Bhagavagd Gita - Session 20- Track 2003

nādatte kasyacit pāpaṁ na caiva sukṛtaṁ vibhuḥ |
ajñānenāvṛtaṁ jñānaṁ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ ||15|| (V)

“The omnipresent Lord does not take the sin or virtue of anyone. It is because knowledge is enveloped by ignorance that the individual souls are bewildered.”

If Divine is all, then naturally He takes sin and virtue of everybody; but there is a state of His Consciousness, in which He is aloof from everything; therefore, the Karmayogin, he combines in himself constant activity, and a constant inactivity. He is kṣara and akṣara at the same time.

jñānena tu tad ajñānaṁ yeṣāṁ nāśitam ātmanaḥ |
teṣām ādityavaj jñānaṁ prakāśayati tat param ||16|| (V)

“For those whose ignorance is destroyed by the knowledge of the self, knowledge shines forth like the sun, revealing the reality of the Transcendental Self.”

All this description was of tat param; tat param is that which is none of these things, even though He is vibhuḥ, even though he is prabhuḥ, He is the Lord; vibhu is one who is spread out, prabhu is one who is the master. Even though He spreads out, even all this is Himself, even though He is the supreme Lord, even then He is tat param, he is still beyond all that.

tadbuddhayas tadātmānas tanniṣṭhās tatparāyaṇāḥ |
gacchantyapunarāvṛttiṁ jñānanirdhūtakalmaṣāḥ ||17|| (V)

“Who have their buddhi fixed on the self, and who are solely devoted to the self, they with their sins entirely destroyed by knowledge attain a state of liberation from which there is no return.”

So, he attains to a perfect perfection, and he is not obliged to come back to this world: he may come back to this world, but he is not obliged, there is no necessity for him to return to this world, he really becomes free. You might say that these are some of the basic characteristics of a divine worker.

Now, a very important state of the divine worker is set up equality:

vidyāvinayasampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini |
śuni caiva śvapāke ca paṇḍitāḥ samadarśinaḥ ||18|| (V)

The one who has attained the state of a divine worker, for him, four are equal; and Sri Krishna describes who are all equal:

“The men of wisdom behold with an equal eye, the same self in Brahmins who are learned and modest, as in cows and elephants, or even in dogs and outcastes.”

For him all are equal,

vidyāvinayasampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini |
śuni caiva śvapāke ca paṇḍitāḥ samadarśinaḥ ||18|| (V)

ihaiva tair jitaḥ sargo yeṣāṁ sāmye sthitaṁ manaḥ |
nirdoṣaṁ hi samaṁ brahma tasmād brahmaṇi te sthitāḥ ||19|| (V)

“Everything is conquered: ihaiva tair jitaḥ, everything is conquered by them; yeṣāṁ sāmye sthitaṁ manaḥ, whose mind is established in equality.”

nirdoṣaṁ hi samaṁ brahma tasmād brahmaṇi te sthitāḥ ||

“Brahman is always innocent, and therefore when you attain to Brahmic consciousness, you become equal minded, then you are settled in the Brahman.”

na prahṛṣyet priyaṁ prāpya nodvijet prāpya cāpriyam |
sthirabuddhir asaṁmūḍho brahmavid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ ||20|| (V)

“One should not rejoice on obtaining what is pleasant nor feel sorrow on obtaining what is unpleasant. One who has a firm intellect and un-bewildered, such a knower of Brahman is established in Brahman.”

bāhyasparśeṣvasaktātmā vindatyātmani yat sukham |
sa braḥmayogayuktātmā sukham akṣayam aśnute ||21|| (V)

We have also earlier spoken of delight; here again, delight is obtained but basically through the state of equality:

bāhyasparśeṣvasaktātmā vindatyātmani yat sukham |

“When the Self is not attached to external contacts of the world, one attains the bliss that is in the self. Having united with the Yoga of Brahman, one attains infinite bliss.”

ye hi saṁsparśajā bhogā duḥkhayonaya eva te |
ādyantavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ ||22|| (V)

“Having known”…here the emphasis falls upon knowledge; “Having known that all the things have the beginning and the end, therefore one who is wise, he does not get attached to those enjoyments which are born of saṁsparśa, by touch, because they are all duḥkhayonaya, knowing that they are all the origin of unhappiness, therefore he does not get attached to them, and therefore he remains really in true delight, which does not depend upon any external sensations.”

śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ prāk śarīravimokṣaṇāt |
kāmakrodhodbhavaṁ vegaṁ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ ||23|| (V)

This is one of the most important statements: “You should attain to this condition, prāk śarīravimokṣaṇāt, before you leave the body you should have attain to this condition.” Very often we are told that liberation comes after leaving the body; whereas Sri Krishna here points out that really you attain to liberation only when, while being in the body, before you leave the body, prāk śarīravimokṣaṇāt, if you can bear, śaknotīhaiva, vegaṁ, if you can bear in you the speed, the force of impetuousness, the impetus which arises from kāmakrodha…