#BG 5.17

 

So Sri Krishna is saying once we understand the absolute truth what we do after that, then we make that absolute truth the focus of our meditation:

Bg 5.17

tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānas

tan-niṣṭhās tat-parāyaṇāḥ

gacchanty apunar-āvṛttiṁ

jñāna-nirdhūta-kalmaṣāḥ

Word for word: 

tat–buddhayaḥ — those whose intelligence is always in the Supreme; tat–ātmānaḥ — those whose minds are always in the Supreme; tat–niṣṭhāḥ — those whose faith is only meant for the Supreme; tat–parāyaṇāḥ — who have completely taken shelter of Him; gacchanti — go; apunaḥ–āvṛttim — to liberation; jñāna — by knowledge; nirdhūta — cleansed; kalmaṣāḥ — misgivings.

Translation: 

When one’s intelligence, mind, faith and refuge are all fixed in the Supreme, then one becomes fully cleansed of misgivings through complete knowledge and thus proceeds straight on the path of liberation.

 

Sri Krishna is stating we will fix four of our inner faculty for absolute truth, what are those faculties? 

Buddhayas, ātmānas, niṣṭhās, parāyaṇāḥ

Buddhayas -> Let us fix the intelligence 

Ātmānas -> Fix the mind

niṣṭhās -> put the faith 

parāyaṇāḥ -> Make the absolute truth the goal.

 

When we fix these four faculties, what happens? 

gacchanty apunar-āvṛttiṁ

gacchanty -> move forward. Towards what?

punar-āvṛttiṁ means coming back, 

apunar-āvṛttiṁ means never coming back.

 

How we will do that? 

jñāna-nirdhūta-kalmaṣāḥ. 

When jñāna comes 

What will that jñāna do? 

Nirdhūta, it cleans away 

dhuta means wash, 

Nirdhuta means it completely washes

What will wash away? 

kalmaṣāḥ, it will wash away our darkness, our ignorance. 

jñāna-nirdhūta-kalmaṣāḥ, 

tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānas

 

Let us see these four points one by one as it is very important, our consciousness moves in four lanes, as these four lanes are going in four different directions then we cannot move forward very steadily, as in 2.41 Sri Krishna has talked about bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca, buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām …Sri Krishna has told how we can live vyavasāyātmikā buddhir, ekeha kuru-nandana. 

Ekeha, fixed yourself on one, so we want to become one pointed, so can we make ourselves one pointed, these are these four directions in which we can become one pointed. If we can consider all these four we can become one pointed.

Intelligence: Serious spiritual life begins with intelligence, when we study, we contemplate, we understand to become intelligent. There must be some higher happiness, material happiness is temporary, there must be some richer, greater, deeper happiness, I am not the body, I am the soul, the world has some organizer, some designer tad-buddhayas. This way buddhi develops, we need buddhi. In this world sense gratification will tempt us, “come on enjoy” but we have to turn to Krishna Consciousness, When we can turn towards Krishna consciousness and we turn away from sense gratification we can fix ourselves on absolute truth and to do this we need to be buddhaya. 

Actually to learn to doubt the promises of the pleasures this world presents us we need intelligence and that intelligence comes by study of scriptures tad-buddhayas, we understand that Sri Krishna is the absolute truth, Sri Krishna is the ultimate enjoyment, Sri Krishna is the ultimate source of enjoyment and all other source of enjoyment are ultimately false, we often avoid the use of the word enjoyment because we often equate enjoyment with sensual enjoyment but that is not necessary, Bilva Mangal Thakur says Krishna is the only enjoyer and the only source of enjoyment, buddhayas Sri Krishna is the ultimate reality, whatever is attractive in this world is sparks, the whole is Sri Krishna, when I focus my consciousness on Sri Krishna actually, I will get far-far more fulfillment than anything else in this world. So philosophical understanding / contemplation is very important to initiate our spiritual life and keep it on sturdy ground or footing, tad-buddhayas, so now many use their buddhi but how they use their buddhi, they use their bhuddhi for sensual things but their mind in not in this, tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānas, for example someone is studying quantum physics or math because they have to give exams, most students are not emotionally attached to the subject they are emotionally attached to the marks that they will get definitely because they feel that will help them in getting sense gratification, that is going to determine my future and the future is primarily sense gratification but tad-buddhayas, they think that I have to study so that I will get the marks so even when they are studying they are thinking as soon as the exam are over I will go have party and enjoy, I will watch this move, I will do this I will do that, so actually the emotion is not involved. So tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānas one has to put Bhudhi along with that one has to put mind. 

