In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna detailing how doing our duty meticulously with our sincere effort without expecting the result out of it will slowly wash away our sins and how it becomes part of our “Dharma”. In today’s context, we can apply this directly to our “Nitya-Karma” that we’ve to do regularly, which includes our regular “Sandhyavandanam”, “Gayathri Japam”, chanting of shlokas, etc. It doesn’t matter which is our favourite deity, but regular chanting of shlokas and mantras in praise of that deity gives us enormous spiritual power and resilience to face any adversity in our lives. Moreover, regular performance of our “Nitya-Karma” pleases Bhagawan’s heart and through this immense happiness of Bhagawan, He is the one who is going to wash away all our sins. Thus, “Shraddha” is very important in whatever we do and it should also be done with complete “Sharanagati” to Bhagawan’s divine lotus feet.
Moving on thus, as Bhagawan explains how the “Karma Yoga” leads one to the “Gnyaana Yoga”, Arjuna becomes very interested in this. He asks Bhagawan thus, “Oh Keshava! How does one go to that state of “Gnyaana Yoga”? What is that exactly? Please, can you explain?” Arjuna asks thus:
“Stithapragnyasya khaabhaashaa samaadhistasya keshava?
Chidadheekim prabhaasheta kim aatheeta vrajetha kim??“
Here the term “Stithapragnya” means a great “Gnyaana Yogi”. So Arjuna is asking Bhagawan Krishna thus, “Oh Bhagawan! What does a “Gnyaana Yogi talk? (“Stithapragnyasya khaabhaashaa”)? What will be his / her language? What will be the words that he / she would be using?? Will that person be very polite? Will that person be an epitome of character?” As Arjuna comes up with this question, Bhagawan replies back to him with the subsequent four shlokas. Bhagawan says thus, “Oh Arjuna! First of all, a “Gnyaana Yogi” is someone who is completely devoid of all desires in this world. All the five senses (Vision, touch, smell, taste and listening) are completely directed and focused towards the “Atman”. All of us have our five senses, isn’t it? But do we see that these five senses act in the way we want them to? Most of the time, the answer is a big “No”! Our senses would keep running like mad monkeys behind worldly pleasures. Our senses are ruled by desires, anger, expectations, etc. If these characteristics are going to rule our five senses, the “Atma-Gnyaanam” is very difficult for us to achieve! However, for a “Gnyaana Yogi”, all these five senses are under complete control. He / she is able to completely focus on his / her “Atman” with all these five senses put together. Thus, with all these five senses co-operating with this person, automatically the mind also comes into complete control!”
Bhagawan continues further thus, “Oh Arjuna! A perfect “Gnyaana Yogi” is someone who is able to completely let go of those things which would cause desires and anger to flare up! Thus, a “Stitha-Pragnya” (Gnyaana Yogi) is someone who only thinks of the “Atman”. A Gnyaana Yogi is the one who only sees the “Atman” in every living being. A “Gnyaana Yogi” is the one who only talks about the “Atman”. Nothing else comes into the mind or senses of the “Gnyaana Yogi”. He / she doesn’t think anything about the “Deham”, which as we know, is destroyable. However, the “Gnyaana Yogi” doesn’t discard the “Deham” completely. He / she would give importance to the “Deham” to the extent to which it has to be taken care of. Minimal facilities have to be given to the “Deham”, because only if the “Deham” is healthy enough, we can proceed with our “Gnyaana Yoga” and “Bhakti Yoga” correctly without any disturbance. So, basic health of the “Deham” is very important as it is the “divine vehicle” given to us by Bhagawan to execute our “Karma”. Thus, only if the “Deham” is intact, will we be able to perform our “Karma Yoga”, and for this, the “Gnyaana Yogi” completely understands the extent to which the “Deham” has to be taken care of!”
Thus, we can understand one thing very clearly here from Bhagawan Krishna’s words – “Deham” is very important, but at the same time, there is a clear limit up to which we give importance to it. For instance, when it comes to food, we should of course consume food to an extent up to which our “Deham” will be healthy. Food is required for our survival every passing day, however, we should not get into a situation wherein we are surviving only to consume a lot of food! 🙂 Now this is where the problem comes. Due to the desires behind which our senses run after, we would tend to overdo many things, which aren’t to be done beyond a boundary! This is where we’ve to be very careful! So for today, let us understand up to this point and we shall continue this discussion further in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 