Gita : Ch-4. Slo-10.

Srimad Bhagavad-Gita :


Chapter-4. ( Jnana-karma-sanyasa-yogam)


Slokam-10. ( Persons  free  from  attachment,  fear,  and  anger  fully  dissolved  in  Me, many  seekers  being  purified  by  the  tapas  jnanam,  and  attained  My  status   ' bhavam ' . )


Veetha-ragha-bhaya-krodhah   man-maya    mamupasritah,


Bhahavo   jnana-tapasa    pootha   mad-bhavam-aghathah.



veetha-ragha-bhaya-krodhah  =   persons  free  from  attachment   fear,  and   anger;

man-maya   =  fully   immersed  in   me;

mam  upasritah  =  certainly  depending  on Me;

jnana-tapasa   poothah  =  being   purified   by   the   tapas  of   jnanam;

bhahavah  =  many  seekers;

mad-bhavam-aghathah  =   attained   My  Bhavam  ( abode ).

In the previous slokam Lord Krishna declares that those that truly know Him attain Him. Now the question may be raised is there any requirements necessary for attaining Him or does it mean that oneness with Him in His abode transpires automatically with knowledge of Him. To clear this up Lord Krishna states: vita-raga-bhaya-krodha meaning completely freed from passion, fear and anger. Passion is attachment to the opposite sex and children and family life. Fear is abhorrence of frightening situations due to lack of faith in God. Anger is a state of mind that blows up when one's ardent desires are frustrated by obstacles. This clearly indicates that jnana yoga or the cultivation of knowledge is essential for the mind to control the senses. In the Visnusahasra 136 it is given that: the physical body, the senses, the mind, the intellect, the vitality, splendour, potency, patience, and the atma or soul all are the possessions of the Supreme Lord. The very knowledge of the Supreme Lords transcendental nama or names, rupa or forms, guna or attributes, lila or pastimes and dhama or abode is the tapasya or penance which dissolves all karmas or reactions to previous actions. Thus wholly absorbed internally and externally in the wonderful and phenomenal Supreme Lord one naturally attains moksa or liberation with Him. Although there are different forms accepted when one attains the state of moksa these elevated beings attain oneness with differences or union with separateness. They are united because they all have attributes like omniscience and ananda or bliss. Yet they are separate due to differences in qualities having their own unique, individual spiritual characteristics. The great sage Pantajali of the hatha yoga system defines oneness as union with differences. In this way the statement of oneness of similar qualities in the state of moksa has been explained. There are two realities: one is the reality of oneness in form and the other is the reality of difference in forms. The absence of difference of the individual atma or soul from the paramatma or the supreme soul has already been refuted in chapter II.XIII by the plural usage of souls and concludes with the words dhiras tatra na muhyati meaning the intelligent are not deluded by this. 

    

It may be enquired how may one be elevated to attaining Lord Krishna merely by knowledge of His appearances and pastimes? This is answered by the instruction: being completely freed from passion, fear and anger then if those persons understand that due to Lord Krishna's magnanimous compassion He incarnates into His material creation through pure sattva or goodness to protect the principles of sanatan dharma or eternal righteousness and having no attachments and desires thus with no distractions focus their attentions to meditating on Him, fixed in Him, taking sole refuge in Him alone. These rare beings are naturally purified from the dross of ignorance and its products in prakriti or material nature by their own wisdom and penance consisting of performing prescribed Vedic activities according to one's order and station in life. This by the divine grace of the Supreme Lord through the medium of the bonafide guru exclusively the development of spiritual knowledge commences. The compound word jnana-tapasya means by knowledge and austerities. This knowledge and austerity is taught by the bonafide spititual master and is the procedure for one to receive the divine grace of the Supreme Lord. As all activities of the Supreme Lord are sublimely eternal the bestowal of this grace whenever it is received indicates that it is not newly inculcated but is given eternally as well. The Vedic dictum of that and thou referring to the Supreme Lord and the living entity are spoken of only in the context of the individual consciousness as being distinct from the ultimate consciousness. The individual consciousness as the living entity having numerous limitations and the ultimate consciousness as the Supreme Lord having no limitations. The Supreme Lord being free from ignorance and ever pure while the living entity is purified by degrees by renouncing ignorance through knowledge gained by the divine grace of the Supreme Lord through the mercy of the spiritual master in disciplic succession from one of the four Vedic sampradayas or authorised Vedic channel of disciplic succession.

By completely renouncing passion, fear and anger and subsequently adoring the Supreme Lord many attained moksa or liberation. Man-maya means complete abidance and refuge in the Lord in all situations.

Mayam means making the Lord the central focus of one's life as the primary objective. One who knows the Supreme Primacy of the Lord's position becomes eventually aware of His transcendental integral form. Only those who know the Supreme Resplendent Lord thus are qualified for liberation and no others. Being aware of His integral form indicates attaining their eternal spiritual form similar to His in quality but not quantity.

What Lord Krishna is confirming is that legions of human beings over the ages have attained true realisation of His avatar forms or incarnations and His lilas or divine pastimes through jnana yoga or the cultivation of Vedic knowledge and purifying themselves attained moksa or liberation and entered the abode of the Supreme Lord. The spiritually advanced in Vedic wisdom know something of the truth about the Supreme Lord appearances and pastimes. But it is only the Vaisnava devotees of the Supreme Lord, who desire Him alone and who serve Him with love and devotion, only they can truly comprehend the sublime transcendental mystery of His divine appearances, pastimes, forms, abode and nature.

To be continued   ....