Gita Satsangh Chapter 12 Verses 7 to 8

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Gita Satsangh Chapter 12 Verses 7 to 8

(Verse Translation by Swami Gambirananda, Gita Bhasya and commentary

by Swami Chinmayanandaji)

 

Teshaamaham samuddhartaa mrityusamsaarasaagaraat;

Bhavaami nachiraat paartha mayyaaveshitachetasaam.

 

7. To those whose minds are set on Me, O Arjuna, verily I become ere

long the savior out of the ocean of the mortal Samsara!

avesita-cetasam mayi, who have their minds absorbed in, fixed on,

merged in, Me who am the Cosmic Person; aham, I, God; bhavami,

become; na cirat, without delay;-what then? soon indeed-the

samuddharta, Deliverer-. Wherefrom? In answer the Lord says, mrtyu-

samsara-sagarat, from the sea of the world which is fraught with

death. Samsara (world) fraught with mrtyu (death) is mrtyu-samsara.

That itself is like a sea, being difficult to cross. I become their

deliverer from that sea of transmigration which is fraught with death.

 

Swami Chinmayanda's Commentary

Here Krishna prescribes certain definite conditions to be faithfully

followed by all meditators. upon the Form-of-the-Lord, and concludes

that those who are following His instructions fully, will be saved

from their mortal limitations, by the Lord Himself, on whose Form

they are contemplating. A careful study of these conditions will show

us how the devotee grows mentally to stature so divine and high that,

thereafter he needs no help from anyone at all. But, in the

beginning, a seeker needs some assurances from his teacher in order

to instill in him the required self-confidence to start his

practices.

 

THOSE WHO WORSHIP ME, RENOUNCING ALL ACTIONS IN ME --- To renounce

all our actions to an INSTITUTION, to an IDEA or to a POWER, is to

end our individual limitations and identify ourselves with that for

which we renounce. Thus, an ordinary man, as ambassador of his

country, becomes a mighty personality in the foreign courts, because

he talks, acts, thinks and expresses the will of an entire people.

Similarly, when a devotee of the Infinite Lord surrenders himself

totally at His feet and acts as a messenger, or as a representative

of the Will of the Lord, he becomes, not only divinely 'dynamic,' but

in and through his own activities, aware of the presence and grace of

the Universal Spirit.

 

REGARDING ME AS THE SUPREME GOAL --- A dancer never forgets the

rhythm of the drum which accompanies her steps. A musician is ever

conscious of the background hum. Similarly, a devotee is advised not

take up religion as a part-time entertainment, or as a temporary

escapism, but to consider the Lord as the Supreme Goal to be achieved

in and through life. In short, we are advised that in order to ascend

to the Higher summits of cultural perfection, it is necessary that we

direct all our contacts, transactions, and experiences in our life,

towards the achievement of this cumulative goal of Self-Perfection,

as symbolised in the Lord of our heart.

 

WITH UNSWERVING YOGA --- All attempts with which we develop our

mental attunement with any chosen State of Perfection constitute

Yoga. To lift our minds from its present agitations and wasteful

tendencies towards a greater goal of ampler joy and fuller wisdom is

Yoga. This faculty of Yoga is in everyone of us. At all times we are

practising it. But the results of Yoga will depend upon the goal

towards which we are heaving forward; unfortunately, ours is not

generally a Divine Goal; to strive for the sense-enjoyments is called

Bhoga.

 

Ordinarily, our goal keeps on changing and we reach nowhere even

though our struggle is consistent. If a holiday-maker has two spots

in view, and he cannot come to a decision as to which place he wants

to visit, then he can reach neither of them. He will be in a helpless

state of confusion, travelling up and down the road, reaching

nowhere, and wasting his time and energy. 'Anya'

means 'other'; 'Ananya' means 'without otherness.' Krishna is

advising here Ananya Yoga, meaning a Yoga in which the goal is ever

steady and our mind has no sense of 'otherness' about it.

It may be noted here that mental disintegration can come both because

of the 'otherness' in our goal, and because of the mind wandering

into other channels of preoccupations.

