Jnaneswari chapter 5

BHAGAVAD GITACommentary by

Sant Jnaneswar

PROF. T. K. G. NAMBOODHIRIThiruvalla, Kerala, India

BHAGAVAD GITAJNANESWARI

JNANESWARI• Jnaneswari is the commentary on Bhagavad Gita

written by Saint Jnaneswar, who lived in Maharashtra in the 13th Century AD.

• This very popular & simple commentary was written in Marathi by Saint Jnaneswar when he was only 15 years of age.

• The complete English translation of this commentary is available at http://www.bvbpune.org/contents1.htmlT K G Namboodhiri


JNANESWARI• The Marathi commentary Jnaneswari has been translated into

most Indian languages, English & other several European languages.

• The Malayalam translation of Jnaneswari was prepared by Shri M. P. Chandrasekharan Pillai (1924-1999),of Thiruvalla, Kerala. After a devotional labour of 4 years, referring several English & other translations, Shri. Pillai completed his Malayalam Jnaneswari in 1990. During this period, he was an inmate of Anandasram, Kanjangad, Kerala, who published the commentary.

• This presentation is based entirely on this Malayalam version of Jnaneswari

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CHAPTER 5KARMA SANYASA YOGA

YOGA OF WORK & RENUNCIATION

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Verse 5.1Arjuna asked the Lord: Krishna, you said that actions should be renounced, but in the same breath, you asked me to work according to Karma-Yoga. You initially advised me to leave all work. Next moment you praised the need for constantly working in an unattached way. Is it renouncing work, or getting involved in work, which will lead to lasting benefit for me? Kindly give me a definite answer.

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Verse 5.2Lord Krishna Replied: Arjuna, renouncement of work, as well as self-less work, both lead to liberation. If you think carefully, both renouncing action, & doing action without any desire for its fruits, are ways to attain liberation. But the path-of-action is the one which can be adopted both by the learned as well as the ignorant. Only a very strong person can swim across a river with strong currents, but if you have a boat, even women & children can easily cross that river. Similarly Karma-Yoga is suitable for everyone & is simple. If you follow it, you will eventually get the benefit of renunciation also.

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Verse 5.3Arjuna, understand that one who never desires anything, nor hates anything, is a permanent renouncer. He is beyond dualities & happy. Do not worry about anything that is lost. Never entertain even a trace of feelings like “I” or “Mine”. Such a person is a perpetual renouncer. Once you attain such a state, you will be liberated from bondage of work. Having no trace of desires, you will never get entangled in work. You will remain always in bliss.

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Verses 5.4 & 5.5Only ignorant children will say that the path-of-knowledge, & the path-of-action give different results. Wise men believe that both yield the same result-Liberation. One following any one of them properly, gets the benefit of both. Where monks who follow the path-of-knowledge reach, the same goal is reached by Karma-Yogis, that of Liberation. One who realizes this fact is the one who has understood things correctly.

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Verse 5.6It is very difficult for one to reach the state of renunciation needed for following the path-of-knowledge without prior purification of the mind through practicing the path-of-action. But the one who has gained equanimity of mind through Karma-Yoga, becomes a real renouncer, & gradually attains union with the Brahman. Only ignorant persons think that these two paths are separate. Those who have realized the Truth knows that these two paths are one & the same. As you cannot separate emptiness from the sky, you cannot separate these two paths of realization. Those who have reached the summit of the mountain of liberation through the path-of-action, easily descend to the plains of bliss of Self-realization. But those who have not attained the equanimity of mind through the path-of-action can never hope to become a real renouncer. T K G Namboodhiri


Verse 5.7One, who through the path-of-action has attained equanimity of mind, with a purified mind, has conquered his body & senses, & who knows that the Soul in his body is the same as that in all other living beings, is not tainted by the work he does. Such a person withdraws his desires for worldly enjoyments, & keeps his mind fixed on the inner self. A piece of salt remains insignificant till it dissolves in the sea, after which it becomes the infinite spread of the ocean. Similarly, one who merges with the Infinite Brahman, though retains the human form, has become universal in his thinking & he goes beyond time & space. He loses all identity as the doer of his action, & thus remains untainted by whatever actions he performs.

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Verses 5.8 & 5.9One, who has realized the Self & is established in Self-Knowledge, does all activities a normal person does. He breaths, sees, tastes, talks and does essential work using his organs of action. Though he sees with his eyes, hears with his ears, etc. he never gets entangled with the seen & heard objects. He considers all these activities as mere working of his sense organs with their objects, & never feel any sense of doership. Hence he remains untainted by his actions.

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Verse 5.10One who does all his work as offering to God, & discards all desires for the fruits of his action, is not tainted by his actions, just like the lotus leaf floating on water is not wetted by it. Such a person maintains all sensual perceptions and engages in essential activities. A lamp lit in a house lets all household activities to be done in its light, but is not affected by them. Similarly, a Karma-Yogi is not tainted by his actions.

