THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 12, VERSE NUMBER 10 BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 12

VERSE NUMBER 10

BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION:

TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:

abhyaase ‘py asamartho ‘si matkarmaparamo bhava

mad artham api karmaani kurvan siddhim  avaapsyasi

SANSKRIT WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MENING IN ENGLISH:

abhyaase = in practice: api = also: asamarthah = not capable: asi = (thou) art: matkarma paramah = intent on doing actions for my sake: bhava = be: mad artham = for my sake: api = also: karmaani = actions: kurvan = by doing: siddhim = perfection: avaapsyasi = thou shalt attain.

TEXT IN ENGLISH:

If you are unable even to practise Abhyasa-yoga, be you intent on doing actions for My sake; even by performing actions for My sake you will attain perfection.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

Force of habit is too strong to be altered or curbed; it drags the man along its own way. Even such a bent can be turned to advantage. While the bent is allowed to have its sway, it is utilized in the service of the Lord. A talkative man for example, may go on talking of God instead of worldly things. An active man may work hard for the glory of his Maker and not for mammon. When he becomes an instrument of the Lord in this way, no work taints him. His mind becomes gradually purified. Godhood is reached.

SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

When a man changes his attitude he is freed from bondage. Whatever work takes place through man is actually the work of the Lord. “Lord, You have Your work done by me. In ignorance, I feel ‘I am the doer.’ May I be only an instrument.” The attitude of this kind emancipates the aspirant.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

If the concentration is found difficult on account of the outward tendencies of the mind or our circumstances, then do all actions for the sake of the Lord. Thus the individual becomes aware of the eternal reality.

Matkarma is sometimes taken to mean service of the Lord,  pooja or worship, offering flowers and fruits, burning incense, building temples, reading scriptures, etc.

COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Even if thou doest mere actions for My sake without practising Yoga thou shalt attain perfection. Thou shalt first attain purity of mind, then Yoga (concentration and meditation), then knowledge and then ultimately perfection (Moksha or liberation). Serving humanity with Narayana Bhava (feeling that one is serving the Lord in all ) is also doing actions for the sake of the Lord. Such a service should go hand in hand with the worship of God and meditation.

If you are not able to practise the Yoga of meditation mentioned in verse 8 or the Yoga of constant practice mentioned in verse 9, hear the glorious stories connected with the Lord by attending religious discourses conducted by the devotees of the Lord, sing Kirtan and the praises of the Lord.

Pratise the nine kinds of Bhagavata Dharma (the nine modes of devotion), viz., (1) hearing the Lilas (glorious and divine sports) of the Lord (Sravanam), (2) sing His Names (Kirtanam), (3) constant remembrance of the Lord and constant repetition  of His Names and Mantras (Padasevanam), (5)offering flowers in worship (Archanam), (6) doing prostration to the Lord (Vandanam), (7)becoming His servant (Dasyam), (8) friendship with Him (Sakhyam), (9) doing total self-surrender to the Lord (Atmanivedanam). Cf. III.19; XI.55)

Comments by the blogger:

In verse 8 the Lord urges Arjuna to fix his mind on Him only, his intellect in Him, (then) Arjuna shalt no doubt live in the Lord alone thereafter.

In verse 9 the Lord says to Arjuna that if he is unable to fix his mind steadily on the Lord, then by the Yoga of constant practice he should seek to reach Him. (Abhyasa Yoga is recommended by the Lord here. But I wrote in my comments to this verse about the Raja Yoga. I regret my lack of concentration, friends).

God wants us to fix our minds on Him only. And the Lord wants Arjuna to also fix his intellect in Him. This yoga is not easily attainable to all, so the Lord allows a wide margin for the inability of the Sadhakas or Practitioners to constantly and steadily fix Arjuna’s mind on the Lord and thus practise Abhyasa Yoga. But the thing is that even this Yoga could prove unattainable for us and the Lord once again allows us wider margin and urges us to do all actions for the sake of the Lord. And He assures that even by doing actions for His sake the Practitioner could attain Him!

Doing actions for the sake of the Lord alone is not so very easy as the Lord puts it for ordinary men like me. That is why the Lord’s Karunya is showered on the true devotees and the Lord says what He has said in verse 11.

The Lord takes care of the last man who has real devotion but unable to exercise diligence in the practice of Yoga mentioned in verses 8 and 9. This is the beauty of the Hindu Scriptures. Even the last man is not left out. No business of calling all the human beings as sinners and calling upon them to indulge a lifelong penance! No Hindu Saint will address  the people in his speech as “O, Sinners!”

In this verse, the Lord asks us to carry out the day-to-day activities not for our selfish sake but for the sake and in the name of the Lord. The Mind becomes pure when we indulge in actions only for the sake of the Lord. This does not mean we should go to the temple in the early morning and leave it only in the late evening! Any acts demanded by one’s Svadharma or an individual’s natural duty not for one’s sake but for the sake and in the name of the Lord. But in fact, this kind of indulging in the day-to-day activities of ours in the name and only for the sake of the Lord is not so very easy! So one should pray to the Lord for some spiritual power so that one could do actions for the sake of the Lord only.

When one practises this and acts for the sake of the Lord alone one’s mind is completely purified. In their mighty Commentaries, Shankarar and Ramanujar differ from one another and give a different kind of explanation to the phrase in this verse in which the Sri Bhagavan says that Arjuna should be intent on doing actions “FOR HIS SAKE”. While Adi Shankarar explains “for my sake” as the activities one has to do according to as one’s Svadharma, but Sri Ramanujar says “for my sake” means doing actions like building temples, growing gardens in the temple, sweeping the floor of the temple, lighting lamps in the temple, sprinkling water on the floor, drawing kolam, collection of flowers in the garden of the temple, offering worship, chanting God’s Holy Names, going around the temple in the form of daily worship, eulogising the Lord and offering worship to Him. You should indulge daily in such activities. The readers may exercise their own discretion and interpret both the Achariyas’ commentaries and act accordingly.