Bg 6.36
asaṁyatātmanā yogo duṣprāpa iti me matiḥ
vaśyātmanā tu yatatā śakyo ’vāptum upāyataḥ
Bg 6.37
arjuna uvāca
ayatiḥ śraddhayopeto yogāc calita-mānasaḥ
aprāpya yoga-saṁsiddhiṁ kāṁ gatiṁ kṛṣṇa gacchati
Bg 6.38
kaccin nobhaya-vibhraṣṭaś chinnābhram iva naśyati
apratiṣṭho mahā-bāho vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi
Bg 6.39
etan me saṁśayaṁ kṛṣṇa chettum arhasy aśeṣataḥ
tvad-anyaḥ saṁśayasyāsya chettā na hy upapadyate
Bg 6.40
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
pārtha naiveha nāmutra vināśas tasya vidyate
na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid durgatiṁ tāta gacchati
Bg 6.41
prāpya puṇya-kṛtāṁ lokān uṣitvā śāśvatīḥ samāḥ
śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo ’bhijāyate
Translation
36 . YOGA, I think is hard to be attained by one of uncontrolled self; but the self-controlled, striving, can obtain it by (proper) means.
Arjuna said: 37. He who, though possessed of faith, is unable to control himself, whose mind wanders away from YOGA, to what end does he, having failed to attain perfection in YOGA go, O Krishna?
38. Fallen from both, does he not, O mighty-armed, perish like a rent cloud, supportless and deluded in the path of BRAHMAN?
39. This doubt of mine, O Krishna, please dispel completely; because it is not possible for any one but You to dispel this doubt.
The Blessed Lord said: 40. O Partha, neither in this world, nor in the next world is there destruction for him; none, verily, who strives to be good, O My son, ever comes to grief.
41 Having attained to the worlds of the righteous, and having dwelt there for everlasting (long) years, he who had fallen from YOGA is born again in the house of the pure and the wealthy.
Commentary
In the previous stanza extreme emphasis was placed on practice. But what constitutes the spiritual practice (Abhyasa) was not indicated, even indirectly, in that verse. A scientific book that leaves missing links, either in its arguments, or in its logic, is no text-book at all. In the stanza under review, Krishna is giving a direct clue to what He means by the term 'practice' (Abhyasa).
He declares that the uncontrolled, and therefore, the totally dissipated person, cannot bring into the field of religion the necessary amount of dynamic vigour and vitality to sustain him till he reaches the peak of his Self-rediscovery. It is therefore said: "Yoga IS HARD TO BE ATTAINED BY ONE OF UNCONTROLLED SELF."
An individual who barters himself away to slave among the sense-objects according to the mad dictates of his flesh --- or he who dances to the death-tunes sung by his sensuous mind --- or he who roams about endlessly to fulfil the tyrannical demands of a drunken intellect --- such a one has neither peace of mind nor the strength of sustained aspiration to goad him on towards the Temple-of-Truth within himself.
As long as the sense-organs are not properly controlled, 'the agitations of the mind' cannot be pacified. An agitated mind is no instrument, either for listening or for reflection or for meditation --- and without these three, the 'veiling power' cannot be rolled up. The agitations (Vikshepa) and veiling (Avarana) are caused by 'activity' (Rajas) and 'inactivity' (Tamas), and we have already found that, without controlling these two temperaments, the 'un-activity' (Sattwa) cannot come to predominate in the seeker.
It is natural, in a discussion, that you have to present your own arguments against a team of opposite arguments so that the discriminative intellect of the listener may, by contrast, easily judge the acceptability and logic of your view-point. Krishna uses here this commonplace technique of every drawing-room, when He, in the second line, explains as a contrast, how "THE SELF-CONTROLLED, STRIVING HARD, BY RIGHT MEANS, CAN OBTAIN IT." Self-control, achieved through the process of total withdrawal of the sense-organs from their respective objects, is the beginning of spiritual life... and this is never possible until we learn to turn our minds to the Higher Truth.
