Post on third adhyaya.                                     

              1)  तरी उचिते कर्में आघवीं । तुवा आचरोनि मज अर्पावीं ।

                 परी चित्तवृत्ती न्यासावी । आत्मरूपीं ॥ 3-१८६ ॥

  

3-186. You should perform all the appropriate karmas; dedicate and offer them to me and while doing so, keep your mind and intellect converged in the form of Atman.

              2)  हें कर्म मी कर्ता । कां आचरेन या अर्था ।

                  ऐसा अभिमानु झणें चित्ता । रिगो देसी ॥ 3-१८७ ॥

3-187. In such performance, you should not allow egoistic thoughts to enter your mind such as this is the karma (action) and I am the karta (doer) performing it etc.

               3)  तुवां शरीरपरा नोहावें । कामनाजात सांडावें ।

                   मग अवसरोचित भोगावे । भोग सकळ ॥ 3-१८८ ॥

3-188. You should not intently indulge in the bodily pleasures, but   by giving up all the passions and motives from your mind, enjoy as per the occasion all available pleasures as and when you come across them.

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          The above three ovis indicate bottom line of third adhyaya. I found it difficult to pinpoint one single ovi from this adhyaya to fully discuss its theme, namely karmayoga.  

     In ovi No. 1437 of 18th adhyaya as given below, Dnyaneshwar Mauli has summerized the theme of third adhyaya of Bhagwad Geeta, stating that commencement of  sadhana i.e. practice  of karma yoga is the subject here.  

                               मग अज्ञानें बांधलेयां । मोक्षपदीं बैसावया ।

                 साधनारंभु तो तृतीया\- । ध्यायीं बोलिला ॥ १४३७ ॥

         Meaning of the ovi is: In third adhyaya, means have been described by practicing which,  an ignorant seeker can get rid of ignorance and attain the goal of final beatitude i.e. moksha sought by him.  

         One of those means is that the aspirant should perform those karmas which are prescribed as swadharma, by engaging his chitta i.e. mind and buddhi in his actions and after such performance, dedicate the same to the Supreme Self as advised in first ovi quoted above. As guided in second ovi, the aspirant should not be egoistically proud that he is the  doer i.e. karta of that particular karma. The third ovi  above is equally  important, prescribing that the seeker should be careful not to passionately indulge in sensory enjoyment. And by becoming detached, he should give away egoistic feeling of doership before indulging into incidental enjoyments. If this practice is followed, the aspirant gets freedom from bondage of his karmas. Otherwise, these karmas make him  revolve in the cycle of birth and death.

         There is a wonderful expression for this exercise in the spiritual science named as सर्वार्पण-Sarwarpana or ब्रह्मार्पण Brahmarpana meaning thereby dedication of all the karmas by an aspirant to the Brahman i.e. Supreme Self. This exercise becomes complete and fruitful if the aspirant also seeks prior permission from the Supreme Self for performance of the relevant karma. There is an aphorism in spiritual science that “नाशुभा वर्तते तस्मिन नित्याज्ञाrmeshwarparameshwaree parmashwarपरमेश्वरी”. means nothing inauspicious happens when karmas are performed by obtaining proper permission fromfrff the Lord. However, the skill and technique of seeking such permission has to be learnt by a seeker from his Guru, who alone can guide how the yoga is skill in action. ‘योगः कर्मसु कौशलम्’. Similar to this, there are a number of practical aspects of yoga preached in Dnyaneshwari, which can be understood only from a competent teacher. These skills are specially guarded as secrets by the yogis practicing meditational traditions like Natha Sampradaya and handed down to an eligible disciple. Let us remember that Shri Dnyaneshwar himself was an accomplished yogi from Natha Sampradaya. However, let us not divert from our main subject.  

        Earlier, in 78th ovi of this adhyaya also, Dnyaneshwar Maharaja has said that

                 म्हणोनि जें जें उचित । आणि अवसरेंकरून प्राप्त ।

                  तें कर्म हेतुरहित । आचर तूं ॥ ७८ ॥

---It means that without having any predetermined motives, perform all those karmas, which have fallen to your lot and are appropriate for the given occasion. The reason for this advice was specified in previous ovi 77 stating  that due to identification of soul with the body, it would not be possible for any individual to achieve total naishkarmya i.e. actionlessness and hence, karmas are compulsorily required to be performed by every one. In such situation, it would be advisable to perform the karmas without selfish motives and in a detached manner. An assured  solace is given to the aspirant in the next two ovis 79 and 80 of the adhyaya by the Lord through Dnyanadeva  that the karmas performed as per swadharma would themselves liberate the aspirant from their bondage and help him to attain moksha.

