Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya,
Namo Narayanaya, Om Namo Narayanaya Om Namo Narayanaya, Om Namo Narayanaya,
Sri Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum, Sri Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum.
Sri Krishna Bhagavan ki jai.
Traividya mam soma-pah puta-papa yajnair istva svar-gatim prarthayante;
te punyam asadya sur'endra-lokam asnanti divyan divi deva-bhogan:
Those who perform elevated actions, which is the meaning of good actions,
raise themselves up to the heavenly region and there, for a long time,
enjoy the delight of the gods.
But there is a corollary following from this. Te tam bhuktva svarga-lokam visalam ksine
punye martya-lokam visanti; evam trayi-dharmam anuprapanna gatagatam
kama-kama labhante: The coming and the going in a cycle of births and deaths
becomes the fate of those people -- even those people who have spent their
life in those good deeds which are sanctioned in the ritualistic portions of the Vedas,
whereby they appease the gods in heaven.
Reaching heaven has been the longing of humanity throughout history.
All religions speak of heaven.
Sometimes heaven is considered even as the abode of the Creator Himself, as when we say
God is in heaven.
Here, in these cited verses of the Bhagavadgita, heaven is described in a different fashion
altogether -- not as the location of the Almighty, but as a region of enjoyment. Since enjoyment
has been analysed threadbare in our earlier sessions and, from our point of view,
or from anyone's point of view, enjoyment is unimaginable except through the coming of
the sense organs in contact with the objects external to them, a person cannot rejoice
in one's own self. That is the whole matter.
You require something else outside you, some object to titillate the sense organs, whereby
it looks that a principle of satisfaction is generated within oneself.
Now, speaking about gods in heaven and the possibility of reaching these heavenly regions
by good deeds is something worth considering.
Does one really go to heaven, and are there gods in such a realm?
Is there a blissful region above this physical level?
Is it inhabited by divinities like Indra, Varuna, and others?
How does it come about that a deed that is regarded as good propels a person's soul to
the heavenly regions?
What is the connection between a good deed and the remote region called heaven, populated
by the divinities?
The constitution of the heavenly regions must
have some similarity with the constitution of the deeds performed in this world, in a
manner which is considered virtuous or praiseworthy.
Now, what is a virtuous action?
What is a good action?
Easily this question is not answered because we generally go by the principles of social
conduct laid down by us by the community of people in whose midst we are living.
The possibility of reaching a region above this
physical level through a good deed implies that the so-called good deed also does not
belong to this Earth.
Earthly action cannot take a person to a non-Earthly condition.
As is the cause, so is the effect.
The perishable cannot take one to the imperishable -- taking for granted that
the heaven of the gods is imperishable, from one angle of vision at least.
Now, what kind of action should we perform in this world in order that we may be made
eligible to ascend to the heaven of the gods?
We do many good deeds. We do charity, we plant trees, we dig wells on the road,
we construct temples, we feed the poor.
Are these actions that take us to the heaven of the gods?
For this purpose, we have to analyse the meaning of 'action' itself.
What do you mean by 'action'?
A movement of the limbs of the body in some direction -- digging, planting, giving,
etc. -- do these physical gestures of the limbs of the body constitute action?
Evidently, it does not look that they can take us anywhere.
A performance which is purely motivated by physical movement does not seem
to be adequate to propel us above the physical level.
Physical movements will be limited to the physical realm only. A super-physical realm
cannot be reached unless there is some super-physical element in our action also.
There should be some kind of harmony or similarity of construction between
the means adopted and the end that is aimed at.
What kind of heavenly character do we find in the actions that we perform in this world
known as 'good'? Can anyone come to a decision that some actions that we
perform have a heavenly content in them?
We will shudder to hear even a question raised of this kind because to us, heaven seems to
be so far away, remotely situated above us, that it is difficult to believe that the little
acts that we perform, even with a good intention, have anything to do at all with
that blessed region of the gods.
What is the mystery behind this?
