The Blessed Lord said: 1. He who performs his bounden duty without depending on the fruits-of-actions --- he is a SAMNYASIN and a YOGIN ; not he who (has renounced) is without fire and without action.

Arjuna's plan, in his own words in the first chapter, was to escape from the battlefield in order to live the Samnyasa- life. He did not know that a truly selfless worker is the greatest Samnyasi, for, without renunciation, his action would become, at best, only a mischievous meddling with the harmony of the Universe. To escape from the buzz of life in our present state of unpreparedness into the quiet atmosphere of the banks of the Ganges, is only the fall of an average good man to the level of the insentient stone in the very Ganges. At the close of this verse, Krishna laughs at Arjuna's sad misconceptions. There is no bitterness in the irony of the Lord. Soon we shall find that Arjuna also comes to laugh at his own misunderstandings. The whole chapter is so fully and entirely dedicated to expounding the technique of cultivation, direction and application of the inner forces of thoughts and feelings, that it is very appropriate for Krishna to indicate the greater importance of revolutionising our inner motives and mental attitudes before we enter the path of spirituality. AS AN ELUCIDATING ANNOTATION FOR THE QUIBBLE WHICH THE LORD HAD DECLARED IN THE STANZA, WE HAVE HIS ADDED EXPLANATIONS IN THE FOLLOWING, WHICH SHOW HOW SAMNYASA ITSELF IS YOGA:

2. O Pandava, please know YOGA to be that which they call renunciation; no one verily becomes a YOGI who has not renounced thoughts.

Krishna is repeating the same idea, lest Arjuna should overlook the fact that what they call Samnyasa, the

"renunciation of agency," is itself Yoga, the "renunciation of the fruits-of-action." Samnyasa is the state reached through Yoga, the practice; and the spiritual practice of Yoga cannot even be thought of without the spirit of Samnyasa in the bosom. The two are the obverse and the reverse of the same coin of spiritual perfection! It is but natural that the intellectually independent thinker in Arjuna should, at this juncture, ask the question "Why?" with raised brows, seeing which, the Charioteer implicitly gives the logical reasons behind his seemingly outrageous and daring conclusion. The Lord explains that, never can one become established in the practices for one's own cultural-rehabilitation unless one has learnt the art of renouncing all Sankalpas. Man cannot ordinarily remain without imagining and constantly creating, in his exuberant fancy. And in his imagination he invariably tries to pull down the beautiful veil thrown over the face of the future. Ripping open this veil over the unknown, everyone of us, on all occasions, in our imaginations, fix for ourselves a goal to be fulfilled by us in the near future. Having fixed up the temporary goal, our mind plans and creates a method of achieving that hazy goal. But ere we execute our plans and enter into the field of effort to carve out a success for ourselves, the never-tiring, ever-active power of imagination in us would already have wiped clean the goal fixed earlier, and have rewritten a modified destination to be gained in the future. By the time we prepare ourselves mentally and start executing our ideas in life, our mischievous fancy would again have wiped the distant goal clean. Thus each time the goal remains only so long as we have not started our pilgrimage to it; and the moment we start the pilgrimage, the goal fades away from our vision! In short, when we have got a goal we have not yet started acting, and the moment we start the strife, we seem to have no goal to reach. The subtle force in our inner composition which unconsciously creates this lunatic temperament in us is called the unbridled Sankalpa Shakti. We need no help from any great commentators to understand that no achievement, either without or within us, can be gained so long as we have not pursued, arrested, and finally destroyed this dangerous inner saboteur called 'Sankalpa.' To show that there is no compromise in this, Bhagawan is using a very positive term that none (kashchana) can ever reach any progress on the path of self-redemption without acquiring a capacity to renounce this self-poisoning Sankalpa-disturbance. KARMA YOGA, PRACTISED WITHOUT REGARD TO THE FRUIT OF ACTION FORMS AN EXTERNAL AID

(BAHIRANGA SADHANA) TO DHYANA YOGA. THE

LORD NOW PROCEEDS TO SHOW HOW KARMA YOGA IS A MEANS TO BETTER AND GREATER MEDITATION.

3. For a MUNI or sage who "wishes to attain to YOGA, " action is said to be the means; for the same sage who has "attained to YOGA, " inaction (quiescence) is said to be the means. To one who is "DESIRING TO SCALE OVER THE PRACTICE OF MENTAL CONCENTRATION AND

SELF-IMPROVEMENT, WORK IS SAID TO BE THE MEANS." By working in the world with neither the ego- centric concept of agency nor the ego-centric desires for the fruits of those actions, we are causing vasanas to play out without creating any new precipitate of fresh impressions. The metaphor used here is borrowed from horse-riding, and it is very powerful in its suggestions. When a wild horse is being broken in, for some time, it will ride the rider before the rider can ride it. If one desires to bring a steed under perfect control, there is a period when, with one leg on the stirrup, the individual has to hang on to the saddle and with the other leg on the ground, must learn to kick himself off from the ground and spring up and throw his legs over the back of the animal, until he sits, with the steed completely between his own legs. Having mounted, it is easy to control the animal, but till then, the rider, in his attempt to mount the horse, must pass through a stage where he is neither totally on the horse nor on the ground. In the beginning, we are merely workers in the world; desire-prompted and ego-driven, we sweat and toil, weep and sob. When an individual gets tired of such activities, he comes to desire to mount the steed of the mind. Such an individual, desiring to bring the mind under his control and rise over it (Arurukshah) takes upon himself the same work as before, but without the ego and ego-centric desires. Such desireless activities undertaken in the Yajna- SPIRIT explained earlier, (IV-18, 19 20, 21, and 25 to 30.) cleanse the mind of its past impressions and integrate the entire inner equipment. When thus the required amount of concentration has been gained by the individual as a result of the vasana-purgation effected, he is to stop his activities slowly and apply himself more and more to live in deeper meditation. When once his mind has been conquered, and his agitations have become well- controlled, the seeker in that state of mental growth and development, is termed as "having mounted the steed of the mind" (Yoga-Arudhah). To such an individual, in that state of mental equipoise and self-application,

"quiescence" (Shama) is the means for gaining higher perfection and self-growth. By thus prescribing two methods at the two distinct stages of the individual's growth, it is meant that they are not contradictory. Selfless activity is good at a stage but afterwards it becomes a positive agitation which brings the mind down from its serener flights, and frequently bumps it on the ground with a shattering shock. Specially prepared milk powder, diluted with hot water, is the full diet for an infant. But the same feeding-bottle will not satisfy the growing demands of a boy vigorously working and mischievously knocking about all day. The more solid bread and butter are his diet. We need not be great intellectuals to understand that buttered toast will choke and kill an infant. Similarly here, work without self is healthy for the beginner, but a developed seeker needs more and more quietude and self-withdrawal for growing in the steady contemplation of life within. Earlier, 'work-without-self' is the means, afterwards 'work-on-self' is the means; and the process is continued until, working or not working, through meditation, it is realised that the Self alone is the essence in the ego which, till then, was recognised as the only reality. In this sense of the term, we clearly know how ritualism has a definite place in the scheme of things as mapped out by the Vedantin Seers of unimpeachable intellectual eminence. WHEN IS A MAN SAID TO BE A YOGARUDHAH --- TO HAVE ATTAINED TO YOGA?... THE ANSWER FOLLOWS:

4. When a man is not attached to sense-objects or to actions, having renounced all thoughts, then he is said to have attained to YOGA. It is the experience of everyone, and therefore, it is not very difficult for a young seeker to know the state of an aspirant (Arurukshah). It has been said by the Lord that so long as we are in the state of seeking, the Path of Self- Perfection is the highroad of selfless activity. Withdrawal from activity is to be undertaken only when you have reached the state of mental mastery (Yogarudhah). To renounce activity at an earlier stage, would be as unhealthy as to continue disturbing the mind with activities after having reached the second stage, where, we are told, quiescence is the means for gathering speed in our flight through meditation. Naturally, it is necessary for the seeker to know when exactly he reaches the second stage, indicated here by the term Yogarudhah. In this stanza, Krishna is pointing out the physical and mental conditions of one who has broken in the steed of his mind and ridden it. He says that when one is feeling no mental attachments, either to the sense-objects or to the actions in the outer world, it is one of the symptoms of perfect mastery over the mind. This should not be over- stressed to a dreary literal meaning, making it a grotesque caricature of Truth. It only means that the mind of a seeker in the meditation seat is so perfectly withdrawn from the external world of sense-objects and activities, that it is perfect in its equipoise at the time of self-application. The sense-organs can run into the channels of sense-objects only when the mind is flowing out of the organs. If the mind is kept engaged in the contemplation of a great Truth, providing a larger quota of an ampler joy in the inner bosom, it will no more go hunting for bits of joy in the gutters of sensuality. A well-fed pet dog will not seek the public dust-bins for its food. When thus the mind is not gushing out either through the sense-channels or through the fields of its ego-centric activities, it becomes completely engaged in the contemplation of the greater truth --- the Self. Here the term used to indicate complete non-attachment, is to be noted very carefully. The Sanskrit word anu-shaijate is a word-symbol created by prefixing an indeclinable anu to the verb shaj, meaning 'attached.' The prefix anu indicates 'not a bit'. Therefore, the term used here forbids even traces of attachment either to the sense-objects or to the fields of activity. When the mind has been withdrawn from the sense- organs and completely detached from all its external physical activities, it is possible that it is still tossed and agitated by the gurglings of its own inner instincts of willing and wishing, desiring and earning. This power of Sankalpa can bring more storms into the bosom of a man than the disturbances his mind could ever receive from the external world. Krishna indicates here that he who has gained a complete mastery over his mind is one who has not only withdrawn himself from all sense-contacts and activities in the outer world, but has also dried up all the Sankalpa-disturbances in his own mind. Such an individual is, at the moment of meditation, in that inward state which is described here as Yogarudhah. It is clear that, to such an individual, meditation can be intensified only by quietude (Shama). WHEN A MAN HAS ATTAINED YOGA, THEN THE SELF IS RAISED BY THE SELF, FROM OUT OF THE NUMEROUS EVILS OF FINITE EXISTENCE THEREFORE:

5. Let a man lift himself by his own Self alone, and let him not lower himself; for, this Self alone is the friend of oneself, and this Self is the enemy of oneself.

As a complete Shastra, the Geeta has to be faithful to Truth and Truth alone, irrespective of what the tradition of the country, at a given period, might have made the faithful ones believe. It is not very unhealthy to believe that Grace from an external source is constantly helping a true seeker striving on his path --- but this is really healthy only when this thought is correspondingly complemented with sufficiently intense self-effort. "MAN SHOULD UPLIFT HIMSELF BY HIMSELF," is an open statement declared by no less a person than Lord Krishna Himself --- not cooed in a playful mood in the company of the gopis on the Jamuna-banks at a hilarious hour of laughter and play, but roared to Arjuna on the battlefield at a serious moment of His life's fulfilment as an Avatara. Man, if he wants to exalt himself into the greater cultural and spiritual possibilities now lying dormant in him, has to raise the lower in himself to the greater perfection that is the true and eternal core in himself. Everyone has in himself a picture of the ideal. This intellectual conception of ourselves is always very vivid in each one of us. But unfortunately, this ideal remains only in the realm of thought and is not lived in the world of activity. Intellectually we may have a clear and vivid picture of what we should be, but mentally and physically we behave as though we were the opposites of our own ideal concepts. The gulf between the 'IDEAL-ME' and the 'ACTUAL-ME' is the measure of man's fall from his perfection. Most of us are generally unconscious of this duality in ourselves. We mistakes ourselves to be the ideal and are generally blind to our own ACTUAL imperfections. Thus we find a notoriously selfish man in society warmly and sincerely criticising the slightest traces of selfishness in his neighbour! In a world of no mirrors, it is possible that a squint-eyed man may laugh at another squint-eyed person because the one who laughs knows not the angle in which his own eye-balls are facing each other!! Within ourselves, if we, carefully watch, we can discover that intellectually we have a clear concept of a morally strong, ethically perfect, physically loving and socially disciplined man that 'we should be'; but in the mental zones of our emotions and feelings, however, we are tantalised by our own attachments, likes and dislikes, loves and hatreds, appetites and passions, and we behave like curs fed by the way-side gutters and ever quarrelling with others of the same ilk over dry and marrowless bones!! As long as the individual has not realised the existence of this dual personality in himself, there cannot be any religion for him. If an individual has discovered that there is "enough in him to be divided into two portions," and when he wants to keep the lower as brilliant and chaste as the higher, the technique that he will have to employ to fulfil this aspiration is called RELIGION. Mind is the saboteur that enchants us away from perfection, to be a slave to the flesh and the external objects of brittle satisfaction. Mind is the conditioning that distorts the ideal and creates the lower Satanic sensuous self in us, which is to be brought into unison with the intellect, the equipment for the higher Self to manifest. In short, when the rational and discriminative capacities of a limited intellect are brought to bear their authority upon the wavering and wandering, sense-mongering-mind, the lower is brought under discipline and made to attune with the nobler and the diviner in us. The processes by which the lower is brought under the direct management and discipline of the higher are all together called the spiritual techniques. This process of self-rehabilitation and self-redemption of the Satan in us cannot be executed by inviting tenders and giving the contract to the lowest bidder! Each will have to do it all by himself: "ALONE TO THE ALONE ALL ALONE" IS THE WAY. No Guru can take the responsibility; no scripture can promise this redemption; no altar can, with its divine blessings, make the lower the higher. The lower must necessarily be trained slowly and steadily to accept and come under the influence of the discipline of the higher. In this process, the teacher, the scripture, and the houses-of-God, have all their proper appointed duties and limited influences. But the actual happening depends upon how far we ourselves learn to haul ourselves out from the gutters of misunderstanding in ourselves. So far Bhagawan has indicated an exhaustive treatment which may be, in many of its aspects, considered as equivalent to the modern psychological process called introspection. Realising our own weaknesses, rejecting the false, asserting the better, and trying to live, generally, as best as we can, the higher way-of-life, is the process of introspection. But his is only half the entire process and not the whole of it. The other half also is insisted upon, here, by Krishna. It is not only sufficient that we look within, come to note our weaknesses, erase them, substitute the opposite good qualities, and develop in ourselves the better, but we must see to it, that, whatever little conquests we might have made out of Satan's province are not again handed back to Satan's dominion. Krishna warns, almost in the same breath, "DO NOT ALLOW THE SELF THEREAFTER TO FALL DOWN AND BE DRAGGED AGAIN" to the old level of the cheaper way of existence. The second line of the stanza contains a glorious idea shaped into a beauty of expression which almost immortalises Vyasa. We are considered both as our own friend and our own enemy. Any intelligent man observing and analysing life will vouchsafe for the truth of the statement, but here, more is meant philosophically, than meets the eye. Generally, we do not fully understand the import when we say "THE SELF IS THE FRIEND OF THE SELF." The lower in us can ever raise itself to the attunement of the Higher, but the Higher can influence only when the lower is available for Its influence. To the extent the lesser in us surrenders itself to the influence of the Higher, to that extent, It can serve the lower as a great friend. But if the lower refuses to come under the influence of the Diviner in us, the Divine Presence is accused as an enemy of ourselves, inasmuch as the dynamism of life provides us Its energy both for our "life of higher aspirations" and the "life of low temptations." Ultimately, it is for the aspirant himself to accept the responsibility for blessing or damning himself. The potentiality for improvement, the chances for self-growth, the strength to haul ourselves out from our own misconceptions, are ever open for employment. But it all depends upon how we make use of them. NOW IT MAY BE ASKED: "WHAT SORT OF A MAN IS THE FRIEND OF HIMSELF AND WHAT SORT OF A MAN IS THE ENEMY OF HIMSELF?" THE ANSWER FOLLOWS:

6. The Self is the friend of the self for him who has conquered himself by the Self, but to the unconquered self, the Self stands in the position of an enemy like the (external) foe.

