Excerpts from The Bhagavad Gita: Translated by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Chapter 1:
When life evolves from one state to another, the first state is dissolved and the second brought into existence. In other words, the process of evolution is carried out under the influence of two opposing forces – one to destroy the first state and the other to give rise to a second state. These creative and destructive forces working in harmony with one another maintain life and spin the wheel of evolution. Dharma maintains equilibrium between them. By maintaining equilibrium between opposing cosmic forces, dharma safeguards existence and upholds the path of evolution.
A high degree of concentration of positive forces fails to maintain life in its normal state. The life of an individual under the influence of increasing positive forces enters into a field of increasing happiness and is eventually transformed into bliss-consciousness, in which state it gains the status of comic existence, eternal life.
On this high level of glory and grace, where heart and mind are at their best, it locates the basic cause of all suffering at a point between the heart and mind are at their best, it locates the basic cause of all suffering at a point between the heart and mind. The heart is full of feeling saturated with love; the mind is completely alert, full of the sense of righteousness and the call of duty. (p. 50)
The seed of suffering in life is located in the duality inherent in the characteristic difference between the qualities of heart and mind….Duality is the fundamental cause of suffering. (p. 51-52)
If Arjuna follows the call of righteousness, he must rebel against love and kill all his dear ones assembled for battle. And if he follows the call of love, he must sacrifice the cause of righteousness and yield to evil. (p. 53)
Arjuna’s vision of omens reveals the purity of his heart and the deep state of concentration of his mind. The future casts its image on the sanctuaries of pure hearts. (p. 55)
Developed consciousness is devoid of any thought of self-interest.
Chapter 2:
The result of Arjuna’s sincere surrender to Lord Krishna was seen without delay. By His teaching, both theoretical and practical, He helped Arjuna to free himself from his state of suspension. At the end of a short discourse on a battlefield, Arjuna had become a yogi, a bhakta and a gyani. He had become established in the fullness of resolute intellect, in great skill in action and in the eternal freedom of existence. To reach that state, Arjuna had only to surrender at the feet of the Lord. Surrender does not mean blind passivity. Throughout the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna continues to ask questions, for the student gains complete freedom to ask anything, once he has quality between the teacher and the taught, the task of both becomes easy and free from resistance. (p. 86)
Once a man knows that he is king and the state belongs to him, he immediately begins to make use of his relationship with the state, begins to behave as a king. He is not required to cultivate kingship by practice and by constant thought about his position…He just knows it once and lives the relationship at all times. So simple is the path of understanding which results in freedom from bondage.
The whole truth of life is that there is nothing substantial to bind the never-changing to the ever-changing sphere of life. And nothing to keep them bound together. It is only ignorance of the natural state of freedom existing between these spheres that results in binding them together. This ignorance, and the bondage born of it, keep life in motion – the inner aspect remaining never-changing and the outer ever –changing. The outer ever-changing aspect continues eternally by virtue of the inner. Thus life flows onward in the natural state of eternal freedom – on the basis of ignorance. The knowledge contained in these verses – the wisdom of Sankhya – cuts asunder the bonds of ignorance and allows life to be in its natural state of eternal freedom. (p. 95)
The conclusion is that, from both points of view – that of the permanence of Being and that of the impermanent level of life – Arjuna’s duty is not to worry about anything, but to rise up and do what he has to do. (p. 97)
The inner spirit may be understood in two ways: first, as the ego, together with the mind and sense, which constitutes the doer and the experiencer, the enjoyer and the sufferer; secondly, as the ‘dweller in the body’, which is the individual aspect of cosmic existence, of eternal Being, and which is known in Sanskrit terminology as ‘jiva’.
Jiva, then is individualized cosmic existence; it is the individual spirit within the body. With its limitations removed, jiva is Atman, transcendent Being.
