Path to Moksha or Final
Emancipation - The Imperishable Brahman
In the previous chapter the Lord proclaims that one who takes
refuge in Him to tide over the vicissitudes of old age and death, comes to know
about the immutable Brahman, the
whole of the science of knowledge or Adhyatman and the Karma or Action in its entirety. One who
knows Him as the Adhibhuta, Adhidaiva, Adhiyajna, also realizes Him
at the time of death. Here He further explains the terms for the benefit of
those who wish to gain the Supreme Knowledge.
When the end draws near, if one is able to steady his mind
and remember Him at the last moment, he realizes the supreme truth and becomes
merged in God. Whatever one thinks at the last moment, one attains that state.
In this respect the often quoted story is that of king Bharata, who was
known as Jadabharata in a later life, who had died thinking of a deer
whom he loved. He therefore got the body of a deer in his next life. However one
is never able to remember God at the last moment, unless one tries to cultivate
that habit throughout his life. A worldly person will only remember worldly
matters however hard he tries in the end to merge his mind into spiritual bliss.
A person who loves another will remember that other person. A person who loves
the Supreme Being, will think of the Supreme and his mind will merge with the
Supreme.
“Therefore”, says the Lord, “at all times, remember Me and fight.
Because verily I tell you that one who is ever immersed in My thoughts will get
Me in the end.”
Fight signifies our trials and tribulations in daily life.
We’ll have to bear the burden, the heavy cross, and constant thinking of the
Supreme Being helps in easing that burden because it gives us a sense of
purpose, a direction, a divine light at the end of the long and dark tunnel of
life.
“Oh Partha !Using constant practice as the means, without letting
the mind to drift, one can realize the divine being, by constantly meditating on
Him. One who knows Him comes to understand that He is a knower of everything, is
very ancient, He reigns over everything, smaller than a minutest atom. He is the
preserver of everything, His form is beyond description and comprehension. He is
that great source of light which shines and dispels ignorance and which is
beyond all darkness (of the heart).”
This is the description even contained in Upanishads – “I have known that great
Being whose splendor is great and who is beyond all darkness. By knowing Him you
too will attain immortality, there is no other way.”
The eternal Brahman is thus beyond description. The
only simile is like that of a great source of enlightenment (just as the sun is
to the material world) who is beyond the darkness and beyond ignorance, as by
knowing Him all ignorance is dispelled. He is tiniest as He cannot be perceived
by the ordinary senses. Only the purified senses of a Yogi, refined or developed through many
years of devotion or ascetic practices, are able to perceive Him, realize
Him.
The Lord continues, “At the time of death, with a concentrated
mind, with devotion and communion through Yoga, by concentrating the vital life
force or Prana at a point(i.e.
focusing with a determined effort at some places significant for the Yogis), one
can attain the Supreme, Divine Being. He is the one whom the knower of
Veda calls as imperishable or Akshara, into whom the ascetics, after
having renounced all desires and attachments enter, desiring whose attainment
the Brahmacharis or celibates and
pure souls perform all actions. I’ll tell you how to attain Him. By restraining
all outlets of the body (i.e. all sense organs), by even focusing the mind in
the heart, by gathering and controlling the vital life force, one can attain the
Yoga state.”
This is a complicated Yoga procedure and is usually
refered to as Raja Yoga. This is
described in detail in the Yoga Sutra
of Patanjali and Gita provides a summary of the various
steps. The Lord describes how to attain the divine using this particular form of
Yoga and in the process He describes the special appeal of the Supreme
Being to all who wants to attain Him. The eightfold paths or the Ashtanga Yoga consists of Yama – Non violence, Truth, Non Stealing, Celibacy & non
acceptance of gifts (all these by body, mind and speech), Niyama – purity, contentment,
asceticism, scriptural studies & worship of God, Asana – the posture, Pranayama – the regulation of the vital
force or Prana, Pratyahara – detaching the mind and
senses from external objects, Dharana
– have a fixed idea, Dhyana –
meditation or constant reflection on that fixed idea, Samadhi – the highest state where the
ego is dissolved and the mind submerges in Supreme.
The concentration or constant reflection encompasses Pratyahara, Dharana and Dhyana, holding of Prana is Pranayama, and attainment of Supreme is
Samadhi. The ascetics, Brahmacharis and knower of Veda are all in various stages of the Yama and Niyama –celibacy, scriptural studies,
asceticism, worship etc. The goal of all is the Supreme Being, whose attainment
will result in liberation from the cycle of life and death.
The Lord continues, “By constantly reciting that one word which
depicts Brahman, the Om, and at the same time remembering Me,
one who gives up the body, gets the supreme state, i.e Moksha or liberation. The Yogi who with undivided attention
worships me (mentally, through constant remembrance), I am easily available to
that great person who is ever united with Me. One who attains Me, do not suffer
from the pangs of rebirth. That person is ever free from cycles of life and
death which are full of miseries and are impermanent. From the realm of Brahma (the creative force or the
earliest deity) to the residents of this earth, everybody returns to continue on
the cycles of life and death. However one who attains Me, is free from the
shackles of rebirth.”
The world of material objects is ephemeral, transient. It is
full of miseries because all sensory enjoyments bring sufferings in their wake.
In the world one has to suffer from the consequences of the Karma or
the actions. One has to grow old, suffer from diseases, death and destruction,
losses and sorrows. Every pleasure is short lived, pain comprises of the major
part of one’s life. Yet, one is never able to detach the mind from the worldly
pleasures and objects of senses. The great force which propels everybody to
attach the mind to the objects of senses instead of directing it to the thoughts
about the Supreme Being is called Maya. Gita introduced us to this great
illusory force which binds people by bewitching them, in the previous chapter.
Now the Lord explains the consequences of such a bond. Maya or
Prakrti, the nature and the universe, causes all living beings to get
attached to Sansara or the world and
therefore come back again and again to reap the fruits of their actions. Only
those great souls of tranquil minds, who have been able to tear asunder the veil
of Maya through the renunciation of
worldly pleasures, will, by the grace of the Supreme Being, attain Him and
thereby get liberated from the cycles of rebirth. Their actions no longer bear
fruit as they are burnt out by the power of the supreme knowledge. For them the
worldly thoughts and pleasures are replaced with the constant thoughts of God
and all actions performed are directed towards realization of the Supreme
Being.
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