IV
Lord
Krishna declares that He is born from age to age, in order to raise man and take him to
the Supreme. Whenever there is a prevalence of unrighteousness and the world is ruled by
the forces of darkness, the Lord manifests Himself to destroy these adverse forces and to
establish peace, order and harmony. Hence we see the appearance of the great saviours of
the world.
What is the
secret of Yogic action? This the Lord proceeds to explain to Arjuna. Even though one is
not engaged in action, but if the mind is active with the idea of doership and egoism,
then it is action in inaction. On the other hand, though engaged physically in intense
action, if the idea of agency is absent, if one feels that Prakriti does everything, it is
inaction in action. The liberated man is free from attachment and is always calm and
serene though engaged in ceaseless action. He is unaffected by the pairs of opposites like
joy and grief, success and failure.
One who has
true union with the Lord is not subject to rebirth. He attains immortality. Such a union
can only be achieved when one is free from attachment, fear and anger, being thoroughly
purified by right knowledge. The Lord accepts the devotion of all, whatever path they may
use to approach Him.
Various
kinds of sacrifices are performed by those engaged in the path to God. Through the
practice of these sacrifices the mind is purified and led Godward. Here also there must be
the spirit of non-attachment to the fruits of actions.
Divine
wisdom, according to Sri Krishna, should be sought at the feet of a liberated Guru, one
who has realised the Truth. The aspirant should approach such a sage in a spirit of
humility and devotion. God Himself manifests in the heart of the Guru and instructs the
disciple. Having understood the Truth from the Guru by direct intuitive experience the
aspirant is no longer deluded by ignorance.
The
liberated aspirant directly beholds the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self. He
cognises through internal experience or intuition that all beings, from the Creator down
to a blade of grass, exist in his own Self and also in God.
Arjuna is
given the most heartening assurance that divine wisdom liberates even the most sinful.
When knowledge of the Self dawns, all actions with their results are burnt by the fire of
that knowledge, just as fuel is burnt by fire. When there is no idea of egoism, when there
is no desire for the fruits of one’s actions, actions are no actions. They lose their
potency.
In order to
attain divine wisdom one must have supreme faith and devotion. Faith is therefore the most
important qualification for a spiritual aspirant. The doubting mind is always led astray
from the right path. Faith ultimately confers divine knowledge, which removes ignorance
once and for all.
Mere
intellectual knowledge does not lead to liberation. It cannot grant one supreme peace and
freedom. When one has achieved complete self-mastery and self-control, when one has
intense faith and devotion, then true knowledge dawns within and one attains liberation
and freedom from all weaknesses and sins.
The Lord
concludes by emphasising that the soul that doubts goes to destruction. Without faith in
oneself, in the scriptures and in the words of the preceptor, one cannot make any headway
on the spiritual path. It is doubt that prevents one from engaging in spiritual Sadhana
and realising the highest knowledge and bliss. By following the instructions of the Guru
and through sincere service, one’s doubts are rent asunder and divine knowledge
manifests itself within. Spiritual progress then goes on at a rapid pace.
The Blessed Lord said:
1. I taught
this imperishable Yoga to Vivasvan; he told it to Manu; Manu proclaimed it to Ikshvaku.
2. This,
handed down thus in regular succession, the royal sages knew. This Yoga, by a long lapse
of time, has been lost here, O Parantapa (burner of foes)!
COMMENTARY:
The royal sages were kings who at the same time possessed divine knowledge. They
learnt this Yoga.
3. That
same ancient Yoga has been today taught to thee by Me, for, thou art My devotee and
friend; it is the supreme secret.
COMMENTARY:
This ancient Yoga consists of profound and subtle teachings. Hence it is the supreme
secret which the Lord reveals to Arjuna.
Arjuna said:
4. Later on
was Thy birth, and prior to it was the birth of Vivasvan (the Sun); how am I to understand
that Thou didst teach this Yoga in the beginning?
The Blessed Lord said:
5. Many
births of Mine have passed, as well as of thine, O Arjuna! I know them all but thou
knowest not, O Parantapa!
6. Though I
am unborn and of imperishable nature, and though I am the Lord of all beings, yet, ruling
over My own Nature, I am born by My own Maya.
7. Whenever
there is a decline of righteousness, O Arjuna, and rise of unrighteousness, then I
manifest Myself!
COMMENTARY:
That which elevates a man and helps him to reach the goal of life and attain knowledge
is Dharma (righteousness); that which drags him into worldliness is unrighteousness. That
which helps a man to attain liberation is Dharma; that which makes him irreligious is
Adharma or unrighteousness.
8. For the
protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of
righteousness, I am born in every age.
9. He who
thus knows in true light My divine birth and action, after having abandoned the body is
not born again; he comes to Me, O Arjuna!
10. Freed
from attachment, fear and anger, absorbed in Me, taking refuge in Me, purified by the fire
of knowledge, many have attained to My Being.
11. In
whatever way men approach Me, even so do I reward them; My path do men tread in all ways,
O Arjuna!
12. Those
who long for success in action in this world sacrifice to the gods, because success is
quickly attained by men through action.
13. The
fourfold caste has been created by Me according to the differentiation of Guna and Karma;
though I am the author thereof, know Me as the non-doer and immutable.
COMMENTARY:
The four castes are Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra. This division is according
to the Guna and Karma. Guna is quality. Karma is the kind of work. Both Guna and Karma
determine the caste of a man.
In a
Brahmana, Sattwa predominates. He possesses serenity, purity, self-restraint,
straightforwardness and devotion.
In a
Kshatriya, Rajas predominates. He possesses prowess, splendour, firmness, dexterity,
generosity and rulership.
