The holy geeta chapter 8-akshara brahma yoga

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THE HOLY GEETA COMMENTARY by swami Chinmayananda T K G NAMBOODHIRI THIRUVALLA, KERALA, INDIA Presentation adapted from THE HOLY GEETA, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, July 2013 Mumbai

Transcript of The holy geeta chapter 8-akshara brahma yoga

Page 1: The holy geeta chapter 8-akshara brahma yoga

THE HOLY GEETACOMMENTARY by

swami Chinmayananda

T K G NAMBOODHIRITHIRUVALLA, KERALA, INDIA

Presentation adapted from

THE HOLY GEETA, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, July 2013Mumbai

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THE Holy GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

CHAPTER 8AKSHARA-BRAHMA YOGAIMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN

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INTRODUCTION- Chapter 8 - IMPERISHABLE BRAHMANContinuing the ideas in the last Chapter, Krishna starts with the glorification of the man-of-Wisdom. Besides the knowledge & experience of the Self, he is a well integrated personality at all levels of existence. In the last chapter, a mention was made that there is a practical aspect of Vedanta. Here a technique for following the Vedantic ideals in practice is fully explained, & the relationship between the Eternal Spirit & the delusory realm of names & forms, the lower Prakriti, is clearly indicated. Exemplary definitions indicating the Inexpressible, the Absolute Truth are given here. Lord Krishna clarifies the idea, introduced in the last chapter, that the man-of-Wisdom not only realises the Absolute, but that he also comes to master the world-of-objects, the organs of perception & action, & the instruments of comprehension, so that he becomes a ‘dynamic doer’ in all spheres of activity. The Self being the Reality upon which all actions, the instruments-of-action, & the world-of-perceptions are superimposed, by knowing the Self, everything is known.

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ARJUNA’S DOUBTArjuna said: 8.1 What is that BRAHMAN? What is the ADHYATMA? What is action? O best among men, what is declared to be the ADHIBHUTA? And what is ADHIDAIVA said to be?8.2 Who, & how, is ADHIYAJNA here in this body, O destroyer of Madhu? And how, at the time of death, are you to be known by the self-controlled?The chapter opens with the seeker questioning his teacher as to the exact definition for each new term used in His learned discourse. The new technical terms used by Krishna in the end of last chapter, which are to be known so that such men-of-Wisdom “Continue to know Me even at the time of Death, steadfast in mind”. Arjuna asks the Lord not only the meaning of these terms, but also is anxious to know how exactly one can realise the Self at the time of death, after attaining perfect self-control through spiritual practices.

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LORD KRISHNA REPLIES: BRAHMAN, ADHYATMA & WORKThe Blessed Lord said:8.3 BRAHMAN is Imperishable, the Supreme; His essential nature is called Self-Knowledge, the creative force that causes beings to spring forth into manifestation is called ‘work’.Sri Krishna starts answering the questions raised by Arjuna, explaining each new term He introduced in the end of last chapter. Imperishable Supreme Brahman: Brahman indicates the one changeless & imperishable subjective Essence behind the phenomenal world. It becomes the Self, the Conscious Principle which illumines the body, mind & intellect, throughout their life.Adhyatma: The presence of the Self in each individual body is Adhyatma. Though the Self is formless & subtle & all-pervading, Its glory & might, power & grace, are felt, experienced & lived by each physical structure; the Self, expressing Itself through a given embodiment, as though conditioned by it, is called the Adhyatma. According to Adi Sankara, Adhyatma is the “Principle that graces all bodies as their Essential Self”.Work: It is not only the turnover brought about by sheer labour, but also connotes something deeper, subtler, diviner. The creative urge that is behind every active intellect, which ultimately fulfils itself in the creation of beings & things, that subtle spiritual strength is called ‘Karma’; all else is mere sweat & toil, dust & blood.

