Srimad Bhagavat Gita: - Chapter.3(gita.3)
Si
अथ तृतीयोஉध्यायः ।
अर्जुन उवाच ।
ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते मता बुद्धिर्जनार्दन ।
तत्किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव ॥ 1 ॥
तत्किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव ॥ 1 ॥
व्यामिश्रेणेव वाक्येन बुद्धिं मोहयसीव मे ।
तदेकं वद निश्चित्य येन श्रेयोஉहमाप्नुयाम् ॥ 2 ॥
तदेकं वद निश्चित्य येन श्रेयोஉहमाप्नुयाम् ॥ 2 ॥
श्रीभगवानुवाच ।
लोकेஉस्मिन्द्विविधा निष्ठा पुरा प्रोक्ता मयानघ ।
ज्ञानयोगेन साङ्ख्यानां कर्मयोगेन योगिनाम् ॥ 3 ॥
लोकेஉस्मिन्द्विविधा निष्ठा पुरा प्रोक्ता मयानघ ।
ज्ञानयोगेन साङ्ख्यानां कर्मयोगेन योगिनाम् ॥ 3 ॥
न कर्मणामनारम्भान्नैष्कर्म्यं पुरुषोஉश्नुते ।
न च संन्यसनादेव सिद्धिं समधिगच्छति ॥ 4 ॥
न च संन्यसनादेव सिद्धिं समधिगच्छति ॥ 4 ॥
न हि कश्चित्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत् ।
कार्यते ह्यवशः कर्म सर्वः प्रकृतिजैर्गुणैः ॥ 5 ॥
कार्यते ह्यवशः कर्म सर्वः प्रकृतिजैर्गुणैः ॥ 5 ॥
कर्मेन्द्रियाणि संयम्य य आस्ते मनसा स्मरन् ।
इन्द्रियार्थान्विमूढात्मा मिथ्याचारः स उच्यते ॥ 6 ॥
इन्द्रियार्थान्विमूढात्मा मिथ्याचारः स उच्यते ॥ 6 ॥
यस्त्विन्द्रियाणि मनसा नियम्यारभतेஉर्जुन ।
कर्मेन्द्रियैः कर्मयोगमसक्तः स विशिष्यते ॥ 7 ॥
कर्मेन्द्रियैः कर्मयोगमसक्तः स विशिष्यते ॥ 7 ॥
नियतं कुरु कर्म त्वं कर्म ज्यायो ह्यकर्मणः ।
शरीरयात्रापि च ते न प्रसिद्ध्येदकर्मणः ॥ 8 ॥
शरीरयात्रापि च ते न प्रसिद्ध्येदकर्मणः ॥ 8 ॥
यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोஉन्यत्र लोकोஉयं कर्मबन्धनः ।
तदर्थं कर्म कौन्तेय मुक्तसङ्गः समाचर ॥ 9 ॥
तदर्थं कर्म कौन्तेय मुक्तसङ्गः समाचर ॥ 9 ॥
सहयज्ञाः प्रजाः सृष्ट्वा पुरोवाच प्रजापतिः ।
अनेन प्रसविष्यध्वमेष वोஉस्त्विष्टकामधुक् ॥ 10 ॥
अनेन प्रसविष्यध्वमेष वोஉस्त्विष्टकामधुक् ॥ 10 ॥
देवान्भावयतानेन ते देवा भावयन्तु वः ।
परस्परं भावयन्तः श्रेयः परमवाप्स्यथ ॥ 11 ॥
परस्परं भावयन्तः श्रेयः परमवाप्स्यथ ॥ 11 ॥
इष्टान्भोगान्हि वो देवा दास्यन्ते यज्ञभाविताः ।
तैर्दत्तानप्रदायैभ्यो यो भुङ्क्ते स्तेन एव सः ॥ 12 ॥
तैर्दत्तानप्रदायैभ्यो यो भुङ्क्ते स्तेन एव सः ॥ 12 ॥
यज्ञशिष्टाशिनः सन्तो मुच्यन्ते सर्वकिल्बिषैः ।
भुञ्जते ते त्वघं पापा ये पचन्त्यात्मकारणात् ॥ 13 ॥
भुञ्जते ते त्वघं पापा ये पचन्त्यात्मकारणात् ॥ 13 ॥
अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि पर्जन्यादन्नसम्भवः ।
यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः ॥ 14 ॥
यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः ॥ 14 ॥
कर्म ब्रह्मोद्भवं विद्धि ब्रह्माक्षरसमुद्भवम् ।
तस्मात्सर्वगतं ब्रह्म नित्यं यज्ञे प्रतिष्ठितम् ॥ 15 ॥
तस्मात्सर्वगतं ब्रह्म नित्यं यज्ञे प्रतिष्ठितम् ॥ 15 ॥
एवं प्रवर्तितं चक्रं नानुवर्तयतीह यः ।
अघायुरिन्द्रियारामो मोघं पार्थ स जीवति ॥ 16 ॥
अघायुरिन्द्रियारामो मोघं पार्थ स जीवति ॥ 16 ॥
यस्त्वात्मरतिरेव स्यादात्मतृप्तश्च मानवः ।
आत्मन्येव च सन्तुष्टस्तस्य कार्यं न विद्यते ॥ 17 ॥
आत्मन्येव च सन्तुष्टस्तस्य कार्यं न विद्यते ॥ 17 ॥
नैव तस्य कृतेनार्थो नाकृतेनेह कश्चन ।
न चास्य सर्वभूतेषु कश्चिदर्थव्यपाश्रयः ॥ 18 ॥
न चास्य सर्वभूतेषु कश्चिदर्थव्यपाश्रयः ॥ 18 ॥
तस्मादसक्तः सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर ।
असक्तो ह्याचरन्कर्म परमाप्नोति पूरुषः ॥ 19 ॥
असक्तो ह्याचरन्कर्म परमाप्नोति पूरुषः ॥ 19 ॥
कर्मणैव हि संसिद्धिमास्थिता जनकादयः ।
लोकसङ्ग्रहमेवापि सम्पश्यन्कर्तुमर्हसि ॥ 20 ॥
लोकसङ्ग्रहमेवापि सम्पश्यन्कर्तुमर्हसि ॥ 20 ॥
यद्यदाचरति श्रेष्ठस्तत्तदेवेतरो जनः ।
स यत्प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवर्तते ॥ 21 ॥
स यत्प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवर्तते ॥ 21 ॥
न मे पार्थास्ति कर्तव्यं त्रिषु लोकेषु किञ्चन ।
नानवाप्तमवाप्तव्यं वर्त एव च कर्मणि ॥ 22 ॥
नानवाप्तमवाप्तव्यं वर्त एव च कर्मणि ॥ 22 ॥
यदि ह्यहं न वर्तेयं जातु कर्मण्यतन्द्रितः ।
मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः ॥ 23 ॥
मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः ॥ 23 ॥
उत्सीदेयुरिमे लोका न कुर्यां कर्म चेदहम् ।
सङ्करस्य च कर्ता स्यामुपहन्यामिमाः प्रजाः ॥ 24 ॥
सङ्करस्य च कर्ता स्यामुपहन्यामिमाः प्रजाः ॥ 24 ॥
सक्ताः कर्मण्यविद्वांसो यथा कुर्वन्ति भारत ।
कुर्याद्विद्वांस्तथासक्तश्चिकीर्षुर्लोकसङ्ग्रहम् ॥ 25 ॥
कुर्याद्विद्वांस्तथासक्तश्चिकीर्षुर्लोकसङ्ग्रहम् ॥ 25 ॥
न बुद्धिभेदं जनयेदज्ञानां कर्मसङ्गिनाम् ।
जोषयेत्सर्वकर्माणि विद्वान्युक्तः समाचरन् ॥ 26 ॥
जोषयेत्सर्वकर्माणि विद्वान्युक्तः समाचरन् ॥ 26 ॥
प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः ।
अहङ्कारविमूढात्मा कर्ताहमिति मन्यते ॥ 27 ॥
अहङ्कारविमूढात्मा कर्ताहमिति मन्यते ॥ 27 ॥
तत्त्ववित्तु महाबाहो गुणकर्मविभागयोः ।
गुणा गुणेषु वर्तन्त इति मत्वा न सज्जते ॥ 28 ॥
गुणा गुणेषु वर्तन्त इति मत्वा न सज्जते ॥ 28 ॥
प्रकृतेर्गुणसंमूढाः सज्जन्ते गुणकर्मसु ।
तानकृत्स्नविदो मन्दान्कृत्स्नविन्न विचालयेत् ॥ 29 ॥
तानकृत्स्नविदो मन्दान्कृत्स्नविन्न विचालयेत् ॥ 29 ॥
मयि सर्वाणि कर्माणि संन्यस्याध्यात्मचेतसा ।
निराशीर्निर्ममो भूत्वा युध्यस्व विगतज्वरः ॥ 30 ॥
निराशीर्निर्ममो भूत्वा युध्यस्व विगतज्वरः ॥ 30 ॥
ये मे मतमिदं नित्यमनुतिष्ठन्ति मानवाः ।
श्रद्धावन्तोஉनसूयन्तो मुच्यन्ते तेஉपि कर्मभिः ॥ 31 ॥
श्रद्धावन्तोஉनसूयन्तो मुच्यन्ते तेஉपि कर्मभिः ॥ 31 ॥
ये त्वेतदभ्यसूयन्तो नानुतिष्ठन्ति मे मतम् ।
सर्वज्ञानविमूढांस्तान्विद्धि नष्टानचेतसः ॥ 32 ॥
सर्वज्ञानविमूढांस्तान्विद्धि नष्टानचेतसः ॥ 32 ॥
सदृशं चेष्टते स्वस्याः प्रकृतेर्ज्ञानवानपि ।
प्रकृतिं यान्ति भूतानि निग्रहः किं करिष्यति ॥ 33 ॥
प्रकृतिं यान्ति भूतानि निग्रहः किं करिष्यति ॥ 33 ॥
इन्द्रियस्येन्द्रियस्यार्थे रागद्वेषौ व्यवस्थितौ ।
तयोर्न वशमागच्छेत्तौ ह्यस्य परिपन्थिनौ ॥ 34 ॥
तयोर्न वशमागच्छेत्तौ ह्यस्य परिपन्थिनौ ॥ 34 ॥
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् ।
स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः ॥ 35 ॥
स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः ॥ 35 ॥
अर्जुन उवाच ।
अथ केन प्रयुक्तोஉयं पापं चरति पूरुषः ।
अनिच्छन्नपि वार्ष्णेय बलादिव नियोजितः ॥ 36 ॥
अथ केन प्रयुक्तोஉयं पापं चरति पूरुषः ।
अनिच्छन्नपि वार्ष्णेय बलादिव नियोजितः ॥ 36 ॥
श्रीभगवानुवाच ।
काम एष क्रोध एष रजोगुणसमुद्भवः ।
महाशनो महापाप्मा विद्ध्येनमिह वैरिणम् ॥ 37 ॥
काम एष क्रोध एष रजोगुणसमुद्भवः ।
महाशनो महापाप्मा विद्ध्येनमिह वैरिणम् ॥ 37 ॥
धूमेनाव्रियते वह्निर्यथादर्शो मलेन च ।
यथोल्बेनावृतो गर्भस्तथा तेनेदमावृतम् ॥ 38 ॥
यथोल्बेनावृतो गर्भस्तथा तेनेदमावृतम् ॥ 38 ॥
आवृतं ज्ञानमेतेन ज्ञानिनो नित्यवैरिणा ।
कामरूपेण कौन्तेय दुष्पूरेणानलेन च ॥ 39 ॥
कामरूपेण कौन्तेय दुष्पूरेणानलेन च ॥ 39 ॥
इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते ।
एतैर्विमोहयत्येष ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम् ॥ 40 ॥
एतैर्विमोहयत्येष ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम् ॥ 40 ॥
तस्मात्त्वमिन्द्रियाण्यादौ नियम्य भरतर्षभ ।
पाप्मानं प्रजहि ह्येनं ज्ञानविज्ञाननाशनम् ॥ 41 ॥
पाप्मानं प्रजहि ह्येनं ज्ञानविज्ञाननाशनम् ॥ 41 ॥
इन्द्रियाणि पराण्याहुरिन्द्रियेभ्यः परं मनः ।
मनसस्तु परा बुद्धिर्यो बुद्धेः परतस्तु सः ॥ 42 ॥
मनसस्तु परा बुद्धिर्यो बुद्धेः परतस्तु सः ॥ 42 ॥
एवं बुद्धेः परं बुद्ध्वा संस्तभ्यात्मानमात्मना ।
जहि शत्रुं महाबाहो कामरूपं दुरासदम् ॥ 43 ॥
जहि शत्रुं महाबाहो कामरूपं दुरासदम् ॥ 43 ॥
ॐ तत्सदिति श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतासूपनिषत्सु ब्रह्मविद्यायां योगशास्त्रे श्रीकृष्णार्जुनसंवादे
कर्मयोगो नाम तृतीयोஉध्यायः ॥3 ॥
https://youtu.be/wUyaCLyfrL0
III
The Yoga of Action
Summary of Third Discourse
In order to remove Moha or attachment, which was the sole cause of Arjuna’s delusion, Sri Krishna taught him the imperishable nature of the Atman, the realisation of which would grant him the freedom of the Eternal. A doubt therefore arises in Arjuna’s mind as to the necessity of engaging in action even after one has attained this state.
Sri Krishna clears this doubt by telling him that although one has realised oneness with the Eternal, one has to perform action through the force of Prakriti or Nature. He emphasises that perfection is attained not by ceasing to engage in action but by doing all actions as a divine offering, imbued with a spirit of non-attachment and sacrifice.
The man of God-vision, Sri Krishna explains to Arjuna, need not engage in action, as he has attained everything that has to be attained. He can be ever absorbed in the calm and immutable Self. But to perform action for the good of the world and for the education of the masses is no doubt superior. Therefore, action is necessary not only for one who has attained perfection but also for one who is striving for perfection. Sri Krishna quotes the example of Janaka, the great sage-king of India, who continued to rule his kingdom even after attaining God-realisation.
Prakriti or Nature is made up of the three qualities—Rajas, Tamas and Sattwa. The Atman is beyond these three qualities and their functions. Only when knowledge of this fact dawns in man does he attain perfection.
The Lord tells Arjuna that each one should do his duty according to his nature, and that doing duty that is suited to one’s nature in the right spirit of detachment will lead to perfection.
Arjuna raises the question as to why man commits such actions that cloud his mind and drag him downwards, by force, as it were. Sri Krishna answers that it is desire that impels man to lose his discrimination and understanding, and thus commit wrong actions. Desire is the root cause of all evil actions. If desire is removed, then the divine power manifests in its full glory and one enjoys peace, bliss, light and freedom.
Arjuna Uvaacha
Jyaayasee chet karmanaste mataa buddhir janaardana;
Tat kim karmani ghore maam niyojayasi keshava.