When the individuality of the jiva and the universality of the transcendent Self, the Atman, are united and found together on one level of life, then there is Brahman, the all-embracing cosmic life. (p. 98)
(When you are situated in Being, you rise above the influence of action.) (p. 100)
When a man constantly does good he becomes a center of harmonious vibrations which, enjoyed by the people around him, naturally create warmth and love in their hearts. (p. 111)
Right or wrong, should be the primary consideration when deciding upon the validity of an action. It should not be decided on the basis of loss or gain. (p. 114)
Essence of the wisdom of Sankhya in 4 verses (2.12-15):
12. There never was a time when I was not, nor you, nor these rulers of men. Nor will there ever be a time when all of us shall cease to be.
13. As the dweller in this body passes into childhood, youth, and old age, so also does he pass into another body. This does not bewilder the wise.
14. Contacts of the senses with their objects give rise to the experience of cold and heat, pleasure and pain. Transient, they come and go. Bear them patiently, O Bharata!
15. That man indeed whom these contacts do not disturb, who is even-minded in pleasure and pain, steadfast, he is fit for immortality, O best of men!
Essence of Yoga in 4 verses (2.45-48)
45. The Vedas’ concern is with the three gunas. Be without the three gunas, O Arjuna, freed from duality, ever firm in purity, independent of possessions, possessed of the Self.
46. To the enlightened Brahmin all the Vedas are of no more use than is a small well in a place flooded with water on every side.
47. You have control over action alone, never over its fruits. Live not for the fruits of action, nor attach yourself to inaction.
48. Established in Yoga, O winner of wealth, perform actions having abandoned attachment and having become balanced in success and failure, for balance of mind is called Yoga.
“In this (Yoga) no effort is lost and no obstacle (reversal of progress or adverse effect) exists. Even a little of this dharma delivers from great fear.” (2.40)
On the way to eternal freedom no effort is lost. Any effort on this path results in the goal; the process, having started, cannot stop until it has reached its goal….Therefore as water flows down a slope in a natural way, so the mind flows naturally in the direction of bliss. (p. 118)
Following the path of no resistance means that the technique of establishing the mind in the Absolute has only to be started, and from that point deliverance from suffering follows. The very start in this direction relieves a man ‘from great fear’ in life. (p. 119)
Arjuna is advised to rise to the state of resolute intellect. For only in this state will he be able to win that evenness of mind in pleasure and pain, loss and gain, victory and defeat, which the Lord makes the prerequisite for battle. (p. 121)
Having explored all avenues of his heart and mind, Arjuna could not find any practical solution, could not decide on any line of action. Lord Krishna shows him the field where righteousness and lover merge in eternal harmony, the eternal life of absolute Being. The Lord makes clear to Arjuna that all influences of the outside world, and their consequences as well, will cling to him and affect him so long as he is out of himself, so long as he allows himself to remain in the sphere of relativity and under its influence. Once out of that sphere, he will find fulfilment in his own Self. (p. 127)
Move toward subtler planes of the gunas, and arriving at the subtlest, come out of them, transcend them, be by yourself, possessed of the Self – freed from duality, ever firm in purity, independent of possessions. (p. 129)
Krishna reminds Arjuna that Duryodhana could take the wrong path because he gained kingdom, pleasure and power but did not gain the wisdom of remaining independent of possessions. (p. 130)
If a man wants to be a true devotee of God, he has to become his pure Self; he has to free himself from those attributes which do not belong to him, and then only can he have one-pointed devotion. If he is enveloped by what he is not, then his devotion will be covered by that foreign element (p. 131)
The state of realization (being established in Being) fulfills the overall purpose of man’s craving for greater and greater happiness. It also brings the mind naturally to the highest degree of mental development. It brings a realized man to a state where, by virtue of a high development of mental strength and harmony with the laws of nature, he finds that his thoughts naturally become fulfilled without much effort on his part…He enjoys the full support of almighty Nature for life. He is in direct attunement with cosmic law, the field of Being, which forms the basis of all the laws of nature. (p. 133)
A man cannot remain balanced in loss and gain unless he is in a state of lasting contentment. (p. 137)