Why does the scripture say that good deeds will take you to heaven and make
you rejoice, like Indra, the chief of the gods, and so on?
The goodness of an action, therefore, does not seem to be definable in terms of social
sanction. It has to be sanctioned by the gods themselves.
It should be a good deed in the eye of gods, not in the eye of people only.
If all humanity says, "This is a wonderful thing that you have done," it need not
necessarily be wonderful.
It should be wonderful from the point of view of the structural pattern of the region higher
than the physical level.
All glory that we earn on this Earth planet conditioned by human thinking, whatever be
the imaginary greatness of this achievement, cannot be said to have any kind of heavenly
content in it -- which would mean that nothing can take us to heaven, if a heavenly deed
only can take us to the heavenly region.
Actually, we must understand also the meaning of 'heaven' in this context.
What is heaven?
Is it so many kilometres away, above the Earth plane?
If we travel high in a rocket, far, far beyond in the distant sky, will we be reaching heaven?
Even if you touch the border of the expanded space, heaven will not be seen there.
The reason, heaven is a state of consciousness.
It is not placed physically above the physical Earth.
An elevated sensation arising from our own selves, lifting us above our physical personality;
a longing that arises from the depths of our soul, lifting us above our physical needs,
a condition not easy to understand and appreciate; a longing that cannot be
equated with anything that is available in this world may be regarded as a
heavenly longing.
From that point of view, any physical or human achievement in this world cannot be regarded
as so good as to be capable of rocketing up to the heavenly region.
A non-physical operation should take place from within our own selves.
Are we physical personalities, or is there anything non-physical in us?
When we are enthused or in a state of intense rapture in what we may call an artistic fashion
-- beautiful music, and delighting painting, or even an architecture and a sculpture --
can take us above the consciousness of our physical personality.
There is an element in us which is not limited to this body, which is what it is that longs
for achievements beyond the ken of this Earth, or human thought.
Even to reach the heaven of the gods it is not easy, though Bhagavan Sri Krishna in these
verses of the Bhagavadgita does not regard this achievement as anything worth the
while. It is regarded by Him as a poor achievement, ending finally in a coming
down from the heaven of Indra to the mortal realm of action once again.
Gatagatam kama-kama labhante: People who desire objects of sense enjoy the cycle
of coming and going, even if it be going to heaven and coming back to the Earth.
So, notwithstanding the fact that the Bhagavadgita here does not regard an
achievement in the heaven is anything of any permanent value, still it is
necessary for us to know where is this heaven. We always look up, above,
opening our eyes to the skies, when we pray to a god in heaven because the
concept of the above, from our physical point of view, is geometrical,
distance-oriented, and spatially conditioned. But, the heaven of the gods is supposed to
be not measurable in this manner. It is not in space at all.
If you travel the endless space for ages, you will not reach the heaven of the gods
because all these experiences, even in the distant space and time process, these
experiences belong to the Earth level only.
We have to be gods in our own selves, to some extent, in order that we may reach the gods.
Even to reach this heaven of the gods, which Sri Krishna considers as not of any much value
-- even to reach that poor blessedness of the heaven, we have to be gods in our own selves,
because only from a god a godly deed can emanate.
A thorny bush will not produce apples.
Likewise, a distracted mind tethered to the physical body, bothered much about family
relations and connections with this Earth -- what kind of action can proceed from that
individual? Purely Earthly.
Have you seen a godly person anywhere whose deeds may be regarded as divine
and motivated by nothing of this Earth?
If such a person is available, that person may be regarded as fit for going to heaven.
It is so difficult to reach the heaven of the gods.
That is why the sacrificers of the Vedas take intense pain in performing these yajnas with
meticulous care, because even a little mistake they commit in the chanting of the mantra
or the arrangement of the sacrificial altar, will not be enough to push them up to the
region above the world.
Questions as to the utility ultimate of a sacrificial action in converting the mortal
into the immortal are raised in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, where one
of the opponents of Yajnavalkya puts this question: "Yajnavalkya, as all actions
are perishable, how will they take you to the imperishable?"
