Commentary on The Bhagavad Gita (1)
The first in a series of four lectures by Sti Chinmoy
at Vanderbilt Hall, New York University, New York
I read the Gita because it is the Eye of God. I sing the Gita because it is the Life of God. I live the Gita because it is the Soul of God.
The Gita is God’s Vision immediate. The Gita is God’s Reality direct.
They say that the Gita is a Hindu book, a most significant scripture. I say that it is the Light of Divinity in humanity. They say that the Gita needs an introduction. I say that God truly wants to be introduced by the Gita.
Arjuna is the ascending human soul. Sri Krishna is the descending divine Soul. Finally they meet. The human soul says to the divine Soul: “I need you.” The divine Soul says to the human soul: “I need you, too. I need you for my Self-manifestation. You need me for your Self-realisation.” Arjuna says: “O Krishna, you are mine, absolutely mine.” Sri Krishna says: “O Arjuna, no mine, no thine. We are the Oneness complete, within, without.
The Gita is an episode in the sixth book of the Mahabharata. Mahabharata means ‘Great India’, ‘India the Sublime’. This unparalleled epic is six times the size of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined. Surprising in size and amazing in thought is the Mahabharata. The main story revolves around a giant rivalry between two parties of cousins. Their ancestral kingdom was the apple of discord. This rivalry came to its close at the end of a great battle called the Battle of Kurukshetra.
Santanu had two wives: Ganga and Satyavati. Bhishma was born from the union of Santanu and Ganga; Chitrangada and Vichitravirya from that of Santanu and Satyavati. Vichitraviya’s two wives were Ambika and Ambalika. Dhritarashtra was the son of Ambika and Vichitravirya; Pandu, the son of Ambalika and Vichitravirya. Dhritarashtra’s hundred sons were the Kauravas; Pandu’s five sons, the Pandavas.
Yudhisthira was the legitimate heir to the kingdom. His father, Pandu, had reigned a number of years, offering the utmost satisfaction to his subjects. Finally, Pandu retired to the forest. To succeed him was his eldest son, Yudhisthira. And he did it devotedly and successfully. Dhritarashtra was Pandu’s elder half-brother. God had denied him sight. Strangely enough, his affection for his hundred sons blinded his heart as well. Being blind, naturally he was not qualified to inherit the throne. The eldest son of Dhritarashtra was Duryodhana. Ninety-nine brothers were to follow him. Yudhisthira, Pandu’s eldest son, had only four others to follow him.
Truth’s pride was Yudhisthira. Falsehood’s pride was Duryodhana. Through the illumined hearts of Pandu’s five sons, God smiled. Through the unlit minds of Dhritarashtra’s hundred sons, the devil smiled. The devil often succeeded in embracing the blind father, too.
The eyeless father made repeated requests, strong and weak, to Duryodhana — his morally, psychically and spiritually eyeless son — not to go to war. Vidura, the pure heart, Duryodhana’s uncle, failed to throw light on Duryodhana’s thick head. Sanjaya, his father’s prudent charioteer, equally failed. Neither was Bhishma, the oldest and the wisest, successful. Duryodhana felt his own understanding to be superior. Finally Sri Krishna, the Lord of the Universe, most fervently tried to avert the hurtful and heartless battle. But the ignorance-night in Duryodhana would by no means surrender to the knowledge-sun in Sri Krishna.
Seven hundred verses are there in the Gita. About six hundred are the soul-stirring utterances from the divine lips of Lord Krishna, and the rest are from the crying, aspiring Arjuna, the clairvoyant and clairaudient Sanjaya, and the inquisitive Dhritarashtra.
