Bhagavad Gita - Daily - II 2:71 II

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|| Shree Hari ||Ram Ram Link: — Now, Lord Krsna concludes the answer to the last question, "How does the man of steadfast wisdom, walk v/z., what is his mode of conduct?" - vihaaya kamaanyah sarvaanpumaanshcharati nihsprhah nirmamo nirahankaarah sa shaantimadhigacchatiHe, who gives up all desires, and moves about without the sense of mine and egoism and shuns the thirst for necessities of life, attains tranquility. || 71 || Comment:'vihaaya kamaanyah sarvaanpumaanshcharati nihsprhah ' — An earnest wish for some things that you do not have is, 'kaamanaa' (desire) while an earnest wish for acquiring or preserving necessities of life is, 'sprhaa' (thirst). A man of steadfast wisdom lives devoid of all longings and desires and has no thirst for acquiring or preserving even the necessities of life, as he has attained the supreme bliss for which the human body was bestowed upon him. Such a man of steady wisdom becomes free from all cares and does not mind even if his body lives or dies. However, it does not mean that he does not take the things that are the necessities of life. He is attentive to what is beneficial / wholesome and what is not. In other words, he takes care of the body in the same manner as previously while he following the spiritual disciplines. However now, he is least concerned about whether the body remains or whether he continues to get the necessities of life for self-preservation. In this verse "vihaaya kaamaanya sarvaan", as well as, in the fifty-fifth verse of this chapter "Prajahaati yadaa kaamaansarvaan", the emphasis has been laid on renunciation of desires, because in the Discipline of Disinterested Action (Karmayog), without abandoning desires, no aspirant can possess steadfast wisdom. A striver has affinity for the world, only because of desires. If desires are given up, no affinity for the world remains.'Nirmamah'—A man of stable wisdom, has not the least-sense of mine (mamtaa), with persons and things, as well as, his body and senses, because he has received them from the world, therefore, they belong to the world, not to him. It is a blunder to have a sense of possession over things acquired. On rectifying this blunder the sense of possession over persons, objects, body and sense-organs is totally wiped out.'Nirahankaarah'—'This body itself is me'—to have this notion is egoism (ahankaar). The realized soul is, free from this egoism. The body, sense-organs, mind and intellect are visible in some light (illumination). The ego is also perceived in this light. From the view-point of this light, all these are objects of perception. An onlooker (seer) is quite different from the seen—this is the rule. With this realization, a man of steady wisdom, becomes free from egoism.'Sa shaantimadhigacchati'—A man of steadfast wisdom attains peace. It does not mean that he attains peace after being free from desire, thirst for enjoyment, attachment and egoism. The fact is that peace is inherent and spontaneous. But a man by having desires to enjoy worldly pleasures, attraction and attachment to these temporary and perishable sense enjoyments, experiences lack of peace. But, as soon as he becomes entirely free from worldly desires, thirst for necessities, a sense of mine and egoism, he can realize that peace which is inherent and natural.In this verse, out of the four—(desires, thirst for necessities, the sense of mine and egoism), egoism is most important of the four, because a striver after becoming free from egoism, becomes free from the other three also. If there is no egoism, how will the sense of mine persist, who will desire and for whom will he desire?Now the question arises, when the renunciation of desire etc., is also included in the renunciation of egoism, why has Lord Krsna described the renunciation of desire separately? The answer is, that out of these four, desire is gross while thirst for necessities is subtle; the sense of mine, subtler; and egoism the subtlest. So, when a seeker first gets rid of desires, thirst for preserving necessities and sense of mine, then it becomes easy to abandon egoism.From the perspective of the scriptures, first one should discard desires, then 'sprha' (thirst for preserving necessities), sense of mine and egoism as these three are more subtle forms of desire. But from the perspective of an aspirant, first a "sense of mine" (mamtaa) must be given-up, and thereafter the other three. "Sense of mine" (mamtaa) is for acquired things and "desire" is for those things that are not attained. Giving up "sense of mine" (mamtaa) first is easier. Man is first bound by a sense of mine. In other words, he is bound by the things he has acquired. By giving up sense of mine he becomes capable of being free of desires. On becoming free of desires, he becomes competent to give up the thirst to preserve the necessities of life (sprha). When sprha is given up, then he is able to be free of egoism. Abiding by the scriptures, one becomes a learned man, whereas by walking the path of an aspirant, man gains experiential knowledge (anubhav).

