श्रीः
प्रपन्नपारिजाताय तोत्रवेत्रैकपाणये । ज्ञानमुद्राय कृष्णाय गीतामृतदुहे नमः ॥
ॐ नमो भगवते श्रीरमणाय
Chapter 7. ज्ञानविज्ञानयोगः
This chapter is called ज्ञानविज्ञानयोगः / ब्रह्मनिरूपणयोगः (the yoga of knowledge and realisation).
In the first 6 chapters,
we ventured into the area of Tvam – what is the aatma, what it its svarupam,
how do karma and dhyanam help in realising the self, how does one work without
attachment to the result, is a sanyasi different from a yogi, how does one
meditate on the aatma.
In chapters 7 to 12, Bhagavan Sri Krishna will take us through ‘Tat’. What is Brahman, and how bhakti helps us understand 'I am Brahman'.
In the final shloka of the 6th chapter, Bhagavan told us that amongst yogis, he who has shraddha and worships Me with utmost devotion and is integrated in Me (मद्गतेनान्तरात्मना), is the greatest yogi.
In this chapter, He describes His tattvam and stresses on the importance of this knowledge after knowing which, there will be nothing left to be known.
This Yogi lets go off all impermanent anchors and only holds on to Ishvara. In the 5th chapter, Bhagavan had said – तद्बुद्धयस्तदात्मानस्तन्निष्ठास्तत्परायणाः (5.17) – with the mind set on me, knowing Me to be the aatma, abiding in Me, with Me as the goal, he becomes immortal with knowledge of the supreme truth.
Ishvara is perceived in all that we see in the world around us, if we can penetrate through the upadhis. Being aware of His vibhutis, helps us meditate on Him and His glory.
He is the source of all creatures, the material cause and efficient cause of the world. He is the substratum underlying everything. Since the effects are superimpositions on this substratum, they do not possess their own individual existence. In Vivekachudamani, Shankara bhagavadpadacharya says नाधिष्ठानात् भिन्नता आरोपितस्य - the superimposed is not different from the substratum. In fact, they do not exist independently - in 7.12 Bhagavan says न त्वहं तेषु ते मयि - I am not in them but they are in me. I alone exist. The movie does not exist independently, the screen alone does.
There is nothing higher than Ishvara and all the perceived objects are strung on Him like beads on a string.
Together with Maya / Prakruti, which brings in the three gunas, He creates the world. The gunas and their transformations keep us deluded, we mix up the seer and the seen, we lose the ability to perceive Him. However all is not lost, He assures us. Surrender to Me, and I will take you across the ocean of Maya.
By surrender, what He means is that we give up our hold on what is not ours. Acharyapada says in Shivanandalahari -
करस्थे हेमाद्रौ गिरिश निकटस्थे धनपतौ
गृहस्थे स्वर्भूजामरसुरभिचिन्तामणिगणे ।
शिरस्स्थे शीतांशौ चरणयुगलस्थेऽखिलशुभे
कमर्थं दास्येऽहं भवतु भवदर्थं मम मनः ॥ 27 ॥
You have everything - the golden mountain, the Lord of wealth, the Kamadhenu, Kalpataru, Chintamani, the moon with its cool rays, all that is good in the world lies at your feet. What can this slave offer to you, except my mind ?
If we can give our individuality up, then we have surrendered. In the second verse of Arunachala Padigam, Bhagavan Ramana says 'நின் இஷ்டம் என் இஷ்டம் (nin ishtam en ishtam'). From now onwards, Your wish is my wish. He did not move away from the saanidhyam of Arunachala for the next 54 years - he attained mahasamadhi in the same place where he had first arrived in answer to his Guru's call. It was complete and unconditional surrender to Guru, who is the same as Ishvara. Bhagavan Ramana was referred to as the 'mighty impersonality' by M.P.Pandit, an author.
Most people are unable to surrender because of desires. Though dharmic desires are permitted by the shastram, one must strive to be a jijnasu (seeker of knowledge) or jnani. The jnani is the most dear to Ishvara because he recognises "Vasudeva sarvam" - Vasudeva being the self of all, is also the dearest to the jnani.
People who pursue limited goals, through faith in anya devatas, and driven by their vasanas, reach them too, dispensed by Vasudeva. Some people attribute a name and form to Him, who is ever-unmanifest. They remain under the spell of Maya.
However, the jnani, has a one-pointed intellect / vyavasayatmika buddhi, a controlled mind and sense organs, and worships Vasudeva steadfastly. This worship is the saadhya-bhakti or aatma-nivedanam. He recognises that Vasudeva alone exists, and has surrendered his individuality. He continues performing his ordained karma as a Yoga.
Bhagavan Ramana says in
Upadesha saram – आत्मसंस्थितिः स्वात्मदर्शनम् । आत्मनिर्द्वयात् आत्मनिष्ठता ॥ (26)
– abidance in the non-dual self alone is the vision of the self. That alone is
firm abidance in the self.
This vision is the knowledge
that takes root as a direct experience that “I am Brahman / sacchidananda
svarupam’, reached by renouncing the limited “I” notion. The jnani who reaches
this stage, is also the highest bhakta, like we have observed in mahatmas like Sri
Ramakrishna, Bhagavan Ramana maharshi, etc.
यत्र योगेश्वरः कृष्णो यत्र पार्थो धनुर्धरः । तत्र श्रीर्विजयो भूतिर्ध्रुवा नीतिर्मतिर्मम ॥
सर्वं श्रीकृष्णार्पणमस्तु
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