tad-ātmānas When one gets involved with mind he is more closer in his goal, here atmanas refers to mind, here Sri Krishna is talking about subtle attributes of the soul. Atama has to have alternate meaning, atma can have various meaning it can mean mind it can mean body it can mean soul it can mean intelligence, Because Sri Krishna is looking at inner faculty tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānas, tan-niṣṭhās tat-parāyaṇāḥ, which are inner conception, they are not talking about gross body here so it is unlikely that atma is referred to as body here, atma cannot be referred to as buddhi, as buddhi is already referred, so the atma is referred as mind here, and atma will be referring to mind in 6.5 and 6.6 also, specially 6.5. tad-ātmānas when we will fix the mind, that is we get ourselves emotionally involved with things, so when one gets emotionally involved what happens by that? Actually by that, involvement becomes much deeper for example if a person is sick and he is trying to understand how a complicated treatment is to be done. So the person has to take the treatment or the person has to administer the treatment to a relative. So say a person has always taken allopathic treatment he has never taken Ayurvedic treatment so suppose allopathy has told that this person is incurable because this cancer has no cure at all. So this person starts looking for alternative therapy, he comes to Ayurveda, so when the person is taking Ayurveda he is skeptical, he doesn’t have much faith but still Dr. has told him take this kind of medicine take this kind of food, sit in this kind of posture, stay in this kind of environment, do this kind of massage so all this is told so he tries to understand how this works, his intelligence is involved and his mind is also involved he wanted to get well but still there is not much Nistha, this is Ayurveda let us try it out, I don’t think it is going to work that is what the person may be thinking inside, so one can have the bhuddhi involved one can have the manna involved but still one may not have Nishtha, so this can happen in spiritual circles also, one may fix the mind, one may fix the emotions also like sometimes people do karma-kanda worship and says, O God give me this give me that, sometimes people come to temple and they pray  not because they have faith but because they wanted to avoid trouble some atheist also starts a business and give some donation to God why? If you exists you do not create trouble in my business tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānas but tan-niṣṭhās is not there, so Sri Krishna is saying not only fix you intellectual faculty, not only fix your emotional faculty but also fix out nistha e.g. when we are chanting Hare Krishna we intellectually understand yes potency of the holy name Sri Krishna himself is manifesting, the holy name is non-difference from Sri Krishna, we understand that then tad-ātmānas, Sri Krishna Himself is coming let me try to offer Him affection of my heart when He comes, let me receive Him enthusiastically and in tan-niṣṭhās, this holy name will purify me it will give me insight by which all my inner knots will get resolved or cut, so Nistha faith is important, this is third faculty if we move inward towards Sri Krishna we will be able to move more towards Him 

then there is tat-parāyaṇāḥ, 

What is tat-parāyaṇāḥ, 

tat-parāyaṇāḥ refers to making that absolute truth our goal, 

a karma kandi goes to a temple e.g. there are places where there is visa Ganesh temples, so people think that I wanted to go to America and that is the goal of my life and Lord Ganesh’s purpose is to remove obstacles, so obstacle in my life is I am an Indian I wanted to go to America, the visa office is the obstacle as I am not getting visa so O Ganesh I go and ask for removal of obstacle I go to Balaji and ask for removal of obstacles why? So that I can be happy, so in this way somebody is thinking this is the way I have to do worship 

For some bhuddhi might be there, nistha might be there, my atma will also be there, I wanted to get this done, but Lord is not the goal tat-parāyaṇāḥ is not there, what is that Eaha- parāyaṇāḥ is there, I wanted to be here only so we see in the eleventh canto of Sri Mad Bhagavatam. So in ninth canto and eleven canto both places Pururava pastimes comes, Pururava he get infatuated by Urvasi and when she goes away he tries to get her back desperately, so he performs Yajna to get her back and when he does Yajna Lord Vishnu Himself appears, Lord Vishnu is all attractive, now when one gets Skashat Dharsan of Lord Vishnu, ones infatuation about this world should be forgotten but does that happen to him? No it doesn’t happen to him immediately, Lord Vishnu’s darshan is definitely going to have its effect but it can take time if one is too infatuated Bhog Ashvarya Prashaktanam, if one is too attached to one’s desire then it may take time, so what happens? He doesn’t say O Lord you are so attractive please give me your suddha Prema, he doesn’t say like that he said please give me Urvasi, so his goal was not tat-parāyaṇāḥ, goal was Urvasi-parāyaṇāḥ, he wanted Urvasi that is all that he wanted so that way he was entangled so actually if we want spiritual advancement it is not that Krishna be just object of meditation so that we can do things better in our life Sri Krishna should be goal of our life, many people practice spirituality because they say spirituality will offer stress relief, I will do some singing some dancing some mediation it relaxes me, that is good to be connected with, spirituality in any ways is good but if one remains at that level he will not be benefited fully, we will miss out the actual gift the spirituality is offering us, spirituality is not meant to be a stress reliever, spirituality is meant to be complete distress remover, we are in a distress stage in material existence and all distresses can be removed when we redirect our life from material to spiritual. But we should understand that Krishna is not meant for stress removal. One of the meanings of Krish + na is Sarva Akarshati iti Krishan, Krishna is most attractive. Another meaning is one who ends Krish i.e. repetition of birth and death. The goal of spiritual life is to make spiritual life our goal.