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ADHIBHUTA, ADHIDAIVA & ADHIYAJNA8.4 ADHIBHUTA (or elements) constitute My Perishable nature, & the Indweller (or the essence) is the ADHIDAIVATA; I alone am the ADHIYAJNA here, in this body, O best of the embodied.The ADHIBHUTA is the perishable existence– as a contrast to the Imperishable (Akshara) is the perishable- equipment (Kshara), the world of Prakriti, through which the potential dynamism, vigour & glory of the Infinite Self express themselves. The Kshara & Akshara are like the steam engine & the steam or a running car & the horsepower of petrol. The equipment of cognition, feeling, & perception constitute, in the main, the destructible or the perishable factors in us.ADHIDAIVA is the Indweller- the special faculty that presides over each apparatus of knowledge & activity in the living creatures (the Purusha). The presiding deities of the sense organs, the mind, & the intellect, are called the Devatas, which are nothing other than the faculty of vision in the eyes, the faculty of audition in the ears, & so on.ADHIYAJNA, here in the body, I alone am----Yajna here means the ‘act of perception, feeling or thought’. As in the Yajna, here also oblations, the sense-objects, are poured into the Yajna-altar, the sense-organs; when the Devata, the particular faculty in it gets propitiated & invoked, as a blessing from it we gain the ‘fruit’ of Yajna, the knowledge of the perception. In this Adhiyajna, the One vital factor that dominates the entire activity is the Self, the Principle-of-Life.Through these definitions, the Lord is on the whole suggesting that the Eternal Self alone is the Real, & that all else are delusory superimpositions upon It. Therefore, to know the Self is to know everything.

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REMEMBER ME AT THE TIME OF DEATH8.5 And whosoever, leaving the body, goes forth remembering Me alone, at the time of his death, he attains My being, there is no doubt about this.Vyasa repeats the cardinal philosophical idea in Vedanta that a Jiva continues identifying with a given physical body only so long as it needs that body to fulfil its quota of desires. Once it is over, it leaves the body. At the time of leaving the body, its thoughts would be about the most predominant desire, either gathered in its past embodiments or acquired in its present life. Meditation & devotion are arts of tutoring the mind to keep in it an unflickering flame of aspiration, so carefully maintained that such a seeker, “ At the time of death, meditating on Me alone, goes forth leaving the body”. The last thought decides its destinies in the future. One who is immersed in fulfilment of sensuous-pleasures, will naturally take a form, lower in the evolutionary scale, so that its acquired animal instincts may be fulfilled. On the other hand, when an individual aspires to release himself from the thraldom of the flesh, he surely moves higher up on the ladder of evolution, after death. As per this logical & reasonable theory, Lord Krishna declares here that the last thoughts of a dying man order his future embodiments & their environments. So the one who leaves the body with his mind completely turned towards the Self will naturally reach the Eternal & Immortal Supreme Abode.

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WHAT YOU THINK AT THE TIME OF DEATH, YOU BECOME8.6 Whosoever, at the end, leaves the body, thinking of any being, to that being only he goes, O Kaunteya, because of his constant thought of that being.Lord Krishna declares here unequivocally: “Whatever object one remembers while leaving the body, that alone is reached by him”-be it a dog or a god.“As you think, so you become” is an obvious truth. Thoughts guide all actions, & at any moment the run of thoughts in a person is governed & ordered by the channel of thinking, created by his previous thoughts & actions. A person struggling throughout his life to detach from all his bodily attachments, & to fix in the contemplation of the Real & Eternal, would be creating new channels of divine aspirations. The time of death is not the time to plan the travel beyond. At such a moment, instinctively, the person’s thoughts would run through his habitual channels, & the flight of thoughts at that moment would determine the direction of the ego’s pilgrimage.

