The Blessed Lord said: 1. To you who do not cavil, I shall now declare this, the greatest secret, the most profound knowledge combined with experience (or realisation) ; which having known, you shall be free from the sorrows of life.

Lord Krishna has found, in Arjuna, one who is really anxious to evolve. Only, he wanted help from some quarter, to develop in himself an intellectual conviction for the way-of-life he was to pursue. The Lord says that He will declare the philosophy of Arjuna, "WHO DOES NOT CARP OR CAVIL," and the benefit of this knowledge and its practical application has also been indicated in this stanza; "HAVING KNOWN WHICH, YOU SHALL BE FREE FROM ALL LIMITATIONS OF FINITE EXISTENCE." An individual becomes incapable of facing the challenges of life and meeting its rising demands, because, in his false estimation of things and beings, he comes to play out of tune with the whole orchestra of life. To understand ourselves and the world outside, is to know the secret of keeping a healthy and happy relationship with the world outside. He, who is capable of tuning himself up thus with the whole, is the one who is marked out for sure success and complete victory in life. Because of his internal maladjustments, we found Arjuna, the hero of his age, behaving as a shattered personality. Such an individual, split in himself, comes to feel the problems of life too heavy, the duties of life too irksome, and life itself too much to bear. All those, who thus allow the engine of life to run over them and crush them down, are termed as Samsarins. Those who know the art of self- development can easily learn how to steer the engine of existence from its driver's seat, safely around every impediment, and they are the Men-of-Realisation, the Saints, and the Sages. This status is the heritage of man --- of every intelligent person, who has the enthusiasm and the courage to master life and live like a God upon earth ruling over the circumstances, and smiling at the adversities. TO GENERATE AN ALL-OUT ENTHUSIASM IN THE ART OF LIVING, WHICH EACH STUDENT HAS TO BRING ABOUT IN HIS OWN LIFE, THE ART OF SELF- PERFECTION IS PRAISED IN THE FOLLOWING:

2. Royal Science, Royal Secret, the supreme purifier is this, realisable by direct intuitive knowledge, according to the DHARMA, very easy to perform, imperishable.

Vedanta is no religion in the ordinary concept of the term, which implies the formalistic observance of some physical and mental discipline, in some House of God, during a specific day of the week, for a prescribed length of time. If we consider religion as an "Art of Right Action," then Vedanta is indeed the noblest of religions, because it provides a scientific explanation for the entire way of right living. Krishna here glorifies it: "THIS IS THE ROYAL SCIENCE, THE ROYAL MYSTERY, PURE AND VERY HIGH." Even if there be a Science, royal in its import, deep in its profundity, and "supreme in its purifying effect," unless it be available for our comprehension, it is almost useless. Here, Krishna promises that it is

"CLEARLY COMPREHENSIBLE," since it can be apprehended directly by an immediate experience of the Self. Also it is a science "pertaining to Dharma" (Dharmyam). The term Dharma has already been explained. Man is nothing but a parcel of minerals in their gross and subtle states, if the Conscious Principle were not blessing them with awareness. This Awareness, called the Self, is then the Dharma of man, the Principle of Life in him. the Spiritual Science, that the Lord of Vrindavana promises to enunciate in this chapter, is neither the physical science of the biology of the objects of the world, nor the science of psychology that explains the field of emotions and thoughts --- but the Science of the Self, the deepest essence in each individual.

VERY EASY TO PERFORM --- Religion is a subjective technique to be pursued and accomplished by each in himself. If this great science, into which Lord Krishna is proposing to initiate Arjuna, is an extremely difficult proposition in life, then, naturally, it is a futile philosophy. The poverty of a country is not removed by the declaration of its scientists that there are inexhaustible quantities of unclaimed gold, awaiting free transportation, on Mars! In order to remove this vague fear, it has been fully confirmed that the technique of self-integration and the ultimate gaining of complete mastery over oneself is an art easy to master for the sincere and the diligent. Even if it be easy, no intelligent man can pursue the path, if the gain acquired thereby is perishable and temporary. It is endorsed here that the gains acquired through a faithful pursuit of this Royal Science of self-development and self-mastery are "OF AN IMPERISHABLE NATURE." To realise the Self is to become the Self, the Eternal, the Infinite Reality behind the phenomenal world of appearances. AS A CONTRAST TO THOSE WHO ARE SEEKING, THE DESTINY OF THOSE WHO ARE NOT SEEKING THE IMPERISHABLE IS DECLARED TO BE THE DISTURBED LIFE OF SAMSARA:

3. Persons without faith in this DHARMA (the Divine Self) , O Parantapa, without attaining Me, return to the path of rebirth, fraught with death.

Those who live in complete disregard of the Self, necessarily "RETURN WITHOUT ATTAINING ME." Men of extroversion, meditating upon the sense objects and bartering away their intellectual capacities, emotional powers, and physical strength for seeking, acquiring and possessing the implements to work out their sensual satisfaction, must necessarily return to "THE PATH OF REBIRTH, FRAUGHT WITH DEATH." The more an individual meditates upon the finite, strives to gain the changeable, and gets choked by the sorrows of the perishable, the more he comes to worship and court the lower nature of the Self, the Prakriti. However big the ocean may be, a drop of it, taken from anywhere in its infinite expanse, should taste saline. In the same way, whatever be the motive behind the courting, once we allow ourselves to be courtiers of the world-of-objects, we are doomed to taste the saline tears of sorrow, because of the very ephemeral nature of the "objects of our love." The world of names and forms is finite and ever-changing. At every moment, every object is living through a process of change, and each change is death to the previous state of existence of the object. Thus, the term "death" used here by Krishna in his phrase "FRAUGHT WITH DEATH" is to be understood in this liberal meaning of the term. In short, courtiers of the finite reach the tragic realms of constant death. In the perfect Science of Vedanta, though Shraddha also implies "faith" in the Tagorean sense of the term, it is not built upon the misty vapours of emotionalism, but upon the solid beams of intellectual understanding and perfect awareness of the logic of thought behind the theory. Shankara defines Shraddha as the "moulding of the life and living, on the basis of right intellectual comprehension of what the scripture indicates and the teachers explain." It is the enduring faith that lifts us to realms beyond the reach of the mind and intellect, and helps to carve out of the mortal and the finite, the Immortal and the Infinite. Something without which a substance cannot be that very substance is called its Dharma or essence; e. g., heat in fire, cold in ice. Those who have no faith in the Divine Essence, which is the Self in them, get easily abducted by the cooings of their emotions, or the barkings of their intellect, or the whisperings of their flesh. They slip into devolution and come to live as biped animals, when they lose their faith in the Divine core which is the Essential Being. A mad king, who has forgotten his own kingship, throws his kingly dignity to the winds and runs about naked on the streets, behaving as though he were a homeless vagabond. Similarly, an individual, in his forgetfulness of the dignity of his essential Self-hood, comes to live in the open streets of sense pleasures, hunting for his satisfactions, as though he were nothing better than a crawling worm in some wayside ditch. Simple-looking though it be, this stanza is pregnant with untold suggestiveness. By contrasting thus the "Path-of- Knowledge" with the "Path-of-Ignorance" in the most vivid terms, Krishna brings to the comprehension of Arjuna the advisability of the blessed path of Higher seeking, the realisation of the Imperishable. IN THE FOLLOWING, KNOWLEDGE IS THEREFORE GLORIFIED, WHEN KRISHNA EXPLAINS THAT DHARMA, WHICH IS TO BE FOLLOWED IS:

4. All this world is pervaded by Me in My Unmanifest form (aspect) ; all beings exist in Me, but I do not dwell in them.

ALL THIS WORLD IS PERVADED BY ME IN MY UNMANIFESTED FORM --- The subtlety of a thing is measured in terms of its pervasiveness and therefore, the Subtlest must necessarily be the All-pervasive. As all limited things must have forms, the All-pervasive alone can be Eternal and Infinite. All forms are perishable substances (Dravya). Thus the Self, in its essential Unmanifest nature, must be pervading everything, as the mud pervades all forms and shapes in all mud-pots. If thus, the Infinite pervades the finite, what exactly is the relationship between them? Is it that the finite rose from the Infinite? Or is it that the Infinite PRODUCED the finite? Has the Infinite Itself become the finite, as a modification of Itself, or do they both, among themselves, keep a father-son, or a master-servant relationship? Various religions of the world abound in such questions. The dualists can afford to indulge in such a fancied picture of some relation or other between the finite and the Infinite. But the Adwaitins (Non-dualists) cannot accept this idea, since to them the Eternal Self alone is the ONE and the ONLY REALITY. The second line of this stanza is a classical description of this "relationless-relationship" between the Real and unreal. "All beings exist in Me but I dwell not in them." To a hasty reader this would strike as an incomprehensible paradox expressed in a jumble of empty words. But to one who has understood well the theory of super-imposition, this is very simple. The ghost-vision can come only upon the post. And what exactly is the relationship between the ghost and the post from the standpoint of the post? The innocent post, in infinite love for the deluded fool, can only make a similar statement as the Lord has made here.

"The ghost," the post would say, "is no doubt, in me, but I am not in the ghost; and therefore, I have never frightened any deluded traveller at any time." In the same fashion the Lord says here, "I, IN MY UNMANIFEST NATURE, AM THE SUBSTRATUM FOR ALL THE MANIFESTED" chaos of names and forms, but neither in their joys nor in their sorrows, neither in their births nor in their deaths, "AM I

SHARING THEIR DESTINIES, BECAUSE I DO NOT DWELL IN THEM." This line sounds a faithful echo of the same idea, perhaps more crisply expressed earlier (VII-12), where it was said

"I AM NOT IN THEM, THEY ARE IN ME." In short, it is indicated here that the Self which, through Its identification with the matter-envelopments, has come to

"DWELL IN THEM," is the pain-ridden mortal, while the same Self which has successfully withdrawn all Its false arrogations with the matter layers and has come to realise that, "I DO NOT DWELL IN THEM" is the Self, Immortal and Unmanifest. THEN THERE MUST BE SOME SORT OF AN EXISTENCE FOR THE FINITE IN THE INFINITE:

5. Nor do beings exist (in reality) in Me --- behold My Divine YOGA supporting all beings, but not dwelling in them, am I My Self, the 'efficient-cause' of all beings.

