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Verse 1.
arjuna uvāca
sannyāsasya mahābāho
tattvam icchāmi veditum
tyāgasya ca hrishīkeśa
prithak keśi-nishūdana
Verse 2.
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
kāmyānām karmanām nyāsam
sannyāsam kavayo viduh
sarva-karma-phala-tyāgam
prāhus tyāgam vicakshanāh
Phala-bhoga-viraga
or renunciation of the desire for the enjoyment of the fruits of one's
action is also essential. When this vairāgya (detachment) is
rooted deep, the citta (consciousness) becomes pure and uparathi
or withdrawal of the senses from the objective world is made possible. - Prasanthi
Vahini,
p.
52.
If
you
have
an eye on the fruits of your actions, you are liable to be
affected by worry, anxiety and restlessness - Gītā Vahini, p. 35
Verse 3.
tyājyam dosha-vad ity eke
karma prāhur manīshinah
yajña-dāna-tapah-karma
na tyājyam iti cāpare
We
have
come
to recognize this ritual yajña as important in the
context of our worshipping the Lord. The statements that are in our Vedas
have told us to sacrifice everything, and through sacrifice, we should
be able to get a vision of the divine in us. The creation and its
maintenance depends only on sacrifice. If there is no sacrifice,
society will not remain intact. If there is no sacrifice there will be
no life, and one cannot recognize the truth, and if there is no
sacrifice there is no creation and there is no sustenance. - Summer Showers in
Brindavan 1974, p. 12
Dana
or gift is a meritorious act if it is rendered to the needy, at the
time of need, in a manner that fulfills the need; it must be made
without pride or publicity; without the superior air of the giver,
without rubbing into the mind of the receiver that he is being helped
to stand on his own legs, with no contempt contaminating the mind of
the giver. Give, as an act of worship to the divine that you wish to
adore in the person to whom you are offering what God has given you for
this very purpose! -
Sathya
Sai
Speaks VIII, pp. 11-2
You
should
be
able to unify your work, mind and talk. Tapas gives
you the ability by which you can do this. Vidya which we have
identified with brahma vidya (spiritual attainment) and tapas
will enable one to experience Brahman. - Summer Showers in Brindavan
1978, p. 44
Verse 4.
niścayam śrinu me tatra
tyāge bharata-sattama
tyāgo hi purusha-vyāghra
tri-vidhah samprakīrtitah
Verse 5.
yajña-dāna-tapah-karma
na tyājyam kāryam eva tat
yajño dānam tapaś caiva
pāvanāni manīshinām
Verse 6.
etāny api tu karmāni
sangam tyaktvā phalāni ca
kartavyānīti me pārtha
niścitam matam uttamam
Desire
the
fruits
of karma and you get born again and again, caught up
in that desire; give up that desire, you are liberated from the flux.
The practice of this type of renunciation ends the state of bondage.
The main point is to stick to the goal. The goal is karma, not karma-phala.
-
Gītā
Vahini,
p. 33
Verse 7.
niyatasya tu sannyāsah
karmano nopapadyate
mohāt tasya parityāgas
tāmasah parikīrtitah
Perhaps
you
will
prefer to remain inactive. Well, that is an indication of tamo-guna!
It
is
even worse than rajo-guna. - Gītā Vahini, p. 34
Verse 8.
duhkham ity eva yat karma
kāya-kleśa-bhayāt tyajet
sa kritvā rājasam tyāgam
naiva tyāga-phalam labhet
Verse 9.
kāryam ity eva yat karma
niyatam kriyate 'rjuna
sangam tyaktvā phalam caiva
sa tyāgah sāttviko matah
Everything
you
do,
you have to do as worship of God, without desire and
expectation of reward and just as a duty and privilege. In the Bhagavad
Gītā, this spirit and attitude of service - Karma Phalam Tyāgah
(sacrifice of the fruits of our deeds) has been glorified as Yoga. - Spirituality in Day to
Day Living, p. 4
Verse 10.
na dveshthy akuśalam karma
kuśale nānushajjate
tyāgī sattva-samāvishtho
medhāvī chinna-samśayah
If
we
understand
the spirit of the Gītā, we will know that it has
taught us that the most important feature of a human being should be
sacrifice. It has also told us what kind of sacrifice it is. That
should be karma phalam tyāgah or sacrifice of the fruits of
our deeds. The Gītā never taught that we should give up
action. It has taught us to undertake every action for the pleasure of
God, and never desire for the fruits thereof. - Summer Showers in
Brindavan 1972, p. 176
Verse 11.
na hi deha-bhritā śakyam
tyaktum karmāny aśeshatah
yas tu karma-phala-tyāgī
sa tyāgīty abhidhīyate
When
we
stay
in the house, stay in the midst of our duties and perform our
duties that we have to perform, having our minds free from desires and
attachments to those duties, that would be called proper vairāgya.