 

From "The Bhagavadgita - Sadhak Sanjivani" in English, page 233- 235 and in Hindi pg 136 -137 by Swami Ramsukhdasji

To read online in hindi - please visit :

http://www.swamiramsukhdasji.org/swamijibooks/pustak/pustak1/html/SadhakSanjeevni/main.html

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|| Shree Hari ||

Ram Ram

 

vihaaya kamaanyah sarvaanpumaanshcharati nihsprhah

nirmamo nirahankaarah sa shaantimadhigacchati

 

He, who gives up all desires, and moves about without the sense of mine and

egoism and shuns the thirst for necessities of life, attains tranquility. ||

71 ||

 

|| 71 ||

 

“That man who having given up all desires and is devoid of longing for the

worldly objects, moves about without the sense of ‘me’ (Ahmta or ego) and

‘mine’ (Mamta), attains tranquility.

 

Comment:

 

When person has desire, longing, sense of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, he cannot

experience the sustaining state of peace in him. The root cause is the ego or

sense of me. After letting go of all other things, the ego still remains. Once

the sense of ego “I†goes then it is possible to let go of everything. From

ego ensues fondness, from fondness the attachment, from attachment Mamta (sense

of mine-ness), from Mamta the desires arise, from desire many other

modifications come about. For a spiritual seeker, it is easier to begin leaving

Mamta first, after leaving Mamta, desire, longing and Ahmta (ego, the sense of

‘I’), one can get the strength to leave Ahmta. In fact, one in his natural

state is without the desire, longing, Mamta and Ahmta. If we were not without

the attributes then we could never leave these and the Lord would not have

brought up the idea of giving up these. During the deep sleep, everyone

experiences the absence of Ahmta but no one experiences the absence of Self.

 

The truth is that the desire, longing, mamta and ahmta are unreal and do not

exist †" " na asto vidyate bhavo... " (The unreal has no existence, Gita: 2-16).

Our true nature is real, luminous Self. In this real Self, the question of

having the desire, longing, Mamta and Ahmta does not arise. The desires etc.

reside in the jada (worldly matter), they cannot reach the Chetana (conscious).

The existence of consciousness stays the same. The desire, longing etc. do not

remain at all times, they are changing constantly - this is the experience of

everyone. In this life, in childhood the desire and longings were different, now

they are different. We continue to pick these up and leave them as we move into

different stages of life. We used to have the desire for toys, then started to

have the desire for money. First there was Mamta (affection) for the mother,

then this affection shifted to wife. Thus the desire, longing, Mamta etc. are

coming and going, also, the meeting and parting, beginning and end happens but

the Self does not come or go. The thing which is not truly real we have got hold

of, gave importance to its existence, this is biggest mistake we have made. The

responsibility of correcting this mistake is ours only, that is why Lord Krishna

is asking us to make the correction. Otherwise the thing which does not truly

exist, leaving that, is natural. What is real, is the thing to be attained.

There is nothing new to be done, going after something new is the reason for the

bondage and suffering.

 

From " Gita Prabodhani " in Hindi pg 64 by Swami Ramsukhdasji

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Chapter 2, Verse 71 is as follows;

 

Vihaaya = having abandoned

Kaamaan = desires

YaH = that

Sarvaan = all

Pumaan = man

Charati = moves about

NiHspruhaH = free from longing / without yearning

Nir-MamaH = without the sense of " I and mine "

Nir-Aham-KaaraH = without egoism

SaH = he

Shaantim = to peace

Adhi-Gachchhati = attains

 

 

English translation:-

 

That man, who leads a life devoid of longings, being freed from all desires,

without the feelings of " I and mine " and without egoism; he attains peace.

 

Comment:

 

In a well known verse in the Upanishada, " Asudhaam Kaama-Samkalpam, Sudhaam

Kaama-Vivarjitam " i.e. the human mind is of two types; a pure (Sudhaa) and an

impure one (A-Sudhaa). The one which is ever intent on securing objects of

desires is an impure one; while the one which is free from attachments to the

objects of desires is a pure one.

