Dictionary-Explanations-The Srimad Vers-& Bhagavad Gita-Ch 4
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Dictionary of Religion
Dictionary and Explanations of The Srimad Bhagavad Gita
Dictionary of Religion
Dictionary and Explanations of The Srimad Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita is part of The Mahabharata
This major epic originally in Sanskrit is of ancient India.
The other of its kind is known as the Ramayana. The Mahabharata is a narration about the Kurukshetra War.
Due to the size and nature of many areas available within, for study purposes, a link is provided below.
EXTERNAL LINKS - MAHABHARATA
Srimad Bhagavad Gita
Fourth Chapter
The Way of Renunciation of Action in Knowledge
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Alternate Translation:
BHAGAVADGÎTÂ.CHAPTER IV
KÂSHINÂTH TRIMBAK TELANG, M. A.
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Arjuna A hero and one of primary characters of The Bhagavad Gita. He is known as the third of the Pandavas. These are the sons and princes of Pandu. When Lord Krisha teaches Arjuna is the one who is the Receiver of his Divine Word. It his conversation with Lord Krishna, which brings this Gita to life, both in philosophy and in learning of the Divine Ways of Lord Krisha. Arjuna, as a warrior is also a primary character, within the entire Mahabarata epic, and was one of the finest archers. It is He who facilitated the defeat of the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra War. Within The Mahabharata he receives many names, some of which you will note as you read the Srimad Bhagavad Gita.
Arjuna - one of taintless fame and glow like silver
Phalguna - one born on the star of Phalguna
Jishnu - conqueror of enemies
Kiriti - one who wears the celestial diadem, Kiriti, presented by Indra
Swetavahana - one with white horses mounted to his chariot
Bibhatsu - one who always fights wars in a fair manner
Vijaya - victorious warrior
Parth or Partha - son of Pritha or Kunti. Incidentally his father is the Lord of Heavens, Indra.
Savyasachi - skillful in using both arms, ambidextrous
Dhananjaya - one who conquers bows (dhanu) referring to his skills as an archer
Gudakesa - One who has conquered sleep (gudaka "sleep")
Kapi Dhwaj - Having flag of Kapi (Monkey) in his chariot (Arjuna's flag displayed an image of Hanuman from a previous encounter)
Parantap - one who concentrates the most, destroyer of enemies from his concentration
Phalguna - one born on the star of Phalguna
Jishnu - conqueror of enemies
Kiriti - one who wears the celestial diadem, Kiriti, presented by Indra
Swetavahana - one with white horses mounted to his chariot
Bibhatsu - one who always fights wars in a fair manner
Vijaya - victorious warrior
Parth or Partha - son of Pritha or Kunti. Incidentally his father is the Lord of Heavens, Indra.
Savyasachi - skillful in using both arms, ambidextrous
Dhananjaya - one who conquers bows (dhanu) referring to his skills as an archer
Gudakesa - One who has conquered sleep (gudaka "sleep")
Kapi Dhwaj - Having flag of Kapi (Monkey) in his chariot (Arjuna's flag displayed an image of Hanuman from a previous encounter)
Parantap - one who concentrates the most, destroyer of enemies from his concentration
NAMES and CONCEPTS OF THE SRIMAD BHAGAVAD GITA - CHAPTER 4
Vivasvat: the Sun
Manu: the law-giver.
Ikshvaku: the famous ancestor of the Solar dynasty of Kshatriyas.
7. Whenever, O descendant of Bharata, there is decline of Dharma, and rise of Adharma, then I body Myself forth.
DHARMA
The Dharma and its opposite Adharma imply all the duties (and their opposites) as ordained for men in different stations by the definite scheme of their life and salvation.
Dharma has many meanings, depending upon the use of this word. Dharma can be considered law, the foundation one must study, in order to perform what God expects of a follower, in service to God and to others in the world.
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6. Though I am unborn, of changeless nature and Lord of beings, yet subjugating My Prakriti, I come into being by My own Maya
Maya
Maya, a term found in Pali and Sanskrit literature has multiple meanings.
The term maya occurs 70 times in Rigveda and around 27 times in the Atharva; and in all these places Yaska, Sayana, Dayananda agree the term means Prajñ?, jnana-vishesha (specific knowledge). The term Asuri-Maya in the Yajurveda at one place was translated by Uvvat as the "knowledge of the vital air".[1] With regard to the usage of the word Maya in the Rigveda, Radhakrishnan opines it was only used to signify might and power.[1] Maya as the cause of illusion or as the sense of Avidya (lack of knowledge) has never been used in the Vedas. According to Monier Williams, Maya meant wisdom and extraordinary power in an earlier language, but later the word came to mean illusion, fraud, deception, witchcraft, sorcery and magic.
In early Vedic literature, Varuna's supernatural power is called Maya. Though Indra, Agni, and some other Gods are said to have Maya, the first Rigvedic phase exclusively connected Maya with Varuna, who is called Mayin and Asura. Monier Williams takes asu to mean life of the spiritual world or departed souls. The association of Varuna with Nritti, death, thus connects Maya with the power of life of the spiritual world or the departed souls. Due to asura's maya, Varuna is said to send rain, create dawn and envelope the night; and with Mitra, Varuna is personified to protect Earth. Varuna found mention as a companion in Indra's exploits and had several Rigvedic verses dedicated to him. In the seventh mandala of Rigveda, many of Varuna's accomplishments are composed exclusively by Vashista; with Vashistas said to be a clan of Varuna-worshippers. Varuna is said to be the brother of Soma and instituted the Rajasuya sacrifice.
Wikipeda
A Study of the Bhagavadgita
by Swami Krishnananda
Chapter 4: The Total Picture of Creation
Bhagavan Sri Krishna held the opinion that Arjuna was lacking sankhya, which means proper understanding, and I endeavoured to tell you that sankhya is the knowledge of the placement of a person in this universe. Unless you know where you are placed in this universe, your location in this setup of things, you will not be able to do anything. Work, activity – doing anything whatsoever, and any motion for that purpose – is guided by the circumstances prevailing at that given moment of time. ‘Circumstance’ means the knowledge of the location of the person at a given moment of time.
Now, your location in this universe can be known only by a study of the whole process of creation. Doctrines of creation are adumbrated in schools of thought such as the Sankhya and the Vedanta. I mentioned to you previously in the context of the discussion of the nature of consciousness that the primary principle is the pure ‘I-amness’, Pure Consciousness adapting and adjusting itself to its own Self, as it were. The Sankhya calls this indivisible absolute consciousness Purusha. You may call it by any other name – God, if you like, the Supreme Absolute. It is absolute because it is not related to anything outside. It is a non-related, indivisible omnipresence, conscious of itself alone, and there is no consciousness of anything else. ‘I am what I am’ – aham asmi. This is the consciousness of the Supreme Purusha.
