THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTERS NUMBER 12
VERSES 13 AND 14
BHAKTI YOGA OR THE YOGA OF DEVOTION:
VERSE 13
TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:
adveshtaa sarva bhootaanaam maitrah karuna eva cha
nirmamo nirahamkaarah samaduhkhasukhah kshamee
SANSKRI WORDS AND PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING IN ENGLISH:
Adveshtaa = not hating: sarva bhootaanaam = of (to) all creatures: maitrah = friendly: karunah = compassionate: eva = even: cha = and: nir namah = without mineness: nir ahamkaarah = without egoism: sama duhkha sukhah = balanced in pleasure and pain: kshamee = forgiving.
VERSE 14
TEXT IN TRANSLITERATION:
Samtushtah = contented: satatam = ever steady in meditation: yogee = practitioner: yataatmaa = self-controlled: drrddha nischayah = possed of firm conviction: mayi arpita mano buddhih with mind and intellect dedicated to me: yah = who: madbhaktah = my devotee: sah = he: me = to me: priyah = dear.
VERSE IN ENGLISH:
VERSE 13
He who hates no being, who is friendly and compassionate to all, who is free from the feeling of ‘I and mine,’ even-minded in pain and pleasure and forbearing.
VERSE 14
Ever content, steady in meditation, self-controlled and possessed of firm conviction, with mind and intellect fixed on Me, he My devotee is dear to Me.
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The feeling of oneself as alien to others is born of ignorance. An aggressive form of this feeling is hatred, capable of creating poison in the system. This destructive feeling therefore has no place in the wholesome life of a devotee.
Mere avoidance of hatred is not sufficient. Stones and stone-like people do not hate; but they are none the better for it. Life should take a positive turn. Feeling oneself friendly to all is the mark of a devotee’s life.
Careerists often cultivate friendship with all, with the base motive of self-advancement. But a devotee of God is he who has nothing to seek, but everything to give. He is so compassionate that he ever promotes the welfare of the others.
Of all forms of egoism, the spiritual egoism is the most dangerous one. If one develops the egoistic feeling that he is rendering spiritual help to others, he can hardly ever get out of that harmful quagmire. A true devotee is always free from the feeling of ‘I and mine.’
Resulting from his benign service to others, a devotee may lose his possessions, may even be put to hardship. But that ordeal causes him no pain. When the world happens to speak highly of his exemplary life and work, he derives no pleasure from that praise. He is even-minded in the midst of these occurrences.
It is not unoften that a devotee is put to unwarranted affliction by the ignorant and wilful ones. But in such a trying circumstance a genuine devotee is always forbearing.
Contentment, bliss and buoyancy ever mark a yogi for their own. Being established in yoga, self-control and disciplined life become part and parcel of his being. In matters spiritual he is not wavering; he is one of firm conviction. His refined feelings and his clarified understanding are all centred on the Lord. As the needle of a compass always points to the north, the faculties of the devotee are ever intent on Him. Such a devotee is ever dear to Him.
SRIMAT SWAMI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA AS QUOTED BY SRIMAT SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Does the Lord attach any value to the wealth and property dedicated to Him? Nothing whatsoever. The Lord bestows His grace on that devotee only who has an inordinate love and devotion for Him. The Blessed Lord attaches all importance to devotion, discrimination and detachment from worldliness.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
In these verses, the Gita mentions the qualities of a true devotee, freedom of spirit, friendliness to all patience and tranquillity.
COMMENTARY BY SRIMAT SWAMI SIVANANDA: (To verse 13)
Lord Krishna gives a description of the nature of a Bhagavata or a sage in the following eight verses. These eight verses are called “Amritashtakam”.
The devotee who is established in God bears ill-will to none. He looks on all with love and great compassion. He regards all beings as himself. He does not hate even a single being, not even the creature which gives him intense pain. He who entertains mercy towards suffering people and tries to relieve their sufferings is a man of Karma. He puts himself in the position of the sufferer and feels the pain himself. Mercy is a divine attribute. God is all-merciful. If you wish to hold communion with the Lord, and if you desire to attain Godhead, you must also become all-merciful.
The perfect devotee offers full security of life (Abhayadana) to all beings. He is a Paramahamsa Sannyasi. The devotee only can really understand the mysterious ways of the Lord. He beholds the Lord everywhere. He sees the Lord in all creatures. That is the reason why he has equal vision. He is like the sun or the river. The sun sheds its light equally on a palace or a cottage. Anyone can drink the water of a river. A river quenches the thirst of cows as well as tigers and lions. The idea of ‘mine-ness’ and ‘I-ness’ never arises in the devotee’s mind. He has no sense of ‘mine’ and ‘thine’. He is indifferent to pleasure and pain. He is not attached to pleasant objects. He does not hate the objects that give him pain. He is as forgiving as the earth. He is not affected a bit when anybody insults, abuses or beats him.
