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Bhagavad Gita Sthitaprajna lakshna - Verses 61 to 64, Swami Dayananda Saraswati's Commentary from Gita Homestudy

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tani sarvani samyamya yukta asita matparah

vase hi yasyendriyani tasya prajna pratishita Verse 61

 

yuktah - the one who is endowed with discrimination; tani - those; sarvani -

all; samyamya - keeping them in one's own hands; matparah - committed to me;

asita - may the person sit; yasya - whose; vase - under control; indriyani -

sense organs; hi - indeed; tasya - his; prajna - knowledge; pratishita -

well-established

 

May one who is endowed with discrimination, keeping all the sense organs in

one's own hands, sit in contemplation of Me. For the one who has all the sense

organs under control, the knowledge is well-established. The advice given by

Krsna in this verse is - tani sarvani samyamya yukta asita matparah. In the

compound matparah, mat refers to Ìsvara, meaning, in me, Ìsvara, and the word

para means to be committed to. Ësita means, 'may he sit.' Krsna says,

'Withdrawing the senses, tani sarvani samyamya, may he sit committed to me,

Ìsvara.' The person is advised to contemplate upon the one who is the atma,

the self, of everything, the satya, the truth, of everything, the one who is

limitless, the one who is the inner self of all beings, not just one's own

body-mind-senses - but the being of all beings - the existence in all forms of

existence. This is the ultimate end to be accomplished and is the Lord - the

cause for everything, the truth of everything - which is oneself alone.

Therefore, let the one whose ultimate end is the innermost self, pratyagatma,

which is the self of all, sit in contemplation, having withdrawn the senses to

himself or herself. Such a person must be a viveki. He or she must already be

endowed with the ability to discriminate between the real and the unreal. Some

knowledge must be there. Otherwise, sitting in contemplation will not work. If

a person sits without viveka, what will he or she do? What will the advice,

'Contemplate on Me,' mean to such a person? His or her understanding of this

advice will definitely be different because the person does not know what it

is all about.

 

THE NECESSITY FOR CONTEMPLATION

Only when a person has enough inquiry, sravana, and understanding, is he or

she endowed with the capacity to discriminate. Only then will the person know

what is to be contemplated upon. The question, 'Why should I contemplate?'

comes from rasa. The vision is stifled; it is knowledge with a lot of

obstructions, sapratibandha-jnana. The knowledge we are talking about here is

that of a sthitaprajna, one who is well-established in knowledge. The

knowledge is possible only when rasa goes and rasa goes only by constant

contemplation. It takes its own time. Thus, may the person sit in

contemplation. There are different forms of contemplation wherein the same

pratyagatma, inner self, is seen from different angles: the limitless self -

p£rna-atma, the detached self -asanga-atma, the self as witness - saksi-atma,

the action-free self - akartr-atma, the self that is free from the sense of

being an enjoyer - abhoktr-atma, and the self that is ever-full - ananda-atma,

is to be recognised in these different ways. By contemplating upon the atma in

this manner, the rasas go. How can they remain? If you know, 'I am all this -

aham idam sarvam,' the rasa cannot be there. Thus, rasa goes away in time and

knowledge becomes well-established and clear - tasya prajna pratishita.

 

Sankara introduces the next two verses by saying that Krsna points out exactly

how a person gets into trouble when he or she is completely taken over by the

senses, meaning the rasas. This analysis applies to everyone - vivekis and

avivekis alike. There is a common psychology here, the psychology of a desire

- how a desire originates, how the pursuit of it begins, how it destroys one's

objectivity, and so on - all of which is set out in these two very important

verses that follow.

