The KALPAK
THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF PSYCHIC AND SPIRITUAL SCIENCES, YOGA AND TANTRA SHASTRA
Apr – Jun, 2024 :: Vol. 103 No. 2
संकल्पाः कल्पतरवः, तेजः कल्पकोद्यानम
अनेक संकल्प ही कल्पतरु हैं, और तेज (मन) ‘कल्पक’ का उद्यान है।
ARISE !
Every ardent seeker after Truth, everyone who wishes to enter into the Empire of Krishna, has to realise it fully well that Krishna is not the name of any known God, but that of the God most cherished by you; yes, you have to know Him—any how, any way, any where, not any when, but now itself.
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From the Editor
On Meditation
Soul-sensing in any form is indeed a priceless gift. Our present education system means stuffing of knowledge into the mind, and thereby making humanity a slave to a limited knowledge. No progress can be made on psychic side unless humanity is made to obtain knowledge through contacting the Higher-Mind. Looking upon the higher gifts with scorn, and allowing sensitive people to be misunderstood and treat them as abnormal or neurotic seals the gateway to higher knowledge. Every psychic, no doubt, will be slightly neurotic, but those who turn neurotic or become unbalanced are generally the cases not pursuing the right Sadhana (practices) under the guidance of a right Guru (teacher). In such cases the repressed forces do not find a means of expression and hence they destroy the vehicle through which they flow. On the other hand, if the psychic powers are under your control and you use them with prudence, reason and judgement, they will never bring about disorder. You know well that our life is not confined to only bodily existence and hence proper training and use of unseen powers will have to be taken into account if we at all value our life. Man can never progress or evolve unless he is, through proper practices, brought into his Divine Inheritance. If you refuse to develop the psychic powers revealed through higher mind, you simply not only retard your progress but that of the humanity too.
Majority of us continue to mumble over the same ideas or thoughts throughout our life with the result that our mind becomes callous to other new ideas or thoughts. When you have filled your brain with facts, they are like incrustations which, sooner or later, will stop the flow of new ideas. If the material taken into your mental system is stagnating, it does to your mind what water laden with insoluble material does to a pipe. What we do to dissolve the hard crusts in the pipe? We simply use some solvents. Similarly to dispense with ideas which have clogged our mind we will have to get closer to the higher mind or spirit to get the clog cleaned. If you have ambitions and the desire to make the most of life, you will have to get into touch with the higher mind. Sane mind in a sane body is primary thing for any type of development. The first principle of sanity is poise, balance, which is hard to acquire in these days of hustle and bustle..
And this being the fact, is it not of the greatest importance that we should be careful just what kind of material we place in these great mental warehouses and storage chambers? Our present thoughts and actions—our characters, in fact, are largely the result of our past thoughts and mental attitude. And the thoughts, actions and character of each of you, in the future, will be largely the result of the mental material which you are now placing in these storage rooms of your mind. If we were building a house, how careful we would be to see that the best materials were delivered to the builder in whose hands the construction of the building was placed. How carefully each item of material would be inspected. And yet, how careless we are regarding our thoughts, moods, mental attitudes, and auto-suggestions that we place among the material to be used in our mental building and manufacturing in the days to come. Is it not time to call a halt on these careless and almost criminal methods, and adopt a sane, scientific plane of thought-life? Can you doubt this, when you know of the effects of certain mental habits of manifestation? We all know that how much harder it is for a man whose mind is full of negative thought-materials to present a bold, confident, courageous front in the battle of life?
ONENESS – By A. P. Mukerji
On many occasions I have preached you the doctrine of strong individualism—the unfoldment of the ego-consciousness. It is needed, but there is much more and until you know something about that you will be face to face with grave dangers indeed! Simple individualism or Egoism when not guided and controlled by the Higher Reason of the Spiritual Consciousness is more dangerous than all the dreaded forces of nature. It leads to a strong sense of separateness—if I may so put it—between man and man. You feel ever impelled and maddened by the “I-am-greater-than-you” promptings of your animal soul. You criticize others. It seems as if your eyes are only capable of detecting faults and shortcomings in others. Then there arises the thirst for power, for fame, and for self-aggrandisement.
You want to rule, to subdue, to make others your slaves. Did Napoleon—who is an example in point—care for the lives of others so long as his selfish ambitions were gratified? Self-assertion, self-conceit, selfishness, greed, anger, are the foul products of Individualism minus Spiritual Consciousness. In the final illumination of Yoga, man becomes vividly, intensely, “Livingly” conscious of Unity. He is not conscious of Duality and Difference; “I” and “you” and “he” vanish for ever. Soul reveals itself and the Oneness under lying all phenomenal existence becomes an actual Fact and not a mere figment of the brain. This is the expansion of individuality, the union of the little self to the Supreme Self Yoga. Hence, the initiate to Yoga is trained to destroy the sense of “I-ness”—egoism—, to annihilate the ego or the “apparent man” who is relatively to God but a reflection of the Real Man—the “Soul of the Universe”—Emerson’s Over-Soul. This sense of separateness exists only in the sense-bound objective intellect—the mind of the flesh. It is the principle of Maya. It is the slayer of the real. It blinds the spiritual vision of man. It shuts out the inner life. Man sees nothing beyond this world. So long as we do not become conscious of this Unity religion has NOT begun for us.
The growth of the ego is an important factor in Evolution; but why? The real function of the aroused ego is to control and vanquish the animal soul. It can only succeed by aspiring towards its parent-source—the Absolute. By the reception of the incoming Divine Energy alone can it cope with the Lower Self and in no other way. This energy pours into and expands the ego in its silent struggles with the passions and appetites of the flesh. Woe unto the ego unless it consciously discards the animal soul! Woe unto it if it forgets its real nature! Beware, all of you who would lead the half, the worldly, half spiritual life. The desire to lead the Spiritual-sensual existence brings into conflict the laws and forces of the Nivritti and Pravritti margas and results in untold sufferings and pain, till at last with cries of anguish the soul is made to “disattach” itself from the lower and turn to the Higher self. In Shankar’s life you become vividly conscious of this perfect absorption of the human soul into the Divine. It is written about him that the surge of Divine Love would lead him into Samadhi every hour in the day. He would become unconscious of this lower world and his entire face would then become bathed in Living Light. This same phenomenon is repeated of Lord Gauranga. People felt so irresistibly attracted to this light that they would fall to kissing his body all over.
