Chapter 4 Jyaana Vibhaaga Yoga Flashcards
4-1 One is ready for yoga when
What is meant by this knowledge as being very old
Lord Kṛṣṇa says:
I taught this imperishable yoga to Vivasvān [1]; Vivasvān
taught it to Manu; Manu declared it to Ikṣvāku. (1)
When all worldly desires are removed from the mind, one is ready for yoga. This yoga has no beginning and no end.
Vivasvan (Sun God) received it from Krishna who gave it to Manu (First man - Adam in Christianity)
Krishna reminds Arjuna that He is eternal, this knowledge if “very old”
When you attain realization, you’ll see that this knowledge has always existed inside you. But due to desires, one runs after the beauty of the outside world and forgets about this knowledge of the Self.
4-2 The veiling of knowledge over time
Handed down through disciplic succession, the royal sages received this knowledge. But due to the passage of time, Arjuna, this yoga was lost to the world. (2)
One must have the knowledge of the Self to be able to help people. But because of desires, people started running after sense objects, after the mind - gradually developed an attachment to the outside world and the supreme knowledge disappeared. - People were more attuned during Krishna’s time. Kings never saw their kingdoms as separate from themselves.
Arjuna’s chariot is like the body, horses are like the 5 senses that run wild without the Lord to guide hold tightly.
This knowledge is never lost, just lays dormant through certain ages - people weren’t ready to hear about it during Ram’s life. Now they are.
4-3 Arjuna mind in state of complete surrender.
It is this same ancient yoga which I now teach to you, as
you are My devotee and My friend; it is indeed the highest mystery. (3)
Krishna is giving this knowledge directly to a human being - had never before been done. If you give this “Brahma Jyaan” to people whose minds are too focused on the outside world, won’t make sense to them.
Story of Dukhi Krishna - serves his Guru for a long time, then goes to Vrindavan and gives anklet back to Radharani who touches his third eye leaving a mark. Where the Guru dot comes from on our tilaks.
In this moment, Arjuna’s mind in a state of complete surrender to the Lord. He doesn’t look at what he is losing or not losing, he only wants to understand with his heart what Krishna is telling him.
4-4 Krishna hints at His eternal existence.
Arjuna says:
Your birth was recent, and the birth of Vivasvān was
long ago. How is it possible that You taught this in the
beginning? (4)
If one commits to one Guru and the Guru confirms it, and has given further instructions, then surrender! - This is the only thing that one can do.
Bhishma told Arjuna that Krishna is Narayana Himself. By Krishna saying that He gave this to the Sun God, He is saying that He existed even before creation itself.
Arjuna wants to hear Krishna say He is the Lord. Pretending to have doubts in this moment.
4-5 Krishna talking about Arjuna’s eternal nature alongside Krishna’s.
Lord Kṛṣṇa says:
Many births of Mine have passed, O Arjuna, and so it is with you also. I know them all, but you do not know them. (5)
Krishna says that He and Arjuna have lived many lifetimes and He knows them all, yet Arjuna does not. In the beginning with Manu, the first man, all was perfect. Golden Age with no delusion. Slowly everyone ran after desires of outside world.
This war happening based on things they didn’t do in their previous life - Nara and Narayana fighting Sahasrakavacha. Have to finish what they started.
4-6 The “Qualities” of the Lord
Though I am unborn and unchanging, and although I am
the Lord of all beings, by using My own nature (prakṛti), I
enter into this world by My own free will. (6)
The Lord manifests, He’s ever free to take any form, at any time. Not bound by tie or space or anything - not even the scriptures. “Qualities” of the Lord are just His play, His ‘Sport’.
Sometimes God comes incognito, unknown to the world - yet whatever He does is for the sake of mankind. He tells Arjuna not to identify Him solely as Krishna - just one incarnation, just a play.
Humans are blinded by Maya “Illusion” until they are ready - when you make yourself ready through Sadhana - veil of Maya is removed. This is just the first veil of Maya until He wills it, you’ll still see His Yogmaya.
When you are surrendered to your Sadhana, moving away from external desires and sense objects which drag you down - root you here to this world.
4-7 When the Lord incarnates.
Doubting mind and desires.
Arjuna, whenever there is a decline in dharma
(righteousness) , and an increase of adharma
(unrighteousness) , it is then that I manifest Myself. (7)
He alone knows when the world is in danger of destruction. When there’s a decline of dharma, He manifests Himself. When one is going to doom oneself, God always sends help - a reminder of the Guru and/or people with Divine qualities to help you.
Moses went to the mountain wearing his shoes and God in the form of bright light said “Take off your shoes, this place is holy!” - Remove your shoes, remove your ignorance, purify yourself. Don’t hang onto your desires.
All organs of the body are represented in the feet, the feet represent the whole being - that’s why we’re focused on the feet of the Master. Here, Arjuna symbolized the doubting people - they doubt themselves and complicate their lives instead of taking full advantage of opportunities given by God.
4-8 When you long for the Divine…
‘Evil-doers’
For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the
wicked, and to establish dharma, I incarnate Myself from age to age. (8)
Krishna says if you have a longing for the Divine, He sends all kinds of help to support you. When the Lord manifests in different aspects, one has to learn to surrender to release from one’s negativity.
The ‘evil-doers’ are the evil qualities present in you as samskaras. Sometimes the Guru has to be strict to destroy these ‘evil doers’
When the mind is upset, one doesn’t know that life is just a game. One doesn’t see that the Guru is doing everything for the disciple’s progress. Even if He has to sacrifice Himself as did Christ.
Guru always sacrificing Himself for the sake of His disciples and devotees.
4-9 More than just one’s own effort.
Quality of a Vaishnava
Whosoever knows the truth of My divine birth and deeds,
O Arjuna, is not reborn again. After leaving the body they
come to Me. (9)
Full realization isn’t attained through one’s own effort. Only when one is fully absorbed in serving God will one attain liberation. When one aims only for the Lord - not His creation, not for Liberation, not for Moksha, then one is free.
If you long for liberation, He will only give you liberation - limited state in certain time cycle.
Those who do their work with an attitude of surrender, knowing that God is the doer, will attain Him. Whoever surrenders to the Word of the Gita and practices the teachings whole-heartedly with love in their hearts attains Him and is free.
Quality of a Vaishnava is to surrender to the Lord and attain Him. Train the mind to see Him in everybody and everything. Therefore ove doesn’t wait to die to attain Him. No, now in this moment do everything to see Him and feel His Love.
Whether you attain Him now or not, don’t be concerned about it. Let Him give you whatever is needed. Poem - last 4 lines page 233
4-10 Bhaktas who renounce the 3 modifications of the mind…
See the Lord everywhere
Freed from desire, fear and anger, absorbed in Me, taking refuge in Me, and having been purified by the austerity of knowledge, many have attained their eternal relationship with Me. (10)
The bhaktas who renounce all desires, fear and anger - the 3 modifications of the mind - and who focus through dhyaan, through meditation, one sees the Lord within themselves.
Take refuge in Him and serve Him in all actions. Due to their exclusive love for God, the ones who surrender see and perceive Him everywhere - they don’t look at people from point of view of the mind which judges.
If one sees the Lord everywhere, there’s not a chance that one will not attain Him. If you long for God like a fish out of water longs for water, you will never lose sight of God because God will always be dancing in front of you. When one attains the Love of God, then all past karmas “Old You” is removed and “New You” awakens.
4-11 He comes in the right form to the bhakta who really longs
In whatever way one surrenders to Me, in the same way I
approach them. Everybody follows My path in all respects, O Arjuna. (11)
If you can’t live without Him, He also can’t live without you. In such a state of Love, He offers Himself fully to the bhakta.
If you develop a certain way of loving Him, He will take any form or any aspect to come to you. - Nanda and Yashoda see Him as their child - Vatsalya Bhav
The gopis - as their lover, Hanuman saw Ram as the Master/servant - Dasya Bhav
4-12 Praying in a way to do business with God and its implications
Those who desire the fruits of their action perform
sacrifices to the gods; for in this human world, results are
quickly attained by such religious rituals. (12)
People who are attached to worldly desires seek to attain worldly possessions - due to greediness of the mind, can’t long for God - their worship is only to the demigods in order to fulfill their desires.
