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Other Baba-books
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The original
Sanskrit verses and with comments taken from the writings of
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"DUTY is God;
Work is Worship; and there is a dictum: 1 2a 2b 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18a 18b
You
must learn and practice what is called vibhaga-yoga in the Gītā.
What
does
vibhaga mean, as in the Gītā expression kshetra-kshetrajña-vibhaga-yoga?
Vibhaga means division, differentiation,
discrimination, separation of one thing from another. Understand the
distinction between the kshetra (the body, the field) and the kshetrajña
(the knower of the body or the field) that is what the kshetra-kshetrajña-vibhaga-yoga
means. The kshetrajña or the knower in this body, He who is
aware of all that happens, who is the witness, the dehi (the
embodied) is above all the dualities of pleasure and pain, good and
bad. The base metal of modern civilization has got mixed up with the
gold of sanāthana dharma, and so the vibhaga has to be
done in order to get the pure gold. - Sathya Sai Speaks VI, p. 21 The
difference
between
destructibility
and indestructibility is something
that is very fine, that is very small. If there is no destruction, then
we will not be able to comprehend what it is that IS permanent or
indestructible. On the other hand, if there is no permanency or
indestructibility, then we will not understand what it IS that gets
destroyed. Sometimes these aspects will convey to you a lesson that
they are related to each other so closely that one cannot be separated
from the other. This is what is contained in the 13th chapter of the Bhagavad
Gītā, where the kshetra and kshetrajña, that is, the
place and one who lives in the place, have been dealt with. In very
clear language, the relationship between the abode and the one who
lives in the abode has been explained. We have to make an inquiry and
ask if the realization of the self or the soul is the final
achievement. That is not the end of the inquiry. Of course by such an
inquiry, we understand what is the destructible part of man and what is
the indestructible part of him. But there is something that is neither
the body nor the soul. This something is what may be called the Purushottama
and it exceeds both these things. We can take it that we have reached
the goal of our practice only when we have been able to realize this Purushottama.
-
Summer Showers in Brindavan 1972, pp. 26-7 Arjuna
wished
to
continue
his questions. So Krishna said, "My dear
brother-in-law! You are eager to question again?" Seizing the chance,
Arjuna put in his query. "Krishna! You have explained the prakriti
tatva or nature principle. Now, I wish very much to know what is
meant by purusha; what are Its characteristics, what is Its
nature." - Gītā
Vahini, p. 190 " Listen to this spoken
chapter in Audio " arjuna uvāca śrī-bhagavān uvāca [to verse 1] "Arjuna!",
Krishna said, "Whether you call It purusha or kshetrajña
or jñeya, it is the same. Kshetrajña is the knower of
the kshetra or field. Jñeya is that which is known. Purusha
is the jīva and prakriti is the deha or the
body. The embodied is the purusha, the person who knows the
body. The deha or body also has a number of names, each having
a significant meaning. It is sariīa, because it wastes away; deha,
because
it
is
liable to be burnt. The jīva is what activates
the body and becomes aware of its limitations." - Gītā Vahini, p. 190-1 Prakriti is like a kshetra
or field and Paramātmā is the kshetrajña or the Lord of
the field. Kshetrajña contains in Himself the kshetra.
If from the word Kshetrajña we removed the word kshetra,
the
syllable
jña remains. Jña stands for jñāna
or wisdom. Thus, a person who is part of prakriti becomes its
master by acquiring jñāna and cognizes the eternal reality of
the purusha. He realizes that the universe is a combination of
the kshara (destructible) and the akshara (indestructible). He
sees the indestructible as immanent even in the destructible world. He
developes ananya bhakti or one-pointed devotion. He transcends the
manmade barriers of caste, creed and religion. He becomes dear to God. - Summer Showers in Brindavan 1979, p. 149. [to verse 2] In the Gītā, Lord Krishna says
He is both the kshetra and the kshetrajña. The kshetra
is not purposeful without kshetrajña, and vice versa. Both are
interdependent. Because of this, Lord Krishna said that He is both the kshetra
and the kshetrajña. He said that He is all
pervading through both but there is little distinction between these
two. It is clear by taking into consideration the letters of kshetra
which are two syllables, we can see that it is different from kshetrajña,
which
has
three
syllables. The vital difference is in the syllable jña,
which
means jñāna svarupa! Kshetrajña is that, which is jñāna
svarupa and without that it is merely kshetra.
