Gita 06.45 – Past-life attraction and present determination leads yogi to perfection

So here Krishna in this verse concludes the description of how the yogi attains perfection after going through a slight deviation in this life, so prayatnat itamanastu, prayatnat means in endeavoring, itamanastu is the yogi who is determined to renounce the world, prayatnat is sustain endeavor, yogi samshuddha kilvishaha, by this the yogi becomes completely freed, purified, samshuddha, entirely purified of kilvishaha, of all contaminations, aneka janma samsiddhas, and by that the yogi aneka janma samsiddhas, by practicing yoga for many lifetimes, tato yati parangatim, the yogi goes to the supreme destination, parangatim, so now here what is the point that is being described that Krishna is assuring Arjuna that the yogi will indeed attain perfection, so kangatim krishna gacchati, that was Arjuna's question, so ayatahi shraddha yo pe to yoga chalitamanasah, aprapayoga samsiddhim, kangatim krishna gacchati, this was the starting question, 3.37, and 38 and 39 were basically elaborations of this question itself, 3.37d ended with kangatim krishna gacchati, and krishna's answer to the question ends with the word gati in 6.45d also, tato yati parangatim, thus the yogi attains the supreme destination, parangatim, so what is being described in this verse, praitnaditamanas tu, by endeavouring determinately, yogi samshuddha kilvishah, so the yogi who was deviated either goes to heaven and then comes back to earth in a cultured family where one continues the spiritual quest or directly born in a family of advanced spiritualists from where the yogi continues the spiritual quest, and either way the yogi moves onwards towards perfection, praitnaditamanas tu, yogi samshuddha kilvishah, so kilvishah, contaminations which cause diversions, cause deviations, which cause interruptions in the life of the yogi, those contaminations are removed, the contamination, kilvishah, when we say impurities or contaminations, the essential consequence of these contaminations is that they cause misdirections, just as the magnet naturally aligns in a north-south direction, the soul, pure soul is naturally attracted to Krishna, and to the extent the soul becomes purified, to that extent this natural attraction becomes evident, in this way the soul moves onwards, the soul's consciousness is fixed on Krishna, Prahlad Maharaj says that chumbakaiva, just as magnet is attracted towards Lord Vishnu, similarly my consciousness is attracted towards the Lord, and that can be the state of all of us also, to the extent the impurities are not there, to that extent our consciousness moves towards Krishna and accordingly we also move towards Krishna, and the whole process of yogic advancement essentially means increase in attraction towards Krishna and increasing rejection of the contaminations that distract us from Krishna, so how does this happen, it happens both by conscious endeavour and by subconscious effect, so conscious endeavour means that when the yogi is practicing yoga sadhana, the yogi consciously endeavours to fix the mind on Krishna, and when the mind goes elsewhere, the yogi consciously tries to get the mind away from those objects and get it back on Krishna, now while the yogi is practicing like this, at that time this conscious endeavour itself of fixing the mind on Krishna and not letting it go elsewhere, as Krishna has talked about this in 6.25 and 6.26 where he says, wherever and whenever the mind wanders, bring it back under the control of the self, this was 6.26, before that Krishna said, slowly gradually, step by step, fix the mind on me, and don't let it wander anywhere else, so by this process of conscious endeavour to fix the mind on Krishna and to drag it away from Krishnetara, from things which take the mind away from Krishna, by this the contaminations become weakened, and in our life also we see that to the extent we expose ourselves to certain temptations, to the extent we indulge in certain desires, those desires become stronger, and to the extent we starve those indulgences, to that extent they become weaker, so those who drink say daily, regularly, the drinking desire becomes stronger and stronger, but those who stop drinking, after a period of time, the desire for drinking decreases and decreases further, so by our conscious choice, by our conscious endeavour, also the desires change, nature of our desires change, so, prayatna itamanastu yogi samshuddha kilvishah, so in this way by endeavour, itamanastu, endeavour with a mind which is striving for renunciation, with one who is inclined, focused, striving for renunciation, yogi samshuddha kilvishah, the yogi becomes purified completely, now along with this conscious endeavour, there is also subconscious effect, that means that the more we choose a particular thing, that become, choosing that becomes more and more of our habit, and as it becomes a habit, then we choose it as a matter, even without consciously having to think about it, our reflexes can be trained, we can train ourselves to give up a particular thing or to do a particular thing, and by training ourselves thus, we can actually move towards perfection, is to be able to make the right choices now, as much as is our capacity, and for the yogi who has practiced in the previous life, there are subconscious impressions, which also push one in the right direction, prompt one towards Krishna, riyatey avasyopisa, as was said in the previous verse, so by the combination of this, both the subconscious attraction towards transcendence and the conscious determination to achieve transcendence, which is mentioned over here, prayatna dhyatmanastu, so prayatna, that is endeavour and dhyatmanastu, with a detached mind, so what happens, yogi, samshuddha kilvishah, gradually all the contaminations go away, aneka janma, and this may require many lifetimes, it depends on how much contaminations the yogi has, how serious the yogi is in trying to cleanse the contaminations, but the yogi is determined to pursue that path, yogi, samshuddha kilvishah, and then, tato yati param gatim, and then the yogi attains the supreme destination, param gatim, now as of now, Krishna has not explicitly stated what is the param gatim, in the samadhi verses, it is indicated that, sukham atyantikam yatha buddhi krahaya mati indriyam, that one experiences supreme happiness from something beyond the senses, and having known that one does not become, depart from the truth at any time, and then of course, it was said earlier that, that was 6.20, 23, and then after that again in 6.32, Krishna said that, that yogi who sees the equality of all living beings, that is the topmost yogi, so yogi paramo matah, so Krishna has talked about this, the state of perfection, and the supreme destination, later on in the Bhagavad Gita, it will be revealed to be Krishna s abode, and tamahu paramam gatim, Krishna will talk about this in 15.6, and other places also, right now, Krishna has not talked about himself much, and certainly the focus is not on him, the focus is on the process of yoga, so he ends this discussion with an assurance, non-descript assurance, non-specific assurance, that by such determined practice, even if it takes several lifetimes, at the end of it,.