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.