C. BREAKING THE BOUNDARIES
Sannyasa
To give up all acts that are prompted by desire he wise call abandonment.
The surrender of the fruits of all works they aver to be renunciation.
BG XVIII, 2
The price to be paid for the perfect performance of the sacrifice is nothing less than one’s own life. The only fitting way of permitting the sacrifice to unfold itself fully and to realize all its potentialities is to remove all the obstacles that might hinder the eruption of the internal power residing in the sacrifice itself, obstacles that may come either from the object or from the subject. In order to accomplish the perfect sacrifice and thus to actualize the universe, Man has to offer his own individuality on the altar; he has to renounce everything and to transcend himself. Renunciation is the culmination of the sacrifice.
He who has realized that the true sacrifice is that of the Self in the Self to the Self or, in other words, of the Spirit in the Spirit to the Spirit, he who has discovered that ultimately the subject and the object of the sacrifice coincide, no longer desires to perform any sacrifice. Both external and internal actions of the sacrifice become meaningless for him, for he, his ego, and his individuality in society cease to exist. He not only renounces everything, he renounces his own self and even renunciation itself. For this reason the traditional ashramas indicate two stages of renunciation, while some saints and traditions even speak of a “stageless stage” beyond these two: atyashrama. 264 Ultimately he really does not renounce anything, for what he renounces is nothing and he renounces only nothingness.
A total transparency is the ideal, but history and experience teach us that the way is long and that nobody can hope to short-cut all the twists and turns he has to negotiate before leaping into unlimited reality. There grows within us the intuition that the perfect renouncer has simply become the groundless consciousness in which the existence-giving sacrifice unfolds itself.
This is not true simply on the existential level of human life; it is equally so at the level of human thinking. Many misunderstandings and accusations regarding pantheism and monism would disappear if the texts that speak of the all-pervasiveness of God and the unity of the universe were viewed in their proper context, that is, in the context of an ultimate spiritual experience that has already eliminated the individual as spectator or subject. Sacrifice leads not only to the immolation of the victim, but also to the holocaust of the subject, even in his thinking capacity, as we have already seen.
It now becomes clear why we feel impelled to include the texts on renunciation precisely here, after the doctrine on sacrifice. The holy ascetic of Indian religiousness does not represent exclusively, and often not even mainly, an ideal of moral renunciation but rather that of an authentic, naked, and pure Life. His body is no longer the medium and container of (his) life, but he “exists” in the purity of the atman, in the transparency of Brahman, in the baffling Presence, of which the witnesses of the life of a “saint” are aware, according to their own degrees of awakening.
Having said that the way is long and that the severest temptation of “holy men” is to practice the subtle idolatry of considering themselves as already realized persons, we now describe some of the features of the way.
There is a constitutive dissatisfaction in human life. Even if one has done one’s best, other possible actions have remained undone. Disillusionment, is, according to Indian tradition, the beginning of philosophy. 265 It may also be said to initiate the process of transcending the human condition. The well-balanced ashramic system of India allows the husband and eventually the wife also to retire to the forest, once their obligation to society has been fulfilled, and to adopt a life of renunciation in search of the ultimate, for it seems that this ultimate is not reached in married life. There is a whole philosophy devoted to the so-called third ashrama, that of the vanaprastha, the forest dweller. 266
There has, however, always been the option of a shortcut for the man who does not feel he must pass through the three earlier stages but who enters straightway into the life of the monk, the sannyasin, the renouncer. His yearning is to merge into the One; he longs for total liberation from the temporal and spatial condition of human existence; he gives up his body, its care, and even all thought of it. A whole literature has flourished on this subject, which has been variously considered as a jewel and as a reproach to Indian culture. However this renunciatory aspect of Vedic spirituality may be viewed, we may take note of three of its features. They may be said to characterize the three main phases of the Scripture: the Vedic period, the Upanishadic intuition, and the interpretation of the Gita.
The first feature is the relative absence of an ascetic spirituality, though asceticism was tolerated because it was already in existence and was considered a specialized human experience which some members of the community should be allowed to undertake. It would be completely wrong to characterize the Vedic Revelation as an ascetic spirituality. The present anthology is perhaps sufficient proof of this fact.
