The Bhagavad Gita (9 page)

24  “Arjuna,
everything,
every thing in creation is the Godhead! What is being offered is Brahman; the very act of offering is also Brahman; the one who offers is Brahman; even the fire into which the offering is
poured is Brahman. God is not distant, but is within yourself and is your Self. See Divinity in all your actions and you can actually achieve Union with the Godhead, Brahman. To do so requires being fully absorbed in Brahman, being constantly aware of Divinity every moment. No matter what you may be doing, whether eating, sleeping, working, praying, or breathing, this attitude of worship (which, remember, is
sacrifice)
aids the development of true knowledge and wisdom.

25  “Some aspirants offer worship to the minor gods. When performed with true devotion these offerings bring spiritual growth. More evolved seekers fully dedicate themselves to the highest Godhead, Brahman, surrendering their individual consciousness to the Cosmic Consciousness — offering up their ego to the Lord.

26  “Some advanced aspirants actually learn to suspend the physical senses of hearing, sight, taste, touch, and smell — offering them into the fire of sense restraint. In this way they control the stimuli at the gate before these enter their perception. Others do the opposite — not restraining the sensations before they enter, but controlling the
influence
of them on the mind itself. Both approaches produce the same result: purification of the mind, which is absolutely necessary for Self-knowledge.

27  “Others who are deeply knowledgeable (of the True Self Within), in rare acts of worship offer up all their actions and all the activities of their senses, and even the functions of life energy, their heartbeat and breathing. Their minds become suspended, the objective world is negated, ego vanishes. At these times, ego stripped, the Self is so fully identified with
Atma
—
which is the personalized version of Brahman — that the performer of this sacrifice actually merges into Brahman.

28  “There are yet others whose way of worship is to offer up wealth and possessions. Still others offer up self-denial, suffering, and austerities (purifications). Others take clerical or monastic vows, offering up knowledge of the scriptures. Some others make their meditation itself an offering.

29  “Some offer up
prana,
the mysterious vital energy force within them. They do this through control of the breath, literally stopping their inhaling and exhaling.

30  “Yet others abstain from food and practice sacrifice by spiritualizing their vital energy — that is, by figuratively pouring their own vital life force into the Cosmic Life Force. The whole point of all these various methods of sacrifice (worship) is to develop a certain mental attitude. Those who live with a truly worshipful attitude, whose whole lives are offered up for improvement of the world, incur no sin (no
karmic
debt).

31  “This world is not for the person who performs no sacrifice, no worship. But those who actually live their lives as an offering partake of the nectar of God. Through selflessness they reach the Divine.

32  “Thus, as you can see, Arjuna, many and various are the offerings that people spread before God. All of them spring from the workings of the mind, senses, and body. Although action in its ordinary form is binding, when converted into worship (devotion) it is liberating. To be devotional is the sacred plan of nature.

33  “Offering up knowledge (spiritual knowledge of True Self, and so forth) as a sacrifice is better than any material offering. The goal of all your work, all actions, is not to multiply your possessions beyond proportions (which only makes you earthbound), but to bring you to spiritual wisdom
(jnana),
intuitive knowledge of the True Self Within. You are alive solely to become enlightened and united with God.

34  “Another good attitude that aids the development of spiritual knowledge is to wholeheartedly revere someone who has genuinely achieved it. When one sincerely strives for spiritual enlightenment, Divinity in some way puts one in contact with an enlightened teacher. Sincerely question that teacher. As a burning candle can light many others, an illumined soul can bring light to many a competent inquirer.

35  “Arjuna, once you gain spiritual wisdom you will never again be deluded or confused. You will see all of creation in your True Self, and in Me.”

36  “Spiritual knowledge
(jnana)
does what nothing else can do. Even the foulest of misguided persons can sail across the treacherous river of sin on the raft of this special knowledge.

37  “Like a blazing fire, knowledge of True Self Within reduces all three
karmas
to ashes: distant-future
karma,
near-future
karma,
and current
karma (prarabdha),
which is the
karma
that is presently working itself out. This
Atmic
knowledge destroys the first two
karmas
and renders the third type ineffective even as it operates.

38  “In all the world, nothing purifies like spiritual knowledge (knowing the Self). But it takes searching inquiries into the nature of the Real and not-Real, and giving one’s mind wholly to it. In due time one comes to know these things in one’s heart.

39  “Hold spiritual wisdom as your highest goal, Arjuna. Make your faith deep. Restrain your senses. Then you will arrive at this wisdom quickly and achieve the perfect peace of Divinity.

40  “The ignorant (uninformed about
Atma
and without faith) waste their lives. Through their disbelief they alienate themselves from the Self and thus from true unity with others. As miserable people, they cannot be happy either in this world or any world beyond.

41  “People who really know Divinity, who have renounced attachment to the fruits of their work by offering it to the Divine, who have used the sword of knowledge to cut to pieces their doubts regarding the truth of their
Atma —
no bonds can hold these people. Though they are ever occupied with action,
karma
cannot taint them.

42  “O Prince, your ignorance of your True SelfWithin is the cause of your present reluctance to act, just as the opposite of ignorance, Self-knowledge, would bring fearless action. So with the sword of wisdom sever the doubts in your heart. Arise, O best of men, take your stand. Be a warrior!”

