Bhagavad gita according to gandhi chapter 9

THE BHAGAVD GITAACCORDING TO

GANDHI

T K G NAMBOODHIRITHIRUVALLA, KERALA

Presentation adapted fromThe Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi, Orient

Paperbacks,2011

T K G Namboodhiri


GANDHI

T K G Namboodhiri

CHAPTER 9

RAJA VIDYA RAJA GUHYA YOGA


GANDHIINTRODUCTION

In Chapter 9 Lord Krishna describes Rajavidya- the Supreme wisdom which is Rajagugya- supreme mystery. This is the most secret & the highest form of knowledge, knowing which one is released from bondage. It is a great support for persons like us given to a life of sin. Even the most sinful person is promised help & support.

T K G Namboodhiri


GANDHIVerses 9.1 & 9.2

Sri Krishna said:I will now declare to thee, who are uncensorious, this mysterious knowledge, together with discriminative knowledge, knowing which thou shalt be released from ill.This is the king of sciences, the king of mysteries, pure & sovereign, capable of direct comprehension, the essence of dharma, easy to practice, changeless.The first duty of man is service to others. The knowledge of one’s duty is rajavidya- supreme wisdom. It is the king of all secrets; it is sacred & the highest form of knowledge. It is dharma & worthy to be followed in action. It is easy to follow, besides, once acquired, it is never destroyed.I will impart that knowledge to you, says Shri Krishna

T K G Namboodhiri



Men who have no faith in this doctrine, O Paranthapa, far from coming to Me, return repeatedly to the path of this world of death.By Me, unmanifest in form, this whole world is pervaded; all beings in Me, I am not in them.So long as our eyes of knowledge have not opened, we have no choice but to see with the eyes of faith.

T K G Namboodhiri



And yet those beings are not in Me, That indeed is My unique power as Lord! Sustainer of all beings, I am not in them. My Self brings them into existence.As the mighty wind, moving everywhere, is ever contained in ether, even so know that all beings are contained in Me.Air fills space, but space is not identical to air. The air which fills space is still not in it; similarly God who dwells in all creatures is still not in them. God exists for him who has faith, but does not for him who lacks it. God is above good & bad. Even the most wicked of beings exist in Him, & yet does not. God is above good & bad. God pervades the entire universe.God is omnipotent & we are His creatures. Just as space & air exist in one another, so do God & the universe. He who has faith certainly exists in God; he who lacks it does not. God does not force Himself on anyone, nor does He close the door against anyone who aspires to be united with Him.T K G Namboodhiri



All beings, O Kaunteya, merge into My Prakriti, at the end of a Kalpa, & I send them forth when a Kalpa begins.Resorting to My Prakriti, I send forth again & again this multitude of beings powerless under the sway of Prakriti.The individual soul passes through birth & death. The universe, too, comes into existence & disappears. If the soul wishes to know its essence, it will have to transcend the universe.God acts according to His Prakriti & yet He does nothing since He is above even His own Prakriti.

T K G Namboodhiri



But all this activity, O Dhananjaya, does not bind Me, seated as one indifferent, unattached to it.With Me as presiding Witness, Prakriti gives birth to all that moves & does not move; & because of this, Kaunteya, the wheel of the world keep going.Man’s essence, which is Atman, is all-pervading. He who realizes this will see all in himself, & doing good becomes his nature. All that such a person does becomes akarma & not-binding. The Supreme Lord, although aloof from all the activities of the material world, remains its supreme director.

T K G Namboodhiri


GANDHI

Verses 9.11 & 9.12Not knowing My transcendent nature as the sovereign Lord of all beings, fools condemn Me incarnated as man.Vain are the hopes, actions & knowledge of those witless ones who have resorted to the delusive nature of monsters & devils.‘Creatures sunk in ignorance, dwelling in the human body do not know Me’ says Sri Krishna. ‘They disregard Me’. Fools equate the Lord with ordinary people. They do not know His transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be. Labouring under the illusion that I am a human being, they do not know My real essence. Their hopes, works, & knowledge are useless. They have no discrimination & take shelter in ghosts & demons.

