Arjuna said: 1. Renunciation-of-actions, O Krishna, You praise and again YOGA --- performance-of-actions. Tell me conclusively that which is the better of the two.

It is evident that Arjuna has unconsciously walked out of the neurotic confusions in his mind and has started taking a lively intellectual interest in following the arguments of his friend and beloved comrade. Action being in line with his own nature, Arjuna very joyously and almost instinctively accepts the Path of Action indicated by Lord Krishna in the two previous chapters. Arjuna, however, has not yet grown to be at complete rest with himself. To him there seems to be a repeatedly jarring note in Krishna's discourse, inasmuch as there is a constant undertone, often very clear, in which Krishna insists that renunciation of action is nobler and diviner than all Yajna- ACTIONS. Hence this enquiry. Moreover, a patient of hysteria, even when he comes out of it, cannot immediately discover in himself a complete self-confidence. This is generally experienced by everybody. When the dreamer wakes up after a horrible dream, it takes some time for him to compose himself again to sleep. In the same manner, Arjuna, after the shattering experience of his emotional neurosis expressed in the opening stanzas of Chapter II, has not yet found his own balance to develop complete self-confidence and feel capable of discriminating and understanding rightly the learned discourses of the Divine Charioteer. The Pandava Prince concludes that Krishna is giving him a free choice between two independent ways of living --- self-less Action and renunciation of Action. He, therefore, requests Krishna to indicate to him decisively one definite path of self-perfection by which he can positively achieve his spiritual fulfilment. This chapter is spent in indicating to the children of the Vedas that these two are not two identical factors to be chosen from, nor are they a complementary pair of equal yoke-fellows. Renunciation-of-action and full participation-in-action are two different exercises to be practised serially and not simultaneously. This theme is elaborated in this chapter.

The Blessed Lord said: 2. Renunciation of action and YOGA - of-action both lead to the highest bliss; but of the two , YOGA - of-action is superior to the renunciation-of-action.

From the very type of the question with which Arjuna approached Krishna in the opening verse of this chapter, the Lord understood the abject state of ignorance that Arjuna was in. According to Arjuna, Karma Yoga and Karma-Samnyasa-Yoga were two distinct paths which would lead the practitioner to two different goals in life. Man is essentially prone to be inert. If left to themselves, the majority of men would demand in life only food to eat, with the least amount of exertion and plenty of idle hours. From this unproductive inertia, the first stage of man's growth is his being awakened to activity, and this is most easily and efficiently done when the individual's desires are whipped up. Thus, in the first stage of his evolution, desire-prompted activity takes man out of his mental and intellectual inertia to vigorous activity. In the second stage of his growth, he becomes tired of the desire-motivated activities, and feels energetic when advised to spend at least a few hours in a noble field, with a spirit of dedication and service. Such activities are generally undertaken in the service of others, where the individual works with the least ego. The secret of working in this spirit of self-dedication has been already described in an earlier chapter. When an individual in this second stage of self-development works with his ego subdued, in a spirit of devotion and dedication, he comes to exhaust his vasanas. Thus unloaded, his mind and intellect develop the wings of meditation and become capable of taking longer flights into the subtle realms of joy and peace. The third stage of development is accomplished through meditation, which will be discussed in Chapter VI. To summarise, we may say that the spiritual processes of self- evolution fall into three stages: (a) desire-prompted activity, (b) self-less dedicated activity and (c) quiet meditation. Of these, the first has already been described in the earlier two chapters. The technique of meditation will be described in the following chapter. Naturally therefore, in this chapter, we are having a discussion on how we can renounce the ego-motivated activities and learn to take to selfless, dedicated activities.

In this stanza Krishna explains that both activity and the renunciation of activity can take the individual to the highest goal. But he warns his disciple that of the two,

"participation-in-action" (karma) is any day superior to the

"renunciation-of-action" (karma-samnyasa). Here we must understand that Krishna is not, in any sense of the term, decrying renunciation as inferior to vigilant and vigorous activity. To say so would be parading our ignorance, or at least, a lack of understanding of what the Lord has said so far, or the spirit in which he is continuing his discourses hereafter. The Geeta is given out in the form of a conversation between Krishna, the Immortal Teacher, and a particular student facing a given problem and having some definitely known mental weaknesses and intellectual debilities, Arjuna. Essentially, here the Pandava warrior is full of vasanas and for their exhaustion he has to act in the battlefield. To those of us who are psychologically in the state of Arjuna --- and almost all of us are in that condition, suffering from the Arjuna-disease --- the treatment is activity with the least conscious selfishness. The advice given here that the "performance- of-action" is nobler than the "renunciation-of-action" is therefore to be very carefully understood. WHO SO?... IT IS SAID:

3. He should be known as a perpetual SAMNYASI who neither hates nor desires; for, free from the pairs-of-opposites, O Mighty-armed, he is easily set free from bondage.

Why "participation-in-work" is said to be easier for a beginner than "renunciation-of-action" is explained here. While defining a samnyasi, Krishna's revolutionary statement cleanses the idea of renunciation from all its external embellishments. He gives more importance to the internal mental condition than to the external uniform. According to the Lord, he is a samnyasi who "neither likes nor dislikes." Likes and dislikes, success and failure, joy and sorrow and such other pairs-of-opposites are the wheels on which the mind rolls forward earning the experiences of life. Our intellect can register a situation or a condition only with reference to the comparative estimate of its opposite. Thus, I can understand light only with reference to my knowledge of darkness. Comparison is the only way of understanding given to man. If there is no contrast for a thing, we cannot gain knowledge of that thing. If comparison and contrast are the methods 'of knowing' for the mind-and-intellect instrument, then, to renounce them is to renounce the vehicle. A car is a vehicle that moves on the earth. It cannot be used in water. Thus, if I am sailing on the ocean, I am certainly not moving in the car, but I am using a boat which floats on water. In the field of plurality where comparison and contrast are possible, I can use the vehicle of the intellect-and-mind. The stanza here states that he is a true samnyasi, who has gone beyond the perception of contrast, which necessarily means that he is one who has transcended the inner instrument of mind-and-intellect. This is no easy task; to free oneself from the pairs of opposites is to be free from all the limitations of mortal existence among finite objects. By thus defining a samnyasi, Krishna is not trying to paint a dreary picture of hopelessness for the seekers. He has in mind the growth and development of Arjuna. The Pandava Prince was then having, in his intellect, thick vasana-coatings of heroic instincts and kingly impulses for action. This stanza is given in order to persuade him to keep away from a hasty dash into samnyasa.

4. Children, not the wise, speak of SANKHYA (Knowledge) and YOGA (YOGA -of-action) as distinct; he who is truly established even in one, obtains the fruits of both.

Two methods are indicated for turning an ordinary act into a divine action of dedication and worship. It can either be done "by the renunciation of the concept of agency in every action" or by "a consistent refusal to get dissipated by our unintelligent preoccupation with our anxieties for the fruits of our action." The former is called the Sankhya method and the latter is called simple Karma Yoga. The Sankhya technique is not available to everyone, since the "renunciation of agency" is not easy unless the practitioner is highly intellectual and has in himself a capacity to see the collective universe in action. Only when we see the total logic of things, can we really come to feel the insignificance of our individual ego in all our achievements in our successes. Here, the Lord insists that only undeveloped, childish minds can find contradiction between these two methods, while wise men who have lived either of the paths will vouchsafe for the equal effectiveness of both of them. Whether we practise the renunciation of our agency-idea or live a life of detachment from the fruits of our actions, if, as seekers, we are consistently persevering in our chosen path, we shall come to the Goal, which is the same whether we follow the one or the other of the Paths. HOW CAN A MAN OBTAIN THE RESULTS OF BOTH, BY THE RIGHT OBSERVANCE OF ONLY ONE?... THE ANSWER FOLLOWS: 5. That place which is reached by the SANKHYAS (JNANIS) is also reached by the YOGINS (KARMA-YOGINS) . He

"sees, " who "sees " SANKHYA and YOGA as one. Categorically, Lord Krishna insists herein that the goal reached by the Sankhya-method is also readily reached by the Karma-technique. He, who experiences this common Goal of both paths, is the one who really understands the Truth of the Vedas.