There are three forms of service you can render to humanity; (a) physically by feeding their bodies; (b) mentally by feeding their intellects; (c) spiritually by feeding their souls. The last is the greatest. Dr. T.R. Sanjivi did it. The man who realizes the infinite in the human body connects entire humanity with the Universal Power and thereby liberates and sets free a tremendous energy that works from the highest plane straight down to the lowest physical and tends to the permanent upliftment of the race. Open your eyes wide and see. Christ did this. So also Buddha. So also Zoroaster. So also a hundred others. So also has Sri Ramanuj. I have heard men criticize such souls! Oh, you, mortal pygmies, you moustached babies, you pitiable beggars, silence your impertinent tongues, for Heaven’s sake. You dare to commit the unpardonable sin of sitting in judgment upon a saint! How dare you? I say, How dare you? Alas! you are one of those fools who dare to rush in where angles fear to tread! Sri Ramanuj built no orphanages, no hospitals, none of your half penny toys of Maya. He built for eternity! Look well at this sentence and think all it means, that is, if you have any brains to think with, at all. Down on your knees and pray for forgiveness! All preaching, all talk of serving humanity spiritually, is for us imperfect ones! The silent example of life alone teaches. Spirituality is Life Eternal!
Dr. T.R.Sanjivi has “re-charged” the depleted souls of the men of Kali Yuga with spiritual life. Glory unto him! All reverence unto him! All power and success be the lot of his millions of admirers! Who feels most finely the throbbing pulse of humanity? Who stirs it most effectually? Your Glandstones and Bismarcks, Napoleons, Alexanders and Caesars, your kings, queens, world-conquerors, statesmen, scientists and artists;—all suffer eclipse and slip into the shade before the towering personalities of the Christ, Yogácháryás, Rishis and Munis of this world. These alone lived; the rest vegetated and were animals. The truly religion man alone feels for humanity. He alone moves it by his tremendous thought power. And who is religious really? All work, while no doubt a great thing for us, is a sign of imperfection and leads to the perpetuation of Maya. The man of realisation has gone beyond it. Who works? Do you? Or do I? Poor ignorant man not knowing the meaning of life cries out in delusion “I Work”. Look back. Scan thy past. examine it closely. Is it not a fact that all you have done, said and thought was impelled by a force behind you? Where is your free-will? The freedom of your will is relative to God’s will! What He wills you too will.
God’s will is man’s will. Learn to read aright the workings of this supreme will. Give up the habit of fault-finding. Judge not. You know not what is working behind, the actions of each human soul. You know not what place each one fills in the great Cosmic Plane. The place that you tread upon is holy. The mysteries of the human heart baffles human understanding. I once thought this was all moonshine. But a deeper insight into human nature makes one more prudent and less sweeping in one’s condemnations. We talk. We criticise. We wrangle. We read. We write. We talk of working for humanity and criticise saints, the depths and heights of whose natures our small intelligence cannot possibly span. Your great soul who has done such glorious services to humanity used to say “I have hardly got a spark of Dr. Sanjivi’s profound nature. If I have done anything for this world it is my Master’s. Only the mistakes are mine.” Humanity does not need our puny services. We grow by serving it. God rules and this I say in spite of cartloads of book learning which only deadens the souls. The teacher teaches himself. The preacher preaches to himself. The worker serves himself. ***
OUR MISSION ON EARTH – By Ramananda
WHAT is our mission on earth is rather a whimsical question. This can only be solved on the presumption that there is a life after death and God exists. While the very existence of an Infinite Being itself is in question, it is rather premature to consider “Our Mission on Earth.” Let us first enquire and prove conclusively the existence of an All-Powerful Being.
In our daily life we come across various sorts of people who hold different dogmas. Some profess atheism; some are of opinion that atheists do not exist. We can affirm that there are many of this faith. Some, after an ardent search after God in vain, come to the conclusion that there is no such Being, and pass into a state of stupor and dissuade from further attempts. There is another class of people who also style themselves “Atheists”; the main basis on which they argue is on the imperfect understanding of Right and Wrong. Their inference is that these two are a dark chaotic self-contradictory jumble of words. There is yet another class who do not trouble themselves about the question at all. This is nothing but gross indifferentism. We can boldly assert that the major portion of humanity belongs to this latter class : “Indifferentists.”
Now for the Materialists : These also can be classed with the above atheists; but they have one point in their favour. These are not lazy and indifferent, they are ever progressive and energetic. It is not the theory of these people that no such Being as God exists, but they say they do not find any necessity for the introduction of the existence of a God as they can explain every phenomenon without the aid of a God. It is the doctrine of the Materialists that by the law of motion inherent in them, certain elements indivisible and unchangeable at a certain stage of evolution agglomerate consciousness.
The mind is the outcome of matter; it exists and works as long as a certain arrangement called brain exists; and, it dies with the change or decay of that brain-matter. This is nothing but an excellent illustration of inverted logic. Now we have to proceed on two things, Matter and Mind. These are interdependent; one cannot exist without the other; we can neither think, without mind, nor annihilate matter without annihilating Mind. To hypothecate the existence of Matter before Mind is rather absurd, as it would mean that thought can transcend itself.
Emerson says : “As thinker, mankind have ever divided into two sects, materialists and Idealists; the first class founded on experience, the second on consciousness; the first class begin to think from the data of the senses, the second class perceive that the senses are not final, and say the senses give us representations of things, but what are the things themselves they cannot tell. The materialists insist on facts, on history, on the force of circumstances and the animal wants of man; the idealist, on the power of Thought and Will, on inspiration, on miracle, on individual culture. These two modes of thinking are both natural, but the idealist contends that his way of thinking is in higher nature.
He concedes all that the other affirms, admits the impressions of sense, admits their coherence their use and beauty, and then asks the materialist for his grounds of assurance that things are as his sense represent them. But I, he says, affirm facts not affected by the illusions of sense, facts which are of the same nature as the faculty which reports them, and not liable to doubt; facts which in their first appearance to us assume a native superiority to material facts, degrading these into a language by which the first are to be spoken; facts which it only needs a retirement from the senses to discern. Every materialist will be an idealist; but an idealist can never go backward to be a materialist.
“The idealist, in speaking of events does not see them as spirits. He does not see the sensuous fact; by no means; but he will not see that alone. He does not deny the presence of this table, this chair and the walls of this room, but he looks at these things as the reverse side of the tapestry, as the other end, each being a sequel or completion of a spiritual fact which merely concerns him. This manner of looking at things transfers every object in nature from an independent and anomalous position into the consciousness. Even the materialist, Condiallac, perhaps the most logical expounder of materialism, was constrained to say : “Though we should soar into the heavens, though we should sink into the abyss, we never go out of ourselves; it is always our own thought that we perceive.” What more could an idealist say ?
