Gita Study Group:Chapter 2:Sankhya Yoga

[Padmaja]

Hari Om. Pranams.

Currently many tragic things are happening in the world. Our prayer and best wishes for all beings.

svasti prajabhyam paripalayantham nyayeana margena mahim maheesah
gobrahmanebhya shubamsthu nityam lokah samastha sukhino bhavanthu

May there be well being to the people;
May the kings rule the earth along the right path;
May the cattle and the pious beings have well being forever;
May all the beings in all the worlds become happy;
Peace, peace and peace be everywhere!

[Padmaja]

Hari Om. Pranams.

Here are the Verses for our discussion. Please post your thoughts, your study notes, reflections on these verses. These are the last verses of chapter 2 so it will conclude our discussion on Chapter 2, Sankhya Yoga of Gita.

Offering this garland of verses to you O Krishna with Love and prostrations from all of us, please help us in our studies.
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या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी ।
यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुने: (२.६९)

yaa nishaa sarvabutaanaam tasyaam jaagarti saMyamee
yasyaam jaagrati bhutaani saa nishaa pashyato muneh (2.69)

या - which, निशा -night, सर्वभूतानां - of all beings, तस्यां - in that, जागर्ति - wakes, संयमी - the self controlled, यस्यां - in which, जाग्रति - wake, भूतानि -all beings, सा - that, निशा - night, पश्यत: - (of the) seeing, मुने:- of the Muni

69. That which is night to all beings, in that the self controlled man wakes; where all beings are awake, that is the night for the sage (muni ) who sees.

The verse is written in metaphorical language and points out the difference between the world perceieved through the goggles of mind-intellect-body as against perceived through the open windows of spirituality. The consciousness in us is capable of recognising the world through the media of body, mind and intellect and the world is perceived as imperfect, ugly, full of sorrow and pain because the media that is body, mind and intellect is imperfect. In a person rooted in wisdom, perception is entirely different. Egocentric finite mortal is asleep to the world of perception enjoyed by the man of steady wisdom and in turn such a person cannot see or feel the thrills and sobs perceived by ego in the life of finite experience.

आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् .
तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी (२.७०)

apuryamanam acala-pratishtham samudram apah pravishanti yadvat
tadvat kama yam pravishanti sarve sa shantim apnoti na kama-kami (2.70)

आपूर्यमाणम् - filled from all sides, अचल-प्रतिष्ठम् - based in stillness, समुद्रम् - ocean, आपः - water, प्रविशन्ति - enter, यद्वत् - as, तद्वत् - so, कामाः - desires, यम् -whom, प्रविशन्ति - enter, सर्वे - all, सः - he, शान्तिम् - peace, आप्नोति - attains, न - not, काम-कामी -desirer of desires

70. He attains Peace into whom all desires enter as waters enter the ocean, which, filled from all sides, remains unmoved; but not the "desirer of desires. "

Even though the infinite number of sense-objects may pour in their stimuli, and reach the mental zone of the Perfect Man through his five sense-channels, they do not create any commotion or flux, in his bosom.

Such an individual, who always finds his own level in spite of the fact that he is living amidst the sense-objects, and with his sense-organs unavoidably ever in contact with the objects, is called a Man-of-Perfection, a true Saint. And Krishna asserts that such an individual alone can truly discover peace and happiness in himself. The Lord, in the Geeta, not satisfied with this negative assertion, positively denies any true peace or joy to those who are "desirers of desires."

In this stanza Bhagawan is only giving a more elaborate and complete commentary upon the opening line of this section where He started the description of a Man-of-Steady-Wisdom. There He explained that, "When a man completely casts off all the desires in his mind, then he is said to be one of Steady-Knowledge."

विहाय कामान्यः सर्वान्पुमांश्चरति निःस्पृहः .
निर्ममो निरहङ्कारः स शान्तिमधिगच्छति (२.७१)

vihaya kaman yah sarvanpumamscarati nihsprhah
nirmamo nirahankarah sa shantimadhigacchati (2.71)

विहाय - abandoning, कामान् - desires, यः - that, सर्वान् - all, पुमान् - man, चरति - moves about, निःस्पृहः - free from longing, निर्ममः - devoid of mine-ness, निरहङ्कारः - without egoism, सः - he, शान्तिम् - to peace, अधिगच्छति - attains

71. That man attains peace who, abandoning all desires, moves about without longing, without the sense of 'l-ness' and 'my-ness. '

This stanza seems to ring clearly the significant advice given earlier by Krishna, almost at the very opening of his philosophical discussions, in this chapter. He had advised therein: "HAVING CONQUERED THE MENTAL AGITATIONS CREATED BY THE PAIRS-OF-OPPOSITES, FIGHT THE BATTLE OF LIFE." The same idea seems to be resounding here at the close of the chapter.

