SOUL MATTERS, PART 13- CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL

 

TJS POST IS CONTINUED FROM PART 2, BELOW--

 

CHECK OUT THE SONG OF THE MIND/ SOUL..  

THESE WORDS OF WISDOM WERE PENNED 6000 YEARS AGO WHEN THE WHITE MAN WAS RUNNING AROUND BALLS FLAPPING DOING GRUNT GRUNT FOR LANGUAGE

 

Soul is the spiritual seat of man while mind is man's faculty of thinking and reasoning.

 

6000 years ago, Kerala maharishi Vyasa offered Dhritarashtra the power of sight which would enable him to see  the events of war.  Unwilling to see the  inevitable massacre of his sons, the blind king desired to know the full  details of the war.

 

To fulfill Dhritarashtra's request Vyasa bestowed Sanjaya,  the trusted minister of Dhritarashtra, with the divine intuitive vision by  which he could know not only the incidents of the battlefield but also the  ideas in the minds of the warriors.

 

Sthitapragya refers to a person of steady wisdom, the one who has experienced the truth from within.

 

The sthitaprajna is also known as a jivanmukta (one who is liberated while still living an earthly life) ...

 

According to the Bhagavad Gita, a sthitaprajna:

 

Is free from worldly attachments and aversions

Does not need to seek the truth because he sees truth

Is free from motives and ego

Has attained full knowledge of the Ultimate Reality

Does good deeds with no expectations of reward

Is aware of the oneness of Reality

 

https://captajitvadakayil.in/2022/02/17/the-term-guru-mentioned-in-vedas-and-upanishads-is-essentially-a-jivanmukt-capt-ajit-vadakayil/

 

Vedantic  philosophy and spirituality indicates that our body postures have  psychological counter parts. As the mind is, so is the body; bodily expressions  being the manifestation of the working of the mind or the effect of psyche.  This is what we call ‘body language’ in the modern business school terminology

 

Metaphorically,  Krishna’s chariot represents the human gross body, the horses are the senses and  their reins are the mind that controls the senses. The charioteer is the  guiding spirit or the soul or Atman in the human beings.  Bhagavan Krishna, the divine charioteer,  is the soul in all of us.

 

Once  observation starts, analysis is not far too behind and analysis always leads to  wavering of mind. So Arjuna analyses the question to fight or not to fight and  comes to the conclusion that he should not fight. In all his arguments in  support of that conclusion he puts forward several pleadings which apparently  look valid and very wise but in fact are very hollow as Krishna proves them to  be subsequently.

 

Arjuna was  afflicted with great depression of mind masquerading as compassion

 

Mortals whose minds come under the sway of  the defects of sorrow, delusion, etc. there verily follows, as a matter of  course, abandoning their own duties and resorting to prohibited ones.

 

Krishna classified  Arjuna`s mind as confused. Consequently all the utterances of such confused  Arjuna would be meaningless and devoid of discrimination. Hence he is termed  un-Aryan.

 

At the end of the conversation with Krishna , Arjuna has changed his mind

 

The  message of Krishna is that the goal of life or success cannot be attained by  the weak.  To be firm in body, mind and  character is born of strength. 

 

Joys  and sorrows are all responses of the mind to the conducive and non-conducive  world around us. They are but mental reactions - thoughts. Learn to be observer  of these emotions rather than get identified with them. Do not react but  reflect. Stand apart - be aloof in yourself - be just an uninterested witness  to the tumults of the mind. This attitude gives poise and balance.

 

Titiksha  or the power of endurance of the pairs of opposites  does not  mean a meek submission to sorrows in life (Stoic philosophy) but signifies the  equipoise of mind in both pleasure and pain entertained by a wise man based on  the knowledge of the Soul’s immortality.

 

The  life is finite. The body changes every moment, mind evolves and intellect grows  with the passage of time.  Each change in  the body for example from childhood to youth and from youth to old age results  in the constant death to its previous state.

 

Body, mind and intellect  constitute the continuous succession of the changes and all of them cannot be  real. A thing which never remains the same for any given period is un-Real.  The whole of the phenomenal world must be  unreal because no one state in it endures even for a fraction of the time.

 

But  there must be some real entity behind these changes.  For the changes to take place there must be  some changeless substratum just as a river bed is necessary for the rivers to  flow.  In order to hold together  innumerable experiences at the levels of body, mind and intellect and to give  them a cohesive whole which is called life, a changeless substratum is required  for all.

 

The  physical body may be injured or destroyed by illness or death. The soul is  subject to neither of these. The soul is said to be incomprehensible because it  is not comprehended by the senses, by the mind, or by any other instrument of  knowledge.

 

The soul is svatah-siddha, determined by Itself. Being the  knowing Consciousness, It cannot be known by any other instrument. Everything  is known by the soul just as no other light is required the see the light of  the Sun which is self-effulgent.

 

This Sanskrit verse was found inside the great pyramid of Giza, Egypt and kept as a great secret.

 

वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय

नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि |

तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा

न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही || 22||

 

vasansi jirnani yatha vihaya

navani grihnati naro ’parani

tatha sharirani vihaya jirnanya

nyani sanyati navani dehi

 

Translation

BG 2.22: As a person sheds worn-out garments and wears new ones, likewise, at the time of death, the soul casts off its worn-out body and enters a new one.

 

The `worn out condition of the body' does not  refer to its biological condition but to the capacity of the body, mind and  intellect equipments to earn the required experiences from the available  environment for facilitating their evolutionary journey. This evolution and  change is for the physical bodies and not for the soul.

 

The  soul is not an object of perception.  It cannot  be perceived by any one of the senses. Therefore, it is unmanifest. The mind  can think only about an object perceived by the senses. As the soul cannot be  perceived by the senses, It is unthinkable and beyond comprehension.. As the soul is infinite and without any form it cannot undergo any change.  Hence It is changeless or immutable.

 

He who thus understands the nature of the body  and all human relationships based upon it will not allow them to have any  influence upon his mind

 

Yoga  or Karmayoga is the path of action. The follower of this path engages in action  without any desire for or attachment to the result of such action. He regards  himself as an instrument of God. It is desire and attachment that create the  subtle impressions in the mind (vasanas) which are the seeds of future  action. Action performed without attachment or care for the result does not  create new karma, but leaves the will free to devote itself to the achievement  of Self-realization. This is the secret of Karma Yoga.

 

व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिरेकेह कुरुनन्दन |

बहुशाखा ह्यनन्ताश्च बुद्धयोऽव्यवसायिनाम् || 41||

 

vyavasayatmika buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana

bahu-shakha hyanantash cha buddhayo ’vyavasayinam

 

Translation

BG 2.41: O descendent of the Kurus, the intellect of those who are on this path is resolute, and their aim is one-pointed. But the intellect of those who are irresolute is many-branched.

 

In  this Karma Yoga, even the highest achievement of Self-realization is possible  because the man works with single-pointed determination with concentrated mind.  Those who perform actions with endless desires for results get their inner  personality disintegrated and dissipated. With the scattered minds they are not  able to apply themselves to the tasks involved and therefore their attempts  invariably end in failure.

 

भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानां तयापहृतचेतसाम् |

व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धि: समाधौ न विधीयते || 44||

 

bhogaiswvarya-prasaktanam tayapahrita-chetasam

vyavasayatmika buddhih samadhau na vidhiyate

 

Translation

BG 2.44: With their minds deeply attached to worldly pleasures and their intellects bewildered by such things, they are unable to possess the resolute determination for success on the path to God.

 

Thos whose minds are carried away  by flowery words (who are attracted by and attached to pleasures and  prosperity) are not well-established in the soul (in concentration).

 

 

त्रैगुण्यविषया वेदा निस्त्रैगुण्यो भवार्जुन |

निर्द्वन्द्वो नित्यसत्त्वस्थो निर्योगक्षेम आत्मवान् || 45||

 

trai-gunya-vishaya veda nistrai-gunyo bhavarjuna

nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho niryoga-kshema atmavan

 

Translation

BG 2.45: The Vedas deal with the three modes of material nature, O Arjun. Rise above the three modes to a state of pure spiritual consciousness. Freeing yourself from dualities, eternally fixed in Truth, and without concern for material gain and safety, be situated in the soul..

 

The three Gunas  remain in all the living creatures in varying degrees.  The mind and intellect are constituted with  these qualities. Going above these temperaments means going beyond the mind and  intellect to re-discover one to be the soul..

 

The sorrows of the pairs of the opposites,  the temptation to be impure and the desire for acquiring and preserving  all belong to the ego-centre arising out of  the soul identifying with not-Self i.e. body, mind and intellect.