The sage Vyasa enquired of Dhritarashtra if he desired to see the events and have a first-hand knowledge of the battle, from the battle’s birth to the battle’s death. The sage was more than willing to grant the blind man vision. But Dhritarashtra did not want his eyes — the eyes that had failed him all his life — to obey his command at this terribly fateful hour for his conscience and his kingdom’s life, especially when his own sons were heading for destruction. He declined the sage’s kind and bounteous offer. His heart was ruthlessly tortured by the imminent peril of his kinsmen. However, he requested the sage to grant the boon to someone else from whom he could get faultless reports of the battle. Vyasa consented. He conferred upon Sanjaya the miraculous psychic power of vision to see the incidents taking place at a strikingly great distance.
Is the Gita a mere word? No. A speech? No. A concept? No. A kind of concentration? No. A form of meditation? No. What is it, then? It is The Realisation. The Gita is God’s Heart and man’s breath, God’s Assurance and man’s promise.
The inspiration of Hinduism is the soul-concern of the Gita. The aspiration of Hinduism is the blessing-dawn of the Gita. The emancipation of Hinduism is the compassion-light of the Gita. But to pronounce that the Gita is the sole monopoly of Hinduism is absurdity. The Gita is the common property of humanity.
The West says that she has something special to offer to the East: the New Testament. The East accepts the offer with deepest gratitude and offers her greatest pride, the Bhagavad Gita, in return.
The Gita is unique. It is the Scripture of scriptures. Why? Because it has taught the world that the emotion pure, the devotion genuine can easily run abreast with the philosophy solid, the detachment dynamic.
There are eighteen chapters in the Gita. Each chapter reveals a specific teaching of a particular form of Yoga. Yoga is the secret language of man and God. Yoga means ‘union’, the union of the finite with the Infinite, the union of the form with the Formless. It is Yoga that reveals the supreme secret: man is tomorrow’s God and God is today’s man. Yoga is to be practised for the sake of Truth. If not, the seeker will be sadly disappointed. Likewise, man’s God-realisation is for the sake of God. Otherwise, untold frustration will be man’s inevitable reward.
The Gita was born in 600 b.c. Its authorship goes to the sage Veda Vyasa. With a significant question from Dhritarashtra, the Gita commences its journey. The whole narrative of the Bhagavad Gita is Sanjaya’s answer to Dhritarashtra’s single question. Sri Krishna spoke. Much. All divinely soulful. Arjuna spoke. Little. All humanly heartful. Dhritarashtra was the listener. The divinely and humanly clairvoyant and clairaudient reporter was Sanjaya. On very rare occasions, Sanjaya contributed his own thoughtful remarks, too.
Sri Krishna was Arjuna’s body’s relation, heart’s union and soul’s liberation. As God, he illumined Arjuna with the Truth Absolute; as a humane human, he illumined his earthly friend with truths relative.
Philosophers enter into a deplorable controversy. Some enquire how such a philosophical discourse could take place at the commencement of a war. How was it possible? There are others who firmly hold that this momentous discourse was not only possible but inevitable at that hour, since it was the divinely appropriate occasion for the aspiring Hindu to discover the inner meaning of war and live in accordance with his soul’s dictates, instead of following the poor, unlit knowledge of morality.
The Gita is the epitome of the Vedas. It is spontaneous. It is in a form at once divinised and humanised. It is also the purest milk drawn from the udders of the most illumining Upanishads to feed and nourish the human soul. The Gita demands man’s acceptance of life, and reveals the way to achieve the victory of the higher Self over the lower by the spiritual art of transformation: physical, vital, mental, psychic and spiritual.
The Gita embodies the soul-wisdom, the heart-love, the mind-knowledge, the vital-dynamism and the body-action.
Note: This is the first of four lectures in this series by Sri Chinmoy at Vanderbilt Hall at New York University.
Published in The Oneness of the Eastern Heart and the Western Mind, part 2
Philosophy, Spirituality and Yoga
a lecture by Sri Chinmoy
in Winthrop Hall at the University of Western Australia im Perth, Australia
Philosophy is God-speculation. Spirituality is God-expectation. Yoga is God-union. God-speculation, God-expectation and God-union.
Philosophy most of the time operates on the mental plane. Spirituality most of the time operates in the outer being. Yoga operates in the oneness-heart and in the perfection-life.
