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The original
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'The Truth will verily Triumph'
1 2a 2b 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18a 18b
" Listen to this chapter sung! " " Listen to this spoken
chapter in Audio " eshā te
'bhihitā sānkhye The 39th sloka is a
transitional verse, for after speaking of "eshā te 'bhihitā sānkhye"
(All
this
I
described
to you was about the analytical study of the
intelligence in yoga), Krishna says that He will go on to teach him the
yogabuddhi or buddhiyoga and asked him to
listen with care. - Gītā Vahini, p. 32 nehāhikrama-nāśo
'sti Of course, it is hard to effect
this full surrender. But if man makes the slightest effort towards it,
the Lord Himself will confer the courage to pursue it to the end. He
will walk with him and help him as a friend; He will lead him as a
guide; He will guard him from evil and temptation; He will be his staff
and support. He has said, "svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato
bhayāt". (This course of action, if followed to a small extent,
will save him from terrifying fear.) To follow dharma is itself
a source of joy; it is the path least beset with hurdles. That is the
Teaching of the Lord. - Gītā Vahini, p. 8 vyavasāyātmikā
buddhir In the Gītā, one can notice
Krishna addressing Arjuna as "Kuru-nandana"! The usual meaning
given by scholars to this appellation is "the scion of the Kuru clan"
but
it
has
a
much more profound lesson to teach mankind. Kuru
means "do" in Sanskrit, and Nandana means "he who takes delight
in". So, it means Krishna is appreciating the transformation in Arjuna
from inaction to action - Arjuna is the one who takes delight in having
some work to do. He is the one who is sad and dejected if he has no
work on hand. For most of you, Sunday is a holiday, which gives
delight, but for Arjuna, the day that he can devote to God's work is
indeed a holy day." - Sanathana Sarathi, March
1979, pp. 57-8 yām imām
pushpitām vācam kāmātmānah
svarga-parā bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānām trai-gunya-vishayā
vedā The Gītā laid down that even the
Vedas have to be transcended, whenever they seek to
foster desires and cater to transient urges. It speaks in the same sloka
that man must seek to become ātmavān, the possessor of ātmā
and the Atmic strength. Note the word! ātmavān! The Gītā asks
you to be not balavan (possessor of physical prowess), not dhanavan
(possessor of a comfortable bank balance), but ātmavān (having
the prowess arising out of the awareness that you are the Atman,
which
can
withstand
death
and remain unaffected by fame or shame, grief
or joy and all the buffetings of the dualities of the world). Another
word in the same sloka is niryoga-kshema. Dwell for a
while upon its meaning, too. It points the way to lasting happiness,
never being concerned with the earning of happiness and the maintenance
of happiness, just being oneself! Being established in the Atman,
never
worried
about
how
to be happy (for the Atman is ever
blissful), this is the prescription of the Gītā. Nirdvandvo
(without paying attention to the dual throng of grief-joy,
pain-pleasure, etc.), nitya-sattva-stho (ever fixed in the
quality of equanimity), niryoga-kshema ātmavān - that is how
the Gītā lays down the path of liberation." - Sathya Sai Speaks VII, pp.
