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SHREEMADBHAGAVADGEETAA
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Though its colour be not deep and its smell
be faint, use this flower in thy service and
pluck it while there is time.
-Gitanjali
Today, where is the sampradaya that _produces_ realized sages? Where are the
commentators who explain Scripture without need of altering plain words to
match their doctrines? Where is the one who exemplifies the sanctified life?
"I am not revealed to all, for I am veiled in Illusory Union. This deluded
world knows Me not, the Unborn, the Unchanging."
Some say that is not so, some argue that He has gone far away. Some opine
that
the Bhagavad Geetaa sung to Arjuna was but a rerun and all we can do is
listen
to it over and over and over until we succomb to Him. I think that view
mistakes the Secret detailed within Geetaa, for the Geetaa itself. As I read
the text I discern that the Geetaa was never spoken before, but the secret
within Geetaa, yes that was known by sages long long ago. Krishna tells that
unfortunately those regal sampradaya no longer functioned aright.
evaM paraMparA prAptam imaM rAja RSayo viduH:
sa kAleneha mahatA yogo naSTaH paraMtapa
"This Yoga was transmitted in regular succession, known by royal sages- yet
over long lapses of time it was lost." That does not mean the sampradaya was
lost, but that the YOGA was lost. Too, the word VIDUH does not mean those
royal sages memorized Yoga, but that they _knew_ it by direct experience.
That
is the distinguishing mark of stithprajnani: they live the teaching and share
their wisdom via direct transmission in thought word and deed. That is what
makes sampradaya vital and vibrant, the actual experience of Union with Him.
That is what makes for spiritual masters.
That is not something one can memorize, nor quote by rote, which is why so
many great institutions arise around a great person, but then sometimes
diminish on the disappearance of their founder-acharya. If the founder cannot
pass on His Realization to active disciples, the oyster has left the shell,
and the pearl is lost. I suspect that is just what happened to the sampradaya
which Krishna detailed.
We know there were sampradaya, they were not lost, for every noble there had
a
guru. The pearl is in Geetaa still, even if not in sampradaya. Before
singing
Geetaa to Arjuna, Krishna tells He had previously given the secret on how to
navigate the twofold path (3.3)- the path of wisdom and the path of action.
That knowledge had then been passed from sage to disciple in succession, and
that passage was called Sampradaya. I infer that sampradaya had become like
a
tape recorder, excellent for attending rote and ritual but useless for
learning what the rite and words are supposed to reveal- why. Why because no
great sage had sufficient disciples who embodied Yoga.
Perhaps all the sampradaya by His day had become like broken clocks, which
even though they gave correct time twice a day, were useless the other 1,338
minutes.
Contrary to some opinion, Krishna does not imply He had ever taught this to
Arjuna in any other life. Once one learns YOGA, there is no loss. He tells
there is no retreat in YOGA, once accepted it is a steady progression to HIM.
He HIMSELF describes this Yoga as imperishable- then how did it perish one
might ask. Yoga did not perish- that is why YOGA is called imperishable and
scattered. What perished was the way of passing it: direct experience.
For Sampradaya to function correctly, it means not only Master is realized,
but Disciple of that Master realizes by direct experience and in turn becomes
Master. The problem is now what it was then: the students are too like the
Kauravas, stubborn self-willed arrogant gangsters who think they know better
than GOD.
In such times, The Lord Incarnates.
Krishna hints at that in passing when He tells how Sampradaya had lost its
inner function, even as it maintained its outer appearance. The lineages
continued, there were plenty of gurus and swamis and acharyas- just sadly
none
of them could, or would, transmit it to disciples.
I take that to mean always we must look to the inner, to the essence, and not
be distracted by the external appearance of things. Thus I note well the
value
of a clock that is right only 1/720th of the time, even if it has been
polished into a shining jewel for 700 years.
In Geetaa, Krishna reveals His lost secret yet again, and He makes it clear
and plain that the one who hears and obeys Him as friend and devotee and
disciple can utilize that ticktock secret most fully.
After all, the fruit of Sampradaya was the knowledgable one who actualizes
that Secret of YOGA. With Geetaa, Krishna gifts each of us access to that
secret. It is up to the individual to do as He suggests.
He tells that actions not done as sacrifice produce bondage. Even as the
bound act with attachment to action, so should the wise act without
attachment, wishing the welfare of all beings. The methodology of such wise
detached action (knowledge in action is wise detached action) is likewise
twofold, exterior and interior. In the exterior mode, one appears to follow
rule and ritual- in the interior mode one surrenders all actions to the Lord,
and in that mental balance of inner and outer, with all thoughts centered in
the Self which He is, freed from hope and expectation, one acts fully as His
Agent.
That agent is called Prakriti in the outerworld, and Purusha in the inner
world. Living like that is called Yoga, and transmitting it from master to
disciple, is the primary value of Sampradaya. Sampradaya which fails at that
is a nice reminder, a pretty ornament, but of little utility to the yogi.
One must never mistake the tool for the task. Sampradya was the tool, yoga
was
the work. That means that even though all the nobles there at the battlefield
had studied under duly authorized gurus in sampradaya, not one of those gurus
knew the secret of Yoga well enough to transmit it. Even though each noble,
from Krishna on down, had studied under a duly authorized sampradayic guru,
no
guru knew the secret, and so could not teach it. Krishna tells that is why
He
Himself is now instructing Arjuna. He is yet instructing Arjuna.
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