THE HOLY GITA

Friday 16 June 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 11

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 11
Text in Transliteration:
sucau dese pratishthaapya shiram aasanam aatmanah
Naa ‘tyucchritam naa ‘ tintcam chailaajinakusottaram
Text in English:
Having firmly fixed in a clean place, his seat, neither too high nor too low, and having spread over it the kusa-grass, a deer skin and a cloth, one over the other;
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
There is a close relationship between the environment and the cast of the mine of the person placed therein. Living in a dirty hovel naturally leads the sweller to baseness and depression of mind. Living in a clean place of natural beaty invigorates and elevates the mind.
Seats like a lounge, a swing or a hammock are no good for meditation. a heap of grass or pebbles a pile of logs—things such as these are also to be avoided. A rock or a platform constructed about two feet above the grounds is quite suitable for for this purpose. One would feel dizzy if the pedestal be too high. A seat on the ground would provide no protection against creeping insects. The provision on the platform of a sacred kusa grass mat, a deer skin and a cloth, one over the other would make an ideal seat for meditation.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
IN THIS VERSE THE Lord prescribed the external seat for practising meditaion. Details of the pose are given verse 13.
Spread the kusa-grass on the ground first. Over this spread a tiger-skin or deer-skin; over this spread a white cloth.

Sit on a naturally clean spot, such as the bank of a river. Or make the place clean, wherever you want to practise meditation.

