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GITA (the effort maker’s journey)

Do not see him through the Institution

See the Institution through him

DECIDE WHETHER YOU WANT TO GO THROUGH THE

SLOKAS OFTEN OR YOU WANT TO PRACTICE AND

FEEL YOUR ETERNITY AND ETERNAL JOURNEY!

DO YOU WANT TO READ GITA OR FOLLOW GITA?

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Contents Page No.

1. GITA and Mahatma Gandhi 3-4

2. GITA and Vinoba Bhave 5-8

3. GITA and Aurobindo Ghosh 9-12

4. GITA from the MASTER 13-14

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GITA & Mahatma Gandhi

1. It is a unique synthesis and reconciliation of the two doctrines which were in those days held

to be contradictory- sannyasa (renunciation of action) and yoga (performance of action).

2. The author of the GITA having lived the teachings of the Upanishads summed it up thus:

“Performing action without attachment, man shall attain the supreme” / “Sacrifice is the

fulfilling of the law”.

3. The GITA is the Upanishad of the Mahabharata.

4. Upanishad etymologically means what the pupil learn sitting at the feet of the masters; it may

also mean the knowledge which by taking one near the supreme helps to cut off earthly ties.

Thus, in one sense, brahmavidya and Upanishad are synonymous.

5. The GITA, is therefore, the science and art of Toga- or shall we call it the art of Life – for the

attainment of the knowledge of the Brahma, or the Wisdom and the art of Life !

6. The science of Toga rooted in Brahmavidya.

7. Unless the Art of Life is rooted in the Wisdom of Life it will never lead to it.

8. For what is there in the GITA, one may ask, that is not in the Upanishads ? What Dr.

Radhakrishnan calls the “fundmental ultimates” are there borrowed bodily from the j

Upanishad; the Ataman(self), the Brahman are there in the very language of the Upanishads-

in the seemingly mutually contradictory language of the evolving Upanishads.

9. The author of the GITA has woven them in with such consummate skill that they are all in

their appropriate place on the pattern for which they are used to and to which they seem to

belong in a most vital manner. Where he has adopted a thought from the Upanishads it

seems as though he had simply chosen a test to produce a most inspiring sermon.

10. Ishopanishad: “Even while engaged in action here, a man may look forward to living a

hundred years; for even thus and not otherwise the actions will not smear the man” and As

by Author of GITA: “Renouncing that, thou must enjoy”. PHILOSOPHY OF ACTION

THAT BINDS AND PHILOSOPHY OF ACTION THAT DOES NOT BIND BUT

FREES.

11. Toga of meditation take the sections in the Maitree Upanishad on which one may say the

whole of the sixth and part of the eighth discourses are based.

12. Upanishad: Narada approaches Sanatkumara with a broken and contrite heart –“ I have

heard from those like you, sir, that he who knows the Ataman passes beyond sorrow. Such a

sorrowing one I am; pray help me to pass beyond sorrow”; Brihadrathai begs his Guru to

deliver him from sansara wherein he was lying like a frog in a waterless well.

13. I would rather read in these and other instance of disciples going to their masters to learn

Brahmavidya (divine knowledge) a strong suggestion that Arjuna’s is also a similar case, in a

different background ofcourse.

14. But Prof. Ranade is fully justified in seeing the description of the universal form of the Lord

(eleventh discourse) already in the germ in the Mundaka Upanishad: “ When in the

Mundokopanishad we find the description of the cosmic person with fire as his head, the sun

and the moon as his eyes, the quarters as his ears, the Vedas as his speech, air as his prana,

the universe as his heart the earth as his feet, we have in embryo a description of the

vishvaroopa which later became the theme of the famous eleventh chapter of the

Bhagwadgita on the transfigured personality of Krishna”.

15. But at this rate it is possible to trace almost everything in the GITA to the Upanishads likened

to cows in the meditation versus preceding the GITA. If, without offending the susceptibilities

of those who want to read in the GITA the actual words of the incarnate Lord, I might make a

suggestion : I would say that the very idea of Krishna as charioteer and guide, philosopher

and friend of Arjuna may be traced to the Rathopanishad which makes the Atman the master

of the chariot of the body, the intellect the driver, the mind the reins, and the senses the

horses. There are nearly a dozen places in which the GITA has actually borrowed from this

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great Upanishad. Why should not the Master-Artist use this beautiful image in his epic in

order to weave out of the philosophy of the Upanishad the living religion of the

Bhagwadgita?

16. We must not forget that the GITA too is described as an Upanishad- though not counted as

One- and the spirit of discipleship has been in India ever since the beginnings of philosophy.

17. Whoever would be a serious student of GITA must go to these source books – “the revered

Upanishads” and he will find die truth of the metaphors of the cow and the meadow I have

referred to above.

