THE HOLY GITA

Thursday 13 December 2018

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 12, VERSE NUMBER 08, BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 12
VERSE NUMBER 08
BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION:
TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:
mayy eva mana aadhatsva mayi buddhim nivesaya
nivasishyasi may eva ata oordhvam na samsayah
SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:
mayi = in me: eva = only: anah = the mind: aadhatsava = fix: mayi = in me: buddhim (thy) intellect = intellect: nivesaya = place: nivasishyasi = thou shalt live: mayi = in me: eva = alone: ata oordhavam = hereafter: na = not: samsayah = doubt.
TEXT IN ENGLISH:
Fix your mind on Me alone, let your thoughts dwell in Me. You will hereafter live in Me alone. Of this, there is no doubt.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
To feel is the way of the mind and to decide is the way of the intellect. And these are the inner subtle organs of man. A man’s residence need not be reckoned basing on the locality where he has placed himself bodily. Man verily is where his mind is. There are those who live in hell on earth; and there are those others who make a heaven of this earth. It is the mind of man that makes the heaven and the hell. When this mind is made over to God, man is then verily in the Divine Presence. The Lord says there is no doubt about this; the devotee can verify this verity for himself.
SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Man is born with two tendencies, Vidya guna and Avidya guna—the noble and the base, dormant in him. The former leads him Godward and the latter makes him earth-bound. In babyhood, both the tendencies are in equilibrium as if equally distributed in the two scales of a balance. If he grows in the life in the senses, the scale of worldliness goes down with that base weight. But if he merges in spirituality, the scale in him of Godliness goes down towards Iswara with that holy weight.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:     
Fix thy mind means ‘thy purposes and thoughts’ in Me ‘the Lord in the Cosmic Form.’ Give up entirely all thoughts of sensual objects. Fix in Me thy intellect also—the faculty which resolves and determines.
What will be the result then? Thou shalt undoubtedly live in Me as Myself. O Arjuna, of this there is no doubt whatsoever.
The Yoga of meditation is described in this verse. (Cf.VIII.7; XI.34; X.9; XVIII.65)

Comments by the blogger:
The Lord of Gita gives His solemn word or, to put it in another way, promises to the whole of the  humanity in various Slokas or Verses, in Gita: for example, He gives his solemn word that he would be born and come down to the earth as a human being to punish the unrighteous people and sinners and safeguard the righteous every Yuga or Age. And we have come across many slokas or verses in which the Bhagavan or God of the Gita has given His solemn word which automatically amounts to a promise to the whole of the humanity, present and yet to come!
In the verse on hand, Sri Krishna assures and gives His solemn word that those people who fix their mind on Him alone, and who think of Him constantly such devotees shall live in Him alone. He further says “Of this, there is no doubt”. This is nothing but a solemn promise by Sri Krishna for the humanity, present and future.
When the Mind is fixed on worldly things and life on the earth alone it naturally dwells on worldly objects and things. The Greek philosopher says, “I think, so I am!” Whatever one thinks constantly the man becomes that. We have already seen how the lower form of living beings evolved through constant thinking. For example, the droning bee or wasp picks up a worm and put it in its place and pricks the worm every now and then, and the worm’s whole mind is fully concentrated on the wasp, and in course of time, the worm becomes a droning bee or wasp! In my essay on Charles Darwin’s Doctrine of  Evolution which I have added to this blog’s comments not once but twice, I have said that if a giraffe whose neck was not as tall as we see now, must have been constantly and consistently trying to reach up to get hold of the branches with leaves with its mouth in search of food. When that giraffe did die and is reincarnated by Nature as a giraffe with a somewhat longer neck than it had in the previous birth in this world! And even in this birth, the concerned giraffe must have tried to reach up for food and as a continuous result, it must have come back to this earthly plane with a still longer neck than the last innings in this world. Thus the giraffe must have evolved into a beast with such a long neck as we see now. Since the present giraffe has no problem in reaching up and catch hold of various branches of trees, the evolution for this particular species must have come to an end! All this only shows and proves that man as well as beasts who have a constant need and think of that in the Mind the result is glorious. With Man, the bodily evolution has attained closure and now Man has to evolve mentally. Thus what the Lord of Gita says in the verse or sloka 08 is the absolute truth. If we constantly think of (read meditate on) the Lord we become Him as a result of entering into Him.  
What we repeatedly think about that thought enters our subconscious and the subconscious mind of ours makes things and our deep purpose is realized. Without anyone’s advice or without anyone’s help we would become what we repeatedly and constantly think! The 2000 years old Tamil literature, THIRUKURAL is world famous for its terse poems. It urges us to always think of the sublime thing. It is pure psychology!
In the Epic Mahabharatham, a sloka or verse says as follows:
teshmekantna : sreshtaaate saivanantiadhevatha:
ahamev ktsteshaam niraasi: krma karinam
The meaning of this verse is:
Those who reject all other Gods and offer prayers to and worship Me alone are great devotees. They do not want to enjoy the fruits of their actions. For, I am the fruit of their actions! Why should we refect all other Gods? Because then only we will be able to constantly worship and think of our personal God or Ishta Dhevata.
According to Srimat Swami Chidbhavananda, Our Mind feels and the intellect decides. They are inner subtle organs. Man’s real residence is his own Mind!
According to Srimat Swami Sivananda, in the verse or sloka 08, The Yoga of meditation is described.
The mind thinks and the intellect decides. What our Mind often thinks we become that. Here thinking Mind is expected to practise meditation. When we meditate on the Lord and make it a regular and daily practice, in this world itself we will live in God.





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