T K G Namboodhiri



But those great souls who resort to the divine nature, O Partha, know Me as the Imperishable Source of all beings, & worship Me with an undivided mind.Always declaring My glory, striving in steadfast faith, they do Me devout homage; ever attached to Me they worship Me.The mahatmas, who are ruled by their divine prakriti, worship Him with their minds illuminated by knowledge & with single-minded devotion- He who is the Creator of all beings.They always sing the Lord’s glories, & with unflinching faith worship Him with devotion. They remain attached to Him always.

T K G Namboodhiri


GANDHIVerse 9.15

Yet others, with knowledge-sacrifice, worship Me, who am to be seen everywhere, as one, as different or as many.Others worship Me by striving for knowledge. Some of them worship Me as the only One, some others worship My different manifestations & still others worship Me in everything which exists. Unlimited are the ways people worship Me.

T K G Namboodhiri



I am the sacrificial vow; I am the sacrifice; I the ancestral oblation; I the herb; I the sacred text; I the clarified butter; I the fire; I the burnt offering.Of this universe I am Father, Mother, Creator, Grandsire; I am what is to be known, the sacred syllable AUM; the Rig, the Sama and the Yajur.Sri Krishna describes Himself to be everything in a sacrifice. He is the father, mother, creator & grandfather of the universe. He is Om, the three Vedas, & that which is to be known.

T K G Namboodhiri



I am the Goal, the Sustainer, the Lord, the Witness, the Abode, the Refuge, the Friend, the Origin, the End, the Preservation, the Treasure-house, the Imperishable Seed.I give heat; I hold back & pour forth rain; I am deathlessness & also death, O Arjuna; Being & non-Being as well.I am the goal-means, moksha, which human beings strive to achieve. I am the Sustainer, the Lord, & the witness. I am the abode & the shelter. I am the kind friend who serves without expectation of reward.I give heat, in the form of the Sun which gives happiness & the light of knowledge to all creatures. I draw the rains & release them. I am death & I am immortality. I am being & also non-being.Thus, every object & every state which we can think of in this universe is God- the good & the bad. Nothing exists unless He wills it. The lord states a profound truth- He is being & non-being, virtue & sin, death & immortality- which is beyond our comprehension. The existence of these dualities in God is a miracle. He alone knows its mystery.

T K G Namboodhiri



Followers of the three Vedas, who drink the soma juice & are purged of sin, worship Me with sacrifice & pray for going to heaven; they reach the holy world of the gods & enjoy in heaven the divine joys of the gods.They enjoy the vast world of heaven, & their merits spent, they enter the world of mortals; thus those who, following the Vedic law, long for the fruits of their action earn but the round of birth & death.Those who perform the rituals enjoined in the three Vedas have their sins washed away; as a result of their virtuous deeds they experience celestial enjoyments for the duration of their lives. Having enjoyed divine pleasures till the stock of their merit lasts, they again descend to the world of mortals, subject to a perpetual cycle of life & death.

T K G Namboodhiri



As for those who worship Me, thinking on Me alone & nothing else, ever attached to Me, I bear the burden of getting them what they need.Even those who, devoted to other gods, worship them in full faith, even they, O Kaunteya, worship none but Me, though not according to the rule.Unlike those who work with selfish & ulterior motives & are unable to extricate themselves from samsara, those who work without selfish motives & aspire for communion with Him, are looked after by Him. He will get them what they require & protect what they already have (Yogakshema).The right method is to have no intermediary between oneself & God. But, Sri Krishna says ‘those who seek Me through the gatekeepers that stand between, they too worship these in order to reach Me’.

