Commentary on Paramahansa Nityananda's Chidakasha Gita–Number 8
by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

Chidakasha Gita 23-26

23. Buddhi is the king; manas is the minister; manas should be subordinated to buddhi.

That is self-explanatory. The manas must always be controlled by the buddhi–by intelligence opened and empowered through yoga.

24. When a road is crowded with five or six thousand people, it is almost impossible to drive a horse carriage along the road; the driver must be careful in driving the carriage. A cyclist’s attention is not directed towards himself but towards the passerby.

We may think from the first sentence that Nityananda is telling us that we must be attentive and skillful in living life. But the second reveals his actual message: Driving alone the crowded road makes the cyclist forget himself and be intent on his surroundings. This state of self-forgetfulness is ignorance and bondage. The solution? Get off the road, both internal and external, and be intent on the Self, on the One.

25. When a man is entirely sunk in cold water, he no longer feels the cold of the cold water. A perfect man is not subject to anger.

At first we are shocked by the cold water, but when we are fully in it, we may even feel warm. In the same way, when we get inside the passions–come to understand their nature and are withdrawn from the outer phenomena that incite them, we are no longer coerced by them. Part of being “inside” them is understanding what produces the things that provoke them: our own karma. We understand that all which we respond to negatively is really our own doing–that we ourselves are the source of all aggravation. When we see this through our buddhi clarified by sadhana, we understand the meaning, the lesson, that is to be learned. Then we are free. This is perfection.

26. When a seed is fried, it cannot sprout. When a lamp contains no oil, we do not call it a lamp. When the sun is shining, a gaslight becomes dim. It is the sun that gives light to the whole world. If manas is regarded as the king, buddhi may be regarded as the prime minister. When a tree does not bear fruits, it has no beauty. There is no effect without cause. In darkness light persists. Darkness is ignorance; light is jnana (knowledge). One must see oneself. One must return to the place from whence one started. We must return the thing we have borrowed.

This is quite a conglomeration, so we must look at the pieces one by one.

• When a seed is fried, it cannot sprout.

If a seed is fried or boiled, the heat destroys its geminating properties so it cannot sprout. In the same way, karmic “seeds” can be rendered sterile by spiritual practice–by tapasya, which literally means to generate heat. In the upanishads we find the simile of two sticks (aranis) being rubbed together to make heat that will produce fire. Om is the “upper” stick and the mind and body are said to be the “lower” stick. To “fry” the seeds of our karma, the japa and meditation of Om is the way–as the Yoga Sutras (1:28) state.

• When a lamp contains no oil, we do not call it a lamp.

The idea here is that the mere form of a lamp is not enough for it to be what it “is.” For if there is no oil inside the lamp, it cannot be kindled and give light. In the same way, “empty” people devoid of Self-awareness are not really people, but just shells. We must be “full” of consciousness within–then we will be conscious without, as well. This is the gist of Jesus’ parable (Matthew 25:1-12) about the wise and foolish virgins waiting for the bridegroom. Only those that had oil were able to light their lamps and meet the bridegroom. The others missed the groom and were not admitted to the wedding. The groom, of course, is the Self, and the wedding is the realization of the Self. Only those with “oil” in their “lamp” are true spiritual aspirants. How do we get the oil? Through intense sadhana.

• When the sun is shining, a gaslight becomes dim. It is the sun that gives light to the whole world.

In the beginning, good deeds, good ideas, and religiosity are lights in our darkness. But they are only “gaslights,” and can only illuminate a bit of our environment. This may not be understood by us at first, but when the “sun” of spiritual experience arises in us, and the Self begins to shine and give light to our whole “world,” we will understand. Not that we will despise and consider our gaslights valueless, but we will have a right perspective on the matter and realize that if the sun had not risen we would still be fundamentally in the dark–or at least the dim. The Gita tells us: “When the whole country is flooded, the reservoir becomes superfluous. So, to the illumined seer, the Vedas are all superfluous” (Bhagavad Gita 2:46). And the same is true of all external “good” words, deeds, and thoughts when the Self becomes active in our consciousness. But until then–bless those gaslights!

• If manas is regarded as the king, buddhi may be regarded as the prime minister.

One of the pitfalls of aspiring yogis is being “overspiritual”–too abstract in their thinking and thus neglecting the very things that will lead them to the heights. Without stairs or ladder, how can they ascend? In the same way, even though we realize that the buddhi must be dominant in us and must be increasingly expanded and deepened, yet the manas must not be disregarded, for it is an instrument of perception–of consciousness–and therefore a major factor all the way to that point where, as Sri Ramana Maharshi assures us, it shall transform into the Self. Until then the mind can be made the faithful servant of the buddhi–which is its proper role.

• When a tree does not bear fruits, it has no beauty.

Phala means both fruit and flower. All fruit-bearing trees produce flowers, and from the center of the flower grows the fruit. (This is true of many vegetables, also, and Shankara wrote that the natural diet of human beings is fruit that was preceded by a flower. Phala means fruit in the broad sense and includes vegetables.) In the material world there are many “fruitless” trees that are much more beautiful than the “fruitful” ones. But Nityananda is speaking spiritually–as did Jesus (John 15:12). The true beauty is spiritual, and the “fruit of the spirit” is the realization produced by sadhana and the observance of yama-niyama. If we have no such fruit, we not only have no beauty in the spiritual realm, we do not even exist there, practically speaking.

• There is no effect without cause.

Everything, without exception, material, or immaterial, arises from a cause, and is a revelation of that cause. Because of this, everything has a meaning. Those who believe in karma should carefully analyze their life situation in order to understand what kind of actions from the past are coming to fruition now and to see what their minds were like in that past. The real lesson to be learned is that just as the present is created by the past, the future is created by the present–sometimes combined with elements from the past. Before, we were unaware that we were creating the future, but now we do know, and can take complete charge of our destiny. The best thing, of course, is to “fry” the karmic seeds, as we have already seen.

• In darkness light persists. Darkness is ignorance; light is jnana (knowledge).

Darkness is not an entity, but only an absence of light. Therefore, no matter how dark the place, light will still shine forth, even if in a limited manner. Ignorance is darkness, and wisdom-knowledge is light. In even the darkest mind, if light enters it dispels at least some of the dark, and the more light, the less darkness. By holding on to the knowledge we gain, we make it possible for more to enter and more ignorance to recede. In time we shall be all light, and we can go home to the Light from Whence we came. That is why Shankara insists over and over that jnana alone liberates and that it alone should be sought.

• One must see oneself.

We must experience the Self by means of Atma Yoga–by sadhana.

• One must return to the place from whence one started.

We “began” in the Self and shall “end” in the Self. If we did not begin in the Self we could never end there.

• We must return the thing we have borrowed.

Originally we were just the Self, but we “borrowed” the various bodies, entered into relative existence, and began to evolve within it. But we must grow beyond the need for all those “things,” surrender them back to the cosmos, and rise into absolute Freedom. If we have broken or damaged anything it must first be repaired and corrected by us. Each one of us is a world, a cosmos to itself. And that is what Jesus had in mind when he said: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14).