At the outset of the chapter, Krishn says that he had imparted knowledge of yog to Vivaswat in the beginning. Vivaswat taught it to Manu and Manu to Ikshwaku, and thus the knowledge evolved to the stage of rajas. The teacher who had imparted this knowledge was Krishn or, in other words, one who is birthless and unmanifest. A realized sage too is birthless and unmanifest. His body is but an abode in which he dwells. It is God himself who speaks through his voice. It is by some such sage that yog is imparted. Even a glance of such a sage irradiates one’s life-breath with the effulgence of Self-realization, Possessing the light it sends forth, the sun symbolizes the ever-luminous God who resides in, as well as, expresses himself through breath. ‘‘Imparting the knowledge of yagya to the Sun’’ stands for awakening of the divine life that lies dormant and unperceived in every human heart. Transmitted to breath this light is hallowed into a sacred discipline. In due course it enters the mind as a resolve. Realization of the significance of Krishn’s utterance to Vivaswat gives rise to a hankering for achieving it and yog is then transformed into action.The point in hand needs further elaboration. Vivaswat, Manu, and Ikshwaku are symbolic primogenitors of mankind. Vivaswat represents the unenlightened primitive man without spiritual awakening. It is a sage who sows the seeds of devotion in this man. There then comes into being a desire for God that arises in the mind which is Manu in microcosm. The mind transforms the aspiration into an acute craving which is embodied as Ikshwaku, and the process of changing it into practice is speeded up. After having gone through the first two stages, when the worshipper is endowed with divine impulses, the yearning for God enters upon the third stage when yog becomes known and begins to manifest its glory. This is indeed a stage fraught with risk, for yog is now on the brink of destruction. But they who are loved devotees and, dear friends are provided with succour by sages like Krishn.When Arjun refers to his recent birth, Krishn points out that, although unmanifest, imperishable, birthless, and pervading all beings, he yet manifests himself by atm-maya and by subduing by his yog his nature with its three properties. What then does he do after manifesting himself? Since the beginning he has undergone one incarnation after another to protect that which is fit for accomplishment, as well as to destroy forces which give rise to evils and to strengthen the Godlike dharm. His birth and acts are of a metaphysical nature and only a seer can perceive them. The state of Kaliyug (predominance of forces of darkness) brings about the advent of God, but only if there is earnest devotion. But novice worshippers are unable to know whether God is speaking to them or whether the signs coming to them are devoid of any purpose. Whose voice do we hear from the heavens? My noble teacher used to tell us that when God showers his grace and when he turns within the Self into a charioteer, he speaks and provides support from every column, every leaf, verily from emptiness itself, and from every corner. When with constant refinement there is awareness of the essence that is God, only then, by feeling his presence as if by touch, does the worshipper know the reality. So Krishn has told Arjun that his manifest form can be viewed only by seers, after which they are released from birth and death.He has further explained the mode of God’s manifestation: of how it is an event that occurs within the heart of a devoted yogi and certainly never externally. Krishn has said that action does not bind him, and just so they who have attained to the same state are not bound by action. It was with realization of this truth that earlier men desiring salvation set out on the path of action to reach that state, and the man who has known what Krishn knows from his elevated position, and Arjun, too, desiring salvation, will be what Krishn is. This attainment is assured if yagya is performed. Krishn has then told us the nature of this yagya and that the final outcome of this exercise is realization of the highest reality-of the ultimate tranquillity. But where to go in order to know the way of knowledge? Krishn has advised Arjun to approach sages and win them over with reverence, humble inquiry, and guileless solicitation. He has also said unambiguously that this knowledge he can acquire only by his own action rather than through the conduct or action of others. Also, it will come to him when his yog is in an accomplished stage rather than at the outset. Perception of knowledge will be within the sphere of heart, not outside. And it comes only to those who are dedicated, determined, in control of their senses, and free from all doubt. So finally Arjun is advised to sever the irresolution in his heart with the sword of renunciation. Thus war is within the heart. The war of the Geeta is quite unconcerned with any external conflict.In this chapter, Krishn has thus mainly elaborated and explained the nature and form of yagya, and added that the deed of accomplishing it is action.
Thus concludes the Fourth Chapter, in the Upanishad of the Shreemad Bhagwad Geeta, on the Knowledge of the Supreme Spirit, the Science of Yog, and the Dialogue between Krishn: and Arjun, entitled: "Yagya Karm-Spashtikaran, or ‘‘Elucidation of the Deed of Yagya’’. Thus concludes Swami Adgadanand’s exposition of the Fourth Chapter of the Shreemad Bhagwad Geeta in ‘‘Yatharth Geeta’’ HARI OM TATSAT ««««« 2.Readers need to be warned against a common misunderstanding about the word rajarshi. It is said that a Kshatriya is elevated to the status of rajarshi by dint of his pious life and austere devotion just as a Brahmin is raised to the position of a brahmarshi. But in truth God has made neither Brahmin nor Kshatriya, and neither Jew nor Christian. These are only social orders, based on birth or occupation. So rajarshi is used here to denote one of the four spiritual states which are distinguished only by the inner merits of a worshipper irrespective of his caste or creed. Such an interpretation is correct, for otherwise the yog of Geeta has to be assumed as meant for only members of one caste which is untenable. 3.In Ram Charit Manas, the devotional retelling and translation of thirty other Indian epics, the Ramayan, by the great poet Tulsidas, Goswami Tulsidas has defined maya thus: "Whereas I and these are mine, you and those are yours." This notion is maya, of which all creatures are victims. It is twofold, made up first of ignorance and then of enlightenment. The first is a notorious rogue because it entraps every creature in the pitfalls of birth and death. On the contrary, although the other is reputed as the only fountain of virtues, it is wholly animated by the God within and has no power of its own. The process of enlightenment is called vidya-maya. Since it unites the individual Soul with the Infinite, it is also named yog-maya. And because it enables the Soul to attain to his highest glory, it is also known as atm-maya. After accomplishment a yogi is blessed with the power that enables him to look after thousands of his disciples at once. This power, called atm-maya, is the one that is used here. 4.Not only here but in the whole of the Geeta, wherever the preposition ‘‘vi’’ is prefixed to a root, it denotes excellence. 5.One of the celestial maidens, described by the King of Death in the Kathopanishad as most beautiful to behold and such indeed as is not meant for mortals. emerges as God-realization, the culmination of this spiritual exercise. When one dwells in the God who had to be realized, nothing else remains to be achieved. Yogeshwar Krishn again explains yagya : 6.The sage of Pippalad says, in the Prashn Upanishad, that they who desire children and are given to rites, considering them the highest accomplishment, attain to the world of the Moon (Rayi) and are born again on earth, but they who are devoted to the worship of the Self, by means of austerity, continence, faith, and knowledge, go by the northern path and attain the world of the Sun. (Pran) Isn’t Arjun standing directly before the Lord? Then why does Krishn ask him to go to a seer? In truth, the meaning of Krishn who was a yogi-indeed a Yogeshwar-is that today the worshipper is with him, but he may be confused in future when he is no longer present to guide him. "Ah me! " Arjun will say, "Krishn has gone and I don’t know to whom to turn now for guidance. That is why Krishn tells Arjun categorically that he should approach seers who will instruct him in true knowledge.
