THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 09
RAJAVIDYA RAJAGUHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET:
VERSE NUMBER 27
Text in Transliteration:
Yat karoshi yad asnaasi yaj juhoshi dadaasi yat
Yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurushva mad arpanam
Text in English:
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you gift away, whatever austerity you practise, O Kaunteya, do it as an offering to Me.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The panacea for all the evils of earthly life is presented here. To change the secular into the sacred is the only way to metamorphose the human into the divine. Self-seeking ought to give place to self-denial. Making gift is often for self-advertisement. Practising austerity with self-interest may bring in spiritual vanity. But when all these good deeds are done for the glory of the Lord, the doer emerges as the divine. The turning point in life comes in dedicating man’s everything to God, instead of petitioning to Him for things here and hereafter.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
“O Mother, I am an instrument; You are its manipulator. I am the house; You are the resident. I am the chariot and You the charioteer. I move as You make me move. I speak as You direct. My doings are all Your doings. Not I; not I; but You.”
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Self-giving results in the consecration of all acts to God. The tide of the common tasks of daily life must flow through the worship of God. Love of God is not an escape from the harshness of life but a dedication for service. Karmamaarga or the way of works which starts with the duty of performance of prescribed rites concludes with the position that all tasks are sanctified when done with disinterestedness and dedication.
“My self is Thy self, my understanding is Paarvatee (Siva’s wife); my life functions are my comrades, the body is my home, my worship is the varied enjoyment of the sense objects, my sleep is the condition of concentration. My steps are movements round the temple and all utterances are prayers. Whatever act is done by me, every one of them, O Lord, is a worship of Thee.” If you do whatever you have to do in a spirit of dedication, it is God’s worship; nothing separate need be done.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Consecrate all acts to the Lord. Then you will be freed from the bondage of Karma. You will have freedom in action. He who tries to live in the spirit of this verse will be able to do self-surrender unto the Lord. Gradually he ascends the spiritual path step by step. His greedy nature is slowly dissolved now. He always gives. He is not eager to take. His whole life with all its actions, thoughts and feelings, is dedicated to the service of the Lord eventually. He lives for the Lord only. He works for the Lord only. There is not a bit of egoism now. His whole nature is transformed into divinity. When actions are dedicated to the Lord, there is no rebirth for you. This is the simplest method of Yoga. Do not waste your time any longer. Take it up from today.
All actions, all results and all rewards will go to the Lord. There is no separate living for the individual. Just as the river joins the sea abandoning its own name and form so also the individual soul joins the Supreme Soul giving up his own name and form, his own egoistic desires and egoism. The individual will has become one with the cosmic will.
Whatever thou doest of thy own sweet will, whatever thou offerest in sacrifice as enjoined in the scriptures, whatever thou givest—such things as gold, rice, ghee, clothes, etc., to the Brahmins and others—whatever austerity such as Chandrayana-Vrata (to destroy sin), control of the senses, etc., thou doest, do thou all these as an offering unto Me. (Cf. V.32; XII.6 and 8)
Comments by the blogger:
Life is nothing but Yoga!
We all perform Yoga. Whether you agree or not, whether you are aware or not, we all do Yoga while living. The only difference between the Yogis and the ordinary people is that they do perform Yoga consciously while we indulge in yoga even without being aware of it.
For example, take the well-established Kria Yoga. The performer of the Kiriya Yoga does take in slowly one deep breath and ever slowly exhale. During this time he or she concentrates on Om, the pranava. In the initial days Om is said in conjunction with the slow inhalation and exhalation and as the days go the Om is heard inside the practitioner. These are the main details of Kriya yoga. One should sit in the lotus pose and the waist, backbone and the head should be straight. One inhalation and one exhalation make one Kriya. The practitioner does ten or so Kriyas initially. And as he or she develops in this more number of Kriyas are added. But this yoga should not be done except under the strict supervision of the Master.
What happens during doing one Kriya is that the Life Energy and consciousness goes through the backbone once. This one Kriya is equal to the one year of normal and healthy human life. In other words, what we experience through our backbone in one normal year of living is done within the span of one minute which is the duration of one Kriya. So when the normal man or woman does yoga in say thirty years of healthy life the Kriya Yogi does and achieves this in just thirty Kriyas or thirty minutes! But nonetheless, we all do Yoga. When we do yoga and travel towards the Lord at a bullock cart speed, the Kriya Yogi travels towards the Lord at the speed of a rocket! This is the difference. But we all are yogis. It takes thousands of births and deaths for us to become perfected in this kind of Yoga. Slowly and gradually we become less and less attracted towards the material things and worldliness. But a conscious Kriya Yogi achieves this height in continuous practice for six years!
But the basic fact remains that we all are Yogis.
Like that we all sacrifice for various causes. The one bedroom dwellers sacrifice their chances of love-making after their son or daughter is married and the young ones are inducted into the bedroom. The older couple takes to sleep separately. This is nothing but sacrifice. The parents restrict their personal wants once their child goes to school. The school fee is heavy and as such the parents sacrifice their individual wants. In so many ways we sacrifice on a daily basis. But we do this for our children, friends and others. The next step is to sacrifice everything to the Lord. This does not mean we do not eat, drink and be merry. We do that, of course. But the Lord of Gita wants us to do everything for His sake and in His Name.
Some persons could do this consciously after reading this sloka, while the majority cannot do it. It will take time and many rebirths. No problem. Go at your own pace. But never leave reading daily the Gita and praying to the Lord. Also, make a sweet practice of chanting His name.
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