Thoughts on The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 12: Verse 1 - Verse 5)

Rahul N Singh: 0:02

Hello and welcome to The Bearded Mystic Podcast and I'm your host Rahul N Singh. Thank you for taking out the time today to either watch or listen to this podcast episode. If you are really interested in supporting The Bearded Mystic Podcast, and you've found great benefit in listening or watching these episodes, then please do support this podcast on Patreon where you can get ad free and bonus episodes along with other benefits depending on the tier that you select. Your support means everything, and it really does help the podcast keep running efficiently and smoothly, and also widens the audience that this message can reach to. If you would like to know more about it, the details are in the show notes and video description below. On Saturdays at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time there is a free virtual meditation session along with discussion and Q&A. If you're interested in meditating with us as a community, then you can find out the details in the show notes and video description below. Please do like, comment, and subscribe if you're watching this on YouTube and if you're listening to this on your favorite podcast streaming app, then please do give this podcast a five star rating. It helps the podcast get up in the charts and allows the algorithm to bring this podcast to new listeners and also do review the podcast if you can and make sure you do follow or subscribe to keep getting future episodes. Today we will be continuing on with my thoughts on the Bhagavad Gita, and as we enter this 80th episode, we'll be looking at chapter 12 verses 1 to verse 5. Most importantly this chapter, a very short one of just 20 verses is based upon the way of bhakti, the way of devotion. Let's look at the first verse. Arjuna inquired: Between those who are constantly engaged in acts of seva, service and adoration that's done selflessly, to You through bhakti yoga, and those who seek to merge their Atma entirely into Your Imperishable and Formless Brahman Effulgence, which do you consider has achieved the most perfect result knowledge of yoga. A very interesting question to ask from Arjuna, obviously, is it the path of bhakti or is it the path of Gyana? What is the highest? And this episode and the next one is quite important when we look to establish what is a better form of yoga to do, and Sri Krishna will be answering this so we don't need to go much further, but we have to understand this properly, with the nuances that are there and are very much present, and we are not to look at it through the eyes of, well, this is better, so this is what I'm going to harp on about. No, what we need to understand is each person will have their own way of dealing with this and someone may not be completely Gyana and may not be completely bhakti, but most likely they are in between and the percentages really can range from 50 to 100 percent on the stronger side of one of those two. It's naturally going to be there. Some people may be completely Gyana or completely bhakti, but both ways I will find can be challenging unless we truly understand what bhakti yoga is. Now, bhakti yoga is not simply just saying Sri Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, or Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram. No. It's a lot more than that. This is something we need to understand. Anyway, back to Arjuna. His question really is about what yoga is the best to do for someone like him who is a seeker. Is the yoga of bhakti, where we engage in renouncing all the fruits of our actions to Nirguna Brahman. Which is basically a mix of karma yog mixed with bhakti. Is that better? Or is it the path of renunciation and of sannyas, where these individuals leave the world and go to a secluded place and just focus entirely on Nirguna Brahman. Arjuna wants to know what Sri Krishna thinks is the best way to achieve this perfect knowledge of yoga. And one thing I do want to call out, that the outcomes are the same. Which is realization, that there is only Nirguna Brahman. That is the ultimate realization of both of these paths. It's not one or the other. Let's go to verse 2 where Sri Krishna replies: I regard those who perpetually focus their manas upon me in the yoga of loving seva, devoted service, to be established in the most perfect practice of yoga. We're going to look at the whole verse altogether here. His response is given straight away and it's a wonderful answer, a beautiful answer. He says, those who perpetually focus. Means that there is a continuous stream of attention to focus our mind with all its thoughts and emotions upon Nirguna Brahman. Yeah, that's ultimately the point that we need to remember here. We have to move beyond the Virat Roop that we saw, this Shared Being, this Saguna Brahman, this Isvara, this form even of the Guru, or as Sri Krishna. We have to go beyond that and we need to now perceive what Sri Krishna has been speaking of from the very beginning, which is that we are the Atma And the Atma is changeless, it is the witness consciousness, the Purusha. Simple. The Yoga, the path of union that we take is through loving Seva, meaning devoted service. You know, it's done, which is basically the act of serving others with absolute