Limited because they only help one on the material level. When you get what you asked for, connection with the Devas is finished.
In the moment you may be happy but you damn yourself - dig your hold deeper. Very difficult for people in the material world to have devotion - mind is on doing business with God - want quick results.
Focus your mind and thoughts on God - the Supreme aspect of the Divine - then He will look after you.
4-13 Roles of the caste system
I created the four varṇas based on their work and
guṇas. Despite creating this system, I am still unchanging
and free from action. (13)
System of the four castes based on the gunas and karma. Good karma born in the Brahmin caste - Krishna talking about everybody who longs for God - the quality of a Brahmin is to guide others towards loving God.
Ones with rajasic qualities are born as warriors - some good punya and God allows them to find their way in life. Vaishya caste have a mix of rajasic and tamasic qualities. Shudra caste with tamasic qualities - far away from the Divine/God Consciousness.
If one accepts one’s duty and changes oneself, one moves towards God - Realization.
Brahmins - control your minds and senses, focus on attaining Krishna
Kshatriyas - fight all the negative qualities inside of you
Vaishyas - do your work accepting it as if God had given it to you
Shudras - accept the physical tests and difficulties of the outside
4-14 Binding nature of attachment and possession
Actions do not taint Me, nor do I have a desire for the
fruits of actions. One who understands this about Me, is
not bound by karma. (14)
Krishna is without attachment, sense of possession, or desire for fruit of actions. If one has desire/sense of possession - automatically bound by law of karma
Whoever becomes a yogi does their daily duty surrendering it to the Divine. They surrender all their actions, all punya, everything to the Divine and say “Krishna Arpanam”
4-15 Free yourself from fruits of action.
Having known this, the ancient seekers of liberation also
performed action, and similarly you should also engage in your duty just as people in the past have done. (15)
Reminding Arjuna again and again: “I am free from everything, yet I do my duty”
The ancient seekers for liberation - sincerely unattached from fruits of actions. Follow in their footsteps - this has been done, it is possible.
Completely free from Maya as they surrender to He who controls Maya.
4-16 Truth behind action and inaction
What is action? What is inaction? Even the wise are
confused about this. I shall now explain to you what
action is. Knowing this, you will be freed from suffering.
(16)
A true yogi is beyond action and inaction - they have the true knowledge that there is no action or inaction which is not done by the Will of God - ancient sages did their daily routine bud id not think “I am doing it” or “How will I do it?” - This knowledge frees one from bondage of karma - many know it in the mind yet very difficult to understand.
The wise ones look at everything as if God is doing it. The unwise judge whatever happens in the world. When this judgement comes, knowledge disappears.
4-17 The nature of action - surrendering
For verily one must understand what is action (karma),
what is forbidden action (vikarma), as well as what is
inaction (akarma). Action is indeed hard to understand.
(17)
Only when one surrenders to the Guru’s Feet and takes His advice, that one can know the true nature of duty which is the nature of action. People generally think action is only on the outside - like the work people do while inaction is understood to be when all activities suspended and you sit for meditation.
You can sit for meditation, calm the mind and body but if there’s a motive, it won’t lead you anywhere. Enlightened souls know which action to perform and with which motive so it will lead them to complete renunciation.
Those wanting to liberate themselves should surrender to a Guru who will lead them out of this game of action, inaction, and prohibited action. Prohibited action is action done with deceit, hypocrisy, violence, greed, pride - when people do work with devotion, they are humble - this happens when surrender to the Guru - one removes one’s own will/ways of seeing and embrace what the Guru is giving.
With true realization, there’s no judgement. All ways are right because God puts everyone where they have to be - If you do your Sadhana either for your own benefit, then considered prohibited action - nothing to be gained from it.
4-18 Action in inaction and inaction in action
He who sees inaction in action and also action in inaction
is wise among people. He is fit for liberation and performs all his designated duties. (18)
He who sees inaction in action and action in inaction is wise among people. He is fit for liberation and has concluded all actions.