The Divine in us becomes a friend when, under its influence, the Satan in us gets converted. To the extent the lower ego withdraws itself from its identifications with the body and the sense-organs, feelings and ideas relating to the extrovert life, to that extent that given ego has come under the salutory influence of the nobler and the Diviner. To such an ego, available for corrective proselytisation, the Self is a friend. But where the little self remains a constant rebel against the Higher, to that unconquered-self, the Diviner Self is as if inimical in Its attitude. In short, the higher Self becomes a friend to the lower which is available for and which allows itself to be conquered by the higher influence; and the Diviner becomes inimical to the undivine when the lower limited ego remains unconquered by the higher aspirations in us. This stanza is an elucidating annotation on the previous one. EARLIER, THE STATE OF MENTAL EQUIPOISE, CALLED YOGARUDHAH, WAS EXPLAINED. WHAT EXACTLY IS THE FULFILMENT OF SUCH A STATE IN YOGA IS BEING EXPLAINED NOW:

7. The Supreme Self of him who is self-controlled and peaceful, is balanced in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, as also in honour and dishonour.

When a seeker has come in his inner life to the state explained as Yogarudhah, and when in that State of equipoise, the mind is held steadfast in contemplation over the Supreme, the self-controlled one, in all serenity, is capable of maintaining his consistency of meditation in all circumstances, favourable and adverse, at all levels of his personality. In the second line of the stanza it is clearly indicated that no excuse in the world is sufficiently strong to justify a seeker's inability to continue keeping the awareness of his Eternal Nature in himself. Three pairs-of-opposites are indicated here as: (i) heat and cold; (ii) joy and sorrow; (iii) honour and dishonour. In enumerations of these three pairs of conditions, Krishna is exhausting, through the mention of the types, all possible threats to his equipoise and tranquillity that an individual may get from the outer world. HEAT AND COLD --- These are stimuli that are felt and experienced by the body, at the body level. Whether in heat or in cold, thoughts, we know, do not expand or shrink, and the ideas cannot shiver or perspire. All these reactions can be only in the body, and therefore, Krishna is indicating by this pair all the vicissitudes that may visit the body, such as health and disease, youth and old-age, etc.

By the second pair-of-opposites indicated here as PLEASURE AND PAIN, the Lord is symbolically indicating all the destinies suffered in the mental zone. Pleasure and pain are experienced not by the body but always by the mind. It includes all the tyrannies of our different emotions which might threaten the mental arena, at one time or another in a man's life. Hatred and love, affection and jealousy, kindness and cruelty... a thousand varieties of emotions may storm the 'within'; but none of them is an excuse, according to Krishna, for the diligent and the sincere to lose hold of himself from the steadfastness in his contemplation. Similarly also, the last pair-of-opposites indicated as HONOUR AND DISHONOUR shows how no threat of any storm in the intellectual zone is a sufficient plea to sympathise with an individual who has fallen away from the State of Perfection. Honour and dishonour are evaluated and reacted to only by the intellect. Thus, by these three representative pairs-of-opposites from the three worlds of the body, the mind, and the intellect, Krishna is trying to exhaust all possibilities of obstacles in man's life, and then he adds that in all such conditions, the Supreme Self is to be the object of constant realisation for one who is perfectly self-controlled and serene. He ever remains unruffled in all circumstances --- favourable or unfavourable; in all environments --- good or bad; in all companies --- wise or foolish.

WHAT IS THE GLORY OF SUCH AN INDIVIDUAL? WHAT DOES HE BECOME BY SUCH A PROCESS? WHY SHOULD HE GO THROUGH SUCH A LABORIOUS INWARD TRAINING AND SELF-DISCIPLINE?

8. The YOGI who is satisfied with knowledge and wisdom, who remains unshaken, who has conquered the senses, to whom a lump of earth, a stone and gold are the same, is said to be harmonised (i. e. , is said to have attained NIRVIKALPA

SAMADHI) . Such an individual, self-controlled and serene, who has constantly come to contemplate upon the Nature of the Self as understood from the Shastras, through all his circumstances in life, soon becomes, says Krishna, filled with a divine satisfaction and becomes an unshakable Yogin. Here, the satisfaction is not merely the joy that an intelligent man comes to enjoy when he carefully studies and masters Vedanta, but, according to Krishna, the satisfied contentment which a true Yogin comes to experience and which is much superior to the thrilled joys experienced in all intense studies. The knowledge gained through study is indicated here by the term Jnana, and the first-hand experience gained by the seeker of the Self in himself is called the Knowledge of direct perception, which is termed here, in the Geeta- vocabulary, as Vijnana.

UNCHANGING, IMMUTABLE (Kootasthah) --- This is the term used for the Eternal Self. Its expressiveness becomes apparent when we understand that the term "koota" in Sanskrit, means the "anvil." The anvil is that upon which the blacksmith places his red-hot-iron-bits and hammers them into the required shapes. In spite of the hammerings, nothing happens to the anvil as the anvil resists all modifications and change, but allows all other things to get changed upon it. Thus, the term "kootasthah" means that which "remains anvil-like" and though itself suffers no change, it makes others change. He is a saint and has the full-blown fragrance of perfection, who has sought and discovered a perfect contentment which arises out of this subjective experience of what the Shastra says, and has come in contact with the Self that changes not. And such a saint becomes tranquil and a master of equal-vision in all conditions of life. To him, a clod of mud, a precious stone and costly gold are all the same. This equanimity of mind in profit and loss, at the acquisition of precious things or at the presentation of mere filth, is the very test to show that the individual has spiritually evolved and that to him no gain can bring any extra joy, nor any loss --- any sorrow!! In my dream I earned a lot of wealth, but ere I enjoyed it fully, I woke up to my waking-state, poverty. In my destitution, when I am suffering the pangs of hunger, I will not feel, in any sense of the term, consoled by the thought that I was rich in my dream and that in my dream-bank I had my dream-riches in its dream-vaults! Similarly, to a master who has gained perfection and transcended the world of the mind and intellect, and achieved the true awakening of the Soul, thereafter, a lump of earth, a piece of gold or a precious stone of this world are all equally futile things. They cannot add even a jot of extra joy or pain unto him. He has become the sole proprietor of Bliss Absolute. To Kubera, the treasurer of the heavens, a kingdom on the globe is no profit and has no power to make him dance in ecstasy!! MOREOVER:

9. He who is of the same mind to the good-hearted, friends, enemies, the indifferent, the neutral, the hateful, relatives, the righteous and the unrighteous, he excels.

In the previous stanza it was indicated that the man of perfection develops equal-vision as far as things of the world are concerned. The universe is not made of things alone, but is constituted of beings also. Now the doubt arises, what will be the relationship of a perfect man of equipoise with the living kingdom of beings around him? Will he negate the whole lot as unreal? In his preoccupations with the experience of the Eternal and the Immortal, which is the substratum for the entire world of changing phenomenal beings, will he ignore to serve the world and help the living generation? This idea is taken up here for discussion.

Such a man of excellence, says Krishna, regards all relationships with an equal love and consideration, be they "FRIENDS, OR FOES, OR INDIFFERENT OR NEUTRAL, OR HATEFUL, OR NEAREST RELATIONS." In his equal-vision, all of them are equally important and he embraces, in his Infinitude, all of them with the same warmth and ardour. His love knows no distinction between the righteous and the unrighteous, the good and the bad. To him a sinner is but an ego living in its misunderstandings, since sin is only a mistake of the soul and not a positive blasphemy against Itself. Rama Tirtha beautifully expresses it when he says that "we are punished BY the sin and not FOR it." In the right understanding of his own Self and the resulting realisation of his own Self, he becomes the Self everywhere. He discovers a unity in the perceived diversity and a subtle rhythm in the obvious discord in the world outside. To him, who has realised himself to be the Self which is all-pervading, the entire universe becomes his own Self, and therefore, his relationship with every other part of the universe is equal and same. Whether I get wounded in the hand or the leg, on the back or in the front, on the head or on the shoulder, it is the same to me, since I am equally identifying with my head, my trunk, and my legs, as myself.

THROUGH WHAT METHODS CAN ONE ATTAIN THIS HIGHEST GOAL AND ASSURE FOR HIMSELF THE SUREST RESULT? IT IS EXPLAINED:

10. Let the YOGI try constantly to keep the mind steady, remaining in solitude, alone, with the mind and body controlled, free from hope and greed.

In the Mahabharata, Krishna is conceived as a voluntary manifestation of the Supreme and hence He is addressed as Shri Krishna Paramatman. He is giving here an advice to His most intimate friend and life's companion, Arjuna, on the methods of self-development and the techniques of self-perfection. Even then, it is not said that the Lord will give him a secret method by which he will not have to make any struggle at all and that the entire responsibility will be borne by the Creator of the Universe. The very opening words of the stanza weed out any such false hopes in the minds of the seekers. "O MAN OF SELF- CONTROL (YOGI), YOU SHOULD CONSTANTLY PRACTISE CONCENTRATION." It is only through the practice of meditation that a mortal can grow out of his weaknesses and flower forth culturally into the greater perfection-possibilities within himself. Details of how the meditation is to be conducted are given in the rest of the stanza. "SITTING IN SOLITUDE," one should practise meditation. This word has been, unnecessarily, so overstretched in recent times in India that the term "meditation" brings a sense of horror and fear into the minds of the early seekers. It does not mean that meditation can be practised only in the jungles and in the solitude of caves. It only means that the seeker should try to withdraw himself from his mental and physical preoccupations and should retire to a corner in his house, for the purpose of early meditation. Solitude can be gained only when there is a mental withdrawal from the world outside. One who is full of desires and constantly meditating upon the sense-objects, cannot hope to gain any solitude even in a virgin forest. Again, the word solitude (Rahasi) suggests a meaning of secretiveness, indicating that religion should not be a broadcast of self-advertisement, but must be a set of true values of life, secretly practised within the heart, ordering our way of thinking and encouraging our pursuit of the nobler values in life. PHYSICALLY ALONE (Ekaki) --- For the purpose of meditation, when one strives, his success in inward quietude will be directly proportional to the amount of self-control he is practising in his daily life. Self-control is not possible unless we know how to free ourselves from the "eagerness to possess" and the "anxiety to hoard." To renounce our preoccupations with our endless plans for possessing more is indicated here by the term "free from hope" (Nirashih). And the term "free from possessions" (Aparigraha) indicates all our anxieties in saving, hoarding and protecting what we possess.

When one, well-established in these necessary physical self-controls and essential mental and intellectual habits, sits meditating upon the Truth in all secrecy, he is a true seeker striving on the right path to achieve and acquire the highest that is possible in life. NOW, IN THE SEQUEL, THE LORD PROCEEDS TO PRESCRIBE FOR THE YOGA-PRACTITIONER PARTICULAR MODES OF SITTING, EATING, RECREATION AND THE LIKE, THAT ARE AIDS TO YOGA. FIRST OF ALL, HE EXPLAINS THE MODE OF SITTING AS FOLLOWS:

11. Having, in a clean spot, established a firm seat of his own, neither too high nor too low, made of a cloth, a skin and KUSHA -grass, one over the other, . . .

If meditation is the path by which one can gain tranquillity and equal-vision within oneself, it is necessary that, in this text-book on self-perfection, Lord Krishna should give a complete and exhaustive explanation of the technique of meditation. In order to fulfil this demand, hereunder we get a few verses explaining the position, the means and the ends of a meditator at his work. In these words is a description of the seat and the place for perfect meditation.

"IN A CLEAN PLACE" --- This is important inasmuch as the external conditions have a direct bearing upon the human mind. In a clean place there is more chance for the seeker to maintain a cleaner mental condition. Apart from this, commentators explain that the place should be rid of mosquitoes, house-flies, bugs, ants and such other creatures that may disturb the beginner's mental concentration which he is trying to turn inward. In his seat, the meditator is asked to sit steady (Sthiram). Without moving the physical body at short intervals and without swinging the body either forward and backward or sideways, the seeker is asked to get firmly established on his seat, because physical movement immensely contributes to the shattering of mental concentration and inner equipoise. This is very well realised by all of us, if we only remember our attitude when we are sincerely and seriously thinking over something. In order to get established in a firm posture it would be advisable to sit in any "comfortable seat" (Asana), with the vertebral column erect, fingers interlocked and hands thrown in front. Adding more details, Krishna says that the seat of meditation "should not be too high or too low." If it is too high there will be a sense of insecurity in the meditator, created as a result of instinct of self-preservation, and he will find it difficult to extricate himself from his outer- world-consciousness and plunge himself into the inner. Again, we are told that the seat should not be too low; this is to avoid the mistake of meditating in any damp under- ground cellar, where perchance, the seeker may develop rheumatic pains in his body. During meditation the heart- action becomes slightly low, and, to the extent we are withdrawn into ourselves, even the blood pressure falls. At such a time of low resistance, if the place be damp, there is a great chance of a seeker developing pains in his joints. To avoid such troubles, the warning is given here. When the Geeta is out to give details, she leaves nothing to the imagination of the student. The exhaustive details regarding the ideal seat for meditation is an example. It is said here that a mattress of Kusha-grass on the ground, with a deer-skin covered with a piece of cloth on top of it, is the perfect seat for long meditations. Dampness is avoided by the Kusha-grass which keeps the seat warm during winter. In summer the skin becomes too hot and some seekers are allergic to the animal skin, especially when their skin has become slightly moist with perspiration. This contingency is being avoided by spreading over the skin a piece of clean cloth. Having thus established himself firmly on the meditation seat, prepared as above, what exactly he is to do mentally and intellectually, is now explained. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE AFTER ESTABLISHING ONESELF UPON THE PREPARED SEAT?

12. There, having made the mind one-pointed, with the actions of the mind and the senses controlled, let him, seated on the seat, practise YOGA, for the purification of the self.

However scientifically prepared it might be, to sit in an appropriate Asana (seat) is not, in itself, Yoga. The appropriate physical condition is conducive to generating the right mental attitude for the spiritual practices, but a mere physical posture cannot in itself, guarantee any spiritual self-development. In this verse, Krishna is giving what the seeker should practise in his seat of meditation. Having made the body steadfast in posture, how one should employ his mind and intellect in the process of divine contemplation and meditation is the theme being discussed here. The first instruction given is that "YOU SHOULD MAKE THE MIND SINGLE-POINTED." This instruction cannot be worked out by a seeker unless he knows how he can bring about this necessary inward condition in himself. It is very cheap and easy for a Rishi to advise the members of the confused generation to make their minds integrated. Such an advice, when not sufficiently supported by practical details, becomes a mere high-sounding philosophy and not a useful guidance for the seekers. The Geeta, being a text-book which translates philosophy into life in its typical spirit, here the stanza immediately explains how we can bring the mind to an ideal single- pointedness.