Tat kim karmani ghore maam niyojayasi keshava.
Arjuna said:
1. If it be thought by Thee that knowledge is superior to action, O Krishna, why then, O Kesava, dost Thou ask me to engage in this terrible action?
Vyaamishreneva vaakyena buddhim mohayaseeva me;
Tadekam vada nishchitya yena shreyo’ham aapnuyaam.
Tadekam vada nishchitya yena shreyo’ham aapnuyaam.
2. With these apparently perplexing words Thou confusest, as it were, my understanding; therefore, tell me that one way for certain by which I may attain bliss.
Sri Bhagavaan Uvaacha:
Loke’smin dwividhaa nishthaa puraa proktaa mayaanagha;
Jnaanayogena saankhyaanaam karmayogena yoginaam.
Jnaanayogena saankhyaanaam karmayogena yoginaam.
The Blessed Lord said:
3. In this world there is a twofold path, as I said before, O sinless one,—the path of knowledge of the Sankhyas and the path of action of the Yogis!
Na karmanaam anaarambhaan naishkarmyam purusho’shnute;
Na cha sannyasanaad eva siddhim samadhigacchati.
Na cha sannyasanaad eva siddhim samadhigacchati.
4. Not by the non-performance of actions does man reach actionlessness, nor by mere renunciation does he attain to perfection.
COMMENTARY: Even if a man abandons action, his mind may be active. One cannot reach perfection or freedom from action or knowledge of the Self, merely by renouncing action. He must possess knowledge of the Self.
Na hi kashchit kshanamapi jaatu tishthatyakarmakrit;
Kaaryate hyavashah karma sarvah prakritijair gunaih.
Kaaryate hyavashah karma sarvah prakritijair gunaih.
5. Verily none can ever remain for even a moment without performing action; for, everyone is made to act helplessly indeed by the qualities born of Nature.
COMMENTARY: The ignorant man is driven to action helplessly by the actions of the Gunas—Rajas, Tamas and Sattwa.
Karmendriyaani samyamya ya aaste manasaa smaran;
Indriyaarthaan vimoodhaatmaa mithyaachaarah sa uchyate.
Indriyaarthaan vimoodhaatmaa mithyaachaarah sa uchyate.
6. He who, restraining the organs of action, sits thinking of the sense-objects in mind, he, of deluded understanding, is called a hypocrite.
Yastwindriyaani manasaa niyamyaarabhate’rjuna;
Karmendriyaih karmayogam asaktah sa vishishyate.
Karmendriyaih karmayogam asaktah sa vishishyate.
7. But whosoever, controlling the senses by the mind, O Arjuna, engages himself in Karma Yoga with the organs of action, without attachment, he excels!
Niyatam kuru karma twam karma jyaayo hyakarmanah;
Shareerayaatraapi cha te na prasiddhyed akarmanah.
Shareerayaatraapi cha te na prasiddhyed akarmanah.
8. Do thou perform thy bounden duty, for action is superior to inaction and even the maintenance of the body would not be possible for thee by inaction.
Yajnaarthaat karmano’nyatra loko’yam karmabandhanah;
Tadartham karma kaunteya muktasangah samaachara.
Tadartham karma kaunteya muktasangah samaachara.
9. The world is bound by actions other than those performed for the sake of sacrifice; do thou, therefore, O son of Kunti, perform action for that sake (for sacrifice) alone, free from attachment!
COMMENTARY: If anyone does actions for the sake of the Lord, he is not bound. His heart is purified by performing actions for the sake of the Lord. Where this spirit of unselfishness does not govern the action, such actions bind one to worldliness, however good or glorious they may be.
Sahayajnaah prajaah srishtwaa purovaacha prajaapatih;
Anena prasavishyadhwam esha vo’stvishtakaamadhuk.
Anena prasavishyadhwam esha vo’stvishtakaamadhuk.
10. The Creator, having in the beginning of creation created mankind together with sacrifice, said: “By this shall ye propagate; let this be the milch cow of your desires (the cow which yields the desired objects)”.
Devaan bhaavayataanena te devaa bhaavayantu vah;
Parasparam bhaavayantah shreyah param avaapsyatha.
Parasparam bhaavayantah shreyah param avaapsyatha.
11. With this do ye nourish the gods, and may the gods nourish you; thus nourishing one another, ye shall attain to the highest good.
Ishtaan bhogaan hi vo devaa daasyante yajnabhaavitaah;
Tair dattaan apradaayaibhyo yo bhungkte stena eva sah.
Tair dattaan apradaayaibhyo yo bhungkte stena eva sah.
12. The gods, nourished by the sacrifice, will give you the desired objects. So, he who enjoys the objects given by the gods without offering (in return) to them, is verily a thief.
Yajnashishtaashinah santo muchyante sarva kilbishaih;
Bhunjate te twagham paapaa ye pachantyaatma kaaranaat.
Bhunjate te twagham paapaa ye pachantyaatma kaaranaat.
13. The righteous, who eat of the remnants of the sacrifice, are freed from all sins; but those sinful ones who cook food (only) for their own sake, verily eat sin.
Annaad bhavanti bhootaani parjanyaad anna sambhavah;
Yajnaad bhavati parjanyo yajnah karma samudbhavah.
Yajnaad bhavati parjanyo yajnah karma samudbhavah.
14. From food come forth beings, and from rain food is produced; from sacrifice arises rain, and sacrifice is born of action.
Karma brahmodbhavam viddhi brahmaakshara samudbhavam;
Tasmaat sarvagatam brahma nityam yajne pratishthitam.
Tasmaat sarvagatam brahma nityam yajne pratishthitam.
15. Know thou that action comes from Brahma, and Brahma proceeds from the Imperishable. Therefore, the all-pervading (Brahma) ever rests in sacrifice.
Evam pravartitam chakram naanuvartayateeha yah;
Aghaayur indriyaaraamo mogham paartha sa jeevati.
Aghaayur indriyaaraamo mogham paartha sa jeevati.
16. He who does not follow the wheel thus set revolving, who is of sinful life, rejoicing in the senses, he lives in vain, O Arjuna!
COMMENTARY: He who does not follow the wheel by studying the Vedas and performing the sacrifices prescribed therein, but who indulges only in sensual pleasures, lives in vain. He wastes his life.
Yastwaatmaratir eva syaad aatmatriptashcha maanavah;
Aatmanyeva cha santushtas tasya kaaryam na vidyate.
Aatmanyeva cha santushtas tasya kaaryam na vidyate.
17. But for that man who rejoices only in the Self, who is satisfied in the Self, who is content in the Self alone, verily there is nothing to do.
Naiva tasya kritenaartho naakriteneha kashchana;
Na chaasya sarvabhooteshu kashchidartha vyapaashrayah.
Na chaasya sarvabhooteshu kashchidartha vyapaashrayah.
18. For him there is no interest whatsoever in what is done or what is not done; nor does he depend on any being for any object.
COMMENTARY: The sage who rejoices in his own Self does not gain anything by doing any action. To him no real purpose is served by engaging in any action. No evil can touch him as a result of inaction. He does not lose anything by being inactive.
Tasmaad asaktah satatam kaaryam karma samaachara;
Asakto hyaacharan karma param aapnoti poorushah.
Asakto hyaacharan karma param aapnoti poorushah.
19. Therefore, without attachment, do thou always perform action which should be done; for, by performing action without attachment man reaches the Supreme.
Karmanaiva hi samsiddhim aasthitaa janakaadayah;
Lokasangraham evaapi sampashyan kartum arhasi.
Lokasangraham evaapi sampashyan kartum arhasi.
20. Janaka and others attained perfection verily by action only; even with a view to the protection of the masses thou shouldst perform action.
Yadyad aacharati shreshthas tattadevetaro janah;
Sa yat pramaanam kurute lokas tad anuvartate.
Sa yat pramaanam kurute lokas tad anuvartate.
21. Whatsoever a great man does, that other men also do; whatever he sets up as the standard, that the world follows.
Na me paarthaasti kartavyam trishu lokeshu kinchana;
Naanavaaptam avaaptavyam varta eva cha karmani.
Naanavaaptam avaaptavyam varta eva cha karmani.
22. There is nothing in the three worlds, O Arjuna, that should be done by Me, nor is there anything unattained that should be attained; yet I engage Myself in action!
Yadi hyaham na varteyam jaatu karmanyatandritah;
Mama vartmaanuvartante manushyaah paartha sarvashah.
Mama vartmaanuvartante manushyaah paartha sarvashah.
23. For, should I not ever engage Myself in action, unwearied, men would in every way follow My path, O Arjuna!
Utseedeyur ime lokaa na kuryaam karma ched aham;
Sankarasya cha kartaa syaam upahanyaam imaah prajaah.
Sankarasya cha kartaa syaam upahanyaam imaah prajaah.
24. These worlds would perish if I did not perform action; I should be the author of confusion of castes and destruction of these beings.
Saktaah karmanyavidwaamso yathaa kurvanti bhaarata;
Kuryaad vidwaam stathaa saktash chikeershur lokasangraham.
Kuryaad vidwaam stathaa saktash chikeershur lokasangraham.
25. As the ignorant men act from attachment to action, O Bharata (Arjuna), so should the wise act without attachment, wishing the welfare of the world!
Na buddhibhedam janayed ajnaanaam karmasanginaam;
Joshayet sarva karmaani vidwaan yuktah samaacharan.
Joshayet sarva karmaani vidwaan yuktah samaacharan.
26. Let no wise man unsettle the minds of ignorant people who are attached to action; he should engage them in all actions, himself fulfilling them with devotion.
Prakriteh kriyamaanaani gunaih karmaani sarvashah;
Ahamkaaravimoodhaatmaa kartaaham iti manyate.
Ahamkaaravimoodhaatmaa kartaaham iti manyate.
27. All actions are wrought in all cases by the qualities of Nature only. He whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks: “I am the doer”.
COMMENTARY: Prakriti or Nature is that state in which the three Gunas exist in a state of equilibrium. When this equilibrium is disturbed, creation begins and the body, senses and mind are formed. The man who is deluded by egoism identifies the Self with the body, mind, the life-force and the senses, and ascribes to the Self all the attributes of the body and the senses. In reality the Gunas of nature perform all actions.
Tattwavittu mahaabaaho gunakarma vibhaagayoh;
Gunaa guneshu vartanta iti matwaa na sajjate.
Gunaa guneshu vartanta iti matwaa na sajjate.
28. But he who knows the truth, O mighty-armed Arjuna, about the divisions of the qualities and their functions, knowing that the Gunas as senses move amidst the Gunas as the sense-objects, is not attached.
Prakriter gunasammoodhaah sajjante gunakarmasu;
Taan akritsnavido mandaan kritsnavin na vichaalayet.
Taan akritsnavido mandaan kritsnavin na vichaalayet.
29. Those deluded by the qualities of Nature are attached to the functions of the qualities. A man of perfect knowledge should not unsettle the foolish one of imperfect knowledge.
Mayi sarvaani karmaani sannyasyaadhyaatma chetasaa;
Niraasheer nirmamo bhootwaa yudhyaswa vigatajwarah.
Niraasheer nirmamo bhootwaa yudhyaswa vigatajwarah.
30. Renouncing all actions in Me, with the mind centred in the Self, free from hope and egoism, and from (mental) fever, do thou fight.
COMMENTARY: Surrender all actions to Me with the thought: “I perform all actions for the sake of the Lord only.”
Ye me matam idam nityam anutishthanti maanavaah;
Shraddhaavanto’nasooyanto muchyante te’pi karmabhih.
Shraddhaavanto’nasooyanto muchyante te’pi karmabhih.
31. Those men who constantly practise this teaching of Mine with faith and without cavilling, they too are freed from actions.
Ye twetad abhyasooyanto naanutishthanti me matam;
Sarvajnaanavimoodhaam staan viddhi nashtaan achetasah.
Sarvajnaanavimoodhaam staan viddhi nashtaan achetasah.
32. But those who carp at My teaching and do not practise it, deluded in all knowledge and devoid of discrimination, know them to be doomed to destruction.
Sadrisham cheshtate swasyaah prakriter jnaanavaan api;
Prakritim yaanti bhootaani nigrahah kim karishyati.
Prakritim yaanti bhootaani nigrahah kim karishyati.
33. Even a wise man acts in accordance with his own nature; beings will follow nature; what can restraint do?
COMMENTARY: Only the ignorant man comes under the sway of his natural propensities. The seeker after Truth who is endowed with the ‘Four Means’ and who constantly practises meditation, can easily control Nature if he rises above the sway of the pairs of opposites, like love and hate, etc.
Indriyasyendriyasyaarthe raagadweshau vyavasthitau;
Tayor na vasham aagacchet tau hyasya paripanthinau.
Tayor na vasham aagacchet tau hyasya paripanthinau.
34. Attachment and aversion for the objects of the senses abide in the senses; let none come under their sway, for they are his foes.
Shreyaan swadharmo vigunah paradharmaat swanushthitaat;
Swadharme nidhanam shreyah paradharmo bhayaavahah.
Swadharme nidhanam shreyah paradharmo bhayaavahah.
35. Better is one’s own duty, though devoid of merit, than the duty of another well discharged. Better is death in one’s own duty; the duty of another is fraught with fear.
Arjuna Uvaacha:
Atha kena prayukto’yam paapam charati poorushah;
Anicchann api vaarshneya balaad iva niyojitah.
Anicchann api vaarshneya balaad iva niyojitah.
Arjuna said:
36. But impelled by what does man commit sin, though against his wishes, O Varshneya (Krishna), constrained, as it were, by force?
Sri Bhagavaan Uvaacha:
Kaama esha krodha esha rajoguna samudbhavah;
Mahaashano mahaapaapmaa viddhyenam iha vairinam.
Mahaashano mahaapaapmaa viddhyenam iha vairinam.
The Blessed Lord said:
37. It is desire, it is anger born of the quality of Rajas, all-sinful and all-devouring; know this as the foe here (in this world).
Dhoomenaavriyate vahnir yathaadarsho malena cha;
Yatholbenaavrito garbhas tathaa tenedam aavritam.
Yatholbenaavrito garbhas tathaa tenedam aavritam.
38. As fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror by dust, and as an embryo by the amnion, so is this enveloped by that.
Aavritam jnaanam etena jnaanino nityavairinaa;
Kaamaroopena kaunteya dushpoorenaanalena cha.
Kaamaroopena kaunteya dushpoorenaanalena cha.
39. O Arjuna, wisdom is enveloped by this constant enemy of the wise in the form of desire, which is unappeasable as fire!
Indriyaani mano buddhir asyaadhishthaanam uchyate;
Etair vimohayatyesha jnaanam aavritya dehinam.
Etair vimohayatyesha jnaanam aavritya dehinam.
40. The senses, mind and intellect are said to be its seat; through these it deludes the embodied by veiling his wisdom.
Tasmaat twam indriyaanyaadau niyamya bharatarshabha;
Paapmaanam prajahi hyenam jnaana vijnaana naashanam.
