Chapter 18 Shloka 53

अहंकारं बलं दर्पं कामं क्रोधं परिग्रहम्।

विमुच्य निर्ममः शान्तो ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते।।५३।।

Having renounced ego, might, pride,

desire, anger and all other accumulations,

that tranquil being, free from meum,

is worthy of union with Brahm.

Chapter 18 Shloka 53

अहंकारं बलं दर्पं कामं क्रोधं परिग्रहम्।

विमुच्य निर्ममः शान्तो ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते।।५३।।

The Lord says to Arjuna:

Having renounced ego, might, pride, desire, anger and all other accumulations, that tranquil being, free from meum, is worthy of union with Brahm.

My dear one, first understand Ahamkaar.

(For a further elaboration on Ahamkaar, refer to Chp.16, shloka 18)

The works of aham, of the ‘I’, are termed ahamkaar.

1. The intellect which is subservient to the body-self is ahamkaar.

2. Pride of the body-self is ahamkaar.

3. Pride of the attributes of the body-self comprises ahamkaar.

4. To consider oneself to be the greatest is ahamkaar.

5. The idea of doership is ahamkaar.

6. To believe ‘I am the body’ is ahamkaar.

7. To consider the acclaim or insult of the body-self as one’s own is ahamkaar.

8. To combine the individualistic ‘I’ with the body, mind and intellect unit and then interact in the world is ahamkaar.

9. Attachment with the body is tantamount to ahamkaar.

10. Attachment with the will to engage in action or to abstain from it, is ahamkaar.

11. To clash with others in the endeavour to establish the body is ahamkaar.

12. Selfish behaviour due to one’s efforts to establish the body-self is ahamkaar.

13. ‘I am a sanyasi’ or ‘I am a devotee’ – such a belief is ahamkaar.

14. ‘I am despicable’ or ‘I am a sinner’ – this, too, is ahamkaar.

15. Selfishness equals ahamkaar.

16. To consider the other wrong or bad is ahamkaar.

17. To consider the other to be inferior to oneself is ahamkaar.

18. Pride of intellect is ahamkaar.

19. To judge only oneself to be pure is ahamkaar.

20. ‘I am this or I am that’ – to thus consider oneself to be great or superior is ahamkaar.

Ahamkaar endeavours to suppress the other. It tries to persuade the other in any way possible, using methods that may be straight or devious.

Thus in its struggle for self establishment it may at times use tears, at other times it may use temper; it may fight and it may even make use of wealth to gain what it desires. Sometimes it will resort to criticism and sometimes it will even tell lies in order to achieve self-establishment. Ahamkaar’s sole purpose is to impose its supremacy over the other.

They who are worthy of attaining the Supreme Brahm:

a) are completely devoid of ahamkaar;

b) are totally free of an individualising attitude;

c) stake no claims over anybody;

d) belong to everyone.

In the eyes of such a one, either all belong to him or even his body is not his own. Having renounced the body idea, such a one:

a) is established in non-duality;

b) sees no differentiation among all beings in the entire world;

c) believes, like the Lord, that all are his very own self;

d) identifies in essence and form with whosoever comes before him;

e) is devoid of fear, meum and moha.

Little one, such a one is love itself.

1. He serves all, because he considers all to be his very own.

2. He identifies with all.

3. He forgets his own body and in identification with the body-self of the other, endeavours sincerely to fulfil the other’s desire.

Love

Little one, one who thus forgets himself is indeed the epitome of love.

1. Love is another name for yoga or union.

2. Love is identification.

3. Love is identification with one’s beloved.

4. Love endows the one who loves with the qualities of the beloved.

Love has a natural power which:

a) enables one to forget oneself;

b) instils the Lord’s attributes in the one who loves;

c) helps one to naturally transcend the body idea;

d) transforms one in a moment into an image of modesty and humility;

e) expands one’s heart to match the infinitely magnanimous heart of one’s divine Beloved.

The Lord now explains from the perspective of love. The one who loves the Lord, lives only for Him.

If you offer your body to the Lord whilst you still live, the Lord will be enlivened within you. Your name does not change where others are concerned, but you have mentally placed your body at the Lord’s disposal.

