The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita - 11.7. Swami Krishnananda.

 

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Saturday, July 17, 2021. 9:11. PM. 
Chapter 11: The Yoga of Meditation -7.
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We have been very sincere and honest in our efforts in the direction of Yoga, and it shall take care of us; it cannot desert us. And Yoga is a more loving mother than all the mothers that we can think of in the world. Or, the great Teacher, Krishna, tells us that one may be born as a child of a Yogi himself, and what can be a greater blessedness than that to a seeking soul? There is no fear of destruction or loss of effort.

The Sixth Chapter concludes by saying that God is the Friend and Protector of all. We shall achieve peace of mind only when we realise that God is our Friend, and the only Friend, and the most real of all friends. When we turn to Him for succour, how could He desert us, leave us, and forget us? We can forget Him, but he cannot forget us, because the Real is more powerful than the apparent, or the unreal. Our distractions are movements of the mind towards shadows and not realities.

But when there is a sincere movement towards Reality, though without a proper conception of it, it shall work in its own way in a miraculous manner. The ways of God are mysterious in themselves and, therefore, the sincerity, in whatever measure, that we exercise towards God, whatever our concept of God, wholehearted like a child’s, that shall be our saviour in our future life. Not merely that, here in this life itself we shall be taken care of. Krishna says that neither here nor hereafter will there be any trouble for that person.

The difficulties are only in the beginning when one feels as if one is in hell itself. But, later on, one will see the rays of the supernal light flashing upon one’s face. Everything is difficult and hard and unpleasant in the beginning. The Gita will tell us sometime afterwards that things which are good ultimately look very unpleasant in the beginning, but they yield the fruit of the greatest satisfaction and delight later on.

The pains of life, the sufferings through Yoga, are inevitable in the case of every kind of spiritual practice. When we practise meditation, we are clearing the debris of our personality. It is as if we are sweeping our room which has not been dusted for years, clearing the cobwebs, etc. And when we clear the room of the dirt, there we will find the dust rising up and blinding our eyes, and it may look as if things have become worse than what they were earlier. But afterwards the dust goes; it has been swept completely, and we are happy.

To be continued ...

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