      

         Karmayoga i.e. yoga of selfless action is a vast subject. Lokamanya Tilak wrote his famous compendium  namely Geeta rahasya to establish its importance. We have seen only a fractional aspect of karmayoga in this post. In our second round of the adhyayas of Dnyaneshwari, we will see further aspects of this yoga. In the next posting I propose to discuss an important ovi from the fourth adhyaya.

                                  

                                              

  

Post on second adhyaya-2.

                   ॐ

                 एषाऽतेभिहिता सांख्ये बुद्धिर्योगे त्विमां शृणु ।

           बुद्ध्या युक्तो यया पार्थ कर्मबंधं प्रहास्यसि ॥ 2-39 ॥

            In the previous post we saw that thousands of years ago Lord Krishna invented and promulgated Buddhi yoga in the spiritual science through Bhagwad Geeta as his special contribution. Prior to that, the concept of Buddhi yoga was not in vogue in the manner in which it was presented by him. As may be seen from shloka given above, for the first time Lord told Arjuna that so far I explained the philosophy to you as per Sankhya system. Now, the same aspect I will explain in practical way of Buddhi yoga. As advised by me, if you engage your buddhi (i.e. intellect or discriminative faculty) in yoga you will become free from bondages of all the karmas. 

                   दूरेण ह्यवरं कर्म बुद्धियोगाद्धनंजय ।

                  बुद्धौ शरणमन्विछ कृपणाः फलहेतवः ॥ 2-49 ॥

            In 49^th shloka of second Adhyaya as above, Lord says that mere performance of karmas is much inferior to Buddhiyoga. Those who are anxious to get fruits of their karmas are also to be pitied as petty minded poor. Hence O Dhananjaya, take shelter in Buddhi and start practicing Buddhiyoga.

           सुखमात्यन्तिकं यत् तद् बुध्दीग्राह्यमतीद्रिंयम्।

          वेत्ति यत्र न चैवायं स्थितश्चलति तत्त्वतः ॥ 6-21 ॥

Then in the 21st shloka of sixth adhyaya, Lord tells Arjuna that only through Buddhi an individual can experience and enjoy infinite happiness and bliss in a subtle manner. Such bliss is ateendriya means not perceivable by any of the senses. After  After establishing in this bliss, a yogi does not move away from the essence of his being. 

               तेषां सततयुक्तानां भजतां प्रीतिपूर्वकम् ।

               ददामि बुद्धियोगं तं येन मामुपयान्ति ते ॥ 10-10 ॥

Thereafter, in shloka 10 of 10^th adhyaya quoted above, Lord declared that Buddhi yoga is granted by him as a reward to those yogis, who are constantly converged in his love, devotion and worship. Such devotees sincerely practice that Buddhi yoga, which ultimately leads them to unite with the form and being of the Lord.   

                         चेतसा सर्वकर्माणि मयि संन्यस्य मत्परः ।  

            बुद्धियोगमुपाश्रित्य मच्चित्तः सततं भव ॥ 18-57 ॥

Towards end of Geeta, in 57th shloka of eighteenth adhyaya, Lord advised Arjuna that by mentally resorting to Buddhi yoga, you should always fix your mind on me, dedicate all your karmas to me; regard me as your final goal and be devoted to me for ever.  

               मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु ।

               मामेवैष्यसि सत्यं ते प्रतिजाने प्रियोऽसि मे ॥ ६५॥

Further In 65^th shloka of 18^th adhyaya, Lord tells Arjuna…”offer your devotion and sacrifice to me and bow down to me. By doing this, you will undoubtedly reach me. This is truly my promise to you, because you are most dear to me”.     

               If we contemplate on this self-explanatory preaching of Bhagwad Geeta, we can understand the importance of Buddhi yoga. However, almost all commentaries on Bhagwad Geeta give more importance to other types of yogas namely Bhakti yoga, Karma yoga, Dnyana yoga and Raja yoga. The reason could be that all these yogas are practiced by the devotees at their own levels with guidance of their Gurus; whereas, Buddhi yoga is a special gift to be awarded by the Lord to a devotee. One thing should still be noted in this regard that such endowment by the Lord can also not happen unless the devotee has appropriately applied his buddhi in practicing at least one of these four yogas. Here, the Ovi being considered by us namely--

                       अर्जुना समत्व चित्ताचें । तेचिं सार जाण योगाचें ।

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

--becomes very relevant. It underlines need of union of the mind and intellect of a yogi that results in equanimity of mind whether the circumstances are favourable or unfavourable.

I have tried to show in nutshell, importance of Buddhiyoga in this and earlier post. More about it can be discussed in course of time. In fact an independant thesis can be written on this subject, which can be done in course of time. In my next post I propose to discuss one important ovi from third adhyaya of Dnyaneshwari.