1. Those who love, believe that their all belongs to the Lord.

2. Those who love, believe that their body belongs to their Lord.

3. They believe their mind and their entire life to be the Lord’s possession.

They are of the conviction that “All that has been received, is received by the Lord – all that has not been gained, has been denied to the Lord Himself.”

Who can understand the Lord’s love?

1. Those who perform highly meritorious deeds might understand His love.

2. Those who diligently study the Scriptures might understand Him.

3. Those who are ever obedient might be able to understand Him.

4. Those who incessantly take His Name might understand the Lord.

5. Those who ceaselessly eulogise Him might understand the Lord.

6. Those who are ever immersed in songs of the Lord’s praise might be capable of understanding Him.

7. Perhaps He is understood by those who are constant worshippers in the Lord’s temple.

8. It may be that those who love the Lord might understand Him.

9. Perhaps those who have faith in the Lord’s love can comprehend Him.

10. Those who consider the Lord to be the Embodiment of love might comprehend Him.

However, even they are confused on seeing the Lord’s love, because the Lord is the Embodiment of love, yet:

1. The Lord does not restrict His love only to those who love Him.

2. He loves even those who wander away from Him.

3. He loves even those who oppose Him.

4. He loves even the ignorant.

5. He loves even the evil doers.

6. He loves the prostitute and the tyrannical despot.

7. He loves those who sing His praises as well as those who reject His attributes of divinity.

8. The Lord’s love is not dependent on one’s external trappings. His love is nothing but pure love – it flows freely towards all.

9. He loves the man of wisdom but His love is much greater for the one who loves and upholds the Truth.

Pride distances man from the Lord

Pride of knowledge, pride of meritorious deeds, pride of one’s virtues, one’s superiority and one’s learning – all these factors distance one from the Lord.

1. Pride of one’s attributes is one of the most complex causes of ego.

2. Such pride can lead to one’s downfall.

3. Pride in one’s qualities increases one’s blindness.

4. Pride in one’s qualities distances one from the Lord and renders one impure.

When the Lord embraces an individual full of inferior qualities, those who pride themselves on their virtuous qualities are inevitably distressed, to the extent that they even cast aspersions on the Lord Himself. When the Lord embraces those who have suffered defeat, the victorious cannot understand His preference. When the Lord embraces those who are fallen, those who take pride in their saintliness regard Him also as degraded. They consider Him to be unjust and start thinking ill of Him.

They sarcastically comment, “What is the use of a paradise where all the wicked and evil beings are freely admitted? What kind of God is this who foolishly forgives all?”

Remember, the Lord’s endowment to man is in accordance with man’s ‘usage’ of that quality. To those who use the Lord’s divine qualities, He grants His very Essence.

1. If you seek the Lord’s compassion, look within you – how much do you value compassion in yourself?

2. If you seek forgiveness from the Lord, consider – how much do you forgive?

3. If you have no mercy, do not seek alms of mercy from the Lord.

4. If you have no humility, how will the Lord humble Himself in order to approach you?

5. If you reject another as evil and distance yourself from him, the Lord too will distance Himself from you because of your innate pride.

6. Your pride distances you from the Lord.

7. If your love is impartial, you will be enfolded in the Lord’s love always.

8. If you always live in the Truth, the Truth will always envelop you.

9. If you give your body-self to the Lord, He will come to abide in your body.

10. If you give your mind to the Lord, He will come and abide in your mind.

11. If you surrender your deeds unto Him, He will indeed abide in your deeds.

12. If you remember Him constantly, He will be your eternal Witness.

13. The Lord never renounces those who desire His presence in their lives.

14. However, the Lord remains far away from those who desire His presence only for their self-establishment.

Little one, consider how much of your life you are willing to share with the Lord. Your love for Him is in like ratio. If you desire knowledge, ask yourself why you want it. If you want the Lord, ask yourself why. Your innate Truth and your love for the Truth depends on what you basically desire.

