THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 4 , JNANA KARMA SANYASA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF RENUNCIATION OF ACTION IN KNOWLEDGE OR THE WAY OF KNOWLEDGE, VERSE NUMBER 27

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER 4

JNANA KARMA SANYASA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF RENUNCIATION OF ACTION IN KNOWLEDGE OR THE WAY OF KNOWLEDGE:

VERSE NUMBER 27

Text in Transliteration:

sarvaanee ‘ndriyakarmaani praanakarmaani chaa ‘pare

aatmasamyama yogaagnau juhvati jnaanadeepite

Text in English:

Others again offer all the actions of the senses and the functions of the life-energy, as a sacrifice in the fire of self-control, kindled by knowledge.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The category of mind is a combination of the sentient and insentient. Its function is very much like that of a piece of charcoal which when put into fire becomes ember and charcoal again when extinguished. Mind creates the link between the self within and objects outside. When mind is suspended in wakefulness as it does involuntarily in sound sleep, the objective world experienced by it gets negated when mind gets identified with Atman, like live charcoal, it assumes the characteristics of Atman. This identification of the mind with Atman is here referred to as the fire of self-control. This act is a great and rare sacrifice. When the mind gets merged in Atman, all the actions of the senses and life-energy automatically become sanctified. The performer of this Yagna becomes Brahman.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Just as a lamp is kindled by oil, so also the fire of the yoga of self-control is kindled by knowledge. When the Yogi concentrates or fixes his mind on Brahman or the Self or fixes his mind on Brahman or the Self, the senses and the breath cease to function. The senses and the breath are absorbed into their cause.         

Comments by the blogger:

Here self-control is the Agni for the sacrifice. Knowledge of the Self is the oblation. This knowledge kindles the fire into which other offerings are also poured; all the actions of the senses and the functions of the life-breath or energy. Life breath or vital breath is vital for connecting this body with its senses with the sense objects. When vital breath’s functions are poured into the Agni of studious self-control then there is no scope for the worldly actions.

Prana or the Vital Breath was created along with the sky by God when he went into meditation. And the Upanishad says He further thought these two, the prana or Vital Breath and the sky would create all other jeevans or lives. Next came the sun which is nothing but the material form of the Vital-Breath or Prana. Prana is shakti or Force. In the Saivic parlance, Lord Shiva is a state of inert extant. Or the sky. And into this Shakti or Prana entered to create the world.

The sun, which is the external form of the Prana or Vital-Breath or Force, spreads on all sides the energy or force or the Prana or Vital-Breath.

This prana exists both in the Universe and the Man. In both the Universe and Man this Vital Force or Breath (Prana) divides itself into  ten forces indulging in ten kinds of actions, namely, 1) Pranan, 2) Apanan, 3) Viyanan 4) Uthanan, 5) Samanan, 6) Nagan, 7) Koorman, 8) Krukalan, 9) Dhevadhathan, and 10) Thananjayan. While Pranan takes care of all actions in the Universe and the Man’s body upward and Apanan takes care of all actions downward. Viyanan is a Pranic Force that works on all sides in the Universe and the Man’s body. Udhanan is the Force that helps Man, when he dies, as a vent to his life-force and helps the Universe at the time of Kalki for the Universal holocaust and complete disintegration. Samanan is a Force that helps digestion in Man and the Universal revolution. It helps in Man by changing the food into blood, etc. And it helps the Universal fundamental elements to inhere everywhere and be with God’s power and intelligence. Nagan takes care of belching and vomiting the undigested food which has turned poison, in Man, and it takes care of Earthquakes and tornado and larva spouting mountains, called volcano. Koorman stays in Man’s eye lids and in the Universe it inheres in the day and night. Krukalan is the reason for hunger in Man and continuous searching in the Universe. In the Universe there is continuous searching for the actions of the sentient and the insentient. There is a cosmic hunger for guiding the individual beings and directing the insentient in their motion. This is the reason for the cosmic soul’s being the witness for all the happening in the universe. Dhevadhathan is a Force that takes care of yawing in Man and in the Universe the cosmic Force in the state of Inertia to be used as and when occasions arise and the universal making and dismantling. And the vital force called Dhananjayan gives health for the Human Beings and animals and in the Universe it inheres in the “rta” or the Rhythm of the Universe.

The Pranan which divides itself into ten vital forces takes care of ten kinds of cosmic as well as human actions that go on as per an order.

These ten Vital-Forces unite the body with the Mind in Man and the cosmic body and cosmic intelligence in the Universe.

When there is reason and scope for these vital forces to work in the Universe as well as in the evolved Man’s body, then bodily functions will go on and Man will be yoked to the Samsara which has illusion, desire and work. Then Man has to come back to the earthly planet time and time again, and can’t even hope for a consciousness for His Source, the Creator. But when Man understands how to make an oblation of these vital forces born of vital breaths into the yogic fire of self-control which is kindled by Knowledge about the Universe, Man and his Creator and Man’s essential state of being coextensive with the Creator.