Here the word "seeing" (pashyati) is used in the scriptural meaning of the term, and so does not indicate a mere physical act of perception. In the Advaita philosophy, Atman is not seen as anything other than the seer, but it is the experience of the Seer himself BY the Seer himself. The term "seeing" is used here only to confirm that the experience of Reality could be as intimate and beyond all doubts, as it would be, when we see any object with our own eyes from very near. In thus synthesising both Sankhya and Karma, it is not meant that they together form an alloy; they both must be practised serially. We can consider them as one and the same inasmuch as Karma Yoga purifies the Intellect and gives a greater poise for meditation (Sankhya) through which alone is the final experience achieved. Thus a combination of these two is possible serially and not simultaneously. This is to be very carefully noted by all sincere students. HOW IS IT THAT THE AIM OF KARMA YOGA IS SAMNYASA? --- LISTEN:

6. But renunciation, O mighty-armed, is hard to attain without YOGA; the YOGA -harmonised man of (steady) contemplation quickly goes to BRAHMAN. The Lord, with all the emphasis at his command, is declaring, once and for all, the final conclusions that were arrived at by the Immortal Sages of yore regarding the place of right-action in Self re-discovery. Without performance of action, the renunciation of action is impossible; without having a thing we cannot renounce it; to renounce life and the world, because one has sadly been thwarted in one's hopes and ambitions, is not renunciation. In this sense, the polishing of the mind is a process very similar to that by which we clean metal-ware by using metal-polish. The item that is darkened by time is purified by applying some polishing chemical on its surface. The polish is the solvent of the oxide that is covering the brilliance of the vessel. After a time, when we remove the coating of the "polish," we find that not only is the chemical-polish removed but the black oxide also is removed, threreby leaving the vessel bright and attractive. Similarly, the mind can be purified only by the process of treating it with right action. When thus treated, the mind gets purified from its vasana-blemishes and with such a purified mind alone can we, during the deeper meditation hours, come to renounce all activities. Before this preparation, if we try to renounce activities, we may remain physically inactive, but mentally very active. Extrovertedness of the mind is not conducive to the inner polishing. In fact, extrovertedness is the very mud that sullies the Godly-beauty and strength of the mind.

This is the greatest discovery that Hindu Masters made in the ancient days, in the technique of Self-development and Self-growth. While mental purity and meditative power cannot be gained without performance of right action with the right mental attitude, Sri Krishna gives a positive assurance here that such a conducive mental quality can be created by right actions undertaken by the seekers. Yoga Yuktah --- One who is well established in the path of selfless and unattached activities, soon develops the qualities of poise and single-pointedness of mind. Karma fulfils itself in making the Yogin fit for continuous and fruitful meditation, and when such an individual who has practised the Path of Karma diligently --- either through the renunciation of his sense of agency or through detachment from all his over-anxious preoccupations with the fruits of his actions --- such a meditator (Muni) soon attains the Supreme experience of the Self in himself. No definite time-limit can be fixed for declaring when exactly the Supreme experience will come to a meditator. The indecision regarding the time-element in this promise of certainty is very well brought out by the term used, 'Na- chirena' --- not long afterwards, meaning 'ere-long.' With this knowledge in mind, when we read the stanza, it becomes very clear why earlier (V-2) the Lord, in his opening verse in this discourse, insisted that for Arjuna

'performance-of-action' is superior to the 'renunciation-of- action.' WHEN THE DEVOTEE RESORTS TO KARMA YOGA AS A MEANS OF ATTAINING RIGHT KNOWLEDGE:

7. He who is devoted to the Path-of-action, whose mind is quite pure, who has conquered the self, who has subdued his senses, who realises his Self as the Self in all beings, though acting, is not tainted.

In the previous verse, it was said in a sweeping generalisation, that he who pursues Karma Yoga along with meditation, will ere-long reach the State of Perfection in his own personal experience. Here, in this verse, Krishna is trying to give us the logic of the state of inward revolution that will take place when we make the pilgrimage to the Infinite in us, from our own present state of finitude and bondage. With scientific thoroughness and logical precision, all the different stages of development and change that take place in an individual through Karma Yoga are enumerated here. He who is well-established in Karma Yoga, accomplishes purification of his intellect. Any purification in the subtle body, means a better state of quietude within. The lesser the agitations caused in us by our desires or emotions, the purer are we considered by Vedanta. Through action, when it is selfless and without anxiety for the fruits, the practitioner exhausts his existing vasanas. When the inner equipment is swept clean of its desire-waves, it must, necessarily, become more and more quiet and peaceful. When once the intellect is purified, meaning, rendered immune to desire-disturbances, the mind, which reflects the condition of the intellect, cannot have any disturbances. The sentimental and emotional life of one who has controlled the flood-gates of desires, automatically becomes tame and equanimous. When, through Karma Yoga, a man has gained inward peace, both at his mental and at his intellectual levels, it becomes child's play for him to deny and to restrain, to control and to guide his sense organs and their never ending appetites. A seeker (Yogi), who has thus controlled his body, mind and intellect, is best fitted for the highest meditation. In fact, all obstacles in meditation are nothing other than the mile-stones of sensuous appetites, emotional agitations and desire-problems. Once these chains are snapped, he comes to the natural condition of deep meditation, wherein the re-discovery of the Self must be instantaneous and complete. This realisation of the Self cannot be partial; it is not realisation, if the meditator understands only himself to be Divine. To the realised, Divinity or the Self is Infinite and All-pervading. From the innermost sanctum of the Spirit when he looks out, he realises nothing but Divinity- everywhere, in everyone, at all times. Therefore, the Lord says, such a person "realises his own Self as the Self in all beings." When a wave has realised its true nature to be the ocean, in its true ocean-vision, there cannot ever be any other wave which is other than the ocean-essence. When an individual, who has thus, through a total inner revolution, come to realise his essential Infinite Divinity, acts thereafter in his Atmic-consciousness, his actions cannot leave any reactions upon him. Reactions of actions can be claimed and arrogated only by the ego, and since, after God-realisation there is no sense of ego left in the God-man's bosom, his actions can thereafter leave no impression upon him. Like a signature upon running waters, nothing can ever stay in him to leave behind a vasana. On the whole, the theory of Karma Yoga propounded by Krishna has been consistently kept up by the Lord in all his declarations; but often it is conceived beautifully in the suggestive fragrance of his words. In the stanza under discussion also, it has been amply brought out that ego- centric activities, motivated by desires, alone can create vasana-granulations upon the intellect, and consequently dim its discriminative awareness to know, to feel and to experience the Eternal Divinity, which is the essential nature of man as a spiritual being.

IN THIS CONSCIOUSNESS OF UNIVERSALITY AND SUPREME SENSE OF DIVINITY, WHEN A SAGE ACTS, WHAT EXACTLY WILL BE HIS ATTITUDE IN LIFE?

8. "I do nothing at all, " thus would the harmonised knower of Truth think seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, breathing,

9. Speaking, letting go, seizing, opening and closing the eyes --- convinced that the senses move among the sense-objects.

