Articles for Saadhana

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.

We have been discussing Bhagavad Gita with a greater detail and also relating the concepts properly. In connection with that, I was saying that Krishna speaks only about yoga. What is this yoga? There are eighteen chapters in Bhagavad Gita, everyone of which is named after a yoga. It starts from vishāda yoga - grief yoga. Our entire spiritual world can be considered to be either religious or philosophy based upon the supreme reality or self based upon one’s own inmost essence. A third pursuit or philosophy can be yoga in which superficially you have various bodily exercises, mudras, pranayama etc. Krishna includes to some extent these also. But he calls every chapter a yoga. You know, how this is possible and how this becomes true? It is only because of the fact that whatever we consider in our life relates to our personality.

We are speaking life and living, what are they relating to? Our own composite personality. This composite personality, ever since it was born as a child and the umbilical cord was cut, it has been interacting with the world independently. Everything follows as an outcome of the interactions. These interactions when you trace properly, though our eyes are seeing and ears are hearing, actually they don’t have the power to see and hear. The sleeping man doesn’t see and doesn’t hear. But the eyes and the ears are there, but he doesn’t see and hear. So even the seeing, hearing and other sensations are primarily rooted in the mind. You should say that the entire life is based upon our mind.

This mind can be acted upon only by the intelligence which has knowledge as the quest. Arjuna was grief stricken. He sat, unable to stand leaving his bow and arrow. Arjuna also said, “I am being scorched by the grief I have in my mind. Unless you are able to cool it, I won’t be able to listen to you and even get up. You are my teacher, I sit as a student.”, he said. Krishna started speaking employing the tool called intelligence and activating Arjuna’s intelligence. Krishna spoke only 64 letters. They had the magic effect on Arjuna, the tears stopped and Arjuna started enquiring from Krishna what he wanted. Just imagine the startling transformation that took place in the battlefield and that too in the chariot where except the horses, Krishna and Arjuna alone were there.

What do you understand from this? The entire life is an expression and an extension of the human mind. All our problems are mind problems. All our solutions are intelligence solutions. The mind senses the problem first and with the help of the intelligence it resolves the problem. So there are only two factors in the whole life – one is the emotional and the thoughtful mind, another is the rational and philosophical intelligence. The intelligence must be able to give whatever is needed by the mind from time to time and enrich it, empower it consistently. So it is a kind of a conjunction between the mind and the intelligence that we want. This is what we call yoga. Yoga is never external nor is it sensory and physical. It is always inner bearing upon the mind and the intelligence.

He discusses bhakti, that bhakti also for Krishna is a yoga and he speaks about only the mind and the intelligence. He says, such devotees are dear to me.

Santuṣṭaḥ satataṁ - "If a devotee is able to remain contented and rejoicing always then I am pleased with him, he is dear to me." Contentment is always a creation, a generation of the mind. Joy is emotional. It does not belong to any body or object. It is a quality or a generation by the mind. He says, satataṁ santuṣṭaḥ. If the mind is the creator and source of joy and you have the mind always, you must make the mind generate joy as much as you want. This is called a yoga. For that you must have some regulated and sublimated life.

Yatātmā dṛḍha-niścayaḥ - And you must be able to evaluate life properly and arrive at a definite conclusion as to what I want and how to go about it.

Then so far as devotion which always asks for surrender is concerned, attunement is concerned he says, mayy-arpita-mano-buddhih. What you have to offer to God, to the teacher is your mind and intelligence. We think that we can offer many materials. All these materials are separate from you. You buy them from the market. They are not part of your personality. You cannot say, “These are mine.” You can say the body is mine, my mind is mine, my intelligence is mine. So when you are able to offer your mind and intelligence at the altar of the teacher or God, that is called arpaṇa. There again it is the mind.

Just see, the whole yoga, everything Krishna speaks about is yoga and he covers all the different subjects under yoga by giving them different names. But every word of Bhagavad Gita, every exhortation Krishna makes relates only to your mind and intelligence. Intelligence understands and mind goes on improving. It can improve to such an extent that you will always be delightful, delightful and delightful.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.