अथ नवमोऽध्यायः । राजविद्याराजगुह्ययोगः
9. Rajavidhya rajaguhya Yoga
The Yoga of Sovereign science and sovereign secret
The Way of the Enjoyment seekers 9-20 to 9-21
ते तं भुक्त्वा स्वर्गलोकं विशालं
क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्यलोकं विशन्ति ।
एवं त्रयीधर्ममनुप्रपन्ना
गतागतं कामकामा लभन्ते ॥ ९-२१॥
9-21 Having enjoyed the vast world of heaven, they return to the world of mortals on the exhaustion or their merits; thus abiding by the injunctions or the three Vedas, desiring objects or desires they go and come.
Just as the men of means are respected in the mortal world, the men of merits are assigned status in the celestial world. But they are not permitted to continue there after their merits run out. They are obliged to return to this world of karma again for a further acquisition of merits. As slaves to enjoyment they are forced to knock to and fro in this manner.
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The effect of the fruit-motivated action is depicted now :-
त्रैविद्या मां सोमपाः पूतपापा
यज्ञैरिष्ट्वा स्वर्गतिं प्रार्थयन्ते ।
ते पुण्यमासाद्य सुरेन्द्रलोक-
मश्नन्ति दिव्यान्दिवि देवभोगान् ॥ ९-२०॥
9 -20 The knowers of the three Vedas, the drinkers of Soma, purified from sin, worshiping Me by sacrifices, pray for the way to heaven. They reach the holy world of the Lord of the Devas and enjoy in heaven the celestial pleasures of Devas.
What is mentioned here is the foremost among the heavenly enjoyments to which the three Vedas the Rik, the Saman and the Yajus -show the path. lndra is the title of the Lord of the Devas. This status comes to the one who successfully performs a hundred fruit-motivated yagnas.
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Iswara Is Everything 9-16 to 9-19
तपाम्यहमहं वर्षं निगृह्णाम्युत्सृजामि च ।
अमृतं चैव मृत्युश्च सदसच्चाहमर्जुन ॥ ९-१९॥
9-19 I give heat, I withhold and send forth the rain; I am immortality and death; I am being as well as non-being, 0 Arjuna.
As the Immanent Reality, the working of lswara in and through the Cosmos has its glory. As the sun, the Lord gives heat and as sun-rays. He is the cause of the rain commencing and ceasing. Based on the fruits of karma,
1. the Lord is the seeming immortality of the Devas
2. the death of the human beings; the former is in fact, as evanescent as the latter.
Both of these transitory states are helpful to train the Jivatman and make him fit for enlightenment.
In His manifested state the Lord is the being of the Cosmos and in His unmanifested state He is the non-being. The non-being should not be construed as nihility.
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गतिर्भर्ता प्रभुः साक्षी निवासः शरणं सुहृत् ।
प्रभवः प्रलयः स्थानं निधानं बीजमव्ययम् ॥ ९-१८॥
9-18 I am the Goal, the Supporter, the Lord, the Witness, the Abode, the Shelter, the Friend, the Origin, the Dissolution, the Foundation, the Treasure house and the Seed Imperishable.
1. Because all sustenance comes from God, He is the Supporter of beings.
2. As the sea is the owner of the waves, Cosmic Life is the owner of the individual lives. He is therefore the Lord.
3. The universe and the beings appear from and disappear into Iswara; He is therefore the Witness.
4. Beings rest and reside in the Cosmic Consciousness even as the cinema pictures get themselves expressed on a screen. The Lord is therefore the Abode.
5. He is the only lasting Shelter to those who want to be freed from the clutches of the cold hand of death.
6. The Lord is the one fast Friend residing in the hearts of the good and the bad in the form of Conscience and directing them on the right way.
7. What the ocean is to the wave, the Lord is to the entire Creation. He is therefore the Origin, the Dissolution, the Foundation, the Treasure-house and the Seed Imperishable.
The goal of life varies with people. But all the divergent goals of all the people can be sorted and brought unmistakably under three classes
1. striving for long efficient life,
2. seeking after wider knowledge
3. searching for more happiness.
And these three groups are nothing but the modifications of Sat-cit ananda- Life, Light, Love. This is a comprehensive definition of God. He is therefore the direct or indirect Goal of all beings.
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पिताहमस्य जगतो माता धाता पितामहः ।
वेद्यं पवित्रमोङ्कार ऋक्साम यजुरेव च ॥ ९-१७॥
9-17 I am the Father of this world, the Mother, the Dispenser and the Grandfather; I am the knowable, the Purifier, the syllable Om and also the Rik, the Saman and the Yajns.
1. God being the source of the universe and the beings in it, He is held as the Father, the Mother and the Grandfather.
2. Each individual is rewarded by the Lord according to his efforts and therefore He is the Dispenser.
3. Knowing Iswara, everything comes to be known in its perspective; the Lord is therefore the knowable.
4. The elements earth, water, fire and air have the power to purify the things brought in contact with them.
5. Man gets purified as he contacts God; God is therefore the most efficacious Purifier.
6. The Rik, the Saman and the Yajus deal with the origin, sustenance and end of the Prakriti. No mention is made here of the Atharva, the fourth Veda, as it does not come up to the level of the other three in orthodoxy.
7. Languages are all based on the science of sound. In this respect the Vedas may be said to have reached perfection. They are the sacred books which proclaim that sound is the seed from which the universe has come into being. Sound is God, Nuda Brahman. He persists eternally as the syllable Om, which is a blending of a+u+m. Sound originates as a, sustains as u and terminates as m. By the Creator uttering Om once, the universe is projected, maintained and withheld. The sadhaka who gets fixed in the chanting of Om evolves in Godhood.
Bhagavan, Bhagavatam and the Bhaktas - these three are identical. - Sri Ramakrishna
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How can the divergent and conflicting forms of worship reach the same Lord, who is one without a second? The Lord Himself gives the answer:-
अहं क्रतुरहं यज्ञः स्वधाहमहमौषधम् ।
मन्त्रोऽहमहमेवाज्यमहमग्निरहं हुतम् ॥ ९-१६॥
9-16 I am Kratu, I am Yajna, I am Svadha, I am the medicinal herb, I am Mantra, I am also the clarified butter, I am fire, I am oblation.
Kratu is a Vedic ritual while Yajna denotes Vedic and Post-Vedic forms of sacrificial worship. The offerings made to the manes is svadha. The food that is medicinal and at the same time nourishing is called aushadha. The formative thought behind the chanted hymn is mantra. This stanza supplements the ideas contained in the twenty-fourth stanza of the fourth chapter. Apart from God there is no object, no thought and no act. Holding everything as He is the way to reach Him.
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The Ways of the Devoted 9-13 to 9-15
ज्ञानयज्ञेन चाप्यन्ये यजन्तो मामुपासते ।
एकत्वेन पृथक्त्वेन बहुधा विश्वतोमुखम् ॥ ९-१५॥
9-15 Yet others sacrifice with the Yajna of knowledge and worship Me in various ways as the one, as the distinct and as the all-faced.
Worshipping the Lord as the one, undivided Pure Consciousness is the way of Advaita or non-dualism.
Adoring the Almighty as the distinct is the way of Dvaita or dualism. He is held as distinct from the Jagat and the Jivatman- the universe and the beings, both of these categories being dependent on Him. Invoking Iswara as the all -faced is the way of Visishtadvaita or the qualified non-dualism. The universe and the beings in it are all the insentient and sentient aspects of the body of the Lord. It is for this reason He is called the all-faced.
In Whatever way the Lord is worshiped, it is acceptable to Him. These several ways of understanding the Lord by the devotees are all their respective Jnana-yajnas or sacrifices of knowledge.
Whatever be your concept of God, be it with form or formless, hold fast to it and ardently worship Him. But be not conceited that your concept alone of Him is the finale. In the course of your sadhana you will come to know by His grace that His attributes and forms are inexhaustible. -Sri Ramakrishna
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How do these great souls occupy themselves? The elucidation comes :-
सततं कीर्तयन्तो मां यतन्तश्च दृढव्रताः ।
नमस्यन्तश्च मां भक्त्या नित्ययुक्ता उपासते ॥ ९-१४॥
9-14 Glorifying Me always, striving, firm in vows, prostrating before Me, they worship Me with devotion, ever steadfast.
Mind takes the colouring of what it glorifies; by glorifying God, godly qualities come to it. Further, mind gets to know more of the field in which it strives. Venturing in divine pursuit, it imbibes the divine increasingly. Rigid vows add to self culture. By prostrating before God, one gives oneself over to Him; and by worshiping Him with devotion one's individuality gets merged in God. Because of these varieties of ways of creating link with the Lord, the devotees thus engaged are said to be ever steadfast.
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महात्मानस्तु मां पार्थ दैवीं प्रकृतिमाश्रिताः ।
भजन्त्यनन्यमनसो ज्ञात्वा भूतादिमव्ययम् ॥ ९-१३॥
9-13 But the Mahatmans, 0 Partha, partaking of the divine nature, worship Me with a single mind, knowing Me as the Immutable and the source of all beings.