 

dhyayato visayanpumsah sangastes£pajayate

sangatsanjayate kamah kamatkrodho'bhijayate Verse 62

 

krodhadbhavati sammohah sammohat smrtivibhramah

smrtibhramsad buddhinaso buddhinasat pranasyati Verse 63

 

visayan - objects; dhyayatah - for the one who dwells upon; pumsah - for the

person; sangah - attachment; tesu - with reference to them; upajayate - is

born; sangat - from attachment; sanjayate - is born; kamah - desire; kamat -

from desire; krodhah - anger; abhijayate - is born; krodhat - from anger;

bhavati - comes; sammohah - delusion; sammohat - from delusion;

smrti-vibhramah - loss of memory; smrti-bhramsat - from loss of memory;

buddhi-nasah - ruin of the mind; buddhi-nasat - from ruin of the mind;

pranasyati - one is destroyed

 

In the person who dwells upon objects, an attachment is born with reference to

them. From attachment is born desire and from desire, anger is born. From

anger comes delusion and from delusion comes the loss of memory. Because of

the loss of memory, the mind becomes incapacitated and when the mind is

incapacitated, the person is destroyed. Every desired object has its own

peculiarities, its enticing qualities and desirable attributes. The object is

not desired for itself. It is desired because it is seen as desirable. The

person being discussed in these two verses meditates on the peculiarities and

desirability of various objects, instead of meditating on the inner self -

pratyagatma. One who dwells on a particular object and its merits develops a

certain longing, a certain love or affection for the object. The word 'object'

here refers to anything that you think of and, therefore, includes people as

well. First, you come into contact with an object or a person and then, when

the encounter is over, it is over - unless, of course, the object or person

keeps coming back into your head. There is no reason, as to why certain

objects come back into your head. They just do; and when they do, you dwell

upon them. An object that comes back into your head and goes away again is not

a problem. Any experience leaves a certain memory, smrti, and, because of the

impact of the experience, the whole scene may be played back in your mind.

This, in itself, is not the problem. What happens, however, is that you begin

to like the object and begin to dwell upon its desirability. Even at this

stage, there is no real problem. Dwelling upon the object is what is meant by

meditation here, meditation meaning constantly thinking about something. It

may be something about a person that you keep dwelling upon - the person's

dress, jewellery, voice, speech, mannerisms, decorum, thinking, hair, nose,

eyes, or height - all of which represent the countless varieties of objects

upon which you can meditate. Meditation is the flow of thoughts about an

object and anything connected to it - sajatiya-vrtti-pravaha.

 

THE MEDITATION OF ATTACHMENT

Krsna was not talking about the person who meditates on the

sat-cit-ananda-atma, even though the person he was discussing may be smiling

while meditating. The smile is only because of the memory of some compliment

or other. It is a smile of elation and this elation is what is meant by

attachment, sanga. There is a certain love, a certain affection, that has

developed for another person or an object, a sense of being pleased with the

object. Otherwise, there would be no attachment. Once a smile comes at the

thought of the object, it means that attachment has already been established.

 

You cannot discover affection for anything without first dwelling upon it. A

person may develop affection for a cat merely by continuing to think about it

and caring for it. An attachment can also develop so that without the cat, the

person finds that life is empty. If life is full only when it is full of cats

and dogs, definitely we will find life full of cats and dogs! This kind of

attachment can occur towards any object - a carpet, furniture, anything! Is it

any wonder, then, that there is affection and then attachment towards a person

who talks back nicely, in a sweet voice that utters pleasing words? If

affection for and attachment to a mewing cat can be developed, of course a

talking, smiling, thinking person is capable of evoking an even better

response. Affection itself is no problem. The problem is this - whatever you

like you almost always want to possess. This is why Krsna said that desire is

born from attachment, that attachment is the cause of desire. And because

there are different types of objects, there are different types of desires -

the desire to possess, the desire to own, the desire to experience. To create

a desire, all that is required is a casual glance at a Caribbean cruise

brochure that came in the mail. In fact, the whole idea of direct mail is to

create a desire in you. You may call it junk mail, but for those who send it,

it is not junk. They know that someone will be attracted to the idea conveyed

by the brochure and, to ensure that you do not forget, they also send you

follow up literature. When the second brochure arrives, the pleasant memory

that had been stored, based on the first brochure comes to mind and affection

for the subject matter develops. From this affection alone comes the desire to

go on a Caribbean cruise. In this way, the desire to experience, to own, to

possess is created.

