THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 18, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 08

AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:

VERSE NUMBER 18

Text in Transliteration:

avyaktaad vyaktayah sarvaah prabhavanty aharaagame

raatry aagame praleeyante tatraai ‘vaa ‘vyaktasamjnake

Text in English:

At the coming of day all manifest beings proceed from the unmanifested, and at the coming of night they merge again in the same which is called the unmanifested.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The plan of nature is the same both in the macrocosm and the microcosm. In accordance with it, when a Jivatman (human being) goes to sleep the world projected from his mind gets withdrawn into it. The manifest and the unmanifest states of this world are all related to the wakefulness or otherwise of his mind. Similarly, the macrocosmos comes into being when Brahma wakes up and it helplessly vanishes into the unmanifested state when he goes to sleep. His day and night function on a universal basis. Creation, preservation and destruction of the universe are all contained in the states of the mind of Brahma. And this is an eternal cosmic play.  

      

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Here the unmanifested is prakrti (nature).

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

When Brahma awakes, all manifestations, moving and unmoving (animate and inanimate) stream forth at the coming of the ‘day’ from the Avyaktam or the Unamifested. When Brahma goes to sleep, all the manifestations merge in the Unmanifested, for the cosmic night has set in.

Coming of the day; Commencement of creation.

Coming of the night; Commencement of dissolution. (Cf. IX.7 and 8)

Comments by the blogger:

Since the unmanifested is prakriti or nature, God does not take any part in it. He created the nature and left the entire thing to it. When the Brahma’s day approaches the prakriti comes into being and the evolution of the universe starts from the beginning. The Big Bang is just the part of the process of evolution of the Universe. Both the animate and inanimate comes forth when Brahma (not God or Brahman, mind you) wakes up. Brahma should not be confused with the Ultimate Reality or Brahman. And when the night commences all beings and non-beings or inanimate are sucked up by prakriti or nature.

This is the difference between the Hinduism and the two major Religions of the world, namely Christianity and Mohammedanism.

The Lord of Gita states clearly that the world is within Him and He is not in the world.

Why this major difference between the Hinduism and other two major Religions above-mentioned?

First, the Hinduism alone contemplates rebirths for beings. The inanimate is only for the sake of the animate, that is, the beings. It is a cyclic happening for the beings to be born and die and take rebirth after spending their time allotted in any of the seven lokas or the worlds or plane of consciousness as Swami Sidbhavananda has written for another verse. So it all relates to the Lord’s magnanimity and compassion to have given us an umpteen number of chances to redeem ourselves by gradation or step by step, birth after birth.

Other Religions think it foolish to say a man could take many births. Their conception of Lord is somewhat cruel. For how can I redeem myself with only one chance being given? There are so many desires and likes and dislikes in me. This is because of the Lord. Mind you, you or I hadn’t, in the beginning, asked for being created and sent down to the earth’s plane. We are all minute consciousness of the Lord. We were in the beginning part and parcel of the Lord. This is the second major difference between the Hinduism and the other two major Religions of the world. And we are going to be sucked up into Him or mingle with Him at the end of the millennial day and millennial births. Thou art that is the Great Sentence the Vedopanishadic Seers and Sages found out. They did not invent it. They only discovered it, OK? They discovered the scheme of the Universe, the created beings and God and the relationship between the three.

For the other major Religions, for their men and women, there is only one chance for redemption?

How cruel it is!

Would you give your child only one chance to stand up and walk? And even when your child grows into a man or woman, would you give only one chance to him/her with respect to any worldly goal? In the material world, in the day-to-day mundane existence, you act as God, (the Hindu conception of God, that is) with reference to your children’s proving him or herself with respect to any goal. But the God of THEM gives just one chance to redeem oneself. How cruel a conception of the Lord?! Could God be more cruel with His children (us) than you with your children? AND THEY WANT TO PROPAGATE THEIR RELIGION AND CONVERT OUR POOR PEOPLE! HOW RIDICULOUS! AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS COME TO INDIA EVERY YEAR FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONVERSION.   

When Swami Vivekananda went to Chicago and became History and then toured all over America and gave his scintillating speeches, some of the American religious leaders said, “It seems the Hinduism is all right. And why should we need to convert them to our faith? Everything seems to be all right with their religion. The Hindus are not the superstitious and lost souls as we thought!” There was a wholesome awareness that the Hindus have found the Truth and nothing is wrong with them.

Thirdly, just think of the consequences if the Brahma’s night does not happen and a full stop is put to the existence of the Universe till the dawn of the Brahma’s day.

The ozone layer has been ruptured. Already the climatic changes are quite discernible. And the man in his ruthless quest for wealth and comfort and pleasure, the deforestation is almost complete. If this thing goes on for another reckless fifty years, do you think human life on the face of the planet would be possible? England and America are the major countries that are responsible for the tattered ozone layer. With them, China also may be added. But England and America want us and other poor countries to bear the responsibility equally along with them, the culprits! When it comes to International relationships it is the nation with the power who rules the rest with an iron fist.

We are digressing.

And what about the sun? It is a proven fact that the sun is a gaseous mass and has been continuously burning for millions of years. And millions of years hence there won’t be any sun! What would human ingenuity do then? There have been rudimental efforts to find places of livelihood in other planets for shifting the human beings. It is not assiduously followed. But it is in the theoretical stage. Do you think it would happen? Even if it would happen, what would the human beings shifted to such planets do? They would simply pollute such of the atmosphere there! The Mount Everest is cluttered up with canes, plastic bags and other refuse, they say. It is the highest point in the world. And the able persons who mount the Everest are well educated. But still, refuse were not taken back when they came down the Everest! You can trust human beings to spoil quickly such of the atmosphere that exists on other planets. The unhindered pursuit of wealth, power and glory has turned the world into an inhabitable one. One shudders to think how would be the lifestyle in our grandchildren’s time.

Think in whatever manner, the present Universe must come to an end. According to the Hinduism, it is a temporary end only or Brahma’s night. And for the other two major Religions it would spell the end of life here. Ok, then what would be the case of the majority of people at the end of this world who would be in varying stages of redeeming themselves? Or what would be the case of those who might be far from the stage of redeeming themselves? All of them should go to hell literally? Don’t forget we are all minuscule expressions of God, according to the Hinduism. For THEM it is not so. For one religion all of the human beings are sinners. Another religion, which is only an offshoot of the former, at the day of judgement, all the sinners would be tossed into Hell’s fire and they would be that way forever! This after giving the human beings only one chance to redeem themselves!

The world is full of desirable objects and God is not coming down to warn us say every ten or twenty years! We have been cursed with indrias or senses and kama is the result of the Lord’s illusion. And it is very hard to cross the ocean of illusion. And how could God be excused if He would only give us one chance to redeem ourselves?     

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 17, AKSHARA BRHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 08

AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:

VERSE NUMBER 17

Text in Transliteration:

Sahasrayugaparyantam ahar yad brahmano viduh

Raatrim yugasahasraantaam te ‘horaatravido janah

Text in English:

Those who know that the day of Brahma lasts a thousand Yugas and that his night lasts a thousand Yugas, they are the knowers of day and night.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The part that time plays in the lives of beings is a factor worth studying. There are creatures within our ken, that complete their career and fulfil themselves in the course of a few days or weeks. The question of want of time does not arise in their cases.

Brahma, the Creator is also a Jivatman(being) having cosmic function to fulfil and wending his way towards mukti (emancipation). That Purusha who attains Prakriti-laya or the universal power and efficiency in a previous kalpa or cycle, becomes Brahma in a succeeding cycle. Countless eons of ours put together form a day to Brahma and a similar expanse of time his night. That way Brahma has his day and night, his own months and years and his own full span of life. Our understanding staggers in conceiving his life time. It expands into infinity, so to say. Still Brahma, the Creator also has his wheel of birth and death and emancipation too from that wheel. He gets into krama-mukti(gradual liberation) after his span of life, vacating his place for the succeeding Brahma. Those of us who understand this consmic design, understand what is meant by the wheel of time, the wheel of birth and death and emancipation from this relativity. This intellectual grasp is an aid for our seeking mukti(emancipation) from the wheel of birth and death.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Day is the period of cosmic manifestation and night of non-manifestation. These are of equal length of time and alternate.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Day means evolution or projection or manifestation of the universe. Night means involution of the universe or Pralaya. The worlds are limited or conditioned in time. Therefore they return again. The world of Brahma (Brahmaloka or Satyaloka) is also transient, although it lasts for a thousand ages. When the four great Yugas have gone round a thousand times, it makes a daytime of Brahma and when an equal number of Yugas pass again it makes a night. Those who can see and live through the day and night of Brahma can really know what is a day and what is a night.

