THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 5, SANYASA YOGA OR THE RENUNCIATION, VERSE NUMBER 24

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER 5

SANYASA YOGA OR THE RENUNCIATION

VERSE NUMBER 24

Text in Transliteration:

yo ‘ntahsukho ‘ntaraaraamas tathaa ‘ntarjyotir eva yah

sa yogee brahmanirvaanam brahmabhooto ‘dhigacchati

Text in English:

He whose happiness is within, whose delight is within, whose illumination is within only, that yogi becomes Brahman and gains the Beatitude of Brahman.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The ignorant man hunts for happiness in the external world. he fancies he is obtaining it there; but no sooner he clutches at it, than it vanishes. This is due to happiness not being inherent in things external. The projected happiness is actually in the self. Similarly, repose and joy are in the self and nowhere else. In search of enjoyment the senses get extraverted, only to be foiled. Atman is Bliss; therefore, real happiness is in Itself. In short, whatever is sought after externally, is actually in oneself. The core of one’s being is Brahman, realizing which, everlasting Beatitude is gained.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Knowledge is not for him who is attached to the world. enlightenment and bliss ensue in direct proportion to disentanglement with the sense-objects.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

The yogin becomes unified in consciousness with the Eternal in him. The next verse indicates that this nivaana is not mere annihilation. It is a positive state full of knowledge and self-possession.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

‘Within’ means “in the Self”. He attains Brahmanirvanam or liberation while living. He becomes a Jivanmukta.

Comments by the blogger:

The Vedic Sages and the Upanishadic Sages well understood that the body of ours consists of and constituted by the same five elements the Universe is made and constituted of. So by understanding ourselves would amount to understanding the Universe. And understanding of the Universe lead up to the understanding of its Maker! This is pure and established science. All the discoveries and inventions of the eighteenth century taking place in the Europe belonged only to the Universe. They turned their attention to the external objects and analyzed them. But understanding one’s self is the mother of all discoveries.

But thousands of years ago the Hindu Sages and Saints turned their attention inward. When they turned their attention inward, the senses fell silent and this gave them infinite beatitude. They came to understand that it is these senses that create a bondage to the sense objects of this world. To be shorn of senses is to be one with God and becoming God.

Even in our day-to-day life we may understand that even an iota of sense sacrifice gives us immense pleasure. We often go without food as a form of vow and this gives us immense pleasure. Whenever we help others we get immense satisfaction. That arises because we deprive our sense pleasures so some one dear and near to us may obtain the same. And when this relates to giving out to a complete stranger the pleasure we feel is that much more.

Jesus Christ says that if some one slaps you on your left cheek show him your right cheek too. If someone steel your coat let him have your lower garment too. This kind of sacrifices gives us immense pleasure and we are readied to give ourselves to the Lord at last.

But the Hindu Saints delved deeply into their core and found out that the annihilation of the senses bring something unbearably beautiful and insouciant.