THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER TWO
SAMKHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE
VERSE NUMBER 58
Text in Transliteration:
yadaa samharate chaa ‘yam koormo ‘ngaannee ‘va sarvasah
indriyaanee ‘ndriyaarthebhyas tasya prjnaa pratishthitaa
Text in English:
When also, like a tortoise its limbs, he can withdraw the
senses from sense-objects his wisdom is then set firm.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The tortoise withdraws its limbs into the shell with ease and
spontaneity to protect itself against possible dangers. It then rests satisfied
with the self-provided security. It is as natural as this for a man of
perfection to be an introvert. This process is technically known as
pratyaahaara. As a man bolts from within and sits indoors undisturbed, the
jnani delights in the Self; and this is the norm with him. Just as a fish put
back into water, the knower of Brahman derives bliss from the core of his
being. Complete mastery over the senses is characteristic of the illumined.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUATED BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
Poisonous snakes fatally hurt people. But the snake-charmer
handles them as if they are no creatures of consequence. More than that, he has
quite a few of them coil, creep and writhe about his body. The senses,
likewise, are undependable and treacherous too, in the case of the ordinary
man. But they are ever tame and subservient to the knower of Atman.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANADA:
Withdrawal of the senses is pratyahara or abstraction. The
mind has a natural tendency to run towards external objects. The yogi again and
again withdraws the mind from the objects of the senses and fixes it on the
Self. A yogi who is endowed with the power of pratyahara can enter into Samadhi
even in a crowded place by withdrawing his senses within the twinkling of an
eye. He is not disturbed by tumultuous sounds and noises of any description.
Even on the battlefield he cna rest in his centre, the Self, by withdrawing his
senses. He who practises pratyhara is dead to the world. He will ot be affected
by the outside vibrations. At any time by mere willing he can bring his senses
nder his perfect control. They are his obedient servants or instruments.
Comments by the blogger:
The whole world is one great sense object. And at the same
time it represents teeming number of sense object. It is ever full of sense
objects. And our lowliness consists of the fact that we are lead by our senses.
Even great munis have their likes and dislikes. We cannot escape the onslaught
of our senses. We are servants of our senses. The whole world is not enough for
us. We are absolutely lead by sense objects.
Today’s commercial culture is one cannot view a movie, a
cricket match, a serial on the TV without being exposed to variety of objects and costly home
appliances, cars and all the things ordinary average Indian cannot even dream
of with the help of costly girls who parade their costly things in costly
costumes. A soap ad advertises the costly lady “using” the soap on her costly
bare body. And the senses started to go to war!
Compared to Man, other animals are not like this. They are
blessedly lead by instincts. They even have mating season. A lion or a tiger
never stalks it prey unless it is hungry.
God has given us senses along with discrimination. It is for
us to choose to be lead by the consumer culture or eat and drink and sleep like
ordinary people. Gandhiji had needed only a length of white cloth to dress
himself! And he looked like a king in that dress. It all depends on the inner
person and Self-culture. Anybody can own costly gadgets, but cannot become a
Mahatma.
God has given man the choice; we can choose to live like a
pig, or like a Mahatma. It all depends on our discrimination. That is, how we
use our discrimination. We can become a sinner or saint or progress toward one
or two states throughout our lifetime. Here lies God’s greatness. He is a great creative
writer. He gives His characters all the choice to act and write their, or
script their own story! He is not afraid of how the story of the individuals in
his universal drama would progress or degrade. He has created the prakirity or
the Nature with three gunas or natural propensities and Man also is made of
such triguna. We can choose our own story. God just sports. He just stands by
and listen. He is the witness. He does not interfere how we live or choose to
live. But if we beg him for help he helps. Even then there is no limit to the
devotees’ being subjected to various acid tests.
So the only way for us is to minimise our needs and maximise
our desire to progress in the self culture and beg God for this!
Here also the principle of re-incarnations arises.
Would a God, Who all religions describe as an embodiment of
compassion, give us senses that have a propensity to run wild and damn us after
only one innings? The very nature of our self is deathless and ananda and all
our problems arise from our identification with the sense objects and our body.
Even this tendency has been created by God and He just sports. But would a God
be so cruel as to give us only one chance for salvation? Re-births and
reincarnation may be peculiar to Hinduism, but it happens to be the inherent
fact of our existence. Otherwise why so much disparities among human beings,
and how could one describe the physically and mentally challenged men and women
coming into this earth’s plane? If there is an original sin it should affect
all likewise, not in a discriminating way!
Think any way re-birth is a necessity. Otherwise God would
be the most villainous Being. Would we give our children only one chance to
prove their mettle? Could God be lesser in giving than our human parents?
Senses may enslave us. But we have umpteen number of chances
before we fetch our salvation. Because salvation is our Self’s right. It cannot
remain bonded for ever. At some point of millennial time each soul must become
free. To precipitate this process there are sastras like the Gita which teaches
us to remain completely indifferent to the onslaught of our senses. We must see
that the senses go toward and indulge in sense objects, and we are pure Self. This
way we can fetch salvation quickly!
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