The Worship of Brahman

“The form of worship which consists in contemplating Brahman is superior to ritualistic worship with material offerings. The reward of all action is to be found in enlightenment.”1 Swarupananda’s rendering: “Knowledge-sacrifice, O scorcher of foes, is superior to sacrifice [performed] with [material] objects. All action in its entirety, O Partha, attains its consummation in knowledge.”

To know God is the supreme sacrifice-worship, immeasurably beyond ritualistic worship with material offerings. Yet, once more Krishna is warning us away from ignorant snobbery. For he assures us that all action–including ritualistic worship–leads to the attainment of knowledge. We must never disdain any endeavor in spiritual life, for such action creates positive spiritual karma that will eventually result in enlightenment.

Wherever we find supposedly enlightened people who disdain “lesser” or “ignorant” attempts to elevate the seeker, we can know that we are in the presence of persons whose personal ignorance–like their ego–is colossal. Enlightened people are aware that every attempt to attain higher life will in time uplift the seeker. Remembering their own past struggles, they know that no effort is ever wasted, that the intention will perfect the action. “Even the abortive attempt is not wasted”2 Krishna tells Arjuna.

Teachers

“Those illumined souls who have realized the Truth will instruct you in the knowledge of Brahman, if you will prostrate yourself before them, question them and serve them as a disciple.”3 Since this verse is continually misapplied to the cultish slavery of gurudom, we should analyze it very carefully.

First we are told that illumined teachers will instruct us in knowledge (upadekshyanti te jnanam). They will teach us the principles of Brahmajnana, which includes the practice of meditation by which the knowledge of Brahman is attained. This is a wonderful prospect, but it says nothing more than this. There is no word of empowerment or diksha (initiation) being given by the teacher, or his taking on the student’s karma or the forging of some type of eternal bond in which the teacher is obligated to bestow enlightenment. In other words, the manipulative super-parent type of disempowerment and enslavement so current today is not in Krishna’s mind.

He does tell Arjuna that the seeker must approach the teacher with humble respect (pranipatena) and must actively question (pariprashnena) him. Moreover, the seeker must render service (sevaya). This is because at the time of Krishna teachers lived in forest ashrams and seekers were expected to live with them for some time to learn the practice of spiritual life as well as its philosophy. Krishna was quite familiar with a type of seeker found even today. Approaching the teacher as a virtual equal, they set themselves down in front of him and unload a barrage of metaphysical questions intended to determine whether or not the teacher is worthy of their attention. If they decide the teacher is worthy, they proceed to monopolize his time and attention, disregarding anyone else, expecting to be waited on and supplied with whatever they might want, assuming that everyone in the ashram is a servant whose existence is justified by serving them and the guru. Krishna points out that the seeker is expected to help out in the ashram and be of benefit to his fellow seekers. Be assured that this has nothing to do with the “karma yoga” projects of ambitious gurus entailing grinding labor and “voluntary” deprivation. The “service” an authentic spiritual teacher desires is the putting into practice of the teachings he imparts. Unlike the ancient Pharaohs, such a teacher has no desire to turn his students into slaves dragging over hot sands the stones with which he will build a monument to himself. Remember: Krishna has in mind the quiet and simple forest ashrams where the teacher and students lived in utmost simplicity. The “service” expected was equally humble and simple. It is a crime to interpret this verse in any other context.

Also, since the days when Vyasa wrote the Gita on palm leaves with a wooden stylus dipped in ink made of berries, a wonderful thing has appeared in the world: the printing press. Millions throughout the world can now learn the wisdom of great master-teachers of all ages and traditions. It is still good to find a worthy teacher who will share his accumulated knowledge with us, but it is not at all necessary. “Spirituality cannot be gotten out of books!” some may haste to say. True. But neither can you get spirituality from any external source, including the greatest of yogis. Spirituality arises from within as a result of spiritual maturation and the personal application of spiritual teachings–teachings that can be gotten from a book. Even when reading the writings of a great master, we must be respectful and alert, seeking to comprehend the slightest and most subtle of his teachings.

True masters never die. We can approach them prayerfully in the depth of our hearts and seek their spiritual assistance. There is no reason why we cannot become the disciple of any master, no longer how long ago he lived on the earth. Like Jesus, true masters can assure us: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”4 Nor need we limit ourselves to inwardly approaching only one teacher.

