Gita 02.40 – The spiritual path comes with a no-loss and a fear-relieving guarantee

Free you from karmic bondage. What that knowledge is, we will discuss in the future verses. Thank you.

It's 2.40 Bhagavad Gita. Krishna started talking about Yoga, that is to perform with Buddhi and now in order to inspire Arjuna to rise to this higher level of consciousness in which to perform action, Krishna talks about the glory of this path and then he states, in this path there is Abhikrama, there is no diminution, there is no Abhikrama, sorry, Abhikrama is endeavor. In this endeavor, there is nothing that is lost.

Not only nothing lost, there is nothing diminished also. In this world, we get a business, sometimes the business gets completely lost, sometimes it gets devalued. Krishna is saying that this is a business in which there is no loss and there is no devaluation.

There is only incrementation, there is only gain. And the gain also is of what nature? Even if a little, even if one performs a little of this Dharma, one will be freed from great fear, great danger. So this verse seems to be talking in abstractions.

What is the path that Krishna is talking about over here? Actually, Krishna is generally talking about a transcendental path, the path to transcendence. This path to Svarga is not the path to transcendence. It is a path in the material world.

But here he is talking about, generically about any transcendental path. And we will see that in this chapter, Krishna talks about Bhakti only later in, only once, indirectly, when he talks in 2.61 to refer to himself as the object of the controlled senses, Yuktasi Tamatparaha. So Samacharyas have interpreted these verses to refer to Bhakti also.

But generally, if you look at the flow of the Gita and the explanation of most Acharyas, these verses are used to refer to Karma Yoga. So on the path, on any yogic path, where one is striving for attaining an eternal destination, you know, that attraction to the eternal that we cultivate, that stays with us forever. And is that attraction to the eternal, which enables us to move onwards, to keep persevering and to eventually attain an eternal destination.

So Krishna here is talking about attaining just such an eternal destination by the, by this path. And he is saying, not only that its destination eternal is, but also the progress is eternal. That means whatever progress we make on this path, it stays eternally forever.

So that the destination of the eternal is understood from the fact that Karma Bandhan Prahasis, become free from karmic bondage. And the bondage of karma is to trap the soul in matter, in material existence, wherein it undergoes multiple temporary material existences. But it's implied that once one goes beyond Karma Bandhan, one will attain an eternal destination.

Karma Bandhan is essentially Moksha. Karma Bandhan Prahasis, you'll break free from Karma Bandhan means you'll attain Moksha. So Krishna is saying that not only is the destination eternal, but even the progress on the process is also eternal.

The progress on the process is eternal. So he says, Abhikrama in this endeavor, there is no loss, there is no diminution. How this is so, how the progress on this path stays eternally will be answered by Krishna in greater detail from 6.40 to 6.45, where he responds to Arjuna's question, which is asked from 6.37 to 6.39, about what happens to a yogi who is not able to complete the journey on the path to transcendence.

So Krishna gives the analysis of how such a yogi will go to heaven, enjoy in heaven and then come back on earth in a pious family, in a Brahminical family or a wealthy family, a Shuchinam family by which one will be Shuchinam Shrimatam in a wealthy family or a clean family, a Brahminical family by which one can continue practicing spiritual life. Or if one is very advanced, then one may even be born in a devotee family, a very spiritually evolved family by which one can very rapidly right from early birth itself practice spiritual life. Either way, the point is to recognize that there is no loss.

So now how is there no loss? Actually, when we move from one body to another body, then actually we can't carry anything with us. Duryodhana said in the Mahabharata that I will not give the Kaurava, I will not give the Pandavas, he will land enough to put the tip of a needle through. So actually the same point we can use and say that he will land enough to be the tip of needle through, that much also we cannot carry with us when we go from this life to another life.

Nothing, not even our body we can carry with us. Body is the main thing that we live and everything connected to the body we live. So all that we have accumulated in this world, that will be lost when we leave this body and go to the next body.