SUBDUING THE FACULTY OF IMAGINATION AND THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SENSE-ORGANS --- This is the instruction given by Krishna. Single-pointedness is the very potent nature of the mind but the mind gets stunned by its own silence, confused and even mad when it gets dynamised by either the inner forces of its own surging imaginations or the outward pull exerted by the hallucinations of the sense-organs. If these two venues of dissipation are blocked, instantaneously the mind becomes, by its own nature, single-pointed. Thus, seated on the prepared meditation-seat, and making the mind single-pointed through the process of subduing mental imaginations and controlling the wild activities of the sense-organs, the seeker is encouraged to practise Yoga. To keep the single-pointed mind constantly at the steady contemplation of the Ultimate Self is the inner Yoga that has been mentioned here. Naturally, every seeker would desire to know why he should meditate thus. In order to remove all mis- understandings of the meditators that they would thereby directly come face to face with the Atman, Krishna here appends to the verse the effects of such meditation. Through steady and regular meditation, the Shastra promises inner purification only. Agitations in the mind are its impurities. A purified mind is that which has no agitations and when the mind has thus become pure and steady, the Consciousness, looking at the steady reflection of Itself, comes to rediscover Its own Real Nature. This process is similar to the techniques by which we understand ourselves while consulting our own reflections in a mirror. THE EXTERNAL SEAT HAS BEEN DESCRIBED. NOW, WHAT SHOULD BE THE POSTURE OF THE BODY? LISTEN:

13. Let him firmly hold his body, head and neck erect and still, gazing at the tip of his nose, without looking around.

After describing in detail the arrangement of the seat of meditation and how to sit there properly, Lord Krishna had thereafter explained what the meditator should do with his mind and intellect. He has also said that the mind should be made single-pointed by subduing all the activities of the sense-organs and the imagination. Adding more details to the technique of meditation, it is now said that the meditator should firmly hold his body in such a fashion that his vertebral column is completely erect. The head and the neck should be erect in this posture, which is geometrically perpendicular to the horizontal seat upon which the Yogi is firmly settling himself; it is pointedly indicated that he should hold his body "firmly." This term should not be misunderstood as holding the body in tension. "Firmly" here means that the body should not be held stiffly but relaxed, it must be held in such a manner that there should not be any tendency to swing forward and backward or sideways from right to left. The seeker, having thus made himself ready for meditation, should "GAZE AT THE TIP OF THE NOSE." This does not mean that an individual should, with half- opened eyes, deliberately turn his eye-balls towards the

"tip of his own nose." There are many seekers who have come to suffer physical discomforts, such as headaches, giddiness, exhaustion, tensions, etc., because they have tried to follow this instruction too literally. Shankara, in his commentary, has definitely given us the right direction. He says that the term here means only that the meditator, while meditating, should have his attention

"AS THOUGH TURNED TOWARDS THE TIP OF HIS OWN NOSE." That this interpretation is not a laboured and artificial intellectualism of the Acharya is clearly borne out by the next phrase in the second line. NOT LOOKING AROUND --- This instruction clearly shows what was in the mind of Krishna when he gave the instruction that the meditator should direct his entire attention towards the tip of his own nose --- so that his concentration may not be dissipated and his mind may not wander all around. Where the eyes go, there the mind faithfully follows; this is the law. That is why, when an individual is confused, we find that his gaze is not steady. Many a time we judge another individual as behaving funny or suspicious, and in all such cases our evidence is nothing other than the unsteadiness in his gaze. Watch anyone who is indecisive and who is unsteady in his determination and you can immediately observe that the individual's look is definitely unsteady and confusedly wandering. MOREOVER: 14.

Serene-minded, fearless, firm in the vow of

BRAHMACHARYA, having controlled the mind, thinking on Me and balanced, let him sit, having Me as the Supreme Goal.

When the meditator has thus practised meditation for a certain period of time, as a result of his practice, he comes to experience a larger share of quietude and peace in his mind. This extremely subtle form of inward peace is indicated here by the term "Prashanta." This inward silence, a revelling in an atmosphere of extreme joy and contentment --- is the exact situation in which the individual can be trained to express the nobler and the diviner qualities which are inherent in the Divine Self. A meditator invariably finds it difficult to scale into the higher realms of experience due to sheer psychological fear-complex. As the Yogin slowly and steadily gets unwound from his sensuous vasanas, he gets released, as it were, from the cruel embrace of his own mental octopus. At this moment of transcendence, the unprepared seeker feels mortally afraid of the thought that he is getting himself dissolved into "NOTHINGNESS." The ego, because of its long habit of living in close proximity to its own limitations, finds it hard even to believe that there is an Existence Supreme, Divine and Infinite. One is reminded of the story of the stranded fisher-women who complained that they could not get any sleep at all when they had to spend the night in a flower-shop, till they put their baskets very near their noses. Away from our pains, we dread to enter the Infinite Bliss! This sense of fear is the death-knell of all spiritual progress. Even if progress were to reach the bosom of such an individual, he would be compelled to reject it, because of the rising storm of his subjective fear. Even though the mind has become extremely peaceful and joyous, and has renounced all its sense of fear through the study of the Scriptures and continuous practice of regular meditation, the progress is not assured because the possibility of failure shall ever hang over the head of the seeker, unless he struggles hard to get established in perfect Brahmacharya. THE ASCETICISM OF BRAHMACHARYA --- Here the phrase implies not only its Upanishadic implications, but definitely something more original, especially when it comes from Lord Krishna's mouth and that too, in the context of the Geeta. Brahmacharya, generally translated as 'celibacy,' has a particular meaning, but the term has also a wider and a more general implication. Brahmacharya is not ONLY the control of the sex-impulses but is also the practice of self-control in all avenues of sense-impulses and sense-satisfactions. Unless the seeker has built up a perfect cage of intelligent self-control, the entire world-of- objects will flood his bosom, to bring therein a state of unending chaos. A mind thus agitated by the inflow of sense stimuli, is a mind that is completely dissipated and ruined. Apart from this meaning, which is essentially indicative of the goal, or rather, a state of complete detachment from the mind's courtings of the external world-of-objects, there is a deeper implication to this significant and famous term. Brahmacharya, as such, is a term that can be dissolved in Sanskrit to mean "wandering in Brahma- Vichara." To engage our mind in the contemplation of the Self, the Supreme Reality, is the saving factor that can really help us in withdrawing the mind from external objects. The human mind must have one field or another to engage itself in. Unless it is given some inner field to meditate upon, it will not be in a position to retire from its extrovert pre-occupations. This is the secret behind all success in "total celibacy." The successful Yogin need not be gazed at as a rare phenomenon in nature, for his success can be the success of all, only if they know how to establish themselves in this inward self-control. It is because people are ignorant of the positive methods to be practised for a continuous and successful negation and complete rejection of the charms of the sense-organs, that they invariably fail in their endeavour. Naturally, it becomes easy for the individual who has gained in himself all the three above-mentioned qualities to control and direct the new-found energies in himself. The inward peace, an attribute of the intellect, comes only when the discriminative faculty is relatively quiet. Fearlessness brings about a great control over the exhausting thought commotions in the mental zone. Brahmacharya, in its aspect of sense-withdrawal, lends a larger share of physical quietude. Therefore, when, by the above process, the intellect, mind and body are all controlled and brought to the maximum amount of peace and quietude, the 'way of life' pursued by the seeker provides for him a large saving of mental energy which would otherwise have been spent away in sheer dissipation. This newly-discovered and fully availed-of strength makes the mind stronger and stronger, so that the seeker experiences in himself a growing capacity to withdraw his wandering mind unto himself and to fix his entire thoughts "in the contemplation of Me, the Self." The concluding instruction in this most significant verse in the chapter is: "LET HIM SIT IN YOGA HAVING ME AS HIS SUPREME GOAL." It has been already said in an earlier chapter that the meditator should continue meditation, and ere long (achirena), he will have the fulfilment of his meditation. The same idea is suggested here. Having made the mind tame, and keeping it away from its own endless dissipations, we are instructed to keep the single-pointed mind in contemplation of the Divine Self and His Eternal Nature. Immediately following this instruction is the order that we should remain in this attitude of meditation, seeking nothing else but "ME AS THE SUPREME GOAL." Ere long, in the silence and quietude within, the withering mind and other equipments will exhaust themselves, and the seeker will wake up to realise his own Infinite, Eternal, Blissful and quiet Nature, the Self.

15. Thus, always keeping the mind balanced, the YOGI, with his mind controlled, attains to the Peace abiding in Me, which culminates in total liberation (NIRVANA or MOKSHA) . After thus describing the physical pose, the mental stability and the consequent intellectual self-application, the Lord now describes the last lap in the technique of meditation to His beloved friend, the Pandava Prince. When all the above details are worked out by anyone, that individual becomes a man steadfast both in his physical and in his subtler life, and thereby, he comes to release from himself a large quantity of his psychic vitality. In this stanza it is said that, when a meditator controls his mind and 'constantly' (Sada) keeps his mind away from its agitations, he can easily and surely reach the Supreme. The term 'always' (Sada) should not be misunderstood as suggesting that the practitioner should live, criminally neglecting all his duties towards his home and the world around himself. Here the term 'always' only connotes "a duration of constant and consistent inner silence," during one's meditation. At the peak of meditation, the practitioner comes to a point of perfect 'halt'. The individual comes to experience infinite peace which is

"the peace that resides in him." The Self is Peace Absolute (Shantam), inasmuch as the processes of physical excitements, mental agitations and intellectual disturbances are not in the Self, It being beyond these matter-envelopments. Here it may look as though Krishna is advocating the dualistic school of philosophy, since it is said: "The meditator reaches the peace that is My own nature." To conceive of a Truth having qualities, is to reduce the Eternal to the finite status of a substance (dravya). Again, if the meditator experiences "THE PEACE THAT RESIDES IN ME," then the goal gained becomes an 'object' apart from the meditator. The subtle philosopher, Sri Krishna, recognises this unavoidable imperfection of the spoken language, and therefore, he tries to neutralize the fallacy in his expressions by the significant terms "the Peace, that ultimately culminates in the Supreme liberation" (Nirvana- paramam). In short, when the meditator has come to the moment of perfect silence within, he comes to experience, at first, a peace that is unknown in the world without. Soon, as it were, the experiencer gets slowly acted upon and digested into the very substance of the Truth, whose fragrance was the Peace, which the dying ego of the meditator seemed to experience at the gateway of its own Real Divine Nature. In fact in the last stage of fulfilment in meditation, the meditator 'awakens' to his status of Self-hood. This Advaita experience is the one fact that has been repeated and emphasised all through Krishna's Song Divine. FOLLOWING ARE THE REGULATIONS, AS REGARDS THE MEDITATOR'S FOOD, ETC:

16. Verily, YOGA is not possible for him who eats too much, nor for him who does not eat at all; nor for him who sleeps too much, nor for him who is (always) awake, O Arjuna.

When the above technique and goal are so clearly given out, one is apt to wonder at one's own incapacity to reach anywhere near the indicated goal, in spite of the fact that one has been sincerely and constantly meditating upon it for a number of years. What exactly is the behaviour that unconsciously takes a seeker away from the grand road to success? No scientific theory is complete unless it enumerates the various precautions that are to be taken for achieving complete success. The next few stanzas warn us of all the possible pitfalls on the path of the Dhyana Yoga. Moderation in indulgence and activities at all levels of one's personality is an imperative requisite, which alone can assure true success in meditation. Intemperance would bring discordant and riotous agitations in the various matter layers of the personality, shattering the harmonious melody of integration. Therefore, strict moderation in food, sleep and recreation is enjoined: everything should be well-measured and completely defined. YOGA IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR HIM WHO EATS TOO MUCH NOR FOR HIM WHO DOES NOT EAT AT ALL -- - Here, the term 'eat' should be understood in its comprehensive meaning as including all sense enjoyments, mental feelings, and intellectual perceptions. It is not only the process of consuming things through the mouth; it includes the enjoyments gained through all the avenues of sense perceptions and inward experiences. Drawing our conclusions from these standards, we may understand the rule to be: "Eat whatever comes to us handy, without creating unnecessary destruction to the living kingdom just for our personal existence, and intelligently consume a quantity which does not load the stomach." This is the golden rule of diet for a successful meditator. It is rightly said that neither 'too much sleep' --- which unnecessarily dulls our faculties and renders the individual more and more gross --- nor 'no sleep at all' is the right policy for a student in spiritual life. Intelligent moderation is the law. THIS STANZA MIGHT CONFUSE THE DULL-WITTED, AND THEREFORE, THE FOLLOWING VERSE ANSWERS THE QUESTION: "HOW THEN CAN YOGA BE ACHIEVED?"

17. YOGA becomes the destroyer of pain for him who is moderate in eating and recreation, who is moderate in his exertion during his actions, who is moderate in sleep and wakefulness.

This stanza plans the life, living which, Yoga can be more successfully cultivated. Moderation in eating and recreation, in sleep and activities, is the prescription that has been insisted upon for Yoga by the Lord. In indicating the blessed life of temperance and self- control, Krishna has used such a select vocabulary that the words have the fragrance of an ampler suggestiveness. An ordinary seeker takes to some sacred work in a misguided belief that "selfless work" will create in him more worthiness for his spiritual life. Many seekers have I met, who have, in the long run, fallen a prey to their own activities because of this false notion. In this stanza, we have a clear direction as to how to avoid the victimization of ourselves by the work that we undertake. Not only must we be temperate --- discriminately careful in choosing the right field of activity --- but we must also see that the EFFORTS that we put into that activity are moderate (cheshtasya). Having selected a divine work, if we get bound and enslaved in its programme of effort, the chances are that the work, instead of redeeming us from our existing vasanas, will create in us more and more new tendencies, and in the exhaustion created by the work, we will slowly sink into agitations and, perhaps, even into animalism. When Krishna wants to indicate the Absolute necessity for moderation regarding sleep and wakefulness, the phrases which he uses are very significant. 'Swapna' is the term used for indicating that total conscious life of the ego's active experience in the world. Elsewhere, in the Upanishads also, the entire life's experiences have been classified under the 'state of sleep' (the non-apprehension of Reality) and the 'state of dream, (the mis-apprehension of Reality) wherein the waking state is also included. The term Avabodha, used here, echoes the scriptural goal explained as Absolute Knowledge. To all intelligent and serious students of the Upanishads, the term, as used here, carries a secret message; that the meditator should not over-indulge either in the life of mis-apprehensions nor in those deep silent moments of pure meditation --- the moments of Avabodha. Krishna indicates that Sadhakas, during their early practices, should not over-indulge in the world of their perceptions nor try to practise meditation for too long and weary hours and force inner silence. In the same stanza, by two insignificant-looking words, Krishna has conveyed to all generations of Geeta students, an indication why Yoga is to be practised at all. "IT IS CAPABLE OF DESTROYING ALL MISERIES." WHEN DOES ONE BECOME A SAINT PERFECTLY STEADFAST (YUKTAH)?

