Gita Satsangh Chapter 12 Verses 16 to 17

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Gita Satsangh Chapter 12 Verses 16 to 17

 

(Verse Translation by Swami Gambirananda, Gita Bhasya and commentary

by Swami Chinmayanandaji)

 

Anapekshah shuchirdaksha udaaseeno gatavyathah;

Sarvaarambhaparityaagee yo madbhaktah sa me priyah.

 

16. He who has no desires, who is pure, who is dextrous, who is

impartial, who is free from fear, who has renounced every undertaking-

he who is (such) a devotee of Mine is dear to Me.

 

Anapeksah, he who has no desires with regard to covetable things like

body, organs, objects, (their inter-) relationship, etc.; sucih, who

is pure, endowed with external and internal purity; daksah, who is

dextrous, who is able to promptly understand in the right way the

duties that present themselves; udasinah, who is impartial, the monk

who does not side with anybody-friends and others; gatavyathah, who

is free from fear; sarva-arambha-parityagi, who has renounced every

undertaking-works under-taken are arambhah; sarva-arambhah means

works undertaken out of desire for results to be enjoyed here or

hereafter; he who is apt to give them up (pari-tyaga) is sarva-

arambha-parityahi; he who is such a madbhaktah, devotee of Mine; he

is priyah, dear; me, to Me.

 

Swami Chinmayanda's Commentary

This stanza represents the THIRD SECTION, which throws more light

upon the picture of the perfect-devotee as conceived by the Lord

Himself. Already in the above two sections, fourteen indications were

given and to that total picture are added in this section six subtler

items.

 

" FREE FROM DEPENDENCE " (Anapekshah) --- A true devotee no more

depends upon either the objects of the world outside, or their

pattern, or their relationships with himself. An ordinary man

discovers his peace and joy only in the world-of-objects available

for him, their conditions, and their arrangements around him. When

the right type of object is in the right pattern courting him

favourably, a man of the world feels temporarily thrilled and joyous.

But a real devotee is completely independent of the world outside and

he draws his inspiration, equanimity and joyous ecstasy from a

source, deep within himself.

 

" WHO IS PURE " (Shuchih) --- Dirt has no place anywhere within or

without a true devotee. One who is aspiring to reach perfection will

necessarily be so well-disciplined physically that he will be clean

not only in his relationship with others but even in the very

condition and arrangement of his belongings around him. It is very

well known that the condition of a man's table or shelf, and the

cleanliness of his apparel, can give a great insight into the mental

nature, discipline and culture of that man. Great emphasis has been

laid in India on this physical purity, not only in the person of the

man but also of his contacts in the world. Without external purity,

internal purification will be but a vague dream, an idle hope, a

despairing vision.

 

" ALERT " (Dakshah) --- To be alert always becomes the second nature of

an integrated person. Enthusiasm is the key to success in any

undertaking. A dynamic person is not one who slips in his behaviour

or action. He is mentally agile and intellectually vigorous. Since

there is no dissipation in him, he is ever on his toes to spring

forward to activity, once he determines to shoulder any endeavour. If

we observe the degree of idleness, carelessness, and ugliness in

execution of any work, from which all religious persons are

suffering, we can understand how far Hinduism has wandered away from

its pristine glory!

 

UNCONCERNED (Udaseenah) --- It is not difficult for one to observe

many devotees in this land who have resigned themselves to a state of

unexpressed sorrow, because they have been cheated by others, ill-

treated by society, and persecuted by the community. The foolish

devotees think that they will be unconcerned about these outrages

practiced on them and then their own devotion for the Lord must prove

to themselves a wretched liability, rather than a positive gain!

Philosophy misunderstood can easily end in the suicide of the

community.

 

The " unconcerned attitude " is only meant here to economise our mental

energies. In human life, small difficulties, simple illnesses,

discomforts, wants etc., are but natural. To exaggerate their

importance and strive to escape from them all is to enter into a life-

long struggle of adjustments. In all such instances, the student is

warned not to squander away his mental energies but to conserve them

by overlooking these little pin-pricks of life in an attitude of

utter indifference towards them.

 

FREE FROM TREMBLING --- The inward tremors are experienced only when

any burning desire has conquered us completely. Once victimised by a

desire or fascination for an object, the individual personality

becomes tremulous in fear that its desire may not be fulfilled. A

true seeker is one, who never allows the inner person in him to enter

into any such fears or agitations.

 

RENOUNCING EVERY UNDERTAKING Sanskrit " Aarambha "

means " beginning. " " To end all beginnings, " does not mean " not to

undertake anything. " This literal translation has made the majority

of Hindus incompetent idlers and our religion has been criticized as

glorifying idleness as a divine ideal! The deeper suggestions are

overlooked. To perceive any definite beginning in an undertaking, the

individual actor must have a solid and gross egoistic claim that he

had begun it himself. He must have the strong feeling that he is

beginning an activity, for the purpose of gaining a definite goal,

whereby he will be fulfilling a specific desire of his, or will

thereby be gaining a positive profit. One who is a seeker of the

Divine, striving to reach the higher cultural perfections, must

renounce this egoistic sense of self-importance and work on in the

world.

