# BG 5.25

 

Last portion of the 5th Chapter! In the last section Sri Krishna told how a yogi can attain liberation by fixing mind on the Supreme Lord. And the crux of the discussion is redirection of our pleasure seeking propensity from matter to spirit, from outward to inwards. 

So 5.20: says when a person is equipoised in pleasure and pain, he comes to spiritual platform, 

5.21: says one who detached from external pleasure can attain unlimited spiritual happiness, 

5.22: says what is the basis for detaching from external pleasure, understanding that they are wombs of misery, they are temporary and end in misery. 

5.23: says that still the desires may come but we should tolerate them, 

5.24: says that we turn inwards and delight inwards then we will attend brahman platform.

So 5.20 and 5.24 are like part of a cycle, 5.20 talks brahma-vid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ that is what 5.24 also returns to, such a person attains Brahma Nirvan, 

Now Sri Krishna will talk that and continue attaining Brahman Nirman, attending the spiritual platform 

 

Bg 5.25

labhante brahma-nirvāṇam

ṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇa-kalmaṣāḥ

chinna-dvaidhā yatātmānaḥ

sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ

Word for word: 

labhante — achieve; brahma–nirvāṇam — liberation in the Supreme; ṛṣayaḥ — those who are active within; kṣīṇa–kalmaṣāḥ — who are devoid of all sins; chinna — having torn off; dvaidhāḥ — duality; yata–ātmānaḥ — engaged in self-realization; sarva–bhūta — for all living entities; hite — in welfare work; ratāḥ — engaged.

Translation: 

Those who are beyond the dualities that arise from doubts, whose minds are engaged within, who are always busy working for the welfare of all living beings and who are free from all sins achieve liberation in the Supreme.

 

Labhante, means one attains, 

brahma-nirvāṇam means the spiritual platform, who attains 

Labhante to attain or to gain, 

ṛṣayaḥ – one who turns inwards, rishi, muni all these words have different and specific meaning, generally rishi means one who turns inwards, that’s is the context of previous verse also, where it is said yo ’ntaḥ-sukho ’ntar-ārāmas previous verse talking about turning inwards so when this verse is used in that context it will continue to mean that, one who turns inwards!, Srila Prabhupada writes those who are active within, what happen to such people kṣīṇa-kalmaṣāḥ, kalmaṣāḥ is contamination of heart, these will be destroyed, Krishna has talked about same verse in 5.17 jñāna-nirdhūta-kalmaṣāḥ, by knowledge the person will become free from all contamination

tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānas

tan-niṣṭhās tat-parāyaṇāḥ

gacchanty apunar-āvṛttiṁ

jñāna-nirdhūta-kalmaṣāḥy 

jñāna-nirdhūta, one who become free from all sins, all contamination by the power of gyana, that is acquired by investing one’s mind, intelligence, one’s faith and one’s aspiration, so now here Sri Krishna is saying the same point that the person who attains brahma-nirvāṇam, has ṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇa-kalmaṣāḥ and for becoming kṣīṇa-kalmaṣāḥ, 

chinna-dvaidhā dvaidhā is duality Duand, this is good this is bad chinna-dvaidhā, one cuts through that and the person is yatātmānaḥ

yatātmānaḥ is yat + atmanah, one who is controlled, renounced, one who is controlled at the level of soul, one who is focused on realizing the soul. This is a significant point.

sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ, means such a person is engaged in the well-being of all. What is the connection of this with overall theme of the verse, many people feel that those who persist self-realization and very self-centered, they don’t bother about the world, they are concerned about their own purification their own liberation and they don’t care for others, Sri Krishna says that is not the case. He says those who attain self-realization, those who are sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ, those who are engaged in welfare of all living beings. Sri Krishna will describe sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ once again in 12th Chapter, when He is describing the impersonalist, in 12.3, 12.4, 12.5 He talks about impersonalist, There also He used the word sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ. The impersonalists have to be engaged in wellbeing of all, they have to contemplate in all pervading, quality less, form less, activity less Brahman and eventually they will also attain Me, Sri Krishna says, 

but in the next verse He says that it is a very difficult process Kleso Dhektaresham (12.5). So is it that impersonalist alone are the well-wishers of all living beings? No the point is even the impersonalist have to be well-wishers of all living entities what to speak of devotees, Sri Krishna will talk about devotees later in 12.13 where he says that devotees are the well-wishing friend of all living beings

Bg 12.13-14

adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānāṁ

maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca ….

