अथ द्वादशोऽध्यायः । भक्तियोगः
12. Bhakti Yoga
The Yoga of devotion
How should the sadhaka proceed with the worship of Iswara? The way is shown :-
The Worship of Saguna Brahman 12-06 to 12-12
What are the indications of progress in spiritual practices? They are delineated as follows:-
श्रेयो हि ज्ञानमभ्यासाज्ज्ञानाद्ध्यानं विशिष्यते ।
ध्यानात्कर्मफलत्यागस्त्यागाच्छान्तिरनन्तरम् ॥ १२-१२॥
12-12 Better indeed is knowledge than (formal) Abhyasa; better than knowledge is meditation; better than meditation is the renunciation of the fruit of action; peace immediately follows renunciation.
Ritualistic religious practice is called Abhyasa. Many a man does it mechanically without any feeling behind it. With him it is a social habit involuntarily picked up, falling in line with what the others are doing. A conventionally pious man goes to the temple, stands before the symbol of the Deity, pays homage with folded palms, turns round on all directions palms remaining folded as they are, prostrates before the Deity and goes home with the thought that he has discharged his duty to the Maker. He knows nothing of the principles underlying his actions.
There is another man who is not given to this habitual formalism, but who knows theoretically that the cognition of the Divinity should commence at the temple, but that it should not end there. That adoration ought to be extended in all directions to aught that is. This second man's act of understanding the principle is better than the first man's act of ignorantly observing a formality.
A third man sits at appointed hours and meditates on the truth that it is Divinity that is manifesting Itself as the various beings that he contacts every day. What this man does is better still because he attempts to get fixed in the truth that he has intellectually grasped.
A fourth man gives a practical shape to his understanding by devotedly sharing with others whatever good things he has procured by his personal efforts. Because of the renunciation that he practices, this man stands foremost among the sadhakas. Heartfelt abhyasa, right knowledge and good meditation are all implicitly contained in this holy act of his.
That peace immediately follows renunciation is self-evident. A few dogs fight among themselves for a few pieces of bread strewn about. Evidently there is no peace among them. Elsewhere a crow calls its comrades to share some scattered rice. They flock and eat peacefully because of their spirit of mutual help which is equivalent to the spirit of renunciation. This is an objective example. Subjectively a yogi can feel how much of peace and exuberance there are in giving away and sharing with others, than in grabbing and jealously keeping things all to oneself. Renunciation is the key to higher life.
A kite snatched a piece of meat from a butcher's shop and flew to a branch of a tree to feast on it. But immediately ensued a scramble when some other birds swooped to loot it. The kite flew from tree to tree, but there was no escape from the raiders. To avoid this botheration it let go the meat and perched quiet upon a bough. A sage who saw this scene learnt a lesson from the kite- Tranquility is born of renunciation. -Sri Ramakrishna
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But there are men who work only for themselves. They are not able to feel that they are serving the Lord. Is there no way out for such men from attachment to karma ? The way is shown :-
अथैतदप्यशक्तोऽसि कर्तुं मद्योगमाश्रितः ।
सर्वकर्मफलत्यागं ततः कुरु यतात्मवान् ॥ १२-११॥
12-11 If you are not able to do even this, then taking refuge in Me, abandon the fruits of all action with the self subdued.
1. Among virtues, unselfishness is the most paying.
2. Godhood is the reward for complete self-abnegation.
3. Established in unselfishness meditates on God, he hastens his union with Him.
4. But selfishness dies hard, and causes hindrance to meditation.
5. Hindrance has to be eliminated by Abhyasa-yoga.
6. All actions inherent in man may be performed for the glory of the Lord.
7. The selfishness be so deep-rooted that a man does not desire to get out of it, or is incapable of outgrowing it, even for him there is a way out.
8. The earth-bound man is not prepared to abandon the fruits of his actions. Rather he wants to gather more and yet more fruits of his work.
9. He ought to be told that the fruits of his karma will last long with him if he lived a life of self-control.
10. He must be told next that more profit would come to him if he relied on God.
11. Thirdly he must be induced into the belief that by offering a portion of his income to God and through God to His children, his income is bound to be multiplied.
12. He learns by experience that selfishness is more paying when it is based on selflessness.
13. An effort at abandoning the fruits of action is to be instilled into the ordinary man gradually in this way.
14. In course of time he comes to learn that supramundane life comes of self-denial and not of self-seeking.
You cannot remain without doing work. Your inborn nature forces you to work. Therefore let your activities be carried on well. But if they were done without attachment, they take you Godward. Be not affected by the pleasure and pain ensuing from your activities. Associate them all with Iswara. Prepare yourself in this way for union with Him. -Sri Ramakrishna
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Is there any other course open to the sadhaka, If his mind does not submit to Abhyasa-yoga ? The next course is pointed out :-
अभ्यासेऽप्यसमर्थोऽसि मत्कर्मपरमो भव ।
मदर्थमपि कर्माणि कुर्वन्सिद्धिमवाप्स्यसि ॥ १२-१०॥
12-10 If yon are unable even to practice Abbyasa-yoga, be you intent on doing actions for My sake; even by performing actions for My sake you will attain perfection.
Force of habit is too strong to be altered or curbed; it drags the man along its own way. Even such a bent can be turned to advantage. While the bent is allowed to have its sway, it is utilized in the service of the Lord. A talkative man for example, may go on talking of God instead of worldly things. An active man may work hard for the glory of his Maker and not for mammon. When he becomes an instrument of the Lord in this way, no work taints him. His mind becomes gradually purified. God hood is reached.
When a man changes his attitude he is freed from bondage. Whatever work takes place through man is actually the work of the Lord. "Lord, You have Your work done by me. In ignorance I feel 'I am the doer.' May I be only an instrument.'' Attitude of this kind emancipates the aspirant. --Sri Ramakrishna
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What has that Sadhaka to do, whose mind is not staunch and steady in the pursuit of God? The injunction comes :-
अथ चित्तं समाधातुं न शक्नोषि मयि स्थिरम् ।
अभ्यासयोगेन ततो मामिच्छाप्तुं धनञ्जय ॥ १२-९॥
12-09 If you are not able to fix your mind steadily on Me, 0 Dhananjaya, then seek to reach Me by Abhyasa-yoga.
1. Staunch is that devotion of the sadhaka which does not deviate from the Lord.
2. Wavering is that devotion which oscillates between God and the world.
3. Through constant practice the mind has to be weaned away from the world. It is Abhyasa-yoga which is practiced ceaselessly until the mind is permanently reclaimed from baseness.
4. The impossible can be made possible through constant practice.
5. Nature can be changed by nurture, it being the most effective means.
A man was rearing a pet dog allowing it undue indulgence. One day when he was conversing with a learned visitor the dog, as was its wont, jumped on to the lap of its master and licked his face. "This is no good,' observed the new comer. The remark produced a salutary effect on the man who decided then and there to train the dog properly. Thenceforth, be gave a knock every time the dog jumped up to lick his face. The sagacious animal was not slow to find out that the master did not approve of that act. It changed its habit accordingly. Similarly the unwanted desire is a wretched dog that man has fondly reared. It dominates over him and depraves him woefully. Repeated blows in the form of counter thoughts and ideas are the only way to rectify it. ---Sri Ramakrishna
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How should the embodied one prepare oneself for the attainment of the plenitude? The answer comes:-
मय्येव मन आधत्स्व मयि बुद्धिं निवेशय ।
निवसिष्यसि मय्येव अत ऊर्ध्वं न संशयः ॥ १२-८॥
12-08 Fix your mind on Me alone, let your thoughts dwell in Me. You will hereafter live in Me alone. Of this there is no doubt.
1. To feel the way of the mind and to decide is the way of the intellect. And these are the inner subtle organs of man.
2. A man's residence need not be reckoned basing on the locality where he has placed himself bodily.
3. Man verily is where his mind is. There are those who live in hell on earth; and there are those others who make a heaven of this earth.
4. It is the mind of man that makes the heaven and the hell.
5. When this mind is made over to God, man is then verily in the Divine Presence.
6. The Lord says there is no doubt about this; the devotee can verify this verity for himself.
Man is born with two tendencies, Vidya guna and Avidya guna-the noble and the base, dormant in him. The former leads him Godward and the latter makes him earth bound. In baby hood both the tendencies are in equilibrium, as if equally distributed in the two scales of a balance. If he grows in the life in the senses, the scale of worldliness goes down with that base weight. But if he emerges in spirituality, the scale in him of Godliness goes down towards Iswara with that holy weight. -Sri Ramakrishna
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ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि मयि संन्यस्य मत्पराः ।
अनन्येनैव योगेन मां ध्यायन्त उपासते ॥ १२-६॥
12-06 But those who worship Me, renouncing all actions in Me, regarding Me as the Supreme Goal, meditating on Me with single-minded yoga-
तेषामहं समुद्धर्ता मृत्युसंसारसागरात् ।
भवामि नचिरात्पार्थ मय्यावेशितचेतसाम् ॥ १२-७॥
12-07 For them whose thought is set on Me, I become very soon, 0 Partha, the deliverer from the ocean of the mortal Samsara.
The ignorant man who segregates himself from the Whole which is Brahman invites complication and trouble to his earthly career. He, on the other hand, who attunes his personal life to the cosmic functioning which is the sport of Iswara, gains in Sreyas and gets into the plenitude supremely above the wheel of birth and death.
There are harbingers of the attainment of Godhood. He in whom Bhakti is surging with fervour has already come to the threshold of Divinity. Know it for certain that he will very soon get into union with Iswara.
-Sri Ramakrishna
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Who again, among the devotees, becomes the favourite of the Lord? This point is clarified now :-
The Devotee's Divine Traits 12-13 to 12-20
The path of karma in the first six chapters and the path of Bhakti in the second six get united here. In the following six chapters the path of Jnana remains to get united with these two.
ये तु धर्म्यामृतमिदं यथोक्तं पर्युपासते ।
श्रद्दधाना मत्परमा भक्तास्तेऽतीव मे प्रियाः ॥ १२-२०॥
12-20 They, verily, who follow this immortal dharma described above endued with Sraddha, looking upon Me as the Supreme Goal, and devoted- they are exceedingly dear to Me.
1. Sraddha is the common factor to all the forms of spiritual practices. It is therefore linked here with the path of Bhakti.
2. On the ground of his holding the Lord as the Supreme Goal, the devotee does not abandon work. He holds fast to the practice of dharma.
3. Mukti and Immortality being the outcome of the practice of dharma, it is here equated with Immortality.
4. It is also called the Sanatana Dharma.
5. He who conforms to dharma never comes to grief or destruction. Being both an ardent devotee and a staunch practiser of dharma, he is the dearest to the Lord.
Bhakti is of two kinds-the Vaidika bhakti and the Prema bhakti. To conform to the injunctions in the Scripture, to chant the name of the Lord as many times as prescribed, to fast and pray, to go on pilgrimage, to perform ritualistic worship with the aid of the enjoined materials- all these belong to the former kind. An earnest pursuance of these means leads the devotee ultimately into the latter, the Prema bhakti, in which there is no place for any kind of earthly attachment. The Bhakta gives himself over entirely to the Lord. This whole-hearted offering is graciously accepted by the Lord and the devotee becomes His own. -Sri Ramakrishna
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समः शत्रौ च मित्रे च तथा मानापमानयोः ।
शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु समः सङ्गविवर्जितः ॥ १२-१८॥
12-18 He who is the same to foe and friend and also in honour and dishonour, who is the same in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain, who is free from attachment,
तुल्यनिन्दास्तुतिर्मौनी सन्तुष्टो येन केनचित् ।
अनिकेतः स्थिरमतिर्भक्तिमान्मे प्रियो नरः ॥ १२-१९॥
12-19 To whom censure and praise are equal, who is silent, content with anything, homeless, steady-minded, full of devotion - that man is dear to Me.
Day and night are inevitable on earth, but in the blazing sun they have no place. Friendship and enmity are but natural among fellow beings, but in the fervour of the divine love of God these differences vanish of their own accord.
An illicit love in the initial stage is mindful of shame and social decorum. But when it deepens into open familiarity all sense of shame is set aside. There is some similarity between this and the divine love of God, which pays no heed to honour and dishonour. While the former leads the fallen one to depravity, the latter elevates the devotee into the Sublime. The worldly people are flippant both in honouring and dishonouring a devotee of God. But unconcerned that he is with these passing phases, the devotee goes headlong in his love of the Maker.
To the one subject to body-consciousness the feeling of cold and heat is natural with the change of climate. But to the one given to divine ecstasy born of Bhakti, this feeling does not come.
The feeling of pleasure and pain is concomitant with the feeling of cold and heat. When the attachment to the body is overcome, these feelings disappear as a matter of course.
A worldly man with a talent for music sings to receive the applause of the public. He derives pleasure in their praise and pain in their censure if any. But when a Bhakta sings the glory of the Lord, he is indifferent to the censure and the praise of the people. His activities are likely to be exposed to public remarks. But he remains dead to all their observations and goes his own divine way.
The devotee prefers to be silent. If at all he talks, it would be about the Lord and nothing else. His training the tongue in this way is equivalent to the practice of silence.
A person unexpectedly and hurriedly returning home on some important business, reconciles himself with any means of transport that is immediately available. He is not much worried if there be any lack of amenities and facilities in the travel. The Bhakta's position in the world is very much like this. Communion with God is his sole concern. He is therefore content with anything worldly that comes his way in his earthly sojourn.
To a hurrying traveler sitting accommodation in any of the railway coaches is sufficient. The Bhakta, the Godward pilgrim on earth does not claim any residence as his home. He holds on to the ideal:-
Have thou no home. What home can hold thee, friend? The sky thy roof; the grass thy bed;"
The devotee seeks nothing but God. He is therefore steady-minded. He gives himself completely to God. So he becomes the favourite of God.
Do not allow worldly thoughts and concerns disturb your mind. Discharge your duties as and when they present them selves to you. But fasten your mind ever at the feet of the Lord. -Sri Ramakrishna
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यो न हृष्यति न द्वेष्टि न शोचति न काङ्क्षति ।
शुभाशुभपरित्यागी भक्तिमान्यः स मे प्रियः ॥ १२-१७॥
12-17 He who neither rejoices nor hates nor grieves nor desires, renouncing good and evil, full of devotion, he is dear to Me.
The worldly people rejoice obtaining things pleasing to the senses; but the lover of God does not behave as they do. They hate them who create unwanted situations; but the devotee pays no heed to bad people and unpleasant situations. He does not grieve when he is deprived of worldly possessions nor does he desire to procure them for his personal enjoyment. His intense devotion to the Lord admits no other desire into his heart. He is free from the notions of good and evil, even as an innocent baby is. A devotee with these excellencies is endearing to the Lord.
God's presence cannot be felt in that heart which is given to attachment, aversion and fear. -Sri Ramakrishna
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अनपेक्षः शुचिर्दक्ष उदासीनो गतव्यथः ।
सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी यो मद्भक्तः स मे प्रियः ॥ १२-१६॥
12-16 He who has no wants, who is pure and prompt, unconcerned, untroubled, and who is selfless in all his undertakings, he who is thus devoted to Me, is dear to Me.
That man
1. is free from wants who does not seek after sensual pleasures.
2. He becomes pure to the extent he rids himself of all sensual pleasures.
3. When the thought, word and deed of a man are not contaminated by sensuality he is established in purity.
4. To be prompt in the discharge of duty is possible only for him who lives a disciplined life. Even a very grave crisis, suddenly sprung upon him, does not confuse his understanding; he handles it promptly as he ought to.
5. Worldly people behave in one way towards friends and in quite another way towards foes. But the devotee of the Lord is unconcerned whether those he deals with are friends or foes.
6. He behaves in the same simple and straightforward manner with one and all. His dealings being clean he remains untroubled by their consequences.
7. Serving the Lord being his sole motive, he is selfless in all his undertakings. He has everything to dedicate to the Maker and His beings; he has nothing to ask of them. Therefore he is dear to the Lord.
He who is not deceived by his own mind-a person such as he alone, gains access to the divine presence of the Lord. The point comes to this an attitude free from guile and deceit and a devotion true to the core - these are the means to take one Godward. -Sri Ramakrishna
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यस्मान्नोद्विजते लोको लोकान्नोद्विजते च यः ।
हर्षामर्षभयोद्वेगैर्मुक्तो यः स च मे प्रियः ॥ १२-१५॥
12-15 He by whom the world is not afflicted and whom the world cannot afflict, be who is free from joy, anger, fear and anxiety - he is dear to Me.
The life of a devotee causes harm to nobody in the world. Directly or indirectly, everything good emanates from his life and nothing evil. Some of his doings may sometimes seem painful to others; but even in such actions intrinsic good alone prevails. What the surgeon does to the patient and the teacher to the pupil may appear hurtful; but in effect they are wholesome. A devotee in the position of Arjuna is obliged to bring about a carnage. But ultimate good to the world is contained in that seeming evil. Again, whatever harm befalls a devotee from the world is not viewed by him as an injury. Sterling is his mind which accepts all afflictions as blessings in disguise come from the Most High. The more the affliction, the greater is the devotee's delightful submission to the will of the Lord. Prahlada is the model of the super-devotee.
What is the sort of self-culture that brings forth this genuine frame of mind in the devotee? The rest of this stanza gives the answer to this question. One should not feel joyous when one comes at things pleasant; for, that mind which is a victim of joy is also a potential victim of misery. A strong mind, on the other hand, remains unaffected by joy and sorrow. A devotee is he who conquers anger and envy which are his twin enemies. Every time he is overcome by either of these, the stamina of his mind declines. The wind of anger or envy may toss the creeper of the mind of the ordinary man, but the mind of the devotee stands like a stalwart tree, unperturbed by it. He is too strong to be affected by such petty feelings. Fear is worse than death, which can only rob man of his body, whereas the former wrecks the entire personality. The frightened man is a heap of empty sensation, nothing worthy emanates from him. The devotee knows no fear and so divinity beams out of him. Anxiety is another mental disease which eats into the stamina of man. The devotee takes all happenings as divine dispensation and there is nothing to be disturbed about. The devotee who is made up of such sterling qualities is claimed by the Lord as His own.
That man wastes his own time and energy who always engages himself in recounting the worth of the others For, in doing so, he neither gains in building his own character nor in getting fixed in the glory of the Lord -Sri Ramakrishna
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अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव च ।
निर्ममो निरहङ्कारः समदुःखसुखः क्षमी ॥ १२-१३॥
12-13 He who hates no being, who is friendly and compassionate to all, who is free from the feeling of 'I and mine,' even-minded in pain and pleasure and forbearing,
सन्तुष्टः सततं योगी यतात्मा दृढनिश्चयः ।
मय्यर्पितमनोबुद्धिर्यो मद्भक्तः स मे प्रियः ॥ १२-१४॥
12-14 Ever content, steady in meditation, self-controlled and possessed of firm conviction, with mind and intellect fixed on Me, he My devotee is dear to Me.
The feeling of oneself as alien to others is born of ignorance. An aggressive form of this feeling is hatred, capable of creating poison in the system. This destructive feeling therefore has no place in the wholesome life of a devotee.
Mere avoidance of hatred is not sufficient. Stones and stone-like people do not hate; but they are none the better for it. Life should take a positive turn. Feeling oneself friendly to all is the mark of a devotee's life.
Careerists often cultivate friendship with all, with the base motive of self-advancement. But a devotee of God is he who has nothing to seek, but everything to give. He is so compassionate that he ever promotes the welfare of the others.
Of all forms of egoism, the spiritual egoism is the most dangerous one. If one develops the egoistic feeling that he is rendering spiritual help to others, he can hardly ever get out of that harmful quagmire. A true devotee is always free from the feeling of 'I and mine.'
Resulting from his benign service to others, a devotee may lose has possessions, may even be put to hardship. But that ordeal causes him no pain. When the world happens to speak highly of his exemplary life and work, he derives no pleasure from that praise. He is even-minded in the midst of these occurrences.
It is not unoften that a devotee is put to unwarranted affliction by the ignorant and willful ones. But in such a trying circumstance a genuine devotee is always forbearing.
Contentment, bliss and buoyancy ever mark a yogi for their own. Being established in yoga, self-control and disciplined life become part and parcel of his being. In matters spiritual he is not wavering, he as one of firm conviction. His refined feelings and his clarified understanding are all centered on the Lord. As the needle of a compass always points to the north, the faculties of the devotee are ever intent on Him. Such a devotee as ever dear to Him.
Does the Lord attach any value to the wealth and property dedicated to Him? Nothing whatsoever. The Lord bestows His grace on that devotee only who has an inordinate love and devotion for Him. The Blessed Lord attaches all importance to devotion, discrimination and detachment from worldliness. -Sri Ramakrishna
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Brahman-with and without Attributes -
12-01 to 12-05
If both the ways of worship are one and the same, may one adopt any method according to one's liking? No, one should not; for :-
क्लेशोऽधिकतरस्तेषामव्यक्तासक्तचेतसाम् ।
अव्यक्ता हि गतिर्दुःखं देहवद्भिरवाप्यते ॥ १२-५॥
12-05 Greater is their difficulty whose minds are set on the Unmanifested, for the goal of the Unmanifested is very hard for the embodied to reach.
Though the goal is the same, the worship of God without form is very difficult for the sadhaka soaked in body-consciousness. As he thinks of himself with form he cannot help thinking of his God also as with form. The worship of Saguna Brahman is easy. He who adores Nirguna Brahman has to be free from body-feeling right from the beginning. But the attainment of that state is not possible for all. The spiritually advanced soul alone rises to that level. The easy and natural course for the ordinary sadhaka is to proceed with the worship of God with form.
The Jnani or the realized soul says "Aham Brahmasmi- I am Brahman." But the body bound man should not say so. It is harmful to him to say "I am Brahman" when actually he is the body. He deceives himself and the world by such a statement -Sri Ramakrishna
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Are they not yogis, who take to the adoration of the Attributeless Absolute Reality -the Nirguna Brahman? The answer is given :-
ये त्वक्षरमनिर्देश्यमव्यक्तं पर्युपासते ।
सर्वत्रगमचिन्त्यञ्च कूटस्थमचलन्ध्रुवम् ॥ १२-३॥
12-03 But those who worship the Imperishable, the Indefinable, the Unmanifest, the Omnipresent, the Unthinkable, the Unchangeable, the Immovable, the Eternal-
सन्नियम्येन्द्रियग्रामं सर्वत्र समबुद्धयः ।
ते प्राप्नुवन्ति मामेव सर्वभूतहिते रताः ॥ १२-४॥
12-04 Having restrained all the senses, even-minded everywhere, engaged in the welfare of all beings verily they also come unto Me.
The sadhaka who is competent to adore the Formless Reality has the following attainments.
1. He has complete mastery over the senses.
2. He neither runs after the pleasant nor recoils from the painful; he remains unaffected by both of them. Does the sadhaka reduce himself then to the position of a corpse which lies unaffected by pleasure and pain? No,
1. he raises himself to even-mindedness which is found in him only who is ethically and spiritually evolved. This attitude again does not mean passiveness.
2. It expresses itself in the form of service to all beings, recognizing Divinity in them.
3. When the sadhaka's mind flows out in this way, cognising Godhood everywhere, it is to be regarded as the worship of Brahman.
When a bell is rung, each stroke bas a sound-form of its own. But the formless sound is also heard for a while after stopping the striking. Similarly God is both with form and Without form. -Sri Ramakrishna
1. Nirguna Brahman is indeterminate Pure Consciousness. It can be arrived at by eliminating all obstructive modifications which are characteristic of Prakriti.