How is ‘steady intellect maintained in nitya-samadhi (cosmic consciousness), when the mind, established in pure consciousness, is yet engaged in the field of action? Because in this state the mind has become transformed into bliss-consciousness, Being is permanently lived as separate from (uninfluenced by) activity. Then a man realizes that his Self is different from the mind which is engaged with thoughts and desires….He experiences the desires of the mind as lying outside himself, whereas he used to experience himself as completely involved with desires. On the surface of the mind desires certainly continue, but deep within the mind they no longer exist, for the depths of the mind are transformed into the nature of the Self. All the desires which were present in the mind have been thrown upward, as it were – they have gone to the surface, and within the mind the finest intellect gains an unshakeable, immovable status….This state of life is such that it maintains the freedom of the inner Bing, keeping It uninvolved with activity, and at the same time deals with all actions most efficiently and successfully. (p. 151-2)
2.56 He whose mind is unshaken in the midst of sorrows, who amongst pleasures is free from longing, from whom attachment, fear and anger have departed, he is said to be a sage of steady intellect. (p. 154)
The man of steady intellect maintains balance of mind while he continues to act in the field of relative existence….The mind remains naturally contented on coming out from the transcendental state to the field of activity. This contentment, being grounded in the very nature of the mind, does not allow the mind to waver and be affected in pleasure or pain, not allow it to become affected by attachment or fear in the world. (p. 154)
The man of established intellect remains even and does not rejoice or recoil on gaining what is good or bad. (p. 157)
In the field of the senses, the senses predominate. They drag the mind towards their objects, towards the joys of the world. None of the objects of the senses, however, is able to satisfy the longing of the mind for happiness. Therefore the mind is ever found wandering in the field of the senses. Only when the state of established intellect is gained and the mind ceases to wander, can the senses be controlled. (p. 160)
The state of transcendental consciousness cannot be gained unless the nervous system is completely peaceful. This is the truth revealed by the words ‘for one without peace how can there be happiness?’ The bliss is already there; it is only necessary to calm down the wanderings of the mind. (p. 166)
If happiness is sought, peace has to be created, the nervous system has to be brought to a state of restful alertness. (p. 168)
To reach eternal bliss, Lord Krishna asks Arjuna to leave completely the field of sensory perception, both gross and subtle. Thus he will come to established intellect, intellect established in the transcendent. To live this principle in daily life is simple, for one need only know how to allow the mind to come quite naturally out of the field of the senses and reach the state of established intellect. (p. 169)
The light in which the established intellect behaves is not perceived by the ignorant, and the light in which the ignorant behave is looked upon as darkness by the entlightened. (p. 170)
To have ‘relinquished all desires’ means to have gained transcendental divine consciousness permanently. This happens through meditation. (p. 172)
When the mind transcends during transcendental meditation, the metabolism reaches its lowest point; so does the process of breathing, and the nervous system gains a state of restful alertness which, on the physical level, corresponds to the state of bliss-consciousness or transcendent Being.
Chapter 3
All actions are performed by the forces of Nature. But, through ignorance, man takes their authorship upon himself and becomes bound by them. The enlightened man knows the truth and enjoys freedom even while engaged in activity. (p. 175)
The criterion of right action is not like and dislike, but nature and duty. (p. 175)
Renunciation is a state of non-attachment where the doer remains separate from (not under the control of) the field of activity; the state of non-action. (p. 187)
An action which is necessary and does not produce any undue tension or strain in the doer and his surrounding is his natural duty. (p. 192)
Meditation is the key to the performance of one’s allotted duty. (p. 193)
When, through the practice of transcendental meditation, activity is realized as separate from the Self, then all of life’s activity is said to have been given over as an offering to the gods. This means that activity continues in its sphere of relative life, over which the gods preside, while the Self remains in the freedom of the Absolute. This is the way to please all the gods through every activity at all times. A situation is created in which every activity automatically becomes yagya (sacrifice). This manner of offering actions to the gods does not imply surrender to them or coming under their subjugation. The Self in this state becomes completely free from all the influences of relative life, including the gods. (p. 199).
