THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER TWO
SAMKHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE
VERSE NUMBER 48
Text in Transliteration:
yogashah kuru karmaani sangam tyaktvaa dhanarmjaya
siddhy asiddhyoh samo buootvaa samatvam yoga uchyate
Text in English:
Perform action, O Dhananjaya, being fixed in yoga,
renouncing attachments, and even-minded in success and filure; equilibrium is
verily yoga.
COMMENTARY BY CHIDHBHAVANANDA:
The yogi holds all the activities taking place in him as the
doings of the Lord. He places himself in the position of a willing servant. He
places himself in the position of a willing servant, ever ready to execute
orders. An attitude of this kind eliminates attachment. The master orders his
servant to go to the next village and bring a particular person. The servant
goes on the errand accordingly, but finds the person absent. There is no
disappointment in him for this failure. There is no disappointment in him for this
failure. He is commissioned to go on another day on which he is able to find the
required person. There is no special elation over the success now. The servant
is simply satisfied with carrying out orders effectively. It is in this manner
that the yogi holds the successes and failures in his endeavours free from
attachment and aversion.
The nature of the mind is to be elated in success and
dejected in failure. But by remaining unperturbed by either, the mind gains in
clarity and firmness. It is like the surface of water that has become placid
and fit to reflect objects clearly. This even-mindedness is equilibrium. He is
a yogi who keeps the mind in this poised state under all circumstances.
Spiritual growth is possible to him only who keeps the mind ever poised.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS
QUOTED BY SWAMI CHIDBHVANANDA:
Be in the world even as a maid-servant in a rich man’s
house. For all intent and purposes she claims her master’s children and
property as her own. But at the core of her heart she knows that they do not
belong to her and remains firm in that attitude. Seemingly own worldly things;
but have no attachment to them. As the maid-servant can with ease relinquish
her assumed ownership of the master’s property, be prepared for separation from
earthly possession.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
yogasthah: steadfast in inner composure.
Samatvam: inner poise. It is self-mastery. It is conquest of
anger, sensitiveness, pride and ambition.
We must work with a perfect serenity indifferent to the
results. He who acts by virtue of an inner law is on a higher level than one
whose action is dictated by his whims.
Those who do works for the sake of their fruits go to the
region of the fathers or pitrs, those who pursue wisdom go to the region of the
gods or devas.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Dwelling in union with the Divine perform actions merely for
God’s sake with a balanced mind in success and failure. Equilibrium is yoga. The
attainment of the knowledge of the Self through purity of heart obtained by
doing actions without expectation of fruits is success ( Siddhi). Failure is
the non-attainment of knowledge by doing actions with expectation of fruit.
Comments by the blogger:
Conquest of anger, sensitiveness, pride and ambition is ‘samatvam’;
equilibrium is verily yoga. The yogi holds all the actions taking place in him
as the doing of the Lord. He places himself as the servant of God. Steadfastness
in inner composure.
All these exhortations by great commentators will not help
us. They are great souls, but we all are not like them. In my personal
experience, one thing has helped in a great way. That is the trick of seeing
the Lord in every one and everything. This will not help instantly. I prayed to
the Lord that if it is true that the Lord Krishna is there in every one and
everything, the whole universe is related to me. Then how can I get angry at my
tormentors and aggressors and sworn enemies; too many of them. I used to have
too many of them some fifteen years back. They made my life a veritable hell
day and night, day in and day out! But I
conquered them all only through this trick. I prayed to Lord Lingeshwarar, my Ishta
moorthy, (lingarupam is the amorphous form of the Lord Siva representing the
whole universe) that if what is stated in Bhagavat Gita is right, and the Lord
is present pervasively in all, organic and inorganic, then I should love the
Lord in my enemies and tormentors. There was much professional jealousy. I could
not come up in my advocate profession. I am an M.A., B.L. with, but I could not
come up in the profession because of a few sworn enemies who acted at the
behest of one leader among them. With the result I had to consult the
psychiatrist several times. At long lost, at fifty-six, it has been five years
since I said good by to the legal profession. Because of my M.A. in English
Literature, now I have found my vocation in writing a serialized novel as a
blogger (myresourcefulaunt.blogspot.com) apart from this blog on the Holy Gita.
I have conquered all my enemies through one trick. And that is to see and
envision in every single one of my tormentors and enemies and their friends the
Lord Himself. I prayed for this gift, and the was blessed with the gift. So,
even a single sloka or verse in Bhagavat Gita could save a soul and help
him/her attain salvation or at least, as in my case, find the necessary mental
equanimity, which is extolled as yoga.
So, if I could be a Bhagti Yogi, you could be a Buddhi Yogi,
or Jnana Yogi or Raja Yogi. The trick is to have faith in the Lord’s words. At fifty-six
with no rupee as individual income, I
have been able to understand God’s scheme for the universe as well as me. You could
do the same. No one is immaterial in His scheme. So have the strength to have
faith, a modicum of it, and then pray to the Lord by surrendering to Him Your
all, and then He would start to lead your life for you in slow gradation. At the
end of the day, you’d go to bed with strong conviction that God pervades the
Universe and so I am safe in His hands.
But on the professional and financial plane, I have become a
dismal and complete failure, which scarcely bothers me. I was born for the
teaching profession. Lawyers’ profession is full of cut throat completion. Writing
also is my swadharma. I was born to read, teach and write. But, after M.A. I
foolishly opted for the legal profession. Those who do not have a clear cut
idea about their swadharma are bound to suffer. I have suffered a lot. But even
my suffering has become my gaining in that I have been able to understand the
Lord’s scheme for the Universe! I might take an umpteen number of rebirths, but
I will come again and again as a human being to pick up the thread left off at
the end of each innings! We will discuss this aspect as and when the occasion arises.
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