We have to allow the previous existence of space, as something different from matter or atom, where the various forces or laws find room to play, when we think of the conglomeration of atoms. Hence the irresistible conclusion that anything which is not space, anything remaining in space, can be divided in as much as it has size. This division of atoms into electrons and their reduction to the primordial state has been proved by Prof. Crooks, and this theory of the materialist has been blown out. Still beyond this there is the eternal, unchangeable uniform space which defies every solution of materialist. Then what is space?
Now coming to the theory that matter produces consciousness in a certain stage of the evolution, and with the concurrent change of the brain, our thoughts and ideas do also change, we cannot but quote the beautiful words of Mrs. Besant that thoughts do indeed vary as to the sate of the brain, but they also at times vary inversely. “And now compare these facts for a moment with the theory of the materialist. What is the state of the brain in the hypnotic or mesmeric trance ? There is no secret about it. You reduce the body to a state which, except to the trained investigator, is not distinguishable from death. You stop the breathing of the lungs. You check the circulation of the heart, so that the hand cannot feel it pulsating unless it be by a delicate apparatus.
What is the result of this condition on the brain ? That the brain is supplied with a very sluggish stream of blood from the slow action of the heart—the blood which reaches it has not in it the element of oxygen which is necessary for the working of the brain. The argument is that if you spoil the blood, the thought becomes confused; that if there is an insufficient supply of blood, thought can no longer function; but you have reduced those very conditions of an insufficient supply of unoxygenated blood, and the result is, not that thought is stopped, not that consciousness is absent.
It is not that the faculties are shown more vividly than ever when the brain is well-supplied, but that consciousness is still present when the brain is paralysed. Then I say you have broken the materialistic induction. I say one link of the entire materialistic chain has gone, and the whole value of induction, as every student of Bain or Mill will tell you, lies in its being a perfect induction. You do not need to answer every argument to negate every proposition. You need only to show one fact in opposition to the induction and the whole chain is broken as the ordinary chain would be when one link has been severed.”
Now with materialism, atheism also has received its death-blow. For what is atheism; it is nothing but a simple denial of the life after death, the immortality of man and the existence of a God, the real cause, infinite and absolute. In face of the modern experiments of the spiritualists all the world over it is rather absurd not to believe in a life after death. Now to the assumption that the existence is a limited quantity we are forced to question what is the limit ? Does it not itself relate to something beyond ? Is not every relation a correlation ? How can we conceive or think of a finite object out of many having necessary relation, co-existent with it, and following it ? It is an impossible task to deny the existence of the Infinite.
We are now forced to admit the existence of a self-existing and unchangeable something, otherwise, where is the basis for the world to stand? It is here the speculations of the philosophers come short of the mark and they have to bow down. Spencer says: “Persisting unchanging in quantity but ever changing in form under these sensible appearances which the universe presents to us and which we are obliged to recognise as without limit in space and without beginning or end in time.” Here you see that the existence of the absolute is a factor which we have to admit. Now we have conclusively proved the existence of a God and a life after death.
Now to the conception of God : What is God ? What am I or you ? There is a spiritual substance which is neither conscious nor unconscious. It is eternally enshrouded by its own light. Matter is nothing but an attribute of this universal substance. This universe of attributers in its primordial form is called Mula Prakriti. It is alternately subject to the laws of expansion and contraction or evolution and dissolution. This Mula Prakriti has no independent existence of its own as it is simply an attribute of the spiritual substance. This same Mula Prakriti is styled Maya which is and is not. Hear what is meant by is and is not ? It is nothing but that Maya exists as an attribute of the spiritual substance, and an attribute cannot by itself exist without an underlying substance. This spiritual substance is called God.
Now to the origin of Jiva. As explained above Mula Prakriti is subject to evolution, and as it progresses, various sorts of material organisms come into force. As a common mirror has the capacity to reflect light, these organisms have the capacity to reflect the spiritual substance. Man is a composite being and he has three bodies, physical, intellectual and moral consciousness; and beyond these there is even a fourth which is the most important of all—subject consciousness. The light of this subject consciousness shines through the other three sheaths—physical, intellectual and moral, and you are nothing but God reflected in Prakriti.
Here you see that in yourself you have three coats each of which is by itself more powerful than the other. Then your ultimate aim ought to be, first, to suppress this physical consciousness and bring the intellectual one into activity; then, the next course would be to supress that intellectual one which would in turn bring the moral consciousness into play. Then, the last stage, the suppression of this moral consciousness takes you to the original force —subject consciousness or BRAHMA. This is Mukti or Salvation. Here you realise. “Awake ! Arise, or Be for ever Fallen.” OM. ***
Karma Yoga Lesson IX – By Bhikshu
LESSON IX— Synopsis: The Karma Yogi that has got beyond selfishness; The modern problem; The substitute for Asceticism; Vicarious suffering; The East requires a different praxis; Schemes for the Western (Vani) social worker; His ideal to be the Sun; Sun worship; A mantra.
We have provided only for the Karma Yogi who is a man of the world and householder (Grihasta), but have not taken note of the Karma Yogi to whom the whole world is a home, who has no other country but the world.to which he has devoted himself, to which he has decided to be a servant; what in ancient Hindu parlance is called (the life of a) Vanaprastha or recluse. This greater Karma Yogi recognises that the thousands of points of the confused, egotistical, proprietary, partisan, nationalist, life-wasting chaos of human life has to be changed into a coherent development of a kingdom that shall be a kingdom of God. The Karma Yogi has already learned that there can be no such thing as separate existence in the universe; he has understood that all existence is actually one and that one is not the fraction that he once called the “I”; the Karma Yogi has found a way of escape for that fraction of consciousness; he has known that fraction and other such fractions are illusions or delusions, but yet he understands that his own task is unaccomplished while there remains any fragment of consciousness thus un-emancipated from illusion.
The modern world has progressed far; the optimism and refinement of the modern imagination has changed the attitude of thinkers towards ascetic practices and mortification so that people have begun again to ask as in the days of the Bhagavad Gita religion, what need there is of torment of the violation of the outer nature if the inner dispositions are all right. The Karma Yogi who has mastered the lessons of the Bhagavad Gita and of Karma Yoga will look on pleasures and pains, abundance and privation as alike irrelevant and indifferent. He can engage in actions and experience joy without compunction of fear or enslavement or degradation. Our ultra optimistic attitude of today is that we may treat evil by the method of ignoring; man has only to close his eyes to the existence of pain and suffering in the universe outside of himself and he will be quit of it altogether and can sail through life happily on a healthy minded, bias-less basis. But this is a shallow dodge, a mean evasion; pain and wrong and death must be fairly met and overcome in higher excitement or else their sting remains essentially unbroken. If one has ever taken the fact of the prevalence of death into his comprehension — drowning, torture, entombment alive, wild beasts, worse men and hideous diseases—he can with difficulty, it seems to us, continue his own career of worldly prosperity without suspecting that he may, all the while, not be really inside the game. This is what the Karma Yogi thinks and he voluntarily takes the great step-of the Vani, wanderer.