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 10

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 10
Text in Transliteration:
yogi yunjeeta satatam aatmaanam rahasi sthitah
ekaakee yatacittaatmaa niraasir aparigrahah
Text in English:
A yogi should always try to concentrate his mind living alone in solitude, having subdued his mind and body and got rid of desires and possessions.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
It is in solitude that the mental worth of one is truly seen into. When an aspirant shuts himself up in a room, he knows that there are people in the other rooms and they know that he is confined to a particular room. A setting like this does not fulfil the condition of the sadhaka (practitioner) being alone in solitude. Others should not know about his whereabouts and he should have none but God to commune with. The thought of food rushes to the forefront when one chooses to fast. Akin to it, the untrained mind becomes more turbulent when placed in solitude; suppressed desires would then try to gain ground. But if the mind chooses to commune with the Divine, instead, it augurs well for it. That is really the state of desirelessness. It is by being alone in solitude that one’s mind can truly be assessed by oneself.
He is not a good chauffeur who has not learnt to apply the brake properly and stop the moto-car. The human body may be likened to a car. People have learnt ever to drive it on, but they do not know how to suspend its activities voluntarily. Instead of being masters of the body, they are slaves to it. He is a yogi who has learnt to make proper use of the body and to keep it quiet at his will. Quieting down the body and mind is meditation.
Minimizing the bodily requirements is imperative for spiritual advancement. He is a yogi who has reduced his bodily needs to the bare minimum. And no thought whatsoever is to be given to the possession of those few things, lest they should interfere with his meditation. Relinquishment of possession and idea of possessions, is a prelude to good meditation.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
The truly virtuous man is he who commits no sin even when he is all by himself. That is no virtue which is practised for fear of public opinion. He alone is established in self-control who does not lustfully think of a woman in privacy or in public. He alone is established in self-control who does not cast a covetous eye on the gold coins that he comes across even in deserted house. That alone is virtue which is practised quietly and unostentatiously.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Here the teacher develops the technique of mental discipline on the lines of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. Its main purpose is to raise our consciousness from its ordinary waking condition to higher levels until it attains union with the Supreme. The human mind is ordinarily turned outwards. Absorption in the mechanical and material sides of life leads to a disbalanced condition of consciousness and helps to integrate the conscious and the subconscious.
We must divest our minds of all sensual desires, abstract our attention from all external objects and absorb it in the objects and absorb it in the object of meditation see B.G., XVIII, 72, where the teacher asks Arjuna whether he heard his teaching with his mind fixed to one point, ekaagrena cetasaa. As the aim is the attainment of purity of vision, it exacts of the mind fineness and steadiness. Our present dimensions are not the ultimate limits of of our being. By summoning all the energies of the mind and fixing them on one poin, we rais the level of reference from the empirical to the real, from observation to vision and let the spirit take possession of our whole being. In the Hook of Proverbs, it is said that “the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.” There is something in the inmost being of man which can be struck into flame by God.
satatam; constantly. The practice must be constant. It is no use taking to meditation by fits and starts. A continuous creative effort is necessary for developing the higher, the intenser form of consciousness.
Rahasi: in solitude. The aspirant must select a quiet place with soothing natural surroundings such as the banks of rivers or tops of hills which lift our hearts and exalt our minds. In a world which is daily growing noisier, the duty of the civilized man is to have moments of thoughtful stillness. Cp. “Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closest—and shut the door. We should retire into a quiet place and keep off external distractions Cp. Origen’s description of the first hermits: “They dwelt in the desert where the air was more pure and the heaven more open and God more familiar.”
ekaakee; alone.the teacher insists that the seeker should be alone to feel the genle pressure, to hear the quiet voice.   
Yatachittaatmaa; self-controlled. He must not be excited, strained or anxious. To learn to be quiet before God means a life of control and discipline. aatmaa is used in the sense of deha or body, accorking to Shankara and Sridhara. It is no use entering the closet with the daily paper and the business file. Even if we leave them outside and shut the doors and winows, we may have an unquiet time with all our worries and preoccupations. There should be no restlessness or turbulence. Through thoughts we appeal to the intellect; through silence we touch the deeper layers of being. The heart must become clean if it is to reflect God who is to be seen and known only by the puree in heart. We must centre down into that deep stillness and wait on the Light. “Commune with your Father which is in secret” the Living Presence of God is revealed in silence to each soul according to his capacity, and need.
Plato’s Meno begins with the question, “Can you tell me, Socrates, is virtue to be taught?” The answer of Socrates is, that virtue is not taught but “recollected”. Recollection is a gathering of one’s self together, a retreat into one’s soul. The doctrine of “recollection” suggests that each individual should enquire within himself. He is his own centre and possesses the truth in himself. What is needed is that he should have the will and the perseverance to follow it up. The function of the teacher is not to teach but to help to put the learner in possession of himself. The questioner has the true answer in himself, if only he can be delivered of it. Every man is in possession of the truth and is dispossessed of it by his entanglement in the objective world. by identifying ourselves with the objective world, we are ejected or alienated from our true nature. Lost in the outer world we desert the deeps. In transcending the object, physical and mental, we find ourselves in the realm of freedom.
niraashi free from desires .Worry about daily needs, about earning and spending money, disturbs meditation and takes us away from the life of the spirit. So we are asked to be free from desire and anxiety born of it, from greed and fear. The seeker should try to tear himself away from these psychic fetters and get detached from all distractions and prejudices. He must put away all clinging to mental preferences, vital aims, attachment to family and friends. He must expect nothing, insist on nothing.
Aparigrahah; free from longing for possessions. This freedom is a spiritual state, not a material condition. We must control the appetite for possessions, free ourselves from the tyranny of belongings. One cannot hear God’s voice, if one is restless and self-centred, if one is dominated by feelings of pride, self-will of possessiveness. The Gita points out that true happiness is inward. It invites our attention to the manner of our life, the state of human consciousness, which does not depend on the outward machinery of life. The body may die and the world pass away but the life in spirit endures. Our treasures are not the things of the world that perish but the knowledge and love of God that endure. We must get out of the slavery to things to gain the glad freedom of spirit.
COMMENTARY OF SWAMI SIVANANDA:
The yogi who treads the path of renunciation (Nivritti-Marga) can practise meditation in a solitary cave in the mountains. He should renounce all possessions.
A householder with Yogic tendencies and spiritual inclination can practise meditation in a solitary and quiet room in his own house or any solitary place on the banks of any holy river (during the holidays or throughout the year if he is a whole-time aspirant or if he has retired from service).
The practice must be constant. Only then can one attain Self-realisation surely and quickly. He who practises meditation by fits and starts and for a few minutes daily will not be able to achieve any tangible results in Yoga. The Yogic aspirant should be free from hope, desire and greed. Only then will he have a steady mind. Hope, desire and greed make the mind ever restless and turbulent. They are the enemies of peace and Self-Knowledge. The aspirant should not have many possessions either. He can only keep those articles which are absolutely necessary for the maintenance of his body. If there are many possessions, the mind will be ever thinking of them and attempting to protect them.
If you are well established in the practice of pratyahara, Sama and Dama (withdrawal of the senses, control of mind and the body respectively), if you have the senses under your full control, you can find perfect solitude and peace even in the most crowded and noisy place of a big city. If the senses are turbulent, if you have not got the power to withdraw them, you will have no peace of mind even in a solitary cave of the Himalayas. A disciplined Yogi who has controlled the senses and the mind can enjoy peace of mind in a solitary cave. A passionate man who has hot controlled the senses and the mind will only be building castles in the air if he lives in a solitary cave in a mountain.
He who has reduced his want, who has not a bit of attraction for the world, who has discrimination and burning aspiration for liberation, and who has observed Mouna (the vow of silence) for months together will be able to live in a cave.
You should have perfect control over the body through the regular practice of Yoga Asanas before you take to serious and constant mediation.
Aparigraha means “non-covetousness”, “freedom from possessions”.
The spiritual aspirant need not bother himself about his bodily needs. Everything is provided by God. Everything is pre-arranged by Mother Nature. She looks after the bodily needs of all very carefully in a more efficient manner than they themselves would do. She knows better what the requirements are and provides them then and there. Understand the mysterious ways of Mother Nature and become wise. Be grateful to Her for Her unique kindness, grace and mercy.
If you want to retire into solitude for the practice of meditation, and if you are a householder with thirst for intense spiritual Sadhana, you cannot all of a sudden sever your connection with your family. Sudden severance os worldly ties may produce intense mental agony in you and shock in them. you will have to break the ties gradually. Stay for a week or a month in seclusion to begin with. Then gradually prolong the period. They will not feel the pangs of separation from you.
As your will has become very weak, as you had no religious discipline or training in schools and colleges when you were young, and as you are under the sway of materialistic influences, it is necessary for you to go in for seclusion for some days or weeks (during the Christmas, Easter or other holidays) to practise rigorous Japa and meditation and to develop your will-power.
Those who have fixed up their sons in life and who have retired from service, and who have discharged their duties as householders can practise intense meditation and Tapas (penance) for self-purification and Self-realaisation. This is like entering a university or postgraduate course of study. When the Tapas is over, and when they have attained to Self-knowledge, they should come out and share their knowledge of the Self with others through lectures, conversations, discourses or heart-to-heart talks according to their capacity and disposition.
 How can sense-control be tested in a lonely forest where there are no temptations? The Yogic student living in a cave should test himself after he has sufficiently advanced, by coming into the society of people. But he should not test himself every now and then like the man who removed the young plant daily after watering it to see whether it had struck deep root or not.

