सांख्ययोगौ पृथग्बालाः प्रवदन्ति न पण्डिताः ।
एकमप्यास्थितः सम्यगुभयोर्विन्दते फलम् ॥५-४॥
Transliteration:
While deliberating on karma yoga in Bhagavad Gita chapter 5 verse 3… Lord Krishna clearly indicates that for reaching God in present life… path of nishkama karma yoga was an absolute must! In Bhagavad Gita chapter 5 verse 4 Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that path of Sankhya Yoga (path of jnana yoga… absolute wisdom) was not different form path of karma yoga detailed in bhagavad gita chapter 5 verse 3.
As per Lord Krishna whoever followed either path, path of karma yoga or Sankhya Yoga… reached the same goal, end of life! Only ignorant treated the two as distinct, but for a knower of Tattva jnana (one who realized absolute truth), path of nishkama karma yoga and Sankhya Yoga (absolute wisdom) were the same. One reached stage of equanimity both by following path of nishkama karma yoga or jnana yoga (path of absolute wisdom)!
For a knower of truth, one could not be practiced in absence of other. Where there was karma yoga, seeds of jnana yoga already existed there! And where there was jnana yoga (path of absolute wisdom)… inherent existence of nishkama karma yoga could never be denied. On spiritual scale… both were necessary to reach God in present life. To reach stage of enlightenment (kaivalya jnana), to become an enlightened one… bodhi, a Jina… practice of both path of nishkama karma yoga and jnana yoga (absolute wisdom) was necessitated.
The path of nishkama karma yoga and jnana yoga (absolute wisdom)… both resulted in our soul atman, the spirit within gaining absolute purity! Our soul atman regaining its true inner self, becoming the original primordial pure soul atman was the end goal of cosmic life. The moment a soul atman liberated self from cycle of birth and death forever… cosmic journey for a soul atman finally came to an end! Reaching God means a soul atman gaining absolute purity forever.
The Explanation:
As per Bhagavad Gita chapter 5 verse 4, path of karma yoga and Sankhya Yoga (jnana yoga… absolute wisdom) were not distinct from each other. Even though the two paths were different but on spiritual scale, both led to the same goal… God Almighty himself! Through path of nishkama karma yoga, human beings offered fruits of all karma performed to God Almighty all the time. This finally led to negation of karma in entirety. The moment our karma negated to zero… one reached stage of enlightenment (termed kaivalya jnana in Hinduism).
Through path of Sankhya Yoga (jnana yoga)… seekers of spirituality indulged in path of self enquiry (path of Neti… not this, not this) to negate everything in life! Finally what remained was God Almighty himself. Path of jnana yoga is contemplating on God Almighty through path of self enquiry (Neti)… as preached and advocated by Maharishi Ramana, one who reached God in his lifetime. Path of self enquiry (Neti… not this, not this) was a sure shot method of reaching God in present life. There was nothing nobler than indulging in path of self enquiry to reach God.
If Maharishi Ramana indulged in path of self enquiry (Neti) and finally succeeded… so can us! Path of jnana yoga (Sankhya Yoga) is contemplating on Nirakaar form of God Almighty (having no form). As per Bhagavad Gita, entire cosmos is made up of clusters of atoms and molecules… that constituted basic building block of entire cosmos. In a nutshell, the entire cosmos was gaseous formation including form of human beings! We were primarily cosmic consciousness, cosmic energy that manifested human form to work out its karma… remove dross impurities within!
The dross impurities within a soul atman removed only by travelling path of nishkama karma yoga and jnana yoga (path of absolute wisdom). It is an absolute fact of life that one could not be travelled in absence of other. Only the ignorant, not competent to travel spiritual path (travelers of path of religion… rituals) mistook path of karma yoga to be distinct from path of jnana yoga (Sankhya Yoga) but in absolute reality both the paths led to the same goal of life. The knower of Bhagavad Gita, knower of Tattva jnana… realized this absolute fact of life!
For a Brahma jnani who reached stage of enlightenment (kaivalya jnana), one could never distinguish between the two! The knower of absolute truth all the time realized that for our soul atman, the spirit within to reach stage of absolute purity, both path of nishkama karma yoga and jnana yoga were necessitated! For a true seeker of spirituality, the path always was immaterial… essence of life always laid in reaching end goal of life, 8.4 millionth manifestation (last in cosmic life cycle)! Reaching 8.4 millionth manifestation means our soul atman gaining liberation from cycle of birth and death forever.
All dross impurities within soul atman removed… the need for a purified soul atman to manifest another body on mother earth now ceased to exist. The purified soul atman, liberated soul atman finally entered abode of God; kingdom of God… termed Vaikuntha in Hinduism, a point of no return! Lord Krishna through Bhagavad Gita summarizes one important aspect of human life: the human form was the highest manifest stage in cosmic life cycle and it was only in human form our soul atman, the spirit within finally regained its lost original pure prime pristine primordial form forever. We are lucky to be born a human being.
Commentary by: Vijay Kumar “Atma Jnani”… The Man who Realized God in 1993 – April 21, 2013
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