Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : 21-4. Swami Krishnananda.

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Saturday, May 28,  2022. 20:00

Chapter 21.The Two Ways of Yoga -4.

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Consciousness is independent of externality. Bahi means ‘outward'. 

The mind is nothing but outwardness of consciousness. 

We cannot know the actual connection of the mind with the Atman. 

The Yoga Vasishtha goes into details of this issue of the structure of the mind in its relation to consciousness which is all pervading, sometimes making out that the mind is nothing but restricted consciousness, restricted in the sense of pointedness in a particular spot in space and time. It gets converted, reflected, distorted, becomes topsy-turvy in its operation when it is pulled out of itself. In a way, we may say, to be more specific, the mind is not something independently working outside consciousness. It cannot be outside. It is an unintelligible operation in consciousness itself. 

This is beyond human comprehension, practically. It is an impulse of what we can call externality, forcing consciousness to be out of itself for the time being. ‘Self becoming not-self' is sense perception. Self becoming not-self, the I becoming not-I, the subject for the time being temporarily getting transferred into the form of the object, and tying itself to that object. This is bondage, this is samsara, this is world-experience.

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But in yoga practice, careful attention is bestowed on this perceptive operation of consciousness. A very subtle operation is this. Generally, we get muddled up in our perceptions. When we look at a thing, we do not know who actually is looking at the thing. “I look at it.” We make a glib statement, but it is not so simple a matter as that. 

When we say ‘I look', who is looking, and what is it that is looked at? 

We will find there is an interfusion of various layers of confusion in every act of perception of an object.

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The perceiving consciousness can never be other than what it is. This means to say, it cannot move out of itself, which again means to say that it can never become an object; it cannot be pulled in the direction of something outside. 

Such a kind of thing it cannot subject itself to, yet it seems to be doing something like that, which is unthinkable, as we have it in dream, for instance – the self becoming the not-self, a phantasmagoria presented in an externalised picture of a largely projected universe of dream, which is not possible on the very face of it, and yet it has become possible. We see it as a concrete reality.

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The world is a dream. It is an illusion. 

We are sometimes told that it does not exist at all. 

If the world is nothing but the outcome of the externalised operation of consciousness, the world should be an illusion indeed because externalisation of consciousness is not possible. It cannot be externalised.

 That would be to make the Self other than what it is. So if we want the world to be understood in the sense of a topsy-turvy operation of the Self, that is not possible. If that is the case, the world cannot exist. Perhaps it does not really exist. Yet, it is made to appear as if it exists because of the compulsion of consciousness to believe that this topsy-turvy position is the real position. 

It is standing on its head. The top has become the bottom; the bottom has become the top. The inward has become the outward, and the outward has become the inward, like our face being reflected in a mirror. We see it as if it is outside though it is inside, and it is also distorted. 

The right is looking left; the left is looking right. 

This is the world.

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But in yoga practice, this force which compels consciousness to move out of itself in an external fashion should be shut out. This is, incidentally, equivalent to shutting out kama krodha, desire and greed. 

BG-5.23

"kama-krodha-viyuktanam yatinam yata-chetasam

abhito brahma-nirvanam vartate viditatmanam"

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Tattvam :

For those sanyāsīs, who have broken out of anger and lust through constant effort, who have subdued their mind, and are self-realized, liberation from material existence is both here and hereafter.

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Commentary ;

Karm-yog is the safer path to take for most people, as explained in verse 5.2, and that is why Shree Krishna has strongly recommended it to Arjun.  However, for someone who is truly detached from the world, karm sanyās is also suitable.  It is advantageous in that there is no diversion of time and energy toward worldly duties, and one can dedicate oneself fully to the practice of spirituality.  There have been many accomplished sanyāsīs in history.  Shree Krishna states that such true karm sanyāsīs also make rapid progress and experience peace everywhere.  By eliminating the urges of desire and anger and subduing their mind, they attain perfect peace both in this life and here-after.  

