Sathya Sai Baba Geetha Vahini - Chapter 5

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Sathya Sai BabaGeetha Vahini

Chapter V

If you have an eye on the fruits of your actions, you are liable to be affected

by worry, anxiety and restlessness. The question may arise: if the fruits have

to be given up, how can one manage to live? But why this weakness of heart,

this nervousness? He who has assured, 'Yogakshemam vahamyaham,' will certainly

look after that. He will give the wherewithal and the means. All you have to

consider is where a happy life is important or is liberation from the cycle of

life and death more important? Happy living is only of short duration; the joy

of liberation is eternal, unshakable.

On this point many commentators have exercised their intelligence and written

differently. Many have said that the giving up of Phala or fruit is advised

because there is no right or authority for the doer to desire for the fruit.

This is a great blunder. The Lord has said in the Geetha, 'refuse the fruit'

(maa phaleshu), that is to say: the deed yields results, but the doer should

not desire the result, or do it with the result in view. If Krishna's intention

was to say that the doer has no right for the fruit, He would have said, 'It is

fruitless', 'na phaleshu,' (na, meaning no). So if you desist from Karma, you

will be transgressing the Lord's command. That will be a serious mistake.

When man has a right for engaging in Karma, he has a right also for the fruit;

no one can deny this or refuse his right. But the doer can, out of his own free

will and determination, refuse to be affected by the result, whether favourable

or unfavourable. The Geetha shows the way: "Do... and deny the consequence."

The desire for the result of your action is a sign of Rajoguna: the giving up

of action since you cannot benefit by the fruit is a sign of Thamoguna. To

engage oneself in Karma, to know that the result will follow; and yet not to be

attached to it or getting concerned with it - that is the sign of Sathwaguna.

The Karmayogi who has learnt this secret of "Karma combined with Phalathyaga"

should have Samabuddhi, more than Sangabuddhi. For the Sangabuddhi draws him

into attachments and entanglements. "This Karma is mine; its results are due to

my endeavours. I am the person entitled to it," such are the thoughts which bind

the doer. Krishna advises that one should rise above this Sangabuddhi. He

declares that Samathwam is the genuine Yoga. (Samathwam yogamuchyathe).

In the second chapter, Krishna has made clear in a general way four principle

points: the Saranaagathi principle, the Sankhya teaching, the Yoga attitude and

the Sthithaprajna nature. We have noted the first three already. Now about the

fourth:

Krishna taught Arjuna the nature and characteristics of the Sthithaprajna when

Arjuna questioned him. Arjuna prayed "O Kesava!" and when that appellation was

used, Krishna smiled. For He knew then that Arjuna had understood His

splendour. Do you ask how? Well, what does Kesava mean? It means, "He who is

Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, the Trimurthi." Through Krishna's grace, Arjuna had

reached that stage of realisation.

When Arjuna prayed that Kesava must tell him the true characteristics of

Sthithaprajna, He replied, "Pratha! He will be free from all desire. He will be

stable in the knowledge and awareness of the Atma only."

Now, there are two processes in this: To give up all the promptings of desire in

the mind is the negative process; to implant joy, ever-present joy therein, is

the positive aspect. The negative process is to remove all the seedlings of

wrong and evil from the mind; the positive process is to grow, in the field

cleansed thus, the crop of attachment to God! The cultivation of the crop you

need is positive, the plucking of the weeds is the negative stage. The

pleasures the senses draw from the objective world are weeds; the crop is the

attachment to God. The mind is a bundle of wishes; and unless these wishes are

removed by their roots, there is no hope of destroying the mind, which is a

great obstacle in the path of spiritual progress. When the yarn that comprises

the cloth is taken out, one by one, what remains of the cloth? Nothing. The

mind is made of the warp and woof of wishes. And when mind vanishes, the

Stithaprajna is made.

So the first thing to be conquered is Kama, the demon of desire. For this it is

unnecessary to wage a huge war. It is also unnecessary to use pleasing words to

persuade the desire to disappear. Desires will not disappear for fear of the one

or for favour of the other. Desires are objective; they belong to the category

of the "seen". When the conviction that "I am the see-er only, not the seen",

the Sthithaprajna releases himself from attachment. By this means he conquers

desire. You must watch the working of the mind, from outside it; you should not

get involved in it. That is the meaning of this discipline.

The faculty of the mind is like a strong current of electricity. It has to be

watched from a distance and not contacted or touched. Touch it, you are reduced

to ashes. So too, contact and attachment give the chance for the mind to ruin

you. The farther you are from it, the better. By skillful methods, you have to

make the best use of it for your own welfare.

The bliss which the Sthithaprajna is immersed in does not arise from external

objects; he has no need of them either. Ananda is in every one as part of his

very nature. Those with pure consciousness find the highest bliss in the

realisation of their own reality, the Atma. That joy is Swasampaadyam

(self-earned, so to say). It is known only to the individual; it is

self-evident.