 

बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते |

तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योग: कर्मसु कौशलम् || 50||

 

buddhi-yukto jahatiha ubhe sukrita-dushkrite

tasmad yogaya yujyasva yogah karmasu kaushalam

 

Translation

BG 2.50: One who prudently practices the science of work without attachment can get rid of both good and bad reactions in this life itself.

 

Krishna says ‘devote yourself to the yoga of equanimity’ i.e. remain  continuously even-minded through realization of God. If a man performs his  duties, maintaining this evenness, then his mind rests on God all the while.  Work that otherwise enslaves, becomes a means to freedom when performed with  evenness of mind.

 

 

Work becomes worship. Skill in action, therefore, lies in the  practice of this equanimity (of yoga) in success and failure.  Krishna does not define Yoga as skill in action but explains  the importance of Yoga (equanimity) in action. Otherwise, the action Sunny Leone who  carried out porn skillfully ( her Jewish Vohra father told , be good in whatever you do – tee heee )  also can come within the meaning of the Yoga which will  be obviously ridiculous.

 

कर्मजं बुद्धियुक्ता हि फलं त्यक्त्वा मनीषिण: |

जन्मबन्धविनिर्मुक्ता: पदं गच्छन्त्यनामयम् || 51||

 

karma-jam buddhi-yukta hi phalam tyaktva manishinah

janma-bandha-vinirmuktah padam gachchhanty-anamayam

 

Translation

BG 2.51: The wise endowed with equanimity of intellect, abandon attachment to the fruits of actions, which bind one to the cycle of life and death. By working in such consciousness, they attain the state beyond all suffering.

 

The  wise i.e those who know the art of true living undertake all work with evenness  of mind (renouncement of ego) and abandoning the anxiety for the fruits of  their actions (renouncement of ego-motivated desires). Thereby, they have no  occasion to enter into the cycle of birth and death as there are no vasanas  left in them for fulfillment.

 

Such  an entity who is called a Karma Yogin will attain bliss i.e. the state which is  beyond all evils. As knowledge is superior to action, the implication is that  selfless actions purify the mind and prepare the individual for higher  meditations through which he ultimately discovers himself as the soul which  lies beyond all blemish. This is also called as Buddhi Yoga

 

 

यदा ते मोहकलिलं बुद्धिर्व्यतितरिष्यति |

तदा गन्तासि निर्वेदं श्रोतव्यस्य श्रुतस्य च || 52||

 

yada te moha-kalilam buddhir vyatitarishyati

tada gantasi nirvedam shrotavyasya shrutasya cha

 

Translation

BG 2.52: When your intellect crosses the quagmire of delusion, you will then acquire indifference to what has been heard and what is yet to be heard (about enjoyments in this world and the next).

Delusion  is the non-discrimination between the soul and the non-Self or ego and it turns  the mind towards the sense objects. This is the state which favors egoism in  this body and attachment for the body, family, kinsmen and objects. When the  man gets entangled in this slough of delusion, he is perplexed and therefore  cannot think properly.

 

When  the intellect crosses over this delusion and attains purity of mind one  develops disgust and indifference regarding things heard (enjoyed) and those  yet to be heard (to be enjoyed in future). The things known and yet to be known  being finite in nature are considered futile. The means to achieve this goal  are by discrimination between the real and the unreal and selfless service.

 

श्रुतिविप्रतिपन्ना ते यदा स्थास्यति निश्चला |

समाधावचला बुद्धिस्तदा योगमवाप्स्यसि || 53||

shruti-vipratipanna te yada sthasyati nishchala

samadhav-achala buddhis tada yogam avapsyasi

 

Translation

BG 2.53: When your intellect ceases to be allured by the fruitive sections of the Vedas and remains steadfast in divine consciousness, you will then attain the state of perfect Yog.

 

The  mind gets agitated due to the continuous stimuli it receives from the external  world through the sense organs. When an individual in spite of such  disturbances and agitations of the mind does not lose his cool, inner serenity  and equipoise, and remains concentrated in the knowledge of the soul, he is considered  as having attained Yoga or Samadhi or Self Realization (God-Consciousness).

 

Samadhi  is not the loss of consciousness but the highest kind of consciousness wherein  the object with which the mind is in communion is the Divine Self which is the  result of the discrimination between the soul and the Non-Self, the Real and  the Unreal.

 

श्रीभगवानुवाच |

प्रजहाति यदा कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान् |

आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्ट: स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते || 55||

 

shri bhagavan uvacha

prajahati yada kaman sarvan partha mano-gatan

atmany-evatmana tushtah sthita-prajnas tadochyate

 

Translation

BG 2.55: The Supreme Lord said: O Parth, when one discards all selfish desires and cravings of the senses that torment the mind, and becomes satisfied in the realization of the soul, such a person is said to be transcendentally situated.

 

Man  is a bundle of desires. They may be strong or weak and have an origin and a seat  in his mind for whatever cause it may be.   Therefore when the mind along with the intellect rests stable in God,  all the desires will vanish. After the cessation of all the desires, when a  seeker perceives the Supreme Self and rests in the perpetual calm, he is known  as ‘satisfied in the soul through the soul’.

 

दु:खेष्वनुद्विग्नमना: सुखेषु विगतस्पृह: |

वीतरागभयक्रोध: स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते || 56||

duhkheshv-anudvigna-manah sukheshu vigata-sprihah

vita-raga-bhaya-krodhah sthita-dhir munir uchyate

 

Translation

BG 2.56: One whose mind remains undisturbed amidst misery, who does not crave for pleasure, and who is free from attachment, fear, and anger, is called a sage of steady wisdom.

 

Times of  pain and sorrow hit everybody and a wise man is no exception; but his mind does  not get bogged down by them. His pain is localized, and it stops there.  Similarly, in times of pleasure, the one who  has no craving has no thirst for more of that pleasure. Thus the one who does  not feel depressed in times of pain and sorrow, and who in times of pleasure  has no craving for more of that pleasure is a wise man.

 

The one  whose mind and intellect  are totally free from  intense longing or passion for anything  outside of oneself, free from fear of any kind and devoid of anger or temporary  madness about anything is called one whose is steady and well rooted in self knowledge. Such a person is also called one who is capable of reflection,  analysis and proper judgment at all times being always immersed in God  Consciousness. He is called the wise person.

 

The detachment of a sannyasi  from the outside world should be coupled with capacity to face all challenges  in life - auspicious and inauspicious - with a balanced mind in both. Life by  its very nature is a mixture of good and bad. The perfected one experiences  both of them with equal detachment because he is ever established in the soul.

 

The  sense organs receive the stimuli from the objects of the external world which  are passed on to the mind. The mind has got a natural tendency to run after  such worldly objects. The yogi withdraws the mind again and again from the  objects of the senses and fixes it on the soul and makes himself free from the  disturbances of life.

 

विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिन: |

रसवर्जं रसोऽप्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते || 59||

 

vishaya vinivartante niraharasya dehinah

rasa-varjam raso ’pyasya param drishtva nivartate

 

Translation

BG 2.59: Aspirants may restrain the senses from their objects of enjoyment, but the taste for the sense objects remains. However, even this taste ceases for those who realizes the Supreme.

 

The  sense objects reach out to only those who is badly in need of them and not to  those who do not want them. Even then, the sense objects are capable of leaving  their taste behind even in an abstinent seeker who may find it difficult to  erase them completely from his mind.  Krishna says here that all such  longings created even at the mental level because of ego will be made  ineffective when the seeker transcends ego and comes to experience the soul -  attains wisdom. But the reverse i.e. with the disappearance of the taste a  striver attains steadfast wisdom is not true.

 

यततो ह्यपि कौन्तेय पुरुषस्य विपश्चित: |

इन्द्रियाणि प्रमाथीनि हरन्ति प्रसभं मन: || 60||

 

yatato hyapi kaunteya purushasya vipashchitah

indriyani pramathini haranti prasabham manah

 

Translation

BG 2.60: The senses are so strong and turbulent, O son of Kunti, that they can forcibly carry away the mind even of a person endowed with discrimination who practices self-control.

Even  a man of discrimination falls prey to the temptations of the world. Therefore,  the aspirant must not relax his effort for self-control. He should bring all  the senses under his control; otherwise his mind will be dragged into the field  of sense objects leading to a sorrowful experience. This is more likely to happen  even to a highly evolved seeker whereby he will not be able to reach his  spiritual destination of final liberation.   This is an advice of caution to the seeker.

