Gita 06.46 – Focus on transcendence is superior to any material attainment – gross or subtle

Yogi will surely attain the supreme destination, param gatim. Thank you. Krishna is now summarizing the message of the sixth chapter, and he is comparing the various paths he has described earlier, and he is describing how the path of yoga is the best, so karmi bhyas chaadhi ko yogi, karmi refers not to a karma yogi, it refers to a karma kandi, that means it refers to a person who is, it's a person who is a fruitive worker, who pursues religion for the sake of sense gratification, and material prosperity, dharma for artha and kama, that is a karmi, so Krishna is saying as compared to the karmi, karmi bhyas chaadhi ko yogi, now Krishna has mentioned about karmis primarily in 2.42 and 43, where he talks about yama maam, pushpitaam vacham, pravidantya pashchitaha, and he stated how such karmis are non-discriminating, and Arjuna should go beyond being such karmis, so in this chapter itself he has used, shabda brahmaati vartate, purva abhyasena tenaiva riyate yava shobhi sahat, yajna surapi yogasya, shabda brahmaati vartate, so he said this in 6.44, so shabda brahmaati vartate means one who goes beyond the range of shabda brahma, that is the range of the Vedas, and specifically the range of the rituals within the Vedas, the rituals for karma kanda within the Vedas, so why is a tapasvidya karmi bhyas chaadhi ko yogi, why is a yogi greater than a karmi, because a karmi gets temporary results, the results of the path of karma kanda, a relevation to heaven which is temporal, and Krishna will specifically say this in 9.21, when he will state, tetam bhuktva sargalokam vishalam, shire punye marty lokam vishanti, so at that time he will state that those who attain heaven will also fall back to the earth again, so whereas the result of the path of karma is temporary, the result of the path of yoga is eternal, so karmi bhyas chaadhi ko yogi, tapasvidya bhyadhi ko matah, karmi bhyas chaadhi ko yogi, jnani bhyas chaadhi ko matah, tapasvidya bhyadhi ko yogi, tasmad yogi bhavah arjuna, so further Krishna is talking about two more processes, the path of tapa, the path of tapa and the path of jnana actually, Krishna talks about karmi bhyas chaadhi ko yogi in the last line, among the three lines which he is talking about, the first he says is tapasvidya bhyadhi ko yogi, tapasvi is one who performs austerity, now tapasvi, yogi may also perform tapasya, for example going to a forest and living amidst the austerity of the forest, that is definitely at one level a tapa, but the tapa being, doing tapasya or being a tapasvi is not the defining characteristic of a yogi, the defining characteristic is yoga or connection with the absolute truth, the pursuit of the absolute truth and the connection with the absolute truth, the diligent practice of the process for connection with the absolute truth, in contrast for a tapasvi, the defining identity is doing tapasya, so if one does austerity without knowing what is the purpose of the austerity, without gaining spiritual growth through the pursuit of the practice of the austerity, then that is not spiritually as conducive as the practice of yoga, because by austerity one may give up one's connection with gross matter, when we do austerity we may fast or we may not take certain items, we may avoid certain items and gratification which is all very good, but even when we do that tapasvi bhyo, we may give up gross matter, but we may increase our attachment to subtle matter, because we may be very attached to our opinions and we may be very attached to our reputation for renunciation, if that happens then we are actually not disconnected from matter, we are simply only disconnected from gross matter and more strongly connected to subtle matter, we are more strongly connected with our false ego, that is we are not identifying ourselves as souls who are servants of God, we are identifying ourselves as people who are as tapasvis who have far greater capacity for austerity than common people and since we get a sense of superiority and that sense of superiority binds us very strongly to the false ego, in fact binds us more strongly to the false ego than what anything else may have bound us, so in that sense tapasvi bhyo adhiko, tapasya is an element of the path of yoga, but tapasya is subordinated harmonious with the essential purpose of yoga that is connection and that if somebody is not having that then yogi who focuses on connection and subordinates tapasya with the pursuit of that connection with the spiritual reality, with the spiritual truth, that yogi is better, gyanibhyo bhimato adhikaha, gyanibhyo, so gyani refers to one who has knowledge, now who is, Krishna is saying that gyanibhyo bhimato adhikaha, so this is the chastisement besides that the process of cultivating knowledge itself has to be given up for the practice of yoga or is the process of cultivating knowledge inimical, incompatible with the process of yoga, no, not at all, the point is that yoga can be, gyana can be harmonized with yoga as long as the pursuit of some intellectual titillation or intellectual domination doesn't distract one from the yogic destination, the yogi destination is the transcendental truth, even if the yogi doesn't know what the ultimate transcendental reality is, still the yogi is aiming for transcendence, whereas in the path of gyana even when one is inquiring through intellectual analysis about what is the absolute truth, but the joy at the level of intellect can often be quite intoxicating, and so writers get some idea about how to write, when scientists some get insight which leads to discovery, it's quite a thrilling experience and this is about things which are connected with the world usually, what to speak of things which are connected with in some way with transcendence, so even on the path of transcendence if one gets more intoxicated with gyan than the object of gyana, then the person is a gyani, but the person does not become a gyana yogi, gyana yogi is one who is using the path of gyana to practice yoga, Krishna is not talking about that per se over here, Krishna is a person talking here primarily about an intellectual, and a person who is intellectual certainly the person may be on the path of transcendence, but still the absolute truth is not understandable merely by gyana, and so one needs to move onwards in one's journey to stay focused in connection with the absolute truth, so gyanindriyopimathodika means that a person who is merely on the intellectual platform cannot get the transcendent destination, whereas a yogi by staying fixed in the pursuit of transcendence will get the transcendent destination, so in this way Krishna in this verse explains how the gyani is better than the karmi because the karmi is seeking a temporary destination, better than tapasvi because the tapasvi simply may get satisfied, the karmi may get satisfied by this heavenly pleasure, the gyani, tapasvi may get satisfied by the capacity to control and dominate and subordinate the body, to conquer the body, and the gyani may get satisfied by the joy of intellectual insight without necessarily getting spiritual insights, whereas the yogi focuses on the spiritual destination that's why the yogi is the highest, and among all yogis which is the highest yogi that Krishna would explain in the next verse, thank you.