This
is
what is referred to as performing all the duties that you have
to perform as being performed for God's pleasure. These are not being
performed for your pleasure. The realization that whatever you do is in
the name of God and for God's pleasure, will eliminate all losses,
difficulties and troubles to you during your life. - Summer Showers in
Brindavan 1972, p. 33
Verse 12.
anishtham ishtham miśram ca
tri-vidham karmanah phalam
bhavaty atyāginām pretya
na tu sannyāsinām kvacit
"Arjuna!
Every karya (effect, product, deed) or karma (activity)
has a beginning and an end. But nish-kama karma (desireless karma)
has
no
such. That is the difference between the two. When karma
is done with a view to gain therefrom, one has to suffer the loss, the
pain, and even punishment. But nish-kama karma frees you from
all these." -
Gītā Vahini, p. 33
Verse 13.
pañcaitāni mahā-bāho
kāranāni nibodha me
sānkhye kritānte proktāni
siddhaye sarva-karmanām
Verse 14.
adhishthhānam tathā kartā
karanam ca prithag-vidham
vividhāś ca prithak ceshthā
daivam caivātra pañcamam
Verse 15.
śarīra-vān-manobhir yat
karma prārabhate narah
nyāyyam vā viparītam vā
pañcaite tasya hetavah
Today
the
man
is a self-contradiction, a contradiction in himself. There is
no conformity in what is in his mind, what he talks and what he does.
His thoughts, words and deeds are incongruous. Without harmony in his
own thought, word and deed, how can he contribute to the harmony in the
community and in the world? He can only create chaos. That is the
misfortune in the world all over today. Man has to therefore first
understand himself, his own dignity and his inner spirituality, then
only will he have the right perspective, right thinking and act in the
right direction. Then only can he rightly discharge his duty to the
society and the world. - Spirituality in Day to Day Living, pp. 36-7
Verse 16.
tatraivam sati kartāram
ātmānam kevalam tu yah
paśyaty akrita-buddhitvān
na sa paśyati durmatih
Light
and air, heat and sound, are unrelated; they are
distinct in every way, it would seem. But for all these, the karta (doer,
subject
of
action), the motivator is the same, viz., the electric
current. The expressions, the manifestations may be different; but the
basis, the inspiration, the latent potency, the base is the same.
Like
the current, Godhead too operates through all instruments. He is the dātha
(giver, bestower, Earth) of sarva-karma-phala (the fruit of all
karma). Like the current, He is the inner motivator of all beings, sarva-bhūta-anthara-ātma
(inner reality or self in all beings). Since He is the
activator of all karmas, He is called Adhiyajñam. - Gītā Vahini, p. 128.
Verse 17.
yasya nāhankrito bhāvo
buddhir yasya na lipyate
hatvāpi sa imāl lokān
na hanti na nibadhyate
The
ātmā-jñānī is not bound by the results of karma;
it
is
only those who indulge in karma without awareness of the ātmā,
(their
real
self, unaffected by what they do or feel or think), that do
get bound. -
Gītā Vahini, p. 30.
Verse 18.
jñānam jñeyam parijñātā
tri-vidhā karma-codanā
karanam karma karteti
tri-vidhah karma-sangrahah
Verse 19.
jñānam karma ca kartā ca
tridhaiva guna-bhedatah
procyate guna-sankhyāne
yathāvac chrinu tāny api
There
are
three
types of people; the tamasic who are like iron balls,
impervious to any softening influence; the rajasic who are like
cotton, absorbent but not changing their own nature; and the sattvic,
who
melt
as butter melts at the joy and grief of others, or at the
mention of the līlās of the Lord. They dive deep into the
source and spring of sympathy. - Sathya Sai Speaks I, p. 172.
Verse 20.
sarva-bhūteshu yenaikam
bhāvam avyayam īkshate
avibhaktam vibhakteshu
taj jñānam viddhi sāttvikam
Param Brahman (indicates the One beyond and
behind everything, grander than anything in the three worlds. It is
non-dual, unique, the eternal and infinite. "Two" means difference,
dissention, inevitable discord. Since Brahman is all-pervasive,
It is One and only One. It is Indivisible and Indestructible. Realizing
this is jñānam, the highest wisdom. - Jñāna Vahini, p. 14.
