The Science of Religion for Mankind - Shreemad Bhagwad Geeta: Yatharth Geeta

CHAPTER 4: ELUCIDATION OF THE DEED OF YAGYA

CHAPTER 4: ELUCIDATION OF THE DEED OF YAGYA

In Chapter 3, Yogeshwar Krishn had given the assurance that if a man followed his precept, free from delusion and with sincere devotion, he would be liberated from the bondage of action. Yog (both of knowledge and action) has the power to effect liberation from this servitude. The idea of waging war is embodied in yog. In the present chapter he points out who the author of yog is, as well as the stages by which this discipline has evolved.

1.“The Lord said, ‘It was I who taught the eternal yog to the Sun- (Vivaswat), who then taught it to Manu, who taught it to Ikshwaku.’ ’’

It was he, Krishn says, who at the beginning of devotion (kalp), imparted the knowledge of eternal yog to the Sun (symbolizing righteous impulses), from whom it was passed on to Manu (symbolizing mind), son and then to Ikshwaku (symbolizing aspiration). Krishn, as we have seen, was a yogi. So it is a yogi, a sage dwelling in the Supreme Spirit, who initiates the everlasting yog at the beginning or, in other words, at the commencement of worship and transmits it into the life breath. The Sun represents the way of God-realization[47]. God is the “one light that gives light to all.’’

[47]In the Upanishad Prashn we find this: The wise know him who assumes all forms, who is radiant, who is omniscient, and who is the one light that gives light to all. He rises as the sun of a thousand rays and abides in infinite places.

Yog is everlasting. Krishn has said earlier that the inception, the seed, of this process is indestructible. If it is but begun, it does not cease until it has achieved perfection. The body is cured by medicines, but worship is the remedy for the Soul. The beginning of worship is the beginning of Self-cure. This act of devotion and meditation is also the creation of an accomplished sage. To the primitive man lying unconscious in the night of ignorance, who has not given a thought to yog, is brought to the perfection of yog when he meets with a sage-just by looking at the great man, by listening to his voice, by rendering albeit an inadequate service to him, and by associating with him. Goswami Tulsidas has also said this: “Ultimate bliss is granted to the man who has perceived God as well as to the man who has been noticed by God.”

Krishn says that at the beginning he taught yog to the Sun. If a realized sage just casts a glance at a devotee, the refinement of yog is transmitted into the life-breath of the lucky Soul. All beings that live are animated by the sun-by God who is subject to himself alone. Since light is life or breath, it is ordained that the Supreme Spirit can be attained only by the regulation of life-breath. Transmission of pious instincts into early man is the imparting of knowledge of yog to the Sun, after which in due time the seed of this perfection sprouts in the mind. This is how gods pass on the knowledge to Manu. After the seed has sprouted in the mind, there will arise a wish for the realization of the sage’s utterance. If the mind has something in it, there is also the desire to achieve it. This is Manu’s preaching yog to Ikshwaku. There will be a longing, or aspiration to do that ordained act which is eternal and which liberates from the bondage of action. If it is so, there is the will to act and worship is quickened. Krishn now speaks about the point to which yog takes us after it has been set in motion.

2.“Derived from tradition, this yog was known to sages ofthe royal stage (rajarshi)[48],but at this point, O the destroyer of foes, it declined and was almost extinct.’’

This yog, transmitted by an accomplished saint into the breath of the primitive, barbaric man, and thereafter flowing from breath into the mind, thence to longing (or aspiration), and from that to active practice, thus developing by gradual stages, reaches the royal stage and is then revealed to the seeker. Extraordinary powers are generated in worshippers who have reached this level. At this critical stage, yog almost ceases to be in this world (body). So the problem is how to carry it beyond this dividing line. It seems that every seeker is destroyed after reaching this stage, but according to Krishn it is not so. One who has taken refuge in him as a loved devotee and dear friend is spared.