Commentary on the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

An eternity and a temporality characterise all things in the world. The eternity in things is in the form of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss – satchidananda. The temporality or perishability of objects is in their name and form. Name and form are rejected by the yogi, and he sees the essence. As I mentioned previously, he sees the gold in all ornaments. Whatever be the shape of the ornament, he sees one substance there, which is the shining gold.

Sarva-bhuta-stham atmanam sarva-bhutani chatmani, ikshate yoga-yukta-atma sarvatra sama-darsanah. Prior to this, the Lord had said, yo mam pasyati sarvatra: “He who beholds Me everywhere”; sarvam ca mayi pasyati: “and beholds all things in Myself”. Therefore, “He who beholds Me in all things sees My presence in everything, and also sees all things located in me”. To repeat, yo mam pasyati sarvatra sarvam ca mayi pasyati, and then, tasyaham na pranasyami: “I shall not be bereaved in his case; he shall not lose me.” God will not desert us. We will never be disconnected from God. He shall be at our beck and call. He shall be our servant, as it were. All things shall be provided to us by this Great Being, provided that we are able to convince ourselves in the heart of our hearts that all things are located in the Absolute and the Absolute is located in all things. Yo mam pasyati sarvatra sarvam ca mayi pasyati, tasyaham na pranasyami: We are dear to God and God is dear to us in such an intensive manner that we are perpetually inseparable. That state of life is the attainment of great Godliness where yo mam pasyati sarvatra sarvam ca mayi pasyati, tasyaham na pranasyami.

Sarva-bhuta-sthitam yo mam bhajaty ekatvam asthitah: “One who adores Me as residing in all things, as the Atman or the Self or the essence of all things; one who worships Me in this way – locating Me everywhere, worshipping Me in all things, beholding Me in every little form and name – whoever does this is able to achieve this great united-ness with me.” Ekatvam asthitah means he who has attained to a unity of perception in the midst of the diversity of things. Whatever be the mode of that person’s life, that person is one with God. God has been very kind in giving a blank cheque to us: “Behave in any way you like, but be rooted in Me.” These days people sometimes say, “Love, and do what you like.” Love, and then do what you like. In a similar way God says, “Love me, and then do what you like.” Whatever be the mode of one’s living – as a blacksmith, a goldsmith, a farmer, an officer or an ironsmith, whatever it is; whether one is a poor or rich, tall or short; whatever be the circumstance of one’s life, the mode of one’s living and the occupation that one is practicing, it matters not. Sarvatha vartamano’pi sa yogi mayi vartate: Such a person, irrespective of his occupations, locations and circumstances, is rooted in God because of the great concentration that he has practiced on the deepest Self in him as the Self of all beings.

Atmaupamyena sarvatra samam pasyati yo’rjuna, sukham va yadi va duhkham sa yogi paramo matah (6.32): “Hey Arjuna! He who beholds all things as he beholds himself…” This is a very difficult thing – to look at all things as we look at ourselves. Things outside look ugly, but we do not look ugly to ourselves. We have a contour of pleasantness and beauty, and other things in comparison to us may look otherwise. The difficulty in practicing this doctrine of seeing everything as one would look upon oneself, arises on account of the egoism of the individual.

If we are hungry, others are also hungry. If we feel fear, others also feel fear. If we are deprived of our possessions, others can also be deprived of their possessions. We have desires, and others also have desires. We have problems, and others also have problems. Therefore, we must be in a position to sympathise with the circumstances of all people and things. Even an ant would not like to die. Even an insect would not like to be trampled by an elephant. An insect loves itself as much as an elephant loves itself. It crawls and wriggles and runs and flies if somebody tries to catch it and kill it. Every living being has a love for itself, and the largeness or the smallness of the body is immaterial here. Though the body of an elephant is larger than the body of an ant, the selfhood of the ant is not in any way smaller than the selfhood of the elephant. The ant feels hunger as intensely as an elephant feels hunger. The physical dimension of the body is not in any way a deterrent to feeling pain and pleasure, whatever be the circumstance and the species into which one is born.