In heroism life’s supreme mystery is hidden; we tolerate in the modern world no one who has no capacity for it whatever in any direction. On the other hand, whatever a man’s frailties may otherwise be, if he be willing to risk death and still more if he risk it heroically in the service he has chosen, that fact consecrates him for ever; if he is able to fling away like a flower his life, caring nothing for it, we account him in the deepest way our born superior; the metaphysical mystery thus recognised by common sense that: he who attacks death that is the eater up of men meets best the secret of the universe, is the secret mystery of asceticism; the folly of the cross so inexplicable by the intellect has yet its indestructible vital meaning.
The world in which this law of vicarious suffering prevails is a far richer and nobler world than one wherein everyone would get his dessert of good or ill; such a world would not be a world in which there could be no sacrifice for another, no little children, no mother love, a world of independent adult individuals each standing up for himself or herself, a moral world without shade or dew where all life was legal because life could not bear another’s burdens or hazard all things for another’s sake. There can be no difficulty whatever in bringing home to intelligent men that vicarious suffering, the Purusha Medha of the Vedas, is a law of the nth dimension, a law beyond all laws, beyond time. We are all bearing the suffering of many past centuries and laying down our life for centuries yet to be, for are we not a composite of milliards of lives, lives that some of them have been from of old, others that yet are to be born, for whose sake we really live and die and are born? If we did not incarnate, and if we did not care to be born again and again, what of all these lesser beings, Bhootas, that are of us, that would not have been, but for us, that would not have been brought into being or much less have obtained experience?
The practical course of action for us as religious men, as Karma Yogis, would therefore not be to turn our backs on the ascetic impulse, but rather to discover some outlet for it of which the fruits in the way of privation and hardship might be objectively useful. The Karma Yogi has to cease from following his own path to perfection, and yet to find saner channels for the heroism that has been his inspiration. In the West, as regards the laity, athletics, militarism and individual and national enterprise and adventure have been pointed out as the via media. War and adventure assuredly keep all who engage in them from treating themselves too tenderly. Discomfort and annoyance, hunger and wet, pain and cold, squalor and filth cease to have any deterrent action whatever; death turns into a commonplace matter and its usual power to check our action vanishes. But in the East, these things have never been and neither hunger nor wet, discomfort nor annoyance daunt the ordinary householder; both for the East and West what is now wanted, say many, is the discovery in the social realm of the moral equivalent of war something heroic that will speak to one universally as war does and yet will be as compatible with their spiritual selves as war has proved itself incompatible.
What then must be the life work of the Karma Yogi? It must be first of all the Preaching of the Good Law, it must be the dissemination of the Yogi Philosophy and its teachings that have made him a Karma Yogi. His second duty and joy must be to find out in all the great religions the great and good Law, to follow it out in details and to disseminate that knowledge to solace eager souls waiting for it. His third joy must be to preach the kingdom of God as he found it and as he found it not for himself but for all; his fourth joy should be in the reformation of the wandering beggar that is, alas, a disgrace to asceticism; to educate him, to regulate him, to use him wherever found in the world and bring him into the fold firstly of a great religion, if nothing better can be done and then teach him the good Law of “Do what thou wilt.” A fifth joy for the Karma Yogi would be to render aid in the regulation of food supply to the masses, the work that the homes for the poor, the Salvation Army shelters, etc., are doing. A sixth, but this can be undertaken only by qualified men, would be medical relief to the poor; though what the Karma Yogi can do is to make medicos help the poor; and ways and means by the many, for salvaging civilization, can be found in world experience that require no catalogue here.
Of course herein it is taken that the Karma Yogi in this stage has got beyond a home; he has not become yet God; to do that he must have become one who has not the wherewithal to find a place where he may lay down his weary head (Aniketah is the term for this stage of Karma Yogi in the Bhagavad Gita). The Karma Yogi finds the greater world his home, and all life his brethren; he is a forester of that great forest the world, Loka aranya. All the suggestions made for the forester’s life, the Vanaprastha’s asrama now cruelly forgotten or neglected, may be considered by the Karma Yogi; he may for instance be a householder in the forest but yet have nothing to do with legal positions, or he may have given up the service of fire and have gone forth naked, nagna, i.e. without the need of protection against chills or heat, out into the cold; recognising not at all the civil law, refusing all the rights that confused modern civilization still allows to man, the Karma Yogi can, of course, devote himself to social service and remain a hermit in the world, but here he differs from the modern social service worker in the fact that he has deliberately turned his back on a house and home and that he combines social service with true religion, its study and teaching. The point is that the Karma Yogi continues to work ever more energetically just because he has attained, and makes his work thorough and exhaustive.
The model that the Karma Yogi, who has become a social worker, keeps before him is that of our father, the Sun. Before sunrise the Karma Yogi must have bathed and finished his ablutions and be ready to adore the Visible God, the Sun. And for the Adoration, any Rhythm, any simple prayer would suffice; in Hinduism the Sun in the early morn Sandhya (twilight) prayers is called Mitra, Friend. God is the Friend; all that the Karma Yogi meets are Friends, Companions in the great enterprise called life, illuminated, nay, even led, by the Sun that shineth on all alike. All may draw their warmth from him; to none is he partial; for he is the Friend. The Karma Yogi, too, may get the best out of humanity by seeking its friendliness, by the cheery word, by the kind thought, by solicitous care, by ignoring unkindness shown in return for kindness. The Karma Yogin can work out for himself how best he may utilise the Mitra aspect, the friendliness as a concrete practice, with or without its adjuncts of compassion, benevolence, charity and the like. The various ways in which God the friend was portrayed and adored are to be found in the Mithra cults of ancient Persia, to the literature on which we would refer our readers; so much of space would be taken up did we deal with any of the beauties of the teaching.
The sun is both food and raiment to the Karma Yogi in this stage; he may not take any cooked food at all; a fruit and nut diet must be his, for this course of life has to make him independent of all the artificialities of civilization; he may exist on alms whatever is given him unasked, but he shall not keep by anything for the morrow, for that would make him dependent and fearful. Above all must the Karma Yogi be independent and fearless, regretless, in a sense unrepentant, for he does not need to waste any more thought on the past that he need not recall by vain repentance, and all artificiality, whether of fashion, convention or compunction, has to cease in the natural life of the Karma Yogi who renounces all other clubs than that of the Bohemians or Wanderers.