The Suryasiddhanta speaks of the same division of time. According to it:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Years

Kaliyuga (with Sandhya and Sandhyamsa)consists of                                                    432000                                                                                                                                                                                               

Dvaparayuga                                                   (do)                                                         864000                           

Tretayuga                                                         (do)                                                      1296000                                                                                                                                                      1728000

Kritayuga                                                          (do)                                                                                  

Thus a Mahayuga consisting of these four Yugas comprises                                      4,320,000                            

71 such Mahayugas with an additional Sandhya, at the close                                    1,728,000

of  makes one Manvantra of                                                                                     308,448,000

14 such Manvantras with another Sandhya, at the close of                                     4,320,000000

 years constitute one kalpa of                                                                                    

Two Kalpas make a day and night of Brahma of                                                    8,640,000,000                                

360 such days and nights make one year of Brahma of                                        3,110,400,000,000          

100 such years constitute His lifetime of                                                           311,040,000,000,000                                      

The world is absorbed in the Avyaktam or the Unmanifested or Mulaprakriti during the cosmic Pralaya (involution of the world). Just as the tree remains in a latent state in the seed, so also this whole universe remains in a latent state in a seed-form in the Mulaprakriti during Pralaya. This is the night of Brahma. This is the cosmic night. Again the world is projected at the beginning of the Mahakalpa (evolution and involution) is kept up in the macrocosm.

Nothing that comes under this ever-revolving wheel of cosmic day and night lasts forever. That is the reason why the seers of the Upanishads, the sages of yore lived in the transcendental Supreme Being, the imperishable Self, the indestructible Purusha, the supreme goal of life, the highest end of man, which is beyond the cosmic day and night. Just as the seeds that are fried can hardly germinate, so also those who have attained to the imperishable Brahman, the Absolute, the Eternal, cannot return to this world of sorrow, pain and misery. They know neither day nor night. They are one with Existence Absolute.

The manifested and the unmanifested dwell in Brahman. Brahman is beyond the manifested and unmanifested. When the world and the body are destroyed Brahman is not destroyed. The waves come out and subside, but the ocean remains unaffected. So long the worlds come and subside, but Brahman the source of everything, the source of Mulaprakriti, ever remains unaffected. Just as ornaments come out of gold and then go back to gold when they are melted, so also all the worlds come out of Brahman and go back to Brahman. Gold is in no way affected by the various forms such as earrings, bracelets, anklets, etc., that have been made of it. Even so, Brahman is not in the least affected by the projection and destruction (dissolution) of the worlds and the bodies of beings. It remains always as it is.

Comments by the blogger:

The calculation given in the Suryasiddhanta as mentioned by Swami Sivananda in his commentary is simply mind-boggling. Though it is mind-boggling, it should not be discarded as the idle thoughts and ruminations of the Seers several thousand years ago. In astronomy and agriculture, in astrology and cloth-making and in several fields including the rarefied field of Philosophy and Science India was the number one country four thousand years ago according to the European scholars and nine thousand years ago according to Swami Vivekananda. Till India came under the foreign yoke like the Moguls and then the English and others, India and China produced three fourth of the wealth of the world. India was a forerunner in many more fields than mentioned above. Vedic Mathematics is a celebrated branch of study. The paths of the sun and the moon were charted with great accuracy that the modern science cannot brush aside. Only the foreign rule made our intellectuality stop growing at a certain point. Even then great men like Ramanuja the mathematician came to the firmament. But the steady growth had been arrested by the foreign invasions.

Though our own people following the Western culture would laugh it off, they would readily accept the modern scientists’ opinions about the Universe and its age. For example, the Big Bang is said to have happened some 4,320,000,000 years ago, if I am right about the number of years. Anyhow, it is a ‘proved’ fact that the big bang happened several billion years ago. What do we know about the state of the universe before the big bang? Carbon dating could hardly help a geologist in this matter, no?

But what I am striving here is both the modern day scientists and the Vedopanishadic Seers speak in similar language about the age of the universe.

The day and night of Brahma have been calculated with precision. Here we should not confuse Brahma and Brahman. Brahma is the god of creation. Brahman is the Ultimate Reality. Brahma also goes through life and death wheel and Brahman knows no such things, He being the Lord exalted by all the Religions as God, the Almighty.

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THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 16, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 08

AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:

VERSE NUMBER 16     

Text in Transliteration:

aa brahmabhuvanaal lokaah punaraavartino ‘rjuna

maam upetya tu kaunteya punarjanma na vidyate

Text in English:

All worlds including that of Brahma are subject to return, O Arjuna; but on reaching me, O son of Kunti, there is no rebirth.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Different planes of existence are known as the various worlds, the highest among them being the Brahma-loka. But all these worlds are subject to mutation and repetition, because of their being under the sway of time, space and causation. While the beings in all these worlds are compelled by their loka have two alternatives. The liberation-seekers among them work for it in that highest region and gain karma-mukti or progressive liberation when the entire universe dissolves in pralaya or the ultimate destruction of the world. But the enjoyment-seekers among them are forced by their karma to take new births.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

When the boiled paddy is sown in the field it sprouts not. Even so, when a perfected person puts away the body, he is not born again.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

All the worlds are subject to change.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Those devotees who practise Daharopasana ( a kind of meditation on the mystic ‘space’ in the heart) and other devotees who reach Brahmaloka through the path of the gods (Devayana) and attain gradual liberation (Krama-Mukti) will not return again to this world. But those who reach Brahmaloka through the practice of the Panchagni Vidya (a ritual) will enjoy life in Brahmaloka and come back to this world.

All the worlds are subjected to return because they are limited or conditioned by time.

Comments by the Blogger:

In this verse, the Lord of Gita calls His disciple as Arjuna and O the son of Kunti.

While Arjuna means that one who is pure in nature, O, the son of Kunti means, any average man or woman born of the womb of a woman; Arjuna is naturally pure and that is why the Lord hints at the fact that he would go to Him after his death. An average man and woman mean that the knowledge and know-how is not esoteric but open to all.

What is that Knowledge?

Including the Brahma loka or the world of Brahma, those going to any one of the seven lokas or worlds are subject to return. But one reaching Him, the Lord of Gita, will not return back to this world.

By this, the Lord says that all persons can really work and have a potential to succeed in attaining Him.

The specialty in being a human being is that one and all can perform meditation. Theoretically, there is no impediment in meditating for Liberation. Because, while other animals have their backbones on a horizontal level, human beings have vertical backbones! This presupposes that the kuntalini or the serpent power lodged just behind the private parts of both men and women can be raised by all human beings through proper yogic methods, stage by stage until it reaches the crown of the head. That would tantamount to ultimate wisdom and Liberation. Just about anyone, whether he is a Hindu or Muslim or Christian this kind of meditational Release and permanent Liberty is possible.

 Even now folks in the European and Western countries do yoga, though it is to gain good concentration and complete physical fitness. When they do it, they get it. Which is proof enough that they can also perform kundalini meditation! All people are Hindus, in this sense or in the sense of yoga.

Regarding seven Lokas, as both Swami Sidbhavananda and Swami Sivananda point out, they are different planes of existence and those who reach the Brahma-Loka attain gradual liberation.

Even in the Holy Quran, it is stated that Allah, the Great, created the seven skies! In the Holy Bible, the Jesus Christ declares that His Father’s place there are several mansions!    

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 15, AKSHARA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 08

AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:

VERSE NUMBER 15

Text in Transliteration:

Maam upetya punarjanma duhkhaalayam asaasvatam

Naapnuvanti mahaatmaanah samsiddhim paramaam gataah

Text in English:

Having come to Me, the great souls are no more subject to rebirth, which is transitory and the abode of pain; for they have reached the highest perfection.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Man gets whatever he has made himself worthy of. The Lord gives Himself over to the devotees worthy of Him; and there is no gain greater than this. Having gained God, the devotee is in Eternal Beatitude. The wheel of birth and death does not touch him any more.

