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Post on second adhyaya.

After discussing first ovi from first adhyaya, when I started looking for one ovi from the second adhyaya for discussion in this post, I was really placed in a  difficult situation. Many experts on Bhagwad Geeta feel that Second adhyaya is the essence of entire teaching of Lord Krishna. It tells us what is Sankhya yoga and what is Karma yoga. It gives characteristic identification marks of a Sthitapradnya i.e. one whose mind and intellect are steady and merged in contemplation of the Brahman. Some critiques of Geeta feel that in the last shloka of this adhyaya, the Lord has summed up his teaching to Arjuna by describing the Brahmi Sthiti (i.e. the status gained by a yogi after his self merges in the Brahman). And that the subsequent adhyayas of Geeta deal only with elaboration of theoretical concepts and practical application of Buddhi yoga, Karma yoga and Bhakti yoga. Such being the importance of this adhyaya, it was a challenge to explain ideas contained in the second adhyaya by referring to any one ovi singularly. Rightly or wrongly, I settled on the following ovi for this purpose. In any case, after serially discussing one ovi each from all eighteen adhyayas in the first round, we will discuss remaining important ovis from each adhyaya again in due course.

           अर्जुना समत्व चित्ताचें । तेंचि सार जाण योगाचें । 

            जेथ मना आणि बुद्धीचें । ऐक्य आथी ।।2-273।।

2-273. O Arjuna, equilibrium of mind in any given situation is the essence of yoga wherein mind and intellect of a yogi together converge in the Divinity (in a non-attached way).

          As this ovi is based on Buddhi yoga (path of intellectual union with the Supreme Self), before we analyze it, let us first understand Buddhi yoga. This expression appears in Bhagwad Geeta for the first time in Shloka 39 of second adhyaya, where the Lord tells Arjuna that so far. I have explained the knowledge to you from the view point of Sankhya philosophy; now listen to the same from the point of view of buddhi yoga. Then in Shloka 48 of the same adhyaya, the word yoga has been defined as “samatwam yoga uchyate” meaning thereby that equilibrium (i. e. evenness or equability or equanimity) of mind and intellect in favourable or unfavourable circumstances is called as yoga. Thereafter in Shloka 50, yoga has been further qualified by saying that “yogah karmasu kaushalam” means yoga is the skill and efficiency in performance of karmas (actions). Further, in Shloka 23 of sixth adhyaya, yoga has been defined as elimination of sorrows and severance from union with pain. Here, I would like to caution that while reading all these definitions, the word yoga should not be construed in the sense in which it appears in the Patanjal-yoga. Because, though exact period of Patanjal-yogadarshana is not known, its commentators say that it has come into existence much later than Bhagwad Geeta. Certain aphorisms of Patanjal yoga do look similar to some instructions regarding yogic practice contained in sixth adhyaya of Bhagwad Geeta. This similarity is likely to cause confusion in the mind of a common reader; however, on close examination, essence of the yoga contemplated in Patanjal-yoga-Sutras and the Buddhi yoga espoused by Lord Krishna would both be found as widely different concepts. Such difference would be understood more clearly if someone starts practicing these two systems of yoga.  Suffice it to remember for the present that there is difference in them. We will examine this issue in detail when we reach discussion on sixth adhyaya of Dnyaneshwari. In the present context, I would like to say something more about Buddhi yoga. Swami Chinmayananda has commented on Buddhi yoga in his Book ‘the Holy Geeta’, as under:

          “Here the term,’Buddhi yoga’ has tickled some commentators to discover in it a special yoga advised by the Geeta. I personally think that it is too much of a labored theory. Buddhi as defined in Upanishads is the determining factor in the inner equipment; Nishchyatmika is intellect; Sanshayatmika is mind. Thus, when the thought flow is in a state of flux and agitated, it is called mind and when it is single pointed, calm and serene in its own determination, it is called the intellect. Thus, Buddhi yoga means ‘to be established in the devotion to the intellect.’ Steady in your conviction, your mind perfectly under the control of your discriminative intellect, to live thus as a master of your inner and outer world is called Buddhi yoga.......We may interpret Buddhi yoga as an individual’s attempt to live and act from the zone of the intellect which freely controls the mind’s functions and readily receives faithful obedience from the mind…….Thus, when an individual completely surrenders his ego, he is said to be established in Buddhi yoga.”       

          While considering the above view of Swami Chinmayananda, we will have to keep in mind Shloka 39 of 2^nd adhyaya. As mentioned in it, Lord himself has told Arjuna that so far I explained to you the Sankhya philosophy; I will now explain that knowledge from the view point of Buddhi yoga. Then, after explaining quite a few concepts and practices of yoga in subsequent eight adhyayas,  the Lord concluded in the 10^th Shloka of 10^th adhyaya saying that I confer buddhi yoga on those devotees, who constantly and lovingly remain engrossed in yoga and my worship. By practicing that Buddhi yoga, they can reach my kingdom. In other words, Buddhi yoga is not something practiced by the aspirants of moksha. It is a reward bestowed by the Lord on the eligible devotees by uniting their buddhi with the Supreme Self. (The Lord does it through  embodiment of the Guru of the devotee). With this affirmation about Buddhi yoga by Lord Krishna himself, I do not see any reason for not accepting Buddhi yoga as an independent mode of yoga like Bhakti yoga, Karma yoga or Dnyana yoga propounded by the Lord in Bhagwad Geeta. All the aspirants practicing these yogas have only one final goal and that is union with the Brahman. For a student of Dnyaneshwari practicing Kundalini yoga as described by Sant Dnyaneshwar in sixth adhyaya, the concept of Buddhi yoga is all the more important from practical and experimental point of view. If a yogi has to win over the enemy in the form of Kama i.e. desire or passion (as described in Shlokas 42 and 43 of third adhyaya of Geeta, he has to perceive and reach the subtlest form of Buddhi, which is beyond all senses and then only he can attain the final beatitude i.e. moksha.   My Guru, Shri Bappasaheb Rushipathak had a firm view that promulgation of  concept of Buddhi yoga is the special contribution and invention of Lord Shrikrishna in the spiritual science after deep study and churning of the ocean of the then prevailing knowledge of Vedas and Upanishads.

          Coming back to the ovi to be discussed, can I take liberty to do so in our next post on this blog? Thanks.