We will never enter into bad ways and have evil thoughts when we bear
in mind that kshetra, which is almost inert, becomes sanctified
by the residence of kshetrajña, which is jñāna svarupa.
-
Summer Showers in Brindavan 1972, pp. 293-4. "Krishna!",
Arjuna
asked,
"Of
what benefit is it to know these two entities: kshetra
and kshetrajña?" Krishna laughed: He said, "What a foolish
question to ask? By inquiring and knowing about the nature of the kshetra,
one's
grief
is
destroyed. Knowing about the nature of the kshetrajña, ānanda
or bliss is acquired. This ānanda is
also designated as moksha." - Gītā Vahini, p. 192. kshetrajñam cāpi mām
viddhi Krishna
replied:
"It
is
through this body that merit can be acquired by
engaging in various beneficient activities; the body is the vehicle for
earning jñāna or the universal vision; it is the body that leads you on
to liberation itself. It is the repository of such great achievements
and so it is called kshetra. Kshetra means, an armor,
for it protects and guards the jīvi from harm. Another meaning
is 'field', a meaning that is full of significance. Whatever seeds are
sown or saplings planted in the field, the harvest depends on their
nature and quality. The body is the field, the jīvi is the kshetrapalaka,
the
protector
of
the field and the crop. Sowing seeds of meritorious
deeds, one reaps joy and happiness. Sowing the seeds of sin, one reaps
the harvest of grief and worry. Sowing the seeds of jñāna, one garners
the harvest of moksha or liberation from the bondage of birth
and death. "Just
as
the
ryot
knows the nature and characteristics of the field, the kshetrajña
or the jīvi must know the nature and qualities of his body. The
only difference between kshetra and kshetrajña is the
syllable jña. It means jñāna, he who knows, the knower.
So he who knows the field or the body, its excellencies and
deficiencies; he is the kshetrajña. That which has no such
knowledge, the inert material thing, that is the kshetra." - Gītā Vahini, p. 192. tat
kshetram yac ca yādrik ca rishibhir
bahudhā gītam mahā-bhūtāny
ahankāro icchā
dveshah sukham duhkham [to verse 5-6] Krishna replied,
"Arjuna! The kshetra or body is associated with the gunas
or attributes, tamas, rajas and sattva; so the jīvi,
when
in
contact
with it and when it identifies itself with the body,
imagines that it is experiencing grief and joy, which are the
consequences of those gunas; he is just a witness. When iron is
in contact with fire, then it has the power of scalding; but it is not
iron that scalds, it is the fire. Through contact with prakriti,
purusha appears as the doer and experiencer. "Therefore,
it is not proper to infer that the jīvi is having grief and
joy, by the very fact of its occupying the body that is the vehicle of
the gunas. The earth sustains and helps the seed to grow into a
tree or to decline. It is the guna of the earth that causes
these two. So also the seed of jīvatatvam grows and blossoms
into brahmatatvam in the body, which is the earth principle.
Just as manure and water are essential for the tree to bloom and bear
fruit, sathyam, saantham, samam and damam
are essential for the blossoming of the spirit into wisdom. The
attributes or gunas of prakriti make it assume
multifarious forms." - Gītā Vahini, p. 193. Arjuna
listened
attentively
to
all this and at the end, he asked, "O Lord!
What are the qualities that a jñānī should possess?". Krishna
replied, "Partha! He must have the twenty virtues in ample
measure. You may ask what they are. I shall tell you about them.
Listen. But do not conclude that the goal can be reached when you have
them all. The goal is immortality, amrithathwam. That can only
be reached by brahmasakshathkara, experiencing brahman,
as sarvam khalvidam brahmam. When knowledge is full, the knower
becomes the known." "For
this consummation, one has to be purified by the virtues. Then the
known can be experienced and realization reached. I shall, therefore,
first tell you about this. Virtue first, then victory. What a splendid
path! To seek brahman without first ensuring a moral and
virtuous life is like desiring a flame without lamp or wick or oil.
