Spirituality

During the last issue we discussed the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita. In this issue, by the blessings of the Almighty and Swamiji, we will discuss the fifth and sixth chapters of the Bhagavad-Gita. The fifth chapter explains devotion by means of the renunciation of action. Arjuna asks Lord Krishna, \"At one time, O Krishna, thou proposed the renunciation of action, and yet again its right performance. Tell me with certainty, which of the two is better.\"

Krishna replies to Arjuna as follows.

\"Renunciation of action and devotion through action are both means of final emancipation, but of these two, devotion through action is better than renunciation. He is considered to be an ascetic who seeks nothing and nothing rejects, being free from the influence of the pairs of opposites. O thou of mighty arms, without trouble he is released from the bonds forged by action. Children only and not the wise speak of renunciation of action and of right performance of action as being different. He who perfectly practices the one receives the fruits of both, and the place which is gained by the renouncer of action is also attained by him who is devoted in action. That man sees with clear sight, which sees that the Sankhya and the Yoga doctrines are identical. But to attain true renunciation of action without devotion through action is difficult, while the devotee who is engaged in the right practice of his duties approaches the Supreme Spirit in no long time. The man of purified heart, having his body fully controlled, his senses restrained, and for whom the only self is the Self of all creatures, is not tainted although performing actions. The devotee who knows the divine truth thinks, ‘I am doing nothing’ in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, breathing; even when speaking, letting go or taking, opening or closing his eyes. He says, ‘the senses and organs move by natural impulse to their appropriate objects.\' Whoever in acting dedicates his actions to the Supreme Spirit and puts aside all selfish interest in their result, is untouched by sin, even as the leaf of the lotus is unaffected by the waters. The truly devoted, to the purification of the heart, perform actions with their bodies, their minds, their understanding, and their senses, putting away all self-interest. The man who is devoted and not attached to the fruit of his actions obtains tranquility; whilst he who through desire has attachment for the fruit of action is bound down thereby. The self-restrained sage having with his heart renounced of all actions dwells at rest in the \'nine gated city of his abode,’ neither acting nor causing to act.

\"The Lord of the world creates neither the faculty of acting, nor actions, nor the connection between action and its fruits; but, nature prevails in these. The Lord receives no man\'s deeds, be they sinful or full of merit. The truth is obscured by that which is not true, and therefore all creatures are led astray. But in those for whom knowledge of the true Self has dispersed ignorance, the Supreme, as if lighted by the sun, is revealed. Those whose souls are in the Spirit, whose asylum is in it, who are intent on it and purified by knowledge from all sins, go to that place from which there is no return.

\"The illuminated sage regards with equal mind an illuminated, selfless Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and even an outcaste who eats the flesh of dogs. Those who thus preserve an equal mind gain heaven, even in this life, for the Supreme is free from sin and equal-minded; therefore they rest in the Supreme Spirit. The man who knows the Supreme Spirit, who is not deluded, and who is fixed on him, does not rejoice upon obtaining what is pleasant, nor grieve when meeting what is unpleasant. He whose heart is not attached to objects of sense, finds pleasure within him, and, through devotion, united with the Supreme, enjoys imperishable bliss. For those enjoyments which arise through the contact of the senses with external objects, are wombs of pain, since they have a beginning and an end; O son of Kunthi, the wise man delights not in these. He who, while living in this world and before the liberation of the soul from the body, can resist the impulse arising from desire and anger is a devotee and blessed. The man who is happy within himself, who is illuminated within, is a devotee, and partaking of the nature of the Supreme Spirit, he is merged in it. Such illuminated sages whose sins are exhausted, who are free from delusion, who have their senses and organs under control, and devoted to the good of all creatures, obtain assimilation with the Supreme Spirit. Assimilation with the Supreme Spirit is on both sides of death for those who are free from desire and anger, temperate, of thoughts restrained; and who are acquainted with the true Self.

\"The anchorite who shunt his placid soul away from all sense of touch, with gaze fixed between his brows; who maketh the breath to pass through both his nostrils with evenness alike in inspiration and expiration, whose senses and organs together with his heart and understanding are under control, and who hath set his heart upon liberation and is ever free from desire and anger, is emancipated from birth and death even in this life. Knowing that I, the great Lord of all worlds, am the enjoyer of all sacrifices and penances and the friend of all creatures, he shall obtain me and be blessed.\"

Now we shall examine the sixth chapter. It is a most practical chapter and would benefit students immensely if fully grasped and followed. The mistakes made many thousand of years ago by disciples, are the same as those of today. Today, just as then, there are those who think true renunciation consists in doing nothing except for themselves, in retiring from active duties, and in devoting their attention to what they are pleased to call self-development. On the other hand are those who mistake incessant action for true devotion. The true path is between these two.