451-2 yāvān artha
udapāne karmany
evādhikāras te The Lord has said in the Gītā,
"refuse
the
fruit"
(mā phaleshu), that is to say: the deed
yields results, but the doer should not desire the result or do it with
the result in view. If Krishna's intention was to say that the
doer has no right for the fruit, He would have said, "It is fruitless" (na
phaleshu), (na meaning no). So if you desist from karma,
you
will
be
transgressing
the Lord's command. That will be a serious
mistake. When man has a right for engaging in karma, he has the
right also for the fruit; no one can deny this or refuse his right. But
the doer can, out of his own free will and determination, refuse to be
affected by the result, whether favorable or unfavorable. The Gītā
shows the way: "Do and deny the consequence." The desire for the result
of your action is a sign of rajoguna [the mode of passion];
the giving up of action since you cannot benefit by the fruit is a sign
of tamoguna [mode of ignorance, also described as darkness and
slowness]. To engage oneself in karma, to know that the result
will follow, and yet not to be attached to it or getting concerned with
it - that is the sign of sattvaguna [the mode of goodness, the
quality of purity or goodness that renders a person true, honest,
wise]. - Gītā Vahini, pp. 35-6 yoga-sthah
kuru karmāni "Samatvam yogam
ucyate" (equanimity is the path to reach unity). This is what the
Bhagavad Gītā declares. Not only the ultimate merger in the absolute,
but even peace and security in the daily process of living, cannot be
gained without cultivating this quality of "samatvam" or
equanimity. The effort to gain equanimity is the hardest but the most
beneficial of all sādhanas. It is a bastion against the ups and
downs of fortune. Without it, life becomes an uncertain game, a
constant struggle with fear, hope, anxiety and doubt. - Sanathana Sarathi, July 1978, p. 109 dūrena hy
avaram karma buddhi-yukto
jahātīha To identify and become
aware of the ātmā, the eternal reality, detachment rooted in
discrimination is indispensable. It is the very first step for success
in this venture. A fixed mind free from agitation can alone practice
detachment and win equanimity. Without equanimity the years of life are
wasted. A person might be an emperor and have all that one could wish
for, yet, if he has no equanimity, he would be a victim of anxiety. - Sanathana Sarathi, January 1980, p. 3 karma-jam
buddhi-yuktā hi When loss is incurred,
men are miserable; but profit too brings misery in its train. The
tax-gatherer's shadow haunts the profitmaker. The attitude must be,
"Let what comes, come." One should have no elation or dejection.
Welcome the fruit, whatever it is, as a gift from God. Do not bank on
its quantity or quality, or plan what to do with it. Do your duty,
sincerely and to the best of your ability. Let the result be what He
wills. Success and failure are often unpredictable experiences; they
follow man, alternately, without any clear reason. So, the sadhaka
and the seeker of peace have to concentrate on doing their duty, doing
what has to be done, and leave the rest to providence.- Sanathana Sarathi, July 1978, pp. 109-10 yadā te
moha-kalilam śruti-vipratipannā
te Analyze every object and
discover the cheapness and hollowness of each. Then, genuine
vairāgya will be planted in your heart. So, utilize the priceless
weapon, the perfect mirror, that God has given you - the buddhi -
for
the
journey
to
God. An old adage announces that buddhi is
shaped by one's actions. Buddhih karma anusarine. This is not
quite correct. It has the buddhi on one side and the senses on
the other and is drawn by both into action. When the manas or
mind leans towards the senses and activates them, bondage results; if
it leans towards the intelligence (which is illumined by the ātmā),
liberation
results.
Sometimes,
the
buddhi is enticed by the
fake delight the mind revels in, through the senses. Sādhana
has to be used at this moment to turn it away from serfdom to the mind.
It must be restored to its status of regulator and controller of the
vagaries of the mind. - Sanathana Sarathi, January
1980, pp. 5-6 arjuna uvāca Krishna taught Arjuna the nature and
characteristics of the sthitaprajña [stable in transcendence; established in wisdom.,
balance], when Arjuna questioned him. Arjuna prayed "O
Keśava" and
when that apellation was used, Krishna smiled. For He knew then that
Arjuna had understood His splendor. Do you ask how? Well, what does
Keśava mean? It means, "He who is Brahmā, Vishnu, śiva,
and
Trimurti". Through Krishna's grace, Arjuna had
reached that
stage of realization. - Gītā Vahini, pp. 36-7 śrī
bhagavān uvāca
Action of work relates to the world. The world, in
turn, is related to God. So Krishna propounded that all actions must be
performed with the intention of pleasing God. This type of action is a
characteristic feature of a sthitaprajña or a person who has mental equipoise. A sthitaprajña performs his action, firmly
established in the ātmā. - Summer Showers in Brindavan 1979, p. 31 duhkheshv
anudvigna-manāh yah
sarvatrānabhisnehas It is well known that
sins bring grief as a retribution and meritorious deeds bring joy as a
reward. So advice is given to avoid sins and perform meritorious deeds.
But the sthitaprajña knows neither the pain of grief nor the
thrill of joy. He is not repulsed by one or attracted by the other. He
will not retreat before pain or turn toward pleasure. Only those who
are ignorant of the ātmā will exult or droop when stricken
with joy or grief. - Gītā Vahini, p. 38
Krishna explained to Arjuna that a sthitaprajña
has an even mind that is neither elated by joy nor dejected by sorrow.
