Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : 18-1. - Swami Krishnananda.

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Friday, January 21, 2022. 08:00. 

The First Six Chapters of the Bhagavadgita

Spoken on Bhagavadgita Jayanti).

 Chapter 18: Reconciling Knowledge and Action - 1.

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It was mentioned that there are varieties of sacrifice, and the mode of this sacred performance has been pointed out to be as variegated as the possible approaches of man to reality. How many kinds of sacrifice are there? As many as there are ways of approach to the Supreme Being. How many kinds of yoga are there? ‘The same' is the answer. How many types of meditation? As many as there are human beings. No two minds can think alike in every respect. Therefore, identical forms of reaction to reality are not contemplated. The generality of approach may be of a uniform nature as we are all human beings, but each one is different from the other in details of thought, opinion, aspiration and performance. So while the foundations of human approach to reality may be a common ground, the superstructure, the tapering and completing of the edifice vary according to the individual relationships to the otherwise-uniform reality.

Now, our relationship to reality is the crucial point here in our understanding of the manner of our reaction to it, which is called sacrifice. Our attitude to God is called sacrifice, to put it more plainly in religious language, and inasmuch as the face of God is shining through every form of creation, our attitude to anyone is a sacrifice. Thus, the whole life becomes divine, transformed in an instant. Life becomes a worship and a yoga. Life becomes a karma that is liberating, not binding, because of the fact that the liberating karma is the same as the person's attitude to reality.

There is no necessity to get involved in binding action because the face of God cannot bind anyone and there is nothing, not even an atom, which does not let through its apertures at least an eye of God. Nevertheless, our relationships are manifest in different degrees of expression, which we considered earlier on a different occasion. We have a social relation to God if we consider the variety of creation, including humanity, as a manifestation of God's performance. We have a material and a physical relationship, if we regard our own selves as bodies and the world as a constitution of matter. As physical embodiments, we react physically to the physical nature, but we are also psychic beings. We are minds, intellects, feelings, volitions which react to the inner psychological components and the living secrets hidden in nature. And finally, at the root of our being, we are the ray of the universal Spirit itself.

So when we speak of sacrifice as our reaction to reality, we naturally have to consider it from various levels of the expression of our personality, to which correspond the correlative of these degrees, namely, the levels of being in the external universe. The layers of our personality, individually speaking, correspond inch by inch to the cosmological levels outside in all creation. So it was said that there is material sacrifice, social sacrifice, sensory sacrifice, vital sacrifice, psychological sacrifice, intellectual sacrifice and spiritual sacrifice. 

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Chapter-4.

Slokam: 28.

"Dravya-yajnas tapo-yajna yoga-yajnas tathapare

swadhyaya-jnana-yajnash cha yatayah sanshita-vratah.

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Slokam Meaning :

Some offer their wealth as sacrifice, while others offer severe austerities as sacrifice. Some practice the eight-fold path of yogic practices, and yet others study the scriptures and cultivate knowledge as sacrifice, while observing strict vows.

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Translation :

dravya-yajnah—offering one’s own wealth as sacrifice; 

tapah-yajnah—offering severe austerities as sacrifice; 

yoga-yajnah—performance of eight-fold path of yogic practices as sacrifice; 

tatha—thus; 

apare—others; 

swadhyaya—cultivating knowledge by studying the scriptures; 

jnana-yajnah—those offer cultivation of transcendental knowledge as sacrifice; 

cha—also; 

yatayah—these ascetics; 

sanshita-vratah—observing strict vows.

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Commentary :

Human beings differ from each other in their natures, motivations, activities, professions, aspirations, and sanskārs (tendencies carrying forward from past lives). Shree Krishna brings Arjun to the understanding that sacrifices can take on hundreds of forms, but when they are dedicated to God, they become means of purification of the mind and senses and elevation of the soul. In this verse, he mentions three such yajñas that can be performed.

Dravya yajña. There are those who are inclined toward earning wealth and donating it in charity toward a divine cause. Although they may engage in large and complicated business endeavors, yet their inner motivation remains to serve God with the wealth they earn. In this manner, they offer their propensity for earning money as sacrifice to God in devotion. John Wesley, the British preacher and founder of the Methodist Church would instruct his followers: “Make all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.”

Yog yajna :

In Indian philosophy the Yog Darshan is one of the six philosophical treatises written by six learned sages. 

Jaimini wrote “Mimansa Darshan,” Ved Vyas wrote “Vedant Darshan,” 

Gautam wrote “Nyaya Darshan,” 

Kanad wrote “Vaisheshik Darshan,” 

Kapil wrote “Sankhya Darahan,” and 

Patanjali wrote “Yog Darshan.” 

The Patanjali Yog Darshan describes an eight-fold path, called ashtaṅg yog, for spiritual advancement, starting with physical techniques and ending in conquest of the mind. Some people find this path attractive and practice it as sacrifice. However, Patañjali Yog Darśhan clearly states:

“To attain perfection in Yog, you must surrender to God.” So when persons inclined toward aṣhṭang yog learn to love God, they offer their yogic practice as yajña in the fire of devotion. An example of this is the yogic system “Jagadguru Kripaluji Yog,” where the physical postures of aṣhṭaṅg yog are practiced as yajña to God, along with the chanting of his divine names. Such a combination of yogic postures along with devotion results in the physical, mental, and spiritual purification of the practitioner.

 Thus, studiously inclined sadhaks engage in the sacrifice of knowledge, which when imbued with the spirit of devotion, leads to loving union with God.

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#In one slokam all types of possible sacrifice on the part of a human being in relation to reality have been delineated.

To be continued ......

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