 

तानि सर्वाणि संयम्य युक्त आसीत मत्पर: |

वशे हि यस्येन्द्रियाणि तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता || 61||

 

tani sarvani sanyamya yukta asita mat-parah

vashe hi yasyendriyani tasya prajna pratishthita

 

Translation

BG 2.61: They are established in perfect knowledge, who subdue their senses and keep their minds ever absorbed in Me.

 

Krishna warns Arjuna here that as a seeker of Self-perfection he should control  his mind by withdrawing all his sense organs from their wanderings and should  concentrate his entire attention on `me' i.e. The Lord, The Supreme. The idea  is that the mind should be made completely calm to meditate on Him, the Supreme  Lord.

Such  a Yogi, having brought under control all his senses, is called a person of  steady wisdom and established in the soul. Self-discipline is not a matter of  intelligence. It is a matter of will of the mind and vision of the Highest. This  is a technique of Self-Development.

 

क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोह: सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रम: |

स्मृतिभ्रंशाद् बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति || 63||

 

krodhad bhavati sammohah sammohat smriti-vibhramah

smriti-bhranshad buddhi-nasho buddhi-nashat pranashyati

 

Translation

BG 2.63: Anger leads to clouding of judgment, which results in bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, the intellect gets destroyed; and when the intellect is destroyed, one is ruined.

 

 

Krishna explains the theory of fall of man from God-hood to  sense-entanglements. The source of all evils is wrong thinking and false perceptions.  When a man constantly thinks upon the alluring features of the sense objects  the consistency of such thought creates an attachment in him for the objects of  his thought. When similar thoughts come to play on his mind continuously they  become strong desire for possessing and enjoying the objects of attachment.

He tries  his level best to obtain them. When this motive energy encounters with forces  creating obstacles in the way of fulfillment of his desires it is called anger. 

 

He starts hating the people who come in the way of satisfying his wants, fights  with them and develops hostility towards them. When a person is afflicted with  anger, his mind gets confused casting a shadow on the lessons of wisdom learnt  by him through past experience.  Thus  deprived of the moral strength, he loses his power of discrimination between  right and wrong which is called destruction of intelligence.

 

Failing  in discrimination, he acts irrationally on the impulse of passions and emotions  and thereby he is unable to attain the spiritual goal paving the way for self-destruction.  Here Krishna traces moral degradation to those first breaths of thought that  come softly and almost unconsciously to the mind.

 

Desires  may prove to be as rebellious and challenging as the most powerful external forces.  They may lift us into glory or hurl us into disgrace.

 

What  is called for is not a forced isolation from the world or destruction of sense  life but an inward withdrawal. To hate the senses is as wrong as to love them.  The horses of the senses are not to be unyoked from the chariot but controlled  by the reins of the mind.

 

रागद्वेषवियुक्तैस्तु विषयानिन्द्रियैश्चरन् |

आत्मवश्यैर्विधेयात्मा प्रसादमधिगच्छति || 64||

 

raga-dvesha-viyuktais tu vishayan indriyaish charan

atma-vashyair-vidheyatma prasadam adhigachchhati

 

Translation

BG 2.64: But one who controls the mind, and is free from attachment and aversion, even while using the objects of the senses, attains the Grace of God.

 

But   the self-controlled man, moving among objects with  his senses   under  restraint  and free  from  both   attraction   and repulsion, attains peace.

 

The  mind and the senses are endowed with the two natural currents of attraction and  repulsion - liking some objects and disliking certain others. But a man with  mental discipline approaches these sense objects with a mind free from  attraction or repulsion thereby attaining the peace of the Eternal. The senses  and the mind are his servants but not the masters; he is the Master of wisdom.  Running away from the sense objects cannot ensure mental tranquility because  mind’s agitations for getting the desired objects or to get rid of the  undesired ones will continue.

 

When  the  mind is trained in these two aspects  viz., (a) to  live in  self-control  and (b) to move among the   sense  objects  with neither attachment nor hatred towards  them, its agitations caused by  the  charm of such objects are  brought  under  control.  This condition of the mind, which has  the least sense disturbances because of the ineffectiveness of the sense  objects upon it, is called tranquility or peace or `Prasada'.

 

The  well-known Upanishadic saying is “The human mind is of two kinds, pure and  impure. That which is intent on securing the desires is impure; that which is  free from attachment to desires is pure”.

 

The  entire existence with respect to an individual is divided into two categories:  1. ‘I’ or aham and 2. ‘This’ or idam.  Soul ( Atman)  is ‘I’ and the rest  is ‘This’ idam.  But due to the  ignorance of my real nature, I am always identified with my body, mind and  intellect and thus developed a false notion about myself. This false notion is  ego.

 

If  I can differentiate what is different from me, I can apprehend my own nature. Thus  the enquiry is to know first what is not I and then to assert what is I. In  other words it is about knowing what is not I (the body, mind and intellect)  and knowing my real nature i.e. soul. This is the study of the nature of  the soul and the body which is called Sarira Traya Prakriya.

 

The soul  is also beyond the limitations of body, mind and intellect. It is also beyond  space and time because space and time also are creations of the mind.

The purport of Krishna’s advice to Arjuna is that the latter should change the  direction of his mindset from the unreal to the real.

 

Krishna advises Arjuna, while encouraging him to fight, that he should enter  the war keeping himself unaffected by the debilitating mental tendencies like  pleasure and pain, gain and loss, conquest and defeat etc.  This is the Yoga of equanimity of the mind or  the doctrine of poise in action.

 

Equanimity  in all challenging situations ensures success in life and enables the purging of  ego-sense and egocentric desires. This removal is blocked when the individual  starts getting disturbed by all sorts of pairs of opposites when the ego sense  overtakes him. To be equanimous is to act detached from ego. This kind of right  living results in mental purification or vasana elimination or correction of  mental tendencies.

 

If  a person performs an action with the above mental attitude or with a balanced  state of mind he will not reap the fruits of such an action.  Such an action will lead to the purification  of his heart and liberation.

 

Control  of the senses and the mind is prescribed as a stepping stone to spiritual  progress as these faculties have a natural propensity to engage with objects.  This underscores the fact that the spiritual quest involves directing the mind  within by withdrawing it from objects.

 

When the mind engages in the world it is  constantly subjected to attachment, likes and dislikes, and anger because the  external factors are not under one’s control. To realize one’s true nature as  the Self (Atman) within it is necessary to exercise control over the mind by  restraining its tendency to do what it likes.

 

If the mind is given the freedom to do what it  wants only constant restlessness would result as a result of desires that arise  one after another. This prods the individual to action to fulfill his desires  giving rise to frustration and anger when they are not fulfilled.

 

Even when he  is able to realize his desires the joy that he enjoys is fleeting and thus the  quest for worldly joy only subjects the person to further bondage by his  actions. To become free from this quagmire, which traps man, is the objective  of spiritual quest. The basic requirement then is disentanglement from the  world slowly by restraining the mind.

 

As long as an individual is subject to  bondage—due to ignorance of his true spiritual nature—his identification will  be with his body and his actions will be to preserve and pamper it, while a man  of wisdom (Jnani) will identify with the soul and thus be free from attachment  to his body.

 

The equanimity  of mind that a Jnani has is a consequence of his constant abiding in the soul,  which is tranquil and blissful. The afflictions of his body will not disturb  his mind as he is aware of their transience. The relationship between the body  and the mind is an illusion created due to superimposition (Adhyasa), which is  primordial. Just as the Moon shines because of the Sun’s light, so also does  the mind acquire the properties of the objects it engages with. When the mind  attains union with the soul it reflects its serenity and bliss.

 

Krishna’s  advice to Arjuna is to have equanimity of mind to achieve the ultimate  objective. He says, “One who has control over the mind is tranquil in heat and  cold, in pleasure and pain, in honor and dishonor and is ever steadfast with the  Supreme Self”. This is in accordance with the saying in the Rig Veda “The mind  is fickle like a fast galloping horse and the only way to control it is by  involving it in good actions beneficial for the welfare of all”.

 

If  a man can control his mind he can find the way to enlightenment and all wisdom and  virtue will naturally come to him. The mind is like a white cloth. Dip it in  red dye, it turns red, dip it in green, it turns green. Put it out in the sun  for long, it loses its color. The mind is truly the Self itself with no color.

 

What  we think determines what happens to us. So if we want to change our lives we  need to stretch our minds. The world is as the mind  perceives it. The world is as the mind thinks of it. (“mano matramjagat, mano kalpitam jagat”).

 

If  the Bhagavad Gita is viewed as a spiritual metaphor the persons portrayed are ingenious  depictions symbolizing the various stages in the transformation of spirit into  matter. The battle proper represents the real struggle that ensues within a person  who realizes that all along it was the mind and its deep-rooted tendencies that  were playing a devious game of deception with him, leading to false perceptions  of truth and happiness and so, under proper guidance, sets out to rectify all  this.