2. Aksharam is the Imperishable.
3. The universe of form appears and disappears; whereas Pure Consciousness is ever Itself.
4. Anirdesyam means the Indefinable अपरिभाष्य. It cannot be defined by comparison as there is nothing similar to It.
5. Avyaktam means the Unmanifest. The manifest is that which can be cognised with the aid of the senses. But no sense organ can have any access to Pure Consciousness. As such It is unmanifest.
6. Sarvatragam means the Omnipresent. A lump of ice buried at the bottom of the sea, remains ever unmanifest and uncognized. Is it because of concealment somewhere in this way that Brahman is unmanifest? No, there is nothing to hide It, the Omnipresent. Space is negated in Brahman. A huge mountain perceived in dream exists in the space created by the dreaming mind. But in wakefulness the dream space is negated. Similarly the space in the universe is negated in Brahman, who is Omnipresent.
7. Achintyam means the Unthinkable. Mind thinks of the good and bad and feels happy or miserable. Brahman does not lend Itself to be conceived by the mind in this way. It is the Wakefulness throwing light on the mind, but inaccessible to it.
8. Kutastham means the Unchangeable. The word Kuta connotes the painful and impermanent phenomenal existence. The permanent basis to this changing existence is Kutastha, the Unchangeable Brahman.
9. Achalam means the Immovable. The moving clouds are supported by the wind which in turn is moving in its own way. But that kind of relative movement is not in Brahman. It is constant.
10. Dhruvam means the Eternal. Akasa which is the background of the wind and clouds is constant; it does not move. But in Pralaya this akasa does not exist. From the immovable state it goes into the state of dissolution. Brahman does not suffer from that feature. It is the Eternal.
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श्रीभगवानुवाच ।
मय्यावेश्य मनो ये मां नित्ययुक्ता उपासते ।
श्रद्धया परयोपेताः ते मे युक्ततमा मताः ॥ १२-२॥
The Blessed Lord said :
12.02 Those who have fixed their minds on Me, and who, ever steadfast and endowed with supreme Sraddha, worship Me -them do I consider perfect in yoga.
1. The Lord is having the cosmos for His physical body.
2. He is Parameswara, Saguna Brahman.
3. He rules remaining immanent in the universe.
4. He is the Lord of the yogis, the Omniscient.
5. His devotees, are they who have dedicated themselves to His worship.
6. They are free from attachment, aversion and angularities.
7. Thought of the Lord alone dominates their hearts day and night.
8. They live for the service of the Lord.
9. They are therefore perfect yogis.
It is quite all right to meditate on God viewing Him as formless. But do not entertain the thought that only your own conception of God is correct and that the beliefs of the others are erroneous. To meditate on Him as with form is also a method. You persevere નિષ્ઠાપૂર્વક staunchly ચુસ્તપણે in your path until you reach the realization of God. After that, you will come to know that all paths lead to the same goal. -Sri Ramakrishna
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अर्जुन उवाच ।
एवं सततयुक्ता ये भक्तास्त्वां पर्युपासते ।
ये चाप्यक्षरमव्यक्तं तेषां के योगवित्तमाः ॥ १२-१॥
Arjuna said:
12-01 Those devotees who, ever steadfast, worship You thus, and those again who worship the Imperishable, the Unmanifest - which of these are better versed in yoga?
At the conclusion of chapter eleven the adoration of the Supreme was advocated. But Brahman is both with and without attributes. Of these two aspects of His, which is better suited for worship? This is the point raised herein for clarification.
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ॐ तत्सदिति श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतासूपनिषत्सु
ब्रह्मविद्यायां योगशास्त्रे श्रीकृष्णार्जुनसंवादे
भक्तियोगो नाम द्वादशोऽध्यायः ॥ १२॥
In the Upanishad of the Bhagavad Gita, the knowledge of Brahman, the Supreme, the science of Yoga and the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, this is the twelfth discourse designated:
THE YOGA OF DEVOTION