The difference between the wheel of birth and death and the Eternal Beatitude is explained in the next verse.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Birth is the home of pain or seat of sorrow arising from the body. Study the Garbhopanishad. There the nature of pain, i.e., how the child is confined in the womb, and how it is pressed during its passage along the vaginal canal and the neck of the womb or uterus, is described. Further it is much affected by the Prasuti-Vayu(the vital air which is responsible for the delivery of the child).

Mahatmas (great souls) are free from Rajas and Tamas.

Having attained Me; This denotes Krama-Mukti or gradual liberation. The devotees who pass along the Devayana through the force of their Upasana, attain to Brahmaloka (the world of Brahma the Creator) or Satyloka (the world of truth, the highest of the seven worlds) and there enjoy all the divine wealth and glory of the Lord and then attain to Kaivalya Moksha (final liberation) through the knowledge of Brahman, along with Brahma during the cosmic dissolution.

Mahatmas or great souls who have attained Moksha do not come again to birth. Those who have not attained Me, take birth again in this world.  

Comments by the blogger:

Before reaching the highest perfection, the souls have to be subject to rebirth, which is transitory and the abode of pain.

There could not be two opinions about this worldly life being an abode of pain. But there is goodness too. Therein the Lord’s trick lies. We, poor souls, for a tablespoon of worldly bliss go gladly through a cartload of pain and sorrow. Still, Lord’s maya or illusion is there which goads us toward greater highs of action and thereby further court even more pain.

Lord Buddha moved from yogic pillar to meditational post before attaining wisdom. And the wisdom consists of a simplest of sentences possible in the Spiritual lore: desire is the reason for all sorrows. It was not as though he had come up with a new brand of wisdom unknown till then to Hinduism. Lord Buddha came after the Vedopanishadic period. That is after the Vedantic period was over. So the dwandvas or the dualities like love and hate, sorrow and bliss, light and darkness and so on and so forth had already been found to be lying at the bottom of all human sorrow. But the specialty of Lord Buddha was he did not just say that the desire was the reason for all sorrow and pain but he realized it even like the Vedopanishadic Sages. One must realize the truth personally. All the scriptural knowledge and scholarship would not help even to gain a foothold that has been the prerogative of the Great Souls.

The Lord is very candid. He posits if we are ready for such highest perfection.

And reaching the highest position means ourselves being turned into a sanyasi or monk or yogi in the right sense of the word. The ochre-clad beggars we see every day of our lives are not persons of high renouncement. They are way below us. They have taken to an abject way to live a life of sloth. The question is if we are ready to give up all we have, including the spouse and children and all the wealth like that Jain couple? Are we ready?

No we are not ready; at least the majority of us including me are not ready.

What is the consequence? We have to bear a cart-load of pain for a spoonful of happiness. Even our happiness is tinged with sorrow. A child is born and the family is celebrating the occasion. But the pain the mother had gone through! And what about the child? It has to pass through the neck of the womb and the vaginal channel. And that gives it pain. And after being pushed through the channel, it comes into our atmospheric world. And the temperature is different and the feeling of protection and the dark comfort are gone. The child cries out in sheer bewilderment. And we rejoice at the action of the child’s cry. Because our rational mind instructs us that a child must cry out like anything when it comes into our world! The child that keeps mum after coming into our world is a dead or dying child. Or something is terribly the matter with the child’s mind or brain! So to make us cry and shed tears of joy, the new-born child has to cry hoarse! The very starting point of joy is tinged with heavy sorrow and pain for the child. What about the child born of the Caesarean Section? Here too the baby must cry like anything. And leaving the HEALTHY child which cries like that, the surgeon would be busy with the mother who would not know anything! The crying child would be left quite for some time to mend for itself. Because the more it cries the greater is the proof that everything is quite all right with the baby!

Everything the baby does is a joy for us and very painful for the baby. Take for example the daily bath the baby is given! But it has its compensation. The mother would dry the baby and smear it with baby powder and then suckle the baby! Even the baby would forget all the pain and discomfort it went through just a while back and fall into a deep slumber!

Marriage is called kalyaanam in Tamil. Kali stands for sorrow. Aanam stands for the commencement. So kalyaanam or marriage in Tamil means the beginning of all sorrow! Would you believe it?

Like this, every stage is filled with pain and sorrow. But you and I are ready. Because we have been habituated to look at life that way!

I think we should not be like the mentally deranged person on the street. He or she always has a big bundle which the person would not leave even if you give a thousand rupees. All sorts of refuse fit to be thrown into a fire to make this world free of the nauseating odour would be there. In course of time the size of the bundle would increase!

I think we should not be like that person and go on gathering refuse for our bundle. At some point in time we must stop freshly earning and should leave it to our children to become a money making machine while we live a life of austerity. If we can do that, we would have more and more time daily to devout to God. This is the modern kind of Vanaprastha. We can’t go into the woods. For we have grown in number and the woods are shrinking already. Cho Ramasamy (the late editor of an incomparable Tamil weekly, Tuglak) had said in an interview some twenty-five years before his death that he had stopped to live for making money. One should be able to draw the line somewhere at some point. We should try to gather our spouse into a bear hug and say that henceforth we would live for ourselves. And explain what that stands for. Swami Sidbhavananda has written that fulfilling ourselves is the highest praise we give to our Maker. We should cogitate on life and do this without finding fault with the present world and the youths. We should not become fed up with the way the youths live and the world is being run by our leaders. Without finding fault with anyone, we must give silently up worldly strivings in favour of the Lord and strive to spend more time in that way.

This is the least possible compensation we could make to the world which bore our youthful days of hilarity and unceasing action. Then the next birth would take care of itself!      

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 14, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 08

AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:

VERSE NUMBER 14

Text in Transliteration:

Ananyachtaah satatam yo maam smarati nityasah

Tasyaa ‘nam sulabhah paartha nityayuktasya yoginah

Text in English:

I am easily attainable, O Partha, by that ever-steadfast yogi, who constantly remembers Me daily and thinks of none else.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Just as material wealth gets added only to those who already own it,  so the grace of the Lord is ever on the increase to those yogis who have made themselves worthy of it. The Lord is ever available to those who seek Him. It is the ignorant man that alienates himself from the Lord.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

When we take one stride towards the Lord, He takes ten strides towards us.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Constantly remembering the Lord throughout the life is the most easy way of attaining Him.

Ananyachetah: He has no attachment for any other object. He will not think of any other object save his Ishta Devata or tutelary deity.

Nityasah: For a long time, i.e., till the end of life.

He who remembers the Lord by fits and starts or he who remembers Him for six months and then leaves the practice and then again remembers Him for six months and so on cannot attain Him.        

Comments by the blogger:

What the Lord of Gita advances here is for those only who have taken to Him as a sanyasin or an ascetic. For others, this kind of remembering the Lord to the total exclusion of otherworldly things is not possible. The Lord Himself knows that. That was why He stated in the previous chapter that out of one thousand who have taken to Him, hardly one tries hard to attain Him and out of a thousand such devotees hardly one crosses the sea of Samsara over to Him.

Still, the Lord calls Arjuna as, O Partha. This and Kaunteya means one and the same thing. That is ‘the average man born of a womb of a woman,’ by which He invariably means all Tom Dick and Harry can do this yoga or always remembering Him to the total exclusion of all other things and people, men and matter. Yes, we saw the example of a Jain couple, only a few days back. Both of them were in the prime of their youth, with a baby girl who is hardly one year old. They have taken to monkhood. It is possible to all.

But that is not the question. The question is if it becomes the order of the world, who would feed the Sanyasins or Hermits or monks or ascetics? The whole world cannot script its salvation one and at the same time. The Lord Himself counsels Arjuna to fight which is his swadharma or self-ordained duty! And we all have to fight our individual battles. That’s what He wants us to do. He comes down heavily upon squeamishness. He heavily chides Arjuna when He says he would rather eat beggar’s bread than having to kill his own kith and kin!

So we must have the strength and faith not to turn away from Gita and the Lord of Gita in the face of such verses which might have been put there by the Lord to test our deservedness. You see, even now not all Hindus are reading Srimad Bhagavad Gita as they do the Epic, Ramayana! Because there is a misconception among the mass that Gita is for those who want to renounce the world or whoever peruses the incomparable Book would take to sanyasa or monkhood!

