Gita summaries - chp 5

Chapter 4 and 5 almost have similar content and deal with Jnana Yoga. Even though the central theme is the same, namely jnana yoga, there are some slight differences in these chapters. In this fifth chapter we see these three topics: I) Nistha Dvayam (2 types of lifestyle) II) Yoga Dvayam (2 types of yoga; Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga) and III) Sadhnani (preparatory disciplines)

I) Nishtta Dwayam. One must necessarily go through karma yoga for mental purification and through Jnana yoga attain liberation. That self-knowledge alone gives moksha. Without mental purification, self-knowledge is impossible. Without self-knowledge, moksha is impossible. Therefore both mental purification and self-knowledge are important. Everybody has to necessarily go through karma yoga and jnana yoga. But there are some rare exceptions. There might be spiritual geniuses who might have taken janma after mental purification in the previous birth. In some cases, there might even be a person who had incomplete jnana yoga in the previous birth (they are called yoga brasttacharas in the next chapter). Such people do not have to go through karma yoga; they don’t need a guru, and some don’t even need the scriptures. Only explanation we give is that they made 95% of the effort in the previous janma and in this janma they are born and within a short time they are enlightened. In a rare case as mentioned in Aitareya Upanishad where a person gets the knowledge even while lying in a mother’s womb. These are but rare exceptions. Like Ramanujam who discovered so many mathematical theories without going to school, or Mandolin Srinivas who became a great player in a very short while. Just because of one Ramanajun we don’t close all the schools and colleges. The general rule is: karma yoga, sastra and guru are a must. The rule is go through karma yoga (hereafter ky) attain mental purity, enter Jnana Yoga (hereafter jy) and attain liberation.

            Now what type of lifestyle is suited to follow these two stages of sadhana is the question. Krishna talks about two types of life-styles.

Pravruthi marga (lifestyle of activity in society)

Nivruthi marga (lifestyle of withdrawal & seclusion)

Based on these two lifestyles prescribed in the scriptures, a person can have 3 options in terms of ashrama. Each way has its own advantages as well as disadvantages.

Before choosing the one best fit for an individual, the scriptures expects us to know the goals of life, purusharthas, primary goals, secondary goals, routes and destination, means and ends, sadhana and sadhyam. The ends must be clear; the priorities must be clear. That is why when a person is young he goes to a Gurukula and learns about the goals and the means. In those days the Kshatriyas had to learn warfare, a Vaisya had to learn business. But all the people had to learn one thing – the ultimate goal of life. Learning about one’s occupation was only incidental.

This is introduced for everyone – Brahmana, Ksthriya, Vaisya, Sudra – in the brahmacharya ashrama. This is mandatory knowledge and only after this can a person exercise their choice.

A) After brahmacharya ashram he enters Grihastha Ashrama: This is life of activity is society and avoids Sanyasa ashrama. Since veda has cremation rituals, it does not expect everyone to be a sanyasa. One has a family, labours for a living thus contributing to society, and bound by relatives and friends. One can perform the rishi yagna, deva yagna, pitru yagna etc. So one enters into grishasthashrama and remains a grihastha till the end.

Advantages: It very easy to pursue KY in this ashrama. There is a conducive setup, lot of people around, and financial resources. KY requires the help of people and financial resources; whether it is deva yagna pr pitru yagna or manusya yagna. He gradually grows and the mind gets purified from performance of one’s obligatory karmas. But this ashrama does not blend itself to JY where a quieter lifestyle is preferred for one has to learn and meditate. After coming home from work, will anyone feel like reading? He has only energy to watch television and go to sleep. After five days of work, he becomes tired on Saturday and Sunday. That is why it is called a Weekend or weakened! Example: Imagine studying in Central station!!! But there are people who manage to study and work at the same time. Therefore grihastashrama is ideal for KY and may not be ideal for JY.

b) Sanyasa Ashrama: The second possibility is after the study of scriptures in Brahmacharya ashrama he directly enters into sanyasa ashrama. This is not conducive for KY; there is no opportunity for service, no panchamaha yagna, the scriptures prohibits karma for a sanyasi, and he does not have resources. He can only engage in japa, do ashrama work, or serve the guru. Dharmasastras prohibit him from doing the yagna, yaga etc. He cannot grow by interaction with people because of his secluded life. He does not have resources to contribute to anything for he himself is bhiksa! How can he do annadana? Vastradana? Or any dana? He might not have any work to do and lot of time on hand. He does not have to do sandhyavandanam or agnihotra. He does not have a family; so he is spared of earning. So “mental purification” can be difficult for there are no prescribed duties; care must be taken to keep the mind engaged. Since he cannot do yagna he can do japa. Otherwise an idle mind can turn more extrovertish. But for JY this ashrama is ideal.