Paapmaanam prajahi hyenam jnaana vijnaana naashanam.
41. Therefore, O best of the Bharatas (Arjuna), controlling the senses first, do thou kill this sinful thing (desire), the destroyer of knowledge and realisation!
Indriyaani paraanyaahur indriyebhyah param manah;
Manasastu paraa buddhir yo buddheh paratastu sah.
Manasastu paraa buddhir yo buddheh paratastu sah.
42. They say that the senses are superior (to the body); superior to the senses is the mind; superior to the mind is the intellect; and one who is superior even to the intellect is He—the Self.
Evam buddheh param buddhwaa samstabhyaatmaanam aatmanaa;
Jahi shatrum mahaabaaho kaamaroopam duraasadam.
Jahi shatrum mahaabaaho kaamaroopam duraasadam.
43. Thus, knowing Him who is superior to the intellect and restraining the self by the Self, slay thou, O mighty-armed Arjuna, the enemy in the form of desire, hard to conquer!
COMMENTARY: Restrain the lower self by the higher Self. Subdue the lower mind by the higher mind. It is difficult to conquer desire because it is of a highly complex and incomprehensible nature. But a man of discrimination and dispassion, who does constant and intense Sadhana, can conquer it quite easily.
Hari Om Tat Sat
Iti Srimad Bhagavadgeetaasoopanishatsu Brahmavidyaayaam
Yogashaastre Sri Krishnaarjunasamvaade
Karmayogo Naama Tritiyo’dhyaayah
Iti Srimad Bhagavadgeetaasoopanishatsu Brahmavidyaayaam
Yogashaastre Sri Krishnaarjunasamvaade
Karmayogo Naama Tritiyo’dhyaayah
Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the third discourse entitled:
“The Yoga of Action”
(FromBhagavat gita--Swami sivananda.)
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https://youtu.be/NK64EtwK_TM
Commentary on the Bhagavadgita
by Swami Krishnananda
Discourse 6: The Third Chapter Begins – The Relation Between Sankhya and Yoga
Eṣā brāhmī sthitiḥ pārtha naināṁ prāpya vimuhyati, sthitvāsyām antakāle’pi brahmanirvāṇam ṛcchati(2.72). The Second Chapter of the Gita, which we have practically concluded yesterday, is the core of the teaching of the whole of the Bhagavadgita, which is elaborated in the subsequent chapters, from the Third onwards. Madhusudhana Saraswati, a commentator on the Bhagavadgita, has pointed out that the teachings of every subsequent chapter are a commentary on one or the other of the verses of the Second Chapter. The Second Chapter is pre-eminently important because the whole of the teaching is on Sankhya and yoga, whose basic principles have been explained during the past few days. If you can remember the details of the Sankhya and the yoga that we have covered during these days, as described in the Second Chapter, you would have noticed that it is a complete teaching on the highest way of spiritual living, wherein there is a rapprochement of the world, God, and the individual at the same time. The world, the individual and God are supposed to be three metaphysical principles on which it is that acharyas write commentaries, and on which it is that theories of philosophy are propounded.
This being the complete teaching, as it were, one who is established in this never gets confounded afterwards. Eṣā brāhmī sthitiḥ—virtually, the establishment of oneself in this understanding, vouchsafed through the Second Chapter, as we have described, is an establishment in the Absolute. It is a rooting of one’s consciousness in the total envisagement of values. “Therefore, O Arjuna, this knowledge that has been communicated to you up to this time is enough for you to get established in that Brahman. Once you are established in this, you will never have any mental confusion afterwards. Everything will be perspicacious, everything will be clear. You will see all things as if in a mirror.”
Even if a person is able to remain in this consciousness only during the last moment of life, that will do. It is good that we maintain a consciousness of this reality throughout our life, day in and day out; but the compassionate Lord says that even if this is not practicable for us, at least if we are conscious of this state at the time of the passing of the breath from this body, then we are blessed. Sthitvāsyām antakālepi brahmanirvāṇam ṛcchati: He shall attain to Brahman. So we can understand the importance of the meaning of the Second Chapter of the Bhagavadgita.
After having heard all this, a question that usually arises in the minds of common people also arose in the mind of Arjuna. Jyāyasī cet karmaṇas te matā buddhir janārdana, tat kiṁ karmaṇi ghore māṁ niyojayasi keśava; vyāmiśreṇeva vākyena buddhiṁ mohayasīva me, tad ekaṁ vada niścitya yena śreyo’ham āpnuyām (3.1-2): “You have been telling me that all action has to be based on knowledge; and the very value of action seems to be dependent on the extent of the Sankhya knowledge in which it is to be rooted. Your emphasis seems to be on Sankhya—knowledge. Then why is that You are goading me to action? Sometimes You say Sankhya, sometimes You say yoga, sometimes You say ‘do this’, sometimes You say ‘do that’; You are confusing my mind.” It is a very clear teaching. There was no confusion in what Sri Krishna said, but it had not entered the mind of Arjuna—as perhaps it has not entered the minds of many of us also. It cannot be remembered always.
Now Sri Krishna takes up the question of the relation between Sankhya and yoga, about which enough has been said in the Second Chapter. It has been mentioned again and again that all our activities have to be based on the knowledge of the Sankhya. But are they two different paths, or are they internally related to each other?
loke’smin dvividhā niṣṭhā purā proktā mayānagha
jñānayogena sāṅkhyānāṁ karmayogena yoginām (3.3)
na karmaṇām anārambhān naiṣkarmyaṁ puruṣo’śnute
na ca saṁnyasanād eva siddhiṁ samadhigacchati (3.4)
Sankhya and yoga, or knowledge and action, are mutually related in an organic fashion. When it was said that action has to be rooted in the knowledge of the Sankhya, the idea was not to bifurcate the adventure of life into two aspects. Sankhya and yoga are something like the two wings of a bird, or like the two legs with which we walk, or the two hands with which we grab and hold. They are complementary; and one being rooted in the other, or one being necessary for the other, does not imply any difference in the structure of Sankhya and yoga; it means that they are inseparable elements in the total perspective of life.
One cannot have merely an understanding of Sankhya in a theoretical sense minus involvement in the work of prakriti, or action; nor is it possible to be engaged only in action without its being rooted in the knowledge of Sankhya. If there is only an emphasis on Sankhya or only an emphasis on yoga, it is a one-sided emphasis in which knowledge remains a theory and action becomes blind. Unintelligent movement cannot be regarded as yoga. Yoga is an intelligently directed movement in a given fashion. We have already noted that the practice of yoga or the performance of action according to the mandates of the Sankhya is a graduated movement in the direction of larger and larger dimensions of universal existence.
The universality principle rules all actions that we perform, and also the extent of understanding that we entertain in our minds. Merely because we do not do something, it does not mean we have freed ourselves from the impulse to action. Na karmaṇām anārambhān naiṣkarmyaṁ puruṣo’śnute: Freedom from action is not achieved by a physical abstraction of oneself from the performance of action. Na ca saṁnyasanād eva siddhiṁ samadhigacchati: Nor by a mere act of renunciation of involvement in the world does one attain siddhi, or perfection.
We are involved in the world in a very, very mysterious manner. This involvement is actually the determining factor behind our correct way of approaching things. The involvement in the world is such that, as we have noted earlier, we are partly action bound on account of our psychophysical personality being constituted of the three gunas of prakriti. The mind is constituted of the tanmatras,and the physical body is constituted of the physical elements, so both the mind and the body are, in a way, tools in the intentions of prakriti, which is cosmic activity. Therefore, whoever has a mind or a body cannot totally abstain from action. It will be forced upon him because when the world moves, everybody in the world also moves. When the railway train moves, whoever is sitting in the railway train also moves. But yoga does not mean merely performance of action in a blind manner without understanding the rationale behind it. Reason is the philosophical aspect of action, and action is the implementation of reason. Both have to go together as complimentary aspects of a daily routine of our existence.
We have to pursue the course of prakriti, which moves in a process of evolution from lower stages to higher stages with the intention of producing the best species possible. Modern biologists and anthropologists tell us that prakriti—or nature, as they call it—is experimenting to find the best species possible. Nature experimented with the earlier, rudimentary forms of species. There were amphibians, there were aquatic animals, there were wild beasts, there were mammoths, there were dinosaurs, and there were wild human beings. With none of these was nature satisfied. There is a gradual intention of prakriti to produce the best product which, at the present moment, seems to be the human individuality.
It is generally accepted that man is the apex of creation and his intelligence represents the final point that one can reach in the understanding of things. Yet, man has to become superman. The intention of prakriti is not to allow man to be only man forever. The superhuman character implicit in human individuality has to be manifest through further processes of evolution—births and deaths; and in this work of prakriti of producing higher and higher forms of species, it is incumbent on us to participate. The Taittiriya and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishads tell us that the higher species of beings, which are invisible to our eyes, denizens of higher realms which are above the physical realm and, therefore, remain invisible—the Gandharvas, the Devas, Indra, Brihaspati—live in a larger dimension of consciousness. Their power is equally great, and their happiness is a millionfold greater than human happiness. Hence, participation in the work of prakriti is actually our participation in the work of educating ourselves in the direction of a larger knowledge that is available to us and which is our heritage, one day or the other.
Therefore yoga, when it is interpreted as a compulsory activity imposed upon the individual, becomes a necessary participation on the part of the individual in the work of prakriti for the evolution of higher and higher forms of existence. But, human individuals alone are capable of practising yoga. Subhuman species cannot understand Sankhya or yoga because there is a peculiar privilege, as it were, that is bestowed upon the human individual—namely, the worth of reason. There is a kind of mind instinctively operating in the lower animals also, but logic or reason is available only in the human being. That is, human reason can draw conclusions from existing premises, but animals, which are instinctive, cannot draw such conclusions.
The restlessness that we undergo in this world, and the pains that we suffer from, are the premises from which we can draw a conclusion that this is not a happy state of affairs and there must be a state of affairs which transcends this miserable state of existence. That we do not like to undergo pain of any kind, that we do not want to die, that we do not want any kind of sorrow, is a premise from which we can draw the conclusion that we are in a position to conceive the state where there is no sorrow, no pain of any kind, and not even death.
Thus, the prerogative of the human reason is that it is able to draw conclusions which far transcend ordinary sense perception. The senses cannot tell us that there is a possibility of the immortality of the soul. They can only tell us if there is an object of sense outside. But reason is not supposed to always play second fiddle to the sense organs. We have a higher reason and a lower reason. It is the higher reason that draws such conclusions which are capable of lifting us up from the ordinary experiences of life and enables us to have some premonition of the higher existences. The reason tells us that there is a possibility of attaining immortality. But the lower mind is completely conditioned by the sense organs. It is instinctive, and many a time we behave like animals when only the lower mind is predominant and is completely under the charge of the sense organs.
So we have two aspects of nature—the higher and the lower. In the Sixth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita we are told that the higher Self should rule the lower self. “The Self is the friend of the self and the Self is the enemy of the self” is what we are told in the Sixth Chapter. Which Self is the friend of which self, and which Self is the enemy of which self?
The higher Self enables the higher reason to infer immortal possibilities; the lower self is pure mentation and individuality. The higher Self is the friend of the lower self only if our instinctive action and our sensory activity are based on the inferences drawn by the higher reason. That is, in our daily activity we should not behave like unspiritual people. Even in the marketplace, our behaviour should be spiritual. Our higher Self should condition our lower mind which is purchasing vegetables in the market or going to the railway station, etc. It does not mean that we become different persons under different conditions. If this lower mind, which is the jivatva, is not able to accommodate itself with the demands of the higher reason which says that there is a possibility of immortal existence, then the higher Self becomes the enemy of the lower self—just as the law protects those who obey it but can be the enemy of an individual who disobeys it.
Hence, Sankhya and yoga represent two aspects of the behaviour of the human individual whereby there is participation in the work of prakriti in the process of evolution on the one hand, and there is an understanding as to where we are moving on the other hand. As I mentioned, Sankhya and yoga go together like two wings of a bird, as it were, and the bird cannot fly with just one wing. Merely abstaining from physical action is not inaction, because the mind may be acting. Our intention is the action. Our thought is the action. Our feeling is the action. The movements of our hands and feet are not action. If a person is inactive physically but is very active through the mind, he is verily performing action. But if a person has withdrawn his consciousness from the clutches of the sense organs and is conscious of the world as existing in an interrelated fashion, though he is aware of the world, he is not doing any action. Therefore, the mind is the criterion behind the action or the non-action of the individual concerned.
Another injunction that we have in the Third Chapter is that all action is binding unless it is performed as a sacrifice: yajñārthāt karmaṇo’nyatra loko’yaṁ karmabandhanaḥ, tadarthaṁ karma kaunteya muktasaṅgaḥ samācara (3.9). There is a very interesting anecdote from Bhagavan Sri Krishna in the Third Chapter, where he says: sahayajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā purovāca prajāpatiḥ, anena prasaviṣyadhvam eṣa vo’stviṣṭakāmadhuk; devān bhāvayatānena te devā bhāvayantu vaḥ, parasparaṁ bhāvayantaḥ śreyaḥ param avāpsyatha (3.10-11). When we were created by God, He created us together with an impulsion to sacrifice. Sacrifice means the cooperation that has to come from us in respect of other beings in the world. We have to necessarily cooperate with the demands for an equal type of existence from other beings also, whether they are superhuman, human or subhuman. We have to be in harmony with the requirements of the gods in heaven. We have to be in harmony with the requirements of other people in this world. We also have to be in harmony with the requirements of animals in the jungle; we cannot ill-treat them. We cannot ill-treat human beings or even ignore their existence.
Prajapati, the Creator, appears to have created individuals with an injunction that they will survive only by sacrifice. If we are not able to do any kind of sacrifice by way of cooperation with another, we will not be able to survive; our existence as persons will be annihilated. The survival instinct in every individual also implies the recognition of an equal survival instinct in other people. If we want to survive, others also want to survive; and if we want to survive in a qualitatively good manner, others also would like to be equally good qualitatively. We would not like to be servants of somebody, which is to say that we qualify our existence and we would not be satisfied if we are merely permitted to survive. Would we like to survive like pigs or like persons who are ostracised from society? Therefore, permission to survive is not enough. The quantity of survival has to be qualified by another thing, which is the satisfaction that we gain. Hence, we have to be considerate enough in respect of other beings, including subhuman beings, that whatever be the manner in which our survival instinct operates, we must have the capacity to appreciate that the survival instinct operates equally in them. That is, we cannot interfere with the life of another individual. That is the meaning of cooperation.
We cannot consider any human being as a means to an end. Nobody is a means to an end; everybody is an end in itself. The whole universe is a kingdom of ends—which is to say, the whole universe is filled with Self. The end is nothing but that to which everything gravitates. The servitude that we are imposing upon some lesser individual is nothing but the manner in which we are trying to assert ourselves as an end, and using the other person as a tool. But that person is not really a tool; that person is also a self. The person has become a servant due to unfavourable social conditions; but when favourable conditions prevail, the self will rise up and assert itself as an end, and will want you to be a servant. So there can be an evolution and a revolution taking place in nature.
