Omm Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
nirmaana-mohaa jita-sanga-doshaa निर्मानमोहा जितसङ्गदोषा
adhyaatma-nityaa vini-vritta-kaamaah अध्यात्मनित्या विनिवृत्तकामा:
dwandwair vimuktaah sukha-duhkha samgyair द्वन्द्वैर्विमुक्ता: सुखदु:खसंज्ञै
gachant-ya-moodhaah padam avyayam tat. र्गच्छन्त्यमूढा: पदमव्ययं तत्
This verse comes in the fifteenth chapter, “The Yoga of the Supreme Being.” Sadhana comes to an end when we reach the fifteenth step of the journey. What is left is perfect manifestation. In this chapter the Lord explains what should be the state of one who is fit to be a channel of the manifestation of the Supreme Truth. Being and becoming are manifested fully at this stage. Being is pure awareness, becoming is total experience. At this stage, the yogi is established in experiential awareness and awarenessional experience
In the past I have explained the sequence of the descent, how a completely liberated being reenters the world of maya. We began with the eighteenth chapter. The liberated being reentering into the world of delusion is a conscious descent, like the Siva consciously descending to prakriti in order to manifest prakriti’s will. Purusha has no will at all. Prakriti has the will. Prakriti wants perfect manifestation of the purusha. The purusha must be able to retain its total awareness even while experiencing all that prakriti creates. This is the object of prakriti. The ultimate goal is: retaining the total awareness of the Being, the yogi must be able to function perfectly in the world of becoming. But the universal experience is that as you go towards samadhi, the state of the Being, you develop a dispassion, repulsion, neutrality, and indifference towards experience. That is not what Gita wants us to attain.
Prakriti here is synonymous with the purushottama. In the seventh chapter the Lord explained the two prakritis: ‘I have one lower prakriti that is made up of the five elements and mano, buddhi and ahankära, that is mind, intellect and ego. Then there is my higher prakriti, the jiva.’ But in the fifteenth chapter he says, ‘I am higher than the lower, and beyond the higher. That’s the state. That is I, the Supreme Being.’ In Verse 561, Gita says striving yogis can attain that stage.
For the yogi who has begun the journey, there are different junction points where he can review, reevaluate and look within to find out whether he is proceeding in the correct path. At the end of the fifth chapter such an opportunity came to the yogi for the first time:
bhoktaaram yagna-tapasaam sarva-loka maheshwaram
suhridam sarva-bhootaanaam gyaatwaa-maam shaantim-richhati
“Knowing Me in reality as the goal of all sacrifices and austerities, the Lord of all the worlds and the Friend of all beings; one attains supreme peace.”
You should reach a state after perfect sannyasa whereby you the yogi, that is, the being, is enjoying, bhoktaaram, the fruits of all action that only come out of yagna, that is sacrifice, and tapasya, that is austerity. That is the acid test of sannyasa. Any result that comes from actions that are not considered yagna or tapasya should not be eaten. That is the prohibited fruit.
Gita summarizes the whole concept of yagna into five types:
190: Some perform sacrifice with material possessions, some offer austerity as sacrifice, others follow any path of yoga as sacrifice, while some earnest seekers perform sacrifice in the form of wisdom through the study of scriptures.
A yogi who aims at the highest state of Gita yoga should not accept the reward of actions that are not from yagna or tapasya, even if they come without asking. This is the reason I have put a restriction on what is given to me. If you want to give, you give to the ashram, you give to a temple, but to give to Swamiji you have to qualify. I am aware that the moment I allow anything to be accepted, I am likely to be contaminated by the karma of that action, because karmas are not performed in a spirit of yagna, nor in conformity with the triple austerity: verbal, mental and physical austerity.
A yogi gets contaminated even after attaining the state of the Being because the body receives the result of these actions that are performed without the spirit of sacrifice or austerity. When the body is contaminated, the mind will be contaminated next, then the vital. When the vital is contaminated it is manifested through our words and reaction pattern. This is the reason the Lord said in his parting advice that even after attaining enlightenment, one is not supposed to give up sacrifice, charity and austerity because these purify even the liberated beings.
In Kali Yuga that contamination happens all the time, so after attaining true sannyasa the yogi should always ensure that he is not accepting the result of actions that are not sacrifice or austerity. If this is ensured then the there is no chance of contamination.
Food is the first thing that contaminates your system, especially boiled food. If you are taking food from someone whose consciousness is not pure, your system will be completely devastated. Food nourishes your body but contaminates your consciousness if it is not coming from a pure source. It must be prepared and offered in a spirit of yagna.
There was one great sannyasi siddha here who was always sitting, looking at Arunachala. The moment you would go near him, he would change his posture so he was not looking at you. People felt he was a mad sadhu, and they dropped coins and such near his place, thinking that he would take the money when they went away. But when the time came for him to go, he would get up and leave all those coins and money that were thrown there. Why? Because money that is earned by man is fully contaminated by karma. Who knows how many tons of desire, greed, lust, jealousy and hatred is in that money. That is why money in Kali Yuga is called the maya shakti of the Lord. If you can find a wealthy man who is truly detached from his wealth, you are seeing a replica of God on Earth in a human frame.
This is the first test for the yogi who is really aiming at the highest state – ensuring that whatever he accepts has come to him through yagna and tapasya. A second test came at the end of the ninth chapter, another at the end of the eleventh chapter, and another at the end of the twelfth chapter. These are the stages when the yogi can verify whether he fulfills these criteria.
