 Bhagavad Gita Commentary–Forty-four–by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
 The Brahman-Knower
Seeing the One in all
Brahman is the Origin of all, hence Krishna has this to say about the way the enlightened views all around him: “Seeing all things equal, the enlightened may look on the Brahmin, learned and gentle, on the cow, on the elephant, on the dog, on the eater of dogs [chandala].”
The capacity to see the Unity that is the Truth behind all diversity, is unique to the enlightened. However much the unenlightened may verbally affirm unity, the pressure of life-experience dispels it like a mirage. Truth is only truth when it is realized.
The enlightened is aware of diversity even though he perceives the underlying unity. And this is the crux of the matter: Unity is the underlying reality, but on the surface differentiation must be both seen and reacted to accordingly. For example, proper food and poison may be metaphysically the same, but the enlightened eat one and avoid the other. As long as we are in the world we must act to some extent as though it is real, just as in a dream we have to follow the rules even though we know we are dreaming. For example, we cannot walk through a dream wall, but must use a dream door.
Sri Ramakrishna spoke of the unripe understanding of non-duality that can get us into difficulties. Here is the story he told regarding it:
“In a certain forest lived a holy man who had many disciples. Once he taught the disciples that they should bow down to all recognizing that God dwells in all beings. One day one of the disciples went to the forest to bring firewood for the sacrificial fire. All of a sudden there was an outcry, ‘Run, run all, wherever you are! A mad elephant is passing!’ Everybody ran, but the disciple did not flee. He knew that the elephant was also God. So he thought, ‘Why should I run away?’ So thinking he stood still and began to sing praises, bowing before the animal. The mahout on the elephant was, however, shouting, ‘Run, run!’ The disciple still did not move. Finally the elephant came and lifting him up with its trunk threw him on one side and left. The disciple was heavily bruised and lay unconscious on the ground.
“Hearing what had happened his teacher and the other disciples came and carried him to the ashram. He was given medicine. Upon his regaining consciousness sometime later some one asked him, ‘Why did you not run away after hearing that the elephant was coming?’ He said, ‘The teacher had told me that God himself had become all these men, animals and the rest. That is why I did not move away, seeing that it was only God who was coming as elephant.’ The teacher then said, ‘Yes, my child, it is true that the elephant God was coming, but the mahout God did warn you. Since all are God why did you not pay heed to his words? One should also listen to the words of the mahout God.’”
A serial killer and a saint are fundamentally the same, but our conduct in relation to them had better be based on their difference.
There are ashrams in India where they pretend to embody this verse. What they do is feed and fawn over the mangy street dogs (or the purebred dog of the guru) and say: “God is dog. Dog is God.” But an interesting thing can be observed: they show no such respect to Brahmins, and certainly not to poor and “common” Indians. Apparently they follow George Orwell–all may be equal, but some are more equal than others. Sometime the cows get almost–but not quite–the same respect as the dogs. Such is life–and delusion. Living in Brahman
“Absorbed in Brahman he overcomes the world even here, alive in the world. Brahman is one, changeless, untouched by evil: what home have we but Him?”
“The world” in the form of compulsory rebirth is conquered by the sage whose mind abides ever in the perfection of the Self and Brahman. Having gained the highest knowledge, he has no more need for rebirth. If he returns it will be to help others as he has been helped.
“The enlightened, the Brahman-abiding, calm-hearted, unbewildered, is neither elated by the pleasant nor saddened by the unpleasant.” This is because he knows that the pleasant and the unpleasant are both mere dreams, that the joy he experiences in his oneness with Brahman is the only real experience. Therefore: “His mind is dead to the touch of the external: it is alive to the bliss of the Atman. Because his heart knows Brahman his happiness is for ever.” The Sanskrit original has the expression Brahmayogayuktatma–“the Self united to Brahman through yoga.” Beware
“When senses touch objects the pleasures therefrom are like wombs that bear sorrow. They begin, they are ended: they bring no delight to the wise.”
This is a very easy concept to grasp and a tremendously hard one to follow unwaveringly–such is our conditioning from millions (if not billions) of lives in which the senses have dominated our consciousness and blinded us to the Self. It would be wise to disregard the pleasures of the senses from the fact they are fleeting, and the truth that they will inevitably result in pain (dukha) should seal our certainty that avoidance of such things is only good sense. Yet, as the camel chews the thorns, cutting and bloodying its lips, refusing to give up its pain-bearing enjoyment, so it is with us until we truly do “get a grip” and refuse any future folly.