There He is explaining that my devotees are non envious to all living beings, not only non envious they have maitraḥ karuṇa, they are actually well-wishers of all living being maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca, why they are friends because they see that all living beings are parts of Sri Krishna, they are children of Sri Krishna and we are all one family, so how can our beloved Lord be happy if he sees that there His other parts are suffering, we have to see that, we help them also come back home. Impersonalist on the other hand, their compassion is not person based because their ultimate reality is not personal, so their emotions can also be not personal, so sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ for them is that they should not discriminate among various living beings, so whoever is the living being they should have compassion towards them. They should not discriminate, I like this person …I don’t like this person…they should have samya i.e. they should have equal vision towards anyone, they should have bivalent attitude towards everyone. So point is both kinds of spiritualists – personal or impersonal are expected to engage in the benefit of all living beings. Now what is the welfare that they should engage in? that is indicated by the qualification that these people should have in this verse, they have 

ṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇa-kalmaṣāḥ

chinna-dvaidhā yatātmānaḥ, 

They have ṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇa-kalmaṣāḥ, they are freed from impurity. Unless they have freed themselves from impurity they cannot truly engage in the welfare of everyone. Why? Because when they want to be engaged in welfare of everyone they should know how to do welfare, at one level welfare seems very simple, O he is starving give him some food, person doesn’t have cloths give him some cloths, yes these are noble, these are compassionate, but problem in societies are not so simple. Why are those people hungry or bereft, that is because of the whole socio economic scenario which is governed by greed and exploitation and that is fueled by Vantenness (unrestricted unregulated indulgence in pleasures, self-destructive pleasures, this is Vantenness and it has to be curbed ). Many times when we give beggars money they will smoke instead of eating, so instead of food they smoke or drink. So helping also requires some level of understanding, what real help is! So how is this dealt with? this can be dealt by attainment of high spiritual happiness, unless a person attains higher spiritual happiness he cannot give up lower happiness, unless person cannot give up lower happiness he cannot be good to others, because the exploitative mentality will come up sooner or later and even if there is no exploitative mentality there is compassionate mentality, we don’t know a person may want to help a sick person, the person doesn’t know how to treat a sick person, how much help can be done, so people are sick because of lust, pride, anger, greed and illusion, those who are free from these contamination can help others. ṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇa-kalmaṣāḥ, those rishis those who are internally active and kṣīṇa-kalmaṣāḥ, those who are free from contamination, they are the people who can help others, that is the sense of qualification for helping others, certainly that doesn’t mean everyone else is banned for helping others, those who are concerned enough, noble enough, compassionate enough wanted to help others, they will naturally do what they can do to help others, that tendency of being concerned about others with some level of selflessness is appreciated, at the same time their help is not going to complete, not holistic, not sustainable, because as long as we help only at the level of body we cannot really help, if anarthas are present this will be misleading, degrading, hurting people, because they are directing consciousness away from spiritual reality where lasting happiness exists, people have to be redirected to guide their consciousness to higher reality, when their consciousness is redirected, then they will become freed from their infatuation with worldly things, then they will be able to do good to others and receive goods from others, ṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇa-kalmaṣāḥ.

Sril Prabhupad writes: A person engaged only in ministering to the physical welfare of human society cannot factually help anyone. 

E.g. a person who doesn’t know how to treat a patient really cannot help

Srila Prabhupada writes: The real cause of one’s difficulties in the hard struggle for life may be found in one’s forgetfulness of his relationship with the Supreme Lord.

This forgetfulness has to be removed and that is what Rshis does.

So now Sri Krishna talks about how a person eventually attains liberation.