 

Thus those (a) who have renounced all actions in Me (b) who regard Me

as the Supreme Goal and © who, with a single-pointed mind and goal

strive, are the best of My devotees, when their striving is

constituted of meditation (Dhyana) and worship (Upasana). We have

already indicated that Upasana is not merely meditation upon a goal,

but becoming, in an active way, one with the Goal contemplated upon.

At-one-ment with the goal is the meditator's aim and fulfilment.

Enumerating the conditions necessary for a devotee at his seat of

meditation, Krishna assures him that he need not wonder how he will

go beyond the shores of sorrows, agitations, and imperfections, which

are the lot of all mortals. " I SHALL BE THEIR SAVIOUR " is a divine

assurance and an infinite guarantee. It is possible that seekers may

become rather impatient when even after months and years of practice,

they do not come anywhere near any spiritual experience.

 

The Lord's assurance also indicates the time limit; He says that He

will save the seeker from his own imperfection 'ere-long' (nachirat).

TO THOSE WHOSE MIND IS SET ON ME --- The mind generally takes the

form of the object it contemplates upon. When an integrated mind-

intellect-equipment of a devotee, through constant practice, gains

the capacity of engaging itself entirely on the concept of the Lord,

to the exclusion of all agitations and undivine thoughts, the entire

mind assumes the stature of the Infinite. It is the mind that gives

us the hallucination of our egocentric limitations, and again, it is

the mind that rediscovers the Infinitude. Bondage and liberation are

both for the mind. The Self is ever free; ever liberated; never

bound.

 

Mayyeva mana aadhatswa mayi buddhim niveshaya;

Nivasishyasi mayyeva ata oordhwam na samshayah.

 

8. Fix the mind on Me alone; in Me alone rest the intellect. There

is no doubt that hereafter you will dwell in Me alone. [For the sake

of metre, eva and atah (in the second line of the verse) are not

joined together (to form evatah).]

 

Adhatsva, fix manah, the mind-possessed of the power of thinking and

doubting; mayi, on Me, on God as the Cosmic Person; eva, alone. Mayi,

in Me; eva, alone; nivesaya, rest; the buddhim, intellect, which

engages in determining (things). Listen to what will happen to you

thereby: Na samsayah, there is no doubt-no doubt should be

entertained with regard to this; that atah urdhvam, hereafter, after

the fall of the body; nivasisyasi, you will dwell; mayi, in Me, live

in identity withMe; eva, alone.

 

Swami Chinmayanda's Commentary

Meditation is not a physical act but it is a subtle art developed by

the inner personality in man. Every seeker must be experiencing that

what his intellect accepts, his heart does not appreciate; and what

his heart craves for, the intellect laughs at. To bring both the head

and the heart to the same Enchanting Form of thrilled satisfaction,

would be the secret of harnessing the entire inner man to the

spiritual effort. The technique of this art is beautifully explained

in this stanza.

 

FIX THY MIND ON ME ALONE --- The mind cannot contemplate on any theme

that cannot be conditioned by the senses. Therefore, by meditation

upon the enchanting form of the Immortal Flute-player, the human mind

can readily be made to rest entirely at the feet of the form. The

Lord, being all-pervading, is at once the Divine Grace behind all

names and forms. The mind of a devotee cannot wander to any place

where he is not reminded of the smile of the Crowned Cowherd-boy!

Merely to ruminate over a decorated marble symbol of the Eternal

Child is not in itself sufficient food for the inner personality of

man. The intellectual aspect in us is starved, although the heart

nestles in satisfaction at the soft feet of the Lord. Any over-

development will bring about an ugly situation; perfection is harmony

and uniform growth. Therefore, technically, the Geeta rightly advises

that the devotee must bring his discriminating intellect to pierce

through the stony idol and contact the pulsating Truth it represents.

PLACE THE INTELLECT IN ME --- To contact thereby the cosmic total-

intellect which is the Lord's equipment.