Therefore, Prajapati, when he created human beings, made it necessary for us to be in a state of harmony with other people, with the things in the world, and also with the gods in heaven. The gods in heaven are actually a theological point that Sri Krishna introduces into the concept of sacrifice—that is, we will not be able to extend a servicing hand to others, nor will we be able to recognise the value in other persons and things, unless the gods in heaven permit us to have this consciousness.
What are these gods in heaven? This is very difficult to understand. The Vedanta philosophy tells us that every limb of the body is controlled and directed by some god. There are nineteen principles operating in the body. There are the five organs of perception or knowledge: the eyes, ears, nose, taste and touch. There are also five organs of action such as the hands, feet, speech, etc. The five organs of knowledge and the five organs of action total ten. Then there are the five pranas—prana, apana, vyana, udana and samana—which are the fivefold various functions of the breath in us which function in various ways in the body. So ten plus five is fifteen. Then we have the psychological organs—manas, buddhi, ahamkara and chitta—which perform a fourfold function. Manas merely thinks, chitta remembers, ahamkara arrogates, and buddhi understands. Fifteen plus four is nineteen—the nineteen principles operating in the body.
Ekonaviṁśati-mukhaḥ (Ma.U. 3) is the word that is used in the Mandukya Upanishad. This god that is operating through the individual has nineteen mouths—ekonaviṁśati is nineteen—so it is with these nineteen mouths that we come in contact with things in the world. That is, the sense organs, which are mentioned as nineteen, are the operating media conducted by higher divinities. The Vedanta Shastra tells us that the eye is conditioned by Sun, the nose by the Aswinis, the tongue by Varuna, the tactile sense by Vayu, the ears by the Dik Devatas, the speech by Agni, the mind by Moon, the chitta by Vishnu, the ego by Rudra, the buddhi by Brahma, and so on. So what remains in us apart from the contributions made by these gods? Considering the fact that even the physical body is made up of the building bricks of the five elements, and the sense organs being conditioned by these gods, where are we existing individually? We are living a borrowed existence, as it were—physically, psychologically, socially, and in every way.
The ordinance of Prajapati is that we have to consider the fact of our mutual involvement with not only people outside, not only with nature as prakriti, but also with the gods in heaven. The gods will bless us. Actually, the blessing of the gods is nothing but the recognition of there being a conscious element connecting us with other people. The perception of an object through the eyes is not possible unless there is a superintending conscious medium. For example, you are seeing me here. This knowledge of the fact that I am here does not arise through your eyes, though you are looking at me with your eyes and it appears as if your eyes are telling you that I am here. The eyes are physical eyeballs which can even be removed, so it is not the eyes that tell you I am here.
Then what else is it that tells you that I am here? You have not entered into me; you are sitting far away from me. There is a physical distance between us. If the distance precludes your knowledge of my existence here, and the eyes and the sense organs are physical in their nature and, therefore, cannot know that I am here, there must be something else which is consciously operating. The connecting link between me and you should be a conscious connection. There cannot be only a connection of space and time. There is something like space and time between us of course, but space and time are unconscious principles and, therefore, cannot become the media of your knowing that I am here. Even light is not a conscious element, so you cannot say that you know that I am here because of the light. None of these objects of your perception can be the media for your knowing that I am here. There is an unknown principle superintending all things, a permeating principle—yena sarvam idaṁ tatam (2.17)—which pervades all things; it pervades you, it pervades me, and it also pervades that link between us.
Thus, the gods whom we have to respect and worship every day, by way of the ritualistic worship that we perform either in our house or in a temple, are nothing but an inner recognition of there being a higher principle than ourselves, than others, than even the whole world. With this knowledge, we live in this world by mutual sacrifice, mutual understanding and mutual cooperation among the world, ourselves and God. This is the principle of karma yoga finally, where we can be sensible human beings, worthwhile individuals in the eyes of not only other people but also in the eyes of the gods themselves.
This is a very intricate subject, and not everyone in the world can be taught this knowledge, because people are in different states of evolution. There are varieties of human beings. There are human beings who eat other human beings; they are called cannibals. There are human beings who are not as bad as cannibals, but they are intensely selfish and say, “Tit for tat. If you are good to me, I’ll be good to you. If you are bad to me, I’ll be bad to you.” There are others who will be good to you even if you are bad to them. Higher than this is the saint who lives a holy life of the consciousness of God. Still higher is the sage who is established in God. Hence, even among human beings there are levels, so we cannot give the same teaching to every human being, as it will not be possible for them to absorb it.
Those in the higher stage should not condemn people who are in lower categories and follow one view of life. This is what the compassionate Lord says: saktāḥ karmaṇyavidvāṁso yathā kurvanti bhārata, kuryād vidvāṁs tathāsaktaś cikīrṣur lokasaṁgraham (3.25). We should not think that we are superior to a child that babbles and crawls. Its existence is as valuable and as meaningful to the cosmos as ours, so we must cooperate with it. Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj was like that. If a child came, he would behave like a child; if a sick man came, he would appreciate him; if a rich man came, he would appreciate him; if a dancer came, he would appreciate the dance; if a musician came, he would appreciate the music; if a scholar came, he would talk on philosophy. Whatever be the object in front of the sage, that is reflected in his mind. A sage never considers himself to be superior to others.
The world is not made up of superior and inferior items. In this large machinery of the cosmos, which part can be considered as superior and which part inferior? A nut and bolt in a machine is as important as a pulley or an engine. The wheel of a car is as important as the engine. Hence, those who are blessed with the knowledge of total detachment from involvement in objects, and are established in Sankhya and yoga, should encourage other people to move in the right direction, and should not condemn them. As a matter of fact, we should behave as other people behave.
The great sage does not put on airs. He behaves like a normal human being. He is not an opponent of the existing conditions of life. He is a reformer by the harmonising features that emanate from him, and he does not become a source of conflict. There is no condemnation or sense of inferiority towards others. There is a systematic method in the process of education that gradually takes the child up from the state in which it is; and the best teacher is he who does not tell what he knows but tells what is necessary for the student. He must be able to appreciate the condition of the student, the stage in which he is or she is, and his teaching should be commensurate with the degree of the knowledge of the student. Then only is there a rapport between the teacher and the student.
Digressing a little from the great subject of Sankhya and yoga, Sri Krishna says there should not be an airing of knowledge. The higher we are, the simpler should we look. The greater we are, the smaller we should appear to people; this is a saint. Nobody can know that the saint is a great man, because he does not appear as a great man. In this context, Sri Sankaracharya says in his commentary on the Brahma Sutras that he is the knower of Brahman, by looking at whom, nobody will know whether he is a fool or an intelligent man, whether he is a good or a bad man, or what kind of person he is. Nobody will be able to assess what kind of person he is. Such a person is a Brahmana, a knower of Brahman.
Let your knowledge be inside you, as a guide, as a lamp for others, but never use it to prop up your ego and then project your individuality through that knowledge. Let not your knowledge be broadcast. The light will shine by itself even if it is covered with bushes and, therefore, your existence itself will speak in a louder voice than the words that you speak. Your way of living, your thinking and feeling, your mode of behaviour is your teaching, so let not there be any parading of knowledge. Knowledge makes a person humble; and when you reach the highest knowledge, you become so humble you do not seem to be existing at all because your knowledge has pervaded the hearts and souls of all people. You become what the Bhagavadgita calls sarvabhūtahite ratāḥ (5.25), a person intent on the welfare of everyone. You are a friend of the higher and the lower, the good and the bad, the king and the beggar, the animal and the fool. You are a friend of all, and nobody will show teeth or claws before you because of your being a friend.
Let not anybody know what kind of person you are. Let the Almighty know, it is enough. If all the world knows what you are and God does not recognise you, it is nothing for you; but if you are not known to the world at all and you are known to some central principle of the universe, that is enough for you. He who is last here will be the first in heaven, and he who is first here will be the last there.
Do not always occupy the front seat. You can sit further away. It is said that where the Ramayana Katha is going on, Hanuman appears as an old man sitting near the shoes. Live like a deaf and dumb man, like a man who knows nothing. This state of affairs, this kind of attitude of not exhibiting oneself—not being presentable in any manner whatsoever, looking like a deaf and dumb person or a person with no understanding at all—is the characteristic that the body assumes automatically when the knowledge heightens, like with Jada Bharata.
Jada Bharata was a great saint who is mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana. He was the son of Rishabhadeva. He would not talk at all; people thought he was an idiot. He would not do any work. His brothers told him to tend cattle, but he would simply allow the cattle to go into anybody’s field and eat the harvest. So they told him to remain quiet and not do any work at all. He would not talk. He was a very well-built person, but he looked like an idiot sitting somewhere in a corner. One day some dacoits caught hold of him. They wanted a person to be offered as a sacrifice to Kali, the devata whom they were worshipping. They thought that here is a well-built man who does not talk, so they took him. They tied him up and dragged him into the Kali temple, where they were about to offer him in sacrifice. When the sword was lifted by the priest, the Kali murti burst open, and the divinity rushed forth and grabbed the sword from the hand of the dacoits, destroyed them, and vanished. Can you imagine such a possibility? This is how the shakti which Jada Bharata maintained operated. It could draw energy from a stone. This is only a small digression from the main subject. Sri Krishna’s point is that a person who is wise should not show his wisdom too much before other people. Let him be humble. He may be an educating medium to others to take them higher and higher from the stage in which they are, and not suddenly make them jump into higher realms.
Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāravimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (3.27). We again come back to the main subject. As prakriti is doing all things—the gunas of prakriti are mutating in a cyclic fashion—therefore, it becomes obligatory on our part to act. He who imagines that he is doing the action is really in the state of highest unwisdom. From where then comes the question of our individually participating in a work? We are actually participating cosmically, as an agent of the cosmos, as it were—like an ambassador of a government does not act independently, and only represents the government which has deputed him for a particular purpose. Similarly, we become instruments in God’s hand. We act like ambassadors of God. The ordinance of God is to be in our minds always, and we should never think that we are acting independently. Suppose the ambassador starts behaving as if he is an independent man, as if he is the government himself, then the whole purpose will be defeated. No individual has the right to project the ego to such an extent as to feel that he is doing or she is doing; and if anybody feels that way, that is the height of unwisdom. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāravimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate: This sense of agency, or doership, is our undoing.
We have learnt many scriptures, listened to many lectures, studied the Bhagavadgita and the Ramayana and the Bhagavata, but each one of us should get up in the morning and sit for a few minutes and feel: “How far has this teaching gone into my very blood and veins? How many times do I get angry?” The spiritual diary of Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj is a very, very important check that will keep us on track. “How much time have I idled away? How many minutes have I spent in unnecessary gossip and chat? How many minutes have been spent in undesirable company? How many minutes have I spent in telling non-truths, etc.?” These are the checkpoints in the diary that is to be maintained by us. Otherwise, the ego will again and again assert itself, and all our knowledge of the Gita will be buried underground because if whatever knowledge we have gained through our intelligence and through our understanding does not soak itself into our feeling, there will be no blending of our character.
Knowledge is the way in which we are living. Knowledge is not a theoretical book-learning. It is not a certificate from a college. It is the very way and behaviour in which we conduct ourselves in life—not only in respect of ourselves, but also in respect of other people, and perhaps even in respect of God Himself.
How difficult is this teaching! The comprehensiveness of the teaching is so profound that the fractional thinking that the mind is accustomed to will find it very hard to grasp. A total thinking is required of us in the understanding of the Bhagavadgita and the Upanishads, but we are always accustomed to fractional thinking. When we think of one thing, we do not think of another thing. It is necessary for us to think of one thing together with all other things, which are also related in a holistic fashion.
There is a modern system of psychology which has now discovered that the mind works in a holistic fashion. Though it looks as if we are thinking one or two thoughts at a time, the other thoughts which are buried or implicit, and which are not actually on the surface of the mind, have some impact on the present thought, and they condition us so that our actions are not entirely faultless. If our actions are motivated or directed only by one or two thoughts, and we completely ignore the presence of other aspects of our thought, our actions will not be faultless. Sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ (18.48): Every action is subject to some mistake. As where there is fire there is smoke, there is some mistake involved in everything that we do because whenever we act, whenever we do anything, we use a part of our mind because of the fact that we work on the basis of a notion of like and dislike. We have partitioned the world into two blocks: the necessary and the unnecessary.
Hence, the Bhagavadgita teaching becomes necessary for such fractional thinkers. A high standard of purification of the mind is necessary by the yamas and niyamas, as Patanjali puts it, and the Sadhana Chatushtaya, as the Vedanta Shastra puts it. Suddenly jumping into the meditative techniques of the Bhagavadgita will not take us any further unless our mind is prepared for it and we are really asking for God.
Eṣā brāhmī sthitiḥ pārtha naināṁ prāpya vimuhyati, sthitvāsyām antakāle’pi brahmanirvāṇam ṛcchati(2.72). The Second Chapter of the Gita, which we have practically concluded yesterday, is the core of the teaching of the whole of the Bhagavadgita, which is elaborated in the subsequent chapters, from the Third onwards. Madhusudhana Saraswati, a commentator on the Bhagavadgita, has pointed out that the teachings of every subsequent chapter are a commentary on one or the other of the verses of the Second Chapter. The Second Chapter is pre-eminently important because the whole of the teaching is on Sankhya and yoga, whose basic principles have been explained during the past few days. If you can remember the details of the Sankhya and the yoga that we have covered during these days, as described in the Second Chapter, you would have noticed that it is a complete teaching on the highest way of spiritual living, wherein there is a rapprochement of the world, God, and the individual at the same time. The world, the individual and God are supposed to be three metaphysical principles on which it is that acharyas write commentaries, and on which it is that theories of philosophy are propounded.
This being the complete teaching, as it were, one who is established in this never gets confounded afterwards. Eṣā brāhmī sthitiḥ—virtually, the establishment of oneself in this understanding, vouchsafed through the Second Chapter, as we have described, is an establishment in the Absolute. It is a rooting of one’s consciousness in the total envisagement of values. “Therefore, O Arjuna, this knowledge that has been communicated to you up to this time is enough for you to get established in that Brahman. Once you are established in this, you will never have any mental confusion afterwards. Everything will be perspicacious, everything will be clear. You will see all things as if in a mirror.”
Even if a person is able to remain in this consciousness only during the last moment of life, that will do. It is good that we maintain a consciousness of this reality throughout our life, day in and day out; but the compassionate Lord says that even if this is not practicable for us, at least if we are conscious of this state at the time of the passing of the breath from this body, then we are blessed. Sthitvāsyām antakālepi brahmanirvāṇam ṛcchati: He shall attain to Brahman. So we can understand the importance of the meaning of the Second Chapter of the Bhagavadgita.
