CHAPTER2- SANKHYAYOGA
TRANSCENDENTAL KNOWLEDGE
sanjayauvaacha
1. .tham thaThaa krpayaavishtamaSrupoorNaakulekshaNam
visheedhantham idham vaakyam uvaacha maDhusoodhanaH
Sanjaya said,
To Arjuna thus filled with pity and with eyes filled with tears, Krishna said these words.
Here for the first time the Lord starts to speak and the real essence of the Gita starts only from the 11th sloka.
Krpayaa aavishtam- possessed by pity, the avesa is used in the sense of some external force taking possession of an individual. Here it shows that the pity for his enemies is not something natural but had taken possession of Arjuna which fact is confirmed by the words of Krishna.
aSru poorna- filled with tears and aakula- disturbed , eekshaNam- eye, refers to Arjuna with tear-filled eyes, governs tham- him, Arjuna
visheedhantham- who was grieving. Vishaadha is grief.
madhusoodhanaH- the killer of the demon Madhu, Krishna.
uvaacha- said, idham vaakyam – these words.
uvaacha- said
Sri bhagvaan uvaacha
2 kuthasthvaam kaSmalam idham vishame samupasThitham
anaaryajushtam asvargyam akeerthikaram arjuna
The Lord said,
From where did you get this despondency Arjuna, at a time most inappropriate . It is not proper for a noble person. It is not conducive to attainment of heaven and also will bring only disgrace.
All the lofty arguments of Arjuna have been summarily dismissed by Krishna as being kaSmalam, rubbish or ignominious, more so because this attitude has come to him, at the most inopportune moment, vishamesamupasThiatham.
The thoughts expressed by Arjuna were ignominious because they were not based on sound judgment and inappropriate because it was like looking after one leaped. The war was well thought out by both parties especially Pandavas who tried their level best to avoid it but had it thrust on them. Now when they were at the brink of war the only way out is to fight. Arjuna was known for his valour and hence to get this attitude is most unfitting for him, anaaryajushtam. Arya is the term used for a noble man, here, a hero. So Krishna says it is anarya , not noble to have such emotions at the moment when the war was about to start any moment.. The words asvargyam and akeerthikaram, mean, neither conducive to attainment of heaven nor to acquire fame. That is, this attitude is beneficial neither in this world nor in the next.
3. klaibyam ma sma gamaH paarTha na ethath thvayi upapadhyathe
kshudhram hrdhaya dhourbalyam thyakthvaa utthishTa paranthapa.
Do not give way to this unmanly emotion, Arjuna, this does not suit you. Throw away this weakness of heart which is demeaning and rise , oh scorcher of foes!
klaibyam means unmanly as the word kleeba denotes a eunuch.
hrdhaya dhourbalyam- weakness of heart which is found only in cowards and not for Arjuna whom Krishna calls paranthapa, the one who scorched his foes. Paraan thaapayathi. Ithi paranthapaH.
Hence give up, thyakthvaa, this weakness and rise up, utthishTa, says Krishna , because you are a great hero.
Krishna could see that the pity that has come over Arjuna was not due to mercy towards his relatives in general, especially towards kouravas but it was prompted by his reluctance to fight against Bheeshma , Drona, Krpa, etc. who were his respected elders. That was why Krishna calls it hrdhaya dhourbalyam and not krpa, which it was not.. This was made explicit by the words of Arjuna in the next few slokas. It is to be noted that the term krpa was used only by Sanjaya, who perhaps thought that Arjuna was refusing to fight because of pity.
4.kaTham bheeshmam aham sankhye dhrONam cha maDhusudhana
ishubhiH prathiyothsyaami poojaarhaan arisudhana
How can I oppose Bheeshma and Dhrona, who are revered , with arrows, Madhusudhana., who is the slayer of foes.
Here the real reason for the despondency of Arjuna is revealed. He is hesitant to fight with Bheeshma and Dhrona, whom he respects as being worthy of worship. Arjuna uses two epithets to denote Krishna , namely, madhusoodhana and arisoodhna. He was the killer of demon Madhu and of his foes. What Arjuna means here is that Bheeshma and Dhrona were neither demons like Madhu nor the enemies. Hence how could Krishna expect Arjuna to fight with them.
sankhyam is battle.. ishubhiH by arrows. Yothsyaami means I will fight. Prathyothsyaami means to oppose in battle.
areen soodhayathi ith arosoodhanaH- one who kills (soodhayathi), his foes, (areen)
5. guroon ahathvaa hi mahaanubhaavaan
Sreyo bhokthum bhaikshyam api iha loke
Hathvaa arThakaamaan thu guroon iha eva
Bhunjeeya bhogaan ruDhira pradhigDhaan
It is better to live a beggar's life in this world rather than to kill the revered elders. By killing them we will only enjoy the pleasures and wealth and other objects of desire of this world which will be stained with blood.
Arjuna says that instead of attaining the kingdom and wealth and enjoy the riches and the pleasures of it he would rather live without wealth and go begging. It is better than killing the revered elders and getting the kingdom because their enjoyment will be stained with their blood if they do so.
Kshathriyas are not supposed to take alms even if they are about to die. But Arjuna was prepared even for that in order not to kill Bheeshma , Dhrona and other respected elders. This shows that Arjuna had misunderstood dharma for adharma and vice versa due to utter confusion in his mind and had not understood the words of Krishna in the previous slokas.
He calls Bheeshma and others as guroon and mahaanubhavas, those venerable and his teachers. If so, they should have known better than coming to fight with the Pandavas whose cause was righteous. But the fact that they have done so shows that they had no confusion in their minds about dharma and adharma and having chosen their role to playing the battle they had no compunction to do their duty.
bhaikshyam- alms.
hathvaa guroon- after killing the elders.
arthakaamaan bhogaan bunjeeya- will enjoy the wealth and desired objects, here, the kingdom.
ruDhirpra prasdhigDhaan- stained with blood.
6.na cha ethath vidhmaH katharan naH gareeyaH
yath vaa jayema yadhi vaa jayeyuH
yaaneva hathva na jijivishaamaH
the avasThithaaH pramukhe dhaartharaashtraaH
We do not know which of the two alternatives is better for us, whether to win the war or to be vanquished by them. The sons of Dhrtharashtra killing whom we would not wish to live are standing in front.
vidhmaH-we do not know,
Katharan-of the two, gareeyaH-better. This word is the comparative form of guru meaning big, here meaning better.
jijeevishaamaH- we will not wish to live.
Pramukhe avasThithaaH- stand in front.
Arjuna shows his mental confusion by saying that he would not wish to live by killing the sons of Dhrathrashtra , which was not his dilemma but only to kill Bheeshma, Dhrona etc That .he himself had become aware of this the next sloka proves.
7.kaarpaNyadhoshopagathasvabhaavaH
prcChaami thvaam Dharma sammooDachethaaH
yath SreyaH syaath nischitham broohi thath me
SishyaH the aham SaaDhi maam thvaam prapannam
With my nature affected by the defect of weakness, I ask you with a mind confused about what is dharma, please tell me which is good for me. I am your disciple and please advise me. .
kaarpaNya- weak mindedness, poor mental state in which I one is unable to decide.
upahathasvabhaavah- which has affected my character. Arjuna had understood that the feeling that has overcome him was not something natural to his character.
dhrmasammooDachethaah- mind covered with confusion about dharma.
Sreyah means that which is good for all times as opposed to preyas, which is good at the moment, being what is desired .
Nischitham broohi- Tell me for certain by dispelling the doubt and confusion in my mind. I surrender to you.
SaaDhi- command .maam prapannam- me who. Surrender to you
This sloka sows the seed for the geethopadesa.
Arjuna exhausted himself and seemed to be at crossroads and said " I am utterly confused please tell me what is good for me." He uses the word shreyas. So long he had been talking about what was preyas to him, what he wanted to do. .Now he was asking what he should do. Then and then only the Lord started talking .In our life too we go on telling the lord what to do and never ask Him what we should do. When we do ask He starts telling us what to do .Similarly when Arjuna said sishyastheham shaadhimaam thwaam prapannam, I am your disciple I surrender to you, only then Krishna starts giving him the advice because advice given unasked will not be taken well! Now only Krishna starts speaking as the jagatguru.
8. na hi prpaSyaami mama apnudhyaath yath Sokam ucChoshaNam
indhriyaaNaam
avapya bhoomou asapathnam rdDham raajyam suraaNaam api cha
aadhipayhyam
I do not feel that even the sovereignty over the devas or to enjoy the kingdom free of enemies will remove the sorrow in heart, that dries up my senses.
Apanudhyaath-will remove
ucChoshaNam- that which dries up.
asapthnam- free of enemies. Sapathna means enemy.
rdDhm –prosperity, here kingdom
aaDhipthyam – sovereignty
Arjuna requests Krishna to tell him a means to remove the sorrow which is eating his heart due to the thought of killing his kith and kin.
Sanjaya uvaacha
Evam ukthvaa hrsheekeSam gudaakesaH paranthaopa
Na yothsya ithi govindam ukthvaa thooshNeem babhoova ha
Sanjaya said,
Saying thus to Hresheekesa, the master of Indhryiyas , Arjuna , the conquerer of sleep, said, O king, to Govinda, "I will not fight."
Here the terms used to denote Arjuna and Krishna are significant. The one who asked was Gudakesa, meaning the he had conquered sleep , that is , he is capable of controlling his senses and this weakness is only temporary. The names Hrsheekesa and Govinda , both denote that the one who is going to advise is the master of the senses. Also Govinda as already mentioned means the Lord in all His avatharas, and the master of speech, senses etc. The various meaning of Govinda are given below.
The word 'go' has several meanings in sanskrit such as earth, indriya,svarga,or mokshaastra Cow, veda etc. Based on that the scholars explain the name thus:
1.Gaam(second case singular of 'go') , svargam or moksham vindhayathi,secures ithi govindhah. He is govindha because He bestows mukthi.
2.Gaam, ishum, meaning astras vindhathi - He acquired the astras from Visvamithra in Ramavathara.
3.Gaah(accusative plural of 'go', pasu.) vindhathi. He knew the cows, that is, He knew them to be the rshis of dandakaaranya in His krishnavathara. Balarama is also implied by the word cow as He went with Krishna for gorakshana.
4.Gobhih (instrumental plural of 'go' meaning veda.) vindhyathe. He is known through the vedas.
5 Gaam, vajram, vindhayathi. He made it possible for Indra to get vajrayudha by instructing him to approach Dhadheechi and beg him to give his backbone.
6. Gavaa (instrumental singular of 'go'meaning dhrk, look) dhrsaa vindhathi. He knows all by His dhrk or appropriate kataksha. He knows how to look at every one and when.
7. Gaah nethraaNi vindhathi- He has thrinethra, three eyes as Nrsimha, and also eyes everywhere, 'sahasraakshassahasrapath'
8. Gaah, jwaalaah, vindhathi, has fiery form, being Suryamandala Madhya varthi.Chandhogya upanishad describes Brahman as 'Ya eshahantharaadhithye hiraNmayah purushah dhrsyathe hiranyasmasru hiranya kesa aapraNakhaath sarva Eva suvarNah' The purusha seen inside the orb of the Sun with golden beard, golden hair an exceedingly effulgent even to the very tips of His nails. The purusha here is paramaathman or Narayana. This is the passage where the famous 'kapyaasam pundarikam' occurs referred to in the charitra of Ramanuja.