3.19 Therefore, remaining unattached, always do the action worthy of performance. Engaging in action truly unattached, man attains to the Supreme.
The mind, moved by its own nature to enjoy more, flows toward the subtler fields of experience during transcendental meditation and most spontaneously attains the state of Being. (p. 210)
Performance of action in an unstrained, natural manner is a means of realizing the Supreme. (p. 211)
The nature of transcendental Being has an opportunity of maintaining itself even when the mind is engaged in experiencing the relative field of life through the senses. (p. 211)
When, in the state of cosmic consciousness, the self has been realized as separate from all activity, ‘the action worthy of performance’ is action in devotion to God. (p. 211)
The contentment and serenity gained through this action of meditation produce harmonious and life-supporting influences for the whole world. By raising man’s consciousness, they fill his heart with universal love, which induces him to work for the welfare of the world in a most natural way. (p. 214)
The effects of the enlightened man’s actions spread out in the world and everything benefits from them; the impression of the result passes him by, leaving him free from the bondage of action because he has realized the Self as separate from activity and acts from the basis of eternal contentment. His actions are in response to the needs of the time; they fulfill the demands of their surroundings. The wise are tools in the hands of the Divine; they innocently carry out the divine plan. Their actions arise from their desire for the welfare of the world. (p. 218)
He is advised in this verse to allow the ignorant man to do his duty. He should refrain from telling him that the state of enlightenment is free from both good and evil, and that the whole field of relativity is just the play of the three gunas, {which do not belong to his Being}. It is perhaps even more important that the wise man should not confuse the ignorant by telling him about the uninvolved nature of the Self….The realized should not create a division in such a man’s mind. (p. 219)
Direct connection with God is established forever by virtue of one’s having gained proficiency in the art of action. Surrender of all actions to God is the living Reality of one’s life. It is not a fanciful thought or a mood of surrender. It is the Truth of one’s life in activity. (p. 226)
Not finding fault and not speaking ill of others is counted an essential prerequisite to the realization of God and freedom from bondage. (p. 227)
Lord Krishna condemns unnatural restraint or repression and advises Arjuna to take things easily, and not strain even to follow the teaching. Restraint (repression), being unnatural, cannot bring about the natural state of life where the Self stands by Itself in the state of non-attachment, unbounded by activity. (p. 229)
In order to be liberated from action, it is not necessary to use restraint (repression), it is only necessary to raise the level of one’s consciousness by the experience of Being, it is only necessary to become enlightened….Non-attachment cannot be gained by non-activity or by any kind of restraint (repression). It can only be gained by realizing the Self and by realizing Its separateness from activity….The state of enlightenment, the state of knowledge cannot be gained through restraint, which discriminates between different kinds of activity. (p. 230)
Realize Being in Its fullness, realize it as separate from (unbounded by) activity….Attraction and aversion are enemies besetting one’s path.
3.35 Because one can perform it, one’s own dharma (prescribed righteous duty), though lesser in merit, is better than the dharma of another. Better is death in one’s own dharma; the dharma of another brings danger (i.e., to follow another’s path is dangerous).
People at various levels of evolution, and each level has a guiding principle….Only by following one’s own dharma will he make sure of reaching the next stage of evolution……The First English Reader is certainly inferior to Milton’ Paradise, but it is more valuable for the student of the first grade because it is more suited to him…..Following one’s own dharma, even if he should die, he would natural rise to a higher state of life, but if he were to die while trying to practice the dharma of another, he would die dislocated from his own level of development, in utter confusion about the path of his evolution.
It is evident (from Lord Krishna’s words) that there is yet a greater danger to life than the phenomenon of death. Death as such only causes a temporary pause in the process of evolution. A pause like this is no real danger to life because, with a new body taken after the pause, more rapid progress of life’s evolution becomes possible. A greater danger will be something that actually retards the process of evolution…..Certainly there are ways to enhance one’s progress, but each of them starts by raising the present level and not by abruptly abandoning it.
