15. Chapter 15 — Puruṣottama Yogaḥ · The Yoga of the Supreme Person

15.1

श्रीभगवानुवाच | ऊर्ध्वमूलमध:शाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम् | छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि यस्तं वेद स वेदवित्

śrī bhagavan uvāca ūrdhvamūlamadhaḥ śākham aśvatthaṁ prāhuravyayam / chandāṁsi yasya parṇāni yastaṁ veda sa vedavit / / 15.1

Śrī Bhagavān says, The imperishable banyan tree of life, symbolized by the Aśvattha, has its roots above, with the leaves and branches spreading below the earth. The leaves are said to be the Vedic hymns. One who knows this eternal tree becomes the knower of the Vedas.

śrī bhagavan uvāca — the Lord says · ūrdhvamūlam — with roots above · adhaḥ — downwards · śākham — branches · aśvatthaṁ — banyan tree · prāhuḥ — is said · avyayam — eternal · chandāṁsi — the vedic hymns · yasya — of which · parṇāni — leaves · yaḥ — anyone who · taṁ — that · veda — knows · saḥ — he · vedavit — knower of the Vedas

15.2

अधश्चोर्ध्वं प्रसृतास्तस्य शाखा गुणप्रवृद्धा विषयप्रवाला: | अधश्च मूलान्यनुसन्ततानि कर्मानुबन्धीनि मनुष्यलोके

adhaś cordhvaṁ prasṛtās tasya śākhā guṇa-pravṛddhā viṣaya-pravālāḥ / adhaśca mūlāny anusaṁtatāni karmānubandhīni manuṣya-loke / / 15.2

The branches of this tree extend below and above the earth, nourished by the three human attributes, guṇa. Its buds are the sense objects. This tree also has roots going down and these are bound to the resultant actions of humans.

adhaḥ — below · ca — and · urdhvaṁ — above · prasṛtāḥ — extended · tasya — its · śākhāḥ — branches · guṇa — by the human attributes · pravṛddhāḥ — nourished · viṣaya — sense objects · pravālāḥ — buds · adhaḥ — downward · ca — and · mūlani — roots · anusaṁtatāni — extended · karma — action · anubandhīni — bound · manuṣyaloke — in the world of men

Kṛṣṇa refers to the causal body as the banyan tree. This is a continuation of the previous chapter. Chapters 14 to 17 are connected discourses. In chapter 14, Guṇatraya Vibhāga Yogaḥ, yoga of the division of three guṇa (attributes), Kṛṣṇa speaks about the first four layers of our being. In this chapter, Puruṣottama Yogaḥ, yoga of the Supreme Being, He refers to the fifth layer. The totality of the seven layers is our body-mind-spirit system. The second layer is the prāṇic body, the body that controls air movements inside our physical body. In the previous chapter, Kṛṣṇa explains that this prāṇic layer is filled with desires. He further explains how we create conflicting desires and suffer with rajas (restlessness) and forced into tamas (inactivity or depression).

The fifth layer is the causal body. It is where all saṁskāras, our root patterns, are stored in seed form. Every night we enter the causal body in deep sleep. We take saṁskāras out from this layer and create the world. In this chapter, Kṛṣṇa reveals the secrets of this causal layer. In the Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1081 previous chapter, Kṛṣṇa explained how to use the power of desire energy with the power of thinking and words. Desire is an energy. That energy is abused by creating self-conflicting desires and self-doubting patterns, which put us into restlessness. If we don’t complete with our self-doubts (ātma sandeḥ), we fall into depression, into self-revenge (ātma droha).

He gave techniques to clear self-conflicting desires. The Seed of Patterns Our own desires, born out of our mūla vāsanās, the root patterns, carry their own energy for fulfillment, as they are the basic needs and purpose with which we were born. The Universe blesses us with the power to meet all our real needs. When we are born on this planet we are sent with all that we need. However, once here, we accumulate other desires. Because of our root patterns, these desires are the wants that we borrow from others by comparing, copying and envying others. Rāmaṇa Mahaṛṣi says, ‘This Universe can fulfill the needs of all its inhabitants; but it cannot fulfill the wants of even a single person.’

How true! When desires are borrowed, when they are based on coveting other people’s belongings, there will be a serious conflict between our wants and needs. Fulfillment of our needs gives happiness, true joy, and completion. That is why a poor man eats his simple meal of roti and dal (bread and curry) with such gusto. Desires are caused by saṁskāras, root thought patterns or bio-memories of experiences and sense perceptions. Saṁskāras are stored in our unconscious mind layer. Root thought patterns, saṁskāras, drive our actions. The Bṛhadaranyaka Upaniṣad says, ‘We are our desires. Desires shape our will. Our will shapes our actions. Actions make us what we are.’ Now, Kṛṣṇa moves on to the next layer, where saṁskāras are stored in the seed form.

Even if we move beyond the three layers of desire, restlessness and depression, these root patterns, saṁskāras in seed form, called bīja saṁskāra (bīja meaning seed), need to be cleared and completed. Kṛṣṇa speaks of techniques to destroy these bīja saṁskāras. These may not express themselves in us right now. Yet if they are allowed to be there in seed form, at one time or another, they will exploit us. In an office, some files are on the table, some are in the archives, while others are in the safety vault. The previous three layers are like the office table and archived material. This causal layer is the office safety vault.

The next two layers are the external vaults. In the previous chapter, Kṛṣṇa explains techniques to clear the table. Now He gives techniques to empty the office safety vault. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘The roots of the tree are on the outside; the branches are inside.’ From the causal body, if the roots are taken to be outside, it should be in the earlier three layers ending with the physical body. In a tree, the roots feed nutrients to the tree. The tree takes water and minerals through the roots. The roots decide the condition and growth of a tree. That is why Kṛṣṇa says the roots of the tree are in the physical body.

The tree of saṁskāra is watered by the five senses of the physical body and our actions. The saṁskāras in seed form in the causal body are formed and watered by the five senses of the physical body. Your Words are Vedic Hymns Kṛṣṇa further says that the leaves are the vedic hymns—chandāṁsi yasya parṇani and one who knows the tree is knower of the Vedas—yas taṁ veda sa veda-vit. He says saṁskāras are the vedic hymns, the mantras. Mantras are defined as manasasya sthiraha iti mantraḥ, whatever controls or stabilizes the mind, or manaḥ trāyate iti mantraḥ, that which reclaims and completes the life of man. śri bhagavān uvāca ūrdhva-mūlam adhaḥ -śākhaṁ aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam I chandāṁsi yasya parṇāni yas taṁ veda sa veda-vit II 15.1 Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1083 Words that are settled in our inner space form the bone structure of our life.

Words expressed or coming out when we are alone, are the root patterns or saṁskāras printed in the causal body. Our lives revolve them. If we give conflicting, contradictory words, the bone structure of our life will be a circle put on a square and rectangle—all crooked perversions! So, if you start building your life on it, how will it be? Crooked, perverted, incomplete, and useless! If you give a word, be very clear that you have started building your life. You have to fulfill it. It is your life! Dropping the word and completing is like pulling down the structure and rebuilding it. How many times do you pull down the structure and rebuild?

Words are double-edged swords. When we lack integrity, whatever words we use to offend others settle in our inner self. They emerge whenever they find a chance to push out of our inner self. No man is intelligent enough to use harsh words on others and smooth words inside. It is an unconscious action. That is why, in ancient Indian society, the usage of harsh words was controlled by various customs. Our mind is constantly occupied in inner chatter. Eventually we express part of this chatter in words. Part of it we suppress for fear of societal repercussions. We do not express what we fear would hurt others or what might be unacceptable to others.

All these words settle deep inside our maṇipūraka cakra, the navel energy center, which is the seat of words. Words that are harsh, whether expressed externally or internally, settle down within us. What goes out also goes in. These settle within our navel energy center. Both expressed and unexpressed words build our bank of root thought patterns, saṁskāras. If you have given a word, it just has to be lived. Word is mantra! Brahma created the world out of the word. The integrity of Viṣṇu is the lotus from whose navel creation or Brahma happens; and the tongue of Brahma is the word ‘Veda’, out of which the world happens.

Understand, integrity should be the root foundation from which the lotus of the word blooms. Out of that word, Creation happens. Creation happens out of the word from integrity. When a person with integrity says, ‘Let there be a huge organization here,’ it happens just like that! Understand, when your words are rooted in integrity, the word is Brahma. If it is rooted in Viṣṇu or integrity, it just becomes reality. Integrity is capable of maintaining creation. Viṣṇu maintains creation. Creation is possible only when you are established in the state of integrity and utter your words. When you utter your words from the space of integrity, creation is possible, creation happens!

Life is built on commitments. If you do not have respect for your commitments, your commitments also will not have respect for you. Listen! If you are integrated to your commitment, your commitment can make it into reality. Even in your day-to-day life, if you are integrated to your integrity, your integrity will be integrated to you. One who understands this can influence other people through his thoughts and words, perhaps more effectively than through his actions. Even we do not know how our thoughts and words influence and affect other people; they may not be as focused and effective, but they will still affect others and us. For those in business and corporate life, communication is the key to success.

Communication is not about our facility with language. It is not about the accent we cultivate or how fluently we speak. Communication is expressing and living what we feel with integrity and authenticity. If our feelings and thoughts are negative, when we lack taking the responsibility to be integrated, however much we try to hide these, our words or body language reveal the inner inauthentic feelings and motives. However, if we constantly complete with the negative words that we use towards ourselves and others to express our feelings, we will get rooted in integrity—Viṣṇu, the space of positivity. From this positive space, we will express the power of words and Brahma, creation happens!

With completion the creation of space happens for whatever we want to make as reality. Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts1085 The Transient and The Permanent Kṛṣṇa further states, ‘One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas, yas taṁ veda sa veda-vit (15.1).’ He says one who has the knowledge that the root patterns or saṁskāras, which constitute the causal body, are the result of the five senses, knows the Vedas or has the knowledge of life’s guiding force. The water a tree receives through its roots mainly decides the condition of the tree. If good water and manure are available, the tree flourishes. The leaves will be green.

If poison is poured on it, the tree sheds its leaves and slowly dies. This tree of saṁskāras, which is in the causal body, lives mainly due to the five senses. Kṛṣṇa uses the word aśvattha which also means that which is transient, that which is not today as it was yesterday and which will not be tomorrow as it is today. It refers to material life where nothing is what it seems to be. Everything is temporary. Life, as people say, is not unreal. If it were truly unreal, we would not be able to experience it. The fact that we experience material life and seem to enjoy it, even if temporarily, means it is real.

It is unreal to the extent that whatever we experience is transient and impermanent. Unreal does not mean nonexistent. If something is nonexistent, we cannot perceive it or experience it, even temporarily. Even a dream is real. We say dreams are unreal, but we cannot deny that we experience dreams. However, it is a fact that we do not have self-awareness while dreaming. Once we become aware, we wake up from the dream. It has never happened that a lion or a murderer chasing a person has caught that person in a dream. As soon as we are threatened, as soon as we become aware of ourselves, we wake up and the dream ends.

Dreams are not unreal in the sense that they are nonexistent; they are unreal to the extent that we are unaware. In the same manner, sages tell us that we are unaware even when we are awake. ‘Jāgrat, jāgrat,’ they say, ‘wake up, wake up.’ They do not ask us to wake up from sleep. They ask us to wake up from our unaware wakefulness into an aware wakefulness. Aśvattha signifies this state of unawareness. To understand this unawareness produced by our senses and directed by our root patterns, saṁskāras, is to gain knowledge, the Vedas. Kṛṣṇa goes on to explain more about this state of unawareness. Kṛṣṇa says the roots go upwards as well as downwards.