Philosophy has come to the conclusion that God is stupendous. Spirituality has come to the conclusion that God is glorious. Yoga has come to the conclusion that God is gracious, loving, compassionate, illumining and fulfilling.
God says to philosophy, "My child, you have known Me as someone stupendous. I shall make you stupendous." God says to spirituality, "My child, you have known Me as someone glorious. I shall grant you all My Glory." To Yoga God says, "My child, you have known Me as someone gracious. Of all My qualities, My most treasured quality is Grace. You are also aware of My Love. Nothing is equal to My Love. Because you are aware of My Compassion and Illumination, I shall bestow My choicest, blessingful Compassion and Illumination on you in infinite measure. And not only that, but also I shall eventually fulfil you by making you another God."
A student of philosophy studies in the mind-school. He wants to measure God's Infinity. A student of spirituality studies in the body-school, vital-school and mind-school. He wants to reach God's Eternity. A student of Yoga studies in the heart-school and in the soul-school. In the heart-school he studies for liberation from ignorance-night and in the soul-school he studies for the perfect perfection of life here on earth.
Who can measure God's Infinity? It is absurd to think of trying. Who can catch God's Eternity? Nobody. But who can try to become liberated? Who can try to become perfect? Everybody. You, he, I, everybody. Everybody in God's creation can make a soulful attempt to become free from the meshes of ignorance and to be perfect. In the heart-school and the soul-school, the student of Yoga learns something else: he learns how to become an unconditional instrument of God. He learns to live on earth only to please God in God's own Way.
The student of philosophy is puzzled. The student of spirituality is astonished. The student of Yoga is awakened, totally awakened. The student of philosophy wants to address the world assembly. He wants to prove that God exists. The student of spirituality wants to carry God's Light throughout the length and breadth of the world. The student of Yoga has been commissioned by God Himself, out of His infinite Bounty, to embody, reveal and manifest God in God's own Way.
Philosophy and spirituality belong to the domain of knowledge, whereas Yoga belongs to the domain of wisdom. I am extremely happy to learn that the motto of this august university is "Seek Wisdom". When a seeker practises true Yoga, he comes to realise that there can be nothing more important in his life than wisdom-light. He discovers that there is a vast difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is nothing more than the accumulation of world-facts and information. These facts and pieces of information do not and cannot illumine his aspiring consciousness. But wisdom-light can and does illumine his entire being — his earthly life and his earthbound reality. What is proper wisdom? Proper wisdom is the realisation that God is at once one and many, the Creator and the creation. In the inner world He is Silence and in the outer world He is Sound. The seeker with wisdom-light also realises that God needs him as much as he needs God.
Each individual has to launch into the path of the spirit. He can start as a philosophy student. Then he can become a spirituality student. Then he can become a student of Yoga. The most important thing for each human being is to start the journey. There is no end to our journey. There is no end to our goal. One should consciously start, even if he starts only out of curiosity. If he has even a little thirst for God-discovery, let him start with curiosity. Naturally, there comes a time when mere curiosity does not satisfy him. So he tries to go deeper. Then he resorts to imagination. He tries to imagine God in whatever way he wants to. But soon there comes a time when he is no longer satisfied with imagination. Then he goes one step ahead; he knocks at the door of inspiration. Then he continues his journey with inspiration for some time.
But eventually there comes a time when the seeker realises that imagination and inspiration cannot carry him far enough. Then he tries to go deep within to discover if there is anything else he needs for his inner journey. He discovers that he is missing something, and that thing is aspiration. Once he has discovered aspiration in the inmost recesses of his heart, all his problems are solved. All past, present and future problems put together are helpless in the face of aspiration, for aspiration is the burning, glowing flame within. It is a birthless and endless flame that mounts high, higher, highest and purifies the things that have to be purified in our unlit, obscure, impure nature. While illumining the unlit, obscure, impure qualities in us, it immortalises the divine qualities in us: faith in God, love of God and unconditional surrender, which says to God, "Let Thy Will be done."