The stanza, in its sum-total suggestions, advises us that all our sufferings in the world are caused by our own ego-centric misconception and the consequent arrogance characterised by our ever-multiplying demands for wealth and our endless desires. Samnyasa means sacrifice, and to live in a spirit of sacrifice after renouncing completely one's ego and its desires is true Samnyasa, wherein an individual comes to live in constant awareness of his fuller and ampler Divinity.

That man of renunciation, who, entirely abandoning all desires, goes through life contented with the bare necessities of life, who regards not as his, even those things which are needed for mere bodily existence, who is not vain of his knowledge, --- such a man-of-steady-knowledge, who knows brahman, attains peace (nirvana), the end of all the misery of mundane existence (samsara). In short, he becomes brahman.

एषा ब्राह्मी स्थितिः पार्थ नैनां प्राप्य विमुह्यति .
स्थित्वास्यामन्तकालेऽपि ब्रह्मनिर्वाणमृच्छति (२.७२)

esa brahmi sthitih partha nainam prapya vimuhyati
sthitvasyam anta-kale ’pi brahma-nirvanamrcchati (2.72)

Esa- this, brahmi – of Brahman, sthitih – state, Partha – O Partha, na – not, enam –this, prapya – having obtained, vimuhyati – is deluded, sthitva – being established, asyam – in this, antakale – in the end of life, api – even, brahmanirvanam – oneness with Brahman, rchati – attains.

72. O Arjuna ( Partha), this is the Brahmi-state. Attaining this, one is not deluded.Being established in it even at the end of life, one attains oneness with Brahman.

Holy Gita Ready Reference:

Terms and Definitions:

Q 26.Define Brahmisthithi.

When the ego has ended, the Consciousness is not known to be anything other than the Eternal, and as such, the Knower of Truth, in a brilliant experience of the Self, becomes the Self.This state is called Self-hood (brahmisthithi).

Thoughts and Concepts :

Q 35. Describe an effective strategy to increase one's happiness.

The joy or happiness, at any given time, is a quotient when the "number of desires fulfilled" is divided by the "total number of desires entertained". Along with an attempt to increase the numerator of this quotient, one must, at the same time, control the number of desires entertained. (2.70 )

Q 36. Who attains peace ?

विहाय कामान्य: सर्वान्पुमाश्चरति नि:स्पृह: ।
निर्ममो निरहंकार: स शांतिमधिगच्छति ॥

vihay kaamnyah sarvaanpumaashcharati nihspruhah
nirmamo nirahkaarah sa shaantimadhigacchati

That man attains peace who, abandoning all desires, moves about without longing, without the sense of "I-ness" and "my-ness". (2.71 )

Q 37. Define "Samnyasaa"

"Samnyasaa" means sacrifice. to live in a spirit of sacrifice after renouncing comepletely one's ego and its desires is true samnyasa, wherein an individual comes to live in constant awareness of his fuller and ampler divinity. He alone is a "samnyasin" who has learnt the art of living his life in constant inspiration, which is gained through an intelligent renunciation of his egocentric misconceptions. (2.71)

Verses for memorisation:

या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी ।
यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुने : (२.६९)
yaa nishaa sarvabutaanaam tasyaam jaagarti saMyamee
yasyaam jaagrati bhutaani saa nishaa pashyato muneh (2.69)

आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् .
तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी (२.७०)
apuryamanam acala-pratishtham samudram apah pravishanti yadvat
tadvat kama yam pravishanti sarve sa shantim apnoti na kama-kami (2.70)

विहाय कामान्यः सर्वान्पुमांश्चरति निःस्पृहः .
निर्ममो निरहङ्कारः स शान्तिमधिगच्छति (२.७१)
vihaya kaman yah sarvanpumamscarati nihsprhah
nirmamo nirahankarah sa shantimadhigacchati (2.71)

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ॐ तत्सदिति श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतासूपनिषत्सु
ब्रह्मविद्यायां योगशास्त्रे श्रीकृष्णार्जुनसंवादे
साङ्ख्ययोगो नाम द्वितीयोऽध्यायः .. २.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA, in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the second discourse ends entitled: THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE

This chapter is named as 'Sankhya Yoga' not in the sense that it is the Sankhyan philosophy here summarised or borrowed by Krishna. Here the word Sankhya is used only in its etymological sense as "the sequence of logic in any line of correct thinking and the logical enumeration of the arguments based on which a certain intellectual conclusion has been arrived at." It is in this sense that the highly philosophical Chapter II of the Geeta is termed as Sankhya Yoga in its epilogue (Sankalpa Vakya).

