In the last section, we have discussed what constitutes true spiritual wisdom. Krishna has dealt with it in his own unique style in verse 4.18. In the subsequent five verses, he then showed how in the light of such supreme wisdom, all the binding effects and constrictions caused by actions and their multiple result dissolve, leaving the performer free, natural and wholesome in his vision and expression. Spiritual enlightenment truly makes one’s life and interactions Brahmic in nature, raising one to the divine status, in which the Supreme Reality, Brahman, alone shines and reveals unhindered.
Such a comprehensive life of enlightenment is, no doubt, the ideal of spiritual seeking. But Krishna recognizes that to ordinary seekers, not to speak of the general mankind, this spiritual vision or realization will not be accessible easily or all of a sudden. The abilities and tendencies obviously vary. And none can be blamed or discredited for whatever he lacks. At the same time, the ideal remains valid and unquestioned.
Bhagavad Gita, being a Sruti, is like a mother to all. Its message has to embrace all. Krishna is very particular about this. Thus all are free to make their suitable efforts, to whatever degree they are inclined to, in the noble spiritual direction and elevate their hearts and minds. For this purpose, says Krishna, our land’s culture has made provision for a number of practices – religious, spiritual, yogic and even academic – in the form of austerities and disciplines suitable for different levels of people.
The tastes and preferences of people differ widely. Their readiness and ability also vary. Conforming to these, each can take to whatever discipline or austerity he likes and pursue it devoutly. It will be a right beginning if pursued earnestly with vigour. The practices are like different rivers, flowing through different terrains, ultimately to meet and merge with the same expanse of ocean.
Krishna thus outlines various practices. He first refers to Vedic rituals calling them daiva yajnas (verse 25). Even now, these protracted rituals have a prominence in our land. They have great power to influence the minds of people. Devoutly performed, they can sublimate and purify the performer.
This is so far as the ritualistic portion, karma kanda, of Vedas is concerned. Even more sublimating and elevating is the other section called jnana kanda of the Vedas. In place of performing rituals and ceremonies, here the effort is with the mind and intelligence alone. Helped and guided by the Upanishadic declarations and revelations, the seeker attempts to perceive the supreme transcendental singular Brahman in every existence, movement and vibration – external as well as internal:
Then there are those who stand distinctly with their personality based control and refinement (verse 4.26). They employ their will, restrain their outgoing senses and get into a state of stillness and withdrawal. To facilitate this process, they listen to Scriptural exposition and narration from exponents. Our land has produced in every era those, who by birth as well as growth, are given to public exposition and narration of our great epics and religio-spiritual texts. Varying degrees of traditional discipline and austerity also accompany such narration as well as listening. These have ineffable effects on the society. In fact, our society finds considerable anchor in scriptural narration and listening. It is a culture by itself.
As a full contrast, there are those who keep away from such religiosity, but are bent on employing their energy and time in a more direct and personal way. They adopt breath control, which has instant effect on the human system. Beginning with breath-regulation, the practice influences the mind and its working too. It can also lead to spiritual absorption, provided the practitioner has the intensity of spiritual seeking and yearns for enlightenment (verse 27).
Krishna then mentions some other forms of Yajnas (verse 4.28). There are sacrifices in which materials of various kinds are offered (dravya yajna). There can be the Yajnas of austerities (tapoyajna), as Arjuna himself had performed during his forest exile for getting the Paśupatastra. There can also be yajnas consisting of the practice of Yoga, as Patanjali Maharshi has described, with mental and moral disciplines to begin with, and followed by asana, pranayama and pratyahara. These spread forth to cover all parts of the human personality, to finally lead the seeker to true inner absorption, provided the seeker is keen to attune himself to the spiritual note of enlightenment.
The assiduous study of scriptural composition, with austere discipline to add sublimity and strength to the whole pursuit, is also a yajna practised by many (verse 28, second half), adds Krishna.
Our Scriptures give abundant scope to allure, compel and challenge the tenacious mind and intelligence. As a knowledge treasure, our scriptures have been wooed by many who have flair or attunement for Knowledge. Though to begin with, it becomes an academic intellectual pursuit, if the student has the earnestness and fidelity to be guided by what he studies, then the transformation can be immense and drastic. Thus in our learning centres, called pathasalas, we had the tradition of the students opting for a full-fold life of celibacy and seeking at the end of the years-long academic career in the Gurukula vidyabhyasa. May be only the lesser number found themselves fit and attuned to such life-long knowledge-austerity pursuit, characterized and climaxed by sannyasa. The greatest vrata (austere and dedicated discipline) is, in our tradition, Naisthika brahmacarya (unmarried celibate life).
Krishna does not omit the reference to more detailed and specific pranayama (breathing exercise), like holding breath inside for a time (antara kumbhaka) and holding the breath outside for a time (bahya kumbhaka). Both have their specific physical and mental effects. Then comes the other practice of not holding but regulating the inflow and outflow of breath, both in their duration and intensity, which has greater mind regulating effect.
Having referred thus to a variety of practices and austerities, Krishna concludes emphasizing that all these divergent practices do have their Yajna status and sublimity. They are capable of leading the practitioner to the Supreme Knowledge in course of time, provided they are performed with adequate earnestness and exclusiveness. For every noble man, to render his life meaningful, will he not need some practice or pursuit of spiritual involvement?