18. But let no one therefore run away with the impression that the Gita is a highly poetic echo of the

Upanishads. The Gita performs the unique function of making what was an esoteric doctrine a

living reality for the unlettered, the lowly and the lost, and present the highest form of practical

religion to enable each and all to realize his or her purpose in life. Above all, it blazons forth in an

unmistakable manner the truth that life is worth living and teaches how it may be worth living.

19. Dr Deussen had already given the reply to a critic: "To every Indian Brahmana today the

Upanishads are what the New Testament is to the Christians"; and if I may venture to extend Dr

Deussen's comparison, I may say that if the Upanishads are the New Testament, the Gita may

well be said to constitute therein the Gospels.

20. But before we start with the analysis, it would not be out of place to indicate what we might call

the permanent background of the Gita. It starts with accepting certain "unanalysable ultimates"

— the Self, the Absolute, God, and the Universe and certain fundamental postulates. It presents

no philosophical treatment, as it is really addressed to those who assume these ultimates, for the

simple reason that the author's purpose was to expound the ordinary man's mission in life rather

than to present a philosophical system.

21. When Arjuna approaches Krishna with an appeal which recalls, 'What in me is dark, illumine,' He

does so by a sudden flash light revelation of the Unborn, Ageless, Deathless, Everlasting,

Indemonstrable Atman or Self. He uses the epithet 'Indemonstrable' indicating in a word his

whole meaning. How will one demonstrate or measure Him who is the proof of all proofs and

measure of all measures?

22. As the Kena Upanishad puts it: "He is the very hearing of the ear, the very mind of the mind, the

very voice of speech, the very breath of breath and the very vision of the eye”

23. The modern philosopher Dr Radhakrishnan puts it: "The ultimate assumption of all life is the spirit

in us, the Divine in man. Life is God and the proof of it is life itself. If somewhere in ourselves we

did not know with absolute certainty that God is, we could not live. Even the sun and the moon

would go out if they began to doubt. Our lives are not lived within their own limits. We are not

ourselves alone; we are God-men”

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GITA & Vinoba Bhave

1. Arjuna’s Despodency (Vishad Yoga) : The bond between the Gita and me transcends reason. I have received more nourishment from the Gita than my body has from my mother’s milk. There is little place for ratiocination in a relationship of loving tenderness. The Mahabharata tells us that human life is like a fabric woven with black and white threads—threads of good and evil. Vyasa wrote such a great epic, but did he have something of his own to tell? Has he told his special message somewhere? Which is the place in the epic where we find him in a state of samadhi1? One comes across in the Mahabharata a vast number of dense thickets of philosophies and preachings, but has Vyasa given anywhere the essence of all those and presented the central message of the whole epic? Yes, he has. Vyasa has presented it in the form of the Gita. Arjuna’s despondency provided only an occasion. Almost every idea and thought necessary for the blossoming of life can be found in the Gita. That is why the wise have rightly called it the encyclopedia of dharma. The Gita has been accorded the status of an Upanishad since ancient times. It is, in fact, the supreme Upanishad. Many contend that Arjuna had reduced himself to the state of a eunuch and the Gita was preached to restore him to manhood and induce him to fight. In their view the Gita preaches not only karmayoga (the philosophy of action) but also yuddhayoga (the philosophy of war). But a little thinking will show the error in this view. Eighteen divisions of army were ready for battle. Can we say that the Lord, by making Arjuna listen to the Gita, made him worthy to face that army in battle? It was Arjuna who quailed; not the army. Was then the army braver than Arjuna? It is just inconceivable. It was not out of fear that Arjuna was shying away from the battle. It is also said that the Gita is meant to make Arjuna willing to fight by removing his inclination towards non-violence. In my opinion this view also is not right. To understand this point, we have to examine Arjuna’s standpoint. But attachment to his kith and kin clouded his sense of duty, and then he started philosophising. When a man with a sense of duty is caught in delusion, he cannot face his naked lapse from duty. He tries to justify it by citing lofty principles. War was for him his natural and inescapable duty. But he was trying to evade this duty under the spell of delusion. And it is this delusion that the Gita attacks most pointedly. TWO HUNDRED INDIVIDUALS SITTING IN FRONT OF ME HERE HAVE TWO HUNDRED DIFFERENT DHARMAS. EVEN MY OWN DHARMA TODAY IS NOT WHAT IT WAS TEN YEARS AGO, AND IT WILL NOT BE THE SAME IN TEN YEARS’ TIME. AS ONE’S MIND GROWS AND DEVELOPS THROUGH REFLECTION AND EXPERIENCE, THE OLD DHARMA GETS SHED AND ONE ACQUIRES NEW DHARMA. IF SOMEONE IS UNABLE TO LOOK AFTER HIS FAMILY PROPERLY AND GETS FED UP, RENOUNCES THE WORLD AND BECOMES A SANNYASI, IT WOULD BE SHEER HYPOCRISY AND SUCH RENUNCIATION WOULD ALSO PROVE TO BE BURDENSOME. HIS PASSIONS WILL REASSERT THEMSELVES AT THE SLIGHTEST OPPORTUNITY. EVEN IF HE GOES TO THE FOREST, HE WOULD BUILD A HUT FOR HIMSELF, THEN HE WOULD PUT UP A FENCE TO PROTECT IT; AND IN THE COURSE OF TIME, HIS INVOLVEMENT IN WORLDLY AFFAIRS WILL INCREASE WITH A VENGEANCE. On the other hand, there is nothing difficult in sannyasa if one’s mind is truly detached. Indeed, there are many sayings in the Smritis9 to this effect. It is the disposition of one’s mind that matters. It is that which decides one’s dharma. The question is not whether it is high or low, easy or difficult; what is important is that the inner growth must be real and fulfilment genuine.