Continuing the strain of His arguments in the previous stanza here He says, "NOR DO THINGS EXIST IN ME," although "I DWELL NOT IN THEM." Now here he says that in the Infinite, never has the finite ever risen! Continuing our example of the post and the ghost this is equivalent to the post declaring that, "in me, the electric post, never has a ghost existed." In Pure Awareness, in Its Infinite Nature of sheer Knowledge, there never was, never is and can never be any world of pluralistic embodiment, just as, for the waker, the pleasures of the dream world ARE NEVER AVAILABLE. In short, at the time of the direct subjective experience of the Self there is no cognition of the pluralistic world, which is born out of the forgetfulness of the Infinite. The Self "BRINGS FORTH AND SUPPORTS ALL BEINGS" just as the ocean gives birth to, supports and nourishes all the waves in it. "AND YET," says Krishna "I, MYSELF NEVER DWELL IN THEM." Just in the same way the ocean can cry that "I am never the waves." The mud is the womb of all pots, the sustainer of their shapes, the nourisher of their forms, and yet, none of the pots, nor all the pots put together, can ever define or give a total knowledge of the mud. Pure Consciousness, Divine and Eternal, is the Substratum that sustains and illumines the entire panorama of the everchanging plurality. The objects of the world conveying their stimuli through the doors of the sense organs create mental waves which are illuminated by the Conscious Principle residing in all forms. If the Awareness is not there, the external world must necessarily fail in giving the mind-and-intellect the concept of its life as a series of unbroken experiences. Just as the cotton is in the cloth, or the gold in all ornaments, or the heat in the fire, so too, the Imperishable is in the perishable. The dreamer can function only in the waker; the waker pervades the dream-experiences, and at the same time, the waker is not in the dream nor in fact, when awakened fully, does the dream ever exist in the waker. KRISHNA FEELS THAT THE LANGUAGE OF PARADOX IS PROVING TOO MUCH OF A RIDDLE TO THE GROSS INTELLECT OF THE AVERAGE MAN IN ARJUNA, AND THEREFORE, IN HIS DIVINE KINDNESS, THE LORD PROVIDES FOR HIS DISCIPLE AN EXAMPLE:

6. As the mighty wind, moving everywhere, rests always in space (the AKASHA ) , even so, know you, all beings rest in

Me. The confused Prince, trying to solve the riddle, is helped here by the Kingly Teacher in Krishna who gives him a vivid example. To imagine a substance that exists everywhere, allowing everything to exist in it, but at the same time, it in itself not getting conditioned by the things that exist in it, is very difficult, and the ordinary intellect cannot easily soar to comprehend those heights of understanding and appreciation. As a prop for the ordinary intellect, to raise itself up so that it may peep over its own limitations and gain a vision of the unravelling expanse of the Infinite, here is a brilliant example. The gross can never condition the subtle. As the poet sings, "Stone walls do not a prison make," for, even though we may imprison the body of the prisoner, his thoughts are ever free to reach his kith and kin at their hearth. The gross stone walls cannot limit the flight of the subtle thoughts. If once this principle is well understood the example becomes very expressive exhibiting all its secret suggestions. KNOW YOU ARJUNA, that the winds curl, swirl and whirl around everywhere in space; the space supports and envelopes them everywhere, and yet, they do not ever limit the space. This beautiful example, when meditated upon by any seeker, if he has at least an average amount of intellectual comprehension, will enable him to define, in his own mind, the right relationship that exists between the Self and the non-Self. The Real supports the unreal; the unreal seemingly lives... through its history of misery and sorrows, fleeting joys and passing pleasures... in the Real and yet, the unreal can never condition the Real. When the wind is moving, the space need never move. None of the qualities of the wind is the quality of the space (Akasha). Compared with the outstretching Infinite space, in which the universes keep on revolving, at a speed measured in light years, the atmospheric disturbances are only upto the height of a few miles off the surface of the globe. In the infinite vastness of the Real, the arena of disturbances caused by Its flirtations with Its own assumed self- ignorance, is only a negligible area... and even there, the relationship between the false and the Real is the relationship between the fickle breeze and the Infinite space.

These two are stanzas not merely to be explained away by words, however true the commentator may be; they are to be meditated upon by the students, individually. THEN WHAT ABOUT YOUR WONDERFUL THEORY OF A SYSTEMATIC LAW OF REBIRTH --- THE STORY OF A CREATOR CREATING THE WORLD DURING HIS DAY-TIME --- AND DISSOLVING THE ENTIRE LOT DURING HIS NIGHT-TIME, ETC.?... LISTEN:

7. All beings, O Kaunteya (O Son of Kunti) , go into My PRAKRITI (nature) at the end of a KALPA; I send them forth again at the beginning of (the next) KALPA.

8. Animating My PRAKRITI, I, again and again send forth all this helpless multitude of beings, by the force of nature

(PRAKRITI) . The Eternal Brahman functioning through the equipment of the total mind is the God-principle, the Creator, and the same Absolute Brahman functioning through the limited individual mind-and-intellect is the individualised Self, the mortal ego (Samsarin). The same Sun gets reflected in the clear still waters of a vast lake and in the disturbed muddy pool on the roadside; the difference between the two distinctive reflections, in the different equipments, will explain the difference between the individual-ego and the God-principle. Just as the Sun in the sky can rightly say: "I am the cause for the brilliant reflection in the lake and the broken, dull reflection in the wayside puddle," so too Krishna, the Self declares: "I am the vital animating Reality behind the Creator, and also behind the created." The Adjunct of the God-principle, the total body-mind- intellect equipment, constitutes the lower nature of the Self, called the Prakriti. At the beginning of a cycle the existing vasanas in the lower nature get projected "and at the end of the Kalpa all beings go to My Prakriti." The act of invigorating or fertilising the Prakriti to grow up again into the tree-of-Samsara, is an act of grace from Brahman. If the Supreme Consciousness were not to identify with Prakriti, (Maya), she, being inert in herself, cannot project forth any life at all. The entire multitude of vasanas, "I project again and again." When the Self animates Prakriti, the vasanas have no freedom at all to refuse expression because, THEY ARE HELPLESS UNDER THE SWAY OF PRAKRITI. In philosophy, the Rishis often explain the Universe from the standpoint of the macrocosm (Samashti) which has a knack of confusing the students, unless each student strives hard to understand its implications subjectively in himself, as microcosm (Vyashti). Viewed thus, in the individual subjective inner-life-story, the statement proves to be indeed true, since without the life in us --- the Self --- identifying with the lower nature in us, the mind and intellect equipment cannot create the characteristic ego, which comes to suffer its limited existence.

We have already found that the greatest scoundrel and the noblest saint are both the same when neither of them is identifying with his mind and intellect, in the state of deep sleep. On waking up, the scoundrel-mind projects a scoundrel, and the saintly-mind projects the saint; and the Vitality behind both is the same Spark-of-Life, Consciousness Absolute. Thus, the scoundrel is incapable of not behaving as a scoundrel, as much as the saint cannot, by any chance, play the scoundrel, even for a moment. The scoundrel is as helpless as the saint, both being "HELPLESSLY UNDER THE SWAY OF PRAKRITI" in each. And the entire drama of the dissolution of vasana- expressions and the projection of the vasana-dances is performed upon the Changeless Imperishable Eternal platform of the Self; "I PROJECT AGAIN." THE LAW OF KARMA IS INCONTROVERTIBLE AS THE ACTION SO THE REACTION. IF THE SELF ADMINISTERS THE DISSOLUTION AND SUPERVISES THE PROJECTION OF THE PLURALISTIC WORLD, HOW FAR DOES THE LAW OF KARMA SHACKLE THE INFINITE?... LISTEN:

9. Sitting like one indifferent, and unattached to these acts, Dhananjaya, these acts do not bind Me.

In the case of the limited ego, its ego-centric actions leave their impressions behind, which ultimately persecute the little ego with their reactions. All ego-centric actions, which are always motivated by selfish desires, leave their ugly foot-prints upon the shores of the mind (Vasanas), while actions which are not ego-motivated leave no trail (Vasanas), as birds leave no foot-prints as they move along in the sky. We can compare an ungrateful son kicking his own father, with an innocent child in a playful mood kicking his own father, with both its legs. A philosopher's subtle vision is not necessary to understand the difference in texture between these two persons performing the same action --- kicking the father. Wherever and whenever an ego-centric action, whipped by selfish desires, is undertaken, gross and painful reactions (Vasanas) must necessarily ensue. In the case of Eternal animating Its Prakriti, and projecting out "AGAIN AND AGAIN THE MULTITUDE OF BEINGS," there is neither any attachment (Raga) nor any aversion (Dvesha), and therefore, by this mere happening on the Eternal, the Supreme is not affected: "THESE ACTS DO NOT BIND ME." It is neither ego-centric nor desire- motivated. However tragic and murderous the play may be, however tearful and sad the story be, however rainy and stormy the scene be, the white screen in the cinema hall at the end of the play carries neither the marks of the blood spilt, nor the stains of the tears shed, nor the wear and tear of the storm that raged. At the same time, we all know that but for the changeless screen, the story could never have been unravelled through the medium of light and shade. In the same fashion, the ever-pure Infinite, as the Self, becomes the enduring platform for the drama of sorrow that is expressed in the language of plurality, ceaselessly enacted by the infinite number of egos, helplessly repeating the parts ordered by their Vasanas, gathered by them in the past. The steam in the engine is not punished for the disaster of derailment, nor is the steam complimented when the train reaches its destination in time! Again, neither the disaster nor the successful accomplishment of the journey could ever take place without the steam. The engine without the steam is inert iron assembled in a particular shape, dull and heavy; it is the steam that dynamises and renders it capable of its actions of cruel destruction, or kindly construction, as the case may be. Since the steam in the engine has neither an anxiety to move the train, nor an aversion to move it, the steam is ignored in the achievements of the train, whether good or bad. It is the motive behind the action that determines its reaction. The Self is the source of all dynamism. It dynamises the mind. Each mind is a bundle of Vasanas. Good Vasanas make the mind sing the song of joy and harmony. Bad Vasanas in the mind make it groan with sobs and tears. The needle in the gramophone is not responsible for the song that the record sings. As the record, so the music. Similarly, the Self is Eternal. It is unmindful of what type of world is projected forth. Nor is It anxious in any sense of the term, to create a better world. Sunlight illumines whatever happens to be there in its light, be it a murder, or be it a martyrdom. Neither the glory of the martyr, nor the crime of the murderer can reach the Sun. The Self, as Pure Consciousness, illumines the Vasanas and lends them the capacity to project out, be it for the damnation of themselves or for their own glorification. "SITTING LIKE ONE INDIFFERENT AND UNATTACHED TO THESE ACTS" the Self revels in the realm of Its lower nature

(Prakriti).

WHAT EXACTLY IS THIS STRANGE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE INFINITE AND THE FINITE? THE FINITE ACTS BECAUSE OF THE INFINITE, AND YET THE INFINITE IS SAID TO BE NEUTRAL... HOW?

10. Under Me as her Supervisor, PRAKRITI (nature) produces the moving and the unmoving; because of this, O Kaunteya, the world revolves.

In Vedanta, this relationship between the actionless Self and the active non-Self has been brought out by a bunch of analogies, each one trying to throw much light upon this sacred tie of 'relationless-relationship.' The rays of the Sun warm up the objects upon which they fall, without warming the intervening medium through which they pass. Similarly, the Self remains in Its own Infinite glory, and the non-Self gets dynamised to act, as Prakriti, in the mere "presence" of the Self.

The king gets a fancy that he should visit a given pilgrim centre on the full-moon day of the following month, and having expressed this intention to his minister, the king forgets all about it. But on the day prior to the following full-moon, the minister approaches the king to remind him that it is time for the royal procession. The next day, when the king comes out, he finds that the entire route is thronged with his subjects. Welcoming arches are raised at different places. All detailed arrangements are planned out and colourfully executed for his royal visit, and return. All the officers and subjects have poured out all their capacities and endeavour to make the royal trip to the temple a great success. In all these feverish activities, everyone gained his authority and power only because of the king, and yet, the king himself was nowhere in the picture. The minister had his sanction from the king, and therefore, his orders were faithfully executed by all others. Had the minister tried to organise such a show as an ordinary citizen, he would never have succeeded. Similarly, in the mere presence of the Self, Prakriti borrows her sanction to plan and to execute, to act and to achieve. Subjectively, this becomes more clear. The Atman, merely by Its "presence" illumines the mind and intellect and creates for the expression of their Vasanas an entire field of world-objects and the required instruments of experience, constituted of the organs-of-perception and the organs-of- action. "NATURE, WHILE I PRESIDE, GIVES BIRTH TO

THE WORLD OF THINGS AND BEINGS" --- "Nature" here means "The Unmanifest, that gets projected forth as the manifest." The continued dance of the world-of-plurality to the rhythm of change and death is maintained in the

"presence" of the Self; "THE WORLD WHIRLS ROUND AND ROUND BECAUSE OF THIS." In the final analysis, the Self does nothing. It is the Prakriti that projects and executes; the Prakriti that gets animated in the proximity of the Self. It is the Light of the Self that vitalises the Prakriti and makes her exist and act. That is all the relationship between the Self, the Purusha and the non- Self, the Prakriti. This will become more clear if the student tries to understand this relationship exactly as the relationship that can exist between the wayside post and the ghost that is superimposed upon it by the deluded. IF THE SELF BE THUS THE ESSENTIAL REALITY IN EVERY FORM AND IF IT BE EVER FREE FROM THE SORROWS AND TRIBULATIONS OF THE FINITE, WHY IS IT THAT ALL BEINGS ARE NOT ABLE TO IDENTIFY THEMSELVES WITH IT AND EXIST AS THE SELF?... LISTEN:

11. Fools disregard Me when I dwell in human form; they know not My Higher being as the Great Lord of all beings.

In the seventh chapter, while giving a discourse upon the

"Higher" and "Lower" natures of the Eternal, Krishna declared that the FOOLISH, in their ignorance of the Supreme State of the Higher Self, as Immutable and Transcendental, regard the "Unmanifest" as having come into manifestation. In this chapter while claiming to be the Self in all, Krishna uses the same strong word, 'fools,' to condemn those who cling to the form and lose the essence.

