The Moksha Gita: Chapter: 7 -Slogas - 1 to 6. by Swami Sivananda - Commentary by Swami Krishnananda

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Tuesday 23, June 2026, 06:30. 
Books
Bhagavad Gita & Hinduism
The Moksha Gita: 7-   Swami Sivananda.
Chapter 7: The Process of Sadhana:
Commentary:  Swami Krishnananda.

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गुरुरुवाच ॥

आच्छाद्यते यथा वह्निर्भस्मना च कृपाणकः ।

कोशेन च रविर्मेधैर्गर्भश्चोल्बेन हीरकः ॥

मृदा तल्पश्छदेनैवं ब्रह्म मांसास्थिभिर्वृतम् ॥१॥

1. The Guru said: As fire is concealed by ashes, sword by the scabbard, sun by the clouds, foetus by the amnion, rubies by the earth, mattress by the bed sheet, so also, Brahman is concealed by flesh and bones.

The Eternal Brahman is concealed by flesh and bones. The appearance of the body hides away the Reality. Truth is covered by a golden vessel. The sun is very big in size, much bigger than the whole earth itself, but a finger over the eyes renders such a sun invisible. Brahman is Truth, Knowledge, Infinity, but a tiny force of Avidya which covers the self makes the entire Brahman imperceptible and even makes it to be felt as non-existing. The removal of the finger makes one behold the glorious sun. The eradication of thought allows one to experience the Infinite Reality.

The perception of the unreality of the visible universe and everything which cannot be Brahman is one of the methods to seek the oneness of the self with Brahman or the Absolute. Everything being Brahman, there is nothing real in itself anywhere. When what is unreal is removed from the mind, then, what remains must be the Real. If all that is multiple, physical and dual is false, the remainder should be the unity of the Ekarasa-Satchidananda. Matter is perceived to be Spirit appearing and the perception of the duality of Prakriti ant Purusha is melted into the oneness of Kevala Asti alone where the One that is Santam, Sivam and Advaitam hails supreme. How can there be two entities, Prakriti and Purusha? Eternal duality of the Sankhyas is incorrect, far Prakriti is a shadow of the Substance of Brahman. What appears and what is are not two beings but only the One mistaken to be two. The Reality and its shadow are taken as one Chidghana, the aspirant after Brahman sees no shadow, he sees Brahman only.

Objects other than the Self are a non entity and the difference between the subject and the object is a falsity. The intellectual conviction is superseded by a tremendous touch of the supersensual light, and the dark corner of the earth is illumined by the splendour of the Divine Being. Denial of the creative force of the surface consciousness is a dissolving power which disintegrates individuality at a stroke.

यदापनीयते भस्म तदाग्निः साधु दृश्यते ।

यदाभाणि निरस्यन्ते तदाऽऽदित्यः प्रकाशते ॥२॥

यदापनीयते कोशः कृपाणो दृश्यते तदा ।

यदास्तरणमुत्सृष्टं तदा तल्पो नु दृश्यते ॥३॥

तथैवाज्ञानसंवारे निरस्ते ब्रह्मरोधिनि ।

ब्रह्मबोधेन संभास्वद्ब्रह्मसाक्षात्कृतिर्भवेत् ॥४॥

2, 3, 4. If you remove the ash you can perceive the fire; if the clouds are dispersed you can cognise the sun; if you remove the scabbard you can behold the sword; if you remove the bed-sheet you can see the mattress. Even so, if the veil of ignorance which conceals the Brahman is removed by knowledge of Brahman, you can directly cognise the Self-luminous Brahman.

The veil of ignorance is to be pierced through and through, and this act consists in disbelieving limitation and finitude and dissolving them in the menstruum of Brahman which is the Freedom of Infinitude. The Spirit or the Self should be abstracted and separated from the objective factors of empirical experience and thus experienced its nature where the identity of the Atman and Brahman is affirmed. The Absolute Brahman transcends both objectivity and subjectivity, for both conceptions are interdependent and therefore involve relations. The Self is hence affirmed to be free from both subjectivity and objectivity. All desires, likes and dislikes, drop down from the personality and the individual melts into the Ocean of Ananta, Paripoorna, Satchidananda.

In the light of the all-ness of Brahman the great denial of the world ensues. The mind in its static aspect is Brahman itself, but in its dynamic aspect appears as the world. The knowledge of this fact withdraws the faith in the external universe into the Bhuma, where nothing else is. The citadel of individuality is broken by the invasion of the Absolute. The life of misery and risk in the world is stepped over only through the sacrifice of the separate self. One who gives away the all, gets the All. The charity of the self brings the fruit of Absoluteness and Immortality. The complete possession of everything that exists is possible only by effacing oneself completely. The person who ties his thoughts to that which is beyond the ego loses his ego. The self must be lost if the Self is to be gained. The removing of the veil is the removing of one's own personality, and the higher Truth is realised in proportion to the extent to which the lower individuality is suppressed. A veritable suicide of the ego is what is meant by the dissolution of personality in Eternity. It is like cutting the branch of a tree by sitting on that branch itself. The slow self-transcendence practised through Yoga and Wisdom leads the aspirant to the Heart of Bliss where his thirst is quenched for ever and the hunger of ages appeased!

दुग्धे न नवनीतं त्वं व्यापकं परिपश्यसि ।

तदेव लभसे किन्तु मथिते पयसि स्वयम् ॥५॥

तथा न ब्रह्म शक्नोषि संद्रष्टं चर्मचक्षुषा ।

ध्यानेन द्रक्ष्यसि ब्रह्म सर्वव्यापि त्वसंशयम् ॥६॥

5, 6. You cannot see the all-pervading butter in the milk, but if you churn it you can get the butter. Even so you cannot see Brahman by these physical eyes; but you can behold the All-pervading Brahman by the churning of meditation.

The churning of meditation brings the butter of Brahman. When the confused subjectivity is overcome, the nature of Brahman is revealed. The whole task of Sadhana is a very careful and vigilant process and it should not be undertaken at random. The physical eyes cannot see Brahman because Brahman which is Experience is different from perception. Perception which is a part cannot encompass Experience which is the Whole. The part is included within the Whole. Sense-activity is a method of the further sub-division of the act of psychic cognition and hence the senses by themselves are rendered impotent in trying to comprehend Brahman. The senses are automatically withdrawn into their dynamo of the mind which charges them with the power of action, when the moral restraints and ethical disciplines are rigidly observed.

The predecessor of the meditative condition is the steadiness of the psychic organ. The main factors which disturb right thinking are lust, greed and anger which give birth to infatuation, pride and jealousy. The generality of mankind fancies to think that lust is a passion for sex. But on careful investigation it will be found that it is an intense desire for self-expression in one way or the other. The aspirant should guard himself against falling a victim to this force by checking with fortitude the urge to materialise himself further, which urge manifests itself in countless ways, ununderstandable and unimaginable. The fire of clinging to life is the mother of all impulses for self-manifestation. When the will to live is pulled down by the root, the urge for expressing oneself is withheld. Anger is the outcome of unfulfilled desires and greed is the effect of love for life. These are the negative forces of the one strong desire to maintain the individuality and to increase the sense of diversity by adding to the number of the individuals. The job of Nature is distracting things, creating things and killing things. One who involves himself in the family of the creative Prakriti cannot practise Yoga. Yoga is swimming against the current of Maya, acting against the nature of the mind, against the formal law of the earth, against Pravritti and against everything that is pleasant to the being of the earth. Meditation or Yoga is the Sreyo-Marga, life on earth is the Preyo-Marga.

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