Another misconception is that Gita is a book one should read after one’s retirement.

Gosh! Let nobody come under such misconception, My Lord!

Gita, on the contrary, should be introduced at the elementary school level. Modi Government is trying to do it. But all even Hindu Tom, Dick, and Harry cry hoarse and accuse Modi of saffronisation of education. We all must strengthen Modi’s hands when he takes measures like this. We must write, every one of us, letters to the editor of the newspapers and magazines who cry and shed crocodile tears over such vital thing and measure on behalf of the minorities. When the constitution itself allows propagation of their religion, it is at the cost of our religion, whose forefathers found the truth in its fulsome and wholesome. We must become, not strident, but argumentative when these editors take up the pen to lash Modi and accuse him of saffronisation. It is a misnomer. Out of 125 plus crore people, just fifteen crores are the minorities. For their sake should our children be robbed of the early opportunity of exposure to Gita?

We are digressing.

I mean to say that the Lord of Gita is no politician and He is not concerned about the vote bank politics. While these puerile and so-called secularists are senseless, Gita and the Lord of Gita are for all time and make eminent sense for always.

So only to test us the Lord comes out with such statements here and there and now and again.

See, He is not afraid of our opinion and He does not stand to gain anything by mollycoddling us.

The Lord of Gita always calls a spade a spade.

Yes, there is a chance for some people to give themselves up even when they are quite young and energetic to the Lord to the total exclusion of all. Even if there is a single person with that mindset then the Lord of Gita wants to tell that person that he is indeed a blessed one. To say this he need not select another text and choose another context.

But, He knows, we the people, having been tossed into the ocean of Samsara which gives us kama or desire and induces towards action, and it is not possible for us to all at once take to Sanyasa. Even He does not expect us. Like Arjuna He wants us to fight our righteous war. And that’s what we’re doing. And we shall do more. And that’s what, in the ultimate analysis, the Lord of Gita wants of us.  

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSES 12 AND 13, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OR THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 08

AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:

VERSES 12 AND 13

Verse No: 12

Text in Transliteration:

sarvadvaaraani samyamya mano hrdi nirudhya cha

murdhny aadhaayaa ‘tmanah praanam aasthito yogadhaa ranaam

Text in English:

Having closed all the gates, confined the mind in the heart and fixed the life-breath in the head, engaged in the practice of concentration,

Verse No: 13

Text in Transliteration:

Aum ity ekaaksaram brahma vyaaharan maam anusmaran

Yah prayaati tyajan deham sa yaati paramaam gatim

Text in English:

Uttering the one-syllabled Om—the Brahman—and remembering Me, he who departs, leaving the body, attains to the Supreme Goal.

Swami Sidbhavananda’s Translation of the two verses:

All the gates of the body closed, the mind confined within the heart, having fixed his life-energy in the head, engaged in firm yoga; uttering the one-syllabled ‘Om’, Brahman, thinking of Me, he who departs, leaving the body, attains the Supreme Goal.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA FOR BOTH THE VERSES:

This is how the yogi brings his embodied existence to an end. As the river brings his embodied existence to an end. As the river enters the ocean, the individual consciousness of the yogi merges in the Cosmic Consciousness, which is Brahman. The activities of the body and the senses all cease, as when going to sleep. As a bird returns to a tree to roost, the mind of the yogi gets settled in his heart, at the time of death. Contrary to this, the mind of the worldly wanders woefully on mundane things; Cold spreads all over the body as prana (life breath) leaves it. As a traveller goes to a vehicle station, the prana of the yogi finally comes to the head. For this reason the yogi’s head is the last region from which warmth vanishes. It is Yogadhaarana for the mind to be fixed in Iswara at the time of departure. The sound vibration, ‘Om’ persists then. The spiritual content of this vibration is experienced as Infinite Bliss and Brilliance of the Pure Consciousness. This Brahma-nirvanam is the Supreme Goal attained by the yogi.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The formative thought that dominates the mind of the one who leaves the body, is the factor that governs and contributes to the next birth of that individual. Spiritual discipline is therefore imperative to one and all. The devotee of the Lord is ever immersed in the thought of God. Being firmly fixed in it, he reaches the Lord on giving up the body.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

FOR THE VERSE 12:

The body is called the nine gated city: V, 13. The mind which is confined within the heart means the mind whose functions are checked. The yoga saastra tells us that the soul which passes from the heart through sushumnanaadi( subtle psychic nerve channel) to the brahmarandhra( the hole of Brahman) in the bead and thence goes out, becomes one with the Supreme.

FOR THE VERSE 13:

Aum stands for the inexpressible Absolute.

maam anusmaran: remembering Me. The highest state can be obtained through the worship of God, according to the Yoga Sootra.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

FOR THE VERSE 12:

The gates are the senses of knowledge. Closing the gates means control of all the senses by the practice of Pratyahara or withdrawal of the consciousness from them. Even if the senses are controlled, the mind will be dwelling on the sensual objects. Therefore the mind is confined or fixed in the lotus of the heart and thereby all the thoughts or mental modifications are also controlled. The whole life-breath modifications are also controlled. The whole life-breath is now taken up and fixed at the crown of the head (Brahmarandhra or the hole of Brahma)

FOR THE VERSE 13:

Having controlled the thoughts the Yogi ascends by the Sushumna, the Nadi (subtle psychic nerve channel) which passes upwards from the heart. He fixes his whole Prana or life breath in the crown of the head in the Brahmarandhra or the hole of Brahma. He utters the sacred monosyllable Om, meditates on Me and leaves the body.

Comments by the blogger:  

The nine holes in the body are called the nine gates of the city. The mind of the ordinary men and women would dwell on the senses of knowledge and they would be woefully thinking of the mundane life even at the time of death, the most important moment after the birth. The birth is not in our control. And we can’t choose consciously the family and other circumstances of our birth. But the yogi shuts up all the nine gates through which Prana or Life breath leaves the body in case of ordinary Man and Woman and brings the mental consciousness to the lotus in the heart. We do not and cannot do this. Our senses are very active and the mind dwells on the worldly things like our sons and daughters and our assets and liabilities, and above all, we are seized with an all-consuming fear of death. We mumble this and that and we even instruct our close relations about this and that.

Then the yogi utters ‘Om’ the single-syllabled Brahman and the life breath is taken consciously to the crown of the head of the yogi and it leaves through Brahmandhra or the hole of Brahman. It is situated in the crown of the head. We do not and cannot use this way to pass away. The prana of ours goes through either one of the nine gates.

There is a certain indignity in the way an ordinary man or woman leaves his/her body. But there is a right royal route for the yogi.

So what do we do?

That is, how to die properly?

Even among us the most sattvic ones goes without losing his/her dignity.

But the point is even for us there is a most wonderful way to go. First, we should not think of our sons and daughters and spouse. If we have spent a lifetime of chanting the holy and auspicious name of the Lord or Goddess, then we could easily go with an inner chanting of the same even at the glorious time of our death. Whether you agree with me or not, Death has a certain glory with which it takes us. It is we who needlessly makes the last process very cumbersome and undignified. If we choose to go with an inward chanting of our Lord’s name, that would be the Bhakti Yogis death or the death of a yogi of Devotion. We all are yogis. We all are Bhakti Yogis. There could be no two opinions about this. And if we exerted a wee bit, we could also become a Karma Yogi, by carrying out our swadharmic or self-ordained duty without any expectation of the fruits thereof.

Whether we are Karma Yogis or not, we all are Bhakti Yogis. And if we make a habit of chanting the name of the Lord or Goddess then there is a sure chance for us to gain a good re-birth in a good and wealthy family and start on our spiritual life from where we left off in the present birth.

For the yogi mentioned in these two verses, the thinking and other faculties are taken up and lodged in the heart. And the Prana is taken up to the crown of the head for it to leave through the hole of Brahman.

For those who dwell woefully on the worldly things even at the time of death, the mental modifications along with other sheaths which enclose the Atman go up which decides the next birth. For the yogi, the mental modifications are stopped and lodged in the heart so there is simply his or her Atman leaving the body, and hence there will be no more birth for that yogi.