He says the leaves of the tree are decided by the tricks of the five senses and the resultant action of mankind. The roots are not only in the physical body, but also in the action. Kṛṣṇa says the tree is deeply rooted because the action of the entire mankind is always result-oriented. It is always guided by greed and fear. The aśvattha tree, the banyan tree, is like a human body. Its roots, like in a human being, are above, like our hair. The hair is said to be a channel to draw in cosmic energy. Our limbs, hands and legs are like branches of the banyan tree. The human system is truly upside down!

Kṛṣṇa gives a beautiful tip to be complete with the root patterns, saṁskāras. If we are not guided by greed and fear patterns, if our actions are not result-oriented, no root patterns will be created. If you enrich selflessly for at least half an hour a day, it will do you a lot of good. It will create the space of completion in you! While enriching others and yourself, don’t plan anything. Don’t even plan to have a group of volunteers do the enriching service. Just do any work that you can do. It may seem silly and a waste of time. But at a later date, this time alone will be felt as purposeful and complete.

If your enriching service is fueled by the patterns of greed or fear, you may end up in a mess and be a nuisance to others, too. You need to know, if you are enriching with a vested interest, you will give-up on people. Don’t have any vested interest. Enrich just for the sake of enriching. We have a very wrong idea, ‘First, let me experience; then I will enrich!’ It is like, ‘First let me get cured; then I will take medicine!’ Understand, enriching is the cure! Enriching is the experience! Enriching is tapas! It is enriching which unclutches you from your past Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1087 incompletions.

It is enriching which distances you from your past incompletions. It is enriching which makes you grow. If a child tries to unclutch from a toy car, he will be struggling. But if he just grows, the toy will automatically drop him! Enriching makes you just grow to the next level of you. Enrich and Be Free from Kārmic Cycle Listen Don’t plan anything. Just do enriching service anywhere. Then the enriching you do will infuse enormous power into your being. Enriching is the power of your being. Understand this truth: Whenever life energy expands in you, it happens only through enriching. Whenever you enrich, expansion in the life energy happens; not otherwise.

Listen, even your breathing can be enriching, but real enriching does not stop just by breathing. Real enriching means—you transmitting the highest possible consciousness to others. Listen, real enriching is helping everyone, making everyone live enlightenment. Without giving-up on people, day in and day out sit and continue to enrich people. If you have wealth, use the wealth to enrich everyone to live enlightenment. If you have intelligence, use intelligence to enrich everyone to live enlightened life. If you have orating capability, use your orating capability to enrich everyone to live enlightened life. Bhagavān says, ‘karmānubandhīni manuṣya loke.’ All our actions revolve around results. So, at least in enriching, don’t think of dollars or fame.

Don’t plan to impress. Don’t plan to make your presence felt. Do the work for its own sake. Many times you enrich others as a selfish motive. You think, ‘If I enrich, I may get this, this, this back.’ Listen. Do not enrich with the small purpose. Listen! Now I am giving the right and complete reason for enriching. Because everyone is part of you, enriching every being is nothing but enriching some part of you. Enrich others. Listen! Anything you see is extension of you. Anything or anybody you experience is extension of you. So, when you enrich them, parts of you are enriched. When they feel completion, part of you will become complete.

Mostly we do charitable work based on notions of earning brownie points that will do us good in our afterlife, whether we believe in rebirth or not. Or we would like to see ourselves in the media and feel good. It fulfills our need for attention either in this world or in another world after death. When you work, whether it is charitable as you and society define it, or commercial, as long you do it with no expectation of results, just enriching because others are your very own extension, your actions will be selfless. These actions are not motivated by fear and greed patterns. They will not result in the hangover of root patterns, saṁskāras.

When you enrich, you can define the process of your actions and not the results. When a defined process is followed, results naturally follow. If we follow the right path with the right reason, we reach the right destination. It takes courage of authenticity to create the space of possibility and implement this. It takes courage of your being to say that we will work only to enrich without expecting rewards. It takes a truly complete person to cognize the right reason for enriching; that what is important is ‘doing’ and not ‘doership’ and that status is not as important as the state of doing. If we are able to create this right space of enriching, we will find a true liberation within ourselves.

We will experience the power of living, constantly expanding! A load will be lifted from our shoulders. The anxiety of constantly looking over our shoulder to peep into the future will be gone. We look at past results to define what needs to be done for the future. All what needs to be done is being in the space of completion in the present, define an enriching path in everything we do and take responsibility that the ‘doing’ happens with integrity and authenticity. If this is done with awareness, results will follow. Real enriching is making people live enlightenment. Take up this as a life. You will see all kinds of miracles happening in your life. Cutting Down The Tree

15.3

न रूपमस्येह तथोपलभ्यते नान्तो न चादिर्न च सम्प्रतिष्ठा | अश्वत्थमेनं सुविरूढमूल मसङ्गशस्त्रेण दृढेन छित्वा

na rūpam asyeha tathopalabhyate nānto na cādirna ca saṁpratiṣṭhā / aśvatthamenaṁ su-virūḍha-mūlam asaṅga-śastreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā / / 15.3

The real form of this tree cannot be perceived. No one can understand where it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is. But with determination one must cut down this strongly rooted tree with the weapon of detachment.

na — not · rūpam — form · asya — its · iha — here · tathā — as such · upalabhyate — can be perceived · na — not · antaḥ — end · na — not · ca — and · ādiḥr — beginning · na — not · ca — and · saṁpratiṣṭhā — foundation · aśvatthaṁ — banyan tree · enaṁ — this · suvirūḍha — strongly · mūlaṁ — rooted · asaṅgaśastreṇa — by the weapon of detachment · dṛḍhena — strong · chittvā — cut down

15.4

तत: पदं तत्परिमार्गितव्यं यस्मिन्गता न निवर्तन्ति भूय: | तमेव चाद्यं पुरुषं प्रपद्ये यत: प्रवृत्ति: प्रसृता पुराणी

tataḥ padaṁ tat parimārgitavyaṁ yasmingatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ / tameva cādyaṁ puruṣaṁ prapadye yataḥ pravṛittiḥ prasṛtā purāṇī / / 15.4

One must then seek that place from which having gone, one never returns and surrender to the Supreme Being from whom all activities started from ancient times.

tataḥ — thereafter · padaṁ — goal · tat — that · parimārgitavyaṁ — has to be searched out · yasmin — where · gatāḥ — going · na — not · nivartanti — return · bhūyaḥ — again · taṁ — in that · eva — even · ca — and · ādyaṁ — original · puruṣaṁ — supreme · prapadye — sur- render · yataḥ — from whom · pravṛittiḥ — activity · prasṛtā — began · purāṇī — ancient

Kṛṣṇa speaks further about the causal body where saṁskāras are stored. He is an extraordinary scientist. A scientist can honestly search for the truth; he can give up his own faith and belief for the cause of this search and is courageous enough to express the secrets, which he discovers step-by-step. We see these qualities in Kṛṣṇa. He is authentic in His expression or search. He is ready to give up yesterday’s truth for today’s updated intelligence. Kṛṣṇa continuously updates Himself. Lastly, He is courageous to open up the secrets in public. He is not worried about copyright and intellectual property rights. The ancient vedic society in India believed that knowledge was free.

The idea of copyright did not exist. Kṛṣṇa is courageous enough to open up all the secrets. Bhagavān beautifully says, ‘narūpamasyeha tathopalabhyate (15.3).’ No one can perceive the real form of this tree. No one can understand where it begins, where it ends or where its foundation is. However, with determination one should cut down this tree with the weapon of strong will and detachment, asaṇga śastreṇa dṛdhena chittvā (15.3). No one can see what one has stored in one’s causal body. It is like Pandora’s Box. All the saṁskāras stored in the causal layer reveal themselves one by one. When we erase four of them, ten will surface. What is inside nobody knows.

Only one thing is possible. All the saṁskāras can be cut by a strong will of detachment. With a strong will, with intelligence, the entire causal layer can be completed. People ask the Master to show them how to get rid of root patterns, saṁskāras. Only strong will and intelligence can do that. Do we ask the Master’s help to take our hands out of the fire? No! We know fire burns. So, we withdraw our hands immediately. We ask the Master only because the understanding is not there. If the understanding is present, right action follows. If right action does not happen, be very clear that the understanding has not happened.

Similarly, root patterns are dangerous. All that is needed is intelligence and a strong will of detachment. Kṛṣṇa explains that after cutting the tree of root patterns, surrender to the space of eternal silence, from where there is no coming back, tam eva cādyaṁ puruṣaṁ prapadye (15.4). This is the space in which the whole of Existence is established. One’s identity is the collection of one’s root patterns, saṁskāras, past bio-memories and incomplete desires that are stored in the unconscious mind. This is in the causal layer of our energy. Through deep and focused meditation, we can access this unconscious causal layer and dissolve the saṁskāras stored here. Once done, we no longer return as the same person.

We are free of saṁskāras and liberated. The spirit that leaves the body goes through a comatose state when it passes through this causal body layer. As long as the spirit has not crossed this layer, it can return to the body. This is the power of saṁskāras. These bio-memories or desires can pull the spirit back. That is why sometimes after many years in a coma, people return to consciousness. They are pulled back by unfulfilled desires. However, once the spirit crosses the Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1091 causal layer, it cannot return to the body. It must move on to the next layer, the cosmic layer.

Once we access this point of dissolution of saṁskāras and move on to the cosmic layer, we no longer operate unconsciously at the behest of our stored bio-memories. We move into an intuitive state of completion, as opposed to our earlier instinctive state of incompletion. We are no longer in an ignorant wakeful state, but in the truly awakened state of consciousness. Bringing awareness into the unconscious through the super-conscious meditative route of completion is the only correct way to dissolve accumulated saṁskāras. Completion And Creation Techniques

15.5

निर्मानमोहा जितसङ्गदोषा अध्यात्मनित्या विनिवृत्तकामा: | द्वन्द्वैर्विमुक्ता: सुखदु:खसंज्ञै र्गच्छन्त्यमूढा: पदमव्ययं तत्

nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣā adhyātma-nityā vinivṛitta-kāmāḥ / dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-sañjñair gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṁ tat / / 15.5

Those who are free from pride, delusion, and attachment, those who dwell in the Self, who are done with lust, who are free from dualities of joy and sorrow, not confused and those who know how to surrender to the supreme person, attain the eternal consciousness.

nirmāna — without pride · mohāḥ — delusion · jita — having conquered · saṅga — at- tachment · doṣāḥ — defects · adhyātma — in the Self · nityāḥ — eternally · vinivṛitta — detached · kāmāḥ — from desires · dvandvaiḥ — from the dualities · vimuktāḥ — lib- erated · sukha — happiness · duḥkha — sorrow · sañjñaiḥ — known · gacchanti — reach · amūḍhāḥ — not confused · padam — goal · avyayaṁ — eternal · tat — that

15.6

न तद्भासयते सूर्यो न शशाङ्को न पावक: | यद्गत्वा न निवर्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम

na tadbhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ / yadgatvā na nivartante taddhāma paramaṁ mama / / 15.6

That supreme space of eternal consciousness, My consciousness, is not illumined by the Sun or the Moon, or by fire. Those who enter that space never return to this material world.

na — not · tat — that · bhāsayate — illuminates · sūryaḥ — the sun · na — not · śaśāṅkaḥ — the moon · na — not · pāvakaḥ — fire · yat — where · gatvā — going · na — not · nivartante — return · tad dhāma — that abode · paramaṁ — supreme · mama — My

Kṛṣṇa explains the same truth again at a deeper level. He had expressed the same idea in earlier chapters. But Arjuna was unable to understand. At that time, Arjuna was in the questioning mood. In the questioning mood, we miss the whole subject and are busy preparing questions. Now that mood has gone and there are only doubts, no questions. Beyond Attachment, The Eternal Consciousness nirmāna-mohā jita-saṇga-dośa adhyātma-nityā vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ I dvandair vimukhtāḥ sukha-duḥka-saṁjñair gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avayayaṁ tat II 15.5 Here Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Those who are free from pride, delusion, and attachment, those who dwell in the Self, who are complete with lust, who are free from the dualities of joy and sorrow, who are not confused, and who know how to surrender to the supreme person, attain the eternal consciousness.’

Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts1093 What wonderful usage of words! He does not say who have ‘renounced’ lust. No, because renunciation won’t do. Vairāgya means beyond attachment and detachment. Rāga means attachment. Arāga means detachment. Virāga or vairāgya means beyond attachment and detachment. It is non-attachment. Until the age of seven, we are attached to toys. By age eight or nine we are forced to be detached from these. By twenty, most people are complete with toys, beyond attachment or detachment to children’s toys. With detachment, we might have renounced it externally. But the inner urge for it prevails. That is why Kṛṣṇa uses fitting words: vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ, those who are ‘complete’ with lust.

Nivṛitti is the completion you carry that leads to more and more completion. In this state, we know what we can afford. We know it is there at our disposal. We don’t possess anything, we don’t own anything, but everything is at our disposal. We can use it or drop it based on the need. Life is also like a toy. If this is fully understood, you will live like a king, not an ordinary materialistic king, but an enlightened king, a Rājaṛṣi. This is a tattva (principle). This is not for understanding. This is to be meditated upon. On meditating upon this technique, these characteristics will start flowering in you and give you a clear-cut idea about the causal body.

Earlier, Kṛṣṇa explained ways to erase and complete with our root thought patterns, saṁskāras. Now He speaks on the creation of a proper layer. It is about re-programming your causal layer with the space of completion. Programming the Causal Layer Please listen! In two words I am giving you the gist: Completion and Creation of space. I can say, this is the essence of all the essence of my messages. As essence of the Vedic tradition, I have given so many messages. Now I can say, all their essence is this— Using your ātma jñāna, using your conscious energy, using your peak possibility and making it into reality, making it into life.

Kṛṣṇa gives the essence of the most secret science, the science of completion and creation of space. He gives the technique for creation of the causal body. Kṛṣṇa’s words are mantras. Actually Kṛṣṇa uses the same words again. Not only words and expressions, He uses the same letters again. Earlier He used these words as advice. Now He uses same words as programming techniques for completion and creation. This chapter is about programming our causal layer; completing our root patterns, saṁskāras. This program creates the space in our causal layer to make our conscious energy into our reality; for life to happen in its peak energy! As long as Arjuna was in the questioning mood, these same words were spelt out as advice.

When he enters into the mood of doubts, he receives the same words as techniques. When the disciple is in a questioning mood, the Master’s words will be taken as advice. Only when the disciple stops questioning and starts listening, these same words will be techniques. Listen, with advice, you need keys to open the door. Techniques are the keys themselves. They are ready to open the door. Arjuna receives the gist of earlier chapters. He receives the juice in this chapter. In North Indian monasteries, this chapter is chanted before every meal. This 15th chapter must be chanted before meals, since this chapter is a programming tool of the inner space.

The mere words of this chapter can do wonders in reprogramming your causal layer with the space of completion and creation. It takes less than five minutes to chant it. Anybody can do it. Don’t worry about the meaning. If you understand the meaning, it is good. Yet, it is highly useful even if chanted without understanding. Repeating these words can program your causal layer with the power of completion and creation. Especially, when you chant them in a mood of surrender, with due respect to the Master, it directly touches the causal layer. Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts1095 Arjuna is completely in a receiving mood. He is fully connected to the Master.

If the disciple is completely feeling connected to the Master, Existence helps him through the Master. Arjuna needs no explanations, no logic. He is ready to live the Master. Hence, Kṛṣṇa utters the following words to program the causal layer. He gives techniques to create the space of completion and creation in Arjuna. He says: ‘Those who are free from pride, delusion, and attachment, those who dwell in the Self, who are complete with lust, who are free from the dualities of joy and sorrow, who are not confused, and who know how to surrender to the supreme person, attain eternal consciousness.’ Lust is difficult for a man to shed.

Even the greatest of sages have succumbed to lust. Lust is of the body and as long as body consciousness remains, lust will stay. Only a person who has gone beyond body consciousness can drop lust. A small story: A small boy went to a kids’ movie with his parents. It was about a lion cub and other animals in a jungle. The boy was thoroughly enjoying it. Suddenly there was a scene where the lion cub was trapped by a hunter and became terrified. The boy was not able to bear this scene. He just jumped from his seat and ran down the hall towards the movie screen. He started throwing up his hands and legs as if in a fight with the hunter in the movie who was about to cage the lion cub.

Soon the other animals in the jungle joined together and drove away the hunter and rescued the cub. The boy came back to his seat and proudly told his mother, ‘See how I went first and all the animals followed me and we saved the cub!’ Just as the boy thought that the movie was real, we believe that the input perceived by our senses is also real. We are caught in the māyā or illusion created by our senses. The most powerful illusion is the lust within us. Suppressing lust externally and not indulging in sex does not and will not make one enlightened. It only turns one insane.

Celibacy of the body, without eliminating the fantasies of the mind, creates greater suffering than indulging in lust and sex. Enlightenment helps one transcend lust and sex by transcending the senses and attaining a no-mind state. An Enlightened Master transcends sex. He is genderless. He becomes ardhanārīśvara, a man-woman, a person who expresses both traditionally male and female qualities or attributes. One key attribute of Enlightenment is genderlessness. Kṛṣṇa is direct. He does not believe in giving brain candy to keep you happy. He is brutally direct. He says, ‘He who has conquered lust.’ Lust is a primal emotion provided by nature for continuation of the species. Going beyond lust, conquering by completing with lust, is the first major step in realizing Super-consciousness.

Human beings are forever confused between love and lust. They think only animals are lustful. Actually, only animals are capable of pure lust when they mate. Humans, with their rationalization, can neither be lustful nor loving. So, they are forever in the twilight zone, dissatisfied and unfulfilled. In ancient times, lust and sex left the householder around the age of forty because they had enjoyed these fully. When a desire is fully experienced it leaves your system. Now marital relationship has become a business for security or material benefits. You may live in the same home, but not in a homely way. You have to remove the imagination and dreams from your lust, both about your partner’s body and your own body.

Add friendliness to love. As of now, our love and lust are deep-rooted violence, to own the other person while he or she resists. It’s a war. Instead, add friendliness to relationships. Welcome the partner as he or she is; do not just accept him or her. Welcome and accept the mind, body and being as it is. Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1097 Many of us are ashamed of our body. We hate it. All body pains and chronic skin diseases arise out of low self-esteem and disrespect to our body. We would like to be someone else. We would like to shape our body and dress like someone else.

We stop staying within the boundary of our own skin, and fantasize about being someone else. Whenever we hear our name we think of our face, not our whole body, because we are not comfortable with our body. When we do not accept ourselves fully and copy someone else artificially, we can be beautiful at best, but never graceful. Grace comes from within. For the next few days, watch your body with love. Feel comfortable. Our body oozes bliss all the time. Yet we feel only the pain. If we are relaxed with our body, our mind will not wander. Usually, when we are at home, our mind is in the office and when we are working, we wish we were at a party.

Where our body is, our mind will not be. Drop your imagination and dreams, and be complete. Add friendliness towards yourself and others, towards their body, mind and being. Carry words that heal others. Carry your body in a way that heals others. Carry friendliness with you always. This is a spiritual process. Carry the grace and goodwill of Lakṣmi instead of observing fasts and pūjā. The first time you approach others with friendliness, they may not receive you openly because of your past inauthentic behavior. Persist and persevere. Complete with the idea of impossibility. Complete with your self-doubt. Stand up powerfully. Don’t give up on you and others. Don’t stop even if others do not reciprocate.

Carry on till others feel enriched and reciprocate. Complete! Create the space of friendliness towards yourself and others, and persevere. Lust will turn to love. Your being will be in Eternal Bliss. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘That supreme space of eternal consciousness, My Consciousness, is not illuminated by the sun or the moon, or by fire. Those who enter that space never return to this material world.’ na tad bhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṇko na pāvakaḥ I yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama II 15.6 These words are not advice. They are for contemplation. Advice is the only thing everybody gives and nobody takes! Kṛṣṇa gives these words to program our Causal layer with completion.

These are words to contemplate, to meditate upon. They are the hymns to be meditated upon. In the Inner Awakening program, participants are guided through a meditation upon darkness while working on the Causal layer. This darkness is not mere absence of light. It is Energy. The Causal layer of energy is the passage through which the spirit passes on its last leg before it leaves the material world. When the spirit is stuck in this Causal layer, one is in coma. One can be stuck in this layer for a long time. Those who go past the causal layer, this layer of energetic darkness, where neither the sun nor the moon shines, nor fire warms, progress onwards to the Cosmic layer and then to the nirvanic layer, which signifies true liberation.

One can meditate upon this technique, upon this truth expounded by Kṛṣṇa, through the darkness meditation in some of our meditation programs. This meditation, which focuses on darkness, liberates one from the fear of death and the fear of loss of identity that causes the fear of death. Death is not an option. Death of the body is certain. Separation of the spirit from the body-mind is painful. Vivekananda says it is like a thousand scorpions stinging at once. At death the spirit leaves the body shell and merges into infinite energy. It then reappears in another shell, another body. It is like drawing circles on a whiteboard. The background is Universal energy and the perimeters of the circles drawn are the bodies that envelop the individual spirit.

These circles separate individual spirit or self from Universal energy or Self. When we erase these circles with the process of completion, the Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts1099 whiteness within the circles merges into the whiteness of the background. Individual self merges with universal Self. When the spirit is such that it has completed and created the space beyond attachment and lust and is constantly focused on the Self, then there is no return for that spirit into another body-mind complex. Else it returns. Kṛṣṇa points out that the death of the body is a certainty, however, the death of the spirit is impossible. The spirit lives on. When the spirit is evolved it doesn’t revert to a mental setup and root pattern that it transcended in the previous birth, that’s all. Mind Is the Conditioning

15.7

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूत: सनातन: | मन:षष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति

mamai’vā’ṁśo jīvaloke jīvabhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ / manaḥ ṣaṣḍhānī’ndriyāṇi prakṛitisthāni karṣati / / 15.7

The living entities in this conditioned material world are a portion of My eternal Self; in this conditioned material world they are attracted by the six senses, which include the mind, dwelling in prakṛti, the active energy principle.

mama — My · eva — even · aṁśaḥ — portion · jīvaloke — in the world of life · jīvabhūtaḥ — the living entity · sanātanaḥ — eternal · manaḥ — with the mind · ṣaṣḍāni — six · indri- yāṇi — senses · prakṛiti — active principle · sthāni — staying · karṣati — attract

15.8

शरीरं यदवाप्नोति यच्चाप्युत्क्रामतीश्वर: | गृहीत्वैतानि संयाति वायुर्गन्धानिवाशयात्

śarīraṁ yadavāpnoti yaccāpyutkrāmatīśvaraḥ / gṛihītvai’tāni saṁyāti vāyurgandhānivāśayāt / / 15.8

The spirit in the mind-body living in this material world moves from one body to another carrying these just as air carries aroma.

śarīraṁ — body · yat — when · avāpnoti — gets · yat — when · cāpi — and also · utkrāmati — leaves · īśvaraḥ — the lord of the mind body · gṛihītvā — taking · etāni — all these · saṁyāti — goes away · vāyuḥ — the wind · gandhān — smells · iva — like · āśayāt — from their source

Jīva bhūtaḥ—conditioned living entity, ‘conditioning’ is the new word that Kṛṣṇa uses here. Recent research tells us that human beings walk on two legs due to conditioning. A group of scientists recently found a seventeen-year-old boy in a forest. Wolves had raised him. The scientists tried to teach him how to walk on two legs and speak a few words. They were unable to do this and he died within a year. Man walking on two legs is due to conditioning. Everything we consider as human nature is nothing but conditioning. mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ I manaḥ ṣaṣthānīndriyāṇi prakṛti sthāni karṣati II 15.7 Here Kṛṣṇa says, ‘conditioned world, jīva-loke’. Everything is conditioning.