But the devout ask, “If sannyasa is always unquestionably superior to the way of fighting, then why

did the Lord not make Arjuna a true sannyasi? Was this impossible for Him?” Certainly not. But,

would it have done any credit to Arjuna? It would have offered no scope for Arjuna to exert himself

and excel in his efforts. The Lord gives us freedom. Let everybody make efforts in his own way.

Therein lies the charm. A child enjoys sketching figures with his own hands; he does not like

anybody else holding his hands for this purpose. If a teacher just goes on rapidly solving all the

mathematical problems himself for the students, how would their intellect develop? The teachers and

the parents should only guide them. God guides us from within. He does nothing more than that.

There is no charm in God shaping us like a potter. We are not earthen wares; we are beings full of

consciousness. The Purpose Of The Gita: To Dispel Anti-Swadharma Delusion.

Honesty And Straightforwardness Make One Worthy Of The Gita's Message: The word ‘Arjuna’, in fact, means one who is honest and straightforward in nature. When he made Krishna his charioteer and entrusted to Him the reins of his

horses, he had got ready to give into His hands the reins of his mind also. Let us do likewise. Let us not think that, unlike Arjuna,

we do not have Krishna to guide us. Let us not get caught in the fallacy that Krishna was a historical person. Everybody has

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Krishna residing in his heart as the indwelling Self. He is nearer to us than the nearest. Let us bare our heart, with all its

impurities and weaknesses, before Him and say, “O Lord! I take refuge in you. You are my sole guide, my master. Show me the

right path and I shall follow it”. IF WE DO SO, ARJUNA’S CHARIOTEER WILL BE OUR CHARIOTEER TOO. WE

SHALL HEAR THE GITA FROM HIS OWN LIPS AND HE WILL LEAD US TO VICTORY.

2. Self Knowledge and Equanimity : Beginning from this vishad-yoga the Gita’s teaching keeps on growing like a magnificent tree, finally bearing the fruit of prasad-yoga (God’s grace) in the concluding Chapter. At the very outset, the Lord enunciates the cardinal principles of life. The idea is that once the fundamental principles, which are to form the foundation of life, are wellgrasped, the way ahead would be clear. The Gita has a penchant for using old philosophical terms in new senses. Grafting new meanings on to old terms is a non-violent process of bringing about revolution in thinking. Vyasa is adept in this process. This is the secret of the great potency and strength of the language of the Gita and its everfreshness and vitality. Different thinkers could therefore read different meanings in the terms used by it in the light of their experiences and according to their needs. In my view, all those interpretations could be taken as valid from their respective standpoints and yet we can have a different interpretation of our own without ruling out any of them. Three cardinal principles have been enunciated in the Second Chapter—

(i) The atman (the Self) is deathless and indivisible. (ii) The body is insignificant and transient. (iii) Swadharma must be followed.

Out of these, Swadharma is in the nature of duty to be performed while the other two principles are those that need to be understood. To disown one’s swadharma is to disown oneself, to commit suicide. Only in harmony with it can we move forward. That is why we should never lose sight of it. Swadharma should, in fact, come easily and naturally. But because of several temptations and delusions this does not happen or becomes extremely difficult. Even if it is practised, the practice gets vitiated. The temptations and delusions which strew with thorns the path of swadharma have various forms. However, on analysis, we find only one thing at the bottom of it all: a restricted and shallow identification of oneself with one’s body. I, and those related to me through the body, set the limits of my expansion. Those outside the circle are strangers or enemies. Besides, the attachment is restricted to only the physical bodies of the ‘I and mine’. Caught in this double trap, we start putting up all sorts of little walls. Almost everyone does this. In this situation, commitment to swadharma is not enough. CONSTANT AWARENESS OF TWO OTHER PRINCIPLES IS NECESSARY. ONE OF THEM IS: ‘I AM NOT THIS FEEBLE AND MORTAL PHYSICAL BODY; THE BODY IS ONLY THE OUTER COVERING.’ THE OTHER IS: ‘I AM THE SELF THAT IS IMPERISHABLE, INDIVISIBLE AND ALL-PERVADING.’ THESE TWO TOGETHER CONSTITUTE A WHOLE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE. If this philosophy is imprinted on the mind, the practice of swadharma will not appear difficult. In fact, it will be difficult