9.Gaam , bhoomim vindhathi, brought the earth from the depth of the ocean, Varahavathara and also Parsurama as He wandered all over the earth and Trivikrama as He measured the earth with His feet.
10. Gaam , jalam vindhathi. resorts to the waters, Mathsya and Koorma.
11. Gaam vedam vindhathi. He alone knows the real purport of the vedas. Refers to Hayagrivaavathara
12. Gaam ,indhriyam vindhathi .The Lord of the indhriyas, Hrishikesah. Makes the indhriyas enter into appropriate vishaya.
10.tham uvaacha hrsheekeSaH prahasan iva bharatha
senayoH ubhayoH maDhye visheedhantham idham vachaH
Krishna told Arjuna, who was grief-stricken in between the two armies, these words with a semblance of a smile.
Krishna seeing the pitiable state of Arjuna who, having decided to fight and advancing to the battle field and asking Krishna to move the chariot so that he could see the sons of Dhrthrashtra, calling them evil minded, and who else have come to support them, felt disheartened the moment he saw Bheeshma and Dhrona. That was the emotion exactly what exactly Krishna wanted him to have when he moved the chariot and placed it in front of Bheeshma and Dhrona. It was necessary at that time to make the will of Arjuna strong so that he would do his duty without hesitation because if he developed pity later when he came face to face with Bheeshma and the rest in battle it would have been disastrous. Of course the whole drama was directed by the Lord who was the script writer, director and also played a role in it.
prahasan iva- Sanjaya says that Krishna looked as though he was smiling The reason for this was,
1. This was what exactly the Lord intended to happen,
2. It was the smile of the father to his child who talks as an adult to impress him.
3.It is a derisive smile of the wise to an ignorant who talks like the wise .
senayoHubhayoH maDhye visheedhantham- meaning that Arjuna was affected with grief at the most inappropriate time when the two armies are arrayed ready to fight.
Here a doubt may arise that it was only the will of the Lord that this should happen and therefore why should he laugh at Arjuna? The answer is the mental confusion was created by the Lord but the words Arjuna spoke to justify himself were his own. We also do that when we want to justify our actions which are not directed by our intellect but only by our desire. What we think or say then are nothing but prajnaavaadha, as Krishna terms the arguments of Arjuna in the next sloka. Then also the Lord smiles at us and if we surrender to Him like Arjuna did. He will start to speak to us clearing our mental confusion but if not, He will simply smile and allow us to reap the result of our actions.
From the next sloka the introduction to the sasthra begins for the sake of Arjuna and also for the posterity.
Sri Bhagavan uvaacha -- The Lord said;
11. aSochyaan anvaSochaH thvam prajnaavaadhaan cha bhaashase
gathaasoon agathaasoon cha na anuSochanthi pandithaah
You are worrying about those who need not be worried about. You also give arguments like a man of wisdom. A real man of wisdom grieves over neither the dead nor the living.
Now starts the real discourse of Bhagavatgita. Krishna says asochyaananvasochasthwam prajnaavadhaamschabhashase`You are grieving over those who need not be grieved about.' What Krishna means here is that Bhishma and Drona had no compunction to fight against their own grandson and pupil respectively, not because they were heartless but because they had no confusion about their duty, svadharma , like Arjuna. Further Krishna says that Arjuna had tried to conceal his confusion under his arguments as though they were words of wisdom prajnaavadhaamscha bhaashase. The arguments of Arjuna are ridiculed by Krishna because if he were really wise panditha he would not have worried over life and death. .Then Krishna starts giving Arjuna the divine wisdom.
If he were a real panditha or a man of wisdom as he was trying to profess, he would not have grieved over the living or the dead. What Krishna means here is that, Arjuna was expressing his anxiety over the pthrs not getting their food and water and also about the elders and other whom he was about to kill and about the posterity etc. A man who knows the sasthras would also know that the self is unattached and infinite and it is only the body that dies. And he would have known that the inner self of all is the Lord who controls the whole universe and one has to do his duty offering everything to God by surrendering himself. All this Krishna was going to elaborate in the coming chapters.
12.na thu eva aham jaathu na aasam na thvam na ime naraaDhipaaH
na bhootho nabhavishyaamaH sarve vayam athaH param
Never was the time when I or you or these kings ceased to exist nor will be a time when all of us will cease to exist.
Here Krishna starts telling Arjuna about who the real I is. The self is permanent and only the bodies change. There was never a time when you, I, and all these men in front ceased to be nor will there be a time when we all will cease to be. This is the answer to the question who am I. You are not what you think you are , says the Lord .The anxiety about living and dying comes only through identifying yourself with the body. Death is not the end of you but it is only a change of circumstance. When Krishna says "there never was a time I ceased to exist or will cease to exist," He is not only talking as an individual self but also as the supreme self, who is the inner self of all.
This idea of the permanency of the self is elaborated in the subsequent slokas.
13.dhehinaH asmin yaThaa dhehe koumaaram youvanam jharaa
thaThaa dhehaantharapraapthiH Dheerah thathra na muhyathi
The individual self assuming a body, passes through childhood, youth and old age. Similarly it acquires a different body after death. Wise never get worried about this.
You are not overly worried about changing from boyhood to youth or to old age which you consider a natural occurrence. So too death is only natural change about which you need not worry. The relations and attachment to them and grief over losing them, all this pertains only to the particular body the self is occupying at the time .
There is a story in Mahabhartha to illustrate this. Chithraratha , a king, lost his son because his other wives gave the child poison and the mother of the child and Chithraratha were grieving when Narada came there. The King told him about the cause of his sorrow and Narada said he would bring his dead son in front so that he could get solace. When the son came Narada told him that his parents are aggrieved over losing him and asked him that whether he would like to come back to life to console them. The son replied, “I had so many births with so many fathers and mothers. Whom should I satisfy? “ Then the king understood about the karma and its effects and that everything happens with a cause and with the divine will. This happened to him because he was destined to become a great bhaktha of the Lord and it was he who took birth again as Gajndhra and got mukthi.
This is what Krishna means by saying DheeraH thathra na muhyathi, the wise never worry about death and this was the reason why wise people like Bheeshma were not anxious like Arjuna and were not swayed by attachments, resolved to do their duty.
But even to the wise the contact with senses will bring pleasure and pain. This point is answered in the next sloka.
14. maathraasprSaaH thu kountheya SeethOshna sukha duhkhadhaaH
aagamaapaaynO anithyaaH thaan thithikshasva bhaaratha
The feelings of hot, cold , joy and sorrow are due to the contact of the senses with the sense objects. They are fleeting and temporary. Learn to bear them, Arjuna..
The word maathra has a meaning of element.. The gross elements are the cause or conveyors of the sensations through the contacts of the sense organs with them, as the whole world of sense objects, which includes your kith and kin, is made up of the five elements. So the sukha duhkha as well as the physical sensations like heat and cold are only through the contact of sense organs with the sense objects. They are not permanent and they change. Heat changes into cold and vice versa. Similarly what gives you happiness today may itself become the cause of sorrow tomorrow. This is what is meant by aagamaapaayinaHanithyaaH, they just come and go and thus transitory. So how to face them? Krishna says just tolerate them and do not get affected by them. It is like waiting for the bus when the bus does not seem to come or going through the hot summer days when there is power cut. No amount of fretting and fuming will solve the problem nor getting upset about it. Just wait patiently till the situation changes. or think about some thing else you can do to improve the situation. What is said for the duhkha also holds good for sukha, in the sense that it would help one to remember that even the sukha does not last long. The words seethoshna and sukha duhkha all the pairs of opposites are referred to.
Krishna refers to Arjuna by two epithets, Kountheya and Bharata. Kountheya means the son of Kunthi and also a son of soil. Bhaaratha means the descendent of the clan of Bharatha, both terms indicating his nobility of birth and valiant spirit.
15.yam hi na vyaThayanthi ethe purusham purushrshabha
samaduhkhasukham Dheeram so amrthathvaaya kalpathe
Only that whom these do not affect, and who maintains equanimity on occasions causing sorrow or joy, that wise man alone is worthy of attaining immortality.
A wise man who is not affected by the pairs of opposites and remains the same on the occasions which gives joy or sorrow to an average man. This state equanimity is further explained later in the chapter. By calling Arjuna purushrshabha meaning `a bull among men,' Krishna conveys the meaning that being above the ordinary men, Arjuna should not feel as he did.
vyaThaa means pain, vyatthaynthi is used in the sense of being affected.
purusharshabha- purushaaNaam rshabhah iva- like a bull among men.
Dheeram- Dhee means wisdom and Dheera denotes a wise man.
amrthathva- immortality meaning mukthi.
16. na asatho vidhyathe bhaavaH na abhaavo vidhaythe sathaH
ubhayoH api dhrshtaH anthaH anayoH thatthvadharSibhiH
Unreal can never come into being. The real can never cease to be. The wise know the real truth of this.
asath- unreal which has no real existence. sath- that which is real. bhava – existence , abhaava-non existence.
dhrshtaH anthah- understood in its entirety.
thatthvadarSbhiH- those who know the reality.
By the term asath the body, mind and intellect, to be exact, everything that is not self, athman , is meant. Asath has no being in the sense that its existence is not permanent and always changing. Sath is that which exists always, that is the self. . In other words, nonexistence means perishable nature and existence is imperishable. Hence Krishna says, what exists can never cease to exist and what does not exist can never come into existence. This sounds like high philosophy but this can be applied to our everyday life.
Most of our problems arise because we imagine something to be real when it is not. We identify ourselves with our body ,mind ,and intellect while the real `I' is different from all these. This can be verified through a simple exercise by trying to answer the question Who am I ? The obvious answer would be ` I .am so and so.' But that is only your name. You may say that I am father of so and so or husband of so and so. But it is only your relationship. Even when you say I am a professor or I am an intellectual, it only denotes your professional and intellectual status. So, who are you in reality? We commonly speak about our body as when we say "My body aches all over." This proves that you are not your body. Similarly when we use expressions like "My mind is upset" or "My intellect has failed to grasp this" it is obvious that we are separate from our mind and intellect.
That the real self must be something different from our body, mind, and intellect we are able to perceive with no difficulty at all .But there is another `I' which we have to reckon with , and that is our ego, which is the consciousness that I am. Even this is absent when we are in deep sleep because we are not aware of ourselves then. But there is some entity who is aware of our existence even at that stage which makes us say that we had a sound sleep. This is the real `I' which is even different from our ego .This is what Krishna calls avinaasi or sariri. Except that , everything else can be termed as transitory or antavantah, as brought out in the subsequent slokas..
17. avinaaSi thu thath vidDhi yena sarvam idham thatham
vinaaSam avyayasya asya na kaSchith karthum arhathi
That by which all this is pervaded is indestructible. Understand this and that none can destroy this immutable self.
The self which alone is real pervades all, this sarvam idham thatham which is unreal. That self is avinaaSi, indestructible, It is avyaya, immutable.
This is elaborated in the next few slokas.