18. When the perfectly controlled mind rests in the Self only, free from longing for all (objects of) desire, then it is said: "he is united" (YUKTAH) . This and the following five stanzas are a dissertation on the fruits of Yoga and they explain what a perfect meditator can gain in life, and what his experiences are while living in this world during and after his spiritual realisation.

Throughout the Geeta, so far, Krishna has been stressing the necessity of one quality, steadfastness (yuktah). A complete and exhaustive definition has not so far been given to explain this crucial term, although sufficient hints have been thrown in here and there, to indicate the nature of the man who is steadfast in devotion and Yoga; here we have almost a complete definition of it. When the mind is completely under control, the stanza claims, it "RESTS SERENELY IN THE SELF ALONE." A little reflection can bring the truth of the statement into our easy comprehension. An uncontrolled mind is one which frantically gallops on, seeking satisfaction among the sense-objects. We have already been told that the mind can be withdrawn from its preoccupations with its usual sense-objects, only when it is firmly tied down to the contemplation of the Self, which is the Eternal Substratum, the Conscious Principle that illumines all perceptions and experiences. Naturally therefore, a mind that is fully controlled is a mind which has lost itself, as it were, in the steady and continuous contemplation upon the Self. The above explanation is endorsed by the second line of the stanza which gives us an inkling as to the means by which we can fix our mind on the Supreme. "FREE FROM LONGING AFTER ALL DESIRES" --- is the means that has been suggested repeatedly throughout the Lord's Song. It is unfortunate that hasty commentators have unconsciously, come to over-emphasize the "renunciation of all desires" as the cardinal virtue in Hinduism. There is an ocean of difference between the 'DESIRES' and the 'LONGING AFTER DESIRES.' Desires in themselves are not unhealthy, nor can they actually bring about any sorrow unto us. But the disproportionate amount of our clinging to our desires is the cancer of the mind that brings about all the mortal agonies into life. For example, desire for wealth is healthy, inasmuch as it encourages the mind to act and to accomplish, to acquire and to keep, to earn and to save. But when desire POSSESSES an individual in such a way that he becomes almost hysterical with over-anxiety, it makes him incompetent to put forth any substantial creative effort and accomplish glories worthy of the dignity of man. A desire in itself cannot and does not bring about storms in the mind, as our longing after those very same desires does. The Geeta advises us only to renounce our YEARNINGS for all objects of desires. Through discrimination and proper intellectual evaluation of the sense-objects, when an individual has withdrawn his mind from its usual sense-gutters, the mind comes to take hold of the subtler and the diviner theme of the Self for its contemplation. The limited and the finite sense- objects agitate the mind, while the Unlimited and the Infinite Self brings peace and joy into it. This condition of sense-withdrawal and the entry of the mind into the Self is called its condition of steadfastness (Yuktah). Such an individual has a fully integrated (Yuktah) personality.

SUCH A YOGIN'S INTEGRATED MIND IS DESCRIBED BELOW:

19. " As a lamp placed in a windless place does not flicker" --- is a simile used to describe the YOGI of controlled-mind, practising YOGA of the Self (or absorbed in th e YOGA -of- the-Self) .

As an efficient complement to the previous verse, this stanza explains the mind of the Yogi of collected thoughts, who is absorbed in Yoga. This explanation is given through the help of a famous simile: "as a lamp in a spot sheltered from the wind does not flicker." The example is quite appropriate inasmuch as the mind is fickle and unsteady as the tip of a flame. Thoughts appear in the mind every second, in a continuous stream, and these constant thought disturbances --- each dying, yielding its place to a new one --- give us the apprehension of a solid factor called the mind. Similarly, the tip of a flame also, (it can be experimentally proved) is never steady, but the flickering is so fast, that it gives us an illusion of a definite shape and solidity. When this flame is well protected from the fickle breeze, it becomes steady in its upward flight. In the same fashion the flame of the mind, flickering at the whims and fancies of the passing sensuous desires, when arrested in meditation, becomes steadily brilliant although its thoughts are employed in the contemplation of the Self by a constant flow of Brahmakara Vritti. In short, repeated and constant thoughts of Brahman --- Vast and Infinite, Eternal and Blissful, the Substratum for the entire Universe --- is the "Yoga of the Self (Yogam atmanah). HAVING THUS, THROUGH MEDITATION, BECOME SINGLE-POINTED, WHAT WOULD BE THE STAGES OF PROGRESS ACCOMPLISHED? THIS IS DESCRIBED IN THE FOLLOWING FOUR STANZAS:

20. When the mind, restrained by the practice of YOGA, attains quietude and when seeing the Self by the self, he is satisfied in his own Self;

21. When he (the YOGI ) feels that Infinite bliss --- which can be grasped by the (pure) intellect and which transcends the senses --- wherein established he never moves from the Reality;

22. Which, having obtained, he thinks there is no other gain superior to it; wherein established, he is not moved even by heavy sorrow.

23. Let it be known: the severance from the union-with-pain is YOGA. This YOGA should be practised with determination and with a mind steady and undespairing.

These four verses together give a complete picture of the state of Yoga and Krishna ends with a very powerful call to man that everyone should practise this Yoga of

Meditation and self-development. In order to encourage man and make him walk this noble path of self- development and self-mastery, Bhagawan explains the goal which is gained by the meditator. When the mind is completely restrained, as explained in the above four stanzas, it attains a serene quietude and in that silence gains the experience of the Self, not as anything separate from itself, but as its own true nature. This self-rediscovery of the mind, that is in fact nothing other than the Divine Conscious Principle, is the State of Infinite Bliss. This awakening to the cognition of the Self can take place only when the individual ego has smashed its limiting adjuncts and has thereby transcended its identifications with the body, mind and intellect. That this bliss is not an objective experience such as is gained among the pleasures of the world, is evident by the qualification that it "transcends the senses" (Ati-indriyah). Ordinarily we gain our experiences in the world outside through our sense-organs. When the spiritual masters promise that Self-Realisation is a State of Bliss, we are tempted to accept it as an objective goal, but when they say that it is beyond the senses, the seekers start feeling that the promises of religion are mere bluff. The stanza, therefore, has to clearly insist that this Bliss of Self- recognition is perceivable only through the pure intellect. A doubt may now arise that when, as a result of these almost super-human efforts, an individual has at last, come to experience this transcendental Bliss, it may provide only a flashy moment of intense living, which may then disappear, demanding, all over again, similar super-human efforts to regain one more similar moment of Bliss-experience. To remove this possible misunderstanding, the stanza insists: "ESTABLISHED WHEREIN, HE NEVER DEPARTS FROM HIS REAL STATE." The Geeta repeatedly endorses that the experience of the Self is an enduring state from which there is no return. Even supposing one has gained this Infinite Bliss, will he not again come to all the sorrows that are natural to every worldly being? Will he not thereafter feel as great an urge as anyone else to strive and struggle, to earn and hoard, and thirst to love and be loved, etc.? All these excitements which are carbuncles upon the shoulders of an imperfect man, are denied to a perfect one, as the following stanza (VI-22) explains the Supreme Truth as "HAVING COME TO WHICH NO ONE CAN CONSIDER ANY OTHER GAIN AS EQUAL TO IT, MUCH LESS EVER ANYTHING GREATER." Even after these explanations the Lord Himself raises the question which a man of doubts may entertain. It will be quite natural for a student, who is striving to understand Vedanta purely through his intellect, to doubt as to whether the experience of Divinity can be maintained, even during moments of stress and sorrow and in periods of misery and mourning. In other words: is not religion a mere luxury of the rich and the powerful, a superstitious satisfaction for the weak, a make-believe dream-heaven for the escapist? Can religion and its promised perfection stand unperturbed in all our challenges of life: bereavements, losses, illness, penury, starvation? This doubt --- which is quite common in our times too --- has been unequivocally answered here with a daring statement that "WHEREIN BEING ESTABLISHED ONE IS NOT MOVED EVEN BY THE HEAVIEST SORROW." To summarise: when by the quietude of the mind, gained through concentration, one comes to rediscover one's own Self, his is the Bliss Absolute, which cannot be perceived through the senses and yet, can be lived, through a 'pure intellect,' and having reached which there is no more any return; having gained which there is no greater gain to strive for; and which is not shaken even by the lashings of the greatest tragedies of our existence. This is the wondrous Truth that has been indicated as the Self by the Geeta, the goal of all men of discrimination and spiritual aspirations. This Self is to be known. The means of knowing this goal, as well as the state of its experience, is called "Yoga" in the Geeta. (VI --- 23). Here we have one of the noblest, if revolutionary, definitions of Yoga. We have explained earlier how the Geeta is an incomparable re-statement of the declaration of the Upanishads, in the context of the Hindu-world available at the time of the Mahabharata. The old idea that Yoga is a strange phenomenon, too difficult for the ordinary man to practise or to come to experience, has been remodelled here to a more tolerant and all-comprehensive definition. Yoga, which was till then a technique of religious self- perfection available only for a reserved few, has now been made a public park into which everyone can enter at his free will and entertain himself as best he can. In this sense of the term, the Geeta has been rightly called a revolutionary Bible of the Hindu Renaissance. Apart from the divine prerogative of one who is an incarnation, we find a brilliant dash of revolutionary zeal in Krishna's Godly personality both in His emotions and His actions. When such a divine revolutionary enters the fields of culture and spirituality, He could not have given a more spectacular definition of Yoga than that which He has given us here: "Yoga --- a state of disunion from every union-with-pain." This re-interpretation of Yoga not only provides us with a striking definition but at the same time, it is couched in such a clapping language of contradiction that it arrests the attention of every student and makes him think for himself. The term "Yoga" means "contact." To-day, man in his imperfection has contacts with only the world of finite objects and therefore, he ekes out of life only finite joys. These objects of the world are contacted through the instruments of man's body, mind and intellect. Joy ended is the birth of sorrow. Therefore, life through the matter vestures is the life of pain-Yoga (dukha samyoga). Detachment from this pain --- Yoga is naturally a process in which we disconnect (Viyoga) ourselves from the fields of objects and their experiences. A total or even a partial divorce from the perceptions of the world of objects is not possible, as long as we are using the mechanism of perception, the organ of feeling, and the instrument of thinking. To get detached from the mechanism of perceptions, feelings and thoughts, would naturally be the total detachment from the pain-Yoga --- (Dukha-Samyoga- Viyoga). Existence of the mind is possible only through its attachment; the mind can never live without attaching itself to some object or other. Detachment from one object is possible for the mind only when it has attached itself to another. For the mind, detachment from pain caused by the unreal is possible only when it gets attached to the Bliss, that is the Nature of the Real. In this sense, the true Yoga --- which is the seeking and establishing an enduring attachment with the Real --- is gained only when the seeker cries a halt in his onward march towards pain, and deliberately takes a 'right-about-turn' to proceed towards the Real and the Permanent in himself. This wonderful idea has been most expressively brought out in the phrase which Bhagawan employs here, as a definition of Yoga ---

(Dukha-Samyoga-Viyoga).

A little scrutiny will enable us to realise that in defining Yoga thus, Sri Krishna has not introduced any new ideology into the stock of knowledge that was the traditional wealth of the Hindu scriptures. Till then, Yoga was emphasized from the standpoint of its goal, rather than from the exploration of its means. This over- emphasis of the goal had frightened the faithful followers away from its salutory blessings. And the technique of Yoga had sunk to become a mysterious and a very secret practice meant only for a few. This Yoga is to be practised, insists Krishna, with "AN EAGER AND DECISIVE MIND." To practise with firm resolve and an undespairing heart is the simple secret for the highest success in the practice of meditation, as the

"Yoga with the Truth" is gained through a total successful

"Viyoga from the false." If we feel uncomfortably warm by being very near the fire-place we have only to move away from it to reach the cool and comforting atmosphere. Similarly, if, to live among the finite objects and live its limited joys is sorrow, then to get away from them is to enter into the Realm of Bliss which is the Self. This is "Yoga." FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING YOGA ARE NOW CONTINUED AFTER THE ABOVE SHORT DIGRESSION. MOREOVER:

24. Abandoning without reserve all desires born of

SANKALPA, and completely restraining the whole group of senses by the mind from all sides. 25. Little by little, let him attain quietude by his intellect, held firm; having made the mind established in the Self, let him not think of anything.

In the previous section the entire goal of Yoga was indicated as that state

"WHEREIN THE MIND, THROUGH THE PRACTICE OF CONCENTRATION, COMES TO GET ITSELF ABSOLUTELY RESTRAINED." Later on, we have been given a glorious word-picture of the state of enjoyment and perfection that one will get introduced into, in this state of meditation. This theoretical exposition has no practical value unless exhaustive instructions are given, as to how a diligent seeker can bring about this total mental poise, consciously, in a deliberate spiritual act of perfect self-control. In these two brilliant stanzas the subtle art of meditation has been explained. The secrets of how to bring the mind to single-pointedness, and what to do thereafter with that mind in concentration and how to approach the Truth and ultimately realise It in an act of deliberate and conscious becoming --- are all exhaustively indicated in these two significant stanzas.

Renouncing 'all' (Sarvan) desires 'fully' (Asheshatah) by the mind, control all the sense-organs from their entire world of sense-objects. Herein, every word demands a commentary, since every phrase leaves a hint which is so important in ultimately assuring the seeker a complete success. It is not only sufficient that ALL desires are renounced, but each desire must be TOTALLY eradicated. By these two terms (Sarvan and Asheshatah), no trace of doubt is left in the mind of the seekers, as to the condition of their mental equipoise, during moments of higher meditation. The term Asheshatah means that even the desire for this perfection in "Yoga" is to be, in the end, totally renounced!

"Renunciation of desire" is advised here as a very necessary and important qualification; but unfortunately, the unintelligent ignored this significant qualification, and perverted our sacred religion by acting and behaving as though it recommended a life of indolence with neither any ambition to achieve, nor any desire to accomplish. The term "BORN OF SANKALPA" is a very significant term qualifying the desires that are to be renounced totally and fully. The term 'Sankalpa' has already been explained earlier (VI-2) --- so here the terms used mean that it is "the renunciation of all agitation-breeding desires." When once this renunciation of disturbing desires has been accomplished, the individual's mind gains strength and stamina to assert itself, at first to make the wild horses of the sense-organs tame so that they run under greater control and then to restrain all the sense-organs from all sense-objects from all sides. It is scientifically very true that our mind is not able to control our sense-organs, for it has been rendered weak and thoroughly impotent due to the permanent agitations caused by its own false desires. Once the mind gets strong, as a result of its conquest over desires, it discovers in itself all the strength and capacity to control the Indriyas from all sides. This process of quietening the mind can never be accomplished by any hasty action or by any imagination, or by any strange and mysterious method. It is clearly indicated by the very insistence that the Geeta makes in this stanza, that the seeker should "ATTAIN QUIETUDE AS A RESULT OF HIS WITHDRAWAL FROM THE WORLD OF SENSE-OBJECTS, BY DEGREES." Slowly, slowly (Shanaih-Shanaih), the mind gains more and more quietude. No doubt, when the sense-organs have stopped their mad onrush to their respective sense-objects, a certain amount of mental quietude is gained. The methods of intensifying this inner peace have been indicated in this stanza.

