Joining Yoga to Buddhi and Yajna Karma

ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते मता बुद्धिर्जनार्दन।

तत्किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव ॥गीत ३-१॥

व्यामिश्रेणैव वाक्येन बुद्धिं मोहयसीव मे।

तदेकं वद निश्चित्य येन श्रेयोऽहमाप्नुयाम् ॥गीत ३-२॥

Arjuna says, on one hand you ask me to perform my duty and fight this dreaded war but on the other, you praise buddhi so much, i am confused and deluded. Please decide and tell me what is that i should do, which path is good for me? Krishna agrees, of-course there are two paths, Jnana and Karma. Main emphasis was on Jnana (or buddhi) in the second chapter. However, Jnana or buddhi alone is dangerous, it leads to ahankara. We need to join yoga to it. Veda Vyasa is the best example of buddhi yoga, who rejected all kingly affluence and pursued the work of Veda prasarana. Drona the master of dhanurvidya is an example of buddhi without yoga, though being a guru himself, became a blind witness to all the misdeeds of kauravas. He also accepted the responsibility of senadhipati for kauravas, joined Dhuryodhana in the murder of innocent Abhimanyu. Another extreme is that of karma vadis, only hat ka kam, pait ka kam, no akal ka kam, mere actions driven by animalistic instincts without any discrimination or intellect, like the bull of the mill. Animals are better equipped to do such monotonous actions.

कर्मेन्द्रियाणि संयम्य य आस्ते मनसा स्मरन्।

इन्द्रियार्थान्विमूढात्मा मिथ्याचारः स उच्यते॥गीत ३-६॥

When buddhi or karma becomes distorted (Vikrutaavaste) it becomes mithyachara (hypocrisy). This has become one of the biggest menace today, especially in the field of Purohitya and Jyotishya. In the name of veda and karmakanda big racket is going on, mainly in the cities like Mumbai and Bangalore. The film Sangharsh portrays how, many Purohits in kashi pendals are exploiting the belief of innocent people. Similarly, this mithyachara is spreading to yoga as well. In the name of world yoga day, business strategies are being worked out to capture the yoga market. There are many examples of so called yoga gurus building yoga empires in western countries, and some examples wherein they have also been convicted in courts for their misdeeds in the name of yoga.

So to summarize, buddhi alone is dangerous, karma alone is monotonous, we need to join yoga to buddhi and Yajna to karma to bring harmony.

Pure knowledge by becoming one with the subject

Nyayashastras talk about three connectivities involved in the process of cognition, the one between object & the sense organ, sense organ & the mind and between mind & Atma. 

Object ---------> Sense organ ---------> Mind ---------> Atma (Consciousness)

Any knowledge gained will always be conditioned by these three connectivities, limitations in any one of these will result in skewed or lopsided knowledge, in other words distorted image.

In this second chapter, krishna is helping arjuna discover his true self, at a gross level, he is pandu putra, kunti suta, kshyatriya, etc. Though they all are true, it is still a distorted image. Understanding of oneself will be distorted until we keep ourselves away from the true self.

As long as there is disconnect between Nara and Narayana, Pashu and Pashupathi we cannot know either Narayana or Pashupati. As long as there is disconnect between Boss and Das, Boss cannot know his subordinates.

Now modern management philosophy also talks about flat organization without hierarchical difference between Boss and subordinates. This advaita bhava towards subject of interest will result in pure knowledge brahma vidya.

·         -> Like a salt doll trying to measure the depth of ocean;

·         -> like a drop of milk trying to know the water;

·         -> like a drop of honey trying to understand a glass of milk;

true knowledge will emerge only when they become one with each other. Unlikely for a drop of ghee trying to know the glass of water without becoming one with it.

Similarly, we cannot know ourselves without becoming one with the self. Meditation techniques like Cyclic meditation, Vipasyana, Transcendental meditation etc help us to take this journey of knowing self.

तदेवार्थमात्रनिर्भासं स्वरूपशून्यमिव समाधिः॥ पा यो सू ३-३॥

Once a brilliant boy, who was weak in studies especially mathematics, meet me in school. During the interaction, he portrayed a detailed picture of Entebbe operation done by Israeli commandos, he felt as if he was one among those commandos, he thought there was no other bigger mission in life than participating in such a commando operation. That boy had reached ekatmate (intimacy) with that commando operation.

Once Dr. Fritjof Capra, a well-known Physicist was sitting on sea shore and observing the waves. After some time, during a moment of deep concentration, he felt everything in this creation is nothing but vibrations, vibrations of electrons and molecules in the atomic level to that of planets and stars at the cosmic level. A gigantic dance of creation and destruction, interplay between mass and energy, he correlated this experience with the idea of tandava nrutya, the cosmic dance performed by Shiva to maintain the dynamic equilibrium of this creation. Dr. Capra would have reached oneness with the creation when he discovered this theory of vibrations.

So, to summarize, any knowledge within the realm of object, sense organ and mind is superficial and lopsided. Pure knowledge emerges only when it is elevated to atma level i.e. when brought in contact with the universal consciousness All weaknesses (like fear and ignorance) will vanish when this ekatmate with the subject emerges, this is knowing by becoming one and becoming one while knowing.

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References:

Operation Entebbe,  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe

 

The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Physics

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Decisive knowledge: Vyavasayatmika buddihi

Krishna chose to give Jnana first to Arjuna over karma. Animals are better equipped to do karma (actions), ex: building skills of ants, bees & humming birds, running skills of cheetah & deer, load bearing capacity of bull & donkey, escapism of Cuckoo etc. Karma is their strength, mostly driven by basic instincts like hunger, sleep, fear and urge to procreate.  However, we humans are blessed with intellect and discrimination, the power of knowledge, that's our strength, that's the reason, Krishna never gave a sermon listing do's and dont's, he first chose to rectify Arjuna's mis-understanding with proper knowledge. He also cautioned about two traps in this path of knowledge, mere logical argumentation (prajna vada) and blind scriptural interpretation (veda vada), often both leading to dangerous consequences. Solution is buddhi yoga, or Jnana yoga or in other words Sankyha yoga. Every action should be properly supported by clear understanding, not mechanically performed like a bull of the mill, actions without knowledge, is not the inherent nature of humans.

व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्दिरेकेह कुरुनन्दन।

बहुशाखा ह्यनन्ताश्च बुद्दयोऽव्यवसायिनाम्॥गीत २-४१॥

The word Vyavasaya is repeated multiple times in this second chapter, the correct meaning of vyavasaya in sanskrit is decisiveness. Vyavasayatmika buddihi means decisive knowledge, confirmed understanding, without any room for ambiguity, dilemma, mis-concepts or mis-understanding. With such a decisive knowledge, karma will naturally be in the right direction.

There are four types of knowledge;

* Experienced knowledge

* Experimented knowledge

* Traditional knowledge

* Logical knowledge

WH questions like who, what, where and when leads to superficial knowledge of  tradition and logic, questions like How and why leads to scientific, experiential knowledge. Karma has to be backed with such an experienced and experimented knowledge, Vyavasayatmika buddhi is that knowledge gained by experimentation and experience. This is the main message of the second chapter, Decisive knowledge: Vyavasayatmika buddihi.

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References: 
Audio cassettes and CDs from Aurobindo society, 
http://www.aurosociety.org/
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