Verse 555 gives more conditions. If you fulfill them, be a hundred percent sure you are ready to manifest Divine in mind, life and body. What are these conditions?
First is nirmaana-mohaa. Maana is I-ness, mohaa is attachment. One who is free from maana and mohaa is called nirmaana-mohaa, free from ego and attachment. The yogi in Chapter 15 has already gone through merger in the twelfth chapter and is entering manifestation. God-realization is a stage when the spark has merged with the source, but whether one has transcended prakriti’s triple veil or not will be tested now. When he comes out of the hiranyagharba and lives in samsara, in the material plane, he will face this examination. Just for functional necessity he has to use the words of a common man, but if he is not retaining his awareness, the veil will come to him unconsciously.
I was with Maharishiji eighteen hours a day continuously for more than three years. I was amazed at how a person did not utter the word “I,” even in the gravest provocation. That is a mighty achievement. A similar state was attained by Papaji Swami Ramdas and by Bhagavan Ramana. Bhagavan Ramana was a pure gyaani and did not participate in any of the activities on the outer plane, but Maharishiji was involved in action twenty-four hours a day, fully detached. You could feel and see that. No wonder he became the channel of manifestation.
The yogi’s system should be free from the triple coating of sattwa, rajas and tamas, and not just when he is sitting and speaking on God. If he is still not getting contaminated with maana and mohaa when he is working with deluded human beings we can say he is a nirmaana-mohaa.
The next condition is jita-sanga-doshaa, one who has conquered the evils of companionship. You cannot interpret this companionship from an ethical or moral angle. Sanga-doshaa here refers to the evil that every action contains. Every action carries with it the seed of future action and also the fruit of the action. These are the two sanga-doshaas: the seed and the reward. If you are identified with the result, if you are doing anything with a result motive, or if you are claiming the benefit of the result, you are not free from sanga-doshaa. First perform action and when the result comes, renounce it. Then you come to the next stage when you renounce the result before performing the action. Because we are at the end of sadhana, I am not talking of the gross result. I am talking of the identification that comes in the consciousness. Everything in this prakriti plane is action. From action comes reaction, and from reaction comes more action. But if you have mastered the technique of karma yoga, you don’t perform action; you remain completely in a state of inaction. You are simply responding to prakriti’s signal. That is the secret to transcend prakriti.
Because we have to work in the material plane, in the world of maya, if we do not retain that awareness prakriti will trap us. When the yogi transcends prakriti, prakriti cannot find any rope to trap him. That’s the secret.
The fourth condition is adhyaatma-nityaa, always remaining in continuous proximity to the being, the atma, your core consciousness. This is the reason when I descend I say, “Thus far and no farther.” You should not be so involved in the world of maya that you will be far away from your center. You may be playing with your children, talking to your wife, chit-chatting with your friends, saying, “Yes, Sir” to your boss, counting money, flying in an airplane, or walking through mud, but let your consciousness be very near to your awareness. If you can ensure that, you will reach the state of satchitananda, Supreme Being.
Next is vini-vritta-kaamaah. Here kaamaah means desire. The forces of desire will be activated when you participate in the world of maya. For the sake of manifestation you have to work, but you must be completely nivritta, completely free from desire-yielding forces. Don’t expose your system unnecessarily to rajas and tamas because they will enter your system, and if you are not doing sadhana every day, if you are not doing meditation or pranayam or swadhyaya, there is no way this coating can be erased. Yagna-daana tapah-karma paava-naani manee-shinaam—sacrifice, charity and austerity—if you are doing these regularly every day, nothing can remain within. Otherwise the system gets contaminated and the forces of desire enter into you.
How can you ensure that your system is completely free from the forces of desire? If you always remain in a state of adhyaatma. You can remain in that state if you have conquered the evils of companionship. You can do that if you are nirmaana-mohaa.
When these conditions are fulfilled, the next one is bound to come, that is dwandwair vimuktaah, you are liberated from the dilemma between happiness and sorrow. When you transcend that, you will not hesitate to perform a disagreeable action and you will have no pull for an agreeable action. That is the gunatita state.
Such a person attains the imperishable, absolute state, where neither the sun nor the moon ever shine, nor does the wind blow. The Lord says, yad-gatwaa na nivarttante tad-dhaama paramam mama, that is my dhaama, my abode, that eternal state of tranquility. That is where the devotees will go who have transcended the Vishnu maya, the triple maya.
This is how the dissection of the scripture should be very deep, so deep that one can feel it. And how can you feel it if you are not receiving from someone who is fulfilled? He is so full in feeling, that he can make others feel it. That is fulfillment. When the pot is full it overflows. This is the reason scriptures are to be learned from tattwadarshis, enlightened beings, because you receive the transmission of their realization. This transmission will take the veil from within, that is, the layers of sanskaras and karmas and desires that you are not able to reach.
In gyaana you are able to understand every meaning, every mantra, every symbol. When gyaana is applied to life through karma it will produce bhakti. When bhakti is applied through karma it will bring gyaana. That is why great bhaktas are great gyaanis and great gyaanis are great bhaktas. The secret is application. If you don’t apply it, nothing will come.
[From a 2009 Interaction at Satyachetana Ashram, Tiruvannamalai, India]
