Yoga, a tool to reach the Divine........Gnana yoga

GnAna yoga is one of the tools of yoga used to Realise God.

GnAna means Knowledge. Knowledge of what? Is accumulation of information in different fields  called Knowledge? Then, which field of Knowledge helps one, for the realisation  of God?

Accumulation of  information in different sciences is not  called Knowledge in spiritual terms. Spiritual science demands that knowledge  which elevates ones' self above worldly planes to Divine planes. Here, GnAnam (knowledge ) refers to Thathva GnAnam,  Adhyathmagnanam.

In Kshetra kshethragna  vibhaga Yoga, Lord Sri Krishna  clearly, in detail, explained what is called GnAnam, which Knowledge helps one to realise Divine.

               AmAnithvamadambithvamahimsA sAnthirarjavam

               AcharyopAsanam sowcham aAthmavinigrahaha

   

    IndriyardEshu veiragyamanahamkAra Evacha

    Janma Mruthyu jarA VyAdhi DuhkhadOshAnu darsanam             

                Asakthiranabhishvangam puthradArAgruhadishu

                Nithyamhi samachitthathvam  Istanistopapatthishu

    

    MaichananyayogEna bhakthiravyabhi chariNi

    VivikthadEsa sEvithvamarathirjanasamsadi.

                 AdhyathmagnAna Nithyathvam ThathvagnAnArdha darshinam

                 Ethathgnanamithi prOktham  yadathOnyado ThadhA.

   The above mentioned five slokas describe the salient characteristics, which compose

Comprehensively the Knowledge, required to realise the Parabrahman. They are.....

Humility, Pridelessness, Non-violence, Peacefulness, Forbearance, Respect towards Gurus and elders, Internal and external purity, Self control ....(1st sloka Essence.)

Dispassion towards sensual joys, Egolessness, Seeing  the pain of birth, death, old age and disease..........(.2nd sloka essence.)

Detachment towards worldly attachments like son, wife and house, Balanced mind in all 

Circumstances whether desirable or undesirable ........(3rd sloka essence)

Unflinching  devotion towards Almighty,  withered desires, Love towards solitude,

Mind, ever oriented towards Spirituality and Self Realisation.....(.essence of 4th and 3rd   Slokas )All these righteous qualities together  comprise  knowledge, which like Fire, purifies the  heart when adopted into ones' personality.

The above mentioned definition of Gnana is referring to the  nature of Divine.

Hence, what GnAna yoga advocates to us is  Replication of Divine qualities.

Gnana yoga means not acquisition of knowledge, but it is transformation of a person

To a pure,Righteous  personality. A sacred behaviour, replicating Divine nature.  Purity to its' perfection. To be human is genuine and easy.But to be Divine is tough and acquirable by

Deliberate efforts.Once achieved, you will be linked to Devine.

Here, Gnana Yoga propogates SathbhAvana, Sathchinthana, Sathpravarthana.

One need not read,One need not debate, one need not leave everything.But the only thing  GnAna yogi requires is an absolute, pure personality with the Knowledge mentioned in those above five slokas. 

Pure personality, pure behaviour purifies the Mind and connects to the Almighty.

So, GnAna yoga means Personality development campaign. 

A pure heart automatically sees the light of Truth in the Self.

A GnAna Yogi, having had the realisation of truth,immediately attains Supreme bliss,

Supreme peace. The Goal achieved.

                  Yadheighamsi samiddhognir bhasmAth kuruthErjuna

                     GnAgni SarvakarmANi bhasmAth kuruthE ThadhA .

As a blazing fire turns fuel to ashes, ArjunA! Similarly the fire of  Knowledge  turns all

Actions to ashes.

                   Nahi GnAnanEna  sadrusam,  Pavithramiha vidyathE       

                   That swayam yogasamsiddhah kAlE nAthmani vindathi.