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THEREFORE REMEMBER ME AT ALL TIMES8.7 Therefore, at all times, remember Me, & fight, with mind & intellect fixed (or absorbed) in Me; you shall doubtless come to Me alone.Here is a simple instruction, applicable in both secular fields of living & in the divine realms, by which not only the ‘Standard of living’ could be raised but also the ‘Standard of life’ could be divinised. Krishna advises here that a truly successful man, striving to achieve the highest, both in the outer world of plurality & in the realms within, should rest his mind at the gracious & peaceful feet of Truth. Then he can utilise the entire wealth of his capacities into the work in hand, & thereby assure for himself the highest success both here & in the hereafter. Even while living through the turmoil of existence, a true seeker must keep his mind continuously upon the awareness of his Real Nature. In Hinduism, religion is not separated from life; if they are separated, both will die away. An actor can perform his role well only when he constantly remembers his own identity. A man of constant Awareness will act in the world as a mastermind-all his actions soaked in selflessness, all his thoughts flavoured with love, & all his feelings matured in kindness. Krishna says here that a man who lives a life of battle to win righteousness, & constantly remembers the Lord while doing so, his “Mind & Intellect get absorbed in Me” & “he shall come to Me”.

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MEDITATING ON THE SELF THE YOGI GOES8.8 With the mind not moving towards any other thing, made steadfast by the method of habitual meditation, & constantly meditating on the Supreme Purusha, the Resplendent, O Partha, he goes (to Him).After the sublimation of the limited ego, one can live in full Godly Awareness as a liberated God-man, in this very life. Such a person, training his mind constantly to rest upon contemplation of the Self, becomes single-pointed in his concentration, which integrates his intellect. With such well-tuned up instruments of perception & comprehension, the Self becomes an easy experience. With integrated mind, whatever the person meditates upon intensively, he gains it soon. With prepared mind & intellect, one can, with steadfastness, meditate upon Me, “the Supreme resplendent Purusha” & attain the Self.

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ATTRIBUTES OF THE PURUSHA8.9 Whosoever, meditates upon the Omniscient, the Ancient, the Ruler (of the whole world), minuter than the atom, the Supporter of all, of Form inconceivable, Effulgent like the Sun & beyond the darkness (of ignorance).Here Lord Krishna explains the meaning of the term “ The Supreme Resplendent Purusha” on which the devotee was asked to meditate, in the last Verse.Kavih (Omniscient): The Self is the Supreme Knower who knows everything, & without whom no knowledge is ever possible.Puranah (Ancient): The Self is considered as the most ancient because, the Eternal Truth is that which existed before all creation, which remains the same all through the ages. It is the substratum of all, even for the concept of time.Anushasita (The Over-Ruler): The Over-lordship indicates that the Knowing Principle of Consciousness is the very essence but for which life( a continuous series of experiences) in any form is never possible. Gold is the Over-Ruler for all gold ornaments. Similarly, the Self is the Over-Ruler of the universe of names & forms.Anoraniyam ( Minuter than an atom): The Self is the subtlest of the subtle, like the atom is the smallest physical entity with specific properties. Subtler a thing, greater is its pervasiveness. The Self thus pervades all.Sarvasya Dhatarah (The Nourisher of all): The One Consciousness constantly illumines the ever-changing flux of things & happenings in the world & within us, just as the cinema screen which supports the entire movie projected on to it.Achintya Roopa (Of Inconceivable Form): The Self cannot be thought of & comprehended, as any other finite object or idea, by our limited faculties. Only by transcending our equipment, the Self may be subjectively comprehended as our own Essential Nature.Aditya Varna (Luminous like the Sun): As the Sun is the source of all light, no other light is needed to see it. In the spiritual realm, the Self, as the Knower of all, doesn't require any other knowledge to comprehend It.Tamasah Parasthat (Beyond all darkness): The Sun doesn’t illumine our world during the night time. The Self is not variable like the Sun. To make this distinction, Krishna uses this qualification , “Beyond all darkness”. The Self is beyond all ignorance.

