Bhagavad Gita – Chapter V Part 4
Action In Krishna Consciousness
Sanskrit working:
English Wording:
- ye hi samsparsa-ja bhoga
- duhkha-yonaya eva te
- ady-antavantah kaunteya
- na tesu ramate budhah.
English Translation:
which are due to contact with the material senses. 0 son of Kunti.
such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man
does not delight in them.
Purport:
Material sense pleasures are due to the contact of the material
senses, which are all temporary because the body itself is temporary.
A liberated soul is not interested in anything which is temporary.
Knowing well the joys of transcendental pleasures, how can a liberated soul agree to enjoy false pleasure? In the Padma Puraria it is said:
“The mystics derive unlimited transcendental pleasures from the
Absolute Truth, and therefore the Supreme Absolute Truth, the
Personality of Godhead, is also known as Rama.”
In the Srimad-Bhagavatam also it is said:
“My dear sons, there is no reason to labor very hard for sense
pleasure while in this human form of life; such pleasures are avail-
able to the stool-eaters [hogs]. Rather, you should undergo penances
in this life by which your existence will be purified, and as a result
you will be able to enjoy unlimited transcendental bliss.”
Therefore, those who are true yogis or learned transcendentalists are not attracted by sense pleasures, which are the causes of
continuous material existence. The more one is addicted to material
pleasures, the more he is entrapped by material miseries.
Sanskrit working:
English Wording:
- saknotihaiva yah sodhum
- prak sarira-vimoksanat
- kama-krodhodbhavam vegam sa
- yuktah sa sukhi narah.
English Translation:
Before giving up this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges
of the material senses and check the force of desire and anger, he is
well situated and is happy in this world.
Purport:
If one wants to make steady progress on the path of self-realization,
he must try to control the forces of the material senses. There are the
forces of talk, forces of anger, forces of mind, forces of the stomach,
forces of the genitals, and forces of the tongue. One who is able to
control the forces of all these different senses, and the mind, is called
gosvami, or svami. Such gosvamis live strictly controlled lives, and
forgo altogether the forces of the senses. Material desires, when
un-satiated, generate anger, and thus the mind, eyes and chest become
agitated. Therefore, one must practice to control them before one
gives up this material body. One who can do this is understood to be
self-realized and is thus happy in the state of self-realization. It is the
duty of the transcendentalist to try strenuously to control desire
and anger.
Sanskrit working:
English Wording:
- yo ?ntah-sukho ?ntar-aramas
- tathanta-jyotir eva yah sa
- yogi brahma-nirvanam
- brahma-bhuto ?dhigacchati.
English Translation:
One whose happiness is within, who is active and rejoices within,
and whose aim is inward is actually the perfect mystic. He is liberated
in the Supreme, and ultimately he attains the Supreme.
Purport:
Unless one is able to relish happiness from within, how can one retire
from the external engagements meant for deriving superficial happiness? A liberated person enjoys happiness by factual experience. He
can, therefore, sit silently at any place and enjoy the activities of life
from within. Such a liberated person no longer desires external
material happiness. This state is called brahma-bhuta, attaining
which one is assured of going back to Godhead, back to home.
Sanskrit working:
English Wording:
- labhante brahma-nirvanam
- rsayah ksina-kalmasah
- chinna-dvaidha yatatmanah
- sarva-bhuta-hite ratah.
English Translation:
Those who are beyond the dualities that arise from doubts, whose minds are engaged within, who are always busy working for the welfare of all living beings, and who are free from all sins achieve liberation in the Supreme.
Purport:
Only a person who is fully in Krsna consciousness can be said to be
engaged in welfare work for all living entities. When a person is
actually in the knowledge that Krsna is the fountainhead of every-
thing, then when he acts in that spirit he acts for everyone. The
sufferings of humanity are due to forgetfulness of Krsna as the
supreme enjoyer, the supreme proprietor, and the supreme friend.
Therefore, to act to revive this consciousness within the entire
human society is the highest welfare work. One cannot be engaged in
such first-class welfare work without being liberated in the Supreme.
A Krsna conscious person has no doubt about the supremacy of
Krsna. He has no doubt because he is completely freed from all sins.
This is the state of divine love.
A person engaged only in ministering to the physical welfare of
human society cannot factually help anyone. Temporary relief of the
external body and the mind is not satisfactory. The real cause of
one’s difficulties in the hard struggle for life may be found in one’s
forgetfulness of his relationship with the Supreme Lord. When a
man is fully conscious of his relationship with Krsna, he is actually-a
liberated soul, although he may be in the material tabernacle.
Sanskrit working:
English Wording:
- kama-krodha-vimuktanam
- yatinam yata-cetasam
- abhito brahma-nirvanam
- vartate viditatmanam.
English Translation:
Those who are free from anger and all material desires, who are
self-realized, self-disciplined and constantly endeavoring for perfec-
tion, are assured of liberation in the Supreme in the very near future.
