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Bhagavad Gita Chapter 12

Practice To Perfection

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THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

atha cittaṁ samādhātuṁ na śaknoṣi mayi sthiram I abhyāsayogena tato mām icchāptuṁ dhanañjaya

If you are not able to fix your mind upon Me then Arjuna, with the constant practice of Yoga, you try to attain Me.

Complete with the mind through constant practice of meditation.

abhyāse'pyasamartho'si matkarmaparamo bhava I madarthamapi karmāṇi kurvan-siddhim avāpsyasi

If you are not able to practice even this yoga then performing your duties and surrendering all your actions to Me, you will attain perfection.

Do your duty as you need to and are able to. But then, surrender what you do to Me. By performing whatever you do with total faith in Krishnan, and with a deep feeling of surrender to Him, we reach Him.

If you are not able to fix your mind upon Me, then O Dhanañjaya (Arjuna), with the constant practice of yoga you try to attain Me. If you are not able to practice even this yoga, then performing your duties and surrendering all your actions to Me, you will attain perfection.

Here Kṛṣṇa talks about Abhyāsa Yoga. What is Abhyāsa Yoga? Abhyāsa Yoga is the practice or method of yoga of holding the mind constantly in a state of union with Divinity. It is the state of complete immersion in the consciousness of Kṛṣṇa. Why does Kṛṣṇa speak about Abhyāsa Yoga? In the last chapter, Kṛṣṇa gives Arjuna a glimpse of the universal consciousness, Viśvarūpa darśan. However, Arjuna is unable to stay in that state permanently.

Arjuna comes out of the experience because of fear or old saṁskāras, root thought patterns of past desires. He slips from that state of consciousness. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa speaks about Abhyāsa Yoga, how to establish oneself in that consciousness. That's why He speaks about abhyāsa, which means practice. He gives a solid path, or a solid solution to take care of our whole life, to establish ourselves in that consciousness. Continuously, again and again, in our daily life, let us receive these ideas, intranalyze these ideas in our consciousness and let our inner space be filled with these ideas. Let us not waste a few moments.

Let our whole inner space be filled with these great thoughts. That is the way to establish us in that super consciousness. Kṛṣṇa continues to give more tips for establishing ourselves in that consciousness and radiating devotion. Kṛṣṇa instructs continuously over the next four verses. He gives various options, step-by-step.

He says: If we can't do this, do that. If we can't do that, do this. The first thing He says is, 'Oh Dhanañjaya (winner of wealth), fix your mind upon Me. With constant practice, try to attain Me. If you are not able to practice, then perform actions for Me. In this way, develop the desire to attain Me. '

Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahamsa had advised a lady to meditate upon the form of goddess Kālī. She said that however much she tried she was unable to meditate on Kālī; she was always distracted. She came back to Rāmakṛṣṇa upset that she could make no spiritual progress. Rāmakṛṣṇa enquired whether the lady's attention was diverted to someone or something else. The lady confessed that she was thinking of a young nephew, a child, whom she was fond of. Immediately, Rāmakṛṣṇa advised her, 'Focus your attention on this child whom you love. Meditate upon him.' The lady came back after a few weeks satisfied. Having started her meditation upon the child whom she loved, she could meditate. And once she could meditate, she could transfer her focus to goddess Kālī!

That laser beam can then be transferred to any object with equal facility and success. Vivekananda has said, 'Once you learn all that there is to be known about a handful of clay by focusing your complete attention on it, you will know about all the clay everywhere in the world.'

Kṛṣṇa refers to completing with the mind through constant practice of meditation, which is part of the yogic path. Meditation is not about sitting down with eyes closed for half an hour every day or every other day or when we get time. Meditation is an incessant and obsessive focus upon the Divine. Meditation is a way of life.

Impress upon the students that when we then start focusing on the path, not the goal, we focus on the process, not the product. And when we do this, our performance gets better because we no longer are stressed by what the end result might be. We are no longer worried since the outcome is in safe hands.

  • ❖ What is Abhyāsa Yoga?
  • ❖ What is Meditation?
  • ❖ What is the best attitude to have towards one's work and its result? Who is a Karma Yogi?
  • ❖ What is the best service one can offer to the Master?

MATERIALS NEEDED

  • 1. Straw
  • 2. Water colour Paper
  • 3. Cups
  • 4. Tissue papers

PROCEDURE

Mix liquid watercolors in individual cups with water. Dip the tip of the straw in any one of the liquid watercolor cups. Then place the straw tip over a sheet of paper, so that a drop of water colour falls on the paper. Now blow the straw to move the paint around. Wash the paint of the tip of the straw by dipping in a cup of water and wiping with a tissue paper. Now repeat this process with different colors.