Verse 21.
prithaktvena tu yaj jñānam
nānā-bhāvān-prithag-vidhān
vetti sarveshu bhūteshu
taj jñānam viddhi rājasam
Rajasic
jñāna is the stage where you have the difference between man and
woman, bird and beast, joy and sorrow. By giving place to these
dualities, we always remain in the rajasic state. - Summer Showers in
Brindavan 1972, pp. 278-9
Verse 22.
yat tu kritsna-vad ekasmin
kārye saktam ahaitukam
atattvārtha-vad alpam ca
tat tāmasam udāhritam
Tamasic
jñāna is the exact opposite of the sattvic state. Tamasic
state does not believe in oneness and on the other hand it places undue
importance on the diversity and does not bother about that which exists
beyond this appearance. - Summer Showers in
Brindavan 1972, p. 279
Verse 23.
niyatam sanga-rahitam
arāga-dveshatah kritam
aphala-prepsunā karma
yat tat sāttvikam ucyate
These
are
the
mumukshus (the ones who desire liberation), alert
on
the path of liberation, who are intent on attaining it. They perform
each act as a step in the realization of the Lord. So, they can never
do anything bad; they do not look forward to the result; they leave it
to the Lord to give it, or withhold it. They are not prompted by
worldly motives or even by the desire to gain heavenly pleasure. Their
aim is just this: liberation from the bondage of the objective world.
They win the grace of the Lord in proportion to the steadiness of their
faith and practice. -
Gītā
Vahini,
pp. 146-7
Verse 24.
yat tu kāmepsunā karma
sāhankārena vā punah
kriyate bahulāyāsam
tad rājasam udāhritam
The
group
that
believes in sa-kama-karma (karma with expectation to
reap fruit for oneself) performs all acts through the desire for the
fruit thereof. Since they have an eye on the successful earning of the
fruit, they will engage themselves only in acts that are approved by
the śāstras; they will not do any sinful or prohibited act. They will
equate each act with the merit it will confer, the happiness that it
will ensure, the heaven that it will win. Such men, when they depart
from this world will enter the lokas (supra-mundane-worlds) they
have sought and worked for, and having stayed there as long as their
merit entitles them, they have to return to earth. - Gītā Vahini, p. 147.
Verse 25.
anubandham kshayam himsām
anapekshya ca paurusham
mohād ārabhyate karma
yat tat tāmasam ucyate
The
third
group
is not guided by any rule of conduct. They have no norms,
no discrimination between virtue and vice, right and wrong, proper and
improper. They have no horror of hell, no conception of heaven, no
dread of the devil, no reverence for God, no respect for the śāstras,
no
vision
of dharma! They are best pictured as beasts in human
form. The majority of humans are members of this unfortunate group.
They strive for momentary pleasure, short-lived happiness, temporary
joy and evanescent comfort. - Gītā Vahini, p. 147
Verse 26.
mukta-sango 'naham-vādī
dhrity-utsāha-samanvitah
siddhy-asiddhyor nirvikārah.
kartā sāttvika ucyate
The
sattvic path: This means that one considers japam
(mantra-meditation, praying the vedic way) dhyānam
(meditation) as a duty and suffers any amount of trouble for its sake;
one is fully convinced that all of this is just an illusion; so, one
does only good under all conditions and at all times; one desires only
the good of all, being always loving towards all; one spends time
uninterruptedly in the remembrance and meditation of the Lord. He will
not crave even for the fruit of the japam and dhyanam;
he will leave it all to the Lord. - Dhyana Vahini, p. 7
Verse 27.
rāgī karma-phala-prepsur
lubdho himsātmako 'śucih
harsha-śokānvitah kartā
rājasah parikīrtitah
The
rajasic path: Here, one will be craving at every
step for the fruit of one's act. If that fruit is not available, then
gradually, laxity and disgust overpower the sādhaka, and japam
and dhyānam slowly dry up. - Dhyana Vahini, p. 7
Verse 28.
ayuktah prākritah stabdhah
śathho naishkritiko 'lasah
vishādī dīrgha-sūtrī ca
kartāt tāmasa ucyate
The
tamasic path: This is even worse. The Lord will
come into the memory only in times of danger or acute suffering or when
one is the victim of loss or pain. At such times, such people pray and
vow that they will arrange this puja, offer this particular
food, or build this kind of temple to the Lord. They will be
calculating the quantity of food they placed before the Lord, the
tribute they offered to His feet, the number of prostrations they did
and the number of times they circumambulated the shrine; and ask for
proportionate rewards! For those who adopt this in dhyānam, the
mind and the intellect can never be pure. - Dhyana Vahini, p. 7
Verse 29.
