Commentary on the Srimad Bhagavad Gita- Discourse 6.1. - Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Sunday, November 15, 2020. 06:24. PM.

Discourse 6: The Third Chapter Begins – The Relation Between Sankhya and Yoga -1.

Post-1.

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Srimad Bhagavad Gita - Chapter-2. Slokam-72.

"Esha brahmi sthitih partha nainam prapya vimuhyati, 

sthitvasyam antakale’pi brahmanirvanamu ucchati." (2.72). 

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The Second Chapter of the Gita, which we have practically concluded yesterday, is the core of the teaching of the whole of the Bhagavadgita, which is elaborated in the subsequent chapters, from the Third onwards. Madhusudhana Saraswati, a commentator on the Bhagavadgita, has pointed out that the teachings of every subsequent chapter are a commentary on one or the other of the verses of the Second Chapter. The Second Chapter is pre-eminently important because the whole of the teaching is on Sankhya and yoga, whose basic principles have been explained during the past few days. If you can remember the details of the Sankhya and the yoga that we have covered during these days, as described in the Second Chapter, you would have noticed that it is a complete teaching on the highest way of spiritual living, wherein there is a rapprochement of the world, God, and the individual at the same time. The world, the individual and God are supposed to be three metaphysical principles on which it is that acharyas write commentaries, and on which it is that theories of philosophy are propounded.

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This being the complete teaching, as it were, one who is established in this never gets confounded afterwards. 

"Esha brahmi sthitih — virtually, the establishment of oneself in this understanding, vouchsafed through the Second Chapter, as we have described, is an establishment in the Absolute. It is a rooting of one’s consciousness in the total envisagement of values. 

“Therefore, O Arjuna, this knowledge that has been communicated to you up to this time is enough for you to get established in that Brahman. Once you are established in this, you will never have any mental confusion afterwards. Everything will be perspicacious, everything will be clear. You will see all things as if in a mirror.”

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Even if a person is able to remain in this consciousness only during the last moment of life, that will do. It is good that we maintain a consciousness of this reality throughout our life, day in and day out; but the compassionate Lord says that even if this is not practicable for us, at least if we are conscious of this state at the time of the passing of the breath from this body, then we are blessed. Sthitvasyam antakalepi brahmanirva?am ?cchati: He shall attain to Brahman. So we can understand the importance of the meaning of the Second Chapter of the Bhagavadgita.

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After having heard all this, a question that usually arises in the minds of common people also arose in the mind of Arjuna. 

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Srimad Bhagavad Gita - Chapter-3. Slokam-1&2.

"Jyayasi cet karmanaste mata buddhir janardana, 

tat kim karmani ghore mam niyojayasi kesava;" (3.1) 

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"vyamisreneva vakyena buddhim mohayasiva me, 

tad ekam vada niscitya yena sreyo’ham apnuyam."  (3.2)

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“You have been telling me that all action has to be based on knowledge; and the very value of action seems to be dependent on the extent of the Sankhya knowledge in which it is to be rooted. Your emphasis seems to be on Sankhya—knowledge. Then why is that You are goading me to action? Sometimes You say Sankhya, sometimes You say yoga, sometimes You say ‘do this’, sometimes You say ‘do that’; You are confusing my mind.” It is a very clear teaching. There was no confusion in what Sri Krishna said, but it had not entered the mind of Arjuna—as perhaps it has not entered the minds of many of us also. It cannot be remembered always.

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To be continued ...

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