To that, Yajnavalkya gives an answer: "All actions are perishable indeed, but there is
one type of action which is not perishable." "What is that, Yajnavalkya?"
"Generally, when we perform an action, we consider certain constituent factors like
the performer of the action, the person concerned, the yajamana so-called; the
method adopted, the means employed in the performance of the yajna or the
sacrifice; and the intention there is behind in the performance of the sacrifice itself.
All these are done with an idea that this type of action will satisfy the divinity whose
name is taken in the chanting of the mantra of the Veda.
That divinity, being far away, above the Earth plane, cannot make this action
immortal, though the divinity itself is immortal. What is the answer, Yajnavalkya?"
The answer is here: "All action should be considered as a spiritual meditation.
It is not a performance of an externalised movement by a person, but a total concept
that arises in the performer of the action, wherein the divinity also is included -- in
which case, it will look that the action is performed by the divinity itself.
The yajamana, the performer, gets transformed into the divine power present in the divinity
worshipped and adored through the action. And the means, the instrument,
and the intention all get divinised because the meditation that
is carried on together with the performance of this Vedic yajna brings the divinity also into
the purview of this action, so that one, in this process of meditation, cannot know
who is actually performing the yajna and who is meditating.
The divinity itself enters the heart and the soul of the performer, or the yajamana, and
takes upon itself the responsibility of seeing that the yajna is perfectly conducted."
It was difficult to understand what this answer is given by Yajnavalkya to Shakalya,
the sage who put this question in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
However, here is a secret which has to be studied carefully.
Heaven, therefore, is a region which is above the physical consciousness of
humanity; therefore, actions that are not limited to the physical consciousness of
bodily individuality can alone take a person to the heavenly region.
An intensely holy person only can aspire to go to the heavens.
There was a sage called Vajasravasa, as we have it in the Kathopanishad.
He wanted to go to the heavens.
He performed a yajna called Sarvavedas, in which he had to give in charity everything
that he had. He gave all the wealth, all the land and property, everything that he
had, to people so that it appeared that nothing was left with him.
He had to give everything, but he did not give give everything, really speaking. He did
not offer himself also because
in this sarvatra, or all-inclusiveness of the charitable deed, the performer also goes with it.
So the egoism of the performer of the Sarvavedas sacrifice maintained itself,
and the story is very interesting, as you know, in the Kathopanishad.
Yet, Sri Bhagavan Krishna says all this achievement is nowhere before another
great achievement that is ahead of you. Gatagatam kamakama labhante, it is true.
After that, the great admonition of the Almighty Lord Bhagavan Sri Krishna follows: Ananyas
cintayanto mam ye janah paryupasate; tesam nity'abhiyuktanam yoga-ksemam
vahamy aham. Here also is a passage which prescribes the method of what you call total
action, and total meditation.
We have heard these things said many a time, but the mind is treacherously selfish and
can connive ways and means of not allowing a person to succeed, that we don't know
what is actually the meaning of this verse.
When the Great Lord says, "Everything shall be provided to that one whose mind and
consciousness are united in Me or with Me," what does He actually mean?
Now, where is this god, whose meditation or union can provide us with everything
that we need? Far away is the god; that is what we generally think.
Brahma is in Satyaloka, Vishnu is in Vaikuntha; Siva, Rudra, is in Kailasa.
How far are they?
How much time will they take to come to rescue us and provide us with our requirements?
Our relationship to God also should be clear to us before we try to understand the meaning
of this great promise given by the Almighty Himself: "Everything shall be provided to you.
Not only your requirements will be given to you, these requirements granted to you will
also be taken care of, so that you need not have the fear of losing them afterwards."
A gift is offered, and it is also protected for your sake.
This is a wonderful, miraculous statement which will shake us from our roots if we can
really understand what it implies.
This is not like going to the heaven of the gods for some time, by the performance of
a godly deed.
This is not a godly deed.
Something more than, it is. What is it?
It is unity with the very purpose of creation, the meaning of existence, the principle of
eternity itself.