"UNAWARE OF MY HIGHER NATURE, FOOLS REGARD ME" as dwelling in a particular form only! To mistake the idol for God, or the form of the Guru for the Infinite, is to mistake the container for the contents. An idol is only a symbol (Pratika) for an imperceptible and subtle Truth. To play with the milk-bottle is not to feel refreshed when one is hungry or thirsty; playing with a spoon and fork over an empty plate is no satisfaction when one is really hungry. To mistake the idol to be itself the goal is to mistake the means for the end. And such a misunderstanding alone breeds fanatics, who sow seeds of rivalry and jealousy, to reap, in time, a harvest of death and disaster, all in the name of their stone-deities, wooden-symbols, or brass-gods! Three tiny bits of coloured khadi-cloth may make the national-flag, but that is not my mother-land; but when I bow my head as my country's flag goes up, I am adoring my nation; the flag is the sacred symbol of my country's culture and its aspirations.

With this idea in mind, if we read the stanza it becomes very vivid and clear. The Lord says: "ordinary devotees are unaware of My real status 'AS THE GREAT LORD OF ALL BEINGS'," and adds that these deluded "FOOLS SCORN ME WHEN I DWELL IN HUMAN FORM," meaning, when they consider Him, the Self, as merely a human-form, which He may take for Himself, to bless a particular generation. WHY ARE THE FOOLS RENDERED INCAPABLE OF RIGHT UNDERSTANDING AND CORRECT JUDGEMENT REGARDING THE TRUE NATURE OF THE SELF?

12. Of vain hopes, of vain actions, of vain knowledge, and senseless, they verily are possessed of the delusive nature of

RAKSHASAS and ASURAS.

13. But the MAHATMAS (great-souls) O Partha, partaking of My divine nature, worship Me with a single mind (with a mind devoted to nothing else) , knowing Me as the Imperishable Source of all beings.

In order to drive home an argument, it is the style in Krishna's discourses that He always brings the contrasting factors together so that each may come to shine all the more against the background supplied by the other. Here is a pair of stanzas in which, if the former explains the low men deluded to pursue their baser nature (Rakshasas and

Asuras), the latter paints the picture of the great-souls (Mahatmas), possessed of all the divine qualities. Deluded by false desires and wearied with false activities to fulfil those wrong desires, some become confused in intellect and totally confounded in their reasoning. Such people lose all divine perspective and become monstrous in their activities, expressing nothing but their demoniac sensuous nature at all times. Such men are called here as Rakshasas and Asuras, belonging to the tradition of Ravana. The actions undertaken in the present leave their impressions on the mind, and order the future desires and thoughts in the individual. Out of vain actions, only negative Vasanas can arise, and they can only thicken the dull-witted stupidities of the intellect. When an individual has lived in this ditch of falsehood and impurity, he cannot become any nobler than a monster, in the eyes of the "wise". As a contrast to this Rakshasa-culture, we are shown how men-of-Wisdom feel and act. This dissection of man's bosom reveals to the seekers of self-development, the right attitude they must adopt and the correct perspective with which they must look at the things of the world. THE GREAT-SOULS POSSESSED OF THE DIVINE NATURE of the Self, and desiring this Infinite, seek the Immortal by realising the Self, "THROUGH SINGLE- POINTED SELF-APPLICATION." They "know Me to be the Origin of all beings"; and those who know the mud to be the origin of all mud-pots, cannot fail to see the mud in all pots. So too, the true children of the Hindu culture, who understand the Divine Principle as the "Source-of-all- beings," cannot but respect every other member of the society as they would respect themselves. There is no greater and more effective socialism ever preached in the world. If the present generation is not able to understand the appreciate this spiritual socialism, which is the only panacea for the ills of the world, the reason for it has been already given in the preceding stanza --- it is because of the predominance of the Asuric forces in it. THE GREAT-SOULS

"WORSHIP ME WITH THE SINGLE-POINTED MIND."... HOW?

14. Always glorifying Me, striving, firm in vows, prostrating before Me, and always steadfast, they worshipMe with devotion.

Even though in the previous stanza, while describing the high-souls, (a) the "Path-of-Knowledge" was indicated, here the other two main "Paths" of self-integration and self-development are hinted at, viz., (b) single-pointed devotion and (c) selfless activity undertaken in the true Yajna-spirit. GLORIFYING ME ALWAYS --- The grossest type of glorification is done usually by a noisy crowd singing the Lord's glories with the accompaniment of equally noisy and crude instruments! But the implication of Kirtana is much more sacred. Indeed, to adore an ideal with reverence and devotion, and to sing His glories, at all times, continuously, is the silent act of a mind that has fully opened up to appreciate the ideal that one has learnt to glorify. The silent adoration of society by the social- workers, or the steady flow of love that beams out from a man of Knowledge for the entire kingdom of the living, constitute a greater and a more potent type of Kirtana, than the type indulged in by the noisy crowds that assemble from their different fields of dubious activities, for a short period each day, only to return to the same dens of vices, after the Bhajana. STRIVING WITH FIRM RESOLVE --- These are simple logical facts that are generally overlooked by the seekers and they dig the graves for their own success in spiritual practices. The majority of people believe that some specific routine acts of devotional flavour pursued physically for a short period of time on particular days of the week, is all their part of the game. The rest is for their imaginary gods to cook and bring in front of them, dressed to taste! This absurd, superstitious idea has nothing to do with the Science of Self-perfection, of which religion constitutes its technical aspect. Constant and conscious effort is unavoidable if an individual is to get himself hauled out from his present ruts of wrong thinking and false valuations of life and living. The disharmony he experiences in life, and the wrong notes that are sung by the situations in life upon the harp of his heart are all due to the maladjustments in his instruments-of-experience. Their readjustment calls for continuous vigilance, non-stop self-application, and sincere pursuit. Of course, while thus striving for self-redemption, vacillations caused by instinctive biological temptations would often reach the seeker to whisper in his ears and make him eat the 'FORBIDDEN FRUIT.' But at such moments of strong temptations, he must make a firm resolve (Dhridha-Vratah) to reject the false and to walk steadily the path-of-the-Real. True devotion is unalloyed love. Love is measured in terms of the lover's identification with the beloved. Devotion to "ME, THE ORIGIN OF BEINGS, AND THE IMMUTABLE" is the way for the deluded ego to identify itself with the Self. And this is brought to a successful culmination only by the process of detaching itself from its non-Self conditionings. This negative aspect of self- withdrawal from the layers of the non-Self is indicated by the "BOWING DOWN TO ME." The positive side of the art of Self-realisation is pursued, when, with a steady single-pointed mind, the seeker comes to meditate till, ultimately, he re-discovers for himself his total identification with the Self. This positive aspect is indicated by the phrase: "IN DEVOTION."

The withdrawal of ourselves from our misconceived identities and the final re-discovery of our infinite potentialities, through our constant devotion to the Self, can be achieved only by those among us who "ARE STEADFAST AND WORSHIP ME." The "Path-of-Knowledge" knows no flower-throwing or chandana-sprinkling methods of ritualistic worship. To keep in the mind an alert and vigilant flow of thoughts in our adoration for the nature of the Self as the Substratum of the entire Universe and the Essence in all beings is the truest worship that can open up the buds of our ego- centric lives into blossoms of God-men, wafting their fragrance of Perfection around.

15. Others also, offering the "Wisdom-sacrifice" worship Me, regarding Me as One, as distinct, as manifold --- Me, who in all forms, faces everywhere.

Jnana Yajna has no ritualism. It is a constant attempt on the part of the performer to see, in and through the experienced names and forms, the expression and vitality of the One Conscious Principle, the Self. The seeker here, practising Jnana Yajna has understood the significance of the Vedantic assertion that the Immutable Self pervades all, penetrating everything, and in Its homogeneous web of existence, It holds together the phenomenal multiplicity and their variegated inter-actions. Chocolates made by different firms, irrespective of their shapes and colours, flavours and prices, are all chocolates and, therefore, their essential nature of sweetness is common to all of them; and the child who is seeking the sweetness of the chocolates will enjoy them, whatever be their shape, size, or packing. Similarly, a seeker of the Self watches for, observes and detects the expression of the Self in all forms and names, in all situations and conditions. Whatever be the setting in which diamonds are held together, to a diamond merchant all of them are so many points of brilliance and light, and he evaluates them according to the light-content in each one of them and not the design or beauty of the ornament. A man of realisation moves about the world, seeing his own Self, expressed through every movement and action, word and thought that clusters round him at all times. Just as one light in the midst of a thousand mirrors comes to provide crores of reflections everywhere, so too, the one centred in the Self, when he walks out into the world, sees everywhere his own Self dancing, shooting glances at him from all around at once, thrilling him always with the homogeneous ecstasy of perfection and bliss.

In the sparkle of the eyes, in the smile of a friend, in the grin of an enemy, in the harsh words of jealousy and in the soft tones of love, in heat and in cold, in success and in failure --- among men, among animals, amidst the trees and in the company of the inert, everywhere, he successfully gains the auspicious vision of the Supreme, either as EXISTENCE PURE or as KNOWLEDGE ABSOLUTE or as BLISS INFINITE!! This is the meaning of Ishwara Darshana or the Atma Darshana which is sung so gloriously in all the scriptures of the world. To watch for and discover the smile of the Divine through the trellis of names and forms is to live in the constant spirit of Jnana Yajna. To adore Him in all visions, to recognise Him in all situations, to feel Him with each thought, is to live in a constant remembrance of the Self, and therefore, such people "worship the Self through the wisdom-sacrifice

(Jnana Yajna)."