On earth, no purifier is as powerful  as Knowledge. Paramathma reveals on its' own

When GnAna  yogi becomes self purified.

How to know whether self purified or not? What are the indications?

Sri Adi Sankaracharya, in his DakshiNA murty sthothram explains very clearly

           

    Nana chidra ghatodarasthitha mahA deepa Prabha  bhaswarm,   

     GnAnam yasyathi chakshuradikaraNa dwarA Bahim spandathe 

    

When a GnAna Yogi ripens with wisdom, Self purified, that GnAnam reveals through  All

Five sense organs in the form of Light just like a lamp in a pot of holes expels light.

Hence,the physical format of GnAnam is  Light only.,Brightness only. ,nothing else.

After self realisation GnAni looks ThEjaswi. Brightness spreads entire body.

This is how GnAni transforms to mahA Yogi.

Next blog speaks about Bhakti yoga.

         

                              Gitauvacha 

Yoga, a tool to realise the Divine ....Karma Yoga.

Nowadays, this word Yoga is  in vogue.

What is  Yoga means? Yoga,the  word originated from a Sanskrit word  Yuj, which means Union.,Union with the Supreme self.

There are many ways to attain this unison with Divine.

Karma yoga, Gnana yoga, Dhyana yoga, Bhakthi yoga are few of the ways of yoga,

used extensively.Here ways are  different but destination is the same.

All these methods of Yoga primarily advocate the purification of one's soul.Why this process of purification? Is it so Necessary? Absolutely necessary.,because, pure soul alone can unite with Supreme self.(Supreme self is absolutely pure )

Who is Karma yogi? What are the norms of Karma yoga?

The karma yogi should perform all actions withdrawing the feeling of Mine.

Selfless actions, selfless services,Egofree attitude towards any action, are the marks of a true Karma yogi.

A karma yogi performs any action, renunciating the results to Divine ,shaking off the attachment of results by assuming that only senses,intellect ,mind and body are doing actions. A Sunyasi attitude towards the fruits of actions keeps him untouched by sins.

                  

                   Kayena Manasa budhya kEvaleirindriyeirapi

                Yoginaha karma kurvanthi sangam thyakthvathma suddhayEth

When all actions are done with a detachment towards their results, mind behaves like a droplet on lotus leaf. Of course  God is also doing all his actions without any expectations from us.Who so ever practices This same attitude while doing any action,Automatically  becomes  karma yogi, his mind automatically becomes taint less .

When once mind is absolutely cleaned, all sins of previous and present life will be washed off,  link establishes,The karma yogi connects himself to the Divine  (universal self).

Whereas, he who  works with attachment  to the fruits of actions, with desire, gets tied down to the 

World, and  consequently accumulates sins.Practicing Karma yoga is not that easy,  why??

 Starting from the morning ,we work with some expectation.; either monitory gain or emotional satisfaction.Every action is followed by expectations,if expectations are not fulfilled, dissatisfaction fallows, dissatisfaction disturbs the mind, a disturbed, imbalanced mind  always acts wrong and ultimately sorts out sins. This is a big chain of reflexes. 

Sri adi sankaracharya says,

           NissangathvE nirmohathvam,NirmOhathve nischalathathvam,Nischalathathve Jeevam mukthihi.

            Detachment leads to dispassion, Dispassion to Study mind, study mind leads to Liberation.All interconnected. So, kill the evil Desire at its offshoot.

Always Keeping this chain reaction and it's consequences in mind ,the yogi should act, simply for the sake of self  purification. When soul is pure, Self realisation  happens on its own, yogi experiences

Supreme Bliss through  Divine light. Enlightenment takes place. Simple self transforms to  Mahathma.

In our recent times we have seen great  Karma   yogis like Mother Theresa, Mahathma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda....

Without  expecting any fame or fortune they did great services to humanity, raised to the levells  of  MahAthma. They saw God in every human, did services considering them been dedicated to God. 

Truly  speaking, Karma yogis cannot hide themselves. 

