Gita 06.43 – Spiritual inclination is the credit that carries over beyond the corpse

Bhagavad Gita 6.43 where Krishna continues to describe the trajectory of the person of the yogi who is temporarily lost the way and then becomes situated to continue on the spiritual path so this and the next two verses 63 43, 44, 45 they describe the onward trajectory for both 41 and 42 so both the seekers can actually move onwards on the spiritual path by the way that is described here so the first trajectory of course is that the yogi who has practiced some spiritual life but has substantial practice remaining goes to heaven enjoys whatever desires were distracting the seeker goes to heaven, enjoys there and then after enjoying in the heavens then returns to the earth and takes birth in a Shuchinam Shrimatam Brahminical family or a Wealthy family and then continues spiritual practice towards perfection as is described in this verse or the same can apply to the second category that is the so called seeker who has practiced a lot and has just some practice remaining so is directly born in a devotee family now Tatratam Buddhi Samyogam Labhate Paurva Dehikam Tatratam There that means in the next birth Buddhi Samyogam Buddhi Samyoga so Samyoga is contact or meeting so the word Samyoga and Vyoga often go together in the Gita or in general Krishna has used the word Vyoga Vyogam Yogasamgitam Dukkha Samyoga Vyoga Yogasamgitam so the contact with misery ends that is called as Yoga so here Krishna is talking about not Vyoga separation but Samyoga union so Buddhi Samyoga that means the Buddhi is acquired once again what Buddhi that Buddhi Buddhi by which one can practice spiritual life by that intelligence by which one understands that there is more to life than this life than the materialistic way of living that there are higher pleasures available there are higher pleasures beckoning us and that we should seek those higher pleasures and by seeking and attaining those pleasures we can actually gain lasting fulfillment that Buddhi to be able to see beyond the temptations of the world the Buddhi to recognize that the enjoyable objects of this world are not actually all that enjoyable that the pleasures in this world ultimately disappoint and even betray us so when we understand that's when Samyoga comes labhate paurvadehikam now how does this Buddhi come up labhate one gets it from paurvadehikam from one's past body so now we may wonder how can the past body is already gone and destroyed it has either been cremated or buried or it has perished in some other way so how can the past body give something so actually it refers to what was labhate paurvadehikam doesn't mean just directly that it's got from the past body but it is carried over from the past body through the subtle body so there is a dynamic give and take between our subtle body and the gross body usually when we think of the body we often think it refers to the gross body that is generally true but along with that there is a subtle body also and that subtle body is also material so whatever we do with our gross body that creates impressions in our subtle body and conversely our subtle body also creates impulses by which we usually act unless there is some other forceful impetus and this very persuasive strong reason, motivation to not act according to those impulses so therefore when a seeker, when a yogi practices spiritual life in a previous life then has practiced at that time that practice has created impressions in the subtle mind subtle body so the impressions that are created in the subtle body can be positive as well as negative, the more we do say devotional activities, spiritual activities those create positive impressions in our subtle body and those positive impressions help us to practice spiritual life steadily so here Krishna states that actually when a seeker, when a seeker has practiced spiritual life in a previous life you know with a previous body that practice of spiritual life has created spiritual impressions in the subtle body and that subtle body is what is, the subtle body of course has one part of it, intelligence so the intelligence has become spiritually inclined, spiritually disposed and that is what is that is what becomes re-accessible now buddhi sanyogam there is contact with that intelligence labhate paurvade hikam labhate one gets it by paurvade hikam, from one's previous body so it's not something that, when we say it's got from the previous body it is not a literal getting or taking it's not a literal getting that someone, that the previous body suddenly wakes up and then stretches out the hand and gives something to the person in the new body no, it's subtle, that that's the legacy of the previous body which is passed on to the person in this body through the same subtle body which has continued on along with the soul from the previous body to this body and the subtle body has been impressed the impressions have been created impressed is not, we are not using impressed in the sense of being externally enamored but impressed literally in terms of the impressions having been created in the in the subtle body which are now accessible and which impel the person towards practice of spiritual life and then after that starts endeavoring again again, why? because the endeavor had been made in the previous life also, and now the endeavor is being made again purunandana samsiddho siddhi is perfection samsiddhi is complete perfection so yogi strives for complete perfection by the practice of yoga by recognizing the importance of spiritual life and the substantiality of material life something that yogi is able to recognize because of having the buddhi which has come from which has come from the past body so now even in next life the soul has to endeavor without endeavoring the soul cannot achieve perfection so that means the serious thinker thinks that if I have to endeavor then why let the endeavor be postponed to next life there is no shortcut to spiritual realization there is no shortcut to attaining love for god there has to be a gradual purification purification which takes place and that involves some amount of austerity some amount of pain pain in the sense that there are things which we enjoy doing but when we understand that they are counterproductive for our spiritual health and our spiritual growth then we choose to abstain from them there are sacrifices which we have to do and we become ready to do them when we understand that they will benefit us in the long run so this endeavor is essential and by this endeavor we move towards perfection thank you.