Just before the mid-day must the Karma Yogi again bathe and adore our father the Sun again, in some simple prayer as hereunder, a translation of a Rg verse rendered into modern language: Isvara, Lord of Light! Make us all channels through which thou.Pourest! Teach Us to know thine voice and effulgence in other hearts as in ours and inform us with thine radiance time without end, in eternal cycles! And again must the Karma Yogin just before sunset bathe and adore the Sun, who is Varuna this time, Varuna the quaintness of the Rg Veda, Varuna the translated Ahura Mazda, Varuna the great coil (pasa), Varuna the harbinger of Night, the Night of rest, the night of dawn, the night when beauty shall retire to reappear in another divine garment of day, Varuna the ocean of joy, the refuge that is of the Mother, the sleep divine that cheers but does not kill.
The Karma Yogin has to bathe, to wash himself thoroughly, because he has been living the strenuous life all along every day, throughout the day; he must shed all that, always turning afresh to the beauty of nature dancing before him; the experiences in the violet, orange and ultra violet of the early morn are not the experiences of the “green” of mid-day; they are quite different from the red and red-violet of the evening, and each of the experiences has to be met by a fresh appreciation, a fresh dress of the mind, a cleanliness of the embodiment that has to be free from prejudice. And adoring the Sun shall the Karma Yogi offer his service in to the radiance of Truth, Satyai Jyotishi to which the sun has transferred on sunset his radiance. The radiance that had been was that of the Oversoul in man our Father the Sun. When he was hid where then had gone the radiance? Why, it was there still, but we can now see it as Truth what was the Sun’s glory.
So utterly is the Sun’s model to be followed that during the rainy season the Karma Yogi, if a Vanaprasta (monastic), was not to travel about at all; he was to stay for the four months minding the insect life that springs luxuriantly in the tropic during the rains, in one place, giving no worry whatever to householders whose bounden duty was long considered to be attention to guests, in India. Of course, all activity periods must be followed by rest periods, as Lent follows ordinary life periods; as the Ramzan period breaks the animal life of men. In modern life, therefore, the Karma Yogi may well devote some months of his year to recoupment, study and preparation for fresh activity. But always is the Sun to be his model; every recoupment, every night of the soul must make its conscious activity better and clearer and turn on newer ideals and newer uses to be taken out of life for the sake of the people. “All for the people,” shall ever be his motto, as has been repeatedly said.***
Karma Yoga Lesson X – By Bhikshu
LESSON X— Synopsis: Janaka and Shuka; Living as kings do; Helping humanity and geocentricity; Teaching the law, guarding oneself; Every act to be a sacrament. Brahma.
The type of the Karma Yogi is the sage Janaka who is the topic of many anecdotes. Janaka was a great Emperor and a sage as well, he was the greatest of the Karma Yogis. His empire was called Mithila; he was said to be the father of Queen Sita, the wife of Sri Rama, one of the incarnations of God in Hindu legend. His empire was also called Videha. You can find him referred to in the Buddhist writings and also in Jain works, but in these later as King Nimi. It is said of the king that seeing one day his capital city in flames, he said that nothing of him had been destroyed, he still remained of unbounded wealth. “Happy are we, happy live we who call nothing our own; when Mithila is burnt nothing is burnt which belongs to me,” says the Pravargya of King Nimi, I-9-23, Uttaradhyayana Sutra (Jain) — Sacred Book of the East — Max Muller’s edition. Similarly says the Dharmpada: “We live happily indeed though we call nothing our own. We shall be as the bright gods feeding on happiness.” Janaka was like the stone that is not flung off the ever whirling wheel of life, Arishta. Nemi is his other name in the Vedic literature. He was the chakravarti, he let things work out their course, he let the wheel (chakra) roll on, as had been advised in the Gita, 3.16.
One of the earliest Upanishads explains the rule of life of Janaka in an anecdote: Once upon a time there was a great sage, Shuka, a celibate, one born a sage, the son of Vyasa, the sage who rearranged the Hindu scriptures. Though a born sage, much of the world phenomenalising seemed understandable to Shuka and on asking his father was referred to Janaka, King of Mithila. Shuka went to Janaka’s palace gate and sent up his name that Vyasa’s son Shuka was waiting. Let him wait was the reply, but at the gate Shuka was, however, received with the utmost respect and all hospitality was shown him; for seven days no reply came and Shuka passed into the inner courtyard. There too, though very cordially received, he got no word from Janaka; he then passed into the inner apartments, but could not see the king for another seven days; but girls galore, rich viands and all good things were placed before Shuka for his enjoyment. Shuka was not at all charmed out by any of these; seeing which at the end of seven days Janaka himself came and waited on Shuka. And thereon ensues a conversation in which Janaka explains to Shuka how it is possible to be a Karma Yogi, to accept the universe, to Act and yet not be affected by his actions. Yes, so can you too, Brother aspirant, you too can Act and yet not be affected by your Acts; just as the soldier in obeying his general, the general thinking of the good of the country he serves, while ordering slaughter.
Yes, you can, you ought to, live as the kings and princes crowned and uncrowned of this world have always lived, as masters always live—but let it not be in self-indulgence—on the other hand make your self-indulgence your religion. The hero, says the Bhagavad Gita, plunges into the work of the world, and undertakes his daily duties and pleasures exactly as another but non-hero, uneducated man would; the difference in his case being that he is not moved by his environments or his acts as the other man is. It has always to be recognised that the majority of men in all ages best serve their kind by a life of quiet duty in the family in their daily work, in the support of certain definite philanthropic causes, or in following up great examples—and the Karma Yogi can, of course, choose to belong to and maintain the outward conventions of the great majority he is surrounded by. The Hindu Yogi philosophy from very ancient days admits of no facile flight to the wilderness, no sterile virtue; indeed it does count the recluse who fasts among scorpions in a cave as no better than a deserter in hiding. Eastern readers can read the Maitrayi Upanishad (one of the so-called minor Upanishads) where it says: “He who after taking the vows abandons his own country is like a thief; selfishness is the son, riches are the brethren, glamour the house, desire the wife that one has to give up—thus, giving up these, only, is one freed.” It is quite possible, quite permissible, really it is advised that the Karma Yogi do remain in the world that he is yet out of. Mind you, you are the master of destiny which is the Harvest of your thoughts—not the result of your environments.
