THE HOLY YOGA
CHAPTER 4
JNANA KARMA SANYASA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF RENUNCIATION OF ACTION IN KNOWLEDGE OR THE WAY OF KNOWLEDGE:
VERSE NUMBER 26
Text in Transliteration:
srotraadeenee ‘ndriyany anye samyamaagnishu Juhvati
sandaadeen vishyaan anya indriyaagnishu juhvati
Text in English:
Some offer hearing and other senses as sacrifice in the fire of restraint, while others offer sound and other sense –objects as sacrifice in the fire of the senses.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Two diametrically opposite types of yagna are enunciated here. The function of the one is to make the senses ineffective and that of the other to make them super-effective.
Fire which transforms the nature of things consigned into it is the medium in ritualistic Yajna and symbol in jnana-yagna. The fire of restraint carried to its extreme becomes total sense-control. The performer of this form of yajna eats wholesome food merely for the nourishment of the body; the act of relishing and the idea of enjoying a meal are all eliminated. The other senses are suspended except for the bare maintenance of the body. The mind is completely withdrawn from the senses and made introvertive. The physical life goes on mechanically while the mind revels in the Self within.
In the second type of yajna the senses are made best use of for the adoration of the Almighty. In the fire of the senses, the sense-objects are offered as oblation. Forms perceived by the eyes are beheld as the manifestations of the Lord. Auspicious utterances are sumptuously heard. Sacramental food is partaken of with the piety. The smelling of the aroma associated with the worship of the Divine, is felt as a form of holy communion. Garlands of flower and sandal paste that come as grace from the adored Deity, are reverently put on the body. The objects of all the five senses are thus sanctified and made liberal use of. The sensual is in this way transformed into the spiritual; the depraving into divinizing.
Of the two methods, that of the sense-control is negative and sense-sublimation positive. Though they seem antithetical to each other, the result produced by them is the same—purification of the mind. The negative method is given to the daring and advanced few and the positive to the aspiring many.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
By means of sacrifice interpreted here as means to mental control and discipline, we strive to make knowledge penetrate our whole being. Our whole being is surrendered and changed. A right enjoyment of sense objects is compared to a sacrifice in which the objects are the offering and senses the sacrificial fire. Every form of self-control, where we surrender the egoistic enjoyment for the higher delight, where we give up lower impulses, is said to be a sacrifice.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Some Yogis are constantly engaged in restraining the senses. They gather their senses under the guidance of the Self and do not allow them to come in contact with the sensual objects. This is also an act of sacrifice. Others direct their senses only to the pure and unforbidden objects of the senses. This is also a kind of sacrifice.
Comments by the blogger:
Swami Sidbhavananda’s distinction of the sloka or stanza must be kept in mind. According to him, offering hearing and other senses as sacrifice in the fire of restraint is a Negative sacrifice. But offering sound and other sense-objects as sacrifice in the fire of the sense is a Positive sacrifice. This distinction should be kept in mind.
But, whether positive or negative, is are these kinds of sacrifices possible for human beings?
The answer is possible indeed. We at some time of our life indulge in both kinds of sacrifices for different objectives.
Take the case of a lover, the only sound he wants to hear is his lover speaking to him! All kinds of sounds of speech are jarring on his nerves. He simply can’t see anything. Or everything he sees brings to his mind his lover. He can taste the kiss of his lover and in comparison every other tastes pales into insignificance. All he wants to touch is the body of his lover. Everything he sees somehow brings his lover and her words to him. Thus his whole being is permeated by his lover only. He offers hearing and other senses in the fire of restraint, in the sense he cannot see, hear, taste, touch or smell anything but that that has relation to his lover. He simply sacrifices in the fire of restraint and continue to think, and in his mind taste, smell, touch, see and hear only his lover to the total exclusion of all other things, men and matter, in this world. This is a Negative Sacrifice.
Great lovers of the world like Devados, Lila and Majnu, Antony and Cleopatra are great in the Positive sacrifice! They offer sound and other sense-objects as sacrifice in the fire of the senses! No sense object can help them live except that of their lovers’!
The only difference is that while such lovers indulge in such negative and positive sacrifice for their dearest darlings, the great yogis indulge in the same for the sake of the Almighty!
So, if even an ordinary man can indulge in such sacrifices for the sake of their beloved ones, if they exert themselves a little bit more and become suffused with the God-sense or thinking always about the Lord it is possible for all to perform such mighty and Moksha-giving or salvation-giving sacrifices.
For this the Sat Sang or the community of the faithful would be of great help. We become what we constantly think and speak. The drone bee is not said to procreate in the normal way. It takes to its house some larva belonging to some other species and keeps stinging the larva. Thus the larva is made to constantly think of the bee. And at some point of time it itself becomes a droning bee!
Animals can think for themselves. That’s how they stalk their prey and the preys write out their escape. Evolution is all about the animals thinking in terms of developing some other limbs or longer ones. It proves two thinks. That the animals can think. And, secondly, even when the animals seek Nature or Prakriti sees to them that they get what they want. The only rider is that the seeking must be genuine one and deeper one.
If we seek God through all our senses we are said to be indulging in sense sacrifice.
People, apart from lovers, always sacrifice. This world is not for the one who does not sacrifice. The diligent student boning up for the exams sacrifices the duration of time away from his play. The lovers sacrifice everything for their love’s sake. The parents of small houses come out of the house and sleep in the open for the sake of their newly wedded sons or daughters.
Sri Ramakrishna says those who are addicted to alcohol and other such addiction inducing drugs and powders and liquids injected intravenously sacrifice everything including their good name and all the sense of the shame.
What the Lord of the Gita wants us is that we turn the worldly sacrifices into a spiritual one. The discoverers and the inventers of the world sacrifice their entire life in the pursuit of Knowledge. Likewise, the Lord wants us to sacrifice all for His sake.
And this is one way of attaining moksha or salvation.
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