Commentary on the Bhagavadgita : 51-3. - Swami Krishnananda.

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Chinmaya Mission

It is a great joy to share news of the completion of the 18th Vedanta Course. Under the guidance of Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayananda, in the hallowed portals of Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Powai, Mumbai, the batch of 26 Brahmacharins (8 Brahmacharinis and 18 Brahmacharis) began their journey on 14 January 2021 and successfully graduated on 30 October 2022.

To live the knowledge they have received, the passing out batch of Brahmacharins have been variously assigned to different Centres. This provides them with the perfect opportunity to serve in the field and immerse themselves in their sadhana, as they grow within.

We would like to express our collective gratitude to Pujya Guruji for the love and devotion with which he reared the 18th batch and wish each one of them the very best in their spiritual quest.

May Pujya Gurudev’s blessings be always on them!

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Wednesday, November 02, 2022. 07:00.

Discourse-51. The Eighteenth Chapter Concludes: The Bhagavadgita Concludes-3.

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Mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: 

“Surrender yourself to Me, and resort to Me only. I shall destroy all your sins.” This is a great statement indeed, because it is believed that sins cannot be destroyed. 

Avashyameva bhoktavyamkrtamkarma shubhā shubham, nābhuktamkśiiyate karma (B.V.): 

These slokas tell us that unexperienced karma cannot leave us; we have to undergo the effect of what we have done. Wherever we go, the karmas will follow us.

The greatest sin is ignorance of God, and every other form of crime, offence and sin is an offshoot of this ignorance of the Ultimate Reality. Because the final sin is the separation from God Himself, unity with God will destroy all sins—just as all evil that we perform in the dream state will be destroyed automatically by waking up. In dream we have borrowed so much wealth from somebody, we have committed this offence, that offence, all our property has been taken away, we are in a state of great grief. We are on our deathbed, as it were. All these stories can be found in the Yoga Vasishtha. All the experiences, all the sorrows, all the agonies, all the obligations, all the duties, all kinds of relationships that we were involved in during the state of dream do not produce any effect whatsoever when we wake up into a consciousness higher in quality than the dreaming state. The mere transformation of consciousness is equal to the fulfilment of all duties. Otherwise, even after waking up from dream we have to pay the debts that we have incurred in dream. We have to take care of all the children that we produced in the dream state because deserting our own children is a great sin, so why should we not also think of them when we wake up? Nothing will affect us, because consciousness determines everything. God-consciousness being the highest of awakenings, the world stands in relation to it as a dream. So, all the values, all the goodness and the badness, evil and sin in this world, whatever we call it, is like mist before the sun. It is annihilated root and branch because we have fulfilled the highest law. The offences and the sins that we commit in this world are no doubt violations of certain laws, but the fulfilment of the highest law includes all expiation in regard to the violations of laws that we have performed. God takes care of us to see that we shall not be punished, because we have done the greatest duty, more than anything that the world can conceive; and we have performed the greatest sacrifice, not comparable with any sacrifice that we can think of in this world; and we have cut at the root of all sin by uniting ourselves with God. 

Therefore it is that the Lord says: “I shall free you from all sins.” Ahaṁ tvā sarvapāpebhyo mokṣyayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ.

But we should not be under the impression that we can go on committing some foolish acts and God will come to our aid. He comes to our aid only when we are oblivious of our own existence, we are totally unaware of even the existence of the world, and we are absorbed in the Universal God utterly. It is in that condition of total transcendence of oneself that it is possible to expect this kind of blessing from the Almighty whereby all our offences are pardoned. Otherwise, as long as we are world-conscious and body-conscious—we know that there is a world and we know that there are people and that we also exist—then this law does not apply. We will have to reap the fruits of our karmas. Therefore, this is not a blanket cover for every kind of state of consciousness. It is applicable only to one state of consciousness—which is unity with God, not otherwise.

Idaṁ te nātapaskāya nābhaktāya kadācana, na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṁ na ca māṁ yo'bhyasūyati (18.67): 

“This great scripture should not unnecessarily be broadcast in the streets, and it should not be communicated to people who have not done some austerity in their life.” 

Atapaskāya: 

“One who is indulgent and grossly attached to objects in the world, totally far away from self-restraint, to such person communicate not this knowledge. One who has no devotion to Me, who carps at Me, denies Me, also to him let this not be communicated.” 

Kadācana: 

“Never. Do not communicate this to those who do not want to listen. They will say, ‘What are you boring into my ear?'” 

Na cāśuśrūṣave vācyaṁ: 

“To such people, do not say anything.” 

Na ca māṁ yo'bhyasūyati: 

“Those who are jealous, and who deny the very existence of God Himself, to them let this secret be not revealed.”

Ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ madbhakteṣvabhidhāsyati, bhaktiṁ mayi parāṁ kṛtvā mām evaiṣyatyasaṁśayaḥ (18.68): 

“But those people who are devotedly concerned with communicating this knowledge to true devotees of God, their devotion increases by this act of communicating this knowledge spoken by Me to you.”

 Speaking of glorious things is also a glory for one's own self. When we speak of lofty things, our minds are lifted to a lofty level. Therefore, our devotion to God is also enhanced simultaneously by our loving communication of this knowledge to true devotees of God. 

Mām evaiṣyati: “Then you attain to Me.” Asaṁśayaḥ: “No doubt.

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To be continued .

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