THE HOLY YOGA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 46

THE HOLY YOGA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 46

Text in Transliteration:

tapasvibhyo ‘dhiko yogee jnaanibhyo ‘pi mato ‘dhikah

karmibhyas chaa ‘dhiko yogee tasmaad yogee bhavaa ‘rjuna

Text in English:

The yogi is deemed superior to ascetics, superior to men of knowledge even; he is also superior to ritualists. Therefore be you a yogi, O Arjuna.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

It is incumbent on man to choose an ideal in life lest he should drift and deviate into an empty existence. The higher the ideal the harder is to achieve. Still, an attainable great ideal has to be fixed. The highest and best of all ideals is to become a yogi. And he is a yogi who is consciously and deliberately moving towards Divinity which is the plan and purpose of creation. As a man advances in yoga his mind gets purified and thus becomes all powerful.

An ascetic is one who undergoes a voluntary mortification to obtain celestial powers and enjoyments here and hereafter. The ritualist also has this aim in mind. But instead of self-mortification he chooses to appease and propitiate the favours of the celestials to this end. So he performs the elaborate rituals mentioned in the Vedas, putting complete faith in them. But the yogi’s case is simple, natural, direct and to the point. In and through desirelessness he comes close to the Supreme desirlessness he comes close to the Supreme Goal—Paraam Gatim. If, however, a patch of cloud of desire happens to pass through the firmament of his heart, that desire gets immediately fulfilled because of the purity of his heart. This way the yogi is superior to the ascetics and the ritualists. The men of knowledge mentioned here are those that seek enlightenment through the scriptures. But the truths revealed in the sacred books are directly shining in the pure heartr of the yogi. He need not draw inspiration from books. He is therefore superior even to men of knowledge. In becoming yogi, man achieves everything.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

What is the good of mere book learning? The learned may at best be adepts in aptly and accurately quoting from scriptures. One’s lifelong repeating them verbatim effects no change in one’s lifelong repeating them verbatim effects no change in one’s life. But what is told in the scriptures has to be applied to life and improvement brought on it. Scriptural knowledge is of no avail to the one attached to earthly life.

A worldly man may be as much informed in religion as the spiritual man; or he may even excel in learning and intelligence. He may even be endowed with the rigidity of a yogi’s life and the detachment of a Sanyasin. In the midst of these merits his life may dwindle into nothing if he utilizes them all not for the glory of the Lord but for self-glorification, name, fame and wealth.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Here the teacher is making out that the yogin here described is superior to the tapasvin, who retires to the forest for performing severe fasts and arduous practices, to the jnaanin who adopts the way of knowledge for obtaining release, with renunciation of action, to the karmin who performs the rites enjoined in the Vedas for obtaining rewards. The yoga which is said to be superior to the tapas, jnaana and karma, has the best of all the three and includes devotion also. Such a yogin pours himself forth in utter worship of the Divine seated within the hearts of all and his life is one of self forgetful service under the guidance of the Divine light.

Yoga of union with God which is attained through bhakti is the highest goal. The next verse points out that even among yogins the greatest is the devotee or the bhakta.

Jnaana here means saastrapaanditya or scriptural learning and not spiritual realisation.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

  Tapasvi: one who observes the austerities of speech, mind and body prescribed in chapter XVII. 14, 15 and 16.

Jnani: One who has knowledge of the scriptures (an indirect knowledge or theoretical knowledge of the Self).

Karmi: He who performs the Vedic rituals.

To all these the Yogi is superior, for he has direct knowledge of the Self through intuition or direct cognition through Nirvikalpa Samadhi. (Cf. V.2; XII.12; XIII. 24)

Comments by the blogger:

Here Krishna eulogises Dhyana or Meditation and asks Arjuna to become a Yogi of this sort.

We must not miss the point.

Arjuna is first asked to indulge in a violent war which is eulogised as his karma and as the war had come to the Chatriya or Warrior in him, He had said  if he dies in such a righteous war he would go directly to Heaven and if he wins the war he would become the Ruler of the mighty kingdom.

Now Sri Krishna wants Arjuna to take to meditation.

The irony is not lost.

This is what Arjuna had first desired to become, a wandering monk, meditating on the Lord and living on the alms the people or the householder would give!

At that time, Lord Krishna had tongue-lashed Arjuna. He had even asked why such a tendency belonging to a eunuch had come upon Arjuna who was a consummate warrior.

Elsewhere, Sri Krishna told Arjuna that one’s own karma was better even if one carried out it in a haphazard manner. That other’s swadharma or what is righteous to others as a duty, even if carried out to the full would just give fear and doubt. That one should carry out one’s own karma.

Now the same Lord calls upon Arjuna to become a monk of meditation!

Ostensibly it might look unacceptable.

But Sri Krishna taught Karma yoga to Arjuna who wanted to run away from the place of war and prepared to eat beggar’s bread even, and now, His student having mindful to give battle to the enemies, having become a student of Karma yoga and almost the war having been won in his mind, the Lord teach him dhyana or meditation. 

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 45

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 45

Text in Transliteration:

prayatnaad  yatamaanas tu yotee samsuddhakilbisah

aneka janma samsiddhas tato yaati paraam gatim

Text in English:

The yogi who strives with assiduity, purified from sins and perfected through many births reaches then the Supreme Goal.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Learning and wealth cannot be acquired in a day or two. One has to apply oneself to them constantly. But one is held to be learned in a measure even while in the process of studying. Similarly, one is also held as a man of means even while yet earning money. A man is likewise beheld as a yogi even when he is assiduously practising it. Learning, wealth and spirituality developed by these several individuals never go to waste. Spirituality in particular persists and progresses in the yogi through successive births. As he gets purified from sins he ceases to be affected by the inevitable fluctuations in the earthly life. Constancy of the ideal in the midst of all eventualities is his characteristic. His serenity steadily evolves into Beatitude which is the Supreme Goal. Whereas the man given to the Vedic rites oscillates and merely speculates about his future prospects here and hereafter.