buddher bhedam dhriteś
caiva
gunatas tri-vidham śrinu
procyamānam aśeshena
prithaktvena dhanañjaya
Nature
is
composed
of three basic gunas or qualities, sattvic,
rajasic and tamasic, and their interplay determines the
nature and moods of human beings at different intervals of times due to
the predominance of one or the other. - Summer Showers in Brindavan 1973, p. 198
Buddhi
or the intellect has to be kept sharp and clear. There are three types
of buddhi, according to the predominance of one or the other of
the three gunas: the tamas, which confuses the sathyam
and the a-sathyam; the rajas, which like a pendulum
swings from one to the other, hovering between the two, unable to
distinguish between them, and the sattva, which knows which is sathyam
and which is a-sathyam. - Sathya Sai Speaks I, pp. 65-6
Verse 30.
pravrittim ca nivrittim ca
kāryākārye bhayābhaye
bandham moksham ca yā vetti
buddhih sā pārtha sāttvikī
I
have come to help all to acquire this sattvic nature. You might
have heard people talk about the miracles; of My "making" this and
giving that, of My fulfilling all your wants, of my curing your
illnesses. But they are not so important as the sattva-guna I
promote and instill.
- Sathya Sai Speaks I, p. 66
Verse 31.
yayā dharmam adharmam ca
kāryam cākāryam eva ca
ayathāvat prajānāti
buddhih sā pārtha rājasī
The
world
today
is suffering from rajo-buddhi rather than tamas;
people have violent likes and dislikes; they have become fanatical and
factious, they are carried away by pomp and noise, show and propaganda;
that is why discrimination has become necessary. To reach the goal, sattva-buddhi
is essential; it will seek the truth calmly and stick to it whatever
the consequence. -
Sathya Sai Speaks 1, p. 66
Verse 32.
adharmam dharmam iti yā
manyate tamasāvritā
sarvārthān viparītāmś ca
buddhih sā pārtha tāmasī
Most
people
live
superficial lives. They are like logs of wood tossed up and
down by the waves of the sea, insensitive, dull, thamasic.
Haste lands them in waste; waste increases worry. They have no time to
sit and meditate on the reality of their own existence, their own
knowledge and their own joy. If that is done, they can contact the
source of all existence, all knowledge and all bliss. They don't take
even the first step towards their self-inquiry. How then can they
derive self-satisfaction at their vastness, indestructibility, infinite
power and wisdom? - Sathya Sai Speaks IX, p.
215.
Verse 33.
dhrityā yayā dhārayate
manah-prānendriya-kriyāh
yogenāvyabhicārinyā
dhritih sā pārtha sāttvikī
Yoga
is restraining the agitations natural to the mind. Man alone is endowed
with the equipment needed to establish mastery over the senses. - Sathya Sai Speaks VI, p. 43
The
godly
will
take up activity as a means of worshipping God, and they
leave the result to God. They know they are instruments in the hands of
God. The godly are following the sattvic path, which leads them
to God. Man's real nature is sattvic, but, due to sheer
ignorance and the unquestioned obedience to the senses, man is
suffering pain and grief; this is the sad state of affairs, not only in
India but all over the world. - Sathya Sai Speaks VIII, pp. 115-6.
Verse 34.
yayā tu dharma-kāmārthān
dhrityā dhārayate 'rjuna
prasangena phalākānkshī
dhritih sā pārtha rājasī
The
arena
of
life is raised on four pillars: dharma, arthā, kāma
and moksha. They sustain and support. When the arena loses two
and struggles to stand on the remaining two, viz., arthā and
kāma, naturally, anxiety, pretence, grief and greed afflict
mankind. Each pillar must cooperate and complement the parts that the
other three play. Dharma must sublimate arthā, that is
to say, through moral means alone should the means of living be
obtained. Arthā must be won through dharma and used in dharma.
Kāma must be primarily for moksha; that is
to say, desire must be directed to liberation from bondage, not to the
forging of new chains of the addition of further links in the chain of
birth and death. -
Sathya
Sai
Speaks IV, p. 368.
