PRASTANATRAYA
BHAGAVADGITA
The Upanishads and the Brama sutras have been dealt with so far. It has also been observed that while the Upanishads are mainly meant for listening, the Brahmasutras are meant for reflection. We have grasped the essence of the two. Now we have to see how the knowledge acquired by listening and reflection can be translated into our daily life. Such an effort is called nididhyasa constant concentration. The Gita has come to teach this. This comprises 18 chapters. The first chapter deals with dejection (‘Vishad and the last its solution, liberation in renunciation. The intervening 16 chapters deal with these two themes in detail. We shall see them in their order.
THE YOGA OF DEJECTION
Kurukhetra is nothing but samsara. The chariot is the body. Arjuna sitting in the chariot is Jiva. Arjuna has another name, ‘nara’ man. Krishna, charioteer, is our intellect. Life itself is the battle. Favourable and unfavourable situations in life are the pandava and kaurava armies. The battle is fought by Jivas like us. It cannot be predicted whether we win or lose. If situations are favourable it is a win. If unfavourable it is defeat. In most instances what we expect does not happen the way we want it to. So three out of four times, it is defeat, and dejection. What is the reason for this defeat and dejection? It may be because the situations are adverse. Why are they adverse? The adversity is the product of our own egoism and the attachments. Ego is to think that I am confined to this body and identifying myself with it. And to view everything other than myself as different from me is attachment. If I think I am limited to this body, I am bound to think that all else is the ‘other’, non-self, I do not get attached to everything outside me, only to those things that I want. If it is unwanted, I reject it saying not mine. This wanting and not wanting are ‘raaga’, desire and ‘devesha’, hatred. Happiness or unhappiness are due only to this duality of likes and dislikes. This is what the bondage of samsara is. This egoism is the root of all misery in the form of birth and death. Egoist is the ignorance that this body is all that is my self. This identification leads to attachment, which creates adversities and favourable situations out of which arises the duality of happiness and unhappiness. This is the situation Arjuna is facing. That is dejection.
Not only Arjuna, but every one of us faces this problem every day. Man is caught in this vicious cycle. However rich or poor, intelligent or foolish, one is, this dejection is unavoidable.
THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE (SANKHYA)
What then is the solution ? The problem must first be diagnosed before starting the treatment. Dejection in the disire. We know that it is caused by egoism expressing itself in the form of identification with one’s body. How to deal with it Only through ‘sankhya’, knowledge, which consists in seeing the self in separation with the non-self which seem to get entangled with each other. The self is separate from the body. The self is pure awareness, while the body is insentient,. The two are not related. Still, we are deluded that this body is our body. That is why, when the body dies, I think I am dead, and when it is born, I think I am born. I am superimposing the qualities of the body on myself.
In fact the I – awareness never changes and never dies. We are all eternal in the essence of awareness. It is the body that is fleeting, not the owner of the body. The owner is omnipresent in the form of awareness. No one can destroy it. Only the bodies are destroyed. They are of the three constituents of nature the owner of the body, the self, because of his contact with these three constituents of nature, is subjected to birth and death. The bond with the body is due to the deeds done in nescience.
The casual body is due to this nescience. The subtle body is due to desire. And the gross body is due to the deeds. The self contracted these three bodies. Nescience is the cause of the casual body. It is called causal because it is the cause of the other two bodies subtle and the gross. Nescience consists in mistaking the non-self for the self. It invades our awareness and limits it to the body. Because of this limitation, the rest appears as the world the non-self, and leads to the desire to acquire it. This desire is the subtle body. The deeds we do in order to fulfil our desire is the cause of the gross body. If the deeds are fruitful there is happiness. If not, dejection results.
Therefore an intelligent person should gain knowledge of what the self is. Then he can gain victory over desire. If desire is to go ego and attachments must go. (nirmamo nirahankaarah). It is only then that the practitioner can treat the duality of Pain and pleasure with equanimity (sukha dukhe same). It is indeed this stage that is called ‘brahmi stithi’. The ocean does not chase the rivers. It is stable where it is. The rivers run to it and merge in it (aapooryamanam achala pratishtham). Similarly if you are stable, devoid of desires, your wants will walk to you. This is what saankhya says.
ACTION (KARMA YOGA)
If I sit in a place without any desire, how does the daily routine life run ? What is daily routine ? Is it not activity ? And how can you do anything if you have no desire ? It is not possible for anyone to sit for a moment without doing anything. It is possible only in sleep where there is no desire and no action, only their impressions. And these impressions emerge in the waking state. When them is liberation possible from this bondage of action?
Action does not mean doing, and non-action does not mean giving up action. Whatever you do mental, vocal or bodily action-must be done in the spirit of sacrifice, Yajna. Yajna means Iswara. You must keep in mind that Iswara consciousness is working through you. Then the ego that you are doing will go. And action must be done without attachment. That means even the desire that what you do must be fruitful to you must go. The deed must be dedicated to Iswara. Then attachment also is eliminated when both ego and attachment are absent, there is no desire and no drive for action. Even if they are they do not belong to Jiva, but to Iswara. The action of Jiva is Iswara’s action, and Jiva’s desire is Iswara’s desire. This is the principle of Karmayoga.