Even such a perfect one is found to live, not sitting like a stone-statue, but acting diligently, like any one else in the world. A list of these common and natural activities is indicated in these two stanzas: "SEEING, HEARING, TOUCHING, SMELLING, EATING, GOING, SLEEPING, BREATHING, SPEAKING, DROPPING, HOLDING, WINKING," etc. In all these unavoidable activities of life, it is explained here, a Sage or a prophet, living in the world, will not have any egoistic vanity. In deep-sleep we breathe, but we are not conscious of it at all, since at that time, the ego in us is not functioning. Similarly, when the ego has ended, all these activities take place instinctively. Even while carrying on these activities, the Seer has a constant awareness that "I DO NOTHING AT ALL." This does not mean that a Perfect Master is an irredeemable sleep-walker! The essential difference between the two is, that the sleep-walker is unconscious, while a Sage is ever conscious of the Consciousness. That this attitude of total surrender of the sense of agency can come only to a Perfect Master is very clearly indicated here by the two terms "centered" or "steadfast," Yuktah meaning, "centered in the Self." This Self-centered-ness can be in two grades of intensity: one, indicating the self- centeredness of a seeker who, through study, reflection and meditation, tries to remain intellectually centered in the Self; and another, the self-absorption of one who, after the final realisation of the Self in himself, comes to live vitally, at every moment, the experience of the Self (Atmavit). In order that we may come to withdraw ourselves from the wrong conceptions of our own agency, we must have a substitute 'Knowledge-bit' in ourselves, which will help us in living the new experience. When I am ignorant of my waking state-personality, I become victimised by my own dream identity and this dream-identification ends only when I re discover my real waking-state-personality and come to live in the unbroken awareness of "I am the waker." Similarly, in order to maintain in myself the attitude "I am not the actor," it is necessary that I must have another positive assumption to replace this negative false belief. This is indicated in the last line of the stanza that a man of perfection, living in unison with the Truth, is ever an observer of the varieties of his own actions that are executed by the various layers of matter in him among the world-of-objects. Just as the ocean, were it conscious, could watch and observe its own waves rising and setting upon its own surface, declaring its own glory, so too, from the infinite depths of his own personality, the Master watches the actions performed by the various layers of matter in him. As I am typing these lines, I can watch my own fingers typing and the more detached I grow, the more entertaining becomes the play of the fingers on the keyboard. Similarly, a Sage can, once having entered the innermost sanctum of his Self, ever afterwards watch the inert matter entities in him getting thrilled with activity in a thousand channels of independent pre-occupations. He is unconcerned; he is unperturbed; from the bottomless depths of his own Being he watches on, in perfect detachment born of his realised knowledge, and he is ever confident that "I DO NOTHING AT ALL." BUT, WHAT SHOULD BE THE ATTITUDE OF A MAN WHO IS NOT A TRUTH-KNOWER AND IS ENGAGED IN ACTION?

10. He who does actions, offering them to BRAHMAN, abandoning attachment, is not tainted by sin, just as a lotus leaf remains unaffected by the water on it.

What has been said in the previous stanza may be true for those rare few who have realised the Truth and are revelling in God-consciousness. But the strange life-of- detachment by which we can renounce completely the sense of agency, is not available for all of us. We are but aspirants and seekers of this Perfection. The way in which we can train ourselves to renounce the sense of agency will be the problem of all true students of the Geeta who want to LIVE the Geeta rather than talk about its ideas. In this stanza we have a prescription by which every one of us can come to live the life of intelligent detachment in life. RESIGNING TO BRAHMAN --- Total detachment is impossible for the human mind and that is exactly what spiritual seekers often fail to understand. As long as there is a mind it has to attach itself to something. Therefore, detachment from the false can be successful only when we attach ourselves to the Real. This psychological fact is scientifically enunciated in this stanza, wherein Lord Krishna advises the seeker to surrender all his attachments to Brahman and continue striving on. To remember constantly an ideal, is to become more and more attuned to the perfections of the ideal. In order that we may surrender all our sense of agency in our actions to Brahman, we have to remember this concept of Truth as often as we now remember our limited ego. When the frequency of our thoughts upon the Lord becomes as high as the frequency with which we now remember the ego- idea, we shall come to realise the Brahman-ideal as intimately as we now know our own ego.

In short, to-day we are "EGO-REALISED SOULS"; the Geeta's call to man is to become "SOUL-REALISED EGOS." Once our Real Nature is realised, the actions of the body, mind and intellect can no more leave any impression upon the Self. Merits and demerits belong to the ego and never to the Atman. The imperfections of my reflections in a mirror cannot be my imperfections, but can only be because of the distortions in the reflecting surface. The reflection may look shortened or lengthened according to the type of the mirror into which I am looking. Similarly, the ego comes to suffer the perfect and the imperfect reactions of its own actions. Having thus realised the Self, to remain in the matter- envelopments and their world of objects, is to remain ever perfectly detached "as the lotus leaf in the water." Though the lotus leaf exists ONLY in water, draws its nourishment from the very water and dies away in the same water, yet, during its life as a leaf, it does not allow itself to be moistened by water. Similarly, a saint in the world, as a matter-entity, draws the nourishment for his individual existence from the world of objects but ever remains perfectly detached from his own merits and demerits, from his own concepts of beauty and ugliness, from his own likes and dislikes in the outside world. Of the two methods by which ordinary Karma can be transformed into Karma-Yoga, we have here the technique of renouncing one's sense of agency in one's actions exhaustively described. This is no strange theory; nor is it a unique doctrine. At every moment, all around the world, we see this enacted in a thousand ways. A doctor's attachment to his wife makes him incapacitated to perform an operation on her, although the same doctor, on the same day, may perform the same operation upon another patient, towards whom he has no self-deluding attachment. If man were to act as a representative of the Infinite and the Eternal, he would discover in himself mightier possibilities and greater effectiveness, which are all wasted and squandered to-day by his mis-conception of the finite-ego as himself. BECAUSE OF THIS:

11. YOGIS, having abandoned attachment, perform actions merely by the body, mind, intellect and senses, for the purification of the self (ego) .

A Karma-YogiN's attempt is to keep himself within himself --- as a detached but interested observer of all that is happening around and within himself. When he thus observes himself, from within himself, as a worker in any given field, it becomes easy for him to see that all actions belong to the above-mentioned instruments-of-action and not to the detached OBSERVER in him. Here, however, he must realise that the OBSERVER in himself is not the Truth, but this OBSERVER is "Truth standing on the open balcony of the intellect." Even while thus observing ourselves in action, we are ever conscious of the very OBSERVER in ourselves. "The Consciousness that illumines the very OBSERVER, is the Spiritual-centre, the Self," is the declaration of all Upanishads. If thus, the Spiritual-centre itself is something beyond the

"observer," why should a Karma-Yogin practise this technique of self-observation called in our Shastras the

"witness-attitude" (Sakshibhava)? This is answered at the end of the verse when Bhagavan says, "for the purification of the ego." By such a practice, the seeker will be entering into the field of activity and pursuing the work without the self-arrogating ego, thereby rendering himself available for an easy and effective purgation of the existing vasana-impurities. To the degree these are removed, to that degree the inner equipments become clearer and steadier, rendering the reflection of the Divine- Consciousness in them more and more vivid. ALSO BECAUSE OF THE FOLLOWING FACT THE

KARMA-YOGINS

PRACTISE WORK WITH DETACHMENT:

12. The united one (the well-poised or the harmonised) , having abandoned the fruit of action, attains Eternal Peace; the non- united (the unsteady or the unbalanced) , impelled by desire and attached to the fruit, is bound.

Through right actions, undertaken without any self- dissipating anxiety for the fruits of those actions, a Karma- Yogin can reach an indescribable peace, arising out of the sense of steadfastness within him. Peace is not a product manufactured by any economic condition or cooked up by any political set-up. It cannot be ordered by constitution- making bodies or international assemblies. It is the mental condition in the bosom of the individual when his inner world is not agitated by any mad storms of disturbing thoughts. Peace is an unbroken sense of joy and it is the fragrance of an integrated personality. That, this can be brought about through selfless actions undertaken in a spirit of Yajna, is the revolutionising theory given here. When the worker is

"ESTABLISHED IN HIS RENUNCIATION OF THE EGOISTIC SENSE OF AGENCY" and when he has "RENOUNCED HIS EGO- CENTRIC DESIRES FOR THE FRUITS OF HIS ACTIONS," he soon becomes integrated and comes to experience the peace of steadfastness. Not satisfied by this positive assertion, the Lord is re- emphasising this very same philosophical truth in the language of negation. He says that when one is not ESTABLISHED (Ayuktah) in the renunciation of "agency," and because of his desires, gets himself tied down to some expected results of his actions, he gets bound and persecuted by the reactions of his own actions. Some medicines, which, in small doses can give a complete cure, can also spell death in larger doses --- for example, the sleeping tablets. An instrument by which we can defend ourselves can itself be the instrument for our own suicide. In the same way, when we work in the outer field unintelligently, instead of gaining a greater glow of satisfaction and joy within, we will get ourselves more and more bound, and hurled down into bottomless darkness. The cause for this has been beautifully explained by Sri Krishna. Due to desires for specific fruits, we are mentally attached to those wished-for patterns to be fulfilled in future. This is compelling life to patternise itself to our will at a future moment; if a frog were to imitate a bull and grow to the bull's size, it would end in a tragedy; a mortal finite mind ordering a pattern for a future period of time, is in no way better equipped than the frog that tries to expand to the size of a bull. BUT AS TO THE MAN WHO SEES THE SUPREME BEING:

13. Mentally renouncing all actions and fully self-controlled, the "embodied" one rests happily in the nine-gate city, neither acting nor causing others (body and senses) to act.