Yoga being hard to achieve, what is the harm in the ordinary man having recourse to any other ways of accomplishing the desired ends? The sovereignty of is extolled in the next verse.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The new born calf totters and tumbles down several times before learning to frisk about. Similarly, the sadhka or practitioner has to struggle much before he meets with success.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNA:

Though he may fail through weakness to reach the goal of perfection in this life, the lessons of his effort will abide with him after death and help him in his progress in other lives until he attains the goal. God’s purpose will not be accomplished until all human beings are redeemed by forgiveness, repentance and healing discipline and restored into communion with the Supreme. Every soul will be won back to God who created him in His own image. God’s love will finally restore into harmony with itself even the most rebellious elements. The Gitaa gives us a hopeful belief in the redemption of all.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

He gains experiences little by little in the course of many births and eventually attains to perfection. Then he gets the knowledge of the Self and attains to the final beatitude of life.

Comments by the blogger:

The Supreme Goal is the realization of the Self or attainment of Salvation. For this, the yogi should strive with assiduity. Thus he will be purified from sins and perfected through many births.

What is a Sin?

Some actions by itself cannot be segregated sinful while others bringer of salvation.

To use one of the examples of Swami Sidbhavananda, the fire in the lamp is neither sinful nor sinless. But the purpose for which the lighted lamp is used makes it sinful or otherwise. One person may use the fire in the lamp for the purpose of reading Bhagavat Gita while another person uses the light to forge a document. The fire in the lamp in itself is neither sinful nor otherwise. Only the purpose for which it is made to use makes it so.

Coming back to sin, no act by itself is sinful.

Indeed there is no such thing as sin.

Everything that enables one to obtain salvation is good and every thing that increases the number of births and thus comes between the self and the Lord is called as sinful.

Thus what is sinful for one could be perfectly dutiful for another.

For example, taking a life is known as sinful. Because it makes the killer to come back here as a beast or a beastly person and his cumulative karma get extended and the time he is joined with the Lord is extended for ever. But in Arjuna’s case, the taking of lives is shown to be his duty and swadharma or his righteous action.

Thus, we should understand that anything that extends the time before we join the Lord and become one with Him is dubbed as sinful. And those actions that help a person to obtain his salvation in a few number of births are known as righteous.

Swami Vivekananda says a yogi could attain salvation in six years or twelve years or twenty-four years. It all depends on the fervour with which the yogi takes to the daily practice or sadhana. Even if a yogi is not able to attain salvation in one birth, verses 40 to 45 are devoted to explaining what will happen.

So the long and short of it is that the person falling in yoga and dying need not necessarily consider his life here and hereafter as wasteful. Salvation is a sure thing for him also. But a little more time and fewer more births are consumed by him before he finds his Lord Master.  

        

          

THE HOLY YOGA , CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 44

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 44

Text in Transliteration:

poorvaabhyaasena tenai ‘va hriyate hy avaso ‘pi sah

jijnaasur api yogasya sabdabrahmaa ‘tivartate

Text in English:

By that very former practice he is led on in spite of himself. Even he who merely wishes to know of yoga rises superior to the performer of Vedic rites.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

A man pressingly caught up in the midst of a marching multitude, is bound to be pushed on to the destination without much effort on his part. Similarly, the yoga propensity stored up in the mind in the previous births, combined with the present favourable and augmenting atmosphere, rapidly carries the yogi on towards the goal.

Two soldiers in the war front were taken prisoners by the enemy and forced to work for him. one of the two got himself reconciled to his captivity and chose to be a careerist under the enemy, while the other earnestly studied the ways and means of his escape, in the midst of his toiling for the enemy. People of the world are like the first prisoner, intent on making the best of the earthly life. The yogajijnaasu or the enquirer of the yoga is superior like the second prisoner in as much he gives to self-emancipation. The chanters of the Vedas and those others engaged in the Vedic rites are concerned with enjoyments on earth and in heaven. Being bound to life in the senses, they are inferior. The scope of the ritualistic Vedas also is limited to the senses. The Vedas merely promote and prolong the wheel of birth and death. The enquirer of yoga gets to know of the possibilities of liberating himself from the wheel of birth and death. He is therefore greater than the earth-bound man. He who practises yoga is greater still: for, he is progressing towards perfection and liberation.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

sabdabrahma: Vedic rule. It refers to the Veda and the injunctions set forth in it. By practising the Vedic rule, we are helped to get beyond it. Cp. “Brahman is of two kinds, the sabdabrahma and the other beyond it. When a person has become well versed in the sabdabrahma, he reaches the Brahman which is beyond it.” Then faith ends in experience, tongues shall cease and doctrine shall fade away. The stimulus to religion is generally supplied by the study of holy writ or participation in a cult. This is helpful and spontaneity becomes on great and absolute as to require no indirect help. Ordinarily the study of the Veda is a quickening influence. But when once we have the awakening which is sufficient unto itself, we need no external aid and so who proposes to cross a river needs a boat, but “let him no longer use the Law as a means of arrival when he has arrived. Majjhim Nikaya, I, I35. Ramanuja takes sabdabrahma to mean prakrity.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The man who fell from Yoga is carried to the goal which he intended to reach in his previous birth by the force of the Samskaras of the practice of Yoga though he may not be conscious of them and even if he may not be willing to adopt the course of Yogic discipline on account of the force of some evil Karma. If he had not done any great evil action which could overwhelm this Yogic tendencies he will certainly continue his Yogic practices in this birth very vigorously through the force of the yogic Samskaras created by his yogic practices in his previous birth. If the force of the evil action is strong, the Yogic tendencies will be overpowered or suppressed for some time. As soon as the fruits of the evil actions are exhausted, the force of the Yogic Samskaras will begin to manifest itself. He will start his Yogic practices vigorously and attain the final beatitude of life.

