THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 12, VERSE NUMBER 16, BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 12

VERSE NUMBER 16

BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

anapekshah suchir daksha udaaseeno gatavyathah

sarvaarambha parityaagee yo madbhaktah sa me priyah

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:

Anapekshah = free from wants: suchih = pure: dakshah = expert: udaaseenah = unconcerned: gatavyathah = untroubled: sarva aarambha parityaagee = renouncing all undertakings: yah = who: mad bhktah = my devotee: sah = he: me = to me: priyah = dear.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

He who has no wants, who is pure and prompt, unconcerned, untroubled, and who is selfless in all his undertakings, he who is thus devoted to Me, is dear to Me.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

That man is free from wants who does not seek after sensual pleasures. He becomes pure to the extent he rids himself of all sensual pleasures. When the thought, word and deed of a man are not contaminated by sensuality he is established in purity. To be prompt in the discharge of duty is possible only for him who lives a disciplined life. Even a very grave crisis, suddenly sprung upon him, does not confuse his understanding; he handles it promptly as he ought to. Worldly people behave in one way towards friends and in quite another way towards foes. But the devotee of the Lord is unconcerned whether those he deals with are friends or foes. He behaves in the same simple and straightforward manner with one and all. His dealings being clean he remains untroubled by their consequences. Serving the Lord being his sole motive, he is selfless in all his undertakings. He has everything to dedicate to the Maker and His beings; he has nothing to ask of them. therefore he is dear to the Lord.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

He who is not deceived by his own mind—a person such as he alone, gains access to the divine presensce of the Lord. The point comes to this: an attitude free from guile and deceit and a devotion true to the core—these are the means to take one Godward.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

He renounces the fruits of all his actions. His acts are skilled, daksha, pure and passionless. He does not lose himself in reverie or dream but knows his way in the world.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

He is free from dependence. He is indifferent to the body, the senses, the objects of the senses and their mutual connections. He has external and internal purity. External purity is attained through earth and water (washing and bathing). Inner purity is attained by the eradication of likes and dislikes, lust, anger, jealousy, etc., and through the cultivation of the virtues—friendship (towards equals), compassion (towards those who are inferior) and complacency (towards superiors).

Daksha: Prompt, swift, and skilful in all actions; expert. He is able to decide rightly and immediately in matters that demand prompt attention and action.

Udasina: He who does not take up the side of a friend and the like (in a controversy); he who is indifferent to whatever happens.

Gatavyathah: He who is free from pain. He is not troubled even if he is beaten by a wicked man. He is not pained or afflicted by any result of any action or any happening.

Sarvarambhaparityagi: He habitually renounces all actions calculated to secure the objects of enjoyment, whether of this world or of the next. He has abandoned all egoistic, personal and mental initiative in all actions, mental and physical. He has merged his will in the cosmic will. He allows the divine will to work through him. He has neither preference nor personal desire and so he is swift, prompt and skilful in all actions. The divine will works through him in a dynamic manner.

Such a devotee is My own Self and so he is very dear to Me.

Comments by the blogger:

This is how Mahatma Gandhi thought his people should live.

The whole of his policy of economy rounded on the motto do it yourself and spin. The spinning wheel was to him a great source of self and Self-fulfilment. He did not want for his people any competition for economic achievements. It was only when Gandhiji started to fast that he came to realize that how much-unwanted things he had been eating! We must not think from this that he was a glutton and ate eighteen-course meals every day! What he ate was the demands of his industrious body to go through life. He was very active and as such in need of normal food habits. Gandhiji went to England to participate in the Round Table Conference. As part of this programme, he had a meeting with the king of England. The Mahatma had been attired in his minimal way and when he had emerged from the meeting with the king, the pressmen surrounded him to ask him questions. One of the questions related to the way the Mahatma was attired. For Winston Churchill had called Gandhiji as a half-naked fakir. Even in England Gandhiji was attired in his Dotti and a cotton towel around his trunk. So the question from one of the pressmen, “Mr.Gandhi, how did you feel in your dress in the presence of the king?” was only natural. And pat came the reply from Gandhiji, “No problem. The king was elaborately attired and it was enough for both of us!”

Even the two-course meal he ate daily seemed to him too much when he had taken to fasting as a way of protest against the British Raj and sometimes against the activities of his own people. The Mahatma had few wants. Those wants were like that of a beggar! Minimum clothes, minimum food and lots and lots of activities throughout the day! Apart from all these things, he wanted, above all, Independence for his Motherland. Thus the Mahatma’s needs were more on behalf of his country and the suffering masses.

Gandhiji was both pure and prompt. Both inwardly and outwardly Gandhiji was pure and he did not tell any half-truths or downright lies in his Autobiography. He did not suppress anything important that had happened in his life. So he was so pure as to be called a hermit. And he was very prompt. The Mahatma was an ambidextrous writer. He could write with both hands. In those days letter writing ate lots of his time. He wrote replies to each and every letter he received. So he had to write much. As and when his right hand became very tired and continuous writing was a painful experience, the Mahatma would simply shift the pen to his left hand and would continue with his writing! He was very prompt in replying to the Mails he received every day. Letter correspondent was a very important daily activity and part of his duty. It was mainly through letters the Great Man held a personal relationship with numerous people all over India belonging to various walks of life. Apart from this, he had to write for his journals like, ‘The Harijan’.

The Mahatma could be described as an epitome of unceasing activity and at the same time unconcerned in his personal life and expectations. He worked for the emancipation of his Motherland. In the famous book, “Freedom at Midnight” a scene would be described: Mahatma Gandhi and two of his co-workers were taking a mud bath. When some people faithful to the British Raj came to meet the Mahatma and when they found Gandhiji and two of his followers covered from head to foot in thick mud, they cracked jokes among themselves, “Here is the man who is supposed to get India its freedom!” Gandhiji was always unconcerned and untroubled by the daunting duty as the Father of the Nation and the Architect of India’s freedom.

Gandhiji was selfless in all his ceaseless activities. When India, at long last, won its freedom the Mahatma was nowhere to be seen in Delhi. He had gone to the small village where Hindu-Muslim clashes and lots of blood-letting took place. By the sheerness of the Mahatma’s presence in the troubled village, peace and harmony had come to the village!     

Mahatma Gandhi was a devotee incomparable.

Thus the Father of India lived out this Verse and his life is a standing testimony to all of us to follow.