Comments by the blogger:
The yogi must first subdue his mind and body and get rid of desires and worldly possessions. Then he should go to a place like the forest or Himalayan cave and observe solitude or live in solitude. This is the conducive atmosphere for him to concentrate on his Self or the Maker.
Then only he can realize his soul.
Human brain has trillions of cells. A child uses one cell to memorise one thing, colour, sound, emotion, etc.
Even a healthy man who is highly erudite and lives a hundred does not use more than a quarter of his brain cell. Thus trillions of cells remain empty and unused till death. Only a yogi who has completely realised himself could be said to have used all the cell of the brain! The greatest of the twentieth century scientist like Albert Ainstine could be safely said to have used up and filled up at least half the number of his brain cells! Such is the power of the yogi. Such is the power of the realisation of one’s self!     
Each human being is endowed with trillions of brain cells! This goes to prove all of us are fir for God-realisation. We are but tiny expression of God. When we realise our Self we become coeval with the Lord. Thus each man is endowed with the power of Self-realisation!
Now, coming to the solitude, why should we shed all possessions and go into the forest and sit in a cave and live in solitude before concentrating on the Self?
Solitude has a propelling power which intensifies and facilitates the concentration of a practitioner.
This may be expressed through an example.
The aerodynamics involved in the flight of an aeroplane is well-known. The great blades of the aeroplanes’ propellants revolve at high speed. They are curved in such a way that when they are in operation, they push the air in front of them for many metres; thus they create a temporary but absolute void in front of the Plane at flight. When this absolute void happens, all the volume of air at the back of the plane rushes with awesome force to fill up that void. The body and tail and the wings of the planes are so formed that they harvest this phenomenal force to push the plane forward with tremendous power. As the blades of the propellants of the plane are in continuous rotating action, the plane is pushed forward and it is enabled to fly like birds but at great speed.
The solitude at the Himalayan cave works as the void created by the blades of the propellants. The worldliness is surrounding the man both inside and outside. We are nothing but five senses till we realise our Self’s power and nature. Our senses are always living among the sense objects of the nature. Now the prakriti or nature will encourage us to indulge in sense objects to the full. Only when we realise our real nature which is coeval with our Maker, we try to pull ourselves away from the sense objects. There is a choice given by the Maker. Despite the repelling forces of our individual fate, we can exercise this choice given by our Maker and studiously avoid from becoming a slave to our senses. A yogi is called upon to leave the society and live alone in solitude. This solitude works as the “void” created by the propellants of the aeroplanes. This enabling void or silence works great miracle in enabling us to indulge in deep concentration on the Self or God for longer hours every day. Gradually the yogi sheds all the worldliness and becomes a realised soul.
The greatest twentieth century Tamil poet, Subramaniya Bharathi has written that there is much essence in solitude.
The father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi, observed silence for a full day every week. On the days of silence he would only write out notes on pieces of papers in important matters. He is a great exponent and given a great testimony about the intense purifying effect of silence.