KNOWLEDGE (JANANYOGA)
Thus with Iswara in your mind, if you carry on your daily life in that light, action gets transformed into knowledge Jnana. Action and inaction lose their distinctions. The two become one. One is awareness, the other its manifestation. The water in the sea and its movement are indeed one. Then in doing, man is not the doer. desire and deeds are both burnt down in the flames of awareness. Then even when one does, he is not the doer.
If this confidence is to be strengthened, one should not be immersed in too many worldly activities. One’s activity must be restricted to what is necessary for just living. Otherwise the world wears you down. Iswara consciousness will not be acquired. If the awareness that all is Iswara is firmly established in one’s mind, he is indeed freed from attachment and is liberated. Whatever such a person does along with its fruits gets dissolved in that Iswara-consciousness (samagram pravileegate). He is not bound by his deeds. His life itself is a great sacrificial rite, yajna. It is Jnanayajna, not a material rite. Every thought and every deed becomes Brahman essence. (Jnane parisamaapyata) Everything looks cosmic consciousness.
However, it is not as easy for this awareness to happen. One needs the teachers instruction. A teacher means the awakened and seer of truth. One should serve such a teacher with faith and devotion. Then will the teacher remove the ignorance and the truth is revealed. And with that one would be able to perceive one’s self in all the creatures. All the pollution of desire etc., will be washed away in that awareness.
However such jnanayoga can be attained only through Karmayoga, deeds performed dedicated to Iswara. It will take some time.. It depends on one’s intensity of purpose and faith. It is a training. Jnana is the job you get after the training. If that Jnana is obtained, the highest peace (paraam saantim) is yours not in the distant future, but the same moment. But this fortune is not within the reach of one who has no faith, and doubts everything. Peace and happiness are possible only for those who get rid of distrust and doubt.
RENUNCIATION OF ACTION (KARMASANNYASAYOGA)
Now, a doubt arises. There is a lot of debate going on whether peace is obtained by action or by non-action, giving up doing things. The answer is without Jnana awareness, mere giving up action is of no use. And if one is awakened, there is no need for him to give up doing things. But for awareness to happen, one must take the aid of action. But action is to be performed not blindly, but with the thought of surrendering it to Iswara. Gita calls such action as Karrmayoga. Without the aid of Karmayoga renunciation is not possible. Renunciation is nothing other than doing things with mind fixed in Brahman. All the action must be imposed on brahm,a not on oneself. The individual will should become the cosmic will. This is the true meaning of renunciation. Then any deed I do-ritualistic or worldly – is not done by me (naiva kinchitkarmomeeti). I will be able to view all action as nature’s constituents interactions. Renunciation is always to be mental and not physical. In fact, Iswara never ascribed either any action or doership to any Jiva. It is the powerof maya with its three constituents that brings in action and doership. It is not natural, but imposed on the self. Therefore we should only realize our natural self. Likes and dislikes Happiness and unhappiness – all dualities will vanish. There will then be no problem. Man would be able to crack the mystery of creation. And that mystery is nothing but equipoise, which is the only practice required. The ability to view the same essence of Brahman in all, from the pious Brahmin to the butcher, is the highest achievement.
SELF – RESTRAINT (ATMA SANYAMAM)
However, to achieve this state where one can see everything as one’s self, it requires great practice. Until the self is realized is it going to be transformed into the I-consciousness ? Only one should not lose heart. Practice and non-attachment – these two are the only means to bring mind under control. It may be fulfilled after a life time’s effort. What is to be done, if it is not fulfilled ? This doubt should not deter you from continuing your effort. The practice must continue until the self is seen in all things. If not in this life, it would happen in the next life or the next. What is done will never go waste. Lives are meant only for practice to resume and improve. What is done in this life will be carried forward in the next. In one lifetime or other it will come to fruition, and the vision of self-in-all will surely result. This is the Lord’s assurance. And this is the message of the Yoga of self-restraint. the mind must be kept under control. This is my man, that is an outsider – this kind of difference should not be there in your attitude. You must practice treating all in the same way. For this, self-control and certain rules of conduct must be observed for some period. Restraint in matters of food and places of visit must be observed with control over the body, control over the mind will ensue. Mind is the most important means. Without haste, mind must be steadily transformed into the consciousness. If it is steady, the I consciousness is the same as the pervasive Brahman. Then in all things it is one’s own self, and in the self are all things.
But mind is never steady. When does it come under control ? And when .
