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Gitajyothi Week No. 47 discourse is ready

From the Bhakti List Archives

Rama Krishna K • March 2, 2003 


Priya Bhagawatas,

Gitajyothi Week No. 47  discourse is  ready at the following sites

http://www.geocities.com/krk1961
http://gitajyoticurrentweek.tripod.com

sarva dharma:n parithyajya
ma:m e:kam saranam vraja |
aham thva: sarva pa:pe:bhyo:
mo:ksha yishya:mi ma:suchaha ||   18-66

Lord SriKrishna says to Arjuna
"Abandoning all righteous deeds, seek me as thy sole Refuge ; I will
liberate thee from all sins ; do thou not grieve.  Righteous deeds
(dharma) ; including unrighteous deeds (adharma) also, since naishkarmya
or freedom from all action is intended to be taught here. Here may be
cited such passages of the sruti and the smriti as the following  Not he
who has not abstained from evil deed .can attain It.(KathaUp. 1224),
abandon dharma and adharma So, the passage means renouncing all works.
Me alone ; the Isvara, the Self of all, dwelling the same in all. Seek
Me as thy sole Refuge: in the belief I myself am that Isvara ; i e, do
thou understand that there is naught else except Me. When thou art firm
in this faith, I shall liberate thee from all sins, from all bonds of
dharma and adharma, by manifesting Myself as thy own Self. So it has
been already said here,  I destroy the darkness born of ignorance by the
luminous lamp of wisdom, abiding in their self.(x. 11.) Wherefore do
thou not grieve. "

Notes:
 The compound word `Sarvadharman' in this verse denotes all those duties
enjoined by the sastras, which have been prescribed for a particular man
according to his grade in society, stage in life, temperament and
circumstances, and which have been referred to in verse 6   of Chapter
XII
[[
But those who worship Me, renouncing all actions in Me regarding Me
Supreme, meditating on Me with exclusive devotion (Yoga) ; for them
whose thought is fixed on Me, I become ere long, O son of Pritha, the
deliverer out of the ocean of the mortal sansara.
]]
as `Sarvani Karmani' and by the term `Sarvakarmani' in verse 57 of the
present chapter.
[[
Mentally resigning all deeds to Me, regarding Me as the Supreme,
resorting to mental concentration, do thou ever fix thy heart in Me.
Mentally: with discriminative faith. All actions: producing visible and
invisible results. Me: the Lord. As taught in ix. 27, do thou dedicate
all thy actions to Me. Regarding: regarding Me, Vasudeva, as the highest
goal ; his whole self centered in Me. Regarding, &  resorting to the
Buddhi·Yoga (samahitabuddhitva, steadymindedness, firm faith as thy sole
refuge.
]]

Laying down all these duties in God in the manner suggested in the
commentary on the verses mentioned above is what is meant by the verb
`Parityajya'. For, while discussing the conception of `Tyaga' in the
course of this chapter, the Lord has unequivocally declared in verse 7
[[
But even those actions should be performed, setting aside attachment and
the fruits ; this, O son of Pritha, is My firm and highest belief.
Those actions, &c: the acts of worship, gift and austerity which have
been said to be purifiers, should be performed, setting aside attachment
for them and abandoning their fruits.
]]
that it is not justifiable to abandon one's allotted duties, so that
giving them up through ignorance is what has been characterized as
Tamasika Tyaga. Therefore, by no stretch of imagination can the word
`Parityajya' be interpreted in the sense of abandoning all duties.
Besides this, the Lord has commanded Arjuna at more than one places
III.3O;
[[
30. Renouncing all action in Me with thy thought resting on the Self,
being free from hope, free from selfishness, devoid of fever, do thou
fight.  To Me, Vasudeva, the Divine Being, the Supreme Lord, the
Omniscient, the Self of all, surrender all actions, with the wise
thought that I, the agent, do this for the Isvaras sake as his liege:
Fever: anguish, grief.
]]

VIII. 7;
[[
7. Therefore at all times do thou mediate on Me and fight: with mind and
reason fixed on Me thou shalt doubtless come to Me alone.  Meditate:
According to the Teaching (sastra). Fight: do thou perform thy proper
duty of fighting. Vasudeva. Come to Me: as meditated upon by thee.   The
Divine Being to be meditated upon.
]]
XI.34
[[
 Drona and Bhishma, Jayadratha, Karna and other brave warriors,these,
killed by Me, do thou kill ; fear not, fight, thou shalt conger the
enemies.  The lord speaks of these warriors whom Arjuna had any reason
to fear as killed by Himself. Now it is evident why there should be any
hesitation (on the part of Arjuna) concerning Drona and Bhishma Drona
was his teacher in the science of archery, was possessed of celestial
weapons and was especially his (Arjunas) own dear greatest Guru Bhishma
had his death at his own command and was possessed of celestial weapons.
He once entered into a single combat with ParasuRama and was not
defeated. As to Jayadratha, his father was engaged in austerity firmly
resolved that whoever causes my sons head to drop down on earth, his
head too shall fall: Karna, too, was furnished with an unerring Sakti
(missile) given him by Indra. He was a son of the sun, born of a maiden.
Wherefore he is also mentioned by name. Enemies: such as Duryodhana.
Arjunas adoration of the Universal Form  Sanjaya said:
]]