  1  Arjuna blurts out: “I’ve been listening carefully Krishna, but one moment you recommend the path of knowledge or contemplation (a sort
of sanyasa yoga),
and the next moment, the path of desireless action
(karma yoga).
These seem to conflict. Which one is definitely better for me?”

  2  Krishna replies, “Both paths lead to the same goal, which is liberation
(moksha).
But
karma yoga,
the action path, is better for you, Arjuna, and for most people. Many spiritual seekers assume they should withdraw like a
sanyasi
(renunciate), and they may for a time be blessed with tranquillity, but most often it is merely the ego masquerading as quietism.

  3  
“The person of selfless action (
karma-yogi
) who feels neither desire nor aversion and does not yearn for one thing or loathe another is the true ‘renunciate.’ What matters is not what you call yourself, but whether you escape your self-will (ego). With no ego you break free of
karma.

  4  “The uninformed think these two paths — renunciation
(sanyasa yoga)
and action
(karma yoga) —
lead to different results, but that is not true. They are essentially the same; compare them.

  5  “Right knowing
(jnana yoga)
leads to right doing. Right doing
(karma yoga)
gives rise to right knowing. Take either path to the very end and they meet. At that place the contemplative seeker of knowledge greets the person of action, and they are both equally free from the cycle of birth and death. The person who knows this oneness of paths really knows the Truth.”

6-7  “As I mentioned earlier, Arjuna, you cannot renounce action without first performing it. The
karma-yogi
comes to realize through the direct experience of selfless action in the world that life beyond the pull of worldly desire is better than life entangled in it. Without direct experience one has to rely on theory and concepts. Theorizing and make-believe have no place in one’s spiritual career.

“The mind absorbed in the Divine even while engaging in earthly activities gets purified. Purifying your mind means that your sense of doership vanishes and God becomes the doer. It also means that you realize your Self as the
Atma
in all beings. This purity of
mind and heart leads to higher spiritual discipline and thus to true oneness with the Godhead. It is at this highest of high places where the paths of renunciation and action converge.

8-9  “The enlightened person always thinks, ‘I (the Real I) do nothing; I (this body ‘I’) am but the instrument.’ He or she is constantly aware of this while seeing or hearing, touching or smelling, eating, moving about, sleeping, breathing, speaking, letting go or holding on, or even when opening or closing the eyes — aware that all these activities are but interactions among bodily senses and worldly objects. The activities may seem real but it is not the Self, it is merely nature at work. All actions pertaining to bodily existence take place in the worldly self, which is not the real Self.
Atma,
as you have learned, is beyond all worldly matters.

10  “As the lotus floating on the surface of muddy water stays untouched by the water, when you offer all actions to the Divine and surrender any yearning for the results, you cannot be tainted.

11  “Purity of action, mind, and heart is absolutely essential for further spiritual growth. To a
karma-yogi
who has turned his or her whole life toward Divinity, the body, senses, and intellect are just instruments for self-purification. Any work this
karma-yogi
performs is done dispassionately, and this enhances spiritual unfolding.

12  “The
karma-yogi
offers all works and all desires for the fruits of works to the Divine — and thus wins eternal peace in the Divine. But the person impelled by selfish desire gets entangled in agitations and anxieties of the mind.

13  “The true
yogi,
being a self-controlled person who has mentally cut free from worldly actions, lives content as the indweller, a mere resident in a body.
These yogis
do not incessantly drive themselves to act, nor do they involve others in action.

14  “It is mysterious, Arjuna. God established this system but does not operate it. Divinity does not determine the worldly doings of humanity, nor does It instill the sense of doership (ego) into humanity — nor even does It link actions to the consequences of actions. Nature does all this. All actions, all works, all
karma,
belong to nature, not the Divine. It is humanity that determines its earthly destiny. People seal their own fate.

15  “Further, God is neither responsible for nor takes note of anyone’s bad or even good deeds. Both bad and good
karma are
the result of actions performed by people who mistakenly think that their True Self
(Atma)
is connected to the worldly— which it is not. This is an elusive but important point. The Divine is absolute perfection, poise, and bliss. Worldly acts have no place in this blessed purity. Thinking otherwise is what I mean by ignorance and delusion. I repeat: God, the True Self in each living being, is in no way a part of the goings on in worldly nature.”

16  “As the darkness of night vanishes when the sun rises, so too the darkness of ignorance and delusion is dispelled when you gain knowledge of your True Self.

17  
“Jnana-yogis,
persons of wisdom (whom I previously referred to as
Sthithaprajnas,
Illumined Ones), cast out this ignorance of mind and thus erase past impurities.
They ever fix their purified minds on Divinity and stay completely absorbed in the Divine, their one and only goal. In this way they merge into God and are freed from the birth-death cycle, never to be born again.

18  “They know that sunlight falls equally on all creatures. Those who possess this wisdom of Self look with a unified vision upon all beings and have equal love for all, whether those beings are spiritually advanced or the least in the ranks — or even a cow or a dog. The real knower of Brahman sees
only
Divinity everywhere, in every being and every thing.

19  “Even while in a body, these enlightened beings
(jnana-yogis or jnanis)
transcend any notion of an existence separate from God. They continually focus their minds on the absolute oneness of Divinity, and on their own unity with That. Since the Divine is flawless, they are likewise without blemish or bias, reflecting God’s utter perfection. This perfection is the same in all; it is called
Atma —
and yet, only the wise perceive it.”