Verses 2.68–2.72🔗

In His concluding words in this chapter, Kṛṣṇa clarifies to Arjuna once again, how to reach liberation, how to become one with Brahman which is one’s true and natural state. We have seen that a person not centered in self-completion cannot be peaceful or happy or wise. A person who is led by his senses cannot be complete. A person who is in control of his senses is firmly in control of his mind and emotions. Only such a person is truly awake. We all think we are awake; are we really? We live in daydreams even if we are awake. The only occasion when we are truly awake is when we are in the space of completion.

A person in such a space of completion is whom Kṛṣṇa calls a ‘Muni,’ a realized being living in the present. Such a person is always awake, having experienced his inner awakening, whether physically awake or asleep. Kṛṣṇa says that such a person is in sleep when others are awake, yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśā paśyato muneḥ (2.69). The realized person, although he may appear to be living and actively participating in the activities of the same world that we live in, is in reality, in a state of passive alertness or restful awareness. This means that his senses are not immersed in worldliness and he is centered and complete in his Self.

He is dead and asleep to this world because he has moved beyond his senses. A truly realized person is also awake when others are asleep, yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgrati saṁyamī (2.69). Even in his sleep he is aware, in what is called the state of supta chittam. A person who is in the space of completion is still as the waters in the bed of the ocean. Though there are waves in the surface, they do not disturb the bed of the ocean. Even when desires assail him, they are mere waves in the periphery of his consciousness, and do not disturb him at all. He has abandoned all attachment to ‘I’ and ‘mine.’

He is without thoughts and desires and when thoughts and desires come to him, they merge into him without disturbing him. How this is possible? The ‘Muni,’ one who is still, in silence, is one who is in total control of his senses. When the senses are controlled, when the ego is out of action, all thoughts and desires are just witnessed. The ‘Muni’ does not get involved in these thoughts and desires. He does not even try to stop or suppress them, as he knows it is impossible. He just lets them be watching them go past, just like the ocean watches impassively as other waters merge into it.

We are all enlightened because we are all a hologramic part of the reality of the Universe, Brahman. All that we lack is the awareness of the truth of our Enlightenment. What prevents you from realizing that you are enlightened is your root pattern, ego. This ego is not necessarily about any arrogance. It is the perception of who you think you are, your inner-image; what you project yourself to be for others, your outer-image; and what others expect you to be for them, others’ image. It is the collection of thoughts, experiences and emotions that go to make up that ‘I’ and ‘mine.’ This identity is that of the body and mind, not of your spirit.

Therefore, it perishes with your body and is transient. A person who is in control of his senses, his mind and thoughts, lives in the present moment, in full awareness of his true nature and is one with Brahman. For such a Muni, the knowledge of Advaita, the space of oneness with Brahman, becomes a living reality. He conquers all the wrong self-identification with his inner and outer identities. Such a person who is self-aware is fully awake even when he is asleep. People with a strong consciousness of ‘I’ live out of their blocked mūlādhāra cakra, the root energy center. They are at the very beginning of their spiritual evolution.

Their main concerns will be about their own survival, and they are caught in lust, anger and greed. The person with a strong attachment to ‘mine,’ the possessions belonging to the ‘I,’ constantly lives in fear of losing these possessions. Such people live out of their blocked svādiṣṭhāna or spleen cakra—the energy center that gets locked due to fear. They live in insecurity of losing possessions, of losing identity, and finally, of death. Energization of the mūlādhāra and svādiṣṭhāna cakra and moving the energy up through the anāhata or heart cakra to the ājña or thirdeye cakra (energy center between eyebrows) opens us to completion, the reality of looking at others, at Universe as our own self and finally dropping the root pattern—one’s identification with ‘I’ and ‘mine.’