 When this silence happence in solitude absolute, the yogi is enabled to concentrate. 

Tuesday 13 June 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 09

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 09
Text in Transliteration:
suhrn mitraaryudaaseena madhyastha dveshya bandhushu
saadhushv api cha paapeshu samabhdhir visishyate
Text in English:
He stands supreme who has equal regard for friends, companions, enemies, neutrals, arbiters, the hateful, the relatives, saints and sinners.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
It is but natural for an orndinary man to react differently with people in varying levels of attainments and relationship. They are not normal human beings if they did not behave appropriate to the worth of the persons they contact. They are not normal human beings if they did not behave appropriate to the worth of the persons they contact. But the yogi’s angle of vision is different. To him the whole world is a stage. Beings in it are all different manifestations of the same Divinity. As the actors of the different characters in a drama are all viewed alike by the stage manager, the yogi has nothing but a benign attitude even to those hostile to him. his supremely benevolent attitude is the greatest gift made by him to the conflict-ridden humanity.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
When seen from the plains the grass on the lawn and the deodar tree on the border of the lawn present strikingly contrary pictures. But if they be seen from the peak of a mountain they would all blend into one even verdure. Similarly the earth-bound man views one as a sovereign and anthe as a sweeper, one as father and another as son, and so on. But after intuiting God, these differences vanish. There is no more of the good and the bad, the high and the low, God-perception alone prevails everywhere.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
He excels: He is the best among the Yogarudhas.
Samabuddhi is equanimity or evenness of mind. A Yogi of Samabuddhi has equal vision. He is quite impartial. He is the same to all. He makes no difference with reference to caste, creed or colour. He loves all as his own self, as rooted in the Self.
A good-hearted man does good to others without expecting any service from them in return.
Udasina is one who is quite indifferent.
A neutral is one who does not join any of the two contending parties. He stands as a silent spectator or witness.
The righteous are those who do righteous actions and follow the injunctions of the scriptures.
The unrighteous are those who do wrong and forbidden actions, who injure others and who do not follow the scriptures.

Comments by the blogger:
This verse is preceded by the verse number 8 wherein Sri Krishna says, “That yogi is steadfast who is satisfied with knowledge and wisdom, who remains unshaken, who has conquered the senses, to whom a clod, a stone and a piece of gold are the same. Here in this verse (9) the clod, a stone and a piece of gold replace friends, companions, enemies, neutrals, arbiters, the hateful, the relatives, saints and sinners.
What is important is that a yogi should first shed the worldliness and then personal ego to the extent of being the same both friends and enemies and etc.
The question is whether a person can have such an attitude in life. Certainly it’s not easy or possible for the majority of us. Then the question arises then why should we read the Gita. Well, it is first to give credence to the fact that there have been are people who have similar attitude. That in itself is a model for us to follow. The other thing is that if there are people who could conduct their lives after this fashion there must be a possibility at least to follow their model to a certain extent in our lives. Another thing is to know there have been and are such great souls to whom a clod, a stone, a piece of gold, friends and enemies are the same. That is a great inspiration for us. We tend to take, in course of time, the good and bad and the dvandvas as of equal value.
When there is a kind of life, we tend to evolve gradually inwardly. That is why we should read the Gita. Gita will guide us in our most difficult situations. And Gita should be included in the School Curriculum. Gita should be studied and taught while one is still young. Young girls and boys should be taught Gita’s essence. Gita should form part of the syllabus for students at schools and at colleges. By the time they leave the college they should be thorough in their grasp of Gita.

Like yoga Gita is for all. Anybody can practise the teachings of Sri Krishna if only one shed the gross selfishness and psychic ego.  