not to practise it. It is not difficult to comprehend that the Self is eternal and indivisible and the body is worthless and

transient, as these are the truths. But we should reflect over them, ruminate constantly over them. We should train

ourselves to belittle the body and exalt the Self. You are free to roam in the whole of the cosmos. The eternal Self clothes

itself in a succession of bodies. That is why it is utterly wrong to get attached to a particular body and its relations and grieve over their loss; and it is also wrong to consider some as kin and others as aliens. THE UNIVERSE IS A BEAUTIFULLY WOVEN WHOLE. WERE WE TO CUT UP THE UNDIVIDED SELF, IMMANENT IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE, INTO BITS OF SEPARATE SELVES USING THE BODY AS A PAIR OF SCISSORS LIKE A CHILD WHO WILLFULLY CUTS A WHOLE PIECE OF CLOTH WITH A PAIR OF SCISSORS, WOULD IT NOT BE THE HEIGHT OF CHILDISH FOLLY, AND MOREOVER, AN ACT OF EXTREME VIOLENCE?

It is really a pity that India, the land where Brahmavidya (the science of realising the Brahman6) was born, is now teeming with innumerable incongruent groups and castes. We hate the word ‘death’. It is considered inauspicious. But can death

ever come before the right moment? Besides, even if it comes a little earlier, what does it matter? We should certainly not be

loveless and hard-hearted; but attachment to the body is not love. On the contrary, unless attachment to the body is overcome, true love does not emerge. But, instead of using the body as an instrument, we lose ourselves in it and stunt our spirit

whereby the body, which has little intrinsic worth, is made of less worth. Does it ever occur to us that we should widen the circle of

our friends continually so as to ultimately encompass the whole world and feel that the whole world is ours and that we belong to the whole world? From morning till evening, we are busy minding the body. The Self is ever restless to reach out to others. It longs

to embrace the whole world. But we shut it up in a cell. We have imprisoned the soul and are not even conscious of it.

(I) A SEEKER AFTER TRUTH SHOULD AVOID THE BY-LANES OF ADHARMA (UNRIGHTEOUSNESS) AND

PARADHARMA (THE DHARMA WHICH IS NOT HIS OWN) AND TAKE TO THE NATURAL AND STRAIGHT PATH OF

SWADHARMA. HE SHOULD FOLLOW IT STEADFASTLY. (II) BEARING IN MIND THAT THE BODY IS TRANSIENT, IT

SHOULD BE USED FOR THE SAKE OF THE PERFORMANCE OF SWADHARMA AND SHOULD BE GIVEN UP FOR

ITS SAKE WHEN THE NEED ARISES (III) REMAINING EVER AWARE OF THE ETERNAL AND ALL-PERVADING

NATURE OF THE SELF, THE DISTINCTION OF ‘MINE’ AND ‘THINE’ SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE MIND.

THE LORD HAS EXPOUNDED THESE THREE PRINCIPLES OF LIFE. ONE WHO FOLLOWS THEM WOULD

UNDOUBTEDLY HAVE, SOME DAY OR THE OTHER, THE EXPERIENCE OF USING THE HUMAN BODY AS AN

INSTRUMENT, ONE CAN REACH THE EXALTED STATE OF SAT-CHIT-ANANDA.

The Lord has no doubt enunciated the principles of life. But this, in itself, does not serve the purpose. These principles were already there in the

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Upanishads and the Smritis. To restate them is not the Gita’s unique contribution; that lies in its explaining how these principles are to be translated into practice. It is in solving this great problem that the ingenuity of the Gita lies.

Yoga means nothing but the art of translating the principles of life into

practice. The word ‘sankhya’ means principles or science while ‘yoga’

means art of translating it into practice. The Gita includes both sankhya

and yoga, the science and art respectively; and has thus achieved

completeness and perfection. When science and art unite, the beauty of life blossoms into its fullness. That is why the Lord has taught not only the principles, but also the art of applying them to life. What then is this art—the art of practising swadharma and realising that the body is of little worth and that the Self is imperishable and indivisible? The Gita, while asking us not to have any desire for the fruit of actions, insists

that the work must, however, be perfect. When the doer’s mind is free from the desire for the fruit, his absorption in his work attains the character of samadhi. Hence his joy is also hundred times more than that of others. When the renunciation of the fruit of actions reaches this point, the art of living

attains perfection like the full moon.

