THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 07
JNANA VIJNANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE AND REALIZATION:
VERSE NUMBER 20
Text in Transliteration:
kaamais tais-tair hrtajnaanaah prapadyante ‘nyadevataah
tam-tam niyamam aasthaaya prakrityaa niyataah svayaa
Text in English:
But those whose discrimination has been led astray by this or that desire go to other gods, following this or that rite, constrained by their own nature.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
When it is Vasudeva who has become all that is, the question of other gods existing independent of Him does not arise. His limited aspects are, out of courtesy, called other gods. The minor officers of a government are necessarily under its sovereign. When the goodwill of the head of the regime is obtained, those of the petty officers are contained it. But the courtier must be worthy of the sovereign. To get at the king is difficult; but the benefit that ensues from it is great. To get at the little office-holders is easy; and the returns thereof are correspondingly small. Analogous to this, getting the grace of God is difficult, but conducive to jnana,(wisdom) bhakti (devotion) and mukti(salvation). People given to worldly desires do not betake to the worship of Iswara. The devil of the low desire in them makes them mistake little ends for great ones. Accordingly they choose to propitiate minor deities with suitable rites. Their attainments and nature are so low as that.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Healing disease, winning litigation, walking on water—trifling psychic powers such as these, appeal most to men of base mental make. But the true devotees give no thought to those vulgar things. They are solely intent on gaining the gracious vision of the Lord.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Those who desire wealth, children, the (small) siddhis, (small skills like walking on the water), etc., are deprived of discrimination. They devote themselves to other minor gods such as Indra, Mitra, Varuna, etc, impelled or driven by their own nature or Samskaras (latent tendencies) acquired in their previous births. They perform some kind of rites to propitiate these lower deities. (Cf. IX. 23)
Comments by the blogger:
Who are the other gods?
Sri Krishna is never afraid of using words and phrases that could be interpreted by the unbelieving fools who are only so much better than the congenital idiots. We have already seen this tendency in the Lord. For example, when urging on Arjuna to fight, inter alia, He would argue like this: “Have you thought of what your enemies would say if you go away without giving them fight, O, Arjuna? Wouldn’t they speak ill of you? Wouldn’t they say that you ran away from the battlefield? Could you put up with such ill repute? Wouldn’t be worse than death for a warrior of your might that your enemies, who cannot stand before you, should speak derisively about you? What is a kshathriya expected to do? If you leave out of love for your enemies, they wouldn’t think of that. But they would indulge in innuendos. It would be worse than death for a warrior like you, no?”
The Lord who had taught the culture of Atman or Soul and say Arjuna must not get himself incarcerated by the good and bad, sorrow and happiness, light and darkness and dualities like these, would make a somersault and speak in the above-said manner!
He is a teacher. He should and willingly would resort to all types of argument to drive home His point! Gita is not for the imbeciles. Stout intellectual argument would be of no avail at times in deciphering the convoluted meaning of Gita. This is not to say Sri Krishna is always taking umbrage at self-contradictory arguments. In this world, there are enough proofs to argue that there is God and that there is no God! This is how the Lord challenges and provokes us. Sometimes mother sports a stern look at the child and the child wonders whether she is the same mother who just a while back was all love and affection. Sri Krishna is fond of adding some stuff here and there for the sake of naysayers and persons who stoutly disbelieve the existence of the Lord.
Unless we have an abiding faith in the Lord we would be unfit to understand Gita. The Lord will test us here there and if we fall short of the mark, He will not mind it one wee bit. It is the faithful people who get often tested. Each test and victory would strengthen the sinews of the devotion. While reading Gita, we should be prepared to encounter passages like this.
the Gita that because of delusion one might worship manes and other lower beings and all their prayers are directed to Him only. He takes care of such wayward souls too!
Constrained by their own nature, people worship trees, rock, and other things. But all such faith and devotion would go to the Lord only.
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