The process of creation is supposed to start with the emergence of the activity of Prakriti, which is the cosmic impulsion of this Universal Consciousness to delimit itself in a certain fashion for the projection of this cosmos. As I mentioned, this Prakriti, this cosmic impulsive objectivity, is made up of three forces called sattva, rajas and tamas – dynamis, statis and equilibration.
Prakriti, so-called, is compared to a rope with strands. You must have seen coir ropes or jute ropes, etc., with three entwined strands. The rope is not different from the strands. You cannot say the strands are the qualities or the properties of the rope. Many times people say sattva, rajas, tamas are the qualities of Prakriti. This is an understatement, really speaking, because these three properties constitute the very substance of Prakriti itself, just as the three strands of the rope are the rope itself. The threefold operation of sattva, rajas, tamas is itself Prakriti. Therefore, Prakriti may be said to be activity minus the consciousness of Universality, and Purusha is consciousness of Universality without activity.
Sankhya has a humorous analogy to describe how Purusha and Prakriti work together in collaboration because, as I mentioned, Purusha consciousness is universal awareness minus activity or motion, and Prakriti is only motion or activity minus consciousness. So how can these two, inactive consciousness and active unconsciousness, be clubbed together?
The analogy of the Sankhya philosophy describes two persons, one who is blind but can walk, and another who is lame but can see. These two people join together because they both want to move in the same direction. But how is it possible? Without legs they cannot move, and without eyes they also cannot move. So the lame person sits on the shoulders of the blind person, and now there is a joint action of seeing and moving. The lame person who sits on the shoulders of the blind walking person can see, and directs him where to go, and so it is a very good understanding between them. This is how Sankhya gives you a humorous comparison of the manner in which perhaps Universal Consciousness, which is inactive, operates in conjunction with the activity of Prakriti, which is unconscious. When these two processes are blended together and Purusha and Prakriti jointly act, what happens first is that Prakriti, in its sattva aspect, reflects the Universal Consciousness within itself, as light can be reflected in a glass. The glass here, which is sattva, is not perfectly clean where the light passes unaffected and undisturbed, but there is a little disturbance and the consciousness, which is universal Purusha, gets delimited to some extent, though in a very insignificant manner.
Sattva is all-pervadingness. The consciousness of omnipresence and all-pervadingness is sattva. In Pure Consciousness, there is no such thing as all-pervadingness, and so on. We cannot say that consciousness is all-pervading unless we define it in terms of Prakriti’s sattva guna, because a thing can be all-pervading only when there is a space to pervade. As space is a part of Prakriti, then Purusha, which is independent of Prakriti, cannot be said to be all-pervading in a strictly logical sense. It is just Being-as-such, Pure I-am, and cannot be called all-pervading. But it appears to be all-pervading on account of its reflection in the sattva guna of Prakriti, which also has other qualities – rajas and tamas. It does not mean that Prakriti is only pure sattva, all-pervadingness. It also has, under its arm, the projective forces or factors known as rajas and tamas. On account of a subtle apperception of rajas and tamas also, together with sattva, there is a slight limitedness imposed on the reflection of consciousness in the sattva guna of Prakriti. And then what happens? After Purusha there is Prakriti, and after Prakriti there is Mahat. Mahat is the third principle – Cosmic-consciousness, the Pure I-am, Be-ness-as-such. The Absolute Existence becomes conscious as all-pervading, omnipresent. This Mahat, or the Great Being Mahat-tattva, is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. This is the God of the universe, you may say if you like.
Pure God, by Himself, creates nothing. He is just All-in-All. Creativity is attributed to God on account of His so-called reflection in the sattva omnipresence of Prakriti, and God becomes Mahat-tattva, also known as Hiranyagarbha in Vedanta terminology. The pure potential of consciousness prior to the manifestation of Mahat in terms of Prakriti is called Ishvara, which is something like the cosmos sleeping. Sleeping is not an inactive condition; it is a dormant potential of future activity. So in Ishvara-tattva, which is the potential of Universal Consciousness coming in conjunction with Prakriti as a whole, we have Ishvara-tattva. This is a term which is not in the Sankhya but in the Vedanta doctrine.
Mahat may be said to be Hiranyagarbha, the all-knowing creative principle, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent consciousness. When omnipresence becomes conscious of itself – I-am, omnipresent – it becomes cosmic Ahamkara. So first is Purusha, second is Prakriti, third is Mahat, fourth is Ahamkara. Ahamkara here is to be understood as Cosmic Self-awareness – the whole universe becoming conscious: ‘I am.’ It is not merely omnipresence as such; it is consciousness of one’s being omnipresent.
In the state of Ahamkara, Cosmic I-amness, or consciousness of one’s being omnipresent, a threefold activity is supposed to take place: the threefold division of the supreme Self-consciousness into the subjective perceiver adhyatma, the objective universe adhibhuta, and a third connecting link adhideva, about which I mentioned already.
The trouble of creation starts at this stage. Until this time, it was all paradise, glory, all-pervading bliss, God roaming alone in the Garden of Eden; there was no Adam and Eve, nothing of the kind. Wonder! This wonder gets clouded when this Cosmic I-amness decides to divide itself into three, and beholds itself as three. For example, your body has a trunk, a right hand and a left hand. The right hand is totally different from the left hand. If you can suppose that the right hand has a consciousness, and with that consciousness it can know the existence of the left hand, this will be adhyatma and adhibhuta. But it cannot know the existence of the left hand except through the body, of which it is a part. So the entire body is the transcendent connecting link which makes it possible for the adhyatma to be aware that there is adhibhuta.
Now, I mentioned that there is a threefold division of this universal omnipresence – adhyatma, adhibhuta and adhideva.
The adhibhuta prapancha, or the universe of material existence, we may say, is originally a space-time vibration complex. Even today, physical scientists and philosophers of physical science say that the whole universe is basically space-time. Space, time and motion – this is the beginning of creation. Space means a sudden vacuum, as it were, created before the omnipresence.
In order that you may become something other than what you are, you have to cease to be what you are at present. If God has to become the object, He has to cease to be the subject. Now, He cannot cease to be the subject as He is the Pure Subject, so a sudden vacuous condition is created, as perhaps is done by a juggler who creates an illusion. Suddenly a thing which is not there will be projected before you. Your consciousness is interfered with by the juggler’s magic or his slight-of-hand. Immediately he creates a vacuous condition of your mind by his action so that you forget what you saw and you begin to see what is not there.
God may be playing His magical trick, as it were. God is sometimes called Mahamaya, which means the Great Juggler who can project a thing which is not there. God created the heaven and the Earth, says the Bible. Out of what substance did He create them? Out of his own body, which is something very funny to say. And if there is nothing outside God, out of what substance did He create it? He created it out of a vacuum, a kind of nothingness.
You will find later on, by a deep analysis of the process of creation, that creation is a vacuous projection. It has no substance by itself because substance is God only, and if the universe also had a substance independently, there would be a conflict between the two substances – God and Satan, as certain theologies posit.