It is true that in the original Mahabharata, the Geeta chapters do not carry this Sankalpa Vakya. Commentators differ in attributing to any single individual the authorship of this Sankalpa Vakya. However, it has been accepted that some scholar, or scholars, analysed the contents of each chapter and gave an appropriate title to each. To all students of the Geeta, it is indeed a great help. Shankara, however, does not comment upon this portion at all.

[murugans61]

Hari OM

Reflections on 69-72

A wise person is as different from an ajnani as day is different from night. What is night for all the people is day for the wise and vice versa.

For the wise person, everything is a glory. For him oneself being everything is reality where as for the unwise, I am everything is not a reality. I am limitless is the vision for the wise person, where as other people say I am limited. Wise person sees the rope and the unwise sees the snake in the same object.

Krishna followed his night and day example with another example viz Ocean example to make Arjuna understand easily the nature of wise person.

There are two adjectives describing the ocean in the verse 70. The first one, Apuryamanam, refers to the ocean being totally filled with water. It requires no more water to be full. The second adjective, Acalaprtistham, describes the ocean as not moving from place to place like a river. Thus the ocean is not only full but also well grounded.

Just as the fullness of the ocean is not affected by the entry or non entry of water, so too the wise person’s peace of mind is not affected by entry or exit of objects from his mind. His very nature is Ananda, fullness and he is full without depending upon any object or situation.

If desirable objects enter into the head of a person who is not full ( who has not realized that his nature is Ananada, fullness) they create havoc in the person because they have to be gained, experienced or owned. When a person looks upon himself as one who is lacking, desires cause problems for him. Even if desires enter the head of a wise person, they do not create any problems because whether the desires are fulfilled or not, it is all the same to that person.

The wise person is one who has given up all binding desires and who moves freely in the world. Whether the person is a king like Janaka or a sannayasi like Sankara, there is no difference in the freedom of the person. The longing for this or that is gone because the person is happy with himself. He moves around in the world free from binding desires with peace, where as other people move around because of the pressure of their binding desires.

Through knowledge, the reality of doership and enjoyership is negated in the wise person. Remaining in the knowledge of Brahman, the wise person gains moksha in this life itself.

Pranams

[uma]

Hari Om. Pranam to all.

Gist of 69-72

A person who has become steady in wisdom, has no desires. He looks at the world or rather perceives the world in a different manner and is unaffected by worldly pleasures and pains. His individual ego is dissolved and he becomes one with the Self. Even a glimpse of this Selfhood, can give him the experience of utter tranquility.

As against this, we ordinary people have wavering mind, ridden with various desires. Our intellect runs after different objects and as such gets easily affected by worldly sorrows and pleasures. We have sense of I ness or my ness, and such a sense attaches us to different things, people. When the ego gets pampered, we become happy but as soon as it gets hurt, we are unhappy. Our ways of perceiving this world is through our body, mind and intellect and as such we look at this world with contaminated vision, or impure vision.

Regards

uma

[Padmaja]

Hari Om. Pranams.

Thanks Murugan ji and Umaji for beautifully bringing home the message of these verses.

Here is what I got out of these verses -

Verse 69
The perception of the world is different for an ignorant and a wise man. Ignorant sees it coloured by his mental imperfections whereas wise one sees it 'as-is'. Finite mortal is asleep to the world of perception enjoyed and lived by the Man of Steady Wisdom and the Perfect one cannot see and feel the thrills and sobs which the ego gets in its selfish life of finite experience.

Verse 70
Quotient of Happiness = Number of desires fulfilled / Number of desires entertained
Materialists try to fan and fulfil more and more desires (increase in numerator) in order to increase happiness. They are unaware that in this process denominator gets increased reducing quotient of happiness in effect. Thus we can see that "Desirer of desires" can never attain mental peace. The one who has necessary spirit of detachment so world cannot create in him infinite desires alone will be the man of peace and joy.