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‘DEATH’ OF A YOGI8.10 At the time of death, with an unshaken mind full of devotion, by the power of ‘Yoga’ fixing the whole Prana (breath) between the two eyebrows, he (the seeker) reaches the Supreme Resplendent ‘PURUSHA’.The expression “At the time of death” is to be understood here as “At the moment of the death of the Ego”. When all identifications with the body-mind-intellect are consciously withdrawn through the process of meditation, with the mind unmoving, the meditator attains the Purusha- the Self.‘Bhakti’ here means, Selfless Love, directed towards the divine with firm faith, seeking a fulfilment in itself. The meditation should be accompanied by a readiness to identify oneself intensely with the Principle of Awareness. He must come to live the Self, within himself, at that still moment of inward silence, which rings the death-knell of the deluded-ego. "The Power of Yoga” mentioned here, is the strength acquired by the meditator by his regular meditation upon the Supreme for a long period. When a seeker is thus engaged in meditation, all his ‘Pranas’ are concentrated at the point of his meditation, between the eye brows- the seat of steady thought. Prana here means all the different expressions of life’s vitality, through the various instruments & organs of the body. The 5 Pranas are the faculties of sense perception, excretion, digestion, blood circulation, & contemplation of higher things. These are the channels through which the vital attention in us get exhausted. At the moment of his merger with the Self, the meditator arrests all these faculties, temporarily. Such a seeker “Goes to that Supreme Resplendent Self”

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PROMISE TO REVEAL THE SUPREME DESTINATION8.11 That which is declared Imperishable by the Veda-knowers, that into which, the self-controlled & desire-freed enter; That desiring for which Brahmacharya is practised– That Goal I will declare to thee in brief.This verse indicates how one can proceed easily with meditation, avoiding all extrovert desires & by practising consistent self-control. Krishna emphasises here that the Imperishable Truth can be realised, when the men of self-control, unagitated by desires, withdraw successfully from the perishable in themselves.Freed from attachment: Geeta propagates a healthy detachment through right knowledge. The renunciation of desires is not a psychological suppression, but one that occurs with a blossoming of the intellect. Indian spirituality emphasises renunciation as that sprung up from discrimination of what is good for progress. Here the above phrase means one who has grown out of his passionate attachments to the finite world, in his understanding of the nature & the goal of his life. It is advised that men of least desire have the maximum chance of success in the path-of-Knowledge.

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THE PRACTICE OF CONCENTRATION8.12 Having closed all the gates, having confined the mind in the heart, having fixed the life-breath in the ‘head’, engage in the practice of concentration.Three necessary conditions have to be fulfilled by the meditator for practicing effective concentration. They & their sequence are indicated here:Controlling all the senses: Each sense organ is a gate in the physical body through which the external stimuli reach the mental zone. To shut the five gates, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue & the skin, through discrimination & detachment is the first process, before the meditator can enter the field of meditation. Once these tunnels of disturbance are blocked, the mind becomes quieter.Confining the mind in the heart: Even without external disturbances, the mind can be disturbed by previous impressions, gathered in its past experiences. So the mind, the instrument of emotion & feelings, is to be confined in the ‘heart’. In Vedanta, heart is a conceptual centre in the mind from where all positive & noble thoughts constantly spring up. So the seeker is advised to divinise his thoughts, & keep the mind least disturbed.Withdrawing all the Vital Breaths into the intellect: This means the total withdrawal of the intellect from all its identifications with the lower, gained by dissociation from our perceptions etc. This is accomplished with the total engagement of our mind-intellect in the contemplation of the Self. This mental condition is called the “Practice of Concentration”.

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CONTEMPLATION ON OM8.13 Uttering the one syllabled ‘OM’—the symbol of BRAHMAN-- & remembering Me, he who departs, leaving the body, attains the Supreme Goal.The Yogi, who is continuing with the practice of concentration, surcharged with joy & contentment, with his mind under total control of his discriminative intellect, mentally chants OM, with ease & enthusiasm.He who departs, leaving the body: While chanting & contemplating upon the significance of OM, the seeker becomes completely detached from all his delusory identifications with the false matter-envelopments, & his ego gets sublimated; this is the true death, Leaving the body. In his single-pointed contemplation on OM-as the substratum on which is played the drama of life & death, projected by the mischievous mind– the seeker attains the Supreme Goal.