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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.

         

           

Fourth post

In our last session, we saw the first ovi of the first adhyaya. Like it, there are more than 9000 ovis in Dnyaneshwari spread over 18 adhyayas. If we try to discuss one ovi per day also, it will take more than 24 years to complete one review of Dnyaneshwari. We are, therefore required to find some alternative to shorten this period of study. In Bhagwad Geeta there are 701 shlokas (verses). However, Dnyaneshwar Mauli says in 18^th adhyaya that all these shlokas are of equal importance and no distinction should be made in them on the basis of their sequential appearance as earlier or later. Let us apply the same theory to the ovis of Dnyaneshwari and take at least one ovi from each of the adhyayas per week to understand its true import. It would not be out of place here to mention that Namdeva, another great Marathi Sant and contemporary of Dnyaneshwar, has stated in one of his Abhangas that Dnyaneshwari is the greatest composition in spiritual science and every devotee should endeavour to experience at least one of its ovis during his life time. In fact, Dnyaneshwari and for that purpose Bhagwad Geeta, both are practical subjects of spiritual science to be experienced by an aspirant of liberation. These are not  subjects only of dry logical discussion or debate. At the same time, we cannot forget that gaining the experiences described in Dnyaneshwari would depend on  guidance of a competent Guru (master), besides the Aspirant’s eligibility for such gain. For those, who do not achieve any such experience, Dnyaneshwari remains only a subject of literary interest and poetic beauty that can be discussed till end of the world. (Most of the readers come under this category, but who knows; some day such reading can also kindle the path of liberation for them.)  

          Enough of this deviation. I was told by some readers of the last post  that the Marathi ovi written in it was not readable. I am therefore adding transliteration of that ovi with its meaning as under: First part of the number is that of ovi and second is the number of adhyaya.

          (1-1):  “Om namoji Aadya, Veda-pratipadya, jay jay Swasavendya, Aatmaroopa”

1-1. O Aum-Pranava, I bow to you, I hail and adore you as prime originator and source of the Cosmos. You are subject of all the Vedas and Upanishads. Victory to you, in the form of Atman; you make yourself known to and experienced by self-realized souls by way of constant pulsation and resonance in their mind, intellect and body.

          Unless some expressions in this ovi are discussed, its meaning cannot be unravelled and fully understood.  

Aum is the name assigned to the Brahman by Rushis and Munis thousands of years ago, based on their experiences and research while realizing that Supreme Self. The adjective Aadya indicates that Brahman was in existence as the first and prime principle and energy before anything else had come into existence. It also shows that all the three worlds are originated from Brahman. Veda-pratipadya explains that all the Vedas praise and propound knowledge of and ways to attain this Brahman. The expression Swasavendya points towards spiritual experience of the continuous surge and resonance of the Aatmic energy being played in the mind body and intellect of an accomplished devotee after he realizes the self and merges into the form and being of the Atman i.e. becomes Atma-sakshatkari.

Verily, this original and eternal Brahman in the name and form of Aum has been invoked by Dnyaneshwar Mauli at the commencement of his Marathi commentary on Bhagwad Geeta. Prior to Dnyaneshwari and even after its coming into being, normal traditional practice of all the authors in Sanskrit and Marathi has been to invoke blessings of Lord Ganesha in the opening verse of their book and then dwell upon their subject. However in the first ovi of his compendium, Mauli has deviated a little from this practice and paid obeisance to the Supreme Self in the form of Aum. In the subsequent ovi itself, he has imposed personality traits of Lord Ganesha on the Aum and characterized it as Ganesha. In this way, primordial status of the Brahman has been maintained by Shri Dnyaneshwar. Here, I cannot stop myself from making an interesting observation. While seeking blessings from the Lord of universe by way of Pasayadaana towards end of Dnyaneshwari in Ovi No. 1799 of 18th adhyaya, Mauli has prayed that  let all the beings in all three worlds always worship the Primeval Lord and let them be endowed with perfect happiness eternally. In other words, commencement and end of Dnyaneshwari is on the same note of respect paid to the Supreme person. This shows continuity of thoughts in the mind of Mauli from start to finish. 

          This first adhyaya does not contain any philosophical or spiritual discussion. It only depicts the despondency and depression of Arjuna caused due to disturbing thought of fighting war against his own kith and kins and the teachers. The real teaching of Lord Shrikrishna in Bhagwad Geeta starts from the second adhyaya. We will start following the same from our next session. Thanks for patiently reading this much. I would indeed be happy if the readers start following this blog with their views and contribution please.