Geeta Dhara – My Path

“Vision is ever in proportion to mastery of the mind and the senses.”
~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans.

Let us expand the teaching of revered Gurudev for having a transparent understanding.

Dharm is a field for combat.
When there is abundance of divinity in the realm of the heart,
the body is transmuted into a Dharmkshetr ( field of dharm ),
but it degenerates into a Kurukshetr
when it is infested with demoniacal powers.

Kuru means “do;” the word is an imperative.
As Lord Krishn has said:
“Driven by the three properties born out of prakriti (nature)
man is compelled to act;
without action he cannot even live for a moment.”
These properties, virtue, ignorance, and passion, compel him to act.
Even in sleep action does not cease,
for it is the necessary sustenance for the body.
The three properties bind men,
from the level of gods to that of the lowest creatures such as worms.

So long as the material world and its properties are,
kuru must be.
Therefore, the sphere of birth and death,
of that which is evolved from a previous source or prakriti (nature)
is
Kurukshetr,
whereas the sphere of righteous impulses which guide the Self to God,
the highest spiritual reality,
is
Dharmkshetr.

Lord Krishna has taught:

“This body is itself,
O Arjun,
a battlefield, and one who conquers it
grows spiritually dexterous by perceiving its essence.”

He then elaborates the structure of this “battlefield,”
sphere of action constituted
of
ten perceptors,
the objective and the subjective mind,
the ego, the five elements, and the three properties.

The body itself is a field, a ring or an arena.
The forces that clash on this field are twofold,
the godly and the ungodly,
the divine and the devilish,
the offspring of Pandu and those of Dhritrashtr,
the forces that are congenial to the essentially divine character
of
the Self and those which offend and demean it.

The clue to the mystery of the conflict
between the opposed impulses begins to be seen
when one turns for enlightenment to an exalted sage
who has enriched himself with worship and meditation.
This field belongs to one who realizes its essence,
and
the war fought on it is the only real war.

History is crowded with wars of the world,
but the victors in these wars have but sought in vain
for a permanent conquest.
These wars were nothing beyond acts of retribution.
True victory lies in subduing matter and in perceiving,
as well as becoming one with,
the Supreme Spirit that transcends it.
This is the only conquest in which there is no prospect of defeat.
This is true salvation after which there are no fetters of birth and death.

The mind lying in the abyss of ignorance perceives
through self restraint who has mastered the mind and the senses,
and
thus knows what has transpired on the battlefield,
where fighters include even those who have known its reality.

Thus, vision is ever in proportion to mastery of the mind and the senses.

Bow down in lotus feet of revered Gurudev for such teaching to me.

Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand.
Photo Courtesy: Face Book.

Agnim-ile purohitam
Yajnasya devam ritvijam
Hotaram ratnadhatamam
(Rig Veda)

“All praise to Agni, inner purifying fire
(vehicle of sanctifying energy of light and warmth:
faith, enthusiasm, attention, spiritual yearning and commitment)
vibrant and pulsating within the body-mind complex!
Divine Radiance of the sanctifying enlightening energy having emerged
from the deeper cosmic order of existence!
Showering precious enlightening radiance on those
in whom and through whom It is ignited and properly nourished!

Agne naya supatha, raye asman
Visvani deva, vayunani vidvan
Yuyodhy asmaj juhuranam eno
Bhuyistham te nama uktim vidhema.
(Rig Veda)

“O Agni, Enlightening Purifying Energy,
elevate us to the right path, full of grace and joy!
Illuminator of everyone,
all our intents and deeds are never hidden from Your Light!
Burn away from us all our self-degrading contaminations
caused by the darkness of ignorance and delusion*!
To Thou, do we continuously offer our warmest salutation and reverence!”
********

यथैधांसि समिद्धोऽग्निर्भस्मसात्कुरुतेऽर्जुन ।
ज्ञानाग्निः सर्वकर्माणि भस्मसात्कुरुते तथा ॥

yathai’dhānsi samiddho’gnir bhasmasāt kurute’rjuna,
jānangniḥ sarvakarmāṇi bhasmasāt kurute tathā
(Bhagavad Gita – 4.37)

“As blazing fire turns fuel to ashes,
so verily O Arjun,
the fire of knowledge reduces all action to ashes.’’

Here we have a portrayal,
not of an introduction to knowledge through which one approaches yagya,
but of the culmination of knowledge or perception of God,
in which there is first the destruction of all unrighteous inclinations
and
in which then even the act of meditation is dissolved.

The one who had to be attained to has been attained.
Now who is there to look for by further meditation?
The sage with the wisdom that arises from perception of God brings his actions to an end.

But where does this perception of God occur?
Is it an external or internal phenomenon?

न हि ज्ञानेन सदृशं पवित्रमिह विद्यते ।
तत्स्वयं योगसंसिद्धः कालेनात्मनि विन्दति ॥

na hi jñānena sadṛśam pavitram iha vidyate,
tat svayam yogasamsiddhaḥ kālenā’tmani vindati
(Bhagavad Gita – 4.38)

“Doubtlessly nothing in the world is more purifying than this knowledge
and
your heart will realize it spontaneously
when you have attained to perfection on the Way of Action.”