Samnyasa is not a mere physical escapism but a mental withdrawal from things that are unintelligent and thoughtless. It is a mental attitude and not an external symbol. Therefore, he who is a self-controlled individual and who has brought all his sense-appetities under perfect control, and renounced all his ego-centric and desire- prompted actions, comes to experience and live in a nameless joy, contentment and peace which well up from the very depths within him. He thus remains contented and happy, in the "City-of-nine-gates." This is a famous metaphor used in the Upanishads, to indicate the physical body of the seeker. The body is considered a fortress city, having nine main gates, which are the nine apertures in the physical structure, seven of them on the face (two eyes, two nostrils, two ears and one mouth) and the two apertures on the trunk, the genital organ and the excretory organ. Without these nine holes or at least a majority of them, life within the body is impossible. Just as the King, remaining in the fortress, rules over his kingdom through his ministers, giving them the encouragement, strength and sanction by his mere presence, so too, the Atman, within the physical structure, though Itself doing nothing, by Its mere presence, vitalises the various instruments of cognition and action, within and without and governs the "life" in them all. This famous metaphor is used here by Sri Krishna, and he says that a self-controlled man lives within the physical body, a nameless joy of pure Divine life, ever watching over the activities of the matter-envelopments around him!! Such an individual, ever identifying with the Self, observes-on, unaffected, unattached and without agitations, all the thrilled activities in the layers of matter, but "neither does he act nor does he cause others to act." MOREOVER:

14. Neither agency nor actions does the Lord create for the world, nor union with the fruits of actions. But it is Nature that acts. In the ritualistic portion of the Vedas, God is the Supreme Intelligence, ever dynamic and potent, who observes and watches over all our actions, and who, with perfect justice dispenses to each his reward for all his actions. Here, however, the Lord, the Creator, is described not so much as what HE IS as what HIS RELATIONSHIP with the Universe is. The Supreme Self neither creates any sense of agency nor does It sanction any action. The Supreme has no such function as marrying every action to its correct fruits. In this very assertion we can find how far the ordinary commentators, who jump to the conclusion that this passage is a description of the Vedic God-principle (Karma- phala-data), are in the wrong. Any close student of the Geeta can clearly see that there is an attempt on the part of Krishna to indicate to Arjuna the function and nature of the Self and Its relationship with the three bodies: the physical, the mental and the causal.

If the Reality, the Self, has nothing to do with the above- mentioned agency or their fruits, our life which is nothing without them, must have no relationship at all with the Self. And yet, where the Self is not there, existence and activities are not possible. Therefore, there must be some relationship between the Self and the non-Self and here this strange

"CONTACTLESS-CONTACT" is being explained. It is very well-known that my nose is a permanent fixture on my face. It has neither a voluntary nor an involuntary movement. And yet, the other day, when I was looking into a basin of water, I saw my nose and ears moving rhythmically sideways as though upon well-oiled-hinges! Even when I saw it, I knew that my nose was not moving; but, all the same, I saw what I saw. Because my reflection in the water depended entirely upon the reflecting surface, it gathered unto itself its abnormalities from the vagaries of the reflecting medium. The Self or the Atman has neither activities nor an agency, and yet when in this life I function through the equipments that are natural to me, the conditioned Self, the ego, gathers unto itself these peculiarities of agency, actions and anxieties for their fruits. Electricity in itself is static energy. But when it is generated, stored and sent out through the distribution system, and when it reaches the terminals in my room and I plug on to it the various equipments, the same energy becomes dynamic. When the Self, pregnant with all potentialities, functions through the matter-conditionings, It assumes to Itself the ego-centric attitudes of agency, action, fruits, etc. The ENJOYER of the fruits and the PERFORMER of actions in us is the ego and not the Atman. I do not shake or shiver but my reflection can be shaken when the reflecting medium is disturbed. The Atman becomes the performer, etc., only when It gets conditioned by

"Swabhava" --- Nature, or "Maya," "THE DIVINE Maya MADE UP OF THE THREE gunas," as the Lord Himself calls it. IN REALITY HOWEVER, THE LORD IN HIS ABSOLUTE NATURE IS EVER-UNINVOLVED:

15. The Lord takes neither the demerit not even the merit of any; knowledge is enveloped by ignorance, thereby beings are deluded. The Supreme, who is All-pervading (Vibhuh), contrary to all our Pauranic concepts of stock-taking gods and deities, is declared here as not taking any note of the merit or the demerit of the living creatures. It is such passages that shock the story-reading devotee-class, and therefore, they generally ignore the Geeta and read instead the glories of Krishna. The concept that God sits just over the clouds, peeping down and observing every sin and merit of all the people all over the world, and that He keeps a perfect account of all these so that on the Day of Judgement each one will approach the Father who will pass the judgement --- is a concept which can appeal only to simple folk in whom the intellect is the least developed faculty! The Eternal-Principle underlying life's activities cannot be conceived of as taking any active note or interest in the created or in the finite. From the Infinite standpoint, the finite exists not. It is only when the Supreme functions through Self-forgetfulness that It comes to see Itself split up into the concepts of agent, action, fruit, etc. Sunlight passing through a plane glass, in spite of the medium through which it has passed, emerges in its pure nature, if the glass be clean, flawless and colourless. If, on the other hand, a pencil of light were to pass through a glass prism, we all know that it would emerge in its seven component colours, constituting the spectrum. Similarly, the Self passing through Knowledge (Jnana) emerges as Self, which is the One-without-a-second, All-pervading, All- perfect. But the same Self, when It passes through ignorance --- meaning, the body, mind and intellect --- It splits up into the endless world of plurality. The relationship between Knowledge and Ignorance is very beautifully explained here. Ignorance cannot be Knowledge, nor can Knowledge be a part of Ignorance. Where Ignorance is, there Knowledge cannot be. Where Knowledge has come, Ignorance must depart. But here, we are told "KNOWLEDGE IS ENVELOPED BY IGNORANCE," just as a solitary light in a dark jungle, seen from a distance can be described as a light encaged in darkness. This relationship and the method of stripping Knowledge naked, is more elaborately indicated in the following stanza. THE UNVEILING OF TRUTH IS A PROCESS OF THE REMOVAL OF IGNORANCE AND NOT A CREATION OF KNOWLEDGE, AND THEREFORE, IT IS ONLY AN ACT OF RE-DISCOVERY AND NOT A CREATIVE ACHIEVEMENT. THIS IS AMPLY BROUGHT OUT BY VYASA'S WORDS IN THE FOLLOWING:

16. But to those whose ignorance is destroyed by the Knowledge of the Self, like the sun, to them Knowledge reveals the Supreme

(BRAHMAN) . In the case of finite mortals, sighing and sobbing in ignorance, the Self is screened off from them by lifeless walls of nescience (Avidya). The man of realisation is one in whom Knowledge has lifted this veil of ignorance. Darkness is removed by Light not by degrees but instantaneously --- however old the darkness may be and however thick its density. Similarly, in one who has Knowledge (Jnana) of the Self, the beginningless ignorance is lifted and within a lightning flash, his ignorance ends. Ignorance creates the ego-centric concept and the ego thrives in the body, mind and intellect. With the end of ignorance, the ego too ends.

