Wk09 Monday, May 21 Today Bhagavad Gītā, Chs 5-11 Belvalkar, The BG: A general review of its history and character. Sw. Vireshwarananda, The BG: Its synthetic character." BG 12-17, Wednesday Perrett, Facts, Values and the BG. Matilal, Caste, Karmā and the Gītā. 1
BG Brief Outline Nature of ātman Arjuna s despondency Kṛṣṇa s response Karma-yoga Jñāna-yoga 5. Brahman, meditation 6. Ātman, meditation Nature of supreme deity 7. Theistic Sāṅkhya 8. Meditation 9. The Sublime Mystery 10. God s powers 11. Theophany 12. Bhakti-yoga BG Outline, cont d Relation between ātman & supreme deity 13. The field & knower 14. The three guṇa-s 15. Puruṣa(-s?) 16. The divine & demoniac within 17. Three-fold faith 18. Recap, conclusion 2
Ch. 5 Sannyāsa-yoga 5.1: Arjuna asks which is better, renunciation or [karma]yoga? 2: Kṛṣṇa: Both good, karma-yoga better. 4-5: Only fools separate Sāṅkhya and Yoga. By one, the fruit of both is obtained. They are one. 6: Sannyāsa is hard without Yoga, with Yoga one reaches Brahman without delay. 8-9: <verb>ing, I do nothing at all. 10-12: Renouncing attachment, with Yoga one is unbound by pāpa, purified. 13: 9-gated fortress cf. KaU 5.1 Realized Person 5.14-15: Lord of the world does not create agency, action, union with results, does not partake of merit/demerit. 16-17: When ignorance is destroyed, knowledge of ātman illumines reality, reach a state beyond return. 18-19: Equanimity towards: Brahmin, cow, elephant, dog, outcaste 20-25: Description of a wise person 26-8: Asceticism! 27: Meditation 29: Knowing me as one finds peace. 3
Ch. 6: Meditation, dhyāna-yoga 6.1: One who does what is to be done without interest in result is a sannyāsī & yogī. 2: Sannyāsa = Yoga, Cannot be yogī without renouncing saṃkalpa ( willful intent ). 3: Not mature in discipline? Do karma. Mature in discipline? Practice śama, tranquility. 4: Mature in discipline = unattached to sense objects and karma, renounced all saṃkalpa-s. 5-6: Lift up the self by the self, the self is both friend & enemy. Self-mastery, Aids 6.7-9: The supreme ātman of the one whose ātman is mastered & tranquil has equipoise towards: heat/cold, joy/suffering, honor/contempt clay/stone/gold, good/evil persons friend/ally/foe/neutral/non-partisan/enemy/kin 10-11: Isolation, seclusion, firm seat, pure place. 12: Restrain mind/senses, focus the mind on a single object, practice yoga for self-purification. 13-15: Posture, inner-state, absorbed in me, attains peace, beyond nirvāṇa, abides in me. 16-17: Middle way. 4
Glorification of Attained State 6.19: Like a lamp in a windless place. 20: Contemplating self by the self, content with the self. 21-2: Abides in truth, absolute joy beyond senses, no higher gain, unmoved by deep suffering. 23: This state is Yoga, the unbinding of bonds with suffering, to be practiced resolutely, without despair. 24-26: Give up desire, control the senses with the mind, focus mind on ātman, think nothing, bring back the straying mind. 29-30: Sees everything with equal eye, ātman all creatures; Kṛṣṇa everything/everywhere. 31-2: Kṛṣṇa is in all creatures, so the yogī, grasping oneness of life is in Kṛṣṇa, sees identity in everything. Arjuna s Doubt 6.34: Arjuna: The mind is as difficult to hold as the wind. 35-6: Kṛṣṇa: Yes, but practice, abhyāsa and dispassion, vairagya restrain the mind 37-8: What of the faithful one whose mind strays before reaching perfection in yoga? He fails, both to achieve Brahman and to act a shredded cloud... 5
Kṛṣṇa s Guarantee 6.40-43: Such a person will receive conducive conditions in next life to finish the job. 44: One will be sustained even involuntarily, by former practice, and will transcend the Brahman of the Vedas. 45: The yogī, perfected through many births, attains the highest goal. 46: Such a yogī > ascetics, sages who know, those who perform karma. 47: That yogī is most accomplished, who worships Kṛṣṇa, inner ātman is absorbed in Kṛṣṇa. Ch. 7: Theistic Sāṅkhya Jñāna-vijñāna-yoga, knowledge & realization 7.1: How to know me through Yoga and mind focused on me: 4-6: Lower prakṛti, 8-fold 5 elements, manas, buddhi, ahaṃkāra. Higher prakṛti = world-sustaining life-force, Kṛṣṇa. 7: Immanence: All that exists is strung on me like pearls on a string. 8-11: Instances 12-13:Guṇa-s come from me I am not in them, they are in me. I am beyond the guṇa-s, unchanging. 14: Prakṛti s divine māyā hard to escape without refuge in me. 6