 

NOT EVERY DESIRE CAN BE FULFILLED

Varieties of desires are born, depending on the objects for which you have

affection and attachment. Desire also is not a problem, but once a well-shaped

desire has been formed, once it is no longer in the fancy state, you have to

deal with it. You have to fulfil it and this causes you to take action. If you

can fulfil the desire, there is no problem. More often than not, however, the

desire is not fulfilled. This, then, is where the problem arises. Not every

desire can be fulfilled; it is not that easy. There are many obstacles that

prevent the fulfillment of some desires. The problem comes, then, when the

desires are not fulfilled, and you become angry. The desire itself turns into

anger, krodha. Thus, desire is the cause for anger or, in the words of Krsna,

anger is born of desire.

 

If there is no expectation with reference to a desire, there will be no anger

if the desire is not fulfilled. Suppose you want someone to do something for

you and the person does not do it. If you knew that he or she might not do it,

then there is no anger. But if you expected the person to do it, you will

definitely be angry when it is not done. Even if the anger is not expressed,

anger born is born. The intensity with which you desire something is what

determines the magnitude of your anger, and not the object itself. If your

desire is such that it does not matter to you whether or not it is fulfilled,

then anger will not be there. Even if it is, it will amount to very little.

Whereas, if the intensity of the desire is great, the anger that comes from

the desire not being fulfilled is not going to be easily managed either by you

or by the person who happens to be between you and what you want. If the other

person is an obstruction to what you want, then, your desire will turn into

anger towards that person. If you expect the person to behave in a certain way

and he or she does not behave in that manner, then the person will definitely

be the target of your anger. And if that person's behaviour is not according

to your expectations because of another person, then your anger gets directed

towards the other person. And sometimes, your anger against the second may be

more than towards the first.

 

THE NATURE OF ANGER

Anger is always towards the obstruction to the fulfillment of your desire. If

between you and the object that you desire there is an obstruction, that

obstruction is the target of your anger. The desire itself is deflected

against this obstruction and this deflected ray of desire is what is called

anger. In this way, this anger is like the vinegar that may result when you

try to make wine. Both the wine and the vinegar have as their essence the

grapes alone. But the wine turns into vinegar. How? it, too, has its own

story.

 

The point here is not to avoid anger by avoiding desire. Rather, you have to

remove the sting from your desires, for which a proper attitude is very

important. That everything should happen as I want it to is not a realistic

expectation. And such an expectation is due to raga-dvesas alone. The

raga-dvesas, your likes and dislikes, have to be neutralised if you would like

to be free of anger. Nor is it a matter of controlling anger. What does

controlling anger really mean? The anger is inside and you are simmering,

simmering, simmering - until suddenly one day, it erupts like a volcano! Once

anger is there, what happens is only too well known. Aviveka, lack of

discrimination, will definitely be there. In anger, you are not going to take

the time to consider whether a certain action is proper or improper. You are

not going to spend time considering, 'Should I kick him or should I punch

him?' Whatever comes first is what happens. Once anger is there, things just

take place. What you do or say takes place of its own accord and depends

entirely upon the past - your upbringing, and so on.

 

There is no question of control here. The very meaning of anger is that viveka

with reference to what should and should not to be done, is lacking. And from

this anger comes delusion, sammoha. What is being pointed out in these two

verses is the process that takes place when one dwells on an object. There is

no time involved here; dwelling on an object implies affection, desire, anger,

delusion, and more. Because of the delusion born of anger, loss of memory,

smrti-vibhrama, takes place. The word smrti, memory, refers here to whatever

you may have learned by studying the sastra, whatever you have assimilated

about right and wrong, whatever you learned from your teachers, elders, and

life's experiences, what made you angry in the past, what happened, and so on.