Right and wrong, honor and dishonor, are all conditioning, all are patterns. We think of honor or dishonor because we are taught that way. We are conditioned. If a group of people give us a certificate and clap their hands, we take it as an honor. That is the way we are taught. But Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1101 never judge yourself by others’ applause. This idea of honor drives many people mad. Never accept the judgment of the crowd. Consciousness Carries the Mind Here Kṛṣṇa gives these meditation hymns to re-program your causal layer for completion of your saṁskāras and creation of space. After crossing the three layers and going beyond the causal layer, you enter a space where you are free from conditioning.

This is the space of completion and creation! May you be free from all conditioning! Kṛṣṇa says: ‘They are attracted by the six senses that include the mind—manaḥ ṣaṣthānīndriyāṇi prakṛti sthāni karṣati (15.7).’ There are five physical senses and the sixth sense is the mind, ṣaṣthānīndriyāṇi. However, according to me, the mind is the only sense and the so-called five physical senses are slaves to it. The mind jumps around. If the mind can be handled, all the other five can be handled. A small story: Queen Madalasa gave birth to seven children. Each child became enlightened by the age of seven and moved out of the kingdom. Their father, the king, was puzzled.

How did seven children in a row become enlightened? He probed into the issue and found that Madalasa had taught them one phrase, Tat Tvam Asi (You are That). Just by internalizing ‘Tat Tvam Asi’, their mental setup changed.Theywerecompletewiththerootthoughtpatterns, saṁskāras in the causal layer. They became enlightened. Enlightenment is the removal of root thought patterns, saṁskāras and the dissolution of conditioning. We return to our pure original state. This is why enlightenment is referred to as samādhi. The Saṃskṛit word samādhi means ‘returning to the original state’. The spirit in the body-mind living in this material world, moves from one body to another carrying these root thought patterns just as the wind carries fragrance.

Saṁskāras in one body quit that body and take shelter in another. This continuous vicious cycle of movement of saṁskāras is what Kṛṣṇa refers to as saṁsāra, the life-and-death cycle. Kṛṣṇa says ‘taking these, gṛhītvā etāni saṁyati (15.8)’. What does He mean by ‘these, etāni’? In the previous verse, Kṛṣṇa talked about the six senses, including the mind. He refers to them here. When the spirit leaves one body and moves to another body, it carries the six senses, ṣaṣthānīndriyāṇi, the five physical senses and the mind, in the same way as the wind carries fragrances, vāyur gandhān ivaśayāt (15.8). Just as the wind carries fragrances, consciousness carries saṁskāras, causal level imprints, from body to body.

Kṛṣṇa answers a frequently asked question about sin. People ask whether sins come with them from one birth to another. Sins never follow. Only imprints travel. For example, if a man commits one hundred murders, the quantity will not follow, but the basic mentality of violence accompanies and tortures him. Only the mental setup is carried. The concept of karma is often used to justify actions, by saying, ‘It is our karma,’ ‘It is our fate,’ ‘It is our destiny, what can be done?,’ ‘Whatever had to happen has happened.’ This is pure fabrication and justification of our negative deeds. We have the freedom to act: the free will to decide and act.

Ironically, only an enlightened Master has no freedom. Enlightened Masters are driven by Parāśakti’s will; they are guided by Her, that universal power, into doing what they must do. Understand: I cannot take a single step on my own. My limbs move in accordance with Her wishes. The ordinary human being, jīva bhūta is in control of his destiny. All that nature provides are paths in our lives and we choose the path we travel by. We decide the path. What drives us into taking one fork or another is vāsana, the ‘smell’ that the spirit carries. It is the subtle imprint of our past actions, saṁskāras and karmas. It is not definitive or predestined.

Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1103 We have the choice to redefine that vāsana, that smell, into either a stink or a wonderful fragrance. It is in our hands only. Whether we wish to travel in the same merry-go-round or decide to break out and walk free is our decision. Rāmakṛṣṇa beautifully says that the soul travels from one body to another like we move from one room to another. When He left His physical body, His wife Sārada Devi was about to remove her jewelry. (Traditional Hindu families do not allow a widow to wear jewels, especially the sacred thread signifying marital status, and bracelets.) Just as she was about to remove the sacred thread, Rāmakṛṣṇa appeared and told her not to remove it.

He said, ‘Where have I gone? Just to another room. Don’t remove your jewelry.’ From that time till her end, Sārada Devi followed His words. This may seem easier today. But in those days, in an orthodox Hindu family in a small village, it was not so. She was highly courageous. Someone who completes with all social conditioning, who sheds all root patterns in his causal layer, moves from body to body as easily as moving from one room to another. We create big buildings. We accumulate a good bank balance. We have friends. Just as we start enjoying life, suddenly death appears before us. We fear death only because it takes everything away from us.

If we are unattached, if our causal layer is not filled with saṁskāras, if we are not gripped by social conditioning, we will not fear death. We know it is like moving from one room to another. As Kṛṣṇa says in Sāṅkhya Yogaḥ, ‘It is like changing one dress for another.’ The saṁskāras of this life are the result of prārabdha karma, the mindset and bio-memory, along with the spirit from the vāsanas, the imprints of the past birth that are carried into this birth. It is always a mix of pain and pleasure. You Are Your Samskaras

15.9

श्रोत्रं चक्षु: स्पर्शनं च रसनं घ्राणमेव च | अधिष्ठाय मनश्चायं विषयानुपसेवते

śrotraṁ cakṣuḥ sparśanaṁ ca rasanaṁ ghrāṇaṁ eva ca / adhiṣṭhāya manaścāyaṁ viṣayānupasevate / / 15.9

The living entity, the spirit, leaves one body, takes some other body and gets new eyes, ears, nose, tongue and sensing body according to the samskāras it had in its causal layer and enjoys the new mental setup.

śrotraṁ — ears · cakṣuḥ — eyes · sparśanaṁ — touch · ca — and · rasanaṁ — tongue · ghrāṇaṁ — smelling power · eva — even · ca — and · adhiṣṭhāya — presiding over · manaḥ — mind · ca — and · ayaṁ — he · viṣayān — sense objects · upasevate — enjoys

15.10

उत्क्रामन्तं स्थितं वापि भुञ्जानं वा गुणान्वितम् | विमूढा नानुपश्यन्ति पश्यन्ति ज्ञानचक्षुष:

utkrāmantaṁ sthitaṁ vāpi bhuñjānaṁ vā guṇānvitam / vimūḍhā nānupaśyanti paśyanti jñānacakṣuṣah / / 15.10

Fools in ignorance do not perceive the spirit being united with the guṇās as its enters, enjoys and leaves the body. The one whose inner eye is open clearly perceives everything.

utkrāmantaṁ — departing · sthitaṁ — staying · vāpi — or also · bhuñjānaṁ — enjoying · vā — or · guṇānvitam — united with attributes · vimūḍhā — foolish persons · na — not · anupaśyanti — see · paśyanti — see · jñānacakṣuṣah — those who have the eyes of knowledge

The one whose inner eyes of knowledge is open, can see everything. The living entity, the spirit, leaves one body, takes another body and gets new eyes, ears, nose, tongue and sensing body according to the saṁskāras it had in its causal layer and enjoys the new mental setup.’ Here Kṛṣṇa reveals another secret. He says, ‘You create a body according to the root thought patterns or saṁskāras in the causal layer, adhiṣṭhāya manaś cāyaṁ (15.9).’ There is an Indian science called sāmudrika lakṣaṇa śāstra, the technique of studying body features. By observing our physical body structure, experts can read and reveal our mental setup. They know the relationship between mind and body.

Kṛṣṇa says that we create our sensory organs, according to saṁskāras in our causal layer. Kṛṣṇa says that living entities create all five senses through the mind or mental setup. This happens not only when we take another body. Every day when we wake up from deep sleep, our senses are recreated. If we change our mental setup, within a short time, our face changes. . - Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1105 You Create Yourself Every Moment Our ‘mind, manaś ’ is the intelligence spread all over our body. It is the intelligence that resides in our cells. Each cell carries genetic intelligence. Body and mind are not separate entities.

It is just body-mind or mind-body, one system. Within this body-mind system, scientists say that every moment of your life thousands of cells die and thousands of new cells are created. This is a constant process that Nature, the universal intelligence, dictates. It does not happen because of us; it happens in spite of us. In a period of a little under two years, every part of our body, every cell in our body, gets renewed. Our body as it was a year ago is not the body it is today. This is not fiction; it is a proven scientific fact. Then why do we behave the same way as we have for years?

Why do illnesses plague us for years, even though the cells are no longer the same? Each cell as it dies, leaves behind a memory that the newly created cell follows. That is the bio-memories, saṁskāras within us. The saṁskāras ensures the continuation of a pattern despite complete changes in the body-mind system. These saṁskāras are more powerful than the rest of the body-mind system. It decides and drives. The deep sleep we go into everyday is a rehearsal of our death process. We die and are reborn. Our subtle body leaves the gross body and returns reenergized if we allow it to. It is in our hands to maximize this process of rejuvenation that happens automatically everyday.

Through meditation we can clear our saṁskāras and be reborn. We can change our features, our character and behavior, all by reprogramming our saṁskāras. That is why people radiate grace after they start meditation. Beauty is created by make-up. Grace is radiated by meditation. Grace makes the occupant feel at home. It soothes the atmosphere. Beauty creates excitement. Beauty moves the other person into rajas (restlessness). Grace creates calmness, satva. Grace puts the other person in energy. People reminisce about great Masters like Rāmaṇa Mahaṛṣi and say that He imparted wisdom through silence. It is the Enlightened Master’s grace that penetrates the other person’s energy and changes that person’s saṁskāras.

All that we need to do in an Enlightened Master’s presenceisjustbe,beopenandsilentandallowtheMaster’seternalgraceto penetrate us. There is nothing that we need to do. The Master’s grace does whatever is needed. One version of the great Indian epic Ramāyaṇa says that when princess Sītā, the incarnation of Devi Lakṣmi, entered the court of King Janaka, her father, all the great kings, monks and mystics stood up automatically. This was not a protocol. The grace she radiated caused this response in them. Beauty can create only temptation in the other person. Only grace can create respect. The grace radiating from Sītā’s being made everybody stand up. Zen Buddhism says that if we can walk on a lawn without killing the grass or creating a path with our footsteps, we are eligible for Sannyāsa.

I doubted this. After all, the whole body weight is there. How can grass bear such a load and not leave imprints? Once I went on a safari in South India. I sat on an elephant and the caretaker came along with me. It was evening. It became dark. The caretaker had no torch or light. I asked him how he would find his way back home. He replied, ‘I have created a path by my daily walk that I can follow even in darkness.’ I asked about the elephant because it traveled with him everyday. He said, ‘The elephant’s feet do not create a path. The elephant and other animals do not destroy grass as they walk over it.’

I started calculating the load exerted by one foot of the elephant. At the least, it works out to four times that of an average man. However, it did not create a path. It did Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1107 not kill a single blade of grass. In spite of the physical mass, there was no damage to the environment. The negativity, arrogance, violence, negative saṁskāras in our causal layer, makes us feel heavy on earth. If we feel heavy around our navel area, we carry negative saṁskāras. The feeling of heaviness is not connected to our weight. It is due to imprints in our inner space. A person who feels light radiates grace from his being and he never creates a path on a lawn.