Monday 12 June 2017

THE HOLY YOGA, CHAPTER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 08

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 08
Text in Transliteration:
jnaana vijnaana trptaatmaa kutstho vijitendr iyah
yukta ity ucyare yogi sama loshtaasma kaanchanah
Text in English:
That yogi is steadfast who is satisfied with knowledge and wisdom, who remains unshaken, who has conquered the senses, to whom a clod, a stone and a piece of gold are the same.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
The clarity of understanding obtained through the entellectual pursuit and pious study of the scripture goes by the nomenclature, jnana or knowledge; but this is not sufficient in itself. It has to culminate in vijnana—intuition which is mentioned here as wisdom. The truth cogitated upon becomes cognized and the yogi delights both in the process and attainment. While everything else in nature shifts and changes, Akasa or space aloneremains ever itself. Similarly the Self is the substratum behind the fleeting universe. It is therefore termed as kutashtha. The senses get quelled subsequent to the mind being controlled. The achievement of the yogi is that he is the conqueror of the senses. Mud pie and toys are of immense value to children....; but adults look on those things with indifference. While the worldly-minded ones grade the values of a clod, a stone and a piece of  gold , the yogi beholds them all as modifications of the transient nature. He views all the things of the world with an equal eye, his mind being established in Brahman.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIHBHAVANANDA:
Worldly people are they who seek after the impermanjent things of the earth. Godly people are they who seek God and nothing else.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
jnana vijnaana: see III, 41 note.
Kootastha: literally, set on a high place, immovable, chaneless, firm, steady, tranquil.
The yogin is said to be yukta orin yoga when he is concerntrating on the Supreme above the changes of the world .such a yogin is satisfied with the knowledge and experience of the Realit behind the appearances. He is unperturbed by things and happenings of the world and is therefore said to be equal-minded to the events of this changing world.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Jnana is paroksha-Jnana or theoretical knowledge from the study of the scriptures. Vijnana is visesha Jnana or Aparoksha Jnana. i.e., direct knowledge of the Self through Self-realisation (spiritual experience or Anubhava).
Kutashtha means changeless like the anvil.  Various kinds of iron pieces are hammered and shaped on the anvil but the the anvil remains unchanged. Even so the yogi remains unshaken or unchanged or unaffected though he comes in contact with the sense-objects. So he is called kutashtha. Kutastha is another name of Brahman, the silent witness of the mind. (Cf. V.18; VI.18)

Comments by the blogger:

Only when a clod, a stone and a piece of gold are the same to us, we can be said to have transcended the nature and its lures and become fit to be mingled in God. This is highest form of liberation on earth. Man takes this universe for real and his sojourn as indefinite and permanent. He covets every thing. When as a child, toys became his world. when grown up the same boy, now a man, advises his own son to not soil his hands by playing in the dirt. What constituted his happiness and complete world has become worthless. Likewise, when the yogin attains the ultimate knowledge Supreme about this transitory world and his permanent abode in the Supreme then he grows careless of and casual about the whole earthly things.     

