings made by such

a person by way of worship,

 

nirmamo nirahankaraH- one who is sarva sanga parithyaagee, given up all attachments, and without ego

because he feels that he belongs to the Lord and all his possessions are given

to him by the Lord. King Janaka , on being

told that the city was burning, was not at al perturbed as he thought

that nothing belonged to him while the hermits who were with him rushed to

retrieve their meager possessions.

 

Sama dhuhkha sukha kshamee- equanimity during joy and sorrow because neither affects Him, as his

mind is engrossed with the Lord. He is always experiencing the inner joy which

is different from the joy through the worldly objects. They take everything

that comes as the prasada of the Lord.

 

Santhushtah sathatahm- hence he is contented always.

 

He is a yogee and yathaathmaa. Devotion itself

is the yoga, bhakthi yoga, and he has

self control as he has offered body, mind and intellect, mayyarpithamanobudDhiH to the Lord and functions as His instrument.

 

dhrDaniSchayaH- Firm

of resolve that the Lord is

everything for him, vaasudhevassarvam

ithi.

 

Naturally he is

very dear to the Lord.