"PATIENTLY, WITH THE INTELLECT THE MIND IS TO BE CONTROLLED, AND RESTED IN THE CONTEMPLATION OF THE SELF." This advice is extremely important to every seeker as it gives the next item of the programme for a meditator, when he has accomplished, through the exertion of the mind during his meditation, a total withdrawal of himself from the sense- world. A total rejection of the sense-world is possible only during meditation. The mind that is thus brought to a relative quietude is next to be controlled by the still subtler personality layer in the meditator, which is his intellect. Just as the sense- organs are controlled and restrained by the mind, the mind is now treated by the discriminating intellect and brought under complete restraint. The mind cannot be restrained except by fixing its entire attention on one idea to the total exclusion of all other ideas. The mind is

"THOUGHT-FLOW" and as such, the constant thought of the Nature of the Self, is to be the exercise by which the mind should be restrained by the intellect. A mind that has merged in the steady contemplation of the Self becomes still, and a divine quietude comes to pervade its very substance. This is the last lap of the journey to which deliberate and conscious action (Purushartha) can take any seeker. Krishna's exhaustive theory, which can be practised by any sincere devotee, concludes in these two stanzas with a warning as to what the seeker should avoid at his moment of inward silence and peace; the Lord does not instruct the seeker here on what he should positively do. The Divine Flute-player says,

"LET HIM NOT THINK OF ANYTHING," when he has once reached this state of peace within.

After the "halt-moment" there is nothing more for the seeker to act and achieve. All that he has to do is to avoid starting any new line of imagination. "UNDISTURBED BY ANY NEW THOUGHT WAVE, LET HIM MAINTAIN HIS INNER SILENCE AND COME TO LIVE IT MORE AND MORE DEEPLY," is all the instruction that the technique of meditation gives to the meditator. "Knock and thou shalt enter" is the promise; you have 'knocked,' and into the Supreme Presence, thou shalt enter... ere long

(Achirena).

No two simple looking stanzas, anywhere in the spiritual literature of the world, including the sacred books in Hinduism, can claim to have given such an exhaustive wealth of useful instructions to a seeker, as these two stanzas in the Geeta. Even in the entire bulk of the Divine Song (Geeta) itself, there is no other similar couple of stanzas which can, in their pregnant import, stand a favourable comparison with this perfect pair. AS AN INSTRUCTION TO THOSE WHO HAVE A FICKLE, UNSTEADY MIND, THE FOLLOWING IS ADDED:

26. From whatever cause the restless and the unsteady mind wanders away, from that let him restrain it, and bring it back under the control of the Self alone.

Every student who tries to understand the above two verses and tries to put them into practice will despair at his own incapacity to control the mind and fix it constantly in the contemplation of the Self. In utter despair, every seeker will realise that the mind irresistibly wanders away from its point-of-concentration because the mind is, by its very nature, "restless" (Chanchala) and

"unsteady" (A-sthira). It can neither constantly think of one object nor consistently think of different objects. By these two terms qualifying the mind --- restlessness and unsteadiness --- Krishna has brought out a vivid and a very realistic picture of the mind, as it is experienced by all true seekers striving on the path of Meditation. These two phrases are so impressive that later on Arjuna himself, while crystallising his doubts into language, uses them quite naturally. Thus, during practice, even though the seeker has brought his sense-organs to a large extent under his control, still the mind, disturbed by the memories of its past experiences, will shoot out in search of sense-objects. These are the moments of dejection and despair for the seekers. These wanderings of the mind may be due to very many reasons: the memory of the past, the vicinity of some tempting objects, the association of ideas, some attachment or aversion, or maybe, even the very spiritual aspiration of the seeker. Lord Krishna's instruction here is very categorical and all-embracing. He says "WHATEVER BE THE REASON BECAUSE OF WHICH THE RESTLESS AND THE UNSTEADY MIND WANDERS AWAY," the seeker is not to despair, but should understand that it is the nature of the mind to wander, and that the very process of meditation is only a technique to stop this wandering. LET HIM BRING IT BACK --- The seeker is advised to bring back the mind that has rushed out into dissimilar channels of thinking. This withdrawal of the mind by sheer will-power may be successful to a degree, but as soon as it is brought back, it will, and it should, rush out again into another fanciful line of thinking. Very rarely do the Sadhakas realise that the mind means "the flow-of- thought." A steady, motionless mind is no mind at all! Therefore, in the technique of meditation, when the mind is withdrawn from the sense-objects, this very process of withdrawal is to be completed by a conscious effort on the part of the meditator, in applying the same mind, at once, in the contemplation of the Self. This idea has been remarkably well brought out when the Lord complements his instruction by the term "BRINGING IT UNDER THE SWAY OF THE SELF ALONE." THE FOLLOWING FEW STANZAS EXPLAIN THE EFFECT OF THE 'YOGA' OF MEDITATION UPON ITS TRUE PRACTITIONERS:

27. Supreme Bliss verily comes to this YOGI, whose mind is quite peaceful, whose passion is quietened, who is free from sin, and who has become BRAHMAN.

As we have just indicated in the previous stanza, when an individual's mind has been arrested from its agitated roamings in the world-of-objects, and fixed consistently upon the Self, by degrees the mind gathers more and more quietude and ultimately, when the flow of thoughts ceases, the mind also ends. Where the mind has ended, there the individual is awakened to the experience of the Infinite Nature of the Self. Naturally, the Meditator (Yogin)

"COMES TO THE SUPREME BLISS." An intelligent enquirer has every right to question this assertion; for, in a true science, the scientist has no right to assert his own opinion and to expect the students to swallow it. In the second line of the verse, the reasons are given to show how and why the quietened mind becomes an open-window through which the prospect of the Self comes to our view. A mind, thus held steadily in the inner atmosphere of thrilled silence, comes to drop off all its previous vasanas; the mind gets "FREED FROM TAINT"

(A-kalmasham).

In Vedanta, technically the "impurities" of the mind are called mala, and it is considered as constituted of

"SPIRITUAL NON-APPREHENSION" and the consequent

"MENTAL AGITATIONS." The "veiling power" (Avarana) generated by the inertia of the intellect (Tamas), creates in its wake the disturbing "agitations" (Vikshepa) in the mental zone. The agitation-nuisance in the mind is most prominent when it is under the influence of Rajo-guna. This Vedantic theory, explaining "the fall of man" into sorrow, is fully echoed in the words of the Lord here: (a)

"passions quietened" (Shanta-rajasam) and (b) "freed from taint" (A-kalmasham). An individual in whom all "agitations" have ceased, and consequently, who has become perfectly freed from his

"ignorance" of the Reality, should naturally be considered as one who has regained his "Knowledge of the Self." As long as there is agitation, so long there is the mind; and the Self identified with the mind, is the ego --- the seeker who started meditating. When, as it has been explained, the meditator has exposed his mind to the atmosphere of inner peace and quietude, he comes to end completely all his mental agitations, and therefore, the ego rediscovers itself to be nothing other than the Self. This non-dual- Truth has been openly declared by the Lord through His brilliant phrase "Brahman-become" (Brahma-bhootam) in describing the man of Self-realisation. HAVING THUS EXPLAINED THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF A TRUE MEDITATOR THE LORD EXPLAINS HOW THIS EXPERIENCE OF THE SELF CAN BE, THEREAFTER, THE CONSTANT LIFE OF THE PERFECT ONE:

28. The YOGI engaging the mind thus (in the practice of YOGA ) , freed from sins, easily enjoys the Infinite Bliss of

'BRAHMAN -contact. '

Engaging himself thus in the battle for evolution and inward mastery, a meditator steadily grows out of the shadowy regions of his own spiritual ignorance and imperfections, to smile forth in luxurious extravagance into the sparkling sunshine of Knowledge. When the meditator keeps his mind undisturbed in the roaring silence within, in the white-heat of meditation, his mind gets purified, like a piece of iron in the smithy furnace. In short, as we said earlier, and elsewhere, the "halt-moment" is the frontier-line upto which human-effort can raise the mind. There it ends itself just as a balloon, as it goes higher and higher, blasts itself in the rarified atmosphere of higher altitudes, and drops down, merging the balloon- space with the space outside. Similarly, the mind too, at the pinnacle of meditation, shatters itself, drops the ego down and merges with the Supreme. Just as the space in the balloon automatically merges with the space outside when it has exploded, so too, when the finite mind is ended, "WITH EASE IT ATTAINS THE INFINITE BLISS ARISING OUT OF ITS CONTACT-WITH-BRAHMAN." Krishna is here trying to make an agitated, restless, inquisitive intellect understand that positive and dynamic Reality, which can and shall be gained when the mind and intellect are transcended. Had he said 'THE SEEKER WILL BECOME HAPPINESS,' Arjuna would have hesitated to accept it, believing that in the Self there is no positive joy. To make his unprepared intellect perceive the experienceable joy of the Infinite, the Divine Cowherd has to borrow a vivid phrase from ordinary life and so he says that the meditator "ATTAINS THE INFINITE BLISS THROUGH THE BRAHMAN-CONTACT." This phrase

"Brahman-contact" should be understood as "Self-contact" - -- in contrast to the finite joys which we ordinarily gain in life through the "not-Self-contact." IN THE FOLLOWING STANZAS WE GET A DESCRIPTION OF THE EFFECTS OF YOGA AND THE CONSEQUENT PERCEPTION OF ONENESS IN THE PLURALISTIC WORLD:

29. With the mind harmonised by YOGA he sees the Self abiding in all beings, and all beings in the Self; he sees the same everywhere.

All religions in the world are great, but indeed, none of them is so perfect as the religion of Vedanta, if by religion we mean the "Science of Self-perfection". In this stanza, the author of the Geeta says, in unequivocal terms, that the perfect man of Self-knowledge or God-realisation is not merely one who has realised his own divinity, but is also one who has equally understood and has come to live in an intimate knowledge and experience of the divinity inherent in all creatures, without any distinction whatsoever. The Awareness in us is the Awareness everywhere in all names and forms and this Divine Awareness is the very essence in the entire world of perceptions and experience. To contact the Infinite in us, is to contact the Eternal everywhere.

To a true man of realisation, in Hinduism, there is no more a world to be addressed, even be it in divine compassion, by the disgusting phrase: "O! Ye Children of Sin!" Rama Tirtha, a Hindu Saint of Perfection, could not but address the entire living kingdom as "O! Children of Light!" This idea of the consummate revelation of "God-I am" gained by the meditator is the Peak of Perfection endorsed and aimed at by the Hindu Seers. This idea has been most effectively brought out in this stanza. That this pluralistic phenomenon is a manifestation of and a projection upon the Immortal Truth is very well brought out in almost all the Geeta chapters. The essence in all names and forms, thus, is the same transcendental Self. Just as the mud in all mud-pots, the gold in all gold ornaments, the ocean in all waves, the electricity in all bulbs, the Self is the Essence in and the Substratum for the entire world of objects. From the physical body we perceive the physical world, and from our emotional level we perceive the emotions in others. So too, from our intellectual level alone, can we intelligently contact the ideas in other intellects. As asserted in the previous chapter, when an individual transcends his intellect, he rediscovers his own Divine Nature, and from that Spiritual Centre, when he looks out, he finds the Self pervading everywhere. The meditator, on transcending his intellect, becomes the Self; and to the Self there is nothing but the Self everywhere. To the mud, there are no pots; to the gold, there are no ornaments separate from itself. With this understanding in our mind, the stanza becomes quite clear when it says: "HE BEHOLDS THE SELF IN ALL BEINGS AND EQUALLY BEHOLDS ALL BEINGS IN THE SELF." Such a Perfect One, who has realised the Unity in the world of diversity, alone can afford to entertain the equality of vision in all circumstances and conditions --- "on a noble Brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a Pariah" (V-18). NOW WILL BE DESCRIBED THE EFFECT OF THIS PERCEPTION OF UNITY OF THE SELF:

30. He who sees Me everywhere, and sees everything in Me, he never gets separated from Me, nor do I get separated from him.

Earlier we were told that on reaching his goal, the meditator

"ATTAINS INFINITE BLISS OF THE 'BRAHMAN'-CONTACT" (V-28). We explained that the term 'contact' indicates only the non-dual Reality, which is the theme of all the Upanishads. Here, in this stanza, we have Krishna's own commentary upon that term. Once having awakened to the Self, the Perfect Master thereafter recognises everywhere nothing but the Self. HE WHO SEES ME IN ALL THINGS AND SEES ALL THINGS IN ME --- In this stanza, as everywhere else, the first person singular 'I' and 'Me' are to be understood as the Self. To one who is re-reading the stanza in the light of this annotation, this and the previous stanza together express more fully the pregnant meaning of the most famous Upanishadic declarations found in the Ishavasya. HE NEVER BECOMES SEPARATED FROM ME --- On transcending the intellect, the experience of the ego is not that it sees or perceives or cognises the Eternal but that it discovers itself in essence to be nothing but the Self (Shivoham). The dreamer, on awakening, himself becomes the waker; a dreamer can never see or recognise the waker as separate from himself. NOR DO I BECOME SEPARATE FROM HIM --- The dualists are rather hesitant to accept that Infinite Divinity is their Real Nature, for they are, as ego-centres, conscious of their own bodily vanities and sins. In no clearer terms can we more exhaustively describe the unadulterated Truth of the Essential Divinity in man. Lord Krishna here, is in no way trying to conceal His meaning that a meditator, when he has fulfilled the process of detachment from the not-Self, himself BECOMES the Eternal and the Infinite. It may be a staggering truth, but all the same it is The Truth. Those who are hesitating and wavering may well continue to disbelieve their own divine potentialities. But the intimate experience of the long hierarchy of Gurus in India and the mystic Saints all over the world has endorsed this unbelievable, yet plain

Truth that, "the Self in an individual is the same Self everywhere." At present we are divorced from ourselves; the ego is a rebel who has exiled himself from his native kingdom, the Self. On rediscovery of the Self, the ego BECOMES the Self in such a happy blending that thereafter there is no distinction between the ego and the Self. On awakening, the dreamer becomes the waker; not only does the dreamer become the waker, but the waker can never remain separate from the dreamer. In ordinary divorces either party can divorce the other, and yet maintain an emotional relationship with each other. Here the Lord says, not only does the seeker come to feel the Self-hood, but I, the Self, become homogeneously one with him. In fact, once we understand that "Misguided God is a man," it becomes amply clear that, rightly guided, a man rediscovers himself to be nothing other than the Supreme. An actor playing the part of a beggar, is not really a beggar; the moment he drops the part he is playing, he becomes what in fact he is. In fact, even while he was playing his role, he was not a beggar. This daring declaration of Vedanta is not at all difficult to understand, but the deluded are aghast at this revelation, and in their imperfections, refuse to believe this Truth. They have not the guts to take the responsibilities of living a Godly life. Krishna's courageous statement in this stanza leaves not even a pin-hole of a doubt on this sacred conclusion of all the scriptures of the world, especially that of the immortal

Upanishads.