Thus the science and the art have been explained. Still the whole picture does not stand clearly before our eyes. Science is nirguna (attributeless). Art is saguna (one with attributes). But even saguna cannot become manifest until it assumes concrete form. Formless saguna can be as abstract and elusive as nirguna. The remedy is to see somebody who is the personification of a particular quality. That is why Arjuna says, “O, Lord! You have told me the basic principles of life and explained the art of translating them into practice. Still the picture is not clear to me. Please, therefore, tell me the characteristics of one whose intellect and mind are fully anchored in the basic principles of life and who has fully assimilated the yoga of renunciation of the fruit of actions. Tell me about such a person who demonstrates the limit upto which the fruit of actions could be renounced, who is steadfast in the contemplation of the Lord while working and who is firm like a rock in his settled conviction—a person who can be called a sthitaprajna. How does he speak, how does he sit, how does he walk? In short, how does he live his daily worldly life, and how can one recognise him?”

3. Removal of hypocrisy from the society is extremely important. Hypocrisy spells doom for the society. If a jnani stops working, others will follow suit. The jnani, being ever-content within himself, may sit still in a state of bliss, but others will become inactive even though inwardly unhappy and disgruntled. One is at rest because he is happy at heart; the other is merely passive but unhappy. This is a horrible situation. It will encourage hypocrisy. That is why all the saints continued to hold on steadfastly to the means even after reaching the end, the pinnacle of fulfillment. They kept on working till the last breath.

4. If you are a perfect Brahmachari your work should look hundred times more zestful than that of others. You should work much more even if you get less to consume. Your service to the society

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should be greater. Let your brahmacharya be reflected in your actions. Let its fragrance, like sandalwood, spread far and wide. This is what should be true for the truly spiritual work.

5. But desire and anger are always after us, driving us to hanker after something and reject something. The Lord is warning us, at the end of this Chapter, to shun them. A karmayogi should also become an embodiment of self-restraint like the sthitaprajna .

6. Karma, vikarma and akarma—these three terms are important. 7. Karma + Vikarma = Akarma. Swadharma . Vikarma means Purity of Mind. 8. Art of Akarma should be learnt from the saints.

9. The Lord is described as ‘ ’—He is fully at peace even though He is lying on

the thousand-hooded cobra (Shesha). 10. We may be in the midst of our family or alone in a forest, the mind remains attached to samsara.

Two yogis may go to the Himalayan caves for doing penance, but even there they may burn with envy if they happen to hear each other’s praise. The same thing happens in the realm of social service.

11. Naturalness of an action: When a child first learns to walk, how much effort he puts into it! We encourage him appreciate his efforts. But later walking becomes natural; the child can then walk and talk at the same time. It is the same with eating. Swimming too is no longer a tiring activity as in the beginning ; the body floats over water effortlessly.

12. The sun rises daily. But does it rise to remove darkness, urge the birds to fly and set men working? It just rises and that is all. Its very existence makes all the world go round. But it is not aware of it. If you thank him for dispelling darkness, he would be at a loss to understand what you are saying. He will say, “Have I really done so? Please bring a little darkness. If I could dispel it, then only I would claim any credit for doing so.” Can we carry darkness to the sun? The existence of the sun dispels darkness and brings light.

13. Counsel of wisdom flows out without any self-conscious deliberation and effort. When this happens, karma becomes akarma.

14. Such is the charming story of this letter. It is easy to read written words, but difficult to read what is not written. There is no end to reading it. A sannyasi appears to be empty and blank, but he is full of infinite work.

15. Devotion, meditation, development of virtues, enquiry and analysis, discrimination between the Self and the not-Self—all these are different types of vikarma or spiritual discipline.

16. The yoga of meditation consists chiefly of three important components: (i) One-pointedness of mind (ii) Moderation and regulation in life to help attain one-pointedness (iii) Equanimity and evenness in outlook. A true spiritual quest is not possible without these three things. There are two means to achieve these three: Abhyasa and Bairagya.

17. When all are the children of God, why is there such a difference ? Why does one Nara becomes Narayana where as the other becomes Vanara ?

18. All the sense-organs should be under strict vigil. We should be ever alert lest we should eat too much or sleep too much, or have a roving eye. All our activities should thus be continuously examined with meticulous care.

19. Nothing is really wrong with the world. If there is wrong with something, it is with my vision. As is my vision, so is the world. If I put on red-coloured glasses, the world is bound to appear red and aflame.

20. Good done is never wasted.

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GITA & Sri Aurobindo

1. The teaching of the GITA must therefore be regarded not merely in the light of a general

spiritual philosophy or ethical doctrine, but as bearing upon a practical crisis in the

application of ethics and spirituality to human life.