Listen! Completion can make you experience Advaita (nonduality), the ultimate space of Consciousness, immediately. Then, true surrender to the Universe and identification with one’s true nature occurs, and Enlightenment happens. You then become God! Kṛṣṇa completes His description of the person established in yoga whose profile Arjuna has asked for. Kṛṣṇa concludes by saying that a person steeped in yoga is complete in reality and is one with Brahman—eṣā brāhmī sthitiḥ pārtha. He says that this person is liberated even if he were to reach that state at the end of his life—brahma-nirvānaṁ ṛcchati (2.72). Kṛṣṇa is in the process of enriching Arjuna what he truly is and how he can realize that truth.

Control over the senses, being in the state of restful awareness instead of letting the senses control you, surrendering to the Universe instead of fighting the Universe, dropping one’s mind and identity; staying in the space of completion are the surest ways to realize the truth, the truth that you indeed are God. I tell my disciples time and again, ‘I am not here to prove my Divinity. I am here to prove your Divinity.’ This is the timeless message of Kṛṣṇa, the message of Bhagavad Gītā. Arjuna’s confusion is slowly reducing. Actually, it is good to be confused. It is much better to accept that one is confused than to live in the delusion that one knows everything.

Arjuna had the courage of authenticity to come out and tell Kṛṣṇa his fears and doubts. This is the first step towards clarity. How long it takes for that clarity to emerge doesn’t matter. One is on the path of completion and that is what matters. Listen to the Truth. Completion makes you experience the Sāṅkhya of life. In this of Completion, Śrī Kṛṣṇa who is the space of completion Himself, sets Arjuna on the path of completion. May all of you travel that path too! Let us pray to the ultimate Existence, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, to give us all the experience of eternal bliss, Nityānanda. Thank you! Yoga of Knowledge of Completion,’ of the Bhagavad Gītā Upaniṣad, Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the scripture of yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of ŚrīKṛṣṇārjuna-saṁvād,dialoguebetweenŚrīKṛṣṇa,Arjuna.

Beauty Of Purposelessness Life is to enjoy living in completion and acting with authenticity in action; not to chase goals. There is no real purpose to life; Life in fact is purposeless. Once we create goals to reach, we create sorrow to follow. Coming to terms with the reality of life is Completion. Karma Yogaḥ c h a p t e r The whole of Existence, the whole Universe, is purposeless. Of course, it would be very shocking to hear this. At a very young age, we are taught and socially conditioned to believe that life has some purpose. We are always made to run towards some goal, towards some purpose.

‘What is life without purpose?’ you may ask. We feel that any activity, let alone one’s entire life, has to have a purpose, a definition, and an end point. Only then does it become meaningful. That purpose is what drives us, motivates us. You will say I am confusing you. ‘All our life we have been brought up to believe that we are here for a purpose. As children we are expected to do well at school, and later at college. Once we grow up, we are supposed to get married and bring up our children. In each phase of our life, we have specific templates that society has set up for us.

How can we let them down? How can we believe that all these expectations are wrong, and that there is no purpose to life?’ The more you run towards a goal, the more you are considered a successful person. The greater the speed, the more you are respected. From birth, again and again, you are taught that life has a purpose and a goal. Life without purpose seems meaningless to us. Understand that this is only what you have been brought up to believe. This is not the truth of Existence. Life does not need a defined goal to make living worthwhile, meaningful and happy. The absence of purpose makes our life meaningful.

The absence of goals in life makes living worthwhile. The Universe, Nature has no purpose. It just is. It exists. A river runs downhill towards the ocean because it is its nature to run downhill. It is not because it has a purpose, to meet the ocean. Our life too, has no Beauty Of Purposelessness Karma Yogaḥ Beauty Of Purposelessness 177 purpose. We were not born for a purpose. We were born to live, to enjoy life and to be happy. Instead, we set ourselves up for unhappiness; we set goals for ourselves, and almost always these goals are based on fantasies and not on realities. In the process, we stop enjoying life.