EMPHASISING THE IDEA THAT THE MAN OF PERFECT SELF-CONTROL AND MEDITATION, ON REALISING THE SELF "BECOMES THE SELF," THE FOLLOWING IS ADDED:

31. He who, being established in unity, worships Me, dwelling in all beings, that YOGI abides in Me, whatever be his mode of living. The meditator who has integrated himself in a single- pointedness, steadily contemplates (Bhajati) upon Me, the Self, which is the essential Spark-of-Life in all forms in the world. Such an individual, whatever be his activities in the external world, ever lives in 'Me' through a conscious awareness of the Self. This stanza is given here mainly to indicate that the Man-of-realisation need not necessarily retire to some secret cave in some forgotten valley of the Himalayas, but can maintain his Divine Consciousness in all states of existence, in all conditions of life, and under all happy or unhappy circumstances. When a man is ill, he has to withdraw himself from the fields of activities, strains, and exhausting recreations, and go to a sanatorium to recuperate. Having regained his natural health, he need not thereafter live forever in the sanatorium. On the other hand, he should come back to his old fields of work and live, perhaps a more active life than ever before. Similarly, a disintegrated man of unhealthy temperament is, in spiritual life, treated through meditation, and when he regains his Godly strength and vitality, he can certainly re-enter the fields of his earlier activity, and yet maintain in himself the cultural perfection and spiritual knowledge that he has gained during his spiritual treatment. Work, in fact, can be performed and really enduring fruits be gained, only when the worker is established in the Self. The message of the Geeta is that dedicated work is a means of self-development. There is a deeper significance in the fact that Krishna, the Perfect, is exposing Himself, perhaps, more to the dangers of the battle than Prince Arjuna himself. A charioteer meets the arrows earlier than the warrior who stands behind him! Entering the battlefield, armed with nothing but His irresistible smile, He, in effect, almost becomes the Lord of the battle-field, wherein the entire war, as it were, comes to revolve round Him, the central personality. This means that a Man-of-realisation will in all conditions be able to enter into any activity, and still maintain in himself the unbroken Awareness of the Divine that he is. While reading this commentary, some students might feel that we are, in our over-enthusiasm, reading a bit too much into the stanza. We can only request them to ponder over the comprehensiveness of the words used in the daring statement: "whatever his mode of life be" (Sarvatha- vartamanopi) the meditator (Yogin)" abides in Me."

32. He who, through the likeness (sameness) of the Self, O Arjuna, sees equality everywhere, be it pleasure or pain, he is regarded as the highest YOGI.

True meditators, well-established in their intellectual understanding and spiritual experience, intuitively recognise the Divine Presence immanent in everything. Such Men of Perfection see in all activities the glory of the Self and understand their own bodily functions as nothing but the Grace of the Self. For them, there is no experience but of the Divine. Everything experienced in the gross world outside, and in the subtle realm within, is nothing but an emanation from the Eternal Self. The highest Yogi, according to the Geeta, is one who feels the pains and joys of others as intimately as if they were his own. The famous ethical rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is a most unpleasant instruction to the average man, because, in his selfishness, he is easily tempted to ask why he should consider others as himself. The uninitiated, in his instinctive selfishness, would naturally be tempted to follow the unethical ways of life.

The previous few stanzas explained why one should love one's neighbours. The Yogi, after his experience of the Self, comes to recognise the whole world as nothing but himself. As all the limbs and parts of one's body are equally dear to an individual, one can easily experience one's intimate identity with all the different parts of the body. If your tongue were to be accidentally bitten by your own teeth, you would never think of punishing the teeth for the crime they had done, for, both IN the tongue and IN the teeth you pervade equally. Having realised the Self, when I come to feel everywhere the presence of Me as the Self, the whole Universe of names and forms becomes for Me the one integrated form, in which at all places and at all times, "I alone AM." Such an individual, who has in his realisation come to feel the entire universe as his own form, is called a true Yogi by the Singer of this Celestial Song. In short, a Seer of Self- realisation instinctively becomes a divinely compassionate man, producing in society more than what he consumes, and creating in the community much more than what he destroys during his lifetime. Love is his very breath, kindness his very sustenance. In thus concluding the description of a perfect Yogi, with a word-picture of the perfect man's attitude to life, and his relationship with the world outside, Krishna would fascinate any eagerly listening student; but Arjuna, a practical man-of-the-world, immediately discovers his incapacity to attain the goal pointed out here, and raises his own doubts, in the form of a question. SEEING THAT THE YOGA DESCRIBED --- THE YOGA OF RIGHT KNOWLEDGE --- IS VERY DIFFICULT TO ATTAIN, ARJUNA WISHES TO KNOW THE SUREST MEANS OF GAINING THIS YOGA.

Arjuna said: 33. This YOGA of Equanimity, taught by Thee, O slayer of Madhu, I see not its enduring continuity, because of the restlessness (of the mind) .

The most practical-minded Aryan that he was, Arjuna, the man of action, could not at all be moved merely by the poetic beauty of an ideology. He was thirsty to live, and therefore, the philosophy of meditation and successful victory over the cravings of the flesh could not charm him away to any idle intellectual pursuit. He shot some very relevant questions to explode the seemingly impractical philosophy that had been explained in this chapter. 'DETACHMENT FROM PAIN-ATTACHMENTS' (Duhkhah-samyoga-viyoga) was the definition of "Yoga" that Krishna provided in this chapter. The process of achieving success in this "detachment-Yoga" has been explained herein as the technique of withdrawing the mind from the objects by lifting it to the planes of higher contemplation. The theory is that mind, when it comes to a single-pointed devotion in the contemplation of the Self, becomes stilled and redeems itself by ending its ego-centric pilgrimage through the ignorance of Truth, and the consequent mis- judgement of the world. The goal pointed out --- perfect equanimity in all conditions, challenges, and circumstances of life --- is an admirable gain, but the technique seems to Arjuna to be sheer poetic fantasy, with no roots in the soil of the actualities of life. The acute intellect of Arjuna, systematically approaching the Science of Self-realisation, discovers as it were, a dangerous missing-link in the chain of its arguments. Mercilessly, the man-of-war is hammering at this weak point, with the absolute confidence that he will immediately expose the hollowness of Krishna's philosophy. Thus, Arjuna tauntingly points out: "THIS YOGA WHICH YOU HAVE BEEN TEACHING ME, WITH SUCH MENTAL TRANQUILLITY, IS NOT AT ALL PRACTICABLE." The argument given out by Arjuna and the daring with which he directly faces his teacher, show the characteristic spirit of a true student of Vedanta. Blind faith can gain no entry into the fields of pure spirituality. The teachers are to answer and clear all the doubts of the seekers. But, in questioning the philosophy expounded by a teacher, the student must indicate the logical arguments by which he had come to feel the particular weakness in that philosophy. Here, Arjuna gives all his arguments, to show why the state of evenness of mind would remain only a dream, as long as the human mind was, by its very nature, 'restless' in its own agitations. In contradicting the Krishna-philosophy, Arjuna is extremely careful. He does not say that mental equanimity cannot at all be gained through meditation, but his doubt is, that it cannot be an experience of

"LONG ENDURANCE." The implication is that, even if after years of practice the mind were to be won over, the experience of the Self can only be momentary, and although a full 'experience' of the Infinite can be had in that split- moment, that direct realisation could not be maintained by the Man of Knowledge for any length of time, the mind, being by its very nature, ever restless. AS IF MAKING HIMSELF MORE CLEAR TO HIS TEACHER, ARJUNA ADDS THE FOLLOWING STANZA WHICH, IN FACT, TAKES THE EDGE OFF FROM THE SPEARHEAD OF HIS LOGIC IN THE PREVIOUS STANZA:

34. The mind verily is, O Krishna, restless, turbulent, strong and unyielding; I deem it quite as difficult to control as the wind. There is an ocean of difference between a modern man condemning the sacred scriptures of our land, and a true seeker questioning the same philosophy, in his honest attempt to understand the full import, the wealth of suggestiveness contained therein. In his acute awareness, Arjuna realises, deep within himself, his own subjective experience that a mind cannot be stilled --- "as it is ever TURBULENT, STRONG and UNYIELDING." These three terms are quite pregnant in their own import. Turbulence shows not only the speed in the flow of thoughts but also their restlessness and agitations, causing undulating waves rising on the surface. Not only does the flood of thoughts flow fast and rough, but having reached its destination at some sense-object or the other, it gets so powerfully attached to it, that it becomes strong in its new roots. Mind in turbulence is, no doubt, difficult to arrest; when it gets strongly rivetted, it is difficult to pluck it away from its attachments. And the third characteristic feature of the mind is that, when it has flown into any new channel of its own choice, for the moment, it is

"unyielding"; and so it is impossible for the individual to pull it back from its flight and persuade it to stay at any chosen point-of-concentration. It is to be remembered that this was the technique advised by Krishna for the practice of meditation earlier in this chapter (VI-26). The strength and vigour, the vivacity and treachery, the penetrativeness and all-pervasiveness of the mind, cannot be better expressed than by the simile given here "AS THE WIND." In raising this question, Arjuna is asking Krishna for some practical tips by which he can gain perfect control over the stormy nature of "the unyielding, strong, turbulent and restless mind." Herein, unlike the previous stanza, the Lord is addressed by His most familiar name 'Krishna'; a word that comes from the root Krisha --- " to scrape." The term "Krishna" is applicable to the Self because, on realisation of the Truth, the threats of the delusory mind and the consequent dreamy vasanas will all be scraped away from our cognition. The bloody hands of the dreamer get automatically cleaned and all the moral stigma attached to the murder immediately gets cleared, when the dreamer wakes up. Similarly, the mind and its onslaughts, its vasanas and their tyranny, the intellect and its quest, the physical body and its appetites... all, all end with the rediscovery of the true nature of the Self. Therefore the poet-philosopher Vyasa, in his immortal classic, Mahabharata, paints the inner Self as Lord "Krishna," the Flute-player of Vrindavana. In Sanskrit, this is a special art, unknown to any other language in the world: the coining of a proper noun for a person to indicate the peculiar quality that is to be suggested in the context of the narration. ACCEPTING THE ARGUMENTS OF ARJUNA, THE LORD ANSWERS THAT THERE IS A METHOD BY WHICH THE INVINCIBLE MIND CAN BE BROUGHT UNDER CONTROL:

The Blessed Lord said: 35. Undoubtedly, O mighty-armed one, the mind is difficult to control and is restless; but, by practice, O Son of Kunti, and by dispassion, it is restrained.

Krishna knew his Arjuna; the warrior, the man of action, the daring adventurer, the ruthless realist. When such a tumultuous personality spurs himself on with a drawn dagger, as it were, either to agree with or to condemn the noble philosophy of a true missionary, the teacher must have the balance of mind to approach the rebel-intellect with divine understanding and extreme tact. At this juncture in the Geeta, the situation, in a nutshell, is this: the Lord propounds a theory that MIND STILLED IS SELF GAINED, and Arjuna argues that mind cannot be stilled and so Self cannot be gained. When an impetuous man like Arjuna gets hold of an idea in all enthusiasm, the best technique is to yield to him to start with. "Stooping to conquer" is the secret of success in philosophical discussions, especially in such cases of prejudice natural to the ignorant. Thus, the great psychologist Krishna, with the very first word in his reply, quietly disarms his mighty adversary, and tickles his vanity with the term, "NO DOUBT, O MIGHTY-ARMED." Krishna admits that the mind is turbulent, strong, unyielding and restless and that it is very difficult to control, and therefore, the goal of perfect and enduring tranquillity, cannot EASILY be achieved.

By this admission Arjuna is flattered. By reminding him that he is a mighty-armed soldier in life, he is mentally brought to a restful peace. The taunting implication in it is obvious; to achieve the impossible and the difficult is the job of the mighty-armed: it is no glory for a warrior to claim that he has plucked half-a-dozen flowers from a bush in his own court-yard. The mind is, no doubt, a great enemy --- but, the greater the enemy, the nobler the victory. In the second line of this stanza, the eternal missionary in Krishna, very carefully weighs his words and uses the most appropriate terms to soothe the mind of Arjuna. "O SON OF KUNTI, IT CAN BE BROUGHT UNDER CONTROL" is an assertion which comes only at the very end of the stanza. Through practice and renunciation, the mind can be brought under control in the beginning, and ultimately to a perfect 'halt' --- this is the confident, reassuring declaration of the Lord in the Geeta. Renunciation has been already described earlier in the Geeta as Samnyasa which was defined as renunciation of (a) all clinging attachments to the objects of the world, (b) lingering expectations for the fruits-of-action. These two are the main causes for the agitation of thoughts, which again thicken the flood of the thought-flow, and make the mind uncontrollable. As Shankara declares, 'practice' (Abhyasa) is "constant repetition of an idea regarding one and the same object-of-thought." This consistency of thought during steady meditation generally gets dissipated because of the frequent explosive eruptions of desires. Whipped up by the new desires that are rising at every moment, the thoughts wander into dissimilar channels of activities, upsetting the inner equilibrium, and thereby shattering the true vitality of the inner personality. Thus viewed, practice (Abhyasa) strengthens renunciation (Samnyasa), which generates detachment (Vairagya), and which in its turn deepens meditation (Abhyasa). Hand in hand, each strengthening the other, the total progress is steadily maintained. In scriptural text-books, the arrangement of words is to be carefully noted, for, in all cases, the words are arranged in a descending order of importance. To very seeker the question comes at one time or the other, whether he should wait for the spirit of detachment arriving in his mind of its own accord, or he should start his practice. The majority wait in vain for the accidental arrival of the moment of Vairagya before they start their Abhyasa. The Geeta, in this stanza, by putting the word 'practice' (Abhyasa) before the word 'detachment' (Vairagya) clearly declares that such an expectation is as ridiculous as waiting for the harvest of the crops that we have never sowed! Let us analyse life, question its experiences, argue with ourselves and note carefully how much we put into life and how much, as a return, we gain from life. When we become aware of the deficit balance, each time, we, of necessity, shall start enquiring how our life could be more profitably re-organised, so that our coffers of joy and happiness could be replenished to their brim. Soon, the study of the Shastras will follow, which will give us a peep into the wonders of moral life, the wisdom of ethical values, the joys of self-control, the thrills of growth, and the consequent suffocation of the ego-centric little-life. From the moment we start trying to become aware of our own lives, we are in the realm of 'practice' (Abhyasa). As a result of this, the detachment that comes automatically to us is the true and enduring 'detachment' (Vairagya). All else is a sham show of stupid self-denial, which cramps a human being and distorts and perverts his intelligence into an ugliness riddled with hysterical ravings and bleeding with psychological ulcers. Vairagya born out of Abhyasa alone is the charter for free spiritual growth; of your own accord, never renounce anything. Let your attachment-with-things drop off, of its own accord, as a result of your intellectual growth into the higher planes of better understanding and truer estimation of things and beings, happenings and behaviours, occurrences and incidents in life. When through right 'practice' enduring 'detachment' has come into our inner lives, then, the mind comes under our control, because it has no more any world of pluralistic objects to roam into, and the only world which it now knows is the world of equanimity and sameness. (V-19; VI-32).