After having heard all this, a question that usually arises in the minds of common people also arose in the mind of Arjuna. Jyāyasī cet karmaṇas te matā buddhir janārdana, tat kiṁ karmaṇi ghore māṁ niyojayasi keśava; vyāmiśreṇeva vākyena buddhiṁ mohayasīva me, tad ekaṁ vada niścitya yena śreyo’ham āpnuyām (3.1-2): “You have been telling me that all action has to be based on knowledge; and the very value of action seems to be dependent on the extent of the Sankhya knowledge in which it is to be rooted. Your emphasis seems to be on Sankhya—knowledge. Then why is that You are goading me to action? Sometimes You say Sankhya, sometimes You say yoga, sometimes You say ‘do this’, sometimes You say ‘do that’; You are confusing my mind.” It is a very clear teaching. There was no confusion in what Sri Krishna said, but it had not entered the mind of Arjuna—as perhaps it has not entered the minds of many of us also. It cannot be remembered always.
Now Sri Krishna takes up the question of the relation between Sankhya and yoga, about which enough has been said in the Second Chapter. It has been mentioned again and again that all our activities have to be based on the knowledge of the Sankhya. But are they two different paths, or are they internally related to each other?
loke’smin dvividhā niṣṭhā purā proktā mayānagha
jñānayogena sāṅkhyānāṁ karmayogena yoginām (3.3)
na karmaṇām anārambhān naiṣkarmyaṁ puruṣo’śnute
na ca saṁnyasanād eva siddhiṁ samadhigacchati (3.4)
jñānayogena sāṅkhyānāṁ karmayogena yoginām (3.3)
na karmaṇām anārambhān naiṣkarmyaṁ puruṣo’śnute
na ca saṁnyasanād eva siddhiṁ samadhigacchati (3.4)
Sankhya and yoga, or knowledge and action, are mutually related in an organic fashion. When it was said that action has to be rooted in the knowledge of the Sankhya, the idea was not to bifurcate the adventure of life into two aspects. Sankhya and yoga are something like the two wings of a bird, or like the two legs with which we walk, or the two hands with which we grab and hold. They are complementary; and one being rooted in the other, or one being necessary for the other, does not imply any difference in the structure of Sankhya and yoga; it means that they are inseparable elements in the total perspective of life.
One cannot have merely an understanding of Sankhya in a theoretical sense minus involvement in the work of prakriti, or action; nor is it possible to be engaged only in action without its being rooted in the knowledge of Sankhya. If there is only an emphasis on Sankhya or only an emphasis on yoga, it is a one-sided emphasis in which knowledge remains a theory and action becomes blind. Unintelligent movement cannot be regarded as yoga. Yoga is an intelligently directed movement in a given fashion. We have already noted that the practice of yoga or the performance of action according to the mandates of the Sankhya is a graduated movement in the direction of larger and larger dimensions of universal existence.
The universality principle rules all actions that we perform, and also the extent of understanding that we entertain in our minds. Merely because we do not do something, it does not mean we have freed ourselves from the impulse to action. Na karmaṇām anārambhān naiṣkarmyaṁ puruṣo’śnute: Freedom from action is not achieved by a physical abstraction of oneself from the performance of action. Na ca saṁnyasanād eva siddhiṁ samadhigacchati: Nor by a mere act of renunciation of involvement in the world does one attain siddhi, or perfection.
We are involved in the world in a very, very mysterious manner. This involvement is actually the determining factor behind our correct way of approaching things. The involvement in the world is such that, as we have noted earlier, we are partly action bound on account of our psychophysical personality being constituted of the three gunas of prakriti. The mind is constituted of the tanmatras,and the physical body is constituted of the physical elements, so both the mind and the body are, in a way, tools in the intentions of prakriti, which is cosmic activity. Therefore, whoever has a mind or a body cannot totally abstain from action. It will be forced upon him because when the world moves, everybody in the world also moves. When the railway train moves, whoever is sitting in the railway train also moves. But yoga does not mean merely performance of action in a blind manner without understanding the rationale behind it. Reason is the philosophical aspect of action, and action is the implementation of reason. Both have to go together as complimentary aspects of a daily routine of our existence.
We have to pursue the course of prakriti, which moves in a process of evolution from lower stages to higher stages with the intention of producing the best species possible. Modern biologists and anthropologists tell us that prakriti—or nature, as they call it—is experimenting to find the best species possible. Nature experimented with the earlier, rudimentary forms of species. There were amphibians, there were aquatic animals, there were wild beasts, there were mammoths, there were dinosaurs, and there were wild human beings. With none of these was nature satisfied. There is a gradual intention of prakriti to produce the best product which, at the present moment, seems to be the human individuality.
It is generally accepted that man is the apex of creation and his intelligence represents the final point that one can reach in the understanding of things. Yet, man has to become superman. The intention of prakriti is not to allow man to be only man forever. The superhuman character implicit in human individuality has to be manifest through further processes of evolution—births and deaths; and in this work of prakriti of producing higher and higher forms of species, it is incumbent on us to participate. The Taittiriya and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishads tell us that the higher species of beings, which are invisible to our eyes, denizens of higher realms which are above the physical realm and, therefore, remain invisible—the Gandharvas, the Devas, Indra, Brihaspati—live in a larger dimension of consciousness. Their power is equally great, and their happiness is a millionfold greater than human happiness. Hence, participation in the work of prakriti is actually our participation in the work of educating ourselves in the direction of a larger knowledge that is available to us and which is our heritage, one day or the other.
Therefore yoga, when it is interpreted as a compulsory activity imposed upon the individual, becomes a necessary participation on the part of the individual in the work of prakriti for the evolution of higher and higher forms of existence. But, human individuals alone are capable of practising yoga. Subhuman species cannot understand Sankhya or yoga because there is a peculiar privilege, as it were, that is bestowed upon the human individual—namely, the worth of reason. There is a kind of mind instinctively operating in the lower animals also, but logic or reason is available only in the human being. That is, human reason can draw conclusions from existing premises, but animals, which are instinctive, cannot draw such conclusions.
The restlessness that we undergo in this world, and the pains that we suffer from, are the premises from which we can draw a conclusion that this is not a happy state of affairs and there must be a state of affairs which transcends this miserable state of existence. That we do not like to undergo pain of any kind, that we do not want to die, that we do not want any kind of sorrow, is a premise from which we can draw the conclusion that we are in a position to conceive the state where there is no sorrow, no pain of any kind, and not even death.
Thus, the prerogative of the human reason is that it is able to draw conclusions which far transcend ordinary sense perception. The senses cannot tell us that there is a possibility of the immortality of the soul. They can only tell us if there is an object of sense outside. But reason is not supposed to always play second fiddle to the sense organs. We have a higher reason and a lower reason. It is the higher reason that draws such conclusions which are capable of lifting us up from the ordinary experiences of life and enables us to have some premonition of the higher existences. The reason tells us that there is a possibility of attaining immortality. But the lower mind is completely conditioned by the sense organs. It is instinctive, and many a time we behave like animals when only the lower mind is predominant and is completely under the charge of the sense organs.
So we have two aspects of nature—the higher and the lower. In the Sixth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita we are told that the higher Self should rule the lower self. “The Self is the friend of the self and the Self is the enemy of the self” is what we are told in the Sixth Chapter. Which Self is the friend of which self, and which Self is the enemy of which self?
The higher Self enables the higher reason to infer immortal possibilities; the lower self is pure mentation and individuality. The higher Self is the friend of the lower self only if our instinctive action and our sensory activity are based on the inferences drawn by the higher reason. That is, in our daily activity we should not behave like unspiritual people. Even in the marketplace, our behaviour should be spiritual. Our higher Self should condition our lower mind which is purchasing vegetables in the market or going to the railway station, etc. It does not mean that we become different persons under different conditions. If this lower mind, which is the jivatva, is not able to accommodate itself with the demands of the higher reason which says that there is a possibility of immortal existence, then the higher Self becomes the enemy of the lower self—just as the law protects those who obey it but can be the enemy of an individual who disobeys it.
Hence, Sankhya and yoga represent two aspects of the behaviour of the human individual whereby there is participation in the work of prakriti in the process of evolution on the one hand, and there is an understanding as to where we are moving on the other hand. As I mentioned, Sankhya and yoga go together like two wings of a bird, as it were, and the bird cannot fly with just one wing. Merely abstaining from physical action is not inaction, because the mind may be acting. Our intention is the action. Our thought is the action. Our feeling is the action. The movements of our hands and feet are not action. If a person is inactive physically but is very active through the mind, he is verily performing action. But if a person has withdrawn his consciousness from the clutches of the sense organs and is conscious of the world as existing in an interrelated fashion, though he is aware of the world, he is not doing any action. Therefore, the mind is the criterion behind the action or the non-action of the individual concerned.
Another injunction that we have in the Third Chapter is that all action is binding unless it is performed as a sacrifice: yajñārthāt karmaṇo’nyatra loko’yaṁ karmabandhanaḥ, tadarthaṁ karma kaunteya muktasaṅgaḥ samācara (3.9). There is a very interesting anecdote from Bhagavan Sri Krishna in the Third Chapter, where he says: sahayajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā purovāca prajāpatiḥ, anena prasaviṣyadhvam eṣa vo’stviṣṭakāmadhuk; devān bhāvayatānena te devā bhāvayantu vaḥ, parasparaṁ bhāvayantaḥ śreyaḥ param avāpsyatha (3.10-11). When we were created by God, He created us together with an impulsion to sacrifice. Sacrifice means the cooperation that has to come from us in respect of other beings in the world. We have to necessarily cooperate with the demands for an equal type of existence from other beings also, whether they are superhuman, human or subhuman. We have to be in harmony with the requirements of the gods in heaven. We have to be in harmony with the requirements of other people in this world. We also have to be in harmony with the requirements of animals in the jungle; we cannot ill-treat them. We cannot ill-treat human beings or even ignore their existence.
Prajapati, the Creator, appears to have created individuals with an injunction that they will survive only by sacrifice. If we are not able to do any kind of sacrifice by way of cooperation with another, we will not be able to survive; our existence as persons will be annihilated. The survival instinct in every individual also implies the recognition of an equal survival instinct in other people. If we want to survive, others also want to survive; and if we want to survive in a qualitatively good manner, others also would like to be equally good qualitatively. We would not like to be servants of somebody, which is to say that we qualify our existence and we would not be satisfied if we are merely permitted to survive. Would we like to survive like pigs or like persons who are ostracised from society? Therefore, permission to survive is not enough. The quantity of survival has to be qualified by another thing, which is the satisfaction that we gain. Hence, we have to be considerate enough in respect of other beings, including subhuman beings, that whatever be the manner in which our survival instinct operates, we must have the capacity to appreciate that the survival instinct operates equally in them. That is, we cannot interfere with the life of another individual. That is the meaning of cooperation.
We cannot consider any human being as a means to an end. Nobody is a means to an end; everybody is an end in itself. The whole universe is a kingdom of ends—which is to say, the whole universe is filled with Self. The end is nothing but that to which everything gravitates. The servitude that we are imposing upon some lesser individual is nothing but the manner in which we are trying to assert ourselves as an end, and using the other person as a tool. But that person is not really a tool; that person is also a self. The person has become a servant due to unfavourable social conditions; but when favourable conditions prevail, the self will rise up and assert itself as an end, and will want you to be a servant. So there can be an evolution and a revolution taking place in nature.
Therefore, Prajapati, when he created human beings, made it necessary for us to be in a state of harmony with other people, with the things in the world, and also with the gods in heaven. The gods in heaven are actually a theological point that Sri Krishna introduces into the concept of sacrifice—that is, we will not be able to extend a servicing hand to others, nor will we be able to recognise the value in other persons and things, unless the gods in heaven permit us to have this consciousness.
What are these gods in heaven? This is very difficult to understand. The Vedanta philosophy tells us that every limb of the body is controlled and directed by some god. There are nineteen principles operating in the body. There are the five organs of perception or knowledge: the eyes, ears, nose, taste and touch. There are also five organs of action such as the hands, feet, speech, etc. The five organs of knowledge and the five organs of action total ten. Then there are the five pranas—prana, apana, vyana, udana and samana—which are the fivefold various functions of the breath in us which function in various ways in the body. So ten plus five is fifteen. Then we have the psychological organs—manas, buddhi, ahamkara and chitta—which perform a fourfold function. Manas merely thinks, chitta remembers, ahamkara arrogates, and buddhi understands. Fifteen plus four is nineteen—the nineteen principles operating in the body.
Ekonaviṁśati-mukhaḥ (Ma.U. 3) is the word that is used in the Mandukya Upanishad. This god that is operating through the individual has nineteen mouths—ekonaviṁśati is nineteen—so it is with these nineteen mouths that we come in contact with things in the world. That is, the sense organs, which are mentioned as nineteen, are the operating media conducted by higher divinities. The Vedanta Shastra tells us that the eye is conditioned by Sun, the nose by the Aswinis, the tongue by Varuna, the tactile sense by Vayu, the ears by the Dik Devatas, the speech by Agni, the mind by Moon, the chitta by Vishnu, the ego by Rudra, the buddhi by Brahma, and so on. So what remains in us apart from the contributions made by these gods? Considering the fact that even the physical body is made up of the building bricks of the five elements, and the sense organs being conditioned by these gods, where are we existing individually? We are living a borrowed existence, as it were—physically, psychologically, socially, and in every way.
The ordinance of Prajapati is that we have to consider the fact of our mutual involvement with not only people outside, not only with nature as prakriti, but also with the gods in heaven. The gods will bless us. Actually, the blessing of the gods is nothing but the recognition of there being a conscious element connecting us with other people. The perception of an object through the eyes is not possible unless there is a superintending conscious medium. For example, you are seeing me here. This knowledge of the fact that I am here does not arise through your eyes, though you are looking at me with your eyes and it appears as if your eyes are telling you that I am here. The eyes are physical eyeballs which can even be removed, so it is not the eyes that tell you I am here.
Then what else is it that tells you that I am here? You have not entered into me; you are sitting far away from me. There is a physical distance between us. If the distance precludes your knowledge of my existence here, and the eyes and the sense organs are physical in their nature and, therefore, cannot know that I am here, there must be something else which is consciously operating. The connecting link between me and you should be a conscious connection. There cannot be only a connection of space and time. There is something like space and time between us of course, but space and time are unconscious principles and, therefore, cannot become the media of your knowing that I am here. Even light is not a conscious element, so you cannot say that you know that I am here because of the light. None of these objects of your perception can be the media for your knowing that I am here. There is an unknown principle superintending all things, a permeating principle—yena sarvam idaṁ tatam (2.17)—which pervades all things; it pervades you, it pervades me, and it also pervades that link between us.
Thus, the gods whom we have to respect and worship every day, by way of the ritualistic worship that we perform either in our house or in a temple, are nothing but an inner recognition of there being a higher principle than ourselves, than others, than even the whole world. With this knowledge, we live in this world by mutual sacrifice, mutual understanding and mutual cooperation among the world, ourselves and God. This is the principle of karma yoga finally, where we can be sensible human beings, worthwhile individuals in the eyes of not only other people but also in the eyes of the gods themselves.
