Gita Panchamrit

 

GITA PANCHAMRIT

(Based on Swami Aparajitananda talks)

Gita Panchamrit is a collection of 5 verses from Bhagvad Gita carefully selected by Chinmaya Mission. These verses beautifully glide from first to the fifth verse. Together, they explain the journey of a person from ‘self-effort’ to ‘ultimate liberation’ or from a person ruled by his own will to a person who is ruled by God’s will.

Verse 1 (Ch. 6, V. 5)

उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् |
आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुः आत्मैव रिपुरात्मन: ||

Meaning: Lift yourself by your own self; do not lower yourself. Your mind alone is your friend, and your mind alone is your enemy.

·        This verse advocates the importance of self-effort.

·        You lift from lower to higher.

·        Unless you feel extreme misery in your current situation, you will not see and seek next higher level to rise. A tamasic person (indolent), when in extreme misery, will see a rajasic person (active) happier than him, thus getting inspired to raise himself to that level. A tamasic person will not be inspired by a sattvic person (equanimous, composed) since that is not the next higher level for him. You rise only gradually.

·        Once inspired by the next higher level, you must put in the necessary efforts yourself to lift yourself. Others may support when asked, but no one can replace you in this exercise.

·        This journey of rise continues until you realize your own real Self as the pure consciousness enlivening all beings and things.

·        You must lift yourself physically (strengthening the body), mentally (purify), intellectually (gain knowledge of higher), and spiritually (remembering the ultimate goal of Self Realisation).

·        When you rise to a higher level, you run a risk of falling back to the lower level due to old habits and lack of discipline.

·        Be alert (sensitive) to detect any tendency to slip. Build guardrails of new healthy habits. Company (Satsang) with people at higher level is very useful to establish at that level.

·        Mind controls the senses and drives our actions.

·        A pure mind is your friend, while an impure mind is your enemy.

·        Purity of the mind is defined by the absence of likes/dislikes which give rise to other impurities: attachment, desire, anger, greed, jealousy, delusion, etc. Purity is also defined by the absence of ego-sense (the sense of doership). To the extent you are less egoistic, to that extent your mind is pure.

·        Your intellect should be well informed of the higher level and act like a gatekeeper, allowing only those thoughts in the mind which are conducive to the values of higher level. Such a mind starts getting pure and helps you stay at that level.

·        Any fall, if happens, shouldn’t dampen your will to rise again. Indeed, every fall should help you resolve for better discipline after the lift. You learn more about your weaknesses during the fall, which helps you take necessary counter measures.

·        What should You not do to avoid fall? This is addressed in the next verse of Gita Panchamrit.

 

Verse 2 (Ch. 2, V. 47)

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।

मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥

Meaning: Your right is in action only, never to the fruits (results); let not the fruit of action be your motive nor let your attachment be to inaction.

·        This verse talks about right action, that will help to uplift yourself.

·        To lift yourself, you must perform Swadharm Karma (righteous action). Any other action will make you fall.

·        Swadharm Karma is that in which:

o   You are naturally inclined

o   You are adequately trained, and

o   You are placed in a position with authority to perform it.

·        Result of an action is governed by many factors, which are not in your control.

·        Therefore, it is futile to expect a specific result (fruit) of your action.

·        Your insistence on the result will subtly disturb your mind during and after the action.

·        Action performed with a disturbed mind will be imperfect, thus further sowing seeds of uncertainty for the desired outcome.

·        If you happen to get the result, you insisted on, you may temporarily feel happy, but your ego may swell and tempt you to desiring for more which may ultimately not fructify.

·        If you don’t get what you insisted on, you may be filled with bitterness blaming everyone and everything for this failure.

·        Either way, you would have lost peace of mind.

·        You must also not avoid doing righteous action (swadharm karma). This is equal to doing unrighteous action which is sinful.

·        Two Don’ts:

o   Don’t insist on a specific result of your action

o   Don’t attach to unrighteous action or don’t avoid doing swadharm karma.

·        What should be your motive to do a righteous action if not its fruit? This question is addressed by the next verse of Gita Panchamrit.

 

Verse 3 (Ch. 9, V. 27)

यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोषि ददासि यत्।

यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम्॥

Meaning: Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give in charity, whatever austerity you practice, O Kaunteya, do that as an offering to Me.

·        This verse talks about how to perform right action.

·        You can’t control anything – not even your own body functions. Stop breathing for 2 minutes and see how helpless you become without air.

·        There is an unseen power that controls the entire universe meticulously. That power belongs to God.

·        Your life is a beautiful gift of God who ensures that you get everything you need to live and rise.

·        This verse suggests whatever you do, eat, offer in sacrifice, give in charity, and practice austerity (tapas) – offer all to God. These actions cover the entire range of human activities.

·        Offering to God means remembering Him and thanking Him for His continuous flow of grace. Another meaning of offering is to maintain the attitude of pleasing God with every thought, feeling, and action (“Will God be pleased with this thought, feeling, and action of mine?”).

·        Purify your mind and see thoughts as God’s instructions to execute them in the most righteous and skillful ways. In other words, hear and follow the voice of your conscience.

·        Remembering God and pleasing Him should be the sole motive of your righteous actions.

·        While doing any activity, become an instrument in the hands of God. Your only role is on keeping this instrument ‘fit for purpose’ so that God may use it as He wants, when He wants. Become a mere witness of everything happening through you.

·        How should you offer all actions to God? This question is addressed by the next verse of Gita Panchamrit.