So Sri Krishna is saying what will happen when you will do all these?

gacchanty apunar-āvṛttiṁ, that will move to the path from which there is no return and how this will happen? jñāna-nirdhūta, By Jnana, nirdhuta means completely cleansed, we will become completely purified, kalmaṣāḥ, all contaminations will go away. Earlier we spoke about how spiritual knowledge is not meant to be theoretical, that is meant to be transformational so the transformation is nirdhūta kalmaṣāḥ, is washing away of everything, how will that washing away happen? When we will invest our consciousness, so what we have to do is tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānas tan-niṣṭhās tat-parāyaṇāḥ, these are four lanes of consciousness which may be going in different directions, sometimes we like Krishna consciousness philosophy but we also think that science has also made so much advancement, science is also quite impressive, or we think when I come chant and dance and sing in kirtan that is very nice, but when India wins cricket that is also very nice since I caught up there also emotionally. We have some faith in Sri Krishna but we are also thinking that material life is also not bad. Material life is also enjoyable, tan-niṣṭhās, the faith is currently split. tat-parāyaṇāḥ, our goal is Sri Krishna parāyaṇāḥ but not so much, I wanted to go back to spiritual world but I wanted to have good time here also, then after that we will think about going back to spiritual world, right now I wanted to be here and I wanted to make big over here, so what happens is lanes of our consciousness is sprain in different directions. As we make spiritual advancement our conception of spiritual life will evolve. So let us understand how they evolve,

Spiritual evolution of our concepts

  • Sadhya (that which is achieved, e.g. going to Mayapur is Sadhaya going by car, plane etc. is Sadhana): Temp -> Temp & Eternal -> only eternal -> brahman-> Bhagavan
  • Sadhana (is the means by which it is achieved, e.g. going to Mayapur is Sadhaya going by car, plane etc. is Sadhana): KK -> SKY -> NKY -> JY -> DY -> BY -> KB (Kevala-Bhakti).

 

Initially for most people Sadhaya is temp in this world, I want a house, spouse, job, fame etc. then gradually when one understands that I am not body I am soul then Sadhaya becomes both temp and eternal, yes I want something in this world but I also want something beyond this world, this is the stage where most of us are probably right now, then eventually the Sadhaya becomes only eternal, I am ready to give up this world for the sake of eternal destination, of course we may not have to give up this world entirely, we can still be in this world and act but our heart’s goal become fixed in next world. 

Also the conception of what the eternal reality can be evolved, initially one may think that eternal reality is Brahm…OM Santi Santi Santi…but gradually we understand that what I want is not Santi but the Supreme Personality of God. I want Bhagvan. I wanted to surrender myself to Sri Krishna, may Sri Krishna be my all in all. This is how our conception about Sadhaya will evolve similarly as our conception of Sadhaya evolves our concept about Sadhana will also evolve 

Initially when:

Sadhaya is Temp, Sadhana is Karma-Kanada, of course most of the people today don’t do karma kanda, they will do Vikarma. Vikarma is one level below that means there is no conception of religiousness, religiosity or piety, just whatever I want I will get whichever I want, but Karma Kanda means Dharma to get Artha and Kama, so initially when I want Artha and Kama I will do Dharma, then later when I start identifying spiritual goal the yoga aspect will come, connection with the eternal goal, that is how one evolves from Sakam karma Yoga to Nishkam Karma Yoga. 

 

Sakam Karma yoga as Sadhana is, someone has some desire also but one wants eternal goal (sadhya) also that is like second stage Temp & Eternal (sadhaya)

 

Nishkam Karma Yoga, Sadhana Only eternal Sadhya 

 

Gyana Yoga (Sadhana) one conception is Brahm (Sadhya) about eternal truth 

Dhayan Yoga one’s conception is parmatama as goal of eternal truth 

Then there is Bhakti Yoga and finally we come to Kevala Bhakti. In Kevala Bhakti we simply want the pleasure of Sri Krishna. We love Krishna and return back to him. In this way our conception tad-buddhayas what is tad? That conception will evolve as we move forward in spiritual life, as one move forward conception about tad will evolve gradually. In later chapters it will be explained Mattah Prataram Na Anyat ….

Srila Prabhupad’s Purport: The Supreme Transcendental Truth is Lord Kṛṣṇa…..

A Kṛṣṇa conscious person can thoroughly understand that there is duality (simultaneous identity and individuality) in Kṛṣṇa, and, equipped with such transcendental knowledge, one can make steady progress on the path of liberation.

Here Prabhupada is talking about the duality of identity and individuality.

Identity is not here in terms of identification but in terms of similarity, identity word can have two meanings, what is your identity means who are you what is your identity card that refers to who I am, that means I am separate from somebody else but the word identity can also mean identical, e.g. there is tremendous identity between two of you, are two of you twins? Here identity means similarity, connection, so Srila Prabhupada says there is simultaneously identity and individuality, identity means sameness, oneness between soul and Supreme Lord, at the same time there is individuality, Lord is individual and we are individual. There is duality in Sri Krishna in the sense that the same absolute truth is one but it is manifested in many forms and some of forms are his parts and parcel also. So we are one with Krishna but we are different also this way there is duality in Sri Krishna.