We often harbor the misconception that external circumstances are at fault for the lack of peace in our lives, and we hope for the day when the situation will become conducive to peace of mind.  However, peace is not dependent upon the external situation; it is a product of purified senses, mind, and intellect.  The sanyāsīs, with their mind and thoughts turned inward, find the ocean of peace within, independent of external circumstances.  And then, with the internal machinery in order, they experience the same peace everywhere, and are liberated in this world itself.

(BG 5.26) was said earlier in this chapter. 

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BG-5.23.

"Shaknotihaiva yah sodhum prak sharira-vimokshanat

kama-krodhodbhavam vegam sa yuktah sa sukhi narah."

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Slokam Tattvam :

He who is able, while still here (in this world) to withstand, before the liberation from the body (death) , the impulse born out of desire and anger, he is a YOGIN , he is a happy man. Those persons are yogis, who before giving up the body are able to check the forces of desire and anger; and they alone are happy.

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Commentary :

The human body presents a golden opportunity for the soul to reach the Supreme goal of God-realization.  In this body, we possess the faculty of discrimination, while animals are driven by their nature.  Shree Krishna emphasizes that this power of discrimination should be exercised to restrain the impulses of desire and anger.

One meaning of the word kām is lust, but in this verse kām is used for all kinds of desires of the body and mind for material pleasures.  When the mind does not attain the object of its desire, it modifies its state to exhibit anger.  The urges of desire and anger are very powerful, like the strong current of a river.  Even animals are subject to these urges, but unlike humans they are not bestowed with the discrimination to restrain them.  However, the human intellect has been bestowed with the power of discrimination.  The word sodhum means “to withstand.”  This verse instructs us to withstand the urges of desire and anger.  Sometimes one restrains the urges of the mind out of embarrassment.  Let us say there is a man sitting at the airport.  A beautiful lady comes and sits by his side.  His mind desires the pleasure of putting his arm around her, but the intellect resists with the thought, “This is improper conduct.  The lady may even slap me for it.”  To avoid the shame of censure, he restrains himself.  Here Shree Krishna is not asking Arjun to restrain the mind out of embarrassment, fear, or apprehension, but through discrimination based on knowledge.  

The resolute intellect should be used to check the mind.  As soon as the thought of savoring a material pleasure comes to the mind, one should bring the knowledge to the intellect that these are sources of misery.

ADI SANKARA COMMENTARY

Yah saknoti, one who can, is able to; 

sodhum, withstand; 

iha eva, here itself, while alive; 

prak, before; 

sarira-vimoksanat, departing from the body, till death-. 

The Lord says:

Death is put as a limit because the impulse of desire and anger is certanily inevitable for a living person. For this impulse has got infinite sources. One should not relax until his death. That is the idea. Kama, desire, is the hankering, thirst, with regard to a coveted object-of an earlier experience, and which is a source of pleasure-when it comes within the range of the senses, or is heard of or remembered. And krodha, anger, is that repulsion one has against what are adverse to oneself and are sources of sorrow, when they are seen, heard of or remembered. That impulse (veda) which has those desire and anger as its source (udbhava) is kama-krodha-udbhava-vegah. The impulse arising from desire is a kind of mental agitation, and has the signs of horripilation, joyful eyes, face, etc. The impulse of anger has the signs of trembling of body, perspiration, bitting of lips, red eyes, etc. He who is able to withstand that impulse arising from desire and anger, sah narah, that man; is yuktah, a yogi; and sukhi, is happy, in this world. What kind of a person, being established in Brahman, attains Brahman? 

 

These are all practically the same things being said: The impulsion of consciousness to move out of itself in the form of the so-called object outside is to be attributed to what we otherwise call kama krodha: desire and greed and anger, propulsion, which is most unjustifiable finally. So shutting out all these impulses, be cautious in this process of pratyahara, abstraction of consciousness. Bāhyāṁ: Let the outward be outward only. How can the universal become outward? That is called creation. If the universal can become an external, creation is possible. Inasmuch as such a thing is not possible, perhaps creation has not taken place.

To be continued ....

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