The term sath, actually means the Brahman, the supreme reality. In advaita, the individual self is identical with Brahman and hence the word sath means the self which is Brahman. It is immutable and indestructible. In visishtadvaita Brahman is synonymous with Narayana, the inner self of all beings, sentient and insentient, which form His sareera and the knowledge about reality is the knowledge about Brahman. The individual self is immortal and real while the non-self is also real but not immutable or indestructible, being subjected to change. For instance the pot is made of clay and the clay alone is real and the pot is not real in the sense that it is destructible. In this meaning it is unreal. The clay is real in the sense that even when the pot is destroyed the clay remains. So asath means that which is mutable and destructible. The self is said to pervade, thatham, the non-self which is meant by `all this,' sarvam idham, when the self identifies itself with the non-self instead of the inner self, that is Brahman
18. anthvantha ime dhehaaH nithyasya ukthaaH sareeriNaH
anaaSinaH aprameyasya thasmaath yuDhyasva bhaaratha.
These bodies of the self, which is immortal, indestructible and incomprehensible, have an end, that is, destructible. Hence fight on Arjuna.
This means , whom you think as Bheeshma Dhrona etc. they are mere bodies and the self inside is not destructible. Only the bodies will end and not the self. The self which is immortal, is indestructible. Anticipating the question that, `if I am the self and not the body, why am I not aware of myself and think that I am the body,' Krishna says that the self is incomprehensible. It means that the self cannot be known by the usual means of knowledge, like perception etc. because it is beyond the comprehension of the senses and intellect. It is the seer who cannot be seen by the eyes, by whose power the eyes are able to see.
Hence Krishna says " you fight , Arjuna." By saying that the bodies have an end Krshna refers to the whole world which is the body of the supreme self, who is the inner self of the individual self, which is part and parcel of the supreme self and not identical as in advaita. If the individual self is also the sareera of the Lord, would it not also have an end, the advaitin may question. But according to Ramanuja philosophy, nothing is unreal but everything only changes its form and hence said to have an end, like the pot which ends when it is broken but continues to exists as clay and when it is broken one does not wail about it but gets another. Just as the clay persists in all pots broken or unbroken, the self persists in all embodiments and hence it is indestructible and immortal because it is ensouled by Brahman, its inner self. Hence it is known only by the knowledge of Brahman which the Gita teaches in all its eighteen chapters.
The delusion of Arjuna regarding the killing of Bheeshma and Dhrona etc. is because of his identification with the body, mind and intellect. If he identifies himself with his self which is controlled by the supreme self, he would not have any compunction to do his duty which he would consider as the bidding of the Lord within. This is the transformation brought about by Krishna in Arjuna by the discourse of Gita.
anthavanthaH- those which have an end,antham.
Sareerinah- of the self inside the body. Sareeram asya asthi ithi Sareeree, the self which has a body. Thasya, sareerinaH of the self
Nithyasaya, of the self which is immortal, nithya means ever existing
anaaSinah.- not destructible, na naasinah=anaaSinah
aprameya – immeasurable or incomprehensible. meya is measurable, here, that which could be understood.
.
19. ya enam vetthi hanthaaram yaH cha enam manyathe hatham
ubhou thou na vijaaneethaH na ayam hanthi na hanyathe
One who thinks that this self is the killer , hanthaaram, and one who thinks that this self is killed, hatham, both of them ,ubhou thou, do not know the truth, na vijaaneethaH, that this self, ayam, neither gets killed na hanyathe, nor kills, na hanthi.
Continuing the idea of the previous sloka, Krishna here says that being immortal and indestructible the self can neither be killed nor kill anyone and those who think so are ignorant. What is killed and gets killed is only the body and not the self. It is said that the self cannot kill anyone because there is no action for the self and all actions pertain to the body, mind and intellect. This truth will be elaborated later in the Git.a
20.na jaayathe mriyathe vaa kadhaachith
na ayam bhoothvaa bhavithaa vaa na bhooyaH
ajaH nithyaH SaasvathaH ayam puraaNaH
na hanyathe hanyameene sareere
The self is never born and never dies. Having been in existence it never ceases to be. It is unborn, eternal, ever existing and ancient and it is not killed when the body gets killed.
Any thing that is born has to undergo six changes of state which are. Jaaythe, born, Asthi, exists, varDhathe, grows, viparinamathe, transformed, ksheeyathe, decays and naSyathi., destroyed. To say that the self has none of these changes, which is indicated by na jaayathe, na mriyahe, birth ,the beginning and the death , the end are not for the self, automatically dismisses the other four changes as well. Hence it is nithya, eternal. and SaaSvatha , ever existent. Therefore the self is not something which has come into being, bhoothvaa, having not existed before, na bhavtthaa. As such , the self is not killed, na hanyathe, when the body gets killed, hanyamaane sareere. Being eternal and ever existent it is puraaNaH , ancient..
When it could simply be termed as permanent or eternal why does Krishna employs so many epithets? In Sanskrit literature not a single word is a tautology but carries different implications A thing may be unborn but it may have an end. A classical example given for this in Vedanta is that of prior non-existence or praagabhaava. Before something, say, a pot, is created, there was its non-existence which is known as its praagabhaava. This can be termed as unborn as it has no beginning. But it has an end when the pot comes into existence .So it is not eternal or everlasting An example of something which has a beginning but no end is what is known as posterior non-existence or dwamsa. When the pot is destroyed its dvamsa or destruction which has a beginning but no end. So it is said to be born but deathless. .Nityah is eternal while saaswata means without decay. The self which is the real `I' remains always as it is .But it is also puraana ancient.
Not only the self does not get killed but also the self does not kill. This is explained in the next sloka.
21.vedha avinaaSinam nithyam ya enam ajam avyayam
kaTham sa purushaH paarTha kam ghaathayathi hanthi kam
When one comes to know that this self is eternal, unborn and immutable, how and whom does he kill or cause to be killed?
When one has the knowledge of the real nature of the self to be eternal and immutable and indestructible he identifies himself not with the body but with he self. Neither does he identify others with their body. So even if he had to kill others in circumstances such as war he does not attach the agent-ship to himself. This is because a man of knowledge does all his actions as the instrument of the Lord who is inside his self as the inner self. He is without raga and dvesha and hence the act of killing done as a duty does not affect him.
This should not cause one to wonder whether the terrorists are justified because they also kill because they think that it is the command of God . But it is only mistaken identity because they identify themselves with the body only and also consider others as bodies and not the self. To cite an example in the worldly sense one might say that the soldiers who had to kill for the sake of protecting the country, do so without passion and as a duty. This is the spirit of a kshathriya though the knowledge of self may not be there.
22.vaasaamsi jeerNaani yaThaavihaaya navaani grhNaathi naraH aparaaNi
thaThaa SareeraaNi vihaaya jeerNaani anyaani samyaathi navaani dhehee
Just as the men throw away the old clothes and take new ones, the self discards the old bodies and attains new ones.
Even though it may be true that the real `I ` is the self and not the body, nevertheless the loss of life when the body dies is felt by all. How to explain this? The answer is given in this sloka. Death is something like discarding old clothes and putting on new ones.
yaThaa-Just as
vihaaya- throwing away
Vaasaamsi –clothes
jeerNaani- which are old or used ones.
naraH grhnaathi- a man puts on
navaani aparaaNi- other new ones
thaTha- likewise
dhehee- the self
vihaaya SareeraaNi jeerNani- discarding the old bodies
anyaani navaani samyaath- attains other new bodies.
This sounds alright if death occurs at old age when the body has become jeerna or old and becomes a burden.. But how can this analogy of discarding old clothes and putting on new ones be applied when death occurs at young age or childhood when the body cannot be termed as old?
Jeerna here means that it had served its purpose. A body is acquired for the purpose of exhausting a particular karma and when the result of that karma has been experienced, that body has served its purpose and becomes jeerna. The residue of karma cannot be exhausted in that body and hence it is shed to acquire a different one suited for the purpose. So death is not something to be feared or grieved about at any age.
To leave the old body and go to new one is a matter of grief only for an ignorant man and not for the wise. The mother changes the dirty cloth of the child putting on new one or puts on a different one suited to the occasion even if the child does not like to do so and cries. But it is for the benefit of the child the mother does it. Similarly the Lord takes off our existing body when it is time to enter a new one according to our karma.
The word samyaathi means to attain or move to. But the self is said to be eternal and ever existing and immutable. So how does it move from one place to another? The self .Athman is not the one which moves but the individual self , jeeva consisting of subtle body of mind and intellect and ego is that which moves from one gross body to another. When we take a pot from one place to another, the space inside does not move because it is all pervading but it is only the pot that moves. Similarly the self is not moving anywhere but only the conditioning of mind and intellect and ego seem to move. That is why it is said that the self assumes new bodies, in plural, meaning gross body, subtle body, mind and intellect, and the causal body, ego the effect of karma. When the causal body also undergoes change according to karma the subtle body also acquires a new one.
23.nainam Chindhanthi Sasthraani nainam dhahathi paavakaH
na cha enam kledhayanthi aapah na Soshayathi maaruthaH
The weapons do not destroy the self. The fire does not burn it, the waters do not wet it nor the wind dries it.
Anything that is created and the product of the four elements can be destroyed or modified. The four elements , earth, water, fire and air cannot destroy the self . The Sasthra denotes the earth element , meaning the weapons which is the grossest form of destruction. Anything that has a body has earth as its component and can be cut by the weapons. But the self has no body being subtler than the earth. . Similarly the fire cannot burn anything subtler than it like air or space. Athman is subtler than both air and space. Water can wet only a thing which has space in between so that the water can enter into it. But the self being all pervading and without parts as the Upanishad says, one only without a second, water cannot wet it. For the same reason air cannot dry it. These four elements have no effect on the space which is subtler than them and hence the self which is subtler even than the akasa, is not affected by the elements.
24. acChedhyo ayam adhaahyo ayam akledhyo aSoshya eva cha
nithyaH sarvagahaH sThaaNuH achalo ayam snaathanaH
Hence the self cannot be cut, nor can it be burned, nor becomes wet nor gets dried up, being eternal, all pervading firm and immovable and ancient.
Reiterating what has been said in the previous sloka, Krishna gives the reason why the self is not affected by the action of the four elements. It is because the self is nithyaH, eternal. It has already been said in the foregoing slokas that the self never ceased to exist. `nathevaaham jaathu naasam,' and avinaSinam nithyam ajam avyayam etc.
It is also sarvagathaH, all pervading, meaning that the elements do not pervade it but the self pervades the elements being subtler than the subtlest.
sThaaNuh means firm because being all pervading naturally it has to be firm and hence achalaH , immovable. The two words sThaaNuH and achalaH, though seem to denote the same thing are different in meaning. For instance a thing which is firm, meaning, stays in one place need not be immovable, achala. A tree is sThaaNu but not achala as its branches and leaves are moving though it stays in one place. But the self cannot move because when a thing is all pervading there is nowhere it can move to. It is eternal and hence sanaathanaH, ancient.
25. avyaktho ayam achinthyo ayam avikaaryo ayam uchyathe
thasmaath evam vidhithvaa enam na anuSochithum arhasi
The self is unmanifest, inconceivable and unchanging. Therefore .knowing the self to be such, you should not grieve.
avyakthah ayam- the self is unmanifest. To have manifestation it is necessary to have a body which is made up of the elements. As the self is subtler than the elements it is not manifest. That is, it could not be cognized by the sense organs.
achinthyah ayam- the self is inconceivable. Something that is not manifest or cognizable by the senses could be the object of cognition through mind and intellect like the feelings and ideas. But the self is beyond mind and intellect as the Upanishad declares that `yatho vaacho nivarthanthe aprapya mansaa saha,' the speech and mind are not able to reach that reality which is beyond the senses, mind and intellect. This is because the senses, mind and intellect are able to function because of the presence of the self. As the eye cannot see itself but only objects outside, the senses, mind and intellect are not able to perceive that by which they get the power of perception.
avikaaryo ayam- The self is unchanging because it is nithya, saravgath, sThaNu and achala.