Even in ordinary life, when he wants to achieve something solid, the man-of-the-world will have to live to a large extent in self-denial. The life of a candidate during election time, that of a student before examinations, or of an actor or a dancer before his first performance... are all examples wherein we find that the individuals deny themselves all their idle preoccupations in their anxiety for success in their respective fields. If, for material gains and flimsy ephemeral glories, we have to deny ourselves, how much more should we deny ourselves the joys of the world outside in order to win the glories of the Eternal and the Permanent, the Infinite and the Absolute Bliss of the Self!
It is not that the seeker should deny himself all sense-objects. This seems to be the general misunderstanding among almost all seekers in India to-day. In the name of religion or spiritual practice, many seekers, at least for some years, live seemingly in self-denial and self-punishment, shamelessly insulting themselves and carelessly persecuting their own physical urges and even biological needs. This sort of a devilish and suicidal self-condemning tyranny of oneself, always ends in an outburst of Satanic forces from within the very seeker.
Lest the student of the Geeta also should fall a prey to such a misunderstood and misconceived spirituality, Bhagawan indicates here, that the self-controlled seeker can, "STRIVING RIGHTLY, OBTAIN IT." Not going to a cinema and not visiting the playgrounds are not, in themselves, assurances that the students will pass their examinations. The time wasted in such merry-making must be properly utilised in intelligent study, which alone can vouchsafe for them a success in their examinations. Here too, if a student appearing for an examination in mathematics, were to read the whole night geography text-books, he cannot hope for any glorious success; he must STRIVE RIGHTLY in order to gain true success.
Similarly, when through self-control, a seeker has conserved in himself energies which would otherwise have got dissipated in the gutters of sensuality, he must know how to direct those energies into the right channels, whereby he can get himself detached from his misconceived self-projections and ultimately realise for himself his own Self-hood. That such an intelligent seeker "CAN OBTAIN IT" is the optimistic philosophy of this ever-smiling God of the Hindus, Lord Krishna.
With these two verses, Krishna exhaustively answers the question raised by Arjuna, and what follows clearly indicates that the Pandava Prince has been convinced by the Lord's reply.
THE QUESTION YET REMAINS OF WHAT WOULD BE THE LOT OF ONE, 'SELF-CONTROLLED, AND STRIVING HARD THROUGH RIGHT MEANS; WHO COULD NOT YET FULFIL AND REACH THE GOAL:
In this and the following two verses Veda Vyasa makes Arjuna raise a pertinent question, so that Krishna may get yet another chance to bring the supremely optimistic philosophy of Vedanta right in the footlights. None, striving on the Path Divine, can ever be destroyed; and whatever he accomplishes will be faithfully carried over, as a legacy, by the individualised-self in its pursuit here and in the hereafter. Each today is an added link in the endless chain of the dead-and-gone yesterdays. The chain continues growing, by adding to itself link after link, all the yesterdays. Death is only one of the incidents in a human existence and the tomorrow has no accidental, or arbitrary beginning, but it is only a perfect continuation of yesterday MODIFIED by the thoughts and actions of today.
Carefully voicing his vague doubt, Arjuna asks as to what will happen to one, who strives with deep faith (Shraddha), but fails to accomplish complete self-control during his life-time, or due to lack of sufficient self-control falls from Yoga. The doubt is that such an individual may thereby come to lose both the little joys of the sense-objects and the Absolute Bliss in the hereafter. The Vedantins, even while they condemn a mere life of sense-joys, do not for a moment deny the fact that there ARE traces of joy in the sense life also. According to them, daring thinkers that they are, the joys of the sense-objects (Vishaya-ananda) are, in their essence, nothing other than glimpses of the Spiritual Bliss (Brahmananda). The secret import of the question is that those who faithfully follow Krishna's theory may come to lose both the chances of experiencing the finite and the Infinite joy.