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TRUE SEEKERS EASILY ATTAIN THE SELF8.14 I am easily attainable by that ever-steadfast Yogi who constantly remembers Me daily, not thinking of anything else, O Partha.Prayer is no insecticide to be sprayed now & then; nor should the Divine Altar be considered as a bathroom, where one enters dirty & walks out clean! Here Krishna carefully insists that the Divine Consciousness must be maintained by the seeker constantly & continuously “All through the day, daily”. To such an individual, “I am easily attainable”.Here, the Lord summarises all the statements in the previous verses. To the one who is ever steadfast in the Life Divine, with a mind unshattered, & remembers the Self “Always & Daily”, to him the Self is easily attainable.

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MOKSHA FOR THE MAHATMAS8.15 Having attained Me, these MAHATMAS (great souls) do not again take birth, which is the house of pain & is non-eternal, they having reached the Highest Perfection, MOKSHA.“Having attained Me, the High-Souled ones are no more subject to rebirth” says the Lord. The man-of-Perfection, through the realisation of the Self, attains the Highest, Moksha. Krishna points out here that rebirth is the starting point of all pains & imperfections. It is the “ House of Pain & Non-eternal”. In the Upanishads, the Goal of Life was considered as “the absence of death (Amritatwa)” initially, but as given here, later on it became the “ Absence of rebirth (Na Punarjana)”. Death was initially considered the unavoidable & most horrid experience. Later on with advancement of knowledge, the Sages realised that death was just one of the happenings in the life of the Atman, & the Goal should be to avoid rebirth or attain dissolution in this birth, itself.The dream of rebirth & its destinies belongs to the delusory ego which is the Self identifying with the matter-envelopments. Once the ego comes to rediscover that it is nothing other than the Self, it drops all its attachments with material embodiments, it ends its march through the thorny paths of pain & finitude. Such great souls will no more have any need to manifest in the plane of plurality. Krishna says here that, those who through their meditation & self-control, have attained the Self, the Eternal, shall no more come back into a limited embodiment to live a life of pain & sorrow.

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WORLDS UP TO THE BRAHMALOK ARE IMPERMANENT8.16 Worlds up to the ‘ world of Brahma (The Creator)’ are subject to rebirth, O Arjuna; but he who reaches Me, O Kaunteya, has no birth.Krishna points out here that “Up to the realm of Brahma, all are subject to rebirth”. This is contrasted with the statement “ But after attaining Me, the Self, there is no rebirth”.The ‘theory of gradual liberation’ in Vedanta says that ritualism accompanied by meditation, takes the ego to the realm of the Creator (Brahmalok) where, at the end of the Kalpa (the cycle of creation& dissolution), it merges with the Supreme. Even in the Brahmalok, it is necessary that the ego must, through self-effort, as per the direction of the Creator, & through constant contemplation upon the Self, come to deserve the total liberation. Those who go to lower worlds, at the end of Kalpa, have to come back & take rebirth, according to their remaining Vasanas. Keeping this in mind, Lord Krishna says that rebirth is for everyone, even to those who reached realms up to the Brahmalok.But to those who have awakened to the rediscovery of their essential, Eternal Nature, & realised themselves to be the One, All-pervading Self, to them, thereafter, there is no return to the plane of limited existence.