Hence Krishna tells Arjuna not to grieve over killing the bodies as the self cannot be destroyed.
Bhagavatgita is like milk which is easily digestible for infants while Upanishads are like food for adults which is not so easy to digest , which is why the former is called Dugdham gitamritam mahat .Highest vedanta is administered in easy doses by mixing it with brutal commonsense. For instance, after describing the nature of atman now Krishna comes down to the mundane affairs and talks in terms of everyday experience in the next three slokas.
26. atha cha enam nithya jaatham nithyam vaa manyase mrtham
thaThaaa api thvam mahaabaaho na evam Sochithum arhasi.
Even if you identify yourself with the body , even then you should not grieve.
This view is according to those who do not understand the existence of a permanent entity as athman. This is rather a materialistic philosophy told by Krishna perhaps seeing the blank expression on the face of Arjuna who did not quite get at the idea of the eternal self. Krishna says that even if Arjuna thinks that the self is identical with the body and is born, nithyajaatham, and dies, nithyam mrtham, with the body, he should not grieve because,
27. jaathasya hi Dhruvo mrthyuH dhruvam janma mrthasya cha
thasmaath aparihaarye arThe na thvam sochithum arhasi
Death is certain for those who are born and birth is certain for those who die. Hence you should not grieve over the inevitable.
Death is inevitable when one is born. And those who die are certain to be born. This is absolutely from the point of view of materialism. It is normally said ,when some one dies, that, when people are born they have to die one day. The death comes only when the life ends. So unless the people have come to the end of their lives and are destined to die they cannot be killed by man or by accident. This we see in everyday life. Whenever there is a disaster, due to natural calamities or accident like plane crash etc., or even killings by men, terrorists or otherwise, there are always some who escape however great the magnitude of the disaster. This means that for them the time of death had not come then. So Krishna says that who dies when and how is not in our hands. So it is no use grieving over death. Those die are not lost forever because they do take birth again whether you believe in an eternal soul or not.
An entity which is created is sure to be annihilated but origination and annihilation are only different states of an entity. Clay exists before the pot and pot exists before the potsherds and potsherds again become clay and later originate as another pot. Similarly all beings get annihilated and originate which is a continuous process. Krishna mentions this process as apariharya, inevitable and hence need not be grieved for.
28. avyakthaadheeni bhoothaani vyakthamaDhyaani bhaaratha
avyakthaniDhanaani eva thasya kaa paridhevanaa
Nothing is known about the beginning of existence of all beings and only the intermediate existence is known and the end is not also not seen hence why lament about all this?
What we perceive as life and the world existed even before we took this particular manifestation. We do not know the beginning nor the end.. When a baby is born, for instance, we do not know what it was before its birth and how many births it has gone through and similarly when a man dies we do not know where he goes and how many more births he had to undergo. So what is visible to us of the whole universe and all beings in the universe is only a small portion compared to the whole existence as such. So Krishna says, why should there be any grief over the loss of lives or entities in this world. No one knows when the creation started and when it is going to end. It is like a flowing stream in the dark out of which we see only a small portion that comes to light which again goes back to darkness.
avaykthaaadheeni bhoothaani- all beings have unmanifest beginning and
avyakthaniDhanaani- unknown end or their end is not manifest.
vyakthamaDhyaani- they become manifest only for the time they are in this particular embodiment.
Pardevanaa- lamenting
29.Aascharyavat pasyati kaschidenam aascharyavat vadati thathaiva chaanyaha
aascharyavatchainam anyahsrunoti srutvaapyenam veda nachaiva kaschit
In accordance with the trend of the Gita , Krishna again ascends the pinnacle of wisdom and says-
someone , kaSchith, sees, paSyathi, this, enam, (Atman) as something wonderful, aascharyavath; another, kaSchith, speaks of it , vadhathi, as something wonderful and yet another kaSchith, hears of it, SrNothi, as something wonderful. Burt even after hearing about it, Sruthvaa api, no one know is as such, na vedha kasChith.
Krishna explains that the self in incomprehensible. Some see it as something of a wonder, some speak of it as a wonder, others hear about it as something wonderful, but even after hearing about it no one understands. The rare ones who have experienced Atman or Brahman view it as a great wonder in the sense that it is something beyond perception, being beyond the comprehension of the sense organs. Among those, only few are able to tell others about it , and when they do, they refer to it as something wonderful because it exceeds verbal description. Those who listen about it are also wonder-struck on hearing about it and it is still more difficult to find one who understands this as it really is.
`Some one perceives this,' means the yogic perception as the self cannot be perceived by the senses. Only those who have realized the self can have the experience of the self and to them it appears as something wonderful being outside the realm of sensory perception. Even among those who have had the experience of the self, it is rare to find someone who tries to communicate the experience. Anything that is seen, heard and felt or cognized is of limited content. The self is beyond all limits of perception, feelings and thoughts. But the sages of yore have tried to explain that which cannot be explained, out of mercy to the humanity. Hence to those who hear about the self it is something of a wonder because they could not conceive of anything beyond the body, mind and intellect. Hence no one understands it through hearing because the truth of the supreme reality could be understood only through experience. Srutho api refers not only the hearing but also the knowledge of the sruthis, that is, Vedas. Even one who has learnt the Vedas could not know the self because mere learning is not enough which Krishna is going to elaborate later in the chapter.
30. dhehee nithyam avaDhyo ayam dhehe sarvasya bhaaratha
thasmath sarvaaNi bhoothaani nathvam Sochithum arhathi
This self, dhehee, cannot be killed, avaDhyah, because it is eternal, nithyaH. This is the case of all beings in all bodies, dhehe sarvasya and hence you should not grieve over any being.
Krishna had described the self so far as that which could not be destroyed and by the previous sloka he had made it clear that since the self is uncognisable by senses , mind and intellect, nothing could destroy that. Hence in this sloka Krishna tells Arjuna that he should not grieve over all beings including Bheeshma and Dhrona because they are not mere bodies. Then he goes on to talk in the worldly sense reminding Arjuna about his duty as a kshathriya.
31.svaDharmaam api cha avEkshya na vikampithum arhasi
Dharmyaath hi yudDhaath SreyaH kshathriyasya na vidhyathe
Even considering your own duty you should not swerve from it. For kshathriya there is nothing more preferred than a righteous war.
kshathaath thraayathi ithi kshathriyah A ksathriya is the one who protects from harm. That is, it is the dharma of a kshathriya to fight for the right cause,. A war which was not started for selfish reasons and out of greediness and is unavoidable and fought as a duty is a blessing for a kshathryia . The Pandavas were fighting only for what was rightfully theirs.
svadharma- the duty which comes to one in accordance with his propensities under the circumstance. This term will be explained fully later in the Gita.
Avekshya- perceiving. Making sure what is his svadharma.
Vikampithum- wavering.
SreyaH – that which is of perennial good as against that which is desired as being good., preyaH
32.yadhrcChayaa cha upapannam svargadhvaaram apaavrtham
sukhinaH kshathriyaaH labhanthe yudDham eedhrSam
A war that comes to a fortunate kshathriya like this of its own accord, opens the gates of heaven.
What Krishna means here is that the war was thrust upon the Pandavas and it was not of their own making. yadhrcchayaa means something which happens of its own accord. Hence as made out in the last sloka it is the best that could happen to a kshathriya giving him an opportunity to right the wrong done by the unrighteous. Krishna calls Arjuna as ParTha, which the commentators attribute to the intention of Krishna to remind Arjuna the message of his mother Prthaa, that is Kunthi, sent to her sons when Krishna returned from Hastinapura confirming the war.
She said,
Ethath Dhananjayo vaachyo nithyodhyuktho vrkodharaH
yadharTham kshathriyaa soothe thasya kalo ayam aagathah( MB-Udyogaparva)
This should be said to Arjuna and Bheema, who is always waiting to fight, that the moment for which a kshathriya mother gives birth to sons, have come now.
Hence Krishna says that only blessed kshathriyas get this opportunity to fight a righteous battle which opens the gates of heaven for them, svargadhvaaram apaavrtham, living or dead.
33.aTha chethvam imam Dharmyam sangramam na karishyasi
thathaH svaDharmam keerthim cha hithvaa paapam avaapsyathi
But if you do not fight this righteous war, then only you will incur sin by discarding your duty and you will also lose your fame.
Krishna, after showing Arjuna that his svadhama lies only in fighting a righteous battle , now elaborates on the possible consequences of his not fighting. He will not only incur sin by relinquishing his duty as a kshathriya but also lose the fame he has acquired so long.
Dhrmyam sangraamam- righteous war
34. akeerthim chapi bhoothaani kaThayishyanthi the avyayaam
sambhaavithasya cha akeerthiH maraNaath athirichyathe
Further the people will speak ill of you forever and for one who is in an honourable position the ill-fame is worse than death.
When he is no longer looked upon as a hero by the people they will talk ill of him and to sin into ill-fame is worse than death for one who has been an illustrious warrior.
avayayam here means that the ill-fame will be forever. The fact that Arjuna put to flight the whole army of Kouravas single handed during their attack on the herd of cattle of Virata and his fight even with Lord Siva, his exploits which earned him the name of Dhanajaya , all will be forgotten and he would be remembered only for his cowardly act of turning away from battle. It is a sad fact that the world remembers only the drawbacks of the great people because it is a human tendency to pull the great to our level to get the satisfaction that they are no better than us.
35. bhayaath raNaath uparatham mamsyanthe thvaam mahaaraThaaH
yeshaam thvam bahumathaH bhootvaa yaasyasi laaghavam
The valiant will think that you have run away from the battle in fear. Those who have high opinion of you so far will think lightly of you.
Other valiant warriors on both sides may think that Arjuna has been afraid of the might of Bheeshma and others and decided to run away from facing them on war while those who hold him in high esteem like Bheeshma and Dhrona will think that he was not worthy of it.
raNa means battle. uparatham – withdrawing .
yeshaam thvam bahumanyanthe- by whom you are held in high esteem. Here it refers to the persons revered by Arjuna like Bheeshma and because of the unwillingness to kill whom he wants to withdraw from battle. Krishna says that those who he did not desire to kill the very same persons would have a low opinion of him for it.
bahumathaH bhoothvaa- having earned the high opinion of himself.
laaghavam – smallness or insignificance
36. avaachya vaadhaan cha bahoon vadhishyanthi thava ahithaaH
nindhanthaH thava saamarThyamhathaH duhkhatharam thu kim
Your enemies will utter unspeakable words about you belittling your prowess. What could be more painful than that?
The enemies of Pandavas, Duryodhana and his brothers, though they would like nothing better than Arjuna withdrawing from battle, will speak derisively of him and insult him humiliating words.
Thus whipping up the sense of honour of Arjuna, Krishna emphasizes the importance of fighting in the next sloka.
