Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

Bg 6.3

ārurukṣor muner yogaṁ

karma kāraṇam ucyate

yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva

śamaḥ kāraṇam ucyate

Word for word:

ārurukṣoḥ — who has just begun yoga; muneḥ — of the sage; yogam — the eightfold yoga system; karma — work; kāraṇam — the means; ucyate — is said to be; yoga — eightfold yoga; ārūḍhasya — of one who has attained; tasya — his; eva — certainly; śamaḥ — cessation of all material activities; kāraṇam — the means; ucyate — is said to be.

Translation:

For one who is a neophyte in the eightfold yoga system, work is said to be the means; and for one who is already elevated in yoga, cessation of all material activities is said to be the means.

ārurukṣor muner yogaṁ, one who is in the beginning stage of yoga: karma kāraṇam ucyate, karma is said to be the cause of one’s progress, ultimately leading toward spiritual advancement. And one advanced in yoga– yogārūḍhasya tasyaiv: What is the indication? śamaḥ kāraṇam ucyate; śamaḥ is inactivity, calmness and cessation of material activities is its evidence.

Sri Krishna is saying, “Yes there is a stage when one has to renounce activities, but that is at an advanced stage.” And he is giving a structure: first in ārurukṣor stage of work itself there is beginning of advancement, and then in the yogārūḍhasya stage cessation of work will lead to advancement.

As per Srila Prabhupad Purport:

All such activities lead to achieving perfect mental equilibrium to control the senses. When one is accomplished in the practice of meditation, he ceases all disturbing mental activities.

So first we regulate our physical activities through Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, these can be practiced, even while someone is in the world and engaged in activities of the world. But, once one goes to the level of Pratyahara, which means leaving senses objects, then one cannot live in the world, he renounces the world and focuses on turning inwards. Then arises, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi which are other progressive stages in which one goes inward and ultimately perceives the super soul in the heart.

So in the initial four stages one can practice doing karma. The initial four levels are ārurukṣ stage and next four involves a person raising to ārūḍha stage.

BG 6.1 & 6.2

Affirmative assertion-6.1

In 6.1, Sri Krishna’s Focus is on Person: Same person is Sannyasi & yogi: anashritahkarma phalam, he is not taking shelter of the work. This is Affirmative assertion, wherein the person is not taking fruits of the work, neither has the person, ceased to act.

Negative assertion-6.2

In 6.2, Sri Krishna’s focus is on the Path: Authentic Sannyas and authentic Yoga require a common denominator—sannyastasankalpo; wherein one has given up the desire for enjoyment; this is Negative assertion.

In this way by giving specific examples and then talking about the general path: Sri Krishna makes the point, how sannyas and yoga are identical.

Yoga Hierarchy

  • Arurukshoh: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranyama
  • Yogarudha: Pratyahara, Dhyana, Dharana, Samadhi

Above are eight stages of process in Astanga Yoga, in a sense these eight rules are applicable in all processes.

Arurukshoh stage:

Yama and Niyama are rules for individual discipline and spiritual discipline.

They are also referred to as Do’s and Don’ts. Do this, Don’t Do this. Yam-Niyam, sometimes it refers to how we regulate ourselves individually; and how we regulate our-self collectively. Both ways the important point is we regulate ourselves.

Then is Asana, yogi sits in a particular posture. This helps the body to bring the consciousness inwards. And Prayanam is also for the same purpose. We regulate our breath to calm the mind at the time of agitation, the breath becomes faster. When we slow down our breath, the mind becomes calm. So the purpose of regulating the breath is to calm down the mind.

Yogarudha stage:

Here Pratyahara, ahara means food and Pratya means the opposite. So opposite to the food, that implies detaching the senses from the sense objects. For instance, the eyes wish to see the good looking object, the tongue wish to taste the delicious food, the ear wish to hear the melodious sound. Likewise, all the senses have their own ahara, they have their own hunger for pleasure with the corresponding sense objects. So Pratyahara calls upon to stop feeding the senses.

Opposite of feeding is starving. So starve the senses. At the Pratyahara stage, a person goes to a secluded place in a forest, where there is no sense gratification available. Gradually, the person turns inwards and starts meditating on the inner truth. Focusing on the inner world one is able to cut-off ties from the outer world. This is the stage of Yogarudha.

Dharna, Dhyana and Samadhi we will discuss later …

So Krishna is saying when one is in Yogarudha stage, they will engage with the external world. But after that one will stop working in the external world and start focusing on inner involvement.

The outer activities will stop; however the yogis in Jungle will do some activities like eating, bathing and other basic activities have to be done. So giving up work implies not doing duties based on Varnashrama system. For example, if a person is Brahmana—he will not do Yajan, Yaajan, Patan, Pathan— the person will not interact with the world. So the focus is more on renouncing the world, so that he can connect with the absolute truth.