He never kills a blade of grass by his walk. We are spiritually evolved souls only when our feet do not create a path, when we float while we walk, when we do not go against nature. Here Kṛṣṇa says, we create our senses according to our root patterns, saṁskāras. This happens not only when we die and take birth; we redesign our senses to suit our root patterns everyday, when we wake up too. If we wake up with the right mental setup, we will have our senses accordingly and for the whole day we can enjoy it. If on the other hand, we get up with negativity, we suffer.

The few moments immediately after we wake up are crucial. Whatever we feel will be reflected the rest of the day. If we radiate joy, our whole day will be joyful. If we are irritable, our whole day will be irritable. Do this with the space of completion everyday at least for twenty-one days. You will be amazed at the changes that happen within your bodymind. You will develop grace and equally important, you will learn to love yourself, which means that you can love others without difficulty. Kṛṣṇa further says, the type of senses we create determines the type of sensory objects we enjoy. If we create positive senses, we enjoy a positive life.

If we create negative senses, we suffer a negative life. The type of senses we create determines what type of objects or pleasures attract us, and we experience that. Our senses, intelligence and our body-mind system create the energy field around us. This energy field attracts similar energy fields. If we are negative, if our perceptions are negative, we attract people with negative mindsets and descend into a vicious cycle. However, if we do completion with all our negativity, sufferings of the past and do the creation of a space of positive emotions and positive perceptions, we attract like-minded, positive people and situations. Completion, Completion, Completion! The energy field of completion.

I tell you, just by completing with your past lifestyle, you can get out of all your sufferings of the past. Just by declaring completion with all the past mental setup, you can get out of all the side effects, after-effects, and impact of the past over you. So, completion forms the basic truth, the basic principle. The whole energy field supports you to fulfill your life as you want. This space is extremely important in spiritual progress. It is easy to make progress and evolve when we are with a Master. However, when we get into the company of people who are not following the path, it is easy to slip from our path.

Only Eyes of Knowledge can See Kṛṣṇa provides a wonderful punchline in the middle of this chapter. ‘Fools, vimūḍhā’ He says. Kṛṣṇa uses the Saṃskṛit word ‘mūḍhaḥ’ that means ‘fool’. Fools can neither understand how a living entity can quit his body nor what sort of a body he enjoys under the spell of guṇa, the attributes and moods of nature. Only those whose eyes are trained by knowledge can see these things. The first thought with which we get up from our bed plays a major role in our enrichment throughout the day. What is our first thought usually? First we feel awake. We feel our body. Then it may be the fear that we must go to our office or it may be the greed to finish some work.

At the stroke of the thought, fear or greed, our body jumps out of bed. We connect to our body through fear or greed. Kṛṣṇa says that if we catch our body with fear or greed, we attract more and more fear or greed throughout the day. There are many gates to enter the body. Never enter through the fear or greed gate. Get up with a spiritual thought that brings completion in Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1109 you. Remember your Master or favorite God and thank Him. Thank Him for the extended life. Everyday that you wake up is an extension to your life on planet Earth.

Thank Divinity for the grace, for the extension. Let your first thought be spiritual. Practice it consciously for a few days. Then it will become your routine. Don’t connect to your body with fear or greed; you will attract more and more greed or fear. Listen. Waking up from bed is not our birthright. Of course, birth itself is not our right. It is a pure gift from Existence. Be grateful to the Divine for this day and extension here. Completion forms the basic rule for gratitude, enlightenment, and liberation. Please listen to these basic truths! Grace is flowing in you forever! Life is flowing in you just to make your life as you want!

Life is not sadistic. God is not sadistic. And God is not enjoying your conflicts and complications. Don’t think that! Please listen, if you are able to wake up in the morning and if you are able to breathe, understand that His Grace is there on you. He wants you to fulfill your life as you want. If we wake up from bed with spiritual thoughts of completion, that consciousness stays with us the whole day. If we are made to get up from bed by incomplete material thoughts, we start our day with incompletions—irritation, worry, and agitation. The entire day we carry the same irritated mood. Whenweareindeepsleep,weareintouchwiththecausallayer.While waking up, we travel along the other three layers and reach the physical body.

The three layers are like a shopping mall with various saṁskāras. According to our causal layer, we pick up the related saṁskāras and contact our physical body and design our senses accordingly. Just for twenty-one days, every night before sleeping do self-completion with all your incompletions for at least forty-two minutes; reliving and relieving your past sufferings and root patterns. This completion process will directly work on your causal layer. Always sleep in the space of completion. And wake up with a spiritual thought of completion. Then, check your face. It will be changed. Your eyes will have a new look. Your body will have the grace. One more thing, understand, if you have dreams, whatever type of dreams it may be, whether it is good or bad, or whatever; if you have dreams, then you have incompletions in you.

When you start doing completions every night, your dreams will reduce. Listen. I am defining dreams. Incompletions expressing when you are unconscious is dreams. Incompletions expressing when you are conscious is thinking. If you have a dreamless sleep, I guarantee, you will have birthless life! If you have dream-free sleep, you will have birth-free, death-free life! That’s all. I am not putting forward a theory. I have experienced this. A few hundred thousand people around the world practice these words. From that authority, I tell you, this process of completion is a vibrant technique. Don’t contact the body with tamas or rajas (depression or restlessness). If you get up with greed or fear, you design a body that radiates greed or fear and thereby attracts incidents that put you in greed or fear.

When you travel from the causal layer to the physical body, pick up completion, the satva (peaceful or blissful) saṁskāras. Have a spiritual thought of completion as the first thought. Think of your Master orGodoranythingthatgivesyouaspiritualmemory.ThatiswhyinIndia, ancient Mystics tell us to meditate early in the morning. At least for a few seconds be in a blissful mood. Your inner space will be fresh and new. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Only those whose eyes are trained by knowledge can see the truth of this science, paśyanti jñāna cakṣuṣaḥ (15.10)’. The whole science of completion is before you. He says fools cannot understand and only those with eyes of knowledge, can see. The choice of being a fool or a man with eyes of knowledge, jñāna-cakṣu is left to us. The choice is completely ours. Awareness Not Achievement

15.11

यतन्तो योगिनश्चैनं पश्यन्त्यात्मन्यवस्थितम् | यतन्तोऽप्यकृतात्मानो नैनं पश्यन्त्यचेतस:

yatanto yoginaścainaṁ paśyantyātmanyavasthitam / yatanto’pyakṛtātmāno nainaṁ paśyantyacetasaḥ / / 15.11

The serious practitioner of Yoga, with an understanding of his self, can see all this clearly. But those who do not have an understanding of the self, however much they try, cannot see.

yatantaḥ — trying · yoginaḥ — those who practice yoga · ca — and · enaṁ — this · paśyanti — can see · ātmani — in the self · avasthitam — situated · yatantaḥ — trying · api — also · akṛtātmānaḥ — without an understanding of the self · na — not · enaṁ — this · paśyanti — see · acetasaḥ — unintelligent

15.12

यदादित्यगतं तेजो जगद्भासयतेऽखिलम् | यच्चन्द्रमसि यच्चाग्नौ तत्तेजो विद्धि मामकम्

yad āditya-gataṁ tejo jagad bhāsayate’khilam yac candramasi yaccāgnau tattejo viddhi māmakam / / 15.12

The light of the sun, the light of the moon and the light of fire, all their radiance is also from Me.

yat — which · ādityagataṁ — residing in the sun · tejaḥ — light · jagat — world · bhāsayate — lights up · akhilam — completely · yat — which · candramasi — in the moon · yat — which · ca — and · agnau — in the fire · tat — that · tejaḥ — light · viddhi — know · māmakam — from me

15.13

गामाविश्य च भूतानि धारयाम्यहमोजसा | पुष्णामि चौषधी: सर्वा: सोमो भूत्वा रसात्मक:

gāmāviśya ca bhūtāni dhārayāmy aham ojasā / puṣṇāmi cauṣadhīḥ sarvāḥ somo bhūtvā rasātmakaḥ / / 15.13

Entering into earth, I support all beings with My energy; becoming the watery moon I nourish all plant life.

gām — the earth · āviśya — entering · ca — and · bhūtāni — living beings · dhārayāmi — sustaining · aham — I · ojasā — by energy · puṣṇāmi — nourishing · ca — and · oṣadhīḥ — plant life · sarvāḥ — all · somaḥ — the Moon · bhūtvā — becoming · rasātmakaḥ — watery

15.14

अहं वैश्वानरो भूत्वा प्राणिनां देहमाश्रित: | प्राणापानसमायुक्त: पचाम्यन्नं चतुर्विधम्

ahaṁ vaiśvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṁ dehamāśritaḥ / prāṇāpāna-samāyuktaḥ pacāmy annaṁ caturvidham / / 15.14

I am the fire of digestion in every living body and I am the breath of life, exhaled and inhaled, with which I digest the four-fold food.

ahaṁ — I · vaiśvānaro — as the digestive fire · bhūtvā — becoming · prāṇinām — of all living beings · dehaṁ — body · āśritaḥ — situated · prāṇā — exhaled breath · apāna — inhaled breath · samāyuktaḥ — associated · pacāmi — digest · annaṁ — food · ca- turvidham — fourfold

Kṛṣṇa uses the word ‘yoginaḥ’ in this verse. It is important to understand what He means by this. Yoga has become a buzzword; a trendy, fashionable word for cool people. Yoga is the link, the union, between the individual self, ātman, and universal Self, cosmic consciousness, Brahman. Awareness of this link, awareness that the self is the same as the Self, leads to liberation. The understanding happens in an instant; however, the practice leading to it requires a disciplined approach. In today’s world, my opinion is that dhyāna, meditation, is best suited for spiritual progress and for the realization that one’s self is part of that cosmic Self. Kṛṣṇa says that until that awareness happens, however much one may strive, one will not reach Him.

Understand, here we are talking about awareness, not achievement. The truth is that our individual self is an integral part of the Universal consciousness, the Self. This truth is not something that we need to work towards. It exists. It is. We are blinded by individual ego, māyā, the illusion of our individual identity, in forgetting that we are part of the Collective consciousness. Yogis, sincere spiritual practitioners, lift this veil of māyā, destroy the illusion, to see beyond into the truth of their oneness with the Divine. Meditation is the path and technique to lift this veil. Meditation enables the practitioner to go deeper and deeper into himself. Meditation brings about awareness of what is.

Master­ —The Dispeller of Darkness Light is awareness. Light is the sustainer of life. Light is one of the first manifestations of the Divine in creation. Without light and heat from the sun, life as we know it would be impossible. Everything in this world revolves around energy received from the sun in the form of light and heat. The sun is also the dispeller of darkness. Not only does Kṛṣṇa establish that He is the creator of this Universe—the solar system, sun, moon and the fire which sustain our lives, but He also tells us that He is the Dispeller of darkness. Kṛṣṇa, as the Master, as the Guru, is the Dispeller of darkness.

Guru means one who dispels darkness. As the sun, moon and the fire, Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate Master who leads us into awareness of our natural state of completion. Please listen! Come to the listening space. You are vibrating a magnetic field. There are two frequencies inside you. There is a self in you which has a frequency of its own, this is what I call the energy of possibility of enlightenment. In Saṃskṛit we use the word jīvātma—individual soul. Then, there is the mind in you which it has the frequency of its own, this is the energy of the pattern and suffering Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1113 present in you, which derived energy from the ātman.

Please listen! You need to understand: there is a mirror in front of me. I always saw the mirror only reflecting these lights. Because, I have always seen this mirror lit up, I forgot that it only reflects, it does not have its own radiation, its own natural light! In the same way, because you always see the Moon reflecting the Sun, you forget Moon does not have its own light! Same way, your mind does not have its own energy. But, from the time you saw your mind, it was always reflecting the consciousness. Because of that you started thinking, you started feeling your mind as independent energy, which is not!