None of these you remember because delusion has come, and, along with it

aviveka. Thus, there is a loss of memory with reference to all the wisdom you

had gathered from your past education and experiences. Once the wisdom of your

past experiences, smrti, is not available, the mind is incapacitated, There is

buddhi-nasa. Your buddhi now, is incapable of analysing whether something is

to be done or not to be done because whatever wisdom you had gathered is not

available to you. Delusion is like an inner torpor, a blackout that makes you

forget the wisdom you had. Therefore, your buddhi, your intellect, is unable

to do what it is supposed to do. It is incapable of giving orders to go ahead

or stop in accordance with what is right and wrong. This is what the buddhi is

supposed to do, but it is not available to do it.

 

IN THE ABSENCE OF WISDOM, IMPULSE TAKES OVER

The buddhi is only available when wisdom is available. And in the absence of

wisdom, it behaves as though it is not programmed at all; impulse takes over.

In other words, the buddhi is destroyed, pranasyati. The person is no more a

human being and can be likened to an animal because he or she gives himself or

herself over to impulses. The impulses take over and determine exactly what

the person is going to do. It may be biting, kicking, screaming, hitting some

one, or even committing suicide. When a person is controlled by impulse,

anything can happen and whatever happens, just happens. Until anger comes, the

person can be careful, but once anger is there, all caution is gone. The verbs

used in these two verses are very revealing in this regard. From attachment,

desire 'is born' and from desire, anger 'is born.' At this point, however, the

verb changes from 'is born' to 'takes place.' From anger, delusion 'takes

place' and from delusion, the incapacity of the mind 'takes place.' This shows

how the person has no more any control over the situation. Once anger is born,

delusion, loss of wisdom, and the destruction of the person just take place.

Control is possible only before anger; afterwards, what happens is history.

Given that meditating on desirable objects creates problems for you, the

message of the Gita is clear - instead of meditating upon objects, meditate

upon the self. Instead of meditating upon your own problems and inhibitions,

meditate upon the pratyagatma, the inner self, because, if you do not, you

will naturally meditate upon the objects, which is the cause of all of your

problems.

 

ragadvesaviyuktaistu visayanindriyaiscaran

atmavasyairvidheyatma prasadamadhigacchati Verse 64

 

tu - whereas; raga-dvesa-viyuktaih - free from likes and dislikes; atmavasyaih

- with those that are under his or her control; indriyaih - with sense organs;

visayan caran - moving in the world of objects; vidheyatma - one whose mind is

controlled; prasadam - tranquillity; adhigacchati - attains

Whereas, one whose mind is controlled, moving in the world of objects with the

sense organs under his or her control, free from likes and dislikes, attains

tranquillity We have seen that even a viveki cannot but dwell upon objects of

raga-dvesas, likes and dislikes, if he or she still has rasa, a value, for

these objects. And this dwelling upon is also called meditation. One dwells

upon objects of dvesa in order to avoid them, for which one has to scheme and

plan, whereas objects of raga are dwelt upon in order to gain them. Dwelling

upon the desirability of objects is, indeed, the basis for all problems that

come later. It is the cause for the affection and love that develops for the

object. Once affection is there, it will naturally turn into a desire. If the

desire is fulfilled, there is no problem, but if it is not fulfilled, the

whole psychology of how one loses oneself comes into play, as Krsna pointed

out in the previous two verses. The present verse reveals how the problem

created by unfulfilled desires becomes neutralised and, once again, points out

the starting point for moksa, liberation. The natural, pursuit of a person's

sense organs is in keeping with his or her ragas and dvesas, likes and

dislikes. But suppose the person is a seeker, a mumuksu, meaning that he or

she wants moksa, for which self-knowledge is required then all his pursuits

cannot be dictated by his raga-dvesas. The word mumuksu is especially

pertinent here in that it means one who is desirous of liberation, moktum

icchuh - mumuksuh. We have seen that moksa is one of the four pursuits open to

a human being. But for a mumuksu, moksa alone is important. He or she has

already sought after and experienced pursuits of security, artha and pleasure,

kama or has learned about them by observing the pursuits of others. From all

these, the person has developed discrimination, viveka, and, because of this

viveka alone, has become a mumuksu

 

