Yog of Knowledge and Action
Chapter 4, Verse 10
vīta rāga-bhaya-krodhā
man mayā mām upāśritāḥ
bahavo jñāna tapasā
pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ
Freed from desire, fear and anger, absorbed in Me, taking refuge in Me, purified by the austerity of knowledge, many have attained My state.
The bhaktas who renounce all desires, fear and anger, the three modifications of the mind, and who focus through dhyaan, through meditation, on seeing the Lord within themselves, they take refuge in Him and serve Him in all their actions.
“... purified by the austerity of knowledge...” When one has this knowledge of the Self and merges into it, then Love awakens, then God’s Love is revealed. In this state, people don’t attach themselves to anything except God.
Whoever realises this Truth about Krishna, automatically sees and feels Him everywhere. One finds God in every being, in every object, in the whole creation and one becomes ever-free. Like He says in the former verse, whoever has realised the Divine character of the Lord, His birth and activities, is freed forever from all ordinary human imperfections and weaknesses.
Due to their exclusive love for God, man mayā mām, the devotees of God, the
ones who surrender, see and perceive Him everywhere. They realise that Narayana Krishna is inside of them, so they see the world completely differently. When they interact with people, they don’t look at people from the point of view of the mind which judges. People in the world are bound by judgement. Wherever you go, you see, “This is like this, like this, like this....” People are always judging, criticising and pointing their fingers at others.
Bhagavan says, “Many will attain Me.” If one sees the Lord everywhere, there’s not a chance that one will not attain him. That’s why it is important that whatever action one does, one does it with devotion and having God always present in the mind. One has to always try one’s best to not let the ego take over, and when one does that, God Himself will reveal His omnipresence.
If Krishna says, ‘many have attained My state’ it means that it is not impossible! Realisation is very much possible, now in this very lifetime! If you have this love for God, know that God also loves you. When two people love each other, each person knows it; you spontaneously have the feeling that the other person also loves you, and there is a connection. But when this intense Prem, this Divine Love of God awakens inside you, then you can’t live without Him! And this drives you crazy: wherever you go, you see Him! In this state of craziness, you are fully liberated! Such a state is Realisation. Ramakrishna said, “If you long for God, like a fish out of water longs for water; or a man who is dying, gasps for air, you will be liberated.” You will become God-realised, you will attain the state of perfection; you will never lose sight of God, because God will always be dancing in front of you. When Meerabai was singing the glory of Krishna, Krishna was always dancing in front of her. A bhakta who is completely surrendered to the Lord through devotion, who sees that every action is just the play of the Lord, the activity of God, also sees that, within himself, it is only Narayana doing everything and acting in every step.
“...purified by the austerity of knowledge...” Through the penance of knowledge, one develops deep love for God; in this deep love for God, all the sins and afflictions of the devotee are completely wiped out. This means that when one surrenders and this Love, this Prem awakens, when one attains the Love of God, then all the past karmas, all the ‘old you’ is removed and the ‘new you’ awakens. The mind is freed from imperfections and vices. One starts to reflect the divine qualities, because the Lord Narayana, who a God-realised soul sees within, reflects on the outside. All the divine qualities of Narayana, all the Narayana Tattva, start to manifest through the devotee. When pure Love awakens, when unconditional Love awakens, many attain Him, and then it is Him alone who is living within each person.
The ignorance which makes one feel that one is separate from God or that one has to attain God, disappears, because you have gained Him, and His revelation. Then one never loses sight of Him, one perceives the Divine everywhere, in everything. This is when one becomes Divine, because it is only Him who lives through one. It is only Him who lives through all which is living and non-living. Here I’m using the word ‘non-living’, because He is everywhere, not only in the living. Whenever we make a deity, it is a non-living statue made from a stone. But our faith makes the stone come alive: it becomes Narayana, which means that He is also there, in the stone.
When Lord Nrsingadev came out of the pillar of stone, He showed the omnipresence of God, even in inanimate things. A true yogi, like Prahlad, whose mind was always on Narayana, could see Narayana in the pillar because Narayana was also there! Even before Hiranyakashipu broke the pillar, and before Narayana came out as Nrsingadev, He was already there! He was eternally present in the pillar. But Hiranyakashipu could not see Him. One whose mind is blind like Hiranyakashipu, who is full of demonic thoughts, who is turned towards demonic acts, doesn’t see Him. But one whose mind is “purified by the austerity of knowledge”, knows that God is everywhere. This is true knowledge, Brahma Jyaan.
When we take a stone, carve it and make a Shiva Lingam, do you think that Shiva was not there before? He was there! When we take a stone, carve it and make a statue of Narayana, was He not there before? He was eternally present there! The murti carver just does his duty, carves the stone, and brings Him out. This reminds me of the words of Michelangelo. When he was asked, “Did you carve this wonderful Pietà?” He replied, “I didn’t do anything. It was already there. I just brought it out of the stone!” In the mind of the great artist, it’s already there. The artist just needs to bring it out. For the bhakta, it is awakened through love.
Bhagavad Gita
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