There is no Satan; he does not exist outside God. It is only a theological conception of human frailty, I may say, which is unable to locate evil in this world because it does not know where it exists. The Satanic, the evil, the bad, etc., must exist somewhere. It cannot exist in God, and it cannot exist outside God, so where does it exist? This is the theological problem before all religious people. Anyway, we shall not touch that subject now.
God seems to be creating a vacuous situation to create a universe that is also basically a vacuum. Hence, there is non-substantiality in the whole universe. Everyone, everything, including you and I, are basically vacuous. There is no substance in us. The substance is only a jugglery. It is a mix-up of space-time and certain elements which I will mention to you afterwards. Thus, creation might have taken place, or creation might not have taken place. You may say the juggler has really created something because you can see it, and therefore God has created the world because you are seeing it. But the juggler has created nothing; he has only put you under the pressure of an influence. In the same way, God has created no world, but somehow or other some illusion has caught hold of you – this consciousness. You do not know how you are seeing what the juggler is doing, though he has done nothing. In the same way, God has done something like the greatest juggler, and you are seeing a world which is really not there. Finally you will see, if the curtain is lifted, God alone is permeating the whole thing. This so-called world is nothing but scintillating God. That is what you will realise afterwards, about which you will be told a little later.
So the objective universe, which is adhibhuta, starts with space, time and vibration. This vibration is fivefold in its nature. In Sanskrit, these five aspects of vibration are called shabda, which means the potential of sound, sparsha, the potential of touch, rupa, the potential of sight, rasa, the potential of taste, and gandha, the potential of smell. The whole universe of perception is constituted of these fivefold forces.
What do you see in this world? What do you mean by ‘the world’? What is called ‘world’ is nothing but what you hear, touch, see, taste, and smell. Suppose you do not see anything, and you cannot touch or smell or taste; the world vanishes for you. So the world is nothing but a bundle of sensations; it looks like that.
There is a great history behind this question of whether there is a substance behind sensations or whether the world is made up of sensations only. Subjective philosophers in the West, such as Berkeley, concluded that the whole world is nothing but sensations only. If these five sensations are removed from you, there will be no world, and your body will also not be there. But a difficulty arises in the mind due to its very structure because it believes the sensations are sensing something, and if something is not there to be sensed, what are the senses going to sense?
A question was put to Berkeley. “My dear Father,” (he was a clergyman) “what are your senses sensing if there is nothing to be sensed?” So he modified his doctrine a little, and his pure subjective idealism of only sensations got transformed into what is called objective idealism. The senses cannot know that the world exists unless the sensations operate. So inasmuch as the sensations tell you through their media of what may exist outside, you are seeing the world as conditioned by your sensations; the real world is not seen by you. The real world is cast in the mould of your sensations, and so you are not seeing the world as it is. You are seeing only the thing-as-such, as you may call it, but what that thing-as-such is, nobody knows, as it is cast in the mould of the five sensations.
But Berkeley agrees that something should be there in order that the senses may sense. That is God’s mind. The universe is God’s mind, the Cosmic Mind, which looks like a world in front of you; but you are not actually seeing the Cosmic Mind. You are not seeing God with your eyes; you are only sensing, in a distracted, fivefold manner, this one indivisible thing which is otherwise the Cosmic Mind. You are lodged in the mind of God even now, accepted; but you cannot touch Him, you cannot see Him, because your sensations are diversified. These diversified functions are connected with these potentials, as I mentioned – shabda, sparsha, rupa, rasa, gandha. These are forces.
Afterwards, these forces congeal into solidity in a particular permutation and combination process. These congealed forms of the five forces shabda, sparsha, rupa, rasa, gandha become space – or sky, as it is called – and air, fire, water, earth. In Sanskrit, sky or space is called akasha, air is vayu, agni is fire, apas is water, pritvi is earth. So this world of the physical elements of earth, water, fire, air, ether, space and sky – this world which you value so much, on which you are seated, which is attracting you and repelling you at the same time – is just the last concretisation of these forces shabda, sparsha, rupa, rasa, gandha which are the vibrations of space and time, which is one aspect of this cosmic omnipresence, Ahamkara. Thus, the objective side has been explained.
Read All Chapters from The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda
www.sankaracharya.org/library/gita-phiilosophy.pdf
The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita
by Swami Krishnananda
Chapter 10: Forms of Sacrifice and Concentration (Specific References to The Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Chapters)
There is another important theme expounded in the Fourth Chapter, viz., sacrifice as a practice of yoga, in which context certain details of the variegated methods of the performance of this sacrifice as yoga are delineated. The adoration of the gods, the celestials, or the deities of religion is a sacrifice. And any sacrifice is also a yoga, because sacrifice means a parting of one’s own self in some measure in the direction of the achievement of a larger Self, so that in every form of sacrifice a lower form of self is surrendered or sacrificed to a higher form of Self.
Whenever the mind fixes its attention on something other than itself, which is supposed to be wider in its comprehension than the contemplating mind or the self, that process is to be regarded as a sacrifice. A lower principle has to be sacrificed for the sake of a higher principle. Contemplation on a Deity, as we conceive it, is the aim of religion, wherein the surrender of oneself in such a contemplation is implied. This is one kind of sacrifice, a religious performance, and it is yoga, because it is the union of the lower with the higher by means of adoration. The surrender of the lower self to the higher Self is regarded as brahma-yajna, jnana-yajna — sacrifice of knowledge, or sacrifice in knowledge, or through knowledge, for the sake of union with the larger Self which is a manifestation of Brahman, the Absolute.
When the senses are withdrawn and fixed inwardly, a sacrifice is performed, and this is also a part of the practice of yoga. When the senses are concentrated on objects which are regarded as helpful in the sublimation of desire, a kind of sacrifice is performed for the realisation of a higher good.
When the powers of the mind, the intellect and the senses, together, are centred in the Self; or the Consciousness within, a sacrifice is performed, and it is a yoga.
When the vital energy inside moving in the form of the breathing process is regulated, through systematised exhalation, inhalation and retention known usually as rechaka, puraka and kumbhaka, a sacrifice is performed. And that is also a way of yoga. Any act by which the propulsion of the mind and the senses outwardly is checked for the purpose of the utilisation of the whole of one’s consciousness for contemplation on a ‘being’ which includes one’s own self and is therefore larger than one’s self is a great sacrifice.
Whenever our joy is shared with another, we perform a sacrifice. And the great joy of everyone is to retain the ego. The maintenance intact of one’s own ego-sense is the greatest of satisfactions, and when we share this satisfaction a little of the ego is diminished in its intensity, thereby we part with a measure of our personality, we share a little bit of our being, the lower self, by which act we expand our consciousness in the direction of that which includes the so-called lower self of ours as well as that on which we are contemplating.
When we were discussing about the concept of the Deity we had touched upon this theme. All these are yajnas, or sacrifices, or a Tapas, and therefore they are yoga.
Study of scriptures with concentration and a holiness of spirit is also regarded as a sacrifice, because concentration is involved there. But we are admonished that sacrifices which require physical material are lower than those forms of sacrifice where the mind alone functions and any physical appurtenance is not necessary. A feeling of charitableness, for instance, is an act of the mind, which is superior to the physical expression of it by way of parting with any external material when the inward feeling is absent.
It is the feeling that counts, and it assumes a significance only when it is genuine, when it becomes a tendency to rise above one’s lower self to the higher Self which includes the person or persons towards which one expresses the charitable feelings. Any kind of austerity by which the senses are restrained and the ego is overcome in any percentage is superior to material sacrifices. And the highest sacrifice, or the loftiest concentration, the greatest form of yoga is the centering of consciousness in the Consciousness of a larger dimension.
“Dispelling all doubts by the awakening of knowledge, and converting or transforming every action into yoga, root yourself in your higher Consciousness,” are the concluding words of the Fourth Chapter, which message is continued in the Fifth and Sixth Chapters with certain other forms of detail.
Knowledge and action are not two different things. Samkhya and Yoga are like the obverse and reverse of the same coin. Therefore, renunciation of any kind is impossible unless the separatist tendency in one’s self is overcome to the extent necessary. We always feel that we are separate from the world and from creation as a whole. This tendency to the isolation of oneself from everything outside is the opposite of yoga, and if yoga is a gradual movement towards the affiliation of one’s self with all things, aiming at union with things finally, if yoga means that, renunciation of any kind is impossible without this yoga; because renunciation, at least in the spirit of the Bhagavadgita, does not mean a physical dissociation from objects or persons but a withdrawal of the consciousness of the externality of things, so that renunciation becomes a function of consciousness and not an activity of the body. Hence renunciation which is the essence of karma yoga cannot be dissociated from the forms of concentration and meditation which are normally known as yoga. Meditation and action are the same if they are to be defined in the way we have stated.
When the senses move among objects, a desire is not moving, that is the caution we have to exercise when we perform actions in the world. Mostly, when we cognise or perceive things, this process is charged with a desire, a motive within. When we gaze at things or look at objects or hear things or perform any sense-function, we would realise, if we are properly investigative, that there is some kind of impulsion from inside in the direction of a self-satisfaction in the lower self, and a desireless perception is unthinkable for us.
However, yoga is not the repression of sense-activity but the freeing of sense-activity from involvement in desires which usually propel the activity. All activities get infected with some desire concerned with the ego-sense. And yoga is a gradual freedom that is to be attained in this activity of the sense-organs by means of the dissociation of the same from this disease called desire. Activity is permissible, and the Bhagavadgita tells us that it is unavoidable, but it also insists at the same time that we have to be careful to see that desire is not going there side by side or parallelly with the activity of the senses. It is not necessary that activity should always be with some desire. In fact, the most noble form of action is desireless action. And a desireful action is really culpable, ultimately. When one realises that the impulsion of the senses in the direction of objects is a cosmic function, a thing that was explained in detail in the Third Chapter, one begins to be inwardly happy in a higher sense on account of the attunement of oneself with the great forces of the universe which are the real agents of actions and whose movement is the reason behind the movement of the senses towards the objects. As we have already noted, it is not the senses that move towards the objects; the gunas of prakriti move among the gunas of prakriti. Prakriti is moving towards prakriti.
The forces of Nature commingle with the forces of Nature, so that there are no sense-organs and there are no objects of the senses. There is a continuity of movement, which has neither a beginning nor an end, in the entire cyclic motion of cosmic activity, and we do not come into the picture there as individuals. We do not, rather, exist. What exists is the universal force. Prakriti-shakti manifests itself as sattva, rajas and tamas. We will not feel at that time that we are doing anything at all, just as when a vehicle is moving, in which we are seated, we do not feel that we have made any contribution to this movement. We are taken by the force of the movement of the vehicle. This is a hard thing for the mind to entertain, because no human being is accustomed to think in this manner. We have a stereotyped way of thinking which is the traditional outlook of life, which is essentially selfish, personal and materialistic, physical and rooted in the utter isolatedness of sense from the whole of the environment. The very quintessence of yoga practice is stated in two verses towards the end of the Fifth Chapter, which is detailed out in an expanded form in the Sixth Chapter.
The contact of the senses with objects outside has to be severed. This is the first instruction. Here we are likely to make a mistake in understanding the meaning of this statement. The objects have to be severed from their contact with the senses. Generally what we understand by this suggestion is that we should run away physically from the objects. Geographically there has to be a movement from place to place, from where the objects are located. We move to go to other places where these objects are not available. This is the crudest and the lowest form of renunciation. But we have been cautioned in one place, in the Second Chapter, that physical isolation need not necessarily mean absence of desire for things. The mind may not be dissociated from its contemplated objects, while physically there may be a distance between the body and the objects.
The severing of the senses from the objects of their perception means here, in this context, not merely a physical distance to be maintained between ourselves and the objects, but the extrication of our consciousness from the clutches of externality or objectivity and coming to a realisation or experience that the objects are not really externally placed. To come back to the theme of the Third Chapter, again, we have to be convinced at the bottom of our being that the objects are not placed externally in space and time. This is a mistaken view of the mind. If they are not really external to us, there cannot be any sensory contact with them, and, therefore, there is no question of a desire for them. The whole thing drops at one stroke. This is true renunciation, and this is abiding, and this is the significance of this admonition that there should be a severance of the senses from the objects of the senses.
The gaze or the attention is to be fixed in the centre where the mind is located. This is a little bit of psychic instruction. Esoteric psychology holds that the mind has a certain location. In the waking state it is supposed to be functioning through the brain, and its root is supposed to be the point between the two eyebrows. In the condition of dream, the mind is said to be moving through the nerve centre located in the throat, or the region of the neck, and in the condition of deep sleep the mind goes down into the heart, and that is the ultimate seat of the mind.
Here, in the verses referred to in the Fifth Chapter, we are told that the mind has to be concentrated on the point between the two eyebrows. The gaze has to be fixed on the ajna-chakra, as it is called, by which what is implied is that the mind has to concentrate itself on its own seat. Thereby it becomes easier to control the mind than when it is moving away from its centre.
Neither should we close the eyes completely nor should we open the eyes fully, which appears to be something like looking at the tip of the nose. The idea is not that we should actually concentrate on the tip of the nose, though that is one form of concentration people generally try sometimes. What is implied is that there should be a half closed posture of the eyes, by which we neither close them wholly and get induced into a mood of sleep or torpidity, nor do we open them completely and be distracted by the presence of objects outside.
Together with this function we begin to breathe slowly, leisurely, with a sense of freedom from engagements and obligations and duties of every kind at that time. The Prana moves calmly, harmoniously, beautifully, only when we have no commitments psychologically.