Such a seeker, striving all his life to live in self-control, will be a conscious escapist --- avoiding all the finite joy-temptations in the gross world here. But, if the uncertain factor --- death --- were to creep in to clip the thread of his life with the scissors of time, he would lose his chances of gaining the Absolute Beatitude, which is the goal that Krishna seems to point out in his Divine Song. Again, suppose that a seeker, due to a lack of self-control, falls from Yoga. To win in Yoga, no doubt, is a great victory, a GAIN PAR-EXCELLENCE. But if, in the race, one were to get knocked down by the stealthy club of sensuousness, one would stand to lose both here and hereafter. Naturally, Arjuna wants some guidance from Krishna as to what will happen to such an individual.
In this verse also, we must note very carefully, that the term Shraddha is not some maddening superstition which encourages a blind faith. According to Shankara, Shraddha is the right intellectual apprehension of the deeper import and the fuller significance of what the teachers teach and the scriptures declare. The inspired devotion that springs up in a bosom, from among its solid intellectual convictions, gained through a true appreciation, is the mighty power called faith "that can move mountains" and "can bring the very heavens on the earth."
TO THROW MORE COLOUR ON TO THE PICTURE OF THE SPIRITUALLY DESPERATE SEEKER, WHOM ARJUNA HAS ATTEMPTED TO PAINT IN THE PREVIOUS STANZA, THE FOLLOWING IS ADDED:
A sincere wayfarer, faithfully treading the path of self-control to rediscover the Self, may get lost, if death were to rob him on his way, or for want of complete self-control he were to fall from Yoga. The striking example with which this idea is brought out by Arjuna, is one of the most brilliant poetic strokes in the entire Geeta. This is often quoted in literary circles, whenever an attempt is made to evaluate Vyasa, the poet, in Sanskrit literature.
In summer, mushroom-shaped floating castles of clouds arise from behind the mountains to peep into the valleys below. At the touch of some strong current of wind the mass takes to flight, leaving along its trail, small bits of fleecy cloudlets. Those little ones, torn away from the parental bulk, get knocked about and are at the mercy of every puff of breeze. Such summer cloudlets, aimlessly kicked about according to the whims and fancies of the winds, can never fulfil the expectations of the farmers, or the clamour of the thirsty. Unfulfilling themselves, they get tossed hither and thither without any haven for themselves. "LIKE THE RENT CLOUD," Arjuna asks, "will not the aspiring self in the seeker be forced to roam about and ultimately get lost in the vast amphitheatre of the Universe?"
WHY DOES ARJUNA ASK THIS QUESTION?
In this concluding verse of this section, Arjuna frankly asks: "THIS DOUBT OF MINE, O KRISHNA, YOU SHOULD COMPLETELY DISPEL."
"The Eternal Scraper," Lord Krishna, alone has the Pure Wisdom that can rub out this doubt and quieten the agitations caused by it, in the bosom of Arjuna. With this question, it becomes amply clear that his previous doubt has been totally dispelled. The earlier doubt was that: "Self-Realisation is impossible, since the mind which is ever turbulent can never be stilled." The reply of the Lord had smoothened out this knotty kink in Arjuna's mind.
Every true seeker, if he be diligent enough, must come to discover a couple of new doubts, when a previously existing doubt has been cleared. The process of slowly eliminating all these doubts, is the process of Vichara that is practised both consciously and unconsciously, during all Satsangas.
THE GLORIOUS LIFE OF THE HEREAFTER ASSURED TO EVERY EVOLVER IS CLASSIFIED HEREUNDER, ON THE BASIS OF THE INTENSITY OF THE MENTAL ATTITUDE AND THE SPIRITUAL APTITUDE IN EACH
OF THEM.
IN THE FOLLOWING FIVE STANZAS, BHAGAWAN TRIES TO EXPLAIN THE PATH OF PROGRESS OF A SEEKER WHOSE SPIRITUAL ENDEAVOURS HAVE BEEN EITHER CLIPPED BY AN UNTIMELY DEATH, OR ARRESTED BY THE INTERVENTION OF SOME SENSUOUS TEMPTATION.