VERSE 14
He knows that all that comes to him is the fruit of his own actions in the past and so he is ever contented. He does not endeavour to attain the finite or perishable objects. He fixes his mind and intellect on the Supreme Being or the Absolute, attains eternal satisfaction and stands adamant like yonder rock, amidst the vicissitudes of time.
Contentment ever dwells in the heart of My devotee. Like the ocean which is ever full, his heart is ever full as he has no cravings. He is ever cheerful and joyous. He has a feeling of fullness whether or not he gets the means for the bare sustenance of his body. He is satisfied with a little thing and he does not care whether it is good or not. He never grumbles, complains or murmurs when he does not obtain food and clothing which are necessary for the maintenance of the body. His mind is ever filled with Me through constant and steady meditation.
Yogi: He who has evenness of mind always. He has controlled all the senses and desires. With a firm determination, he has fixed his mind and intellect on Me in a spirit of perfect self-surrender. He is endowed with a firm conviction regarding the essential nature of the Self. He who has the knowledge through Self-realisation, “I am Asanga Akarta Suddha Satchidananda Svayamprakasa Advitia Brahman” (unattached, non-doer, pure, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, self-luminous, non-dual Brahman) is a sage of firm determination. He has given to Me exclusively his mind (the faculty that wills and doubts) and the intellect (the faculty that determines). He is dear to Me as life itself. Such a comparison falls far short of the reality.
The same thing which was said by Lord Krishna to Arjuna in chapter VII.17, “I am very dear to the wise and he is dear to Me,” is here described in detail.
Comments by the blogger:
Hating even your enemies will bring you more miseries. This is why I am not hating my two enemies. Hating His creatures is anathema to God’s will. But, on the other hand, loving all especially your own enemies will bring extraordinary spiritual power to understand the mysteries of life. I can vouch for that.
The devotee must be friendly and compassionate to all. This is the obverse of the philosophy above-noted. Not hating any creature automatically means you love all your enemies. The milk of human love must include both Man and Beast. Love has two sides. One is not hating anyone. This is putting the same thing that you must love all in the reverse.
Anyone who loves God and worships Him regularly will have a minimum of wants. Where there is ego that person’s worship of the Lord will not carry much weight. An egotistic worshiper who only worships God and is unattainably haughty and egotistical when it comes to dealing with fellow human beings is an idiot. His worship of the Lord will not bring him any peacefulness and other blessings which are the forte of real and humble worshippers of God.
The worshipper must be balanced in pleasure and pain. It is easier said than done. The whole of your life is pleasure and pain and one’s philosophy of life depends mostly on how you put up with pain and pleasure. Take any worldly activity it will bring you either of these two, pain or pleasure. All beings, Man and Beast, endeavour throughout there lives in relentless search of Pleasure. The irony is that in the materialistic life you come across more pain even through pleasure; even the lovable thing or state has the seed of pain hidden in it. For example, for those who have not a child for many years after their marriage, and just when they have left all hope a baby boy is born. The couple is beside themselves with joy. Since the baby boy is a very late arrival to the family, they, the husband the wife would not leave the boy to walk on the earth! All their lives now go around the blessed boy. So their life has changed totally. This is pure joy, of course. But in this pleasure is hidden pain. You may ask how come. Just imagine what will be their condition if the boy takes to ill? The couple’s life would become unhinged. There lurks pain even in the worldly things of pleasure.
One must exercise forgiving tendency. Nothing is more beautiful than the act of forgiving. Only the human beings can forget and forgive and thereby partake some of the power of the Lord Master Himself.
Contentment is a boon. I have never prayed for any bonanza. All my prayers would be hinged on one thing, that our minimal wants should be satisfied so that I can concentrate on serving the Lord with greater joy.
Meditation is a Yogic Science. Both the arts of Meditation and Concentration are the immortal spiritual devices the Hinduism has contributed to the world forever. One could meditate if he has his minimal needs are fulfilled. When Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was asked by some visitor as to why the great Master did not concentrate on the impoverished people and teach them to indulge in Yoga and Worship and Meditation, the Master replied that when one’s basic needs are not fulfilled God realisation for one is not possible.
Swami Chidbhavananda has said that mind thinks while intellect decides. And Sri Bhagavan wants both the faculties to be devoted to Him even for the average householder so that there would not be any avarice and the householder will train his thoughts more frequently on God and Godly Things.
Such a devotee is dear to God.
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