For this reason: “Already, here on earth, before his departure, let man be the master of every impulse lust-begotten or fathered by anger: thus he finds Brahman, thus he is happy.” Mastery is the needed factor, for control is necessary for the requisite development of our will. Although we like the idea that everything falls into place automatically, the truth is we will have to get our hands dirty–and blistered–by good old-fashioned effort. As a professor in a major British university once told his class on the first day of the term: “In this course you will have to acquaint and accustom yourself to an old four-letter Saxon word: Work.” No glory without gore. The inner orientation
“Only that yogi whose joy is inward, inward his peace, and his vision inward shall come to Brahman and know Nirvana.”
Over and over we need to keep reminding ourselves of this principle, for no matter how “spiritual” we may consider ourselves to be, we are so habituated to externality–often in the form of dogmas and religious observances–that we easily fall into the trap of materiality masquerading as spirituality. Continually we must check to see that our entire thought and life must be oriented toward the inner kingdom of Spirit. Especially our meditation must be inward, ever inward, and so must be the focus of our awareness outside meditation. Only inward joy, inward peace, and inward vision fits us for the liberation of Nirvana. The traits of liberation
Krishna now enumerates the traits of those who have entered Nirvana.
“All consumed are their imperfections, doubts are dispelled, their senses mastered, their every action is wed to the welfare of fellow-creatures: such are the seers who enter Brahman and know Nirvana.”
Each thing listed here is easy to comprehend, but it is worth pointing out that the knowers of Brahman do not become abstracted or self-absorbed, unaware of the terrible suffering in the world. Just the opposite. They are filled with compassion and do what their inner guidance shows them to help those around them. In India the words saint and philanthropist are synonyms. My beloved friend Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh dedicated his entire life to the welfare of others. As his disciple Swami Chidananda has said, his every waking thought was how to benefit others. Daily I witnessed his abounding love toward everyone–not a theoretical love, but one which manifested in concrete ways continually. This is no exaggeration, as those who met him know. In Sivananda I saw every possible virtue lived to the maximum degree, but his loving mercy was the most evident. He was a perfect illustration of the next verse: “Self-controlled, cut free from desire, curbing the heart and knowing the Atman, man finds Nirvana that is in Brahman, here and hereafter.” How it is done
This is all very fine, but how will we manage to reach such an exalted state? Krishna tells us:
“Shutting off sense from what is outward, fixing the gaze at the root of the eyebrows, checking the breath-stream in and outgoing within the nostrils….”
In meditation we close our eyes, having lifted our gaze upward to just beneath the level of the eyebrows. Breathing through our nose, aware of the breath as it flows in and out naturally, and intoning the sacred syllable Om once as we inhale, and once as we exhale:
“Holding the senses, holding the intellect, holding the mind fast, he who seeks freedom, thrusts fear aside, thrusts aside anger and puts off desire: truly that man is made free for ever.” The result
Uttering the sacred syllable OM and meditating upon me–such a man reaches the highest goal.”
“When thus he knows me the end, the author of every offering and all austerity, Lord of the worlds and the friend of all men: O son of Kunti shall he not enter the peace of my presence?”
Not only is God the goal, he is also the means, “the author of every offering and all austerity.” Whoever engages in spiritual practice is already in touch with God, for it is God who makes us able to pursue spiritual life. God is not waiting for us at the end of the road, he is within us, walking the road along with us. For he is “the friend of all men.” Suhridam sarvabhutanam actually means “the companion of all beings,” for God is seated in the hearts of all beings living their lives with them as the eternal witness. How could we help but enter the peace of his presence, since that presence is ever within us?
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.
1) A chandala is an outcaste of the lowest level, so degraded that he eats dogs. [Go back]
2) Bhagavad Gita 5:18 [Go back]
3) Bhagavad Gita 5:19. “Even here (in this world) birth (everything) is overcome by those whose minds rest in equality; Brahman is spotless indeed and equal; therefore, they are established in Brahman.” (Sivananda) [Go back]
4) Bhagavad Gita 5:20. “Resting in Brahman, with steady intellect, undeluded, the knower of Brahman neither rejoices on obtaining what is pleasant nor grieves on obtaining what is unpleasant.” (Sivananda) [Go back]
5) Bhagavad Gita 5:21 [Go back]
6) Bhagavad Gita 5:22 [Go back]
7) Bhagavad Gita 5:23 [Go back]
8) Bhagavad Gita 5:24 [Go back]
9) Bhagavad Gita 5:25 [Go back]
10) Bhagavad Gita 5:26 [Go back]
11) Bhagavad Gita 5:27 [Go back]
12) Bhagavad Gita 5:28. See Introduction to Om Yoga and Om Yoga. [Go back]
13) Bhagavad Gita 8:13 [Go back]
14) Bhagavad Gita 5:29 [Go back]
15) “I am the Atman that dwells in the heart of every mortal creature: I am the beginning, the life-span, and the end of all” (Bhagavad Gita 10:20). “The Lord lives in the heart of every creature. He turns them round and round upon the wheel of his Maya” (Bhagavad Gita 18:61). [Go back]
|