Published in My Heart's Salutation to Australia, part 1
A Life of Blossoming Love
a discourse by Sri Chinmoy
at SUNY at Stony Brook in Stony Brook, New York
A seeker's life is his blossoming love. A seeker's blossoming love is his illumining light.
A seeker's life becomes the many and the One. A seeker's love becomes the One and the many.
A seeker's life is at once dependent and independent. His is the life boundlessly dependent on God. His is the life sleeplessly independent of ignorance.
A seeker has belief, he has faith, he has conviction, he has realisation. God does everything: this is his faultless belief. God is everything: this is his spotless faith. God is all Love: this is his peerless conviction. God is His own Eternity's Silence, God is His own Infinity's Sound, God is His own Immortality's Satisfaction: this is his ageless realisation.
A true seeker's life and his gratitude-heart are always inseparable. By virtue of his gratitude-heart he sees the invisible, he feels the unimaginable and he achieves the impossible. He seeks the invisible perfection within and without him. He feels the unimaginable satisfaction in his entire being. He achieves the impossible: God's God-Heights and God's God-Depths.
A seeker's life embodies two supreme realities: his conscious, constant and soulful self-giving prayer and his loving, devoted and unreserved God-becoming meditation.
Published in A Life of Blossoming Love
Transcendence
a talk by Sri Chinmoy
at Stanford University in Stanford, California
Transcendence is the revelation of a seeker’s inner urge. Transcendence is the manifestation of a seeker’s inner beauty. Transcendence is the perfection of a seeker’s inner duty. Transcendence is the Satisfaction of a seeker’s Inner Pilot.
Transcendence determines at once a stupendous success in the outer domain of our knowledge-light and a momentous progress in the inner domain of our wisdom-delight.
Transcendence surprises an ordinary man. Transcendence awakens a great man. Transcendence encourages a good man. Transcendence energises a truth-seeker. Transcendence enlightens a God-lover.
A seeker’s soul lives with the vision-reality of transcendence. A seeker’s heart listens to the vision-reality of transcendence. A seeker’s mind gets inspiration from the vision-reality of transcendence. A seeker’s vital obeys the vision-reality of transcendence. A seeker's body receives purity from the vision-reality of transcendence.
A transcendence-cry speedily improves our inner nature’s faith and devotion. A transcendence-smile easily and lovingly transforms our outer nature’s insecurity and impurity into security and purity.
There is nothing as frightening as ignorance-night in action. There is nothing as illumining as knowledge-day in action. There is nothing as fulfilling as wisdom-sky in action. There is nothing as satisfying as transcendence-sun in action.
There are many people who are satisfied with what they have and what they are. There are only a very few seekers who sincerely want to transcend themselves and divinely enjoy transcendence-delight. These seekers have developed a ceaseless inner cry. If their aspiration-cry is sleeplessly soulful and breathlessly unconditional, then their transcendence-flight towards the ever-transcending Beyond can easily, unmistakably and unimaginably be shortened. These few seekers, at God’s choice Hour, will be blessed with transcendence-delight and will breathe deep of transcendence-delight.
Needless to say, transcendence-delight is extremely difficult to find in ourselves and surely impossible to discover in others. I cannot feel transcendence-delight in others unless and until I have felt it in the inmost recesses of my own inner being. If I want to transcend myself, then I must only sit devotedly at the Feet of my Beloved Supreme. If I want to transcend others, then I must see only their good qualities and make these my very own.
If I cannot transcend myself, it is no disgrace. But if I do not want to transcend myself, it is not only a disgrace, but also a fatal failure. I must transcend myself in the outer world so that I can perform divinely my God-ordained earthly duty. I must transcend myself in the inner world so that slowly, steadily and unerringly I can grow into a supremely beautiful Vision-Reality of my Inner Pilot.
Published in Sound and Silence, part 1