In the beginning, this attempt of seeing the Self is a conscious act, not without its unpleasant strain. But as the seeker develops in his own spiritual cognition of the Self, the Awareness Divine within him, it becomes easy for him to recognise the One Self splashing Itself upon the myriad forms of Its own effulgent glory: "ME, WHO IN ALL FORMS FACES UP EVERYWHERE." The Man-of-Realisation not only experiences the Pure Self, uncontaminated by the pluralistic equipments, but, also recognises the same Self as playing through the endless variety of conditionings available in the universe. Having known the one Sun in the sky, even if we see a thousand reflections of the same in different equipments, in all of them, we see and recognise only the one Sun. According to Vedanta, Self-realisation is not at all complete if the realised one can keep his composure and equanimity only in solitude and silence; if he recognises and experiences the Divine only at some rare moments of his transcendental experiences, then he is not the Man-of- Wisdom glorified by the Rishis of the Upanishads. This is not the way of the Yogis. A Man-of-true-Knowledge is he to whom the Self alone is the Truth within, without, and everywhere. "The One pervades all and nothing pervades It." To him a market place of the busiest tensions is as much a conducive place for cognising the Self as the quiet Himalayan valleys and their deep caves of roaring silence. With his eyes shut, he, from the balcony of the Infinite in himself, gazes out to experience nothing but his own Self everywhere. In my legs as well as in my hands, I pervade equally at all moments. I know I am there. To say that this knowledge makes my hands and legs disappear, as mist disappears at sunrise, is sheer lunacy and not the assertion of a true science. Just as I permeate, exist, enjoy, and experience in and through every little portion of my body, all through my waking hours, at one and the same time, so too, the man-of-Realisation realises that at all times, his own Self permeates the entire universe, in His Infinite domain ---

"AS ONE, AS DISTINCT, AS MANIFOLD." Vedanta preaches the recognition of Divinity and the experience of the Infinite in and through life. It is not a passing experience lived through an accidental movement. It is not an occasion to celebrate by distributing laddus and then to retire for ever from that experience. Just as the knowledge acquired by an individual through his education keeps him constant company, at all times and in all conditions --- even in his dream --- even so, nay, much more powerfully, much more intimately, much more irredeemably, the "knower- of-the-Self becomes the Self"; there is no doubt about it. The truth of the Vedantic declaration is upheld by the assertion in the second line: "ME, THE ALL-FORMED, THEY WORSHIP, AS ONE, AS DISTINCT AND AS FACING EVERYWHERE, IN EACH FORM." All that we have so far said is being endorsed here. No doubt, through meditation, when the mind is stilled, the Pure Self, the One-without-a-second, is realised. The knower of the mud can easily recognise the mud in all pots; the shape, size and colour of the pot do not destroy the mud. Similarly, the apparent and delusory names and forms, superimposed upon the Truth, cannot and do not veil the Truth from the "vision" of the Man-of-Truth. Not only does the Seer recognise the Self in each individual separately, but Krishna, the upholder of Vedanta thunders that the Truth is recognised "IN EACH FORM, AS

FACING EVERYWHERE." It is absurd to say that one discovers the essential nature of the pot only on the right- hand bottom of the mud-pot! The mud is in the pot, facing everywhere, at all times; where the mud is not, there the pot is non-existent. When the Self is not, there, the perception of the multiple existence is never possible. IF, IN A VARIETY OF FORMS, DIFFERENT TYPES OF WORSHIP ARE PERFORMED, HOW DO THEY ALL BECOME THE WORSHIP OF THE ONE SELF?

16. I am the KRATU; I am the sacrifice; I am the offering (food) to PITRIS (or ancestors) ; I am the medicinal herb, and all plants; I am the MANTRA I am also the clarified butter; I am the fire; I am the oblation.

Repeating the idea already expressed earlier in a famous stanza in the Geeta, (IV-24) this verse expresses how the Self is the existence everywhere, in all actions and factors constituting actions. Ritualistic actions constitute worship. At the time of the Mahabharata, divine worship was always undertaken in Vedic ritualism (Kratu), by ritualistic adoration of the deity as prescribed in the Smriti (Yajna), or by food-offerings for the ancestors (Swadha). Arjuna is here taught that all these methods of worship are, in a sense, nothing but the worship of the Self. Not only are the different ritualistic prescriptions all presided over by the Self, but the medicinal herbs

(Oushadha) used in the sacrifice, the ghee (Ajya --- clarified butter) poured into the altar-of-fire the oblations (Hutam) offered, the fire (Agni) that is invoked, the mantras chanted --- all of them are nothing but the Self alone expressed through different equipments in different fields. When a variety of ornaments is made from a mass of gold, the gold can certainly say that "I am the pendant, I am the ring, I am the chain, I am its shine, I am its hook; I alone am its shape and its glory." Similarly, the Self, being the essence of all happenings and circumstances in which the devotee attempts to adore the Eternal, this assertion here is perfectly acceptable to all philosophic-minded readers. AGAIN:

17. I am the Father of this world, the Mother, the supporter and the grandsire; the (one) Thing to be known, the Purifier, (the syllable) OM, and also the RIK, the SAMA and the YAJUH also. The Self is not a vague imperceptible Spirit of Existence in all fields of divine activities --- sans-emotion, sans- relationship, sans-qualities. In order to show that there is an ardour of love that permeates the very essence of the Self everywhere, the finite relationships of the world are mentioned to indicate the mass of love that the Self is. "I AM THE FATHER, THE MOTHER, THE SUSTAINER, THE GRANDSIRE, THE PURIFIER OF THE WORLDS."

The verse insists, "I AM THE ONE THING TO BE KNOWN" --- and this is the repeated assertion in all the scriptures. The Self is "That, having known which, everything else becomes known." To know the Self is to destroy the consciousness of imperfection, the existence finite, the sorrows poignant. To live in the ego, as a mere embodied self, is to live self-exiled from all the Divine potentialities that one is heir to. To re-discover this infinite Beatitude is the only satisfying end and goal of life, where alone an awakened intellect can discover a haven of peace and an enduring existence in perfect tranquillity. The Self, the Substratum of the entire universe, is symbolised by the Vedic mantra called Omkara. Life is conceived of as 'the flow during our waking, dreaming, and deep-sleep states.' The Substratum for these three states and their experiences must be something other than these three, inasmuch as the rider is always different from the ridden, the container is different from the contents. The Substratum is different from the superimposition upon it. This fourth-state, supporting and embracing the three ordinary states of consciousness in every one of us, is termed as Turiya by the Upanishad Seers. The one symbol representing all these four states is called Omkara, and naturally, therefore, the Ultimate indicated by OM, is the Self, conceived of, for the purpose of worship, as Krishna

in Shrimad Bhagavata.

The Self is the Essence indicated by OM, and this Absolute Reality is the One theme, tacitly expressed, or indirectly implied, in all the Vedas, and therefore, it is said "I AM ALSO THE RIK, SAMA AND YAJUH." FURTHER:

18. I am the Goal, the Supporter, the Lord, the Witness, the Abode, the Shelter, the Friend, the Origin, the Dissolution, the Foundation, the Treasure-house and the Seed Imperishable.

Continuing the theme of the status of the Self as the very essence behind the seeming plurality of the world --- recognised in our ignorance, and in fact nothing but a dreamy superimposition gathering its existence from the Reality behind it --- the Lord describes Himself with a host of suggestive words strung together to form this exquisite verse, pregnant and full, for all students of meditation. I AM THE GOAL (Gati) --- All our seeking ends when all imperfections vanish in the total experience of the Perfect. To one frightened by the vision of a delusory serpent in a piece of rope, consolation and satisfaction can come only when his delusion has ended by the discovery of the rope. The Self is the Substratum of the sorrow-ridden universe of multiplicity; to realise the Self is to transcend all the choking sense of limitations. The Knowledge-Absolute by gaining which all becomes known, is shown here as the Self.

I AM THE SUPPORTER (Bharta) --- Just as the desert supports the illusory pool of water, which the thirsty traveller sees in his delusion, so too, the Self is the Supporter of everything. As Absolute-Existence It lends a semblance of reality to the perceptions of the sense organs, and thus holds together the flood-of-change into a consistent pattern, called life. I AM THE LORD (Prabhu) --- Even though the Self thus lends Its grace to the realm of imperfections sustained and maintained by the agitations of the mind, as the Pure Awareness, It is ever beyond the sorrows and joys of the apparent and illusory universe. Through different equipments, electricity may pass, manifesting different expressions of its own glory, but in none of them does electricity lose itself, if we consider the current as pure energy. In all this panorama of expressions, the Self, though It lends Existence to them, Itself remains as a mere Witness.

"I am the Witness" (Sakshi) --- he is considered a true witness of an incident, "who is not in the incident, but who happened to witness it, not from too far, with neither attachment nor aversion." When things happen of their own accord in one's presence then one becomes the witness of that happening. The Infinite is but a witness of the finite inasmuch as the Self is an uninterested illuminator of what is happening in the harem of the intellect, in the arena of the mind, in the courtyard of the body, and in the wide expanse of the world without.

I AM THE ABODE (Nivasah) --- Truth is the House of all, of every being and thing. On an innocent wayside post, it is reported that some travellers saw a grinning ghost, others a smiling ghost, and yet others, a ghost with a bleeding mouth and sparkling eyes, naked and horrid, and some an innocent ghost, dressed in white, invitingly smiling and lovingly guiding them onto the right track. All of them saw delusory projections of their individual minds upon the same wayside post. Naturally, the post is the "Abode," of the smiling, of the grinning, of the bleeding, of the horrid, and of the tender ghost, that different minds, on different occasions, projected upon the same post. Similarly, wherever our equipments of experiences gain the apprehension of the pluralistic phenomena, for all of them the Self, the Awareness, is the ABODE, the place of existence and security. I AM THE REFUGE (Sharanam) --- Delusion breeds sorrows, Knowledge produces joy. The universe is pain- ridden because it is delusion-projected. Naturally, the harbour of tranquillity, projecting a confused ego from the mountainous breakers of the stormy ocean-of-samsara is the rediscovery of the Substratum, the Essence of Self. When once the Self gets individualised, when it walks out to identify with the play, through the equipments of the intellect, mind and body, it is wandering away from the safety of the shore into the stormy, high seas of adventure. When the frail boat of the ego is thus threatened from all sides --- the darkening clouds above, the bumping sea below, and the screaming storms all round --- the sailor's only refuge is to come back to the tranquil harbour, the Self! The above descriptions put together, add up to give the conception of the Reality as a heartless noumenon, a dignified deity, an un-approachable realm of Perfection. To wipe off this idea from the tender heart of emotional seekers --- and Arjuna was one --- the Eternal, in the form of the beloved friend of man, Krishna, is using here more humane terms in defining himself. I AM THE FRIEND (Suhrit) --- The Infinite is a friend of the finite, not a nodding acquaintance from whom you can borrow a match-box, but a friend, whose only anxiety is for the security and the well-being of the befriended. I AM THE ORIGIN AND DISSOLUTION, THE SUBSTRATUM, THE STOREHOUSE --- As gold in all ornaments and mud in all pots, the Self is in the whole universe, and therefore, all things can come to manifestation from and dissolve into the unmanifest, the substratum, which can hence be considered as the "the storehouse" of all names, forms and qualities that constitute the multiple world. I AM THE IMMUTABLE SEED (Beejam Avyayam) --- There is a contrast here with all other seeds, which perish when they germinate and produce trees. The Self is no doubt the Origin of the "Tree-of-Samsara," but in the production of this tree, the Self is not transformed, It being ever

Immutable. The idea of the Eternal Principle, modifying itself to become the created world is a disgrace to the logic of human thinking, and Vedanta discards such a philosophically fallacious notion. The dualists, however, are compelled to take it up, or else, the very edifice of their arguments will crumble down like a castle of clouds, built upon an autumnal sky. This, as we have already indicated, is a verse replete with simple terms, each an avenue for the meditator to reflect upon, and in a pleasant stroll reach the gateway of Truth. FURTHER:

19. (As Sun) I give heat; I withhold and send forth the rain; I am Immortality and also death, both Existence and Non- existence, O Arjuna.

I GIVE HEAT --- The electricity can rightly say that it gives heat in the heater, light in the bulb, cold in the refrigerator, because electricity conditioned through those equipments expresses itself as the above-mentioned --- heat, light and cold. Similarly, the Self, the one Existence, identifying with the phenomenon called the Sun becomes the source of all heat for the entire universe.