not to desist from fighting, which is a sacred duty with the Ksatriyas,
but to participate in war resigning all duties to Him. And having
carefully listened to the Gita, Arjuna himself not only expresses his
willingness to do His bidding in verse 73 of the present chapter,
[[
73. Destroyed is delusion, and I have gained recognition through Thy
Grace, O Achyuta. I am firm, with doubts gone. I will do Thy word.
Delusion: born of ajnana or ignorance, the cause of the whole evil of
samsara, hard to cross like the ocean, who have sought Thy Grace.
Recognition: of the true nature of the Self. When this recognition is
obtained, then will all the ties of the heart be loosened: This
questioning and answering about the destruction of delusion shows
conclusively, what the purpose of the knowledge of the teaching of the
whole Sastra is, namely, the destruction of delusion and the attainment
of a recognition of the Self. So the sruti  begins with the words. Not
knowing the Self, I grieve and then speaks of the loosening, of all ties
by means to Selfknowledge. There are also scriptural passages such as
The tie of the heart is broken (Mund. Up. 228) and To him who sees
unity, what delusion is there, what grief ? (Isa. Up· 7), I am firm: in
Thy command. Do thy word: Arjuna means to say Through Thy Grace I have
achieved the end of life: I have naught to do.
]]
' but actually participated in the Mahabharata war and thus discharged
his sacred obligation. `Sarvadharman parityajya' should, therefore, be
taken to mean laying down all one's duties in the Lord, and not actually
giving them up. And the man who has laid down his duties in the Lord
regards everything as belonging to Him; and completely renouncing the
feeling of `I' and `mine', as well as attachment and desire in respect
of his mind, senses and body and with regard to all actions performed by
them as well as to their fruit, continues to perform such duties only
for His sake and according to His behest's and prompting like a mere
tool in His hands.
 Having resigned all his duties to God in the above manner, the devotee
who has solely taken refuge in the Lord regards Him as his supreme goal,
safest retreat, chief support, dearest object of love, greatest
well-wisher, most intimate friend and nearest relative, and looks upon
Him as his supporter, lord and guardian. He constantly thinks of Him at
all times with supreme reverence and exclusive love even while sitting
or standing, awake or asleep, eating and drinking, walking and moving
from one place to another and carrying out His behest's in every way. He
ever remains contented with His dispensation and like the celebrated
devotee, Prahlada, entirely depends on Him and Him alone. All this is
covered by taking refuge in the Lord. The idea has been clearly brought
out in the commentary on verse 6 of Chapter XII, the concluding verse of
Chapter X
[[
 But, of what avail to thee is this vast things being known, O Arjuna ?
I stand sustaining this whole world by one part (of Myself).  Of what
avail to you can be this .knowledge of vast but imperfect details
Listen, I will tell you completely of it. I stand sustaining firmly this
whole world by one part, by one limb, by one foot ; i.e one part of
Myself constitutes all beings.
]]
and verse 57   of this very chapter.

 The word `Papa' forming part of the compound word `Sarvapapebhyah' in
this verse stands for the bondage of action in the shape of fruits of
good and evil deeds, under which this Jiva or embodied soul has been
revolving from birth to birth through different species of life; and the
absolution from sins referred to here consists in freeing one from the
above bondage. Therefore, the idea underlying the freedom from sins
promised by the Lord is the same as has been conveyed in verse 31 of
Chapter III
[[
 Men who constantly practice this teaching of Mine with faith and
without caviling, they too are liberated from actions.
  Men who always follow this teaching of Mine without caviling, i.e
without cherishing any feeling of envy towards Me, Vasudeva, the Supreme
Master (ParamaGuru)they too are released from actions, i,e from dharma
and adharma, from the merit and demerit of actions.
]]
by the words `Karmabhih mucyante' by the words `Mrtyusamsarasagarat
samuddharta bhavami, in verse 7 of Chapter XII,
and by the words `Matprasadat sarvadurgani tarisyasi' in verse 58 of the
present chapter.
[[
 Fixing thy heart in Me, thou shalt, by My Grace, cross over all
difficulties ; but if from egotism thou will not hear (Me), thou shalt
perish. Difficulties: the impassable obstacles arising from (avidya),
the cause of samsara. Egotism: the idea that thou art a learned man. If
thou wilt not abide by my advice, then thou shalt be ruined.  Neither
shouldst thou think, I am independent ; why should I obey the dictates
of another ?
 The Lord winds up the teaching of the Gita by comforting Arjuna in the
words "Ma Sucah" (worry not). Concluding with these words the teaching
which He commenced in verse 11 of Chapter II  with the words
`Asocyan'(not worth grieving for), the Lord exhorts Arjuna, who had
already betaken himself to Him, to urrender himself completely and
thereby be rid of all worries, and having shed all grief and fear,
abandon himself to His care for ever. This total absence of sorrow and
realization of God form the principal theme of the Gita.

(Courtesy Multimedia book on the Gita by ISRA www.bhagavadgita.com)

For more details, please listen/download  the discourse of  His
Holiness  Sri Sri Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana
Ramanuja Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji in Telugu, placed in the above sites
courtesy Gemini TV  (2nd March 0600 IST 2003)

P.S.  1.  Links to gitajyoti discourse  archives and other bhakti sites
      available   at    the following site
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2.  As all the  above sites are free sites, due to bandwidth limitation,
service breaks are given by the site provider.  Please try again  after
some time in such cases.  ( inconvenience caused is deeply   regretted)

Jai Srimannarayana
Jai Govinda Jai Jai Govinda Jai Jai Jai Govinda

Sarva aparAdhamulatow
Dr. Kilambi Ramakrishna Ramanuja Dasan


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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