If one performs every action without expectations, renouncing all its fruits, then he is doing all his actions with aim of attaining God.
Also those who, even if they did their Sadhana in a state of inaction, they did it with an aim which made the Sadhana become like an action. When people sing their praises of “I have renounced this” “I have renounced that!” their pride shows that they are still very attached and haven’t renounced anything.
Surrender to the Master, focus on your aim of attaining only God, then you’re fit for liberation.
4-19 desire in the face of wisdom
He whose every action is free from personal gain has his
sins burnt up by the fire of knowledge. He is described by the wise as a sage. (19)
The fire of wisdom reduces all desires to ashes. A yogi has roasted all seeds of desire so they won’t grow - they lose the capacity to sprout and can’t bear fruit - how then can the fruit of action a.k.a. karma be created?
The sage has attained perfection through karma yoga. He renounces all sense of doership, possession, and attachment.
4-20 Renouncing attachment - change in identity
A person who has renounced attachment to the fruits of
action is dependent on no one and is ever-content in the
Self. He does not act despite being engaged in activity. (20)
After renouncing attachment to the actions and their fruits, the bhakta should give up the feeling of “I” and “Mine” - which always refer to the mind and the body.
One should trust and not depend on the world. For the ones completely surrendered to God, everything will be taken care of. The only thing you need to do is to give yourself completely to the Divine - Realize your Self.
Give what belongs to this world back to this world, what belongs to God back to God with full love and surrender.
page 248 Rabia the Sufi saint and poet who get whatever “would have been nice to have”
4-21 End result of perfectly controlled faculties
Free from expectation, with a controlled mind, having no
sense of ownership and acting only to maintain the body,
one does not incur sin. (21)
When the body, mind, and heart are in complete control and completely surrendered into the Divine Rhythm, all actions one does is a service and prayer to the Lord.
When you practice yoga in such a state without expecting a result you can be anywhere in the world and won’t create any karma - you can dance naked, people can beat you up, it doesn’t matter.
Because of Adi Shankaracharya’s state of consciousness and his complete surrender to the Will of God, he had no ignorance, no ego, nothing. For him everything was equal (story of drinking molten iron).
4-22 Game of duality vs. not
When one is content with what comes without effort, one
has transcended the pairs of opposites, is free from envy,
and is balanced in success and failure; despite acting, one is not bound. (22)
Through jealousy, one criticizes, aims to harm others, starts to compare oneself with others, doesn’t affect the one beyond duality - in that state, one becomes equal in failure and success.
If they’re still attached to sense objects though, jealousy stays hidden, knowledge corrupted. Don’t even compare your spiritual path with others. Be free from that.
Even in one’s action when one is free from bondage of jealousy and surrendered to the Supreme in every action.
4-23 Action is “dissolved”
For the liberated person, who is free from attachments,
whose mind is established in wisdom, and acts only for
sacrifice, karma is entirely dissolved. (23)
When an action doesn’t create any attachment - loses its capacity to cause any harm - action is dissolved.
When completely unattached to any other aim than God, all that one does is for the sake of serving Him. In that state, no new karma is created.
4-24 - Sacrifice and placing God first.
Seeing with the mind versus seeing with the eyes of knowledge
For those absorbed in God, Brahman [3] is the
instrument, Brahman is the oblation; Brahman is the one
who offers into the fire which is also Brahman. Brahman
alone is to be reached by one who meditates upon Him in one’s actions. (24)
To a bhakta, everything’s an act of sacrifice to the Lord - there’s no difference between the bhakta and what he is doing, and no difference between the bhakta and God. he sees the Divine (Brahman) inside him doing everything.
Place God first in everything you do and this body is the instrument which God has given you for the soul to attain Him. The aim of meditation is to perceive the Lord everywhere at all times. If one doesn’t self-judge oneself, one will see it’s only the Lord Himself taking every step, doing every action.
When we see with the mind, we see a difference, a duality, and have judgement. But when we see with the eyes of knowledge in the heart, when we train the mind to look from inside out, perceive that there’s only one reality - difficult to train the mind in the beginning but if you practice and it becomes your aim, you’ll be full of energy because that’s the Self itself.