c) One becomes a grihasta and then later turns to sanyasa; this is one way traffic as there is no coming back vice-versa. Here one can avail the advantages of both KY (in grihasta ashrama) and JY (in sanyasa ashrama). This is ideal except that once an individual enters grihasta ashrama, it is impossible to come get out. Many people enter into activity and they do not know how to get out. So many people even want to work after their retirement; their minds will not come to Vedanta.  A mind which is used to being a workaholic does not know how to withdraw from activities.

Which is the best? It depends on the individual; there is no uniform advice for all people are not the same. But whatever you choose the path is the same. So for Arjuna, Krishna prescribed the first lifestyle to Arjuna: Be a grihastha, follow karma yoga, purify yourself, continue in grihasta ashrama, get detached, follow jnana yoga, attain moksha and even after attaining moksha continue to be in society and do whatever duties you have to do.

Grihasta ashrama à KYà  Mental purification à get viragya à JY through scriptures and guru.

            Suppose a person has sufficient mental purity then he can straightaway enter sanyasahrama and get jnana and moksha. And Krishna’s general advice is: Take any one of these, as it suits you but, whatever be your choice, you have to follow karma yoga first. You have to follow jnana yoga later. sāṅkhya-yogau pṛthag bālāḥ pravadanti na paṇḍitāḥ ekam apy āsthitaḥ samyag ubhayor vindate phalam. It is only childish and not the wise that speak of sankhya (knowledge from abandonment of work) and yoga (detachment from dedicated work) as different. A person well-established in even one of these, attains the end that is common goal of both. yoga-yukto viśuddhātmā vijitātmā jitendriyaḥ sarva-bhūtātma-bhūtātmā kurvann api na lipyate. One who is established in selfless and detached action, who is pure, whose mind and senses are under control, and whose self is identified with the self of all – he is never bound, though he be engaged in work. Therefore it does not matter if one is a grihasta or a sanyasa except he must be involved in purifying his mind and learn to integrate his personality. Astanga yoga is also prescribed for integrating the personality. Once he becomes a jnana yogyata, a grihasta or a sanyasi must approach a guru to gain knowledge. Therefore what matters is jnanam and not ashrama; a grihasta jnani is superior to a sanyasi ajnani.

II) From the eighth verse to the twenty second verse, Krishna elaborate on Sadhana dvayam. KY is the sadhana and JY is the sadhyam. A doubt may arise: if one performs actions will it not bind? It depends not on the activity but on the attitude. If karma is done as ishwara arpanam then it will become yoga – non binding one. But if karma is done not as Ishwarapnam, then the very same karma will become bondage. yuktaḥ karma-phalaṁ tyaktvā śāntim āpnoti naiṣṭhikīm ayuktaḥ kāma-kāreṇa phale sakto nibadhyate. By abandoning the fruits of action a man of restrained mind attains to abiding peace. But the one with unrestrained mind, being prompted by desire for the fruit of action, get bound. Therefore a spiritual aspirant must learn to develop a healthy attitude and follow karma yoga.

            JY is the knowledge that I am not the body nor the mind but I am consciousness principle that enlivens everything. It is this conviction that only my senses that is occupied with their object and not I even while I am seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, conversing, walking, sleeping etc. na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ na karma-phala-saṁyogaṁ svabhāvas tu pravartate. In regard to all beings in this world, the sovereign soul is not the cause of the sense of agency, nor of actions, nor of fruits of actions. It is Nature that does all this.

            An ajnani thinks, “I am the body” and therefore will have problems constantly. Ignoranceà unfulfillment (apurnah)à Kamaà Krodhaà Karmaphallam à Dukha/Shoka. This cycle will continue. Whereas in the case of a jnani, he knows that he is the chaitanyam and he is akartha and abhokta. He is purnah. Therefore he does not require anything to complete himself. Athma does not have varna or ashrama affliation; therefore gain this knowledge and enjoy the inner freedom.