If we have any kind of engagement attracting our attention inwardly, towards that direction the Prana also will move. And the agitation of the Prana is due to distractedness caused by the desires of the mind, by commitment to activity. Hence, when we sit for meditation, there should be no preconceived background of obligations of any kind. Otherwise, a part of our mind, subconsciously or unconsciously, will be tying itself to the engagements towards which also it has to move, and which it has on its hands. When we sit for meditation, there should be no back ground of obligations of any kind, except the obligation to concentrate. It would be advisable for every person who is after the practice of meditation to see that immediate obligations are fulfilled before sitting for meditation. Well, we cannot be free from all obligations, of course; that is very clear. It does not mean that the entire commitments of the whole of life should be stopped. That is not possible. But there should not be any pressing need compelling our attention elsewhere immediately. At least for a few hours we are to be free, may be for half a day we have no engagements, and then we feel a little bit of rest, there is a leisure felt inwardly, then the Pranas automatically settle down of their own accord, for there is composure of mind. There is also, then, a spontaneous harmony of the movement of the Pranas. The whole attention should be on freedom of the self in the absorption of consciousness in God.
The senses, the mind and the intellect should stand together as if there is a single flame of life emerging from the self within. Usually the senses work somewhere, the mind is thinking something and the intellect is acquiescing in the activities of the mind and sense; they never work in harmony. We are agitated personalities on account of the lack of harmony among the senses, the mind and the intellect. Like three flames of light joining into a single flame,. the power of the senses and the power of the mind and the power of reason should stand together in unison. And the comparison given in the Sixth Chapter is that the flame should be unflickering like the glow of the lamp which is placed in a windless place. Such is the consciousness we attain to when there is no desire behind the working of the senses and there is no personal impulsion goading the mind towards anything outside, and the reason is satisfied. One’s only goal is moksha, salvation, and there is no other aim in life. We have to be a hundred-percent convinced that moksha is the goal of life, the liberation of the spirit is the aim of all our activities, all our studies, all our engagements, anything that we do, in any manner. Non-hatred, non-anger, non-greed follow automatically from this whole-souled attention of the consciousness on the ideal of the salvation of the spirit in the Absolute. This is yoga in essence, says
the Fifth Chapter.
All this is very inspiring no doubt, but when we actually take to the practice, we will find that the senses are not yielding so easily. They are like turbulent horses which drag the vehicle, or the chariot, in any way they like, and to maintain a control over these horses which pull the vehicle of this body, the personality, is a hard job, indeed. The whole process of the practice of yoga is a gradual one, not a sudden impulsive movement. We do not jump into action when we enter into yoga. We take one step at a time, even as the mason keeps only one brick at a time when he raises a wall for a building; he does not place a thousand bricks in a heap. There is a gradual raising of the building by the architect or the workman, there is a steadiness and fixity maintained right from the bottom or the foundation, and a lot of time is to be taken in seeing that the foundation is strong, that every brick is laid properly in position, and firmly, with the requisite cement. Otherwise, there is a chance of the crumbling of the edifice. There should be no break or haste in any successful action, whether it is in raising a building structure, printing a book, writing a text, listening to a lecture or contemplating on God. Everything has to be done with great caution, passivity, leisure, and composure inwardly, and we will not be losers if we take time in this, because it is wiser to take time to understand each step, than to rush up and lose everything that was gained. Therefore, in this connection, the Sixth Chapter, which is known as ‘The yoga of meditation’, tells us that nobody can be a Yogi who has not renounced the personal will or the mood of taking initiative for the satisfaction or the well-being of one s own lower self. When the senses have no desire for any objects and they have no impulsion whatsoever towards any personalistic action, and one has inwardly renounced all motives of every kind, then it is that one is established in yoga.
Read All Chapters from The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda
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by Swami Krishnananda
Chapter 10: Forms of Sacrifice and Concentration (Specific References to The Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Chapters)
There is another important theme expounded in the Fourth Chapter, viz., sacrifice as a practice of yoga, in which context certain details of the variegated methods of the performance of this sacrifice as yoga are delineated. The adoration of the gods, the celestials, or the deities of religion is a sacrifice. And any sacrifice is also a yoga, because sacrifice means a parting of one’s own self in some measure in the direction of the achievement of a larger Self, so that in every form of sacrifice a lower form of self is surrendered or sacrificed to a higher form of Self.
Whenever the mind fixes its attention on something other than itself, which is supposed to be wider in its comprehension than the contemplating mind or the self, that process is to be regarded as a sacrifice. A lower principle has to be sacrificed for the sake of a higher principle. Contemplation on a Deity, as we conceive it, is the aim of religion, wherein the surrender of oneself in such a contemplation is implied. This is one kind of sacrifice, a religious performance, and it is yoga, because it is the union of the lower with the higher by means of adoration. The surrender of the lower self to the higher Self is regarded as brahma-yajna, jnana-yajna — sacrifice of knowledge, or sacrifice in knowledge, or through knowledge, for the sake of union with the larger Self which is a manifestation of Brahman, the Absolute.
When the senses are withdrawn and fixed inwardly, a sacrifice is performed, and this is also a part of the practice of yoga. When the senses are concentrated on objects which are regarded as helpful in the sublimation of desire, a kind of sacrifice is performed for the realisation of a higher good.
When the powers of the mind, the intellect and the senses, together, are centred in the Self; or the Consciousness within, a sacrifice is performed, and it is a yoga.
When the vital energy inside moving in the form of the breathing process is regulated, through systematised exhalation, inhalation and retention known usually as rechaka, puraka and kumbhaka, a sacrifice is performed. And that is also a way of yoga. Any act by which the propulsion of the mind and the senses outwardly is checked for the purpose of the utilisation of the whole of one’s consciousness for contemplation on a ‘being’ which includes one’s own self and is therefore larger than one’s self is a great sacrifice.
Whenever our joy is shared with another, we perform a sacrifice. And the great joy of everyone is to retain the ego. The maintenance intact of one’s own ego-sense is the greatest of satisfactions, and when we share this satisfaction a little of the ego is diminished in its intensity, thereby we part with a measure of our personality, we share a little bit of our being, the lower self, by which act we expand our consciousness in the direction of that which includes the so-called lower self of ours as well as that on which we are contemplating.
When we were discussing about the concept of the Deity we had touched upon this theme. All these are yajnas, or sacrifices, or a Tapas, and therefore they are yoga.
Study of scriptures with concentration and a holiness of spirit is also regarded as a sacrifice, because concentration is involved there. But we are admonished that sacrifices which require physical material are lower than those forms of sacrifice where the mind alone functions and any physical appurtenance is not necessary. A feeling of charitableness, for instance, is an act of the mind, which is superior to the physical expression of it by way of parting with any external material when the inward feeling is absent.