 

In Sanskrit language, `Kaamanaa' means desire of sense object, which is

difficult to obtain. Similarly `Spruhaa' means desire for acquiring and clinging

to the bare necessities of human existence. A person, whose intellect is firmly

established in the Self, transcends the desires, longings and the sense of `I,

me and mine'; which are typical traits of the base human existence. He is able

to do so as he has already attained the Supreme bliss for which the very

manifestation in the human form was bestowed upon him by his past deeds.

 

In this verse the Sanskrit word `Charati' i.e. moves about; is of immense

significance. By abandoning all his desires, the man whose wisdom is firmly

established in the Self, he does not become motionless and lifeless like a

stationary stone. He retains his dynamism of a life full of physical vigour and

intellectual rigour.

 

The 'word 'Kaman' taken with the adjective 'Sarvan', means the cravings of all

kinds for any form of enjoyment of this world and the next: and to rid oneself

complletely once for all of all such cravings is what is meant by 'giving up all

desires'.

 

The desire for sense objects is the grossest of all. The thirst for bare

necessities of a human life is subtle. The sense of `I, me and mine' is subtler.

The egoism (Kartaa Aham = I am the doer) is the subtlest. Lord Krishna has

chided Arjuna that in order to attain peace i.e. suppression of all the troubles

of earthly existence, he must remove the root cause of all of them, which is the

desire of sense object that is impossible to obtain.

 

Calmness attained is inversely proportional to the cravings for material and

sensuous objects. The feelings of `I, me and mine' lead a man into bondage of

`Karma' i.e. action. Agency and ownership are modifications of the human mind

that ensue from egoism, which make a person feel that he is a separate entity

and that he has his own individuality which must be catered to by ad infinitum

desires.

 

However, with the cessation of desires, the egoism and egoistic behaviour

vanishes. What is left over is the unmodified, unconditioned Super Consciousness

bathed in peace and bliss.

 

" When a goat is slaughtered, its body shakes for a while as if imbued with life.

Similarly the ego of a Jnani undergoes a slaughter when he attains illumination.

But a trace of the ego lingers just to carry on the bodily sustenance. However,

it has no power to bind him again to worldliness. " Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa

 

The enlightened person maintains peace in his life by remaining totally free

from ego and egocentric desires of the mortal world. On the contrary, an average

person develops a selfish and possessive attitude towards sense objects and with

the people he deals with. As a consequence, he suffers in sorrows due to

feelings of incompleteness of his demands and insatiability of worldly

pleasures.

 

It reminds me of a very nice song in Marathi language that has been sung by Asha

Bhosale, " Swapnaatalyaa Kalyaanno Umalu Nakaacha Kevhaa, Godee ApurNatechee

Laveela Veda Jeevaa " i.e. O buds in my dreams; please do not blossom into

flowers. Even if you do so, the feelings of ever incompleteness will afflict my

mind with total insanity.

 

An enlightened person treats the mortal world at large as a big stage to perform

in a drama in a huge theatre and he enacts his role as a dispassionate

participant devoid of ego and ego-centric behaviour, while yearning for nothing

that the mortal world is able to offer to him.

 

Lord Krishna chides Arjuna, " Only after having conquered the mental agitations

created by the pairs of opposites (DvandvaH), you will be able to fight the

battle of life. All your sufferings have been generated by your own ego-centric

misconceptions and resultant arrogance characterized by your ever-multiplying

demands for possessions and further endless desires. "

 

In this verse, Lord Krishna has succinctly explained total renunciation i.e.

`Sanyasa' or `Samyak Nyaasa' i.e. the art of leading a life with constant

inspiration full of indomitable spirit, which is gained only through intelligent

renunciation of ego-centric misconceptions and the resultant arrogant behaviour.

 

Shri Aadya Shankaraachaarya has offered a beautiful commentary on this verse.

" That man of renunciation, who while entirely abandoning all desires goes though

life contended with bare necessities of life, who regards not as his own even

those things that are needed for mere physical bodily existence, who is not

devoid of the knowledge of the Self, he attains tranquility of mind (NirvaaNa),

the end of all the miseries associated with mundane human existence and

ultimately he becomes one with the Brahman (Brahma-NirvaaNa). "

 

Thanks & Best Regards,Shrikant Joshi

 

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|| Shree Hari ||

Ram Ram

 

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