Acquire all these three, then you light it and get light. So it is with
the light of brahmajñāna, or realization of brahman." - Gītā Vahini, p. 196. [to
verse
7]
"The first virtue is a-manitvam,
pridelessness, humility. As long as you have manam or pride you
cannot earn jñānam. Man's behavior should be like the behavior
of water; whatever color you pour into water, it absorbs it and it
never asserts its own color. It is humble without conceit. But the
behavior of man is quite contrary. When he does the smallest service or
donates the slightest amount, he is anxious that people should know
about it. For this, he himself goes about prattling or arranges to get
it published. The absence of such pride and ambition is what is
recommended as amanitvam. "Now
for the second: a-dambhitvam, vanitylessness. This is a very
great virtue in man. It means the absence of pretence, pompousness,
boasting that one is great when one is not, claiming that one has power
when one has nothing, that one has authority when one has no such
title." Here, readers will note one point. The world today is full of
this false pretence, this hypocrisy. Whichever field of activity you
watch, whomsoever you observe, you discover this dire defect. The
governments of nations are in the hands of people who are pretenders to
power, authority and capacity. Those who have no knowledge claim to
know everything. Those who have no one even to help them at home claim
that they have a huge following. In
every
activity,
this
hypocrisy is the very first step. This ruins man
in every field, like a pest that destroys the crop. If this is wiped
off, the world will be saved from disaster. Pretence will make you lose
this world and the next. It is harmful at all times and places. It does
not suit ordinary men; how can it then be beneficial to the sadhaka?
-
Gītā Vahini, p. 197-8. "The
third
virtue
is
ahimsa. This also is an important virtue. Himsa
(violence) is not simply physical; it means even more; the mental pain
that is inflicted, the anxiety and worry that are caused to others by
your actions and words. If you desist from causing physical pain to
others, you cannot claim to have ahimsa. Your activities must
not cause pain, must be unselfish; your thoughts, words and deeds must
all be free from any motive to cause such pain. "Then
we
have
kshama as the fourth. This is called kshanthi,
as
well
as sahana. It means that you should consider as unreal
the evil that others do unto you, the loss that you suffer through
them, the hatred they evince towards you. Treat these as you treat a
mirage. That is to say, you must develop that degree of patience or
fortitude. It is not the helpless putting up with the evil that others
do because you are powerless to retaliate. It is the expression of the
peace that reigns in the heart, this outer behavior or kshanthi.
True, many people put up with the injury that others inflict because
they lack physical, economic or popular support; their suffering cannot
be honored as real kshama. "Next,
let
us
consider
the fifth: rjuthwam, straightforwardness,
integrity, sincerity. It means the agreement of action, speech and
thought; this applies to secular and spiritual activity. This is a
facet of the fourth virtue, a-dambhithwam. "The
sixth is ācāryopasana; the reverential service rendered to the
spiritual teacher. This will promote affection for the pupil, so he can
benefit a great deal. But the guru who has no goal will only
mislead the disciple into perdition. The guru must shower
grace on the disciple as freely and as spontaneously as the mother cow
feeds the young calf with milk. The teaching of the guru is the
source and sustenance for attaining God and acquiring liberation. "The
seventh virtue is śauca, or cleanliness - not merely outer
cleanliness but inner cleanliness. And what is inner cleanliness? The
absence of affection and hatred, of desire and discontent, lust and
anger; and the presence of daivi (good i.e., godly) qualities.
Water cleans the body, truth cleans the mind; knowledge cleans the
reasoning faculty; the individual is cleaned by penance and discipline. "The
eighth virtue is called sthairyam: steadfastness, fixity of
faith, the absence of fickleness or waywardness. The sadhaka
must hold fast to what he has once fixed his faith upon as conducive to
his spiritual progress. He should not flit from one ideal to another,
changing the goal from day to day. This is also referred to as diksha.
Fickleness
is
the
product of weakness, a weakness that has to be
scrupulously avoided. "The
ninth in the list is indriyanigraha: control of the senses. Be
convinced that the senses have to subserve your best interests, not
that you should subserve the interests of the senses. Do not be the
slave of the senses; rather make them your slaves." - Gītā Vahini, p. 199-200. amānitvam
adambhitvam indriyārtheshu
vairāgyam asaktir
anabhishvangah mayi
cānanya-yogena adhyātma-jñāna-nityatvam [to
verse
8]
"Next, the tenth virtue, vairāgyam:
detachment, renunciation, loss of appetite for sound, touch, form,
taste, smell, etc. The senses run after these, for they titillate them
and give them temporary joy. But the senses are not interested in dharma-artha-kāma-moksha
of the sublime type. The ātmā can be discovered only through the
pursuit of the sublime. "The
eleventh virtue is anahankāra, absence of egoism. Egoism is the
breeding ground of all vices and faults. The egocentric individual pays
no regard to right and wrong, good and bad, godly and wicked; he does
not care for them, nor does he know about them. He is completely
ignorant of dharma and morals. He will not conform to justice.