The second feature may be summarized in the famous saying of Yajnavalkya to his dear wife Maitreyi, before he enters upon the life of a vanaprastha, an anchorite or forest dweller, that the ultimate object of our desire and of our love is not the immediate object before our senses, but the atman, the underlying Self present and effective everywhere: “It is rather for love of the Self that [all] beings are held so dear.” 267 Thus renunciation is considered to be a means to an end, a way to reach the supreme goal, not by escapism or repression but by interiorization and overcoming. The husband, the wife, and all other things are dearly loved and rightly so, but the underlying reason and the ultimate object of this love lie deeper than the outward appearance of things.
This position is further emphasized by the third feature, which could be said to form the cornerstone of asceticism as found in the Vedic Revelation. There are two ways of understanding renunciation: as a giving up of a positive value for the sake of a higher one, or as a giving up of that same value because you have discovered that for you that “value” is not a value at all, so that the renunciation only appears as such from the outside. For the tyagin, the “renouncer,” there is no renunciation; there is true renunciation only where it does not appear as such. As long as you desire something you should not renounce it. It is only when the desire has faded away that you may do so. This may explain the emphasis on right vision and the proper perspective in order to see things as they really are. Only “on knowing Him does one become an ascetic.” 268 You truly renounce something only when you discover that for you this “something” was only a pseudo value, a would-be positive thing; otherwise you would do well not to incur the risk that such a repression would entail. Authentic renunciation renounces renouncement, the ultimate reason being not only the psychological fact that the desire of anything, even of renunciation, entangles you more and more, but the theological fact that the ultimate goal of Man is not to be attained by any “human” means because it is the result of a choice on the part of the absolute itself. 269 Moreover, some will say, there is also an ontological reason why the desire can only be overcome by letting the desire subside in its own source, and not by eliminating the object of the desire; that is because every desire is nothing but the projection outside of a “thirst” that is only within us. 270 You really become a sannyasin the moment you discover that there is “no-thing” to renounce, not because there are no things “out there” but because you are “no-thing.” Or, to quote the terse statement of one Upanishad:
On the very day one is disillusioned,
on the same day one becomes a renouncer. 271
At Home in Both Seas, East and West
Muni
30 It is probably an ascetic “clothed with the wind,” as were the Jaina ascetics, who is described in this vivid hymn of the Rig. Veda. He has acquired powers of the highest order, though his way of life does not constitute one of the recognized stages or ashramas. His function is to collaborate directly with the Gods; he is their associate. His external appearance reveals his vocation and the sincerity of his way of life. He lives everywhere, his home is in both East and West, he is the universal Man. But the price he has to pay for this station is that he perhaps ceases to be a normal man. He, the keshin, the long-haired, is a muni or silent one. 272 He does not speak, not because he has many things to say yet forces himself into silence (which would be hypocrisy), but simply because he has nothing to say. He does not cut his hair; he is engrossed, rather, in “cutting” his thoughts and he intends also to cut the knot of time and space. Will he succeed?
Muni
RV X, 136
1. Within him is fire, within him is drink,
within him both earth and heaven.
He is the Sun which views the whole world,
he is indeed Light itself--
the long-haired ascetic.
2. Girded with the wind, they have donned ocher mud
for a garment. So soon as the Gods
have entered within them, they follow the wings
of the wind, these silent ascetics.
3. Intoxicated, they say, by our austerities,
we have taken the winds for our steeds.
You ordinary mortals here below
see nothing except our bodies.
4. He flies through midair, the silent ascetic,
beholding the forms of all things.
To every God he has made himself
a friend and collaborator.
5. Ridden by the wind, companion of its blowing,
pushed along by the Gods,
he is at home in both seas, the East
and the West--this silent ascetic.
6. He follows the track of all the spirits,
of nymphs and the deer of the forest.
Understanding their thoughts, bubbling with ecstasies,
their appealing friend is he--
the long-haired ascetic.
7. The wind has prepared and mixed him a drink;
it is pressed by Kunamnama.