 

Kurukshetra,  the battlefield refers to our own bodily domain, where the action must take  place. Pandu was the rightful monarch of Bharata, the bodily kingdom. Pand in  Sanskrit means white or pure, referring to the faculty of discriminating  between right and wrong, which humans inherently possess. If man lives as per  this discriminating power he will live life in such a way that slowly but  surely, the soul's body-consciousness ascends to spirit-consciousness and thus  one attains independence from false providers of happiness, namely, the five  senses.

 

As  the story goes, Pandu has five sons representing the power of dispassion and  the power of persisting therein. The bodily kingdom comes to be ruled by the  blind king Dhritarashtra who represents our own infatuated sense and hence  "blind" mind.  The blind king's  eldest son Duryodhana represents vain, material desire, most difficult to fight  off. His ninety nine other sons represent other sense-entrenched tendencies of  the mind.

 

 

श्रीभगवानुवाच |

लोकेऽस्मिन्द्विविधा निष्ठा पुरा प्रोक्ता मयानघ |

ज्ञानयोगेन साङ्ख्यानां कर्मयोगेन योगिनाम् || 3||

 

shri bhagavan uvacha

loke ’smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha

jnana-yogena sankhyanam karma-yogena yoginam

 

Translation

BG 3.3: The Lord said: O sinless one, the two paths leading to enlightenment were previously explained by Me: the path of knowledge, for those inclined toward contemplation, and the path of work for those inclined toward action.

 

Those of contemplative mind are born with a clear  knowledge of the soul and the non-Self. They easily renounce the world even at  the early age of their lives and concentrate their thoughts on Brahman always.  For them the path of knowledge is prescribed so that their ideas can mature and  blend with Brahman.

 

The understanding of those who believe in external  action as a means of self-unfoldment is still colored by the stain of duality.  The performance of unselfish action purifies their souls and enables them to  practice knowledge and contemplation.

 

To consider the path of action and the path of  knowledge as competitive is to understand neither of them, they being  complementary. Selfless activity enables the mind to exhaust many of its  existing mental impressions and the mind thus purified prepares the one for the  reception of knowledge of the Absolute through meditation or contemplation. There  cannot be any knowledge of Brahman unless the mind is pure.

 

Those who are endowed with discrimination,  dispassion, six-fold virtues, and longing for liberation and who have a sharp,  subtle intellect and bold understanding are fit for Gnana Yoga or the Path of  Knowledge. The six-fold virtues are control of the mind, control of the senses,  fortitude, turning away from the objects of the world; faith and tranquility.  Those who have tendency for work are fit for  Karma Yoga or the Path of Action.

 

न कर्मणामनारम्भान्नैष्कर्म्यं पुरुषोऽश्नुते |

न च संन्यसनादेव सिद्धिं समधिगच्छति || 4||

 

na karmanam anarambhan naishkarmyam purusho ’shnute

na cha sannyasanad eva siddhim samadhigachchhati

 

Translation

BG 3.4: One cannot achieve freedom from karmic reactions by merely abstaining from work, nor can one attain perfection of knowledge by mere physical renunciation.

 

 

Action  as it is generally understood is the outcome of want and desire. Actionlessness  does not mean mere idling or abandoning of all actions. Although one can while  away his time doing nothing, his mind will be full of thoughts scheming,  speculating and planning over several matters. Desires generate thoughts at the  mental level which when expressed in the outer world become actions. Thus  thought is the real action. If one is free from thoughts, wishes, likes and  dislikes and has knowledge of the soul he can be said to have reached the state  of actionlessness.

The  one who has reached such a state of actionlessness has neither the necessity  nor the desire for action as a means to the end. He has a perfect satisfaction  in the soul. Thus actionlessness and perfection are synonymous terms meaning,  becoming one with the Infinite and free from all ideas of want and desire.

 

Mere  renunciation or abandonment of action or running away from life does not lead  to perfection.  Through selfless  dedicated action, purification of mind is achieved and the purified mind helps  in attaining the Knowledge of the soul which is the ultimate Bliss. The natural  law is that every action has its reaction and hence the result of the action is  a source of bondage preventing the man from his union with the Supreme. What is  needed is not renunciation of works but renunciation of selfish desires. This  is naishkarmya, a state where one is unaffected by work.

 

 

न हि कश्चित्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत् |

कार्यते ह्यवश: कर्म सर्व: प्रकृतिजैर्गुणै: || 5||

 

na hi kashchit kshanam api jatu tishthatyakarma-krit

karyate hyavashah karma sarvah prakriti-jair gunaih

 

Translation

BG 3.5: There is no one who can remain without action even for a moment. Indeed, all beings are compelled to act by their qualities born of material nature (the three guṇas).

 

Man  is always under the influence of triple tendencies of inactivity- based on his  Sattwic quality, activity- based on Rajasic quality, inactivity- based on  Tamasic quality. Even for a single moment nobody can ever remain without any activity;  even if one remains inactive physically his mind and intellect will always be  active. Sattwic actions help a man to attain liberation.  Rajasic and Tamasic actions bind a man to  worldliness.

 

 

कर्मेन्द्रियाणि संयम्य य आस्ते मनसा स्मरन् |

इन्द्रियार्थान्विमूढात्मा मिथ्याचार: स उच्यते || 6||

 

karmendriyani sanyamya ya aste manasa smaran

indriyarthan vimudhatma mithyacharah sa uchyate

 

Translation

BG 3.6: Those who restrain the external organs of action, while continuing to dwell on sense objects in the mind, certainly delude themselves and are to be called hypocrites.

The  five organs of action - the Karma Indriyas - are the organs of speech, hands,  feet, genitals and anus. They are born of the Rajasic portion of the subtle  elements viz. organ of speech is born of ether element, hands of air, feet of  fire, genitals of water and anus of earth. Despite restraining these organs if  one sits revolving in his mind the thoughts regarding the objects of these  sense organs in order to give an impression that he is meditating on God, he is  called a self-deluded hypocrite and a man of sinful conduct.

 

True  renunciation is not just the control of the organs of action or abstention from  physical movement. It is the control of the mind and the organs of perception.  It is the absence of longing for the activity. An active mind and an action  less body do not indicate the life of sanyasa. We may control outwardly  our activities but if we do not restrain the desires which impel them, we have  failed to grasp the true meaning of restraint.

 

यस्त्विन्द्रियाणि मनसा नियम्यारभतेऽर्जुन |

कर्मेन्द्रियै: कर्मयोगमसक्त: स विशिष्यते || 7||

 

yas tvindriyani manasa niyamyarabhate ’rjuna

karmendriyaih karma-yogam asaktah sa vishishyate

 

Translation

BG 3.7: But those karm yogis who control their knowledge senses with the mind, O Arjun, and engage the working senses in working without attachment, are certainly superior.

The  science of right action and the art of right living are explained in this  verse. Mind gets its inputs through five organs of perception which are also  called sense-organs or organs of knowledge (Gnana Indriyas) from the outer  world of sense objects. These five sense organs are the eye (sense of sight),  ear (sense of hearing), nose (sense of smell), skin (sense of touch), and  tongue (sense of taste).

 

Mind perceives the sense objects by interacting with  the sense organs and if that interaction is absent perception of objects by the  mind is not possible even though the objects might be within the range of the  sense organs. This verse asks the seeker to control the sense organs by the  mind.  This implies substitution of sense  objects by nobler and diviner alternatives for the mind to dwell upon.

 

तस्मादसक्त: सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर |

असक्तो ह्याचरन्कर्म परमाप्नोति पूरुष: || 19||

 

tasmad asaktah satatam karyam karma samachara

asakto hyacharan karma param apnoti purushah

 

Translation

BG 3.19: Therefore, giving up attachment, perform actions as a matter of duty because by working without being attached to the fruits, one attains the Supreme.

 

After  explaining the wheel of action Krishna concludes His dissertation by asking  Arjuna to perform actions which are obligatory on his part in his present  status in life. Even here Krishna warns him to keep his mind away from the  pitfalls of attachments.

 

Though  the liberated man has nothing to gain by action or non-action and is perfectly  happy in the enjoyment of the Self, there is such a thing called desire less  action which he undertakes for the welfare of the world. The work done without  attachment is superior to the work done in a spirit of sacrifice which is  itself higher than work done with selfish aims. While this verse says that the  man reaches the Supreme performing actions without attachment, Sankara holds  that karma yoga helps us to attain purity of mind which leads to salvation. It  takes us to perfection indirectly through the attainment of purity of mind.