love unconditionally. So we are not looking to seek anything in return and we are not, and we are doing it through selfless means. We are not saying I am the doer. For there is no body and mind that is mine. For there is no body and mind. It is all this Brahman's, not mine. So this is karma yoga in a nutshell. In Seva you don't seek a reward. You don't seek appreciation, you don't seek praise, you don't seek criticism, none of those things. You do it for the sake of love. That's the whole point. If Seva is not done with love, it's not Seva. Basically, any act done with love is Seva. Any act done with some expectation, that is just an action, that is karma. The only reason one does this karma yoga is so that they can remain established in union with Formless Awareness. This is the ultimate point, is to seek that union and remain in that union. And if we remain in Formless Awareness while serving all of existence unconditionally, that can be the best practice to achieve what we need to achieve, which is freedom, true freedom. Now, he has answered the question definitively that he regards those who perpetually focus their mind upon this Brahman. That is the ultimate path. The easiest, shall we say. Now let's look at verse 3 and 4 together. But those who are constantly focused upon the Brahman Reality as Imperishable, Undefinable, Materially Unmanifest, All Pervading, Inconceivable, Unchanging, Unmoving, Constant and those who have constantly subdued their indriyas, their bodily senses, who are even minded and indifferent in all of life's situations, and who rejoice in the well being of all living entities, they also attain Me. Now, this is interesting. So, he is saying that both reach the ultimate goal, but let's see how he's described it because it's really interesting. It says, but those who are constantly focused upon the Brahman Reality as Imperishable and Undefinable, we're going to break it all up. Let us understand really what this Formless awareness is, what Brahman Reality really is, what does it mean to be in Brahman, to be in this Vastness? This is how we should remind ourselves of its qualities too. This is an easier way. Sri Krishna has defined it so we can relate to it somewhat, which is pretty smart from him actually. First of all, he says it is imperishable. It cannot die because it is unborn. It is undefinable, scriptures can speak about it, but it still doesn't touch what it is. An interesting thing, all scriptures have tried to speak of Brahman, all of them. Silence is the best definition that gets so close, and even silence doesn't do it. Now, it's, when it says undefinable, what it also means is, if you say that Brahman is vast. Yeah, what's happened? I've turned Brahman into a thought. So can one actually be in a state that is undefinable? That's why we say to be in awareness of Formless awareness. That cannot be defined. Those are words pointing to what is happening. But, the state that you feel cannot be described. So this is what... We are doing here. If anything if someone says I experience divinity all around me, that's a thought. Yeah, that's simply somebody thinking and therefore even if they say this is unmanifest or undefinable, that's also a thought. This is why it's extremely difficult to do this. Then he says even if it has attributes, those attributes are still objects of thought and ideas and notions to this Formless Awareness. This is a very important point to remember. Then he says, materially unmanifest or avyakta, which is a word we may have heard a few times before and all-pervading. Within this material world, Brahman is unmanifest, yet present in the whole existence. We have to see consciousness in everything but to just focus on something that is not manifest materially is difficult. So what we can say is that it's manifested in a very subtle way. And not immaterial in a gross sense, in a physical sense, it's very much in a subtle sense, it's manifest, but that's still quite difficult to comprehend. And it is all pervading because there is not a single atom where consciousness is not present. It's in all directions, and it's in every location, yet cannot be located. This is the beauty of this Brahman reality. I want to go back to materially unmanifest. It's easy to relate to something that's manifested. We live in the world, we can relate to people, relate to work, relate to school, relate to college. We can relate to all those things. But to relate to something that is unmanifest is extremely difficult. If I ask you to relate to something formless, it's a challenge. How can something with form relate to something formless? But... If we use formless as a concept, initially, we may get there, because initially we recognize it's a concept, and what is aware of this concept, then we, in that questioning, in that inquiry, then we understand what it is to say this is formless, this is unmanifest, this is invisible, that is the subtle points. Then he also says this Brahman reality is inconceivable and unchanging. It is inconceivable because it's beyond the senses. It's beyond our imagination. It's beyond our thoughts. It is formless. Hence inconceivable. If you can conceive it. It's not This. Yeah, that's how deep this goes. If you say it's this, you'll have to deny it because it's a conceptual thought. It's a concept that you've