Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : 26-4. Swami Krishnananda.

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Friday, September 30, 2022. 06:00.
Chapter 26: Being Spiritually Alone to Oneself-4.

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What do you think of this state of affairs of the mind of a human being not wanting to live a life of yoga? It is lack of faith arising out of lack of understanding, an absence of yoga due to an absence of sankhya, to repeat the very words of the Bhagavadgita. We are totally deprived of correct understanding, and therefore the way of life chalked out by this right understanding is not acceptable to us. It is not intelligible and, therefore, not acceptable. But all the course that we have now covered through these chapters of the Gita would have given us a little bit of an awakening into the facts of life. The world is made in such a way, truly speaking, that it is not necessary to ask for anything in this world.

We can understand the meaning of this position only if we remember what we have studied earlier. The world is related to us in such a way basically that we need not expect anything from it, as when a customer goes and expects something from a shop. The world is not a market where we can purchase things or beg for things. It is our home. Therefore, we are secure in this world, but we are secure only if we are friends of the law of the world, which is also a state of the Self. As was stated earlier, we are ever protected and we can never be forsaken in this world, but we are protected only if we are friends of the law of that principle which is ever ready to protect us. Otherwise, the world is an impossible place to live in. We cannot live in this world for three days if we have a wrong notion of it. The world is sticking to our skin, as it were. It is our large self. It is one degree of the manifestation of the universal Self, and our little self, in its unitive association with this large Self, stands not only united but guarded, protected, and provided with every amenity. 

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It will be told us later on that we shall be taken care of, and we shall be guarded: 

"Ananyash chintayanto mam ye janah paryupasate

tesham nityabhiyuktanam yoga-kshemam vahamyaham." (BG 9.22). 

yogakṣemaṃ vahāmy aham 

Who says this? God says that, or the world says that, or your higher Self says that, the law says that: I shall look after you. Therefore, there is no need for asking. Hence, there is no point in the clamour of the senses for objects outside, especially as it is an unnatural way of thinking. Therefore, all our joys in life are, in a way, unnatural. The satisfactions of life to which we cling so much as the only normalcy in existence is utter abnormality. It is a spiritual sickness – a metaphysical evil, as philosophers call it. 

Therefore, let the yogin restrain himself: yogī yuñjīta satatam ātmānaṃ rahasi sthitaḥ. 

Ekākī yatacittātmā nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ: Be alone to yourself and live a life of seclusion.

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Here again, we have to appreciate the real intention of these instructions. 

Are we ever alone in this world? 

Is it possible to be secluded and to be in a state of utter retreat? Is it a practicability? 

The yoga of the Bhagavadgita is a novel teaching. It is always putting the finger on the knob. It always answers questions to the point without beating about the bush, and therefore it is so concentrated in its teaching that it may sometimes seem difficult to understand and to appreciate its meaning. What is meant by saying that yogins should be alone and be secluded? How could we become secluded in this world?

Well, as the yoga of the Bhagavadgita is also an instruction and a gradational ascent of the self from the lower to the higher state, the meaning of the terms ‘seclusion' and ‘aloneness' should also be considered in their gradational meanings. In the lowest meaning it may mean that you should physically be dissociated from the crowds of people as much as possible. You should not always be longing for association with herds, crowds, multitudes. The more you feel satisfied in being alone to yourself, the more is the progress you have made in living a spiritual life. If you feel sick and out of sorts because nobody is there to talk to, you may consider that you have not appreciably entered the field of spirituality. There is still a longing for something other than one's own self.

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To be continued ....

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