There has been here an item of horseplay introduced into the practice of Karma Yoga by many teachers. The Karma Yogin had been told that he must remain behind to help humanity. The Karma Yogin has himself conquered, has become perfectly indifferent, perfectly energetic, perfectly creative; at this stage he gives himself completely up to the service of the universe, not merely of Humanity alone, having become acutely conscious that his own fortunate condition is not shared by that which he now is. It is then, not because of geocentricity, that the Karma Yogi turns his face downwards for he can save himself only by saving others, by preaching the good Law of “Do what thou wilt— Yatha Ischasi Tatha Kuru.” “Geocentricity,” writes M_____, is a very pathetic and amusing childish characteristic of the older schools. There is no reason whatever for imagining that to help humanity is the only kind of work worth doing by the Karma Yogi. Helping humanity is a very nice thing for those who like it and no doubt those who do so deserve well of their fellows. But the feeling of the desire to help humanity is itself a limitation and a drag just as bad as any other—for in the ultimate it is just swinging a censer by ourselves to our supposed moral superiority.
Very true the masses have to pass through a dual transformation; (a) they have to become divorced from every element of exoteric superstition and priestcraft, (b) they have to become educated men enslaved whether by an idea or by other men. But how far the Karma Yogi should interfere so as to bring up humanity to his standard is entirely a matter for himself. There are many dangers in the way; the Karma Yogi must proceed very warily. “The student of occultism must belong to no special creed or sect, yet he is bound to show outward respect to every creed and faith if he would become a Karma Yogi Adept. He must not be bound by the prejudged and sectarian opinions of any one and he has to form his own opinions and come to his own conclusions in accordance with the rules of evidence furnished to him by the science to which he is devoted,” says a Teacher. And again, as says Ragon (Des Initiations, p. 22): “We have seen in our days ‘all through the people, nothing for the people’ a false and dangerous system. The real axiom ought to be ‘all for the people and with the people; all for the people, nothing through the people’ “ For the Karma Yogi all that has been advised with regard to helping humanity is that he should adapt every one of his actions, govern each one of his thoughts, frame each one of his words so that it doesn’t at all interfere with any one’s free will. For every one is a star, a blazing Sun whose destiny none may interfere with.
Of course it is considered an especially sacred duty to instruct all in the doctrines of Yogi Philosophy, especially to teach the Law of “Do what thou wilt,” to teach all people independence of character and freedom of thought, and to warn all that servility and cowardice are the most deadly diseases of the soul. “Thou who have not accepted the Law are therefore as it were troglodytes, survivals of a past civilization to be treated accordingly; kindness should be shown them as to any other animal and every effort made to bring them into freedom,” say the Rules. But equally well do some Mystics say: “Be prudent, we say, prudent and wise, and above all take care: what those who learn from you believe in: lest by deceiving themselves they deceive others…. for such is the fate of every truth with which men are as yet unfamiliar….Let rather the super-cosmic and sub-cosmic mysteries remain a dreamland for those who can neither see nor yet believe that others can….”
“Point out the ‘way’ however dimly, and lost among the host, as does the evening star to those who tread their path in darkness,” says the Voice of the Silence (Madame H. P. Blavatsky), and again: “Be, O disciple (Lanoo) like them (Mercury, Mars and Sun). Give light and comfort to the toiling pilgrims and seek out him who knows still less than thou, who in his wretched desolation sits starving for the bread of wisdom and the bread which feeds the shadow, without a Teacher, Hope or consolation and let him hear the Law.”
Most especially is the teaching to be understood as applying to the East where the tyranny of the Guru Sishya Bhava has been of telling effect. Knowledge may not be obtained unless from a Teacher, and the Teacher he is as ignorant as he whom he is asked to teach. The world in India is full of the world-gurus, so they style themselves, denying to the poor and down-trodden any rights at all. Everyone has a right to know, and every Karma Yogi has a right to teach, the duty to teach. Every one’s first duty is to himself and to his progress in the Path; but his second duty which presses the other hard, is to give assistance to those not so advanced as he. ***
ईश्वर और मानव का घनिष्ठ संबंध – एक साधक
यदि आप भगवत् गीता को सच्चे दिल से मानते हैं तो श्रीकृष्ण का कथन सुनिये:
न मे पार्थास्ति कर्तव्यं त्रिषु लोकेषु किञ्चन।
नानवाप्तमवाप्तव्यं वर्त एव च कर्मणि॥ (गीता 3.22)
यदि ह्यहं न वर्तेयं जातु कर्मण्यतन्द्रितः।
मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः॥ (गीता 3.23)
प्रथम उनका कथन है कि तीनों लोकों में कर्तव्य जैसी कोई क्रिया करना मेरे लिये आवश्यक नहीं है; कुछ भी ऐसा नहीं जो अप्राप्त हो, कुछ भी ऐसा नहीं जो प्राप्त करना हो, फिर भी मैं (सतत) कर्म करता रहता हूं। यदि मैं अथकित रहते हुए कर्म में नहीं बरतूंगा तो समस्त मानव मुझसे प्रभावित होकर, स्वयं भी निरुत्साहित होकर, उदासीन होकर कर्म न करने में प्रेरित होंगे। अर्थात् हम कर्म में सदैव इसलिये प्रेरित हैं क्योंकि ईश्वर सदैव 24*7 कर्म करते रहते हैं।
वाह! भगवान् ने क्या अचंभित करने वाला संदेश दे दिया। ईश्वर कर्म (विचार) में सदैव तल्लीन हैं इसलिये हम भी कर्म (विचार) करने में 24*7 प्रेरित हैं। इस विचार की प्रक्रिया में एक क्षण का भी व्यवधान नहीं आता है। यदि आप अनुभव करेंगे तो आपको ज्ञात होगा कि मनुष्य एक ही क्रिया इस देह में सतत करता रहता है — वह है विचार की प्रक्रिया। थोड़ी गहराई में उतरें तो आपको पता लगेगा कि भगवान् इन श्लोकों द्वारा यह स्पष्ट करना चाहते हैं कि मनुष्य की चिंतन प्रक्रिया उन पर आश्रित है। क्या इससे यह संदेश नहीं प्राप्त हो रहा है कि भगवान् और मानव के बीच सीधा संबंध है और इसलिये यदि यह कहा जाय कि ईश्वर ने आत्मा के रूप में ससीम होकर, मानव को अपना निवास-स्थल बनाकर, मानव के जीवन-संचालन का भार वहन करते हुये उसे अपना प्रतिरूप बनाकर, अपने आनंद के लिये पृथ्वी पर उतारा है तो इसमें कोई अतिशयोक्ति नहीं होगी, वरन् इस सत्य की प्रतिष्ठा होगी कि प्रत्येक मनुष्य में ईश्वर की उपस्थिति उसमें आनंद प्राप्ति के निमित्त है, नामान्तर में इसे ही ईश्वर प्राप्ति की संज्ञा देते हैं। ईश्वर का एक नाम परमानंद भी है जो यह दर्शाता है कि यदि मानव इस आनंद की प्राप्ति कर लेता है तो इसे ईश्वर की प्राप्ति ही समझना चाहिये। पुरातन योग की उच्चतम दशा में भी इसी आनंद की प्राप्ति होती है। बोलो हां!