Even an enquirer in whom a desire for information about Yoga is kindled goes beyond the Bramic word. i. e., the Vedas. He is beyond the entanglement of forms and ceremonies. He is not satisfied with mere ritualism.

He thirsts for a satisfaction higher than that given by the sensual objects. He who simply wishes to know the nature of the principles of Yoga frees himself from the Sabda-Braha, i.e., from the effects of the Vedic rituals and ceremonies. If this be the case of a simple enquirer, how much more exalted should be the condition of a real practitioner or knower of Yoga or of one who is established in Nirvikalpa Samadhi? He will be absolutely free from the effects of the Vedic rituals and ceremonies. He will enjoy the eternal bliss and the everlasting peace of the Eternal.

An aspirant who is desirous of obtaining Moksha alone is not affected by the sin of non-performance of action even if he renounces all the obligatory and optional or occasional duties. He goes beyond the word of “Brahman” (the Scripture or the Vedas).

When such is the case of an aspirant who is without any spiritual inclinations or Samskaras of the previous birth, how much more exalted will be the state of that student who has done Yogic practices in his previous birth, who has fallen from Yoga in his previous birth, and who has taken up Yoga in this birth, renouncing all the worldly activities?

Impelled by the strong desire for liberation he practises rigorous Sadhana or practice in this birth. He is constrained, as it were, by the force of the good Samskaras of his previous birth to take to Yogic practices in spite of himself.

In this verse the Lord lays stress on the fact that no effort in the practice of Yoga goes in vain. Even the smallest effort will have its effect sooner or later in this birth or another. Therefore there is no cause for disappointment even for the dullest type of spiritual aspirant.

Comments by the blogger:

This verse has two easily divisible parts. One: by that very former practice he is led on in spite of    himself. Two: even he who merely wishes to know of yoga rises superior to the performer of Vedic rites.

As for the Number One, we have already seen that it is the Universal Law of inexorable quality that every action has an equal opposite reaction. It is the same thing as for every force. Now, the Lord of Gita has been rephrasing the eulogy of Yoga and Yogi and He is anxious to put at naught the doubt and fear arose in Arjuna’s mind when he asked Him that what would be the case a of man who has given up this world in favour of Yoga and Meditation but fallen from yoga and dies that way; wouldn’t he have lost both this world and the Next.

That is why Sri Krishna’s pitch is so high; even he who merely wishes to know of yoga rises superior to the performer of Vedic rites. This is also to assuage the angst in the mind of Arjuna.

Coming back to Number One of Sri Krishana’s statement, I would like to say He has merely reiterated and rephrased the Law of the Universe.

For all Yogi and non-yogi and even that man/woman who does not perform the rituals laid down in the Vedas, LIFE IS A YOGA OR FORM OF YOGA!

While the Yogis who meditate on the Lord or Self having given up the worldly thoughts, the perform yoga in life consciously, others, the average ordinary persons like you and me perform yoga in an unconscious way.

How?

Sri Yogananda Paranhansa of, “An Autobiography of a Yogi” ‘s fame soundly argues that while a conscious yogi travels towards the Infinity or Godhood in jet set speed or travels like a rocket toward the Lord and eternal joy and liberation, an average ordinary man/and woman travels on a bullock cart through countless rebirths!

The Great Yogi and exponent of Kriya Yoga says that a person in his normal life achieves a number a kriyas indeed. For a Yogi, one kriya is one intake of life breath and one exhalation of the same, during which time the life breath travels one round in and through the spinal cord. This one inhalation and one exhalation is equal to an ordinary man’s many years of life and exertion!

By this explanation, we can form an idea about the high efficacy of Yoga or Meditation. It goes without saying that in chapter Six the Lord means by Yoga meditation only.

This is why even he who merely wishes to know of yoga rises superior to the performer of Vedic rites.

In that period, even after the Principal Upanishad’s had come into being, there was a tendency to argue that there was nothing more important than the Vedic rights. The cult of Mimamsa and its exponent completely avoided all forms of meditations and swore by the Karma Kanda of the Vedas. For him, life in this world and enjoyment in the Heaven was the ultimate. Even Lord Buddha who had come very near to the Upanishads stated there was no need to while away one’s time in pursuit of God. In the same stroke, he admitted the countless births one had to take before sidhi or freedom from rebirth!

In this background, Lord Krishna openly came out against the tendency to stress overly on the efficacy of the Karma Kanda in the Vedas. That was why elsewhere He has stated that for a liberated Brahmana or Brahmin Vedas are of the same value as for a man the benefit of a well who sees all around the lands surrounded by water! This tendency gets repeated here also.

This is not to belittle Vedas and their efficacy. After all, all the four maha Vakyas or Great Sentences are housed in the Vedas only. And the four Vedas are the basis for all the Upanishads, and for Bhagavan’s Bhagavat Gita and the Brahma Sutra. So we can never belittle Vedas. Vedas is the fountain and homeland for all the Hindu Scriptures.