Verse 71
All our suffering is due to our sense of ego(I-ness and My-ness) and our endless egocentric desires; hence these two must be dropped and that is the true renunciation. One who renounces thus and goes through life contented with bare necessities and who is not vain of his knowledge such a man of steady knowledge who knows Brahman attains peace(nirvana).

Verse 72
Renouncing all desires = Ending last ventures of one's ego = Full Knowledge of Self-hood
It is not a state of dull meaningless emptiness. To realise the Self in one's bosom is to realise at once the Self which is all pervading and eternal (Brahman). When the ego has ended, the Consciousness is not known to be anything other than the Eternal, and as such, the Knower of Truth, in a brilliant experience of the Self, becomes the Self, this state is called Self-hood (brahmisthithi). Even a passing glimpse of Self-hood which can be attained at any age and at any point in time, is sufficient to gain Brahmic state. Having realised the Self once, no more can the individual fall back into his ancient delusions.

[Padmaja]

Hari Om. Pranams.

Here are some practical aspect questions -

1. How can we use Quotient of Happiness (Number of desires fulfilled / Number of desires entertained) to increase our joy while living in today's world which is throbbing with ever growing desirable objects?

2. Is the desire to gain more and more knowledge or to grow in spirituality a problem?

3. What can we do to reduce 'I-ness' and 'My-ness' that we feel so strongly?

[uma]

Hari Om.
Pranam to all.

1. How can we use Quotient of Happiness (Number of desires fulfilled / Number of desires entertained) to increase our joy while living in today's world which is throbbing with ever growing desirable objects?

Today’s world is throbbing with desirable objects, but we should train our mind to stop and ponder over the actual need for or utility of such objects. Various gadgets, colourful, beautiful items do attract the mind, but some time must be allowed for the mind to thoroughly think over whether there is need for such items, their utility, value for money etc. If the mind is trained in such a way and impulsive decisions on the basis of attraction are avoided, gradually we will succeed in reducing our desires. Increasing happiness results in two ways, fulfilling more and more desires or by reducing the number of desires entertained. So controlling the mind, diverting it to falling prey to immediate attraction, to pondering over matters could be a way to reduce the desires entertained. Slowly, it will stick to only basic needs eliminating other desires.

2. Is the desire to gain more and more knowledge or to grow in spirituality a problem?

The desire to gain more and more knowledge or growing in spirituality could be a problem, if it gets accompanied by our ego. If the ego gets flattered with more and more acquisition of knowledge or progress in spiritual path, then it could cause a problem. In that case, such a progress cannot be termed as progress itself.

3. What can we do to reduce 'I-ness' and 'My-ness' that we feel so strongly?
Reduction in attachment to objects, people etc would result in reducing I ness and My ness. But I am still wondering how it could be achieved with respect to people. We do tend to have soft corner and more attachment towards family, our own circle of friends, relatives etc. Perhaps more and more spiritual reading and understanding that He dwells in everyone’s heart, could help.

Regards

uma

[murugans61]

Hari OM

Thank you Umaji for your informative reply. My reflections are as below.

1. How can we use Quotient of Happiness (Number of desires fulfilled / Number of desires entertained) to increase our joy while living in today's world which is throbbing with ever growing desirable objects?

The world pushes us to make Luxuries in to Needs ( eg Perfumes, cosmetics, fastfood, Expensive branded items, Jewellery, watches, Automobiles etc). All the Marketing professionals are working hard through their advertisements and displays in department stores to hypnotise us and make us belive that Luxuries have to become our Needs ( sometimes i feel guilty as I am also one among them). We need to be alert and vigilant in order not to fall into this game and covert our Needs into Luxuries. We can go to Shopping malls without our credit card/wallet, just for fun and for surveying the list of items that we do not need for our day to day comfortable life. We need to reduce day by day our emotional dependance on the various things that we use now.

2. Is the desire to gain more and more knowledge or to grow in spirituality a problem?

There is absolutely no problem in the desire to gain more and more knowledge and grow in spirituality. The world is filled with more and more of material science ( Apara vidya) and we have been soaked /immersed in it for ages like pickles. We need to complement it with Spiritual Science ( Para vidya, knowledge of Self, Lord and Moksha) as much as possible and dehypnotise ourselves. How much is excesss is a question mark and varies from individual to individual. How many times a wire is wound clockwise, it has to be rewound anti clockwise. The knowledge is to be digested, assimilated and lived. If it is not digested well , it will create indigestion and simply come out as vomit of empty noise.