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BRAHMA’S DAY & NIGHT8.17 Those people who know (the length of) the day-of-BRAHMA which ends in a thousand Yugas (aeons), & the night which (also) ends in a thousand Yugas, they know day-and-night.It is now an accepted scientific fact that the concepts of time & space depend upon individual factors governing their measurements. Time moves very slowly when one is agitated & anxiously waiting for something, but time flies when he is happy & enjoying. Hindu philosophy considers time as a true measure of the interval between two different experiences. In a single given experience there is no perception of time. The greater the number of experiences to agitate the mind, the slower will the time move; the longer one experience continues, the faster moves the time. Our Puranic poets conceived that their gods had a larger dial for their divine clocks! Upanishads also give a scale of relative intensity of Bliss-experience, from a moral, healthy young man up to the very Creator Himself. This ascending scale of joy, experienced in different realms of Consciousness, shows the relative mental equipoise & tranquillity at those different levels of existence.Here, Krishna says that a thousand ‘cycles’ constitute the daytime of the Creator; and an equally long night time. In terms of our 365- day year, each ‘cycle’ consists of 4 aeons(Yugas)(a total of 4,349,000 years) & a thousand ‘cycles’ constitute the daytime of the Creator(4.349 Billion years). Just as the individual mind creates & acts during its waking hours(day), the Cosmic mind (the Creator) is also conceived as creating the gross world only during His waking hours.

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CREATION & DISSOLUTION BY BRAHMA8.18 From the unmanifested all the manifested proceed at the coming of the ‘day’; at the coming of ‘night’ they dissolve verily in that alone which is called the unmanifest.8.19 The same multiple of beings are being born again & again, & are dissolved; helplessly, O Partha, at the coming of ‘night’, & they come forth again at the coming of ‘day’.Here we have a description of how the Creator works. He creates during the day, & the entire created world, at the approach of His night, merges into the ‘unmanifest’. The act of creation is only the production of a name & form, with some specific qualities, out of a raw material in which the same name, form & qualities exist in an unmanifest condition.Anyone on a given day, is but the product of numerous yesterdays of intellectual thoughts, emotional feelings & physical actions. Just as there is a consistency of species in procreation, so also, there is a consistency in the multiplication of thoughts. Just as frog breeds frogs & men breed men, so too, good thoughts create good thought-currents which create more good thoughts. These thought impressions in our mind (Vasanas), that lie unmanifest, become manifested as gross actions, thoughts & words. When we sleep, all our thoughts & Vasanas become unmanifest, , but on waking, the same thoughts & Vasanas come to us, not somebody else's, sleeping at the same time.“The very same multitude of Beings” arrive at different fields of activity & states of Consciousness in order to exhaust themselves, “In spite of themselves”. None is able to disinherit himself from his past. The past always faithfully follows us like our shadow, darkening our path when we turn our back to the light of knowledge, but accompany us submissively at our heels when we turn towards the effulgent Self. On leaving a physical embodiment, a particular mind-intellect equipment continues its existence in just the same way as an actor exists after removing his clothes of a particular role, after the play.

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THE ETERNAL UNMANIFESTED8.20 But verily there exists, higher than that unmanifest (Avyakta), another Unmanifested, which is Eternal, which is not destroyed when all beings are destroyed.The changing world of the unmanifest must have one Changeless substratum, “That which is not destroyed by the destruction of all beings”, just like a single blackboard being used by different teachers to write down mathematical equations, geography maps or historic descriptions. The Principle of Pure Consciousness, , Itself Unmanifest, is indicated here as the changeless substratum of all, which the Lord declares as “ the other Eternal Existence, the Unmanifested”.The unmanifest (Vasanas) are the seeds of the manifest & they constitute ‘Ignorance (Avidya) in Vedanta. Ignorance can be only of an existent something, the Truth, the Self, serving as the Permanent & Changeless substratum. The Ultimate Reality, the Self, is being indicated here as something that lies beyond the frontiers of the delusory experiences of creation, dissolution & re-creation, over & over again.

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THE GOAL OF LIFE: MY HIGHEST ABODE8.21 That which is called the Unmanifest & the Imperishable, that, they say is the Highest Goal (path). They who reach It never again return. That is My Highest Abode(state).Krishna says here that the Eternal Unmanifested Factor, Brahman, the Imperishable Self, is the highest goal for man to achieve. Just as sleep is not the end of life, but only a refreshing pause, so too death is not an end, but only a restful pause in the unmanifested condition, that comes between two successive manifested existences in different bodies. Birth, as we have already been told, is a “House of pain & finitude”, & so, complete satisfaction can be reached only when there is no rebirth-no return.The Self, or Pure Consciousness, is poetically described here as the dwelling place of Krishna, “That is My Highest Dwelling Place”. In the Geeta, Krishna is THE Self, & as such the Highest Goal is to reach the state of Pure Consciousness, the Imperishable, which is available for the experiencer of the Self.

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UNSWERVING DEVOTION LEADS TO THE GOAL8.22 That Highest ‘Purusha’, O Partha, is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone, within whom all beings dwell, by whom all this is pervaded.Here Krishna tells us the technique & the path by which “That Ultimate Goal of Life” is attainable. Single-pointed devotion is the way & the means. Devotion or total selfless identification with the Supreme Purusha can be achieved only when the devotee has learnt to dissociate himself from all his preoccupations with his world of body, mind & intellect. This detachment from the false is gained in a growing attachment with the Real, the Permanent. The inspired seeker identifies oneself totally with the experience of “Self I am”. Though the seeking is subjective, in identifying with the Self, It is to be realised as the very substratum of the entire universe. Implying this oneness with the Truth behind the entire world of phenomena, Bhagawan indicates the nature of the Purusha as “In whom all beings abide & by whom all this is pervaded”.Pure Awareness is the Eternal Truth in which the unmanifest comes to be projected forth as the manifest. Pure Awareness, poured into the moulds of Vasanas, when frozen with ‘ignorance’ becomes the world of names & forms. One who has identified oneself with the Self comes to understand the very Essence out of which the confusing multiplicity has risen up into manifestation, as the delusory ‘Samsara’.

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THE PATH OF NO RETURN8.23 Now at what time (path) departing, Yogis go, never to return, that time(path) I will tell you, O Chief of Bharatas.8.24 Fire, light, daytime, the bright fortnight, the six months of the northern solstice; following this path, men who know Brahman go to Brahman.Here Krishna talks about the time of death & the path taken by Yogis to go & merge with the Brahman. The Realised Sages come to enjoy the Infinite Beatitude of the Bliss Absolute, & they never take re-births.This verse explains the path of gradual liberation (Krama-Mukti). He who lived a life of rituals & worship, will walk the path of the gods (Devayana); entering through the Sun, he will go beyond to Brahma- loka (World of the Creator), where he enjoys the super-sensuous Bliss till the end of the ‘cycle’ when, along with the Creator, he gets total liberation.“Fire, flame, daytime, bright-fortnight, northern-solstice”- these indicate the path of the gods presided over by the Sun. An Upasaka of Truth, at the time of his departure from this world, comes to think of the object of his contemplation of his whole life, & naturally, he goes to the world of his thoughts. This is the ascending path of evolution, the path of the gods, indicated here. This is also called the “Northern Route”, to indicate the path of gradual liberation.

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THE HOLY GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

THE PATH OF SURE-RETURN8.25 Smoke, night time, the dark fortnight, also six months of the southern solstice, attaining by these to the moon, the lunar light, the ‘Yogi’ returns.As contrasted with the path of no-return, there is a path of sure-return which is explained here. The path-of-return or the path of the ancestor, is presides over by the moon, which represents the world of matter. Those who leave the world after a life of meritorious activities, like doing good to others & performing rituals, are those who go to the world-of-ancestors, popularly known as heaven. After enjoying the pleasures there, when their merits are exhausted, they will have to return to the world, in embodiments ordered by their individual Vasana-balance.“The Path through the moon” (Pitryana) goes through smoke, night time, the dark fortnight,& the southern solstice, to the world of the ancestors. The moon, representing the world of matter, is the presiding deity of the sense enjoyments. Such people do return after having attained through the grace of the moon, the heavenly enjoyments for a period. A seeker struggling to raise himself above the various matter envelopments, reaches higher spiritual realms, from where he ultimately reaches the Supreme. But one who spent his lifetime in the enjoyment of sensual pleasures, & then in developing the higher instincts, after exhausting his meagre merits, in heaven, comes back to the field of action where he can make or unmake himself.