Verse 35.
yayā svapnam bhayam śokam
vishādam madam eva ca
na vimuñcati durmedhā
dhritih sā pārtha tāmasī
The
tamasic has the peculiar property of twisting
reality out of shape and of making the true appear as false, the false
as true, the transient and the trivial as everlasting and desirable. - Sanathana Sarathi, May 1980, p. 112
Verse 36.
sukham tv idānīm tri-vidham
śrinu me bharatarshabha
abhyāsād ramate yatra
duhkhāntam ca nigacchati
Man is
fundamentally happy-natured, sukha-sva-bhava. Bliss is his very
personality. He is not of the nature of the body he occupies. He is the
ātmā. Happiness is the nature of the Âtmā. - Gītā Vahini, p. 121
Verse 37.
yat tad agre visham iva
parināme 'mritopamam
tat sukham sāttvikam proktam
ātma-buddhi-prasāda-jam
The
mind
seeks
sukha or happiness; it feels that happiness can be
got in this world from fame, riches, land and property, from
individuals or relations; further it builds up pictures of heaven where
there is more intense happiness for a longer time; at last, it
discovers that eternal undiminished happiness can be got only by
dwelling on the reality of one's own self, which is Bliss Itself. - Sathya Sai Speaks I, pp. 72-3
Verse 38.
vishayendriya-samyogād
yat tad agre 'mritopamam
parināme visham iva
tat sukham rājasam smritam
Vedanta
is jñāna, the knowledge that reveals, that loosens "the knots
of the heart" and the bondage to external objects, that discloses in a
flash, the unity that is the truth of all this multifarious creation.
That alone can give peace and happiness. Man can be happy only in
vastness, in overflowing into greater and greater power and
magnificence. -
Sathya Sai Speaks VI, p. 88
Verse 39.
yad agre cānubandhe ca
sukham mohanam ātmanah
nidrālasya-pramādottham
tat tāmasam udāhritam
Gaining
things
that
add to comfort, that intoxicate, that give a false sense of
bliss - this is not the goal of life. That road has no end; it goes on
and on, forever. Wants multiply indefinitely; contentment is a will o'
the wisp. Egotism gets deep-rooted: the capacity to distinguish right
from wrong is dulled. Thirst grows with each quaff; hunger starts
craving for more, with each morsel.
Ask
yourself the question: Is there a state called sukha,
happiness? Can it be reached by accumulating things? No. Happiness is
only an interval between two miseries; misery is a gap between two
moments of happiness. You must equate both happiness and misery and
transcend both, teaching the mind to dive deeper into the realms of
bliss. - Sathya Sai Speaks VI, p. 117
Verse 40.
na tad asti prithivyām vā
divi deveshu vā punah
sattvam prakriti-jair muktam
yad ebhih syāt tribhir gunaih
Māyā
is the name of that mist of ignorance, that torments the mind, which
seeks to plunge in the depths of the Self. This mist is the confusing
conglomeration of three qualities that disturb the primal equanimity of
the universe - the white, red and black, the sattvic, the rajasic
and tamasic, the unaffected, the active and the dull, the
detached, the passionate and the slothful. The curtain of māyā
made of these three strands has to be either brushed aside, rent
asunder, or raised, so that the reality may be revealed. - Sathya Sai Speaks VII, p. 248
Adhi:
a prefix to verbs and nouns, expresses above, over and above, besides.
Adhiyajña: the Supersoul,
plenary part of the Lord in the heart of every living being.
Param Brahman: the
Supreme Brahman.
- The Personality of Godhead, Śrī Krishna.
Brahman: Krishna's impersonal
sat-aspect. Is divided in parā and apara-brahman relating to having
respectively the unseen and the visible of the creation.
Śāstra: (order, command
precept, rule, instruction advise, counsel) the vedic studies, the
revealed instructions, treatises, the manuals, the body of teaching to
the sacred scriptures of the Vedas and Upanishads.
Loka: planet, star, world,
abode. Divided in fourteen: five higher ones, one of the atmosphere,
the earth and seven lower ones.
- Tri-bhuvana: the three worlds of heaven, hell and purgatory.
- In three the worlds of the earth, the atmosphere and heaven: Bhūr,
Bhuvah Svah.
- Svah: The five celestial worlds: Svarloka, Maharloka, Janaloka,
Tapoloka, and Satyaloka.
- Bhuvarloka, the areal region, the atmosphere, the life-force.
- Bhūrloka or earthly regions, the middle, madhya or martyalokas
including the seven lower, ādo, viz. Pātāla, Rasātala, Atala, Vitala,
Nitala, Talātala, Mahātala en Sutala (see S.B. 2.5:36-40; 2.1: 26-39 and 11.24: 11-14).
- Siddhaloka, the place of no return beyond the first three where the
ones of perfection go to.
- In seven they are: bhūh, bhuvah, svah, mahah, janah, tapah and satya.
Their invocations are called vyāhritis (see 12. 6: 44).
- Caitanya Mahāprabhu by His mercy promotes the most fallen souls of
Kali - yuga to beyond these planets and even beyond Vaikunthha, to the
supreme planet of Lord Krishna in the spiritual sky, called Goloka
Vrindāvana.
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