Articles for Saadhana

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.

The more I come across with people, even seekers of truth, students and enquirers, listeners associated with me, with us, I feel they do not in general have a clarity about what spiritual life and spiritual attainment mean, what are the practical and functional benefits of spirituality. There is no wonder because the whole world is suffering from a delusion. And this delusion is the most difficult to overcome. Uddhava having lived with Krishna till he was even 125 years old, at the last point he says, “I am deluded by ego. I am deluded by possessiveness. I am not able to decide properly and take the necessary action.” So it is very natural. So I thought I would speak something very significant today.

Bhagavad Gita is a summary presentation of all the Vedic and Vedantic thoughts, declarations and findings. It is said to be a commentary by Krishna on the Upanishads themselves. The Upanishads are quite a large number, at least eleven of them are very important. In the eleven Upanishads, there are quite a number of verses and statements and a variety of thoughts and findings are lying scattered in them. Brahma Sutras string all these truths in a manner of a rational presentation making use of aphorisms, pithy sentences and statements. But in Bhagavad Gita you will find an elaborate discussion of the same truths and findings in a very poetic manner and consistent manner. If the Vedas were offhand speeches from so many knowers, Bhagavad Gita in its present form you will find, is a cogently written text, written by Bādarāyana or Vyāsadēva.

In the second chapter, Krishna was presenting Sānkhya Yoga and Karma Yoga. And while presenting it, he discussed what it is and finally he also says, what is the pinnacle of this yoga practice and fruition and he indicated it saying:

श्रुतिविप्रतिपन्ना ते यदा स्थास्यति निश्चला ।

समाधावचला बुद्धिस्तदा योगमवाप्स्यसि ।।

śruti-vipratipannā te yadā sthāsyati niścalā |

samādhāv-acalā buddhis-tadā yogam-avāpsyasi ||

(Bhagavad Gita 2.53)

After listening to a variety of even conflicting statements about the whole proposition, the mind and the intelligence will start swinging and swerving unable to arrive at clarity and fixation. Such a swinging intelligence, when it remains firm and unflickering, that firmness and unflickering state of the intelligence itself is yoga.

He doesn’t refer to the Ātma here, he doesn’t refer to the self, he doesn’t refer to Brahman, he doesn’t refer to God. He only says, samādhāu, in the anthah-karana, niścalā acalā cha sthāsyati, te buddhihi, your intelligence when it remains firm and unflickering in your own within, that is the state of yoga. It is then that Arjuna raised a question. What is that state and what is it functionally? Afterwards sthita-prajñasya kā bhāṣā? Then that he explains sthitaprajña as a state where one gets absorbed into his own selfness. Ātmany eva-atmanāḥ tuṣṭaḥ - He remains contended and delighted by his own within. So it is a state, a motionless, non-active state where there is all the contentment that the mind looks for from within himself, that is the sthitaprajñata. When he wakes up from there, he cannot be a sthitaprajña but he can carry the benefit of sthitaprajñata as a result of which the intelligence will remain absolutely resolved and firm, unswerving. This is meant by the next verse:     

दुःखेष्वनुद्विग्नमनाः सुखेषु विगतस्पृहः ।

वीतरागभयक्रोधः स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते ।।

duḥkheṣv-anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣu vigata-spṛhaḥ |

vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ sthita-dhīr munir-ucyate ||

(Bhagavad Gita 2.56)

The sthitadhee, a man of stable intellect and mind is a functional, interactive individual. In that interaction, whatever Krishna has said is true.

मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः ।

आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ।।

mātrā-sparśās-tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ

(Bhagavad Gita 2.14)

As long as our senses interact with the world objects, you will find the twin reactions in the mind like śīta and uṣṇa, cold and heat, sukha, duḥkha. Now in these sukha duḥkhas, you have to remain contained, sustained. Duḥkheṣu, plural number is used. Anudvigna-manāḥ, the cause for duhkha may be external, personal, familial, body, mind, intelligence, anything it may be. Duḥkheṣu, it is not one, a variety of duhkhas, anudvigna-manāḥ, the mind should not get agitated and perplexed. Sukheṣu vigata-spṛhaḥ, in the same manner, you will also encounter a number of pleasant and delightful situations and reactions. There you should not have a feeling of lingeringness, no, there is no lingering taste. Allow both of them to be transitory as they are, to come and go. Then further:                                     

duḥkheṣv anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣu vigata-spṛhaḥ |

vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ

Rāga, bhaya and krodha are the three strands with which the entire mind rope is made. So you can not have a mind without rāga, dvesha and bhayas and these will generally go on multiplying. But when you become a seeker and a knower, you will find their effects are practically reduced to zero. It is not that rāga, dvesha, bhayas will not be there; but they will be there like drowning waters. You will be able to remain afloat, swim, row and reach your destination. So it is a question of transcending rāga, dvesha, bhayas. To transcend means they should be there to transcend. It is not that they are destroyed, or they become extinct.

Now in the sixth chapter he presents something different and nice:

यं लब्ध्वा चापरं लाभं मन्यते नाधिकं ततः ।

यस्मिन्स्थितो न दुःखेन गुरुणापि विचाल्यते ।।

yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ |

yasmin-sthito na duḥkhena guruṇāpi vicālyate ||

(Bhagavad Gita 6.22)

Spirituality gives you certainly a gain and a glory. That glorious gain is such that once you have it, taste it, you don’t feel that there anything greater than that in any manner in the world in your life. Yaṁ labdhvā -  after getting which. Aparaṁ lābhaṁ na manyate adhikaṁ - You don’t consider any other gain to be superior or above that. So there is a positive gain and fulfillment in you which is internal, arising from your own inner consciousness. Then functionally what it is? Yasmin sthito na duḥkhena guruṇāpi vicālyate. Yasmin sthithaha - after having got this inner anchor of contentment. Guruṇā duḥkhena  api na vicālyate - even the most severe form of duhkha will not be able to shake you, maybe it is pain in the body, it is some kind of a torment in the mind, it is an oscillation in the intelligence, it may be a crumbling of the ego, a challenge to the ego. When Arjuna looked at Bheeshma and Drona, certainly his ego crumbled. It was threatened. “What? I have come to fight a dharmic war and then I find that it is the most treacherous war." Can you imagine the conflict the ego was put to?

So, Yasmin sthito na duḥkhena, you must have an anchor for you. And tie to that anchor, guruṇā duḥkhena api na vicālyate. Not that you will not have duhkha. Yes, yes, yes, yes! Interaction in this world means sukha-duhkhas. Interactions in this world mean a number of unpleasant things, challenges, greater and greater, severer and severer, destabilizing and more so. When your capacity grows, ability grows, readiness and resolve grow, automatically the situations you are put to will also be greater and greater.

Can you imagine Rama who was illumined and who was fulfilled, two occasions were there in his life, he had to abandon the kingdom on the day of coronation. And that too, in a second he had to say 'yes' or 'no' to Kaikeyi. He said 'yes'. The consequence lingered upto fourteen years where Sita was even abducted, mind you. It was not forest exile alone. And thereafter, when Sita was pregnant, he had to abandon her. So these three instances were very, very severe. It is not that the illumined Rama had a very pleasant life. Certainly not! He did not have a pleasant life at all. On the other hand, he had a very, very challengeful life, persecuting life, earthshaking life he had. In all these things, yasmin sthito na duḥkhena guruṇāpi vicālyate. Let the duhkha come, you should remain unshakable. So to the extent you feel the duhkha, duhkha is there. To the extent you are able to remain unshakable, the wisdom stability is also there.

I would like you to understand it particularly ‘P’ to know it very, very well. We don’t want anything unfortunate in life, troublesome in life. But once we have it, we must make light of it and then go ahead. Then you will find providence comes up with its own unheard of, unseen glories, experiences, redresses and what not!

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.