            What is the benefit of this wisdom? vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini śuni caiva śva-pāke ca paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. Enlightened men are those who see the same (Atman) in a brahmana with learning and humility, in a cow, in an elephant, and even in a dog or in an eater of dog-meat (outcaste). na prahṛṣyet priyaṁ prāpya nodvijet prāpya cāpriyam sthira-buddhir asammūḍho brahma-vid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ. Unperturbed and undeluded, a knower of Brahman, who is established in Him, neither rejoices at pleasant experiences nor gets agitated at unpleasant ones. The benefit of this knowledge is “Samadarsham” – Vision of equality. By vision of equality we mean freedom from attachment/hatred (Raga-Dvesha).

Why do we get attachment and hatred? It is because of a misconception is that the world around gives me happiness or sorrow. Attachment is based on the conclusion that this “object” gives happiness. And Hatred caused the by the conclusion that it gives sorrow. This is erroneous as scriptures advise us; these descriptors of happy and sorrow is our identification. By themselves the world is neither a source of joy nor a source of sorrow. These descriptive tags are added by us, because of our wrong attitude. One might love Michael Jackson’s music and another it might give great unhappiness. The source being the same, it causes different reactions is different people. But for a man who has discovered Brahman within himself, he learns that his nature is Ananda. Since my svarupa is ananda the world cannot improve my ananda or remove my ananda. I do not have raga and dvesha. So this samadharshana is the greatest advantage of a jnani.

III) Sadhanani: Krishna indicates four important sadhanas in the end portion of this chapter. Kama-Krodha jayah; mastery from the prosecution of desire and anger as discussed in chp3 by three ways. Indriya Nigram (whenever there is a possibility of temptation; physically avoid that place), Mano Nigram (nip unhealthy thoughts in the bud and encourage noble thoughts in the mind. Discourage asubha vasanas by encouraging subha vasanas) and Vivekah (proper judgement/discrimination). If at all you should develop addiction, then develop noble addictions. If I do not do japa, I should feel bad. If I do not read at least a chapter of Gita on a particular day I should feel sad.

Vivekah is proper judgement/discrimination. Proper judgement is an understanding the nature of objects in the world and the pleasures derived from them. They are always mixed with pain: Dukha Mishritvam (the pain is directly proportional to pleasure that you derive from the sense object), Athripthivam (dissatisfaction) and bandhakvam (Earlier I needed 2 things to make me happy and now I need 20; scriptures says that I am descending further down!!!). Once I gain mastery over the hold of sense objects on me, I gain “Vairagyam”.

            After Kama jayah, we will see krodha jaya. Krodha is another modified form of kama. Anger is of two kinds:

a) Violent anger bursting out and affecting the surroundings. Some people are not able to keep it inside and it bursts out in the form of curses and expletives. b) Then there is a second type of anger which is not expressed outside but smoldering inside. Sankaracharya says the first step is to manage the anger arising in us (akrodha) and the second stage is not allowing anger to arise at all (ksama).

Tips for managing “krodah”:

Get away from the place

Do something physical (Bang a pillow, clean the house, go to the beach and shout)

Keep the mouth engaged (drink water or have a gum!!!)

Suppressed anger can lead to psychosomatic illness. Find the cause of anger. Each time you fight with someone on a trivial matter and start dating back to 1985 incidents, it means that these conflicts have not be resolved. The suppressed anger can be resolved in various methods but the ultimate solution is Kama jayah which means not expecting anything from the external world. Remember this, any expectation leads to desire and then the chain of samsara. So kama-krodha jaya is a very important sadhana.

            The next three important sadhanas are graded. They are called antharanga-sadhanas which are very close to the gaining of self-knowledge – sravanam, mananam, and nidhidyasanam.

- Sravanam (where you only receive knowledge from a guru and no questions; just have faith in guru and scriptures). Systematic and consistent study on these 7 subjects: nature of jiva, nature of world, nature of god, what is bondage, causes of bondage, what is liberty and causes of liberty.

- Mananam (reflect on the teaching and ask questions humbly to clear doubts; this is at an intellectual level. Doubtful knowledge is as good as ignorance. Suppose there is a live-wire. Someone says,” It is not a live-wire but there is 1% doubt in my mind. Will you ever touch a live-wire which is probably 99% safe?)

- Nidhidyasanam (assimilation of knowledge at an emotional level and making it part of one’s life. The inside beggarliness must go; otherwise it will be lips knowledge and something not felt in the heart. So there is no gap between what I know and how I live).

 Thus kama-krodha jayah, sravanam, mananam and nidhidyasanam are the four sadhanas given at the end of the fifth chapter. The fifth chapter is called karma-sanyasa-yoga, renunciation of action through knowledge.