Shrimad Bhagavad Gita (CHAPTER 6)

1. ‘‘The Lord said, ‘The man who performs the ordained task without desiring its fruits, rather than the one who just gives up (lighting) the sacred fire or action, is a sanyasi and a yogi.’’’

Krishn insists that only that man who has made true renunciation or achieved yog who engages in the one action that is worthy of doing with absolutely no desire for any rewards. No one becomes a sanyasi or a yogi by just desisting from the ordained action. There are many kinds of work, but out of them the action which is fit to be undertaken and which is ordained is only one. And this one action is yagya which means "worship," the one means for the attainment of God. The practice of it is action; and the man who does it is a sanyasi and a yogi. If a man has just stopped lighting fire or tells himself complacently that he has no use for action because he possesses Self-knowledge, he is neither a sanyasi nor a doer of selfless action. Krishn further speaks about this:

2. "Remember, O Arjun, that yog (selfless action) is the same as renunciation (knowledge), for no man can be a yogi without a total rejection of desire."

What we know as renunciation is also yog, for no man can be a yogi without giving up all his desires. In other words, sacrifice of desire is essential for men who have chosen either of the ways. Superficially it appears so easy, for all that we need to do in order to become a yogi- sanyasi is to claim that we are free from desire. But according to Krishn it is by no means so.

3. "Whereas selfless action is the means for the contemplative man who wishes to achieve yog, a total absence of will is the means for one who has attained to it."

Performance of action to achieve yog is the way for the reflective man who aspires to selfless action. But when repeated practice of the deed gradually brings one to the stage at which the final outcome of selfless action emerges, absence of all desire is the means. One is not rid of desire before this stage; and-

4. "A man is said to have achieved yog when he is unattached to both sensual pleasure and action."

This is the stage when a man is not given to sensual pleasure, nor to action. When the culmination of yog is once reached, who is there beyond to strive and look for? So there is no longer any need of even the prescribed task of worship and, therefore, of attachment to action. This is the point when attachments are completely broken. This is renunciation-(sanyas); and this is also achievement of yog. While a worshipper is still on his way and has not yet arrived at this point, there is nothing like renunciation. Krishn then speaks about the profit that accrues from the attainment of yog:

 5. "Since the Soul enshrined in a man is his friend as well as foe, it is binding on a man to lift himself by his own effort rather than degrade himself.’’

It is man’s duty to work for the salvation of his Soul. He must not tempt him to damnation, for the embodied Soul is both his friend and enemy. Let us now see, in Krishn’s words, when the Self is a friend and when an adversary.

6. "The Self is a friend to the man who has overcome his mind and senses, but he is an enemy to one who has failed to do so.’’

To the man who has vanquished his mind and senses, the Soul within is a friend, but to the man who has not subdued his mind and senses, he is an enemy.In the fifth and sixth verses Krishn thus insists repeatedly that a man should redeem his Self by his own effort. He must not degrade him, because the Self is a friend. Besides him, besides the Self, there is neither any friend nor any enemy. It is so because, if a man has restrained his mind and senses, his Soul acts as a friend and brings him the highest good. But, if a man’s mind and senses are not restrained, his Soul turns into an enemy that drags him to re- birth in lower forms of life and to endless misery. Men are fond of saying, "I am Soul." So there is nothing for us to worry about. We cite evidence from the Geeta itself. Isn’t it said there, we ask, that weapons cannot pierce and fire cannot burn and wind cannot wither the Self? He, the deathless, immutable and universal, is therefore me. Believing so, we pay little heed to the warning in the Geeta that this Soul within us can also descend to an inferior, degraded level. Fortunately, however, he can also be saved and elevated; and Krishn has made known to Arjun the action which is worthy of being done and which leads the Soul to absolution. The following verse indicates the qualities of a benign, friendly Self.

7. "God is ever and inseparably present in the serene heart of the Self-abiding man who is unmoved by the contradictions of heat and cold, happiness and sorrow, and fame and infame.’’

God dwells inextricably in the heart of the man who rests in his own Self and reacts evenly to the dualities of nature such as heat and cold, pain and pleasure, and honour and humiliation. Perfect repose flows through one who has conquered the mind along with the senses. This is the stage when the Soul is liberated.

8. "The yogi, whose mind is quenched with knowledge-both divine and intuitive, whose devotion is steady and constant, who has conquered his senses well, and who makes no distinction between objects ostensibly as different as earth, rock, and gold, is said to have realized God.’’

The yogi who has achieved this state is said to be endowed with yog. He has reached the crowning point of yog which Yogeshwar Krishn has portrayed in verses 7-12 in Chapter 5. Perception of God and the consequent enlightenment are knowledge. The worshipper is but grovelling in the mire of ignorance if there is even the slightest distance between him and the adored God and the desire to know him remains unfulfilled, What is called "intuitive" knowledge (vigyan) 1 here is knowledge of God’s functioning through things, acts, and relations (the manifest universe) which reveal how he is all-pervading, how he prompts, how he guides innumerable Souls simultaneously, and how he is knower of all times-past, present, and future. He begins to guide from the very moment when he makes his advent in a heart as the revered one, but the worshipper is unable to know this at the initial stage. It is only when he has reached the culmination of his contemplative exercise that he gains full awareness of God’s ways. This is vigyan. The heart of the man who is accomplished in yog is satiated with this achievement combined with his knowledge of God and accurate insight. Continuing with his account of this adept in yog, Krishn adds:

9. "That man is indeed superior who view all with an equal mind: friends and foes, the antagonistic, indifferent, neutral or jealous, kinsmen, and the righteous as well as sinners.’’