Purport:
salvation, one who is in Krsna consciousness is the best of all. The
Bhagavatam (4.22.39) confirms this fact as follows:
“Just try to worship, in devotional service, Vasudeva, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. Even great sages are not able to control the
forces of the senses as effectively as those who are engaged in
transcendental bliss by serving the lotus feet of the Lord, uprooting
the deep-grown desire for fruitive activities.”
In the conditioned soul the desire to enjoy the fruitive results of
work is so deep rooted that it is very difficult even for the great sages
to control such desires, despite great endeavors. A devotee of the
Lord, constantly engaged in devotional service in Krsna conscious-
ness, perfect in self-realization, very quickly attains liberation in the
Supreme. Owing to his complete knowledge in self-realization, he
always remains in trance. To cite an analogous example of this:
“By vision, by meditation and by touch only do the fish, the tortoise
and the birds maintain their offspring. Similarly do 1 also, 0
Padmaja!”
The fish brings up its offspring simply by looking at them. The
tortoise brings up its offspring simply by meditation. The eggs of the
tortoise are laid on land, and the tortoise meditates on the eggs while
in the water. Similarly, the devotee in Krsna consciousness, although
far away from the Lord’s abode, can elevate himself to that abode
simply by thinking of Him constantly-by engagement in Krsna
consciousness. He does not feel the pangs of material miseries; this
state of life is called brahma-nirvana, or the absence of material
miseries due to being constantly immersed in the Supreme.
Sanskrit working:
English Wording:
- sparsan krtva bahir bahyams
- caksus caivantare bhruvoh
- pranapanau samau krtva
- nasabhyantara-carinau. || 27 ||
- yatendriya-mano-buddhir
- munir moksa-parayanah
- vigateccha-bhaya-krodho
- yah sada mukta eva sah. || 28 ||
English Translation:
Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes and vision
concentrated between the two eyebrows, suspending the inward and
outward breaths within the nostrils, and thus controlling the mind,
senses and intelligence, the transcendentalist aiming at liberation
becomes free from desire, fear and anger. One who is always in this
state is certainly liberated.
Purport:
stand one’s spiritual identity, and then one can understand the
Supreme Lord by means of devotional service. When one is well
situated in devotional service, one comes to the transcendental
position, qualified to feel the presence of the Lord in the sphere of
one’s activity. This particular position is called liberation in the
Supreme.
After explaining the above principles of liberation in the Supreme,
the Lord gives instruction to Arjuna as to how one can come to that
position by the practice of the mysticism or yoga known as astanga-yoga, which is divisible into an eightfold procedure called yama,
niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and
samddhi. In the Sixth Chapter the subject of yoga is explicitly
detailed, and at the end of the Fifth it is only preliminarily explained.
One has to drive out the sense objects such as sound, touch, form,
taste and smell by the pratydhara process yoga, and then keep the
vision of the eyes between the two eyebrows and concentrate on the
tip of the nose with half-closed lids.
There is no benefit in closing the
eyes altogether, because then there is every chance of falling asleep.
Nor is there benefit in opening the eyes completely, because then
there is the hazard of being attracted by sense objects. The breathing
movement is restrained within the nostrils by neutralizing the up-
moving and down-moving air within the body. By practice of such
yoga one is able to gain control over the senses, refrain from outward
sense objects, and thus prepare oneself for liberation in the Supreme.
This yoga process helps one become free from all kinds of fear and
anger and thus feel the presence of the Supersoul in the transcendental situation. In other words, Krsna consciousness is the easiest
process of executing yoga principles. This will be thoroughly
explained in the next chapter. A Krsna conscious person, however,
being always engaged in devotional service, does not risk losing his
senses to some other engagement. This is a better way of controlling
the senses than by the astanga-yoga.
Sanskrit working:
English Wording:
- bhoktaram yajna-tapasam
- sarva-loka-mahesvaram
- suhrdam sarva-bhutanam
- jnatva mam santim rcchati.
English Translation:
A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate
beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all
planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all
living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.
Purport:
anxious to attain peace in the material world. But they do not know
the formula for peace, which is explained in this part of the
Bhagavad-Gita. The greatest peace formula is simply this: Lord
Krsna is the beneficiary in all human activities. Men should offer
everything to the transcendental service of the Lord because He is
the proprietor of all planets and the demigods thereon. No one is
greater than He. He is greater than the greatest of the demigods,
Lord Siva and Lord Brahma.
In the Vedas (Svetasvatara Upanishad
6.7) the Supreme Lord is described as tarn isvardndm paramam
mahesvaram. Under the spell of illusion, living entities are trying to
be lords of all they survey, but actually they are dominated by the
material energy of the Lord. The Lord is the master of material
nature, and the conditioned souls are under the stringent rules of
material nature. Unless one understands these bare facts, it is not
possible to achieve peace in the world either individually or collectively. This is the sense of Krsna consciousness: Lord Krsna is the
supreme predominator, and all living entities, including the great
demigods, are His subordinates. One can attain perfect peace only in
complete Krsna consciousness.