1. If your love is true, your body will belong to the Lord.

2. If your body belongs to the Lord, then any respect accorded to your body is in fact His.

3. If the body belongs to the Lord, then any disrespect is also His.

4. Any action performed by this body is His action.

5. It is then that divine qualities flow through the individual’s body.

–  This is possible only when you start loving the Lord.

–  This can happen only if you align yourself with the Lord.

Perceive the Lord’s love reflected in His life:

1. He loves even His enemies.

2. He loves even those who malign Him.

3. He loves even those who have been rejected by others as wicked.

4. He loves even the sinner.

5. He loves even those who criticise and blame.

6. He loves even the thief.

7. He loves the saint equally.

8. He loves despite suffering everyone’s attacks and accusations.

9. He loves those who welcome Him into their homes.

10. He equally loves those who banish Him from their homes.

My little one, as regards the one who loves like the Lord:

–  Love is his might.

–  Love is his devotion.

–  Love is his very name.

–  Love is his deed.

–  Love is the essence of his life.

–  Love is the mainstay of his life.

He himself is a pure flow of love. He is the living proof of love. Do you know how all this transpired? Because he truly loves the Lord, he is immersed in the Lord – he becomes akin to the Lord. He has forgotten himself and all that now remains is the Lord Himself.

Little one:

1. Yoga is another name for love.

2. Yoga endows a complete understanding.

3. Yoga enables one to imbibe the dharma of the Supreme as one’s own dharma.

4. Yoga helps one to forget oneself.

5. When yoga occurs, the Lord replaces the ‘I’.

This is the story of the spiritual aspirant and His Lord. This is also the zenith of the spiritual practice of such an aspirant.

So little one, happiness, peace and serenity are all to be found at the Lord’s feet – in His divine Name. Happiness lies in returning the Lord’s body to Him. Peace lies in immersing oneself in the Lord’s love. Internal tranquillity lies in belonging wholly to the Lord.

1. Then one’s life will be imbued with the spirit of yagya.

2. One’s life will be permeated with the Truth.

3. One’s life will follow the path of duty.

4. One can attain bliss by giving others joy.

Little spiritual practicant!

1. Do not ask the Lord for a change of situation.

2. The very situation that frightens you today, can also serve to make you fearless.

3. When you are faced with insincerity, it provides you with the opportunity to practice sincerity.

4. You can become the deity of love in response to rebuffs and rejection.

5. You can practice tranquillity only in the proximity of a hot tempered individual!

6. You can learn humility when you stay with a greedy individual.

7. Virtue and saintly qualities are nurtured only in adverse circumstances.

8. If these virtuous qualities are destroyed by adversity, you will be clear that you mistook your qualities to be virtuous.

9. If your mind-stuff becomes impure in adversity, why labour under the illusion that it is pure?

10. If you are fearful of fame or calumny, be sure that you have not transcended either.

11. If you are always concerned about watching your step in life, you cannot transcend the body idea.

Little one, faithfulness develops and grows through living amongst the unfaithful. If you can be faithful with the unfaithful, that will be proof of your sincerity; or else you are insincere.

Those who stay away from evil cannot be sages. He who loves even those who are evil is verily divine. If you must fight evil, do so by all means, but do not nurture aversion in your mind against the wicked. The one who loves the Lord always protects the virtuous.

Those who follow the Truth:

a) bring the one who is confused about his duty, back upon the path of Truth;

b) give strength to those who become afraid in the wake of adverse situations, so that the latter are once more able to face all situations in life;

c) aid those unfortunate souls who are caught in the net of political leaders, business magnates or those in power and give them relief.

Little one, to sacrifice one’s all in the protection of such helpless souls is indeed a silent repetition of the Lord’s Name. To sacrifice one’s all to save them is the Lord’s love, it is an attribute of the Lord. The Lord takes birth for this very purpose. This is proof of His love – this is the zenith of yoga or identification with the Lord. This is the sign of absence of ahamkaar. This is egolessness. Those who are free of egoity attain the Lord’s essence. The Lord’s essence is Brahm Himself.