Nothing in this world purifies as this knowledge does.
And this knowledge will be manifest to the doer alone,
not to anyone else, when his practice of yog has reached maturity,
not at its inception,
not in the middle,
not externally but within his heart-within his Self.

What is the required ability for this knowledge?

श्रद्धावाँल्लभते ज्ञानं तत्परः संयतेन्द्रियः ।
ज्ञानं लब्ध्वा परां शान्तिमचिरेणाधिगच्छति ॥

śraddhāvānl labhate jñānam tatparaḥ sanyatendriyaḥ,
jñānam labdhvā parām śāntim acireṇā’dhigacchati.
(Bhagwad Geeta – 4.39)

‘‘The worshipper of true faith who has subdued his senses
attains to this knowledge
and
at the very moment of attainment
he is rewarded with the benediction of supreme peace.”

For realization of God one needs to possess
faith, determination, and restraint of the senses.
If there is no intensely felt curiosity for the knowledge of God,
even taking refuge in a seer will not bring it.

Also, mere faith is not enough. 
The worshipper’s effort may be feeble .

Therefore, the determination to proceed resolutely along the prescribed way is a necessity.
Along with this it is also necessary to restrain the senses.

Realization of the Supreme God will not come easily to one who is not free from desire.

So only a man who has faith, enthusiasm for action,
and
restraint of the senses can have this knowledge.

And the very moment this knowledge dawns upon him,
he is blessed with the ultimate peace,
because after this there is left nothing more to strive for.
After this he will never know anything other than peace.

Answer to a beautiful question
raised by dear blessed soul Tahiel
from
Santiago De Los Caballeros, Santiago, Dominican Republic.

You are most welcome with your question dear blessed soul Tahiel.

Let me share with you first that we are not a physical body.
The body is a mere garment, a dwelling for the Soul to live in.
The one who lives in it is the affectionate Self.
The real base of the body is constituted by sanskar,
the merits-the influences and impressions-earned during a previous existence.
And sanskar rests upon the mind.

Perfect subjugation of the mind, so that it can be changeless, firm, and constant,
and
the dissolution of the last sanskar, are all different aspects of the same process.
The disintegration of the last crust of this sanskar marks the end of physical existence.
To bring about this dissolution we have to undertake aradhana, worship and adoration,
of
the desired God.

We are often asked who we are?

Some of us say that we are Soul.

But Bhagavad Gita contradicts this:
like the nature of their inherent disposition is their faith,
and so thus is the person from initial stage
till attainment of ultimate bliss
through out the total cycle of life journey.

The Bhagavad Gita provides an insight into what true yog is.
Maharshi Patanjali was also a yogi and we have his yog system of philosophy.
According to him yog is perfect restraint of the mind.
And the use of this arduous discipline is that in this state the onlooker,
the individual Soul enshrined in the human body,
comes to rest firmly in his own eternal, true counterpart.

Is he tainted before this union?

In Patanjali’s view the Soul is earlier the same as the predilection of the man who embodies it.
And Bhagavad Gita also affirms
that
man is naturally endowed with the quality of faith, indeed totally immersed in it.
There is some dedication in him and he is moulded by the character of his faith.
A man is what his natural inclination is.

There is no way by which we may sit idly, just telling ourselves:
“I am God, pure and wise. For me there is no action and no bondage.
Even if I may appear as participating in evil,
it is really only my senses functioning according to their nature.”
There is no such hypocrisy in Lord Krishn’s words.

But Lord Krishna sings in Bhagavad Gita:

“Above senses there is the mind
and above mind there is the intellect,
and the one which lies above all of them is the Soul within,
supremely powerful and yet subtle.’’

So man is not so helpless after all.
He has an armoury of plentiful arms with which he can wage war with strength and confidence.
He can use his mind against the senses,
his intellect against the mind,
and
above all these there is his Soul, all powerful and yet unmanifest.
That Soul is the real “us,”
and
so we are strong enough to subdue not only our senses, but also our mind and intellect.
Yes, the Soul is the real “us” but we can claim this only after getting Self Realized.

In Chapter Six, Verse Twenty of Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna sings:

“In the state in which even the yog-restrained mind is dissolved
by
a direct perception of God,
the worshipper rests contented in his Self.’’

This state is achieved only by a constant and long practice of yog.
In the absence of such exercise,
there can be no restraint of the mind.
So when the intellect, the refined mind that has been curbed by yog,
also ceases to be because it is absorbed in God,
the worshipper perceives him through his Self and abides with contented happiness in his own Self.

He apprehends God,
but he dwells contented in his Soul.
In the moment of attainment he sees God, face to face as it were,
but
the very next moment he finds his own Self overflowing with the eternal glories of that God.

God is immortal, constant, unmanifest, and vital;
and
now the worshipper’s soul too is imbued with these divine attributes.

True, but now it is also beyond thought.

So long as desire and its urges exist,
we cannot possess the Self.
But when the mind is restrained and then dissolved by direct perception,
the very next moment after the visionary experience
the embodied Soul is endowed with all the transcendental qualities of God.
And it is for this reason that the worshipper now lives happily and contented in his own Self.
This Self is what he really is.
This is the point of crowning glory for him.

Bow down in lotus feet of revered Gurudev for such learning to me.

Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand.