Bhagavad Gita - Adhyay -9 - The yoga of the greatest secret (Raj Vidya yoga)- Post 10

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In chapter 8 of Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna described the endless cycle of creation and dissolution of the universe and how all beings are stuck in that cycle.

In this chapter, he began to reveal and extremely profound and secret knowledge to Arjun that would allow him to escape this endless cycle. Here, in this chapter, Shri Krishna gives knowledge in the sense of devotion or bhakti towards Ishvara. It is the easiest means of obtaining liberation, easier than performing rituals or penance or renouncing the world. 

Arjun asked Shri Krishna - "What is that knowledge?".  Ishvara is the ultimate cause of the universe.  Everything is sustained by Ishvara and everything is in Ishvara (like the wind is in space). We are not able to see Ishvara because our senses are preconditioned to only perceive names and forms, just like we see a blue sky where there is no real blue color.

Ishvara has become the ultimate cause of the universe through his power known as Prakriti. Prakriti is nothing but the three Gunas. The system of Prakriti is a fully automatic system that delivers results to individuals based on their actions. Most people are stuck in the system and can't get out because they are bound by selfish action, they are too attached. Ishvara is an observer of this system and does not get bound by Prakriti because he is unattached. Through this power, he creates the world of names and forms, sustains them and eventually dissolves them. In addition to this Shri Krishna says that to get ourselves free from the entrapment of Prakriti, we have to change our conditioning and rid ourselves from all misconceptions regarding Ishvara. 

Here Shri Krishna talks about the first misconception: Ishvara is a finite human entity. The second misconception is - I am body, mind, and intellect. Third misconception is that worship of finite deities will give infinite and permanent results. "

In this chapter, Shri Krishna clarifies all these misconceptions. The easiest way to dispel all these misconceptions is to worship Ishvara, that is to follow the path of bhakti, Shri Krishna suggests several ways to bring this into our daily life. We can constantly meditate upon Ishvara as the cause of everything. This is known as "Jnyaana Yagnya". We can perform actions in service of Ishvara. We can begin to see Ishvara in objects, people and situations through pointers. Shri Krishna provides several pointers. For an instance, we can learn to see Ishvara in our parents, our grand parents, in the weather cycle and so on. 

Further Shri Krishna describes two kinds of devotees. The Sakaama or desire-oriented devotee who performs rituals so that he can attain heaven after his death but ultimately comes back to earth after his merits are exhausted. The NishKama or desire less devotee, who wants Ishvara. Shri Krishna says that Ishvara always takes care of desireless devotees by giving them what they need at the right point in their lives including food, shelter, wealth, knowledge and a teacher. The glory of devotion is that it is  accessible to everybody from sinners to people of great worldly attachment of the way to sages. We all can worship at any point in our lives. And the most important part is that we don't need any qualification to begin the path of devotion. 

At the end of this chapter, Shri Krishna gives a message- "Keep your mind in ME, become my devotee, perform actions for me, surrender to me".

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