I WITHHOLD AND SEND FORTH RAIN --- Not only do the modern meteorologists understand the influence which the Sun has upon the climatic conditions of the world, but the Rishis of old too had a perfect knowledge of the ways and behaviour of nature, and had well understood that the position, condition and nature of the Sun determines the climate that comes to bless, or curse, the world. The influence of the Sun controls the fields of experience of every living creature on the globe, since it controls the climatic conditions. If the Sun were to send out a few more degrees of heat the entire flora and fauna of the world would change. So too, will be the transformation, complete and total, of the entire look of the world, if the Sun were to withhold even a few calories of the heat that it is radiating now. Immediately, there would be a march from the north pole and the south pole towards the equator, driving men and beings towards the central belt of the globe, causing more intense sorrows of over-population and lack of sufficient food! I AM IMMORTALITY AND ALSO DEATH --- If life, the Consciousness, were not illumining experiences, it would become meaningless and purposeless, and the Self, being the Spark of life, is the essential stuff that gives a realistic experience of existence to the very phenomenon of death. To realise the Self as the Immutable and the Eternal, is to reach the State of Immortality. Change is death, and therefore, the phrase is to be understood as saying that

"the Self is the illuminator of change, Itself ever the Changeless." I AM EXISTENCE AND NON-EXISTENCE --- To perceive and experience 'Existence' and 'Non-existence,' a positive illuminator of both is necessary, and the illuminating Consciousness must be able to embrace both Sat and Asat in its all-comprehending Knowledge. It is impossible to know and gain an experience of the total Non-existence; wherever we experience Non-existence, we experience it as "the Non-existence that exists." Apart from this highly subtle philosophical interpretation there is a simpler significance for the phrase. Sat and Asat are terms used in Vedanta to indicate the 'cause' and 'effect': the UNMANIFEST and the MANIFEST. The Self being that Illuminating Factor --- without which we can experience neither the unmanifest (THOUGHTS) nor the manifest (OBJECTS) --- the Self Eternal is conceived of as the Essence in both the manifest and the unmanifest. Without the mud, no pot is possible; with mud all pots can exist; and therefore, the mud can claim: "I am the pots of all sizes, shapes and colours." This stanza can provide a lifetime inspiration to the meditators at their seat of contemplation, while "barrelling their thoughts," before shooting forth into the voiceless and Nameless.

THOSE WHO DEVOTE THEMSELVES IN THE WORSHIP OF THE ETERNAL WITH DESIRES, WILL COME TO THEIR FULFILMENT... HOW?

20. The Knowers of the three VEDAS, the drinkers of SOMA , purified from sin, worshipping Me by sacrifices, pray for the way to heaven; they reach the holy world of the Lord-of-the-gods and enjoy in heaven the Divine pleasures of the gods.

21. They, having enjoyed the vast heaven-world, when their merits are exhausted, enter the world-of-the-mortals; thus abiding by the injunctions of the three (VEDAS) , desiring (objects of) desires, they attain to the state of "going-and- returning" (SAMSARA) . When those who are well-read in the three Vedas and who know the prescriptions laid down for the rituals, perform those sacred acts of devotion and sacrifice with a desire to enjoy the celestial bliss, "THEY COME TO ENJOY, IN HEAVEN, THE DIVINE PLEASURES OF THE DEVAS." The Soma drink is the milky juice of a creeper-plant which is used in the rituals and taken in very small quantities at the end of the function. Thus, the phrase "DRINKING THE SOMA-JUICE" is to be understood as 'when the performance of the ritual has concluded.' These desire- prompted ritualisms yield finite results and Krishna indicates that these ego-centres, after having enjoyed in the celestial realms, "ENTER THE MORTAL WORLD ON EXHAUSTION OF THEIR MERITS." The disgust which the Lord feels for such men and their unintelligent seeking for the finite, is clearly expressed when He concludes how these ritualists, "ABIDING BY THE INJUNCTIONS OF THE THREE VEDAS, DESIRING DESIRES. THEY REPEATEDLY COME AND GO." WHAT ABOUT THOSE MEN WHO WORSHIP THE ETERNAL WITH DESIRELESS LOVE, AS THE SUBSTRATUM FOR THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE?

22. To those men who worship Me alone, thinking of no other, to those ever self-controlled, I secure for them that which is not already possessed (YOGA) by them, and preserve for them what they already possess (KSHEMA) . Here is a stanza which, with equal emphasis, discloses a secret by which glorious success can be assured for the spiritual as well as the material seekers. It is significant that this stanza is almost in the centre of the Geeta. We shall try to follow the implications, both spiritual as well as secular, of this stanza, one by one. Those who, with a single-pointed mind, thus meditate upon Him as the One and the Only Reality behind the entire universe, Krishna promises here that "TO THEM EVER SELF-CONTROLLED, I BRING YOGA AND

KSHEMA," meaning more and more spiritual vigour (Yoga) and the final experience of Beatitude (Kshema) which is liberation resulting from the fulfilled Yoga. Now, considering it as a tip for the men in the market- place, sweating and toiling in the world, the very same stanza yields a code of secret instructions by which they can assure for themselves complete success in their worldly life. In any undertaking, if a man is capable of pouring out his self-willed thought (sankalpa) constantly and with a singleness-of-purpose, he is sure to succeed. But unfortunately, the ordinary man is not capable of successfully keeping his thoughts in one channel of thinking. Therefore, his goal seems to be ever receding and flickering. His determination to achieve a particular goal ever changes, since his goal itself seems to be ever- changing. To such a man of haphazard determination, no progress is ever possible in any line of undertaking. The greatest tragedy of the age seems to be that we ignore the obvious fact that thoughts alone create. Activities gain a potency from the thought-power that feeds them. When the feeder behind is choked and dissipated, the execution- power in the external activities becomes feeble in strength and efficiency. Thoughts, from a single-pointed mind, must flow steadily in full inspiration, enthusiasm and vigour towards the determined goal which the individual has chosen for himself in life.

Mere thinking, in itself, is not sufficient. No doubt, actions are necessary. Many of the present-day youths, though capable of consistently maintaining a goal-of-life in their intellect, are not ready to get into the field and act as best as they can for its achievement. The term 'Upasana' means

"worship." Through worship we invoke the deity, meaning "the profit potential in any given field" and the prefix Pari to this familiar term 'Upasana,' indicates a total- effort in which no stone is left unturned for carving out one's victories in one's field of endeavour. So far, two main secret factors without which success in life will not be assured are revealed --- (a) CONSISTENCY OF WILLING AND THINKING, and (b) POURING OUT OURSELVES WITH A SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE in meeting the situation in its entirety. The third main factor that is essential in the constitution of one who is marked out for spectacular success and brilliant gains in life is (c) SELF-CONTROL. As an aspiring individual, consistently maintaining his ambition in mind, walks out into his fields of activity to battle with the immediate problems, he will meet with many a tempting channel of more fascinating plans, through which he can dissipate himself and get exhausted, rendering himself incapable of conquering the highest success in his own field. To keep oneself SELF- CONTROLLED, so that one may not thus get derailed as one shoots forward to reach the temple of success, is the third great factor that is to be kept in mind and lived fully, in order that success in life be assured. The terms 'Yoga' and 'Kshema' defined as "the power to gain (Yoga), and the power to guard (Kshema)" respectively, by Shankara in his commentary, are quite applicable in the context of our discussion. In life, all conflict and contests, all struggles and sorrows, whatever be the form in which they may appear, are always different from individual to individual, from place to place, and from time to time, and all of them distinctly fall into two groups, as (a) the struggles to gain, and (b) the efforts to guard what might have been gained. These two tensions tear into bits the joy and tranquillity of life. He who is without these two preoccupations is the luckiest, in the sense that he has gained all that is to be gained; and when these two factors are totally blotted out from one's life, one is dead to the world of sorrows --- and one awakens to the world of joy imperishable. It is promised here by the Lord that to the one who is capable of maintaining the three factors described above, and pursuing them diligently, there need be NO ANXIETY TO GAIN, NOR WORRY TO GUARD, because these two responsibilities will be voluntarily undertaken by the 'Lord Himself.' Here the term Lord may be understood as the "Law" behind the world-of-plurality and all the happening therein. When water is let out from a height for purposes of irrigating the lower planes, we have only to allow it to flow in the right direction, to reach the required area --- and nature itself will carry it down, for, it is the 'law of nature' that water always flows from a higher to a lower level. Similarly here, to one who is working, fulfilling the three great laws pertaining to the physical, mental and intellectual disciplines, success SHALL dog the heels of such a careful ruler of circumstances. OPENING UP A NEW SECTION, TO DISCUSS THE MISGUIDED WORSHIPPERS, WHO ADORE AT THE ALTARS OF THE DEITIES THAT PRESIDE OVER FINITE, MATERIAL GAINS, THE FOLLOWING IS SAID:

23. Even those devotees, who, endowed with faith worship other gods, worship Me alone, O son of Kunti, (but) by the wrong method. All the people in the world do not worship at the same altar. Not only is this physically impossible, but it is psychologically absurd, since tastes differ from person to person. The devotees, during their respective worship at the different altars, adore the same Vitality that is the Substratum for the created world of change. Even when they worship different deities, if their devotion is sufficiently reinforced with perfect faith, they are invoking nothing but the one Eternal Truth expressed through the form of their adoration. When once we accept the Infinite

Reality as "One-without-a-second," remaining the same in the past, present, and future, it is evident that the Self, as Consciousness --- that expresses through the equipments of all Saints and Sages, Prophets and Incarnations of the past --- is one and the same. Toleration is the very breath of the Hindu creed, and we have already discussed earlier, how non-dualists, accepting the Absolute as Infinite, cannot but be tolerant. Intolerance is the creed of those who accept a single Prophet as God. Even among Hindus, all these who worship as members of a particular creed or sect, are generally found to be unrelenting fanatics. Some crude examples are even noticed where a devotee of one deity believes that, to utter blasphemies against the deities of others is adoration of his own beloved Lord! These are mere perversions, obnoxious and vulgar, which have no sanction in the Bible of the Hindus or anywhere in the cultural tradition initiated by the Rishis. The large-heartedness and endless love in the heart of Krishna makes him declare here that "THEY TOO WORSHIP ME ALONE, EVEN THOUGH BY WRONG METHODS." The stanza, viewed as an instruction for the external life in the work-a-day-world, suggests that, instead of seeking the infinite profit of the Bliss of Self-hood, those devotees who are trying to invoke other limited gains in the different fields of human activity, are also invoking the Grace of the Self --- only "BY THE WRONG METHOD." Even the most sensuous, when he is planning to earn, to save and to spend so that he may procure, possess and enjoy the sensuous objects, is invoking the dormant capacities that lie in the Self in him. Sans Self none will be able to act either negatively or positively. Even in the case of suicide, a person is invoking Life, inasmuch as, even in the act of raising a weapon against himself, he is misusing the Grace of the manifested Life in him. In this context the phrase "BY THE WRONG METHOD" only indicates that ultimately, it leads the seekers to the wells of dejection and sorrow that lie in the darkness of the not-Self, instead of leading to the Bliss-of-Perfection which is the nature of the Self. WHY DO WE CALL THEIR METHODS AS "AGAINST WHAT THE LAW ORDAINS"?

24. (For) I alone am the enjoyer in and the Lord of all sacrifices; but they do not know Me in Essence, and hence they fall (return to this mortal world) .

