Posted on: 20 Aug 2021
[Ms. Laxmi Thrylokya asked: What is the right interpretation of the Gita Verse (2.69)
yā niśā sarva-bhūtānām
tasyāṃ jāgarti saṃyamī ।
yasyāṃ jāgrati bhūtāni
sā niśā paśyato muneḥ ।।
Translation: What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the Munis (Yogis); and the time of awakening for all worldly beings is night for them.
Does this mean that a spiritual aspirant should study knowledge, sing bhajans and do service during nights when everyone is asleep? Also, Yogis or Munis are awakened (liberated) already. They always focus on God and are detached from other worldly beings and things due to their love for God. Why would they depend on the awakening time of other worldly beings? They are supposed to not care about the world. Isn't it? Kindly enlighten me.]
Swami replied:- Night sleep and day awakening shall not be taken in their literal sense. Night means worldly life. Sleep means taking no interest in the worldly life. Day means spiritual life. Awakening means to be very alert and active. Yogi means not only who attained Yoga (union with God) but also who is in the path of attaining Yoga. When the soul is attracted to God, the soul shows no interest in the worldly attainments, which are like drinking gold-spot drink in dream. Certainly, nobody carries anything or anybody after death. All the worldly aspirations are meaningless if the truth is realised. Muni also means silent and this word indicates the silence of a spiritual aspirant in worldly matters. But, the Muni becomes excellent orator in speaking about God. Unless you take the real sense of these words, you can’t get the right sense of the entire verse.