(Image Courtesy Mahanidhiswami)
Since Endless Lifetimes, The Material Consciousness Has Been Unclean One Has To Purify It In The Fire Of God’s Longing, While Remaining Humble
अमानित्वमदम्भित्वमहिंसा क्षान्तिरार्जवम् |
आचार्योपासनं शौचं स्थैर्यमात्मविनिग्रह: || 13.8||
इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यमनहङ्कार एव च |
जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधिदु:खदोषानुदर्शनम् || 13.9||
असक्तिरनभिष्वङ्ग: पुत्रदारगृहादिषु |
नित्यं च समचित्तत्वमिष्टानिष्टोपपत्तिषु || 13.10||
मयि चानन्ययोगेन भक्तिरव्यभिचारिणी |
विविक्तदेशसेवित्वमरतिर्जनसंसदि || 13.11||
अध्यात्मज्ञाननित्यत्वं तत्वज्ञानार्थदर्शनम् |
एतज्ज्ञानमिति प्रोक्तमज्ञानं यदतोऽन्यथा || 13.12||
amānitvam adambhitvam ahinsā kṣhāntir ārjavam
āchāryopāsanaṁ śhauchaṁ sthairyam ātma-vinigrahaḥ|| 13.8||
indriyārtheṣhu vairāgyam anahankāra eva cha
janma-mṛityu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣhānudarśhanam|| 13.9||
asaktir anabhiṣhvaṅgaḥ putra-dāra-gṛihādiṣhu
nityaṁ cha sama-chittatvam iṣhṭāniṣhṭopapattiṣhu|| 13.10||
mayi chānanya-yogena bhaktir avyabhichāriṇī
vivikta-deśha-sevitvam aratir jana-sansadi|| 13.11||
adhyātma-jñāna-nityatvaṁ tattva-jñānārtha-darśhanam
etaj jñānam iti proktam ajñānaṁ yad ato ’nyathā ||13.12||
Shloka Translation
BG – Ch. 13- Ver. 8 to 12:
Humbleness; freedom from hypocrisy; non-violence; forgiveness; simplicity; Guru service; cleanliness of body and mind; steadfastness; and self-control; dispassion toward the objects of the senses; absence of egotism; remembering the evils of birth, disease, old age, and death; non-attachment; absence of clinging to spouse, children, home, and so on; even-mindedness amidst desired and undesired events in life; Constant and exclusive devotion to Me; a distaste to worldly society and an affinity for lonely places; consistency in spiritual understanding; and philosophical study of the Absolute Truth—all of these I declare to be knowledge, and what is opposed to it I label ignorance.
Explanation
Learning about the khetra and khetraja is more than just a mental exercise. Purification of the heart is what Shree Krishna is referring about. Heart does not refer to the physical organ in this context. The inner workings of the mind and intellect are also known as the heart. The virtues, habits, actions, and attitudes described in these five lines purify one’s life and illuminate it with the light of wisdom.
Humbleness: We forget that God has given us all of these traits when we grow proud of the attributes of our individual field, such as beauty, intellect, talent, strength, and so on. As a result, pride separates our consciousness from God. It is a significant impediment to self-realization since it contaminates the entire field by harming mental and intellectual capabilities.
The absence of hypocrisy: The hypocrite constructs a false exterior persona. A person is flawed on the inside but puts on a show of brilliance on the outside. Unfortunately, virtues are only skin deep and hollow on the outside.
Non-violence: Respect for all living beings is required for the cultivation of knowledge. This necessitates the use of nonviolence. As a result, the scriptures say: If you don’t like how others act, don’t act the same way with them.
Forgiveness: It is the absence of malice toward people who have wronged you. Actually, holding ill will causes more harm to oneself than to others. A discriminator who practises forgiveness purifies his or her mind by releasing negative thoughts.
Simplicity: It is honesty in thinking, expression, and deed. Straightforwardness in thought entails the absence of deception, envy, and crookedness, among other things. The absence of taunts, reproach, gossip, or adornment in discourse is an example of straightforwardness. Plainness in living, forthrightness in behaving, and so on are examples of straightforwardness in action.
The Guru’s service: The Guru is the source of spiritual knowledge. The disciple must have a dedicated and devotional attitude toward the Guru in order to receive heavenly wisdom. The disciple develops humility and commitment through serving the Guru, which allows the Guru to share wisdom.
