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The Great Devotee

Part 88 of the Bhagavad Gita for Awakening

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We tend to think of union with Brahman as a result of jnana, of being a perfect jnani. And this is so, certainly, otherwise Adi Shankaracharya would not have written so much on the subject of jnana. But perhaps we mistake bhakti–devotion–for something much less. As Swami Sivananda was wont to comment: “emotion is not devotion.” Bhakti means dedication, a strong affinity for something–so strong that it brings us to the object of our devotion, or brings it to us. (Usually it is a combination of both.)

Sri Ramakrishna is unique among India’s spiritual teachers for many reasons, but one of the most remarkable is his ability to make clear in a sentence what others would take a multitude of words to make only slightly more comprehensible. Whenever he prefaced something with the words: “Do you know what it is like?…” a gem of astounding wisdom would follow–and so simple that anyone could understand easily. He formulated a whole system of spiritual life that is unequaled for its simplicity and profundity. He defined bhakti and jnana in a sentence apiece. Here they are:

“Jnana is knowing ‘The world is unreal; Brahman alone is real.’”

“Bhakti is feeling: ‘God is the Master and I am the servant.’”

Obviously a sensible person ascribes to both propositions. Only the accomplished yogi is really a jnani or a bhakta. Consequently Krishna says:

Absorbed in Brahman, with Self serene, he grieves not nor desires, the same to all beings, he attains supreme devotion unto me (18:54).

Well, there we have it. Bhakti and Brahmajnana are inseparable. Actually bhakti is the fruit of realization. Yet bhakti is both cause and effect, for he continues:

By devotion to me he comes to know how great I am in truth, then having known me in truth, he forthwith enters into me (18:55).

Literally, part of this verse says: “He comes to realize how great and Who I am.” It also equally means: “He comes to realize the extent of my Being”–the infinity of God. Having known this in truth–not just in theory or “on faith”–such a one straightaway enters Brahman.

Doing all actions, always taking refuge in me, by my grace he attains the eternal, immutable state [abode] (18:56).

Madvyapashrayah literally means both “trusting in me” and “taking refuge in me.” This is a natural result of those who have understood that their seemingly separate existence independent of God is an illusion, that God is in very truth their All in All. Thus he becomes their “eternal, imperishable abode,” and they themselves are revealed as eternal and imperishable.

Now for some practical instructions:

Reaching the Eternal Abode

Mentally renouncing all actions in me, holding me as the highest goal, resorting to buddhi-yoga, constantly fix your mind on me (18:57).

It has already been said in the Gita that it is impossible for anyone to remain without acting at any time. For even when sitting still, the body is acting at a tremendous degree, and that is all under the direction of the subconscious mind. So we are thinking and acting all the time–otherwise we would die. For this reason Krishna makes a point of saying that all actions must be renounced chetasa–mentally. But he is not advocating just pulling back the mind and being indifferent and feeling separated from the action, just being an observer. For that would be mere mental isolation. Instead, he says: “Mentally renouncing all actions in me.” That is something completely different. He is telling us that by the constant remembrance of God and awareness that we are living in God, that all is God, we should do all actions in the awareness that it is ultimately the divine power that is acting, that we are witnesses, but not passive witnesses. Rather, we are intent on following the counsel: “Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God” (Job 37:14).

Though Sargeant has “yoga of discrimination,” the Sanskrit is buddhiyogam, the yoga of the intellect in the sense of the yoga of our highest and subtlest levels and spiritual faculties. Yoga that does not reach to these rarefied levels is not any yoga at all, but a muddling around in the lower levels of our being that will confine our awareness to those levels.

Certainly discrimination will result from our tapping into those supreme levels of our existence, but buddhi yoga is so much more. Krishna says: “Constantly fix your mind on me.”

How to lose your way

Fixing your mind on me, you shall by my grace surmount all obstacles; but if from egotism you will not hear me, then you shall perish (18:58).

Sometimes to succeed we need to know the way to fail. Ahamkarat literally means “I making,” the assertion and empowering of the ego. The result of this is vinankshyasi, which means both “you shall be lost” in the sense of losing your way and wandering aimlessly and fruitlessly, and “you shall perish” in the sense of utter failure.

You will!

If, filled with egotism, you think: “I will not fight,” this your resolve shall be in vain, for your nature [prakriti] will compel you (18:59).

Krishna here warns Arjuna (and us) against being in the state of ashritya na, which literally means “not depending on” or “not taking refuge in.” Only when we think we are separate from God and capable of being independent do we think we can contravene the divine law–which is the Divine Will. We actually think we can circumvent God and do as we please. Basically, we plan to make a fool of God, not realizing that we are only making a fool of ourselves. Our very existence depends on God, and if we are wise we take refuge in God–not in the manner of a pygmy groveling at the feet of the master, but by entering into God and reclaiming our eternal and irrevocable unity with God. This is the only viable refuge open to us.

If we think we can avoid acting in accordance with the divine plan, manyase mithya: “you think falsely,” or: “you imagine in vain–hopelessly.” Is it any wonder the world is in the terrible mess we see all around us? People are trying any way they can to avoid their only possible destiny. See how they scramble after mirages, disdaining the glorious realities open to them, making pathetic excuses for their pathetic lives. Yogananda said that during his early years in Boston he was once walking in a neighborhood when suddenly God showed him that the houses were just like chicken coops and the people inside were like chickens that pecked, scratched, laid and hatched eggs, and ended up fried chicken. God then asked him if he would like to become fried chicken; and he replied: “No, Lord. I came with Thee and I will go with Thee.” A wise resolve.