At the very opening of this section, Krishna assures, with all emphasis at his command, that "NEITHER HERE NOR IN THE HEREAFTER, IS THERE ANY DESTRUCTION FOR HIM, WHO PERFORMS RIGHT ACTION."
This statement is not a mere emotional assurance built upon some blind faith, or a Godly declaration that is to be swallowed down by the faithful, because of its being sacred words that have come out of the lips of a Prophet. The Hindus do not accept any divine prerogative, even for their gods, by which they can by-pass the individual intellect and the rules of logic. Religion is a "SCIENCE OF LIFE" and it must completely explain the WHY and the WHEREFORE of its practices.
Obedient to this incomparable trait in our culture, Krishna supports his statement with the philosophical truth: "NEVER FOR THE DOER OF GOOD, DEAR SON, A WOEFUL END." One who acts rightly in the present, can come to no grief in the future, because the future is but a product of the past and the present.
The fear of Arjuna that the unsuccessful Yogin --- a seeker obstructed and held up on the path --- will get lost "AS A RENT CLOUD," here and in the hereafter, has risen from his failure to appreciate the logical continuity and the perfect sequence that is ever found in life. To consider that death is the end of an existence which started with the accident of birth, is a philosophy too rudimentary to be considered complete and exhaustive. In fact, it is only with a stretch of imagination that we can consider such a theory as a philosophy.
Daring intellects, bravely pushing ahead in the quest to understand and comprehend the laws of life and the meaning and purpose of the Universe, cannot but accept that the existence of an individual in its present embodiment is but a single pearl in the necklace of Infinite Beauty adorning the bosom of Truth. The present is the product of the past, and thought by thought, action by action, knowledge by knowledge, we are creating for ourselves in the present the blue-print of our future. Therefore, the Hindus believe in previous lives as well as in future births for all embodied souls; this is otherwise called the theory of re-incarnation.
Based upon this principle, Krishna insists that no seeker is ever lost, although he may slip and fall, or even end his present manifestation; tomorrow is but today modified, but directly continued.
In addressing Arjuna as "O MY SON," Krishna has here not only followed the traditional practice of the Upanishads, but there is also a deeper significance. However deceitful, cunning and cruel a brute one might be to everyone else in the world, one cannot ever come to advise a false philosophy to his own son. With fatherly love, the Man-of-Wisdom in Krishna is assuring Arjuna that one who is striving in the direction of evolution shall never come to suffer any REAL fall. On the ladder of cultural growth, each step that is placed forward is an ascent towards the Absolute Perfection.
WHAT EXACTLY WOULD BE THE DESTINY OF A MAN WHO COULD NOT COMPLETE HIS PILGRIMAGE IN YOGA? WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM THEN?
The hereafter is ordered by the actions performed and the motives entertained here. Actions in life can be mainly classified as good and evil; and the pursuers of the evil can only slip down the path of evolution. Those who are doing good work alone can start their climb on to the higher points on the tower of their spiritual progress. Even here, our text-books make a careful distinction and classify all good activities under two main headings: (a) actions performed with desires, and (b) those that are performed in a spirit of dedicated love and in a sense of divine worship. Since reactions to actions depend entirely upon the motives that propel those actions, the results accruing from selfish and selfless activities must necessarily differ from one another. Naturally, there must be different routes of progress to the same Pinnacle of Perfection. All of them are being indicated here in this section.
