Commentary on the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

In the case of a person who is totally established, action is not supposed to be the means. Sama, or tranquility, is the means. ‘Tranquility’ is a very intriguing word because, as I mentioned, various commentaries have looked upon it from various perspectives. But keeping in view the total vision of the intention of the Bhagavadgita, we should consider the life of Bhagavan Sri Krishna as the best commentary of the Bhagavadgita. There is no commentary on the Gita greater than the life of Bhagavan Sri Krishna himself. How did he live? This is perhaps his intention in teaching the Bhagavadgita. He wants us to be a Bhagavan Sri Krishna ourselves, and to think and act as he thought and acted. In my opinion, this is perhaps the best commentary on the Gita, and not any other commentary, academic or otherwise.

Sri Krishna was a total inclusive personality. Was Sri Krishna a householder? Was he a sannyasin? Was he a warrior? Was he a saint? Was he a Brahmin or a Kshatriya? What kind of person was Bhagavan Sri Krishna? We will not be able to have a straight answer to this, because it is an incarnation of the Absolute that came in the form of Sri Krishna. The Absolute does not behave like a householder, and It does not behave like a sannyasin. It does not behave like a person who keeps quiet. It may appear to behave like a warrior, but it does not mean that It is really behaving like a warrior. It is calm and quiet – utter tranquility. And, the Brahmana-Kshatriya distinction does not apply. As a matter of fact, from a purely physical point of view, Sri Krishna was a Kshatriya and not a Brahmin. Sri Rama was also a Kshatriya.

The power that Sri Krishna wielded is commensurate with the knowledge that he had. Sri Krishna was a mastermind who had the power to contact even Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. He could immediately contact these great gods, and he could work on earth as a laborer in the battlefield, driving Arjuna’s chariot of five horses into the battlefield. He could speak the highest philosophy as in the Bhagavadgita, and he could be in the palace in Dwaraka like an emperor. He could be like a child, a baby in the lap of Yasoda. He could be a terror to wicked people like Kamsa. What kind of person was he? It is like asking what kind of person God is. Our minds are not fit to accommodate these characteristics of total personalities. We call these people supermen. Since supermen do not behave like men, we should not interpret their behavior in terms of human behavior. Many people read the Mahabharata and say that Krishna did this and Krishna did that. They are judging things from the human point of view. It was a superhuman intervention of divinity that behaved in the necessary fashion from the cosmic point of view and, therefore, any kind of human ethics should not be applied to divine activities.

Thus, Sri Krishna was not an inactive person; nor can we say he was an active person restlessly moving about here and there, trying to uplift the world, doing charity, and building hospitals or schools and colleges. Neither was he that type of person, nor was he the type who kept quiet without doing any service. And no sannyasin could equal him. Millions of sannyasins could not stand before him, and yet he was a major-general and a field marshal. What a contradiction: a sannyasin behaving like a field marshal before whom no warrior could stand! No sannyasin could stand before him, no yogi could stand before him, and even the gods could not stand before him. What kind of a person was he? This is the kind of personality that he wants us to become, and that state is the ultimate tranquility that we achieve in the condition of establishment in yoga: the divine tranquility of God Himself who is not a restless individual. Yogarudhatva is a state of utter tranquility in the divine sense, not in the sense of absence of activity, because we cannot say that God is free from activity. Varta eva ca karmani: “I am always busy,” is what Lord Krishna tells Arjuna. But his being busy is totally different from our being busy – because we are busy physically, socially and psychologically, but Lord Krishna is the Absolute Itself working. We cannot know how the Absolute acts because Its action is within Itself and, therefore, it may look like non-action. An action that is taking place within itself is no longer an action, and yet it is a tremendous action, a most heightened form of action. But because it is the highest form of action, it looks like no action. My commentary on sama, which is the tranquility that is spoken of here (as the characteristic of a perfect yogi), is to be understood in this sense. This is my own individual commentary based on my own insight, as it were, and not based on any book or academic knowledge. My feeling about it is that we have to work like God Himself, and that is what Bhagavan Sri Krishna is telling us in the Bhagavadgita: yogarudhasya tasyaiva samah karanam uchyate.

Yada hi nendriyartheshu na karmasv anushajjate, sarva-sankalpa-sannyasi yogarudhas tadochyate: This state is when there is no contact of the senses with objects, and we do not see anything even with open eyes. We can keep our eyes open, and yet see nothing. Our ears can be open, and yet we hear nothing. This is possible. Opening the eyes and apparently looking at things but yet seeing nothing is called sambhavi mudra. People say that Ramana Maharishi was doing sambhavi mudra. He would appear to look at things with open eyes, but he was seeing nothing. The mind becomes withdrawn from the outer organ which is the eye. Similarly, we may not even hear a gunshot if the mind is concentrated on something and does not register the sound of the gunshot. When the sense organs do not receive reports from outside objects, when a person is not attached to the activities of the sense organs and does not get attached to any kind of ordinary fruit-yielding actions – yada hi nendriyartheshu na karmasv anushajjate; when a person is rid of all decisions in a particular direction (that things should be ‘like this’ or should be ‘like that’ and feels that either way is alright), such a person who has no particular will in any given direction is called a sarva-sankalpa-sannyasi, and he is also called yogarudha, established in yoga.

Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet, atmaiva hy atmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanah. Never feel despondent. Never complain that you are not able to achieve anything in meditation. Do not put on a sour and castor-oil face, as Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj used to say. He used to say, “Don’t put on a Sunday face.” Do not feel diffident. Do not feel discomfiture within yourself that you have come to the ashram and have been practising yoga under the guidance of Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj’s blessings for so many years, but you have achieved nothing. This kind of feeling should not arise. How do you know that you have not achieved anything?

There was a person called Madhusudhana Saraswati and a person called Vidyaranya who did twenty-four purascharanas of Gayatri, and no divinity appeared before them. They were great masters, more powerful in their minds than any one of us. They were wonderstruck that after so much tapasya they had no experience at all. A voice said, “You shall not have a vision of me in this life.” The person who was called Vidyaranya, who wrote the Panchadasi and other works, was known as Madhava in his pre-sannyasa days – a very learned person. His brother, called Sayana, wrote a commentary on all the four Vedas. They must have been geniuses. We cannot imagine such great wisdom. Madhava did Gayatri purascharana for attaining siddhi, and a voice said, “You shall not have a vision of me in this life.” He got disgusted that after having done so much, nothing had come. He took sannyasa. When he took sannyasa, immediately the divinity appeared: “Why are you doing do much purascharana? What do you want from me?” To that Madhava said, “You said that you will not appear before me in this birth.”

“But this is a second birth,” the voice said. “You have taken another birth. Therefore, I came.” “I want nothing now,” said Vidyaranya. “I was a poor man. As the householder Madhava, I would have certainly asked for wealth and riches and anything that would make me prosperous. But I have taken to renunciation, the path of sannyasa. Now I cannot ask for anything. So I am very sorry, great divinity. You have come too late, and now I cannot ask anything from you.” But the divinity said, “I cannot go without giving something. When I appear, I must give something before going.” “But I cannot ask for anything,” said Madhava. “You must ask for something,” reiterated the divinity. “But I want nothing,” Madhava asserted. Then the divinity said, “Because you want nothing, you shall have everything,” and it vanished. And Vidyaranya became omniscient.

What I mean is, you should not say that after twenty-four purascharanas you have achieved nothing. Some pratibandhaka karma, some rajasic karma of your previous birth has obstructed the appearance of divinity, but it does not mean that you have not progressed. The purascharanas have destroyed your sins, and when all the obstacles have been eliminated completely, immediately illumination will come. This was the case with Buddha also. The day before illumination, he felt as if everything was a waste. He was crawling like a half-dead man, and he felt that all the tapasya that he had done was a waste; but that very night he had illumination. As they say, the night is darkest just before sunrise. It does not mean that it is really dark; illumination is to immediately take place. So even if after many years of meditation in an ashram like this you have achieved nothing, it does not mean that really you have achieved nothing. You have achieved something; some obstacle is there which is being eliminated gradually. So do not be despondent. Do not complain about yourself. Do not complain against God, and do not be diffident. Do not have a lack of faith in the scriptures, in the Guru, and in God.

Raise yourself: uddhared atmanatmanam. Always be positive in your nature: “I am strong. I am healthy. I can walk three miles without any fatigue, and I can digest any food that is given in the kitchen. I have no problem.” Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj used to say, “My disciple can digest any food. He can wash vessels better than any servant. He can walk three miles and not feel any fatigue. He can type better than a good typist. He can speak better than other professors. Such is my disciple. My disciple is not a diffident man; he is a very confident man. My disciple is unequalled in any field.” So he is a genius, almost like a superman.

Therefore, uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet. Never become depressed. “It is a waste! So much japa has been done. What is the good of it? God may be there, or may not be. I don’t understand anything. The scriptures may be saying a hundred things. I don’t know which path to pursue. This Guru has been telling me something, but finally he has brought nothing. I will go to another Guru, and I will stay in some other place. I’ll go to Uttarkashi. I’ll go to Benares.” These kinds of ideas should not arise in the mind. You should feel, “I have taken to this path, and I am sure that I will get it.” If there is no visible progress, it is due to some rajasic karma operating in you. It does not mean that no progress has been made. So don’t deprecate yourself. Never condemn yourself. Do not say that you are a sinner – papatma papakarma. “I am not a sinner. I am a disciple of a Guru and a devotee of God, and I will attain the final liberation one day. So why should I think that I am unfit? I am as fit as anybody else.” Have this confidence, and you will really become that – because what you think you are, that you really become.

Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet: Never deprecate yourself. Raise yourself by the power of the self. Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet, atmaiva hy atmano bandhur atmaiva ripur atmanah: You are the friend of yourself and you are the enemy of yourself. If you go on condemning yourself, you are actually becoming the enemy of your own self; but if you raise yourself with the power of the spirit of higher aspiration, you are becoming the friend of yourself. You will be healthy, strong and prosperous.