In a
Vaisya, Rajas predominates and Tamas is subordinate to Rajas. He does the duty of
ploughing, protection of cattle and trade.
In a Sudra,
Tamas predominates and Rajas is subordinate to the quality of Tamas. He renders service to
the other three castes. Human temperaments and tendencies vary according to the Gunas.
14. Actions
do not taint Me, nor have I a desire for the fruits of actions. He who knows Me thus is
not bound by actions.
15. Having
known this, the ancient seekers after freedom also performed actions; therefore, do thou
perform actions as did the ancients in days of yore.
16. What is
action? What is inaction? As to this even the wise are confused. Therefore, I shall teach
thee such action (the nature of action and inaction), by knowing which thou shalt be
liberated from the evil (of Samsara, the world of birth and death).
17. For,
verily the true nature of action (enjoined by the scriptures) should be known, also (that)
of forbidden (or unlawful) action, and of inaction; hard to understand is the nature
(path) of action.
18. He who
seeth inaction in action and action in inaction, he is wise among men; he is a Yogi and
performer of all actions.
COMMENTARY:
It is the idea of agency, the idea of “I am the doer” that binds man to
worldliness. If this idea vanishes, action is no action at all. It does not bind one to
worldliness. This is inaction in action. But if a man sits quietly, thinking of actions
and that he is their doer, he is ever doing actions. This is referred to as action in
inaction.
19. He
whose undertakings are all devoid of desires and (selfish) purposes, and whose actions
have been burnt by the fire of knowledge,—him the wise call a sage.
20. Having
abandoned attachment to the fruit of the action, ever content, depending on nothing, he
does not do anything though engaged in activity.
21. Without
hope and with the mind and the self controlled, having abandoned all greed, doing mere
bodily action, he incurs no sin.
22. Content
with what comes to him without effort, free from the pairs of opposites and envy,
even-minded in success and failure, though acting, he is not bound.
23. To one
who is devoid of attachment, who is liberated, whose mind is established in knowledge, who
works for the sake of sacrifice (for the sake of God), the whole action is dissolved.
24. Brahman
is the oblation; Brahman is the melted butter (ghee); by Brahman is the oblation poured
into the fire of Brahman; Brahman verily shall be reached by him who always sees Brahman
in action.
COMMENTARY:
This is wisdom-sacrifice, wherein the idea of Brahman is substituted for the ideas of
the instrument and other accessories of action, the idea of action itself and its results.
By having such an idea the whole action melts away.
25. Some
Yogis perform sacrifice to the gods alone, while others (who have realised the Self) offer
the Self as sacrifice by the Self in the fire of Brahman alone.
26. Some
again offer hearing and other senses as sacrifice in the fire of restraint; others offer
sound and various objects of the senses as sacrifice in the fire of the senses.
27. Others
again sacrifice all the functions of the senses and those of the breath (vital energy or
Prana) in the fire of the Yoga of self-restraint kindled by knowledge.
28. Some
again offer wealth, austerity and Yoga as sacrifice, while the ascetics of self-restraint
and rigid vows offer study of scriptures and knowledge as sacrifice.
29. Others
offer as sacrifice the outgoing breath in the incoming, and the incoming in the outgoing,
restraining the courses of the outgoing and the incoming breaths, solely absorbed in the
restraint of the breath.
COMMENTARY:
Some Yogis practise inhalation, some practise exhalation, and some retention of
breath. This is Pranayama.
30. Others
who regulate their diet offer life-breaths in life-breaths; all these are knowers of
sacrifice, whose sins are all destroyed by sacrifice.
31. Those
who eat the remnants of the sacrifice, which are like nectar, go to the eternal Brahman.
This world is not for the man who does not perform sacrifice; how then can he have the
other, O Arjuna?
COMMENTARY:
They go to the eternal Brahman after attaining knowledge of the Self through
purification of the mind by performing the above sacrifices. He who does not perform any
of these is not fit even for this miserable world. How then can he hope to get a better
world than this?
32. Thus,
various kinds of sacrifices are spread out before Brahman (literally at the mouth or face
of Brahman). Know them all as born of action, and knowing thus, thou shalt be liberated.
33.
Superior is wisdom-sacrifice to sacrifice with objects, O Parantapa! All actions in their
entirety, O Arjuna, culminate in knowledge!
34. Know
that by long prostration, by question and by service, the wise who have realised the Truth
will instruct thee in (that) knowledge.
35. Knowing
that, thou shalt not, O Arjuna, again become deluded like this; and by that thou shalt see
all beings in thy Self and also in Me!
36. Even if
thou art the most sinful of all sinners, yet thou shalt verily cross all sins by the raft
of knowledge.
COMMENTARY:
One can overcome sin through Self-knowledge.
37. As the
blazing fire reduces fuel to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge reduce all
actions to ashes!
38. Verily
there is no purifier in this world like knowledge. He who is perfected in Yoga finds it in
the Self in time.
39. The man
who is full of faith, who is devoted to it, and who has subdued all the senses, obtains
(this) knowledge; and, having obtained the knowledge, he goes at once to the supreme
peace.
40. The
ignorant, the faithless, the doubting self proceeds to destruction; there is neither this
world nor the other nor happiness for the doubting.
41. He who
has renounced actions by Yoga, whose doubts are rent asunder by knowledge, and who is
self-possessed,—actions do not bind him, O Arjuna!
42.
Therefore, with the sword of knowledge (of the Self) cut asunder the doubt of the self
born of ignorance, residing in thy heart, and take refuge in Yoga; arise, O Arjuna!
Thus in the
Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the Eternal, the
scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the fourth discourse
entitled:
“The Yoga of Wisdom”
Chapters: 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18