Those who are employing themselves in the worship of the Lord with desire for heavenly enjoyments will, after their death, reach those planes-of-consciousness which are conducive for exhausting all such desires and, having exhausted these desires therein, they will take their birth again, here in the world, "IN THE HOUSES OF THE PURE AND THE PROSPEROUS." In short, all burning desires of every human will be fulfilled at one time or another, if the desires are strong enough and are accompanied by intense activities appropriate for their fulfilment.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
asaṁyatātmanā yogo duṣprāpa iti me matiḥ
vaśyātmanā tu yatatā śakyo ’vāptum upāyataḥ
Bg 6.37
arjuna uvāca
ayatiḥ śraddhayopeto yogāc calita-mānasaḥ
aprāpya yoga-saṁsiddhiṁ kāṁ gatiṁ kṛṣṇa gacchati
Bg 6.38
kaccin nobhaya-vibhraṣṭaś chinnābhram iva naśyati
apratiṣṭho mahā-bāho vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi
Bg 6.39
etan me saṁśayaṁ kṛṣṇa chettum arhasy aśeṣataḥ
tvad-anyaḥ saṁśayasyāsya chettā na hy upapadyate
Bg 6.40
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
pārtha naiveha nāmutra vināśas tasya vidyate
na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid durgatiṁ tāta gacchati
Bg 6.41
prāpya puṇya-kṛtāṁ lokān uṣitvā śāśvatīḥ samāḥ
śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo ’bhijāyate
Translation
36 . YOGA, I think is hard to be attained by one of uncontrolled self; but the self-controlled, striving, can obtain it by (proper) means.
Arjuna said: 37. He who, though possessed of faith, is unable to control himself, whose mind wanders away from YOGA, to what end does he, having failed to attain perfection in YOGA go, O Krishna?
38. Fallen from both, does he not, O mighty-armed, perish like a rent cloud, supportless and deluded in the path of BRAHMAN?
39. This doubt of mine, O Krishna, please dispel completely; because it is not possible for any one but You to dispel this doubt.
The Blessed Lord said: 40. O Partha, neither in this world, nor in the next world is there destruction for him; none, verily, who strives to be good, O My son, ever comes to grief.
41 Having attained to the worlds of the righteous, and having dwelt there for everlasting (long) years, he who had fallen from YOGA is born again in the house of the pure and the wealthy.
Commentary
In the previous stanza extreme emphasis was placed on practice. But what constitutes the spiritual practice (Abhyasa) was not indicated, even indirectly, in that verse. A scientific book that leaves missing links, either in its arguments, or in its logic, is no text-book at all. In the stanza under review, Krishna is giving a direct clue to what He means by the term 'practice' (Abhyasa).
He declares that the uncontrolled, and therefore, the totally dissipated person, cannot bring into the field of religion the necessary amount of dynamic vigour and vitality to sustain him till he reaches the peak of his Self-rediscovery. It is therefore said: "Yoga IS HARD TO BE ATTAINED BY ONE OF UNCONTROLLED SELF."
An individual who barters himself away to slave among the sense-objects according to the mad dictates of his flesh --- or he who dances to the death-tunes sung by his sensuous mind --- or he who roams about endlessly to fulfil the tyrannical demands of a drunken intellect --- such a one has neither peace of mind nor the strength of sustained aspiration to goad him on towards the Temple-of-Truth within himself.
As long as the sense-organs are not properly controlled, 'the agitations of the mind' cannot be pacified. An agitated mind is no instrument, either for listening or for reflection or for meditation --- and without these three, the 'veiling power' cannot be rolled up. The agitations (Vikshepa) and veiling (Avarana) are caused by 'activity' (Rajas) and 'inactivity' (Tamas), and we have already found that, without controlling these two temperaments, the 'un-activity' (Sattwa) cannot come to predominate in the seeker.
It is natural, in a discussion, that you have to present your own arguments against a team of opposite arguments so that the discriminative intellect of the listener may, by contrast, easily judge the acceptability and logic of your view-point. Krishna uses here this commonplace technique of every drawing-room, when He, in the second line, explains as a contrast, how "THE SELF-CONTROLLED, STRIVING HARD, BY RIGHT MEANS, CAN OBTAIN IT." Self-control, achieved through the process of total withdrawal of the sense-organs from their respective objects, is the beginning of spiritual life... and this is never possible until we learn to turn our minds to the Higher Truth.
Even in ordinary life, when he wants to achieve something solid, the man-of-the-world will have to live to a large extent in self-denial. The life of a candidate during election time, that of a student before examinations, or of an actor or a dancer before his first performance... are all examples wherein we find that the individuals deny themselves all their idle preoccupations in their anxiety for success in their respective fields. If, for material gains and flimsy ephemeral glories, we have to deny ourselves, how much more should we deny ourselves the joys of the world outside in order to win the glories of the Eternal and the Permanent, the Infinite and the Absolute Bliss of the Self!
It is not that the seeker should deny himself all sense-objects. This seems to be the general misunderstanding among almost all seekers in India to-day. In the name of religion or spiritual practice, many seekers, at least for some years, live seemingly in self-denial and self-punishment, shamelessly insulting themselves and carelessly persecuting their own physical urges and even biological needs. This sort of a devilish and suicidal self-condemning tyranny of oneself, always ends in an outburst of Satanic forces from within the very seeker.
Lest the student of the Geeta also should fall a prey to such a misunderstood and misconceived spirituality, Bhagawan indicates here, that the self-controlled seeker can, "STRIVING RIGHTLY, OBTAIN IT." Not going to a cinema and not visiting the playgrounds are not, in themselves, assurances that the students will pass their examinations. The time wasted in such merry-making must be properly utilised in intelligent study, which alone can vouchsafe for them a success in their examinations. Here too, if a student appearing for an examination in mathematics, were to read the whole night geography text-books, he cannot hope for any glorious success; he must STRIVE RIGHTLY in order to gain true success.
Similarly, when through self-control, a seeker has conserved in himself energies which would otherwise have got dissipated in the gutters of sensuality, he must know how to direct those energies into the right channels, whereby he can get himself detached from his misconceived self-projections and ultimately realise for himself his own Self-hood. That such an intelligent seeker "CAN OBTAIN IT" is the optimistic philosophy of this ever-smiling God of the Hindus, Lord Krishna.
With these two verses, Krishna exhaustively answers the question raised by Arjuna, and what follows clearly indicates that the Pandava Prince has been convinced by the Lord's reply.
THE QUESTION YET REMAINS OF WHAT WOULD BE THE LOT OF ONE, 'SELF-CONTROLLED, AND STRIVING HARD THROUGH RIGHT MEANS; WHO COULD NOT YET FULFIL AND REACH THE GOAL:
In this and the following two verses Veda Vyasa makes Arjuna raise a pertinent question, so that Krishna may get yet another chance to bring the supremely optimistic philosophy of Vedanta right in the footlights. None, striving on the Path Divine, can ever be destroyed; and whatever he accomplishes will be faithfully carried over, as a legacy, by the individualised-self in its pursuit here and in the hereafter. Each today is an added link in the endless chain of the dead-and-gone yesterdays. The chain continues growing, by adding to itself link after link, all the yesterdays. Death is only one of the incidents in a human existence and the tomorrow has no accidental, or arbitrary beginning, but it is only a perfect continuation of yesterday MODIFIED by the thoughts and actions of today.
Carefully voicing his vague doubt, Arjuna asks as to what will happen to one, who strives with deep faith (Shraddha), but fails to accomplish complete self-control during his life-time, or due to lack of sufficient self-control falls from Yoga. The doubt is that such an individual may thereby come to lose both the little joys of the sense-objects and the Absolute Bliss in the hereafter. The Vedantins, even while they condemn a mere life of sense-joys, do not for a moment deny the fact that there ARE traces of joy in the sense life also. According to them, daring thinkers that they are, the joys of the sense-objects (Vishaya-ananda) are, in their essence, nothing other than glimpses of the Spiritual Bliss (Brahmananda). The secret import of the question is that those who faithfully follow Krishna's theory may come to lose both the chances of experiencing the finite and the Infinite joy.
