Arjuna said :

Arjuna's question arises out of Bhagavan's last few verses of the previous chapter - especially the last verse. Bhagavan Shri Krishna up to chapter VI explained the techniques of Yoga and Sanyasa in detail. Since chapter VII onwards, He has been revealing His divine nature to Arjuna and highlighting the value of devotion to Him. But it was not very clear whether the physical form of Bhagavan should be contemplated upon or it should be His formless state that is unmanifest and imperishable? In chapter VII Bhagavan had stated that `those who regard Me as subject to personality are mistaken because My supreme state is unmanifest and immutable' . In chapter VIII Bhagavan mentioned the supreme goal in two ways - the supreme Purusha and the imperishable Brahma. Purusha has been mentioned in verses 8,9, 10 and 21 of that chapter and the imperishable unmanifest in verses 11, 12, 13 and 21. It appears that Purusha is a supreme personality embracing all personalities and the imperishable unmanifest is beyond the concept of a personality. It also appears by the mysterious words of Bhagavan that when He refers to `I', He means His supreme imperishable and immutable state beyond all manifestations. In chapter X, when Arjuna wanted to know in what form he should think of Bhagavan, Shri Krishna enumerated His divine forms in a particularly mysterious and attractive way. Then in chapter XI He showed His all enveloping cosmic form and then said `My devotee, surrendering to Me and performing My action....... comes to Me'. Now Arjuna does not know whether to worship a manifestation of Bhagavan or to meditate upon His unsurpassed imperishable unmanifest state. Also, he is confused as to which way of worships contributes the practice of Yoga.

Here, in this context, `Me' means Bhagavan's manifest form. The necessary conditions are fixing the mind on Him (or rather the mind should be absorbed in Him), supreme faith and being ever united. Supreme faith is that which goes beyond all doubts and which cannot be shaken by anything whatsoever. Remaining ever united means maintaining the right perspective at all times - in happiness and sorrow, in peace and in agitation. Those who worship Him thus are the best of those who are united and accordingly the best of the Yogis.

In a nutshell, Bhagavan has described the indescribable and pointed out the way to worship the unmanifest. He has also made it clear that the worshippers of the unmanifest attain Him alone. Thus the end result of worshipping manifest and unmanifest is the same.

Having even minded disposition everywhere, discipline of the senses and devotion to the good of all beings is a very important aspect of the worship of the unmanifest. Of course these virtues are present in the worshippers of the manifest also, but no special effort is needed in their case. Bhagavan Himself, situated as a personalised Being in their hearts takes care of all that.

The condition of devotion to the welfare of all beings is a very important one. There is no such thing as a private of exclusive salvation or attainment of Brahma neglecting the world of worldly beings. Without being engaged in the welfare of the fellow beings there is no question of attaining Brahma or Bhagavan Krishna. The world is not to be neglected or abandoned; it is to be accepted and embraced without attachment.

Worshipping the unmanifest is more strenuous because there is no personality to fall back upon, in times of trouble. Being ourselves subject to different personalities, we find it easier to look forward to overpowering and charming personalities like Shri Krishna's with whom we can talk also at times.

Of course, there can be and there are people whose nature is suitable to the worship of the unmanifest only.

Bhagavan Shri Krishna describes the efficacy of devotion to Him in a personalised form. Although one should know that He is beyond all personalities and equally in all personalities, meditating on Him as a personalised God with exclusive devotion is sufficient to see us through the world of duality and manifestation haunted by death. In whatever way one may fix his mind on Him, it leads to the ultimate goal. One may desire Him, one may hate Him, one may love Him, one may despise Him, be a friend to Him, or be a foe to Him, one may seek protection in Him, one may be afraid of Him... one still gets His infinite grace and compassion equally and comes to Him. Gopis loved Shri Krishna as a beloved, Nanda, Yashoda Vasudeva and Devaki loved Him as a son, Pandavas regarded Him as a dear relative, Arjuna considered Him as a friend, Shishupala, Jarasandha etc. regarded Him as an enemy, Kansa was scared of Him and the Kubari (the maid servant of Mathura) just loved His body. Yet all these were graced by Bhagavan Shri Krishna. Once we surrender to His Being, He takes charge of us, looks after us in all respects. The only condition is that one must think of Him exclusively and be entirely dependent on Him.

Mind and intellect permeated by him are sufficient to ensure that equanimity and perspective which belongs to Brahma when the mind is fixed on Him, it becomes disciplined and controlled without any effort or strain. Immunity to the perturbations of the sense objects come gradually as His grace descends. When the intellect rests on Him, one attains the divine perspective and the established intellect spoken of in chapter II. His devotee may continue to use his intellect but it is permeated by Him and supported by Him.

When one lives in Him, there is no worry at all.

If the dictum in the previous verse is not realised, Bhagavan says that one must desire to attain that stage by the Yoga of practice (thought in chapter VI). In this connection verses 25, 26 and 35 of chapter VI are particularly worth remembering.

If even the practice mentioned in the previous verse is difficult, one should perform actions for His sake. This is the way of Karmayoga. Doing actions worthy of performance for His sake, dedicating to Him and believing that He is the ultimate performer, leads to perfection . All actions are His actions in the sense that they are performed, in reality, by His nature; we are only the agents. When actions are dedicated to Him, they do not bind us.