But unfortunately, though the mimamsaka exponents lost all their influence directly and there is no particular sect answering to them, we, the ordinary people or the majority of the middleclass people in India have a tendency to put much premium on the Karma Kanda and appoint prohits or Priests to propitiate many a God and Goddess to the level of utter indifference to the Bhagavat Git and other Upanishads and the Brahma Sutra. This is the tendency even today after such proclamations in the Gita. Man wants to live the life of flesh to the total exclusion of the Spirit.         

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 43

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 43

Text in Transliteration:

tatra tam buddhi samyogam labhate paurva dehikam

yatate cha tato bhooyah samsiddhau kuru nandana

Text in English:

There he regains the knowledge acquired in his former body, and he strives more than before for perfection, O joy of the Kurus.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The prospective yogi born in the house of the pure and prosperous begins his new life with the enjoyment of some harmless pleasures which he innocently harboured in his heart in the previous birth. Facilities for the fulfilment of those sinless desires are in abundance in the new setting. No sooner are the guiltless pleasures gone through than this aspirant takes to the practice of yoga. But that yogi who is born in the family of wise yogis has a better start. The favourable environment draws out the latent yoga elements in him. he feels as though he were going through the old lessons again. His inborn tendency ministered by the helpful surroundings, leads him on rapidly towards the ideal.

Swami Vivekananda and his guru Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa were perfect yogis born solely for the salvation of mankind. It is very striking to note that the former was born in the house of the pure and prosperous and the latter in a family of a wise yogi.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Progress on the path to perfection is slow and one may have to tread through many lives before reaching the end. But no effort is wasted. The relations we form and the powers we acquire do not perish at death. They will be the starting point of later developments.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

When he takes a human body again in this world his previous exertions and practice in the path of Yoga are not wasted. They bear full fruit now, and hasten his moral and spiritual evolution.

Our thoughts and actions are left in our subconscious minds in the form of subtle Samskaras or impressions. Our experiences in the shape of Samskaras, habits and tendencies are also stored up in our subconscious mind. These Samskaras of the past birth are revivified and re-energised in the next birth. The Samskaras of Yogic practices and meditation and the Yogic tendencies will compel the spiritual aspirant to strive with greater vigour than that with which he attempted in the former birth. He will endeavour more strenuously to get more spiritual experiences and to attain to higher planes of realisation than those acquired in his previous birth.

Comments by the blogger:

Here Arjuna is eulogised as the joy of the Kurus. Kurus is the clan Arjuna belonged to. Likewise, the Yogi who is born in a family of wise yogis will regain the knowledge acquired in his former body, and he will strive more than before and become a joy of that family.

That apart, the Lord Krishna reinstates in verses 40 to 45 what is necessarily the Law by which this Universe of His revolves.

Moreover, He himself has said in describing the Karma Yoga that there is nothing to fear in this yoga and even a little of this will save one from great fear.

The law of the Universe is that every action has the equal opposite reaction. In this verse, the Lord says the knowledge acquired in the yogi’s former body; how can body acquire knowledge? But the brain, for that matter, is nothing but part of the body. And the deeper consciousness we call the sub-conscious is nothing but a part of the brain. So, essentially the body acquires the knowledge and not the Atman. For the Atman need not newly acquire any knowledge. It has the ultimate Knowledge about the Lord Master. It itself is knowledge performed.

Moreover, in a way, what is repeatedly said in verses 40 to 45 can be dubbed by a fool like me as redundant!

Why?

Not just the Yogi who falls from Yoga in this life, but for that matter, every person from an abject beggar to a millionaire, is/are governed by this Law of Nature. The Lord Master created the Universe and there is rta or laya or rhythm as the Rig Vedic Sages found out some four or fourteen thousand years ago that the world revolves in conjunction with.

Even a beggar, in his next birth gets the kind of birth according as his thoughts and deeds in the present innings or birth. He might come back as a human being or a beast or a bettered human being.

Life is nothing but Yoga.  

All the beasts and men and women are inexorably moving from birth after birth only toward that Universal Soul which when It exists outside this Universe It is called Turiya.

All life form is carrying out great Yoga only. This happens without their knowing anything.

 We will discuss this aspect in verses to come.      

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 42

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 42

Text in Transliteration:

athavaa yoginaam eva kule bhavati dheemataam

etadd hi durlabhataram loke janma yad eedrsam

Text in English:

Or he is born in a family of wise yogis only; a birth like this is verily very difficult to obtain in this world.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Yoga continues to be practised birth after birth until perfection is reached. The environment of the parentage obtained for this purpose is necessarily congenial. Of the two types of favourable families, that of the wise yogis is superior to that of the pure and prosperous.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

A birth in a family of wise Yogis is more difficult to obtain that the one mentioned in the preceding verse.

Comments by the blogger:

What is the difference between the previous verse and this verse? The answer is that the yogi who fell from his path as mentioned in the present verse merits higher than the one mentioned in the previous verse. Though both the yogis fell short of regular practice of meditation, the meditational efforts put forth by the half-baked yogi mentioned in the present verse is higher and thus apart from the stint in Heaven he takes birth in a family of even wise Yogis.  

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 41

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 41

Text in Transition:

praapya punyakrtaam lokaan usitvaa saasvateeh samah

sucheenaam srimataam gehe yogabhrashto ‘bhijaayate

Text in English:

Having attained to the worlds of the righteous and having lived there for countless years, he who falls from yoga is reborn in the house of the pure and prosperous.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Bhoga—enjoyment and yoga are exclusive of each other. Where the one is, the other is not. He falls from yoga, who covets bhoga. Such a fallen yogi goes to heaven and enjoys celestial pleasures for a very long time. He then takes his birth again on earth in the house of the pure and prosperous, it being conducive to secular requirements and sacred pursuits. According to the law of karma, souls reincarnate in the environments befitting their attainments.