Together with Rudra he has drunk from the cup
of poison--the long-haired ascetic.
1. Fire: agni.
Drink: visha, poison, poisonous drink, or, as here, intoxicating liquor that burns inside like a fire (as is confirmed in v. 7). He “carries” earth and heaven, like Prajapati to whom he approximates by divinization.
Long-haired ascetic: keshin, the wearer of loose long hair. Cf. the interesting explanation of SB V, 4, 1, 2 for long-haired man.
2. Silent ascetics: munis.
3. This stanza is put into the mouths of the munis themselves.
4. Beholding the forms of all things: here is a double meaning, a spatial one, owing to the association with the sun (seeing all things from above) and a more spiritual one (from a higher perspective).
5. The wind: vata.
Companion of its blowing: vayu, the divinity of the wind.
6. Spirits . . . nymphs: Gandharvas and Apsaras.
7. Wind: vayu.
Kunamnama: possibly a female spirit, connected with vayu.
Cup of poison: vishasya patra. Cf. the later myth of Siva drinking the poison.
Without Urge and without Identity
Vairagya
31 The process of interiorization set in motion by the Upanishads led subsequently to the resolute removal and abandonment of all the cloaks in which the real is shrouded. Two strands combine in the idea of the sannyasin, the monk, the acosmic ascetic who has renounced everything. 273 First, the personal perfection of a Man who always speaks the truth, who has perfect control over all his passions and urges, who is full of compassion and love indeed, whatever human ideal we may have in mind, the holy Man is its embodiment. Second, a total transcendence and overcoming of the human condition. The sadhu, the man who goes straight to the goal, is beyond all the limitations of human creatures, moral and social, physical and intellectual. He is no longer a citizen of this world but already lives on the other shore, bearing his witness not as a preacher but as a reminder to the rest of mankind who are still enmeshed in the clutches of samsara, this phenomenal world. The balance has not always been kept, but in the Upanishads these two elements are strongly present. 274
Perhaps one of the most striking expressions of this mature balance is the famous line of the Isha Upanishad: “Find enjoyment by renunciation.” 275 True asceticism is not narcissistic complacency, but the discovery that liberation from the bonds of desire allows us really to enjoy things, without being haunted by the fear of losing them or by the anxiety of not getting them. The ascetic is totally free. 276
Vairagya
BU III, 5B
i) The sages who have come to know this Self overcome the desire for sons, the desire for riches, the desire for worlds, and set forth on a mendicant’s life. For desire for sons is desire for wealth, and desire for wealth is desire for worlds; both are nothing but desires. Therefore, let a sage go beyond learning and lead the life of a child. When he has gone beyond both childlike life and learning, then he becomes a silent sage. Only when he goes beyond asceticism and nonasceticism does he become truly a knower of Brahman. What makes him a true Brahmin, though? That through which he becomes such! All the rest is irrelevant.
BU IV, 5, 1-3
ii) 1. Now Yajnavalkya had two wives, Maitreyi and Katyayani. Of these two, Maitreyi had understanding of Brahman, whereas Katyayani possessed only the common knowledge of women. Now Yajnavalkya wished to prepare for another way of life.
2. “Listen, Maitreyi,” said Yajnavalkya, “I am about to depart from this state. Come, let me make an arrangement between you and Katyayani.”
3. Maitreyi said to him: “My Lord, if even the whole earth filled with treasures were mine, would I become immortal by this, or not?”
“[Certainly] not,” replied Yajnavalkya; “your life would be just like that of people possessing everything, but in riches there is no hope of immortality.”
MAHANAR U 505-517; 530-531; 537-538
YUGANATHA PROBLEM WITH NUMBERS
iii) 505. Truth is the supreme, the supreme is truth. Through truth men never fall from the heavenly world, because truth belongs to the saints. Therefore they rejoice in truth.
506. Ardor, they say, [is the supreme], but there is no higher ardor than fasting, because the supreme ardor is difficult to attain. Therefore they rejoice in ardor.