Bal (बल) – Might

1. Might is another form of egoity.

2. Pride in the strength of any part of the body constitutes pride in one’s might.

3. Might and ego can only cause the downfall of others.

4. The power of love is not termed as ‘might’- the Lord Himself is the power of the one who loves.

5. The power of humility is not described as ‘might’ because humility is the Lord’s attribute.

6. The power of sincerity is not dubbed as ‘might’, for the Lord is the sole mainstay of one who is sincere.

7. What can be the ‘might’ of self-forgetfulness?

8. What can be the ‘might’ of silence?

The ego of doership is latent in the individual’s ‘might’. But there is complete silence in the power of the Lord.

Tapas is might, yet the tapasvi or one who practices tapas has no ‘might’.

However, of what avail are all these facts if the body is no longer one’s own? When no vestige of ego remains in the idea of doership, then whose is the might? Violence is the consequence of one’s egoistic might. But for the true yogi all this becomes irrelevant.

Darp (दर्प) – Vanity

(For an elaboration of the meaning of Darp, refer to Chp.16, shloka 4)

1. For such a yogi there is no question of false pride.

2. He does not even take pride in the qualities that he actually possesses, then how can he be proud of the qualities he does not possess?

3. There is a total absence of arrogance and hypocritical behaviour.

4. Any means he may have possessed to conceal his lacunae have disappeared.

5. The very purpose of anger no longer exists.

6. When one’s attention is no longer focused upon oneself, then the desire to show off one’s superiority to another also vanishes.

When ego no longer remains:

a) there is no inflexibility;

b) there are no more conflicts with others;

c) quarrels cease and there remains no merit in vainglorious pride;

d) attachments and aversions also come to an end.

Kaam (काम) – Desire

(For an elaboration of the meaning of Kaam see Chp.16, shloka 12)

Such people renounce desire. When the body is no longer claimed as one’s own, then who desires? Identifying then with the other’s desire, such a person abides in non-duality and appears to desire for the other.

a) Such a one can be seen to be engaged in action all the time.

b) He may also appear to be in constant conflict with others.

c) He may appear to be immersed in all kinds of jobs and problems.

However, he does absolutely nothing for the augmentation, the fulfilment or the establishment of his own ego.

Understand the different connotations of the word ‘kaam’.

1. The desire for satiation of the craving of some sense faculty is kaam.

2. It is the will to enjoy or partake of external sense objects.

3. It is the intense desire to attain what one likes.

4. It is the desire to obliterate what one dislikes and obtain what one likes.

5. It is the desire for establishment of the body-self.

6. The consequence of attachment with the gross is kaam.

7. The desire for predominance of one’s mind is kaam.

8. Identification with the sense faculties leads to kaam and its growth.

9. Identification with the body leads to an augmentation of desire or kaam.

10. The yearning for physical recognition and renown leads to kaam.

11. Any desire that arises from one’s attachment with the physical body is kaam.

12. The desire to satiate oneself through sense objects is kaam.

13. The earnest desire and aspiration to attain wealth is kaam.

14. An unquenched thirst, or a yearning for any chosen sense object is kaam.

15. Greed, hope, expectation – all this is kaam.

16. When the intellect is purified and attachments and aversions are nullified, then the individual has no desires for anything.

Krodha (क्रोध) – Anger

When the cause for anger does not remain, then who becomes angry?

1. Then there is nothing to hide.

2. Nothing remains to be achieved.

3. There is no desire for recognition nor any heed paid to insults.

4. There is no desire to influence anybody.

5. There is no need to make an impression on anyone.

6. Protection of the body-self has no meaning any more.

7. There is no fear that the other may notice one’s shortcomings.

8. When one no longer feels that one has been done down by another, then where is there any place for anger?

Once one is clear about the truth concerning oneself:

a) one acknowledges the other’s superiority rather than attempting to conceal one’s inferiority;

b) one accepts the other’s capabilities and one’s own inability;

c) there is no question of jealousy arising – then where is the need for anger?

d) having understood the interplay of qualities, how will anger arise?

e) becoming aware of the natural qualities of the other, anger will naturally subside.