 

प्रकृते: क्रियमाणानि गुणै: कर्माणि सर्वश: |

अहङ्कारविमूढात्मा कर्ताहमिति मन्यते || 27||

 

prakriteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvashah

ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate

 

Translation

BG 3.27: All activities are carried out by the three modes of material nature. But in ignorance, the soul, deluded by false identification with the body, thinks of itself as the doer.

 

the Gunas modify themselves into the outside world, the body and the senses  which are called the modes of Prakriti. They are classified into twenty three  categories viz. intellect, ego, mind, the five subtle elements of ether etc.,  the ten organs of perception and action, and the five objects of senses viz.  sound, touch, sight, taste and smell.

 

These are the performers of all action. The  word ‘action’ includes all the functions of the organs of perception and action (jnana indriyas and karma indriyas). The soul looks on without  participating in any way in the action done by the body and the senses. Whatever  actions take place in this world are nothing but the operations of the  aforesaid modes of Prakriti and the absolute and formless Atma or the soul has  really nothing to do with them.

 

An  ignorant man, however, identifies the soul with the aggregate of the body and  the senses and calls it as ‘I ‘and thinks that the soul is the doer.

 

Even  though the Self or the soul has no relation with actions, the unwise man  identifying himself with the body and the senses associates himself with the  different actions of the body and thus assumes himself to be the doer of those  actions. In other words he thinks it is he who resolves, he who reflects, he  who hears, he who sees, he who eats, he who drinks, sleeps, walks and so on and  thus traces every action to himself. Thus he ascribes to the Self all the  characteristics that really belong to the Gunas. That is why action becomes the  cause of bondage to him. It is the reason for him to go through the process of repeated  births and deaths to reap the fruits of those actions

 

 

तत्त्ववित्तु महाबाहो गुणकर्मविभागयो: |

गुणा गुणेषु वर्तन्त इति मत्वा न सज्जते || 28||

 

tattva-vit tu maha-baho guna-karma-vibhagayoh

guna guneshu vartanta iti matva na sajjate

 

Translation

BG 3.28: O mighty-armed Arjun, illumined persons distinguish the soul as distinct from guṇas and karmas. They perceive that it is only the guṇas (in the shape of the senses, mind, and others) that move among the guṇas (in the shape of the objects of perception), and thus they do not get entangled in them.

 

 

The  enlightened man who has obtained insight into the categories of the gunas and  actions, attributes every action of the mind, intellect, senses and the body to  the fact that it is the product of these gunas in the shape of all instruments  of perception such as the mind, intellect and senses that are moving within the  sphere of their respective objects, which are also products of the gunas and  that he has no relation with either.   Therefore, he does not get attached to either any action or to their  fruits in the shape of agreeable or disagreeable experiences.

 

The  difference between the active enlightened man and the active ignorant man is  that the former is beyond the influence of the gunas and considers himself as a  non-doer while the latter is controlled by the gunas and feels that everything  is being done by him.

 

प्रकृतेर्गुणसम्मूढा: सज्जन्ते गुणकर्मसु |

तानकृत्स्नविदो मन्दान्कृत्स्नविन्न विचालयेत् || 29||

 

prakriter guna-sammudhah sajjante guna-karmasu

tan akritsna-vido mandan kritsna-vin na vichalayet

 

Translation

BG 3.29: Those who are deluded by the operation of the guṇas become attached to the results of their actions. But the wise who understand these truths should not unsettle such ignorant people who know very little.

 

Ignorant  people perform actions with the expectation of results.  The wise, who have knowledge of the soul  should not disturb the conviction of such ignorant persons (people of  insufficient knowledge, or men of meager intelligence) because if their minds  are unsettled they will give up actions themselves and plunge themselves into  inertia.

Therefore,  in the beginning they should be encouraged to perform actions irrespective of  their attachment to its fruits and gradually they should be taught the goal of  selfless activities for the attainment of Self-realization.

 

मयि सर्वाणि कर्माणि संन्यस्याध्यात्मचेतसा |

निराशीर्निर्ममो भूत्वा युध्यस्व विगतज्वर: || 30||

 

mayi sarvani karmani sannyasyadhyatma-chetasa

nirashir nirmamo bhutva yudhyasva vigata-jvarah

 

Translation

BG 3.30: Performing all works as an offering unto Me, constantly meditate on Me as the Supreme. Become free from desire and selfishness, and with your mental grief departed, fight!

 

Surrendering  all actions to Me, with the mind intent on the soul, freeing yourself from the  longing and selfishness, fight unperturbed by grief.

 

Krishna asks Arjuna to fight on surrendering  all activities unto Him, with the mind always concentrated on the Soul.

 

Purification of motives  is possible only when the mind is made to concentrate on the soul and the  Divine glory.  Actions performed with  such mind cannot be ordinary actions but they will be activities performed for  the sake of The Lord and are the expressions of the Supreme Will through an  individual.

 

Krishna advocates Karma Yoga as a path that takes one ultimately to the Supreme  because through desire less activity alone when performed with full faith and without criticism and questioning we will be able to bring about Vasana-exhaustion  and thus make the mind purer for its meditative purposes

 

Karma  Yoga is a way of life and one has to live it if one wants to receive His grace.  The path of work is a process of elimination of desires in us. When egoism and  egocentric desires are eliminated the work done through such pure mind is a  divine action which will have enduring achievements.  To the extent an individual does not practice  this efficient way of work he loses his discriminative capacity and ultimately  will meet his destruction.

 

इन्द्रियस्येन्द्रियस्यार्थे रागद्वेषौ व्यवस्थितौ |

तयोर्न वशमागच्छेत्तौ ह्यस्य परिपन्थिनौ || 34||

 

indriyasyendriyasyarthe raga-dveshau vyavasthitau

tayor na vasham agachchhet tau hyasya paripanthinau

 

Translation

BG 3.34: The senses naturally experience attachment and aversion to the sense objects, but do not be controlled by them, for they are way-layers and foes.

Attachment  and aversion of the sense organs to sense objects are natural to every one.  Although the sense objects as such are not capable of attraction or repulsion it  is the mind which produces such agitations because of its being conditioned by  vasanas. Thus mind develops attachment for the agreeable objects and aversion  for disagreeable one

 

If we overcome these impulses from our egocentric ideas and act from a sense of  duty, we cannot be the victims of the play of Prakriti. Thus in the process of  controlling the mind - stopping it from running after the objects of attachment  and aversion -   lies the personal  exertion for the seeker.  That is his  Purushartha.

 

Discrimination  is blocked by the sense of attachment in the mind for the worldly objects.  Desires fall under three categories depending upon the quality of attachments -  Tamasic - inert, Rajasic - active, and Sattwic -divine.

 

इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते |

एतैर्विमोहयत्येष ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम् || 40||

 

indriyani mano buddhir asyadhishthanam uchyate

etair vimohayatyesha jnanam avritya dehinam

 

Translation

BG 3.40: The senses, mind, and intellect are said to be breeding grounds of desire. Through them, it clouds one’s knowledge and deludes the embodied soul.

 

The  senses, the mind and the intellect are said to be its seat; through these it  deludes the embodied by veiling his wisdom.

 

Krishna says the senses, the mind and  the intellect are seats of action for the desire to play havoc with the inner  serenity and equipoise of a man. The sense organs transmit the stimuli received  from the objects of enjoyment to the mind which working in close collaboration  with the intellect starts living in the experience of sense enjoyments.  To eliminate the inner enemy of desire at its  source - sense-organs, mind and intellect- is the crux of the problem. 

 

 

इन्द्रियाणि पराण्याहुरिन्द्रियेभ्य: परं मन: |

मनसस्तु परा बुद्धिर्यो बुद्धे: परतस्तु स: || 42||

 

indriyani paranyahur indriyebhyah param manah

manasas tu para buddhir yo buddheh paratas tu sah

 

Translation

BG 3.42: The senses are superior to the gross body, and superior to the senses is the mind. Beyond the mind is the intellect, and even beyond the intellect is the soul.

 

They  say that the senses are superior to the body; superior to the senses is the mind;  superior to the mind is intellect; and one who is superior even to the  intellect is He - The soul..

 

The  physical body is gross, external and limited. As compared to this the senses  are superior because they are subtler and more internal and have a wider range  of activity.  Superior to the senses is  the mind as it can direct the function of the senses (as it can undertake the  work of the senses also).

 

Superior to the mind is the intellect because it is  endowed with the faculty of discrimination and finality; when the mind doubts,  the intellect decides. But The soul is superior to even the intellect because  the intellect draws its power to illuminate from the soul alone. The soul is  the indweller in the body, the Witness of the activities of the body, senses,  mind and intellect.