True jnana

“When you have reached enlightenment, ignorance will delude you no longer. In the light of that knowledge you will see the entire creation within your own Atman and in me.”5

True enlightenment is a state in which delusion can no longer arise. The enlightened are absolutely incapable of falling back into ignorance. Until this state is reached, however, no matter how highly evolved a person may become he is still capable of being overcome by ignorance and of plunging back into the swamp of spiritual degradation. Therefore we must be wary at all times and aware of our potential for a fall. The sure sign of a coming fall is a yogi’s boasting that he has transcended all evil and is incapable of wrongdoing. No enlightened person speaks in such a manner. Those who have confidence in their attainment are still in the grip of ego–and therefore capable of any evil. This is why genuine humility is a characteristic of the truly enlightened. No boasting or claims are made by the truly wise, nor do the liberated crow about their freedom.

The fundamental trait of enlightenment is stated by Krishna: “In the light of that knowledge you will see the entire creation within your own Atman and in me.” Infinity will become the constant interior state. Nothing as petty as psychic powers or fascinating personality traits constitute the profile of the enlightened. Nothing less than infinite consciousness is the trait of the illumined being.

Even at Krishna’s time there were fake jnanis whose “enlightenment” took the form of negating awareness of anything but their ego-minds which they, of course, called their “self.” Their false self-awareness crowded out any reality, leaving only the self-congratulatory madness of egomania. They, like their modern descendants, vociferously announce that “God” is a myth and that there is no one beside their “self” to know or perceive. But Krishna carefully tells Arjuna that the enlightened person finds all existence “within your own Atman AND in me.” That is a very important And–one which the false “advaita” teachers deny almost hysterically. The enlightened perceives both his Self and the Supreme Self. He sees them as two and knows them as One. Regarding this he can say, speaking of his Self and the Absolute Self:

That is the Full, this is the Full.
The Full has come out of the Full.
If we take the Full from the Full
It is the Full that yet remains.

This is the authentic advaita vision, not the simplistic monism of self-appointed “non-dual” gurus. Those who study and apply the wisdom of the Gita will avoid much error and outright nonsense.

Made pure

“And though you were the foulest of sinners, this knowledge alone would carry you like a raft, over all your sin. The blazing fire turns wood to ashes: the fire of knowledge turns all karmas to ashes. On earth there is no purifier as great as this knowledge, when a man is made perfect in yoga, he knows its truth within his heart.”6

It is frequently stated that Shankara in his commentaries and other writings seems to overemphasize jnana (knowledge), but when we look at portions of the Gita such as this one we see why he considered jnana the prime necessity. For here Krishna is telling us that jnana is the absolute power of liberation–specifically liberation from the effects of evil or sin.

Knowledge–the divine knowledge inherent in the Self–frees us from sin in two aspects. It frees us from the psychological conditionings–especially the addictions–resulting from wrongdoing, and it burns to ashes the karmas we have accumulated by past wrong action. In every way, jnana destroys sin (papa) to the uttermost degree. And Krishna assures us that jnana itself can do this–nothing else is needed. Further, he tells us that when we are perfect in yoga we find this knowledge in our own hearts, for it is eternal, inseparable from the Self.

So can we fault Shankara for putting such a high valuation on jnana?

Faith leads to knowledge

“The man of faith, whose heart is devoted, whose senses are mastered: he finds Brahman. Enlightened, he passes at once to the highest, the peace beyond passion.”7 Swarupananda: “The man with shraddha [faith], the devoted, the master of one’s senses, attains [this] knowledge. Having attained knowledge one goes at once to the Supreme Peace.”

Since knowledge is the last step in enlightenment, there must be many prior steps. The one next to knowledge is faith–shraddha. Now shraddha is not the weak “faith” of the English language, but is rather a dynamic force based not on intellectual belief but is rather a spontaneous uprising from within of an intuitive knowledge or conviction. It is a kind of precognition, and is itself an embryonic form of knowledge. So it is knowledge, a foreshadowing of the fully developed vision that culminates in enlightenment, that is enlightenment, the Supreme Peace (param shantim).

Doubt

“The ignorant, the faithless, the doubter goes to his destruction. How shall he enjoy this world, or the next, or any happiness?”8

The way in which Krishna puts this first sentence, we can see that to him “the doubter” is ignorant and faithless, that the three qualities of ignorance, infidelity, and doubt are united in such a one and that destruction is the natural consequence for him. Not that the Self is ever destroyed, but certainly the intelligence that is the distinctive characteristic of the evolving human being can be so distorted and fragmented that it can be said to be destroyed–useless and even self-destructive. It is not impossible for the subtle bodies to become so aberrated that they do dissolve and the individual spirit has to begin its evolutionary journey over again–sometimes from the very beginning. But though such a thing may be rare, for all doubters there is no happiness or peace in this or any other world.