WHAT THEN WILL BE THE LOT OF THOSE WHO HAVE NO SELF-CONTROL?

36 . YOGA, I think is hard to be attained by one of uncontrolled self; but the self-controlled, striving, can obtain it by (proper) means. In the previous stanza extreme emphasis was placed on practice. But what constitutes the spiritual practice (Abhyasa) was not indicated, even indirectly, in that verse. A scientific book that leaves missing links, either in its arguments, or in its logic, is no text-book at all. In the stanza under review, Krishna is giving a direct clue to what He means by the term 'practice' (Abhyasa). He declares that the uncontrolled, and therefore, the totally dissipated person, cannot bring into the field of religion the necessary amount of dynamic vigour and vitality to sustain him till he reaches the peak of his Self- rediscovery. It is therefore said: "Yoga IS HARD TO BE ATTAINED BY ONE OF UNCONTROLLED SELF." An individual who barters himself away to slave among the sense-objects according to the mad dictates of his flesh --- or he who dances to the death-tunes sung by his sensuous mind --- or he who roams about endlessly to fulfil the tyrannical demands of a drunken intellect --- such a one has neither peace of mind nor the strength of sustained aspiration to goad him on towards the Temple- of-Truth within himself. As long as the sense-organs are not properly controlled, 'the agitations of the mind' cannot be pacified. An agitated mind is no instrument, either for listening or for reflection or for meditation --- and without these three, the 'veiling power' cannot be rolled up. The agitations (Vikshepa) and veiling (Avarana) are caused by 'activity' (Rajas) and 'inactivity' (Tamas), and we have already found that, without controlling these two temperaments, the 'un- activity' (Sattwa) cannot come to predominate in the seeker. It is natural, in a discussion, that you have to present your own arguments against a team of opposite arguments so that the discriminative intellect of the listener may, by contrast, easily judge the acceptability and logic of your view-point. Krishna uses here this commonplace technique of every drawing-room, when He, in the second line, explains as a contrast, how

"THE SELF- CONTROLLED, STRIVING HARD, BY RIGHT MEANS, CAN OBTAIN IT." Self-control, achieved through the process of total withdrawal of the sense-organs from their respective objects, is the beginning of spiritual life... and this is never possible until we learn to turn our minds to the Higher Truth. Even in ordinary life, when he wants to achieve something solid, the man-of-the-world will have to live to a large extent in self-denial. The life of a candidate during election time, that of a student before examinations, or of an actor or a dancer before his first performance... are all examples wherein we find that the individuals deny themselves all their idle preoccupations in their anxiety for success in their respective fields. If, for material gains and flimsy ephemeral glories, we have to deny ourselves, how much more should we deny ourselves the joys of the world outside in order to win the glories of the Eternal and the Permanent, the Infinite and the Absolute Bliss of the Self! It is not that the seeker should deny himself all sense- objects. This seems to be the general misunderstanding among almost all seekers in India to-day. In the name of religion or spiritual practice, many seekers, at least for some years, live seemingly in self-denial and self- punishment, shamelessly insulting themselves and carelessly persecuting their own physical urges and even biological needs. This sort of a devilish and suicidal self- condemning tyranny of oneself, always ends in an outburst of Satanic forces from within the very seeker. Lest the student of the Geeta also should fall a prey to such a misunderstood and misconceived spirituality, Bhagawan indicates here, that the self-controlled seeker can, "STRIVING RIGHTLY, OBTAIN IT." Not going to a cinema and not visiting the playgrounds are not, in themselves, assurances that the students will pass their examinations. The time wasted in such merry-making must be properly utilised in intelligent study, which alone can vouchsafe for them a success in their examinations. Here too, if a student appearing for an examination in mathematics, were to read the whole night geography text-books, he cannot hope for any glorious success; he must STRIVE RIGHTLY in order to gain true success. Similarly, when through self-control, a seeker has conserved in himself energies which would otherwise have got dissipated in the gutters of sensuality, he must know how to direct those energies into the right channels, whereby he can get himself detached from his misconceived self-projections and ultimately realise for himself his own Self-hood. That such an intelligent seeker

"CAN OBTAIN IT" is the optimistic philosophy of this ever-smiling God of the Hindus, Lord Krishna. With these two verses, Krishna exhaustively answers the question raised by Arjuna, and what follows clearly indicates that the Pandava Prince has been convinced by the Lord's reply. THE QUESTION YET REMAINS OF WHAT WOULD BE THE LOT OF ONE, 'SELF-CONTROLLED, AND STRIVING HARD THROUGH RIGHT MEANS; WHO COULD NOT YET FULFIL AND REACH THE GOAL:

Arjuna said: 37. He who, though possessed of faith, is unable to control himself, whose mind wanders away from YOGA, to what end does he, having failed to attain perfection in YOGA go, O Krishna?

In this and the following two verses Veda Vyasa makes Arjuna raise a pertinent question, so that Krishna may get yet another chance to bring the supremely optimistic philosophy of Vedanta right in the footlights. None, striving on the Path Divine, can ever be destroyed; and whatever he accomplishes will be faithfully carried over, as a legacy, by the individualised-self in its pursuit here and in the hereafter. Each today is an added link in the endless chain of the dead-and-gone yesterdays. The chain continues growing, by adding to itself link after link, all the yesterdays. Death is only one of the incidents in a human existence and the tomorrow has no accidental, or arbitrary beginning, but it is only a perfect continuation of yesterday MODIFIED by the thoughts and actions of today. Carefully voicing his vague doubt, Arjuna asks as to what will happen to one, who strives with deep faith (Shraddha), but fails to accomplish complete self-control during his life-time, or due to lack of sufficient self-control falls from Yoga. The doubt is that such an individual may thereby come to lose both the little joys of the sense-objects and the Absolute Bliss in the hereafter. The Vedantins, even while they condemn a mere life of sense-joys, do not for a moment deny the fact that there ARE traces of joy in the sense life also. According to them, daring thinkers that they are, the joys of the sense-objects (Vishaya-ananda) are, in their essence, nothing other than glimpses of the Spiritual Bliss (Brahmananda). The secret import of the question is that those who faithfully follow Krishna's theory may come to lose both the chances of experiencing the finite and the Infinite joy. Such a seeker, striving all his life to live in self-control, will be a conscious escapist --- avoiding all the finite joy- temptations in the gross world here. But, if the uncertain factor --- death --- were to creep in to clip the thread of his life with the scissors of time, he would lose his chances of gaining the Absolute Beatitude, which is the goal that Krishna seems to point out in his Divine Song. Again, suppose that a seeker, due to a lack of self-control, falls from Yoga. To win in Yoga, no doubt, is a great victory, a GAIN PAR-EXCELLENCE. But if, in the race, one were to get knocked down by the stealthy club of sensuousness, one would stand to lose both here and hereafter. Naturally, Arjuna wants some guidance from Krishna as to what will happen to such an individual. In this verse also, we must note very carefully, that the term Shraddha is not some maddening superstition which encourages a blind faith. According to Shankara, Shraddha is the right intellectual apprehension of the deeper import and the fuller significance of what the teachers teach and the scriptures declare. The inspired devotion that springs up in a bosom, from among its solid intellectual convictions, gained through a true appreciation, is the mighty power called faith "that can move mountains" and

"can bring the very heavens on the earth." TO THROW MORE COLOUR ON TO THE PICTURE OF THE SPIRITUALLY DESPERATE SEEKER, WHOM ARJUNA HAS ATTEMPTED TO PAINT IN THE PREVIOUS STANZA, THE FOLLOWING IS ADDED:

38. Fallen from both, does he not, O mighty-armed, perish like a rent cloud, supportless and deluded in the path of

BRAHMAN? A sincere wayfarer, faithfully treading the path of self- control to rediscover the Self, may get lost, if death were to rob him on his way, or for want of complete self-control he were to fall from Yoga. The striking example with which this idea is brought out by Arjuna, is one of the most brilliant poetic strokes in the entire Geeta. This is often quoted in literary circles, whenever an attempt is made to evaluate Vyasa, the poet, in Sanskrit literature. In summer, mushroom-shaped floating castles of clouds arise from behind the mountains to peep into the valleys below. At the touch of some strong current of wind the mass takes to flight, leaving along its trail, small bits of fleecy cloudlets. Those little ones, torn away from the parental bulk, get knocked about and are at the mercy of every puff of breeze. Such summer cloudlets, aimlessly kicked about according to the whims and fancies of the winds, can never fulfil the expectations of the farmers, or the clamour of the thirsty. Unfulfilling themselves, they get tossed hither and thither without any haven for themselves. "LIKE THE RENT CLOUD," Arjuna asks,

"will not the aspiring self in the seeker be forced to roam about and ultimately get lost in the vast amphitheatre of the Universe?" WHY DOES ARJUNA ASK THIS QUESTION?

39. This doubt of mine, O Krishna, please dispel completely; because it is not possible for any one but You to dispel this doubt. In this concluding verse of this section, Arjuna frankly asks: "THIS DOUBT OF MINE, O KRISHNA, YOU SHOULD COMPLETELY DISPEL."

"The Eternal Scraper," Lord Krishna, alone has the Pure Wisdom that can rub out this doubt and quieten the agitations caused by it, in the bosom of Arjuna. With this question, it becomes amply clear that his previous doubt has been totally dispelled. The earlier doubt was that:

"Self-Realisation is impossible, since the mind which is ever turbulent can never be stilled." The reply of the Lord had smoothened out this knotty kink in Arjuna's mind. Every true seeker, if he be diligent enough, must come to discover a couple of new doubts, when a previously existing doubt has been cleared. The process of slowly eliminating all these doubts, is the process of Vichara that is practised both consciously and unconsciously, during all Satsangas. THE GLORIOUS LIFE OF THE HEREAFTER ASSURED TO EVERY EVOLVER IS CLASSIFIED HEREUNDER, ON THE BASIS OF THE INTENSITY OF THE MENTAL ATTITUDE AND THE SPIRITUAL APTITUDE IN EACH OF THEM. IN THE FOLLOWING FIVE STANZAS, BHAGAWAN TRIES TO EXPLAIN THE PATH OF PROGRESS OF A SEEKER WHOSE SPIRITUAL ENDEAVOURS HAVE BEEN EITHER CLIPPED BY AN UNTIMELY DEATH, OR ARRESTED BY THE INTERVENTION OF SOME SENSUOUS TEMPTATION.

The Blessed Lord said: 40. O Partha, neither in this world, nor in the next world is there destruction for him; none, verily, who strives to be good, O My son, ever comes to grief.

At the very opening of this section, Krishna assures, with all emphasis at his command, that "NEITHER HERE NOR IN THE HEREAFTER, IS THERE ANY DESTRUCTION FOR HIM, WHO PERFORMS RIGHT ACTION."

This statement is not a mere emotional assurance built upon some blind faith, or a Godly declaration that is to be swallowed down by the faithful, because of its being sacred words that have come out of the lips of a Prophet. The Hindus do not accept any divine prerogative, even for their gods, by which they can by-pass the individual intellect and the rules of logic. Religion is a "SCIENCE OF LIFE" and it must completely explain the WHY and the WHEREFORE of its practices. Obedient to this incomparable trait in our culture, Krishna supports his statement with the philosophical truth:

"NEVER FOR THE DOER OF GOOD, DEAR SON, A WOEFUL END." One who acts rightly in the present, can come to no grief in the future, because the future is but a product of the past and the present. The fear of Arjuna that the unsuccessful Yogin --- a seeker obstructed and held up on the path --- will get lost "AS A RENT CLOUD," here and in the hereafter, has risen from his failure to appreciate the logical continuity and the perfect sequence that is ever found in life. To consider that death is the end of an existence which started with the accident of birth, is a philosophy too rudimentary to be considered complete and exhaustive. In fact, it is only with a stretch of imagination that we can consider such a theory as a philosophy. Daring intellects, bravely pushing ahead in the quest to understand and comprehend the laws of life and the meaning and purpose of the Universe, cannot but accept that the existence of an individual in its present embodiment is but a single pearl in the necklace of Infinite Beauty adorning the bosom of Truth. The present is the product of the past, and thought by thought, action by action, knowledge by knowledge, we are creating for ourselves in the present the blue-print of our future. Therefore, the Hindus believe in previous lives as well as in future births for all embodied souls; this is otherwise called the theory of re-incarnation. Based upon this principle, Krishna insists that no seeker is ever lost, although he may slip and fall, or even end his present manifestation; tomorrow is but today modified, but directly continued. In addressing Arjuna as "O MY SON," Krishna has here not only followed the traditional practice of the Upanishads, but there is also a deeper significance. However deceitful, cunning and cruel a brute one might be to everyone else in the world, one cannot ever come to advise a false philosophy to his own son. With fatherly love, the Man-of-Wisdom in Krishna is assuring Arjuna that one who is striving in the direction of evolution shall never come to suffer any REAL fall. On the ladder of cultural growth, each step that is placed forward is an ascent towards the Absolute Perfection. WHAT EXACTLY WOULD BE THE DESTINY OF A MAN WHO COULD NOT COMPLETE HIS

PILGRIMAGE IN YOGA? WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM THEN?

41 Having attained to the worlds of the righteous, and having dwelt there for everlasting (long) years, he who had fallen from YOGA is born again in the house of the pure and the wealthy.

The hereafter is ordered by the actions performed and the motives entertained here. Actions in life can be mainly classified as good and evil; and the pursuers of the evil can only slip down the path of evolution. Those who are doing good work alone can start their climb on to the higher points on the tower of their spiritual progress. Even here, our text-books make a careful distinction and classify all good activities under two main headings: (a) actions performed with desires, and (b) those that are performed in a spirit of dedicated love and in a sense of divine worship. Since reactions to actions depend entirely upon the motives that propel those actions, the results accruing from selfish and selfless activities must necessarily differ from one another. Naturally, there must be different routes of progress to the same Pinnacle of Perfection. All of them are being indicated here in this section. Those who are employing themselves in the worship of the Lord with desire for heavenly enjoyments will, after their death, reach those planes-of-consciousness which are conducive for exhausting all such desires and, having exhausted these desires therein, they will take their birth again, here in the world, "IN THE HOUSES OF THE PURE AND THE PROSPEROUS." In short, all burning desires of every human will be fulfilled at one time or another, if the desires are strong enough and are accompanied by intense activities appropriate for their fulfilment. BUT WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO ARE PURSUING THE GOOD, IN A SPIRIT OF SELF-LESS DEDICATION?

42. Or, he is even born in the family of the wise YOGIS; verily, a birth like this is very difficult to obtain in this world.

