Bhagavagd Gita - Session 40- Track 4009
Question: But when they say ‘light’ from the sun, they mean the divine’s will or it is something else here, in this particular verse?
The Light of the Divine, it has all the three qualities. The Light of the Divine is ‘the glow’ in which the divine Being is seen, just as with the light I can see the book. Similarly, there is the Being of the Divine and there is the Light of the Divine; there is a difference between the two. When the Light comes then you see the divine Being. Then, if that light becomes even more powerful you see the divine Will, then you see the divine Love.
All the three are actually involved in the condition of Light: basic condition is Light. That’s why the whole emphasis in Yoga is on Light. ‘Become illumined’, it is the first message of Yoga: ‘become illumined’, gain the Light. Without the Light you cannot see that which is the Being, that which is divine Will, that which is the divine Love.
Now, this Light can be awakened by all the three means: by silencing the mind, be quiet, that’s the path of Knowledge. Do the will of the Divine: that is Karmayoga; offer yourself with Love to the Divine, all the three methods ultimately enlighten you and that illumination comes.
If you have followed the Jnanayoga, the first realisation will be of the divine Being; if you have followed the Karmayoga, you will discover the divine Will; if you have followed the path of Love, you will experience the divine Love, but if you follow the triple path simultaneously, then you will realise the Divine fully. That is the message of the Gita: integral Divine to be realised integrally.
It is when these three are combined, then there is one more important result which comes: you become not only the Divine, not only you know the divine Will, not only you act the Divine, not only you love the Divine, but your whole nature becomes divine. This entire nature being transformed into divinity, that is not possible if you follow the Karmayoga alone, or Jnanayoga alone, or Bhaktiyoga alone. If you want to have, here on this earth, the divine action as the Divine Himself would be acting, like Sri Krishna Himself acting, then you have to combine all the three.
That is what Sri Krishna says: amṛtaṁ. At one time we had distinguished between avyabhicāriṇī Bhakti and Bhakti (XIII, 10): mere Bhakti is mere Love for the Divine; avyabhicāriṇī Bhakti is the one which is illumined by Knowledge, it is keen to serve the Divine by will and it is offered to the Divine, all the three combined together that is avyabhicāriṇī Bhakti. It is that which gives you the law of the Divine in action, all the three should be combined. And Sri Krishna’s whole emphasis in the Gita is not merely on Moksha.
Even though in this chapter He describes Moksha, the last word of the chapter is…we have read just now the last word of the chapter is kṛta-kṛtyaś ca bhārata: ‘It is then that you become kṛta-kṛtya’, in all your action, you manifest the divine action. This divine action, the manifestation of the divine action is amṛtaṁ, you become immortal. There is no disintegration possible once our will begins to manifest the totality of the Divine, and that is the goal of the Bhagavad Gita.
The Bhagavad Gita does not teach you how to become liberated merely; because liberation is a condition of this…liberation is incidental, but the aim of Sri Krishna is to tell Arjuna why he should act, He does not tell Arjuna only to come out of this bondage and that is the end, no, He wants Arjuna to act, but act divinely. He points out that ‘your bewilderment, your confusion arises because you act humanly. Your bewilderment will go away when you become one with the divine Being, one with the divine Will, one with the divine Love, then you will become kṛta-kṛtya, then all your bewilderment will vanish’.
Question: Is this the same than the amṛtaṁ dharma?,
That’s right, amṛtaṁ dharma, correct.
So, even this chapter gives you: bondage, experience of bondage, release. How do you get release by Yoga. And then, when you get release, you get first that knowledge, the light.
gām āviśya ca bhūtāni dhārayāmy aham ojasā |,
puṣṇāmi cauṣadhīḥ sarvāḥ somo bhūtvā rasātmakaḥ ||13|| (XV)
“It is by light that I enter into this world, I bear the bhūta(s), all the creatures…
puṣṇāmi cauṣadhīḥ, I nourish all the medicines, all the herbs,
sarvāḥ somo bhūtvā rasātmakaḥ , it is by light that I become rasa, and this rasa nourishes everything in the world. This is why this world is so much enjoyable, it is because it is My light that has become rasa, which has spread in the world therefore anything that you touch becomes rasātmakaḥ.”