507. Self-control [is the supreme], say the Brahman-students constantly. Therefore they rejoice in self-control.
508. Peace [is the supreme], say the silent monks in the forest. Therefore they rejoice in peace.
509. Almsgiving all beings praise. Nothing is more difficult than almsgiving. Therefore they rejoice in almsgiving.
510. Order [is the supreme], they say, for all this [universe] is encompassed by order. Nothing is more difficult than to abide by order. Therefore they rejoice in order.
511. Procreation [is the supreme], the majority [of people] think. Therefore a large number [of children] are born. Therefore most people rejoice in procreation.
512. The [three] fires [are the supreme], they say. Therefore the fires are to be established.
513. The agnihotra [is the supreme], they say. Therefore they rejoice in the agnihotra.
514. Sacrifice [is the supreme], they say, for by means of sacrifice the Gods have attained heaven. Therefore they rejoice in sacrifice.
515. The spiritual [is the supreme], so say the wise. Therefore the wise rejoice in the spiritual.
516-517. Renunciation [is the supreme], says Brahma, for Brahma is the supreme, the supreme is Brahma. In truth, all these lower achievements are transcended by renunciation. [This is true for] him who knows this. This is the secret teaching.
530. The sages call Brahma renunciation.
531. Brahma is the universe, the supreme joy; he is self-existent; he is [what they call] “Prajapati is the year.”
537. Having realized [Brahman] with mind and heart, having become wise, you will no longer move on the path of death.
538. Therefore they call renunciation the ardor surpassing all others.
MAIT U VI, 28
iv) There is still another saying: “Having passed beyond the elements, the senses, and their objects, and having next seized the bow whose string is the life of renunciation and whose stick is steadfastness, he pierces with the arrow of unselfishness through the door of Brahman that obstructing defender who wears delusion as his crown, greed and envy as his earrings, whose staff consists of impurity and sin, and who, guided by self-conceit and wielding the bow whose string is anger and whose stick is lust, kills people with the arrow of desire. Having destroyed him, he crosses over in the boat of the sound OM to the other shore of the space within the heart and enters slowly, even as a miner in search of minerals, the inner space that is [thus] revealed. Thus he enters the hall of Brahman, thrusting away the fourfold sheath of Brahman, by the instruction of his master. Then he is pure, purified, empty, peaceful, breathless, selfless, infinite, indestructible, stable, eternal, unborn, free; he is established in his own glory. Having seen [the Self] who is established in his own glory, he looks upon the wheel of life as a wheel that rolls on.” Thus it is said:
If for six months a man practices yoga, eternally liberated he achieves the infinite, the highest, the mysterious, and the complete yoga. But a man who is full of passion and inertia, though he may be otherwise enlightened, and who is attached to son, wife, and family, can never achieve it, never at all!
JAB U 4-6
v) 4. Janaka, King of Videha, once approached Yajnavalkya and said: “Reverend Sir, teach me, I pray, about renunciation.”
Yajnavalkya replied: “After completing the life of a student, let a man become a householder. After completing the life of a householder, let him become a forest dweller, let him renounce all things. Or he may renounce all things directly from the student state or from the house-holder’s state as well as from that of the forest dweller. Whether one has completed the vows or not, whether one is a student or not, even if one has not completed the rites, on the very day when one becomes indifferent [to the world], on the same day should one leave and become an ascetic . . .”
5. Once Atri asked Yajnavalkya: “I ask you, Yajnavalkya, how can one who does not wear the sacred thread [as the sign of initiation] be a Brahmin?”
“Yajnavalkya replied: “This alone is the sacred thread of him who observes the purification with water after eating. This rite is to be observed in order to leave the world and become an ascetic. One may die as a hero, or by fasting, or by entering water or fire, or by the great departure. Now the ascetic who wears discolored robes, whose head is shaved, who does not possess anything, who is pure and free from hatred, who lives on alms, he becomes absorbed in Brahman. If he is physically unfit, he may practice renunciation in spirit and word. This is the way found by Brahman, on which he moves. The ascetic becomes a knower of Brahman.” Thus spoke the venerable Yajnavalkya.