So, the patterns you carry inside you have no independent energy or power. At any given point in time, you are either used by the frequency of your self or the frequency of your mind. Please listen to the truths. First, you have a frequency of consciousness in you. Second, you have the frequency of mind in you. The frequency of the mind is the pattern, incompletion, suffering present in you. Third, at any given point in time, you are either used by the frequency of your soul, ātman, consciousness or the frequency of your mind, the patterns. Kṛṣṇa is the destroyer of our root thought patterns, saṁskāras. Saṁskāras are products of darkness, our unconscious.

Darkness is not a positive entity. It cannot be shifted from point to point. However, it can be destroyed by light. The presence of light dissolves darkness. The presence of awareness of completion, our frequency of consciousness destroys saṁskāras. Darkness has no existence of its own. It only exists when there is no light. We cannot create darkness. It is the absence of something. When someone cannot see, he is not bothered by darkness. He is not afraid of darkness. To a blind man, darkness is his nature. A blind man will not say that he sees ghosts and spirits in darkness. Darkness is the state that he exists in.

A truly courageous man established in completion is also not disturbed by darkness. Someone who is not afraid of anything does not fear the loss of ego, loss of identity and death. To him, darkness poses no fear as well. He can equally handle darkness and light, without fear or attraction. Other than these two classes of people, darkness poses problems and presents fears for everyone else. In this sense, Kṛṣṇa is not only the Lord of light, but of darkness as well. From Me comes Light, Fire, Life energy Kṛṣṇa further expands on His pervasiveness. In the form of light and heat, He is the Sustainer of all beings within this Universe.

He says that He is the energy of the watery moon and through this energy He is the life energy within plant life, puṣṇāmi cauṣadhīḥ sarvāḥ somo bhūtvā rasātmakaḥ (15.13)’. Kṛṣṇa affirms that He is Brahman and through His manifestation of the various natural elements of space, air, fire, water and earth, He is responsible for plant life and therefore for food and human beings. Without plant life, there is no food. Without food, there is no body and mind. Body and mind become food for others after death. Food is an expression of divinity. The energy behind food is both the creator and destroyer of saṁskāras. Most of us treat food as a basic necessity or an object of sensual pleasure.

We ignore it or become addicted to it. We need to be aware of what we eat. Before eating, offer gratitude to the Universe for what you have received and meditate upon the food. Traditionally Hindus offer oblations to the Divine and chant prayers before eating. Major changes happen when you follow these customs with awareness. A person who can be so settled in the present is one who is aware and complete. He is one with Kṛṣṇa. The role of the sun as the giver of light and heat energies is obvious. It is also obvious that without the sun, all life forms will cease to exist. However, the fact that the moon is a nourishing energy providing life energy to plants and therefore to humans is not that well appreciated.

The Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1115 moon controls our behavior, moods and minds. Soma, the name for the moon, refers to its fluidity and the transient nature of waxing and waning. Kṛṣṇa then talks about vaiśvānara, prāṇa and apāna. ahaṁ vaiśvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṁ deham āśritaḥ I prāṇapāna samāyuktaḥ pacāmy annaṁ catur-vidham II 15.14 The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad says: ‘This fire that is within the human being and which digests the food that he eats is vaiśvānara. The sound of this fire vaiśvānara is that which one hears by closing the ears. When death nears and the spirit is about to leave the body, he no longer hears this sound.’

This Upaniṣad goes on to say that neither āhāra (food), nor prāṇa (breath), can function alone, one without the other. Food will decay without breath and breath will dry up without food. Together, when the awareness of their union happens, true consciousness results. Food is also related to the four elements other than space: air, fire, water and earth. The ancient Hindu traditional medicine system, Ayurveda, works on this principle of vaiśvānara. The quality of this inner fire determines our state of hunger or lack of hunger as well as the state of health. What Kṛṣṇa implies here as well is that food is divine since it has His imprint on it.

We tend to take food for granted. Offering food to other living beings, has been considered a form of worship in Hindu tradition. Food has always been considered the repository of the Divine. From Me Comes Memory And Knowledge

15.15

सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो मत्त: स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनं च | वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो वेदान्तकृद्वेदविदेव चाहम्

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca / vedaiśca sarvairahameva vedyo vedānta-kṛd vedavid eva cāham / / 15.15

I am seated in everyone’s heart and from Me came memory, knowledge and their loss. I am known by the Vedas; indeed, I am the Creator of Vedānta and I am the knower of the Vedas.

sarvasya — of all · ca — and · ahaṁ — I · hṛdi — in the heart · sanniviṣṭo — seated · mat- taḥ — from Me · smṛtiḥ — memory · jñānaṁ — knowledge · apohanaṁ ca — and loss · vedaiḥ — by the Vedas · ca — also · sarvaiḥ — all · aham — I · eva — even · vedyaḥ — to be known · vedāntakṛt — creator of the Vedānta · vedavit — the knower of the Veda · eva — even · ca — and · aham — I

15.16

द्वाविमौ पुरुषौ लोके क्षरश्चाक्षर एव च | क्षर: सर्वाणि भूतानि कूटस्थोऽक्षर उच्यते

dvāvimau puruṣau loke kṣaraścākṣara eva ca / kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni kūṭasthokṣara ucyate / / 15.16

There are two things, the perishable and the imperishable, in this world. There are the living beings who are perishable while there is the unchangeable, the imperishable.

dvāu — two · imau — these · puruṣau — puruṣa · loke — in the world · kṣaraḥ — perish- able · ca — and · akṣara — imperishable · eva — even · ca — and · kṣaraḥ — the perishable · sarvāṇi — all · bhūtāni — living being · kūṭasthaḥ — unchangeable · akṣara — imper- ishable · ucyate — is said

Kṛṣṇa says that He is seated in everyone’s heart, sarvasya ca aham hṛdi sanniviṣto. He is memory, He is knowledge, He is forgetfulness, mattaḥ smṛtir jñānaṁ apohanaṁ ca (15.15). What does this mean? How does our mind work? How does it invent beliefs? We don’t even know where our mind is. If I ask you where your mind is, you will point to your head. That’s not your mind. Every cell in our body has inbuilt intelligence. These cells constantly regenerate themselves. These cells present everywhere make up our body-mind system. Therefore, there is no one place where our mind is definitely located; certainly it is not in our head!

Intellect and Intuition All our decisions are influenced by our past experiences that are stored as root thought patterns in our unconscious mind. This unconscious area or the root where the mind is born is powerful enough to make you feel powerless or powerful. It can be used in three ways: at the instinct level, intellect level or intuition level. As long as the unconscious is overloaded with negative memories and restlessness, it works at the instinct level. We decide instinctively, Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1117 unconsciously, just like an animal does. Next is the intellect level. Here, we are conscious; we make decisions logically, but we don’t have extra enthusiasm or energy.

We are not creative or innovative; we don’t take big steps; we don’t grow. We don’t experience the space of possibility and expansion. We make decisions in a logical and conscious way, that’s all. When we are at the intellect level, we are not tired; yet we are not energetic either. We are in a break-even state. At this level, we do not use our potential to the maximum. Constant completion with our root thought patterns, and bringing integrity in our words, authenticity in our actions melts the intellect layer. The level where we can actualize our entire potential with power of thinking, power of words, power of feeling and power of living is the intuition level.

This is the space of completion and creation. If we can infuse deep silence and completion into the unconscious zone and replace root thought patterns, then we are at the intuition level. Please listen, if you come to a decision without a thought, you are living in the space of intuition. If you come to a decision after multiple thoughts, it is ignorance. If you come to a decision after one clear flow of thoughts, it is called intelligence. If you come to a decision without any thought, it is called intuition. Please understand, I really tell you, completion is equivalent to inner cleansing. All your muscle-memories come to peace and rest in peace.

The greatest wealth lies within, not outside. The greatest joy lies within, not outside. In the outside world, every experience of joy is followed by sorrow. Joy creates expectations and when expectations are not fulfilled, they lead to sorrow. When the search begins inside, expectations drop, attachments drop and a new joy of completion happens. That joy is eternal, never ending. It is Ānanda, Nityānanda, eternal bliss. Because we are unaware of this, we search outside for happiness, because that is the only way we know. In his commentary on the Gītā, Ādī Śaṅkara says that memory and knowledge come from Kṛṣṇa to those who do good enriching deeds and loss of memory and knowledge to those who do evil deeds.

The reference to memory and knowledge here is to the understanding of our true nature, the understanding and realization that we are one with the Divine, that Kṛṣṇa is seated in our hearts. Perishable and Imperishable Puruṣa Kṛṣṇa takes Arjuna into a deeper understanding. Kṛṣṇa talks about puruṣa, the principle of energy that underlies our existence. Sāṅkhya philosophy talks about puruṣa and prakṛti. Puruṣa, in one sense is energy, and prakṛti is matter. Puruṣa is the unmoving, passive energy principle, whereas prakṛti is the active material principle. Puruṣa is the male principle; prakṛti is the female principle. Puruṣa is Śiva and prakṛti is Śakti. Kṛṣṇa goes beyond that philosophy. He says Puruṣa is twofold, one imperishable and the other perishable.

He says all living beings are the perishable puruṣa and they are situated in the imperishable energy. dvāv imau puruṣau loke kṣaraś cākṣara eva ca I kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtani kūṭa-stho ‘kṣara ucyate II 15.16 In earlier chapters, Kṛṣṇa has covered in depth, these aspects of prakṛti, which operate through the mind, senses and the attributes, the three types of guṇa. Here, He expands upon puruṣa. Puruṣa is the Ultimate Energy from which all emanates. ‘īśā vāsyaṁ idaṁ sarvaṁ’ says the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad , ‘All that exists is energy.’ When Einstein read this verse from the Upaniṣads, written possibly tens of thousands of years ago, he said, ‘I felt proud that I had discovered that matter is energy.

Many thousand years ago, these Sages knew this, and also knew that matter arises from energy. The last step in science is the first step in spirituality.’ Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1119 More and more, scientists are beginning to sound like the Eastern Mystics. They no longer have the attitude of scientists of a hundred years ago who felt that they were rewriting the laws of Nature. Our Vedic scriptures said this over thousands of years ago. Śaṅkara has said again and again that the Seer influences what is seen. That was over a thousand years ago. The primal energy principle, puruṣa is like potential energy. It is energy, but passive.

It is the operating principle behind the entire Universe. Without this energy, nothing will exist. Nothing will live. Kṛṣṇa says that there are two kinds of puruṣa: one is eternal, akṣara and one perishes, kṣara. The puruṣa that perishes is the body-mind energy embedded in all beings, including humans. This energy has a definite, limited lifetime. It is always changing. There is nothing permanent about it. It is programmed for deterioration and destruction. The puruṣa that is kūṭastha is the imperishable aspect of this energy. It is the energy of the spirit that is indestructible, akṣara. It is the Soul that is forever, that which cannot be destroyed. Kṛṣṇa points out that primal energy manifests in different ways, as perishable and imperishable.

Both are aspects of primal energy. One is destroyed and the other lives. One who realizes this difference and understands the true nature of puruṣa is liberated. Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahamsa beautifully narrates: An arrogant scholar was very proud of his learning. He was a great Advaitic (non-dualitistic) scholar and did not believe in the various forms of God. Then, God came to him one day. The mother goddess appeared before him in all Her splendor. She came as the primal energy, Parāśakti. The scholar was in a swoon for a long time. When he woke up, he shouted, ‘Ka, Ka, Ka.’ He could not fully pronounce ‘Kāli,’ the name of the goddess whom he had seen.