KNOWLEDGE AND REALISATION (JNANA AND VIJNANA YOGA)
Many expressions like paramatma, Iswara and Brahman have been employed, but their essence has not been defined completely till now. It is attempted in this chapter. Paramatma has two faces, essence and manifestation. Essence is without constituents and mainifestation has constituents. Constituents are nature’s expressions - sattwa, rajas and tamas. This nature is Iswara’s own power. If expressed in constituents the power of nature is Iswara himself. Then all this world, mloving and non-moving, living and non-living is his manifestation. If the power of nature remains in its essence without constituents, it is of the essence of consciousness. That is also Brahman, Paramatma. Self realization is compelte when the two are grasped together – the essence and its manifestation. The external world from the earth to the sky is one manifestation. The internal world of the Jiva namely mind, intellect and ego is another manifestation. The consciousness of Jiva is still another manifestation. Together these three comprise nine. The sakteyas term these as nine coverings, ‘navaavaranas’. They cover the I consciousness. If one realizes all this as one’s own power he is Iswara. But if one comes under its control he is Jiva.
Iswara and his nature are one. Its manifestation is all this world, moving and non-moving. What is in all things is Iswara and nothing else. The thoughts of sattwa, ragas and tamas that arise in us are Iswara too. But the Jiva is unable to grasp this Iswara because he is caught in his constituents and is confined. Everyone, starting from one who is in some distress, is a practitioner striving to reach Iswara. Among those who strive is rarely a Jnani, who can perceive Iswara as his own essence. Such realization happens only after striving for several life-times. It is only then that one gets the experience that all that one sees is but paramatma.
However, many among those who strive have strong desires, and for their fulfillment worship various deities. The reason is delusion owing to duality. The delusion is inborn to us. It does not allow us to go beyond the nature constituents. How can this Jiva who subjects himself to the powr of the constituents go beyond them? And unless one frees oneself from the rule of these constituents of nature, one cannot perceive the manifestation saguna as the essence, ‘nirgenna’. Then it is not mere jnana but vinjana too.
THE IMPERISHABLE SUPREME BRAHMAN (AKSHARA PARABRAHMA
YOGA)
Akshara is the imperishable power of avidya or maya. The Akshara that is higher than this is the imperishable paramatma. This akshara is meant to serve as indicator of the higher akshara. This akshara is conceived by the ancients as OM consisting of three syllables – a, n and ma. The three stand for three worlds, three bodies and three jeevas. OM is also called pranava. While uttering pranava, its signification must be meditated on. Where the signifier stops, there the ideas of Jiva and Jagat also dissolve.
When the signified dissolves along with its signifier, the practitioner should watch in which the two dissolve. They dissolve nowhere else but in one’s own self, the essence beyond the power of nature’s constituents. It is not only his private self, but is the self of all. It is the imperishable beyond the imperishable. Realisation is to grasp the higher imperishable in its own essence. But it is also approached through the lower imperishable by constantly meditating on the higher. And in that practice, in the last moments of life, the practitioner enters his vital force in the centre of his forehead, and from these lead it to the top of the head, and from there exits through sushumma and gives up the body. He thus reaches satyaloka and transcends the cycle of life and death in the knowledge of the nirguna, or the formless. This is the way of meditation.
SOVEREIGN KNOWLEDGE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET
(RAJAVIDYA
RAJAGUHYA YOGA)
Meditation (dhyana) and knowledge (Jnana) – in the two the former leads to gradual liberation and the latter to instant liberation. We have considered meditation. The present chapter is going to explain Jnana. The two look alike, but are really different. Meditation focuses on some form, and there is no way of merging the other thoughts. At best the other thoughts may be pushed aside. Knowledge is not like that. It is the vision in which everything is seen as Brahman. All other thoughts should be dissolved in it gradually. It is only then that this is self, that is non-self ‘difference vanishes and the thought that all is one self is achieved.
This is knowledge, Vidya and this is the secret, guhya. When all is one’s self, who is there to enlighten or impart knowledge to others. It is experience and it is always secret. And it is the sovereign secret.
That Brahman is not away from you to some distant world. It is there in every perception of yours (pratyaksha avagamam). Everything is perceived by you as existing. That perception of existence itself is the self. You perceive the thing that reveals its existence. That is perception of transformation (savikalpa). If you perceive the perception itself instead of the perceived, that is ‘nirvikalpa’, the non-transformed. The Gita says such perception is easy enough. Is it difficult to see the Gold in the ornaments ? It is equally easy to see the self in its transformations.
The real royal secret is that it is this perception that is pervasive everywhere. All the creates are included in it. But it cannot be said that the perception is in the created things. These things are not. Perception alone is. It transforms itself in these things for us to see it. Things are born of it and merge in it. Its power is such.
The Lord says that fools are deluded when I take form with my own power and incarnate myself. They think that I am limited to this physical frame. Some great souls worship me. Through Jnana Yajna. They grasp my essence with a fixed thought. Whatever form and deed they see, they do not see them. They see but the self. The same self is pervasive in all. A life lived in such fixed thought is fulfilled.
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