 

Krishna advises Arjuna to conquer desire with this understanding of the  superior power of the soul, though it is difficult to achieve. Krishna points  out that a man of discrimination and dispassion will be able to achieve this by  increasing his Sattwic quality and by appealing to the indwelling Presence, The  soul, through meditation. This controlling of the lower self i.e. the mind with  the knowledge of the Higher Self is termed here as ‘restraining the self by the  Self’.

The  technique of meditation is a conscious withdrawal of all our identifications  with our body, mind and intellect and thereby turning our awareness or  desire-faculty towards our diviner existence where the ego is under the perfect  control of the soul with no desires to agitate the mind any more.

 

All  beings always remain active.  Inaction is  against the law of nature.  Inaction by  external withdrawal of sense organs from the sense objects while the mind  remaining preoccupied with the thinking about those objects is hypocrisy or  escapism and self deception.

 

A real seeker of wisdom is the one, who conquers  his organs of perception by his mind but employs his organs of action in the  selfless discharge of his duty.   Performance of one's duty is, in all respects, preferable to utter  inaction. One cannot live even the everyday ordinary life without doing  anything.

 

The  vasanas (impressions, tastes and inclinations brought over from the previous births)  order our intellect and we cannot pursue any path other than that ordered by  the direction of our own present vasanas. Man's present behavior and attitude  to life are mostly governed by his past actions - vasanas. However, he can  raise himself if he masters his senses that produce attachment and hatred.  He should try not to become a slave of his  own senses.

 

The  mind is the storehouse of vasanas.  By  giving up selfish actions and attachment to their rewards, the vasanas do not  get multiplied and the ego, the sense of `I', ceases to exist.

Man  is made up of the physical body, the senses, the mind and the intellect. Beyond  all these the pure Atman or the soul shines. The strategy to conquer desire is  to govern the mind by the intellect.

 

Taint  and desire can come only to an Ego which is the soul functioning through a  given state of mind and intellect. The one who has renounced his identification  with his limited ego and rediscovered himself as none other than the soul is no  more affected by his actions in the outer world.

 

 It  is only the ignorant that regard the soul as active. But the wise person  regards the soul as actionless even when he himself is engaged in action.  Activity belongs to the senses, the body and the mind. It is a function of the  Gunas.

 

The  body, the senses and the mind, regarded by the ignorant as actionless, are  perceived by the wise to be active. Hence he sees action in what the ignorant  think to be inaction.

 

The  terms ‘action’ and ‘inaction’ are not rightly understood; the one is mistaken  for the other. Krishna tries to remove this misunderstanding. The Self of man  is actionless. Action pertains to the physical body, the senses and the mind.  But an ignorant person falsely attributes action to the soul and says to  himself that ‘I am the doer, mine is the action, and by me is the fruit of  action reaped’ and so on.

Similarly,  he falsely imputes to the soul the cessation of activity, which really pertains  to the body, the senses and the mind. So he says to himself ‘I shall be quiet,  I may be free from work and worry and be happy’ and so on.

 

Through  right knowledge a man sees inaction in action; he sees that action commonly  associated with the soul really belongs to the body, the senses and the mind  and that the soul is actionless. Likewise, a man with right knowledge sees  action in inaction; he knows that inaction is also a kind of action. Inaction  is a correlative of action and pertains to the body. The soul is beyond action  and inaction.

 

निराशीर्यतचित्तात्मा त्यक्तसर्वपरिग्रह: |

शारीरं केवलं कर्म कुर्वन्नाप्नोति किल्बिषम् || 21||

nirashir yata-chittatma tyakta-sarva-parigrahah

shariram kevalam karma kurvan napnoti kilbisham

 

Translation

BG 4.21: Free from expectations and the sense of ownership, with the mind and intellect fully controlled, they incur no sin even though performing actions by their body.

 

यदृच्छालाभसन्तुष्टो द्वन्द्वातीतो विमत्सर: |

सम: सिद्धावसिद्धौ च कृत्वापि न निबध्यते || 22||

 

yadrichchha-labha-santushto dvandvatito vimatsarah

samah siddhavasiddhau cha kritvapi na nibadhyate

 

Translation

BG 4.22: Content with whatever gain comes of its own accord, and free from envy, they are beyond the dualities of life. Being equipoised in success and failure, they are not bound by their actions, even while performing all kinds of activities.

 

Content  with what comes to him without any effort on his part, free from the pairs of  opposites and envy, even minded in success and failure, though acting he is not  bound.

 

The  state of egolessness indicates perfect victory over mind and intellect and so  the pairs of opposites - heat and cold, success and failure, good and bad, joy and  sorrow, gain and loss etc., cannot affect him because they are only the  interpretation of the world of objects by the mind. Such an individual who has  conquered his egocentric misconceptions about himself, though acting is not  bound by the consequences of the actions performed (Karma-Phalam) because he  realizes that the gunas act upon the gunas and is ever steady in the true  knowledge of the soul.

 

From the standpoint of the world such a man may appear  to be working or engaged in action, but from his own point of view he is not  the agent of any action. The egoistic motive of action has been consumed, in  his case, in the fire of knowledge.

 

गतसङ्गस्य मुक्तस्य ज्ञानावस्थितचेतस: |

यज्ञायाचरत: कर्म समग्रं प्रविलीयते || 23||

 

gata-sangasya muktasya jnanavasthita-chetasah

yajnayacharatah karma samagram praviliyate

 

Translation

BG 4.23: They are released from the bondage of material attachments and their intellect is established in divine knowledge. Since they perform all actions as a sacrifice (to God), they are freed from all karmic reactions.

 

 

For  the one who is devoid of attachment, who is liberated, whose mind is established in knowledge, who acts for the sake of sacrifice alone, the whole  action dissolves away.

 

Man’s ego feels fulfilled  only through the material world of objects and it develops a sense of clinging  to these objects. Thus his  body gets  itself attached to the world of sense-objects, his mind gets itself enslaved in  the world of emotions and his intellect gets entangled in its own ideas and he  feels bound and fettered. It is only when one goes beyond these attachments and  hand-cuffs he becomes liberated.

 

Mind established in knowledge - Perfect detachment and complete liberation can be  accomplished only when the seeker's mind gets focused on the discriminative  knowledge of knowing the difference between the permanent and impermanent.  Mind's attachment to the worldly objects is because of its delusion.  If, however, the mind were to concentrate on  the discriminative knowledge with the support of the intellect all the false  attachments will drop off.

 

When  a man of perfect wisdom with the qualities as stated above performs actions in  a spirit of sacrifice (Yagna), such actions dissolve away of themselves i.e.  they do not leave any impressions upon his mind and cannot produce any reaction  of newly formed vasanas.

 

Krishna gives a new interpretation to the word Yajna to mean  the conversion of human day to day activities into worship. The cycle of human activity  starts with the receipt of stimuli from the world at large by the organs of perception,  which turn them into reaction in mind and intellect, and which are returned as  a response back into the world through the organs of action.

 

This entire cycle  has been split into twelve main activities; each of them turned into a ritual,  worship, a Yajna. Those who understand this and turn their daily activities into  a practice of these yajnas will free themselves from the vasanas / desires.

The knowledge of soul purifies the mind of all  agitations and gives supreme Peace. Those devoted to Self control their senses  and pursue the  soul with consistency until they reach it. The ignorant, ever  doubtful of the soul, lack steadiness of purpose. They will not achieve  anything in this world or the next nor will they find any enduring happiness. Krishna, therefore, advises Arjuna to gain knowledge and  remove all doubts and delusion and thus become established in the Supreme Self.

 

The limiting accessories such as  body, mind and intellect which are super imposed on the soul through ignorance  are subordinated and the identity of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul  is realized. The offering of the soul in the Brahman is to know that the soul  which is associated with the limiting adjuncts is identical with the  unconditioned Supreme Brahman. This is called Brahma Yagna wherein the soul is  divested of Its Upadhis or limiting adjuncts so that it is recognized as the  Supreme Self or Brahman.

 

Brahman is described in the  scriptures as Consciousness, Knowledge and Bliss and as the innermost Self of  all. It is devoid of all limitations imposed by time, space and causality. The  individual soul is in reality Brahman, but appears as the individual through  association with the body, mind, intelligence and senses. To know the  conditioned self as one with the unconditioned Brahman is to sacrifice the soul  in the fire of Brahman. This sacrifice is performed by those who have renounced  all action and are devoted to the Knowledge of Brahman.