It is the feeling that counts, and it assumes a significance only when it is genuine, when it becomes a tendency to rise above one’s lower self to the higher Self which includes the person or persons towards which one expresses the charitable feelings. Any kind of austerity by which the senses are restrained and the ego is overcome in any percentage is superior to material sacrifices. And the highest sacrifice, or the loftiest concentration, the greatest form of yoga is the centering of consciousness in the Consciousness of a larger dimension.
“Dispelling all doubts by the awakening of knowledge, and converting or transforming every action into yoga, root yourself in your higher Consciousness,” are the concluding words of the Fourth Chapter, which message is continued in the Fifth and Sixth Chapters with certain other forms of detail.
Knowledge and action are not two different things. Samkhya and Yoga are like the obverse and reverse of the same coin. Therefore, renunciation of any kind is impossible unless the separatist tendency in one’s self is overcome to the extent necessary. We always feel that we are separate from the world and from creation as a whole. This tendency to the isolation of oneself from everything outside is the opposite of yoga, and if yoga is a gradual movement towards the affiliation of one’s self with all things, aiming at union with things finally, if yoga means that, renunciation of any kind is impossible without this yoga; because renunciation, at least in the spirit of the Bhagavadgita, does not mean a physical dissociation from objects or persons but a withdrawal of the consciousness of the externality of things, so that renunciation becomes a function of consciousness and not an activity of the body. Hence renunciation which is the essence of karma yoga cannot be dissociated from the forms of concentration and meditation which are normally known as yoga. Meditation and action are the same if they are to be defined in the way we have stated.
When the senses move among objects, a desire is not moving, that is the caution we have to exercise when we perform actions in the world. Mostly, when we cognise or perceive things, this process is charged with a desire, a motive within. When we gaze at things or look at objects or hear things or perform any sense-function, we would realise, if we are properly investigative, that there is some kind of impulsion from inside in the direction of a self-satisfaction in the lower self, and a desireless perception is unthinkable for us.
However, yoga is not the repression of sense-activity but the freeing of sense-activity from involvement in desires which usually propel the activity. All activities get infected with some desire concerned with the ego-sense. And yoga is a gradual freedom that is to be attained in this activity of the sense-organs by means of the dissociation of the same from this disease called desire. Activity is permissible, and the Bhagavadgita tells us that it is unavoidable, but it also insists at the same time that we have to be careful to see that desire is not going there side by side or parallelly with the activity of the senses. It is not necessary that activity should always be with some desire. In fact, the most noble form of action is desireless action. And a desireful action is really culpable, ultimately. When one realises that the impulsion of the senses in the direction of objects is a cosmic function, a thing that was explained in detail in the Third Chapter, one begins to be inwardly happy in a higher sense on account of the attunement of oneself with the great forces of the universe which are the real agents of actions and whose movement is the reason behind the movement of the senses towards the objects. As we have already noted, it is not the senses that move towards the objects; the gunas of prakriti move among the gunas of prakriti. Prakriti is moving towards prakriti.
The forces of Nature commingle with the forces of Nature, so that there are no sense-organs and there are no objects of the senses. There is a continuity of movement, which has neither a beginning nor an end, in the entire cyclic motion of cosmic activity, and we do not come into the picture there as individuals. We do not, rather, exist. What exists is the universal force. Prakriti-shakti manifests itself as sattva, rajas and tamas. We will not feel at that time that we are doing anything at all, just as when a vehicle is moving, in which we are seated, we do not feel that we have made any contribution to this movement. We are taken by the force of the movement of the vehicle. This is a hard thing for the mind to entertain, because no human being is accustomed to think in this manner. We have a stereotyped way of thinking which is the traditional outlook of life, which is essentially selfish, personal and materialistic, physical and rooted in the utter isolatedness of sense from the whole of the environment. The very quintessence of yoga practice is stated in two verses towards the end of the Fifth Chapter, which is detailed out in an expanded form in the Sixth Chapter.
The contact of the senses with objects outside has to be severed. This is the first instruction. Here we are likely to make a mistake in understanding the meaning of this statement. The objects have to be severed from their contact with the senses. Generally what we understand by this suggestion is that we should run away physically from the objects. Geographically there has to be a movement from place to place, from where the objects are located. We move to go to other places where these objects are not available. This is the crudest and the lowest form of renunciation. But we have been cautioned in one place, in the Second Chapter, that physical isolation need not necessarily mean absence of desire for things. The mind may not be dissociated from its contemplated objects, while physically there may be a distance between the body and the objects.
The severing of the senses from the objects of their perception means here, in this context, not merely a physical distance to be maintained between ourselves and the objects, but the extrication of our consciousness from the clutches of externality or objectivity and coming to a realisation or experience that the objects are not really externally placed. To come back to the theme of the Third Chapter, again, we have to be convinced at the bottom of our being that the objects are not placed externally in space and time. This is a mistaken view of the mind. If they are not really external to us, there cannot be any sensory contact with them, and, therefore, there is no question of a desire for them. The whole thing drops at one stroke. This is true renunciation, and this is abiding, and this is the significance of this admonition that there should be a severance of the senses from the objects of the senses.
The gaze or the attention is to be fixed in the centre where the mind is located. This is a little bit of psychic instruction. Esoteric psychology holds that the mind has a certain location. In the waking state it is supposed to be functioning through the brain, and its root is supposed to be the point between the two eyebrows. In the condition of dream, the mind is said to be moving through the nerve centre located in the throat, or the region of the neck, and in the condition of deep sleep the mind goes down into the heart, and that is the ultimate seat of the mind.
Here, in the verses referred to in the Fifth Chapter, we are told that the mind has to be concentrated on the point between the two eyebrows. The gaze has to be fixed on the ajna-chakra, as it is called, by which what is implied is that the mind has to concentrate itself on its own seat. Thereby it becomes easier to control the mind than when it is moving away from its centre.
Neither should we close the eyes completely nor should we open the eyes fully, which appears to be something like looking at the tip of the nose. The idea is not that we should actually concentrate on the tip of the nose, though that is one form of concentration people generally try sometimes. What is implied is that there should be a half closed posture of the eyes, by which we neither close them wholly and get induced into a mood of sleep or torpidity, nor do we open them completely and be distracted by the presence of objects outside.
Together with this function we begin to breathe slowly, leisurely, with a sense of freedom from engagements and obligations and duties of every kind at that time. The Prana moves calmly, harmoniously, beautifully, only when we have no commitments psychologically.
If we have any kind of engagement attracting our attention inwardly, towards that direction the Prana also will move. And the agitation of the Prana is due to distractedness caused by the desires of the mind, by commitment to activity. Hence, when we sit for meditation, there should be no preconceived background of obligations of any kind. Otherwise, a part of our mind, subconsciously or unconsciously, will be tying itself to the engagements towards which also it has to move, and which it has on its hands. When we sit for meditation, there should be no back ground of obligations of any kind, except the obligation to concentrate. It would be advisable for every person who is after the practice of meditation to see that immediate obligations are fulfilled before sitting for meditation. Well, we cannot be free from all obligations, of course; that is very clear. It does not mean that the entire commitments of the whole of life should be stopped. That is not possible. But there should not be any pressing need compelling our attention elsewhere immediately. At least for a few hours we are to be free, may be for half a day we have no engagements, and then we feel a little bit of rest, there is a leisure felt inwardly, then the Pranas automatically settle down of their own accord, for there is composure of mind. There is also, then, a spontaneous harmony of the movement of the Pranas. The whole attention should be on freedom of the self in the absorption of consciousness in God.