THE HOLYGITA, CHAPTER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 07

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION
VERSE NUMBER 07
Text in Transliteration:
jitaatmanah  prasaantasya paramaatmaa samaahitah
seetoshnasukhaduhkheshu tathaa maanaapamaanayoh
Text in English:
The self-disciplined and serene man’s Supreme Self is constant in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, as also in honour and dishonour.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
The good and evil that befall the yogi through the agency of the elements in nature and the living beings, do not in any manner affect him. the external world is not viewed by this man of self-mastery as benign and malign. Clarity of mind is his who is established in self-control. His mind reveals the supreme self enshrined in self-control. His mind reveals the Supreme Self enshrined in it. To the yogi this holy revelation is superior to everything else. Once contacted, this holy cognition becomes constant. Fluctuations in nature such as heat and cold, praise and censure do not affect him any more than the ravings of the delirious patient affect and the operating surgeon. Indifferent to everything else, the yogi is in constant communion with Supreme Self. This is the Sreyas sought after by the wise.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
The mind that delight in its communion with God detaches itself easily from sense-pleasure. This is how the devotees get themselves emancipated. Contrary to this, the mind that delights in the mundane gets entangled.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
This is the state of blessedness of the erson who has established himself in unity with Universal Self. He is a jitaatman whose calm and serenity are not disturbed by the pains of the opposites. paramaatmaa samaadhitaah; Shankarar says that the Supreme Self regards him as His very self. The self in the body is generally absorbed by the world of dualities, cold and heat, pain and pleasure but when it controls the senses and masters the world, the self become free. The Supreme Self is not different from the self in the body. When the self is bound by the modes of prakriti or nature, it is called ksetrajna; when it is freed from them, the same self is called the Supreme Self. This is certainly the position of Advaita (non-dual) Vedaanta.
Those who are opposed to this view break up paramaatmaa into two words, param and aatmaa, and look upon the word param as an adverb qualifying the verb samaahitah.
Ramaanujar takes param as an adverb and holds that the self is sublimely realized.
Sridhara says that such a person becomes concentrated in his self. Aanandagiri holds that self of such a person becomes completely concentrated.
Sama-aahita: firmly directed to equality. This is not, however, the usual explanation.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
The self-controlled yogi who is rooted in the Self keeps poise amidst the pairs of opposites (Dvandvas) or the alternating waves of cold and heat, pleasure and pain, honour and dishonour. When the Yogi has subdued his senses, when his mind is balanced and peaceful under all conditions, when he is not in the least influenced by the pairs of opposites, when he has renounced all actions, then the Highest Self really becomes his own Self. He attains to Self-realisation. As he rests in his own Self, he is ever serene or tranquil: he is not affected by the pairs of opposites, and he stands as adamant in the face of the changing conditions of Nature.            
Comments by the blogger:
The very terms self-disciplined and serene connote that this world is full of turbulent activities. We have senses. We have been provided senses in order to use the sense objects in this world to our benefit. Only a chosen few are able to use the sense object to the minimal. Such is their self-discipline. Such men and women use the sense objects just for the purpose of carrying out the daily activities so that they may devote the rest of the hours gained when their senses are deeply immersed in the inquiry about the mortality of this world objects and Self’s immortality. The world over such people have always been and they have for their object the single-minded goal to get disentangled from the chain of birth and death. They have rightly understood the greatness of the possibilities of their self and the danger of losing out to nature’s mundane joys and sorrows, pain and pleasure in the name of living a normal life. This plane is very temporary and ours in the object to always concentrate on the main chance which is what the realisation of the self is all about.
Once again we see Dr.S.Radhakrishnan speaking about the Universal Self. This universe made of five elements has its own self which is God indeed. When the numberless planets and stars are continuously going around their charted path in the milky ways of the Universe, and numberless activities are wrought out by a single human being in the space of a single minute, God remains uninfluenced by the activities of the millions or trillions of people and other lives in the animal kingdom. He just remains a mute witness to all the activities of the world’s planets and the lives on the earth. When a girl is being raped by a handful of beasts and the girl cries out His name He remains a mute witness even as He remains a mute witness to the eight hours’ continuous meditation by a yogi in the Himalayan cave. He is not the dispenser of fruits of good actions and bad actions. All this is done by His prakriti or nature. But He impregnates this world just by his presence. He is an ultimate creative writer. He writes out the lives of the characters through His prakrity without any personal stake and remains ever Supreme in His scintillating Self. The more we can act in tune with that Supreme Universal Self the greater is the gain and peace of mind in this sensual world. The present world and life on the earth is mostly a glorification of the sensual activities. Man has no time for God. There are innumerable sensual pleasures created by Man and at the click of the button he can have the world on his hands. There is no time for serenity. Any person who remains calm is seen and understood as having losing out on the main chance. Such men are pitied. Indeed pitiable has become our lives. There has never been so many deviations in the history of this world for Human kind. It is humanly impossible to remain calm and collected and be satisfied with one’s few possessions and keep your mind constantly on God. Even our godmen have become very costly and we need to have much wealth and money to go to them for the purpose of learning yoga.

This is why it is necessary to chant both inwardly and outwardly the holy names of the Lord. For every religious person there are Holy Names of the Lord. It is only by selecting a name and chant constantly man can hope to get that serene state of mind as adumbrated in this verse.    