Whoever disregards this fact and lives on this earth, careless to the call of Yajna and spiritual wisdom, is verily a lost soul. For him neither is this-worldly enrichment available, nor the promised other-worldly gains. One has to live well, enriching himself and benefiting others, here and now, before he can think of deserving anything further and beyond. The warning Krishna pronounces is again quite significant:
Those who partake the nectarine remnants of yajna, proceed to the eternal Brahman. For one devoid of the yajna-spirit and pursuit, neither exists the benefits of this world, nor of the others.
Here Krishna emphasizes the same truth, but views or evaluates it as an inevitable corollary of true wisdom, for which human life is verily meant. Spiritual wisdom reveals its worth only when it takes away from the mind its notorious constrictions, karpanya dosa, and installs instead the sublime notes of purity and expansion, which transform all actions into Yajna.
In the 18th chapter, the concluding one, Krishna again clearly sets forth Yajna, Dana and Tapas as indispensable part of human life, on which depend the welfare and promotion of the individual as well as the society. And therefore they are not to be disregarded or abandoned at any rate. Yajna constitutes a very important message of Bhagavadgita.
In the next verse Krishna comes back to his special message of karma yoga and the indispensability of gaining yogic wisdom:
The Scriptures describe and highlight many such sacrifices. But, when closely studied, Arjuna, all these have but one content, namely karma. Everything is also an outcome of karma. Knowing this truth, one attains freedom.
What does Krishna mean here? Sacrifices are of different kinds – religious, spiritual, austere, academic and the like. Despite these differences, all of them are based on action, in which either the senses are at work, or the mind and intelligence are. On this account, all Yajnas become nothing but karma, action. Naturally it is subject to the truth and philosophy of action.
Krishna has already explained categorically that to perceive the actionlessness in the seeming action (karmanyakarma yah pasyet – verse 18) – in other words to perceive the still Soul in everything, constitutes the true vision. Such perception makes one a Krtsnakarmakrt (an all-fold actor, performer). For such a perceiver, Knower, can there be any need to perform any special Yajna, for any specific purpose? As explained in the 3rd chapter (verses 17 & 18), his self-derived fullness, his poise on the Self, lifts him above all seeming duties and involvement, making the whole of his life auspicious, beneficial and harmonious.
Rather than adhering merely to a set of formalities or ceremonies, regarding them as noble (Yajna), the true seeker must be able to look at all activities equally, and make everything and all spiritually sublime and benevolent. In doing so, the full redemption from all kinds of unholy results or outcome is gained. The point Krishna repeatedly drives home is that the seeker should leave his narrowness (karpanya-dosa), and become large-hearted and benevolent. It is not just the performance of one kind of Yajna or another that matters; the whole personality should gain expansion, transparence and transcendence.
Krishna now brings to light the importance of outliving ceremonial or other similar obsessions, and with a view to facilitate and compel this elevation, he extols jnana yajna and downgrades dravya yajna. This is another important verse of Bhagavad Gita, that should receive very special attention from the seekers:
Better and loftier than material sacrifices is the Knowledge Sacrifice. O son of Pritha, all karmas have their destined fruition and fulfilment in jnana (spiritual wisdom) alone.
Whatever is the faith, sublimity and efficacy attached to ceremonies and rituals, including the rewards the sacred Vedas promise for them in the karma kanda, Krishna wants all to understand that these have a much lesser effect in improving, refining and elevating human personality and life. In all actions, the fundamental and ultimate factor to reckon is the actor. Only when the actor is purified and sublimated, his actions will also be purified and prove beneficial. Where should the stress be then?
Thus the study of the Upanishads and such other Jnana texts will be a far better and direct means for correcting one’s thoughts, attitudes and actions, rather than any acclaimed ritual or ceremony. In fact, Krishna’s criticism of the rituals in the 2nd chapter (verses 42 to 44) is a striking revelation in this regard. There he drives home the truth that indulgence in rituals will be even a hindrance to the dawning of the vyavasayatmika buddhi (the resoluteness of the intelligence), which constitutes the essence of karma yoga.
All actions – worldly, secular or ceremonial – have but one end for a seeker. It is to lead him to the state of supreme wisdom, which alone brings inner fullness and contentment. Except jnana, nothing can stay with man as enrichment. All other possessions in the world, including relations, wealth, property and the like, stand separate only to be left and lost. Jnana alone is the Supreme Goal and Gain. Brahma-vid-apnoti param, declare the Upanishads emphatically.
It is quite strange that standing in the battlefield, Krishna speaks to Arjuna that in gaining true spiritual wisdom alone, one can have meaning and purpose in life. Where lies the goal, and what is Arjuna out to perform and gain? What is then the wisdom that Krishna speaks about? Is jnana a corollary or a complement to human life in any context and situation?
Jnana aims at turning man’s attention inward, to the Imperishable and Blissful Soul animating the body. By that very process and pursuit the seeker achieves all the fulfilment and poise any one would need in his life. This inner process of communion and poise, to the first hearing, will naturally seem like a full contrast to human life in the world, which thrives on ceaseless interaction and interactional consequences. Are the interactions then meaningless? Even if they are, can one escape them at all? Why are we born then? Any extent of doubts is thus possible. Conflicts too.
In fact, conflicts are a sure symptom of a spiritual mind, an investigating intelligence, and a feelingful heart. All doubts will vanish only when true illumination dawns.
(to be continued)