There is another type among those who fall from yoga. His destiny is described in verse 42

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

saasvateeh: very many; not everlasting.

Suchinaam: righteous. In VI, II, cleanliness refers to the outer side; here inward purity is indicated.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Yogabhrashta: one who has fallen from Yoga, i.e., one who was not able to attain perfection in yoga, or one who climbed a certain height on the ladder of Yoga but fell down on account of lack of dispassion or slackness in the practice (by becoming a victim to Maya or his turbulent senses).

The righteous: Those who tread the path of truth, who do virtuous actions such as charity, Yajna, rituals, worship of the Lord, and who act in accordance with the prescribed rules of the scriptures.

Everlasting year means only a considerably long period but not absolutely everlasting.

The pure: those who lead a pure, moral life: those who have a pure heart (free from jealousy, hatred, pride, greed, etc.). (Cf. IX. 20 ,21.)

Comments by the blogger:

This verse contains a PROMISE of the Great Lord: He utters an ineffable truth which also contains a promise.

Every action has an opposite equal reaction. Simply speaking, no action, even a vague thought or imagination fails to give rise to a reaction. If there is an action, then the reaction is automatic. We already saw how St Peter, on one of his sojourns, was followed and tormented by a group of urchins and how the docile pigs on the pasture became aggressive and chase and ate all the urchins and went down a cliff to sure death. This was because St. Peter did not even entertain a hateful thought against the tormenting urchins. So the urchins’ actions found reaction through the pigs.

What is good for the goose is good for the gander. The action and reaction rule seems to apply to the high heavens too. After death, the body alone perishes and join the five elements, but the mind goes up to the nether world along with the Atman. So, thus, there is a continuum.

The half-baked yogi who tried his best in meditation but somewhere along the line he falls from yoga as a weakling and he started to enjoy these worldly things through his five senses does not come to grief is part of Krishna’s PROMISE. Since the half-baked yogi wanted sensual pleasures he lives in the nether world for countless years. Here Sri Krishna speaks like an ordinary average human being. Instead of saying for a long time such a yogi who fell down in his practice would spend in the Heaven before coming back to earth’s plane first as a human being, and then, that rebirth would take place in the house of pure and prosperous. Not just prosperous but pure. And such a rebirth is hard to get at. Because ordinarily there is no guarantee that we all would come back here as human beings. But those who read the Scriptures with faith would come back as a human being to continue to reading the Scriptures from where we have left at death! This is the ineffable promise all the human beings are given by the Lord of Gita.  

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 40

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 40

Text in Transliteration:

                                sri bhagavaan uvaacha

paartha nai ‘ve ‘ha naa ‘ mutra vinaasas tasya vidyate

na hi kalyaanakrt kaschid durgatim taata gacchati

Text in English:

                               The blessed Lord said

O Partha, neither in this world nor in the next is there destruction for him; for, the doer of good, O my son, never comes to grief.                 

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The word taata means father. It is father who has become the son. Therefore a junior or a son is addressed as taata indicating affection. The disciple is to the guru what the son is to the father. Therefore it is customary for the guru to address the disciple as son or as taata. The Lord addressing Arjuna this way is a mark of the flow of grace.

It is open to people to inquire whether this world is intrinsically good or bad. God it is that is revealing Himself as the phenomenon. The world therefore cannot be anything but good. Viewing it as filled with evil is a misnomer. One of the profoundest pronouncements of the Lord is “THE DOER OF GOOD, NEVER COMES TO GRIEF.” And the devotees of the lord are ever the standing testimony to this fact. A practitioner who slips from yoga never falls to a state inferior to what he has already attained.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

A man gets his desert in tune with his mental make up. The Lord is the Kalpataru the fabled desire-fulfilling tree to the devotees.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

No man of honest life can come to grief. No good man can come to an evil end. God knows our weaknesses and the efforts we make to overcome them. We must not despair for even failure here is success and no sincere attempt will go without its reward. Eckhart says: “If thou do not fail in intention, but only in capacity, verily, thou hast done all in the sight of God.” Cp. Goethe “Whoever strives and labours, him may we bring redemption.”

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

He who has not succeeded in attaining to perfection in Yoga in this birth will not be destroyed in this world or in the next world. Surely he will not take a birth lower than the present one. What will he attain, then? This is described by the Lord in verses 41, 42, 43 and 44.

Tata: son. A disciple is regarded as a son.

Comments by the blogger:

Sri Krishna calls Arjuna as Parth in this verse. Partha means, O son of Pritha, Kunti. Son of Kunti means ordinary average son born of the womb of a woman. Arjuna’s question related to the possibility that a practitioner of Yoga or Meditation finding it difficult to concentrate dies, would he not have lost this world as well as the other world. But Sri Krishna says there is no destruction for such a practitioner neither in this world nor in the next world. Before this, while describing the efficacy of the Karma Yoga or the Yoga of right Action, the Lord said even a little practice of that yoga or action saves the practitioner from great fear. Here He says and reassures that the practitioner of Meditation if died in the middle of it, would not stand to lose neither this world nor the next world.

Then He calls Arjuna as His Son and says that the door of good never comes to grief. Giving alms to a beggar is an act of good. Teaching a poor student without tuition fee is an act of good. Like this even we can do many such acts of good. But the ultimate act of good is the practice and performance of Meditation. Such doer of Good never comes to grief.     