 

Every one of us, at any given moment, is the sum-total of what we

think and what we feel. If our minds are resting on the Lord and our

intellects have dived into the very depths of the Infinite, our

individualities end and we merge to become one with the Infinite, the

all-pervading. Therefore, the Lord says, " THEREAFTER YOU SHALL LIVE

IN ME. "

 

This statement may look as an exaggeration for the finite mortal, who

is standing agitated and shy at the gateway of the Temple-of-Truth.

In this habitual concept that he is a finite mortal entity ---

pressed under a thousand limitations, suffering from a host of

imperfections, and persecuted by an army of despairs --- he fails to

accept that he can rediscover himself to be Himself, the ever-Divine.

Therefore, as a kindly teacher, Lord Krishna reassures him by

affirming directly, " no doubt " (Na-samshayah).

 

A TYPICAL MAN OF THE WORLD, ARJUNA, LOOKS UP TO THE LORD, DECLARING

HIS ABJECT HELPLESSNESS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE TWO SEEMINGLY SIMPLE, BUT

PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE CONDITIONS OF MEDITATION. AS AN ALTERNATIVE,

THE LORD SAYS:

[Guest guest]

--- On Sun, 9/14/08, Ram Chandran <ramvchandran wrote:

 

 

Mayyeva mana aadhatswa mayi buddhim niveshaya;

Nivasishyasi mayyeva ata oordhwam na samshayah.

 

8. Fix the mind on Me alone; in Me alone rest the intellect. There

is no doubt that hereafter you will dwell in Me alone. [For the sake

of metre, eva and atah (in the second line of the verse) are not

joined together (to form evatah).

 

PraNAms to all

 

Prof. VK provided a slow motion in magnifying the essence of surrenderance

involved. Here is the problem and Krishna's solution to the problem in a nut

shell.

 

As Shree Sastriji explained to us the jnaana yoga involving a)shrotavyyaH b)

mantavyaH and c) nidhidhyaasitavyaH where listening to the teacher, reflecting

on the meaning of the teaching until no more doubts are left and contemplating

on the teaching till it becomes one with the seeker.

 

Question keeps coming in term of why do we need this list serve and most of

these discussions are intellectual and I would rather go and sit down and

meditate than involving in the intellectual jugglery of words, etc.

 

This sloka answers the problems.

 

Fundamental question is I understand Vedanta and it is logical and I can accept

that Brahma satyam, jagat mithyaa and jiivo brahma eva naaparaH - Other than

there is not really much to know - if it comes to that. Then that is knowledge

and we have the knowledge. Once the knowledge comes, there should not be

ignorance left. After knowing all this - that I am existence-consciousness, that

has to be eternal and infinite - everything logical and understood - yet even

after knowing all this how come I feel I am limited. Why I have not become

jnaani? Where is the problem them? Krishna has provided the essence of the

problem in this sloka and what is needed to solve the problem.

 

mayi eva mana aadhatswa - the mind firmly abiding in me

mayi buddhim niveshaya - the intellect fully abiding in me

 

Here Krishna gives two aspects - inquiry that is being done by the intellect is

needed for the knowledge to take place - the shravaNa and manana is at this

level - knowledge has taken place.

The problem is lies in the first one.

 

What is the problem - mind is not abiding in Him. Why where does it seem to

abide? I give as exercise to my gita class - as they are taking a walk -I ask

them to freeze the mind and see exactly where it is abiding. Immediately we will

know where the mind is and why it is not abiding in HIM as Krishna wants. Where

ever the mind is abiding when we freeze out thoughts - that is where it is

attached to. This exercise we can do at any time and find exactly where our

minds are. The sloka clearly says not only the understanding of the reality of

truth at the intellectual level, it is to be assimilated at the mind level -

that is mind has to withdraw from the attachments of OET (objects, emotions and

thoughts) to get firmly attached to HIM - all the time. That is in fact is the

essence of nidhidhyaasana that Shree Sastriji has emphasized.

 

How do I do that? - Krishna already gave the recipe for that too. Whenever

whenever you find the mind has drifted away from HIM then and then itself bring

the mind back to HIM - That is the essence of Nidhidhyaasana.

 

If both mind and intellect abide in HIM - then Krishna's guarantee follows.

 

 

Hari Om!

Sadananda