Wise act without attachment, unwise act with attachment.This is the difference between a Yogi and Bhogi. Yogi dislikes  worldly desires, always remembers the sanctity of his Self and the true purpose of life. He knows very well that,

Senses> Body , Mind > senses , Intellect > mind, Self > intellect.

Hense the heirArchy goes like this.....

Self >  intellect > mind > senses > body. Lord Krishna defines in Karmayoga .

Self is the supreme. Sacred self alone realises the supreme Self. 

Sanctity of self is possible through dispassionate actions.

This is the quintessence of Karma yoga.

Next blog speaks about Gnana yoga.

                           

                                  Gitauvacha 

Parabrahman

In the end of every chapter  in Gita, it is written like this........."

"Ithi sreemad bhagavadgita sUpanishath, Brahma vidyayAm, YogasAsthrE, Sri Krishnarjuna samvAdE "

What is brahma vidya? What is yoga sAsthrA ??

Brahma vidya ::

                      Means the spiritual science of Parabrahman.

YogasAsthrA::

                      Means the science of Yoga which explains the different ways and methods for the realisation  of Brahman.         

Hence, learning and practicing YogasAsthrA helps, one to realise and experience the Devine.

Here, Self realisation is the Goal,Yoga is the vehicle to take you towards the goal.

The word Yoga originated from  'Yuj' which means Union...Union of what?.Union of the inner self with Universalself. The  prime purpose of Yoga is uniting a simple soul with great supreme  soul.

What is Para  brahma? Is very clearly explained in KshEthra kshethragna Vibhavaha yOgam.

After giving a detailed  format of KshEthra  (human body ), Lord SriKrishna  described  the   
Supreme Brahman in five slokas , knowing which one attains Supreme bliss.                                    

               1. Sarvathaha pANi pAdamthathu Sarvathokshi ssiromukham

                   Sarvathaha sruthimallokE sarvamAvruttha thishtathi

With hands and feet everywhere , with faces and eyes everywhere, with heads and ears everywhere,That(Para Brahman ) is pervading  entire universe.   

                                  

               2. SarvendriyaguNAbhAsam  Sarvendriyavivargitham

                   Asaktham sarvabrucheiva NirguNam guNabhokthru cha

That  ParaBrahman is manifest in the functions of various sense organs,yet bereft of  all sense 
organs;   

Unattached, yet sustaining everything  while manifesting in  all actions. Gunatheetham(attribute less )

 Though attribute less, That (Braman ) enjoys the three modes of Prakrithi (Satva,Rajas, tamas)

 Residing in  the body.     
          

                3.Bahiranthascha BhuthAnam acharya chakramE vacha

                   SukshmathwAtthat vignEyam durasthamchanthikEchathath

Outside and inside of every living being either moving or non moving , That (Brahma) remains in a very subtle  and Incomprehensible manner.That is far yet near .

       

                4.Avibhakthamcha bhuthEshu vibhakthamivachasthitham

                    Bhutha Bharthrucha thath gnEyam grasishnu prabhavishnu cha

That (Para
Brahma) is undivided in beings and yet remains as if decided; That knowable is the sustainer of beings,and also the creator and destroyer.

    

                5.Jyothishamapi  That  jyothihi  thamasaha  Param uchyathe

                   GnAnam GnEyam GnAnagamyam Hrudi sarvasya vishtitham

The lights of lights, the Ultimate goal,  , Knowledge, Knowable, Goal of Knowledge,

That (Brahma)  always resides in the heart of beings.

           

The first sloka describes Brahman as  a ViswAthama and viswasakshi (universal witness).

The second sloka describes  Brahman as JeevAthmA , which residing in our body

experiences the guNas born of  Nature.

The third sloka describes Brahman as Paramathma which has incomprehensible  

 nature and extremely subtle as  sky or magnetic field being far away, at the same time very close.(inside our heart...nothing is more closer than your Heart.)