Words cannot describe the Divine! Scholars argue endlessly about the nature of puruṣa, the various aspects of puruṣa, the difference between prakṛti and puruṣa. It strengthens their ego. When the Divine presents itself before them, they cannot recognize or cognize what they see. Collective Consciousness

15.17

उत्तम: पुरुषस्त्वन्य: परमात्मेत्युदाहृत: | यो लोकत्रयमाविश्य बिभर्त्यव्यय ईश्वर:

uttamaḥ puruṣastv anyaḥ paramātmetyudāhṛtaḥ / yo lokatrayamāviśya bibhartyavyaya īśvaraḥ / / 15.17

Besides these two, there is the supreme Puruṣa the Lord Himself, who pervades and sustains these three worlds.

uttamaḥ — the best · puruṣaḥ — puruṣa · tu — but · anyaḥ — another · paramātmā — the Supreme Self · iti — thus · udāhṛtaḥ — is said · yaḥ — who · lokatrayaṁ — the three worlds · āviśya — pervading · bibharti — sustaining · avyayaḥ — indestructible · īś- varaḥ — the Lord

15.18

यस्मात्क्षरमतीतोऽहमक्षरादपि चोत्तम: | अतोऽस्मि लोके वेदे च प्रथित: पुरुषोत्तम:

yasmāt kṣaram atīto’ham akṣarād api cottamaḥ / atosmi loke vede ca prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ / / 15.18

As I am transcendental, beyond both the perishable and the imperishable, and the best, I am declared both in the world and in the Vedas as that supreme person, Puruṣottama.

yasmāt — from which · kṣaram — the perishable · atītaḥ — transcendental · aham — I · akṣarāt — from the impersishable · api — also · ca — and · uttamaḥ — the best · ataḥ — therefore · asmi — I am · loke — in the world · vede — in the Veda · ca — and · prathitaḥ — declared · puruṣottamaḥ — as the Supreme Purusha

15.19

यो मामेवमसम्मूढो जानाति पुरुषोत्तमम् | स सर्वविद्भजति मां सर्वभावेन भारत

yo mām evam asammūḍho jānāti puruṣottamam / sa sarva-vidbhajati mām sarvabhāvena bhārata / / 15.19

Whoever knows Me as the supreme without a doubt, is to be understood as the knower of everything and he worships Me with all his being, O son of Bhārata.

yaḥ — who · mām — Me · evam — thus · asammūḍhaḥ — without a doubt · jānāti — knows · puruṣottamam — the supreme Puruṣa · saḥ — he · sarvavid — knower of everything · bhajati — worships · mām — Me · sarva bhāvena — with all being · bhārata — O son of Bhārata

15.20

इति गुह्यतमं शास्त्रमिदमुक्तं मयानघ | एतद्बुद्ध्वा बुद्धिमान्स्यात्कृतकृत्यश्च भारत

iti guhyatamaṁ śāstram idam uktaṁ mayānagha / etad buddhvā buddhimān syāt kṛtakṛtyaśca bhārata / / 15.20

This is the most confidential teaching disclosed by Me, O Sinless One, and whoever knows this will become wise and his actions will bear fruit.

iti — thus · guhyatamaṁ — secret · śāstraṁ — science · idaṁ — this · uktaṁ — taught · mayā — by Me · anagha — O sinless one · etat — this · buddhvā — knowing · buddhimān — wise · syāt — becomes · kṛtakṛtyaḥ — accomplished all actions · ca — and · bhārata — O son of Bhārata

Kṛṣṇa says that beyond these two aspects of puruṣa, the perishable body-mind energy and the imperishable spirit energy, there lies another level of energy that is the Supreme puruṣa. He goes on to say that He is that Supreme puruṣa, Puruṣottama. Puruṣa is the energy that pervades us. Puruṣottama is the energy that pervades the entire Universe. Puruṣottama in that sense is no different from Parāśakti, the cosmic energy. It is only a play of words to separate Puruṣa as male and śakti as female, while describing the ultimate Cosmic Consciousness. All-pervading Energy Behind Life The Universe is imperishable. The energy behind the Universe is imperishable. Kṛṣṇa says that He is that energy, the Puruṣottama, that drives the Universe eternally—prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ (15.18).

Modern astrophysicists speak about many universes, not just one. They say there are millions of galaxies in each universe, millions of stars and planets in each galaxy. Even with the aid of advanced equipment, we cannot determine where the universe starts and where it ends. It will never be possible with material aids. The energy behind the Universe is spiritual. It is intangible, invisible and immeasurable. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Beyond perishable and imperishable, I am Puruṣottama.’ He is not talking about the Yādava king Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa, son of Vāsudeva and Devaki. He is talking about Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the Īśvara. He is saguṇa, the universal form and nirguṇa, the formless energy.

He is that Brahman into whom both the soul, the individual imperishable Self and the perishable body-mind, merge. He is the Brahman into whom the six-billion humans and countless billion living beings on Earth as well as countless trillions od entities in all the Universes merge. He is Puruṣa, the energy, and Prakṛti, the matter. Without Him, nothing moves. We see Puruṣottama in different ways, depending upon our upbringing and capabilities. We see Him as the six-headed, twelve-handed Kārtikeya or Murugā, or the two-handed Rāma or the two-handed, peacock-feather-adorned, flute-playing Kṛṣṇa. We see Him in a way that is comfortable for us to see Him, so that we can reach Him.

What difference does it make whether we call Kṛṣṇa ‘Brahman, Puruṣottama, Parabrahma, Prakṛti,’ or any other name? By whatever name He is called, He is the supreme energy who causes us to move. It is the unbounded authority of Kṛṣṇa, with which He declares Himself as Puruṣottama, that makes Gītā a scriptural authority. It is not the wisdom nor the eternal truths in it, but the courage of that one person, who declared Himself to be the Transcendental Being, that defines this work as an eternal scriptural truth. May that Puruṣottama, that Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, bless us all! Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1123 Know Me as the Supreme and Know Everything Now, Kṛṣṇa presents the great truths about His true representation as the collective consciousness, the Supreme Self.

This may surprise you or it may be something you already know. Irrespective of whether this concept is new or old, analyze this Truth for the sake of internalizing, until your logic fails. The first Truth: All our minds are not individually separated pieces of the Universe. They are all one and the same. All our minds are interlinked. Not only interlinked, they directly affect each other. This is what I call collective consciousness. Anything we think affects people around us. Not only are those near us touched by our thoughts, so is everyone living on planet Earth. Listen. We are not individual islands, separated from each other and uninfluenced by each other.

Only one truth called collective consciousness links all of us. The next Truth: Not only at the mental level, even at the deeper level of consciousness, the deeper we go, the deeper we are connected. In Existence, there is no such thing as a separate individual identity. Once we know this truth, we will go beyond pain, suffering, depression and disease. Understand that as long as we hold onto the concept of individual consciousness, we will be continuously suffering, physically or mentally or on the being level. Why do we continuously resist Nature? Whatever Nature offers, we resist. When the weather is cold, we resist. We think we are different from Existence.

I never thought that I was different from the atmosphere, never had the feeling of separation from Nature. It is only when we think that we are different from the atmosphere, from the air around us that we resist it. You see, we are a part of the Whole. If we fall in tune with the Whole, the Whole behaves as a friend. The moment we think, discriminate or behave with the Whole in the opposite way, it acts like an enemy. Be very clear, the Whole is not here to kill or destroy us. An example is what happens when a person dies of drowning. The dead body floats.

The dead body is heavier than water. Yet, it floats. But, a living body that is lighter than water, does not float. It drowns. Why is this so? As long as we are living, we are unable to relate with water. Our ego prevents that. Our mind prevents that. In the dead body, there is no mind and no ego. It is the mind and ego that causes our heaviness. When we are in completion with the collective consciousness, when we become a part of collective consciousness, Nature is our friend and Nature protects us. When we think that we are different from Nature, as long as we think that we are an individual consciousness, Nature protests against us.

If we disappear into the collective consciousness, we are protected and taken care of. We attain complete success, not only socially and economically, but we experience it as well. It will be a feeling of fulfillment, an experience of complete completion. A small story: Once there were two ants sitting on the rim of a cup that contained amṛta, the nectar of immortality. As they were talking, one of the ants lost his balance and was about to fall into the cup. He somehow managed to get back on the rim. The other ant asked him, ‘Why don’t you want to fall into the cup? Even if you drown in this, you will become only immortal.’

The first ant replied, ‘But I don’t want to drown!’ We don’t realize that merging with the collective consciousness will liberate us in totality. We resist and hold on to ourselves. As long as we do not disappear into the collective consciousness, we continuously create Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1125 hell for ourselves and for others. The third Truth: At the ultimate level, at the spiritual level, the moment we understand that we are deeply connected, totally connected to the whole group, to the whole Universe, not only do we experience bliss, but we really live, opening many dimensions of our being. Right now we are stressed out and disturbed continuously.

With our separate body-mind, we need to think too much, we need to try too hard to enjoy life. If we disappear into collective consciousness, we open many dimensions, many possibilities. See, now with only this one body we have, we can enjoy so much. Imagine what we can do when we have many bodies! If the multitudes of bodies increase, so does the joy, the bliss. This is our experience when we realize we are a part of the collective consciousness. When we experience that we are boundariless consciousness, we experience the infinity. It is difficult to imagine. When we experience the feeling of non-duality, Advaita or collective consciousness, when we experience the bliss of collective consciousness, we forget differences of name, wealth, social status and prestige; whatever we think of ourselves disappears.

The truth of who we are is revealed. Life is not restricted to inanimate forms. Life is happening in everything; may be in a frequency where it is not realized, recognized by you. But, everything has life. Learn to complete with everything! I tell you, the state of completion is the best way to prepare yourself for life; and completion is the best way to prepare for death. For anything, just the completion! When we complete with everything, animate and inanimate, we experience the space of non-duality, Advaita, where each one is infinitely powerful and infinitely intelligent. Completion should be carried till we become enlightened. Understand, till we feel we are one with the space of Nithyānando’ham (I am Nithyānanda, Eternal Bliss); till we experience the space of Nityānando’ham.

Kṛṣṇa declares, ‘whoever knows Me as the Supreme, Puruṣottama, without a doubt, is to be understood as the knower of everything, and worships Me with all his being.’ yo mām evam asammūḍho jānāti puruṣottamam I sa sarva-vid bhajati māṁ sarva-bhāvena bhārata II 15.19 The difference between the puruṣa, self and the Puruṣottama, Self, the difference between the perishable and the imperishable, are for the ‘deluded’ and ‘confused’ as Kṛṣṇa says. Once one has the awareness of collective consciousness, he becomes the knower of everything. Everyone merges into the collective consciousness, the space of oneness, Advaita. The wave thinks that it is separate from the ocean. It does not realize that it comes from the ocean and goes back to the ocean, that it is the ocean.

Just as the wave is part of the ocean, we are part of Existence. How can we attain or reach Puruṣottama, when we are already a part of Him? We can only gain awareness that we are a part of Him. This is the profound secret teaching of Kṛṣṇa. In this chapter, Kṛṣṇa becomes the ultimate Master. Arjuna is completely in silence, the best way to imbibe the Master. What is the difference between a Master and a teacher? A teacher knows intellectually; a Master knows experientially. A Master has experienced what he is speaking, the truth. If Indian kings wanted to learn archery, they went to a master. You may wonder what enlightened persons know about agriculture, archery or business.

Every art and science has a technique. In the gurukul, the Vedic education system, everyone was happy because they were properly guided by Enlightened Masters to live the life best suited to them. A teacher teaches through verbal language; a Master teaches through his body language. It is known now that ninety percent of our communication is through non-verbal communication, through the body language. The direct touch and presence of a Master transforms and Puruṣottama Yogaḥ No Questions, Only Doubts 1127 awakens a person by creating such a space. We don’t have to become something new; we need to wake up and realize what we already are. The Master never allows us to stop at any step before the full flowering.

Again and again, he inspires and takes us to higher levels of conscious experience, until we realize we are that eternal consciousness; our true potentiality. Masters use these techniques only with those who feel completely connected with them. They operate on disciples who have devotion for them. This is the ultimate technique that is used in the most loving, caring way. To the outsider, it may look harsh; however, the disciple understands the love and care behind it when the Master uses it on him and is eternally grateful for such surgery. The Master never allows anyone to get stuck with ordinary experiences. Even though we call it a spiritual experience, it is only when we stop experiencing anything that we enter into a real spiritual experience.