 

No undertaking in our life, in fact, is a new act that has an

independent beginning or end. All actions in the world are in an

eternal pattern of the total world-movements. If correctly analysed,

our undertakings are controlled, regulated, governed and ordered by

the available world-of-things and situations. Apart from them all, no

independent action is undertaken, or can be fulfilled by anyone. A

devotee of Truth is ever conscious of this oneness of the Universe,

and therefore, he will always work in the world only as AN INSTRUMENT

OF THE LORD and not as an independent agent in the undertaking.

Such a devotee who possesses all the six qualifications enumerated

above " IS DEAR TO ME. "

 

ADDING A FEW STROKES, KRISHNA PAINTS THE PICTURE INTO A MORE

REALISTIC VIVIDNESS:

 

Yona hrishyati na dweshti na shochati na kaangkshati;

Shubhaashubhaparityaagee bhaktimaan yah sa me priyah.

 

17. He who does not rejoice, does not fret, does not lament, does not

hanker; who gives up good and bad, who is filled with devotion-he is

dear to Me.

 

Yah, he who; na hrsyati, does not rejoice on getting a coveted

object; na dvesti, does not fret on getting an undesirable object;

na socati, does not lament on the loss of a dear one; and na

kanksati, does not hanker after an object not acquired; subha-asubha-

parityogi, who gives up good and bad, who is apt to give up good and

bad actions; bhaktiman, who is full of devotion-he is dear to Me.

Swami Chinmayanda's Commentary

 

A perfect devotee is one who has lifted himself from the world of his

mind-intellect and has awakened to his inner Spiritual Nature. As

such, the ordinary experiences of joy and sorrow, of pain and

pleasure, which generally give the restlessness of life do not affect

him.

 

HE WHO NEITHER REJOICES --- 'Rejoicing' is the feeling of

satisfaction and fulfilment that comes to us on attaining a desired

object, which is extremely desirable, and extremely difficult to

realise.

 

NOR HATES --- The sense of revulsion that comes to us towards

undesirable things and circumstances, when they crowd around us, is

generally the sense of HATRED. In short, these two terms indicate

that there are no objects which he would ardently like to acquire,

nor is there any occasion to fret about on coming in contact with

things or situations that are undesirable from his standpoint.

NEITHER GRIEVES, NOR DESIRES --- Grief is generally experienced while

parting with a beloved object, and desires are entertained when one

yearns to have and to possess something unattained at present. A Man-

of-Perfection is one whose beloved object, the Self, can never be

apart from him. And he has no sense of attachment with any other

object. Having attained the Self, the inhabitant of his heart, he has

such a complete sense of fulfilment that he has no more any desire

for attaining anything that he has not attained. The Self being the

All, he has attained everything.

 

RENOUNCING GOOD AND EVIL --- The happenings in the world around us

can fall under these two categories, according to whether they arouse

in us a feeling of joy or sorrow. To any person who is living away

from the realm of the dualistic experiences, and who has learnt the

art of drawing inspiration from something beyond, none of the

happenings, here at the level of the mind and the intellect, can be

of any serious consequences.

 

The above terms used in the stanza, for painting a perfect-man, have

a secret import. If we consider only the literal meaning, we will

think that such a perfect-man is a dead corpse; " NEITHER REJOICES,

NOR HATES; NOR DESIRES; RENOUNCING GOOD AND EVIL " --- he lies dead!

This is a very striking example of how the literal meanings are not

at all what is to be understood in scriptural declarations.

Similarly, when a true devotee, being awakened to the God-

Consciousness, evaluates life from his new height of experience, he

cannot rejoice or hate, grieve for or desire anything in this world

and he comes to renounce totally the very concepts of good and evil.

The Divine Charioteer (Krishna) declares: " HE WHO IS SUCH A DEVOTEE

IS DEAR TO ME. "

 

 

The stanza represents the FOURTH SECTION in which again the Lord has

enumerated six more qualities that make up a perfect devotee. So far

we have been told of twenty-six subtle traits which are

the 'intrinsic qualities of a Perfect Yogi.'

 

IN A LAST WAVE OF ENTHUSIASM KRISHNA ENUMERATES:

[Guest guest]

praNAms Shri. Ram Chandran-ji and Satsanghis,

 

advaitin , " Ram Chandran " <ramvchandran wrote:

>

> Gita Satsangh Chapter 12 Verses 16 to 17

 

> Anapekshah shuchirdaksha udaaseeno gatavyathah; Sarvaarambhaparityaagee yo

> madbhaktah sa me priyah.

 

On the quality of Sarvaarambha-parityaaga, please refer to the following

explanations by Shri Sada-ji and Shri Prof. VK-ji on the doership.

 

advaitin/message/38848

advaitin/message/38876

In fact, it is a good time to read Prof VK-ji's entire series on Doership

about this. Here is the link

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/Doer-Experiencer.pdf

 

==

Here are the occurances of the word as it appears in the Gita, with Swami

Gambirananda's translation.

 

1. na karmaNaamanaarambhaannaishhkarmyaM purushho.ashnute .

na cha sa.nnyasanaadeva siddhi.n samadhigach{}chhati .. 3\.4..

 

A person does not attain freedom from action by abstaining from action; nor

does he attain fulfilment merely through renunciation.

 

2. yasya sarve samaarambhaaH kaamasaN^kal{}pavarjitaaH .

GYaanaagnidagdhakarmaaNa.n tamaahuH paNDitaM budhaaH .. 4\.19..

 

The wise call him learned whose actions are all devoid of desires and their

thoughts, [Kama-sankalpa is variously translated as 'desires and purposes',

'plans and desires for results', 'hankering for desires', etc. But

Sankarcarya shows sankalpa as the cause of kama. -Tr.] and whose actions

have been burnt away by the fire of wisdom.

 

3. anapekshaH shuchirdaksha udaasiino gatavyathaH .

sarvaarambhaparityaagii yo madbhak{}taH sa me priyaH .. 12\.16..

 

He who has no desires, who is pure, who is dextrous, who is impartial, who

is free from fear, who has renounced every undertaking-he who is (such) a

devotee of Mine is dear to Me.

 

4. lobhaH pravR^ittiraarambhaH karmaNaamashamaH spR^ihaa .

rajasyetaani jaayante vivR^iddhe bharatarshhabha .. 14\.12..

 

O best of the Bharata dynasty, when rajas becomes predominant, these come

into being: avarice, movement, *undertaking of actions*, unrest and

hankering.

 

5. maanaapamaanayostulyastulyo mitraaripakshayoH .

sarvaarambhaparityaagii guNaatiitaH sa uchyate .. 14\.25..

 

He who is the same under honour and dishonour, who is equally disposed both

towards the side of the friend and of the foe, who has renounced all

enterprise,-he is said to have gone beyond the qualities.

 

6. sahajaM karma kaunteya sadoshhamapi na tyajet.h .

sarvaarambhaa hi doshheNa dhuumenaagnirivaavR^itaaH .. 18\.48..

 

O son of Kunti, one should not give up the duty to which one is born, even

though it be faulty. For all undertakings are surrounded with evil, as fire

is with smoke.

 

praNAms to all non-doers,

praNAms to all seekers of non-doership,

Ramakrishna

[Guest guest]

From : H.N.Sreenivasa Murthy

Pranams to all.

advaitin , " Ramakrishna Upadrasta "

<uramakrishna wrote:

praNAms to all non-doers,

> praNAms to all seekers of non-doership,

> Ramakrishna

 

Dear Sri Ramakrishna,

 

There are many seekers of non-doership.

BUT

ARE THERE entitities who are NON-DOERS?

NEVER.

AN ENTITY CAN NEVER BE NON-DOER.

I feel that the statement " Pranams to all non-doers " does not

hold any water.

 

With warm and respectful regards,

Sreenivasa Murthy

 

 

>

[Guest guest]

advaitin , " narayana145 " <narayana145 wrote:

>

> From : H.N.Sreenivasa Murthy

> Pranams to all.

> advaitin , " Ramakrishna Upadrasta "

> <uramakrishna@> wrote:

> praNAms to all non-doers,

> > praNAms to all seekers of non-doership,

 

....

> There are many seekers of non-doership.

> BUT

> ARE THERE entitities who are NON-DOERS?

> NEVER.

> AN ENTITY CAN NEVER BE NON-DOER.

> I feel that the statement " Pranams to all non-doers " does not

> hold any water.

 

praNAms Shri Sreenivasa Murty-ji,

 

Pardon me, as I may have used the wrong words.

 

I was just bowing to the Jnaanis, who have totally associated with the

sAkshi chaitanya, which is by definition, akartA (non-doer). I believe that

there such JnAnIs in the world, beginning with Sages Vasishta and

Vishvamithra to Shri Adi Shankara to modern day sages like Ramana Maharshi.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive.

 

I cannot recognize one, as I believe that it takes One to recognize One. And

instead of trying to search for one, I would rather work on the more

relevant moha, kAma, and rAga, dvesha. This is what I have understood

from learned elders, many of them in this list.

 

praNAms again,

Ramakrishna