Theism? 16-19: 4 types of virtuous men: afflicted, seeker of knowledge, seeker of wealth, knower. Knower = my ātman, reaches me directly, knowing Kṛṣṇa is all there is. 20-23: However they choose to worship me, in that form I grant them results. 24-5: I am unmanifest, unborn, unchanging, veiled by my māyā of Yoga. 27-30: Likes & dislikes delusion; those freed from delusion worship me steadfastly, they know Brahman as inner ātman, all karma. They know me as the elements, as divine, as sacrifice, till even at their death. Ch. 8: Meditation dhāraṇā-yoga 8.1-2: Q. What are Brahman, adhyātman ( inner self, over-soul ), adhi-bhūta ( inner being, over-being bhūta = elements), karma, adhi-daiva, adhi-yajña? Cf. 7.30. 3-4: A. Brahman is imperishable, supreme. Adhyātman = innate nature (svabhāva), = prakṛti? Karma = creative force, causing origin of bhūta-s. Adhi-bhūta = perishable existence. Adhi-daiva = Puruṣa. Adhi-yajñā = I myself (Kṛṣṇa?), in the body. 5-7: Liberation after death? 7
Ch. 8: Goal of dhāraṇā 8-11: Through abhyāsa-yoga, one attains the highest, divine puruṣa [= Kṛṣṇa?] 10,12-14: Yoga-dhāraṇā on Oṃ [= Kṛṣṇa?] 15-16: No rebirth after reaching me. 17-19: 1000 yuga-s = 1 day/night of Brahmā = 4.32x10 9 human years, creation lasts for a Brahmā-day, then is unmanifest for a Brahmā night. 20-22: Beyond this unmanifest, another eternal, unmanifest, imperishable state, my supreme abode, no return from it, highest Puruṣa, all-pervasive. Reached by bhakti. 23-27: Dying when sun is north of equator (Winter- Summer-solstice), bright fortnight, day, Brahmanknowers reach Brahman, otherwise rebirth. Ch. 9: The Sublime Mystery rāja-vidyā or rāja-guhya-yoga 9.4-5: The entire world is pervaded by my unmanifest form. All beings in me, but not I in them. Nor are these beings really in me. My ātman brings beings into existence, supports them but does not rest in them. 7-8,10: Cycle of manifest unmanifest prakṛti. 9-10: These actions do not bind me, inner eye of prakṛti. 11: Higher existence than human form, as lord of beings. 13-14: Great beings revere & worship me who abides in divine prakṛti, knowing me as origin of beings, unchanging. 8
Ch. 9: Varieties of Worship 15-16: Others worship me through knowledge-yajña in different forms 17-19: I am immortality & death, being & nonbeing. 20-21: Limited results of sacrifice 22: Those who worship me, meditate on me exclusively, I grant them prosperity & security (yoga-kṣema). 23-26: Varieties of worship get corresponding results (25) from the lord. Cf. 4.11 27-29: Action done as offering to me does not bind, one with sannyāsa-yoga will join me, liberated. I am impartial. Those that have bhakti towards me, are in me, and I in them. Ch. 9: The Guarantee of Bhakti 9.30-32: Even one of wicked conduct, if he worships me exclusively, is deemed virtuous. He soon becomes dharmic and attains peace. My devotee never perishes, reaches the highest goal, whether evil, commoner, female, of low rank. Cf. 2.40, 5.29, 6.40-43 9
Ch. 10: God s Powers, vibhūti-yoga 10.2: I am the source of all gods and sages. 3: Unborn, beginning-less, lord of the worlds. 4-5: Source of all beings understanding, knowledge, non-delusion, patience, truth, sense-control, mindcontrol, pleasure/pain, being/non-being, fear/ fearlessness, non-violence, equanimity, contentment, penance, charity, fame/disgrace. 6: The 7 sages, 4 Manus 8: Origin of all. 11: I dispel ignorance of devotees out of compassion. 12-18: Arjuna Q: You are Brahman, eternal Puruṣa how may I know you, your manifestations & powers? Ch. 10: Further Glories 20: I am the ātman in the heart of all beings, their beginning, middle & end. 21-33: Neutral identification with Viṣṇu, Śiva, Indra, Rāma, Yama, Brahmā (33) etc. 32,34: Beginning, middle, end of creations, of all. 34 quoted by Oppenheimer on first atomic bomb explosion 38: Silence of secrets, knowledge of the learned 39: Seed of all beings, animate & inanimate. 40-41: No end to my powers; anyone s power, glory, splendor arises from a fraction of my glory. 42: What use is this knowledge to you, Arjuna?! I sustain this entire creation with a single fraction of my being. 10
Ch. 11: Theophany, viśva-rūpadarśana-yoga 11.8: I give you a divine eye to see. 12: Radiance of a thousand suns Oppenheimer @ Los Alamos NM 20: Seeing this wondrous, terrible form, the three worlds tremble. 25-30: Heroes of both sides consumed by your fiery, tusked mouths 34: Already slain by me 41-5: Arjuna apologizes for his familiarity, asks Kṛṣṇa to revert back to normal form! 55: My devotee, free from enmity to all comes to me. According to Belvalkar Is BG a composite text or a unified work? Theistic or Monistic? Contradictions? Free Will? Action v. knowledge v. meditation v. devotion? 11
Sw. Vireshwarananda Krishna real or metaphorical? Accepts Sāṅkhya-Yoga? Plurality of puruṣa-s? Brahman? Action v. knowledge v. meditation v. devotion? Caste system? Agrees with Belvalkar? 12