Sunday 11 June 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 06

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 06
Text in Transliteration:
Bandhur aatma ‘tmanas tasya yenaa ‘tmai ‘vaa ‘tmana jitah
Anaatmanas tu shatrutve vartetaa ‘tmai ‘va shatruvat
Text in English:
 To him who has conquered his (base)self by the (divine)self, his own self is a friend: but to him who has subdued the self, his own self acts as a foe.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHVANANDA:
The base and the divine are two mutually opposing natures at work in man. When either of them predominates the other gets vanquished. Where the body, mind and senses are under perfect control, the divine nature prevails and pulls the man up. Progressively he evolves into high orders of existence. But when he submits to the base nature it ruins him completely. The foe outside hurts or attempts to hurt occasionally. Even then it is possible for the self-disciplining yogi to turn that adverse situation to advantage; every ordeal calmly handled adds to the calibre of one’s mind. The foe of the base nature within oneself, on the other hand, is constantly causing havoc. The reckless man therefore is personally responsible for the evils that he has brought on himself. He is the worst enemy of himself. The yogi is the only one who is a genuine friend of himself. He is the worst enemy of himself. The yogi is the only one who is a genuine friend of himself causing self-emancipation in all respects. Barring him, the others are enemies of themselves in varying degrees.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Both bondage and freedom are in the minds of men. “I am a liberated soul; I am the child of God; none can bind me”—if one can assume this attitude with firm conviction one becomes liberated. If a man bitten by a venomous snake strongly suggests to himself that there is no poison, he falls no prey to the bite.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
We are called upon to master the lower self by the higher. The determinism of nature is here qualified by the power to control nature. The lower self is not to be destroyed. It can be used as a helper, if it is held in check.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Conquer the lower mind through the higher mind. The lower mind is your enemy. The higher mind is your friend. If you make friendship with the higher mind you can subdue the lower mind quite easily. The lower mind i s filled with Rajas and Tamas (Passion and Darkness). The higher mind is filled with Sattva or purity.
The Self is the friend of one who is self-controlled and who has subjugated the lower mind and the senses. But the self is an enemy of one who has no self-restraint, and who has not subdued the lower mind and the senses. Just as an external enemy does harm to him, so also his own (lower) self (mind)does harm to him. the lower mind injures him severely. The highest Self or Atma is the primary Self. Mind also is self. This is the secondary self.
Comments made by the blogger:
Verses 5 and 6 should be read conjunctively. While the Bhagavan Sri Krishna is very explicite and simply superb, the commentators shed much erudite sweat by differentiating between lower and higher self. As per the text there is nothing to differentiate. We have been given a choice. And, like a baby who needs sugar coated tablets and sweet suspensions and potions, we need to make a fine differentiation. There is no such thing as higher and lower self. There is only one self. The text amply proves this. But the choice is there. Karma of the previous lives of a person defines his present life. This predetermination and certain things happening in a man’s life are called his fate. But fate does not bind a person to any particular activities by themselves. There is a question of choice always. We can choose to become a beast or a saint. It all depends upon our exercise of choice. Prakrity or Nature too does not help us to become a saint in the beginning. There is much in this world to be enjoyed by our senses. But one’s we become wary of the sensual things outside and the urge to be among them inside we tend to look at this world as a provider of imprisoning things. Once we start to draw our senses from the sense object of this world, after certain test, the same Nature paves the road for us to travel on the spiritual path.
The self is capable of both the beastly and saintly things. This is why there is a proverb in Tamil which exhorts us to not subject a saint’s life in the beginning with too nice a method of evaluation. But man is not only falls a ready prey to the sensual actions, but he is also filled with knowledge about his own self. Sri Ramana Magarishi would ask why a man who has a head ache goes to the doctor for pills. And he would answer it by this wisecrack: “Because he knew of a state of his body when there was no head ache! And he wants to revert to that state!”
Man’s essential self is angelic. All the fury and fever of action of the materialistic world tends to make and encourage him to forget his exalted position. Dr.S.Radhakrishnan says man is coeval with God.

              

Saturday 3 June 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 6, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 05