3. What can we do to reduce 'I-ness' and 'My-ness' that we feel so strongly?

We can constantly appreciate , wonder and feel grateful to the maginficient creation for its vastness, the way it is intelligenty put to gether by the Lord as the maker and material.

Pranams

[Padmaja]

Hari Om. Pranams.

Thank you Muruganji and Umaji for so many thoughtful and helpful reflections.

1. How can we use Quotient of Happiness (Number of desires fulfilled / Number of desires entertained) to increase our joy while living in today's world which is throbbing with ever growing desirable objects?

I think happiness is grossly misunderstood by us. "Peace of mind = happiness" but we think that 'satisfying desires = happiness'. We should shift our focus on "attaining peace of mind". Just like we run after "satisfying sense pleasures" right now, we should go after "attaining peace of mind" till we realise that peace is within us.

2. Is the desire to gain more and more knowledge or to grow in spirituality a problem?

Just like one thorn can be used to pull out another thorn that is stuck in our foot, spiritual desires pull us out of our egocentric lowly worldly desires.

However, this should be done not for adding another feather to our ego's cap. Pujya Guruji once said - "A spiritual minded man can turn his business into spirituality and a worldly minded man can turn even spirituality into business." We need to be careful about not to do that.

3. What can we do to reduce 'I-ness' and 'My-ness' that we feel so strongly?

In this regard I remember Pujya Guruji's statement - "Instead of focusing on our limited efforts and possessions, we should focus on our infinite potential and the infinite grace and strength of the Lord."

We should shift our identification from "Being finite BMI(jiva)" to => "Being". This can be done in baby steps by increasing identification as a "devotee of the Lord" or "disciple of the Guru" to finally attain "Self-hood(Brahman)".

[Padmaja]

Hari Om. Pranams.

Thus, with grace of Lord Krishna, with blessings of Pujya Gurudev, Pujya Guruji and Respected Acharyas, with active participation from knowledgeable study group members and enthusiastic readers of this forum, we have successfully concluded chapter 2 of Bhagavad Gita called Sankhya Yoga.

ॐ तत्सदिति श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतासूपनिषत्सु
ब्रह्मविद्यायां योगशास्त्रे श्रीकृष्णार्जुनसंवादे
साङ्ख्ययोगो नाम द्वितीयोऽध्यायः .. २.

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA, in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the second discourse ends entitled: THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE

My humble prostrations to everyone !!!

[Guest]

HARI OM


I am Sahiavathi.I like to join this forum.I heard many of the Geeta discourses. Now I wanted to study Geeta. I feel this
forum will be a good resource to me.Recently I joined inthe Geeta study group chapter 3. I hope I can join in this forum
and will have a good satsanga with you all.

Thanking you

[viswam2k51]

I would always like to be a part of this spiritual journey. I would like to understand more of Bhagavat Gita and i strongly believe that only everyone can quench the spiritual thirst in the Gita-Ocean. It is "Poornamidham" nothing can reduce by taking nor can increase by adding and remains "Poornam" always. I humbly but strongly commit myself, my desire,thought and action towards HIM to find the solace for ever...............and I am sure, perhaps very soon HE will come to my rescue. After all, only the hope that gives the strength in my life to continue and go-on. I bow my head, manas, bhukthi, aganhar at HIS feet to grace me with HIS helping hand. Gurus like you should bless me to get my lost peace. Crave for your blessings...


viswanathan.s.

[rajeswari]

Hari Om.
Pranams to all.
I am a new student to Gita home study course.Yesterday only I got the study materials and today I have joined this forum I will be in Category2. I am 60years old housewife.I want to transform me in all better ways, with help of Lord Krishna through Bhagavath geetha.I have gone through very hard days all these years. so I want joy and piece of mind for the rest of years.so please give me all Guruji,s blessings and co=readers help to transform me in a good way.
Seeking your blessings,
Rajeswari

[Arvind]

Hari Om Rajeshwari ji,

Pranaams.

The topic currently going on is Chapter 7, so you can participate in that if you wish.
The message you posted is in a topic that is not active. Request you to join the topic
currently in progress. (Ch 7).

Thank you very much, nice to have you in the forum.

Arvind