37.hatho vaa praapsuase svargam jithvaavaa bhokshyase maheem
thasmaath utthishTa kountheya yudDhaaya krthaniSchayaH
If you get killed you will go to heaven and if you win you will enjoy the kingdom. Therefore get up, Oh son of Kunthi, and fight with determination.
After convincing him that by withdrawing from battle would not be right for a hero like him.now Krishna says that either he kills or get killed it will be for good only. By doing his duty and losing his life in battle he will go to heaven as already said that to fight such a righteous battle will open the gates of heaven,. If he wins the war he will get the kingdom. Hence he need not worry about the outcome of the war and must go ahead to do his duty.
It will be interesting to note that both the wise and the wicked have no doubts about what they want to do. Only the average man who is averse to wickedness but lacks the courage to do good is perpetually in doubt! Arjuna represents an average human being, that is , people like us! So what Krishna tells next applies to all of us whenever we are in a dilemma, to do or not to do anything.
38.sukhaduhkhe same krthvaa laabha alaabhou jaya ajayou
thathaH yudDhaaya yudDhyasva na evam paapam avaapsyasi
Fight for the sake of war, considering joy and sorrow equally and also gain and loss. Thus you will not incur any sin.
Thus fighting the war as a duty which could not be avoided and which is inevitable, whether Arjuna wishes to get the kingdom or does not wish to kill his relatives and thus incur sin, Krishna says , he will not incur any sin. What is done as a duty without attaching importance to the result is karmayoga which Krishna is going to elaborate in the subsequent chapter and which he hints in the following slokas. Sukha and duhkah relate to the mind and are the effects of labha and alaabha, loss and gain which pertain to the body level.
39. eshaa the abhihithaa saankhye budDhiyoge thu imam srNu
budDhyaayuktho yayaa paarTha karmabanDham prahaasyathi
So far you have been told about the knowledge of the self. Now listen to yoga (karmayoga) by following which you will be freed from the bondage of karma.
Saankhya here means intellect and the truth which should be understood through the intellect is saankhyam, meaning the knowledge of the real nature of the self. This relates to the theory of self knowledge and now Krishna says that Arjuna will be imparted the means of attaining it by practicing karmayoga. Thus saankhya denotes the thory of Athmavidhya while the Karmayoga shows the practical side of it.
karmabanDham- the bondage due to karma which results in the cycle of births and deaths. As already mentioned, this discourse of Gita was meant for the whole mankind and the fight here implies the fight that goes within every individual due to the ignorance born out of karma, which obscures the truth and creates confusion as to what to do and what not to do. So here it is meant that by knowing the teachings of the Gita one would be able to shake off the shackles of karma and will be released from the transmigration of the soul causing embodiment.
40. nehaabhikram naaso asthi prthyavaayo na vidhyathe
svalpam api asya Dharmasya thraayathe mahatho bhayaath
Here (in the practice of karmayoga) there is no loss of effort nor is there any fear of evil. Even a little practice of this dharma (karmayoga) releases one from the great fear.
A karma when started and left off in the middle will result in loss of effort as one has to do it again from the beginning. In some karma evil result will ensue when stopped in the middle as in the case of ritualistic action. This is inevitable with desire motivated actions.
But when the same action is done as karmayoga with no desire for result but performed only as a duty these ill effects do not occur. The path of karmayoga is praised by Krishna as being without pitfalls by saying nehaabhikramanasoasthi, there is no loss of effort, and, pratyavaayo na vidyate, no contrary result will occur, because even a little of karmayoga practised diligently produces result in the form of freedom from the perils of samsara.
41.vyvasaayaathmikaa budDhiiH eka iha kurunandhana
bahuSaakhaaH hi ananthaaH cha buddHyaH avayavasaayinaam
The intellect of those with unshakable conviction is single pointed. That of others who lack conviction is branched out in all directions and limitless.
Krishna said in the 39th sloka, that those whose intellect is established in karmayoga will be freed from bondage due to karma. That buddhi is referred to here as vayavasaayaatmikaa buddhi. The resolve of such persons is only to get rid of the bondage and hence the goal is to realize the truth. So their intellect is steadfast which Krishna is going to elaborate in his description of sThithprajna later.
On the other hand one, avyavasaayin whose intellect is riddled with infinite number of desires finds that his mind is not steady on any one objective but goes on wavering due to the lack of conviction which gives rise to numerous doubts and fears. So the intellect or mind of such a man is describe as bahuSaakhaa, branching out everywhere and the thoughts as a result are anantha, infinite or innumerable.
This refers to the desire motivated actions, either those allowed by sasthras or those undertaken by ordinary desires. Even those sanctioned by sasthras like yajna etc., if done expecting result are desire motivated only and result in bondage. These kind of actions are mentioned in the next few slokas.
42. yaam imam pushpithaam vaachampravadhanthi avipaschithaah
vedhavaadharathaaH paarTha naanyath asthi ithi vaadhinah
The ignorant speak all flowery words to discuss about the Vedas that their view alone is the right view, O Arjuna,
43.kaamaathmaanah svargaparaah janmakarma phalapradhaam
kriyaavisesha bahulaam bhogaiSvaryagathim ptrathi
They are all hankering after their desire for heaven and indulge in the actions that lead them to birth and more karma, and towards enjoyment of pleasures and wealth and power in this world.
44. bhogaiSvryaprasakthaanaamthayaa apahrthachethasaam
vyavasayaathmikaa budDhihsamaaDhou na viDheeyathe
Their mind, engaged in the enjoyment of wealth and power and hankering after that never becomes steady in meditation.
Here Krishna talks about those who have learnt the Vedas but use the knowledge only to further their own ends which are desire motivated. Even if it is to attain svarga , says Krishna , it is leading to transmigration as he says later, ksheeNe puNye marthyalokam viSanthi, as soon as their merit acquired to deserve heaven is exhausted they revert back to the world to do more karma to go to heaven. Thus performing yagas and other ritualistic karma in order to reach heaven or to get a better life in next birth goes on and on. Such people are addicted to the karmakanda of the Vedas, called poorvamimamsa , while the latter portion of Vedas which is about Brahman and moksha is called uttaramimamsa or Vedanta.
To prove that their view alone is right they put forth arguments which Krishna calls as flowery speeches because of their learning which give them mastery of language. Karma unless done as karmayoga, as nishkamakarma will never secure release from bondage, may it well be spiritual or secular. Even the Vedic rites sanctioned by the Vedas could only lead to heaven or a better life in this world but not to the attainment of release from bondage.
It should not be taken to mean that Krishna is against all ritualistic action because he is extolling the importance of yajna later but says that all should be done without desire for fruit and as an offering to God. We have seen this in the case of rshis who were described as been doing yagas all the time. They did not have any desire for heaven or for a better life on earth but they did it without any expectation of fruit and as an offering to God for the welfare of the world.
Those who believe that the Vedas are important only for the ritualistic portion of it are called mimamsakas and their school of thought is the school of Mimamsa , one of the shad darsanas of Hinduism. It is opposed to Vedanta darsana in as much as they hold that the subject matter of the Upanishads, which form the uttaramimasa, being Brahman, is not necessary as all the teachings of the Vedas must be inductive of action only. This is a major topic in Vedanta which is refuted by all the acharyas of Vedanta.
As to why the Vedas, which form a major part of our culture, is to be taken as not conducive to moksha, is explained by Krishna in the next sloka. It should however be remembered that it is only the karmakanda which is under criticism here and not the upanishadic part of the Vedas called Vedanta.
45 thraiguNyavishayaa vedhaaH nisthrigunyo bhava arjuna
nirdhvandhvo nithyasatthvasTho niryogakshema aathmavaan
The Vedas belong to the realm of three gunas.Therefore Arjuna, you transcend the three gunas.
The essential condition for practising karmayoga is an intellect directed towards one ideal with determination. Otherwise thoughts run in all directions dragged by desires towards innumerable goals. Such people even if they are well versed in Vedas look upon the scriptural texts only as the gateway to heaven or to a better life on this earth and exhaust their intellectual skills in flowery speeches to prove their ends. That is why Krishna calls the Vedas, meaning the karmakanda, as being traigunyavishayaaha and asks Arjuna to transcend the three gunas.
ThriguNyavishayaaH- the Vedas have the three gunas as their objective because they prescribe desire oriented rituals for those who are influenced by three gunas. Veda is beneficial to mankind and are not misleading .That is not what is meant here. But the Vedas do good to humanity by teaching them the right actions suitable for the respective gunas that influence humans. They provide the directive for righteous action without which those under the influence of rajas and thamas will indulge in unrighteous action to satisfy their desires. Hence Krishna says that the Vedas are concerned with gunas.
Nisthraigunyo bhava- transcends the gunas.
Everyone has all the three gunas of which the body, mind and intellect is made of. Even the ego is the product of the three gunas and hence to transcend the gunas means not to identify one self with body, mind and intellect and transcend the ego. First step towards transcending the gunas would be to increase satthva so that rajas and thamas will be reduced to minimum and then the sattva should be purified so that the ego shrinks to nothing. This is what is advised by Krishna in the next line.
nithyasatthvasThaH- Krishna advises Arjuna to acquire satthva in abundance so that the activities of the other two gunas are reduced to a minimum. Suddhasathva is described as white in colour , while rajas is red and thamas is black. Hence the word Arjuna is used here instead of Partha, kountheya etc.as the word means white.
nirdhvandhvah- to be free from the pairs of opposites, viz. joy and sorrow, loss and gain, love and hatred etc. These arise from desire motivated actions. To be free from desire is to get free from the dhvandhvas. How this is achieved is by being,
niryogakshema, not worrying about acquiring anything or to protect them. Yoga is acquisition and kshema is the protection of what was acquired. This could only be done by being,
aathmavaan, by being established in the self. How this can be achieved is the subject matter of the rest of the chapter.
46.yaavaan arTha udhpaane sarvathaH sampluthodhake
thaavaan sarveshu vedheshu braahmaNasya vijaanathaH
The Vedas are of as much use to a brahmana who has the knowledge of reality as the water in a reservoir when all the sides are flooded with water.
To one who has the brahmajnana, there is nothing to be gained by any action either spiritual or secular as he has no desires to be fulfilled. Hence the Vedas are not of any use for him as there is no happiness to be gained by the fruits of actions prescribed by the Vedas either in this world or the next. He is filled with the bliss absolute and all the other joys are like baubles when compared with that. Hence Krishna compares the Vedas, meaning the fruits accruing from them to the water in a small reservoir like a well or pond when the whole are was flooded with water.
This can be construed in two ways .To an enlightened one the karmakanda of the veda which is the ritualistic portion that secures enjoyment in this world is like water in the well when the whole area is flooded. But if we take veda to mean the entire scripture including wisdom of Upanishads it may be interpreted thus: Even when the entire land is flooded the well can contain only as much water as it can hold .So too one can comprehend only as much as his intellect can grasp, which fact has been proved by the controversies in interpreting the upnishadic passages without comprehending their real purport which is Brahman. This may very well be the meaning of the term vedavaadharathaah.
yaavaan arTha- how much benefit as.
udhapaana- small reservoir
sarvathaH – on all sides
sampluthodhake- filled with water
thaavaan sarveshu vedheshu- only that much use in all he Vedas
braahmaNasya vijaanathaH- to a learned Brahmin who has not only mastered the Vedas but also comprehended their real purport. Here the word brahmana is meant to indicate one who has the knowledge of Brahman and not one by birth. BrahmaNaH ayam braahmaNah
It is like this. When a child learns artithmetic he is taught to count with his fingers or by the counting beads. . But later he has no more use for this. This however as already mentioned should not be taken as a dismissal of all the injunctions of the Vedas but it means that even though the wise may continue to do the acts prescribed by the Vedas they are not result -oriented but done as an offering to the Lord.