After perception of god, a sage is both equal and even-minded. Krishn said in the last chapter that sages who are blessed with knowledge and discrimination regard with an impartial eye a Brahmin, an outcast, and animals so diverse as a cow, a dog, and an elephant. The verse under discussion complements what was said before. That man is doubtlessly a man of excellence who looks equally at all kinds of people, from the highest to the lowest, from the most virtuous to the most wicked, and from the most loving to the most malicious, irrespective of their feelings for him. He looks at the course of Souls within them rather than at their external deeds. The only difference he, therefore, sees between diverse beings is that while some have ascended to higher steps and gotten close to the state of purity, others have lagged behind and are still lingering on the lower steps. All the same, he sees the capacity for salvation in all.In the next five verses, Krishn describes how a man comes to the possession of yog, how he practises yagya, the nature of the place where the deed is performed, the seat and the posture of the worshipper, the laws which regulate his food and recreation, and sleep and wakefulness, and the quality of effort required for the accomplishment of yog. The Yogeshwar has done this, so that we too are enabled to perform the appointed deed of yagya by following his precepts.A brief review of the relevant points is necessary at this point. Yagya was named in Chapter 3 and Krishn said that yagya is the ordained action. In Chapter 4, then, he elaborated the nature of yagya in which the outgoing breath is sacrificed to the incoming breath, the incoming breath offered as oblation to the outgoing breath, and the mind is restrained through serenity of the vital life-winds. The precise meaning of yagya is, as we have seen, "worship," the deed that enables the worshipper to traverse the path to the adored God. Krishn has also dwelt upon it in Chapter 5. But matters such as the seat of the worshipper, the place of worship, the posture of the worshipper, and the manner of worship have not yet been touched upon. It is only now that these subjects are taken up.

10. "The yogi, engaged in self-conquest, should devote himself to the practice of yog in loneliness in a secluded place, controlling his mind, body and senses, and rid of desire and acquisitiveness.’’

Being all alone in a place where there are no distractions, restraint of mind, body, and senses, and a complete rejection of attachments are all essential for a man who is engaged in the task of Self-realization. The following verse contains an account of the place and the seat which are conducive to the exercise.

11. "At a clean spot he should devise a seat of kush-grass 2 or deer-skin covered with a piece of cloth, which is neither too high nor too low.’’

Cleanliness of place is a question of sweeping and wiping it to keep it neat and tidy. In such a clean place, the worshipper should make for himself a seat of grass or deer-skin, on top of which there is spread a cover of fabric such as silk, or of wool. However, the seat may also be just a simple wooden board. But whatever it is, it should be firm, and neither too high nor too low. The intent behind all this is that something should be spread on the ground to cover it; it may be anything-skin, a mat, a piece of any kind of cloth, or even a wooden plank. It is important that the seat is not shaky. Again, it should be neither too high from the ground nor too low. My revered teacher, Maharaj Ji, used to sit on an about five-inch high seat. Once it so happened that some devotees got him a marble seat that was about a foot high. Maharaj Ji sat on it only once and said, "No, this is too high. A sadhu should not sit too high. It only makes them vain. That does not mean, though, that they should sit too low either, for that gives rise to a sense of inferiority-of contempt for oneself." So he had the marble seat put away in the forest. Maharaj Ji never went there, and neither does anybody else now. That really was an exercise in a practical lesson by the great man. So the seat of a worshipper should not be too high. If it is too high, vanity will overtake him even before he commences the task of divine adoration. After thus cleaning a spot and making a firm and reasonably elevated seat on it,-

12. "He should then sit on it and practise yog, concentrating his mind and restraining the senses, for self-purification."

Next, then, the posture of sitting (according to the provision, meditation is done in a sitting posture )-the manner in which the worshipper should sit while engaged in contemplation-is taken up.

13. "Holding his body, head, and neck firmly erect, his eyes should concentrate on the tip of the nose, looking neither right nor left.’’

In the course of meditation, the worshipper should keep his body, neck, and head straight, steady, and unmoving, like a column of wood as it were. Sitting erect and firm like this, he should keep his eyes fixed on the tip of his nose. Rather than meaning that he should watch the tip of the nose, the directive is that the eyes should look straight in line with the nose. The tendency of eyes of restlessly flitting here and there must be curbed. Looking straight in line with the nose, the worshipper should sit unmoving, and-

14. "Abiding in continence, fearless, serene at heart, alert and restrained in mind, he should surrender himself firmly to me."

What actually does continence (brahmcharya vrat)-celibacy-mean? People usually say that it is restraint of the s*xual urge. But it has been the experience of sages that such restraint is impossible so long as the mind is associated with objects, sights, touch, and sounds which inflame the urge. A true celibate ( brahmchari ) is rather one who is engaged in the task of realizing God ( Brahm ).The brahmchari is a man of Brahm-like conduct: a doer of the appointed task of yagya that leads men to attainment and ultimate dissolution in the eternal, immutable God. While doing it, the external sensations of touch and of all such contacts of the mind and other senses have to be excluded in order to concentrate the mind on contemplation of God, on the incoming and the outgoing breath, and on meditation. There are no external memories when the mind rests on God. So long as these memories last, the absorption in God is incomplete. Currents of deviation flow through the mind, not through the body. When the mind is wholly occupied with its adoration of God, not only does the s*xual urge but all the other physical urges also cease. So dwelling in conduct that will take him to God, free from fear, in a state of repose, and with a restrained mind, the devoted worshipper should surrender himself totally to an accomplished teacher. But what is the outcome of all this?