Now Sri Krishna talks about turning inwards once again 

Bg 5.24

yo ’ntaḥ-sukho ’ntar-ārāmas

tathāntar-jyotir eva yaḥ

sa yogī brahma-nirvāṇaṁ

brahma-bhūto ’dhigacchati

Word for word: 

yaḥ — one who; antaḥ–sukhaḥ — happy from within; antaḥ–ārāmaḥ — actively enjoying within; tathā — as well as; antaḥ–jyotiḥ — aiming within; eva — certainly; yaḥ — anyone; saḥ — he; yogī — a mystic; brahma–nirvāṇam — liberation in the Supreme; brahma–bhūtaḥ — being self-realized; adhigacchati — attains.

Translation: 

One whose happiness is within, who is active and rejoices within, and whose aim is inward is actually the perfect mystic. He is liberated in the Supreme, and ultimately he attains the Supreme.

 

This verse is similar to 3.17,  Anthah comes three times ’ntaḥ-sukho, one who feels happiness inwards one who delights inwards, athāntar-jyotir eva yaḥ, so Sri Krishna is emphasizing turn inwards look for happiness inward, what happens to such a person sa yogī brahma-nirvāṇaṁ, such a person attains spiritual happiness and when he attends spiritual happiness what will happen brahma-bhūto ’dhigacchati. So first the person will attain spiritual happiness and then he get spiritual existence, brahma-nirvāṇaṁ. Srila Prabhupad has translated as liberated in supreme, people think that brahma-nirvāṇaṁ is a buddhistic word, so what does brahma-nirvāṇaṁ mean? 

 

Brahma-nirvana :

  1. Materialistic people thinks : Life ends with death
  2. Gyani understands that : Life begins with death
  1. Bhaktas understand that : Life begins whenever we start serving Krishna.

Because eternally what we are going to do, we are forever serving Sri Krishna, the moment we start serving Sri Krishna from that our real life begins and our real life continues eternally, so life begins whenever we start serving Sri Krishna that is Brahman Nirvan. Nirvan is often thought Buddhist word, Nirvan means cessation, termination, yes cessation of material existence is there but along with that there is Brahma, Brahma means there is higher spiritual realization, there is life in Brahman, so Brahman Nirvan means ending of material existence and beginning of spiritual existence because after that Sri Krishna is saying brahma-bhūto ’dhigacchati, that person also attains brahma-bhūto, that person attains spiritual existence, so this verse has come several times in Bhagavad Gita, 

Brahma-nirvana

BG 2.72, BG 5.24, BG 5.25, BG 6.15

Nirvana: end of material existence

Brahma-nirvana: simultaneous revival of spiritual existence.

Buddhists say that, like a candle is lighting and it gets extinguished similarly our life is extinguished and it enters into void, but actually even the candle is extinguished the energy is there which let the candle lit, that energy doesn’t get extinguished, so that energy exists and it will simply get transformed in some other form. So like that at the point of death the consciousness is no longer in material form but that doesn’t means the consciousness gets extinguished, consciousness continues to exist, the consciousness is simple expressed or channelized to some other level when we express deeper level of reality, when one experiences higher level of consciousness, so simultaneously revival of existence is there, so in this way Sri Krishna says that one attends spiritual existence. So turn inwards and by that way attain spiritual existence that is the goal of life now. Sri Krishna will talk further about how one can experience spiritual happiness.

Srila Prabhupada explains: A liberated person enjoys happiness by factual experience. When a devotee is happy it is factual experience, not some sentimental imagination. When devotees chant dance etc., people wonder why these people are so happy, do they take some drugs! why they are so bright!, what makes them happy!, because that is factual experience of happiness it is not some sentimental imagination, when the soul comes in contact with Sri Krishna through the sound of holy name, through spiritual sound the person experiences higher happiness, Srila Prabhupada explain further: He can, therefore, sit silently at any place and enjoy the activities of life from within..

What are the activities of life the activities of devotional service the remembrance of Krishna, a devotee can sit at any place and meditate on Sri Krishna’s pastime, chant the holy name and experience a deep fulfillment. A devotee doesn’t need anything external, of course a devotee comes out in external world and acts in external world also because the devotee wants to share the happiness relished internally with others, the devotee is not dependent on that yo ’ntaḥ-sukho ’ntar-ārāmas. We don’t have these experiences all the time, but all of us have this experience, so we start relishing inner happiness, Oh this is so relishable so wonderful I wish I could hold on it more, we can hold on to it, we all get occasional glimpses of spiritual happiness, sometime in yatras, sometime its beautiful darshan, sometime in kirtan, sometimes some classes are very memorable, all those are our spiritual memories – the treasures, we have to make our memory into treasury, in our memory we remember the time when we had these wonderful experiences. So instead of letting our memory filled with recollection of our past sense gratification which keep haunting us like we enjoy like that, come on enjoy again, enjoy again, so instead flitting those memories stays, we replace those memories with devotional memories, unfortunately our memories don’t adhere to these types of recollections, so we have to consciously cultivate this, sometimes we completely forget these, sometime we hear some brilliant insights like this insight is life changing, I wanted to change!, but one day after that we forget the whole thing, we have to chase those memories, how do we chase? by remembering internally or by noting down externally making a small diary where we have the most important points, most important experiences, most transforming realizations and keep them in treasury. Ultimately our memory has to be the treasury, if we keep our spiritual life those experiences will become more consistent, frequent and more persistent. And ultimately we will come to a stage of Sthayee Bhava, steady in spiritual emotions, Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu talks about this when we have steady spiritual emotion then material emotions will not trouble us, that will be our steady pathway for perfection, so Sri Krishna says that such a person attains Brahman Nirvan.