It is better to remain established in the dharma of the Self, which is absolute bliss-consciousness, than to partake of the dharma of the three gunas and come under the sway of attachment and aversion. For when a man is established in his own dharma, the dharma of the Self, his activity is carried on under the direct influence of almighty Nature and enjoys its full support. (p. 232-3)
The Self remains established in Its own dharma, the eternal dharma of Being, while the sphere of the three gunas continues in its dharma of continuous change, transforming the dead body into its different component elements. In such a case, death only amounts to the cessation of individual activity, leaving the Self in Its unbounded state of eternal freedom. (p. 234)
Desire is vibrating consciousness set in motion and channeled in a particular direction…When the flow of a particular desire is obstructed by another flow, energy is produces at the point of collision, and this flares up as anger, which disturbs, confuses and destroys the harmony and smooth flow of the desire….Desire keeps the mind floating in the field of sensory experience….Desire in the state of ignorance (of the Self) overshadows the pure nature of the Self, which is absolute Bliss-consciousness, and this keeps the life in bondage and suffering. (p. 236)
When one gains realization of the Self as separate from activity, desire ceases to be the enemy here on earth. (p. 237)
When Lord Krishna says, “Wisdom is veiled by this insatiable flame of desire which is the constant enemy of the wise’, He does not intend to lay down a principle that desire has to be eradicated, because this is not physically possible. Any attempt in that direction will only make life dull, useless or tense. (p. 239)
Lord Krishna says to go to the state of enlightenment in order to remove the darkness. (You add light to dispel darkness – you do not try to ‘catch’ and eradicate darkness by itself). (p. 244)
Chapter 4:
When the experience of the Absolute has become permanent, Self-awareness is naturally maintained through all the waking, dreaming and deep sleep states of consciousness. (p. 249)
During the process of transcendental meditation, when the mind enters the subtler levels of experience, the activity of all the senses decreases and finally stops; the breath also becomes more refined and eventually comes to a standstill. This is the offering of all the activities of the senses and of the life-breath in the fire of Yoga. (p. 295)
4.30 Others, restricting their food, offer breaths into breaths. All these indeed are knowers of yagya (sacrifice), and through yagya their sins are cast away.
When a man restricts his food, less oxygen is needed for metabolism, and therefore his breathing becomes more shallow. ‘Restricting their food’ means not feeding the senses with their objects, not engaging in the activity of action or even thought. This non-engagement in activity requires a reduction in metabolism, which in turn requires a reduction of respiratory activity. This, as has been explained in the previous verse, is what the Lord means by ‘offer breaths into breaths’….The Brahmbindu Upanishad declares that a huge mountain of sins extending for miles is destroyed by Union brought about through transcendental meditation, without which there is no way out. (p. 299)
4.33-35 Better than yagya (sacrifice) through material means is the yagya of knowledge. All action without exception culminates in knowledge. Know this: through homage, repeated inquiry and service, the men of knowledge who have experienced Reality will teach you knowledge. Knowing this, you will no more fall into such delusion; for through this you will see all beings in your Self and also in Me.
Delusion experienced in the state of rajas can be overcome with the rise of sattva; but a delusion in the state of sattva, as in Arjuna’s case, cannot be overcome unless one transcends the field of sattva and gains transcendental consciousness….It might appear that in this state one was living a duality, the duality of Being and activity; but this type of duality, in which the Self remains detached from everything, is free from the possibility of delusion. (p. 306)
Chapter 5:
5.3 Know him to be ever a man of renunciation (sanyasi) who neither hates nor desires; free from the pairs of opposites, he is easily released from bondage, O mighty-armed.
A man of renunciation is free from desire while at the same time he rejects nothing. He takes life easily as it comes, creating no tensions. His life flows freely in harmony with the laws of nature governed by the Cosmic law. (p. 333)
5.7 Intent on Yoga, pure of spirit, he who has fully mastered himself and has conquered the senses, whose self has become the Self of all beings, he is not involved even while he acts.
