Commentary on the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

We cannot be free from the desire for external things unless we are united with the Universal Being. Unless we have an element of Universality in our experience, it is not possible for the mind to be free from the objects of desire. So there is no use in merely trying to dispatch objects outside, throw them away, bundle them into the Ganga, and imagine that we have no desires. We cannot be free from the longing for something unless we have realised and obtained something greater. The object will no longer torment and tantalise us when there is something greater than the object which we have realised in our own self. When we have the ocean itself within us, we do not run after a cup of water.

Therefore, it is incumbent upon every student of yoga to work hard, not merely negatively by restraining the sense organs through fasting, not sleeping, not speaking and physically being away from things. This method alone is not adequate, because we cannot starve consciousness. Consciousness wants food; therefore, we must give it the food of Universal experience, in any degree of expression. It may not be the highest universality, but it should be higher than ordinary individuality. Only then will the desires spontaneously cease. If we have a million dollars, we don’t mind losing one dollar; but if we have only ten dollars, one dollar looks very good. Similarly, we would not mind losing the whole world through sense contact if the Absolute is realised in our conscious experience. Only a person who has realised his universality can be free from desire and anger; nobody else.

Yo’ntah-sukho’ntararamas tathantar-jyotir eva yah, sa yogi brahma-nirvanam brahma-bhuto’dhigacchati: Who is blessed in his own self, who delights in his own self, who rejoices in his own self, who takes rest in his own self, who finds life in his own self – such a person has attained Brahman. Yo’ntah-sukha: whose satisfaction is inside, within himself; antararamah: who is reclining and whose abode is within himself only; tathantarjyotirevayah: whose illumination, whose light, whose guide is also inside; sa yogi brahma-nirvanam: he merges into Brahman because he has become Brahman. Brahma-bhuto’dhigacchati: The Universal is nothing but Brahman, and Brahman is nothing but the Universal. Therefore, the attainment of Brahman is the same as the requirement of the largest dimension of our own consciousness, our own individuality expanding itself to cosmic levels until there is nothing external to it. Thus, Atman becomes Brahman, the individual becomes the super-individual, the veritable Universal: sa yogi brahma-nirvanam brahma-bhuto’dhigacchati.

Kama-krodha-viyuktanam yatinam yata-cetasam, abhito brahma-nirvanam vartate viditatmanam (5.26): The Brahman that we are seeking is just under our nose here, provided we are free from desire and anger. Yogis who are self-restrained persons, who are free from kama and krodha – kama-krodha-viyuktanam yatinam yata-cetasam – whose minds are united with the Self, to such people Brahman is here and not in some distant place. It is just here and now. Abhitah: Everywhere is Brahman for that person. There is no distance between himself and Brahman, and there is no futurity of attaining Brahman; it is an eternal presence that is experienced as brahma-nirvana: sa yogi brahma-nirvanam brahma-bhuto’dhigacchati.

The entire yoga is described in two verses towards the end of the Fifth Chapter, and the Sixth Chapter is a long commentary on them. What is meant by yoga is elaborately detailed in the Sixth Chapter, but the seed of that long commentary is sown in these two verses towards the end of the Fifth Chapter: Sparsan kritva bahir bahyams cakshus caivantare bhruvoh, pranapanau samau kritva nasabhyantara-carinau (5.27); yatendriya-mano-buddhir munir moksha-parayanah, vigateccha-bhaya-krodho yah sada mukta eva sah (5.28).

Sparsan kritva bahir: cutting asunder the contact that is external, by means of the methods described in the earlier verses. Sparsan kritva bahir bahyams cakshus caivantare bhruvoh: not looking at things with open eyes, but closing the eyes to some extent as if we are looking at no one, or gazing at the spot between the eyebrows. In one place in the Sixth Chapter we are told that it would look as if we are gazing at the tip of the nose. Now it is said it will look as if we are concentrating on the middle of the eyebrows, as the case may be.

