सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।
अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥ १८.६६ ॥

sarva-dharmān-parityajya mām-ekam śaraṇam vraja |
aham tvā sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śuca: || 18.66 ||

Taking refuge in the Supreme is the supreme dharma

Krishna is not sure that Arjuna (and other seekers too) will faithfully take to this all-fold devotional attunement. Why? Doubt and fear assail the mind and intelligence frequently, thereby disallowing stability in the spiritual pursuit. Sensing this, he comes up with a very specific assurance so that these doubts or oscillations are set at rest forever. Appearing in the concluding chapter, it has great importance and is often quoted by devotees and seekers, instilling confidence in themselves and others:

Abandoning all dual notions of dharma (and adharma), take refuge in Me alone. I shall redeem you from all sins. Grieve not.

“You or any seeker for that matter,” says Krishna, “may rest assured that this path of mind-based devotional attunement is quite safe, complete and fulfilling in every way. There need not be the least feeling to the contrary.”

Krishna prefixes his assurance with the words “abandoning all dharmas”. This is a very significant exhortation. Normally dharma is something to be adhered to throughout one’s life. Such being the case, how can one understand and relate oneself to this call for abandoning all dharmas?

Dharma generally denotes code of morality and ethics, which humans should absorb and assimilate. Without dharma, human life will degenerate to abysmal levels. In fact, human life has its meaning and purpose only when reinforced and enriched by the benefits dharma showers.

What is dharma? It implies the principle and practice of righteousness in doing anything whatsoever. Dharma should have its right place in one’s thoughts, words and actions. Unless the mind and intelligence become dharma-oriented, none will become virtuous or honourable.

The sole purpose of dharma is to sustain life in all its facets. In times of fortune, it must be able to safeguard the mind and intelligence from undue delusion. Likewise, when misfortune befalls, it must provide sufficient strength and endurance, generating abundant hope and confidence to undergo the plight with forbearance.

But the concept and pursuit of dharma become more and more abstruse when you think about it in greater detail and subtlety. Certain aspects of dharma change from individual to individual, and from stage to stage. What is good for the child is not so when he grows into an adult. What is prescribed for the celibate is wrong for the householder, although the individual may be the same. What is true of the householder is impermissible for the ascetic.

Any probe about the all-fold and ultimate dharma becomes inconclusive. The thought of dharma can sometimes lead one to a quagmire, an impasse, as it happened with Arjuna on the battlefield, where he had come to fight after thirteen years of deliberation.

Eternal aspect of the Teacher’s assurance

It is to address this plight that Krishna makes the pronouncement: “Abandon all such thoughts of dharma. Instead, foster the vision of the one supreme Reality. Then I shall redeem you from all sins.”

How could Krishna make such a statement? What was his authority? Could he or can anyone liberate another steeped in sins (pāpas)? Are sins like ropes or chains tied around the body, and can be untied by another?

Sin is a psychological knot. It is in the form of an assessment or apprehension surging forth in the mind. To free oneself from this is an inner process. Nothing from outside can enter the mind to bind it. By ignorance and delusion, the mind binds itself. Then what is the meaning of “I shall liberate you”?

Krishna, who gave this assurance, left the earth long ago. All that we have is his words, inscribed by Vyasadeva. Obviously, Krishna’s statement is not valid for its literal meaning. But, it does have its unquestionable, eternal worth and relevance. What can that be? Seekers should wonder and probe into this matter. Every statement of the scriptures has its intrinsic worth and relevance!

Remember what Krishna said earlier. The right perception consists in viewing non-action in all actions, karmaṇy-akarma yaḥ paśyet (4.18). And this is what conduces to right performance of all activities, kṛtsnakarma-kṛt. It is in the same sequence that Krishna presents his ultimate tenet of abandoning all dharmas.

Any consideration of dharma leads to plurality or multiplicity. Only when there are two or more, the question of one being right and the other wrong arises. If the whole plurality is itself a play of the mind – an illusion – how can the dharma-adharma division be authentic at all? Thus a probe into the mind and its witchcraft will reveal the fallacy and inadequacy of all dhārmic considerations. To an enlightened person, all these have no relevance at all. They are fallacious creations of the mind and intelligence.

The truth is that there is but one existence, undivided and indivisible. Remember what Krishna explained earlier: “By Me, the unmanifest Supreme, is pervaded the entire universe – mayā tatam-idam sarvam jagadavyakta-mūrtinā” (9.4). If the entire world is permeated by the supreme Reality, and all have their abidance only in that, how can divisions like good and bad, virtue and vice, right and wrong prevail at all?

In oneness, all divisions along with their source dissolve completely. Rivers are many, but upon merging with the sea, their very source, all of them lose their separate identity. It is our senses that make the world manifold. This perception gives rise to thoughts of virtue and vice, good and bad, right and wrong. But, in reality, all these are ideas of the mind – its assessments and classifications. There is no real ground for them, before spiritual reason and enquiry.

Krishna says: “Leave all these, and take refuge under the One, oneness”. To make things easy, he identifies that One with himself, as any enlightened Teacher will do.

What, then, is the essence of the proclamation? The mind clings to plural notions and thereby becomes a victim to preference and prejudice, virtue and sin, and a host of other such dvandvas, that verily constitute the world. This quagmire has to be overcome. For that, the only way will be to make the mind hold on to the ultimate truth of oneness and rest there.