At this stage of Vedantic discussion, the dualists (Dwaitins) generally feel like collapsing in sheer despair. they fail to understand how the Self can be experienced when the experiencer, the ego and the instruments of experiencing, which are familiar to them in perception, feeling and thinking, have all ended. Any intelligent student must surely entertain this doubt. Foreseeing this possibility, Krishna is here trying to explain how, when the ego has ended, Knowledge becomes self-evident. This explanation cannot be brought so easily within the comprehension of a thinking intellect but by the example, which the Lord gives in the second line: "LIKE THE SUN." It is the experience of all of us that, during the monsoon, we do not see the sun for days together, and we, in our hasty conclusions, cry out "the sun has been covered by clouds." When we reconsider this statement, it is not very difficult for us to understand that the sun cannot be covered by a tiny bit of a cloud. Also, the region of the cloud is far removed from the centre of the Universe where the sun, in its infinite glory, revels as the one-without-a-second. The minute humans observing from the surface of the globe with their tiny eyes, experience that the glorious orb of the sun is being veiled because of a wisp of cloud. Even a mighty mountain can be veiled from our vision if we put our tiny little finger very near our eyes!

Similarly, the ego (Jiva) looking up to the Atman finds that ignorance is enveloping the Infinite. This ignorance is not in Truth, just as the clouds are never in the sun. The finite ignorance is certainly a limited factor compared with the infinitude of Reality. And yet, the mist of Self- forgetfulness that hangs in the chambers of the heart gives the ego the false notion that the Spiritual Reality is enveloped by ignorance. When this ignorance is removed, the Self becomes manifest, just as when the cloud has moved away, the sun becomes manifest. To see the sun, we need no other light; to experience the Self we need no other experience. The Self IS Awareness. It is Consciousness. To become conscious of Consciousness, we need no separate consciousness; to know knowledge we need no knowledge other than Knowledge; Knowledge is the very faculty of knowing. Similarly, when the ego rediscovers the Self, it becomes the Self. When a dreamer has ended his dream-career along with his dream, he rediscovers himself to be the waker. The waker is never known or understood or recognised as an object by the dreamer. The dreamer himself transcends the dream-world and enters the realm of waking, wherein he knows himself to be the waker. In the same fashion, the deluded ego, when it walks out of ignorance and enters the realm of pure consciousness, it BECOMES the Consciousness which is the Atman. This relationship between the ego and the Atman, and the technique of rediscovery of the Atman by the ego, are beautifully described by this metaphor which is full of deep significance --- for those who know how to chew upon it in independent thinking. THE SAGE, WHOSE INTELLECT IS ABSORBED IN TRUTH, WILL HAVE NO MORE BIRTHS.

17. Intellect absorbed in that, their Self being That, established in that, with That for their Supreme Goal, they go whence there is no return, their sins dispelled by Knowledge.

With a deep study of the Reality, the seeker in all his various personal identities, thereafter comes to live in unison with that understanding of the Divinity. His intellect gets, as it were, absorbed in That Knowledge and his mind cannot but sing the song of Godliness through everyone of its emotions. He becomes ever intent upon the Infinite Bliss which he has come to recognise as the essence in him. to such an individual the very Goal is nothing but the Self, which he has understood as illimitable and unlimited. An individual who has thus educated himself upon the World-of-Truth within himself, shall thereafter, have no reason or chance to get caught up again in this world of likes and dislikes. This is the result of full PARTICIPATION in the studies. The next stage is to live up to what is understood from the studies; the active

INVOLVEMENT in spiritual life. Then comes complete COMMITMENT. How can we say that the ego will not rise again in such a man's bosom? The reason is indicated here, when Krishna qualifies such men as "THOSE WHOSE IMPURITIES HAVE BEEN SHAKEN OFF BY KNOWLEDGE." The impurities mentioned here are the vasanas which are the very materials with which the ego is conjured up. These vasanas together constitute what we philosophically call:

"the ignorance of Spiritual Divinity." The antidote for ignorance is Knowledge. Thus, when, with the rise of the Knowledge of Spiritual Bliss, the dreary darkness of ignorance ends, the ego too comes to a total extinction from which it cannot re-start its career. Without a cause no effect is ever possible. In short, in this stanza, we are meeting the most optimistic philosophy in the world, declaring courageously that, Self-Realisation is the final experience in the pilgrimage of evolution, and that, in it, the evolver in us shall come to fulfil himself. God- realisation is the last stage of growth, and thereafter, to be the 'Supreme' is the goal of all evolutionary struggles, to achieve which, the ego, in its self-evolution, roamed about so long in the field of its own self-created world-of- finitude and imperfections! HOW DO THOSE WISE MEN, WHOSE IGNORANCE OF THE SELF HAS BEEN REMOVED BY KNOWLEDGE, SEE TRUTH? --- IT IS SAID:

18. Sages look with an equal eye upon a BRAHMANA endowed with learning and humility, on a cow, on an elephant, and even on a dog and an outcaste.

The wise cannot but see and recognise the same presence of Divinity everywhere. The ocean has no difference in feeling for different waves. Gold cannot recognise itself as different in different pieces of ornaments. From the stand- point of mud, all mud pots are the same. Similarly, an egoless man, having recognised himself to be God, can find in no way, any distinction in the outer world of names and forms. The distinctions generally recognised, are all the distinctions of the containers. Man to man, there may be differences in form, shape and colour of the body, or the nature of the mind or the subtlety of the intellect. But as far as Life is concerned, It is the same everywhere, at all times. Therefore, it is said in this stanza, that the Self-realised cast an equal eye on a Brahmana endowed with scholarship coupled with humility, on a cow, on an elephant, on a dog or on a pariah. Everywhere he realises the presence of the same Truth, whatever be the container. Equal vision is the hall-mark of Realisation. The perfected cannot make distinctions based upon likes and dislikes. In and through all forms and situations, he sees the expressions of the same dynamic Truth which he experiences as his own Self.

Shankara, in his commentary on this stanza, quotes Goutama-Smriti which says that it is not only sinful if we do not respect those whom we must respect, but it is equally sinful if we respect those whom we should not respect. Thus, from the standpoint of this Smriti's declaration, to respect the dog as much as the Brahmana or to respect a Brahmana only as much as we generally respect a dog, would both be sin indeed. In order to show that it is not so, the following stanza is given. THESE ARE NOT SINFUL, FOR:

19. Even here (in this world) , birth (everything) is overcome by those whose minds rest in equality; BRAHMAN is spotless indeed and equal; therefore they are established in BRAHMAN.

In this stanza, almost a whole Scripture is indicated. In the context of the development of the theme, Lord Krishna had to show, first of all, that the Perfection, described in the previous few stanzas, is not a Godly idealism to be experienced after death, in a specialised world beyond the clouds, called the Heavens. Pauranic Hinduism and all Semitic religions promise a Heaven as the glorious goal of existence and spiritual effort. However, to an intelligent man; this promise is nothing more than a charming hallucination, and not a positive gain. Such a vague goal cannot be sufficiently encouraging to coax out of an intelligent man all his enthusiasm and sincerity.

Contrary to this vague hope, here in Vedanta, the naked truth is declared when Krishna repeats what the Rishis had earlier asserted a thousand times. It is expressly mentioned that the relative existence as a limited ego- centre can be ended, and the imperfect individual can realize himself to be the Infinite Godhead. This goal can be reached not only at a post-mortem stage, but in this very same life, here in this very body, among these very same worldly objects, and one can live in the Consciousness of God, evolving oneself from the immaturities of the deluded ego-sense. Who is capable of gaining this ascendency in himself? What is the secret method by which this consummate self- redemption can be effectively fulfilled? The assertion that man can reach this goal in this very life is made in the first line by a detailed description of how it can be executed and practically lived. It is said that the one, "WHOSE MIND RESTS IN EVENNESS," gains the Divine tranquillity of a God-man. Patanjali Yoga-Sutra also explains the same fact in different words. Where the thought-flow, which creates unequal and spasmodic mental fluctuations, is arrested, there the mind ends. Where the mind ends, it being the equipment through which Life expresses as a limited ego, this sense of separative existence also ends. When the ego has ended, the egocentric thraldom of samsara also ends. The ego, thus undressed of its samsaric sorrows, rediscovers itself to be nothing other than the Self Itself. Unless one comes to this mental equipoise, one is not capable of experiencing the Samattwam of the Sama-darshin described in the above stanza.