 

Control of the ego by better  understanding of the Divine behind it is called atma-samyama-yoga i.e.  the Yoga of self-restraint. All the activities of sense organs and the organs  of action as well as the objects of the senses together with the functions of  the prana are offered into the knowledge-kindled fire of right  understanding i.e. meditation which is one-pointed discriminative wisdom. The  idea conveyed here is that by stopping all activities, the masters concentrate  the mind on the soul.

 

Those, who know the art of living  these techniques, weaken the functions of the organs of action and thereby  control their passions and appetites leading to purification of the mind and  destruction of sins for achieving the goal of Self-knowledge.

 

The yajnas are only the means to enable the  mind-intellect equipment to adjust itself better for meditation.  Meditation is the only path through which the  ego withdraws from false evaluation of itself for achieving spiritual growth.

 

Action  means activities performed by body, mind, intellect and the senses. Inaction  means renouncing all activities of the body. If action is performed according  to rule and one's own order in the society without expecting result, without  attachment, without the feeling of possession and egoism, then it is considered  as inaction in action.

 

If  one sits quiet without performing any bodily action but thinks about all  actions in his mind he is still considered as doing actions i.e. there is  action in inaction. He who knows this secret will not renounce duties  pertaining to his order in society and stage in life.

 

Man is essentially prone to be  inert and inactive. He prefers to get the maximum benefit from the outside  world with the minimum exertion. From this stage of utter inactivity he goes to  the first stage where he works because of the promptings of his desires; the  second stage of his evolution is from the desire motivated activities to  dedicated activities in the service of others with the least ego. In this stage  when the ego is subordinated his vasanas get exhausted and mind becomes pure.  With the purity of mind he reaches the third stage where he meditates for realizing  the ultimate goal of joy and peace.

 

According to Krishna he is a  true Sanyasi who `neither likes nor dislikes'. Likes and dislikes, gain and  loss, honor and dishonor, praise and censure, success and failure, joy and  sorrow and similar other pairs of opposites are the attitudes of mind by which  it gains life's experiences.

 

Mind gets purified by performing  right actions which enables one to have a deeper meditation leading to  renunciation of all activities. If this process is cut short and activities are  renounced in the beginning itself it will amount to physical inactivity where  the purity of mind and meditative power cannot be gained.

 

योगयुक्तो विशुद्धात्मा विजितात्मा जितेन्द्रिय: |

सर्वभूतात्मभूतात्मा कुर्वन्नपि न लिप्यते || 7||

 

yoga-yukto vishuddhatma vijitatma jitendriyah

sarva-bhutatma-bhutatma kurvann api na lipyate

 

Translation

BG 5.7: The karm yogis, who are of purified intellect, and who control the mind and senses, see the Soul of all souls in every living being. Though performing all kinds of actions, they are never entangled.

 

With the mind purified by  devotion to performance of action, and the body conquered and senses subdued, he  who realizes his soul, as the Self of all beings, is not tainted though he is  acting.

 

 Krishna explains the  different stages of development and change that would take place in an  individual through Karma Yoga. One who is established in Karma Yoga gets his  intellect purified which reduces agitations caused by desires or emotions from  within. With the selfless action and no anxiety for the fruits, his intellect  becomes immune from disturbances which are reflected in his mind.

 

When a man gains inward peace at  intellectual and mental levels, it becomes easy for him to control his sense  organs from their tendency to run after sense objects. A seeker who controls  his body, mind and intellect in this manner is qualified for the highest  meditation because all the stumbling blocks for purposeful meditation arise  from desire-motivation and emotional agitation. If these obstacles are removed,  meditation becomes natural and the rediscovery of the soul is easier to  achieve.

This realization of the soul is  complete and not partial.  He sees the  divinity of the soul as all pervading.   He finds divinity everywhere at all times.  Hence Krishna says `realizes one’s own self  as the Self in all beings'.

 

When an individual after  achieving the inner change comes to realize the Infinite Divinity and performs  actions in the world, his actions cannot have any reactions on him because no  sense of ego is left in him

 

One should be clear that total detachment is impossible  for the human mind.  So long as there is  a mind it has to attach itself with something because that is its nature. The  only practical way of achieving detachment therefore is to disassociate the  mind from the false and attach it to the Real.

 

The advice given is to surrender  the sense of Agency and do the actions without egoism and attachment to their  fruits, considering all actions as offerings to The Lord.  The more the thoughts on The Lord the less  will be the attention on one's own ego. Once this is realized, the actions of  the body, mind and intellect will not leave any impression on the soul. Such a  yogi has no attachment even for liberation.

 

Having thus realized the soul the  Yogi lives in the world of objects with perfect detachment like the lotus leaf existing  in the water without getting itself moistened. The sage lives in the world of  objects detaching himself from his own perceptions of the world, likes and  dislikes etc.

 

कायेन मनसा बुद्ध्या केवलैरिन्द्रियैरपि |

योगिन: कर्म कुर्वन्ति सङ्गं त्यक्त्वात्मशुद्धये || 11||

 

kayena manasa buddhya kevalair indriyair api

yoginah karma kurvanti sangam tyaktvatma-shuddhaye

 

Translation

BG 5.11: The yogis, while giving up attachment, perform actions with their body, senses, mind, and intellect, only for the purpose of self-purification.

 

Yogis perform actions only  with the body, mind, intellect and the senses without attachment, for  the purification of the heart.

 

The Karma Yogis always utilize  their organs of action, knowledge, mind and intellect renouncing all  attachments .The sage remains as if he were a mere observer of all that is  happening around him.

 

सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी |

नवद्वारे पुरे देही नैव कुर्वन्न कारयन् || 13||

 

sarva-karmani manasa sannyasyaste sukham vashi

nava-dvare pure dehi naiva kurvan na karayan

 

Translation

BG 5.13: The embodied beings who are self-controlled and detached reside happily in the city of nine gates free from thoughts that they are the doers or the cause of anything.

 

Sanyas  is not a mere physical escapism but a mental withdrawal from things which have  no real significance.  It is a state of  mind and not an external symbol.

 

When  the sun light passes through a plane glass it comes out clearly but if it  passes through a prism it emerges as seven colors which are part and parcel of  the same sun light. Similarly the soul passing through Knowledge emerges out as  the soul which is all-pervading. But when the same soul passes through  ignorance i.e. body, mind and intellect it gets itself split up into the  unending world of plurality.

 

ज्ञानेन तु तदज्ञानं येषां नाशितमात्मन: |

तेषामादित्यवज्ज्ञानं प्रकाशयति तत्परम् || 16||

 

jnanena tu tad ajnanam yesham nashitam atmanah

tesham aditya-vaj jnanam prakashayati tat param

 

Translation

BG 5.16: But for those whose ignorance is destroyed by divine knowledge, the Supreme Entity is revealed, just as the sun illumines everything when it rises.

 

In  the case of ordinary mortals the  soul is screened of by ignorance or Avidya  whereas the man of realization is the one in whom the ignorance is removed by  Knowledge. Ignorance creates the egocentric concept which thrives in the body,  mind and intellect and is the root cause of all sufferings. When this ignorance  is destroyed by knowledge of the soul, the ego ends and the soul becomes  manifest just as the sun illuminates and reveals all the objects of the  physical universe when the clouds surrounding it move away.

 

Knowledge  is the very faculty of knowing. So when the ego re-discovers the soul it  becomes the soul. Therefore, the soul is awareness, consciousness or the Atman.

 

इहैव तैर्जित: सर्गो येषां साम्ये स्थितं मन: |

निर्दोषं हि समं ब्रह्म तस्माद् ब्रह्मणि ते स्थिता: || 19||

 

ihaiva tair jitah sargo yesham samye sthitam manah

nirdosham hi samam brahma tasmad brahmani te sthitah

 

Translation

BG 5.19: Those whose minds are established in equality of vision conquer the cycle of birth and death in this very life. They possess the flawless qualities of God, and are therefore seated in the Absolute Truth.

 

Even  here (on earth) the created world is overcome by those whose mind is  established in unity. Brahman is flawless and the same in all. Therefore these  persons are indeed established in Brahman.

 

Created  or relative world means all bondages of birth, death etc. All possibilities of  bondage are destroyed when the mind attains perfect evenness which in other  words means becoming Brahman.

 

Perfection  is not an idealism that has to be realized in the heavens only after death. Contrary  to this vague expectation, Sri Krishna asserts that the relative existence of  bondage can be ended and the imperfect individual can be made to live in the  Consciousness of God and can come out of one's ego sense in this life itself,  in this very body and among the very same worldly objects.

 

The  method of achieving this goal is stated in the verse as the one whose mind  rests in evenness and gains the Divine tranquility.  Where the thought flow is arrested there the  mind ends.  Where the mind ends, which is  the instrument through which life expresses itself as ego, the sense of  separate existence also ends and the egocentric slavery of samsar ceases.  The ego, devoid of samsaric sorrows, rediscovers itself to be none other than  the soul Itself.