Body and mind cleanliness: Internal and exterior purity are both important. External cleanliness aids in the maintenance of good health, the development of discipline, and the decluttering of the mind. Mental purity, on the other hand, is far more significant, and it can be attained by focusing the mind on the all-pure God.
Steadfastness: Self-awareness and God-realization are not goals that can be achieved in a single day. Steadfastness is the ability to stay on track until the desired outcome is achieved. Continue forward. Continue to move forward. Those who persevere will be rewarded with honey in the end.
Self-control: The mind and senses must be restrained from pursuing commonplace pleasures in order to keep the mind and intellect clean. Self-control keeps the individuality from dissolving due to indulgence.
Dispassionate about the senses’ objects: It’s a step up from the above-mentioned self-control, in which we limit ourselves by force. Dispassion is defined as a lack of taste for sensual pleasures that obstruct the path to God-realization.
No egotism: The conscious knowledge of “I,” “me,” and “my” is egotism. Because it occurs at the bodily level, emerging from the identification of the self with the body, it is characterized as take priority.
Remembering the miseries of birth, disease, old age, and death: It is difficult to develop the strong will required for learning knowledge of the self if the mind is undecided about what is more important—material advancement or spiritual richness.
However, once the mind is convinced of the world’s unattractiveness, it becomes steadfast in its resolve. To achieve this stability, we must constantly reflect on the sufferings that are an inextricable component of life in the material world.
Non-attachment: It denotes apathy toward the world. We only have one mind, and if we want to use it to pursue spiritual aims, we must separate it from material things and people.
Absence of attachment to one’s spouse, children, or home: This is a place where the mind is easily attached. To keep the mind from becoming ensnared, we must exercise caution when interacting with our partner, child, and home. We must fulfill our obligations to them without attachment.
Even-temperedness in the face of both desired and undesirable life occurrences: Pleasurable and painful events, like night and day, arrive without warning. Life is like that. We must learn to strengthen our spiritual strength via detachment from the world in order to rise above these dualities. We must cultivate the ability to stay unaffected by life’s setbacks while simultaneously resisting the ecstasy of triumph.
Devotion onwards the Divine that is constant and exclusive: mere detachment indicates that the mind is not travelling in a negative direction. But life is about more than just avoiding the unpleasant. The most desirable goal in life is to dedicate everything to God’s lotus feet.
A preference for quiet locations: The yearning for companionship to alleviate loneliness does not motivate devotees. They naturally prefer seclusion because it allows them to focus their minds on God. As a result, they are naturally drawn to lonely locations where they can immerse themselves more thoroughly in devotional ideas.
Aversion to everyday life: The enjoyment of talking about worldly people and worldly affairs is an indication of a materialistic attitude. A person who is cultivating heavenly consciousness develops a natural dislike for these activities and avoids mundane society as a result. At the same time, if participation is required for the sake of God’s service, the devotee accepts it and develops the strength to remain psychologically strong.
Spiritual knowledge that is consistent: Knowing something in theory isn’t enough. We must learn to put spiritual understanding into practice in our daily lives. This is not achieved by simply hearing deep facts once. We must reflect on them often after hearing them. Shree Krishna is talking about the consistency in spiritual knowledge that comes from pondering over divine truths.
The pursuit of the Absolute Truth through philosophy: God has bestowed the faculty of knowing upon the human form. Our intellect is elevated above the animalistic level by the philosophic search of truth, which leads us to hear and study about the divine science of God-realization.
All of the aforementioned virtues, habits, behaviours, and attitudes lead to the development of wisdom and knowledge. Vanity, hypocrisy, aggression, revenge, deceit, contempt for the Guru, uncleanliness of body and mind, unsteadiness, lack of self-control, craving for sense objects, conceit, entanglement with spouse, children, home, and so on are the polar opposites of these. Such attitudes stifle the growth of self-awareness. As a result, Shree Krishna refers to them as ignorance and darkness.
Verse & what we can learn
The learning process culminates in unwavering devotional service to the Lord. So, if one does not approach, or is unable to approach, the Lord’s transcendental service, the other nineteen points are of no consequence. However, when one devotes himself to devotional service in complete Krishna consciousness, the other nineteen elements grow naturally within him.
Acceptance of a spiritual master is critical. It is crucial for everybody who engages in devotional worship. When one accepts a genuine spiritual guru, transcendent existence begins. Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, asserts emphatically that this process of knowledge is the true way.
The elements in the knowledge presented here can be examined as follows: Humility implies that one should not be concerned about receiving praise from others. From the perspective of a man in perfect knowledge—who understands that he is not this body—anything connected to this body, honour or shame, is meaningless. This material illusion should not be sought after.