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION: VERSES 37, 38 AND 39

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 37

Text in Transliteration:

                                arjuna uvacha

ayatih sradhayo ‘peto yogaach chalitamaanasah

apraapya yogasamsiddhim kaam gatim krshna gacchati

                                   Arjuna said:

He who is unable to control himself, though possessed of faith, whose mind deviates from yoga,  what end does he meet with, O Krishna, having failed to attain perfection in yoga?

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The sadhaka is imbued with the faith that yoga leads to perfection. But he has not got the required firmness of the mind. He has not therefore attained the goal of yoga. What becomes of him who dies foiled in the attempt?

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Arjuna’s question refers to the future of those, who, when they die are not at war with Eternal Goodness though they are not disciplined enough to contemplate the splendour of Eternal Purity. Are the alternatives eternal heaven and everlasting hell as some believe or is there a chance for such individuals to grow towards perfection after death?

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

He has faith in the efficacy of Yoga but he is not able to control the senses and the mind. He has no concentration of mind. His mind wanders away when the last breath departs from his body and he loses the memory also. Having failed to achieve perfection in Yoga, i.e., Self-realisation or the knowledge of the Self, what path will he tread, and what end will such a man meet?

VERSE NUMBER 38

Text in Transliteration:

kacchin no ‘bhayavibhrashtas chinnaabhram iva nasyati

apratishtho mahaabaaho vimadho brahmanah pathi

Text in English:

Fallen from both, does he not perish like a rent cloud, without any hold, O mighty-armed, deluded in the path of Brahman?

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The rent cloud does not descend on earth as rainfall; it loses its distinctiveness in the firmament. Even such is the fate of the one fallen in yoga. He has neither the here or the hearafter. Having renounced the sense-pleasures which are all of the earth, he happens to be one who has lost the here; and in not having obtained the beatitude born of the perfection in yoga he is bereft of the hereafter, the path of Brahman. This is how he becomes fallen from both. Can there be a plight more painful that this?

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Fallen from both, ito bhrastah tato bhrashtah, is he left in a no man’s world? Does he miss both this life and the life eternal? What happens to those numerous persons who have not succeeded in pursuing the extremely difficult path of yoga to its end? Are their exertions useless altogether? Is it any good beginning a course which one may not be able to complete?

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Both: the path of karma or the path of ritualistic activity in accordance with the karma kanda of the Vedas on the one hand and the path of Yoga on the other.

Path of Brahman: the path by which Brahman can be reached or the way that leads to Brahman.

The Yoga taught by the Lord here demands one-pointed devotion to its practice. The aspirant turns away from the world and spurns heaven, too. Some people held that if he failed to attain the goal, he would have lost everthing for nothing. Hence the question.

VERSE NUMBER 39

Text in Transliteration:

Deign to dispel completely this doubt of mine, O Krishna; for there is none but Yourself who can destroy this doubt.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Even the Devas and Rishis come nowhere near You in dispelling the darkness; for You are the omniscient Iswara. All the intricacies of yoga are best known to none but You.

Who is whose guru? None but Iswara alone can play the role of the guru.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Nothing is impossible to the Incarnation of Iswara. The intricate problems pertaining to the Jivatman (human beings) and the Paramatman (God) are all easily solved by Him. Even a child can easily understand His teachings. He is the sun of knowledge that drives away the darkness of ignorance accumulated through the ages.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

There can be no better teacher than Thee, for Thou art the omniscient Lord. Thou alone canst dispel this doubt. A Rishi (seer), a Deva (god), or a Muni (sage) will not be able to dispel this doubt.

Comments by the blogger to verses 37, 38 and 39:

Swami Vivekananda says that a practitioner of meditation should raise himself to the level of being able to perform meditation for more than eight hours a day. And he further says with authority that such practitioner will attain Self-realisation in six years, or twelve years or twenty-four years.

Here Arjuna’s question, which is legitimate, is what will become of that man who has faith and faithfully follows the path of meditation but who lacks single-minded devotion to the practice as called for to the point of negation of this mundane world when he is unable to concentrate and dies before the attainment of beatitude. Shall he not lose both this world and its consequential enjoyment and the other world after death? Since the Lord of Yoga is his teacher, Arjuna rightly puts these questions to Krishna and tells Him rightly that He is the Only one who can dispel these doubts.                  

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 36

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 36

Text in Transliteration:

asamyataatmanaa yogo duspraapa iti me matih

vasyaatmanaa tu yatataa sakyo ‘vaaptum upaayatah

Text in English:

Yoga is hard to attain, I concede, by a man who cannot control himself; but it can be attained by him who has controlled himself and who strives by right means.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The man of self-control is he who either thinks wholesome thoughts or does not allow mentation of any kind taking place in himself. He strives by right means who applies himself steadily to practice and non-attachment.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

“In those days when I took to spiritual practices I would first cleanse the mind of all earthly thoughts, make it as pure as purity itself and then invoke the presence of the Lord in it. May you also do the same!”

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

While there is earth to lie upon, why trouble about bed?   When one’s arm is readily available, why need pillows? While there is palm of one’s hand, why seek for plates and utensils? When there is atmosphere, the bark of trees etc., what need is there of silks? (Bhaagavata, II, I)

Arjuna asks what happens to the soul who attempts and fails. Defeat is temporary: He who starts well reaches the End.

 COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Uncontrolled self: he who has not controlled the senses and the mind by the constant practice of dispassion and meditation. Self-controlled: he who has controlled the mind by the constant practice of dispassion and meditation. He can attain Self-realisation by the right means and constant endeavour.