To be devoid of this poisonous quality is to be endowed with anahankāra.
Egoism
is
a
foe in the guise of a friend. "The
next virtue is called: janma-mrityu-jarā-vyādhi-duhkha-doshānudarśanam,
which
means
only
this: The awareness of the inevitable cycle of birth
and death, of senility and disease, of grief and evil and other signs
of the temporariness of this created world, and life in it. Though
people see these things happening to them as well as others, they do
not investigate the reasons for these and the methods of escaping from
them. That is the greatest mystery, the wonder. "If
only you go to the root of the problem, you will realize that whatever
else you may escape, you cannot escape death. What man conceives as
happiness now is, in reality, only misery in the guise of happiness. So
understand. the truth of these things; reflect upon the flaws in the
reasoning that delude you. Then, as a result, detachment is
strengthened and through that, you attain jñāna. Therefore, o Arjuna!
Liberate yourself from janma (birth), mrithu (death), jarā
(senility), vyādhi (illness) and duhkha (grief)". Thus
spoke Krishna exhorting Arjuna, with a great deal of affection. - Gītā Vahini, p. 200-1. [to
verse
9]
"Then He spoke of asakti, or ana-asakti:
the
withdrawal
of desire from objects, the absence of yearning. The
greed to possess things that you see is caused by egoism. "I must have
this", "I must be the proud owner of this valuable thing", this is how
egoism prompts. It is a strong cord that binds you to objects. Withdraw
the mind and treat all as manifestations of the Lord's Glory. Love all
things as expressions of His Glory, but do not delude yourself into the
belief that possessing them will make you happy. That is the illusion.
Do not dedicate your life for their sake; use them for your needs, as
and when necessary, that is all. That kind of impulse activating you
will be a great handicap in your progress towards liberation. Whatever
you may acquire as property will have to be given up some day. You
cannot take with you on that last journey even a blade of grass or a
pinch of dust. Keep this fact ever before the mind's eye and then you
can realize the Reality. "Before
one's
birth,
one
has no relationship with this world and its material
objects. After death, they and all kith and kin disappear. This sojourn
is just a game played in the interval. Getting fascinated with this
three-day fair is foolish indeed. Desire tarnishes the mind and makes
man unfit for higher pursuits. The sadhakas who seek liberation
and realization must rid themselves of desire, for, like grease, it
sticks and is difficult to remove once it is contacted. "After
this,
attention
has
to be paid also to another virtue, sama-tvam-tithi:
the
state of equanimity, of undisturbed peace during joy and grief,
prosperity and adversity, happiness and misery. This is the fifteenth
virtue of a jñānī. Being elevated or depressed by success and
defeat, profit and loss, honor and dishonor, is an activity that is
futile. Accept all equally as from the Grace of God, His prasāda.
As
you
wear
shoes to tread over thorny places, or hold an umbrella to
escape getting wet in rain, or sleep inside a mosquito curtain to
escape the stings of insects; so too, arm yourself with an unshaken
mind that is confident of the Lord's Grace and bear with equanimity,
praise or blame, defeat or victory, pleasure or pain. To live bravely
through life, this sama-cittatvam is declared essential. - Gītā Vahini, p. 201-2. [to
verse
10]
"Next is bhakti without any other
thought
or feeling, ananya-bhakti. When grief overtakes you, you run to
God. When sankata (grief, danger, difficulty) overpowers, you
take refuge in the Lord of Venkata (Lord Vishnu installed in
Tirupati). When joy is restored, you throw Him overboard. When you are
down with fever and your taste is ruined, you crave from some hot
pickle; but when the fever subsides, you are normal again, you do not
relish the same pickle. Bhakti is not a temporary salve. It is
the unbroken contemplation of God without any interposing thought or
feeling. "Whatever
the
activity,
recreation
or talk, it must be saturated with the love of
God. That is ananya-bhakti. Thereafter comes ekantha-vasam,
dwelling
in
solitude.