This is a very intricate subject, and not everyone in the world can be taught this knowledge, because people are in different states of evolution. There are varieties of human beings. There are human beings who eat other human beings; they are called cannibals. There are human beings who are not as bad as cannibals, but they are intensely selfish and say, “Tit for tat. If you are good to me, I’ll be good to you. If you are bad to me, I’ll be bad to you.” There are others who will be good to you even if you are bad to them. Higher than this is the saint who lives a holy life of the consciousness of God. Still higher is the sage who is established in God. Hence, even among human beings there are levels, so we cannot give the same teaching to every human being, as it will not be possible for them to absorb it.
Those in the higher stage should not condemn people who are in lower categories and follow one view of life. This is what the compassionate Lord says: saktāḥ karmaṇyavidvāṁso yathā kurvanti bhārata, kuryād vidvāṁs tathāsaktaś cikīrṣur lokasaṁgraham (3.25). We should not think that we are superior to a child that babbles and crawls. Its existence is as valuable and as meaningful to the cosmos as ours, so we must cooperate with it. Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj was like that. If a child came, he would behave like a child; if a sick man came, he would appreciate him; if a rich man came, he would appreciate him; if a dancer came, he would appreciate the dance; if a musician came, he would appreciate the music; if a scholar came, he would talk on philosophy. Whatever be the object in front of the sage, that is reflected in his mind. A sage never considers himself to be superior to others.
The world is not made up of superior and inferior items. In this large machinery of the cosmos, which part can be considered as superior and which part inferior? A nut and bolt in a machine is as important as a pulley or an engine. The wheel of a car is as important as the engine. Hence, those who are blessed with the knowledge of total detachment from involvement in objects, and are established in Sankhya and yoga, should encourage other people to move in the right direction, and should not condemn them. As a matter of fact, we should behave as other people behave.
The great sage does not put on airs. He behaves like a normal human being. He is not an opponent of the existing conditions of life. He is a reformer by the harmonising features that emanate from him, and he does not become a source of conflict. There is no condemnation or sense of inferiority towards others. There is a systematic method in the process of education that gradually takes the child up from the state in which it is; and the best teacher is he who does not tell what he knows but tells what is necessary for the student. He must be able to appreciate the condition of the student, the stage in which he is or she is, and his teaching should be commensurate with the degree of the knowledge of the student. Then only is there a rapport between the teacher and the student.
Digressing a little from the great subject of Sankhya and yoga, Sri Krishna says there should not be an airing of knowledge. The higher we are, the simpler should we look. The greater we are, the smaller we should appear to people; this is a saint. Nobody can know that the saint is a great man, because he does not appear as a great man. In this context, Sri Sankaracharya says in his commentary on the Brahma Sutras that he is the knower of Brahman, by looking at whom, nobody will know whether he is a fool or an intelligent man, whether he is a good or a bad man, or what kind of person he is. Nobody will be able to assess what kind of person he is. Such a person is a Brahmana, a knower of Brahman.
Let your knowledge be inside you, as a guide, as a lamp for others, but never use it to prop up your ego and then project your individuality through that knowledge. Let not your knowledge be broadcast. The light will shine by itself even if it is covered with bushes and, therefore, your existence itself will speak in a louder voice than the words that you speak. Your way of living, your thinking and feeling, your mode of behaviour is your teaching, so let not there be any parading of knowledge. Knowledge makes a person humble; and when you reach the highest knowledge, you become so humble you do not seem to be existing at all because your knowledge has pervaded the hearts and souls of all people. You become what the Bhagavadgita calls sarvabhūtahite ratāḥ (5.25), a person intent on the welfare of everyone. You are a friend of the higher and the lower, the good and the bad, the king and the beggar, the animal and the fool. You are a friend of all, and nobody will show teeth or claws before you because of your being a friend.
Let not anybody know what kind of person you are. Let the Almighty know, it is enough. If all the world knows what you are and God does not recognise you, it is nothing for you; but if you are not known to the world at all and you are known to some central principle of the universe, that is enough for you. He who is last here will be the first in heaven, and he who is first here will be the last there.
Do not always occupy the front seat. You can sit further away. It is said that where the Ramayana Katha is going on, Hanuman appears as an old man sitting near the shoes. Live like a deaf and dumb man, like a man who knows nothing. This state of affairs, this kind of attitude of not exhibiting oneself—not being presentable in any manner whatsoever, looking like a deaf and dumb person or a person with no understanding at all—is the characteristic that the body assumes automatically when the knowledge heightens, like with Jada Bharata.
Jada Bharata was a great saint who is mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana. He was the son of Rishabhadeva. He would not talk at all; people thought he was an idiot. He would not do any work. His brothers told him to tend cattle, but he would simply allow the cattle to go into anybody’s field and eat the harvest. So they told him to remain quiet and not do any work at all. He would not talk. He was a very well-built person, but he looked like an idiot sitting somewhere in a corner. One day some dacoits caught hold of him. They wanted a person to be offered as a sacrifice to Kali, the devata whom they were worshipping. They thought that here is a well-built man who does not talk, so they took him. They tied him up and dragged him into the Kali temple, where they were about to offer him in sacrifice. When the sword was lifted by the priest, the Kali murti burst open, and the divinity rushed forth and grabbed the sword from the hand of the dacoits, destroyed them, and vanished. Can you imagine such a possibility? This is how the shakti which Jada Bharata maintained operated. It could draw energy from a stone. This is only a small digression from the main subject. Sri Krishna’s point is that a person who is wise should not show his wisdom too much before other people. Let him be humble. He may be an educating medium to others to take them higher and higher from the stage in which they are, and not suddenly make them jump into higher realms.
Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāravimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (3.27). We again come back to the main subject. As prakriti is doing all things—the gunas of prakriti are mutating in a cyclic fashion—therefore, it becomes obligatory on our part to act. He who imagines that he is doing the action is really in the state of highest unwisdom. From where then comes the question of our individually participating in a work? We are actually participating cosmically, as an agent of the cosmos, as it were—like an ambassador of a government does not act independently, and only represents the government which has deputed him for a particular purpose. Similarly, we become instruments in God’s hand. We act like ambassadors of God. The ordinance of God is to be in our minds always, and we should never think that we are acting independently. Suppose the ambassador starts behaving as if he is an independent man, as if he is the government himself, then the whole purpose will be defeated. No individual has the right to project the ego to such an extent as to feel that he is doing or she is doing; and if anybody feels that way, that is the height of unwisdom. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāravimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate: This sense of agency, or doership, is our undoing.
We have learnt many scriptures, listened to many lectures, studied the Bhagavadgita and the Ramayana and the Bhagavata, but each one of us should get up in the morning and sit for a few minutes and feel: “How far has this teaching gone into my very blood and veins? How many times do I get angry?” The spiritual diary of Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj is a very, very important check that will keep us on track. “How much time have I idled away? How many minutes have I spent in unnecessary gossip and chat? How many minutes have been spent in undesirable company? How many minutes have I spent in telling non-truths, etc.?” These are the checkpoints in the diary that is to be maintained by us. Otherwise, the ego will again and again assert itself, and all our knowledge of the Gita will be buried underground because if whatever knowledge we have gained through our intelligence and through our understanding does not soak itself into our feeling, there will be no blending of our character.
Knowledge is the way in which we are living. Knowledge is not a theoretical book-learning. It is not a certificate from a college. It is the very way and behaviour in which we conduct ourselves in life—not only in respect of ourselves, but also in respect of other people, and perhaps even in respect of God Himself.
How difficult is this teaching! The comprehensiveness of the teaching is so profound that the fractional thinking that the mind is accustomed to will find it very hard to grasp. A total thinking is required of us in the understanding of the Bhagavadgita and the Upanishads, but we are always accustomed to fractional thinking. When we think of one thing, we do not think of another thing. It is necessary for us to think of one thing together with all other things, which are also related in a holistic fashion.
There is a modern system of psychology which has now discovered that the mind works in a holistic fashion. Though it looks as if we are thinking one or two thoughts at a time, the other thoughts which are buried or implicit, and which are not actually on the surface of the mind, have some impact on the present thought, and they condition us so that our actions are not entirely faultless. If our actions are motivated or directed only by one or two thoughts, and we completely ignore the presence of other aspects of our thought, our actions will not be faultless. Sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ (18.48): Every action is subject to some mistake. As where there is fire there is smoke, there is some mistake involved in everything that we do because whenever we act, whenever we do anything, we use a part of our mind because of the fact that we work on the basis of a notion of like and dislike. We have partitioned the world into two blocks: the necessary and the unnecessary.
Hence, the Bhagavadgita teaching becomes necessary for such fractional thinkers. A high standard of purification of the mind is necessary by the yamas and niyamas, as Patanjali puts it, and the Sadhana Chatushtaya, as the Vedanta Shastra puts it. Suddenly jumping into the meditative techniques of the Bhagavadgita will not take us any further unless our mind is prepared for it and we are really asking for God.
Commentary on the Bhagavadgita
by Swami Krishnananda
Discourse 7: The Third Chapter Concludes – The Knower of Reality
Tattvavit tu mahābāho guṇakarmavibhāgayoḥ, guṇā guṇeṣu vartanta iti matvā na sajjate (3.28). Tattvavitmeans the knower of Reality. Here ‘knower’ means the knower of the processes of the gunas of prakriti and their relation to actions performed by individuals. Guṇakarmavibhāgayoḥ tattvavit: One who knows the reality of the manner of the working of the gunas of prakriti in their relation to the actions of people is a tattvavit.
What does a tattvavit know? One with this insight recognises that all movements in the form of activities of any kind are only movements of the gunas of prakriti, whether they operate in heaven, on this earth, in the nether regions, or in hell. Na tad asti pṛthivyāṁ vā divi deveṣu vā punaḥ, sattvaṁ prakṛtijair muktaṁ yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhir guṇaiḥ (18.40): Not in all creation, including the celestials in heaven, will we find a single entity which is free from the involvement in the gunas of prakriti. The celestials are more rarefied in their constitution and can penetrate through even solid objects on account of their inner constitution being sattvic in nature. We cannot do that; we are predominantly rajasic and tamasic. So in all creation, whether it is in heaven or on earth or anywhere, the activities that are seen among people are only the activities of the gunas of prakriti.
If two legs walk, it is an activity of two limbs of the body, though actually it is not an independent activity of the legs. It is an order issued by the entire organism of the body and the mind. The entire body is in action when the legs move. Whenever an individual works or does any action, even the least of action, a cosmic mutation in the form of the rotation of the gunas of prakriti determines his action. Therefore, the tattvavit, or the knower of Reality, is a cosmically aware individual.
When anything takes place or an event occurs anywhere in the world, the tattvavit knows that it occurs everywhere. Modern physics tells us that events do not take place in space. If they do not take place in space, where else do they take place? They take place not in time, not in space. That means to say, an event that occurs historically in this world—so-called historically from our point of view—does not take place in one particular part of the world. It is an agitation taking place in the whole world but manifest only in some part, like an ulcer or a boil. It may be a volcano or an epidemic or a war taking place in some part of the world, but it is engendered by the agitation of the total organism of the world.
Physics has now gone to the extent of realising that there is a continuum which is the ultimate reality of the universe, and it is not physical or solid in its nature. Solids can be converted into liquids, liquids can be converted into gases, gases can be converted into pure energy, and energy is not located in any particular place. Energy is not a localised movement; it is a continuum that is non-spatial and non-temporal. This is a subject in modern physics which practically takes us to the conclusions of the Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita that all action is a cosmic action.
Thus a tattvavit, a knower of this reality of the mutations of the gunas of prakriti in relation to the activities of an individual, knows that the gunas act on the gunas. All actions are nothing but the collision of parts of prakriti with other parts of prakriti. When the sense organs perceive an object, these gunas, as the sense organs, come in contact with the gunas as the object of prakriti. The forces of nature operate individually as well as externally. We noted previously that the sense organs are constituted of the gunas of prakriti, and are intelligently superintended by the divinities—the adhidaivatas, which work in between the adhyatma, the individual, and the adhibhuta, the object. Guṇā guṇeṣu vartanta iti matvā: All this wonderful activity of the world, this great drama which is the history of mankind—natural or anthropological, or whatever we call it—is just a play of prakriti. It is not a particular event caused by any individual anywhere. We may say nature does everything, or we may even say God does everything.
Having known this, the knower of Reality, or the tattvavit, is na sajjate—is not attached to anything. He does not even hold an opinion on anything, because to hold an opinion is to pass a judgment, which is nothing but a localised notion that we entertain in regard to something; and no wise person can pass a judgment on anything in this world because to judge a thing is to eliminate factors which are invisible and uncognisable, and yet contributory to the occurrence of a particular event. Judge not, lest you be judged. If you judge a thing, you will be judged in a similar manner by the forces of nature. Whatever you do to the world, that will be done to you. Do unto others as you would be done by. Ᾱtmanaḥ pratikūlāni pareśāṁ na samācharet (M.B. 5.15.17): That which is not good for you should not be meted out to others either. This is an ethical consequence that we may draw from this scientific and philosophical conclusion that the gunas of prakriti alone operate in this world and they constitute all the solid objects—mountains and rivers and the solar system and all our bodies, and everything we can think of in heaven or on earth. Knowing this, he is not attached to anything. He remains unbiased, unconcerned. He is a witness of the drama, just as the audience in an enactment of a drama is not attached either to this actor or that actor, knowing very well that all the actors perform a mutually correlated activity to produce a definite effect. Just as the audience does not get attached to any performer in a drama, so is the case with the knower of Reality. He is not attached to anything—iti matvā na sajjate. Totally unconcerned and wanting nothing does a knower of Reality live.
What is his attitude towards people who do not know this Reality? Ignorant people who behave very foolishly and get attached to things—what is his attitude towards them? This is suggested in the next verse. Prakṛter guṇasaṁmūḍhāḥ sajjante guṇakarmasu, tān akṛtsnavido mandān kṛtsnavin na vicālayet (3.29): Those who do not have an insight into the nature of prakriti’s actions get attached to particular objects of sense; but we should not disturb their feeling or condemn their outlook of life. We should not tell them that their outlook is totally wrong and that their perception is erroneous. Condemnation is something unknown to the knower of Reality. The teacher in a school does not condemn the ignorant child, or the student. An efflorescence of the mind of the student is attempted by the teacher, who is a master of psychology. Sri Krishna is a master of psychology and he acts as the best of teachers before a student like Arjuna, and thus he expects every knower of Truth to also behave as a good teacher of mankind, and not a judge of mankind. The teacher does not judge the student as good or bad, but as someone who is in a particular state of evolution from which he has to effloresce and flower into a larger dimension of knowledge. The teacher is sometimes called a spiritual midwife, in the language of Socrates. The midwife does not create the child, but brings the child out. So is the case with the teacher. He does not thrust knowledge into the ignorant person. He does not interfere at all with the mind of the student, but enables the mind to undergo a transmutation by the dexterous psychological activity of the teacher, so that knowledge manifests itself automatically from the otherwise ignorant mind.