2. But when the divine consciousness and power taking upon itself the human form and the

human mode of action, possesses it not only by powers and magnitudes, by degrees and

outward faces of itself but out of its eternal self-knowledge, when the Unborn knows itself

and acts in the frame of the mental being and the appearance of birth, that is the height of the

conditioned manifestation; it is the full and conscious descent of the Godhead, it is the

Avatara.

3. When within us (Nara) the veil of that secret sanctuary is withdrawn and man speaks face

to face with GOD, hears the divine voice, receives the divine light, acts in the divine power,

then becomes possible the supreme uplifting of the embodied human conscious-being into

the unborn and eternal (Narayana). He becomes capable of that dwelling in GOD and

giving up of his whole consciousness into the Divine which the GITA upholds as the best or

highest secret of things, uttamam rahasyam.

4. Such is then the divine teacher of the GITA, the eternal Avatar, the Divine who has descended

into the human consciousness, the Lord seated within the heart of all beings, he who guides

from behind the veil of our thought and action and heart’s seeking even as he directs from

behind the veil of visible and sensible forms and forces and tendencies the great universal

action of the world which he has manifested in his own being.

5. Arjuna is the type of the struggling human soul who has not yet received the knowledge, but

has grown fit to receive it by action in the world in a close companionship and an increasing

nearness to the higher and divine Self in humanity.

6. It is a figure of human growing into the likeness of the eternal divine by the increasing

illumination of knowledge. But the GITA starts from action, and Arjuna is the man of action

and not of knowledge, the fighter, never the seer or the thinker.

7. Arjuna justifies his name only in being so far pure and sattwic as to be governed by high and

clear principles and impulses and habitually control his lower nature by the noblest law

which he knows.

8. And now it is shown to his vision by the divine charioteer, placed sensationally before his

eyes, and comes home to him like a blow delivered at the very centre of his sensational, vital

and emotional being. The first result is a violent sensational and physical crisis which

produces a disgust of the action and its material objects and of life itself. He rejects the vital

aim pursued by egoistic humanity in its action,—happiness and enjoyment; he rejects the

vital aim of the Kshatriya, victory and rule and power and the government of men.

9. The teacher of GITA seizes him at a moment of his psychological development by egoistic

action when all the mental, moral, emotional values of the ordinary egoistic and social life of

man have collapsed in a sudden bankruptcy, and he has to lift him up out of this lower life

into a higher consciousness, out of ignorant attachment to action into that which transcends,

yet originates and orders action, out of ego into Self, out of life in mind, vitality and body into

that higher nature beyond mind which is the status of the Divine.

10. And undoubtedly its emphasis on devotion, its insistence on the aspect of the Divine as Lord

and Purusha and its doctrine of the Purushottama, the Supreme Being who is superior both

to the mutable Being and to the Immutable and who is what in His relation to the world we

know as God, are the most striking and among the most vital elements of the Gita.

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11. The Gita preserves a perfectly equal balance, emphasising now knowledge, now works, now

devotion, but for the purposes of the immediate trend of the thought, not with any absolute

separate preference of one over the others. He in whom all three meet and become one, He is

the Supreme Being, the Purushottama.

12. But God and spirituality exist in their own right and not as adjuncts. And in practice the

lower in us must learn to exist for the higher, in order that the higher also may in us

consciously exist for the lower, to draw it nearer to its own altitudes.

13. Therefore it is a mistake to interpret the Gita from the standpoint of the mentality of today

and force it to teach us the disinterested performance of duty as the highest and all-sufficient

law.

14. The equality which the Gita preaches is not disinterestedness,— the great command to

Arjuna given after the foundation and main structure of the teaching have been laid and built,

“Arise, slay thy enemies, enjoy a prosperous kingdom,” has not the ring of an

uncompromising altruism or of a white, dispassionate abnegation; it is a state of inner poise

andwideness which is the foundation of spiritual freedom.

15. And a deity who is the supreme and only self though by him not yet realised in his own

being. This is the initial step. Secondly, not only the desire of the fruit, but the claim to be the

doer of works has to be renounced in the realisation of the Self as the equal, the inactive, the

immutable principle and of all works as simply the operation of universal Force, of the

Nature-Soul, Prakriti, the unequal, active, mutable power. Lastly the supreme self has to be

seen as the Supreme Purusha governing this Prakriti, of whom the Soul in nature is a partial

manifestation, by whom all works are directed, in a perfect transcendence, through Nature.

16. The whole consciousness raised up to dwell in this divine consciousness so that the human

soul may share in His divine transcendence of Nature and of His works and act in a perfect

spiritual liberty.

17. This is the vision of the Lord of all existence as the universal Creator but also the universal

Destroyer, of whom the ancient Scripture can say in a ruthless image, “The sages and the

heroes are his food and death is the spice of his banquet.”