"Such an individual who has conquered his mind and has come to live in perfect equanimity, in all conditions of life, in all its relationships, "Krishna vehemently asserts, "HE INDEED RESTS IN Brahman." This may look rather illogical at the first reading, and therefore, as an explanation in a parenthetical clause, Krishna gives his reasons for such a daring assertion; he says, "SINCE Brahman IS EVEN AND EVER-PERFECT." Brahman is homogeneous and All-pervading. Everything happens IN IT, and yet, nothing happens TO IT. Thus, the Truth remains changeless and ever the same, just as the river-bed ever remains motionless, although the units of water flowing in it are ever-changing. It is a quality of the substratum to remain changeless; all manifestations and super-impositions, by their very nature, must change. An individual, in his identifications with his body, etc., becomes a changing factor, a victim of every passing disturbance; but the substratum, the Self, ever remains the same. An individual who has discovered for himself a sufficient amount of tranquillity in which nothing dares disturb him anymore, is certainly one who has plumbed the depths and touched the bottom. A reed on the waves will be tossed up and down by the waves, but a light-house built upon firm rocks always remains upright and changeless, allowing even the stormy waves to exhaust their anger at its feet. Krishna's argument is thus logically sound when he declares that a mortal among us, who can maintain his equanimity under all conditions as explained in the foregoing stanzas, is indeed one who has contacted the Divine and the Eternal in Himself, "HE INDEED RESTS IN Brahman." BECAUSE BRAHMAN, THE SELF, IS HOMOGENEOUS AND WITHOUT BLEMISHES, THEREFORE:

20. Resting in BRAHMAN, with steady intellect and undeluded, the knower of BRAHMAN neither rejoices on obtaining what is pleasant, nor grieves on obtaining what is unpleasant.

Just as an excellent artist working at his masterpiece on his canvas would again and again approach his piece of art to add more details with finer strokes to his picture, and would again and again retreat from the canvas to gaze at his art from a distance, so too here, the Lord is creating with his chosen words the picture of the mental life of a man of equipoise and perfection upon the canvas of man's heart. He dedicates many stanzas in order that the picture may clearly and vividly come into the recognition and appreciation of even the ordinary, casual student. Here is yet another stanza offered with a burning enthusiasm and almost missionary zeal, so that Arjuna, the confused, may come to gain a vivid picture of the Man-of-Perfection, who is not a mere impotent stone idol on the Ganges-banks, but a veritable dynamic factor that moulds and influences his generation of fellow beings. Ordinarily, man gets excited or becomes despondent, not because of the happenings in the outer world, but because of his individual contact with them. If any man dies in the city, it is not tragedy to me, but when my father dies, it is my calamity. This clearly proves that the death of a man, in itself, cannot bring any disturbance to my mind, unless my mind had already projected itself on its relationship to the individual who has died. The Man-of-Perfection who has won over his mind and has come to experience the Infinite Self, can no more, therefore, "FEEL ANY JOY ON RECEIVING WHAT IS PLEASANT, NOR GRIEVE ON RECEIVING WHAT IS UNPLEASANT." It does not mean that a Man-of-Perfection is a wooden doll or an iron statue, incapable of reacting to the external things whether they be pleasant or unpleasant. It only means that a man of true inward culture, discovers in himself, in his own wisdom, a balance and an equipoise, which cannot be shattered very easily. When a man of such super-human mental steadfastness is analysed, we can easily discover that no condition or circumstances in the outer world can ever gain an entry into the inner precincts of his personality. His intellect becomes steady, since it is not poisoned with the usual ego-centric misconceptions. It is, in fact, very interesting to note how the ideas arranged in this stanza, in their very sequence, explain a wondrous truth. One who is unaffected by the presence of things, good or bad, is the one whose "INTELLECT IS STEADY," and the one whose INTELLECT IS STEADY, is the "ONE IN WHOM ALL DELUSIONS HAVE ENDED." A steady intellect from which all delusions have dropped becomes the instrument for "KNOWING Brahman" --- and the "one who knows Brahman becomes Brahman," and therefore, comes to live

"ESTABLISHED IN THE BRAHMIC CONSCIOUSNESS OF INFINITE BEATITUDE," a living God-man walking upon the earth that is Olympus to him. MOREOVER, RESTING IN BRAHMAN:

21. With the self unattached to external contacts, he finds happiness in the Self; with the self engaged in the meditation of BRAHMAN, he attains endless happiness.

The foregoing stanza might give to an unprepared student, the idea that spiritual life is a static existence where a baked, stony heart, vainly comes in contact with the heart-throbs in the world of objects, and feels for itself nothing but a monotonous equanimity. In that case a majority of us, without much discussion, can take our hats off and say "goodbye" to all spirituality immediately. For, who can deny the fact that the world, as it is constituted to-day, in spite of its imperfections, when it comes in contact with our own inner world, however maladjusted the inner world may be, can and does give minute flashes of joy? Why should I deny myself the brilliant flashes of momentary joys in exchange for a steady stone-like, impregnable monotony, call it equilibrium or equanimity, peace or God-hood? By changing the name, the thing itself is never changed! This doubt is not a mere exaggeration. This is often heard in the halls of Vedanta from the lips of all sincere seekers. Any sensible seeker entering the halls of spiritual study with his intellect bright and clear, should come to doubt its efficacy and utility. No teacher can afford to ignore answering these questions and re-assuring the students; Krishna, as a professional teacher, is doing the same in this stanza. THE ONE WHO HAS GAINED COMPLETE DETACHMENT FROM THE EXTERNAL OBJECTS, REALISES THE BLISS THAT IS THE NATURE OF THE SELF. Though the process of self-development is essentially a process of detachment, this technique of negation does not take us to an empty and purposeless zero, but when we have negated all that is false, we come to experience and live a total positivity. When the dreamer has renounced all his contacts with the dream-world and thrown away his dream personality, he does not become a non-entity, but he re-discovers himself to be the more vital, the more effective personality, the waker.

Similarly, whenever contacts with the external world through the media of the body, the mind and the intellect are clipped off clean, we awaken in the meadows of God- consciousness and come to live the joy that is the eternal nature of the Self. A seeker having thus redeemed his own mind and intellect from their preoccupations with the external world, at least during his meditation, when he comes to keep his HEART DEVOTED TO THE MEDITATION OF Brahman, attains imperishable happiness. Here the term "heart" is to be understood as a collective name for the inner instruments of knowing and experiencing. FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS ALSO HE SHOULD WITHDRAW THE SENSES FROM THE EXTERNAL WORLD-OF-OBJECTS:

22. The enjoyments that are born of contacts are only generators of pain, for they have a beginning and an end. O son of Kunti, the wise do not rejoice in them.

We, as seekers, try to detach ourselves from the external contacts in order to enjoy the Infinite Bliss which is the nature of the Self. Even an average intelligent man, if he cares to investigate his own experiences with the outer world, will discover, all by himself, that joy-hunting among the finite objects is no profitable preoccupation. The law of diminishing utility works in all our experiences and the very thing that gave a certain unit of joy in the beginning, itself soon becomes a stinking putrefying pit of sorrow. The experiences with the first laddu and the twenty-fifth laddu when you are not hungry, are a practical demonstration of this fundamental truth, that sensuous joys are doomed to pain from the very beginning. A sense-object can only be as beautiful and joyous as a leprous whore, painted, powdered and dressed up to smile at strangers in the dark alleys of a dilapidated commercial town. Lord Krishna beautifully brings out this idea, when he points out to Arjuna, how sense-objects and their joys, being finite in nature, do not enchant a wise man. Man, if he is wise, is satisfied only with the Infinite. Finite things can only torture us with hopes of getting a more satisfactory joy, and whip us along the path of sensuousness making us pant in sheer exhaustion, hunting for a complete satisfaction --- from ditch to ditch, from gutter to gutter. The chaster, the fuller, the Diviner joy, is gained only when we come to experience the Self as explained in the previous stanza. AND THERE IS ALSO A WICKED THING, AN ENEMY ON THE PATH OF BLISS, A MOST DIFFICULT THING TO DEAL WITH, THE SOURCE OF ALL EVIL, VERY DIFFICULT TO WARD OFF. MIGHTY EFFORTS

SHOULD BE MADE, SAYS THE LORD, TO REPEL THIS ENEMY:

23. He who is able, while still here (in this world) to withstand, before the liberation from the body (death) , the impulse born out of desire and anger, he is a YOGIN , he is a happy man.