Are you trying to give us inferiority complex Sir? You told us to attain the stage described in verse 8. If we were unable to do so, you gave us alternatives in verse 9, 10 and 11 in order of priority. But we find that the alternatives (renouncing fruits of all actions) which finds the last place in your priority list is the most difficult to practise! You are saying that if one is not able to practise any of the previous alternatives, he may renounce the fruit of all actions. But that is the most difficult! Why are You pulling our leg, O my naughty Lord?

Shri Krishna is truly fond of His devotees. That is why he advises them to be in the stage of verse 8 which is the easiest to attain for the simple reason that one has to do nothing to get it. He does everything by His grace. The stages mentioned in verse 9 are a little more difficult than this because consciousness of effort is felt to some extent. The stage of verse 10 in even more difficult because we feel that we are doing the actions (dedicated to Him) by our effort. The stage depicted in this verse is the most difficult because the consciousness of effort is felt to the maximum extent.

As a matter of fact the stages depicted in these four verses are not as if they were set apart for a person for all times. Also, those in stage of verse 10 or 11 need not think themselves inferior to those in the stage of verse 8 or 9, firstly because no person may remain in the same stage all the time, and secondly because Bhagavan only decides who is to remain in which stage at what time. We should not worry about passing from one stage to another. We should simply recognise the stage to which we belong by His grace and then do as taught by Bhagavan in the relevant verse. When He thinks proper, He would transfer us from one stage to another.

The importance of this verse cannot be overestimated. When, for reasons best known to Him, one is not able to attain the stages depicted in verse 8,9 or 10, a frustration is likely to result, quite naturally. When one is not able to fix the mind and intellect on Him, one is not able to pursue Yoga of practice, and one is not able to concentrate on one's duty; then is the time to remember the value of renouncing fruits of all actions. At that time, remembering that inability to pursue any of the aforesaid activities is simply the `failure' which is nothing but the fruit of actions, one should stop worrying about.

Renouncing the fruit of all actions is a very strong and effective principle. It appears difficult only because it is applied partially. If it were applied to all actions without exception, it would not at all be difficult. For example, trying to follow this principle of renunciation is itself an action and success or failure in it must also be renounced as a fruit of action. This means that even if we are not able to follow the principle of renunciation (that means we do get attached to fruits of actions at times), we should not get disheartened. We should go on making an effort undaunted by successes and failures. In fact, no one should assume that goal is near for the reason that one has got a number of successes on the way or that goal has receded further on account of frequent failures of effort. Successes and failures are totally irrelevant and must be completely renounced. No effort should be made to assess whether the final goal is far many or near, for that is both impossible and undesirable. As a matter of fact, the attainment of a `goal' predefined in a particular way is itself the fruit of an action and must be renounced. All that is required is faith in Him and in all His ways. When failures surround us from all sides, renunciation of the fruits of all actions is there to renew our faith in Him.

Mere practice, without the perspective of knowledge, is inferior to the full understanding or knowledge just as knowledge about the mechanics of the car is better than just knowing driving. Meditation is better than knowledge because the latter remains at the level of intellect only while meditation goes deeper at the level of awareness. Renunciation of fruits of actions is superior to meditation, because in the latter some expectation may remain. Renunciation ensures detachment from all expectations and therefore it is the key to immediate peace. The efficacy of renunciation has been briefly discussed below the previous verse. Of course, renunciation by itself is quite pointless. Faith in Bhagavan Shri Krishna is a must and that is what makes it so valuable. It is on account of our faith in Him that we feel like practising renunciation of every fruit of action, remembering that He is not the fruit of any action.

"Without home" means without a sense of possession or belonging towards any house or place. His devotees feel homely at every place, not at any particular place.

A rather long list of qualifications necessary for winning His favour! But why should we worry? We should try our best to acquire these qualities, and His grace will accomplish the rest at the right time. These qualities are very impressive. Why should they not be? They are His qualities. He cannot tolerate any difference between Him and his devotees. He wants them to be coloured in His own colour. Why should we not be keen to acquire the qualities of our beloved, the Lord of our heart? His dear devotee Uddhava imitated Him so much that he even started looking like Him.

Finally the grace mark for us, who are far away from the qualities enumerated above. Those who having faith in Him and looking forward to Him as the supreme goal, worship this Dharma (i.e. try their best to acquire these qualities) are extremely dear to Him. It is strange that those who already have those qualities are described as `dear to Him' while those who do not have those qualities yet and are trying to imbibe them with faith and devotion are described as `extremely dear to Him'. It is just like Him. He encourages those who need the encouragement. When a child tries to accomplish a job, we go out of our way to praise and encourage him. A mature and grown up person may accomplish the job but we need not praise and encourage him to the same extent, because he does not really need it. We are His imperfect and immature children. So He goes out of His way to praise us calling us extremely dear to Him. Whenever we make a sincere effort to acquire divine qualities. His devotees who already have those qualities do not need to reassure that they are extremely dear to Him because they are always in Him and He is in them.