The other type, which makes a direct and immediate manifestation, in which the continuity of the past is clearly noticeable, is the theme of this stanza. Those who are pursuing selfless Upasanas, thereby gain more and more inner integration and as a result of it, they become dynamic minds capable of the highest meditation. The more integrated a personality, the more spiritual he becomes, and therefore, he must be given a chance to fulfil himself, not in heaven, which is a plane for enjoyment, but he must arrive right here to strive more diligently and achieve the highest. Such an ego-centre (Jeeva), as soon as it leaves one embodiment immediately comes to manifest itself in a conducive atmosphere, where it can continue its pilgrimage without any obstruction. It being an aspiring heart, it should necessarily come to be "BORN ONLY IN A FAMILY OF WISE-MEN-OF-MEDITATION." This theory gives a lot of insight into the present-day fallacy which gives such an exaggerated importance to one's unhealthy environments and makes everyone protest against one's surroundings. No doubt, in some ways man is a creature of his environments; but the same statement, when viewed through the glasses of philosophy, gives also an insight into the fact that the individuals, in their own freedom, had themselves ordered in the past their own present environments. By merely changing his environments, the individual concerned cannot progress; a habitual drunkard may still continue drinking on the sly, even if he were to be brought into a dry city to live among teetotallers. Examples like Shankara, Christ, Buddha, and other great masters can be considered as supporting this philosophical theory. Such men of brilliant genius, who, from their very early youth, exhibit superhuman knowledge and Godly wisdom, are no doubt, rare. Krishna himself accepts here that such persons are "VERY RARE TO OBTAIN IN THIS WORLD." If the previous stanza explained the re-birth of an ego (Jeeva) after an interval of existence in the heavens, this stanza explains the lives of the few, who, after departing from one embodiment, immediately arrive in this world to continue their pilgrimage to Perfection.

AFTER REACHING SUCH CONDUCIVE AND HELPFUL ENVIRONMENTS, WILL THE FALLEN YOGI OF THE LAST LIFE CONTINUE HIS SPIRITUAL LIFE? LISTEN:

43. There he comes to be united with the knowledge acquired in his former body and strives more than before for Perfection, O son of the Kurus.

It may be feared, that an individual who is thus born again, will have to start his studies and practices all over again. To remove any such doubt, Krishna explains here that such an individual, in his new life, under the conducive circumstances, gets naturally "UNITED WITH THE INTELLIGENCE ACQUIRED IN HIS FORMER BODY." Such a born-Yogi completes his education much more easily than others, since, to him, it is not an education that is needed, but only a revision, or a recapitulation. In a very short time, he discovers that all knowledge is bubbling up from within himself, and to him study is but a rediscovery of a digested knowledge which was already lying dormant in him. Not only does he discover in himself the knowledge that he had acquired in the past, but he easily finds in himself the required enthusiasm and energy for a consistent self- application and vigorous pursuit. Knowledge without practice is a dull, dreary load upon the shoulders of a seeker. Krishna asserts here that one "fallen from Yoga" in the past, when he is reborn in the right atmosphere, not only regains all knowledge easily, but he comes to

"STRIVE MORE THAN BEFORE, FOR PERFECTION, O SON OF THE KURUS." HOW CAN ONE GET UNITED WITH THE INTELLIGENCE ACQUIRED IN HIS FORMER EMBODIMENT? LISTEN:

44. By that very former practice he is borne on inspite of himself. Even he who merely wishes to know YOGA goes beyond the

SHABDA BRAHMAN. At any given moment our bank balance is the balance to our credit shown in our 'statement of account.' No banker can give us more, nor can he cheat us with a smaller amount. Almost in the same fashion, in the cultural growth of a given mind and intellect, no god can either take away any or give some more, but can only hand over to each one of us his own exact "balance." Each birth has a logical continuity with its own past, as strictly as we experience in day-to-day life. Today is but an extension of yesterday. With the full understanding of this law of life in our mind, if we are to re-read the stanza, its suggestions become quite clear automatically, without any strain. An individual who has been in Yoga in his past life, will be, "BY THAT VERY FORMER PRACTICE, BORNE ON IN SPITE OF HIMSELF." This is true even in our life here.

An educated man will, IN SPITE OF HIMSELF, be carried away in his behaviour and conversation to exhibit his cultivated mental and disciplined physical habits. No cultured man can successfully imitate the idiot for a long time; so too, no rascal can act the part of the noble-born for any length of time. Both will, sooner or later, be compelled, IN SPITE OF THEMSELVES, to exhibit unconsciously their true nature through their words, ideas, and actions. Similarly, a man who had in the past lived the life of self- control, study, and practice gathers unto himself those cultural traits and he, in this life, IN SPITE OF HIMSELF and in spite of all his adverse circumstances, environments and conditions of life, cannot but instinctively come to exhibit --- in his attitudes to life, and in his behaviour towards the things and beings in the world --- a tranquillity and a balance, which are a surprise even to himself. This is no mere theory. The truth of the statement is amply evident everywhere in any society, in all strata of its life, in all its professions and in all departments of its activities. Each one of us has an instinctive bent of mind, and we are irresistibly drawn towards it, IN SPITE OF OURSELVES. This pull is most powerful when arising from our essential evolutionary tendencies. Even a bandit chieftain can, overnight, turn himself to be a determined seeker and, ere long, become a great poet of the land, as Valmiki did in the past. Hundreds of such examples could be noted from our recent history and even amidst us today. In all those cases, the only satisfactory explanation will be that the individual mind-and-intellect was expressing through its given physical structure its own characteristic tendencies, which it had acquired by itself in its past incarnations, through its own willful actions and deliberate motives. When an individual, who was a fallen Yogi in the past, is reborn, "IN SPITE OF HIMSELF" he is drawn towards a life of meditation and quietude, of seeking and striving, of self-control and discipline. Let him be put on the throne of a kingdom, or in the bustle of a market-place, or in the ignominy of the gutters, he cannot but express his nobility of heart and the philosophical bent of his mind. All the wealth in the world brought under command, unquestioned might and power gained, love and respect given... yet he cannot be dissuaded from his Path Divine. If the whole world stands surprised at his peculiar tendencies, he himself is one of those who are gazing on with the wildest surprise, with the utmost amazement!!

"BY THAT PREVIOUS PRACTICE ALONE IS HE BORNE ON IN SPITE OF HIMSELF." After observing this philosophical truth, Lord Krishna is naturally tempted to express the glory of meditation (Yoga). He says "ONE WHO HAS EVEN THE WISH TO KNOW CONTROL (YOGA), HE PASSES BEYOND THE VEDIC RITUAL." According to Shankara, the term

"Shabda-brahman" used here denotes "the words in the Veda," wherein the term Veda indicates only the "ritualistic portion." Therefore, the Acharya, commenting upon this portion, says that such an individual goes beyond all the charms for the promised fruits of the Vedic rituals. This may rightly be considered as too laboured a commentary, although its implications are only too true. One who has warped his mind in the practice of self-control, study, and meditation in the past, could not have any more fascination for the material wealth or the sensuous life, however celestial they might be. Even if this interpretation fits in with the context, we must admit that it has been laboriously stretched by the teacher of the Advaita- philosophy. HOW IS THE PATH OF MEDITATION NOBLER THAN ALL OTHERS? LISTEN:

45. But the YOGI, who strives with assiduity, purified from sins and perfected (gradually) through many births, then attains the highest Goal.

As already noticed, the mind-intellect equipment of an individual functions through his body in the world outside as per the traits chalked out upon it by the actions performed in its earlier lives. These channels of thinking cut across the fields of the mind determine the direction of its thoughts and the texture of its actions in the present. These lacerations on the subtle body are called in Vedanta as 'SINS,' or as the 'DIRT OF THE WITHIN.' These impurities are removed and the existing ulcers healed through selfless action. But even while rejecting the wrong negative tendencies of the mind, the individual will have to plough the fields of his mind with new patterns representing the constructive divine tendencies. These meritorious vasanas (punya) can also provide a severe obstruction for a man of meditation. After having purified his mind of its unethical and sensuous tendencies, the aspirant should practise meditation. During the still moments of peace in the depth of his depths, when he exposes his mind to the thrilled atmosphere of its vibrant silence, the noble traits also get completely wiped off. A state of mind which is thus rendered completely impressionless (vasana-less) is the end of the mind, since mind is nothing but a bundle of vasanas. Where the mind has ended, there the ego has also ended having "THEN REACHED THE HIGHEST GOAL, or gained Self-rediscovery. The explanation of this theory would not perhaps occupy more than half a page, but in actually carving it our into our individual life, it may be a programme for very many lives' consistent practice. "Through many births" is a phrase used in the Upanishads by the honest "Scientists of Life," the Rishis, and they are perfectly right; for evolution, as we all know, is not a drama played out during an afternoon, but it is the slow revelation of the history of progress through endless aeons.

To one who has the proper temperament to seek Life, the anxiety to realise the Perfection, the capacity to understand the hollowness of sense-life, the daring to follow the narrow foot-prints of the Seers of the world, the appetite for Infinite peace and tranquillity, the courage to live the moral and the ethical values, the heroism to barter one's all to achieve the highest... such a one is not a

"mineral-man," nor a "vegetable-specimen," nor an

"animal-man," but he is the noblest creation under the Sun, a perfect "man-man," standing right in front of the Doors of Truth, demanding as a "God-man" his admission into the SANCTUM SANCTORUM! Right now, this very life IS OUR LAST BIRTH, if we have a taste to meditate, an urge to seek, a daring to live the Life Divine! There is nothing which may sound original in this interpretation to all diligent students of the Geeta. A sacred text-book that has been roaring, time and again, in an irrepressible spirit of optimism, the message of hope and cheer, with no threats of hell and brimstone anywhere in it, cannot be considered to have changed its music all of a sudden, to declare that man has hopes of salvation only after "many births" and not "here and now." Even though this misinterpretation may perhaps be helpful to the saboteurs of our religion, no intelligent student of the Geeta can, even for a moment, be hoodwinked by such false notes.

THEREFORE:

46. The YOGI is thought to be superior to the ascetics, and even superior to men-of-knowledge (mere scholars) ; he is also superior to men-of-action; therefore (you strive to) be a YOGI,

O Arjuna. In order to bring out the importance of meditation among the various practices in the Science of Spiritual development, Lord Krishna is providing here a tabulated list of the various types of seekers, indicating the greatest of the whole lot. Compared with those who practise thoughtless and dull-witted physical self-denial (Tapaswins), the meditator is certainly nobler. Nobler than those who vigorously read the scriptures and try to learn and remember their declarations (Jnanis), is the Yogi (Meditator). There are others who strive towards the same Bright Peak of Perfection, treading along the path of selfless work (Karmis), undertaken in the world outside in a spirit of Yajna, (IV-24 to 30.) and who perform worship (Upasana) in a spirit of divine dedication. These ritualists, both in the secular and in the sacred fields of activities, believe that they can reach the Infinite Bliss through these very activities.

Krishna concludes here that a silent and quiet meditator, who struggles hard to withdraw himself from his own false identifications with his body, mind and intellect, through constant and consistent contemplation upon the nature of the Self, is ever the best. Thus, comparing a meditator with: (a) a man of utter self- denial, (b) deep students of the scriptures, and (c) ritualists, Krishna concludes his observations that a meditator alone is the best among the whole lot, standing nearest to Truth and "THEREFORE, YOU BE A YOGI (MEDITATOR), O ARJUNA." THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEDITATORS, EACH MEDITATING UPON A DIFFERENT POINT OF CONTEMPLATION. WHO AMONG THEM IS THEN THE BEST AND THE GREATEST MEDITATOR? LISTEN:

47. And among all YOGIS, he who, full of faith, with his inner- self merged in Me, worships Me, is, according to Me, the most devout. Whereas the previous stanza gives us a relative estimate of the different paths in spirituality, and finally declares that meditation is the best among the lot, the stanza now under review explains who exactly is the best among all the meditators. Meditation is, in the beginning at least, a deliberate act by which the seeker strives to keep his thoughts channelised into one pre-determined divine line of thinking; and this is maintained by disallowing the mind to run into dissimilar thought-channels. Meditation, therefore, must of necessity start with an effort on the part of the meditator to fix his mind upon some object of contemplation. The Art of Meditation can be classified under different types, according to the nature of the object of contemplation chosen and according to the nature of the persuasions adopted in curtailing the mind from its mad roamings. Thus we have, in the tradition of our practices, meditations prescribed upon a symbol, on the God- principle with a form, on the teacher, on the Kundalini, on any of the great elements, or on a chosen scriptural text. Accordingly, the practitioners may be considered as followers of different kinds of meditation. The Singer of the Geeta is trying to indicate here, who exactly is to be considered as the best and the most successful meditator among the types mentioned above. In this concluding stanza of the chapter, the Lord insists that of all the meditators, he who "WITH HIS INNER- SELF (MIND-AND-INTELLECT) MERGED IN THE SELF, AND WITH 'SHRADDHA' DEVOTES HIMSELF TO THE SELF, IS THE MOST FIRM AND STEADFAST MEDITATOR." The pregnant suggestions contained in this stanza can fill volumes, inasmuch as it is a summary of the entire Yoga Shastra. Naturally therefore, Lord Krishna dedicates the entire length of the next chapter as an annotation to this mantra-like stanza.

For the purpose of our understanding this chapter, it is sufficient for the time-being if we gather from this stanza that the essence of meditation is not so much in our attempt at integrating the mind as in the ultimate merging of the inner equipment (Antahkarana), and getting it completely sublimated in the final experience of the Self. That, this can be done only by one who does proper Bhajana upon the Self with all Shraddha, is the truth- declaration made here with a loving insistence by the Eternal Lover of the gopis. The term Bhajana has come to gather to itself such a lot of adventitious superstitions that, as it is understood today, it means elaborate rituals, which, almost always, mean nothing to the priest, nor to the devotees who are mere onlookers of the priestly performances. Sometimes it means a lot of loud singing with noisy accompaniments, and an entire crowd roaring away on their march towards an emotional ecstasy, and often, each session ending in hysteria and exhaustion. Very rarely do they gain even a vague experience of the spiritual thrill. In the Vedantic text-books, Bhajana is "the attempt of the ego to pour itself out" in an act of devoted dedication towards the Principle of Reality, whereby the devoted personality successfully invokes the experience that lies beyond the noisy shores of the mind-intellect equipment. One who does this invocation (Bhajana) of the Self, and naturally gets himself merged in that awakening, is declared here by the teacher of the Geeta, as belonging to the highest type of meditation.

It is quite evident to every student of Vedanta that such a meditator comes to transcend all his identifications with the false matter-envelopments, and becomes, through the experience of his Real Nature, the very Self. Yet, the mouth-piece of renascent Hinduism, Lord Krishna, in his modesty and reverence for the tradition in our culture, attributes this statement in the stanza to his own personal opinion.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS 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 sixth discourse ends entitled: THE YOGA OF

MEDITATION Nowhere else in the entire extent of the voluminous spiritual literature that we have in the Upanishads, the Brahmasutra and the Geeta (Prasthana Traya), can we find such a wealth of details, explaining not only the technique of meditation but also the possible pitfalls and how to avoid them successfully, as we have them so clearly and vividly explained here. No scripture fails to hint at the Path of Meditation, as the way to reach the highest possibilities in life, and yet, nowhere have we, among our reported and compiled heritage of sacred books, such a vivid discussion of the entire path. To a true seeker, indeed, a thorough study of the Sixth Chapter is ample direction and guidance to reach the highest through Meditation. It is therefore but proper that this chapter is put under the title: "The Yoga of Meditation."