Nonviolence is commonly understood to entail not murdering or destroying the body, but it actually refers to not causing harm to others. People in general are stuck in the material concept of life by ignorance, and they are continually in anguish. So, unless people are elevated to spiritual awareness, violence is being practiced. One should make every effort to disseminate true knowledge to the public in order for them to become enlightened and free of their material entanglements. Nonviolence is that.
Tolerance refers to the ability to tolerate abuse and disgrace from others. If you work to advance spiritual knowledge, you will face a barrage of insults and disgrace from others. There may be many obstacles in the way of spiritual knowledge improvement, but we must be patient and persevere.
Simplicity implies that, in the absence of diplomacy, one should be so forthright that he can tell the truth even to a foe. Acceptance of the spiritual master is necessary since spiritual science cannot be advanced without the instruction of a genuine spiritual master. In order for the spiritual master to be delighted to bestow his blessings on the disciple, one should approach him with humility and render him all services.
In order to progress spiritually, cleanliness is required. External and internal cleanliness are the two types of cleanliness. External cleanliness is achieved by bathing, while internal cleanliness is achieved by chanting divine name. This procedure clears the mind of the accumulated dust of past karma.
Steadiness implies that one must be passionate about making spiritual advancement. Without such dedication, actual development is impossible. And self-control implies that nothing should be accepted that is damaging to spiritual advancement.
This should become habitual, and anything that hinders spiritual advancement should be rejected. This is true abstinence. The senses are so powerful that they are always seeking sensation pleasure. The senses should only be pleased to keep the body in shape so that one can fulfill his mission of spiritual advancement.
Accepting this body as one’s own body is known as false ego. Real ego is when one realizes that he is not his body but rather his spirit soul. Ego is present. True ego is not condemned, but false ego is.
It is important to try to comprehend the anguish of embracing birth, death, old age, and disease. It should be clear that birth is a difficult experience. We make no answer to the repeating of birth and death because we forget how much anguish we experienced within the womb of the mother. Similarly, there are various types of sufferings at the time of death, which are also referenced in the scriptures. These should be talked about. And when it comes to disease and old age, everyone suffers.
Detachment from children, wife, and home does not imply a lack of feelings for these things. They are natural objects of attachment, but they should not be attached to if they are hindering spiritual advancement. Divine consciousness is the most effective method for making the house more pleasant.
One should be removed from the joys and sorrows of family life because no one can be completely happy or miserable in this world. Happiness and sadness are inextricably linked in material existence. As taught in the Bhagavad-Gita, one should learn to accept. Because happiness and sorrow will always come and go, one must be separated from the worldly way of life and automatically equipoised in both.
The nature of the soul should be researched with philosophical care. To comprehend what concerns oneself, one needs conduct research. It is plainly mentioned here that bhakti-yoga is extremely practical in terms of self-realization. When it comes to dedication, it’s important to consider the link between the Super soul and the individual soul. Individual souls and the Super soul cannot be one, at least not in the bhakti, or devotional, sense of the word. As stated clearly, the individual soul’s service to the Supreme Soul is eternal, nityam. As a result, bhakti, or devotional service, is timeless.
Those who truly understand the Absolute Truth understand that the Self manifests in three stages: Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan.” Bhagavan is the final word in realizing the Absolute Truth; as a result, one should strive to grasp the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thereby engage in the Lord’s devotional service. That is the pinnacle of knowledge.
Anyone who attempts to compete with God while still advancing in spiritual understanding will be frustrated. It is plainly acknowledged that understanding is dangerous without humility. To consider one God is the height of arrogance. Despite the fact that the living thing is constantly being kicked by the harsh laws of material nature, he nonetheless believes “I am God” due to ignorance. One should be humble and aware of his position as a servant of the Supreme Lord. One becomes subordinate to material nature as a result of disobedience against the Supreme Lord. This reality must be understood and believed.
To acquire knowledge and to implement that knowledge in life one needs to be mentally and physically active and healthy and for that daily meditation is a great tool.
There are various types of meditation like Buddhist meditation, heartfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation, meditation for stress, and each meditation benefits are countless. There is also numerous meditation techniques for beginners which help in practicing daily meditation so go ahead and start your journey towards a peaceful and balanced life.
The following shloka Shri Krishna reveals that which ought to be known.
Let’s learn to live with “The Gita” via Meditation Affinity…