The senses, the mind and the intellect should stand together as if there is a single flame of life emerging from the self within. Usually the senses work somewhere, the mind is thinking something and the intellect is acquiescing in the activities of the mind and sense; they never work in harmony. We are agitated personalities on account of the lack of harmony among the senses, the mind and the intellect. Like three flames of light joining into a single flame,. the power of the senses and the power of the mind and the power of reason should stand together in unison. And the comparison given in the Sixth Chapter is that the flame should be unflickering like the glow of the lamp which is placed in a windless place. Such is the consciousness we attain to when there is no desire behind the working of the senses and there is no personal impulsion goading the mind towards anything outside, and the reason is satisfied. One’s only goal is moksha, salvation, and there is no other aim in life. We have to be a hundred-percent convinced that moksha is the goal of life, the liberation of the spirit is the aim of all our activities, all our studies, all our engagements, anything that we do, in any manner. Non-hatred, non-anger, non-greed follow automatically from this whole-souled attention of the consciousness on the ideal of the salvation of the spirit in the Absolute. This is yoga in essence, says
the Fifth Chapter.
All this is very inspiring no doubt, but when we actually take to the practice, we will find that the senses are not yielding so easily. They are like turbulent horses which drag the vehicle, or the chariot, in any way they like, and to maintain a control over these horses which pull the vehicle of this body, the personality, is a hard job, indeed. The whole process of the practice of yoga is a gradual one, not a sudden impulsive movement. We do not jump into action when we enter into yoga. We take one step at a time, even as the mason keeps only one brick at a time when he raises a wall for a building; he does not place a thousand bricks in a heap. There is a gradual raising of the building by the architect or the workman, there is a steadiness and fixity maintained right from the bottom or the foundation, and a lot of time is to be taken in seeing that the foundation is strong, that every brick is laid properly in position, and firmly, with the requisite cement. Otherwise, there is a chance of the crumbling of the edifice. There should be no break or haste in any successful action, whether it is in raising a building structure, printing a book, writing a text, listening to a lecture or contemplating on God. Everything has to be done with great caution, passivity, leisure, and composure inwardly, and we will not be losers if we take time in this, because it is wiser to take time to understand each step, than to rush up and lose everything that was gained. Therefore, in this connection, the Sixth Chapter, which is known as ‘The yoga of meditation’, tells us that nobody can be a Yogi who has not renounced the personal will or the mood of taking initiative for the satisfaction or the well-being of one s own lower self. When the senses have no desire for any objects and they have no impulsion whatsoever towards any personalistic action, and one has inwardly renounced all motives of every kind, then it is that one is established in yoga.
Read All Chapters from The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda
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The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita (Part II)
by Swami Krishnananda
Chapter 10: Forms of Sacrifice and Concentration (Specific References to The Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Chapters)
Yoga is a step that we take in the direction of establishment in impersonality, whatever be the degree of it. And every personalistic will or desire or action is a rootedness in personality. Impersonality is yoga, which is attained by the stages mentioned in the yoga scriptures. It is, again, mentioned that yoga is the concentration which the lower self practices on the immediately superior, higher Self. There are, various degrees of self and so we may say that the whole universe consists of only Self, and nothing but that. There are no objects; there are only selves, by which what is intended is that unless an element of selfhood is present even in the so-called objects of sense, there cannot be love for the objects.
Love is only the recognition of the presence of the self in that which we love; if the self is not there, love is unthinkable. All love is self-love in various connotations of the meaning of self. It is not without meaning that the metaphysicians of the Upanishads tell us that the whole universe is the Self, the Atman is all things. But one has to be careful, again, in understanding what the Upanishads mean, or the Bhagavadgita intends, or anyone connotes. When they say that the Self and the universe are identical, it is easy to misunderstand the statement and it is hard to make out the significance thereof. The self is that which we regard as our own psycho-physical individuality, the Mr. or Mrs., the “I” that we regard ourselves to be; this is the self for our practical purposes today. But if we analyse the motives behind the moods and activities of the so-called self of ours, we will realise that its intentions are selfish —’selfish’ in a particular interpretation of the meaning of the self. The urge of the senses towards the objects is the action of the self. It is the self that is propelling the senses towards the objects through the instrumentality of the reason and the mind, to come in union with the objects, under the impression that union with objects is the satisfaction of the self. So it is the satisfaction of the self that is the intention behind the coming in contact with the objects of the senses and it is not the love for the objects that is the prime motivation. There is no love for objects, absolutely. There is love only for the satisfaction of one’s self, which is impossible, we feel, in a sort of illusion, unless we come in contact with the objects. Various reasons are given as to why this situation supervenes, or takes place. How is it that we make this mistake?
There is a psychological explanation and a metaphysical one. Psychologically, the satisfaction that we feel at the time of coming in contact with the desired object is the result of the extinction of desire, the result not of the possession of the object or the enjoyment of the object but of the cessation of desire at the time of coming in contact with the object, which happens on account of the feeling in the mind that its purpose has been served. The purpose of the senses is to possess the object, make it their own, unite it with themselves and feel a non-separation of themselves from it, which purpose seems to be achieved when the object is possessed, made one’s own and there is no further need for the senses and the mind to contemplate the object. ‘It has already become mine’ and ‘it is I,’ in one sense. The senses have subsided into the mind, the mind has gone back to the reason and the reason is in the self. There is, then, a self-possessedness. Consciousness has rested itself temporarily, though only for the flash of a second, and we feel an exhilaration inside, a happiness and satisfaction that we have possessed and enjoyed and got what we want. This is a blunder on the very surface of it.