 

Verse 4 (Ch. 9, V. 22)

अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते।

तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम्॥

Meaning: To those men who completely worship Me alone, thinking of no other, to those ever united, I secure for them that which is not already possessed (yoga) by them, and preserve for them what they already possess (kṣema).

·        This verse focuses on mode of offering to God.

·        Any offering to God must satisfy following 3 conditions:

o   Always think of God – constant remembering (single pointedness)

o   Don’t think of any other (No otherness. Depend only on God)

o   Replace your will with God’s will – Ever united (Always listen to or obey the voice of your conscience. Do what ought to be done, not what you simply like to do.)

·        Every creation (e.g. pot) needs material cause (e.g. clay) and an intelligent cause (e.g. potter).

·        This universe is the most complex and yet meticulously functioning creation. Therefore, it also must have material and intelligent causes.

·        God is said to be both the material and intelligent cause of this universe. Just as a spider spins web out of its own saliva, God projects this universe out of Himself.

·        The universe appears in Him and out of Him. All beings and things in this universe are His own projections. There is no ‘other’ in this universe. Just as there is none other than your own mind appearing as different beings and things in your dream world. All power comes from that single source - God.

·        God thus resides in every heart and He communicates through the voice of conscience.

·        When you bow down (obey) to a higher authority, your lower authorities bow down to you. This is universal law applicable in all fields.

·        Your body, mind, and intellect are also your lower authorities (they report to you). When you surrender to God (always following your conscience), your body, mind and intellect will surrender to you – all functioning in harmony with your conscience.

·        In this world, most of us are living to acquire more and protect what we already have. But we are never satisfied with what we already have and always worried about losing it.

·        This verse’s assurance: To the extent you surrender yourself to God, to that extent God takes charge of your life. Total surrender results in God taking full control of your life.

·        When you live with this attitude, God Himself brings to you what you need and protects what you already have.

·        This means that strangers may appear in your life, as and when needed, to help you overcome any challenge, gain material prosperity, and make spiritual progress. You will be constantly surprised by your own performance and progress. You will be able to clearly see the play of some unseen power functioning through you. You will live a blissful life.

·        The highest acquisition is called ‘liberation (Moksha)’ from the cycle of ‘birth-and-death’.

·        The next verse talks about getting this ‘liberation’.

 

Verse 5 (Ch. 18, V. 66)

सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।

अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः॥

Meaning: Abandoning all dharmas, (of the body, mind and intellect), take refuge in Me alone; I will liberate thee, from all sins; grieve not.

·        This verse talks about gaining ultimate liberation (moksha).

·        Sharanam means surrendering / taking refuge.

·        Dharmas = Duties

·        Duties are of three types:

o   General Duties (applicable to all) – telling truth, walking righteous path, worshipping parents/teachers/guests as gods, being humble, being compassionate, etc.

o   Specific Duties:

§  Ashram dharma (based on different phases of life) – Student (Brahmacharya), Householder (Grihastha), Partial retirement (Vanaprashtha), Complete retirement/asceticism (Sanyasa)

§  Guna dharma / Professional Duties – Teacher, Warrior, Businessmen, Labour.

§  Others – towards nation or society or community you belong to

o   Swadharma Duties (Specific to you based on your inherent tendencies) – Dictated by the voice of your own conscience.

·        Dharmas also mean Identities (physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual). We assume different identities in different roles we play in life. This is similar to an actor playing different roles on the stage, never forgetting his original identity.

·        Highest dharma is developing devotion to God (following voice of conscience), in and through all other duties.

·        In following voice of conscience, even if you have to give up your swadharma, nothing is wrong. This is the meaning of ‘mamekum sharanam vrajah’. Example: In Mahabharat war, when Karna was busy retrieving his chariot wheel stuck in mud, Arjuna stopped fighting as per dharma of war. But Krishna asked him to kill Karna and Arjuna did so honoring God’s command without question.

·        Five terms are useful to understand how God frees you from all sins and grant you liberation: Papam (sin), Bandhanam (bondage), Shokam (sorrows), Sadhanam (means), Moksham (liberation). First 3 refer to downfall, while last 2 refer to rising.

·        These five terms take different meaning in different spiritual paths.

·        Karma yoga (path of action): From Action lessness (absence of action) to Action lessness (absence of doer-ship in action)

o   Sin – Performing action with expectations of results

o   Bondage – Attachment to results

o   Sorrow – Experiencing negative emotions / anxieties / stress

o   Means – Performing action without insisting on results

o   Liberation – Freedom from action (freedom from doer-ship in action – things are happening in your presence)

 

·        Bhakti yoga (path of devotion/love): From Me to God

o   Sin – Loving world, not God

o   Bondage – Likes/dislikes for worldly objects

o   Sorrow – Suffering

o   Means – Dispassion towards world and loving God

o   Liberation – Merging in God

·        Raj yoga (path of thought control): From worldly thoughts to no thought

o   Sin – Worldly thoughts

o   Bondage – Stuck in whirlpool of worldly thoughts

o   Sorrow – Disturbed mind

o   Means – Witnessing of thoughts

o   Liberation – Cessation of thoughts

·        Gyana yoga (path of Knowledge): From Ignorance to knowledge of Self

o   Sin – Ignorance of Self (Pure Conscience)

o   Bondage – Identification with Body, Mind, and Intellect

o   Sorrow – Experience of limitations (I will die)

o   Means – Shift focus from Body/Mind/Intellect to Self (Conscience)

o   Liberation – Knowledge of Self

Conclusion:

Gita Panchamrit is, thus, a roadmap to guide every human being from whatever status presently he/she is to the ultimate height humans can rise.