Daivi Prakruti is the divine nature which runs counter to the delusive nature mentioned in the previous stanza. This is born of sattva guna. Beings have all come from Paramatman. Those who know this fact and strive to go back to Paramatman are the Mahatmans, the great-souled ones Self-control, love of beings, commending themselves to God noble traits like these are evident in them.
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The Ways of the Ignorant 9-11 & 9-12
Who are they that are not able to understand the Divinity in the Incarnation of the Lord? They are :-
मोघाशा मोघकर्माणो मोघज्ञाना विचेतसः ।
राक्षसीमासुरीं चैव प्रकृतिं मोहिनीं श्रिताः ॥ ९-१२॥
9-12 Of vain hopes, of vain actions, of vain knowledge, devoid of discrimination, partaking verily of the delusive nature of Rakshasas and Asuras.
Mohini prakriti is the delusive ભ્રામક nature which makes men believe that bodily existence is the be-all and end-all of life. The transitoriness of the mundane existence does not occur to them. Sense-indulgence is the one thing that appeals to them. Their hopes, activities and understanding are all directed to this one end. It is impossible for them to discern between the real and the unreal, between the permanent and the impermanent. Among the men of this base make up, Rakshasas are they in whom rajasic nature predominates and those others are Asuras in whom tamasic element predominates.
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अवजानन्ति मां मूढा मानुषीं तनुमाश्रितम् ।
परं भावमजानन्तो मम भूतमहेश्वरम् ॥ ९-११॥
9 - 11 Fools disregard Me as one clad in human form, not knowing My higher nature as the Great Lord of beings.
1. The Lord who is not bound by karma and the human form.
2. Akasa is not limited by the forms taken by the other four elements. While containing all of them in Itself it expands undivided into infinity.
3. The same is the case with the Cid-akasa as well. It is eternally pure, wakeful and free. Though this Paramatman is the common background to the entire creation, He assumes occasionally a perfect human form and seems to be enshrined in it, solely with the object of teaching humanity that it is possible for them also not to be bound by the body while residing in it.
4. Not knowing this divine play of the Lord, they treat the Incarnation also as an earth-bound one and slight Him.
The elephant has the visible tusks and the invisible set of teeth. Similarly the Incarnations like Sri Krishna have the human and the Divine combined in them. While appearing as the human they are the transcendental Divine unaffected by karma and things mundane. - Sri Ramakrishna
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The Relationship between Saguna Brahman and Prakriti 9-01 to 9-10
मयाध्यक्षेण प्रकृतिः सूयते सचराचरम् ।
हेतुनानेन कौन्तेय जगद्विपरिवर्तते ॥ ९-१०॥
9-10 Because of My proximity, Prakruti produces all this, the moving and the unmoving; the world, therefore, revolves, 0 son of Kunti.
The relationship between the active Prakriti and Iswara, the actionless stimulator thereof is rather difficult to understand. The Lord therefore takes us along with Him by the method called Arundhati nayaya (It signifies the method of leading from the gross to the subtle, from the known to the unknown, in logic and philosophy). A subtle point is arrived at, by proceeding from the known to the less known. In the stanza seven the Lord states "I generate them again at the beginning of the next Kalpa." Prakriti is here only an instrument in His hands. He next says that he animates His Prakriti to do that work thereby making her semi-responsible for her work. Thirdly all responsibility is placed on Prakriti and the Lord is just a Witness, unconcerned and unattached. Finally, Prakriti derives her power of action because of the proximity of Iswara. It is like the creative forces of the sunbeams owing their potentiality to the sun himself.
Adhyaksha is he who presides over a proceeding and keeps an alert eye on it. lswara is in that position. In His August Presence everything in the regime of Prakriti goes on well. He is therefore the actionless Almighty.
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Does this mean that the actionless Atman also is occasionally active? No. The clarification comes:-
न च मां तानि कर्माणि निबध्नन्ति धनञ्जय ।
उदासीनवदासीनमसक्तं तेषु कर्मसु ॥ ९-९॥
9-09 Nor do these acts, 0 Dhanajaya, bind Me who remain like one unconcerned, unattached to these acts.
The very presence of the school master induces the student to his studies. Likewise the very proximity of Iswara prevails on Prakriti to carry on her activities of creation, preservation and destruction. Theology designates Iswara as the male principle and Prakriti as the female principle, spoused to Him. Karma pertains to Prakriti and not to Iswara. The power of execution comes to her from her Lord who is unconcerned and unattached to her activities. The sadhaka in his turn has to practice unconcern and non-attachment to the duty that he discharges. And this is the means for his self-emancipation.
When egoism goes all miseries vanish along with it. When the devotee gets fixed to the conviction that whatever happens is by the will of the Lord and that he is merely an instrument in His hand, mukti is ensured for him in this very birth. -Sri Ramakrishna
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प्रकृतिं स्वामवष्टभ्य विसृजामि पुनः पुनः ।
भूतग्राममिमं कृत्स्नमवशं प्रकृतेर्वशात् ॥ ९-८॥
9 - 08 Animating My Prakriti, I send forth again and again all this multitude of beings helpless under the regime of Prakriti.
The act of animating the Prakttti takes place on a miniature scale at all levels of our existence. Waking up in the morning all beings writhe, wriggle and twist their limbs in order to aminate them. We animate the field by ploughing it. The beast is animated with a whip. The pupil is animated with a shake up. In all these acts spirit is infused into matter. At the beginning of a kalpa, Prakriti comes from the unmanifest to the manifest state, being animated by the Purusha. Beings then helplessly and spontaneously come into existence even as we helplessly wake up from sleep.
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सर्वभूतानि कौन्तेय प्रकृतिं यान्ति मामिकाम् ।
कल्पक्षये पुनस्तानि कल्पादौ विसृजाम्यहम् ॥ ९-७॥
9 - 07 All beings 0 Kaunteya, go into My Prakriti at the end of a Kalpa. I generate them again at the beginning of the next Kalpa.
When Brahma the Creator goes to sleep it is the end of a kalpa, extending into a thousand yugas. It works into an incalculable crores of years of the human standard. Then the entire manifestation goes into the unmanifest state and remains dormant for an equally long period which is Brahma's night. When he wakes up again, the universe with the multitudinous beings comes into manifestation. This is an eternal process.
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यथाकाशस्थितो नित्यं वायुः सर्वत्रगो महान् ।
तथा सर्वाणि भूतानि मत्स्थानीत्युपधारय ॥ ९-६॥
9 - 06 As the mighty wind moving everywhere ever rests in the Akasa, know you that so do all beings rest in Me.
1. Akasa is the origin and background of the other four elements. At the same time it remains unattached to the other elements.
2. Even so the manifested universe that has come forth from Brahman causes no modification or mutation in Him.
3. An understanding of the way of Akasa aids the comprehension of Brahman.
Though the wind carries the good and bad odour alike it remains unaffected by both. Para-Brahman is in this wise unaffected by the phenomenal universe. -Sri Ramakrishna
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न च मत्स्थानि भूतानि पश्य मे योगमैश्वरम् ।
भूतभृन्न च भूतस्थो ममात्मा भूतभावनः ॥ ९-५॥
9-05 Nor do the beings dwell in Me, behold My divine yoga! Bringing forth and supporting the beings, My Self does not dwell in them.
While truly reflecting the objects placed before it, a mirror ever remains unaffected by its function. Similar to this, Brahman has the divine yoga power to bring forth the universe and the beings out of Himself. There is a grandeur, uniformity, precision, plan and purpose in projecting, preserving and withholding the universe. But Brahman is ever Himself, in the midst of this sport. He is unattached and unaffected by the phenomenon. Compare chapter seven, stanza twelve.
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मया ततमिदं सर्वं जगदव्यक्तमूर्तिना ।
मत्स्थानि सर्वभूतानि न चाहं तेष्ववस्थितः ॥ ९-४॥
9-04 All this universe is pervaded by Me in My unmanifested form; all beings exist in Me, but I do not abide in them.
As waves take their origin from the sea and sport on it, all beings from Brahma down to a blade of grass take their origin in Brahman and rest on Him. As the sea is not contained in the waves, the unmanifest Brahman is not contained in the manifest beings. He is infinite while these are all finite.
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For whom is this plenitude પૂર્ણતા impossible? The answer comes :-
अश्रद्दधानाः पुरुषा धर्मस्यास्य परन्तप ।
अप्राप्य मां निवर्तन्ते मृत्युसंसारवर्त्मनि ॥ ९-३॥
9-03 Men devoid of Sraddha for this dharma do not attain Me, 0 oppressor of the foes, but return to the path of the mortal world.
A fish on land, that does not know that there is water within its reach has to suffer necessarily. Men who do not know and who do not care to know of moksha dharma or the path of deliverance have no alternative to being repeatedly born in this world of transmigration and transitory pleasure. For want of sraddha they suffer as destitutes.
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The merits of Brahma-jnana are as follows:-
राजविद्या राजगुह्यं पवित्रमिदमुत्तमम् ।
प्रत्यक्षावगमं धर्म्यं सुसुखं कर्तुमव्ययम् ॥ ९-२॥
9-02 The sovereign science, the sovereign secret, the supreme purifier is this; directly realizable, in accord with dharma, very easy to practise and imperishable.
The public road is called raja-patha. The yoga common to all religions is called raja-yoga. Similarly Brahma-jnana which is the birthright of all is called raja-vidya. All are entitled to it and they are wending their way to it knowingly or unknowingly. If so, can all get at Brahma-jnana as unfailingly as all are able to procure food for the body? No, the "impure in heart cannot have access to it. The purity of the mind is the criterion for it. They alone shall inherit this Divine Treasure who are perfectly pure at heart. But those that have not yet refined the mind, those that are given to cavil and such like defects will not be able to grasp it even. To them it is the sovereign secret. This science is a sealed book to them. As water cleanses the body, Brahma jnana cleanses the Jivatman of his fallen state and reinstates him in Brahmanhood. The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman. Brahma-vidya is therefore the supreme purifier.
A man who wakes up from a dreadful dream brushes aside his agony as a mere fiction of his mind. The mundane life itself is a misery-laden prolonged dream from which the Brahma-jnani wakes up into the bliss of Reality. Thenceforth his life gets fixed in Truth. Therefore it is bound to be in accord with dharma. Self-knowledge is the home coming of the Jivatman, and so it is very easy to practice. There is a possibility of a thing easily obtained being easily lost also. But Brahma Jnana being ones Original State, is never lost any more than the man losing himself. It is imperishable.
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The Blessed Lord said :-
श्रीभगवानुवाच ।
इदं तु ते गुह्यतमं प्रवक्ष्याम्यनसूयवे ।
ज्ञानं विज्ञानसहितं यज्ज्ञात्वा मोक्ष्यसेऽशुभात् ॥ ९-१॥
9-01 To you who do not cavil, I shall surely declare this, the most profound knowledge combined with realization by knowing which you will be released from evil.
Mundane life itself is an evil, and ignorance is the basis of this transitory life. It is because of ignorance that man embraces evil and suffers from its consequences. Mere intellectual knowledge of Atman would not free man from misery. It requires to be combined with realization which is the real Brahma-Jnana. The man of Self-knowledge alone is free from evil and its outcome, misery.
Cavil which is born of conceit and jealousy is a rotten disease of the mind that prevents man from rising in knowledge and wisdom. It robs him of divine disposition. Arjuna is no victim to this canker; he is all magnanimity and broad-mindedness. He is therefore eminently fit for the most profound knowledge combined with realization.
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Man Gets What He Seeks - 9-22 to 9-25
The relative destinies of the varying votaries are as follows:-
यान्ति देवव्रता देवान्पितॄन्यान्ति पितृव्रताः ।
भूतानि यान्ति भूतेज्या यान्ति मद्याजिनोऽपि माम् ॥ ९-२५॥
9-25 Votaries of the Devas go to the Devas; the votaries of the Pitrus go to the Pitrus; to the Bhutas go the Bhuta worshippers; My votaries come to Me.
The water in the pipe can rise to the level in the reservoir to which it is connected. Likewise the mind of man rises to the level of the deity whom he adores. The sadhaka should therefore be able to distinguish between the minor deities at various cosmic levels and Iswara, the Ultimate Reality.
The Devas are more evolved than men. Their span of embodied life being great, they are called the immortals; but they are also subject to birth and death. By worshipping them men may gain longevity and supernatural powers which are all hindrances to bhakti, jnana and mukti.
The Pitrus are the manes who form a region of their own. Sending holy thoughts for the welfare of the departed ancestors is good; but drifting into ancestor-worship is not desirable. Priest craft usually encourages this weakness and credulity in man. The ancestors necessarily get changed with every new birth that man takes. Undue concern therefore for Pitrus is purposeless and detrimental to spiritual growth; it only adds to earthly attachment and bondage.
The Bhutas are, in the scale of evolution, intermediate between men and Devas. By worshiping them the votaries may at best get some psychic power, leading to vanity and greater bondage to mundane life.
It is the worship of Iswara, the Supreme Reality, that is beneficial. It leads to prosperity, perfection and emancipation.
A dyer once had a unique method of colouring clothes. He had a solitary dye tub into which he would dip the cloths brought in by the customers and give whatever colour they wanted. Red, yellow, blue, green, purple- all these and more colours were produced from the same tub. An intelligent customer who watched these miracles entrusted his cloth to the dyer and requested him to dye it as he liked.
Our mind is the cloth. Iswara is the dyer and dyeing tub. He gives us what we pray for. The best that we can do is not to ask Him for anything but give ourselves over to Him. He in His turn gives Himself to us. -Sri Ramakrishna
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But why should this method be held wrong at all? The explanation comes:-
अहं हि सर्वयज्ञानां भोक्ता च प्रभुरेव च ।
न तु मामभिजानन्ति तत्त्वेनातश्च्यवन्ति ते ॥ ९-२४॥
9-24 I am verily the Enjoyer and the Lord of all Yajnas. But these men do not know Me in reality; hence they fall.
The same food when fed by the nurse has one effect on the body and mind of the baby and quite another effect when fed by the mother. There is no substitute in the world for mother's love; and this makes a world of difference in the build of the baby. The love of Iswara is the love of the mother and much more too.
The minor gods give their votaries things impermanent and entangle them more in the wheel of birth and death; hence they fall. The effect of the worship of Iswara is different. While granting the devotees the things of the world they pray for, He inculcates in them increased Bhakti and Jnana which prepare them for Mukti. This power is exclusively with Iswara. He is therefore the Enjoyer and the Lord of all Yajnas. It is incumbent on the sadhaka to understand this truth and devote himself exclusively to the worship of Iswara.
The Lord's statement "'I alone am the Adhiyajna here in this body", in Chapter eight stanza four requires to be taken note of.
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But will not the homage paid to the minor deities become the worship of the Lord? The clarification comes :-
येऽप्यन्यदेवता भक्ता यजन्ते श्रद्धयान्विताः ।
तेऽपि मामेव कौन्तेय यजन्त्यविधिपूर्वकम् ॥ ९-२३॥
9-23 Even those devotees who, endowed with Sraddha, worship other gods, worship Me alone, 0 son of Kunti, by the wrong method.
Because these are devotees endowed with sraddha, they are necessarily believers in God and in His grace. It is not want only, but only for want of right understanding that they adopt the wrong method.
A good government has its sound administrative system from which its loyal officers do not deviate. Be it supposed that a citizen has applied to an officer for a favour and he has sanctioned it, coming as it does within the purview of the system. It is a mistake if the applicant fancies that the officer has shown him a concession. The actual position of the minor gods is equal to that of the government officers. As all powers come to them from the government, even so whatever power the other gods have, it has come to them from Iswara. Apart from and independent of Him no deity has any power to bestow any boon. The wrong method consists in getting the things done counter to this truth.
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But what about those who have outgrown all desires and have completely made themselves over to the Maker? Their position is explained:-
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते ।
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् ॥ ९-२२॥
9-22 To those men who worship Me alone, thinking of no other, who are ever devout, I provide gain and security.
This is a sublime statement revealing the law of life at the spiritual level. In the economy of nature the distribution of labour is benignly meted out. It is all right for the body-bound man to toil for food and clothing. But he who has completely attuned himself to the Divine loses in calibre when he brings his mind down to the mundane level. The grace of the Lord works in such a way that this downfall does not take place. In every respect the spirituality of the spiritual man is promoted.
It is ananyabhakti when the love of the Jivatman for the Paramatman takes away all distinctions between the two.
Yoga in the context of this stanza means the provision of the means required for the devotees' bodily maintenance; and kshema means the protection of what has been provided.
The baby in the womb gets its nourishment from the mother because of the state of non-separation between the two. The boon of ananyabhakti is even greater and more consequential than this. While the mother and the baby will be separated by time, this Jivatman and Paramatman will become united for eternity. The grace of the Lord unfailingly facilitates this union. While the seekers of heaven chase the phantom, the genuine devotee of the Lord gains Him, the Incomparable.
When the devotee takes one stride towards the Lord, He takes ten strides towards that devotee. Such is His grace. -Sri Ramakrishna
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Worship of Iswara is the Easiest 9-26 to 9-28
The good that accrues from surrendering everything to God is reckoned thus :-
शुभाशुभफलैरेवं मोक्ष्यसे कर्मबन्धनैः ।
संन्यासयोगयुक्तात्मा विमुक्तो मामुपैष्यसि ॥ ९-२८॥
9-28 Thus shall you be free from the bondage of actions yielding good and bad results. With the mind firmly set in the yoga of renunciation and liberated you shall come to Me.
The good and bad results of karma contribute for the continuity of the cycle of births. But when they are all offered to the Lord, they become as ineffective as the burnt up seeds, unable to sprout any further. The yogi is in this way freed from bondage.
The conflict between engaging oneself in action and emerging from it gets reconciled in sanyasa yoga. An selfishness is renounced; that way it is sanyasa. Work is vigorously done for the sake of the Lord; that way it is yoga. Such a yogi is a Jivan-mukta while yet in body; he becomes a videha-mukta when he drops his body.