47. karmaNyeva aDhikaaraH the maa phaleshu kadhaachana
maa karma phalahethuh bhooh maa the sango asthu akarmaNi
You have right over action only and not the fruit of action. Your action should not be motivated by desire for fruit. nor should you be attached to inaction.
maa karma phalhethuh bhooh- your action should not be result-oriented.
Acts done with an expectation of result cause bondage because they are done with desire. But the same act done as an offering to God releases one from bondage. As all beings are bound to act, it is not possible to desist from action. If you stop doing any action physically you may be doing the same mentally or do some other action involuntarily .So karmayoga consists in not stopping from action but do the same without longing for the result as the result is not under your control.
Swami Vivekananda said `work for work's sake duty for duty's sake' meaning that one should do work for its own sake and not out of desire to get the result .But the question is, will anyone do anything unless he wants the result? Certainly not! There is nothing wrong in starting a work with a specific result in mind but Karmayoga consists in not getting attached to the result. This is not as pessimistic as it seems to be but sheer common sense. When we begin a work we cannot help fixing a goal to achieve as otherwise we would not have started at all. But once started we should concentrate on the action only without worrying about the result constantly as the anxiety will reduce our efficiency .On the other hand, if we put our heart and soul into the work we are doing, the result will automatically follow, and even if it does not, due to some factor on which we have no control, we will not feel frustrated as we have already had the satisfaction from the work itself .This is what Swami Vivekananda meant by `work for work’s sake.' To give up the attachment to the fruit of action is Karmayoga as advised in the Gita .It applies not only to the mumukshu,. one who aims for realization but also to the man of the world wherein lies the value of Gita. The work which is assigned to you in this birth in accordance with your karma is your duty that has to be discharged. This is what Krishna means when He says Maa te sango astu akarmani, "You should not give up work altogether." This provides the answer to the question "If I should give up the result why should I act in the first place?
Karma here, which one is supposed to be doing and not relinquish it, means the svadharma the acts according to his varanasrama , sanctioned by dharma and not those prohibited because they are motivated either by desire or aversion and thus one gets attached to them which leads to bondage. The elucidation of svadharma would follow in the subsequent chapter on karmayoga. Anything done as a duty, without attachment to result, does not result in bondage.
Let us examine what I meant by the above statement. When we start a work, we have definitely an idea of the possible result. It may appear to be good or bad from common standards such as that in war. When a soldier is fighting to defend his country for instance, the expected result may be killing or get killed. But he does not think of either, once he goes to the battlefield and discharges his duty without attachment to the result. Similarly a judge who gives a judgment either favourable or unfavourable to the accused is not worried about the result of his act but merely does it as his duty. This is an example of doing an act without attachment to the result.
On the other hand if we get attached to the result , our mind will be riddled with doubts and anxiety about the future and fear and regret about the past which will prevent us from concentrating on the work at hand. We tend to react according to our impressions gathered from our past karma thus accumulating more karma for which we have to experience the result later on. Thus acting with attachment leads to bondage.
If you send an important mail for instance you have the power only to send it and not over its being replied. It may never reach the recipient or he may never answer it but that is not in your control. If you worry about the possibility of not getting a reply the chances are that you will never send it. This is what is meant by maakarmaphalahethuh bhooh maathe sango asthu akarmaNi.
On the other hand if you do everything with an attitude that you are doing what should be done and the rest is in the hands of God, you will not worry about the result at all.
maa karma phalahethuh bhooh can also be understood as follows. An artist or a musician may expect a reward for his work but when he actually at his work, singing or painting he enjoys what he is doing and the idea of remuneration is far behind in his mind. This attitude could be seen in any walk of life with respect to a dedicated worker .in any field. So the work, karma, of such an individual is not phalahethu, for the sake of result alone.. Even if there is no reward such a person will not and could not desist from his work.
48.yogasThaH kuru karmaaNi sangam thyakthvaa Dhananjaya
sidDhyasidDyoh samo bhoothvaa samathvam yoga uchyathe
Perform your actions without attachment with your mind established in yoga, being nonchalant about success and failure. Evenness of mind is yoga.
The term yoga, as said earlier is karmayga. To give up attachment one should be free from desire and aversion. Then success and failure do not affect him. Whatever comes is accepted with equanimity.. Then he concentrates only on the work at hand and this is implied by saying, `yogasThah kuru karmaaNi,' do your work established in yoga. The phrase sangam thyakthvaa is used in the adverbial sense modifying the previous sentence, yogasThaH kuru karmaaNi. What is meant here is that one should have evenness of mind even before starting the work. Then only the attachment will go. Karmayoga is nothing but attaining the evenness of mind, samathvam.
49. dhoorEna hi avaram karma budDhiyogaath Dhananjaya
budDhou Saranam anvicCha krpaNaaH phalahethavaH
The work which is done with an expectation of result is far inferior to that done as karmayoga. Hence you take refuge in evenness of mind. Those who do anything with a desire for result are to be pitied.
dhoorEna avaram- far inferior. The difference between karma done as karmayoga and that done desiring result, is great.
buDDhiyoga here means karmayoga.
buddhou in evenness of mind which is karmayoga
Saranam anviccha- means, it is the only resort for freedom from bondage.
krpaNaaH – miserable ones.
phalahethavaH- those who act for the result.
These are to be pitied because they accumulate more and more karma by their desire motivated actions and get into bondage.
50.budDhiyuktho jahaathi iha ubhe sukrtha dhushkrthe
thasmaath yogaaya yujyasva yogaH karmasu kouSalam
One who is established in yoga casts off both good and evil here and now. Therefore endeavour for yoga. The skill in action is called yoga.
.When one does all actions as karmayoga, without attachment to the result , it means that his mind is free from desires and his actions are not desire motivated. Thus he attains the evenness of mind, buddhiyukthaH, . as described earlier. Then he does not accumulate fresh karma by his actions. His past karma which has not yet started giving result is demolished by his shedding off his ego as a result of evenness of mind. He does not consider himself as the actor or the enjoyer, offering all his actions to the Lord. Only the karma which has started to give result already causing this particular birth continues but the yogi is not affected by it.
Hence it is said that he casts off, jahaathi, here itself, iha, both good and evil, ubhe sukrtha dhushkrthe, meaning, both good and bad effects of his karma become null and void as he is doing it as his duty only and acts as an instrument of the Lord. Therefore Krishna asks Arjuna to be a yogi when the merit and demerit of his actions will not adhere to him. This is what is meant by yogaaya yujyasva..
Yogah karmasu kousalam, has a very important implication. If one is not attached to the result of the action he may end up by giving up the action altogether or if he has to, may do it indifferently.. Krishna says that by karmayoga not mere giving up of attachment to result is indicated but doing the action to the best of one's ability and with full concentration. Then only it is called karmayoga. This is what is implied by yogaH karmasu kouSalam.
51. karmajam budDhiyukthaahi phalam thyakthvaa maneeshinah
janmabanDhavinirmukthaaH padham gacChanthi anaamayam
Those, who are evolved, being established in karmayoga, by giving up the result of their karma, become free from the bondage that causes birth and reach the supreme state of eternal bliss,
As explained in the previous sloka, by karmayoga one gets freed from karma and there is no more birth for him. There are three kinds of karma, sanchitha, praarabdha and aagaami. Sanchitha karma is that which has been accumulated over the past lives and results in the future lives. Praarabdha is that part of karma which has already started giving result and has caused this particular birth. Agaami karma is that which is done now and will start giving result in future. Now by karmayoga, present karma ceases to give result. PrarabDha karma lasts only till this body lasts. Sanchitha karma is destroyed like the seed which is scorched and is not capable of sprouting due to the removal of ego-centric desires.
Hence it is said that those who are established in karmayoga, budDhiyukthaah, by giving up the result of karma, karmajam phalam thyalthvaa, become free from the bondage of karma causing birth, janmabanDha vinirmuktaaH, and reach the state beyond all evil, padham gacChanthi anaamayam, meaning the eternal abode or mukhi. Theses are called maneeshiNaH, wise.
52.yadhaa the mohakalilam budDhih vyathitharishyathi
thadhaa ganthaasi nirvedham Srothavyasya Sruthasya cha.
When your intellect crosses over the mire of delusion then you will get detachment from
both what is heard and what is to be heard.
It is the ignorance of one's real nature that creates the identification with the body, mind and intellect and he is deluded into believing the sense experiences as real and gets affected by
the joy and sorrow through them. When the intellect is cleared of this delusion through knowledge one gets detachment from the sense experience which is indicated by srothavya and srutha. This means what is heard and what is to be heard which includes the seen and unseen and likewise all sense experiences, that were already experienced and that to be experienced.
53. Sruthiviprathipanna the yadhaa sThaasyathi nischalaa
samaaDhou achalaaa budDhih thadhaa yogam avaapsyasi
You will attain yoga when your intellect which has been perplexed by what you have heard so far, now becomes clear and firm by right knowledge and concentrates on the absolute.
When the mind gets free from delusion which is the cause of joy and sorrow by wrong identification of oneself with the body there is no more confusion of conflicting thoughts and the intellect comes to rest, steady, and with no distractions, in the absolute reality and one attains Samaadhi realization. Krishna has thus skillfully maneuvered the conversation to a point in order to make Arjuna ask the question SThithaprajnasya kaa bhaasha. Then He starts the
description of the man of realization.
Arjuna uvaacha-- Arjuna said,
54. sThithaprajnasya kaabhaashaa samaaDhisThasya keSava
sThithaDheeh km prabhaashetha kim aaseetha vrajetha kim
What is the sign of one who has firm wisdom and who is established in the Self and how does he speaks, sits and moves about?
Having heard of the state when the intellect becomes firmly established in Brahman or Atman, Arjuna now asks the question already created in his mind by Krishna. He wants to know the definition of Sthithaprajna.
Arjuna wants to know the signs by which he can identify the man of realization and asks Krishna to tell him the way such a person speaks, sits and walks. This is not as absurd as it looks when translated literally. One may ask - what will be the difference between the way an ordinary man of the world speaks, sits and the man of stable mind sthithaprajna? He will also walk with two legs , speak in the same language of the human beings , and sit as we do. But what Arjuna means exactly is as follows:-
The sthitha prajna has no interest in things which matter most to people in general. So what will he talk about?
Where will he reside? Will he stay amidst others or will he go away to some solitary place?
How will he carry on his life in general?
These questions are answered by Krishna in detail:
55. prajahaathi yadhaa kaamaan sarvaan paarTha manoraThaan
Athmani eva aathmanaa thushtaH sThithDheeh muniH uchyathe
When one gives up all desires born out of his mind, Arjuna, and revels within himself by himself he is said to be a sThithaprjna , a man of firm wisdom.