He must be fond of being alone. This does not
mean keeping the body in some solitary place, far from the haunts of
men. There must be solitude and silence in the mind; all its occupants
must be forced or persuaded to quit. The mind should be nir-vishaya,
contentless,
turned
away
from the objective world. "The
eighteenth virtue that helps to promote jñāna is mentioned as absence
of interest in the company of men; that is to say, absence of the
desire to mix with people engrossed in affairs that concern the
objective world. One can attain equanimity even in the midst of wild
animals; but it is difficult to win it while among worldly minded men. Sādhana
will be affected by the company one keeps. Good men keep you good; bad
men drag you away into badness. - Gītā Vahini, p. 203-4. [to
verse
11]
"The nineteenth virtue is the "awareness of the
distinction between ātmā and anātmā". Fix your
consciousness always on the atmic reality and discard the body and the
senses as unreal and impermanent. ātmā is the eternal; so establish
yourself only in that and not in the transient non-atmic
illusions or objects. Life is a struggle to achieve victory over the
illusion that haunts; I am the eternal ātmā in you and in all. So fix
your mind on Me and engage yourself in the struggle, confident of
victory. - Gītā
Vahini, p. 204. "The
twentieth and last qualification one has to earn is tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam,
the
vision
of
the true nature of tattva (that), the universal
principle of which the particular is but a shadow. It means that the sadhaka
should have a keen desire to visualize the universal. - Gītā Vahini, p. 204. jñeyam yat
tat pravakshyāmi sarvatah
pāni-pādam tat "Sarvatah
pāni
pādam
tat
sarvato 'kshi śiro mukham, says the Gītā. All hands
are His, all feet, all eyes and faces and mouths are His; He works
through all hands, He walks through all feet, He sees through each eye,
He eats and speaks through every mouth. Everything is He. Every step is
His, every look, every speech, every act is His. That is the lesson
that seva instills. Pray in agony, "Lord! Have you no ears?"
and His ear will be listening. Pray, "Lord! Let me fall at Thy Lotus
Feet!" and the feet will present themselves before you. They are at all
places, at all times. Your call compels the manifestation, that is all.
-
Sathya Sai Speaks III, p. 16. To
understand
this
better,
take another instance. Pots, pans, plates and
pails are all made of clay; but though there is clay in all these, clay
is only clay. It is not pot, pan, plate or pail. So too in the ātmā,
which
is
the
basis, there are no gunas (or characteristics)
like pot, pan, plate or pail; but the ātmā exists in the gunas
as guna-svarūpa. It is the ātmā that is
mistaken for the gunas, because it is conceived as limited and
with name and form. The ātmā is the only reality that persists
through all names and form, like the clay, which is the only substance
in all the pots and pans. By this kind of inquiry, the conviction that
the basis and the substance of everything is ātmā or
kshe-thrajña or parabrahmam gets strengthened. - Gītā Vahini, p. 207 sarvendriya-gunābhāsam bahir
antaś ca bhūtānām Then
Krishna
was
asked
by Arjuna, thus: "It is indeed very difficult to know
that basic ātmā, that inner reality of all things. He is
everywhere but is nowhere visible! He is the inner core of all but
cannot be contacted at all! What is the cause of this mystery?" Krishna
replied: "Arjuna! You have not understood yet. The ātmā is
subtler than the subtlest and so it is difficult to cognize it. You
know the five elements, do you not, earth, water, fire, wind and sky
[or ether] [Mahābhūta]? Of these, each subsequent element is subtler
than the previous one. Earth has five qualities: sound, touch, form,
taste and smell; water has all these, except smell; fire has only
three, sound, touch and form; wind has only two qualities, sound and
touch; and the last one, sky [or ether] has only sound. That is why
each of these is subtler than the previous one and also more widely
spread. The sky is everywhere, penetrating in and through all, because
it has only one characteristic. How much more subtle must be the ātmā,
which
has
no
qualities or characteristics! Imagine how much more
immanent and universal it must be! Those who are objectively minded
cannot grasp this phenomenon; only the subjective minded can have the
solution." -
Gītā Vahini, p. 207-8 avibhaktam
ca bhūteshu jyotishām
api tajjyotis iti
kshetram tathā jñānam prakritim
purusham caiva You suffer now
because all your attachment is towards nature, prakriti
[material nature] and all your vairāgya [detachement] is
towards Purusha or God! This has to be reversed! You must
cultivate non-attachment towards prakriti and attachment to
the Lord. -
Sathya Sai Speaks II, p. 8 kārya-kārana-kartritve The purusha
or the soul is simply the manifestation of the divine. On the other
hand, the manifestation of matter, of material things, is this world.