Since Arjuna had not know this, Krishna had to clarify it in simple terms in the

56th, 57th and 58th slokas. Joy or grief can be met with in three forms:

Aadhyaathmika, Aadibhouthika and Aadidaivika. It is well known that sins bring

grief as retribution and meritorious deeds bring joy as reward. So advice is

given to avoid sins and perform meritorious deeds. But the Sthithaprajna knows

neither the pain of grief nor the thrill of joy. He is not repulsed by one or

attracted by the other. He will not retreat before pain or run forward towards

pleasure. Only those who are ignorant of the Atma will exult or droop when

stricken with joy or grief.

The Sthithaprajna will be ever engaged in Manana, or contemplation and

rumination. He is called Muni. His intellect is steady, because the senses do

not harry it. One point has to be understood here. Conquest of the senses is

essential for Sadhana; but that is not all. So long as the objective world

continues to attract the mind, one cannot claim complete success. That is why

Krishna says, "Arjuna! Establish mastery over the senses; then you need have no

fear, for they become serpents with the fangs removed." But there is still

danger from thoughts and impulses which draw you outwards. Desire has no

limits; it can never be satiated.

So along with the mastery of the senses, one must establish mastery of the mind

also. That is the sign of a Sthithaprajna, not a Gathaprajna (a no-wisdom

individual, and not a steady-wisdom individual). Where does the Gathaprajna go?

To perdition and nowhere else.

The upward path, the higher stage - that is for the Sthithaprajna. Of these two

masteries, if the mind is subdued, that alone is enough; it is not necessary

then to conquer the external senses. If the mind has no attachment with

objects, the senses have nothing to cling on to; they perish by inanition; love

and hate are both starved out of existence. The bonds with the objective world

are cut, though the senses may yet be affected by it. For him who has been

blessed by an awareness of the Atma, how can anything worldly bring grief or

joy?

As the stars fade into invisibility when the sun rises, so too when the Sun of

Knowledge or Jnana rises, grief, agitation and ignorance vanish.

Man has three chief instruments: the mind, the intellect, and the senses. It is

when these three work in unison and cooperate with one another that either

'immersal in the flux' or 'liberation in the knowledge of the Atma,' is

realised. Krishna anticipated that Arjuna will be puzzled to know what will

happen "when which operates with which." So He himself provided the answer.

"Arjuna", He said, "when the mind cooperates with the senses, you enter into

the flux called Samsara; when it subordinates itself to the intellect, you

attain the knowledge of the Atma. One path leads to Samsarapraapthi; the other,

the Atma-praapthi. The intellect must resolve; the mind must carry out the

resolution so made. That is the correct procedure."

The Indriyas or senses have to be fully destroyed. That is the hallmark of a

Sthithaprajna. So when all beings are experiencing night, the Sthithaprajna

would keep himself awake. When all beings are awake, the Sthithaprajna would be

asleep. The literal meaning of this is that what is night for one is day for the

other. But that would sound absurd. It would mean the Sthithaprajna is a person

who sleeps during the day and keeps awake at night.

The inner meaning of this statement is very profound. Ordinary men are vigilant

in affairs that concern the senses that arise out of this world. Wakefulness

for them is the care they bestow on worldly pursuits. But the Sthithaprajna is

unconcerned with these very things; he is, so to say, asleep. What does sleep

mean? It means the happiness resulting from inactivity of the senses. And

vigilance? It means yielding to the senses, and catering to them. When ordinary

men are pursuing the senses and their demands, the Sthithaprajna is asleep. This

can also be put in other words: forget the Atma sthithi and you relapse into

Dehasthithi, from the Atma-consciousness-stage you fall into the

body-consciousness-stage.

This is what happens to the ordinary man; he sleeps in the Atma stage and wakes

into the Deha sthithi. The Sthithaprajna's case is different. He sleeps in the

Deha-consciousness and wakes in the awareness of the Atma. He will not awake,

even by mistake, in the sensory world, the world where the ordinary man is most

vigilant! This is the inner meaning. It is far from the literal meaning, which,

if taken as true, would entitle thieves, watchmen and others to the name

Sthithaprajna, for all these keep awake at nights and sleep during the day!

Only those who have given up traces of desire and become mere instruments can

achieve Santhi. Krishna ends the description of the Sthithaprajna with an

emphasis on "Kaama naa thyaga" the giving up of desire.

To man sorrowing on the battlefield of life, bewildered by the attractions and

the distractions, not knowing where to turn and which road to take, Madhava

taught this Sankhya Yoga (second chapter). The other chapters are like

commentaries on the teaching in this chapter. "Arjuna! prepare yourself for

giving up the mind, for being merged in your own self. Withdraw the mind from

the Sabda Sparsa Roopa Rasa Gandha categories, the five elements. Then you

become a Sthithaprajna," said Krishna. In this second chapter He elaborated (in

the 11th to the 30th sloka) on the Atma-thathwa in a simple, easily

understandable style.

Then from the 39th to the 75th sloka, He taught the Dharma-Karma attitude that

is essential for attaining the Godhead, an attitude that is based on the Karma

Yoga which itself is embodied in the Samatha-buddhi already prescribed.

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