Such a seeker, striving all his life to live in self-control, will be a conscious escapist --- avoiding all the finite joy-temptations in the gross world here. But, if the uncertain factor --- death --- were to creep in to clip the thread of his life with the scissors of time, he would lose his chances of gaining the Absolute Beatitude, which is the goal that Krishna seems to point out in his Divine Song. Again, suppose that a seeker, due to a lack of self-control, falls from Yoga. To win in Yoga, no doubt, is a great victory, a GAIN PAR-EXCELLENCE. But if, in the race, one were to get knocked down by the stealthy club of sensuousness, one would stand to lose both here and hereafter. Naturally, Arjuna wants some guidance from Krishna as to what will happen to such an individual.
In this verse also, we must note very carefully, that the term Shraddha is not some maddening superstition which encourages a blind faith. According to Shankara, Shraddha is the right intellectual apprehension of the deeper import and the fuller significance of what the teachers teach and the scriptures declare. The inspired devotion that springs up in a bosom, from among its solid intellectual convictions, gained through a true appreciation, is the mighty power called faith "that can move mountains" and "can bring the very heavens on the earth."
TO THROW MORE COLOUR ON TO THE PICTURE OF THE SPIRITUALLY DESPERATE SEEKER, WHOM ARJUNA HAS ATTEMPTED TO PAINT IN THE PREVIOUS STANZA, THE FOLLOWING IS ADDED:
A sincere wayfarer, faithfully treading the path of self-control to rediscover the Self, may get lost, if death were to rob him on his way, or for want of complete self-control he were to fall from Yoga. The striking example with which this idea is brought out by Arjuna, is one of the most brilliant poetic strokes in the entire Geeta. This is often quoted in literary circles, whenever an attempt is made to evaluate Vyasa, the poet, in Sanskrit literature.
In summer, mushroom-shaped floating castles of clouds arise from behind the mountains to peep into the valleys below. At the touch of some strong current of wind the mass takes to flight, leaving along its trail, small bits of fleecy cloudlets. Those little ones, torn away from the parental bulk, get knocked about and are at the mercy of every puff of breeze. Such summer cloudlets, aimlessly kicked about according to the whims and fancies of the winds, can never fulfil the expectations of the farmers, or the clamour of the thirsty. Unfulfilling themselves, they get tossed hither and thither without any haven for themselves. "LIKE THE RENT CLOUD," Arjuna asks, "will not the aspiring self in the seeker be forced to roam about and ultimately get lost in the vast amphitheatre of the Universe?"
WHY DOES ARJUNA ASK THIS QUESTION?
In this concluding verse of this section, Arjuna frankly asks: "THIS DOUBT OF MINE, O KRISHNA, YOU SHOULD COMPLETELY DISPEL."
"The Eternal Scraper," Lord Krishna, alone has the Pure Wisdom that can rub out this doubt and quieten the agitations caused by it, in the bosom of Arjuna. With this question, it becomes amply clear that his previous doubt has been totally dispelled. The earlier doubt was that: "Self-Realisation is impossible, since the mind which is ever turbulent can never be stilled." The reply of the Lord had smoothened out this knotty kink in Arjuna's mind.
Every true seeker, if he be diligent enough, must come to discover a couple of new doubts, when a previously existing doubt has been cleared. The process of slowly eliminating all these doubts, is the process of Vichara that is practised both consciously and unconsciously, during all Satsangas.
THE GLORIOUS LIFE OF THE HEREAFTER ASSURED TO EVERY EVOLVER IS CLASSIFIED HEREUNDER, ON THE BASIS OF THE INTENSITY OF THE MENTAL ATTITUDE AND THE SPIRITUAL APTITUDE IN EACH
OF THEM.
IN THE FOLLOWING FIVE STANZAS, BHAGAWAN TRIES TO EXPLAIN THE PATH OF PROGRESS OF A SEEKER WHOSE SPIRITUAL ENDEAVOURS HAVE BEEN EITHER CLIPPED BY AN UNTIMELY DEATH, OR ARRESTED BY THE INTERVENTION OF SOME SENSUOUS TEMPTATION.