A shopkeeper may take time to supply your goods, sending it through a vehicle, a cart,
but God does not take that time.
'Instantaneous' is also a poor word to describe the way in which God acts,
because instantaneousness also has a tinge of the time process in it.
Timeless action is God's action.
It is done before you say it is done.
You cannot even say it is just now, or here itself.
It is more than that. Even the words 'here' and 'now' are poor to describe the manner
in which God acts, because
we think in terms of space and time, whereas this action comes from eternity,
which is not in space and not in time.
To deserve this blessing which is so great and grand even to conceive, we have also to
manifest from within ourselves the eternity that is within us and that we ourselves are.
Mortal deeds, we said, do not take us to heaven; similarly, time-conditioned
devotion, spatially limited actions, will not summon this protection that is
promised to us in this Bhagavadgita: yoga-ksemam vahamy aham.
The practice of yoga is essentially this much.
It is a unity of the deepest in us with the deepest in the cosmos.
What is the deepest in us?
We are likely to think that this visible, photographed personality is what we are.
We know psychologically, for the way of saying, at least, that we have a mind,
which is deeper than the body.
There is an intellect and something very deep, but the 'I', the 'we', 'thisness', which
is asserted through this personality basically even at the time of death, even in deep sleep --
that one is the deathless principle in us.
That deathless eternal principle in us is what defies the consciousness of death and
tells us that we cannot die.
That is the reason why we always feel that death is far away from us. Though we have
seen people dying almost every day, the remaining people never think that
it is their fate, because the eternity that is within them tells everybody, "This is not
your fate because you are eternal."
The eternity is not known, but it is inside, flashing forth in this conviction that, "All
may die but I will not."
This feeling arises due to the eternal principle operating within us.
In this meditation, which is the requisition for the fulfilment of the promise of Bhagavan
Sri Krishna -- yogaksemam vahamy aham -- we have to think perhaps as He would
like us to think. If a friend can provide you with what you need, you have to think like
a friend, and not like somebody else. If you turn your face away from the friend,
the friend will not provide you with your requirements.
Unity of purpose, identity of feeling, oneness of existence are implied in friendship.
That friendship is to be found also between a devotee and the Supreme Almighty.
Suhrdam sarva-bhutanam jnatva mam santim rcchati: "Peace will be your blessing
and your attainment when the time comes for you to realise that. "I am your true friend.
I am the friend of all beings": Suhrdam sarva-bhutanam jnatva mam santim rcchati.
So, there is a heaven above the heavens that we are given in a description:
gatagatam kama-kama labhante. The ananyas cintayanto verse is a declaration
of the eternal principle in the universe and in our own selves.
While the temporal reality speaks in the earlier verses, the Eternal Being speaks in
the subsequent verse: ananyas cintayanto mam ye janah paryupasate,
tesam nity'abhiyuktanam yoga-ksemam vahamy aham.
Difficult is this to think in the mind; more difficult is it to meditate like this.
The mind is accustomed to think only in terms of what it sees or perceives outside; the
eternal principle, the God element, always escapes its notice.
It cries and weeps and expects something from somewhere, not believing that whatever one
needs will emerge instantaneously from one's own self, provided the eternal
comprehensiveness, which is the factor that provides our needs, is also present in our
own selves. This is the meaning of "Thou art That".
We have read this many times in Vedanta scriptures, but the 'art' in the middle,
coming between 'thou' and 'That' spoils the whole thing.
There is no 'art'. You should not use that word 'are'.
That connecting link, the verb, spoils the actual relationship between 'thou' and 'That',
because there is no relationship at all between 'thou' and 'That'.
The 'thou' is the 'That', and vice versa is the case.
In this ananta chintana mentioned in this verse, non-separate contemplation,
all blessing is poured upon the person.
This is the highest devotion, bhakti, you can think of.
Highest yoga and jnana -- by attaining which, we do not live like mortals any more,
but veritable moving gods on this Earth, which shall be our blessing.
Hari Om Tat Sat.