Gita 06.27 – Joy is the natural fruity of purity

Prashantamanasam bhiyanam yoginam sukham uttamam upaiti shantrajasam brahma bhutam kalmasam prashantamanasam bhiyanam Krishna is speaking about the progressive perfection on the path of yoga and he says that by consistent yoga practice in the previous two verses he has said in 6.25 he has stated gradually step by step, fix the mind and the self and don't let it go anywhere else nakinchidapi chintaye, don't let it go anywhere else and what if it goes elsewhere Krishna says bring it back wherever and whenever the mind wanders, bring it back under the control of the self so by this diligent practice of first trying to keep the mind focused, not letting it wander and if it wanders, bringing it back, by this what will happen prashantamanasam bhiyanam this word sounds itself so soothing shant, the word shanta has a, it's something like a onamottapoya, onamottapoya is an English figure of speech in which, it's a figure of speech, not necessarily English wherein the sound of the word conveys the sense of the word, so prashanta it's like serenity serenity, feel serene the word itself makes us feel serene it's like ragas, are musical sounds which are meant to evoke certain emotions so prashantamanasam bhiyanam Krishna says that the mind will become prashanta right now our mind is ashanta constantly restless, thinking of this, thinking of that in the chaitanyacharita amrta it is said that bhukti bhukti siddhi kami sakale ashanta that as long as the mind is is powered by desires other than the desire to serve Krishna, then those desires keep the mind restless, but when by the practice of yoga as it is said over here, the mind is purified prashantamanasam bhiyanam the mind becomes peaceful, not just shanta but prashanta, so there is Krishna has used the word prashanta earlier in the same chapter when he's talked about the disposition which a sadhaka needs to have prashantatma vigatabhir brahmachari vratesthitaha manasanyamya machitto yuktasita matparaha so this is 6.14 Krishna said that one should be peaceful be fearless, be in brahmachari and in this way try to fix the mind on me, making me the goal so there it is more of a sadhana the mind may not be peaceful but one draws the mind away from agitating things and cultivates peacefulness, whereas here Krishna has said that peacefulness is not a emotion that we cultivate by conscious striving but peacefulness becomes the default disposition of the mind, the mind itself becomes peaceful because the agitating forces from within the mind have been removed and when the mind is peaceful like this yoginam sukham uttamam the yogi experiences uttama sukha the best happiness the highest happiness upaiti the yogi attains that happiness shanta rajasam so the word shanta is repeated in this verse earlier it was prashantam shanta was part of prashanta and here again shanta comes upaiti shanta rajasam rajasa refers to the mode of passion so upaiti shanta rajasam that means the mode of passion becomes pacified so it is the mode of passion which makes us want to be dominators, controllers, enjoyers of this world when we come to goodness sattva sanjayate jnanam that sattva bona breeds knowledge and with that knowledge comes detachment because we start seeing if we use knowledge the knowledge that is awakened through goodness that trying to control this world is futile, not just that in the sense that we won't be able to control for long but it's not fulfilling trying to make things happen according to our will it doesn't really make us happy even if we get the objects of our desire that doesn't bring satisfaction we want to control so that we can enjoy but enjoyment itself doesn't bring enjoyment we do an activity thinking it is enjoyable but the result of it turns out to be not as enjoyable as we expected it to be and then the person in goodness starts thinking it's not worth it there is no point to it the person in passion thinks there is no point other than it there is no point other than sex say for example what is the point of life other than sex as aparas parasambhutam kimanyat kamahaitukam krishna verbalizes the mentality of the demoniac in 16.8 when he says kimanyat kamahaitukam what other than kama sense gratification is the goal of life now that is the sort of mentality is induced by rajoguna but when rajoguna is pacified upaiti shant rajasam when rajoguna is pacified then the yogi realizes that what is the point in trying to run around and control things let me look inwards, let me seek inwards instead of trying to control the outer world according to my uncontrolled inner desires let me control the inner desires which are uncontrolled and that will bring me happiness and actually that is the yogi's starting motivation but now at this stage the yogi has pacified the mode of passion passion has become pacified there is no such passion to control the outer world and then brahmabhutam akalmasham brahmabhutam, the yogi becomes situated on the brahman platform, on the spiritual platform so the soul is by nature spiritual but when the soul is contaminated by material desires, by impurities and the soul's consciousness gets dragged from the spiritual level down to the material level but when akalmasham, when the kalmasha the contaminations, the impurities are removed then the soul returns back to the spiritual level and when the soul returns back to the spiritual level then the soul experiences lasting happiness therein, so as it says yoginam sukhamuttamam sukha, sukha is happiness but what kind of sukha? uttama uttama can refer to specifically the mode of ignorance but it can also refer to the broad ignorance that characterizes material existence, uttama means that which is the best happiness, that which is beyond the darkness of material existence, beyond the ignorance of material existence and that happiness yoginam sukhamuttamam, that happiness can be experienced by the steady practice of yoga by which, so this verse if you look at it sequentially what is it saying? By the kind of practice of yoga which has been described in the previous verse which centers on keeping the mind focused on spiritual truth, this is the back text the back story which leads to this verse then by that the mind will become peaceful the passion within it will become pacified so pashantamanasam hyenam, the mind will become peaceful, upaiti, shant, rajasam then the passion will become pacified passion is the inner force that agitates the mind so the mind becomes peaceful because the inner motor that was agitating it, that motor has become has run out of fuel, that has been stopped now and then brahmabhutamakalmasam, one becomes free from contaminations which drag us away drag our consciousness away from the spiritual platform when there are no forces dragging us away from the spiritual platform then naturally we return to the spiritual platform just as a magnet normally points north-south, but when there are other magnetic forces then the magnet may get distracted from its north-south orientation but when there is akalmasam, when there are no impurities when those extraneous magnetic forces are removed actually points in the north-south direction, so like that when impurities are removed, akalmasam then the soul naturally becomes situated on the spiritual platform, brahmabhutam and brahmabhuta at the spiritual level, the soul is by nature satchitananda and that's why the soul experiences happiness yoginamsukhamuttamam and in this way the long journey of the soul of the yogic seeker which begins with jyotdeshe pratishtapya that going to jungle and sitting in a secluded place secluded sacred place for meditation that closes in on perfection, closes in on the highest happiness, so this talks about this verse talks about brahman realization and the second verse, nakrishna in the next verses will talk about in the 28th verse he will talk about brahman realization further 29th he will talk about parmatma and 30th he will talk about bhagwan realization this is how by sustained yoga practice the yogi closes in on spiritual perfection and relishes spiritual happiness, thank you.