When the mind, being That, comes out into the field of activity, then the Self is said to shine forth in Its purity. When, through constant practice, complete integration of the self with the mind is achieved, the pure status of Being gained by the mind is not in any way overshadowed even though the mind occupies itself with activity in the relative field.
5.10 He who acts giving over all actions to the universal Being, abandoning attachment, is untouched by sin as a lotus leaf by water.
When the self has completely separated itself from activity, then a situation is created in which the authorship of action becomes automatically transferred to the universal Being. (p. 345)
Action is performed by the three gunas born of Nature. The attribution of authorship to the ‘I’ is only due to ignorance of the real nature of the ‘I’ and of action. (p. 352)
5.18 In a Brahmin (sage) endowed with learning and humility, in a cow, in an elephant, in a dog and a dog eater (outcaste), the enlightened perceive the same.
Learning and humility: wisdom brings humility. Just as the wise man sees the distinctions and differences in creation as only temporary, with one ultimate reality underlying them all, so he does not insist that things should happen in any particular way. He takes things lightly, for he knows they all have their common end. This natural quality of Being in the wise is interpreted as humility. Indeed, humility is the criterion of wisdom, arising as it does out of the increased sense of the oneness of life, of the basic Unity of all beings….True humility lies in the quality of Being and not in any attitude of mind. The mind of the realized man is fully infused with the state of Being – the oneness of life.
The enlightened man, while beholding and acting in the whole of diversified creation, does not fall from his steadfast Unity of life. (p. 359)
5.19 Even here, in this life, the universe is conquered by those whose mind is established in equanimity. Flawless, indeed, and equally present everywhere is Brahman. Therefore they are established in Brahman.
A realized man does not rejoice in anything external…He is fixed in the bliss of his own Being. (p. 363)
5.21 He whose self is untouched by external contacts knows that happiness which is in the Self. His self joined in Union with Brahman, he enjoys eternal happiness.
When the mind is absorbed in outer joys, then it is absorbed in the field of sorrow. Objects that lead the mind in an outward direction becomes a source of sorrow. (p. 366)
5.24 He whose happiness is within, whose contentment is within, whose light is all within, that yogi, being one with Brahman, attains eternal freedom in divine consciousness. (p. 371)
A yogi situated in the eternal freedom of divine consciousness (Brahmanirvana) does not require anything in the outside world to make him happy. (p. 372).
5.27-9 Having left external contacts outside; with the vision within the eyebrows; having balanced the ingoing and outgoing breaths that flow through the nostrils, the sage, whose senses, mind and intellect are controlled, whose aim is liberation, from whom desire, fear and anger have departed, is indeed forever free. Having known Me as the enjoyer of yagyas and austerities, as the great Lord of all the world, as the friend of all beings, he attains to peace.
Chapter 6
All problems in the relative phase of life could be solved by adding the value of absolute consciousness to the consciousness of the relative state. Validity of action to make permanent the state of Union experienced in the state of absolute consciousness gained in the transcendental state. (p. 383)
“Wishing to ascend to Yoga, action is said to be the means.” The Lord wants the aspirant to perform right action according to his dharma, thus purifying himself and, through the increase of purity, maintaining steadiness of mind. (p. 390)
The mind, during meditation, reaches the state of transcendental Being and, coming out of the Transcendent into the field of relative life, remains saturated with Being. With constant practice of transcendental meditation, there comes a point where the saturation of the mind with Being becomes permanent and continues without interruption throughout all experiences in the relative world, with the result that the Self is experienced as separate from activity, and the binding influence of action is neutralized. The conscious mind of man, acting in the world, then acts in freedom, supported and protected by Being. This is how the Self, having been conquered by the self, befriends the self. The lower self and the higher Self belong to the one indivisible aspects of life. Like siblings bound by the natural affinity of blood, they support each other in every way.
6.7 For him who has conquered his self, who is deep in peace, the transcendent Self is steadfast in heat and cold, in pleasure and pain, in honor and dishonor.