By so doing, the freedom and salvation which religion, philosophy and spirituality seek will dawn irresistibly. It is not that Krishna or anyone else is necessary to lift the seeker. Nor is it feasible. The truth of Krishna’s promise lies in his very statement, which implies abidance in the supreme Reality.

Transcending dharmas and dualities

The process consists of the transcending note. Dharma has its relevance when contrasted with adharma. Both thus go together, making a pair of opposites (dvandvas). Krishna has been emphasizing throughout, the need for rising above dvandvas (2.45, 4.22, 5.3, 7.28, 15.5).

To pursue dharma is verily to denounce adharma. But this division, by its very nature, is contrary to the supreme spiritual Truth of Oneness. Dharma is but a transitory means to help the seeker. As the dhārmic votary has to keep away from adharma, the spiritual seeker has inevitably to rise above dharma too. Only then he can reign in the domain of the Impersonal, Indivisible Soul. Thus, in asking Arjuna and other seekers to abandon all dharmas, Krishna is in fact lifting them from all delusional constraints, and installing them safely in the supreme Oneness that penetrates and surrounds them.

Here echoes the quest and assertion Nachiketas made before Yama, the God of Death (Kaṭhopaniṣad 1.2.14):

Nachiketas specifies that he is not interested in any kind of dvandvas at all. He wants to be instructed about the supreme Truth that gives no room for any kind of mental or intellectual divisions.

In Bṛhadāraṇyakopanishad (2.4.14), Yājñavalkya tells Maitreyi, his wife:

“Where ‘two or many’ are seemingly there, one sees, or knows the other. But when for one, all become verily the Self, then who will see what, who will know whom, as different from or other than himself? Who will know that by which everything becomes known? Who, my dear, will know the Knower?”

The entire plurality, manifoldness, dissolves completely into the one full-fold oneness, homogeneity. Krishna reveals that very truth here, attired in a beautiful declaration, which is so pleasing and relieving to the seeker.

“Do not grieve - mā śucaḥ” – the message of the Gospel

The last words “mā śucaḥ” of the verse carry a great relevance. “Do not grieve”, meaning: “You do not have to grieve on any account at all, if you follow what I have just said”. How consoling, reassuring are these words!

Remember how sweeping was the grief that overpowered Arjuna right in the beginning! He sought instant relief from Krishna. In our life, whether it is from interactions with the world at the sensory level, or from the mind’s own multifarious thoughts and imaginations, or due to intellect’s varied doubts and deliberations – the final unpleasant resultant is mostly grief. In redressing grief, virtually all problems of human life get resolved.

Disbelief, resentment, fear and other such adverse notes too generate grief at the end. Krishna remembers Arjuna’s plight very well. Though he spoke enlighteningly from various angles, he is conscious of the grief that assailed Arjuna. It is this plight that Krishna wants to redress. He, therefore, began his instruction with the words “aśocyān anvaśocaḥ – you are grieving over those about whom you should not grieve at all” (2.11). Clinging to the same trend, he now concludes with the words “mā śucaḥ – grieve not!”

“Be free of all kinds of doubt, speculation, craving and anxiety. Simply take refuge in the way I have outlined. In doing so, you shall be relieved from all sin and the deadly consequences. Have thus a settled, peaceful mind. Grieve not, dear Arjuna. Be consoled and confident.”

Thus we find a straight line from the beginning of Krishna’s Gospel (“aśocyān anvaśocaḥ”) to the end (“mā śucaḥ”) – indicating the very nature and fulfillment of the purpose of the dialogue. Spiritual science has the aim of terminating sorrow and bringing joy to the mind. It also equally provides enlightenment to the intelligence.

To put Krishna’s concluding statements in sequence:

1. First is the message to undertake all actions always, but anchor and depend upon the Supreme. Let the sense of doership be there, but underscoring that should be the constant feeling of ‘resting on the Supreme’. That divinizes the mind and in that, doership also gets divinized. One has the seeming ownership and claim about actions, but in reality that is overwhelmed by the inward subtle divinization (18.56).

2. Go a step further. Renounce to the Supreme the very idea of doership. For this, ascribe all actions to their very source, the Supreme. No ownership, claim or fear about what is done or to be done and the consequences it would bring ever arises in this. The mind gets deeply interested in the Supreme. This works as buddhiyoga, in the level of the intelligence (18.57).

One, with such a divinized mind, gets fused into the Supreme. The resulting enrichment and blessings are such as to derive the power to assimilate and overcome all torments, tussles and enigmas. No further security or support is necessary for such a one (18.58).

3. Locate the Supreme as present in all, and hence in your own heart too. Thus the attention should be focused on the Indwelling Supreme. Then direct all sentiments, emotions and attitudes, like placing flowers on the altar, to that Indwelling Presence. That will lead to interminable peace and permanence (18.62).

4. Next comes Krishna’s paramount secret. In this pursuit, there is no practice, effort or endeavour. It is but a transformation. Make the mind godly, once for all. Be a devotee, meaning not just a human. Feel you are of God and for Him. Let everything you do be an extension of your offering to the Supreme. No selection, denial, preference or prejudice should assail the mind. As a devotee, whatever you do is but devotional. At best prostrate before the Supreme, whenever you feel like and wherever.

Thereafter, do not be deterred by any consideration, even the ones based on morality or ethics. Instead, get fused into the wholesome oneness, which gives no room for any divisional views. What thus results is instant freedom from all dependences, doubts and fears (18.65-66). The seeker then attains that infallible abode.