Is Krishna agreeing with all the other religions that sharply condemn those that doubt their teachings and predict dire consequences for their doubt? No. Krishna is not speaking of someone who honestly questions or wonders if the doctrines of religion are true. Those who have honest doubts or questions need not feel censured by Krishna. Without doubt of the right kind there is no resolution of doubt and the gaining of right conviction. Rather, Krishna is speaking of those in whom doubt is a symptom of wilful ignorance, of past refusal to accept what they knew at the time was truth. We all know people who reject the truth when it inconveniences, embarrasses, or condemns them. It is this deliberate and conscious denial, this hypocrisy, that later manifests as the kind of doubt Krishna is referring to. Many people actively war against what they know to be right and true. It is these that shall in time find there is no place for them in any world. Having sinned against truth, what is left for them? In contrast:

“When a man can act without desire, through practice of yoga; when his doubts are torn to shreds, because he knows Brahman; when his heart is poised in the being of the Atman no bonds can bind him.”9

More Bhagavad Gita Commentary by Swami Nirmalananda:

1. The Battlefield of the Mind 2. The Smile of Krishna 3. Right But Wrong 4. Birth and Death–The Great Illusions 5. Experiencing The Unreal 6. The Unreal and the Real 7. The Body and the Spirit 8. Know the Atman! 9. Practical Self-Knowledge 10. Perspective on Birth and Death 11. The Wonder of the Atman 12. The Indestructible Self 13. “Happy The Warrior” 14. The Virtues of Karma Yoga 15. Religiosity Versus Religion 16. Perspective on Scriptures 17. How Not To Act 18. How To Act 19. How To Be Miserable; How To Be Free 20. Wisdom About the Wise 21. Wisdom about both the Foolish and the Wise 22. The Way of Peace 23. Calming the Storm 24. First Steps in Karma Yoga 25. From the Beginning to the End 26. The Real “Doers” 27. Our Spiritual Marching Orders 28. Freedom From Karma 29. “Nature” 30. Swadharma 31. In the Grip of the Monster 32. “Devotee and Friend” 33. The Eternal Being 34. Worshippers and the Worshipped 35. Caste and Karma 36. Action–Divine and Human 37. The Mystery of Action and Inaction 38. The Wise in Action 39. Sacrificial Offerings 40. The Worship of Brahman 41. The Core Problem 42. Action–Renounced and Performed 43. Freedom (Moksha)

44. The Brahman-Knower 45. The Goal of Karma Yoga 46. The Will of the Wise 47. The Yogi’s Retreat 48. The Yogi’s Inner Life 49. Union With Brahman 50. The Yogi’s Future 51. Success in Yoga 52. The Net and Its Weaver 53. Those Who Seek God 54. Those Who Worship God and the Gods 55. The Veil in the Mind 56. The Big Picture 57. The Sure Way To Realize God 58. Day, Night, and the Two Paths 59. The Supreme Knowledge 60. Universal Being 61. Maya–Its Dupes and Its Knowers 62. “Shall Not” Versus “Can Not” 63. Going To God 64. Wisdom and Knowing 65. Going To The Source 66. From Hearing To Seeing 67. The Wisdom of Devotion 68. Right Conduct 69. The Field and Its Knower 70. Interaction of Purusha and Prakriti 71. Seeing The One Within the All 72. The Three Gunas–Part One 73. The Cosmic Tree 74. Freedom 75. The All-pervading Reality 76. The Divine and the Demonic 77. Faith and the Three Gunas 78. Food and the Three Gunas 79. Worship and Discipline and the Gunas 80. Tapasya and the Gunas 81. Sannyasa and Tyaga 82. Deeper Insights On Action 83. The Three Gunas: Intellect and Firmness 84. The Three Kinds of Happiness

Read the Bhagavad Gita online: The English text of the Gita posted on this Web Site is arranged according to the meter of the original Sanskrit text so it can be sung–as it is done every morning in our ashram and in most of the ashrams of India.

2) Bhagavad Gita 2:40 [Go back]

3) Bhagavad Gita 4:34 [Go back]

4) Matthew 28:20 [Go back]

5) Bhagavad Gita 4:35 [Go back]

6) Bhagavad Gita 4:36-38 [Go back]

7) Bhagavad Gita 4:39 [Go back]

8) Bhagavad Gita 4:40 [Go back]

9) Bhagavad Gita 4:41 [Go back]