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THE HOLY GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

THE TWO PATHS8.26 The ‘Path-of-Light’ & the ‘Path-of-Darkness’ available for the world are verily thought to be both eternal; by the one, the ‘Path-of-Light’, a man goes to return not; by the other, the ‘Path-of-Darkness’, he returns again.The two paths described earlier, are renamed here according to the goal to which each ‘path’ leads the pilgrims. One takes the travellers to the brilliant heights of evolutionary success, the other into the dark abyss of evolutionary sorrow. They may be called the ‘Path-of-Moksha’ & the ‘Path-of-Samsara’.In any generation, we may find two categories of people; the secular & the sacred. The secular man feels that food, clothing & shelter are the absolutes & the fulfilment of life lies in the satisfaction of the largest number of sense-ticklers, & he feels no urge to seek anything nobler & diviner. The sacred man, on the other hand, feels no attachments to sense-pleasures, & his intellect is ever on fire with a great seeking of something beyond. These two paths, for the seekers of spirituality & those of materialism, are to be considered “As truly Eternal”. These two impulses together constitute the entire Samsara & are also eternal. But Vedanta says that Samsara for the individual can be ended. This verse secretly suggests that the aspirations for the higher life & the temptations for the lower existence are the two opposing forces that are eternally at tug-of-war with each other.

Page 27: The holy geeta chapter 8-akshara brahma yoga

THE HOLY GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

BE STEADFAST IN YOGA8.27 Knowing these paths, O Partha, no Yogin is deluded; therefore, at all times be steadfast in Yoga, O Arjuna.After knowing that the path-of-Light & the path-of-Darkness are the two opposing forces that function in our mortal life eternally, a true seeker will not fall into any sense of despair, when he watches a revolt rising in his bosom. “No Yogi is deluded, knowing these paths”.In this penultimate verse of the chapter, Krishna summarises his thesis & purpose, saying, “Therefore, Arjuna, you be a Yogi at all times”. He who has withdrawn himself from his false identifications & has come to fix his single-pointed mind in the contemplation of the Self, is called a Yogi here. The entire chapter is a divinely powerful plea recommending that Arjuna should, even while acting in the world, continuously strive to be one living in the awareness of the Divine, through a process of selfless identification with the Eternal, Imperishable Purusha.

Page 28: The holy geeta chapter 8-akshara brahma yoga

THE HOLY GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

THE YOGI ATTAINS TO THE SUPREME8.28 Whether the fruit of merit is declared (in the scriptures) as springing up from study of the Vedas, from performance of sacrifices, from practice of austerities, & from charity– beyond all these goes the Yogin, who having known this (the two ‘paths’) attains to the Supreme, Primeval (Essence).Sri Krishna concludes this chapter by glorifying the Yogi, a sincere meditator. He says that the Yogi surpasses all the other seekers, who study the Vedas, perform Yajnas, practise austerities & give selflessly in charity. Meditation can integrate the personality a million times more easily than by the above processes.When thus, a meditator who has, through meditation gained the results of selfless Karma & Upasanas, continued his practices, he comes to realise ‘This’ the Imperishable Purusha & “Attains to the Primeval Supreme Abode” having attained which, “My Highest State”, there is no return.

END OF CHAPTER 8, THE AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA

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THE HOLY GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

Page 30: The holy geeta chapter 8-akshara brahma yoga

THE HOLY GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri