The Yoga of the Gita
The main gospel of
the Bhagavadgita is Karma-Yoga, because it converts every activity into a
meditation on the Absolute. The Bhagavadgita teaches that worldly activity is
itself a spiritual activity in the end, because any activity is finally
inseparable from the movement of the Absolute, and, therefore, it is, in truth,
spiritual activity. For the Yogi, there is no difference between worldly and
spiritual activity. Everything is spiritual for him. God is not only in the
world, but is the world. He is both immanent and transcendent.
Arjuna was not yet
fit for Yoga. So, Lord Krishna takes him step by step until he is qualified for
Karma-Yoga. The senses have their own notions about things; one is, that things
are outside and the other that the things are localised in time and space. But
this is a misconception of the senses. In the ultimate analysis, we find that
things are not diversified, but have a deeper underlying connection between
them. Reality will always assert itself. Reality is not diversity, but coordination
and unity. In the beginning, it appears that things are different, later that
they are interconnected and later still, finally, that they are compounded of
one and the same substance.
The Bhagavadgita
has 18 chapters and they are grouped into 6 each. The first part of the first
six chapters solves the problem of the conflict of the division within the
individual. The second deals with the coordination of the individual with the
universal, and the third the unity of the universe with the Absolute. The
solutions of the conflict of the individual, the universal and the absolute are
given in these various chapters, stage by stage.
As long as the
conflict between God and man is not solved, no other conflict can be solved.
The root of the trouble is the separation of the individual from the Supreme
Being. The aspiration for the coordination of the individual, the social and
the universal is only an indication of the individual's need to reach the
Absolute. We are trying to achieve external unity through institutions like the
United Nations Organization, for instance. But broken pieces of glass cannot be
put together by the use of even the best gum. You have to melt the pieces and
recast them to make the glass whole once again, and this is what has to be done
by these organizations. The individuals have to be melted into the Absolute,
and only then can there be real unity. The Bhagavadgita tells you how this can
be achieved. In the beginning, you have a hasty aspiration for the Supreme, the
Absolute. But this cannot materialise so easily as it requires a long period of
training and discipline to mature into experience, and it seems almost
impossible. This is what is described in the first chapter of the Gita. You
feel like doing something, but you cannot really do it. The majority of the
people in the world are in this condition only. They want truth, but cannot get
it because the subconscious mind revolts against the higher aspirations.
In the second
chapter, the Gita tells us that this fear can be conquered through a guide or a
spiritual teacher. The spiritual path is very difficult to tread without a
proper guide, and this proper guide cannot be had by study of books either,
because you need the guidance of a person who has already walked the path. Here
the Master of Yoga, Sri Krishna, tells us that all our efforts should be based
on knowledge. Action without knowledge will not succeed, for what succeeds is
not the activity, but the knowledge that directs the activity. As a matter of
fact, the whole gospel of the Gita is nothing but the blending of knowledge and
activity. Action is the outward expression of knowledge and knowledge is the
inner reality of action. This may be said to be the central theme of the Gita.
Action is rooted in knowledge. Then you gain the requisite inner trend to
conduct yourself rightly in the outer world.
In Chapters II to
VI, we are told how the individual personality can be disciplined in the
process of blending knowledge and action. In the blend of knowledge and action,
one can enter into the state of meditation. Chapter V explains at the end what
meditation is in a short aphorism. It does not mean that in your ardour for
meditation, in life, you can ignore the activities of the world. Many think
that meditation is an individual and private activity which has nothing to do
with the world outside. But it is not so. The two go and work together, like
the wings of a bird.
Chapter VII tells
us that meditation is a coordination of the individual with the universe. So
meditation is not a private act, but a universal process. Chapters VII to XI
give the technique of gradual unification of the individual with the universal.
As a matter of fact, when the individual unites itself with the universal, the
spiritual manifests itself, automatically. So, in this sense, the individual,
the universal and the spiritual mean one and the same thing.
Chapter XII
provides the technique of the various spiritual practices to bring about this
unification, the four Yogas proper. Chapters XIII to XVIII give a beautiful
exposition of how you can live in the world after acquiring this universal
knowledge. It is only with this knowledge that one can redeem the world and do
social work for the welfare of people: Sarvabhutahita. All this means
that one cannot do real good to the world unless one is a truly spiritual
person. The Gita gospel, therefore, prepares you for leading a universal life
in this world. The Yoga of the Gita is inclusive of social work, humanitarian
service, individual peace, as well as God-realization. This is the most
complete exposition of Yoga available anywhere in the world.
The difficulty in
practice arises because of old habits persisting which can be cured by everyday
meditation without a break. Satya, Ahimsa, Brahmacarya, in their larger sense
of freedom from tension and conservation of energy, are the pre-requisites for
meditation. Whatever you do in this world is equal to an adoration of God. God
is to be seen in everything visible in the world. Truth is everything, and the
knowledge of the nature of Truth is at once harmony with all creations. It is
an instantaneous communion of meditation and action, grace and effort, the
divine and the earthly, the relative and the absolute – Krishna and Arjuna
driving forward, seated in a single chariot which is this body, and this
universe evolving towards perfection.
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