Bhagavatgita a detailed study chapter 18-Liberation through renunciation

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61. eesvaraH sarvabhoothaanaam hrdgheSe arjuna thishTathi

 

bhraamayan

sarvabhoothaani yanthraarooDaani maayayaa

 

The Lord is situated in the heart of all

beings, spinning them as though mounted on a wheel, by His power of maya.

 

The wheel of maya is the prakrthi

consisting of three gunas according to which the individual self is propelled

into action. The Lord is the inner self of all as mentioned in the Upanishad `yah

srveshu bhootheshu thishTan sarvebhyo bhoothebhyo antharah, yam sarvaaNI

bhoothaani na vedha,yasya sarvaaNi bhoothAni Sareeram,yah sarvaaNi bhoothANii

antharo yamayathi,esha tha aathmaa antharyaamyamrthaH.' (Brhd.Up.3-7-15)

 

This means,

 

`He who dwells in all beings and is

within them, whom none of the beings know, whose body is all beings,, and who

controls all beings from within, is the inner controller, your own self and

immortal.'

 

The one who is mounted on a giant wheel

is taken on a merry go round without his effort. Similarly the individual soul

mounted on a body is taken round and round in the cycle of births and deaths.

This is due to the identification of the soul with the body out of ignorance.

The man behind the wheel is the Eesvara who gives the births in several bodies

according to the karma of each. He is the one who has the power to stop the

motion. Hence Krishna tells Arjuna to take

refuge in Him in the next sloka.

 

62.thameva SaraNam gacCha sarvabhaavena bhaaratha

 

Thath prasaadhaath

paraam Santhim sThaanam praapsyasi

SaaSvatham

 

Seek refuge

in Him alone, Arjuna, in all respects, by whose grace you shall find supreme peace

and eternal abode.

 

Sarvabhaavena –in all respects means that one should

think of the Lord always and act as His instrument without desiring for any

worldly fruits like power, wealth, fame etc. taking what comes as His grace,

acquiring joy out of talking about the leelas of the Lord, in singing His name

and in short considering Him as everything in life as Krishna said in chapter 7 sloka 19, vaasudhevassarvam

ithi.

 

Such a devotee enjoys supreme bliss that

is eternal.

63. ithi the jnaanam aakhyaatham guhyaath guhyatharam

mayaa

 

vimrSya ethath asesheNa

yathecchasi thaThaa kuru

 

The most secret knowledge has been told

to you and you adopt whichever path you choose after discriminating on what has

been said.

 

Then Krishna

winds up His discourse by saying that the secrets of janayoga, karmayoga and

bhakthi yoga have been instructed thus

and asks Arjuna to choose which ever suits him. But at the same time Krishna did not want to leave His disciple in doubt and

as the Jagatguru He says in the next sloka that bhakthi yoga is the most secret

of all and is it good for him to follow the bhakthi marga.

 

 

64.sarvaguhyathamam bhooyaH SrNu me paramam vachaH

 

ishto asi me dhrDam

ithi thatho vakshyaami the hitham

 

Hear from ME again, the most secret and

highest truth. I will tell you what is good for you because you are very dear

to Me.

 

Next are the two most quoted and well

remembered slokas of the Gita.

 

 

65. manmanaabhava madhbhakthaH madhyaajee maam

Namaskuru

 

Maamevaoshyasi sathyam

the perathijaane priyoasi me

 

`Focus your mind on Me. Be My devotee.

Be My worshipper. Bow down to Me. You shall come to Me only. I promise you

truly as you are dear to Me. `

 

This is the promise given by the Lord

not only to Arjuna but to the whole mankind.

 

In SvethASvathara Upanishad we have the

passage, `vedhaahametham purusham mahaantham , aadhithya varNam thamasah

parasthaath; thameva vidhithvaa athi mrthyum ethi, naanyah panThaa vidhyathe

ayanaaya.'

 

I know this great person who is

resplendent like the Sun and is beyond darkness. By knowing Him alone one

transcends death. There is no other path to go by.'

 

Krishna mentions

four types of discipline to attain the Lord.

