Guest guest Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 Namaste Satsanghis: The verse # 5 provides the practical difficulties of Jivas to identify themselves with the Atman by renouncing their identification with the BMI. Though we may be aware that we are the Brahman, we always face the difficulty in behaving as the Brahman. Swami Dayananda provides a detailed account of why we face this difficulty in the Home-study notes on Bhagavad Gita. His explanation is quite profound and will be quite useful for us to understand the importance of Shraddha and Sadhana for God realization. I am restating the verse 5 once again to recapture the entire message. Klesho'dhikatarasteshaam avyaktaasaktachetasaam; Avyaktaa hi gatirduhkham dehavadbhiravaapyate Verse 5 For them who have their minds attached to the Unmanifested the struggle is greater; for, the Goal which is the Unmanifest is attained with difficulty by the embodied ones. Swami Dayananda's Commentary: The affliction is greater still for those whose minds are committed to what cannot be objectified because an end which cannot be objectified is reached with difficulty by those who are identified with the body. The karmayogis who are meditating upon sagunam Brahma have affliction. Painful effort, both physical and emotional, is involved. As a karmayogi you cannot always do the things you like. Very often there is a conflict between dharma and raga which causes affliction in the mind, mano-klesah. Such mental distress can result in physical affliction as well. Now, let us look at the meditation of a karmayogi. saguna-brahma- upasana, which has been said to be upon the visvarupa. It is all very well to say this, but how are you to meditate upon sagunam Brahman? If you visualize any one thing, all the others are left out. If you think of the sun and stars, everything below them is omitted. By bringing all .the objects in creation to mind one by one, you cannot think of the cosmic form. And there are so many things unknown to you. That is why we choose one form and invoke all forms in that. If you know that everything is included in the cosmic form that is all you need to know for upasana. Even keeping the mind focused on one form is difficult. If you think of Visnu's head, the chest is out of your vision. That is why it is said to hold on to Bhagavan's feet. That is good enough. From the head you come to the feet and stay there. But the mind does not stay there so keeping it there is klesah. Even though there are great difficulties for the Karmayogi who is totally committed to Bhagavan, " matkarmakrt " , the difficulties of those committed to the pursuit of aksara-brahma are even greater (klesa-adhikatarah). Here Bhagavan uses the comparative affix, tarah. The affliction is even greater, klesah adhikatarah, because they have identification with the body (deha-abhimanam). This means their atma-anatma-viveka is not complete. Sannyasis cannot be contemplative if they lack viveka. Without it their pursuit will be improper because of confusion about what they are doing. Dehavad means the one who has a body. Everybody has a body, so what it means here is those who have identification with the body. For them, meditation upon aksara-brahman is almost impossible. Meditation here means contemplation, preceded by Sravana and manana. All these become very difficult. Why is there more difficulty? Because the sannyasi is trying to give up his identification with the body. What could be more difficult? They are avyakta-asakta-cetasam; their minds are totally committed, asamantat saktam, to the pursuit of avyakta, that which is not available for objectification. They have given up the life of karmayoga and taken to a life of renunciation for the sake of the aksaramBrahma. That means they should be ready for it. If it is difficult for sannyasis to contemplate upon a self that cannot be objectified, how much more difficult will it be for karmayogis? The end they want to accomplish, gatih, is not available for objectification, avyakta. This is the svarupa, the nature, of atma which was mentioned in Arjuna's question, avyaktam paryupasate. Lord Krishna has answered him using the same word, avyakta. This ultimate end is reached, avapyate, Bhagavan says, with difficulty, duhkham. Why is it so difficult? It is being accomplished by those who are identified with the body, dehavadbhih. This shows it is to be accomplished right now, here. You are Brahman right now. In fact, it is not even an end that has to be accomplished.. Something that is to be accomplished, like climbing Mount Everest, can be done with the proper equipment and effort. But here, it is already accomplished. The self is Brahman. It is simply a question of knowing it. The difficulty is this deha-atma-abhimanam which includes identification with the suksma-Sarira. When there is identification with the body, there is the notion " I am a mortal " and consequently the fear of death, the greatest of all fears. Whatever fears a person may have, they all pale in the face of death. Someone who is afraid of poverty will spend everything he has just to save his life. This fear of death can be reduced by a life of karmayoga. But it can only go completely when he knows for certain that he is not the body; he has no dehabhimanam. Even if he has come to understand this from the Sastra, there