Gita summaries - chp 8

This is an odd chapter; we need some background knowledge before we can go into it. Vedas can be classified into 3 kandams; Karma Kandam (hereafter KK); Upasana Kandam (hereafter UK); and Jnana Kandam. KK deals with Karma and rituals. There are two types of karma contained in the karmakandam; sakama karma and nishkama karma. In sakama, the rituals are performed to fulfill worldly desires of the people. These are kama based desires and not compulsory in nature. It depends on different needs of people and their temperament. For example putrakamestiyaga will be done only a married couple and not having any issues for years.

Then the scriptures talk about another type of karmas called Nishkama Karma (hereafter NK). Whether one likes it or not he is supposed to perform them. Niskama karmas are otherwise called vihitakarmas or nihitakarmas; compulsory karmas. The benefit of NK is not material in nature; the benefit is spiritual growth; mental purity and refinement (Chitta Shudthi). These include daily sandhya vandanam and pacha maha yagna. Sakama Karma (hereafter SK) is for immature people while NK is for more matured minds for it reduces Ragah and Dvesha; or instilling vairagyam in the mind.

People who do these obligatory karmas, they will get rid of all the papas. A person in the initial stage of life will give maximum importance to sakama karma. He will have time for everything else except sandhyavandanam but as a person grows in maturity he will be more and more interested in vihita karmas or nishkama karmas. It is alright for a child of five to be interested in balloons but it would be a tragedy if a man of 25 is still interested in balloons. One has to come to nishkama karma someday. But remember Karma Kanda can only make a person Jnana yugyatha; it cannot give liberation. As karma cannot give jnana and therefore karma yoga cannot give moksha. But jnanayogyata is so essential for spiritual growth.

Then comes the next kanda called Upasana Kanda (UK): This primarily is a mental activity; physical body does not play much of a part; mana pradhana or manasa vyavahara. Mental activity in the form of meditation on the Lord’s attributes. Meditation is a flow of similar thoughts unobstructed by dissimilar thoughts. The Upasana kanda of the Veda prescribes many upasanas and they are broadly classified into two types:

            Sakama Upasana (SU): These sakama upasanas are desire-based and they are meant to get worldly benefits including siddis. A person can get miraculous powers by the practice of upasana. We hear many tales of Devi upasakas and Anjaneya upasakas who predict future just by looking at the face. All these are only for material benefits! It has nothing to do with spirituality. While Nishkama upasana is for jnana yugyatha; fit for knowledge by making the mind sharp and subtle. The mind must be made non-extrovert.  Niskkama Upasana is recommended because karma kanda makes the mind extrovert in nature; it needs to develop the faculty of introspection and concentration. In fact our regular sandhyavandanam itself is called sandhyopasana. Here Gayathri devata is meditated upon. But as in Karma yoga we must remember that upsana also will only give jnanayogyata only and not jnanam because upasana is not a pramana. So after the practice of KY and Upasana an aspirant must necessarily come to Jnana yoga.

Jnana Kanda (JK): Have the qualifications; go to a guru; study scriptures and gain liberation. This is the bird’s eye view or grand design of Vedas. Even the ashramas are designed keeping this in mind. Brahmacharya ashrama; get the roadmap and learn which route to take. In Grishasta ashrama he is supposed to follow Karma Kanda (KK) and attain chittasuddhi. In Vanaprastha ashrama he follows Upasana Kanda (UK) he attains jnanayogyata and then in Sanyasa ashrama he has to enter into Jnana Kanda (JK) and effortlessly attain moksha. How beautiful and well thought out is the design of the Vedas? We are the ones who break the steps. It is so well-designed.

In addition Vedas talk about an exceptional case, a peculiar situation. Suppose after KK a person gets chittasuddhi and UK, a person gains chitta ekagrata also. Now he only has to approach a guru for knowledge but for some reason could not get a guru or not have an occasion to study the scriptures or his body may not be fit. Then what do the Vedas recommend? One has to continue with nishkama ishwara upsana throughout and develop vairagyam. He will not get moksha here but upon death go straight on Brahma Loka as special consideration and attain liberation there. Whenever you have a yearning for knowledge, those noble desires will always be fulfilled. He will effortlessly go to Brahma loka and get ideal conditions for study (there is no escaping studies!!!). Such a moksha is called krama mukthi. Nishkama upasakas going to Brahma loka gaining knowledge there and becoming free is called kramamukti where if nishkama upasakas going to a guru in this janam itself and gaining knowledge and attain moksha are called jeevan mukti or sadyomukti – freedom here and now.

With this background let us enter the eighth chapter. This chapter deals broadly in these three topics:

a) Bhakthi

b) Nishkama Upasana

c) Krama Mukthi

The lower type of bhakti is sakama bhakti.  For instance, a person who has no water in the house prays to the Lord for water. At such a time if the Lord appears and asks,” Shall I appear before you?”  the bhakta will say,” Please give me water now and you may come another time; as it is we are in difficulty and if you come you will be an additional burden on me.” Sakama Bhakti (SB) uses the Lord as a means for worldly ends. One is so caught up in one’s circumstances.

            In this chapter Krishna talks more about Nishkama bhakti. In Nishkama Bhakti (NB) is not the means for anything. He is the end in itself. This state of a devotee is called mumushutvam or moksha Ichcha. Here we are using Ishwara and moksha are synonymous in this context.

