THE HOLY GITA , CHAPTER 5, SANYASA YOGA , OR THE RENUNCIATION , VERSE NUMBER 25

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER 5

SANYASA YOGA OR THE RENUNCIATION:

VERSE NUMBER 25

Text in Transliteration:

labhante brahmanirvaanam rshayah kshinakalmasaah

chinnadvaidhya yataatmaanah sarvabhatahite rataah

Text in English:

With sins destroyed, doubts (dualitites) removed, minds disciplined, being delighted in the welfare of all beings,  the Rishis attain the Beatitude of Brahman.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Rishis are they who have realized the substratum of all the things. Perfect enlightenment is theirs because of complete detachment from the mundane. Though detached, they engage themselves in the welfare of all. Because of complete self-controle they commit no sin. The Beatitude of Brahman is theirs as a matter of course.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Sarvabhatahite rataah: the soul which has acquired wisdom and peace is also the souls of love and compassion. He who sees all existence in the Supreme, sees the Divine even in the fallen and the criminal, and goes out to them in deep love and sympathy.

To do good to others is not to give them physical comforts or raise their standard of living. It is to help others to find their true nature, to attain true happiness. The contemplation of the Eternal Reality in whom we all dwell gives warmth and support to the sense of the service of fellow-creatures. All work is for the sake of the Supreme jagad hitaaya. To overcome the world is not to become other-worldly. It is not to evade the social responsibilities.

The two sides of religion, the personal and the social, are emphasized by the Gitaa. Personally, we should discover the Divine in us and let it penetrate the human; socially society must be subdued to the image of the Divine. The individual should grow in his freedom and uniqueness and he should recognize the dignity of every man, even the most insignificant. Man has not only to ascend to the world of spirit but also to descend to the world of creatures.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Sins are destroyed by the performance of Agnihotra (a daily obligatory ritual) and other Yagnas vide notes on verse III.13) without expectation of their fruits and by other selfless services. The duties vanish by constant meditation on the non-dual Brahman. He never hurts others in thought, word and deed, and he is devoted to the welfare of all beings as he feels that all beings are but his own Self.

Comments by the blogger:

Dr.S.Radhakrishnan hit the bull’s eye when he says “being delighted in the welfare of al beings” does not connote one should help all economically, which is impossible too. Jawaharlal Nehru writes in his autobiography that people call him and his family a rich man and rich family in India, but could he give food for all the people of India for a day? So helping all the people economically is not possible even to the modern democracies and the erstwhile Maha Rajas. But helping everyone to fulfil himself in his own way is the greatest of all services. And elsewhere, Swami Sidbhavananda has said that to fulfil oneself according to his predominating guna is a great worship offered to the Lord.

Apart from the above, we should delight in the welfare of all because of the logical reason that all here, including our sworn enemies, and sentient and insentient, is filled with God’s Self. One Self has crystallized into the whole cosmos. And everyone is related to the whole Universe. This is part of the understanding of the scheme of the Universe.