Krishna himself feels that his over-enthusiastic description of the Perfect-man and his mental life may give to any reader a despairing sense of impossibility or futility. No one living the present life of agitations, can ever dare to hope that such a perfect happiness is ever possible for a mortal living upon this ever-spinning globe. If a philosophy is only an idealism which has no contact with the practical world, that philosophy is merely Utopian poetry fit for entertaining a pleasant idea, but never capable of making man a nobler being. In order to remove that misunderstanding, Krishna, in this stanza, gives the assurance that man is capable of living that perfect joy in this VERY WORLD, if only he makes the necessary adjustments in himself. My great-grandfather was a great violinist. His violin was preserved and worshipped in my house till now. I too have gained now a preliminary nodding acquaintance with music. Suddenly an idea struck me: "Why not take my great-grandfather's instrument and play upon it and thus become overnight a great musician?" If I play directly upon that ancient and faithful instrument, I will be forced to break it into pieces, for, that violin, in that condition, cannot give me perfect music. It needs general cleaning and dusting; perhaps, re-stringing and a lot of tuning up. When these adjustments are made, then only can it faithfully give out all the notes, implicitly obeying the strokes of my bow and the ticklings of my finger. In the same fashion, today, our mind and intellect, the instruments of singing the song of Perfection, neglected from beginningless time, need a lot of re-adjustments before they can gurgle out their contents of laughter and joy. The technique of re-adjusting the inner-instruments is beautifully summarised here by Lord Krishna. The very brevity and simplicity of this verse are the obstacles to our understanding its full import. The advice has a deceptive look of simplicity. "WITHSTAND THE IMPULSE OF DESIRE AND ANGER," then he is a Yogi, even while here, before his death, the happy man. To a modern student of Freud and others, soaked with the ideas of behaviourism and such other modern superficialities of psychology, this may look rather an unscientific expression of a crude enthusiast. But when we analyse and try to grapple with its full import and implication, we shall see that it contains volumes of suggestions.

"Desire" is the avalanche of thoughts sweeping down from the pinnacles of our intellect, along the valleys of our heart, towards an object-of-desire in the outer world.

When this avalanche of thought is barricaded on its sweep by a substantial obstacle ere it reaches it destination, the blast with which it shatters itself on that obstacle is called

"anger." It is these two types of thoughts that generally agitate our bosom. The greater the desire with which we ponder over an object, the greater shall be the anger against any obstacle that comes between us and our object-of-desire. To one who has won over joy and grief, and who has gained a certain amount of detachment from external objects, desire for obtaining the pleasant or the unpleasant is no emotion at all. Where there is no desire, hatred is an unknown alien factor there. He who has gained over these two impulses, powerful and almost irresistible as they are, is he who can afford to live in this world of multiplicity and imperfections as an independent solitary man of true and steady happiness. Thus Krishna assures Arjuna --- and through Arjuna all others like us who will read and try to understand this immortal scripture --- that man can live perfectly happily even while in this form, among these very objects, in this very world, during this very life, if only he, in his spiritual evolution, learns to renounce his impulses of desire and hatred. WHAT SORT OF A MAN RESTING IN BRAHMAN, ATTAINS BRAHMAN?... THE LORD SAYS:

24. He who is happy within, who rejoices within, who is illuminated within, that YOGI attains Absolute Freedom or

MOKSHA, himself becomin g BRAHMAN. From the above three stanzas it becomes clear that, according to Krishna, none of the usual fields of joy and happiness are visited by the man of perfection. Neither the warmth of flesh, nor the thrills of emotions and the ecstasies of thinking are available for him. Renouncing them all and conquering both love and hatred, the Yogi, in sheer transcendence, attains a realm of bliss, and Krishna declares that such a man alone can be said to be really happy. It becomes very difficult to believe that a man in that condition would feel any happiness at all. All instruments of happiness have been rejected by him. There is no more any field for him to gain joy or satisfaction. Renouncing all food one cannot have any joy of eating. Again, it is against the very logic and rhythm of life to say that man will be satisfied by a mere emptiness, a dark cave of total negation. Every living creature roams about in all its available fields of activity seeking to gain and achieve a greater fulfilment of joy. Even the state of

"complete absence of pain" --- though it is a platform of relief --- is not the summit where an individual will feel contented and fully satisfied.

Under the above circumstances, it will be mere exaggeration to believe Krishna's assertion in the previous three stanzas. To avoid such a serious misunderstanding among the students, the Lord is here trying to find out for us the positive glow of assured Divinity when the ego rediscovers itself to be the Self as it renounces all its delusory preoccupations with the false and the fleeting. The substantial and definite experience of solid bliss enjoyed and lived by the Self, in the Self, as the Self, is indicated here in this stanza. The seeker, in his detachment, not only withdraws himself from the world-of-objects outside, but also discovers in himself an ampler sense of bliss and security. This inward joy is not a rare flickering flash, but a constantly experienced factor. Such a well-developed seeker striving constantly on the path comes to discover a field of fruitful 'entertainment' and engaging 'recreation' in the brilliant light of joyous satisfaction within himself. To him his entire within is flooded with the Light of Pure Consciousness. His heart is thereafter alit with the Glow Divine. Such an individual --- who has withdrawn himself completely within, where he has learnt to enter at will and court and live in It --- is the one who has come to KNOW Brahman. In his realization of the Infinite he has come to experience the

Bliss of Brahman, the smokeless shrine of Truth. MOREOVER:

25. Those RISHIS obtain Absolute Freedom or MOKSHA --- whose sins have been destroyed, whose dualities are torn asunder, who are self-controlled and intent on the welfare of all beings. When a man of meditation, striving diligently, with his senses well under his control, comes to wash off all his sinful mental impressions (which had been creating in him the veiling of the Self behind an unending array of doubts regarding the Reality), he gains the joy of the Self. When his ignorance, which is nothing other than agitations of the mind (Vikshepa) and the consequent veiling of the Truth (Avarana), has been removed, Knowledge of his Real Nature dawns in his bosom and he re-discovers himself as the Self! Having thus re-discovered the Self, having thus gained the goal of all evolution, what would be the duties of such an individual in this existence, till finally, with a cheerful farewell, he drops his mortal coil down, to merge himself with what he knows to be his own Self? The general impression is that he will move about in the world like a mad, walking, stone-statue --- that eats at least once a day, a threat to society, a moving bundle of contagion and a screaming pillar of despondency and despair. Such a living death is not the goal indicated by the Vedas nor did the Hindu Rishis ever try to carve out of a man, a walking corpse! Self-realisation is not a melancholy parade, crawling to a pre-destined tomb, but it is a joyous ride to the Palace of Truth, from which man has wandered away in his own ignorance and confusion. A true prophet is one who lives, consumed in an ever-reviving fire of love. He ceaselessly strives to bring out the Self from the non-Self that is veiling It, in all other forms around and about him. This is indicated by the term "engaged in the good of all-beings." This lokaseva becomes his recreation, his self-appointed engagement. His body, mind and intellect are offered as oblations into the sacred fires of activity and while remaining at rest within himself, the Saint lives on, in an unbroken Consciousness of the Divine, the Eternal. MOREOVER:

26. Absolute Freedom (or BRAHMIC Bliss) exists on all sides for those self-controlled ascetics, who are free from desire and anger, who have controlled their thoughts and who have realised the Self. By the work of serving mankind --- the duties of reinstating Godly life in the bosom of the Satanic Age, the love in the heart that tries to redeem the prostitute or to cure the leper, the joyful enthusiasm to light and guide where darkness and blindness revel --- the Master is not bartering away his chances to live as a God of gods even in this world, here and now. Just as a doctor working among the unhealthy and the suffering is not himself contaminated by the diseases or the sorrows, so too a master-mind working amongst the wretched and the lustful, the passionate and the sensuous, the false and the low, is not in any sense of the term touched, even by a passing breeze, of the stink around him. How this immunity is maintained and preserved by a man of equipoise even amongst the temptations of the vicious atmosphere is indicated here in this stanza. When a sincere seeker has, through his own intelligent self-effort and divine self-application, redeemed himself from the secret charms of the ever murmuring hosts of sense- appetites in himself --- when he has conquered the instincts of lust and anger in him --- when he has thus completely mastered all threats arising from within him and those that come to him from without, such a sincere pursuer of the Life Divine, when he has known the Self, gains the Bliss of Perfection "BOTH HERE AND HEREAFTER." AND NOW, TO ENUNCIATE THE DHYANA YOGA, THE NEAREST AND THE MOST EFFICIENT MEANS TO RIGHT KNOWLEDGE, THE LORD TEACHES THE

PATH OF MEDITATION IN THE FOLLOWING FEW APHORISTIC VERSES:

27. Shutting out (all) external contacts and fixing the gaze (as though) between the eye-brows, equalising the outgoing and incoming breath moving within the nostrils,

28. With senses, mind and intellect (ever) controlled, having liberation as his Supreme Goal, free from desire, fear and anger - -- the sage is verily liberated for ever.

