Gita 08.13 – External recitation and internal recollection propel us to spiritual liberation
In our next class thank you bhagavad-gita 8.13 om itti ekaksharam brahma vyaharanma manusmaran yah prayatita jan deham sayati paramam gatim om itti ekaksharam brahma om itti that this om is an ekakshara it's considered to be one syllable brahma is a manifestation of brahma it's a transcendental sound vibration yaharanma manusmaran vyaharan vibrating this ma manusmaran remembering me yah prayatita jan deham one who does gives up the body and departs from the body sayati paramam gatim that person will attain paramam gatim the supreme destination so here krishna is stating that one should not just chant om but should also remember him if they want to attain paramam gatim the supreme destination two verses earlier in 8.11 krishna stated that he'll describe and brief the process so in the previous stage he described pratyahara and turning inwards toward dharan and now he's describing the moment of the consciousness towards samadhi krishna is stating stressing remembrance over here quite often when the yogis meditate on om you know they meditate on that sound vibration without contemplating on the reality signified by that sound vibration that means they don't necessarily think of krishna in fact om is one of the one of the ways in which the impersonal is address the absolute truth without acknowledging the personal aspect of the absolute truth now the personal aspect is not just the aspect the personal aspect is actually the essence of the absolute truth the word though syllable om itself is not the province or the monopoly of the impersonalists om is simply a invocatory address the absolute truth it is there prominently at the beginning in even many Vaishnav mantras om namo bhagavate vasudevaya om namo narayanaya om shri krishnayana maha so these mantras all have om within them and om is invocation of the absolute truth is just generic you could say it is non-descript in the sense that it does not contain any any information that might reveal the identity of the absolute truth but the Vaishnavas therefore use om as a generic reference to the absolute truth and when they follow it with more specific references when they talk about the absolute truth referred to by the name of Vishnu or sorry Vasudeva, Nasudeva, Narayana, Krishna whatever it is so here Krishna is telling that Krishna is not recommending that kind of non-specific or diffused meditation say yes om is to be recited om iti ek aksharan brahma vyaharan ma manusmaram while reciting is ma manusmaram remember me without remembering Krishna whatever he may achieve is actually not complete it is temporary it is not even if one rises to the impersonal Brahman level of realization so that is not as fulfilling to the heart as in the connection with Krishna so Krishna stresses here that there has to be internal external recitation and in our contemplation so external recitation is of om of course as devotee sadhakas in Kali Yuga we follow the Kali Santra and Upanishad we follow Shachatani Mahaprabhu and chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra and the principle here we can apply it so while chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra we along with that external recitation there is internal meditation internal contemplation on Krishna internal recollection of Krishna and so external recitation and internal recollection propel us towards liberation the liberation is you have prayati triyandeham sayati paramam gathim that person will attain the supreme destination paramam gathim now what is this paramam gathim that may vary over the conception or the paramam gathim or the supreme destination may vary from transcendental to transcendentalist the impersonalist may consider Brahman to be the highest destination and that is what they may attain the devotees know that it is the personal abode of Krishna that is the highest destination and they will attain that but for that what is required is remembrance of Krishna along with recitation spiritual journey is essentially a journey of change in consciousness to the extent that our consciousness is not changed to that extent we are actually not moving in our spiritual journey no matter how much we may acquire externally the symbols of renunciation and symptom and signs of spiritual growth still we will not be growing will not grow if our inner consciousness is not changing a yogi may renounce the world and go to the forest a sadhaka may join a spiritual organization and may rise within the hierarchy of the spiritual organization but that in and of itself does not guarantee spiritual growth and that may not prepare one for towards liberation there is there has to be the inner shift of consciousness and not just a temporary shift but a lasting elevation of our consciousness from the material level to the spiritual level from contemplating on worldly things to contemplating on Krishna such a raising of consciousness will gradually but inevitably make us more and more Krishna centered and as compared to the recitation of oh the recitation of mantras involving Krishna's has multiple advantages a primary one being that the names of Krishna much more naturally immediately and sweetly trigger recollection of Krishna when they recite ohm it is unlikely that the recitation of ohm will trigger thoughts of Krishna of course if you have is a philosophically deeply rooted thoroughly immersed in understanding appreciating the ontological non-difference of ohm and Krishna then even the recitation of ohm will trigger thoughts of Krishna but that is that level of immerse immersion in ontology that level of realization may take a long time but Nishodananda Radhavallabha Krishna these names are directly referring to the person Krishna and they evoke very personal images and in that way they stimulate trigger the remembrance of Krishna much more easily much more sweetly and much more immediately and thus the external recitation of the holy names coupled with the consequently triggered in a recollection of Krishna can take one towards Krishna towards liberation how such liberation can be easily achieved by remembering Krishna that will be mentioned in the next verse which we will discuss in our next class thank you.