Volume 17 Number 1 Page 1

Yoga as it is meant in the Gita is not what you understand by the term of yogic practices. Yoga originally meant the annihilation of the ego by control of the senses. In the Gita it came to be understood as the originator of the four Yogas, Karma Yoga, which means selfless action, Bhakti Yoga, which means love and devotion, Jhana Yoga which means Knowledge by experience, Raja Yoga, which means mind control. All these, combined with the love and surrenderance for Krishna, is what is meant by Yoga in the Gita. So remember — do not mix it up with ordinary yogic practices. All through the Gita you will come across "yoga" and "yogi"; that is why the translator of this book has given the meaning of yoga.

Question: What do you mean by ordinary yogic practices?

Ordinary yogic practices are the breathing exercises, pranayam, Hatha Yoga, mantric practices, asana — or postures — this is not what is meant by yoga in the Gita. Complete surrenderance to the Master and literal following is called Maha Yoga; — it will come later in the Upanishads. Remember Maha means complete surrenderance and the literal following of the Master.

Krishna continues: he tries to make Arjuna fight by telling him Vedantic Truths; and then see if he is not affected by making him feel a coward. That too does not affect him. Krishna tells him all the secrets of divinity, that too has no effect. At the end Krishna shows how all are dying in his mouth* — that affects Arjuna. The One eternal God is everybody — God is in everybody. The body is affected, all changes, but the God which is within each body is never affected by anything. Krishna wants to say that God is really you .

And this war** was a just war. The Kauravas did great harm to everyone and made the Pandavas suffer very much — like the present dictators with the Jews. Krishna took the side of the Pandavas and at the last moment Arjuna became shaky. He won't fight so Krishna tries again.

From here on it is generally called the Gita. First he tells him all scriptures are of no use where real illumination is concerned. The Gita deals with three qualities: Sattwa, Raja, Tamas. The Sattwa means good, generous, gentle, honest, true; Raja is of greed, lust. Tamas is egoistic, full of anger — the worst. Sattwa is the best. Krishna says, quit all three — even the good. Be quit of the pairs of opposites. Remain ever fixed in the Real. Good, bad, give up both! So to one who is illuminated in God, scriptures are like a water tank compared to a flooded place.

"Let thy concern be the action and never the gain it may yield; fixed in Yoga do thou perform action". Baba says, Yoga means to be poised, balanced, so that even success or failure do not upset you in the least. Mere works, services — the gulf between services done and the poise of at-onement of Karma Yoga is vast. Yoga is efficiency indeed — this is Karma Yoga. The master minds of those trained in Karma Yoga have the unasked — and unsought-for result of freedom from birth and death.

When Krishna tells Arjuna of Bhakti Yoga and finally Maha Yoga, then it is very beautiful. It all comes to one God — only He is Real and everything else is illusion. You are all of God, in God and actually God. You can't think of two in Vedanta, two does not exist, I and you don't exist, only I. I and the ant — same God. The body is different but the same God is in all bodies. Keep as background there is one God and only He Is Real. When reading different books, Sufi, Vedanta, Christian Mysticism, — you might get confused, but not if you have this background. If you have this in mind it is easy.

On The Bhagavad Gita