1. In fact, anger is a sign of one’s defeat.

2. It indicates one’s mental immaturity.

3. It reveals one’s lack of intellect.

4. It is a method whereby one conceals one’s inability to deal with a situation.

5. It is a sign of intellectual inadequacy and weakness.

6. It shows a lack of one’s ability to accept the truth.

7. It is an exhibition of the incompatibility of one’s imaginary beliefs vis à vis the reality.

8. It is the expression of a fool’s ego.

9. It reveals a desire to earn the other’s sympathy.

10. It is the surfacing of the mind’s hidden scars.

11. It is the agony of the sins locked up deep within the mind.

12. It is a method of becoming blind to the truth.

13. It is also a method of concealing one’s own faults.

14. It is a straight and natural means of projecting one’s lacunae and shortcomings on others.

15. It is a way of retracting, after giving one’s word to the contrary.

16. It is the cry of a beggarly intellect seeking recognition as a great intellectual.

17. It indicates the desire of a fool to be recognised as the Supreme Overlord.

This anger:

a) is the mark of hypocrisy, arrogance and egoity;

b) is the attribute of a blinded intellect;

c) is the attribute of one who seeks to suppress the other;

d) is the sign of falsehood;

e) is the sign of one who believes himself to be the most superior;

f) is the sign of a proud egoist;

g) is the sign of one who endeavours to project even his falsehood as the truth.

In fact, anger is the ‘might’ of the weak and impotent. It is of no use to one who loves the truth. Such a one never uses anger for his selfish purposes.

Nirmam (निर्मम) – Devoid of meum

(For an elaboration on Nirmam, refer to Chp.2, shloka 71)

1. One who possesses nothing.

2. One who has nobody.

3. One whose body is not his own.

4. One who has no claims over anybody.

5. Such a one has no rights, even upon his own body-self.

6. He claims no rights over any object in his possession.

7. He does not even claim credit for his actions.

8. Since there is a complete absence of doership in such a one, he claims no action as his own.

9. Since there is a complete annihilation of the body idea, such a one does not claim his own body-self or its recognition as his own.

10. For the same reason, he does not consider the insults levelled at that body-self as his.

Such a one neither lays claims on anyone, nor does he deprive others of their rights over him. He lays no claims on his father, but his Father has complete rights over him. Thus he grants others their rights but lays his own rights at the Lord’s feet.

Understand this carefully once more. That one has relinquished all his rights but not his duties. No body belongs to him, but he belongs to everybody. Thus it is said that such a one has renounced everything.

1. Such a one is indifferent towards himself.

2. He is indifferent towards his body-self.

3. He is impartial towards both fame and insult.

4. How can there be any differentiation between friend and enemy when such a one is indifferent towards himself?

5. He is not ruffled by the enmity of his enemies because he is not the body.

6. He has relinquished his rights over others but never snatches away the other’s claims over him.

7. He has come to offer himself up for plunder, not to plunder or rob others.

8. He is the servant of all but does not wish to reduce the other to servitude.

Having renounced all other supports:

1. He keeps nothing at all for himself.

2. He desires no riches or comforts for himself.

3. He does not wish to make the other his prisoner.

4. Nor does he endeavour to pull anyone towards himself.

5. He does not engage anyone for his own protection.

6. Nor does he impose his own name upon others.

7. He seeks to gain nothing at all.

The Lord says, “Such an individual is capable of becoming akin to Brahm Himself.”

Understand the full connotation of what the Lord has said:

1. When there is total voidance of the body idea;

2. When there is a complete annihilation of desire;

3. When nothing belongs to one any longer;

4. When the mind is free of aberrations;

5. When one dwells in a state of non-duality;

6. When there is complete satiation;

7. When one is indifferent towards oneself;

8. When nothing is differentiated as ‘mine’ or ‘yours’;

9. When one retains no rights over others;

–  then such a one is said to possess a tranquil mind-stuff;

–  then that ego-less body-self becomes worthy of becoming a temple of Brahm Himself;

–  then that ego-less individual becomes an Atmavaan.

When one has transcended the body idea, one will inevitably attain the state of an Atmavaan. Look my little one, now hear from me in brief, the method of attaining such a state.