In all ritualistic sacrifices, the Self alone is "THE ENJOYER AND THE LORD." It is the Self, in one form or another, expressing some special power that goes to form the different deities, for the invocation of whom the various sacrifices are performed by the seekers of their grace. Here the Lord says "I am the Immutable Reality" that is behind all the deities that are invoked during every sacrifice with faith and devotion, be it in a Temple or a Church, in a Mosque or a Synagogue. But because they invoke "limited potentials in Me" (Devatas) they do not come to realise

"My Infinite Glory revelling as their Self," and therefore, jumping from one worship to another, they slip down to fall into delusory confusions and endless entanglements. Applying it to life, in all fields of activity wherein men strive (Yajna), they are invoking some finite profit or the other (deity), and do not strive to improve spiritually so as to come to rediscover the Self as their own essential nature. Treading on the slippery slopes of sensuality, they fall to the levels of brutal animalism and prove themselves a disgrace to the dignity and status of man. Complete happiness and satisfaction, perfect contentment and peace, lie only in the innermost precincts of the bosom and not in the extrovert fields of profit and success, glory and fame. Unmindful of this enduring profit that lies within themselves, men, bitten by a thousand scorpions of desire, run amuck --- bringing about chaos and sorrows not only to themselves but to others walking the same road. Necessarily, therefore, when a generation of such deluded people come to live, freely encouraging their own mental weaknesses, and never caring to pause and estimate their own actions, the history of that period can be written only upon the face of a blasted world with the very blood of the killed and the maimed --- diluted with the tears of the bereaved mothers and widows! Indeed, they return to the sorrows of the mortals (Chyavanti te). HOW CAN WE SAY THAT EVEN THOSE WHO ARE INVOKING THE ETERNAL BY METHODS WHICH THE LAW DOES NOT ORDAIN, COME TO ENJOY THEIR CERTAIN FRUITS?... LISTEN:

25. The worshippers of the DEVAS or gods go to the DEVAS; to the PITRIS or ancestors go the ancestor-worshippers; to the BHUTAS or the elements go worshippers of the BHUTAS; but My worshippers come unto Me.

It is the law-of-life that as you think so you become. The thoughts entertained at a given moment get crystallised to form a blue-print for the individual's character formation in days to come. This is a fact, very well realisable by everyone in his own life. Applying this natural law of psychology in the field of spiritual self-development, Lord Krishna says: "VOTARIES OF THE DEVAS GO TO THE DEVAS," etc. The worshippers of the Devas, ancestors (Pitris), and the elements (Bhutas), as a result of their worship and adoration with single-pointed mind for a sufficiently long time, come to attain the desires of their constant meditation.

Devas, we have seen, represent the various sense-organs, through which we experience the world. To indicate the work done, by the term denoting the instrument with which the work is executed, is quite common in life. To axe, to scissor, to knife, to hammer, to steer, to pen, etc., are examples wherein the name of the instrument is employed to indicate the work done with it. Similarly, here also, the plural noun 'Devas,' may be taken to mean

"the entire field of all physical experiences." Those who are courting the external world of joys and successes consistently and with the required amount of devotion, come to gain that field of demanded experiences. Accepting the term 'Pitri' as denoting the 'ancestors,' 'votaries of ancestors' would mean 'persons who are enthusiastically alive to the cultural purity and tradition of their ancients, and who are striving to live up to those ideals.' An individual, who is constantly endeavouring to live up to the ancient cultural tradition of spiritual India, as a result of his constant self-application, comes to gain the beauty and the shine of the exquisite life of purity and perfection. The ancient Seers of our land did not overlook the fact that, apart from the spiritual aims, in any society, there would also be active scientific enquiries and repeated discoveries that were possible among the folds of Mother Nature's own garments. The active quest in the field of

"objective-sciences" is a part of man's hunt for knowledge, and therefore, the "worshippers of the Bhutas," are the secular scientists who try to observe, codify and systematize the observed knowledge of physical nature and behaviour of things and beings as it is now done under such classifications as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Zoology, Botany, Engineering, Agriculture, Politics, Sociology, Geography, History, Geology, and so on --- an endless array of specialised lines of investigation, adopted, pursued and accepted by the modern world. A large portion of the Atharvana Veda gave us the accepted theories of nature and its behaviour, as finally conceived of by the Rishis of that time. The psychological theory, which Krishna is observing here, is applicable to all branches of human endeavour --- that is, if one were to pursue diligently even in the secular field, success would be assured in direct proportion to the amount of self- application put forth by the seeker. Thus, if consistency of meditation upon the Devas yields the Devas; if constant meditation upon the "ancestors" takes us to our ancestral heritage; and if diligent self- application in the fields of intellectual enquiry (Bhutas) can ultimately assure us a positive success in ripping open the secret vaults of nature --- then, according to the same principle, we are assured that, "MY VOTARIES COME UNTO ME." By constant meditation, with a single-pointed mind, upon the nature of the Self, the meditator can, in the long run, successfully discover his total identity with the Self, Eternal and Immutable. In our elementary text-books on Vedanta, this technique of the ego's constant meditation on the Self and its ultimate transformation into the Divine

Self, has been indicated by comparing it with the manner in which a "worm" is transformed into a wasp. The attempt of the Geeta is to give, not only the Jnana but also to supply the Vijnana. In order to convince the student that this elementary technique can take the seeker to the highest achievements, this stanza is given. Just as consistent pursuit with all dedicated self-application brings, in the end, sure success in all fields of activity of art or science, so too, in the realm of the "within," and ultimately in the field of spiritual achievement, constant meditation will definitely pay. The logic behind this assurance is given here by the Lord. CAN MERE WORSHIP WITH DEVOTED THOUGHTS, HOWEVER SINCERE, BRING ABOUT SUCH AN ABSOLUTE SUCCESS? IS IT NOT NECESSARY THAT WE SHOULD PURSUE ALL THE ELABORATE RITUALS THAT THE VEDAS PRESCRIBE, AND OFTEN SEEM TO INSIST UPON?... LISTEN:

26. Whoever offers Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, water, that I accept, offered by the pure-minded with devotion.

There is no religion in the world which does not recognise and encourage offerings by the devotees. The modern educated man is rather surprised as to why the Infinite Lord, in all religions, needs insignificant things like a spoonful of oil for His lamp, or a candle, or even an edifice to house Himself --- be it a church, a mosque, or a temple. Dreary intellects, poisoned with their own misunderstanding, have even come shamelessly to insist that these Houses-of-God should be converted into hospitals and schools, lunatic asylums and maternity homes! But I believe that I am talking to a world which has not reached this nadir of depravity. Not yet. In a society where there is still the play of healthy hearts and virulent intellects, there is certainly a need for temples and worship. And in these Houses-of-God, it is not the intricacies of their design, elaborateness of the ritual, nor the splendour of gold and wealth exhibited, nor even the number of devotees attending, that contribute to their essential success. The very language and diction of the stanza clearly sound the note that the material objects that one might offer are of no value to the Lord of the Universe, but it is the devotion and love that prompt the offerings that are accepted by the Deity. Be it "A LEAF, A FLOWER, A FRUIT, OR WATER," it is but an insignificant thing that you offer; be it a golden temple, or be it a dry leaf,

"WHOSOEVER WITH DEVOTION OFFERS," whatever be the offering, the Lord of Vrindavana assures "THAT I ACCEPT." For, when lovingly given, it becomes "A DEVOUT GIFT" and when it is offered by a sincere

"PURE-MINDED" student, the Lord has to accept it.

There are several carefully coined words in the stanza which explain the theory of sacrifice insisted upon in all religions. No doubt, the Absolute requires no offering at all from the finite mortals to complete Its Perfection, or to maintain Its Infinite Glory. The limited individuals try to offer at the Altar of their Lord something that they have MISAPPROPRIATED from the Lord's own garden, the world. In a public park, a lover often pinches a flower from the nearby bush and offers it to his beloved. Similarly, a devotee steals something from the Lord's own plucks, and offers the same unto Him. In fact, when thus we analyse carefully, we know the hollowness of the vanity of offering something unto the Lord. And yet, this is insisted upon as an important ritual in all forms of worship. In offering a flower, or a fruit unto the Lord, if the devotee feels that he is making a sacrifice of the very thing that he offers, he is misusing the very act. The flower, here, serves only the purpose of a spoon in conveying something unto the Lord. While taking soup, one, no doubt, lifts the spoon many times to the mouth but at the end of the dinner the spoon remains the same as before, having finished its work. The flowers and fruits in the garden or in the temple, remain the same, but when the devotee gathers and carries them to the Altar, and offers them, they become the conveyors of his love and dedication unto the Lord of his heart.

This idea has been brought out in this stanza, when the Lord says: "THAT I ACCEPT... THE DEVOUT GIFT OF THE PURE-MINDED." Therefore, on the whole, it is clear that an offering can be efficient, only when it is accompanied by the two required conditions; (a) "offered with devotion" and (b) "by the pure-minded." To the extent these features are absent, all offerings are mere economic waste and superstition- breeding false-beliefs. If properly done, it can serve as a good vehicle to tread the spiritual path of self- development. THEREFORE:

27. Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give in charity, whatever you practise as austerity, O Kaunteya, do it as an offering to Me.

Through all activities of life one can constantly live in the spirit of "devout offering" unto the Supreme. Throughout the Geeta it has been, time without number, insisted upon that the mental attitude is of supreme importance, rather than the mere physical act. And, this is a fact which ordinarily the seekers forget. All acts of perception and our reactions to the perceived, be they on the physical, mental, or intellectual levels, make them all a "DEVOUT OFFERING UNTO HIM." In fact, this is not an unnecessary make-belief or a mere fancied exaggeration. Nor is it in any way, very difficult for an individual to practise. The one Self revels everywhere: in the teacher, in the devotee and in the Lord. In all our life's transactions we behave, act and deal with other names and forms, and all of them, we know, require the Existence of the Self to uphold them. To remember the Self during all transactions of life is to remember the Substratum. In a cloth shop where there are cotton clothes of different colours and sizes, textures and prices, the shop-keeper is advised always to remember that he is dealing with cotton clothings. This cannot be very difficult for any sane shop-keeper, and it will be safe and profitable for him to remember this fact, for it would prevent him from entertaining misconceptions and thereby either charging the exorbitant prices of woollens, or selling off his goods as cheap as gunny bags! If a goldsmith is asked to remember that he is working on gold, it is only for his own benefit. Just as cotton is in all cloth, gold in all ornaments, the Self is the Essential-stuff in all names and forms. A devotee who can constantly remember the Divine in all his contacts in life, is alone the one who can give to life the respect and reverence that it deserves. It is a law in life that as you give unto life, so shall life give unto you. Smile at life and life smiles; frown at life and life frowns at you; approach life with due reverence and respect, born out of the cognition of the Divine essence in it, and life shall respect and revere you.

When all activities are performed in the Spirit-of-Offering, not only our love for the Supreme increases but also our entire life becomes sanctified with a noble purpose and a divine aim. In the context of the Geeta's insistence on single-pointedness of mind, and devoted contemplation of the Self, so far described, we can easily see how this stanza provides us again with an efficient and secret method by which the seekers are unconsciously made to remember the Supreme constantly --- not in the deep jungles, nor in the secret caves, but right in the field of life's contentions. WHAT WOULD BE THE EFFECT OF SUCH A MANNER OF LIVING LIFE IN THE PURE SPIRIT OF DEDICATED OFFERING?... LISTEN:

28. Thus shall you be freed from the bonds-of-actions yielding good and evil "fruits" ; with the mind steadfast in the YOGA of renunciation, and liberated, you shall come unto Me.

