Gita 07.01 – Hearing paves our way to the summit of yoga

Thank you.

Bhagavad Gita 7.1 mayy asaktam anahaparthah yogam yuñjanma dāśrayah asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ mā uthāgyāśyasi tatshūdho Krishna is speaking about the alternatives by which one can come to the yogic perfection of having the mind attached to him. Tatshu, hear that. What should one hear? mayy asaktam anahaparthah with the mind attached to me yogam yuñjanma dāśrayah practicing yoga, taking shelter of me asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ mā knowing me fully uthāgyāśyasi samagraṁ mā gāśyasi knowing me fully and asaṁśayaṁ becoming free from all doubts Krishna is saying that I will tell you the process by which you can know me free from doubt you can practice yoga taking shelter of me and make your mind attached to me In the previous chapter Krishna has talked about the process of Ashtanga Yoga and after elaborately describing the process of Ashtanga Yoga then Krishna has brought this chapter to its culmination in 6.47 by stating that the topmost yogi is one topmost yogis are those who fix their mind on Krishna yoginām api sarveśa matkate nāntarātmanāśraddhāvān bhajate yo mām same yukta tamo matahām same yukta tamo matahām they are the most intimately united with me yukta tamo yukta is connected, harmonized, united tamo is most best, it is superlative good, better, best yukta tamo is the best so they are most intimately united with me who are those? yoginām api sarveśa among all yogis so actually the universal scope of this verse is seen firstly by its statement of superlative yukta tamo and also by its its usage of the word sarveśa among all kinds of yogis it is not that among sentimentalists bhaktas are the highest no among all kinds of yogis Krishna is saying the devotees are the highest but anyway that is we will focus on today's verse on 7.1 not 6.47 but the point is Krishna is very clearly stating that the topmost yogis are those who madgate nāntarātmana those who fix their mind on me fix their consciousness on me śraddhāvān bhajate yo mām śraddhāvān bhajate yo mām so with faith they fix their they worship me, they adore me, they serve me so now that means the whole purpose and perfection of going to a jungle of doing all sorts of things the purpose and perfection of it all is ultimately to come to the lotus feet of Krishna and come to the state of absorption in Krishna the purpose is to actually become completely madgate nāntarātmana to become completely immersed in Krishna so if that is the purpose then Krishna is now going to offer from the 7th chapter onwards an alternative process for coming to that perfection so that madgate nāntarātmana thinking of Krishna within oneself always that can happen if the mind is mayyāsatta the mind is attached to Krishna then that will happen automatically so so the alternative way to come to the level of mayyāsatta manā is being mentioned in this verse and Krishna says that's true, hear about it so from the 7th chapter onwards the mood of the Bhagavad Gita changes to much more positive and affirmative the in the previous chapters the mood of the Bhagavad Gita was much more regulative and the focus was be detached be equipoised samaha samaha samaha be equipoised that means happiness and distress so that is important but now from here Krishna is talking about mayyāsatta manā become attached to me the Bhagavad Gita is moving is moving now from distancing oneself from the negative detaching oneself from the negative the Bhagavad Gita is moving from there to attaching oneself to the positive and this motion from the material towards the spiritual it is not just detaching oneself from the material but by attaching yourself to the spiritual and to the topmost spiritual reality Krishna this will comprise this will be the subject of the central 6 chapters of the Gita chapters 7 to 12 which are often compared to the heart of the Gita used as a treasure chest has a upper cover and a bottom and a treasure in between so like that the first 6 chapters and the last 6 chapters are considered to be like the upper and lower coverings for the essential treasure that is there in the middle 6 chapters so right in the beginning itself Krishna stresses this positive, affirmative nature of Bhakti Yoga of the Prasad Yoga that he is going to talk about by saying that the purpose is not just to detach the mind from everything Arjuna had stated that making the mind equipoised is very difficult so Samyena that process of Yoga which centers on Samya it is very difficult to follow so now Krishna from the 7th chapter onwards with the focus on Bhakti Yoga will provide an alternative pathway where the focus doesn't have to be on this Samya but it can be from Krishna and when our consciousness is fixed on Krishna then as a by-product Samya becoming equipoised towards worldly things will happen so this verse can also be analyzed in another way where where the end if we consider 6.47 essentially talking about the same level as 7.1 so 6.47 is talking about the culmination of Bhakti culmination of the Yoga practice in Bhakti not just to talk about Bhakti but to talk about advanced level of Bhakti where one is Madgatenantaratmana where one is internally fixed in Krishna so now 7.1 continues that same stream of thought and talks about fixing the mind on Krishna internally through attachment to him Mayi Asat Tamanah so if we consider Mayi Asat Tamanah is the perfection to be achieved then we can analyze this verse in a sequence by Hatach Shrunu by hearing what will happen if we hear Shravanam Shravanam is the first and foremost among the nine processes of Bhakti so when we hear by hearing we Gyaasasi we come to know about Krishna and the more we come to know about him the more our doubts go away the doubts go away the more the doubts go away then Madashrayaha we understand that Krishna is so wonderful Krishna is so powerful Krishna is so lovefull he is so loving that he is the person whom we should take shelter of we feel inspired like that to seek his shelter so Madashrayaha we seek the shelter of Krishna and then we understand that seeking the shelter of Krishna is not just a matter of sentiment oh I feel dependent on Krishna I surrender to Krishna, I take shelter of Krishna definitely the sentiment is important but for the sentiment to be sustainable there has to be a process by which we can take shelter of Krishna that is Yoga Minjan we can practice the process of Yoga for taking shelter of Krishna and when we do this diligently practice the process of Yoga then by that we come to the level of Asatmana our mind becomes attached to him and in this way we attain the same perfection that is attained by the Yogis by going to jungle, by performing tremendous austerities by making the mind to push towards everyone and then turning inwards and progressing laboriously from Brahman, Parmatma to Bhagwan realization and succeeding only if they are extremely fortunate and are not attracted by other allurements on the path but the same perfection that is achieved so laboriously by practice of other paths of Yoga that can be achieved by a devotee by through the six stages when we hear about Krishna we come to know about him then as we come to know about him our misconceptions about him, our doubts go away then we feel inspired to take shelter of him and we recognize that to take shelter of him sustainably we need a proper process Yogam Yunjan and the more we follow the process of Bhakti Yoga the result is Maya our consciousness becomes fixed on Krishna and in this way we attain the perfection of Yoga this verse is a important transition verse which will provide an alternative pathway to attain the same summit that has been attained by the process of Ashtang Yoga and that alternative pathway which will be analyzed in this chapter and elaborated in subsequent five chapters is Bhakti Yoga.