18. Not a physical asceticism, but an inner askesis is the teaching of the Gita.

19. For by immortality is meant not the survival of death,—that is already given to every

creature born with a mind,—but the transcendence of life and death. It means that ascension

by which man ceases to live as a mind-informed body and lives at last as a spirit and in the

Spirit.

20. This is not born, nor does it die, nor is it a thing that comes into being once and passing away

will never come into being again. It is unborn, ancient, sempiternal; it is not slain with the

slaying of the body.

21. GITA accepts Prakriti and her three gunas and twenty-four principles; accepts the attribution

of all action to the Prakriti and the passivity of the Purusha; accepts the multiplicity of

conscious beings in the cosmos; accepts the dissolution of the identifying ego-sense, the

discriminating action of the intelligent will and the transcendence of the action of the three

modes of energy as the means of liberation.

22. Yoga is the practice of the Truth of which knowledge gives the vision, and its practice has for

its motor-power a spirit of illumined devotion, of calm or fervent consecration to that which

knowledge sees to be the Highest.

23. Who sees Sankya and Yoga as one, he sees. He knows that actions are not his, but nature’s

and by that very knowledge he is free; he has renounced works, does no actions, though

actions are done through him; he becomes the self, the Brahman, brahmabhuta, he sees all

existences as becomings (bhutani) of that self existent being, his own only one of them, all

their actions as only the development of cosmic Nature working through their individual

nature and his own actions also as a part of the same cosmic activity.

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24. Prakriti, not illusive Maya, is in the teaching of the Gita the effective cause of cosmic

existence.

The Sankhya proceeded like the Vedantic Yoga of knowledge by the Buddhi, by the discriminating intelligence; it arrived by reflective thought, vicara, at right discrimination, viveka, of the true nature of the soul and of the imposition on it of the works of Prakriti through attachment and identification, just as the Vedantic method arrives by the same means at the right discrimination of the true nature of the Self and of the imposition on it of cosmic appearances by mental illusion which leads to egoistic identification and attachment. In the Vedantic method Maya ceases for the soul by its return to its true and eternal status as the one Self, the Brahman, and the cosmic action disappears; in the Sankhya method the working of the gun. as falls to rest by the return of the soul to its true and eternal status as the inactive Purusha and the cosmic action ends.

25. The Brahman of the Mayavadins is silent, immutable and inactive; so too is the Purusha of the Sankhya; therefore for both ascetic renunciation of life and works is a necessary means of liberation.

26. Renunciation is indispensable, but the true renunciation is the inner rejection of desire and egoism; without that the outer physical abandoning of works is a thing unreal and ineffective, with it it ceases even to be necessary, although it is not forbidden. Knowledge is essential, there is no higher force for liberation, but works with knowledge are also needed; by the union of knowledge and works the soul dwells entirely in the Brahmic status not only in repose and inactive calm, but in the very midst and stress and violence of action.

27. Devotion is all-important, but works with devotion are also important; by the union of knowledge, devotion and works the soul is taken up into the highest status of the Ishwara to dwell there in the Purushottama who is master at once of the eternal spiritual calm and the eternal cosmic activity. This is the synthesis of the Gita.

28. GITA keep intact both the Sankya way of knowledge and the Yoga way of works. GITA also deals with an opposition in Vedanta itself. This was the distinction between Karmakanda and Jnanakanda, between the original thought that led to the philosophy of the Purva Mimansa, the Vedavada and that which led to the philosophy of the Uttara Mimansa, the Brahmavada ; between those who dwelt in the tradition of the Vedic hymns and the

Vedic sacrifice and those who put these aside as a lower knowledge and laid stress on the lofty metaphysical knowledge which emerges from the Upanishads.

JAIMINI’S IDEA OF LIBERATION IS THE ETERNAL

BRAHMALOKA IN WHICH THE SOUL THAT HAS COME TO

KNOW BRAHMAN STILL POSSESSES A DIVINE BODY AND

DIVINE ENJOYMENTS. FOR THE GITA THE BRAHMALOKA IS

NOT LIBERATION; THE SOUL MUST PASS BEYOND TO THE

SUPRACOSMIC STATUS.

29. When thy intelligence shall cross beyond the whorl of delusion, then shalt thou become indifferent to Scripture heard or that which thou hast yet to hear, (gantasi nirvedam˙ srotavyasya srutasya ca) When thy intelligence which is bewildered by the Sruti,

(srutivipratipanna), shall stand unmoving and stable in Samadhi, then shalt thou attain to Yoga. Sabdabrahmativartate .

[gantasi nirvedam, refuse to hear any more texts new or old, srotavyasya

srutasya ca, and go into itself to discover the truth in the light of a deeper and

inner and direct experience.]

30. To that Lord must the sacrifice be offered, the true sacrifice of all the life’s energies and activities, with devotion, without desire, for His sake and for the welfare of the peoples.

