Who is a good seeker?
Divine Life
Society Publication: Discourse 38 (Chapter 13) Commentary on the
Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda
Amanitvam
adambhitvam ahimsa kshantir arjavam, acharyopasanam saucham sthairyam
atma-vinigrahah (13.7).
Indriyartheshu vairagyamanahankara eva cha, janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-doshanudarsanam (13.8).
Asaktir anabhishvangah putra-dara-grhadishu, nityam cha sama-chittatvam ishtanishtopapattishu (13.9).
Mayi chananya yogena bhaktir avyabhicharini, vivikta-desa-sevitvam aratir jana-samsadi (13.10).
Adhyatma-jnana-nityatvam tattva-jnanartha-darsanam, etaj jnanam iti proktam ajnanam yad-ato’nyatha (13.11).
All these things mentioned
here in these verses are called knowledge. “I consider these virtues I have
mentioned as real knowledge.” “Whatever is the opposite of what I have said
here, is ignorance.”Indriyartheshu vairagyamanahankara eva cha, janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-doshanudarsanam (13.8).
Asaktir anabhishvangah putra-dara-grhadishu, nityam cha sama-chittatvam ishtanishtopapattishu (13.9).
Mayi chananya yogena bhaktir avyabhicharini, vivikta-desa-sevitvam aratir jana-samsadi (13.10).
Adhyatma-jnana-nityatvam tattva-jnanartha-darsanam, etaj jnanam iti proktam ajnanam yad-ato’nyatha (13.11).
A student of yoga, a spiritual
seeker, is humble. He does not expect respect from anybody, but offers respect
to everyone. If grass is trampled on, it
simply bends; it doesn’t resist. We should consider being humbler than a blade
of grass. Even if we cut off large part of the tree, it again shoots up
tendrils and leaves. It is very tolerant. Thus, the devotee should be as
tolerant as a tree and as humble as a blade of grass, giving respect to
everybody and wanting respect from nobody.
A spiritual seeker never demonstrates himself as a seeker of God,
a lover of God, a spiritual seeker. He looks like anybody else in the world.
There is nothing special or anything particular that we can cognize in that
person. He hides his knowledge and his sadhana. It is said the sadhana
that we perform, the mantra that we chant, and the Guru whom we worship should
not be revealed to anyone. Adambhitvam means there is no demonstration
of ahankara.
Ahimsa,
non-violence,
is something well known to us. All beings should feel fearlessness towards us.
Kshantih
is forgiveness. If somebody does something wrong to us, we should
not do the same to them. We forgive them because, after all, everybody is
susceptible to making some mistake or the other. We should be honest and
straightforward, and not hide anything. We should not think one thing, say
another thing, and do something else.
Kayena vacha manasa:
There should be harmony; otherwise, there will be non-alignment of personality.
Acharyopasanam: We
should always be humble and worshipful before our teacher, who imparts
knowledge to us. We should not show our greatness or our ego before the teacher
or the Guru. Let him be worshipped as the veritable manifestation of God
Himself. Saucham means physical purity, both inwardly as well as
outwardly. Sthairyam is the decision that we have taken to achieve God-realization
in this birth, and not in a future birth. Atma-vinigrahah is
self-restraint, the control of the senses and the mind.
Distaste for the objects of
sense. There is nothing in this world which can delight us. Therefore, we
should be rid of longing for the objects of sense.
We should not project our ego
in any way whatsoever, nor go on thinking how we were born into this world, how
we have grown up, how we will become old and leave this body one day. Is this
world – where everything decays, decomposes, and turns to dust – a haven of
pleasure and joy? How can anyone pat himself on the back and say that he is
well off in this world?
We should think of the way in
which we were born into this world – a very, very unpleasant way indeed in
which we were born. The process of dying, the going from this world, is also
very unpleasant indeed. Old age is unpleasant, sickness is unpleasant, all
kinds of sorrow which we have to encounter daily, and the defects of sense
objects – these truths in life, are to be contemplated upon every day.
There is defect in every sense
object. It looks honey-coated and tasty, but inside there is a poison which
will kill us. Ordinary poison cannot be considered as dangerous as the poison
of sense objects, because ordinary poison – scorpion or even snake venom – will
destroy us only once; but the contemplation of sense objects, will kill us in
several births. Therefore, these kinds of sorrows should be borne in mind, and
we should not be entangled in them.
Therefore, we should be
detached from things, and live an individual life. If we are householders, we
have some duty to perform as a trustee of an institution, not attaching oneself
to anything, but doing one's duty very, very meticulously. We may live at home,
but we should detach ourselves, knowing well that one day or the other we will
leave this, and also knowing that one day or the other they will leave us.
Hence, attachment is unfounded and unwarranted.
Whether pleasant things or
unpleasant things come – whether good news comes that makes us feel happy, or
there is something which makes us very unhappy – we should keep our mind in a
state of balance and not be tilted either to this side or that.
Finally, we should resort to
God only. Ekabhakti, means wanting only one, and not wanting anything
else.
As far as possible, we should
try to live in ekantavas, have ekantavas, and be satisfied in
ourselves and not require anybody else with us. If there is a crowd of people,
we should leave that place and go somewhere else – sit under a tree. We should
not have any kind of taste for organisations, crowds, and the noise of human
society. We should be alone to ourselves.
Our daily routine should be
working for the acquisition of adhyatma jnana, the knowledge of the
Self. We should work for it day and night. We should aspire for the vision of
Truth, and ask for nothing else. If we have these qualities, we have knowledge.
If we do not have these qualities, we are ignorant. It is said that we should
aspire for knowledge of Truth.
What is Truth? (13.12):
"I shall now tell you what Truth is. That Supreme Brahman is the Ultimate
Truth, after knowing which there is attainment of immortality." It has no
beginning and no end. It cannot be designated either as existing or not
existing. It cannot be called existing because whenever we think of any
existing thing, we want to see it with our eyes or consider it as some object
of some sense organ. As it is not the object of any sense organ, we do not
consider it to be existing; but neither is it not non-existing – because, ultimately,
it is the only existence. Na sat tan nasad uchyate: Therefore, it cannot
be regarded as sat, and it cannot be regarded as asat either.
Excerpts from:
Discourse 38 (Chapter 13) Commentary on the
Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda
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