This spiritual goal remaining the same, the "Divine-paths" are different; and when the different paths are explained, though they look very different from each other, they all have the same scientific basis that justifies each one of them. At many places in the Geeta, this fundamental basis has been directly brought to the recognition of the students, while in a few instances it is slightly veiled; yet, careful students can always come to recognise it. In this section, we are in the midst of a discussion on how, by living life in a 'spirit-of-offering,' the individual can come to claim and finally enjoy the Highest Perfection which meditation promises and the Yajna-spirit guarantees. When actions are undertaken without ego, the reactions of those actions (Vasanas), whether good or bad, cannot reach us, since he who is to suffer or enjoy the reactions would be "out-of-station" from the given bosom. The ego acts, and it is the ego that receives the reactions. Hence Bhagawan says, "YOU SHALL BE FREE FROM THE BONDAGES OF ACTIONS, GOOD OR EVIL." Since the reactions (Vasanas) arising from fresh actions do not add their impressions on to the mind, and since the existing impressions (Vasanas) get wiped out during the mind's activities in the world outside, slowly and steadily, the mind gets almost a total purgation of all its existing Vasanas. In short the mind becomes more and more PURIFIED --- the term being used in its scriptural sense. A purified mind has more concentration and single- pointedness. The next stage of evolution is that such a purified mind, discovering in itself more and more discrimination, learns to live a life of Samnyasa and Yoga. Both these terms are to be understood in the Geeta-way. Earlier these terms have been very elaborately discussed. Sannyasa or renunciation, is not the physical rejection of the world, but in the language of the Geeta, Samnyasa is the renunciation of: (a) all ego-centric activities and (b) all anxieties or cravings for the fruits of actions. These two effects would be natural in one who is striving diligently in the world, as an expression of his love for the Lord, only to dedicate, in the end, all the results unto the Lord as his humble, simple, 'offering.' To the one who has come to live the Geeta-Sannyasa and has developed, by discrimination, a mind full to the brim with purity, Yoga is natural --- especially so, because all through the hours of his activity he is constantly remembering the SELF, the INFINITE. Naturally, such a seeker discovers that his earlier identifications with the false and the consequent sense of limitations and pains of mortality fall off from him and he discovers for himself his Divine Nature: "BY PRACTICE AND RENUNCIATION YOU SHALL FIND RELEASE AND COME TO ME." THE SEEKER IS PROMISED THAT HE WILL GO TO THE SUPREME. WHAT THEN IS THE NATURE OF THE SELF?

29. The same am I to all beings, to Me there is none hateful nor dear; but those who worship Me with devotion, are in Me and I am also in them.

The Self is ONE in all beings; the same Conscious Principle illumines the emotions and thoughts in all bosoms of all living creatures. "I AM IN ALL BEINGS."

The same Sun illumines all objects of the world and its rays get reflected on all surfaces --- whether the dull, rough surface of a rock, or the bright polished facet of a jewel. TO ME THERE IS NONE HATEFUL NOR DEAR --- If the same Self revels in Krishna and Buddha, Shankara and Christ, in a lunatic and in a murderer, in the good and in the bad, why is it that some are able to recognise the divine status of the Self and others live like worms? In the emotional literature, expounding the Bhakti-cult, there is always the sentimental explanation that it is because, under the Lord's direct grace, some come to manifest a greater amount of divinity. This theory may be satisfactory to the few, who do not bring their reasoning capacity into the field of religious discussion. But to the intelligent ones, this explanation should appear absurd, inasmuch as the Supreme would have to be considered as exhibiting partiality to some in the world. To negate this imperfect explanation, and to express the purely scientific theory, krishna declares here that the Self is the same everywhere, always, and that to the Self there is no distinction between the good and the bad; the Self entertains neither a particular love nor any special hatred for any of the living beings. This should not be understood as meaning that the Self is an impotent factor, inert, and emotionless, with no capacity in Itself to bless or to help. Employing the analogy of the sunlight which we have already examined, the idea implied here can be better understood. Even though the same sunlight reflects upon the different types of objects in the world, it is true that the quality and the nature of the reflecting surface will determine the clarity and the intensity of the light reflected. On a dull piece of rough stone there will be the least amount of light reflected, while in a bright clean and polished mirror there will be, perhaps, the maximum reflection. Because of this difference, sunlight cannot be accused of having special love for the mirror, or a disgust for the rough stone. Applying the analogy to the subjective life, it becomes clear that if the spiritual strength and beauty get reflected more from the golden-hearts of the rare few and not at all from the iron-hearts of the many, it is not because the Self entertains in Itself any preference for, or any prejudice against, anyone, but it is only a natural phenomenon, happening in perfect obedience to the law of the universe. Though in the first line there is a total negation of any relationship whatsoever between the Self and the not-Self, in the following line, there is a striking idea expressed, which as it were smothers the readers with its vivid contradiction. "BUT THOSE WHO WORSHIP ME WITH DEVOTION ARE IN ME, AND I TOO AM IN THEM." Even though the Self has neither any favour for, nor any prejudice against the not-Self, to the extent the not-Self

"WORSHIP ME WITH DEVOTION" they are "IN ME AND I TOO AM IN THEM." We can say that the ghost is in the post and the post is in the ghost, meaning thereby the non-dual nature of the essence and the super- impositions upon It. Those who worship the Self with devotion come to rediscover that the worshippers themselves are none other than the Self that is worshipped by them. Even while recognising the GHOST the deluded one is looking at the POST only; for the POST is the permanent "reality" upon which the projection of the

"non-real" GHOST has been made by the deluded observer. THOSE WHO WORSHIP ME WITH DEVOTION --- This phrase can be initially understood as a mere ritualistic injunction, and it calls for a closer and deeper study to realise its spiritual implications. Worship is a technique by which, in essence, the entire "thought-forces" in the worshipper are mobilised and turned to flow towards a diviner point-of-contemplation, ever seeking a total identity with the Truth so meditated upon. When this is done in a spirit of devotion or love, the worshipper comes to realise his total oneness with his object-of-worship. With this implied meaning well in mind, when we re-read the stanza, what Krishna means in this philosophical statement becomes amply clear. Even though Truth has neither a preference for, nor a prejudice against anyone, some noble souls come to experience, and later on exhibit in themselves the effulgence of divinity, because, as the Lord says, they, through their devoted worship, have sought and discovered their oneness with the Divine

Principle, the Self. Theirs becomes the elegance of the Divine. A mind, which is pre-occupied with its own ego-centric attachments with the not-Self, cannot come to live the Bliss-of-Perfection, while, the same mind, when it has detached itself from its extrovert preoccupations, becomes a ready instrument to seek and to discover its true identity with the Self. The condition of the mind declares whether the individual is confused or clear, bound or redeemed. A mind that is turned outward, rushing out and panting to gain its satisfactions in the world-of-objects, gets bound to the finite, and comes to groan with pain and disappointment; while the same mind when turned inward, away from the objects, seeking the Self, comes to rediscover its own identity with the Spiritual Centre. In winter, inside a room one suffers from cold, while outside there is plenty of sunshine. He who walks out of the room into the sunshine comes to be blessed by the warmth of the Sun while they who bury themselves in their rooms suffer the discomforts of the cold. The Sun has neither a preference for those who are basking under its rays, nor has it any prejudice against those who do not come out under its shine and warmth. In the language of this stanza, we may call those who have walked out to the sunny courtyard as "blessed" by the Sun, while those who stay indoors as "not blessed" by that luminous energiser in the sky?

Never does the Geeta, at any point, encourage man's surrender to circumstances, or to his own debilities and incompetencies. As a Scripture of activity and optimistic endeavour, the Geeta unmistakably emphasizes the ultimate supremacy of man over his weaknesses and even over his circumstances. IS THIS PATH OF SELF-DISCOVERY AVAILABLE ONLY FOR THE GOOD?... LISTEN:

30. Even if the most sinful worships Me, with devotion to none else, (or with single-pointedness) , he too should indeed be regarded as 'righteous, ' for he has rightly resolved.

The practice of devotion, understood in the special meaning in which it is used in the Geeta, is glorified here by indicating its effects upon each individual practitioner. In the Geeta, Bhakti is selfless contemplation with a single- pointed mind upon the non-dual Brahman considered as nothing other than the very Essence in the devotee. When this Bhakti is practised for a sufficiently long time, with the required intensity and sincerity, the evolution in the individual is mapped out here showing the various stages in its efflorescence. Ordinarily, there is a vague belief that a vicious sinner or a desperate criminal is an outcaste, who can never dare to enter the courtyard of heaven. This condemnation of the immoral sinner is an unhappy mis-reading of the spirit of

Vedic literature. THE VEDAS CONDEMN THE SIN, NOT THE SINNER. The evil ways of the sinner are but expressions of the evil thoughts in his mind, and so, if the texture of the thoughts flowing in his mind could be changed, the texture of his behaviour would also be transformed. He who has come to keep consistently in his mind, thoughts of the Lord, accomplishes, in the warmth of his growing devotion, so total a rehabilitation of the mental life that he cannot thereafter carry on his career in sin. EVEN IF A WICKED PERSON WORSHIPS ME --- Not only does the Geeta throw its gates open to the sinners, but the Singer of the Divine Song also seems to have great missionary zeal to redeem all sinners, and bless them. Even those who are given to evil ways are not debarred from entering the field of spirituality because of their undivine actions and the impurity of their lives. The only insistence is that the worship of the Self must be performed by the devotee with "undivided devotion." Here the term 'undivided' (Ananya) can be applied both to the 'mind of the meditator' and to the 'goal meditated upon.' On the whole, the phrase implies that devotion can pay its promised dividend only when the devotee, with a single-pointed mind, contemplates upon a goal that is non-dual and permanent. The non-dual Self is not to be considered as different from the very Essence in the devotee himself (Ananya).

HE SHOULD BE REGARDED AS GOOD --- Even though he has been, till this day, a man of evil ways, wicked and cruel, living the life of the senses, uncontrolled and passionate, even then, from the moment he has taken to the path of contemplation upon the Supreme, with devotion, he is to be considered, says Krishna, as 'SAINTLY AND GOOD.' Such usage of words is common to every language, when we want to emphatically assert a state or condition to be fulfilled in the immediate future. In all such cases, we claim it as a state accomplished, even in the present 'baking the bread,' 'making the tea,' are all examples when, even while kneading the flour or boiling the water, we refer to these acts with a term indicating anticipatory fulfilment. Similarly here, one who has taken to the "Path Divine" is called, from that very moment, as

"GOOD AND SAINTLY" because he will soon (Acirat) grow out of himself to thrive and flourish in the vaster atmosphere of spiritual glory; it is an anticipatory statement. Such an individual is to be considered good and divine,

"FOR," as Krishna puts it, "HE HAS RIGHTLY RESOLVED." In the Life Divine, right resolution is more important than mere routine. The majority of seekers only plod on their "paths" --- a melancholy brood, like famished cattle, treading their way to the meat-market! Such a melancholy procession can reach nowhere but the butcher's block where Time hacks them into pieces! He who steadily walks the path with an iron-heart of resolution, open-eyed and enthusiastic, cheerful and heroic, alone is noted for sure success and therefore, the Flute-bearer emphatically asserts that the rightly resolved man of evil ways is to be considered, from the moment of his noble decision, as one especially marked out to be soon a successful man-of-Perfection. HOW DO WE KNOW THAT WHAT YOU ARE TALKING IS NOT A BLUFF? WHAT EXACTLY IS THE EFFECT OF SUCH A SINGLE-POINTED DEVOTION?

31. Soon he becomes righteous and attains Eternal Peace, O Kaunteya, know for certain that My devotee is never destroyed.