In these two aphoristic stanzas the Lord has hinted at the summary of the entire following chapter. This is the traditional style in Sanskrit text-books on Brahma-Vidya, wherein each section is closed, often indicating the following section. The above verses give us a complete picture of the Man- of-perfection and his purposeful life at all levels of his existence. Students of Vedanta are ever anxious to live the Perfection. They are not dreamers, content with flirting with Utopian idealisms, but they are the most utilitarian, practical men of the world, who want to live a more purposeful, efficient and effective life in this world. Therefore, they are not enamoured of mere ideas, however noble they may be, unless those ideas can actually be lived in life.

How to achieve the perfect mental equipoise which has been indicated in the previous stanzas, should be the question that must agitate the minds of all true seekers. Here, as a summary, with lots of dots and dashes, Krishna is giving the scheme of practice, by which every diligent pursuer can gain a complete integration. These two stanzas become rough notes to be enlarged and exhausted with details and descriptions in the next chapter. The external world-of-objects, it has already been said, cannot by itself bring any disturbance to any one of us. It is only when we are in contact with the world-of-objects that we suffer the agitations in life. So long as we are standing on the bank of a river or on the seashore, the waves in the water cannot buffet us. It is only when we are in contact with them that we will be tossed hither and thither. Forms, sounds, tastes, smells and touches constantly bring their objects to agitate the mind, but we shall get agitated by them only when we are identifying ourselves with our mental conditions. If we, therefore, shut out the external object --- not by physical methods such as plugging the ears, but by a discreet intellectual detachment from our mental reactions to the external world-of-objects --- we shall discover in ourselves, the necessary tranquillity to start meditation. It is a great mistake that seekers often take the foregoing instruction too literally. They converge their eye-balls and gaze towards the space between the eye-brows for the purpose of meditation. This is an exaggeration, though it faithfully follows the instructions laid down here. It is to be understood, as Shankara says, "TO GAZE AS IT WERE" towards the point between the two eye-brows. It is psychologically very true that when we are looking "as it were towards the brow," our gaze would be turned upward at about forty-five degrees to the vertical backbone. In that attitude of upward gaze, the human mind is held uplifted and it becomes the right vehicle for higher contemplation. There is an intimate relationship between the rhythm of the flow of breath in us and our own mental thought- conditions. The more agitated the mind is, the more spasmodic and uncertain becomes the rhythm of our breathing. Therefore, the instructions here, which advise us to control our breath-flow to make it "EVEN WITHIN THE NOSTRILS" becomes a conducive physical practice for coaxing the mind to a relatively quieter existence. These instructions are all mainly physical adjustments for creating a conducive mental atmosphere. In the following stanza, the necessary adjustments to control the mental and the intellectual sheaths are hinted at. The tireless seeker is asked to control his sense appetites, mental oscillations and intellectual storms by dedicating all his outer and inner activities to the one great eternal goal of reaching Perfection --- realizing the Self. As far as the taming of the intellect is concerned, the advice given by Krishna is that the seeker should "RENOUNCE DESIRES, FEARS AND ANGER."

In enumerating these three qualities, psychologically speaking, Krishna has expounded an exhaustive theory of self-development and inner growth. There is an intimate relationship between these three: desire, fear and anger. Desire, we had found earlier, is that pattern of thought in which the mind runs constantly towards a given object with an anxious expectation of procuring and possessing it. Where there is desire, there we come to experience fear. And it is very well known that when we desire a thing so much as to live ever in the fear of losing it, maddening anger can exhibit itself at any moment against any threat of an obstacle between ourselves and our object-of-desire. When these three emotions --- desire, fear and anger --- are controlled, we have controlled almost all the mad impulses of our intellect. He who has thus freed himself from desire, fear and anger, who has controlled his senses, mind and intellect, in his all-consuming ambition for liberation, and who has quietened the flow of his breath, such an individual could remain in the contemplation of Truth, without contact with the external world, his eyes fixed steadily and held in an upward gaze. Krishna says: "such a man of meditation is verily free for ever." This assertion that such an individual "IS VERILY FREE FOR EVER" is an anticipatory truth and not an accomplished fact. In ordinary conversation, we use the phrase "baking of bread," which, in its literal meaning is false, since bread need not be baked; we bake only dough.

But in such usages, what we mean is that the goal is not too far away from the particular act we are doing. Even while boiling water, we say that we are making tea; the idea is that tea-making cannot be far away when the water has already been boiled. Similarly, here also, when we have made all the above-mentioned adjustments, at all levels of our existence, and when we sit in contemplation of the Self, we become released from all our misunderstandings and come to experience the freedom of Godhood... ere long (achirena). WHAT HAS HE, WHOSE MIND IS THUS STEADILY BALANCED, TO KNOW AND MEDITATE UPON, IN

THE DHYANA YOGA? 29. Knowing Me as Enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities, the Great Lord of all worlds, the friend of all beings, he attains

Peace. HE ATTAINS PEACE ON KNOWING ME --- It is never to be forgotten that, in the Geeta whenever Lord Krishna uses the first person singular, he does not mean the mortal framework of the son of Devaki, but indicates the Self in the individual --- the Eternal Principle, Sri Krishna Paramatman. The Self is the real vitality behind the ego (Jiva) which functions in identification with the matter- envelopments and feels that it is the doer and enjoyer. The term "Yajna" has been already explained earlier. In its Geeta implication, Yajna is the self-dedicated work which one performs in any field of activity. "Tapas" means all self-denial and practices of self-control which the ego undertakes in order to integrate and revive its own capacities to seek its real identity with the Eternal. The Self is certainly the "Maheshwara" --- the Lord of all lords, the God of all gods. Here the Ishwara is to be understood as the controller of all fields of activities: activities of perception and expression. Each one of them is considered as presided over by various faculties, and they are termed as devas, meaning "illuminators." The faculty of seeing illumines the field of the eyes and thus gives the knowledge of forms and colours; the faculty of hearing illumines the field of the ears and thus provides the knowledge of sound, and so on. The Self is in fact the Lord of all these individual lords governing, controlling and ruling over the various fields. Therefore, Lord Krishna as the Self confers upon Himself the title of

"Sarva-Loka-Maheshwarah."

In our ordinary experiences in the world, a man who has kingly powers is very difficult to approach, and the King of kings, a personality striking awe and reverence in the heart of the ordinary man, becomes almost unapproachable to the ordinary people. Therefore, the Lord has to qualify his title of "Sarva Loka Maheshwarah" with the epithet that he is at the same time "A FRIEND OF ALL LIVING CREATURES."

The term "knowing" is not objectively knowing Krishna, in the sense in which we come to know a flower or a fruit, but here the term "knowing" is to be understood as

"realising." Spiritual experience is the realisation of the Self to be the one great ruler within, who presides over all the activities within the body-politic, who is the One, at whose altar the perfection-seeking ego surrenders all its spiritual activities, and as a tribute to Whom, the seeker brings all his self-denial and asceticism.

"KNOWING HIM TO BE NONE OTHER THAN KRISHNA, THE INDIVIDUAL REACHES THE GOAL OF PEACE, THE ETERNAL SANCTUM OF PERFECTION."

Thus in the UPANISHAD of the glorious Bhagawad Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the Scripture of YOGA , in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna the fifth discourse ends entitled: YOGA OF TRUE RENUNCIATION.