This prakriti or the world is something that is filled with
all the five elements. All these are destructible. They are not
permanent. But what is clear, what is clean, what is indestructible and
what is effulgent and shining, is only one and that is the soul or
purusha. -
Summer Showers in Brindavan 1972, p. 90 purushah
prakriti-stho hi upadrashthānumantā
ca ya evam
vetti purusham Purusha
is He who is aware of the kshetra [field or
life], the kshetrajña [knower of the truth of life]. When one
is able to distinguish between Purusha [Supreme spirit, Lord,
God], and prakriti [causal matter, creation, nature] or, which
is the same thing, between kshetra [field or life] and kshetrajña
[knower of the truth of life], he becomes the witness and is free
from all touch of want or wish. - Gītā Vahini, p. 205 dhyānenātmani
paśyanti Every
activity
must
be
rendered valid and worthwhile by its contribution to
the discovery of truth, both of the Self and of nature. Of what use is
it to know everything about nature, if you do not know anything of the Self? Nature is only a projection
of the Self, so, unless the Self is known, knowledge of nature is
either distorted or deceptive. The Self is the ātmā, of which the entire creation
is composed and so, knowledge of the Self alone can quench the thirst
of man.- Sathya
Sai Speaks IX, p. 51 anye tv
evam ajānantah yāvat
sañjāyate kiñcit samam
sarveshu bhūteshu This
faith
can
come
only to those who can reason things out. It is a fatal
thrust on those who bark, in season and out of season, that God cannot
be immanent in everything because He is not to be perceived at all.
They do not believe that God is above and beyond the trivial qualities
with which they seek to measure Him. It is a pity, indeed. They tend to
be as low as their thoughts. That is the inexorable law. God is as near
to you as you are to Him; if you keep afar, He too remains afar. - Gītā Vahini, p. 208 samam
paśyan hi sarvatra prakrityaiva
ca
karmāni The
body
moves,
the
reason moves, the mind moves, but the ātmā is
unaffected; it is steady, firm, unchangeable. - Sathya Sai Speaks IX, p.
121 yadā
bhūta-prithag-bhāvam anāditvān
nirgunatvāt The image of the
sun in a lake quivers and shakes due to the quivering and shaking of
the water; the sun is but a distant witness. It is unaffected by the
media which produce the images. The ātmā likewise is the
witness of all this change in space and time. - Upanishad Vahini, p. 16 yathā
sarva-gatam saukshmyād The
ātmā is like akasa or ether, all
pervasive. It may seem enclosed in certain limits, like a pot or a
room, and may be spoken of as so individualized. But in that limitation
there is no truth. -
Upanishad
Vahini,
p.
27 yathā
prakāśayaty ekah The
awareness
of
one
being only the witness of everything is the secret of
self-realization. Self-realization is either the knowledge that "I
am the truth of Me" or "I have known Myself" or "All are one ātmā"
or
"I
have
experienced that the individual and the universal are not
distinct." This is what every person has to discover for himself; mere
asceticism without this is sheer waste of time and energy. Man is not a
mere animal. He has in him the spark of the divine, and he should not
allow it to be quenched dead. Why,
even when the senses operate, they are prompted by the presence of ātmā.
When the sun rises, birds take to wing, flowers bloom,
the human community starts its varied activities. The sun does not
directly engage in any of these; it is the prompter, that is all. The
sun is not the cause; He is just the activator, the witness, the
onlooker. He is above and beyond all this. He is not bound or based on
man or beast or bird or flower. - Gītā Vahini, p. 206 kshetra-kshetrajñayor evam Mahābhūta:
the five physical, gross elements: earth,
water, fire, air and ether or sky.
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