The logical thoughts that lie behind the daring assertion of Krishna are being indicated in this stanza. When a man of evil ways takes to a life of single-pointed devotion propelled by his ardent resolve, that man "SOON BECOMES RIGHTEOUS." The term Dharma was already explained as "the Law of Being." Just as heat is the specific quality (Dharma) of fire, without which fire cannot exist, the Dharma of man is the Divine Atman in his heart, without which none of his personality layers can ever come to express themselves. Therefore, the term 'Dharmatma,' in the stanza, is not fully expressed when it is translated as 'a man of righteousness.' Single-pointed devotion and self-application develop concentration, and therefore, enhance the subtlety of perception of the mind, and such a mind finds its balance even in the highest altitudes of meditative flights. "IN GOOD TIME," meaning, ere long, he gains glimpses of the Infinite experience and thus, comes to live more and more as a dynamic saint, wafting the fragrance of divinity through his motives, thoughts, and actions. This substantial edifice of peace which strengthens and fortifies the existence in us, is the tranquillity divine, which we come to live as our essential being when the mind stops its mad revelry among its agitations and excitements. There is no religion in the world which does not point to this goal, which can be experienced when the mind is at rest. A still mind is an open window through which man peeps out to see himself reflected in the mirror of Truth. The term guaranteeing here that "a true devotee soon REACHES the Supreme Peace," is to be rightly understood not as a destination that lies far away from us, but only as a REDISCOVERY IN OURSELVES OF OUR OWN REAL NATURE. The perfection indicated in religion lies only as far away from us as our waking state is from our dream. It is a question of rightly adjusting the focus; if a camera is 'out of focus' the photograph will give only a blurred representation of fairyland, while the same scene photographed by the same camera, well-focussed and adjusted, gives us the photograph in all its gorgeous beauty, and wealth of detail. A mind and intellect, mal- adjusted and incessantly getting shunted among the ever- rising waves of desires and passions, are not the right instruments to cognise and discover the Truth that lies within itself. The second line of the stanza brings out the incomparable missionary in Krishna, who bursts out into an assertion, in his own rising fire and enthusiasm. After declaring the truth that even a man of dire evil ways can start his pilgrimage on the very day he takes unto himself the firm resolve to re-educate his mind, and after indicating the stages of his growth, till he reaches the Supreme Peace, Krishna, as it were, pats Arjuna on the back and declares

"MY DEVOTEE IS NEVER DESTROYED." Toeing the line of the Rishis, Krishna says that Arjuna should declare from house-tops the one unchallengeable truth that the seeker of the nobler values shall know no failure if his resolve is firm and if he be sincere in his self- application. The special phrase, employed here to declare Krishna's advice to Arjuna, Pratijaneehi, has, in Sanskrit, its own special powers of assertion, and it can express a sort of imperative urgency. Those who are students of the Sanskrit language can easily perceive it; those who are not, may make a note of the same. In short, this and the previous stanza together express that he who has come to entertain constantly, at least in one corner of his mind, a continuous awareness of the Divine Principle and allows it to influence the rest of his mental field, is the one marked out for progress and growth, both in his life within and in his life without. Just as a blue street light adds a blue tinge to the colour of the dresses of all those who pass under it, irrespective of the actual colour of their various dresses, so too, in the blaze of Divine Awareness, even criminal thoughts rising in that mind would gather the golden hues of godly perfections. Just as moth-balls kept in a wardrobe protect all the clothes kept therein and keep away all the worms, so too, the constant Samarana of the Divine Nature of the Self protects the human personality from the destructive worms of its inner negativeness. FURTHER:

32. For, taking refuge in Me, they also, who O Partha, may be of a "sinful birth" --- WOMEN, VAISHYAS as well as SHUDRAS --- even they attain the Supreme Goal.

As an annotation and an explanatory appendix to the immediately preceding pair of stanzas, it is added that it is not only those who are placed under wrong influences and unfavourable external conditions who are redeemed by the constant remembrance of the Divine. Those who are victims of congenital maladjustments, both in their mental make-up and in their intellectual constitution, also can get their equipments readjusted and tuned up properly by the same process of constant remembrance of the Truth Eternal.

No doubt, there are expressions in the Vedas, in the Puranas, and in the Smritis, which seemingly fall in line with the language of this stanza. To condemn women, traders (Vaishyas) and workers (Shudras) as individuals of inferior births is equivalent to accepting that religion has an effective influence ONLY upon a mere handful of members of our society. This would be a denial of what Krishna had been hammering upon from the opening stanza onward. Therefore, we have to understand the true implications of His words as He uses them here. Religion is not a technique for developing the physical body, nor is it an art to be fulfilled through the play of the physical body. The condition and status of the physical body have nothing to do with the evolutionary progress which religion aims at through all its preachings. The spiritual practices contribute to the integration of the mind and intellect and to their progressive unfoldment, until, in their ripeness, they shed themselves, leaving the Spirit naked in all its divine glory. Thus, these terms, as used in this stanza, are to be understood as indicating some special qualities of the human mind-and-intellect, manifested in varying degrees in different individuals, at different times. The "feminine-minds" (Striyah) are those that have a larger share of deep affections and binding attachments. So too, there are people, who have a "commercial attitude" in all their thoughts and actions and who live in their mental life as traders (Vaishyas), ever calculating the profits that would accrue from all their psychological investments. Such a calculating mind, ever looking to the profits that could be raised, is not fit for easily evolving through the

"Path-of-Meditation." To surrender all fruits of actions is the secret of holding the mind still, and of making it live vitally, the Infinite, that is the content of a single present- moment. Thus, when the Science of Spirit-development condemns the traders, it is only a denunciation of the particular commercial tendency of the mind. Those who fall under the group of 'traders' PSYCHOLOGICALLY cannot hope to progress on the Path Divine. Lastly, mental attitudes of "slumber and slothfulness" are indicated by the term "Shudra" here. When we have understood that these terms, familiar in that age, are borrowed by Krishna to indicate special types of mind-intellect-equipments, we have understood the stanza rightly, without pulling down the entire Geeta from its well-merited pedestal of dignity as a Scripture of Man. The verse promises that, through constant remembrance of the Lord, not are only all men of evil ways redeemed, but even those who are not able to walk the "Path Divine," because of some psychological and intellectual debilities in them, will be cured and steadily strengthened to walk the "Path" efficiently, if they too, with single-pointed mind and sincere devotion, learn to remember continuously, and meditate daily upon the Divine Self.

BORN OUT OF THE WOMB OF SIN --- Sin, according to Vedanta, is a wrong tendency in the mind created out of the past unhealthy thought and negative living. These wrong channels of thought (vasanas), irresistibly drive man to live false values and bring about confusion and chaos into his life, as well as into the lives of others. It is these wrong tendencies, ploughed on the mental fields, that are the sources of the feminine nature of the mind (Stritvam), or the commercial attitude of the intellect (Vaishyatwam), or the general dullness and somnolent morbidity in one's inner life (Shudratwam). A dull-witted pundita alone will have the audacity to commit the folly of interpreting this stanza, adhering faithfully to the literal meaning, conveniently forgetting Sri Krishna's own definition of Varnashrama Dharma given previously in his discourses. In short, when these wrong tendencies are in the mind, the Rishis have declared, in sheer kindness, that it is useless for that mind to undertake a study of the Vedas. Therefore, such minds were debarred from doing so. To attain the necessary qualification for a successful study of the sacred lore, the prescription is Sadhana. Of all the spiritual practices (Sadhana), the most efficient is the constant remembrance of the Lord with a heart overflowing with love and devotion (Upasana). It is the Vedantic declaration that through Upasana the mind gets purified --- purified of its debilities which are classified and indicated by the terms, "WOMEN, TRADERS AND WORKERS."

When once these negative qualities have been removed from a mind, it gains in its powers of achieving concentration, single-pointedness and balance for its flight to the very horizons of thought. When once the equipment is ready and rigged for the pilgrimage, the destination will soon be reached; and therefore, Krishna promises "EVEN THEY ATTAIN THE SUPREME GOAL." KRISHNA GOADS ARJUNA TO WALK THE PATH OF SELF-REALISATION.

33. How much more (easily) then the holy BRAHMINS, and devoted Royal saints (attain the goal) . Having reached (obtained) this impermanent and joyless world, do worship Me devoutly. If the above-mentioned mental types are highly handicapped in the race for the divine, Krishna, by a self- answering question, very emphatically points out here, how easy and almost natural Self-realisation and godly life must be to those who have the mental purity of a brahmin, or the large heart and the clear head of a Rajarshi. A king who, having enjoyed intelligently his power and wealth, in his complete satiation arising out of his growing inner discrimination, comes to experience the inward peace of true contemplation upon the Self, is called a Rajarshi.

After describing all possible types of "heads-and-hearts" and after prescribing treatment for all of them to rediscover their own Divine Nature, the Lord, concluding the section, makes a general statement in the second line.

"HAVING ATTAINED THIS TRANSIENT AND JOYLESS WORLD, WORSHIP ME DEVOUTLY." This instruction to Arjuna is an instruction for all, since, in the Geeta if Lord Krishna represents the Self, Arjuna represents the confused man standing impotent against the challenges of life. Life is lived in a field always constituted of objects, instruments, and mental moods. These three are ever in a state of change. Naturally, the flickering joys that come to us in life prove to be transient. And the intervals between any two experiences of joy are only FULL OF PAIN. In tune with the positive and energising philosophy of optimism which the Geeta preaches, here Krishna declares the world to be a mere pit of sorrows, or a ditch of despair, or a mire of disappointments, or a field of joylessness (Asukham). HAVING REACHED THIS WORLD, IMPERMANENT AND JOYLESS, Krishna advises Arjuna, that he must occupy himself in the worship of the Self. In this spiritual activity, Arjuna has been well encouraged by the Lord with his statements that to a heart that has not the weakness natural to the lower evolute but has a wealth of poise and understanding which are the hall-marks of a higher evolute (brahmins and Rajarshis), success is easy and sure. Therefore "WORSHIP ME DEVOUTLY." HOW THEN AM I TO WORSHIP YOU, MY LORD, WHEN I AM TO FACE MY ENEMIES AND FIGHT MY BATTLE?

34. Fix your mind on Me; be devoted to Me, sacrifice to Me, bow down to Me; having thus united your (whole) Self with Me, taking me as the Supreme Goal, you shall come to Me.

This stanza is a beautiful summary of the entire chapter for it throws a flood of light upon many of the other stanzas. We may say that this stanza especially serves as a commentary to more than one verse in the chapter (Verses 14 and 27). In all text-books of Vedanta (Brahma-Vidya), the technique of self-development and self-perfection through the "Paths of right-Knowledge and Meditation," has been defined as,

"Contemplation on That, talks on That, mutual discussion on That --- and thus, to live ever mentally drowned in the Bliss-concept of the spiritual Reality, is called by the knowers of It, as the pursuit of Brahman." Keeping this classical definition in mind, Vyasa steadily delineates his aesthetic "Path of Devotion" in this stanza. The same idea has already been brought out earlier in the chapter on more than one occasion.

With "THE MIND EVER FILLED WITH ME, MY DEVOTEE MAKES ALL SACRIFICES, ALL SALUTATIONS TO ME," at all times, whatever be the type of work that engages him. In brief, the evolution of the mind is the very essence of all spiritual reformation in life. Neither the conditions in which we are, our circumstances and habits, nor the available ways of life, nor our past, nor our present --- none of these is a bar for evolving spiritually. Constant awareness, maintained diligently, is the secret of success. When thus "YOU TAKE ME AS THE SUPREME GOAL" Krishna promises Arjuna, "YOU SHALL COME TO ME." We are what we are because of our thoughts. If the thoughts are noble and divine, we become noble and divine.

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 ninth discourse ends entitled: THE YOGA OF ROYAL KNOWLEDGE AND ROYAL SECRET This chapter has been rightly entitled as the chapter discussing the Royal Knowledge and the Royal Secret. These two terms have been already discussed at length. Earlier in the chapter (Verse 2) we find that, since Pure Consciousness is the Knowledge, in whose light all conditioned-knowledges are made possible, this Science, dealing with the Absolute, has been rightly called as the Royal-Knowledge. Elsewhere in the Upanishads, it has been termed as the "Knowledge of all Knowledges" because, "having known which there is nothing more to be known," declares Mundakopanishad.