Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : 21-3. Swami Krishnananda.

 =======================================================================

=======================================================================

Monday, May 23,  2022. 20:00

Chapter 21.The Two Ways of Yoga -3.

=========================================================================

Now, this unifying factor has to rise into conscious action. It should not be lying back in the unconscious level. The whole Atman, the whole Self, the whole being, the entire faculty – understanding, willing, feeling, volition – everything should come together into a single activity, not diversified action. 

This is to fix the understanding in That, 

the buddhi in That, 

the intellect in That, 

the reason in That, 

and the whole soul in That: tadātmāna.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tanniṣṭhāḥ:We have taken a vow to observe this discipline of recognising That, bringing That into the conscious level of our daily life, and concerning ourselves only with That. 

This is niṣṭhāḥ. Niṣṭhāḥ is a kind of discipline, like the purascharana vrata of japa. Niṣṭhāḥ is a tapas. It is a dedication, a policy that we adopt in our life. It is a vow that we take; it is a holy sacrament. There is nothing for us to think except That, and we want nothing but That. 

That is tatparāyaṇāḥ. We will no more say, “I want this. I want that.” We shall find all that we want there. Inasmuch as all that we seek here will be found there, there is no point in saying, “I want this. I want that.” 

So that is our aim, that is our objective, and we are bent upon moving in that direction for that experience only. 

Such purified ones who are capable of living this kind of life of intense spiritual discipline shall not come back to mortal suffering. Gacchanty apunarāvṛttiṁ: They attain moksha, salvation in God.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yoga is the way to this experience. 

This will be explained in the Sixth Chapter, but an introductory remark is made at the end of the Fifth Chapter itself which clinches the issue of this whole concentration which is yoga. 

Sparśān kṛtvā bahir bāhyāṁś cakṣuś caivāntare bhruvoḥ, prāṇāpānau samau kṛtvā nāsābhyantaracāriṇau (BG 5.27); 

yatendriyamanobuddhirmunir mokṣaparāyaṇaḥ, vigatecchābhayakrodho yaḥ sadā mukta eva saḥ (BG 5.28) : 

Liberated indeed is that individual even while living in this world who can undergo this discipline that is now going to be described in these two verses. Shutting out all externality from perception is the first requisite. 

Sparśān kṛtvā bahi: Let the externality in perception be shut out from connection with consciousness.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our perception of an object involves a dual operation. 

This is described in detail in Vedanta texts such as the Panchadasi, and in many other scriptures in philosophy. When we perceive an object, the mind is said to be cast in the mould of the shape of that object. But the mind is insentient, basically. It requires to be illuminated by a light from inside. The form of the object into which the mind is cast in the perception of an object is to become self-conscious action. It is not merely the fact of cognising the form of the object, but also converting that cognition into an experience in the form of ‘I know this object'. This is a retrospective action of consciousness which attends upon the movement of the mind in respect of the object outside. Unless consciousness charges the mental activity in terms of an object outside, there would not be perception of an object. 

Just as a copper wire can be electrified by a generator, without which charge it is like any other wire on which one can hang cloth, the mind is dead matter practically, it is one of the evolutes of prakriti. As we have noted earlier, it is also of the gunas: sattva, rajas, tamas. It has no consciousness of its own. It is something like a mirror, which has no light of its own but can reflect light if it is cast on it.

To be continued .......

========================================================================