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Verses 5.11 to 5.13Those who practice Yoga, work with their body, mind & intellect only, renouncing the fruits of action, with the aim of attaining Self-Knowledge. The work of a Karma-Yogi is just like a child’s play, without any attachments. They work without any attachments to the fruits of action & attain permanent peace. One who works for the fruits of action gets bound by his actions & suffer. A Karma-Yogi works with purity using his body, senses, mind & intellect, & with detachment for fruits of action. Controlling his senses, mind & intellect, & renouncing all fruits of work, a Yogi dwells in his body with 9 openings, blissfully. He neither does anything nor causes any work to be done. Though he works like a normal person, absence of any feelings of doership, makes all his work non-work. He remains always blissfully in union with the SELF.

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Verses 5.14 & 5.15God neither creates work & doership, nor the desire for fruits of work in the world. Though He is the cause of creation of the whole universe, He remains untainted & beyond doership. Deluded living beings act according to their inborn tendencies. The fully Perfect God does not accept anybody’s sin, nor does He take their virtue. Ignorance shields true knowledge, and living beings get deluded. He incarnates & performs His actions by His own will, but this does not alter his formlessness or inertness.

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Verse 5.16Persons whose ignorance has been removed by self-knowledge, their knowledge shines & illuminates everything, just as the Sun illuminates the whole world. Only when the ignorance is completely removed, desires & habits disappear. Then the realization of the non-doership of God becomes clear. Then all differences vanish & God and the seeker becomes one. Such persons view the whole universe in their Self.

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Verse 5.17Persons who have known the Self, & realized that they are none other than the Supreme Self, who is engrossed in the Self, & who consider Self to be their ultimate Goal, exhaust all their sin through knowledge, & attain the state of the Ultimate from where there is no return. Established in equanimity, such people will permanently stay in the Brahman.

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Verse 5.18The man of Self-Knowledge sees a Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog & a person who eats the dog in the same way. He does not differentiate between the Brahmin who is well-educated but humble & an outcaste who eats dogs & live an uncultured life. As long as the feeling of “I” & “mine” exists, the differences exist, but once that feeling is dead, no differentiation is possible.

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Verse 5.19

Persons whose minds are established in equality, cross the sea of birth & death in this life itself. Brahman is stainless & exists equally in all. Those who view everything equally has become Brahman Itself. Without renouncing sense objects, without starving the senses, they have achieved detachment from desires & sensual pleasures. Though appearing to be normal people, they are ,in reality, the Infinite Brahman.

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Verses 5.20 & 5.21The knower of Brahman who has concentrated his mind & intellect in Brahman, who has grasped the essence of Brahman & is constantly immersed in bliss, does not feel happy with pleasant things or grieve with unpleasant happenings. Undisturbed & equanimous, he is Brahman in the form of man. Such a person is disinterested in sensual pleasures from outside world as he is always filled with the permanent bliss of self-knowledge. He is always established in Brahman & enjoys unending happiness.

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Verse 5.22The pleasures derived from the contacts of sense-organs with their sense-objects are really seeds of pain & sorrow, because they all have a beginning & an end. Wise people, who have experienced the bliss of Self-Knowledge do not find any pleasure in them. Sensual pleasures are like lightening, impermanent & short- lived. They are merely the cause of suffering & pain.

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Verse 5.23One, who conquers desire, anger & the mental disturbances caused by them, becomes eligible to realize the Self in this life itself. He becomes mentally peaceful & happy. Such people immersed in the eternal Bliss of Self-Knowledge, lose the awareness of their body & the veil of ego is torn away from them. They lose all dualities & get fully immersed in Bliss.

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Verses 5.24 & 5.25The Yogi who finds happiness in himself & always remains in self-illumination, gradually merges with the Brahman & gets liberated. Yogis whose sins have ended & whose doubts have vanished & their minds & intellect fully under control & who enjoy doing good for other living beings attains the bliss of Brahman.

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Verse 5.26Seekers who have completely eliminated desires & anger, & always remain in contemplation of the Self, attain Eternal Bliss. Those who have withdrawn their minds from sensual objects, & concentrated their mind on the Self, stay in the lap of bliss & become the Brahman Itself. How one can reach the State of Brahman in the present human life itself is explained in the two following verses.

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Verses 5.27 & 5.28A seeker must withdraw from all sensual contacts with the outside world, sit & fix his eyes on the midpoint of his eyebrows, & equalise his in & out breathing through the nose. He must control his senses, mind & intellect, & contemplate on his goal of attaining liberation. Devoid of all desires, interests & other thoughts, he in the present body itself merges with the Brahman.

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Verse 5.29One who through Yoga recognises Me as the Lord who accepts all offerings, sacrifices & penance, as the Over-Lord of all the world, & as the friend of all beings, attains permanent peace. Such Yogis attain the state of Brahman in this life itself. These free souls, lead a worldly life doing good for everyone.

T K G Namboodhiri

Spiritual

Jnaneswari chapter 5