6. The following are called parama-hamsas: Samvartaka, Aruni, Shvetaketu, Durvasa, Rbhu, Nidagha, Jada-Bharata, Dattatreya, Raivataka, and others. Their nature is unmanifest, their way of life is unmanifest; though they are not mad, they appear to behave as if they were. By saying, bhu svaha! they renounce the trident, the begging bowl, the hair tuft, the sacred thread, throwing all into water, and then search for the atman alone. Unencumbered as at birth, with no ties or possessions, they set foot resolutely on the path of Brahman. In purity of mind, in order to maintain life, they go out for alms at prescribed times with no other vessel than their stomachs, maintaining equanimity whether they get something or nothing. They may inhabit a deserted house, a temple, a bush, or an anthill, the root of a tree, a potter’s hut, a fireplace, or a sandbank in a river, a hill, a cave, the hollow of a tree, a waterfall, or simply the ground without a home of any sort. Without regard for themselves, without urges and efforts, absorbed in contemplation and established in the higher Self, they endeavor to remove evil deeds and surrender their bodies by renunciation. Such is a parama-hamsa; such indeed is a parama-hamsa!
PAING U IV, 9
vi) With his mind purified, with his consciousness purified, with patience, thinking “I am He,” and with patience when he has attained the consciousness of “I am He,” he is established by wisdom in the supreme atman who is to be known in the heart, and when his body has attained the state of peace, then the spirit with its light, the mind, becomes void. For what is the use of milk for one who is filled with nectar? What is the use of the study of the Vedas for one who has seen the Self? For the yogin who is filled with the nectar of knowledge there is nothing left to be achieved. If there still remains something, then he is not a man who has realized truth. He remains aloof, but not aloof, in the body, but not in the body; his inmost Self becomes the all-pervading. Having purified his heart and accomplished his perfect thinking, the yogin sees: I am the all, the highest bliss.
KAIV U 2-6
vii) 2. Know this [Brahman] by the practice of faith, love, and concentration. Not through actions, not through offspring or wealth, but only by renunciation does one attain life eternal.
3. The ascetics enter into this shining [mystery] in the cave [of the heart] and beyond the heavens.
4. The ascetics who have well understood the end of the Vedas have become pure by the practice of renunciation. At the end of time they dwell in the worlds of Brahman and, having overcome death, they are all liberated.
5. [Having reached] the last order of life, [one should sit] in a solitary place, in a relaxed posture, with pure heart, with head, neck, and body straight, controlling all the sense organs, having bowed with devotion to the master.
6. Meditating on the heart-lotus in the center, which is free from passion, pure, inconceivable, beyond sorrow, unthinkable, unmanifest, of eternal form, benevolent, peaceful, immortal, the source of Brahma.
i) 5a. Cf. § IV 6. Cf. BU IV, 4, 22 (§ VI 6) where the same idea appears.
Sages: brahmanah Brahmins.
Desire for worlds: lokaishana, ambition for superior states of being (in the realm of the sacred and also perhaps in that of the secular).
Go beyond: lit. overcome, do away with, put away, or despise.
A sage is neither a pandit nor a child: balyam ca pandityam ca nirvidya.
ii) BU IV, 5 is identical with BU II, 4. Yajnavalkya is a classical example of one who renounces all and retires to the forest. The text shows that it was left to the wife to choose whether or not she would follow her husband on the path of renunciation. The element of choice is illustrated in the different attitudes of the two wives, whose decisions depended on whether their desine for immortality was stronger than worldly attachments.
1. Another way of life: anyad vrttam.
2. Depart: pra-vraj-, the technical term for taking up the life of a wandering monk.
State: sthana.
Cf. BU II, 4, 4-14 (§§ VI 5; VI 4).
15. Cf. § III 28. Yuganatha problem. There is no number 15 in the verses number 3 instead.
iii) 505-517. The series of terms declared to be the highest (para) by different groups of people includes satya, tapas, dama, shama, dana, dharma, prajana, agnayah, agnihotra, yajna, manasa (spiritual or mental worship), and nyasa.
518-530. The same ideas are repeated and expanded.