One is known as sthithaprajna when he gives up all desires that arise in his mind and rejoices in his own self. Let us see what this means. Thushtah means happy and contented. When does a man become so? Let us take, for example an instance where one learns that he has become a father of a boy. He has been desirous of getting a child so long and now the desire is satisfied. So he is happy but only until he starts desiring for some other thing , like providing for his son etc. Hence the joy lasted only as long as no other desire has started in its stead. This proves that happiness comes not out of satisfying a desire but only in the absence of any other desire. Therefore if one wants to remain happy he should lengthen the gap between one desire and the next
Swami Chinmayananda used to give an equation for happiness as follows:
Number of desires fulfilled
------------------------------------ = the quotient of happiness.
Number of desires entertained
.
When the denominator becomes zero the value of the quotient is infinity. So it follows that only the absence of desire will result in infinite happiness. This can be verified through experience. Generally one's childhood is always remembered as the happiest part of our lives except for some unfortunate beings. If we analyse as to why it was so, we could see that in our childhood we had very few simple desires which were mostly fulfilled. As we grow older we multiply our desires so fast that it becomes impossible to satisfy all of them even during the whole span of life. Atmanyaivaatmanaatushtah means revelling in the joy of one's own self. Man runs after sense objects expecting them to provide happiness which is a myth. If so, the same object will not be the source of happiness for one and give sorrow to another and the same source of happiness will not bring sorrow at a different time. External object does not bring joy or sorrow but our joy or sorrow depends on the way we react to it. Hence happiness must come from within, which explains the reason why the man of realization is always happy. He is experiencing the bliss , which is the real nature of the Self .He is happy within because he has given up all his desires .
56. duhkheshu anudvignamanaah sukheshuvigathasprhaH
veethraaga bhayakroDhah sThithaheeh muniH uchyathe
He whose mind is not perturbed by sorrow nor he has any clinging attachment for pleasure and who is free from desire, fear and anger, is called the man of wisdom.
The man of stable wisdom does not react to the circumstances that gives joy or sorrow to the ordinary man. He has neither attachment nor repulsion for sukha or duhkha, joy or sorrow because he is devoid of passion, fear and anger. So he , whose mind neither rejoices with nor recoils from good and evil , is a sthithaprajna the one whose mind is stable.
Now the question is, how does he manage to become detached so as not to be affected by sukha or duhkha nor by good or evil? The answer is given in the next sloka
sThithaprajnaH and shihaDheeH both mean the same., one of stable or firm wisdom.
57. yaH sarvathra anabhisnehah thath thath praapya Subha aSubham
na abhinandhathi na dveshti thasya prajan parthishTithaa
The wisdom of one, who is detached from all things which when experienced gives good result or bad and hence does not rejoice nor feel depressed on contacting them, is firm.
This is the continuation of the idea expressed in the previous sloka. When contacting the sense objects one gets happiness or sorrow depending on his reaction to it, which again depends on his likes and dislikes, raga and dvesha. The pleasure and pain comes not from the contact of the sense organs with the sense object alone but because the mind gets identified with the sense organ and feels pleasure or pain. That is why when we are engrossed in something, say, a book, we are not at all aware of the sense experience even though the sense organs contact the sense objects. For instance when children are watching their favourite programme on TV they can be made to eat the food which they despise normally. The sThithprajna on the other hand has no desire or aversion and hence he is not at all affected by anything that normally gives pleasure or pain. How he does this is explained in the next sloka.
58. yadhaa samharathe cha ayam koormaangaaneeva sarvasaH
indhriyaaNi indhriyaaRThebhyaH thasya prajnaa prathishTithaa
When one withdraws his senses from sense objects on all sides like the tortoise withdraws its limbs, his wisdom is firm.
A tortoise withdraws his limbs inside his shell when he suspects any danger. Likewise the sThithprajna withdraws his senses from the sense objects. This means as said earlier, the senses are in contact with sense objects as one cannot, even if he is a sThithprajna, prevent the sense from functioning, as the eye will see and the ear will hear even for him. But as the mind is not in contact he is not affected by them This is what is meant by withdrawing senses as the word sense organs is not used here. The senses mean the subtle indhriyas which function through the mind which is also included as the sixth indhriya by the upanishats.
Thus the four states of jnaananishta, firmness of intellect that makes one a sThithaprajna are described in the four slokas from 55 to 56 in the reverse order. The state of withdrawal of senses is the lowest state when a man acquiring the knowledge of the supreme reality and about the transitory nature of all experience of the world withdraws his senses form the sense objects. This is what is outlined in the above sloka.
Secondly he develops detachment towards people and things when pleasant or unpleasant occurrences do not bring him joy or aversion. This is the essence of sloka 57.
Thirdly, he is no more affected by pleasure or pain, because he is free from desire, fear and anger. This is the stage mentioned in sloka 56.
Lastly and finally, the final state of sThithprjna is achieved when he becomes athamani eva aathmanaa thoushtah, revels in the experience of the self when all desires have been thrown out from his mind which has becomes pure and experiences the athmasaakshaathkara.
samharathe - the verb hr with the prefix sam means to collect or draw together. It is usually used in the other sense of the verb meaning `to destroy ` as in samhaara. Here it means to draw the senses from the sense objects and collect them in one place within the mind and direct them towards the meditation of the supreme self.
The one sure way of redirecting the senses towards the divine is through devotion as Kulasekhara says in Mukundamala.
jihve kirthaya kesavam muraripum chetho bhaja SreeDharam
pANidhvandhva tham archaya achutha kaThAh Srothradhvaya thvam Srunu
krshNam lokaya lochanadhvaya hareh gacchAnghriyugma Alayam
jighra ghrANa mukundha pAdhathulaseem moorDhan nam aDhokshajam
Azvar gives injunction to his senses to become engaged in the worship of the Lord.
Oh tongue, sing about Kesava. the slayer of Mura. Oh mind, think of SreeDhara. Two hands, you worship Him , Two ears, you hear the stories about Achyutha. Oh eyes, look at Krishna. Pair of feet, you go to the temple of Hari. Oh nose, you smell the tulsi leaves from the feet of Mukundha. Oh head, bow down to ADhokshaja.
When all the senses are thus engaged in the service of the Lord they will cease to be attracted by the worldly sensual pleasures. This reminds one, of the KuraL of the famous Tamil sage Thiruvalluvar, who has given to the world maxims with deep meaning in short sentences.
Pattruga pattrattrAn pattrinai appattrai
pattruga pattru vidarku.
It means that in order to relinquish the attachment of the world one has to develop attachment towards the Lord. If we want to give up something it is easier to do so by shifting our attachment to something else which is more desirable.
This calls to the mind an episode in the life of Sri Ramanuja. There was a man in Srirangam who had a beautiful wife and he was much enamoured with her and use to spread an umbrella on her head to shield her from the Sun much to the ridicule of others. Ramanuja saw him and took pity on him and asked him what is that he found so attractive in his wife. He replied that she had beautiful eyes. Ramanuja told him that if he finds a pair of eyes more attractive will he switch his devotion to that. When the man asked who has more beautiful eyes, Ramanuja took him inside the temple of Ranganatha and showed him the Lord and asked him has he ever seen a pair of more beautiful eyes. Due to past merit, and due to the grace of the acharya, the man along with his wife became a great devotee of the Lord and a great disciple of Ramanuja, renouncing all that he had. This illustrates well the KuraL quoted above .
59.vishayaa vinivartahnthe niraahaarasya dhehinaH
rasavarjam raso api asya param dhrshtva nivarthathwe
The sense objects cease to bother him whose senses are not in contact with them. But the aptitude for the sense experience stays till he has the perception of the supreme self.
The sense objects do not tempt him who is not attracted towards them but still the propensity to enjoy the sensual pleasures remains , though not encouraged , until the final consummation with the Supreme.
The first stage of withdrawing the indhriyas, senses from the indhriyaarThas , sense objects, is what is referred to here. When the senses are controlled as in the case of the sick or one undergoing a religious discipline etc., the sense objects like prohibited food are not temptations for him. But the desire for them is not gone but only suppressed. So when the condition for prohibition is removed the sense objects may attract the person again. This is what is meant by rasavarjam, the taste remains, meaning the taste for the sense experience.
niraahaara- not fed. The senses are not getting their food in the form of sense objects and thus get enriched in their experience. So they become emaciated like the body of a starving man, niraahaarasya dhehinah, only to get nourishment again if the sense control is not permanent. The aspirant of spiritual progress will be able to attain permanent control of Indhriyas only when the desire for the sense objects are absent so that he does not feel elated or depressed by pleasant or unpleasant effects of sense contacts. This come only when he reaches the last state of sThithaprajna which means he had had the experience of the Supreme self , the bliss experienced by which makes all the other worldly joys appear trivial. This state of the experience of the absolute bliss is denoted by paramdhrshtvaa..
vishayaa vinivarthanthe means that the sense objects, vishyaaH, turn away The sense objects come only to him who desires them. That is, only those who desire them go and get them. This is implied by the word vinivarthanthe, they turn away.
rasah api nivarthathe- even the desire goes away when the aspirant has become a sThithaprajna afer experiencing the supreme self, param dhrshtvaa.
The reason for this is given in the next sloka .
60. yathatho hi api kountheya purushasya vipaSchithaH
indhriyaaNi pramaaTheeni haranthi prasaBham manaH
The senses of an aspirant till he reaches the final stage remain strong and carry his mind unaware even if he is striving, yathatahH api, to control them.
The mind due to the accumulated propensities through several births has become the slave of the senses and to control and withdraw it from the attraction of the senses is not at all easy. This aspect Krishna mentions again in the sixth chapter and advises Arjuna how to control the mind. Here Krishna cautions against the force of indhriyas, pramaaTheeni, which have the power to carry the mind off, haranthi prasabham manaH if one is not vigilant. The risk of falling back into the trap of the senses is great till one reaches the ultimate state mentioned in the previous sloka as param dhrshtvaa.
61. thaani sarvaaNi samyamya yuktha aaseetha mathparaH
vase hi yasya indhriyaaNi thasya prajnaa prathishTithaa
Having controlled all the indhriyas one should be engrossed in Me . The one whose senses have become fully controlled he is the sthithprajna, a man of firm wisdom.
As explained in the sloka 58, Krishna indicates the sure way of sense control namely, contemplating on the divine. When the mind is engrossed in the higher joy of the divine experience the lower sensual pleasures have no attraction. Controlling the senses by sheer will is not the yoga advised by Krishna. It is by directing the mind above; the lower desires are eradicated once for all. This has been explained in the sloka 58 in detail.
If one is not aware of the power of the indhriyas and follow the steps outlined above what will be the outcome, is explained in the next two slokas, which describe the descent of man.
62. Dhyaayatho vishyaan pumsaH sangah theshu upajaayathe
sanghaathsanjaayathe kaamaH kaamaath kroDho abhijaayathe
63. kroDhth bhavathi sammohaH sammohaath smrthivibhramaH
smrthibhramSaath budDhinaSah budDhinaaSaath vinaSyathi
By the mind dwelling upon the sense objects attachment is created for them and from that the longing desire to possess them springs up and the desire gives way to anger .From anger delusion arises and the delusion causes loss of memory which results in destruction of reasoning power and as a result the man is destroyed.
