Bhagavagd Gita - Session 32- Track 3207

With regard to Buddhi yoga we have seen in the 2nd chapter Sri Krishna gives the idea of Buddhi yoga: the 2nd chapter itself is called Buddhi Yoga. But that Buddhi Yoga is a Yoga by which the Real and the unreal are discriminated between: by Buddhi Yoga you discriminate and distinguish between that which is eternal and that which is not eternal. You distinguish between Purusha and Prakriti; you come out of the clutches of Prakriti and you enter into Purusha consciousness. That is the basic message of the 2nd chapter. If you make your Buddhi, your intellect pure and sharp, then you will see what is real and what is unreal; then you will see what is eternal and what is not eternal; then you will see what is Purusha and what is Prakriti; then you will see how you are bound at Prakriti and how you can liberate yourself from Prakriti and enter into Purusha consciousness.

Now, another Buddhi yoga is now given in the 10th chapter which arises out of devotion; that was purely by intellectual operations that you perceived the distinctions, but now: teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam |

“If you devote yourself to Me thoroughly, all those who are devoted to the supreme Divine thoroughly they are given a gift as it were; dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ, to them I give a boon of Buddhi yoga, I give them entire integral knowledge which comes by purified intelligence. So, even if you don’t start by Buddhi Yoga…you start with Bhakti yoga, then even Bhakti yoga gives you the boon of Buddhi yoga. Whether you start with Buddhi yoga in which case you ultimately go to Bhakti, starting with knowledge you come to Bhakti, or you start with Bhakti and you come to knowledge.

So, in the 10th chapter now we are told that even if you don’t start with Buddhi yoga but you have simply love for the Divine, then the Divine Himself will give you the power of discrimination Buddhi yoga.

teṣām evānukaṁpārthaṁ aham ajñānajaṁ tamaḥ |

nāśayāmy ātmabhāvastho jñānadīpena bhāsvatā ||11||, (X)

“Those who now attain to this love and therefore Buddhi yoga, in that case with the light, jñāna-dīpena,by the light of lamp and knowledge I destroy. What so I destroy? tamaḥ ajñāna-jaṁ, the darkness which is born of ignorance and that too I do with anukaṁpārthaṁ, with compassion.”

In other words even the tremendous sādhanā and tapasyā we do, there is still a possibility of your not attaining to the Supreme. After the great tapasyā, there must intervene ānukaṁpā, there must intervene the Grace. Mere Buddhi yoga, mere Bhakti yoga is not enough; mere Karma yoga is not enough. All this will lead you to a stage where the supreme Divine graces you anukaṁpārthaṁ.

Sri Aurobindo says: “aspiration from below and Grace from above”; when the two are conjunction, combined together that becomes the condition of fulfilment.

So, this is the summary of all that has been said so far which ends with Grace ultimately, all the teaching ultimately ends with ānukaṁpārthaṁ; with Grace the Divine descends and leads you to the Supreme.

Now, Arjuna begins to ask a question. Having seen all this, now you can see the complete change in the mentality of Arjuna. Compare his mentality with the 2nd chapter where he decisively says: ‘I will not fight!’, decisively, he does not ask even Sri Krishna: ‘what is your view?’ He has come to the conclusion himself and says: ‘I will not fight!’ Afterwards he ask question in the 3rd & 4th chapters, a few questions.