531. “Prajapati is the year” is a formula for the totality (in the Brahmanas). All the previously enumerated terms are different forms of tapas, the highest of which is renunciation (nyasa).
iv) Life of renunciation: pravrajya.
Unselfishness: an-abhimana, without self-conceit.
Door of Brahman: brahma-dvara, probably referring to the yogic experience of the “opening” of the skull (brahmarandhra) as the last gate on the road to illumination.
That obstructing defender: referring to ahamkara, the ego sense. The ego has to be killed before one can enter the “inner chamber” of the heart, which is the “hall of Brahman.”
Space within the heart: hrdayakasha.
Hall of Brahman: brahma-shala, the inner sanctuary.
The fourfold sheath of [i.e., covering] Brahman: caturjalam brahma-kosham. Cf. the doctrine of the koshas or sheaths in which the Self is enveloped and which have to be removed gradually.
Master: guru.
Wheel of life: sancara-cakra, the wheel of transmigration, of which he becomes simply a spectator.
Eternally liberated: nityamukta, referring to the belief that bondage is not real and that therefore the object of yoga is simply to reveal again that state of liberation which is eternal.
Passion and inertia: rajas and tamas, those qualities (guna) of nature (prakrti) which constitute an obstacle to the spiritual path.
v) 4. Renunciation: sannyasa.
Life of a student: brahmacarya.
Vows: vrata, the Vedic injunctions.
Student: snataka.
Cf. also MundU I, 2, 11 (§ III 27).
The rest of this passage deals with some other kinds of sacrifices.
5. Yajnavalkya here gives his interpretation of what it means to be a Brahmin, i.e., one who renounces everything. The different kinds of death or religious suicide mentioned here seem to identify renunciation with death.
Great departure: mahaprasthana, perhaps meaning natural death.
Practice renunciation in spirit and word: manasa vaca samnyaset, i.e., he need not perform physical acts of asceticism.
This is the way . . . : esha pantha brahmana hanuvittas; this phrase is not clear.
Knower of Brahman: brahmavid; i.e., the Brahmin mentioned by the questioner. Cf. BU IV, 4, 9.
6. Parama-hamsa: lit. “highest swan,” the category of a saint or a realized person.
For Shvetaketu cf. CU VI, 8 sq. (§ VI 10).
Unmanifest: avyakta, hidden.
Bhu svaha: a sacrificial exclamation. Renunciation is again shown as the culmination of sacrifice.
Trident, etc.: the insignia of a religious man.
vi) “I am He”: so ‘ham asmi, cf. IsU 16 (§ VII 31); BU IV, 4, 12 (§ VI 9). Void: shunya, a Buddhist term. As is clear from the following sentence, shunya is here equal to purna, fullness. Filled with the nectar of knowledge: jnanamrta-trpta.
vii) 2. Not through actions: na karmana, not by works or actions, or spiritual exercises and rituals, but through renunciation: tyagena. Karman implies merit, which secures prosperity in the “worlds,” whereas offspring and wealth are goods of this world. Cf. MundU III, 2, 3 sq (§ VI 11) for a theology of renunciation.
2b-3. Cf. MahanarU 227-228 for the same text.
Ascetics: yatayah; yati is derived from the root yat-, to strive, to tend toward, to be eager, to persevere, to be watchful, to be prepared: all these are qualities of a seeker after truth, a renouncer.
4. Cf. SU VI, 22, for the end of the Veda (Vedanta). Cf. also PaingU IV, 9 (vi). This text, given in MundU III, 2, 6 (§ VI 11) and MahanarU 229-230, is always recited as an address of welcome when ocher-robed sannyasins arrive.
Practice: yoga.
By the practice of renunciation: sannyasa-yogat. It may be understood that they dwell in the brahmaloka until the end of time when they will be completely liberated (parimucyanti).
6. Heart-lotus: hrt-pundarika. Cf. CU VIII, 1 (§ VI 6).
Source of Brahma: brahma-yoni. The pure center is even the origin of the creator.
7-10. Cf. § VI 11.