Atmaupamyena sarvatra samam pasyati yah: We love all things as we love ourself. Even the trees and the stones will respond to our call; there are no non-living or dead elements in this world. The various levels of creation such as matter, vegetable, plant, animal, human, etc. are only various stages of the expression of consciousness; but no level is totally without consciousness. It is present even in stone. If that were not the case, there would be no possibility of evolution. Inasmuch as we are able to locate our Self as the deepest reality of all things, we will be able to locate the same reality even in a stone. Everything in the world will shine like the light of the sun, and sparks of flame, as it were, will be seen jetting forth from every atom in the cosmos. If we see solar light emerging from every atom and every electron, then only it becomes possible for us to consider outside things as beloved, as valuable as our own self.  

Atmaupamyena sarvatra samam pasyati yo’rjuna, sukham va yadi va duhkham sa yogi paramo matah: “Whether he is in a happy state or in an unhappy state, that great yogi is lodged in Me.” This is a great promise, a kind of manifesto, as it were, that the Lord has bequeathed to us in these four verses, which in a little compass tell us how great God is, how compassionate God can be, how near God is to us and how easy it is to contact him. All these aspects of our relationship with God are brought out in these four verses, which we should recite. They can be recited in any language.

A doubt arises in the mind. “Well, all this is very well. I practice yoga, and I am struggling to achieve perfection in this life itself. But suppose, in spite of my ardent struggle and striving, I do not attain the goal before the discarding of this body. Suppose death overtakes me before the attainment of the goal of yoga, notwithstanding the fact that I have been practicing yoga. What will happen to me? Is it going to be a waste of effort? Is it true that when death takes place, everything is destroyed? Then all the effort in the direction of God-realisation by way of yoga will also be destroyed. Years of practice will become futile. Is this going to be my fate or anybody’s fate, if per chance one dies in the middle of the practice of yoga? Wwill not the soul perish into shreds of unfulfilled aims like a cloud rented apart? What good is there in practicing yoga when death is at the elbow and it can kill me at any moment?”

To this, a great consoling reply comes from the great Lord. There is no perishing of effort. The body may be discarded, but the force that is generated by our concentration, by our practice of yoga, will come with us because in death the body perishes but the mind does not perish. What takes rebirth is the mind. The desire-filled mind discards this body because it cannot have any more experience through this body. As we discard an old shirt because it is worn out, and put on a new shirt, the mind that is to fulfill further desires in some form or the other discards the old shirt of this body and puts on a new shirt in the form of a new body. Therefore, the mind does not die in death. It is only the body that goes. Hence, because all effort in yoga is a mental effort, as it is a consciousness operation, our yoga practice will not be a futile waste, because the mind will take with it all its assets in the form of the great work that it has done in meditation. The power of meditation which is impregnated into the very structure of the mind will be carried with it even if we take another birth. So, we should not be afraid that if we die in the midst of the practice of yoga there will be a loss of effort. No such thing will take place.

Because of the power of our practice, we may be born in a highly conducive atmosphere in which there is no kind of disturbance to us. Now we have a lot of disturbance – political disturbance, social disturbance, personal disturbance, communal disturbance, and all kinds of things. We cannot easily practice yoga in this world, due to difficulties of this kind. No such difficulty will be there afterwards. All factors will be conducive to our practice. In such a noble family, in a royal family, as it were, we will be born due to the great practice that we have carried on in this present life. Or we may even become the son or daughter of a great yogi such as Vasishtha or Vyasa. Then what else would we require? Such blessedness is difficult to attain, but it is possible to attain it. Thus, there should not be any fear in the practice of yoga. Even if we die having practiced only a little, the whole effort will be carried forward as assets are carried forward in a balance sheet.