T K G Namboodhiri



For I am the Acceptor & the Director of all sacrifices; but not recognizing Me as I am, they go astray.Those who worship the gods go to the gods; those who worship the manes go to the manes; those who worship the spirits go to the spirits; but those who worship Me come to Me.Sri Krishna says that “I am the recipient & the Lord of all yajnas”. So he who does everything without thinking that he himself does it, but the Lord does everything, earns merit. Those, however, who do not know the truth, & so do not know Me, return again to the world.Shri Krishna asserts that all those who worship, with devotion, gods, manes, spirits etc., go to their respective entities after death. But those who worship the Supreme Brahman, who is none other than the Self, attain the Brahman, & never return to the world.

T K G Namboodhiri



Any offering of leaf, flower, fruit, or water made to Me in devotion, by an earnest soul, I lovingly accept.Whatever thou dost, whatever thou eatest, whatever thou offerest as sacrifice or gift, whatever austerity thou dost perform, O Kaunteya, dedicate all to Me.The Lord accepts whatever a devotee offers with deep devotion. Do all your work as offerings to the Lord. This is sannyasa-yoga, dedicating all activities to the Lord & continuing to do useful work to the end of your life.

T K G Namboodhiri



So doing, thou shalt be released from the bondage of action, yielding good & evil fruit; having accomplished both renunciation & performance, thou shalt be released (from birth & death) & come unto Me.I am the same to all beings; with Me there is none disfavoured; but those who worship Me with devotion are in Me & I in them.If you live as described, you will be free from the bonds of karma which are sometimes good & sometimes evil in their fruit, for I shall be the recipient of all that you enjoy. Such a purified person goes to Him after death.If we seek refuge in the Lord, He will give us all that we can wish. The Lord provides a grain for the ant & a cart-load for the elephant. T K G Namboodhiri



A sinner, howsoever great, if he turns to Me with undivided devotion, must indeed be counted a saint; for he has a settled resolve.For soon he becomes righteous & wins everlasting peace; know for a certainty, O Kaunteya, that My bhakta never perishes.A sinner, if he firmly resolve to purify himself & turn to God, must be considered a sadhu. Such a person soon becomes a holy man & attains inviolable peace of mind. We should not therefore, regard even the most wicked of men as wicked. He can become good in this very life, if he desires so.Sri Krishna declares: Be certain, O Arjuna that no bhakta of mine ever perishes.

T K G Namboodhiri



For finding refuge in Me, even those who though are born of the womb of sin, women, vaisyas & sudras too, reach the supreme goal.How much more then, the pure brahmins & seer-kings who are My devotees? Do thou worship Me, therefore, since thou hast come to this fleeting & joyless world.Anyone who surrenders himself to Me- assures the Lord, whether man or woman, vaisya or sudra, or one born among the wicked people- even then such a person will attain the supreme state. In earlier days, women & people of lower castes were not permitted to study Vedas & scriptures. The Lord assures here, that even they can attain liberation if they become devotees of the Lord.Then what to say of the noble Brahmins or learned Kings? They can certainly attain liberation with the Brahman if they desire so. Having been blessed to take birth in the human body, one should use time wisely, evolving oneself with spiritual knowledge.

T K G Namboodhiri


GANDHIVerse 9.34

On Me fix thy mind, to Me bring thy devotion, to Me offer thy sacrifice, to Me make thy obeisance; thus having attached thyself to Me & made Me thy end & aim, to Me indeed shalt thou come.In this last Verse of Chapter 9, Sri Krishna asks Arjuna to forget himself in the Lord. Meditate constantly on Me, let your Atman be in ceaseless communion with Me, & live with your heart ever united with Me; if you live thus, I shall draw you towards Me.In this chapter named Rajavidya & Rajaguhya, Sri Krishna explains to Arjuna the highest knowledge & highest mystery- the meaning of yoga & kshema. The union of yoga is to be achieved with the Lord. All that is needed is fixed determination to realize God. He whom we seek dwells in our hearts & the holy temple in which He sits opens only by means of prayer.

T K G Namboodhiri

Spiritual

Bhagavad gita according to gandhi chapter 9