We must become staunch devotees and gladly chant the name of our Ishta Moorthy, or our personal God or Goddess. That alone will save us. We are ready for that, aren’t we?

Or we can simply gloriously chant ‘Om’, which fetches the same benefits as the chanting of our personal deity’s name.       

          

THE HOLY YOGA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 11, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 08

AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:

VERSE NUMBER 11

Text in Transliteration:

yad aksharam vedavido vadanti

   visanti yad yatayo veetaraagaah

yad icchanto brahmacharyam charanti

   tat te padam samgrahena pravakshye

Text in English:

That which the knowers of Veda call the imperishable, and into which enter the Sanyasins, self-controlled and freed from attachment, and desiring which they lead a life of continence, that I shall declare to you with brevity.   

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Nature is the Veda come from God; Scripture is the Veda come from the Enlightened Ones. Both of these forms of the Veda complement each other. The knowers of the Veda by either way, state that the Imperishable Brahman is the substratum of the perishing universe.

Sanyasins (monks) are they who are not tainted by worldly desires and who live the rigid life of continence.

Through Brahmacharya or continence, the physical energy in man gets converted into spiritual energy. The faculty of understanding gets keen thereby. Intuition is the outcome of that exalted discipline.   

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

He who wants to become spiritual should not lustfully look at even the picture of a woman. Spirituality is not where lust is. The sadhaka or Practitioner established in Brahmacharya (continence) develops a faculty known as medha which promotes his spiritual knowledge.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

See Katha Upanishad., II, 15. “The word which all the Vedas rehearse, and which all austerities proclaim, desiring which men live the life of religious studentship—that word to thee I briefly declare.” Thesists look upon it as the highest heaven “the highest place of Vishnu.” Vishnoh paramam padam.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The same ideas are expressed in Kathopanishad. Yama (the God of Death) said to Nachiketas, “The goal which all the Vedas speak of, which all penances proclaim and wishing for which they lead the life of celibacy, that goal (world) I will briefly tell three. It is Om,” Satyakama the son of Sibi questioned Pippalada, “O Bhargavan, if someone among men meditates here until death on the syllable Om, what world does he obtain by that?” Pippalada replied, “O Satyakama, the syllable Om is indeed the higher and the lower Brahman. He who meditates on the higher Purusha with ths syllable Om of three Matras (units) is led up by the Sama-verses to the Brahmaloka or the world of Brahma”. Prasopanishad.

Pranava or Om is considered either as an expression of the Supreme Self or Its symbol like an idol (Pratika). It serves persons of dull and middling intellects as a means for realising the Supreme Self.

Chant Om three times at the commencement of your meditation; you will find concentration of mind easier.

Comments by the blogger:

Continence or Celibacy is part of the Indian Spiritual culture. The Vedopanishadic seers and saints found out the greatness of understanding that comes to one who practises studiously continence. The faculty called Medha develops in such continent persons. This gives them greater freedom to practise meditation. The kundalini power, (the serpent power that exists in every one of us behind the private parts) gets easily lifted to other stages of understanding and wisdom till the power is raised to the head which gives one complete self-emancipation is made that more easier for those who develop the faculty medha due to studious practice of continence.     

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSES 09 AND 10, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 08

AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:

VERSE NUMBERS 09 AND 10

Text in Transliteration:

kavim puraanam anusasitaaram

   anor aneeyaamsam amusmared yah

sarvasya dhaataaram achintya roopam

   aadiyavarnam tamasah parastaat

             10

Prayaanakaale manasaa ‘chalena

   Bhak tyaa yuk to yogabalena chai ‘va

Bhruvor madhye praanam aavesya samyak

   Sa tam param purusam upaiti divyam

Text in English:

The omniscient, the Ancient, the Ruler, Minuter than an atom, the Supporter of all, of Form inconceivable, Effulgent like the sun, and Beyond all darkness; he who meditates on this Resplendent, Supreme Purusha, at the time of death, with a steady mind, devotion and strength of yoga, well fixing the entire Prana in the middle of the eyebrows, he reaches Him.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

These are the fit states of the mind and praana or life energy, when the yogi finally renounces the body and re-enters Brahma-nirvaanam or the Cosmic Consciousness, Constant practice or abhyaas-yoga is the sure means to achieve this sublime end. The eight-fold glory of the lord has to be deeply meditated on daily so that the mind and intellect be cast permanently in that divine mould. The eight super-mundane distinctions of Iswara are:-

Kavi—the Omniscient. One can discern the presence of intelligence as the background of the functioning of the entire cosmos. The personal intelligence of all beings is derived from this Cosmic Intelligence. Attuning one’s personal understanding to this Pure Consciousness is meditation.

Puraana is the Ancient One. Prior to Him there is nothing. The Original Stuff of everything sentient and insentient is He.

Anusaasitaa is the Ruler. He designs the structure and carries out the working of the entire cosmos. Everything is included in His regime.

Anoraneeyaan is the Subtlest of the subtle. There is naught finer than Pure Consciousness. It persists because of Its subtlety.

Sarvasya Dhaataa is He who is the Support of all. As the ocean is the support of the waves that have come out of it, so is Brahman the Support of the universe that has come out of It.

Acintyaroopa is what is Incomprehensible to the unrefined mind. It can be grasped only to the extent the mind gets purified.

Aadityavarna is the Effulgence of the sun which is ever the same. The sun never rises nor sets though it seems so to us, in relation with the revolving earth. Paramatman undergoes no modification even as the sun does not.

Tamasah parastaat is the state of the Paramatman being supremely Above the darkness of ignorance exactly as the sun is not affected by a patch of cloud seeming to hide it. The Effulgence of Iswara is ever itself, untouched by the modifications of prakriti.

Acala-manas, bhakti, yoga-balam—these three divine gifts are interrelated. That mind which does not waver for any reason whatsoever, but is ever steady in its godly pursuit is endowed with the first gift. As it grows in purity, the devotion which is the second gift spontaneously manifests itself in the sadhaka or practitioner. The practice of yoga being a part and parcel of his life, he steadily rises in spiritual stature, the physical, mental and moral strength accruing from it stands him in good stead. He evolves into a sterling personality.

A man endowed with spiritual strength is fully equipped for the battle of life. Knotty problems of life are all solved by him as a matter of course. Death is no terror to him. He puts it on a par with life and faces both with the same equanimity. The yogi is ever himself, both in life and death.

Praana or life-energy of the ordinary man leaves the body at death through the apertures. But it goes out differently when the yogi departs from the body. It gets concentrated between the eye-brows and exits through the skull. This last event is also the outcome of the strength of yoga.

COMMENTARY OF DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

For Verse 09

See Svetaasvatara Upanishad., III, 18

Kavi: seer. It is taken to mean omniscient.

Here is a description not of the relationless, immutable Absolute but of Isvara, the Personal God, Seer, Creator and Ruler of the cosmos. He is the light opposed to darkness.

For Verse 10

Apparently, this practice is possible only for those who choose the moment of death by the power of yoga.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

For Verse 09

Kavim: The sage, seer or poet, the omniscient.

The Lord dispenses the fruits of actions of the Jivas (individual souls). He is the Ruler of the world. It is very difficult to conceive the form of the Lord. He is self-luminous and He illumines everything like the sun.        

For Verse 10

The Yogi gets immense inner strength and power of concentration. His mind becomes quite steady through constant practice of concentration and meditation. He practises concentration first on the lower Chakras, viz., Muladhara, Svadhishthana and Manipura. He then concentrates on the lotus of the heart (Anahata Chakra). Then he takes the life-breath (Prana) through the Sushumna and fixes it in the middle of the two eyebrows. He eventually attains the resplendent Supreme Purusha (Person) by the above Yogic practice.

This is possible for one who has devoted his whole life to the practice of Yoga.

Comments by the blogger:

This is how the thorough-bread Yogi chooses his last moment on the planet.

Verse 9 gives us the Supreme attributes of the Personal Lord or Iswara. He is a kavi. Purana or He is the Ancient one. Anusaasitaa or He is the Ruler of the Cosmos. Anoraneeyaan in other words, He is the Subtlest of the Subtle. Sarvasya Dhaataa is He who is the support of all. acintyaroopa is what is Incomprehensible to the unrefined mind. aadityavarna is the Effulgence of the sun. Tamasah parastaat is the state of the Paramatman who is above the darkness.