 

1. manmanaa bhava means that one should know, meditate on that

which is the object of direct perception

with constant remembrance, dhruvasmrthi, with love and devotion.

 

2. madhbhakthah is to become a devotee of the Lord, by

worshipping Him , singing His name and glory etc.

 

3.madhyaajee is to do everything in the spirit of

yajna as an offering to the Lord.

 

4.maam namaskuru means to worship with excessive love as

the one who is most dear and bowing down in submission and love.

 

Either one or all will secure the

attainment of the Lord.

 

Renouncing thus all ego-centric impulses

the devotee becomes dear to the Lord as He has said in the seventh adhyaya,

sloka 17 that the jnani who is with

single minded devotion is dear to the Lord. To such a person the Lord promises

"You will come to Me."

 

The next sloka is the famous one taken

to teach bhakthiyoga and called the charamasloka, considered to be the sloka

enjoining prapatthi by vaishnavites. It forms one of the three important chants

of vaishanvas the other two being the moola manthra and dhvaya.

 

 

66. sarvaDharmaan parithyajya maam ekam SaraNam vraja

 

Aham thvaa

sarvapapebhyo mokshayishyaami maa SuchaH

Completely

relinquishing all Dharmas, seek Me alone for refuge. I will free you from all

sins and hence do not worry.

 

Relinquishing all dharmas means complete

relinquishment of all sense of agency, fruits etc., whatever may be the path

pursued, jnana, karma or bhakthi. This

has reference to the concept of abandonment , thyaga, elucidated in the

beginning of the chapter.

 

If one practices such abandonment, the

Lord says that He will be released from all sins, meaning the sins which results from time

immemorial due to past karma, because once a man becomes a devotee giving up

agency and fruits of action no sin can accrue to him any more.

 

This sloka gives solace to the devotees

who may fear that they may not attain

the goal due to the evil karma that they have done before the rise of bhakthi. Krishna has already given a promise to this effect in the

ninth ahdyaya in sloka 30-31 where He said that even a worst sinner will be

redeemed if he resorts to the Lord.

 

The discourse of the Gita was started

with sloka 11 chapter2 aSochyaan anvaSochasthvam, " you are grieving about those who need not be worried

about. The discourse ends here with the words maaSuchaH, "do not

grieve." Hence this is called the charama sloka, the last verse of the Gita.

The rest can be considered as the epilogue.

When the charama sloka taken as that

enjoining prapatthi,

the meaning is as follows.

 

Sarvadharmaan

denotes all the disciplines

enjoined in the Vedas such as dhaharavidhya, sadhvidhyaa etc. which require the

understanding of the Upanishads for which not everyone is qualified. It also

refers to those who are not capable of following the paths of jannayoga

karmayoga or bhakthiyoga as these require

mental and physical discipline which does not come easily. Most important thing to remember is that this

does not mean that one can relinquish karmas that should be done according to varna and asrama. So what

is meant by parithyajya ?

 

Parithyajya means that the prapatthi

does not require any other qualification except the feeling of akinchanya,

helplessness of not being able to follow any other path except that of abject surrender.

 

maam ekam SaraNam vraja. By this the Lord asks the prapanna to

seek refuge in Him alone with the belief that He alone can help. This is

what is termed as gopthrthva varaNam,

accepting the Lord alone as the saviour

and mahaaviSvaasam, unflinching faith that He will protect.

 

aham thvaa sarvapaapebhyo mokshayishyaami , says the

Lord, meaning that once you surrender to Him body and soul you become His

property and the onus of rescuing you from all the sins becomes His.

maa SuchaH- Te prapanna need have no fear either about his past

karma , sanchitha karma, which has not started giving result, nor about the

future karma, aagaami karma, the result of which does not adhere to him because

he is acting with the attitude that he is not the doer but only an instrument

in the hands of the Lord. He had to live only till the present karma,

praarabdha, is exhausted and after that he has no more births. Even the result

of the praarabdha karma which has

already started to act on him, does not affect him due to the mercy of

the Lord.