Sparsan kritva bahir bahyams cakshus caivantare bhruvoh, pranapanau samau kritva: equalising the breathing that is apana and prana, and not exhaling or inhaling heavily or with difficulty. When we run fast, we breathe in an unusual and abnormal way. There is gasping, tremendous pushing of the prana outside, and also a tremendous desire to push the prana down. Too much physical exercise which will push the prana out and exhaust the body is not very conducive to yoga practice. Yoga asanas are better than ordinary physical exercise because when we run while playing sports, we perspire, energy goes out, we feel tired and we breathe heavily, exhausting ourselves; but in yoga asana there is a calm and quiet bending of the prana inside. Even if we do the asanas for a long time, we do not feel exhausted, we do not perspire, we do not heave the breath as we do when we run or jump. It is an internalisation process taking place in the yoga asana. The externalisation of prana takes place in ordinary games. Hence, yoga asanas are superior to the western type of physical exercises. The pranas and apanas – the breathing that is inside as well as outside – should be equalised in such a way that they will be conducive to the concentration of the mind.

The breath and the mind are connected to each other. As the cog in the mechanism of a clock is connected with the hands which show the time, there is a connection between the mind and the prana. The prana is like the hands of the clock. It can be seen; but the mind is inside and cannot be seen. It is said that the prana can be restrained in two ways, just as there are two ways to stop a clock from working. One way is to hold the hands still; then the clock stops, but there is still the pressure of the wheels inside to make the hands move. Similarly, merely holding the breath when there are still desires in the mind is not conducive to stopping the prana. Rather, it is highly deleterious. Nobody should do pranayama and kumbhaka if there are submerged desires in the mind, because the prana can suddenly burst out, like a bomb, and cause illnesses of various kinds. If a desire-filled, emotionally-torn individual starts doing pranayama, there can be a collapsing of the body rather than a strengthening of it. Thus, the prana can be controlled by restraining the mind by freeing it from desires, just as a clock can be stopped by stopping the inner mechanism; or the prana can be stopped externally by holding the breath. Pranapanau samau kritva nasabhyantara-carinau: In the highest stage of the equalisation of breath, the prana and apana, which move through the two nostrils, are supposed to operate only inside the nose. They do not come out, which is contrary to what generally happens in our daily life – nasabhyantara-carinau.

Yatendriya-mano-buddhih. Yata means restraint, held in check; indriya means the senses, mana means mind, and buddhi means intellect. He who has restrained – held in check – the operations of the senses, the mind and the intellect in terms of external things is called yatendriya-mano-buddhih. A muni is one who is calm, quiet and silent in himself, and does not announce himself or parade his knowledge or glory, being satisfied with himself, asking not for satisfaction from anybody else. Such a person is a muni who has restrained his senses, mind and intellect and is calm and quiet in himself, devoted entirely to the liberation of the spirit – munir moksha-parayanah – and is intent on the liberation of his soul. Day-in and day-out he prays that the soul will be liberated from his body, that he will attain brahma-nirvana, that moksha will be his blessedness one day or the other. Day in and day out he broods over the possibility of attaining liberation, and sees nothing else except moksha – such a person is moksha-parayanah. Being entirely free from any kind of desire – vigateccha-bhaya-krodho – neither is there iccha, nor longing, nor fear of anything. Krodha, or anger, is of course far away from him. Whoever he is – sada mukta eva sah – such a person is liberated in this life.

Such a person, who is liberated even while apparently living in this body for some time, is called a jivanmukta. He becomes a videhamukta, or discarnately liberated when the body is shed, but he also may be liberated even while the body is there if the sattvic vrittis, sattvic karmas, take an upper hand and the rajas and tamas in him are completely subjugated. When the rajas and tamas are completely obliterated and only sattva predominates in a person, he becomes a jivanmukta – verily a god moving in this world. But when even the sattva guna is transcended – he becomes entirely free from the clutches of prakriti even through sattva – he drops the body and becomes universally present everywhere. A jivanmukta becomes a videha mukta – sada mukta eva sah.

Bhoktaram yajna-tapasam sarva-loka-maheswaram, suhridam sarva-bhutanam jnatva mam santim ricchati. The Lord says, “Realising that ultimately I am the enjoyer and the actor, all sacrifices are directed towards Me, all activity in this world is motivated by Me. All austerities, all tapas is possible only on account of My grace because I am the Lord of the three worlds and the Lord of all the fourteen worlds. I am the friend of all people, of everyone in any realm of existence. I am the dearest friend of all people living in any realm of existence.” Nobody except God can be called a friend. Knowing this truth, one attains peace.