We should know these attributes of God our Master. Only then we may, while in prayer, think deeply of these attributes of the Lord masterly listed out by Swami Sidbhavananda. I think so I am. If we continuously think of the Supreme attributes of the Lord, in course of time, a modicum of those attributes would become ours. That is why we should allow time for daily prayer. Chanting the name of the Lord has its own virtue. Apart from this, we should think of the Lord’s ineffable attributes. Whatever we think constantly we, in course of time, become that. For this Swami Sivananda has given the example of the wasp biting the caterpillar daily so that it would think constantly of the wasp. And in course of time, the caterpillar would become a wasp! What we constantly are thinking of we become that! This is purely psychological.       

Then the way a consummate yogi gives up his life is described in stanza 10. We may ask ourselves why should I know this? I’m no yogi! No, we are yogis practising mainly the yoga of devotion. All the four kinds of Yoga bring the jivas or beings to the Supreme Brahman only. And if we, I mean most of us have the yoga of devotion in our system. We have been brought up by our parents to be that way. Moreover, many of you may be consciously karma yogis. While others may be that way even without knowing the fact! So the yoga of devotion and the yoga of action are good for us. But there is nothing wrong in knowing the other two methods of Yoga! everything must first be conceived in the mind. We must form a conception of the other two kinds of Yoga and the great Yogis who practise them. By this our understanding grows deep.

Not everyone can become a Yogi of the type who chooses his moment of death and takes his Prana or Breath to the point in between the two eyebrows and leaves like a Royal Maharaja. We have to experience the leaving of our life force through one of the nine gates of this body. But let us know that there are Yogis who leave their body by taking their breath up so it leaves between the eyebrows. At some moment of our birth or rebirth, we too are going to go like that! 

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 08, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN.

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 08

AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:

VERSE NUMBER 08

Text in Transliteration:

abhuaasauogayuktena cetasaa naa ‘nyagaaminaa

paramam purusham divyam yaati paarthaa nuchintayan

Text in English:

With the mind not wandering after anything else, made steadfast in the yoga of constant practice, he who meditates on the Supreme, Resplendent Purusha, reaches Him, O Partha.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Each sadhaka has his own concept of Iswara, known as his Ista-murti or chosen Deity. Life-long meditation on that phase of Iswara is abhyasa-yoga. because of his residing in the Puri of the body, He is known as Purusha. As the sun is resplendent in the physical plane, He is Resplendent in the sadhaka (practitioner) of body-consciousness, after the way of the ripening fruit getting itself separated from its skin. The yogi’s spiritual attainment becomes evident at the time of death. It is described in the following stanza.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

It is not death-bed repentance that will save us but constant practice and unwavering dedication to the Supreme.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Abhyasa means practice. Practice is the constant repetition of the one idea of God. In the practice of meditation Vijatia Vrittis (worldly thoughts and thoughts of a type different from the object of meditaion) are shut out and there is Sajatiya Vrittipravaha (continuous flow of thoughts of the Self or the Absolute alone). This is Abhyasa. Abhyasa is Yoga. This will terminate in Nirvikalapa Samadhi. The Yogi with Samahita Chitta (equanimity of mind) attains Paramatma or the Supreme Soul. Just as the rivers abandoning their names and forms become one with the ocean so also the sage or the Vidvan, being liberated from names and forms, and virtue and vice, becomes identical with the Supreme Self.

The most vital factor in this practice is regularity. Be regular in your meditation. You will soon reach the goal.

Purusham Divyam: The resplendent, transcendental Being or the Inner Ruler (Antaryamin) in the solar orb.

He who meditates constantly without allowing the mind to wander among the sensual object, in accordance with the instructions of the Scriptures and the preceptor reaches the Supreme Purusha.

Comments by the blogger:

In this verse, Abyasa yoga or the constant practice of meditation is described by the Lord. The mind should not wander after anything else. It should be made steadfast in yoga of constant practice. Thus he who meditates on the Supreme, Resplendent Purusha reaches Him.

Immediately our mind, in most of the cases, would think it is not for us. That we cannot for long without any let-up indulge in the yoga of meditation! How true! But here the Lord calls Arjuna as Partha. That means the son of Prithi, Kunti. Wherever the Lord of Gita calls his friend and disciple as the son of Kunti, He means an average ordinary man born of the womb of a woman. That is, the Lord means it is possible to all the average ordinary men and women!

But the question is if we are ready to indulge in the constant practice of Yoga of meditation and thus become quite oblivious to all the worldly things of senses.

Some ten days ago I perused in a newspaper of a Jain couple. They were quite young, both of them. They had just one girl child. The child was not more than a year’s of age. The couple was millionaires. They both took to Sanyasa or monkhood having left the child and their crores of rupees with the husband’s father!

So it is possible to every man and woman born of the womb of a woman!

But the question is if you are ready for such an exclusive practice of meditation in favour of the Supreme, Resplendent Purusha or not.

Before asking the question, I must put the same question to myself. I have been reading the Gita for the past 18 years. Still, I am not ready for such an exclusive practice of the yoga of meditation! The worldliness exerts a strong pull on me. I am fifty-seven. Come December I would turn 58. I have two daughters. The older one has finished her educational career. The younger one has just joined in a BE course. I want both the children to get married. And then I want to see my grandchildren and with my wife wish to help our girls bring up the grandchildren!

For writing seven blogs, the Google team have been trying to connect four of my sites, including this one, to Adsense. I want to earn. For I have no other means of earning. I write content writing for money. I want to save up and spend the money on my second child’s education. So I am full of worldliness. When it comes to praying the Lord, I pray for the well being of the world and manes in general and my children and ourselves in particular and give the Lord a list of necessities. Of the four types of devotees, I am the one who gives the Lord a long list of needs and their due fulfillment. I am hard up for money and so I pray for that.

If this is my case, how can I force you to take to the constant practice of meditation?

But there is nothing wrong in knowing that such people, the chosen and blessed ones, are there who give up themselves to the constant practice of meditation. I worship them, touch their feet. I do this fully knowing it would take some more rebirths for me to come to that stage. But there is nothing wrong in knowing such a way of spiritual life is open to all of us and worship such blessed souls. I pray all of us, at some stage, become Yogis and Yoginis of such a type as explained by the Lord of Gita.          

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 07, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN.

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 08

AKSHARA BRHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:

VERSE NUMBER 07

Text in Transliteration:

tasmaat sarveshu kaaleshu maam anusmara yudhya cha

may arpitamanobuddhir maam evai ‘shyasy asamsayah

Text in English:

Therefore at all times think upon Me only and fight. With mind and understanding set on Me, you will surely come to Me. You will surely come to Me.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The immediate duty of Arjuna is to wage the righteous war, as it is his svadharma (self-ordained duty). The Lord commands him to fight. Every individual has to discharge faithfully the duty that is his.

There are people who neglect or give up their earthly duties on the plea that they have taken to spiritual life. And there are the others who excuse themselves from spiritual practices on the plea that in the midst of their worldly engagements they have neither the time nor the inclination for anything else. The sacred and the secular are incompatible is their view. But the Lord’s message is to sanctify the entire life. The so-called secular duty may be converted into the service of the Lord. Whatever man does or thinks ought to be for the glory of the Maker. By this way man’s life gets perfectly enriched.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The singing mendicant on the street artfully plays on the stringed instrument with one hand and with the other, gracefully beats the drum fastened round his neck. These two items of music serve as accompaniments to his songs. In this manner, man ought to discharge his worldly duties carefully and at the same time be inclined Godward. He should imbibe godly tendencies more and more.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

sarveshu kaleshu: at all times. Only then shall we be able to remember God in the critical last moments, Sridhara.

Maam anusmara yudhya: remember Me and fight. It is not fight on the material plane that is intended here for it cannot be done at all times. It is the fight with the powers of darkness that we have to carry on perpetually.

We must engage in the work of the world retaining our consciousness of Eternity, the brooding presence of the Unchanging God. “Just as a dancing girl fixes her attention on the water pot she bears on her head even when she is dancing to various tunes, so also a truly pious man does not give up (his attention) to the blissful feet of the Supreme Lord even when he attends to his many concerns.” All actions of our lives are to be surrendered to God who encloses, penetrates and gives meaning to our lives. The mere remembrance of God purifies all work. Cp. “I bow to the infallible. By thinking of Him or calling on His name, every defect in austerities, sacrifice and ritual is removed.”