created and manifested, so it is unchanging, it is not made of any substance, it is eternally present and doesn't mix with prakriti at all. It is that changeless awareness that is present throughout all the stages in our life as we go from a toddler to old age. It's that changeless awareness that watches us grow old, yet doesn't grow old itself, hence it's unchanging. Remember here, it's inconceivable, this is why this path in particular is quite a challenge for a lot of people because pure Gyana means to just live in that state where you do not conceive of even a thought. The moment you conceive thought of enlightenment or of truth, you lose it. Yeah, that's why Sri Krishna says this is a bit challenging. And then he says, he continues on in this verse, that it's unmoving and constant. So this is all of verse 3 that we're doing now, and this concludes verse 3, that it's unmoving and constant. So it's unmoving because it's all pervading. If something is all pervading, how can it move? It's impossible for it to move. The world moves, the universe moves, but consciousness does not move. Consciousness is eternally present, eternally still. No matter where you go, this unmoving, changeless, formless awareness is eternally present. You cannot escape it. It does not escape you. It simply is. It is constant. It's the only thing that we can say remains. Yeah. No matter what happens in life, the universe can be destroyed, but consciousness remains. People die, but consciousness remains. Living beings die. Consciousness remains. Thoughts appear and disappear. Consciousness remains. Emotions bubble up and they die down but awareness remains. Consciousness remains. So we can understand here how this is the only thing that's constant. Everything else is subject to change or modification but this One Reality, this Brahman Reality is ever present, all the time, without a shadow of doubt. Then in verse 4, He says and those who have completely subdued their indriyas, bodily senses, who are even minded and indifferent in all of life's situations and who rejoice in the well being of all living entities, they also attain Me. One thing is subduing the indriyas, meaning to control the bodily senses. If you're all on your own, this may be a much easier process. Practice to do, but if you're in the world, it's a very challenging thing to do. Everywhere, something is grabbing your attention, whether you walk down a street and you smell chocolate, or you see there's a chocolate shop, or you then taste a chocolate bar. Or you hear the sound of someone unwrapping a chocolate bar. Or when you say you touch a chocolate bar, that is a sample. At the end of the day, it's very hard to control the bodily senses. One thing, our senses are pulling us always in. So to actually subdue them, to calm them down is very challenging, but the way to calm them down is to observe them. The more we observe them, the better. And then whatever information the senses do provide, we need to be aware of them like a screen that has no imprints of information. Every movie that it has showcased, so this screen that you have at the cinema, it's shown an action movie, a romantic movie, a horror movie, a thriller movie, but does it, does the screen ever get impacted? Does it ever leave an imprint of that, those movies? No. If it did, we would not be able to watch that movie at all. It would be very jarring for us to watch. If the screen collected imprints, likewise, our consciousness Our awareness does not have any imprints of any of the information that the senses provide. He says who are even minded and indifferent in all of life's situations. So no matter if it is hot or cold, if you're in pain or pleasure, those people are even minded. They see everything with equal vision. This is the experience of life, they embrace it all. No matter what situations come in life, they're indifferent and they deal with them with an even mind. They do not even question this. And most of all, they are happy because others are doing well is most important. They see that other people are doing well. They see that society is doing well. They're very content with this. They're very pleased with this. And that's why you would always see that these people, they ask the devas, or they ask the Shared Being, or they ask Paramatma, or they ask Nirguna Brahman to bring prosperity to all. They want everyone to benefit in life, they want everyone to enjoy life. These individuals, with this great mindset, will also attain formless awareness, this is what Sri Krishna is saying. Then in verse 5, which is the final verse for today's episode, Those whose yoga is focused upon my inconceivable, unmanifest and imperceptible nature follow the most difficult yogic path. For those who are embodied, the pursuit of my quality less, undifferentiated Brahman nature is the most difficult and troublesome way to approach me. Now, before I... go into explaining this, and it may be that I repeat myself a few times with this very topic. He says it's the most difficult yogic path. He says it's also troublesome. This does not mean that if you feel that this is the path that you have to take, that you walk away from it. But what I will say as a suggestion, that try out bhakti anyway. Because it reaches a Gyana one way or another. Bhakti without Gyana is blind faith, ignorance. Bhakti with Gyana is emotional intelligence, truly. That's something I want to say as a caveat. Now... Let's break this verse up and go deeper into it. Those whose yoga is focused upon my inconceivable, unmanifest and imperceptible nature follow the most difficult yogic path. Again, this is mainly for those who really want to focus on Gyana and who are on the path of Gyana. The focus on something abstract. That is, beyond concepts, beyond forms, and cannot be perceived, is extremely difficult. Because the moment you perceive something, you've lost it. You've gone back to square one with Gyana. So it's not as easy as people think it is. If I tell you that you are... not the body and mind, which you have to establish in Gyana. It's very difficult. But if I say my body and mind will be utilized for the service of Brahman, or of of this Ultimate Reality, or of the Ishdevta, or for Sri Krishna, it may be a bit easier. It may be more palatable for us to do. So we're utilizing the body and mind rather than working against it. With the path of Gyana, we are working against it. Normally it's quite easy to have an ideal to worship, an ideal form, an ideal person, a role model, an ishtdevta. It's much easier to worship them. I always recommend that we should have an ishtdevta. But to have an ishtdevta means it's something manifest, something conceivable, something you can perceive, right? Now, here he's saying If you do the opposite, if you try to focus on what he says, upon my inconceivable, unmanifest and imperceptible nature, Sri Krishna's talking about the highest nature, he's talking about Nirguna Brahman, don't think that he's not talking about that, he's saying that is important, that is what he is. Let me expand, something that is inconceivable. The moment you make something a concept, you've lost. The moment you manifest a thought or an idea or a feeling, you've lost. The moment you perceive something, you've lost. This is why this path is very difficult because it's easy to lose way. For example, you may be sitting, but then your back starts aching when you're in meditation, then that means that you've just perceived pain. You've manifested pain and you now can conceive pain. Through thought, I am in pain. You see how it's easy to go off the track with Gyana Yoga? What Sri Krishna is talking about is completely Advaita Vedanta. Do not doubt this for a second. This is purely Advaita Vedanta. Although it appears that there is a level of duality here. But don't get fooled. Like I said, these verses in this chapter are very nuanced, very, very nuanced. It requires our intellect to really be utilized here. When I say it's the most difficult yogic path, I'm not saying, or Sri Krishna is not saying that it cannot be done, yeah? It can be done, it just has its challenges. I can see why Sri Krishna says it for the sake of Arjuna, but I think even for us in today's day and age with the whole discussion about consciousness, I do think this may become a path which could become viable for a lot of people. So I may not completely agree with Sri Krishna with the, with this line, but I do see his point. And I do think bhakti makes it easier. Now, again, to defend Sri Krishna on this point, a lot of people just can't focus on Nirguna alone. They really can't. And one does need to live in the world. I've mentioned this many times that even those that leave and go to the jungle end up coming back. Yeah, they end up coming back to the world. They end up asking for food, asking for, you know, begging for alms. We have to come back to the world anyway. How can we make this easier? This is where I believe the statement of being in awareness of formless awareness makes this verse, this one line, a lot easier. That, when we are in awareness, If we are in awareness of our own awareness, if we are in awareness of formless awareness, then we don't need to conceive of it in any way, we don't need to manifest it in any way, and neither do we need to perceive it in any way, because we go directly into the experience, and that's it. If I describe that experience, it loses all its vibrancy. This can be done easier. If we have the right methods and if we've had the right foundation from the get go. Again, I say this after years of practice. Do I think 10 years ago I could have practiced this? Maybe not. So, this is where I side with Sri Krishna, that for most people, especially those that are younger or, when I say younger, when you are new to the spiritual path, so you can be whatever age, but you're new to the spiritual path, or even if you've been in the spiritual path for a decent amount of years, where you're in the middle, where you're not long term, but neither have you been a devotee for a shorter period, even then if you're in the middle, it's best to have bhakti yoga. If you're well seasoned and you've been doing this for a long time, this may be easy, but again, there's something about bhakti which makes everything a lot easier. Yeah, there's something about it, which is why I do agree with Sri Krishna on this point. He continues to say: for those who are embodied, the pursuit of my qualityless, undifferentiated Brahman nature is the most difficult and troublesome way to approach me. And, and yes, I do agree with this. The amount of people that I know who entertained Advaita or