A person who taught Plato and Socrates once made a humorous analogy that even a buffalo knows geometry. How can he say that a buffalo knows geometry? For that, an illustration was given. Imagine there is a triangular field, and a buffalo is standing at one of the angles. At another angle there is a man with a bundle of grass, who calls to the buffalo. Will the buffalo come directly, or will it come through the other angle? It knows that this line is shorter than the other line; this is the geometrical knowledge of the buffalo. So, some knowledge is inherent even in a buffalo. A monkey knows that stones that are thrown will not hit it if it hides behind a tree. This is the monkey’s logic. We cannot say that the monkey does not have logic. It knows how to grab the fruit that is in our hand when we are unaware of its presence. When we are aware, it will not come. When we are unaware, looking away, it will come; and if we pursue it, it knows how to hide itself. So there is an incipient wisdom present even in the lowest category of creation. Therefore, the wise one is he who acts as a good mentor and does not judge things as good or bad. He is a divinity itself. Tān akṛtsnavido mandān kṛtsnavin na vicālayet: The one who is kṛtsnavit, knowing all things, should not interfere with those who know things only partially. People who have only a fractional knowledge of things should not be judged as inferior by the one who has a complete knowledge of things; and no student is considered as totally unfit by a good teacher.
Who is a tattvavit? A knower of Reality, he knows the ways of the gunas of prakriti and their relation to the activities of people. How does he behave? This interesting attitude and behaviour of the jnanin, or the knower of Truth, is placed before us in two verses in the Third Chapter. It may look strange that these two verses, which do not fit in with the subject of the Third Chapter, are placed there. Only the Lord knows why He has put them there. Suddenly, He takes our minds to some height, which is actually not the theme of the Third Chapter.
Yas tvātmaratir eva syād ātmatṛptaś ca mānavaḥ, ātmany- eva ca saṁtuṣṭas tasya kāryaṁ na vidyate(3.17): There is no duty to be performed by that person who is satisfied with the Self. Ᾱtmany eva ca saṁtuṣṭas tasya kāryaṁ na vidyate: There is no necessity for that person to come in contact with any external atmosphere in the form of activity, because he is rejoicing in his own Self. Ᾱtmarati is one who is rejoicing, delighting in his own Self. He plays by himself, he delights with himself. He is in company with his own Self. The Upanishad also says that his friend is himself. His company is himself. His food is himself. He rejoices within himself. Such a person is called ātmarati—one who does not want anything because he is everything.
Yas tv ātmaratir eva syād ātmatṛptaś: He is one who is satisfied with what he is, and does not try to possess anything further. We generally try to be satisfied with our possessions, with what we have. So much land, so much money, so much reputation—on that basis we judge the quantity and quality of our happiness. But here, the joy of this ātmarati, tattvavit, is not dependent on these external factors of land, money, reputation, etc. It is rooted in himself. Atmatriptaḥ: I am satisfied with what I am and not necessarily with what I have. This is a tattvavit. Ᾱtmatṛptaś ca mānavaḥ, ātmanyeva ca saṁtuṣṭas: He is satisfied with himself. Tasya kāryaṁ na vidyate: He has no duty to perform.
He does not have to depend on anything else in this world for his sustenance: tasya kṛtenārtho nākṛteneha kaścana (3.18). Such is the glorious ideal that the sage reaches, on having an insight into the structure of this world of prakriti and its relation to human activity.
Arjuna puts a question. Atha kena prayukto’yaṁ pāpaṁ carati pūruṣaḥ, anicchannapi vārṣṇeya balād iva niyojitaḥ (3.36): “This is an interesting teaching, and very enlightening indeed, but people find it very difficult to practise. People commit errors, blunders and sins, even if this teaching is poured on their heads. Knowingly, as it were, people commit mistakes. Though they are learned and have an insight into the knowledge of the scriptures, they are likely to take the erroneous path. What is the reason behind this mistake that human beings are subjected to?”
Kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajoguṇa samudbhavaḥ, mahāśano mahāpāpmā viddhyenam iha vairiṇam (3.37). Our enemy is our own self, the lower self, to which I made reference yesterday, which is conditioned entirely with the sentiments of love and hatred. In the verses of the Second Chapter, which we have already studied, it is mentioned how desire arises in terms of objects, and when a desire arises in terms of objects there is simultaneous anger in regard to that which is likely to be a hindrance in the fulfilment of the desire. Therefore, when there is a desire, there is anger, either potential or manifest. Even if it is not manifest, there is a susceptibility to anger in regard to a possible hindrance that may arise in the fulfilment of a desire. Hence, love and hatred go together. Kama and krodha go together.
Kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajoguṇa samudbhavaḥ. Born of the intense agitation of prakriti’s nature, due to the agitation of the rajasic quality of the mind and the intense disturbance on the surface of the psyche, there is the impetuous activity of the sense organs in the direction of other people and other things in the world, with whom we deal in a manner which is always partial and never wholesome. It is always partial because of the fact that we can never have a judicious understanding of the total structure of anything in this world. Our knowledge is fractional. We are not tattvavit; we do not know the relation between the gunas of prakriti and action. So we are pulled in the direction of self-destruction. As a moth flies into the blazing flame under the impression that it is beautiful, and is reduced to ashes, the flames of desire which burn through the sense organs compel the individual soul to fly to the objects of sense, thereby losing its understanding and, sometimes, its very existence itself.
This impulse has to be restrained. We should not get angry. Actually, anger is a sign of absence of even culture, let alone spiritual insight. An uncultured person gets agitated over silly things. His eyes become red, his lips start throbbing, and he starts showing his fist. This is not only a sign of a lack of education and culture, it is a brute’s nature. Anger is the worst of enemies. Let it not take possession of you.
Hanuman got very angry in Lanka. Sita’s predicament roused his anger to such an extent that he thought, “I should go from here only after teaching a lesson to Ravana.” His mission was only to find Sita and tell Rama where she was; he was not entrusted with any other work. But this ambassador went beyond his empowered authority as an ambassador. He said, “It is best for an ambassador to do something more than what he is instructed, in the interest of the government. They have not told me to do that, but in their interest I will do it.” So he rose up into a mountainous shape, and we know what he did. He destroyed the whole of Lanka by setting fire to it. Afterwards he cooled down a bit. He began to feel, “What a wretched act I have done! Anger is the worst of enemies. How is it that I got into a rage of this kind and set fire everywhere, not thinking that perhaps Sita may also be burned? If this has happened, I shall not go back to Rama. I shall stay here itself, do prayopavesha and end my life.”
He is a hero who, knowing that fire-like anger is rising up, subdues it with the power of the will. Such a person is a hero, and not merely one who carries a weapon in his hand. Kama and krodhaare the worst of enemies. They are hindrances in the spiritual advancement of the spirit because their main activity is to violate the very consciousness of universality through the sense organs that work on the basis of kama and krodha, desire and anger. How are we going to subdue these forces?
If we want to get a license or a permit, we can apply to the government in two ways. There is a method of approaching through the proper channels. The nearest official is approached and the application is submitted; and that person endorses it and gives to the next official, until finally the supreme authority endorses it and the permit is granted. The other method is to go directly to the supreme authority, if it is practicable and possible for us, and then an immediate order is issued and is communicated to all the subordinate officials automatically, spontaneously, instead of the routine, stereotyped method of rising gradually over a period of time.
So is the instruction of Bhagavan Sri Krishna in the manner of controlling these impulses of kamaand krodha. We can go gradually from the lower level of restraint to the higher level, or we can touch the top and put the whole force down with one action. The stereotyped, procedural method is to apply the lower methods of restraint and gradually go up to the higher methods of restraint. A person who is subject to intense passions and anger may do well to fast one day in a week. Or if he is more sincere and honest, he may miss a meal every day because then his impulses will know that if they start creating too much havoc, they will miss a meal, so they will be cautious in manifesting themselves. Restrain yourself through habits of food. Have only a sattvic diet, and not rajasic and tamasic diets. Fast one day in a week, or miss a meal every day. That is one method.
The other method is, as far as possible, to try to avoid the company of people who are not in any way going to be of help to you or are going to be a disturbance to you. Atheists and materialists or opponents of any kind may not be good company for you. Be alone to yourself. Try to be alone to yourself as much as possible, and be in the midst of people only to that extent as would be necessitated by the work that you perform. You may be a teacher, you may be a factory manager, you may be a medical person, or you may be professor, etc. You may be in the midst of society only to the extent to which you have to fulfil your obligations—not more, not less. When that performance is over, you may withdraw yourself. When the class is over, you need not go on chatting with the other teachers, etc. Reduce your contact with people to the minimum by a judicious analysis of the requirements of human society. Thus, diet is one method, and social contact is another.
The third is the study of spiritual books such as the Bhagavata, the Bhagavadgita, the Upanishads, etc. This should be done every day, in the early morning, so that you start the day with the noble thoughts of Vyasa or Valmiki or Bhagavan Sri Krishna or Jesus Christ or whoever it is. The intense nobility and the profundity of these spiritual teachings which have gone into your mind due to your svadhyaya in the morning will, to some extent, restrain your behaviour throughout the day.
Lastly, there is meditation and japa. As much time as possible must be devoted to meditation and japa. The sense organs are weakened by these methods, and weak minds cannot wreak as much havoc and are not as rapacious as they are when they have strength.
Indriyāṇi mano buddhir asyādhiṣṭhānam ucyate (3.40). The forces of kama and krodha have a location in your body. They are the sense organs, the manas and the buddhi. Your reason, your mind and your sense organs are the instruments which are harnessed by the forces of kama and krodha to achieve their purpose. So the lower category may be controlled first, and the higher category afterwards. The sense organs may be restrained first by the means that I mentioned in brief. Then you can control the mind gradually by japa sadhana. As direct meditation is very difficult, the mind can be restrained by japa sadhana, purascharana, etc. Then the buddhi is restrained by higher meditation.
This is a procedural method of the application from the lower orders to the higher orders. But there is a direct method of subjugating the sense organs, which is the rousing of the aspiration of the soul for establishing itself in Universal Consciousness. This is called the rousing of the brahmakara vritti in the mind. A vritti is a modification of the mind. Ordinarily there is a visayakara vritti in your mind. A modification of the mind in terms of the objects of sense is called visayakara vritti, but the modification of the mind in terms of Universal Existence is called brahmakara vritti. When you try to analyse the interrelationships of the circumstances of life, you will notice that everything is connected to everything else. Therefore, any particular passion or anger in regard to an object is not permitted. This kind of meditation, which is your attempt to locate or fix your consciousness on a universal concept, will immediately put a check on the instinctive activities of the mind and, secondarily, on the impetuous activities of the sense organs.
indriyāṇi parāṇyāhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ
manasas tu parā buddhir yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ (3.42)
evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā saṁstabhyātmānam ātmanā
jahi śatruṁ mahābāho kāmarūpaṁ durāsadam (3.43)
These last verses of the Third Chapter are like medicine, a prescription by a doctor, which you may repeat every day. The indriyas are strong, no doubt, but the sense organs being strong does not mean that they are the only authorities in the world. The mind is stronger than the sense organs. The intellect, or the higher reason, is stronger than the instinctive mind. Higher than the reason is the strength of this Universal Spirit, which you really are. So try to root yourself gradually by the process of self-analysis, through which you realise the interconnection of all things, on account of which particular love and hatred cannot be sanctioned in this world. There cannot be desire for something or hatred for something. Kama and krodha can be subjugated in this way by a direct push that you give from the top, from the Atman that is universal. When the order from the universal Atman is communicated to the buddhi, it communicates that order into the mind, and the mind communicates the order to the sense organs, and puts a check on their activities. Kama and krodhacease. This is how you may control these hindrances to spiritual practice. So concludes the Third Chapter of the Bhagavadgita.
Tattvavit tu mahābāho guṇakarmavibhāgayoḥ, guṇā guṇeṣu vartanta iti matvā na sajjate (3.28). Tattvavitmeans the knower of Reality. Here ‘knower’ means the knower of the processes of the gunas of prakriti and their relation to actions performed by individuals. Guṇakarmavibhāgayoḥ tattvavit: One who knows the reality of the manner of the working of the gunas of prakriti in their relation to the actions of people is a tattvavit.
What does a tattvavit know? One with this insight recognises that all movements in the form of activities of any kind are only movements of the gunas of prakriti, whether they operate in heaven, on this earth, in the nether regions, or in hell. Na tad asti pṛthivyāṁ vā divi deveṣu vā punaḥ, sattvaṁ prakṛtijair muktaṁ yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhir guṇaiḥ (18.40): Not in all creation, including the celestials in heaven, will we find a single entity which is free from the involvement in the gunas of prakriti. The celestials are more rarefied in their constitution and can penetrate through even solid objects on account of their inner constitution being sattvic in nature. We cannot do that; we are predominantly rajasic and tamasic. So in all creation, whether it is in heaven or on earth or anywhere, the activities that are seen among people are only the activities of the gunas of prakriti.
If two legs walk, it is an activity of two limbs of the body, though actually it is not an independent activity of the legs. It is an order issued by the entire organism of the body and the mind. The entire body is in action when the legs move. Whenever an individual works or does any action, even the least of action, a cosmic mutation in the form of the rotation of the gunas of prakriti determines his action. Therefore, the tattvavit, or the knower of Reality, is a cosmically aware individual.
When anything takes place or an event occurs anywhere in the world, the tattvavit knows that it occurs everywhere. Modern physics tells us that events do not take place in space. If they do not take place in space, where else do they take place? They take place not in time, not in space. That means to say, an event that occurs historically in this world—so-called historically from our point of view—does not take place in one particular part of the world. It is an agitation taking place in the whole world but manifest only in some part, like an ulcer or a boil. It may be a volcano or an epidemic or a war taking place in some part of the world, but it is engendered by the agitation of the total organism of the world.
Physics has now gone to the extent of realising that there is a continuum which is the ultimate reality of the universe, and it is not physical or solid in its nature. Solids can be converted into liquids, liquids can be converted into gases, gases can be converted into pure energy, and energy is not located in any particular place. Energy is not a localised movement; it is a continuum that is non-spatial and non-temporal. This is a subject in modern physics which practically takes us to the conclusions of the Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita that all action is a cosmic action.
Thus a tattvavit, a knower of this reality of the mutations of the gunas of prakriti in relation to the activities of an individual, knows that the gunas act on the gunas. All actions are nothing but the collision of parts of prakriti with other parts of prakriti. When the sense organs perceive an object, these gunas, as the sense organs, come in contact with the gunas as the object of prakriti. The forces of nature operate individually as well as externally. We noted previously that the sense organs are constituted of the gunas of prakriti, and are intelligently superintended by the divinities—the adhidaivatas, which work in between the adhyatma, the individual, and the adhibhuta, the object. Guṇā guṇeṣu vartanta iti matvā: All this wonderful activity of the world, this great drama which is the history of mankind—natural or anthropological, or whatever we call it—is just a play of prakriti. It is not a particular event caused by any individual anywhere. We may say nature does everything, or we may even say God does everything.