One has to choose between SB and NB through Vivekah. It is the knowledge of the superiority of Ishwara over inferiority of jagat or the world. Nitya-Anitya Vastu Vivekah. Joy arising out of anitya vastu is potential sorrow. Delusion is the wrong choice we make enamoured by this bewitching world. But with clear understanding we will never have a doubt; choose the lord all the time!!! Any goal you choose will end one day. The duration of existence may vary; one may have a shorter life, another a longer life, but none has an eternal life. Even Brahma in Brahmaloka cannot remain permanently. Brahmaji one day is equal to 2000 chattur yogas, One kali yuga is 4,32,000 years. One chattur yuga is 43,20,000 times 2000. The present age of Brahmaji is 51; even he has come down to earth one day!!!! Having enjoyed the wonderful Brahma’s post he may have to come to Madras or may even go to a lower world. How miserable it will be!

            We have two goals in life – the anitya jagat and the nithya Ishwara. We have all been given voting power to choose. Bhakthi is the faculty of choice; choosing Ishwara as the goal; not out of fashion but clear understanding.

II) When I have got a desire for Ishwara my mind thinks of Him and I learn to practice Upasana. Now one cannot directly think of the total Ishwara because our mind, our intellect, and our sense organs are too small to conceive of the totality. Just as a flag and anthem represents a nation, we can also choose any symbol (alambanam in Sanskrit); saligrama, linga, temeric ganesha, Rama/Krishan rupam to represent Ishwara. From this limited form, visualize the limitless Ishwara. The mind is soaked with thoughts of the Lord. In this chapter Krishna talks about meditation upon Omkara. oṁ ity ekākṣaraṁ brahma vyāharan mām anusmaran yaḥ prayāti tyajan dehaṁ sa yāti paramāṁ gatim. “One should meditate on Me along with the utterance of the single-syllabled mantra Om denoting Brahman. Departing from this body in this state, one attains liberation.” Thus the upasaka can take omkara as alambana and do the upasana. From Nishkama Karma there are two routes: Go to a guru and through jnanam attain moksha (Sadhyur Mukthi) and is the topic of seventh and ninth chapters. However in this chapter the upasaka is not able to find a guru because of some pratibandhaka (getting a competent guru requires a lot of punya!). Such a devotee continues with Ishwara upasana throughout his life. His mind is soaked with Ishwarachinta alone even in his sub-conscious state.

            anta-kāle ca mām eva smaran muktvā kalevaram yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ yāti nāsty atra saṁśayaḥ. yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ. “Whoever thinks of Me alone even at the time of death, attains to My state on abandoning the body. There is no doubt about this.” The next verse reaffirms,” O Son of Kunti! Whatever object a person thinks of at the time of death, having been absorbed in its thought all through, he attains to that object alone.”

Whatever thoughts a person has prior to death; that determines the path of travel for next janma. This is called Antha Kalam. You can’t wait to think of God only at the last stage; you cannot cheat God that way. As we grow older and older, freewill gets weaker and weaker. The conscious mind becomes weak and it taken over by subconscious mind; if that is soaked with samsara thought then it would be impossible to summon “God thoughts” in the end. Once Parvathi took pity on a devotee and told Shiva that they would go to the man and help him at the time of his death. If he said, “amma” the goddess would go to rescue and it he uttered “appa”, Lord Shiva would rush forth. He said “aa” and both were waiting for the next syllable. He said “ayyo”. So think of God all the time and in that case, it becomes natural to think of the Lord at the time of death. Then it does not matter whether we are conscious or in coma, but thought on god would predominate the mind. If I have to think of the Lord all the time, how can I have the time for daily living? Even when you are engaged in the affairs of the world, it is possible for the mind to think of the Lord. Krishna says,” Even as you do your daily duties think of Me simultaneously.” Like a musician; he will have one part of the mind on Shruthi always. Always remind yourself that all these worldly activities are only incidental; my top priority is the Lord or moksha.

Krishna says such a steadfast bhakti will remember the Lord at the time of death also. A yogi when he dies thinks of the lord and withdraws all the sense-organs (he sends all the relatives away and concentrates on the lord. Like Bhishma). Through yoga he withdraws from the body and sense-organs and brings the mind to the heart. When he dies he goes through a particular nadi to Brahmaloka.

III) The third and final topic of this chapter is Krama Mukti. Both Sakama Upasaka and Nishkama Upasaka travel after death; the nucleus containing the sukshma shariram, mind, papa-punya karma, and samskara travel after the jivatma leaves the physical body. The physical body alone does not travel as it is cremated here. You cannot rely on anybody after your death except your dharma quotient.

There are two routes this nucleus can take:

a) Krishagati: This is for Sakama Upasakas who will go through krishnagati to swargaloka. They will fulfill all the desires in different lokas. They reach swarga loka and exhausts all the punyas and then come back to mosquito Chennai. For every dance programme of Rambha or Urvasi, which goes on throughout the year, you have to pay through the nose in punya currency. And once the punya is exhausted the devas will  push you down to earth.

b) Shuklagati: This is path of a nishkama upasaka; aided by agni and shukla he reach Brahma loka where Brahmaji will be the guru. Gain Jnanam and achieve liberation.

(Both these routes are not available for human perception or logic. We get this idea from the scriptures only and therefore they are called Apauruseya visayah).

            Lastly, is time of death got anything to do with the path? Whether one dies in uttarayanan or dakhinayanam, it does not matter. What matters is the type of life an individual lives and not the time of death.

Now Arjuna what do you choose: Swarga loka or attaining me? Between Jeevan Mukti and Krama Mukti, Jeevan mukti is better (for liberation is here and now). Since the eighth chapter begins with the topic of aksharam brahma, the chapter is titled akshara brahmayoga. But the real title ought to be “antimakala-smarana-yogah” – remembering the lord all the time even at the time of death.