The sthitaprajña dwells always in the spirit without giving way
to grief, lust, fear or delusion. His vision beholds the spirit
everywhere. Krishna pointed out that Arjuna would be able to realize
His true nature when he became a sthitaprajña. - Summer Showers in Brindavan
1979, p. 31 yadā
samharate cāyam
The primary quality of a sthitaprajña is the control of the
senses. It is not easy to repress the senses or assume mastery over
them. - Summer
Showers in Brindavan 1979, p. 31 vishayā
vinivartante Now, there are two
processes in this: To give up all the promptings of desire in the mind
is the negative process; to implant joy, everpresent joy therein, is
the positive aspect. The negative process is to remove all the
seedlings of wrong and evil from the mind; the positive process is to
grow, in the field cleansed thus, the crop of attachment to God! The
cultivation of the crop you need is positive; the plucking of the weeds
is the negative stage. The pleasures the senses draw from the objective
world are weeds; the crop is attachment to God. The mind is a bundle of
wishes, and unless these wishes are removed by their roots, there is no
hope of destroying the mind, which is a great obstacle in the path of
spiritual progress. When the yarn that comprises the cloth is taken
out, one by one, what remains of the cloth? Nothing. The mind is made
of the warp and woof of wishes. And when mind vanishes, the sthitaprajña
is made. - Gītā
Vahini, p. 37 yatato hy
api kaunteya When man is entangled
until the moment of death in stilling the clamor of the senses and
catering to the needs of this illusory world, how can he thrill with
the ecstasy of the awareness of his own atmic core? From the monarch in
the palace to the beggar in the streets, all are caught up in the game
of extracting pleasure from the outer world. - Sanathana
Sarathi,
January
1980,
p.
5 tāni
sarvāni samyamya
Man becomes a victim of ignorance, darkness, and
lust if he gives unrestricted freedom to his senses. So Krishna made it
clear from the beginning that controlling the senses is essential for a
sthitaprajña. - Summer Showers in Brindavan 1979, p. 32
The upward path, the higher stage, that is for the sthitaprajña.
Of
these
two
masteries,
if the mind is subdued, that alone is enough;
it is not necessary then to conquer the external senses. If the mind
has no attachment with objects, the senses have nothing to cling on to;
they perish by inaction; love and hate are both starved out of
existence. The bonds with the objective world are cut, though the
senses may yet be affected by it. For him who has been blessed by an
awareness of the ātmā how can anything worldly bring grief or
joy? - Gītā
Vahini, p. 39 dhyāyato
vishayān pumsah krodhād
bhavati sammohah
So the first thing to be conquered is kama, the demon of
desire. For this, it is unnecessary to wage a huge war. It is also
unnecessary to use pleasing words to persuade the desire to disappear.
Desires will not disappear for fear of the one or for favor of the
other. Desires are objective; they belong to the category of the
"seen". With the conviction that "I am the see-er only, not the seen", sthitaprajña
releases himself from attachment. By this means he conquers desire. You
must watch the working of the mind, from outside it; you must not get
involved in it. That is the meaning of this discipline.
The faculty of the mind is as a strong current of
electricity. It has to be watched from a distance and not contacted or
touched. Touch it, you are reduced to ashes. So too, contact and
attachment give the chance for the mind to ruin you. The farther you
are from it, the better. By skillful methods, you have to make the best
use of it for your own welfare.
The bliss that the sthitaprajña is immersed
in does not arise from external objects; he has no need of them either.
Ananda is in every one as part of his very nature.
Those with pure consciousness find the highest bliss in the realization
of their own reality, the ātmā. That joy is swasam-paadyam
(self-earned, so to say). It is known only to the individual; it is
self-evident. - Gītā
Vahini,
p.
37-8 rāga-dvesha-vimuktais
tu prasāde
sarva-duhkhānām Control of the senses is
absolutely essential for every individual. Look at this paper. It is
now in its normal form. If it is rolled up and kept for some time in
that state, it cannot regain its original form. When we want to bring
it to its original and natural state, we must roll it in the reverse
direction. So, from our childhood, knowingly or unknowingly, we roll
our mind with the pull of sensory and worldly desires. If we roll it up
in the reverse direction, in the direction of the ātmā, it will
regain its original form. So we shall be able to gain control over the
senses when we turn the vision inward since it had been all along
focussed on external phenomena. Letting bygones be bygones, we should
put in the necessary effort to restore the sacred nature of our mind by
cultivating the inward vision. Whatever work we undertake, whatever
thoughts we entertain, whatever scenes we may visualize, we must make
an endeavor from today to turn them Godward - Summer Showers in Brindavan
1979, p. 33 nāsti
buddhir ayuktasya indriyānām
hi caratām So along with the
mastery of the senses, one must establish mastery of the mind also.
This is the sign of the sthitaprajña. If this double mastery is
absent, he is a gatha-prajña, not a sthitaprajña (a no-wisdom individual,
and
not a steady-wisdom individual). Where does he go? To perdition and
nowhere else. - Gītā
Vahini,
p.
39 tasmād
yasya mahā-bāho The sthitaprajña
will ever be engaged in manana, or contemplation and
rumination. He is called muni [wise or self-realized soul.
e.g. Nārada Muni, SB 1:5,
23-31]. His
intellect is steady, because the senses do not harry it. One point has
to be understood here. Conquest of the senses is essential for sādhana;
but
that
is
not
all. As long as the objective world continues to
attract the mind, one cannot claim complete success. That is why
Krishna says, "Arjuna! Establish mastery over the senses; then you need
have no fear, for they become serpents with the fangs removed." But
there is still danger from thoughts and impulses that draw you
outwards. Desire has no limit; it can never be satiated. - Gītā Vahini, pp. 38-9 yā niśā
sarva-bhūtānām
The indriyas or senses have to be fully destroyed. That is the
hall-mark
of a sthitaprajña. So when all beings are experiencing night,
the sthitaprajña would keep himself awake. When all beings are
awake, the sthitaprajña would be asleep. The literal meaning of
this is that what is night for one is day for the other. It would mean
that the sthitaprajña is a person who sleeps during the day and
keeps awake at night.
The inner meaning of this statement is very
profound. Ordinary men are vigilant in affairs that concern the senses
that arise out of this world. Wakefulness for them is the care they
bestow on worldly pursuits. But the sthitaprajña is unconcerned
with these very things; he is, so to say, asleep. What does sleep mean?
It means the happiness resulting from inactivity of the
senses. And vigilance? It means yielding to the senses, and
catering to them. When ordinary men are pursuing the senses and their
demands, the sthitaprajña is asleep. This can also be put in
other words; forget the atmasthithi and you relapse into dehasthithi,
from
the
ātmā consciousness stage you fall into the
body-consciousness stage.
This is what happens to the ordinary man; he sleeps
in the ātmā stage and wakes into the deha-sthithi. The
sthitaprajña's case is different. He sleeps in the deha
consciousness and wakes in the awareness of the ātmā. He will
not awake, even by mistake, in the sensory world, the world where the
ordinary man is most vigilant! This is the inner meaning. It is far
from the literal meaning, which, if taken as true, would entitle
thieves, watchmen, and others to the name of sthitaprajña for
all those keep awake at night and sleep during the day! Only those who
have given up traces of desire and become mere instruments can achieve santhi.
-
Gītā
Vahini,
pp. 40-1 āpāryamānam
acala-pratishthham vihāya
kāmān yah sarvān As a consequence of
pride in one's own strength and power, a person might injure thousands,
but the pride will injure that person most, for pride, or egoism, is
like a devil that possesses a man, a devil that is difficult to
exorcise. Man cannot claim to be man until this ego that prompts him to
ruin others is destroyed by sādhana. The Gītā directs that man
has to be "nirmamo nirahankārah". The divine in him can manifest
only when the dark forces of "Mine" and "I" are rendered ineffective.
To overpower the ego is a well-nigh impossible task. We have heard of
the six internal foes that haunt man every moment of his life. But, the
sense of "I" and "Mine" are far more deep-rooted. People have conquered
the six foes: lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and hatred. Indeed,
there are plenty who have achieved this victory. But rare indeed is the
hero who has demolished his ego and escaped from its nefarious urge. - Sanathana Sarathi, 1978, p. 243 eshā brāhmī
sthitih pārtha Brahman is
the
basis,
the
substance,
the prime mover and the "enjoyer" of the
universe. Krishna exhorted Arjuna to comprehend the omnipresence and
essence of Brahman, the Godhead. - Summer Showers in Brindavan 1979, pp. 24-5
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