How many people ignorantly say: “It is my life; I will live it as I please;” “It is my body, I will do with it what I want.” Even after two thousand years, who really understands or even believes the divine words: “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:25-26). So they pass from life to life in confusion and suffering. Awakening does not come easily to such people. So Krishna is warning us to not be one of them.

Yes, we like Arjuna must fight, must engage in the struggle with the unreal so the Real can be gained. And if we think we will not, we are very wrong, for even our material nature–our prakriti–will compel us. For no matter how we distort our presence in this world, it has a single purpose: the return to God. And return we shall, though the longer we delay the longer and more demanding will be the battle. It is not a matter of whether or not we will become seekers of God–only when. But as I say, by delaying we make the struggle much more ferocious and fraught with fear.

Many make the excuse of not being “ready” for spiritual life, but the moment we attained human form we were ready and equipped with all we needed. We all have delayed, and that is all the more reason to stop it right now before we make things worse for us. Bad things happen to good people because of what they did when they were themselves bad people. That is the law.

Krishna drives the message home, saying:

What you do not wish to do, through delusion, you shall do against your will, bound by your karma born of your own nature [swabhava] (18:60).

Arjuna did not really have a choice; he had come to the point of evolution where only the right thing could be done by him. Let us hurry up and get to that point, too.

The ultimate Determiner

The Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, causing them by his maya to revolve as if mounted on a machine (18:61).

The purpose of this revolution through birth, life, death, and endless repetitions of these cycles, is evolution of consciousness. It is Maya because it is a projection of appearances only, what Yogananda called “the cosmic motion picture.”

Fly unto him alone for refuge with your whole being. By that grace you shall attain supreme peace and the eternal abode (18:62).

The key words here are “whole being.” Spiritual life is not a condiment to be sprinkled in our life to somehow make it better. Spiritual life is just that: life; and it requires the totality of our being to be successful. It is a continual, uninterrupted endeavor. For it is our total being that must be transformed in order for us to enter the Eternal. Anything less fails.

Read the next article in the Bhagavad Gita for Awakening:  The Final Words

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Introduction to The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening

Preface to The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening

Bhagavad Gita for Awakening links:

  1. The Battlefield of the Mind
  2. On the Field of Dharma
  3. Taking Stock
  4. The Smile of Krishna
  5. Birth and Death–The Great Illusions
  6. Experiencing the Unreal
  7. The Unreal and the Real
  8. The Body and the Spirit
  9. Know the Atman!
  10. Practical Self-Knowledge
  11. Perspective on Birth and Death
  12. The Wonder of the Atman
  13. The Indestructible Self
  14. “Happy the Warrior”
  15. Buddhi Yoga
  16. Religiosity Versus Religion
  17. Perspective on Scriptures
  18. How Not To Act
  19. How To Act
  20. Right Perspective
  21. Wisdom About the Wise
  22. Wisdom About Both the Foolish and the Wise
  23. The Way of Peace
  24. Calming the Storm
  25. First Steps in Karma Yoga
  26. From the Beginning to the End
  27. The Real “Doers”
  28. Our Spiritual Marching Orders
  29. Freedom From Karma
  30. “Nature”
  31. Swadharma
  32. In the Grip of the Monster
  33. Devotee and Friend
  34. The Eternal Being
  35. The Path
  36. Caste and Karma
  37. Action–Divine and Human
  38. The Mystery of Action and Inaction
  39. The Wise in Action
  40. Sacrificial Offerings
  41. The Worship of Brahman
  42. Action–Renounced and Performed
  43. Freedom (Moksha)
  44. The Brahman-Knower
  45. The Goal of Karma Yoga
  46. Getting There
  47. The Yogi’s Retreat
  48. The Yogi’s Inner and Outer Life
  49. Union With Brahman
  50. The Yogi’s Future
  51. Success in Yoga
  52. The Net and Its Weaver
  53. Those Who Seek God
  54. Those Who Worship God and the Gods
  55. The Veil in the Mind
  56. The Big Picture
  57. The Sure Way To Realize God
  58. Day, Night, and the Two Paths
  59. The Supreme Knowledge
  60. Universal Being
  61. Maya–Its Dupes and Its Knowers
  62. Worshipping the One
  63. Going To God
  64. Wisdom and Knowing
  65. Going To The Source
  66. From Hearing To Seeing
  67. The Wisdom of Devotion
  68. Right Conduct
  69. The Field and Its Knower
  70. Interaction of Purusha and Prakriti
  71. Seeing the One Within the All
  72. The Three Gunas
  73. The Cosmic Tree
  74. Freedom
  75. The All-pervading Reality
  76. The Divine and the Demonic
  77. Faith and the Three Gunas
  78. Food and the Three Gunas
  79. Religion and the Three Gunas
  80. Tapasya and the Three Gunas
  81. Charity and the Three Gunas
  82. Sannyasa and Tyaga
  83. Deeper Insights On Action
  84. Knowledge, Action, Doer, and the Three Gunas
  85. The Three Gunas: Intellect and Firmness
  86. The Three Kinds of Happiness
  87. Freedom
  88. The Great Devotee
  89. The Final Words
  90. Glossary

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Read the Maharshi Gita, an arrangement of verses of the Bhagavad Gita made by Sri Ramana Maharshi that gives an overview of the essential message of the Gita.

Read The Bhagavad Gita (arranged in verses for singing) by Swami Nirmalananda Giri (Abbot George Burke).

Read about the meanings of unfamiliar terms in A Brief Sanskrit Glossary

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