यदि आप हां कह रहे हैं तो इसका मतलब यह होगा कि आप हमारी उपर्युक्त बातों को शिरोधार्य कर रहे हैं तथा अपने को भगवान् से सीधे जुड़ा हुआ मान रहे हैं। भगवान् के विषय में कुछ भी कहना गलत होगा क्योंकि ईश्वर निरपेक्ष (Absolute) हैं तथा उनका प्रतिरूप मानव सापेक्ष है और इसलिये पृथ्वी पर सब कुछ सापेक्षिक रूप से जाना जाता है। सुख-दु:ख साथ बोले जाते हैं क्योंकि हम सुख को दुःख के सापेक्ष (Relation में) बतलाने की चेष्टा करते हैं। ठंडा-गर्म भी साथ ही बोले जाते हैं क्योंकि हम ठंडा कहते हैं तो इसलिये क्योंकि गर्म का हमें भान है। यदि निरपेक्ष होकर हम यह कहें कि पृथ्वी पर सब कुछ ठंडा ही तो है, यहां गर्म कुछ भी है नहीं, तो लोग हमें पागल या मूर्ख कहने से बाज नहीं आयेंगे। हम ठंडा और गर्म का भेद न बता सकें इसके लिये हमें दोनों का ही अलग-अलग भान नहीं होना चाहिये। गर्म को ठंडे से बतायें या ठंडे को गर्म से बतायें, यह हम कर नहीं सकते।
ईश्वर एवं ईश्वर से आपके संबंध को और घनिष्ठ करने करने की चेष्टा करते हैं। आपका सोना एवं जागना लगभग एक विद्युतीय बल्ब के बुझने एवं जलने के समान है। परंतु बुझने एवं जलने में विद्युतीय शक्ति की अत्यंत आवश्यकता है। दूसरा यह है कि कोई बुझाने और जलाने वाला चाहिये। पृथ्वी पर आलोकित सभी वस्तुएं या पदार्थ स्थूल हैं जिनके संचालन के लिये व्यवस्था बनाई गई है। मानव-देह भी स्थूल है, इसके संचालन की व्यवस्था भी सुनिश्चित की गई है। मानव-देह का संचालन उसमें उपस्थित ईश्वर अंश आत्मा द्वारा होता है, ऐसा सर्वमान्य एवं सर्वविदित है। आत्मा ईश्वर का अंश है इसलिये अदृश्य ईश्वरीय सभी कार्य मानव में आत्मा द्वारा संचालित होता है, अर्थात आपके सोने और जागने की व्यवस्था आत्मा की शक्ति द्वारा सुनिश्चित होती है। आप सोते हैं तो मृतवत् होते हैं परंतु इस अवस्था में भी सदैव सक्रिय होते हैं जिसका आपको अल्पाधिक भान भी होता है; जब आप जागते हैं तो अपने को सक्रिय कहते हैं परंतु क्या यह सक्रियता आपको परतंत्रता प्रतीत नहीं होती है। अवश्य होती है परंतु अहंकार के कारण, जड़ता एवं अज्ञानता के कारण आप कभी भी यह जान नहीं पाते हैं कि आप परतंत्र है, स्वतंत्र नहीं है। यह परतंत्रता आपमें किसी दूसरे की उपस्थिति को इंगित करती है, इसे ही भगवान् कहते हैं, आत्मा कहते हैं, मन कहते हैं। यदि ईश्वरीय चेतना आपमें विद्यमान न हो तो आप न सो सकेंगे और न ही जाग सकेंगे। जानना यह है कि ब्रह्मांड में कोई ऐसी अलौकिक सत्ता 24*7 कार्यरत है जो समस्त ब्रह्मांड को एवं हमारे पिंड को संचालित रखती है। आप मानें या न मानें यदि ब्रह्मांड में कार्यरत शक्ति को जानने में चेष्टारत होंगे तो अपने ईश्वर के साथ संबंध को जान सकेंगे, अन्यथा नहीं। थोड़ी सी जानकारी भी अत्यधिक हितकारक होगी यह धारणा बनाकर रखें। अपना भगवान् के साथ सीधा संबंध है, ऐसा जाने तथा इसे स्थापित करने की चेष्टा करें। यही योग है।
समस्त ब्रह्मांड के कण-कण की उत्पत्ति का कहीं न कहीं, कोई न कोई कर्णधार या सूत्राधार तो होगा? यदि ब्रह्मांड को स्वत: उद्भूत मानें तो भी ‘स्वत:’ की स्थापना तो मानेंगे ना। यदि बिग बैंग के सिद्धांत (Theory) को मानते हैं तो भी स्वत: होने वाली इस क्रिया के पीछे कोई कारण तो होना चाहिये। कारण को ईश्वर की संज्ञा दें तो कोई अतिशयोक्ति नहीं होगी क्योंकि स्वत: शब्द ‘स्व’ से निर्मित है। ईश्वर को न मानने वालों को भी उत्पत्ति के कारण को तो स्वीकार करना ही होगा और कारण को ही आस्तिक ईश्वर की संज्ञा दें तो इसमें क्या आपत्ति हो सकती है। किसी चीज की उत्पत्ति एवं उसको उत्पन्न करने वाले में सदैव एक संबंध होता है, वह संबंध उत्पन्न करने वाले की इच्छा को प्रकट करता है। किसी इच्छा से संचालित होकर किसी वस्तु का निर्माण स्वयं एक संबंध बना लेता है और यदि ईश्वर ने इच्छा करके अपने प्रतिरूप में मानव को उतारा है तो यह उसकी इच्छा की पराकाष्ठा है तथा उसके और मानव के गहन संबंध का प्रतीक भी है। पृथ्वी पर मानव ही अकेला प्राणी है जिसमें मनोमय कोश का विकास होता है, इतना ही नहीं विज्ञानमय एवं आनंदमय कोश का सृजन होता है। आनंद की प्राप्ति पृथ्वी पर केवल मनुष्य को होती है। यह इस तथ्य को दर्शाता है कि ईश्वर ने मानव को अपना सब कुछ दे रखा है जिससे वह आनंद प्राप्त कर सके, परंतु मनुष्य मोह एवं लोभ के जाल में फंसकर अपनी असीम सामर्थ्य को नहीं जान पाता है। ससीम चीजों को प्राप्त कर उसमें इतना व्यस्त हो जाता है कि ईश्वर की असीम अंतर्निहित सामर्थ्यों का उसे पता ही नहीं लग पाता है। जिनसे उसका जीवन संचालित है उनको ही दरकिनार करता है। ईश्वर का मानव से घनिष्ठ संबंध है परंतु मानव को ईश्वर के साथ संबंध का बोध न होने का कारण है उसका लौकिक चेष्टाओं में लिप्त होकर आधिकाधिक जड़ वस्तुओं की प्राप्ति में लिप्त होना। श्रीकृष्ण का कथन है:
न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः।
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम्॥ (गीता 2.12)
ऐसा कदापि नहीं है कि मैं, या तुम, या राजा लोग (आत्मायें) किसी काल में नहीं थे। न मेरा और न ही मनुष्य का जन्म होता है, हम सब सदैव से रहे हैं, रह रहे हैं और आगे भी रहेंगे। ईश्वर का यहां इशारा आत्मा की ओर है जो भगवत् अंश होने से सदैव विद्यमान है। न आत्मा का जन्म है, और न ही मृत्यु। ईश्वर का यह कथन कितना सारगर्भित है, यह कथन ईश्वर एवं मनुष्य की घनिष्ठता को बतलाता है। मानव सदैव से है और रहेगा, केवल शरीर बदलता रहता है। ईश्वर मानव के निकट ही नहीं है, वस्तुत: उसके अंतर में विराजमान है। ईश्वर ने आपके साथ आपके ‘जीवन’ के रूप में घनिष्ठता तो बना रखी है, परंतु आपने उसके साथ सौतेला व्यवहार भी नहीं रखा है। श्रीकृष्ण ने स्वयं ससीम रूप में, ससीम मानवदेह में, अपने को निम्न श्लोकों में पुनः स्थापित किया है परंतु हम उनकी उपस्थिति को न जानने के कारण स्वीकार ही नहीं करते हैं।
अशास्त्रविहितं घोरं तप्यन्ते ये तपो जनाः।
दम्भाहङ्कारसंयुक्ताः कामरागबलान्विताः॥ ॥गीता 17.5॥
कर्षयन्तः शरीरस्थं भूतग्राममचेतसः।
मां चैवान्तःशरीरस्थं तान् विद्धि आसुरनिश्चयान्॥ (गीता 17.6)
जो शास्त्र विधि रहित घोर तपादि द्वारा अपने को तपाते हैं वे दम्भ (Pride) एवं अहंकार (Egoity) से युक्त होते हैं, उनके कृत्य काम एवं राग से पोषित होते हैं। ऐसे लोग शरीर में स्थित भूत समुदाय (Cell-lives) को अचेत होकर कष्ट पहुंचाते हैं; इतना ही नहीं मानव शरीर में स्थित मुझे भी कष्ट पहुंचाते हैं। ऐसे मनुष्यों को निश्चय पूर्वक असुर जानो।
ईश्वर ने मानव को आनंद के रूप में उतारा (यदि इसका साक्ष्य चाहिये तो एक नवजात शिशु को देखें) आनंद प्राप्त करने के लिये परंतु वह लौकिक चकाचौंध में उलझ कर जगत् से प्राप्त होने वाले वैभव को प्राप्त करने में तन्मयता से लगकर, अपने आनंद को भूल गया और जगत् से नश्वर वस्तुओं को प्राप्त कर उन्मादित एवं गौरवान्वित हुआ दूसरों को नीचा दिखाने की चेष्टा में असुर बन गया। आज असुरों का बोलबाला है क्योंकि पूर्व जन्म में ऐसे कर्म करके आये जिसका उन्हें इस जन्म में भुगतान करना पड़ रहा है, कर्म के अडिग सिद्धांत से कोई बच नहीं सकता। स्पष्ट है कि आपने भगवान् से अपनी दूरी बढ़ा ली जबकि भगवान् लगातार आपको संदेश भेजकर आपको अपने आनंद की ओर आकर्षित करने के लिये आपके इतने निकट आये हैं। मानव ने स्वयं अपनी दुर्गति कर ली है जैसे बंदर के हाथ में उस्तरा दे दें तो वह अपना बदन उससे क्षतिग्रस्त कर लेता है।
श्रीमद् भगवद् गीता कृष्ण (ईश्वर) एवं जीव (मनुष्य) के बीच का संवाद है जिसमें 18 अध्याय के अंत में अर्जुन श्रीकृष्ण को समर्पित होते हैं। अर्जुन में परिवर्तन आने के कारण उनको अपने दोष दिखाई पड़ने लगे थे, वह इन दोषों से मुक्त होना चाहते थे। श्रीकृष्ण ने अर्जुन के अनेक संदेहों का नाश किया तब अर्जुन ने कृष्ण को समर्पित किया। साधारण मानव में जब तक यह चेतना नहीं जागृत होगी कि वह ज्ञान की कमी के कारण अपने दोषों को देख नहीं पा रहा है और जिन दोषों को देख भी पाता है उन्हें लौकिक क्रिया-कलापों में, इन सब की आवश्यकता है, ऐसा मानकर इन दोषों को जीवन पर्यंत संजोकर रखता है, और इसीलिए जीवन-पर्यंत दु:ख का भागीदार होता है। अर्जुन गीता के 18वें अध्याय में नतमस्तक होकर कृष्ण से कहते हैं:
नष्टो मोहः स्मृतिर्लब्धा त्वत्प्रसादान्मयाच्युत।
स्थितोऽस्मि गतसन्देहः करिष्ये वचनं तव॥ (गीता 18.73)
हे कृष्ण! आपके प्रसाद (Grace) से मेरा मोह नष्ट हो गया है, मैंने अपनी स्मृति वापस प्राप्त कर ली है; अब मैं स्थिर मन वाला हो गया हूं और स्थित अर्थात् आत्म-स्थित हो गया हूं जिसके कारण मेरे समस्त संदेहों का नाश हो गया है; अब आप जैसी आज्ञा करें वैसा करूंगा। आप सभी योग साधना में रत लोगों का यही उद्देश्य होना चाहिये — ईश्वर की निकटता प्राप्त करना, आनंद में लीन होना। ***