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Eternal Individuality Confirmed in the Gita (18.51-54)
(Copyright, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Used with Permission)
A FREE, online version of Bhagavad-Gita AS IT IS is available at
http://www.prabhupada.com/~btg/gita/welcome.html
TEXTS 51-53
buddhya visuddhaya yukto
dhrtyatmanam niyamya ca
sabdadin visayams tyaktva
raga-dvesau vyudasya ca
vivikta-sevi laghv-asi
yata-vak-kaya-manasah
dhyana-yoga-paro nityam
vairagyam samupasritah
ahankaram balam darpam
kamam krodham parigraham
vimucya nirmamah santo
brahma-bhuyaya kalpate
WORD FOR WORD
buddhya--with the intelligence; visuddhaya--fully purified;
yuktah--engaged; dhrtya--by determination; atmanam--the self;
niyamya--regulating; ca--also; sabda-adin--such as sound; visayan--the
sense objects; tyaktva--giving up; raga--attachment; dvesau--and hatred;
vyudasya--laying aside; ca--also; vivikta-sevi--living in a secluded place;
laghu-asi--eating a small quantity; yata--having controlled; vak--speech;
kaya--body; manasah--and mind; dhyana-yoga-parah--absorbed in
trance; nityam--twenty-four hours a day; vairagyam--detachment;
samupasritah--having taken shelter of; ahankaram--false ego;
balam--false strength; darpam--false pride; kamam--lust;
krodham--anger; parigraham--and acceptance of material things;
vimucya--being delivered from; nirmamah--without a sense of
proprietorship; santah--peaceful; brahma-bhuyaya--for self-realization;
kalpate--is qualified.
TRANSLATION
Being purified by his intelligence and controlling the mind with
determination, giving up the objects of sense gratification, being
freed from attachment and hatred, one who lives in a secluded
place, who eats little, who controls his body, mind and power of
speech, who is always in trance and who is detached, free from false
ego, false strength, false pride, lust, anger, and acceptance of
material things, free from false proprietorship, and peaceful--such a
person is certainly elevated to the position of self-realization.
PURPORT
When one is purified by intelligence, he keeps himself in the mode of
goodness. Thus one becomes the controller of the mind and is always in
trance. He is not attached to the objects of sense gratification, and he is
free from attachment and hatred in his activities. Such a detached person
naturally prefers to live in a secluded place, he does not eat more than
what he requires, and he controls the activities of his body and mind. He
has no false ego because he does not accept the body as himself. Nor has
he a desire to make the body fat and strong by accepting so many material
things. Because he has no bodily concept of life, he is not falsely proud. He
is satisfied with everything that is offered to him by the grace of the Lord,
and he is never angry in the absence of sense gratification. Nor does he
endeavor to acquire sense objects. Thus when he is completely free from
false ego, he becomes nonattached to all material things, and that is the
stage of self-realization of Brahman. That stage is called the
brahma-bhuta stage. When one is free from the material conception of
life, he becomes peaceful and cannot be agitated. This is described in
Bhagavad-gita (2.70):
apuryamanam acala-pratistham
samudram apah pravisanti yadvat
tadvat kama yam pravisanti sarve
sa santimn apnoti na kama-kami
"A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires--that enter
like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still--can
alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires."
TEXT 54
brahma-bhutah prasannatma
na socati na kanksati
samah sarvesu bhutesu
mad-bhaktim labhate param
WORD FOR WORD
brahma-bhutah--being one with the Absolute; prasanna-atma--fully
joyful; na--never; socati--laments; na--never; kanksati--desires;
samah--equally disposed; sarvesu--to all; bhutesu--living entities;
mat-bhaktim--My devotional service; labhate--gains;
param--transcendental.
TRANSLATION
One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the
Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or
desires to have anything. He is equally disposed toward every
living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto
Me.
PURPORT
To the impersonalist, achieving the brahma-bhuta stage, becoming one
with the Absolute, is the last word. But for the personalist, or pure
devotee, one has to go still further, to become engaged in pure devotional
service. This means that one who is engaged in pure devotional service to
the Supreme Lord is already in a state of liberation, called brahma-bhuta,
oneness with the Absolute. Without being one with the Supreme, the
Absolute, one cannot render service unto Him. In the absolute conception,
there is no difference between the served and the servitor; yet the
distinction is there, in a higher spiritual sense.
In the material concept of life, when one works for sense gratification,
there is misery, but in the absolute world, when one is engaged in pure
devotional service, there is no misery. The devotee in Krsna consciousness
has nothing for which to lament or desire. Since God is full, a living entity
who is engaged in God's service, in Krsna consciousness, becomes also
full in himself. He is just like a river cleansed of all dirty water. Because a
pure devotee has no thought other than Krsna, he is naturally always
joyful. He does not lament for any material loss or aspire for gain, because
he is full in the service of the Lord. He has no desire for material
enjoyment, because he knows that every living entity is a fragmental part
and parcel of the Supreme Lord and therefore eternally a servant. He does
not see, in the material world, someone as higher and someone as lower;
higher and lower positions are ephemeral, and a devotee has nothing to do
with ephemeral appearances or disappearances. For him stone and gold
are of equal value. This is the brahma-bhuta stage, and this stage is
attained very easily by the pure devotee. In that stage of existence, the idea
of becoming one with the Supreme Brahman and annihilating one's
individuality becomes hellish, the idea of attaining the heavenly kingdom
becomes phantasmagoria, and the senses are like serpents' teeth that are
broken. As there is no fear of a serpent with broken teeth, there is no fear
from the senses when they are automatically controlled. The world is
miserable for the materially infected person, but for a devotee the entire
world is as good as Vaikuntha, or the spiritual sky. The highest personality
in this material universe is no more significant than an ant for a devotee.
Such a stage can be achieved by the mercy of Lord Caitanya, who
preached pure devotional service in this age.