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER 6
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 5
Text in Transliteration:
uddhared aatmanaa ‘tmaanam na ‘tmaanam avasaadayet
aatmai ‘va hy aatmi ‘va hy aatmanao bandhur aatmai ‘va ripur aatmanah
Text in English
Let a man raise himself by his own self; let him not debase himself. For he is himself his friend, himself his foe.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
One is oneself responsible for one’s distinction or debasement. The contributions that others make in these respects are secondary. It is but usual that one complains that one’s enemy has done havoc to one. But no one can be hurt without oneself contributing to it. It is possible for a sadhaka or practitioner to avail himself of a wrong done to him by his enemy for self-purification. Because of misunderstanding and maladjustment man paves the way for self-debasement. And by doing so he becomes his own enemy. On the other hand, by right understanding and right conduct he elevates himself and thereby becomes his own friend. One is one’s own arch-friend or arch-foe. The one that understands this fact, learns an invaluable lesson for life.
No one courts enmity; friendship alone is sought after by all. That being the case, how shall one choose to be one’s true friend? The solution is offered in the next verse.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Cp. Dhammapada: “The Self is the lord of the self:” “the Self is the goal of the self.”
The Supreme is within us. It is the consciousness underlying the ordinary individualized consciousness of every-day life but incommensurable with it. The two are different in kind, though the Supreme is realizable by one who is prepared to lose his life in order to save it. For the most part we are unaware of the Self in us because our attention is engaged by objects which we like or dislike. We must get away from them, to become aware of the Divine in us. If we do not realize the pointlessness, the irrelevance and the squalor of our ordinary life, the true Self becomes the enemy of our ordinary life. The Universal Self and the personal self are not antagonistic to each other. The Universal Self can be the friend or the foe of the personal self. If we subdue our petty cravings and desires, if we do not exert our selfish will, we become the channel of the Universal Self. If our impulses are under control, and if our personal self offers itself to the Universal Self, then the latter becomes our guide and teacher. Every one of us has the freedom to raise or fall and our future is in our own hands.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Practise yoga. Discipline the senses and the mind. Elevate yourself and become a Yogarudha. Attain to Yoga. Shine gloriously as a dynamic Yogi. Do not sink into the ocean of Samsara ( transmigration). Do not become a worldly-minded man. Do not become a slave of lust, greed and anger.Rise above worldliness, become divine and attain Godhood.
You alone are your friend; you alone are your enemy. The so-called worldly friend is not your real friend, because he gets attached to you, wastes your time and puts obstacles on your path of Yoga. He is very selfish and keeps friendship with you only to extract something. If he is not able to get from you the object of his selfish interest, he forsakes you. Therefore he is your enemy in reality. If you are attached to your friend on account of delusion or affection,  this will become a cause of your bondage to Samsara.
Friends and enemies are not outside. They exist in the mind only. It is the mind that makes a friend an enemy and an enemy a friend. Therefore the Self alone is the friend of oneself, and the self alone is the enemy of oneself. The lower mind or the Asuddha Manas (impure Mind) is your real enemy because it binds you to the Samsara, and the higher mind or the Sattvic min (Sudha manas or pure mind)  is your real friend, because it helps you in the attainment of Moksha.
Comments by the blogger:
This verse is one of which, in the Gita, Sri Krishna, reiterates the self-effort by individuals.
Many tend to think that the Hindus are absolutely superstitious and their karmic theory allegedly takes care of every happening and incident in the present incarnation. In otherwords, the Western people tend to think that since the theory of karma and that the notion that everything is predetermined by the events and effects that took place in the former incarnation, one’s fat takes care of everything. Hindus and their sages and saints are taken for simple-minded folks who put and define everything in terms of the past karmic effect, namely fate.
And the Westerners tend to take pity of the Hindus whose actions and happenings in this incarnation are taken care of and defined simply on the happenings and the effects forming the fate.
As such, the simple-minded Hindus have nothing to do except giving their will and submit themselves to the inexorable working out of the fateful karmic effect. Thus Hindus and their four-thousand years old philosophy are taken for granted and thoroughly pitiable. They think the Hindus have no individual choice to make in life.
In this regard Dr. S. Radhakrishnan’s view about the Universal Soul and the personal soul’s freedom by becoming a channel to the flow of the Universal Consciousness should be given important place.
Universal Soul, when you think deeply, is nothing but the sum total of pracrity or Nature.
If we are in tune with the core of the Natural upward pulls as different from its downward pull exerted on week minded persons, then Man becomes not just the channels but the possessor of Self. Of all possessions in this world, Self-Possession is the thing and absolute freedom to be aspired for.
The individuals are given the choice to go away from God or toward Him.
There is definitely this choice being available to all, which is a curse in disguise! This is the choice given by our Maker to everyone. Since He has everything and there is nothing unattainable in the three Lokas or the World, He wants something He does not possess! Since self-glorification is not there, though He is well aware of his Nature and Prowess and Omnipotence, He glorifies them who glorify Him! If we take one step toward Him, He takes ten steps toward us. But prakrity or Nature of this word exerts an opposite pull in the initial days. This is what Ramakrishna Paranhansa describes as the schooling of Nature. Nature schools us. Nature beguiles the Seeker of Knowledge of God or God Himself, in the initial days, and pulls him in the opposite direction! This pull is understood by the Christianity and Mohammedanism as Satan. They say Satan works against God and tries to debase His devotees and encourages to go against the individual Scriptural Utterances. If God could have an enemy who has been in existence from the time of Creation, the plenipotentiary which is He has to be brought into to question.
So, the Westerners need not pity a Hindu and try to pull them to their individual religion!
The Vedopanishadic Sages have shown the way for all the world and its people for ever.
To do right or wrong is inbuilt in man. When his senses move among sense objects, if he is careful in using and enjoying those elemental things in an elementary manner and not give himself up to stark materialism, after some initial negative pulls exerted by the Lord’s pracrity in the opposite direction, it promotes his seeking and facilitates his enthusiasm.
And thus man realizes himself which is tantamount to realising God.

So personal choice is their and one can become one with the Lord or thoroughly debase himself and come back to this earthly plane repeatedly. This is estrangement with our Maker. And that is why we are not really happy till our attainment of our Self.