      

The fourth sloka describes Brahman as the great sustainer of entire universe--Jeeva.

And also creator and destroyer in whose surveillance all beings exist.

  

The fifth sloka describes Brahman as the ultimate (Paramam ) ,the supreme Devine being which appears as Light, which is the supreme Knoledge,which  erases all ignorance when one realises That.

   

Hence, Lord very clearly explains  the  physical and functional  format of BBrahmaN.

In one of my previous blogs, "Atma,it's  nature,' already I have written the different  dispositions  of Brahma  with regard to different functions Of  That.  But, as it is needed here I  am  giving  brief description of the same.again. Summing up......

    

Brahman is Atma , ViswAtma, Jeevatma, Paramatma, Visrutatma, drudatmA,creator,

Destroyer,Knowledge  infinite, light resplendent (light of thousands of Suns) ,Goal ultimate, so on and so forth.

  

What  astonishes me  extremely is one contradicting charectoristic of Brahma, '"very far and very near". How far away? No one knows. But how much close we all know, as That resides  In our hearts only. (Refer to 3rd sloka given above ).

  

The above mentioned five slokas of Sri Bhagavanuvacha compose a comprehensive dailyPrayer,

which directly addresses the ultimate Parabrahman ,from where all wishes are granted  irrespective of the God's name taken. This is why in my daily  prayer, I  recite  these five slokas with out failing.

No matter how much may we know  scripturally about Brahman, how to realise That? How to experience That?  How, Yogic technics help us in this mission- self realisation ? How Yoga sastra helps one to achieve Salvation?.........

My next blog will speak about  this.

                                                       Gitauvacha

Who is dear to God ??

It is very common that we like persons having qualities similar to our personality. Usually we express it saying, we match each other, he is dear to me,so on and so forth .

Similarly, God too likes  persons  possessing  qualities  as pure as His.

What are those Devine qualities, How can one become God's loveable .

                    AdwEstA sarvabhuthAnAm  maitrah karuNaEvacha

                 NirmamO  nirahamkAraha  sama duhkhaha sukhaha kshamA

                                                                                                                      

                  Samthustaha  sathatham  yogeeyathathmA  drudanischayaha

                   Mayyarpitha manObuddhiryO madbhakthaha sa mE priyaha

  These two slokas  explain the  desirable qualities to become God's beloved.......

One who has no hatred for any living being, who is friendly with everybody, compassionate, dispassionate  towards all worldly  sensual enjoyments, nonegoistic,

Equanimous in pleasure and sorrows and tolerant, always contented, self controlled with yogic attitude, determined firmly to dedicate his mind and intellect to Devine as

A staunch Bhakta,......is very dear to Me........Lord Sri Krishna proclaims.

Anyone, with all these virtues is loveable to God.

Gita says four types of people  usually  worship God;  they are Arthi, zignAsu , ardArdhi, and gnAni.

1.Seeker of worldly possessions (ardArdhi)

2.One in troubles ( Arthi)

3. Inquisitive to know about God (zignAsu)

4.Man of wisdom ( GnAni )

Out of four, the man of wisdom, who is very much devoted to God and Devine persuits, is loved  by God. Such a person whose self is purified because of costant practice of Devine qualities, whose self is linked with Universal self will always remain in Gods sight.Here, Purity is the key word.

Purity in thought, purity in words,  Purity in actions (Manasa,vacha,karmaNa )purifies the self and connects to the absolute purity ie God.

How to acquire  wisdom??

When mind is conditioned by disciplined actions, when senses are controlled  by  discarding worldly pleasures ,when realisation of God becomes the prime purpose of life,,, intellect ripens one's knowledge to wisdom,; total transformation of personality takes place,;;connects  the  self to supreme self.  Now you are  in God's looks. You start seeing  Devine in everything  and everything in Devine .

One becomes near and dear to God.

                          Gitauvacha