Only in such an experience, the Experiencer, the Experienced and the Experience, disappear into one; all three merge into the experience. Only ‘we’ remain, even the word ‘we’ can’t be used since there is no other, all boundaries are lost! Unless that experience of ‘Tat Tvam Asi, That Are Thou,’ happens, unless the experience of ‘Nithyānandoham, I Am Nīthyananda,’ happens, the Master never rests. The Master is the ultimate Master surgeon who removes the ego at all levels, the ordinary or the spiritual. People have spiritual ego when they have a ‘holier than thou’ attitude. The Master will never allow us to be stuck in that area. He pushes us forward until we experience the Ultimate.

The more we allow His surgery, the more we realize the Truth. A few people run away from the operating table during surgery; that’s dangerous. Before surrendering, do all the checking, verifying, window-shopping. But once you surrender, allow Him to work on you. Let us pray to Puruṣottama Kṛṣṇa, the Ultimate Energy, the Universal Consciousness, the Cosmic intelligence, to give us the experience of Eternal Consciousness; to make us beings with jñāna cakṣu, eyes of knowledge, and establish us in Nityānanda, eternal bliss. Thank you! Thus ends the fifteenth chapter named Puruṣottama Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of the Supreme Being,’ of the Bhagavad Gītā Upaniṣad, Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the scripture of yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇārjuna saṃvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.

You And Me Human Beings are born with innate Divine nature; they are not sinners! Whether we act Divine (daivic) or demonic (asura), our inner space is Divine. How do we awaken the space of Divinity within us again? Krsna reveals! c h a p t e r ... Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ This chapter is traditionally called Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ, or the Yoga of divine and demonic nature. Here Kṛṣṇa explains the concept of saṁskāras (root thought patterns) from an even deeper level. In the 14th chapter, Guṇatraya Vibhāga Yoga, He spoke on satva, rajas and tamas, the three attributes of nature in which all living beings exist.

He also explains the three layers of the body-mind system: prāṇa śarīra, manaḥ śarīra and sūkṣma śarīra, which are the physical, mental and subtle bodies, respectively. In the 15th chapter, Kṛṣṇa speaks extensively about deeper body-mind layer, the causal body. That chapter is called the Puruṣottama Yogaḥ or the Yoga of the perfected being. Kṛṣṇa points out how the body-mind system is like a unique tree, with its roots in the physical world, and the branches in the causal world. Here, in the 16th chapter, He moves into the deeper energy layers of the body-mind system and takes us to the Cosmic layer. Kṛṣṇa speaks about the qualities of the divine, daiva and the demonic, asura.

The beauty is that both these words have the same root. Of course, it is not accidental; both qualities are rooted in the same energy. It is just a simple decision. When you choose the word ‘you’, you become divine, and when you choose the word ‘me’, you become a demon. That’s all. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahamsa speaks beautifully of the same energy. No energy can be destroyed; your love can never be destroyed. It can only be converted. He says that as long as the calf says, ‘ahaṁ, ahaṁ’ (‘me, me’) it must work, suffer, get beaten and tortured. Once it is killed, musical instruments are made out of its skin; then when we beat the instrument, it says, ‘tumi, tumi’ or ‘tum’ (‘you, you’).

As long as it says, ‘ahaṁ, ahaṁ’ it suffers, when it says, ‘tuṁ, tuṁ,’ it starts being used for wonderful pur- You And Me Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ You And Me 1131 poses like singing the glory of the divine! The moment the cognitive shift happens in us, that is when the ‘tumi, tumi’ (‘you, you’) happens, we will be a blessing for ourselves and for others. All the root thought patterns or bio-memories, saṁskāras, are stored in the causal layer. They operate without our control. Decisions are made without our knowledge. However, at the deeper level, in the cosmic layer, we decide consciously: you or me, divine or demon, daiva or asura.

When we make the decision of ‘You,’ we radiate divine qualities. When we make the decision of ‘me,’ we radiate demonic qualities. The decision about ‘You’ or ‘me’ is made in the Cosmic layer. If we decide with the attitude of ‘you,’ the whole thing becomes divine; if we decidewiththeattitudeof‘me,’thewholethingbecomesdemonic.Themind or citta, the inner space is neither negative nor positive. None of these, including the guṇa (attributes) are negative or positive. Even tāmasic qualities, such as laziness, are neither negative nor positive. Many Enlightened Masters seem passive, not doing anything at all. We cannot differentiate between their attitude and laziness. For instance, Bhagavān Ramaṇa Mahaṛṣi sat throughout his life in one little town, Tiruvannamalai.

He never moved out of there. He was mostly in silence. Yet we cannot say he was in tamas since he never made any decision out of ‘me.’ The whole process was happening with ‘you’ as a center, not ‘me.’ We cannot call the citta, the mind or samskāra, the root pattern good or bad. In the superficial layers, they are neither. However, the decisions we make in the cosmic layer, in the deeper layer, determine whether they are good or bad. The energy behind passion and compassion is really one and the same. When we decide based on ‘me’, it is passion; when we decide based on ‘You’, it is compassion.

We need to understand one important thing. If we feel passion strongly in our being, but our compassion has only a little intensity, then our compassion is just a pseudo-expression, perhaps for the sake of name and fame, not for anything else. If we are not integrated to compassion as intensely as our passion, all our activities are based on ego. Even this Gītā discourse can become food for the ego, if the decision is taken out of ‘I’ and ‘me’. When the decision happens out of ‘You,’ even ordinary daily activities can become divine, not just Gītā discourses. We need not work on the ‘doing’; we need to work on the ‘being’.

Doing can never lead us to anything. As long as we believe that doing can lead us to the Ultimate, we have karma. This is called Pūrva Mimāṁsi (those who interpret the Vedic rituals literally). Only when we understand that only being can lead us to the Ultimate, we are called Uttara Mimāṁsi (those who interpret the Vedic scriptures according to vedānta-based non-duality). According to the Vedas, there are two major types of people: People who believe in doing and people who believe in being. People who believe in transforming the ‘Being’ are Vedāntins, people who believe that the transformation to the Ultimate can be achieved by ‘doing’ are karmakāndis.

Of course, the Ultimate can be achieved only by working on the being, not by working on the doing. If we work on the doing, we either suppress or express. We continuously fight with ourselves; nothing else is achieved. Only a man who transforms his being can achieve the Ultimate. Whether to be a demon or divine, we decide at that one point. When we receive the data through our senses, process it and deliver the result or command, how is the command delivered? If the command comes out with the thinking, ‘What is there for me?’ then whatever we do, including meditation, will be only ego satisfying, not enriching.

Many people ask, ‘Swamiji, at some point, I felt such deep ecstasy in meditation, such beautiful bliss. But suddenly, within two hours it disappeared, it never came back! Why is this so? How can we get it back?’ Please understand that bliss is choicelessness. When we are absent, when our identity disappears, we experience bliss. The moment we want the bliss back, we have already chosen. We have made the choice! The Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ You And Me 1133 moment we choose, we will always choose suffering. All choices are suffering, because choice is based on the mind. It is based on duality. Bliss is choicelessness. It is beyond duality, it is Advaita, therefore there is nothing to choose ‘between’.

The moment the space of ‘me’ or ‘mine’ appears and decides, it destroys the bliss. We can no longer be Divine. When we are blissful, we have said, ‘No’ to ‘me’; we are relaxed in the ‘You’ idea. The moment we want to possess bliss, we have said, ‘Yes’ to ‘me’. ‘You’ and ‘me’ Listen. We need to understand ‘You’ and ‘me’ properly. The word ‘me’ means ego; the word ‘You’ means the whole of Existence. When our identity evaporates, when our ego dissolves, whatever is left is Existence; it is Divine, daivic. We create the demon by bringing in the idea of ‘me’. The moment we bring in the idea of ‘me,’ whatever is there, is demonic.

The moment the ‘me’ idea is removed, whatever there is, is Divine. With the ‘me’ idea, whatever we do, be it meditation, rituals, learning, or knowledge, it will only strengthen the ego. Anything done to strengthen the idea of ‘me’, naturally leads to more ignorance and suffering. Anything done with the attitude of ‘You,’ whatever it is, naturally becomes Divine and leads to Bliss. In Saṁskṛit, we have two words: nivṛitti and pravṛitti. Nivṛitti— looking inwards or liberation or completion—is centered on the idea of ‘You’. Pravṛitti—looking outwards or bondage or incompletion—is centered on the idea of ‘me’. Whatever is done out of ‘You’, leads to liberation; whatever we do out of the idea of ‘me’, leads to bondage.

As long as we are centered in ourselves, we are in the bondage of attraction and aversion, greed and fear. Most people are centered in their mūlādhāra cakra, the energy center in our body associated with the emotion of greed, or in the svādiṣṭhāna cakra, the energy center in our body associated with fears and insecurity. The mūlādhāra is all about ‘me’—our possessions: ‘What is in it for me? Where do I go from here?’ The svādiṣṭhāna is about ‘I’, our identity, insecurity and fear arising from our need to protect the bodymind system. Both these bind us, block us, and keep us firmly locked in the material world. As our higher centers of energy get energized and unblocked, and our energy rises from the mūlādhāra and svādiṣṭhāna, to anāhata (heart center) and beyond, we look beyond ourselves.

The ‘me’ starts dropping. When the ājñā cakra (energy center between the eyebrows) becomes energized, the ego, the identity, the ‘I’ and ‘me’, disappear and the ‘you’ takes over. The demon becomes the Divine. When we shed our ego, we become boundary-less. We are no longer limited by selfish thoughts about ‘me’ and ‘mine’, our kith and kin. The whole world is ours to care for. Kṛṣṇa refers to this as Vasudaiva Kuṭuṁbakaṁ, ‘the whole world is one family’. As long as we feel that our body-mind is our boundary, that we are separate from the rest of the Universe, we will continuously fight with Existence, with the nature, with the Whole.

Understand, the part can never succeed when it fights with the Whole. Whatever we think, speak or do based upon the idea ‘me’, it leads to more and incompletions, more and more suffering. This whole Universe is God’s will and so are we. However, God has willed that we use our free will. That is why He has given us consciousness, so that we are aware of what we do. If we truly believed in God’s will, we would do our very best and leave the result to Him. This is what Kṛṣṇa declared earlier—karmaṇy evādhikāraste mā phaleṣu kadācana (2.47). Do what you have to do without bothering about the results.

When we move into the space of ‘You’, we move into the attitude Kṛṣṇa speaks about. When we are no longer worried about ourselves and we think of everyone else’s needs as our own, results lose meaning. There is no selfish pressure. There is no identity that directs us towards success instead of failure, based upon how we imagine success looks. Success and failure lose their meaning. Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ You And Me 1135 Whether we act demonic or Divine, the inner space in all of us is Divine. The inner space is pure; it is uncontaminated. Whether we are tuned inwards towards that purity or tuned outwards towards gratification is the choice we make through our free will.

A Rāvaṇa had the choice of being a Rāma, and a Duryodhana had the choice of being an Arjuna. Through their own free will, they did not exercise that choice. Here, Kṛṣṇa beautifully explains the demonic and Divine natures. Now in the 15th and 16th chapters, only Kṛṣṇa speaks, Arjuna is practically silent; he is in the space of pure listening, Upaniṣad. All the questions have disappeared and only small doubts are left, which are a means to enrich others. He is asking for clarifications on this sacred science from his Master. Qualifications Of Divinity

iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsūpaniṣatsu brahmavidyāyāṁ yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasaṁvāde puruṣottamayogo nāma pañcadaśo’dhyāyaḥ