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The whole mental machinery should be dedicated to the Lord. You must work with the mind and intellect devoted to Him.

Fight: perform your own Dharma, the duty of a kshatriya or person belonging to warrior class. It will purify your heart and you will attain to knowledge and come to Me. The term fight is Upalakshana (suggestive). It means: “do your duties according to your caste and order of life.” Varnashrama-Dharmas (the duties pertaining to the various castes and orders of life) and Nitya-Naimittika karmas are the Upalakshnas (factors suggested or alluded to). Nitya karmas: These are obligatory duties. Their performance does not produce any merit; but their non performance produces demerit. Sandhyavandana, (prayers Brahmins offer to the Sun)etc belong to this category. Naimittika Karmas: These Karmas are performed on the occurrence of some special events such the birth of a son, eclipse, etc.

The Chitta-Vritti which is of the form of the object meditated upon is the Bhavana.(Chitta-Vritti is mental modifications).The Bhavana is for those who practise Saguna Upasna. Bhavana at the time of separation of the body is not necessary for a sage or a Jnani who has attained to the knowledge of the Self or Self-realisation. (Cf. IX.34; XII. 8, 11)

Comments made by the blogger:

“Therefore at all times think upon Me only and fight. With the mind and understanding set on Me, you will surely come to Me.”

Sri Krishna says to Arjuna to think upon Him only and He also asks Arjuna to fight.

How can one fight with one’s mind thinking Him only? Is it possible?

Okay, take for example the parents of a girl who is going to be given in marriage in a month’s time.

Marriages consist of all sorts of arrangements. That is why in Tamil there is a proverb that goes like this: “Try to build a house and Try to conduct a marriage!” Both draw all your strength and resourcefulness out into the open. For building a house, the bricks, sand, broken stones, cement, iron rods, wooden things and all sorts of material that go into the building of the house. Even before that the land must be purchased from the land sharks. And then the engineer must be chosen. A wrong choice would tell upon the quality of the house. And the longevity would be affected also. Then the mason and his assistants must be watched along with the engineer. The engineer would be building several buildings at the same time. So at times when he is not there on the building spot, the future owner of the house must be fully present there. One of the important points in the building of the house is the choice of good red bricks. And then the choice and the quality of the cement and it's proper mixing each time with the high-quality sand! Thus each and every minute matter must be given full consideration.

And then, our original example: take for example the parents of a girl spend their time one month prior to the marriage. Even before that, the proper would-be bridegroom must be selected with an intense mind to the demand of dowry. After that, the one month period prior to the marriage, the parents would be busy in various arrangements including finding and reserving a proper KALAYANA MAHAL or the Marriage venue. And then the food arrangements. Buying or making the gold jewellery for the bride. Buying the two-wheeler or four-wheeler for the groom depending up on the dowry arranged at the outset. JUST HOW MANY TIMES THEIR GIRL IS BEING THOUGHT OF. They would speak marriage, marriage and marriage. But they would not be thinking of their daughter always. BUT THEIR DAUGHTER WOULD BE IN THEIR SUBCONSCIOUS! So with the daughter as the propelling power, they would be carrying on their duty.

Like this the Lord of Gita wants Arjuna to think always of Him only and fight!

He is a warrior. Arjuna is bound to give battle to his adversaries. But at the subconscious, the Lord must be there.

We can arrange a marriage without always thinking of the bride in the manner above said. Likewise, Arjuna can fight with his subconscious filled with the Lord.

That is why the Lord says, “With the MIND AND UNDERSTANDING set on Me...” in the subconscious mind and our understanding the Lord must be filled, and with him there as a motivating force, we should carry on our daily duties according to our self-ordained duty or swadharma. 

{DEAR READERS, APART FROM THIS BLOG, I AM WRITING 6 MORE BLOGS:

myresourcefulaunt.blogspot.com

kaviriyinselvan.blogspot.com

raguramkarikalanandthetimemachin.blogspot.com

raguramramayanaforchildren.blogspot.com

bagavatgitaintamil.blogspot.com

panjakini.blogspot.com}      

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 06, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN.

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 08

AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:

VERSE NUMBER 06

Text in Transliteration:

yam-yam vaa ‘pi smaran bhaavam tyajaty ante kalevaram

tam-tam evai ‘ti kaunteya sadaa tad bhaavabhaavitah

Text in English:

Whatever being a man thinks of at the last moment when he leaves his body, that alone does he attain, O Kaunteaya, being ever absorbed in the thought thereof.

THE SUMMARY OF THE COMMENTARY OF SHANKARA:

This rule shall not refer to thinking me alone. (it will refer to all). Whoever, at the time of leaving his body, thinks of whatever god he will attain that god. He won’t go to any other gods. Arjuna! Whatever tutelary deity in whose thought one lives, that deity he attains.

THE SUMMARY OF THE COMMENTARY OF RAMANUJA:

Here He says that at the end which matter one thinks of he attains the state of that thing. ande means the end of the life of one. What he thinks of at the time of death he goes to that. What one thinks of throughout one’s life that happens at the end of life also.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Dream is only a projection of the mind and it has no corresponding external reality. But dream is the indicator of the trend of the mind of an individual; it cannot be recast or pre-arranged according to one’s will and pleasure. Just as the dreamer is, while in a dream, the creature of his own mental make up, so does the dying man assume at the time of death, a mental make up based on his bent in the course of that career. The gross manifestation, at a suitable time and environment, of that mental structure is what is called the next birth. Man is therefore always the architect of his destiny.

What then is it that man ought to do for his welfare both here and in the hereafter? The way is shown in the next verse.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

sadaa tad bhaava bhaavitah: ever absorbed in the thought thereof.

It is not the casual fancy of the last moment but the persistent endeavour of the whole life that determines the future.

tadbhaavabhaavitah: literally, made to become (bhaavita) in the condition (bhaava) of that.

The soul goes to that on which its mind is set during the last moments. What we think we become. Our past thoughts determine our present birth and our present ones will determine the future.

COMMENTARY OF SWAMI SIVANANDA:

The last thoughts determine the next birth. The most prominent thought of one’s life occupies the mind at the time of death. The predominant idea at the time of death is what in normal life has occupied his attention most. The last thought determines the nature or character of the body to be attained next. As a man thinketh, so shall he become.

The force of Samskaras which one has created by his previous practice is the cause of their remembrance at death. Those who have practised worship of God throughout their life can have remembrance of their life can have remembrance of their tutelary deity at the time of death.

The analogy of the wasp and the caterpillar (Bhramara-Kita-Nyaya) can be applied here. The caterpillar constantly remembers the wasp and becomes eventually transformed into a wasp. Even so he who constantly remembers his tutelary deity becomes identical with that deity. Nandikesvara is and example. He constantly thought of his Lord and assumed a form equal to that of the Lord.

If you constantly think of the immortal Self during your lifetime, you will entertain the thought of the Self only even at the time of death and will attain immortality. If you always think of your body and identify yourself with the perishable body you will be born again and again. If you think of your pet dog at the time of death you will be born as a dog. Raja Jadabharata thought of his pet deer at the time of his death and so he took the birth of a deer.

Every man has a definite outlook on life, definite mode of thinking, definite cravings, desires and hopes, definite character, temperament, taste, disposition and attitude. This is all due to the impressions which have become part and parcel of his subconsciousness. This is all due to experiences which have left their indelible impressions on his mind. He always thinks of his body and physical needs. He searches for his happiness in the external, perishable objects. He identifies himself with the perishable body. He ignores his innermost, all-blissful, immortal Self, the source of everything. He trains his body, senses, mind and intellect in worldly pursuits. He ignores the Yogic discipline of the mind and the senses. Therefore he always thinks of his body, bread, drink and clothing. He forgets all about God and the Self, the indweller, an embodiment of bliss and knowledge, fountain of joy and happiness.

