27 Sep 2016
[Evening Message] Shri Surya asked: “In the Gita repeated practice, knowledge, meditation and sacrifice of fruit of work are told in ascending order of importance (Shreyohi...). Please elaborate this concept.
Swami replied:
1) Shreyohi Jnaana Mabhyaasaat: This means knowledge (Jnaana) is better than repeated practice (Abhyaasa). This clearly means that there is no knowledge in repeated practice since both are told as separate entities and also it is told that the second entity is better than the first entity. This clearly proves that the repeated practice is without knowledge. If you say that gold is better than silver, it means gold is not in silver. Hence, repeated practice means the blind traditional practice, which is not analysed properly to see whether such practice is the actual interpretation of the divine scripture or not since analysis was not done in blind practice.
2) Jnanaat Dhyaanam Vishishyate: Meditation (dhyaana) is better than knowledge (Jnaana). The word dhyaana means devotion or firm decision to serve God leaving other worldly bonds. Devotion is generated from knowledge. The word dhyaana means dhee + aana= dhyaana. ‘Dhee’ means intelligence. ‘Aana’ means essence or life of intelligence. Intelligence is the faculty that makes decision through intensive analysis. Such decision is the essence or life of intelligence. Hence, firm decision is dhyaana.
3) Dhyaanaat Karmaphala Tyaagah: Sacrifice of fruit or practical devotion is better than the firm devotion, which is theoretical. This is the action or practice called as karma yoga, which is divided into two sub-parts: a) karma samnyaasa or sacrifice of work, purely meant for saint (Samnyaasi). b) karmaphalatyaaga or sacrifice of fruit of work.
Both these sub-parts are inter-convertible forms of same entity. Work is a form of energy and fruit of work or wealth is a form of matter. Both energy and matter are inter-convertible. If you do work, it is equivalent to the money paid for that work. If you donate money, it is equivalent to the work done for that money. For house-holders, both the sub-parts are intended. For a saint only the first sub-part is possible since he has no fruit of work being a beggar even for his food. In such case, the Gita should have told that karma yoga (sacrifice of work and money) is better than dhyaana (firm theoretical decision). Instead of karma yoga, the word karmaphalatyaga is mentioned here, which results in neglecting the first sub-part (sacrifice of work). What is the analysis here? The answer is that a saint is not touched because he has only one option, which is sacrifice of work. Here, only the house holder is touched, who has both the options to sacrifice work and wealth. When the house holder can do both, why only sacrifice of money is mentioned here? The Veda also speaks about sacrifice of money only (Dhanenatyagena...). Whatever may be the scriptural authority, what is the logic here to say that wealth is better than work? The answer is that there is possibility of loop holes in the sacrifice of work, but, there is no loop hole in the sacrifice of wealth (fruit of work). I will illustrate this with an example: when I was working as a lecturer, I had one colleague as My friend, who was a devotee of Shri Satya Sai Baba. One week-vacation was declared. My friend told Me that he is going to Puttaparti as volunteer to do free service, which is sacrifice of work. He told Me the reason for such decision “my tuition batch-students also took vacation for this week. I have no work here. If I go there and work, I will get food, which is earned by me through work. It is better than eating food in my home without any work. The first option is profit and the second option is loss”. I banged him explaining the philosophy of this verse in the Gita.
See the loop holes in the sacrifice of work! Such loop holes can’t exist in the sacrifice of fruit of work. Only the house holder is touched here, who has both the options. The saint need not be touched since he has only one inevitable option of sacrifice of work.
4) Tyaagaat shaanti ranantaram: After sacrifice of the fruit of work, nothing more exists. Shaanti means full stop.
Abhyaasa represents the earlier stage before arrival of Shankara in which Purvamemaamsakaas were doing rituals blindly without analysing the Vedic scripture. Then, came Shankara and established knowledge (jnaana) by sharp analysis of the Veda. Then, Ramanuja came establishing devotion (Bhakti) or theoretical firm decision to serve God, which means dhyaana. Finally, Madhva came and stressed that God is the master to be served practically (Sevya) and the soul is practical servant (Sevakaa) indicating practical karma yoga of which sacrifice of fruit of work is very important without any loop holes or cheating. This verse of the Gita indicated the four stages of future time, one after the other since Lord told that He knows past, present and future (Vedaaham...). Lord Krishna told the future trends of spiritual path in the coming Kaliyuga period.
Hence, dhyaana does not mean simply closing eyes to concentrate on something, which may be right or wrong. It only means coming to a firm decision that is arrived by the intellectual analysis.
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