non duality, If you go back to dualistic thinking, dualistic practice, and actually think dualistically, it is remarkable. It's truly, there's a lot of them. So I think Sri Krishna is right. In fact, I know he's right. If you have a name and form, it's easier to relate to those that have a name and form as well. It's simple as that. If someone has a name and form, you can easily relate to them. So if you have an ishtdevta, it's easier. But if I tell you that you need to focus on something quality less or undifferentiated, it's going to be challenging. If I'm asking you not to focus on the quality, what are you going to focus on? If I say formless, that's also a quality. If I say silent, it's also a quality. If I say still, it's also a quality. Do you see where we're going here? There is a certain affinity that we have with others. There's a certain affinity we get with ishtdevtas, with our gurus. So I want us to value this. But those that give up everything in sannyas and just focus and meditate on brahman in terms of the Nirguna aspects, the attributeless aspects and that is all they do. It's very difficult and troublesome as per Sri Krishna and I would say so too. And he's also right that what may creep up is this spiritual ego that comes up. And that's why it becomes troublesome. Because you can say Aham Brahmasmi, but that becomes a quality and it becomes something you conceive and perceive yourself to be. Aham Brahmasmi is the absence of any I. The absence of ego. Or, shall we say, a very calm, subdued ego, because we need ego to function in the world. So it's a very calmed down one. It's not something that is ill mannered. It's very well mannered. A quality less, undifferentiated, or attributeless, and oneness Brahman nature is hard for someone to focus on unless instructed by a Guru. And look, I'll be even honest here, a Guru can talk about this, but how many of the disciples truly understand, it is few and far between. I'll be very honest. I am yet to meet a person that can say... That they are focused fully on this Nirguna, without the aid of someone. I am yet to meet someone. I can't go by what's happened in the past, but I'm talking about today. The other aspect is that people may start believing in the void. But that also is not Brahman. Someone may start worshipping emptiness, and saying that emptiness is everything. Well, what is aware of that emptiness? Because one would say, well, if it's quality less, that means it's empty. It's void of anything and that's where it becomes troublesome and like I mentioned I've seen it before it happens a lot in neo advaita circles, the pseudo non dualists, they will say there is no devotion, there is no lord, there's no god, there's no scripture, there's no awareness, there's no consciousness and they keep doing neti neti and they get to such a place where they think they've attained something, although they would say they've attained nothing, but the mere statement that they've attained nothing and that there is no attainment implies that one has even attained a thought like this. Hence the, like I said, this is very nuanced. You know, people will read this chapter, read these verses and think they're very simple, but they're very, very deep. Very, very deep. And the reason why this becomes troublesome, this path of pure Gyana is that it's not as integrated as karma yoga. It's not as thought provoking as karma yoga. It's not as giving as karma yoga or bhakti yoga. But again, as I conclude this verse and this episode today, it's still a valid approach regardless. Sri Krishna still says they can be, they can approach him in that way. So one shouldn't feel that it's not impossible for you. But for the majority that listen here, I would I highly recommend, and as Sri Krishna recommends, the best way is to do Karma Yoga through Bhakti Yoga and as we go through this chapter we'll understand why and what qualities we should be presenting when we are measuring our spiritual progress because this is what this chapter is really about, is what is the best path and what are the signs that one is actually committing to the path properly. That is the end of today's episode. If you liked what you heard and liked what you watched, please do share this podcast with your friends and family who may enjoy this content. Do follow me on social media to keep getting updates. Join the Bearded Mystic Podcast WhatsApp community group to continue the podcast discussion, details are in the show notes and video description below. If you would like to support the Bearded Mystic Podcast as we discussed earlier, do check out the podcast Patreon page. Your support means everything, and it helps this podcast keep running. Details are in the show notes and video description below. Please do rate this podcast five stars and do give a review either on your favorite podcast, streaming app or on our website. Details are in the show notes and video description below. Please do like and comment on this video and subscribe to this YouTube channel. Do follow or subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast streaming app. Thank you very much for listening to this episode. Let's end with the Shanti mantra and the Soham mantra. Soham Soham. I am That. I am That. Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti Aum Peace Peace Peace Namaste.