Comments by the blogger:

Here yoga means Meditation. For those who cannot control their mind and indulge in sensual pleasure in an unlimited way, Meditation is the last thing he could indulge in. The whole of the universe has umpteen number of treasures. Prakriti gives what is strenuously sought by beings. If I seek sensual pleasures, I put myself to the attainment of the same in a thorough way with enough means. Nature also allows such person and gives what is sought. If there is a sand quarry mafia who put itself to taking daily sand in five hundred lorry loads while there is the licence for just fifty lorry loads, Nature gives at her own cost. If the sandalwoods mafia fells five hundred trees instead of fifty trees as per the license, the forest does not immediately punishes the culprits. Punishment comes much later in the form of drought which affects all who were not vigilant in checking the unscrupulous felling of trees. When there is unhindered cultivation nature strikes much later in the form of floods in which who were all responsible to maintain a watchful eye and failed in their duty including the general public. Whatever sense objects vigorously sought by one Nature gives without hesitation. This is how we have middle-class rich people and multi millionaires who have amazing wealth and money that could last for seven generations. All these people seek from Nature or prakriti assiduously through continual meditation of seeking without any let or hindrance. These are the people who have sought through unhindered and assiduous meditation from nature what they possess. They have meditated through wrong means.

Sri Krishna says Meditation of the proper sort for the Self-realisation is performed, it can be attained by him who have controlled themselves unlike the people noted above, and these people have strived through right means. As Dr.S.Radhakrishnan cites materially, their attitude to the senses and sense objects of this world is: when there is earth to lie upon, why trouble about bed? When one’s arm is readily available, why need pillows? While there is palm of one's hand, why seek for plates and utensils? When there is the atmosphere, the bark of trees, etc, what need is there of silks?

When our wants from Nature or Prakriti is irreducible minimum as cited above, Nature would facilitate the attainment of the realisation of one’s Self readily. All it takes is stern control of one’s mind.        

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 35

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 35

Text in Transliteration:

                           sree bhagavaan uvaacha

asamsayam mahaabaaho mano durnigraham chalam

abhyaasena tu kaunteya vairaagyena cha grhate

                            The Blessed Lord said:

Doubtless, O mighty-armed, the mind i s restless and hard to control; but by practice and non-attachment, O son of Kunti, it can be controlled.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

 The sum total of the habits of a man is h is nature. It has come about as a result of his giving himself over to the bent of his mind. Unwillingly he has become the creature of his own mind, wonted to restlessness. But the old habits can be eradicated through new ones. In other words nature can be changed through nurture. An earnest and persistent attempt at the change of nature is abhyaasa or practice. The uncontrollable and restless mind can be controlled and made calm. Practice is the sure means to this end. To wean the mind from its wonted ways and direct it on the ideal is practice. Mind becomes pacified as it gets drawn to the Self.

On analysis it may be found that mind runs after those objects to which it has been attached. The evils of such attachments have to be repeatedly and timely presented to the passionate mind. As the force of passion gets put down, mind comes under control. when all the base attachments are wiped out through discrimination, min blooms into serenity. Practice of non-attachement is therefore auxiliary to the practice of meditation.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

 He who wants to learn swimming has to be at it repeatedly. It cannot be learnt with one or two attempts. One dares not swim in the boisterous sea just after a day[s practice. Similarly one has to train oneself much to swim in the sea of Sat-chit-ananda. Failure in the first attempt is but natural. Sporting in it becomes possible only through persistent practice.

There is a poisonous variety of spider the effect of the bite of which cannot easily be cured. A spell has to be cast first over the patient with the root of turmeric; otherwise no medicine will have any effect on the poison. The worldly man is bitten by the spider of lust and greed. Unless the spell of non-attachment be invoked on him, no spiritual practice of his will ever bear fruit.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Yoga Saatra, I, 12.  Abhyaasavairaagyaabhyaam tan nirodhah. The teacher points out that the restless mind, accustomed to act on impulse, can be controlled only by non-attachment and practice.

Arjuna realizes that there is so much of obstinacy and violence, waywardness and self-will in human nature. We are inclined to shut our eyes to the defects of our nature and harden our hearts against the Light. Tapasya is what is needed.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The constant or repeated effort to keep the wandering mind steady by constant meditation on the Lakshya (centre, ideal, goal or object of meditation) is Abhyasa or practice. The same idea or thought of the Self or God is constantly repeated. The same idea or thought of the Self or God is constantly repeated. This constant repetition destroys Vikshepa or the vacillation of the mind and desires, and makes it steady and one-pointed.

Vairagya is dispassion or indifference to sense-objects in this world or in the other, here or hereafter, seen or unseen, heard or unheard, achieved, achieved through constantly looking into the evil in them (Dosha-Drishti). You will have to train the mind by constant reflection on the immortal, all-blissful Self. You must make the mind reaise the transitory nature of worldly enjoyments. You must suggest to the mind to look for its enjoyment not in the perishable and changing external objects but in the immortal, changeless self within. Gradually the mind will be withdrawn from the external objects.

Comments by the blogger:

The appellations used by the Lord in reference to Arjuna, namely, “O mighty-armed” and “O son of Kunti” assumes much importance in the context of the verse. Arjuna comes up with two posits and refers them to his Lord and friend, and Arjuna says controlling the restless, turbulent and obstinate mind is very hard and he might as well be called upon to have a sway over the passing wind, and the Lord calls him as mighty-armed literally meaning someone having large and long hands and figuratively meaning man of mighty actions denied to ordinary average men. The Lord agrees with Arjuna that the mind is hard to control. But Arjuna is called O mighty-armed bringing in an inference that may the mind be ever so uncontrollable but the extraordinary men like Arjuna can with practice control the same. The second appellation is “O son of Kunty” and thereby the Lord infers any son and daughter born of the womb of a woman can control the restless mind with Practice and non-attachment. Here there is much room for hope even for ordinary average men and women.               