Thus, the one who has viveka is a mumuksu, whereas a person who is merely

curious is not. The person who wants to be free must necessarily have a lot of

viveka for this particular desire. At the same time, he or she does have some

raga-dvesas. Raga-dvesas do not just go away because the person has viveka.

What does a mumuksu do then? This was exactly Arjuna's situation. During the

war that eventually ensued, his son died and Arjuna took a vow that, before

sunset, he would avenge his son's death by killing the person who was

responsible. We see, then, that Arjuna had a lot of grief. This was because

raga-dvesas do not go away overnight. Even though, in the eighteenth chapter

of the Gita, which preceded the above episode, Arjuna had said, 'No more

delusion for me. I know exactly what it is all about.' He still had ambitions

and therefore attachments. He had definitely been living a life of dharma, but

raga-dvesas were still in his heart. This is why one has to live a life of

karma-yoga for a length of time.

 

A KARMA-YOGÌ IS A MUMUKâU

The sense organs of a mumuksu are freed from raga-dvesas, meaning that they

are not backed by, raga-dvesas. This is because the mumuksu has been living a

life of karma-yoga. Such a person does not run away from the world. Where

would he or she go? The mumuksu goes about in the world, experiencing the

sense objects. The word caran here generally means 'reaching' or 'going' in

the sense of movement, but it can also have the sense of knowledge. In fact,

any verbal root that has a sense of reaching or going has also the sense of

knowing or experiencing. For example, the expression 'reaching Brahman' means

understanding or knowing Brahman; there is no 'going' or 'moving' in the sense

of reaching somewhere. So, too, in this verse, caran does not mean that the

person is moving around in the physical sense. The word means 'experiencing'

and takes all the sense organs into account - the experience of seeing,

hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. The senses are open and the world of

sense objects is there. The verse also describes the sense organs as being in

the person's hands and not in the hands of raga-dvesas - atmavasyaih

raga-dvesa-viyuktaih indriyaih visayan caran. This means that all one's

pursuits are not dictated by raga and dvesa, but by dharma and adharma, and,

what is proper and improper. The person decides what he or she wants and is

not goaded by his or her likes and dislikes. The raga-dvesas do not decide.

When your raga-dvesas do not come between yourself and the sense pursuits, the

determining factor for the sense pursuits is purely dharma and adharma. Then

you become one whose mind moves only according to your will. In other words,

you are a person who is 'together.' Such a person is a karma-yogi, living a

life of karma-yoga for the sole purpose of neutralising his or her

raga-dvesas.

 

Every karma-yogi is a mumuksu. The person is a karma-yogi because he or she is

a mumuksu. Karma-yoga is there only because the person has mumuksa, desire for

liberation. Because karma-yoga is meant for moksa, the karma-yogi pursues

knowledge while engaged in freeing himself or herself from the hold of

raga-dvesa. This latter pursuit makes the person a karma-yogi and marks the

difference between a karma-yogi and a sannyasi. Whether the person is a

sannyasi or a karma-yogi, he or she is one who has the senses and mind

together. Such a person gains satisfaction or tranquillity, prasada. We have

already seen that prasada is anything that comes from the Lord. But prasada

has another meaning also - cheerfulness, satisfaction, tranquillity - which is

what happens in the mind of one whose sense organs are in one's own hands and

when one is free from the hold of raga-dvesas. The satisfaction, the

contentment, is with oneself. The mind is steady and there is an almost total

absence of agitation and self-dissatisfaction. The person's knowledge is

steady, sthira, and it stays. That raga-dvesas are to be tackled is the whole

psychology of the Gita.

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