Krishna now traces the descent of man from the state of infinite bliss which is his real nature. dhyayato vishayaan pumsah sangastheshoopajaayate. This is the first step by which one descends from his mansion of bliss. When we think about an object continuously, DhyaayathaH, we get attached to it. This is sanga .Then we start desiring it sangaat sanjaayate kaamah, which, when thwarted , results in angerkaamaat krodho abhijaayate. Then comes sammoha delusion. When the intellect is clouded with anger one is not .able to think straight. That is, we imagine something which is not there and that is delusion.sammohaat smrti vibramah.'. From sammoha arises confusion of memory. When angry we forget whom we are talking to, and what they have been to us in the past. In the Sundarakanda of the Valmiki Ramayana, Hanuman says kruddho hanyat guroon api,. Angry man will not hesitate to kill even his elders or even his preceptor. This will happen because he forgets everything except the cause of his anger, not caring whom he hurts. The confusion of memory results in the loss of reason buddhinaasah due to which he comes to ruin. As Krishna elaborates later, kaama or desire is the principal enemy of man followed by the other forces of destruction , namely ,anger , delusion pride, avarice and jealousy.
So what is the way out? That the only way is to cultivate the equanimity of mind
64. raagadhvesha viyukthaih thu vishayaan indhriyaiH charan
aathmavasyaiH viDheyaathmaa prasaadham aDhigacChathi
The one who contacts the sense objects with his senses fully controlled due to the absence of likes and dislikes is disciplined and self-controlled and attains equanimity of mind.
A man of discrimination, sThithaprajna, enjoys the sense objects through his senses but does not cling to them, being free from likes and dislikes. He sees a beautiful thing or hears a beautiful music and enjoys it as everyone else but his mind is not running after such sensual pleasures. This idea is well brought out by Sankara in his hymns of `bhajagovinda,' where he says,
`Yogaratho vaa bhogaratho vaa sangaratho vaa sangaviheenah yasya brahmani ramathe chiththam nandhathi nandhathi nandhathyeva.' Whether he is seen practicing yoga or seemingly indulgent in bhoga his inner bliss remains unalloyed. He is always happy because his mind is revels ever in Brahman. This is what is meant by prasaadham aDhigacChathi. This is made clear in the next sloka.
65.prasaadhe sarva duhkhaanaam haaniH asya upajaayathe
prasannachethasaH hi aaSu buddhiH paryavathishtaThe
When the serenity of mind is achieved all sorrow of the samsara come to an end because the mind is established in Brahman.
All sorrows are only due to the agitation of mind concerned with acquiring the objects of desire and preservation of them and the grief on losing them. All experiences whether joyous or painful bring only sorrow , former because of their fleeting nature and the latter because of their being unpleasant. When the mind is in equanimity neither the pleasure nor the pain affects the person. Then the mind becomes established in Brahman immediately.
66. na asthi budDhiH ayukthasay na cha ayukthasya bhaavanaa
na cha abhaavayathaH SanthiH asaanthasya kuthaH sukham
One who has no control over his senses and the mind will not have steadiness of mind nor is he able to contemplate on the Lord.. Therefore for him there is no peace of mind and without peace of mind there is no happiness.
As explained in the previous two slokas, equanimity of mind can be achieved only when the mind and the indhriyas through the mind are under control. This could be achieved only by the contemplation of the supreme self. This is denoted as bhavana. The mind of one who has no control over it, is agitated and runs after the sense objects. Hence his budDhi is not steady. Thus no contemplation on the Absolute is possible because the mind always wanders. Hence there is no peace and consequently no happiness.
Ramanuja defines ayuktha as mayi sannyastha mano rahithasya svayathnena pravrtthasya, meaning, one who has not fixed his mind on me but tries to control his senses by will. This has been explained in the sloka 58 as, the sure way of controlling the mind is to turn it towards the Lord.
So what happens to one who is unable to fix his mind in contemplation? The answer is,
67. indhriyaaNaam hi charathaam yath mano anuviDheeyatae
thath asya harathi prajnaam vaayuH naavam iva ambhasi
The senses moving towards sense objects followed by the mind carries away the discrimination of one like the ship on waters by the wind.
Krishna reiterates the idea stressed in the sloka 60 where he said, indhriyaaNi pramaaTheeni haranthi prasabham manaH in a more poetic expression here. As the ship on the waters, which is not controlled properly is carried away by the wind and wanders aimlessly here and there, so too the mind is carried away by the senses wich makes it run after the sense objects.
The simile expressed above can be explained as follows. The intellect of one who has not controlled his senses and the mind is the ship. The wind is the sense to which the mind is attached. The waters are the ocean of samsara consisting of the streams of sense enjoyments. The goal of man is to reach the Supreme. But the sense experience draws him away from the goal and makes him get entangled in the whirlpool of desire and without realizing, he is carried far away from his destination. On the other hand when the same ship is steered by a capable helmsman it reaches the destination without obstacles. When the intellect is fixed on the Lord, He Himself becomes the Helmsman and guides us in the right direction
68. Thasmaath yasya mahaabaaho nigrheethaani sarvaSaH
indhriyaaNi indhriyaarhThebhyaH thasya prajnaa prathihTithaa
So the intellect of one, whose indhriyas are restrained from running in all directions after the sense objects , is established or firm.
Krishna had now answered the questions of Arjuna in full an about sThithaprajna.
The sloka 55 ‘prajahaathi yadhaa kaamaan, ‘ gives the definition of sThithaprajna which is the answer to the question ‘sThithaparjanasya kaabhaashaa,’ what is the sign of one who has firm wisdom. But all the slokas from 55 to the end of the chapter serve as the answer for this question because the other three are included in the first. The second question ‘sthithaDheeh kim prabhaashetha,’ how does a man of firm wisdom speaks, is answered by the slokas 56 and 57, duhkheshvanudhvignamanaah , and ‘yah sarvathra anabhisnehaah,’ the man of firm wisdom does not entertain likes and dislikes and treat all in the same manner and his speech will be the reflection of his mind
The third question ‘ kim aaseetha,’ how will he sit, is answered by the 58th loka ‘yadhaa samhaarathe ,’ that is, the man of firm wisdom will withdraw his senses from sense objects and will appear unaffected by the world around. Here ‘seated’ means the general disposition.
The fourth question ‘vrajetha kim ’how will he behave, is answered from sloka 64 till 70.and distinctly in sloka 71.
69.yaa niSaa sarvabhoothaanaam thasyaam jaagarthi samyamee
yasyaam jaagrathi bhoothaani saa niSaa paSyatho muneH
The one who has self –control , (as portrayed in the previous sloka as sThithaprajna, ) keeps awake. (to the knowledge of the self) when it is night, (of ignorance) for all beings. It is night, (as good as night ) for him when all beings are awake, ( the worldly experience)
The literal translation of the above sloka may make it appear as though the yogi or sThithprajna sleeps in the day and keeps awake in the night!.This does not mean that a sthithaprajna is a night owl! The state of Divine knowledge and supreme Bliss is like night to the ignorant whereas it is as clear as the day to a jnani. On the other hand the ever changing, transient worldly happiness or sorrow does not mean anything to him and it is as though he is sleeping as far as the worldly experience of joy or sorrow is concerned.
Thie meaning of the sloka is that the state of a sThithaprajna and that of a worldly person is extremely opposite like the day and night.. The ignorance of the reality which creates a world of dream where the experience of joy and sorrow are not permanent is described as ajnana thimira by the philosophers and the one who is ignorant is blind to reality. This blindness due to andhakara of ignorance can be removed only by jnana. This is the night described above for all beings. For the yogi the jnana shines like the sun "theshaam aadhithyavath jnanam prakaaSayathi thath param,' when he acquires the braahmee sThithi which is mentioned later in he chapter. As the world of joy and sorrow due to teense experience is absent in a jnani it is described as the night for him.
70. aapooryamaaNam achalaprthishTam
samudhram aapah pravisanthi yadhvath
thadhvath kaamaa yam pravisanthi sarve
sa Saanthim aapnothi na kaamakaamee
The one, in whom all the desires (objects of desire enter as the waters enter into the sea which remains full and undisturbed by them , he alone acquires peace and not one who longs for the fulfillment of desires.
When the waters , aapaH, of the rivers enter, praviSanthi, into the sea they do not create any change either in the content or in the form of the sea which remains always full, aapooryamaaNam, and undisturbed,achalaprathishTam. Similarly, kaamaaH, the objects of desire , the sense objects, enter into the mind of a sThithaprjna, meaning that, the sight, smell etc do exist in him and his senses do contact the sense objects but he is unperturbed and unchanged like the ocean by the waters entering into it. He remains calm, sa Santhim aapnothi, while enjoying the sense experiences without being affected by them. In him all enjoyments merge themselves like the rivers entering the ocean. But the man who is agitated by desires never gets peace.
In this sloka the word kaamaaH is not used in the meaning of desire but means the objects of desire.kaamyathe ithi kaamaH, that which is desired.
Sankara says in Bajagovindam about such a sthithaprajana,
Yogaratho vaa bhogaratho vaa sangaratho vaa sangaviheenah yasya brahmani ramathe chiththam nandhathi nandhathi nandhathyeva.'
Whether he is seen practicing yoga or seemingly indulgent in bhoga his inner bliss remains unalloyed. He is always happy because his mind is revels ever in Brahman. On the other hand it is only the man who has not controlled his mind gets agitated by the desires.This and the next slokas answer the question of Arjuna, sThithaDheeH kim vrajetha, how does a sThithprajna behave.
71.vihaaya kaamaan yaH sarvaan pumaan charathi nissprhaah
nirmamo nirahankaaraH sa Saanthim aDhigaCChathi.
The one who moves about giving up all desires, without ego and sense of possessions attains peace.
The description of a sthithaprajna comes to a close with a portrait of the man of wisdom one whose senses are completely restrained from their objects and who, having given up all desires moves freely without attachment, ego and possessiveness. This reflects the sloka at the outset of the description of sThithaprajana, `prajahaathi yadhaa kaamaan ,'
which has given the reason for his peace mentioned here. He is aathmani eva aathmanaa thushTaH, reveling in the bliss of the self.
nissprhaH- withour desire of any sort.This is achieved by being nirmamaH- Giving up the sense of possession, the concept of 'mine.' Only the feeling of my body, my wife, my house etc. creates desire for the sense objects. This arises because of ego, the concept of `I.' ahankara, arising from the identification with body, mind and intellect, which is the root cause of all evil. The Sthithprajna is nirahankaaraH, withut ego. Hence he gets peace, Santhim aDhigacChathi, says the Lord.
72. eshaa braahmeesThithih paarTha na enaam praapya vimuhyathi
sThithvaa asyaam anthakaale api brahma nirvaaNam rcChathi
This is the state of Brhaman consciousness on attaining which one does not lapse back into delusion. Staying in this till the end of his life he attains Brahman.
The delusion comes only from the identification of oneself with body, mind and intellect. When the real nature of the self is known, there is no more delusion.as in the case of Arjuna. The man of real wisdom , sthithaprajna, moves about in the world as described in the previous sloka until he leaves his body and staying in this braahmi state till the end he then attains mukthi.Staying in this state till the end of his life is possible only when the detachment from desires and freedom from ego is hundred percent because if the aspirant slips he is carried away by the senses as mentioned earlier. But when his intellect is established formly in the supreme being, there is no more lapses.
Ramanuja explains the word antha kale api as, even if one attains this state at the end of his life. This meaning is inkeeping with the words of Krishna later `kshipram bhavathi dharmaatmaa sasvath saanthim nigacchathi.'