The forsaking of worldly action, called sanyasa, is the same as what is known as the monastic life, especially in some very ascetic orders. Adopted selfishly under a mistaken notion of duty, it cannot be a true devotion. It is merely an attempt to save oneself. The course adopted by some theosophical students very much resembles this erroneous method, although it is practiced in the freedom of the world and not behind monastery walls.

To be a true renouncer of action, and a devotee, one must put the problem on another plane. On the physical brain plane, there is no way of reconciling the contradiction such as appears to exist in the direction to perform actions and yet renounce their performance. It is exactly here that many readers of the Bhagavad-Gita stop and are confused. They have for so long been accustomed to thinking of the physical and living in it, the terms used for their thought are so material in their application, that, seeing this contradiction, they believe that the book will not benefit them. But considering this difficulty from the point of view that the real actor is the mind, and that acts are not the inert outward expressions of them, but are the thoughts themselves, then we can see how one can be both a renouncer and a devotee, and how we can outwardly perform every action, multitudes of them, being as active as anyone who is wrapped up in worldly pursuits, and yet be ourselves unattached and unaffected.

Duty and the final imperative, the \"what ought I to do,” comes in to play here and becomes a part of the process. The actions to be performed are not any and every one. We are not to go on heedlessly and indiscriminately doing everything that is suggested. We must discover what actions ought to be performed by us and do them for that reason, and not because of some result that we expect to follow. The fact that we may be perfectly certain of the result is no reason for allowing our interest to fasten upon it.

Here again is where certain theosophists think they have a great difficulty. They say that knowing the result one is sure to become interested in it. But this is the very task to be assayed - to so hold one\'s mind and desires as to not be attached to the result.

By pursuing this practice true meditation is begun and will soon become permanent. For one who watches his thoughts and acts, so as to perform those that ought to be done, will acquire a concentration in time which will increase the power of real meditation. It is not meditation to stare at a spot on the wall for a fixed period, or to remain for another space of time in a perfectly vacuous mental state which soon runs into sleep. All those things are merely forms which in the end will do no lasting good. Yet many students have run after these follies, ignoring the true way. The truth is that the right method is not easy; it requires thought and mental effort, with persistency and faith. Staring at spots and such miscalled occult practices are very easy in comparison with the former.

However, we are human and weak. As such we require help, for the outer self cannot succeed in this battle. So Krishna points out that the lower self is to be raised up by the help of the higher; that the lower is, as it were, the enemy of the higher, and we must not allow the worse to prevail. It will all depend upon self-mastery. The self below will continually drag down the man who is not self-conquered. This is because the lower one is so near the thick darkness that hangs about the lower rungs of evolution\'s ladder, that it is partly demonic. Like a heavy weight, it will drag into the depths, the one who does not try to conquer it. But on its other side, the self is near to divinity, and when conquered, it becomes the friend and helper of the conqueror.

The next few verses in the Gita outline that which is extremely difficult: equal-mindedness and intentness upon the Supreme Being in heat and cold, pleasure and pain, success and failure. We cannot reach this easily, perhaps not in many lives, but we can try. Every effort we make in that direction will be preserved in the inner nature and cannot be lost at death. To describe the perfection of equal-mindedness, is to picture an adeptness of the highest degree, one who has passed beyond all worldly considerations and lives on a higher plane. Gold and stones are the same to him. The objects he seeks to accomplish are not to be reached through gold, and so it and the pebbles have the same value. He is also so calm and free from the delusions of mind and soul, that he remains the same, whether with enemies or friends, or with the righteous or sinners.

This high condition is therefore set before us as an ideal to be slowly but steadfastly striven after, so that in the course of time, we may come near it. If we never begin we will never accomplish. It is far better to adopt this high ideal, even though failing constantly, than to have no ideal whatever.

But some are likely to make a mistake herein. Indeed they have done so. They set up the ideal, but in a too material and human manner. Then they thought to walk on the chosen path by outward observance, by pretending to regard gold and stones as the same, while in their hearts they preferred the gold. Their “equal-mindedness” they confined to other people\'s affairs, while they displease and alarm all relatives and friends by the manner of riding this hobby and by the wrongful neglect of their obvious duty. Truly they sought after equal-mindedness, but failed to see that it can only be acquired through right performance of duty, and not by selecting the duties and environments that pleased them.

There is no use in simply reading the holy books. We should try to practice them at least a little. Then only can we be one amongst the best of human beings. I pray the Almighty to shower its entire blessings on all of us, to lead a comfortable and trouble free life.

Posted by Siddhar Selvam

Posted Date 25.12.2014