seems to be a parallel line of thinking which has nothing to do with knowledge. This is true of any knowledge that contradicts an established pattern. Suppose you know that there is no value in getting angry. Does that ensure that you will never get angry again? In spite of knowing, anger comes. Who wants depression, sorrow or any other mental pain? Even with reference to simple knowledge of dharma and adharma, there are two parallel lines. Certain patterns of thinking just overwhelm your knowledge. When you have a certain awareness of what is proper and improper, why can you not maintain that? Those patterns of thinking do not consult your wisdom. They seem to belong to another reality. This is jnanam with obstructions, sapratibandhaka-jnanam. Giving up deha-abhimanam, even relatively, means having an appreciation that everything belongs to Ishvara, including this body. The individual, vyastiis included in the total, samasti. Consciously relinquishing the sense of ownership, mamatvam, is the attitude of a karmayogi. Because of this, the dehatmabuddhi, is reduced and from there knowledge can be gained. If a person has no insight into the svarupa of himself so that his dehatmabuddhi is complete, trying to meditate upon aksaram Brahma is not going to help. Since it is a thing to be known, if he is not able to see at the time of teaching, how is he going to meditate? To know that you are Brahman, you must be able to relax, suspending all notions about yourself, and just expose yourself to the teaching. Only then can you see 'I am Brahman.' Otherwise the question will remain, 'How can I be Brahman?' Therefore, with difficulty alone this can be accomplished by one who has identification with the body, dehavadbhih. What does he mean " with difficulty? " In fact, as long as there is identification with the body, it cannot be accomplished. Only when deha-abhimana is completely given up does one discover identity with Brahman. It is not even something that you can give up. It is a fact that has to be known. When He says it is difficult, He means that you have to mature. That takes time; it cannot be done by will alone. Suppose a banana has to ripen: you cannot force it to do so. Given time, it will ripen by itself; you need not do anything. Similarly, the maturity required to gain this knowledge requires time - and conscious living. Going through experiences with an attitude of karmayoga, the deha-abhimana lessens. But it takes its own time. From this it is very clear why he called those karmayogis yogavittamah, the most exalted. Their elevation is not in their superiority but in the propriety of their pursuit. It is not easy for people who are unprepared to contemplate all the time. In fact, it is not possible. Krishna is restating here what he said in the 5th chapter. " Renunciation of action is difficult to accomplish, Arjuna, without karmayoga. Whereas one who is capable of reasoning, who is committed to a life of karmayoga, gains Brahman quickly. " Among all those doing karma, the karmayogls who meditate upon sagunam Brahma are yuktatamah, the most exalted. The aksara-brahma-upasakas are to be left out of this comparison. They are jnanis who are not different from Bhagavan. They have reached the end the karmayogis are striving for so they are not eligible for this comparison. Only similars can be compared. It is legitimate to compare various ends but not the end with the means. Therefore Krishna mentions only the karmayogis who are saguna-brahma-upasakah as yogavittamah. Dehabhimanam, identifying oneself, atma, as the body is definitely not easy to give up. This superimposition of the body, which is anatma, upon atma is due to a failure to recognize the nature of atma. Therefore the clear recognition of the svarupa of atma. pratyagatmasiddhi is very important in understanding the teaching. Unless the meaning of the word tvam, you, in the sentence tat tvam. asi, sannyasas tu mahabaho duhkham a plum ayogatah yoga yukto munir brahma na cirenadhigacchati. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 Namaste Shri Ram Chandran-ji, Thanks a lot for posting this. It was very good reading His commentary on these verses. In one of his lectures on Srimad Bhagavatham, Swami Tattvavidananda (who is Swami Dayananda's disciple), says something like the following: " It is very easy to meditate on the Nirguna brahman. Just sit quietly, do a pranayama (breathing technique) for mental preparation. Then just say to yourself that you are not your senses or your body. The identification with the body and senses stops. Then say to yourself, you are not your mind. The identification with your thoughts stops. Then say to yourself, you are not your intellect. Your identification with your intellect stops. What is left is yourself, that is present at all times, everywhere. Just continue meditating on yourself. That is Nirguna upasana. " Then he says the startling statement: " I find meditation on the Saguna brahman, or meditation on any form as more difficult than the above. " Perhaps, for Swamis at that level, simple things are easy. For others, accomplishing simple things is difficult! That is where these verses (and the next ones) of Gita come handy. praNAms again Ramakrishna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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