Metaphysically, the reason is something different. The Self is present everywhere, there is only One Self, the Universal Being, which exists in the objects. The objects pull us, we are pulled towards the objects, and conversely, we too pull the objects towards ourselves, on account of the Self beckoning its own Self in the form of a presence outwardly in space and time. The Infinite is summoning the Infinite in every act of desire, in every process of sense perception and what we ask for even in the least of our actions and desires is the Universal Self, and nothing short of it. But the senses do not know the purpose behind their activity, they are again in ignorance. When we ask for any thing, we are asking for this Universal Being, and we are not asking for anything else. This is the ontological explanation, the metaphysical interpretation or reason given behind the movement of the senses, mind and intellect towards objects. It is the higher Self which is the object of the lower self in every form of contemplation. And when the self which is lower tunes itself up to the higher Self, it is in a state of yoga. This higher Self has various degrees of manifestation, and the higher Self need not necessarily mean the Absolute at once. There is, to come back to the theme of yajna mentioned in the Third Chapter, a Deity that superintends over the circumstance of the relation between the subject and the object. This Deity is the higher Self for the time being, the synthesis between the subject and the object. This Deity, again, becomes an individual subject in the light of a higher realm of cognition which has its own objects. Difficult is all this for the mind to understand and we are not supposed to go too high when we are in a lower stage. We will know what is above us when we reach the stage that is immediately below. Each time we are given only the vision of one step ahead; we cannot have the total vision of all things at the stroke of a moment. Just now we can have an inkling of what is immediately above us, and further on we cannot know anything. When we reach that second step, or achieve the immediately higher level, we will have the vision of the next higher level. Nature reveals its secrets by degrees, and the whole secret cannot be given in one instant.
The Bhagavadgita, in its Sixth Chapter, tells us that the higher Self is the controlling principle of the lower self. The higher Self is the object of meditation by the lower self, and the higher is the aim of the lower. To the extent the lower is in union with the higher, to that extent we are successful in our endeavours. To the extent we are selfish and ignorant of even the presence of the higher, to that extent we are not going to be successful here. The higher Self becomes the friend of the lower when the lower is tuned up to the higher, and then it helps the lower. But the higher Self may appear even to be an enemy. Sometimes it appears to us that God Himself is setting aside all our motives and is not compassionate enough, all because we are not in tune with His purposes, His motives, and His Laws. So the Self is the friend of the self, and is the enemy also, which means to say that the higher Self is the friend and the benefactor of ourselves to the extent we are in tune with its purposes and laws and regulations, and to the extent we are dissonant in respect of its laws, we are a failure in life. With this caution, a friendly admonition, the Yoga of Meditation in the Sixth Chapter continues. This is a very important section which stresses the need for self-control in a scientific manner. The yoga, here described, is to an extent similar to the one propounded in the Sutras of Patanjali.
There should be a time for us to sit for meditation and the time should be such, as it was already pointed out, that we have no engagements otherwise, and we are free from all compulsive attention at that moment. We can take a deep sigh of relief, “I have done my duty today, now I am free.” It is only then that we can sit for meditation, not when we feel after half an hour, “I have a tremendous work, I have to run up to that place to do something.” Then meditation will not be possible, because, unconsciously, we are dragged in another direction quite different from the one on which we are supposed to be meditating. So, the time and the place are important in the sense that they should not cause any kind of distraction to the mind.
The posture we maintain in the body also should be such that there should not be any kind of ache or pain felt in the system. Suppose we are seated in padmasana, or sukhasana, or any such asana for the purpose of meditation, we should not feel pain in the knee, or the back, etc. Then that posture would not be suitable. One is a master of one’s own self, and we can choose our own posture. Patanjali is generous when he says that the posture to be maintained for the purpose of meditation is any one, provided it is comfortable. He does not speak of padmasana, siddhasana, and all that. Any comfortable posture — comfortable in the sense that it does not distract our attention and does not compel us to pin our attention on the body — is advised. The purpose of the maintenance of the posture in meditation is to gain freedom over the consciousness of the body and not to think of the body thereby. Suppose we feel pain somewhere, we will be thinking of the body, “here it is aching.” Hence, we choose our own posture, whatever it be. Here is entire freedom given to us. But the posture should be such that we are able to maintain a spontaneity of consciousness and do not allow the mind either to go into sleep or be aware of the pains of the body. Neither should we get distracted by the presence of the body or any kind of object of sense, nor should we tend towards sleep or moodiness due to an inappropriate posture that we have assumed. For instance, if we lie down on bed, we are likely to go to sleep. So, lying down is not a suitable posture. Any kind of aching posture is also not suitable. Standing also is not a suitable posture, because we may fall down when we are concentrating. We have to choose a convenient position of the body. That is called Asana in meditation.
And place and time have been mentioned. We have, then, to select the object of our meditation. All that has been told up to this time through the different Chapters is enough to indicate what that object should be. There is no need to expatiate on the theme further. We persuade our consciousness to concentrate itself on the great objective of yoga as described in the earlier chapters. If we cannot do this for any reason, we choose any other object which is to our satisfaction. The satisfaction here suggested is the absence of the necessity to think of anything else at that time — that is the meaning of satisfaction here in regard to concentration on an object. The object of meditation should be chosen in such a manner that there should be no need felt at that time to think of anything else. We should not be hungry,for example. Else, we will be thinking of a little breakfast or of going to a restaurant, etc., when we sit for meditation. Why should we sit for meditation when our stomach is pinching? Do not have any kind of agony. If you are thirsty, drink water and sit peacefully; if you are hungry, eat, to some extent; and if you are tired, go to bed for half an hour, and have some sleep — that does not matter. Why should you tire yourself? Yoga is not a painful discipline that you inflict upon yourself. It is not a torture that we are undergoing; it is not a medical treatment. It is a happy process spontaneously undertaken, joyfully, by the whole self, of its own accord, without any kind of external compulsion. We have to understand this. Yoga is a spontaneity of the movement of the lower self to the higher Self.
Read All Chapters from The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda
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HOLY BOOK REFERENCES
SATAN CAST FROM HEAVEN
Isaiah 14:12-17
12: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13: For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15: Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16: They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17: That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
glbresearch.proboards.com/post/6331/thread
Ezekiel 28
1: The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2: Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
3: Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:
4: With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
5: By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
6: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
7: Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
8: They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
9: Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
10: Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
11: Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
12: Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13: Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
14: Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15: Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
16: By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17: Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18: Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19: All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
Read more: glbresearch.proboards.com/thread/1214/ezekiel-chapter-28#ixzz2dGXx5Oo8
LUKE 10 - STUDY GUIDE
Luke 10:1-24 Seventy Disciples - ''Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves... I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.''
Read more: glbresearch.proboards.com/thread/1748/study-guide-disciples-parable-martha#ixzz2dGYMd1DA
Revelation 12: 7-9 War In Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the Dragon ... the Dragon fought and his angels ... prevailed not ... was cast out ... called the Devil and Satan Cast Out To Earth With His Angels
7: And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8: And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9: And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
The Apocryphon of John
(The Secret Book of John - The Secret Revelation of John)
STUDY GUIDE Part 3
THE SOPHIA OF THE EPINOIA
Mother of
YALTABAOTH : THE FIRST ARCHON
glbresearch.proboards.com/post/4385/thread
THE THIRD TESTAMENT
Learning To Hear God-Manifestations of The Holy Spirit
godslivingbible.proboards.com/board/164/learning-hear-god
''May 2, 2008 Process
Anne Terri's Vision: Box 24 – God's File System'' (God Through Anne Terri With The Holy Spirit)
Read more: godslivingbible.proboards.com/thread/52/2008-chosen-gods-file-system#ixzz2dLv7MdOq
AMEN"