 

Such  persons who have conquered their minds and live in perfect harmony in all  conditions of life and its relationships are indeed aware of their identity with  Brahman who is even, ever-perfect and uncontaminated though indwelling in all  pure and impure bodies.

 

Brahman  is all pervading and homogeneous.   Everything happens in it and nothing happens to it. Thus the Truth is  changeless just as a river-bed remains motionless though water flowing on it is  ever changing. The substratum is changeless and remains the same but the  superimpositions and manifestations will change by their very nature. An  individual with his identification with body, mind and intellect is changing  factor but the Substratum, the soul, remains the same.

 

Krishna says that a mortal who can maintain his equanimity under all conditions is  indeed the one who rests in Brahman i.e. aware of Brahman.

 

बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम् |

स ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा सुखमक्षयमश्नुते || 21||

bahya-sparsheshvasaktatma vindatyatmani yat sukham

sa brahma-yoga-yuktatma sukham akshayam ashnute

 

Translation

BG 5.21: Those who are not attached to external sense pleasures realize divine bliss in the soul. Being united with God through Yog, they experience unending happiness.

With  the heart unattached to external contacts he discovers happiness in the soul;  with the heart engaged in the meditation of Brahman he attains endless bliss.

 

The  happiness from the enjoyment of outer objects is transitory while the Bliss of  Brahman is eternal. When the mind is not attached to the external objects of  the senses, when one is deeply and constantly engaged in the contemplation of  the soul, one finds eternal peace within.  

 

If one wishes to enjoy the imperishable happiness of the soul within,  one has to withdraw the senses from their respective objects and enter in deep  meditation on the soul within. It is to be noted that through self-control a  void is created in the mind and heart which will have to be filled in with  bliss through contemplation of Brahman.

 

Man  goes in search of happiness among the external and perishable objects.  He finds no permanent joy in them but  receives a load of sorrows instead. One should, therefore, withdraw the senses  from the sense objects which are not at all a source of permanent joy. One  should fix the mind on the immortal, blissful soul within. 

 

The greater the desire for an object the greater will be the anger  against any obstacle that comes between the desirer and the objects desired.  Lust and anger create an agitation of mind accompanied by appropriate physical  symbols.

 

A  Yogi is the one who controls the impulses of desire and anger, destroys likes  and dislikes and attains equanimity of mind by resting in the Self. He is  always happy because there is neither desire nor hatred in him.  The implication of what Krishna says is  that in this very world and in this very life one can be perfectly happy if one  learns to withstand the avalanche of desire and anger.

 

To overcome the world is not to become other-worldly. It  is not to evade social responsibilities. His body, mind and intellect are  offered to the sacred fire of activity for the common welfare while remaining  at rest with himself and living in an unbroken consciousness of the Divine, the  Eternal.

 

 

कामक्रोधवियुक्तानां यतीनां यतचेतसाम् |

अभितो ब्रह्मनिर्वाणं वर्तते विदितात्मनाम् || 26||

 

kama-krodha-viyuktanam yatinam yata-chetasam

abhito brahma-nirvanam vartate viditatmanam

 

Translation

BG 5.26: For those sanyāsīs, who have broken out of anger and lust through constant effort, who have subdued their mind, and are self-realized, liberation from material existence is both here and hereafter.

 

Released  from desire and anger, the mind controlled, the Self realized, absolute freedom  exists for such Yogins both here and hereafter.

 

When  the seeker conquers his lust and anger and can face all the threats coming from  within and without, he knows the soul and gains the Bliss of Perfection both  here and hereafter.

 

The  import of this verse is that those who renounce all actions and do intense Sravana,  Manana and Nididhyasana, who are established in the soul and who are  steadily devoted to knowledge of the soul, attain liberation instantly (Sankhya  Yoga).  But Karma Yoga in which action is  performed in complete devotion to The Lord and as dedication to Him, leads to  liberation step by step; first  the  purification of the mind, then knowledge, then renunciation of all action and  lastly liberation.

 

स्पर्शान्कृत्वा बहिर्बाह्यांश्चक्षुश्चैवान्तरे भ्रुवो: |

प्राणापानौ समौ कृत्वा नासाभ्यन्तरचारिणौ || 27||

यतेन्द्रियमनोबुद्धिर्मुनिर्मोक्षपरायण: |

विगतेच्छाभयक्रोधो य: सदा मुक्त एव स: || 28||

 

sparshan kritva bahir bahyansh chakshush chaivantare bhruvoh

pranapanau samau kritva nasabhyantara-charinau

yatendriya-mano-buddhir munir moksha-parayanah

vigatechchha-bhaya-krodho yah sada mukta eva sah

 

Translation

BG 5.27-28: Shutting out all thoughts of external enjoyment, with the gaze fixed on the space between the eye-brows, equalizing the flow of the incoming and outgoing breath in the nostrils, and thus controlling the senses, mind, and intellect, the sage who becomes free from desire and fear, always lives in freedom.

 

Shutting  out all external contacts, steadying the gaze of his eyes between the eyebrows,  regulating the outward and inward breaths flowing within his nostrils, the  senses, mind  and intellect controlled,  with Moksha (Liberation) as the supreme goal, freed from desire, fear and anger,  such a man of meditation is verily liberated for ever.

 

 

In  these two verses Krishna has given a pre-view of the next Chapter.   Krishna gives a scheme of practice by  which one can gain in himself a complete integration.

 

The  external world of objects by itself cannot bring any disturbances unless one  remains in contact with them through body, mind or intellect.  But if we shut out external objects - not  physically- but through discreet intellectual detachment at the mental plane,  we shall discover in ourselves the necessary tranquility for starting  meditation.

 

Then  the gaze should be fixed in between the eye brows so that the eye balls remain  steady. This is followed by rhythmical breathing which makes the mind quiet and  perfect harmony is developed in the system. These instructions relate to  physical adjustments.

 

The  instructions relating to mental and intellectual adjustments are then given.  The seeker is asked to be free from desire, fear and anger to attain perfect  peace of mind. When the senses, mind and intellect are subjugated by dedicating  all his outer and inner activities to achieve the goal of realizing the soul he  attains liberation.

 

The mind gets restless because of the agitations caused by  desire, fear and anger. When it is desireless, it proceeds towards the soul spontaneously and Liberation becomes one's highest goal. When an individual  follows these steps he can remain in the contemplation of Truth without any  distractions. Such a man of meditation comes to experience the freedom of the  God-hood before long.

 

A  Sankhya Yogi who is established in the soul, does not identify himself even  with such activities as seeing, hearing, touching, smelling etc., but feels he  is a witness to all the actions of the body, senses, mind and intellect. He  lives in a world untouched by the happenings around. He, who has identified  himself with the Pure Self, stands aside, not contaminated by the effects of  actions and enjoys eternal peace within

 

total  detachment is impossible for the human mind. The practical way of achieving  detachment is to disassociate the mind from the false and attach it to the  Real. Surrender the sense of Agency and do the actions without egoism and  attachment to their fruits, considering all actions as offerings to The  Lord.  The more the thoughts on The Lord  the less will be the attention on one's own ego.

 

Once this is realized, the  actions of the body, mind and intellect will not leave any impression on the soul. Such a yogi has no attachment even for liberation and he lives in the  world of objects detaching himself from his own perceptions of the world, likes  and dislikes etc.like the lotus leaf existing in the water without getting  itself moistened.

 

In deep  sleep all beings feel immense happiness by renouncing all their unnatural  superimpositions of personality, whether he is a king or a beggar, because in  that state intellect, mind and senses cease to function unconsciously and go  towards the Self.

 

When one consciously renounces the activities of the senses,  mind and intellect one will surely merge into one's essential nature of the  Supreme Consciousness. Thus renunciation or loss of personality becomes a means  to supreme perfection. This is the glory of wisdom of renunciation. The action  done with freedom from individuality spontaneously unites one with  Universality. Such wise sages see divinity everywhere just like the ocean has  no difference of feelings between one wave and the other. He finds no  distinction in the world of names and forms.

 

No one can become a Karma Yogi who  plans future actions and expects the fruits of such actions. Only a devotee who  renounced the thoughts of fruits of his actions can become a Yogi of steady  mind because the thoughts of fruits of actions always cause mental disturbances.

 

Sanyasa  i.e. renunciation consists in the accomplishment of the necessary action  without an inward striving for reward. This is true yoga, firm control over  oneself, complete self-possession

   TO BE CONTINUED

CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL

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