At the very opening of this section, Krishna assures, with all emphasis at his command, that "NEITHER HERE NOR IN THE HEREAFTER, IS THERE ANY DESTRUCTION FOR HIM, WHO PERFORMS RIGHT ACTION."
This statement is not a mere emotional assurance built upon some blind faith, or a Godly declaration that is to be swallowed down by the faithful, because of its being sacred words that have come out of the lips of a Prophet. The Hindus do not accept any divine prerogative, even for their gods, by which they can by-pass the individual intellect and the rules of logic. Religion is a "SCIENCE OF LIFE" and it must completely explain the WHY and the WHEREFORE of its practices.
Obedient to this incomparable trait in our culture, Krishna supports his statement with the philosophical truth: "NEVER FOR THE DOER OF GOOD, DEAR SON, A WOEFUL END." One who acts rightly in the present, can come to no grief in the future, because the future is but a product of the past and the present.
The fear of Arjuna that the unsuccessful Yogin --- a seeker obstructed and held up on the path --- will get lost "AS A RENT CLOUD," here and in the hereafter, has risen from his failure to appreciate the logical continuity and the perfect sequence that is ever found in life. To consider that death is the end of an existence which started with the accident of birth, is a philosophy too rudimentary to be considered complete and exhaustive. In fact, it is only with a stretch of imagination that we can consider such a theory as a philosophy.
Daring intellects, bravely pushing ahead in the quest to understand and comprehend the laws of life and the meaning and purpose of the Universe, cannot but accept that the existence of an individual in its present embodiment is but a single pearl in the necklace of Infinite Beauty adorning the bosom of Truth. The present is the product of the past, and thought by thought, action by action, knowledge by knowledge, we are creating for ourselves in the present the blue-print of our future. Therefore, the Hindus believe in previous lives as well as in future births for all embodied souls; this is otherwise called the theory of re-incarnation.
Based upon this principle, Krishna insists that no seeker is ever lost, although he may slip and fall, or even end his present manifestation; tomorrow is but today modified, but directly continued.
In addressing Arjuna as "O MY SON," Krishna has here not only followed the traditional practice of the Upanishads, but there is also a deeper significance. However deceitful, cunning and cruel a brute one might be to everyone else in the world, one cannot ever come to advise a false philosophy to his own son. With fatherly love, the Man-of-Wisdom in Krishna is assuring Arjuna that one who is striving in the direction of evolution shall never come to suffer any REAL fall. On the ladder of cultural growth, each step that is placed forward is an ascent towards the Absolute Perfection.
WHAT EXACTLY WOULD BE THE DESTINY OF A MAN WHO COULD NOT COMPLETE HIS PILGRIMAGE IN YOGA? WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM THEN?
The hereafter is ordered by the actions performed and the motives entertained here. Actions in life can be mainly classified as good and evil; and the pursuers of the evil can only slip down the path of evolution. Those who are doing good work alone can start their climb on to the higher points on the tower of their spiritual progress. Even here, our text-books make a careful distinction and classify all good activities under two main headings: (a) actions performed with desires, and (b) those that are performed in a spirit of dedicated love and in a sense of divine worship. Since reactions to actions depend entirely upon the motives that propel those actions, the results accruing from selfish and selfless activities must necessarily differ from one another. Naturally, there must be different routes of progress to the same Pinnacle of Perfection. All of them are being indicated here in this section.
Those who are employing themselves in the worship of the Lord with desire for heavenly enjoyments will, after their death, reach those planes-of-consciousness which are conducive for exhausting all such desires and, having exhausted these desires therein, they will take their birth again, here in the world, "IN THE HOUSES OF THE PURE AND THE PROSPEROUS." In short, all burning desires of every human will be fulfilled at one time or another, if the desires are strong enough and are accompanied by intense activities appropriate for their fulfilment.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
No comments:
Post a Comment