The more you run towards the goal, the more you miss Life itself! A person who is continuously bothered about goals will never be able to enjoy and enrich his life. He lives in the future and ignores the present. When we are complete in the present moment, the here and now, we do not need a goal to guide us. Just the space of completion in the present moment will help us decide what needs to be done at each point in time. When the present moment is taken care of with completion, the future gets resolved on its own. As long as the path is right, whatever destination we reach will be right.

We do not need to define the destination; the right path defines its own destination. However, we constantly worry about the future, relating it with the past. We continuously postpone our happiness without enjoying the present. For example, when you are studying you think, ‘When I get a job, I will be happy.’ When you have your job you think, ‘After marriage my life will be happy.’ After marriage, you think, ‘When I have kids and my own house, I will be happy.’ After achieving that you think, ‘When the kids grow up and all my responsibilities are over, I will be happy.’ By the time your responsibilities are over, when you want to relax, your being is so conditioned to running that you can’t relax!

With this default cognition, we are constantly running to stay in the same spot. Happiness is where we are, not where we think we should be. We do not understand what it is to relax. When I tell people to relax during meditation, they say, ‘Swamiji, please give us detailed guidelines on how to relax!’ We feel we need to lose our happiness before we can start searching for it. The tension of running after something out of compulsion has become a part of our being. Resting is no longer relaxation. When we run behind goals, all that seems to matter is the achievement of that goal. Any sacrifice seems to be worth it, including those we claim we love and care for.

Only a Complete Being can relax The more you run, the more titles you receive. You are called a ‘multidimensional personality.’ This is just another name for schizophrenics. Only a person who has deeply experienced himself, who is complete in himself, who rests in himself, who experiences inaction in action can be a multidimensional personality. Only such a person understands himself and his many personalities, and is comfortable and complete with all of them. Only a Kṛṣṇa, a complete being can be a multidimensional personality. Only a man who completely rests in himself, who knows how to relax within himself, can be a multidimensional personality. A person who runs to satisfy society, who is compelled to run by society, can never experience peace.

Society doesn’t want you as you are. It wants you as it thinks you should be. If you are a doctor, a lawyer, or an accountant, if you are useful to society in some way, then you are rewarded; otherwise you are made to feel inadequate and incomplete. You are respected just for your title, not for what you are. The more titles you have, the more respect you get. Life is purposeless. Look into your life. Whatever you think of as the goal of your life, even if it were fulfilled, do you think you will be able to rest and feel complete? You will only look for the next goal.

There is no resting point. There is no time to appreciate or celebrate what you have achieved. You are driven from one goal to another, from one desire to another. There is always a feeling of discontentment, a deep incompletion. You run not because your being wants to, but because society drives you to. With Completion starts Life. Otherwise you are running out of compulsion. Either you run life in compulsion or in completion. With compulsion, not only don’t you have any Life, you also constantly reduce the level of your life. Karma Yogaḥ Beauty Of Purposelessness 179 A person came to me and said, ‘Earlier I used to smoke and drink.

My wife used to fight with me all the time, always blaming me. She would connect everything to my smoking and drinking. If the kids did not study well, she would say, ‘You are a drunkard. You don’t care for your kids. That is why they are not studying well.’ So finally, somehow, I gave up smoking and drinking.’ I asked, ‘Oh! Is she happy now?’ He said, ‘No! Now she is unhappy that she is not able to complain about anything anymore!’ When you are inauthentic, you can have something or someone to blame, you can always put the responsibility on them and feel comfortable. When you can’t put the responsibility on someone else, you suffer.

It is easy to escape the reality by putting the responsibility on someone else. Here, Arjuna is doing the same thing by asking Kṛṣṇa this question in the third chapter called Karma Yogaḥ. Coming to terms with reality is Completion. Reality should not make you powerless. Arjuna is being inauthentic by shifting responsibility away from him, not facing his own reality. Kṛṣṇa initiates him into the science of authentic action to powerfully take responsibility for his highest reality and be a complete, blissful being. To Act Or Not To Act