Desires are endless. Therefore man cannot gratify them in one birth. At the time of death the whole storehouse of impressions and desires is churned out and the most prominent, the strongest and cherished desire comes to the surface of the mind or the field of mental consciousness. This churned up butter or cream (cherished desire) arrests his attention for immediate gratification. He thinks of only that at the time of death. Just as the most vital mango plant shoots up prominently in the nursery, so also the strongest desire shoots up on the surface of the mind. If the desire is not gratified his mind gets saturated with it and it is gratified in his next birth. This desire will become very prominent in his next birth.

You yourself are the author of your own destiny. You yourself are responsible for your thoughts, character, feelings, actions and experiences. You planted certain worldly desires and Samskaras in your subconscious mind, and allowed them to germinate and grow. If you had planted spiritual aspiration, the desire for liberation and spiritual Samskaras, you would reap the fruit of immortality and eternal bliss. As you sow so shall you reap.

He who practises constant and profound meditation on the Self or his own tutelary deity throughout his life will be able to meet death with an unruffled mind. He alone would go to the Supreme, thinking of It at the time of his departure from this world, too.

You should have exclusive devotion to God. Your whole mind must be absorbed in Him. You should not allow any outside worldly impressions, wherein there is an iota of selfish desire, to sink into your subconscious mind. Then you can think of the Lord exclusively at the time of death and enter His very Being.

Comments by the blogger:

The previous verse contemplates the end to the chain of birth and death. But this verse (verse number 6) allows for and takes into consideration the ordinary average man and woman who have not attained the stage as contemplated in the previous verse. The end of all sorrow is contemplated in verse 5, but here the Lord of great Compassion makes way for the average man and woman to attain and work for salvation by gradation. For, so many of the human beings cannot think of God when the time comes for leaving the body. On the contrary, instead of thinking of God of Gita, he or she thinks of the mane or some tutelary deity. God knows at the end everyone should come to Him. and that alone is the salvation to the souls. But He, in His infinite compassion, makes way for the step by step mukti or salvation. Thus whatever being, living or the manes, one thinks of at the time of leaving the body, one is allowed to go there. Of course, God craves for all of us. The mother knows the time for feeding has been due for some time, but the child is preoccupied with a pet toy. So, instead of force-feeding the child, she watches the baby while plays even though the breastmilk has started to leak and started to give her pain! This is the stat of God. He allows for our worldly desires to be shed not all at one birth like the case in the two other major Religions, the Lord of Gita WAITS! AND WATCHES US THROUGH OUR MILLENNIAL PLAYING WITH PETS LIKE LAND, GOLD, AND WOMAN!

WHEN WE THINK OF THE COMPASSION OF THE LORD OF GITA, OUR EYES BECOME MOIST AND MIST OVER!

{Dear Readers, apart from this blog, I am writing 6 more blogs. Among them, the first two are in Tamil, and the rest of them in English:

bagavatgitaintamil.blogspot.com

kaviriyinselvan.blogspot.com

myresourcefulaunt.blogspot.com

raguramkarikalanandthetimemachin.blogspot.com

panjakini.blogspot.com

raguramramayanaforchildren.blogspot.com

  

          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 08, VERSE 05, AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN.

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 08

AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:

VERSE NUMBER 05

Text in Transliteration:

antakaale cha maam eva smaran muktvaa kalevaram

yah prayaati sa madbhaavam yaati naa ‘sty atra samsayah

Text in English:

And  whoever, at the time of death, leaving the body, goes forth remembering Me alone, he attains My being: there is no doubt about this.

THE SUMMARY OF THE COMMENTARY OF SHANKARA:

antakale means the time at which death happens. mam eva indicates Vishnu. Those who think of this way the Lord while death happens attain the abode of Vishnu. There is no doubt about whether they go to Him like this or not.

THE SUMMARY OF THE COMMENTARY OF RAMANUJA:

Who at the time of leaving his body thinks of me alone, he attains my state. One Bhradhan thought of a deer at the time of his death and he had to come back here as a deer. Like that, who worships me in whatever way, they attain me that way. This is what has been said here.

THE SUMMARY OF THE COMMENTARY OF MADHVA:

madbhavam means subject to my word, with no worries, without any expectation, with full bliss. But this state does not indicate becoming like God.  

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBAHVANANANDA:

‘My being’, mentioned here comprises Iswara in His supreme state.

The essence of the sum total of the entire thoughts and feelings that have been taking place in the mind of man during the span of his life, stands condensed into a single state of mind at the time of his departure from the body. To effect the thought of the Lord at the last moment is therefore well nigh impossible. Preparation for it has to go on all through life. He who is absorbed in the thought of God while departing from the body gets merged in Cosmic Consciousness. And this is mukti getting which there is no more return to mundane life. This is the universal law; there need be no doubt about it.

What becomes of those who do not think of the Lord, but get fixed, in other thoughts at the time of death? The answer comes in the next verse.     

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

This verse takes up the point raised in VII, 30. The importance of the state of mind at the moment of death is emphasized in the Upanishads. Chandoygya Upanishad, III, 14, I; Prasna Upanishad, III, 10. We will think of God in the last moments only if we are devoted to Him previously also.

Comments by the blogger:

Thinking of the Lord even while normal life goes on is difficult for us. We are busy always. The children are busy either with their all-consuming homework or with some modern gadgets. Some years ago, a great scandal happened in a school in Tamil Nadu State whereby a set of students compelled another student to have an oral sex with them! This might shock you. The story does not end here. All the students were studying in the fifth or sixth standard. The boy went back home and told his mother and there was a great outrage. All this happens because the small children have uninhibited access to the Internet. Right from the stage of being school children, we all are blissfully or in a tensed up manner, busy. There is little time for us to devote to God. There is a rat race. We all, irrespective of age and station in society, the modern lifestyle has us busy.

We saw a story about Naradha Maya. Another story about him is when he asked Lord Narayana as to who was His best devotee. The Lord said without any doubt that a potmaker at a particular village was the best devotee. This had come as a rude shock to the incomparable saint who spends his time in three Lokas chanting the name of Narayana.  So Narada went to the village to see the potter and know personally how many times he invokes the name of the Lord Vishnu. To his utter amazement the potter said Narayana once when he got up from sleep and at the end of the day when he retired to his bed, he invoked for the second time and cried, O Naryana! So upon his bringing this matter to the Lord’s notice and complained to Him that the potter called His name only twice a day while he called a thousand plus time His name in a day, the Lord said, “You are a rambler of the three Lokas, Narada. Can you go around the earth with a small vessel filled with oil to the brim before the day is out?” “So can I do!” said and set out to go around the earth with a small lamp filled to the brim with oil. Part of the game was that Narada should do so without spilling even a drop on the earth. Well, Narada took utmost care in his going around the earth with the oil-filled lamp. Before the day was out he had come back to the Lord successfully without spilling a single drop of the oil! Well done Narada, the Lord congratulated and asked as to the number of times he had invoked His Name throughout the day. Narada was obfuscated. “Lord, who had time for the recitation of thy name. I had an onerous task on my hand!” The Lord said, “So you did not invoke my name even for once throughout the day. But you were burdened with just a small vessel filled with the oil. But think of that potter’s case. He was bearing a huge family on his head and still, he could invoke my name twice. The samsara or the worldly life more onerous than the task you have completed successfully but without chanting my Name even for once!

So God understands our problem and that is why so many innings or rebirths are given to us to shape us up through the births step by step. Anyhow there is no problem in our chanting His or Her name at least a hundred times a day.

In those days, people used to name their children as Ganapathi, Siva, Subramaniyam, Parthasarathi, Govinda, Parmeshwari, Ishwari and this made them call the name of the Lord or Goddess at least a hundred times a day automatically. For example, my name is Raguram. How many times my departed parents ought to have called me by Lord, Rama’s name!

But now people call their children Yakshitha, Rakshitha, Nayantara, Susmitha, Swetha, etc., etc., And what a world of opportunities they lose. Even at the time of death, if they only think of their children they would have automatically complied with the Lord’s demand! But what would you gain if you think of Yakshita or Nayantara at the time of death?

Therefore we should go back to the olden and golden days at least so far as to naming our children in the name of God or Goddess.

And namasmarana or chanting the name of the Lord is the important way for the Kalki Yuga. In the days of Lord Rama, sacrifices were ordained. But to the Kalki Yuga, all it takes is to chant the Holy Name of the Lord. Then we would automatically call His name even at the time of death! There need be no doubt about this.