Gita 08.11 – Liberation in yoga requires renunciation
Bhagavad Gita 8.11 Krishna is saying here that I will speak in brief In summary, Sangraha, Pravaksha, what will he speak? The path, Tattepadam, that path I will speak. What is that path? The path by which one attains the Akshara, Yad Aksharam Veda Vidho Vadanti. Now, that by which one attains transcendence actually.
So, Aksharam Veda Vidho Vadanti, Veda Vidho, these are people who know the Vedas and Akshara Vadanti, they chant the Akshara. Akshara here refers to Omkar. The word Akshara has many different meanings.
In this context, Vadanti and something is being spoken that cannot refer to the same Akshara that was that came in the first word spoken by Krishna in this chapter 8.3 There Akshara refers to transcendence, that is the nature of the Brahman, whereas here Akshara is something which is chanted. So, that cannot refer to Brahman. Prabhupada explains it refers to the Om, Yad Aksharam Veda.
Krishna will specifically refer to Om in one of the next verses where he will say, Om Itthe Ek Aksharam Brahma Vyaharan Maa Manusmaran, that those who chant Om and remember me. So, here Yad Aksharam Veda Vidho Vadanti, those who know the Vedas and they chant Akshara, Vishanti Yad Yathayo Vee Taragaha, Vishanti, they enter into, they attain, the spiritual reality they enter into, Yathayo Vee Taragaha Yathayom, those who are renounced, what do they do? Vee Taragaha, they are free from attachments. What kind of attachments? Raghah.
Raghah essentially means attachment, especially attachment to material things. Krishna has used the word Vee Taragaha twice earlier in the Bhagavad Gita, although that Vee Taragaha had come with other things also. First in 2.56 he says, and then again in 4.10 he says that in 2.46 he was talking about the condition of the transcendentalists who focus on who, whose characteristics Arjuna had asked about, and in 4.10 he talks about how he descends to attract people to him and when they become attracted they become free from all worldly attachments.
Vee Taragaha, Raghabhaya Krodha, Prabhupada explains in that purport that Raghabhaya and Krodha are three misinformed attitudes of looking at the world or looking at things in general. Raghah is, oh, this is the place for enjoyment. Bhaya is, oh, personality, relationships, all these are filled with misery, so I just want to go beyond all this.
Krodha is skeptic, frustration and skepticism that what is what. All these so many doctrines, they're all confusing. Best is not to bother about any of them.
And now, here Krishna is saying Vee Taragaha. So, the transcendentalists, Yathaya, if one wants to be Yathaya, one wants to be renunciate, then one has to be detached from the world and the world's many allurements for pleasure and the most prominent among these allurements is the allurement of sexual pleasure. So, Vishanti, they want to enter, so for that purpose, Yathichanto Brahmacharyam Charanti, Yathichanto, with this desire of Vishanti, of entering into the spiritual level of reality, what do they do? Brahmacharyam Charanti.
They practice Brahmacharya. So, here Char, the Char sound is repeated in Brahmacharyam, that is Brahmachara and Charanti, that is Chara. So, alliteration, beautiful alliteration, nice alliteration over there, subtle alliteration.
So, the path, that path I'll describe to you in summary, by which, by chanting Om, by practicing Brahmacharya, by becoming free from attachments, by being renounced, one can attain the spiritual realm of reality, spiritual sky. Now, we'll see Krishna, he says Sangraha and he actually does real Sangraha. Sometimes people say, I'll speak a few words and then they speak for half an hour, one hour, two hours, long, long time.
Few words actually should mean to be few words. They want to speak more and they don't need to say few words. So, here Krishna says, I'll do Sangraha, Sangrahena Pravakshya and he literally does Sangraha.
He speaks in just, he speaks two verses. This is the 11th verse and 12th and 13th, he summarizes the path of Yoga over here. Now, let's look at the components of the practice that Krishna is talking about over here.
If you look at these, this verse along with the next two verses in sequence, then we will see that. Next verse will talk about how one should try to raise the Pranaswara, whether it is training the senses, Sarva-dhvara-ani-sanyamya, Mano-rudi-niruddhya-cha, Murdhya-adhayatmanah Pranam, Astitva-yoga-dharanam. This clearly refers to the process of Ashtang Yoga and in general, it refers to the state of Atyahar, where one shuts out the senses.
We'll discuss about that later. But the point is that Krishna is talking broadly here about the path of Yoga, Ashtang Yoga, and he is talking about the stage when the yogis have renounced the world. Arulakshor Muner Yogam Karmakaranam Uchchate Yoga Arudhasya Tasyaiva Shamakaranam Uchchate At the start of the sixth chapter, Krishna says that those who are in the initial stage of Yoga, for them, Karma is the means of advancement, but as they become situated in Yoga at that time, Shamaha, not external action, but internal calming of the mind, along with external action, that is the means.
Now, so Krishna is talking about that stage of a yogi who is now practicing Shama. So, these yogis, they naturally renounce the world and they renounce, of course, the world's most prominent pleasure, that is the sexual pleasure. Brahmacharyam Charanti.
This is the second reference to Brahmacharya in the Bhagavad Gita. The earlier reference came in the sixth chapter, in 6.13, when Krishna said, Prashantatma Abhigatabhir Brahmachari Vatesitaha Manasayam Yamachitto Yuktasitam Atparaha. So, that is also talking about the process of Yoga, especially for the yogi who has renounced the world and gone out into the forest.
Four verses ago in 6.10 and 11, Krishna has stated about the yogi, Chucha Udeshe Patishtapya, it's in a secluded place, and yogi goes out into the forest. So, that reference 6.13 and this reference 8.11, both of them are talking about the need, necessity for Brahmacharya in the process of Ashtanga Yoga. There is one more reference to Brahmacharya in the Bhagavad Gita, that will be in the 17th chapter and 14th verse when Krishna talks about austerity of the body, there he will say that Deva Dvija Guru Pragya Poojanam Shaucha Marjavam Brahmacharyam Ahimsaachyam Shariram Tapa Uchchate, there one of the austerities of the body is said to be Brahmacharya.
Now, the whole process of Yoga focuses on disconnection from matter and there is analysis which happens usually in the Vedantic tradition. We have the six systems of philosophy in the Indian tradition and usually two of them are grouped together. So, Sankhya Yoga, Sankhya and Yoga are grouped together, Mimamsa and Vedanta, which is sometimes called as Uttar Mimamsa and Purva Mimamsa, Purva Mimamsa and Uttar Mimamsa and then there is Nyaya Vaisheshika.
So, Sankhya Yoga, Sankhya is the largely counting and analyzing. Now, we have two modes of approaching and understanding reality, the analytical method and the synthetic method. Analysis means we take a complete thing and then we break it down into its components and try to understand the components and then try to understand how the components come together to make the system function the way it functions.
So, analysis means it's pretty counting. Sankhya, Sankhya analysis means counting and after counting that there is matter and there is spirit, there are various material elements, but beyond the material elements is a qualitatively different element, the element of spirit. When one understands this, at that time, one starts practicing and slowly getting elevated towards life's ultimate goal.
One starts moving towards the spiritual reality. So, if one does not know what the spiritual reality contains on a positive note, then at that time, one's focus primarily stays on the negation. In Bhakti, we focus primarily on Krishna and for us, Brahmacharya is more in a positive sense of meditation on Brahman, the Supreme Brahman Krishna and the ashram of Brahmacharya is adopted to assist in that meditation to whatever extent it can assist.
So, that process further details Krishna will talk about as it is practiced by the yogis.