Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 9


The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission


The Is-ness in the Elements and Beings is Iswara - 8-9
1 Gita Sloka  every day - Chapter 7 - Jnana Vignana Yoga - Sloka 9

Punyah gandah prithivyam cha tejah cha asmi vibhavaso I
Jivanam sarva bhuteshu tapah asmi tapas vishu II sloka 9
पुण्यः गन्धः पृथिव्यां च तेजः च अस्मि  विभावसो ।
जीवनं सर्व भूतेषु तपः अस्मि तपस्विषु ।। श्लोक ९


I am the sweet fragrance in earth and the brilliance in fire; I am the life in all beings and the austerity in ascetics.

Odour in all its forms is characteristic of the element earth. But the sweet fragrance is specified because of aroma being associated with the ritualistic worship of the Lord. 

The brilliance in fire and sun is one and the same. While the former is handy and always available to man, the latter is to be beheld with reverence from where he is. But both of them are the physical representation of the undecaying splendour of the  Brahman. Meditation on sun and fire leads to the cognizance of the divine blaze within oneself. 

Self consciousness is concomitant with the manifestation of life and it persists, though in varying degrees in all beings. Meditation on the continuity of life is therefore equivalent to meditation on consciousness. There should be no difficulty for the sadhaka  in having recourse to either form of meditation.

It is one thing just to live and quite another to make a conscious attempt at intensifying the life that one lives. Ascetics are they who intensify life by subjective means. The process of their effecting this end is known as tapas -  austerity. The presence of the Lord is patent in this holy act. The sadhaka  ought to study the austerity of the successful ascetics so that he may follow in their wake. 

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