योऽन्तःसुखोऽन्तरारामस्तथान्तर्ज्योतिरेव यः ।
स योगी ब्रह्मनिर्वाणं ब्रह्मभूतोऽधिगच्छति ॥५-२४॥
Transliteration:
Lord Krishna says to Arjuna: one determined to reach God in present life could never be swayed from path of jnana yoga (absolute wisdom)… no matter what! Such a human being finally succeeds in establishing absolute control over five senses and mind. Reaching stage of Nirvikalpa Samadhi (absolute nothingness)… one remained engrossed in thoughts of God Almighty all the time! For an enlightened one, a bodhi… a Jina… pleasures of ephemeral life carried no further meaning! One remained in state of absolute bliss all the time.
Exerting willpower, power of discrimination, a person having hundred percent faith in God Almighty finally realized that God Almighty was the only truth of life! Other than God Almighty nothing exists in cosmos. The Advaita Vedanta theory of Hinduism propagated by Adi Shankaracharya also confirms this analogy. Our soul atman, the consciousness within was not distinct from God Almighty in any respect except that it existed within us in our heart in miniscule form. If an individual grain of sand is an independent soul atman, the whole mound God Almighty! We were and always had been part of God Almighty from beginning of life.
Lord Krishna also confirms that path of Sankhya Yoga; jnana yoga (absolute wisdom) was the only route to God Almighty in present times. There was no denying this fact that in present Kali yoga… Dark Age, metal age one could never reach God via path of bhakti yoga alone. So was the case with path of religion (path of rituals). For reaching God in present life one had to undertake path of nishkama karma yoga and jnana yoga (absolute wisdom). Path of jnana yoga involves contemplating on God Almighty is via path of self enquiry (Neti… not this, not this) as preached and advocated by Maharishi Ramana, one who reached God in his lifetime!
The Explanation:
Lord Krishna vehemently confirms that God Almighty in present times can only be reached through path of contemplation, path of jnana yoga (absolute wisdom). Path of jnana yoga does not stipulate reading scriptural texts literally. The teachings contained in sacred scriptures of different religions of world could never be assimilated literally. Bookish knowledge carried no meaning in spiritual world… prime reason why half baked theories put forward by various religious preachers of present times failed to remove ignorance of seekers.
For assimilating pearls of wisdom contained in Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism… one needs reading in between the lines! Every time we read sacred scriptures of Hinduism, we derive different meanings! This was more so in the case of teachings contained in Bhagavad Gita. As many readings of Bhagavad Gita… as many different meanings one would derive! To reach God, paths were many but most human beings world over lacked requisite determination! Only when human beings mounted with bulldog determination of Swami Vivekananda travelled path of Sankhya Yoga (jnana yoga)… did human beings reach God Almighty in present manifestation!
Determined to reach God in present life, when human beings travelled path of spirituality… they not only reached God but also remained engrossed in thoughts of God Almighty all the time. This special communion with God Almighty all the time had no boundaries; as one experienced absolute bliss all the time! Remaining in communion with God Almighty all the time was something that could never be expressed in words. For a layman, traveler of religious path (rituals) understanding what communion with God Almighty was all about, was out of bounds! Devoid of all dross impurities within our soul atman, the spirit within had gained absolute purity forever! We as a soul atman, the consciousness within finally reached cosmic end of life.
Only a traveler of path of jnana yoga (Sankhya Yoga… absolute wisdom) realizes the importance of a human body undertaking spiritual journey! Reaching end goal of cosmic life, 8.4 millionth manifestation means we as a soul atman, the spirit within liberating self from cycle of birth and death forever. The moment we as an enlightened one left mortal frame, one gained salvation moksha forever! The liberated soul atman thus entered abode of God, kingdom of God (termed Vaikuntha in Hinduism)… a point of no return! Becoming an enlightened one, a kaivalya Jnani announced freedom of underlying spirit forever. The liberated soul atman was thus free to travel to any part of cosmos (Brahmaand in Hinduism).
In spiritual parlance, reaching God… realizing God simply meant realizing self; reach our true inner self forever! A human being reaching true inner self means cutting across shackles of ego, ignorance forever! By indulging in jnana yoga (absolute wisdom) one finally succeeds in gaining absolute purity forever. The path of nishkama karma yoga and jnana yoga simply helped a traveler of spirituality to remove dross impurities within a soul atman. The dross impurities within a soul atman could never be removed via path of religion (rituals). Mere indulgence in any kind of ritual including visit to temples, churches and mosques carried no meaning in spiritual world.
Human beings must not have an iota of doubt about path of religion or spirituality! We have to learn to distinguish between religion and spirituality. As we are primarily a spirit that manifested human form to work out its karma, remove dross impurities within… it is only by travelling path of jnana yoga and nishkama karma yoga human beings finally succeeded in reaching stage of enlightenment and finally salvation moksha. How difficult reaching God can be gauged from the fact that in last about 150 years amongst 7 billion people existing world over, only Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana finally succeeded in reaching God! Even an ardent seeker of spirituality… Swami Vivekananda did not gain enlightenment in his lifetime! Why? Swami Vivekananda wanted to serve the community to its best rather than reaching God.
When Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa asked Swami Vivekananda why he had come to him if goal of his life was not reaching God, swami Vivekananda politely replied… only to confirm presence of God! Swami Vivekananda was a straightforward and truthful person never ever mincing words. In serving the community to its best, he really excelled! But in his desire to help mankind, serve the community he wanted to barter spirituality with money. And in that experiment during his trip to Chicago in 1893… He bitterly failed! The people in West were incompetent to recognize spiritual worth of Swami Vivekananda and he returned empty-handed to India with a broken heart. This episode resulted in premature death of Swami Vivekananda in 1902.
Commentary by: Vijay Kumar “Atma Jnani”… The Man who Realized God in 1993 – April 29, 2013
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