So in that sense it is a trying to accumulate and possess and enjoy at the bodily level is a business that is guaranteed to be a failure. So then are we meant to do no business in our life? No, there is a spiritual business, the business of yoga. So there is a no gain guarantee in the bodily business, especially in the business of gross material accumulation and enjoyment where one doesn't consider doing any punya for a future life.

Then there is no profit guarantee that comes with it. There is a sure loss guarantee, everything will be lost. But Krishna is telling that in the path of yoga where he says that there is a no loss guarantee.

So when we practice yoga, the essence of what we accumulate is internal. It is the attraction of the soul towards spiritual reality. Krishna will talk about this when he talks in the sixth chapter.

Because of past practice, one will be spontaneously attracted helplessly towards spiritual principles, towards spirituality and then one will move onwards in spiritual journey. So that attraction towards the spiritual is an internal asset that we acquire by study yoga practice. Of course, this asset we acquire in the fastest and the sweetest way by practicing the topmost yoga, that is bhakti.

But either way, whichever yoga we practice, if we do bhakti or some yoga other than bhakti, the practice will keep us steady, will give us an asset that will stay with us forever. Now yes, somebody may fall away and that asset may, even in this life somebody may fall away from the path of bhakti and that asset may get covered in the sense that the person may seem to be engaging in sense gratification, may actually be engaging in sense gratification also. But the person who has fallen away from bhakti will not get much pleasure in sense gratification because actually he has experienced he or she has experienced higher spiritual happiness and that taste of higher spiritual happiness spoils our capacity, ruins our capacity to experience lower material happiness because it's so much lower, it's so unfulfilling, it's actually so futile.

In contrast to that, the higher spiritual happiness is so rich and fulfilling. So we will eventually get frustrated with seeking material happiness and we will return to Krishna and when we return to Krishna then again we will continue from where we had left. So whatever level, if we consider the attraction to Krishna from a level of zero to hundred percent, then we are moving onwards in our journey with every bit of yoga practice that we do and the attraction that we have acquired towards spiritual principles that is going to stay with us forever and wherever, whenever we resume, that will be there as an asset for us to move onwards.

And further, in the second half of this verse in C and D, Krishna says Asya dharma is here. Asya dharma of this path of yoga. So Krishna is equating yoga and dharma over here.

Yoga is also a dharma of the soul. So if a little gain on this path also, the great fear for a spiritually conscious person is to recognize, to lose is the loss of the opportunity for spiritual consciousness. It's like if somebody is in a jail and somebody has got the key to come out of the jail.

Now one just has to walk to the doorway and then walk at a time when nobody will detect, use the key and then open the door and get out. Now that person has been in jail for a long time and now has the opportunity to go out but if that person just forgets or that person loses the key, then it's a disaster. So like that, the key we could say in a rough metaphorical sense is the human form of life.

Human form of life has the capacity for spiritual consciousness and when we neglect this capacity, then nature sees that, oh, you're not interested in practicing spirituality, then why do you need a human form? If you want to do animalistic activities, then better have an animal body and therefore, the soul is given animal body and the key for coming out of material existence, the human form gets lost. But if one practices yoga, even a little bit of yoga, by that one shows nature that, oh, I'm interested in practicing spirituality and so therefore, what happens that the great fear of the prisoner is to lose the key. Similarly, the great fear of one who recognizes that I'm a prisoner of material existence is to lose the key of the human form of life, which will enable us to unlock our consciousness from matter, free it into the big world of spirit and escape forever from material existence.

So, when even a little dharma, little practice of dharma is done, then nature sees that, oh, you are interested in practicing spiritual dharma, spirituality, then we'll give you a human form so that you can continue practicing and therefore, that great fear, that great fear of losing human form is avoided if one practices even a little bit of yoga, a little bit of spirituality. So, even giving people prasad, a little bit of prasad, that will actually begin their yoga practice and that will enable them to continue on in a future life. So, that's why Krishna glorifies in two ways in this verse, the path of yoga, he says, even the progress that will stay on this is eternal and even a little progress will save you from great danger of losing the human form.