Gita 12.12 Serenity comes by rising from piety to spirituality

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Thank you. Bhagavad Gita 12.12. Krishna is speaking here.

So Krishna is talking from 12.8 to 12.12 about different levels at which bhakti can be practiced. And this gives the fifth level. First, he talks about being internally absorbed.

Second, that is 12.8, 12.9 is striving for inner connection with him. Third is dedicating one's work to him. That's 10th.

11th is that at least removing the external, removing obsession with the external. That is also one level at which Krishna recommends working. Now, going beyond that, in this verse, Krishna talks about working at the level of devotion.

Shreyo Higyanam. Krishna talks about another level over here. This verse is actually quite complex in the terms of the kind of analysis that different Acharyas have given.

And it may seem to confuse or even invert some conceptions of hierarchy that we might be having. But if we see overall in context, we can understand this. So firstly, what exactly is Krishna saying over here? He's stating that Shreyo, it is better for Arjuna that one chooses to work for him.

Shreyo Higyanam Abhyasad Gyanadhyanam Vishishyate. Now, let's look at the literal meanings of the words and then we'll see what is happening. Shreya is better.

Better than Gyana is Abhyasa. Better than knowledge is application, is practice. Gyanadhyanam Vishishyate.

Better than, sorry, better than, rather than practice, knowledge is important. Better than knowledge, meditation is important. Dhyanat karma phala tyagas.

By meditation, one can be detached from work. And tyagas shanti ranantaram. So normally we say that practice is better than precept.

But Krishna is saying apparently over here Gyanam Abhyasad. Actually, knowledge is better than practice. And then meditation is better than knowledge.

That's understandable. We could say that, you know, don't just speak about God. Actually be devoted to God.

Think about God constantly. But then dhyanat karma phala tyagas. By meditation, there will be detachment from the fruits of work.

Well, detachment from fruits of work is considered quite preliminary in the spiritual path, especially in the devotional path. And why is that talked about higher? And then tyagas shanti ranantaram. By tyaga, you will get peace.

Now, if you look at the context, Arjuna has been seeking, Arjuna is appalled, is aghast at the prospect of a fratricidal war. And he wants to avoid that war. Or at least he wants to avoid the fratricide that is coming with the war.

And one way he feels is, you can have peace is by avoiding war. So Krishna speaks the Bhagavad Gita to tell Arjuna that, actually just by avoiding war, you will not get peace. Because what causes the loss of peace, what causes violence is the disharmonious emotions within the heart, the lust, anger, greed.

These are the cause of conflict. These are the cause of violence. And unless that inner cause of violence is addressed, whatever one does externally will not make much difference.

We need to address that inner cause. So tyagas shanti ranantaram, the shanti. So Arjuna, if you want peace, this theme of peace was talked about repeatedly in the, say, in the second chapter when 2.70, 2.70, when he talks about sa shanti maapnoti na kaamakaami and sa shanti madhigachchati.

Or in 5.29 also, sa shanti micchati. And now here also in 12.12, that theme is coming. Arjuna, if you want peace, what do you need to do? You know, it is renunciation which brings peace.

Tyagas shanti ranantaram, anantaram. So anantaram means thereafter. So like say, if we are agitated about getting a particular food item, you know, whether there will be some particular dessert after, in a particular meal.

And if we are worried whether the dessert will be there or not, as long as you're infatuated with that idea of the dessert, we'll be agitated. And once we recognize that, oh, this dessert doesn't matter, forget it, then we'll become peaceful. So what we need is that commitment to the internal, that determination to fix ourselves in the internal, in the, that, okay, this doesn't matter.

So once that renunciation comes, the detachment comes, that rather tyaga means the decision to not be obsessed with it, the decision to give it up comes, then that will lead to shanti. Anantaram, that will lead to unending peace. And that is indeed our aspiration.

Tyagas shanti ranantaram. So Krishna speaks here that Arjuna, if you want peace, you need tyaga. And let's look with this light of the context of the Gita of Arjuna's, that Arjuna's seeking for peace and Krishna's stating that peace will not come in the way you are expecting, Arjuna, peace will come in some other way.

So with this understanding, let us look at the Gita now and see what exactly it is stating. It is stating here that Arjuna, shreyo hi jnanam abhyasa. So overall, everybody is engaged in abhyasa.

In Vedic culture, everybody in the culture, it was in fact, almost everybody was involved in some kind of dharmic activity. It was piety, it was not spirituality. But everybody was engaged in some pious activity.

But piety alone is not enough. One has to have knowledge. Krishna has talked about this in the fourth chapter, 33rd verse when he says, So it is not just that doing dharma is enough.

One has to have knowledge. So if we consider abhyasa as general religious piety, as compared to that, spiritual knowledge is higher. And this spiritual knowledge may be intellectual.

But dhyanam, dhyana dhyanam vishishyate. That means, actually, if one is meditating on spiritual reality, that is much better. So one may have knowledge, but knowledge of the spiritual, but one may still be attracted to the material.

One may still be meditating on the material. But if one is having knowledge of the spiritual and one is also meditating on the spiritual, then that is much better. Vishishyate.

Then dhyana karma phala tyagas. By dhyana, what happens? When one is attracted to spiritual reality, when one is absorbed in spiritual reality, then natural consequence of that is karma phala tyagas. One gives up one's obsession with work, with the fruits of work in this world.

And in that way, one becomes, one can actually become detached and one can be peaceful. So it is by inner meditation on Krishna, by inner absorption in Krishna. Dhyana is associated with dhyana yoga.

Meditation is associated with the process of dhyana yoga. But even in dhyana yoga, there are multiple levels. And Krishna has talked about how in 6.47, that the highest level is the yogis who meditate on Krishna.

So that dhyana, if one is there, when param drstva nivartate, by that higher taste, one will give up the lower taste. So karma phala tyagas. So if the agitation is caused, will we win? Will we lose? If that win-loss mentality is primarily the motivation for the practice of bhakti, then for one's practice, not a message of bhakti, of one's, whatever level of dharma, piety one is practicing, if the profit gain mentality is the primary motive, then there will be agitation.

There will be elation when there is profit, when there is devastation, when there is loss. But if one is focused on the higher reality, one is focused on Krishna, then that will naturally lead to detachment. And then that will lead to peace, that will lead to serenity.

So here Krishna talks about, we could say, multiple levels of practice, whether it is just externally doing pious activity, better than that is intellectually knowing about spiritual reality, better than that is becoming absorbed in spiritual reality. And by that absorption, renunciation from external results is natural, and then that will bring.