Having known this, the knower of Reality, or the tattvavit, is na sajjate—is not attached to anything. He does not even hold an opinion on anything, because to hold an opinion is to pass a judgment, which is nothing but a localised notion that we entertain in regard to something; and no wise person can pass a judgment on anything in this world because to judge a thing is to eliminate factors which are invisible and uncognisable, and yet contributory to the occurrence of a particular event. Judge not, lest you be judged. If you judge a thing, you will be judged in a similar manner by the forces of nature. Whatever you do to the world, that will be done to you. Do unto others as you would be done by. Ᾱtmanaḥ pratikūlāni pareśāṁ na samācharet (M.B. 5.15.17): That which is not good for you should not be meted out to others either. This is an ethical consequence that we may draw from this scientific and philosophical conclusion that the gunas of prakriti alone operate in this world and they constitute all the solid objects—mountains and rivers and the solar system and all our bodies, and everything we can think of in heaven or on earth. Knowing this, he is not attached to anything. He remains unbiased, unconcerned. He is a witness of the drama, just as the audience in an enactment of a drama is not attached either to this actor or that actor, knowing very well that all the actors perform a mutually correlated activity to produce a definite effect. Just as the audience does not get attached to any performer in a drama, so is the case with the knower of Reality. He is not attached to anything—iti matvā na sajjate. Totally unconcerned and wanting nothing does a knower of Reality live.
What is his attitude towards people who do not know this Reality? Ignorant people who behave very foolishly and get attached to things—what is his attitude towards them? This is suggested in the next verse. Prakṛter guṇasaṁmūḍhāḥ sajjante guṇakarmasu, tān akṛtsnavido mandān kṛtsnavin na vicālayet (3.29): Those who do not have an insight into the nature of prakriti’s actions get attached to particular objects of sense; but we should not disturb their feeling or condemn their outlook of life. We should not tell them that their outlook is totally wrong and that their perception is erroneous. Condemnation is something unknown to the knower of Reality. The teacher in a school does not condemn the ignorant child, or the student. An efflorescence of the mind of the student is attempted by the teacher, who is a master of psychology. Sri Krishna is a master of psychology and he acts as the best of teachers before a student like Arjuna, and thus he expects every knower of Truth to also behave as a good teacher of mankind, and not a judge of mankind. The teacher does not judge the student as good or bad, but as someone who is in a particular state of evolution from which he has to effloresce and flower into a larger dimension of knowledge. The teacher is sometimes called a spiritual midwife, in the language of Socrates. The midwife does not create the child, but brings the child out. So is the case with the teacher. He does not thrust knowledge into the ignorant person. He does not interfere at all with the mind of the student, but enables the mind to undergo a transmutation by the dexterous psychological activity of the teacher, so that knowledge manifests itself automatically from the otherwise ignorant mind.
A person who taught Plato and Socrates once made a humorous analogy that even a buffalo knows geometry. How can he say that a buffalo knows geometry? For that, an illustration was given. Imagine there is a triangular field, and a buffalo is standing at one of the angles. At another angle there is a man with a bundle of grass, who calls to the buffalo. Will the buffalo come directly, or will it come through the other angle? It knows that this line is shorter than the other line; this is the geometrical knowledge of the buffalo. So, some knowledge is inherent even in a buffalo. A monkey knows that stones that are thrown will not hit it if it hides behind a tree. This is the monkey’s logic. We cannot say that the monkey does not have logic. It knows how to grab the fruit that is in our hand when we are unaware of its presence. When we are aware, it will not come. When we are unaware, looking away, it will come; and if we pursue it, it knows how to hide itself. So there is an incipient wisdom present even in the lowest category of creation. Therefore, the wise one is he who acts as a good mentor and does not judge things as good or bad. He is a divinity itself. Tān akṛtsnavido mandān kṛtsnavin na vicālayet: The one who is kṛtsnavit, knowing all things, should not interfere with those who know things only partially. People who have only a fractional knowledge of things should not be judged as inferior by the one who has a complete knowledge of things; and no student is considered as totally unfit by a good teacher.
Who is a tattvavit? A knower of Reality, he knows the ways of the gunas of prakriti and their relation to the activities of people. How does he behave? This interesting attitude and behaviour of the jnanin, or the knower of Truth, is placed before us in two verses in the Third Chapter. It may look strange that these two verses, which do not fit in with the subject of the Third Chapter, are placed there. Only the Lord knows why He has put them there. Suddenly, He takes our minds to some height, which is actually not the theme of the Third Chapter.
Yas tvātmaratir eva syād ātmatṛptaś ca mānavaḥ, ātmany- eva ca saṁtuṣṭas tasya kāryaṁ na vidyate(3.17): There is no duty to be performed by that person who is satisfied with the Self. Ᾱtmany eva ca saṁtuṣṭas tasya kāryaṁ na vidyate: There is no necessity for that person to come in contact with any external atmosphere in the form of activity, because he is rejoicing in his own Self. Ᾱtmarati is one who is rejoicing, delighting in his own Self. He plays by himself, he delights with himself. He is in company with his own Self. The Upanishad also says that his friend is himself. His company is himself. His food is himself. He rejoices within himself. Such a person is called ātmarati—one who does not want anything because he is everything.
Yas tv ātmaratir eva syād ātmatṛptaś: He is one who is satisfied with what he is, and does not try to possess anything further. We generally try to be satisfied with our possessions, with what we have. So much land, so much money, so much reputation—on that basis we judge the quantity and quality of our happiness. But here, the joy of this ātmarati, tattvavit, is not dependent on these external factors of land, money, reputation, etc. It is rooted in himself. Atmatriptaḥ: I am satisfied with what I am and not necessarily with what I have. This is a tattvavit. Ᾱtmatṛptaś ca mānavaḥ, ātmanyeva ca saṁtuṣṭas: He is satisfied with himself. Tasya kāryaṁ na vidyate: He has no duty to perform.
He does not have to depend on anything else in this world for his sustenance: tasya kṛtenārtho nākṛteneha kaścana (3.18). Such is the glorious ideal that the sage reaches, on having an insight into the structure of this world of prakriti and its relation to human activity.
Arjuna puts a question. Atha kena prayukto’yaṁ pāpaṁ carati pūruṣaḥ, anicchannapi vārṣṇeya balād iva niyojitaḥ (3.36): “This is an interesting teaching, and very enlightening indeed, but people find it very difficult to practise. People commit errors, blunders and sins, even if this teaching is poured on their heads. Knowingly, as it were, people commit mistakes. Though they are learned and have an insight into the knowledge of the scriptures, they are likely to take the erroneous path. What is the reason behind this mistake that human beings are subjected to?”
Kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajoguṇa samudbhavaḥ, mahāśano mahāpāpmā viddhyenam iha vairiṇam (3.37). Our enemy is our own self, the lower self, to which I made reference yesterday, which is conditioned entirely with the sentiments of love and hatred. In the verses of the Second Chapter, which we have already studied, it is mentioned how desire arises in terms of objects, and when a desire arises in terms of objects there is simultaneous anger in regard to that which is likely to be a hindrance in the fulfilment of the desire. Therefore, when there is a desire, there is anger, either potential or manifest. Even if it is not manifest, there is a susceptibility to anger in regard to a possible hindrance that may arise in the fulfilment of a desire. Hence, love and hatred go together. Kama and krodha go together.
Kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajoguṇa samudbhavaḥ. Born of the intense agitation of prakriti’s nature, due to the agitation of the rajasic quality of the mind and the intense disturbance on the surface of the psyche, there is the impetuous activity of the sense organs in the direction of other people and other things in the world, with whom we deal in a manner which is always partial and never wholesome. It is always partial because of the fact that we can never have a judicious understanding of the total structure of anything in this world. Our knowledge is fractional. We are not tattvavit; we do not know the relation between the gunas of prakriti and action. So we are pulled in the direction of self-destruction. As a moth flies into the blazing flame under the impression that it is beautiful, and is reduced to ashes, the flames of desire which burn through the sense organs compel the individual soul to fly to the objects of sense, thereby losing its understanding and, sometimes, its very existence itself.
This impulse has to be restrained. We should not get angry. Actually, anger is a sign of absence of even culture, let alone spiritual insight. An uncultured person gets agitated over silly things. His eyes become red, his lips start throbbing, and he starts showing his fist. This is not only a sign of a lack of education and culture, it is a brute’s nature. Anger is the worst of enemies. Let it not take possession of you.
Hanuman got very angry in Lanka. Sita’s predicament roused his anger to such an extent that he thought, “I should go from here only after teaching a lesson to Ravana.” His mission was only to find Sita and tell Rama where she was; he was not entrusted with any other work. But this ambassador went beyond his empowered authority as an ambassador. He said, “It is best for an ambassador to do something more than what he is instructed, in the interest of the government. They have not told me to do that, but in their interest I will do it.” So he rose up into a mountainous shape, and we know what he did. He destroyed the whole of Lanka by setting fire to it. Afterwards he cooled down a bit. He began to feel, “What a wretched act I have done! Anger is the worst of enemies. How is it that I got into a rage of this kind and set fire everywhere, not thinking that perhaps Sita may also be burned? If this has happened, I shall not go back to Rama. I shall stay here itself, do prayopavesha and end my life.”
He is a hero who, knowing that fire-like anger is rising up, subdues it with the power of the will. Such a person is a hero, and not merely one who carries a weapon in his hand. Kama and krodhaare the worst of enemies. They are hindrances in the spiritual advancement of the spirit because their main activity is to violate the very consciousness of universality through the sense organs that work on the basis of kama and krodha, desire and anger. How are we going to subdue these forces?
If we want to get a license or a permit, we can apply to the government in two ways. There is a method of approaching through the proper channels. The nearest official is approached and the application is submitted; and that person endorses it and gives to the next official, until finally the supreme authority endorses it and the permit is granted. The other method is to go directly to the supreme authority, if it is practicable and possible for us, and then an immediate order is issued and is communicated to all the subordinate officials automatically, spontaneously, instead of the routine, stereotyped method of rising gradually over a period of time.
So is the instruction of Bhagavan Sri Krishna in the manner of controlling these impulses of kamaand krodha. We can go gradually from the lower level of restraint to the higher level, or we can touch the top and put the whole force down with one action. The stereotyped, procedural method is to apply the lower methods of restraint and gradually go up to the higher methods of restraint. A person who is subject to intense passions and anger may do well to fast one day in a week. Or if he is more sincere and honest, he may miss a meal every day because then his impulses will know that if they start creating too much havoc, they will miss a meal, so they will be cautious in manifesting themselves. Restrain yourself through habits of food. Have only a sattvic diet, and not rajasic and tamasic diets. Fast one day in a week, or miss a meal every day. That is one method.
The other method is, as far as possible, to try to avoid the company of people who are not in any way going to be of help to you or are going to be a disturbance to you. Atheists and materialists or opponents of any kind may not be good company for you. Be alone to yourself. Try to be alone to yourself as much as possible, and be in the midst of people only to that extent as would be necessitated by the work that you perform. You may be a teacher, you may be a factory manager, you may be a medical person, or you may be professor, etc. You may be in the midst of society only to the extent to which you have to fulfil your obligations—not more, not less. When that performance is over, you may withdraw yourself. When the class is over, you need not go on chatting with the other teachers, etc. Reduce your contact with people to the minimum by a judicious analysis of the requirements of human society. Thus, diet is one method, and social contact is another.
The third is the study of spiritual books such as the Bhagavata, the Bhagavadgita, the Upanishads, etc. This should be done every day, in the early morning, so that you start the day with the noble thoughts of Vyasa or Valmiki or Bhagavan Sri Krishna or Jesus Christ or whoever it is. The intense nobility and the profundity of these spiritual teachings which have gone into your mind due to your svadhyaya in the morning will, to some extent, restrain your behaviour throughout the day.
Lastly, there is meditation and japa. As much time as possible must be devoted to meditation and japa. The sense organs are weakened by these methods, and weak minds cannot wreak as much havoc and are not as rapacious as they are when they have strength.
Indriyāṇi mano buddhir asyādhiṣṭhānam ucyate (3.40). The forces of kama and krodha have a location in your body. They are the sense organs, the manas and the buddhi. Your reason, your mind and your sense organs are the instruments which are harnessed by the forces of kama and krodha to achieve their purpose. So the lower category may be controlled first, and the higher category afterwards. The sense organs may be restrained first by the means that I mentioned in brief. Then you can control the mind gradually by japa sadhana. As direct meditation is very difficult, the mind can be restrained by japa sadhana, purascharana, etc. Then the buddhi is restrained by higher meditation.
This is a procedural method of the application from the lower orders to the higher orders. But there is a direct method of subjugating the sense organs, which is the rousing of the aspiration of the soul for establishing itself in Universal Consciousness. This is called the rousing of the brahmakara vritti in the mind. A vritti is a modification of the mind. Ordinarily there is a visayakara vritti in your mind. A modification of the mind in terms of the objects of sense is called visayakara vritti, but the modification of the mind in terms of Universal Existence is called brahmakara vritti. When you try to analyse the interrelationships of the circumstances of life, you will notice that everything is connected to everything else. Therefore, any particular passion or anger in regard to an object is not permitted. This kind of meditation, which is your attempt to locate or fix your consciousness on a universal concept, will immediately put a check on the instinctive activities of the mind and, secondarily, on the impetuous activities of the sense organs.
indriyāṇi parāṇyāhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ
manasas tu parā buddhir yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ (3.42)
evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā saṁstabhyātmānam ātmanā
jahi śatruṁ mahābāho kāmarūpaṁ durāsadam (3.43)
manasas tu parā buddhir yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ (3.42)
evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā saṁstabhyātmānam ātmanā
jahi śatruṁ mahābāho kāmarūpaṁ durāsadam (3.43)
These last verses of the Third Chapter are like medicine, a prescription by a doctor, which you may repeat every day. The indriyas are strong, no doubt, but the sense organs being strong does not mean that they are the only authorities in the world. The mind is stronger than the sense organs. The intellect, or the higher reason, is stronger than the instinctive mind. Higher than the reason is the strength of this Universal Spirit, which you really are. So try to root yourself gradually by the process of self-analysis, through which you realise the interconnection of all things, on account of which particular love and hatred cannot be sanctioned in this world. There cannot be desire for something or hatred for something. Kama and krodha can be subjugated in this way by a direct push that you give from the top, from the Atman that is universal. When the order from the universal Atman is communicated to the buddhi, it communicates that order into the mind, and the mind communicates the order to the sense organs, and puts a check on their activities. Kama and krodhacease. This is how you may control these hindrances to spiritual practice. So concludes the Third Chapter of the Bhagavadgita.
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