What should you do when you are in this world? You should dedicate your everything to Iswara. You take refuge in Him. Then you will have no misery whatsoever. You will forthwith get to the Lord. -Sri Ramakrishna
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What should the devotee do then? The Lord tells:-
यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोषि ददासि यत् ।
यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम् ॥ ९-२७॥
9-27 Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you gift away, whatever austerity you practise, 0 Kaunteya, do it as an offering to Me.
The panacea for all the evils of earthly life is presented here. To change the secular into the sacred is the only way to metamorphose the human into the divine. Self-seeking ought to give place to self-denial. Making gift is often for self-advertisement. Practising austerity with self-interest may bring in spiritual vanity. But when all these good deeds are done for the glory of the Lord, the doer emerges as the divine. The turning point in life comes in dedicating man's everything to God, instead of petitioning to Him for things here and hereafter.
"0 Mother, I am an instrument, You are its manipulator. I am the house; You are the resident. I am the chariot and You the charioteer. I move as You make me move. I speak as You direct. My doings are all Your doings. Not I; not I; but You." -Sri Ramakrishna
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Access to the minor gods is rather easy; but access to Iswara is not so easy. An idea to this effect may rise in the minds of people. But the Lord clarifies this position :-
पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति ।
तदहं भक्त्युपहृतमश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः ॥ ९-२६॥
9-26 Whoever offers Me with devotion, a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I accept that, the pious offering of the pure in heart.
Metaphysical understanding and material abundance are of no avail to gain access to the Lord. It is pure devotion to which the Lord submits Himself. He who has Bhakti gains Bhagavan easily. A leaf and such like things are mere tokens of love.
The gruel offered by Vidura was accepted with pleasure by Sri Krishna. The flattened dry rice hesitatingly brought by Sudama was pulled out from him and partaken of with relish by Krishna. The dried fruits offered by Sabari were graciously accepted and eaten by Sri Rama. Lord Siva accepted the tongue-tainted venison and mouthful of water offered by the hunter Kannappa. Bhakti is all-in-all to the Lord.
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The Neutral Iswara as the Votary's Own- 9-29 to 9-34
How to pray to God ? It is made clear:
मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु ।
मामेवैष्यसि युक्त्वैवमात्मानं मत्परायणः ॥ ९-३४॥
9-34 Fix your mind on Me; be devoted to Me; sacrifice unto Me; bow down to Me. Having thus made yourself steadfast in Me, taking Me as the Supreme Goal, you will come to Me.
A selfish man resorts to God to have his desires fulfilled and his individuality preserved. But the injunction of the Lord to the discerning devotee is different. The sadhaka is not to practise escape mentality nor is he to develop quietism. On the other hand his talents have all to be harnessed to make life a fulfilment. In dedicating himself and his service to the Divine he gets himself utilized to the maximum. As the river gives Itself to the ocean and becomes one With it, the devotee gives himself to the Lord and becomes one with Him.
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How about the fully qualified ones? The answer comes:-
किं पुनर्ब्राह्मणाः पुण्या भक्ता राजर्षयस्तथा ।
अनित्यमसुखं लोकमिमं प्राप्य भजस्व माम् ॥ ९-३३॥
9-33 How much more then the holy Brahmanas and devoted royal saints! Having come into this transient, joyless world, do worship Me.
Punyam is in contrast with papam already mentioned. A Brahmana is one who is perfect in mind and completely given over to spiritual life. The Kshatriya comes next to him and he is also entirely devoted to God. These two types of highly evolved people can easily attain Godhood.
What is sought as a fragrant and fresh flower today is cast aside as rubbish tomorrow. This is the case with everything in the world. Its transitoriness is self-evident. Misery is the counterpart of every earthly joy. Sorrow is ingrained in happiness: The highly evolved souls, the discerning ones should therefore take to the worship of Iswara so that they may transcend this relative existence.
How shall we attain the Lord?
Can you with a distressed heart pray to Him for His grace and revelation? You shed pots full of tears for the sake of your wife, children and property. Have you ever shed a drop of tear seeking the Lord? As long as the baby is interested in toys, the mother minds her own business. But when the baby throws away those things and screams, the mother rushes to attend on it. You behave likewise towards God; and He will reveal Himself to you. -Sri Ramakrishna
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The case of the mediocre is now taken into account:-
मां हि पार्थ व्यपाश्रित्य येऽपि स्युः पापयोनयः ।
स्त्रियो वैश्यास्तथा शूद्रास्तेऽपि यान्ति परां गतिम् ॥ ९-३२॥
9-32 For those who take refuge in Me, 0 Partha, though they be of inferior birth- women, Vaisyas and Sudras- even they attain the Supreme Goal.