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 34

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 34

Text in Transliteration:

Chanchalam hi manah Krishna pramaathi balavad drdham

Tasyaa ‘ham nigraham manye vaayor iva sudushkaram

Text in English:

The mind verily is, O Krishna, restless, turbulent, strong and obstinate. I deem it as hard to control as the wind.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

All the unwholesome characteristics of the mind are contained in this question raised by Arjuna. Mind is labelled as restless due to its constant shifting its interest from object to object. It is as fickle as the deer. But this animal causes harm to none. Whereas the way of the mind is different; like the tiger it hurts the victims. It is therefore as dangerous to people as the tiger is. Hence is the mind held to be turbulent and as strong as the tiger. It is possible to weaken a tiger by subjecting him to starvation; but the case of the mind is otherwise. In the manner, in which a starved out leech develops toughness of its skin and resists being cleft, the mind put to privation develops obstinacy. If what it wants be not provided for, it turns petulant and scheming. Further experience makes it plain that mind is as uncontrollable as the wind. But modern man has found out the ways and means of controlling the wind to a great extent. Whereas control of the mind it is, that ever baffles man’s understanding.

Krishna alone is capable of taming the formidable mind. His name itself indicates his capacity to do this. The first part of his name ‘Krish’ means “to plough and process”; the latter part ‘na’ means “the lord of.” He is the Lord of the act of ploughing and processing the mind.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The mind constantly changes its objects and so it is ever restless.

Krishna is derived from Krish which means ‘to Scrape’.  He scrapes all the sins, evils, and the causes of evil from the hearts of His devotees. Therefore He is called Krishna.

The mind is not only restless but also turbulent or impetuous, strong and obstinate. It produces violent agitation in the body and the senses. The mind is drawn by the objects in all directions. It works always in conjunction with the five senses. It is drawn by them to the five dins of objects. Therefore it is ever restless. It enjoys the five kinds of sense-objects with the help of these senses and the body. Therefore it makes them subject to external influences. It is even more difficult to control it than to control the wind. The mind is born of Vayutanmatra (wind root-element). That is the reason why it is as restless as the wind.

Comments by the blogger:

Arjuna’s mind is ordinarily not as fickle as he states now. This is a temporary state only. We have already seen the Arjuna was given a task which none of us have been or will ever be, given: he is asked to give battle to his kith and kin and the elders he worshiped and his teacher and kill them! That was the reason why his mind became turbulent. Otherwise he was full of concentration and self-discipline. When he was a young student, the pandavas and dhuriyodanas were tasked to take aim at a bird perched on the branch of a tree and when his teacher asked every student when they took the aim as to what they saw. When other students said that they saw the branch, foliage, and other things, Arjuna said he saw the bird’s head alone. That was the kind of concentration he was possessed with. The turbulent state is only a temporary one. Arjuna questions for the benefit of us too.

When the beings are tossed into the turbulent Ocean of Life which is known as Samsara, Man, instead of thirsting to get across the Ocean, developed desire or Kama, which automatically motivated him into Action or Karma. When karma is courted, the selfishness is automatic. Self is selfless and free from all kinds of actions. But when selfishness rises to taint the Self then it is overshadowed like the white moon is overshadowed by the black clouds. Then the turbulence of the sea becomes the turbulence of the Self. It is only temporary. But it is very painful when it lasts. Man has to shed selfishness and the resultant action and the bondage over a millennial period of his rebirths. That is why, even though the turbulence of the mind is only temporary, it gives millennial pain.     

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 33

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 33

Text in Transliteration:

                                arjuna uvaacha

yo ‘yam yogas tvayaa proktah saamyena madhusoodana

etasyaa ‘ham na pasyaami chanchalatvaat sthitim sthiraam

Text in English:

                                Arjuna said:

This yoga of equanimity, taught by you, O Madhusudana—I do not see any stability for it, because of restlessness.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Because of the dispersed and restless nature of mind, its being collected in equanimity is not possible. The wavy ocean of the mind cannot be made waveless; this is the objection raised.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

As the mind is restless, impetuous and unsteady I find it difficult to practise this Yoga of equanimity declared by Thee. O my Lord I cannot have steady concentration of the mind, as it wanders here and there in the twinkling of an eye.

Comments by the blogger:

The mind has everything, knows everything and is capable of anything. It has the power of watching over itself while it is working and thus evaluate the same. Mind’s power cannot be quantified or defined. Even when the mind is in a dispersed condition, it is most powerful. But when the mind is made to focus on a single point or object, mind’s real power may be realised even by the uninitiated. And when the mind is schooled to meditate on a single point in a continuous way, for example, the auspicious attributes of God, we attain liberation. It is possible for some people in six years and twelve years for some. Twenty four years’ meditation is required for some persons. But liberation is possible when the mind is focused on it.

But it is not possible to rein the wayward mind which drives itself in all directions one and the same time. The five senses are its steeds and the mind is in a state of constant flux. Mind acts like a monkey in the tree jumping from branch to branch. It is a Himalayan task to make it dwell on a single point even for one second not to speak of performing meditation on a single object or thought for eight hours every day for so many years.

This is why Arjuna puts this question to the Lord both for his sake and the benefit of us all.