Nirvana of the ego in the infinite equality of the immutable, impersonal Brahman as essential to liberation; it practically identifies this extinction with the Sankhya return of the inactive immutable Purusha upon itself when it emerges out of identification with the actions of Prakriti

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The real source of knowledge is the Lord in the heart; “I am seated in the heart of every man and from me is knowledge,” says the Gita; the Scripture is only a verbal form of that inner Veda, of that self-luminous Reality, it is ´sabdabrahma: the mantra, says the Veda, has risen from the heart, from the secret place where is the seat of the truth, sadanad rtasya, guhayam. That origin is its sanction; but still the infinite Truth is greater than its word. Nor shall you say of any Scripture that it alone is all-sufficient and no other truth can be admitted, as the Vedavadins said of the Veda, nanyad astıti vadinah. . This is a saving and liberating word which must be applied to all the Scriptures of the world.

31. Heard or unheard before, that always is the truth which is seen by the heart of man in its illumined depths or heard within from the Master of all knowledge, the knower of the eternal Veda.

32. My Yoga will deliver you from the great fear and even a little of it will bring deliverance. When you have once set out on this path, you will find that no step is lost; every least movement will be a gain; you will find there no obstacle that can baulk you of your advance.

“Abandon all laws of conduct and take refuge in Me alone; I will deliver you from all sin and evil; do not grieve.” 33. To Yoga of the intelligence; desire rather refuge in the intelligence; poor and wretched souls

are they who make the fruit of their works the object of their thoughts and activities. 34. It is this Purusha, this supreme cause of our subjective life which we have to understand and

become aware of by the intelligence; in that we have to fix our will.

It is possible, param drstva, by the vision of the supreme,—param, the Soul, the Purusha,—and by living in the Yoga, in union or oneness of the whole subjective being with that, through the Yoga of the intelligence; for the one Soul is calm, satisfied in its own delight, and that delight free from duality can take, once we see this supreme thing in us and fix the mind and will on that, the place of the sensuous object-ridden pleasures and repulsions of the mind. This is the true way of liberation.

“By doing all works with sacrifice as the only object, is the reply of the divine Teacher that explains desireless work”

[Vedism---Vedantism----Sankhya-----Yoga]

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GITA FROM THE MASTER

1. till I the MASTER did not arrive till YOU do not convert to ARJUNA

The journey of feeling ETERNITY could not start, thou the ETERNAL MASTER

should train the ETERNAL BEINGS, not the often so changing COSTUME

2. YOU lost in the WOODS O’ dear Child as YOU practised as a changing COSTUME

but not as an ETERNAL BEING

3. as I have not a COSTUME of my OWN, STOP thinking of offering ME

anything form this changing WORLD; offer ME YOUR devotion in

THOUGHT, SPEECH and ACTION

4. the changing COSTUME, the medium through which I train YOU is as IMPORTNAT

as I am but could never replace ME; hence focus on ME, not on MEDIUM

5. I just make YOU to revisit

YOUR VIRTUOUS PAST; see what YOU WERE and WHAT YOU BECAME

6. Don’t YOU see the pain of

YOUR FELLOW BEINGS; The land, the LANKA, the EARTH does not belong To YOU, it belongs to RAVANA, DEVIL, SATAN

7. more YOU know ME, better YOU become;

Sooner YOU become the BEST, this EARTH will be turned into a HEAVEN,

land of worthy beings

8. become PURE and WORTHY of receiving liberation and salvation;

9. keep YOUR divinity intact,

being in the costume act as YOU truly are a joyous divine being

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10. remember four truths always as YOU move along with ME;

ME the SUPREME DIVINE, YOU the DIVINE, NATURE the eternal seeks a change, and present TIME needs YOUR help

11. YOUR true DHARMA is YOUR

true being; an immortal, a joyous peaceful being

12. sit infront of ME, YOU ETERNAL BEING; do not be stupified by the changing

SENSES and COSTUME; focus on me The SUPREME ETERNAL the LIFE SOURCE of all YOU BEINGS

13. mind it, YOU are now not searching me;

YOUR search is over, YOU are with me, I searched YOU, YOU are learning from me; learning to feel naturally like a divine being

that truly YOU are

14. now YOUR journey to become SRI NARAYANA and SRI LAXMI

is started; Are You Aware of it ?

15. I descend at Mount Abu on this earth not as a human but through a human called

BRAHMA whose journey too started with YOU

16. even a Calf runs to the Cow by seeing, everyone shows eagerness to have a glimpse of PRESIDENT,

how could YOU miss such a chance to meet YOUR lifetime eternal friend

17. YOU are not seeing this WORLD

for first time, YOU moved along and came virtuous; now its time to repeat the glory

18. tomorrow morning, I will come to meet YOU

in the SCHOOL; don’t see ME through the INSTITUTION,

see the INSTITUTION through ME