When thoughts appear one should not fight them, should not try to control the mind against them or try to run away from them; one should deal with them innocently. Let it be according to the will of God. Proceed on your meditation in a relaxed way and unconcerned with thoughts. (p. 411)
Yoga (Union) is not only a state where the mind is fixed in divine consciousness. It is at the same time a state of individual life where every aspect of being is in perfect harmony with divine life and with life in nature. This state can only become permanent when the physical nervous system is sufficiently cultured to maintain it. The mind is in tune with the cosmic mind, or intelligence of God, while the functioning of the body sets itself in tune with the functioning of cosmic nature. The senses rise to the full height of their capability, in order to experience and enjoy objects on the level of the divine play. But for body, organs and senses to function in their most natural way, in full accord with the laws of nature, it is absolutely essential that the routine of life be moderate, that everything connected with food and activity remain within the limits of moderation, that the happy medium be maintained. (p. 416)
Chitta is that aspect of mind which is a quiet and silent collection of impressions, or seeds of desires. Chitta is like water without ripples. It is called manas, or mind, when ripples arise. (p. 422)
Through the inward flow of the mind, by quietly locating the hidden universal Being, a ray whose eternal light is sufficient to dispel all the darkness of ignorance and shower down the blessings of almighty God. (p. 428)
Desires are not helpful on the path (to liberation) because they stimulate the nervous system to external activity and this is opposed to its eternal activity, which gives experience of subtle states of thought as the mind proceeds towards the state of transcendental consciousness. (p. 430)
6.25 Let him gradually retire through the intellect possessed of patience; having established the mind in the Self, let him not think at all.
Nothing should be done to hasten or modify this process (entering into transcendental meditation). Once begun, it should be allowed to proceed by itself…If the process is not disturbed and is allowed to go by itself in a very innocent manner, then the mind slips into the Self. If, on the other hand, pressure or force is applied in any way to check the mind or to control the process, the mind will be thrown off the course on which it is naturally set and off-balance into agitation and a feeling of discomfort….One must not exert oneself in order to transcend. Exertion of any kind only retards the process of transcending. (p. 432)
What is happening should not be watched and analyzed or scrutinized by the intellect. No critical scrutiny of the process is needed. The intellect only needs to be receptive and appreciative and not in any way discriminative or on its guard. It has only to accept experience as it comes.
‘Let him gradually retire’: so that the mind, as it fathoms the deeper levels of the thought-process, may simultaneously become refined in order to experience further subtler states and may proceed onward in an innocent manner. If a man standing in bright light suddenly rushes into a dark cave, his eyes may not be able to see what is there inside the cave; but if he enters slowly, his eyes become used to the lesser intensity of light, and then he is able to see. The mind, when it retires deep within goes from the more gross to the subtler levels of experience. Therefore it is essential for the mind not to rush in suddenly but to go gradually and patiently.
‘Let him not think at all.’ The transcendental state of consciousness lies beyond the mind’s ability to think. Any attempt to think in that state will not succeed. This is the state where one just enjoys being there. (p. 433)
6.41 Having attained the worlds of the righteous and dwelt there for countless years, he that strayed from Yoga is born in the house of the pure and illustrious.
The Taittiriya Upanishad describes the various degrees of happiness enjoyed by the different brings in creation. All the different planes of life are gained in accordance with the principle of action and its results. The degree of righteousness in this world is the criterion for determining which of these higher planes of life is reached. The worlds of the righteous are therefore the worlds of greater happiness, where beings enjoy much greater harmony and freedom than man enjoys on earth. But they no longer engage in the practice of Yoga. For that they have to come back to earth. Coming back here they are born ‘in the house of the pure and illustrious’, which provides a congenial atmosphere for Yoga. They resume their practice and attain final liberation. (p. 461)
6.44 By that former practice itself he is irresistibly borne on. Even the aspirant to Yoga passes beyond the Vedas.
No temptation held out by any other aspect of life is able to keep him from resuming his path. He is not held back by anything, not even by the promise of various gains through Vedic rites and rituals. (p. 463)