'Papa yoni ought not to be misconstrued as sinful birth or wicked birth. It simply means imperfect birth, quite common in Nature. It may be found that in all species the feminine body is less perfect and less majestic than the masculine. And in the human, the mind is more important than the physique. Women as a class are less developed in mind than men, though exceptions may be found. They only are classified as Vaisyas and Sudras who are not fully developed in mind. The inferior birth, therefore, is a statement of fact. Even the mediocre mentioned herein are competent to reach Godhood. No human being is debarred from this birthright.
When there is a hurricane, it is not possible to distinguish one tree from another. Similarly when there is the hurricane of bhakti in the mind, distinctions such as sex, caste, colour and race vanish of their own accord. -Sri - Ramakrishna
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How long does the convert take to reach Godhood? The answer comes :-
क्षिप्रं भवति धर्मात्मा शश्वच्छान्तिं निगच्छति ।
कौन्तेय प्रतिजानीहि न मे भक्तः प्रणश्यति ॥ ९-३१॥
9-31 Soon does he become a man of righteousness and obtains lasting peace. 0 Kaunteya, know for certain that My devotee never perishes.
Many a sinner has within the span of a single life-time after conversion changed into the divine. The oldest case known to us is that of the sage Valmiki. An illustrious recent convert is Girish Chandra Ghose who after contacting Sri Ramakrishna changed quickly from profligacy to purity.
The Pandava brothers themselves bear testimony to the fact that the devotees of the Lord never get lost. All the five of them had unflinching devotion to Sri Krishna. They lost their empire; they were exposed to many dangers; untold trials and tribulations came upon them; the life of long exile in the forest was painful. But they did not falter in their faith in God. Adversity only increased their love of the Lord. They were blessed in the end with sreyas, the best in life.
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The greatness of Bhakti is now expounded:-
अपि चेत्सुदुराचारो भजते मामनन्यभाक् ।
साधुरेव स मन्तव्यः सम्यग्व्यवसितो हि सः ॥ ९-३०॥
9-30 Even if a man of the most sinful conduct worships Me with undeviating devotion, he must be reckoned as righteous, for he has rightly resolved.
The dirtiest water can be brought back to its original pure state through distillation. Even while in dirt its innate element is not lost. Man's case is much more definite than that of water. There is no such thing as eternal damnation to the sinner as some religions would have it. The unpardonable sin is a misnomer. Salvation of mankind is the supreme plan of the Divine. The more man turns to God the purer he becomes. His mind gets automatically set aright in God-thought. His good action then follows in the trail of his purified thought. He emerges as one reclaimed in virtue.
How to wean people from worldliness to godliness, thought the twin saints- Nityananda and Gouranga. They struck upon the plan of preaching that the chanting of the Lord's name would bring in to them more of wealth and earthly enjoyments. Attracted by the offer, people in large numbers joined the saints in singing and chanting the glory of God. The divine ecstasy that emanated from that holy act made people forget all vulgar pleasures and turn their minds more Godward. God is the divine talisman for all worldly evils -Sri Ramakrishna
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The way of the world is to commingle with those drawn together and to be indifferent to the others. Is not Iswara also behaving like the worldly? His real position is herein explained:-
समोऽहं सर्वभूतेषु न मे द्वेष्योऽस्ति न प्रियः ।
ये भजन्ति तु मां भक्त्या मयि ते तेषु चाप्यहम् ॥ ९-२९॥
9-29 I am the same to all beings; to Me there is none hateful, none dear. But those who worship Me with devotion, they are in Me and I also am in them.
The sunlight falls equally on all things, good and bad, but its effect and utilization vary according to the nature of those things. The very presence of the sun is seen in a mirror because of Its fitness. Though the all-pervading Lord is in the hearts of all, His presence is patent only in the pure heart of the devotee. As one gives, oneself to God, one gets purified and God's presence in that one becomes evident.
God is in all beings but all beings are not in God. And that is the cause of their suffering. -Sri Ramakrishna
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ॐ तत्सदिति श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतासूपनिषत्सु
ब्रह्मविद्यायां योगशास्त्रे श्रीकृष्णार्जुनसंवादे
राजविद्याराजगुह्ययोगो नाम नवमोऽध्यायः ॥ ९॥
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 ninth discourse designated:
THE YOGA OF SOVEREIGN SCIENCE AND SOVEREIGN SECRET
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