11. Cf. § VI 12.
The True Yogin
Yukta vimukta
32 We shall not discuss the polarity and tension between action and contemplation, works and renunciation, engagement and withdrawal, which occupy the attention of post-Vedic spirituality. As early as the Gita, however, all the elements of this fundamental human problem are in a fairly developed stage. The Bhagavad Gita tries to put forward a synthesis by saying that pure inaction is not possible, 277 that action without the core or soul of contemplation is useless, 278 that, therefore, acts should be performed as a sacrifice 279 and even the acts of the spirit as intellectual sacrifices. 280
The true yogin is not the Man who does not act but the Man who acts with detachment, that is, without hankering for the results of his actions, not only on a moral but also on an ontological plane. 281 The true ascetic not only has perfect control over himself 282 and total equanimity, 283 but he is also liberated from all desires, 284 sees the Lord everywhere and everything in the Lord, 285 and is ready for action when it is required and seen as his duty. 256
The message of the Bhagavad Gita is still fundamentally the same as that of the Upanishads and yet it introduces fresh melodies. The Gita restores the balance by readjusting lopsided interpretations. The authentic yogin, the truly integrated Man, is not the acosmic monk striving for an altogether impossible ideal of inaction and unattachment. The Gita certainly preaches total “detachment” from the works done and from their fruits, 257 but this detachment should not be confused with unattachment, either ontological, as if values could exist in isolation, or psychological, as if commitment were evil in itself. The Gita recognizes that there are actions that have to be done and that not to perform them would be wrong. The integrated Man is both yukta, yoked to the whole of reality, involved in the net of relationships, and vimukta, free, liberated. He is committed but not concerned, he is detached but not unattached, he is involved but not entangled. Hence derives his “holy indifference,” his serenity, his peace, which is not one of having taken refuge in an ivory tower or an inaccessible aerie but is the result of being situated in the very heart of reality.
Yukta vimukta
BG V, 2-3
i) 2. Both renunciation of works and also their practice
lead to the Supreme.
But of these to act rather than to renounce
is the better path.
3. The heart of the man of true renunciation
neither hates nor desires.
He is easily released from bondage, being free
from all dualities.
BG VI, 1-16;18-23
ii) 1. He who acts as he should, yet is unconcerned
for the fruits of his action,
is a true renouncer, true yogin, not the riteless
man who does not worship.
2. Know, Arjuna, that what men call renunciation
is the authentic yoga;
for without renouncing all desire
no man becomes a yogin.
3. The silent sage climbing toward yoga
uses work as a means.
Quiescence and serenity are the proper course
for one who has attained.
4. When a man does not cling to the objects of sense
or to his own achievements,
but surrenders his will, then he scales, it is said,
the heights of yoga.
5. Let a man lift himself by the Self and not allow
himself to sink down,
For the Self alone is self’s friend and the Self
may be also self’s foe.
6. To him who has conquered his self by the Self
the Self is a friend,
but to him who has no such mastery the Self
becomes hostile, like a foe.
7. In the one who has conquered his self and is peaceful,
the Supreme Self,
in heat or cold, joy or pain, honor or disgrace,
abides in serenity.
8. He who is full of wisdom and understanding,
calm and controlled,
to whom a clod, a stone, and gold are the same,
is in truth a yogin.
9. He whose heart is impartial to foes, friends, companions,
to the indifferent and neutral,
to hateful people, relatives, saints and sinners,
has indeed succeeded.
10. The yogin shall abide in secret and solitude,
united to the Self,
his thoughts, his whole self, well-controlled, free from
striving, stripped of possessions.
11. Let him set a firm seat in a place wholly pure,
not too high or too low,
and cover it with sacred grass, with a deerskin,
and, finally, with a cloth.
12. Let him, seated thereon, make his mind one-pointed,
controlling his thought
and his senses. Thus let him concentrate on yoga
to purify his being.
13. Motionless, holding his body erect,
his head and his neck,
let him fix his gaze on the tip of his nose,
his eyes held steady.
14. Tranquil and fearless, steadfast in chastity,
with mind controlled,
let him sit, his thought on Me, absorbed in Me,
integrated within.
15. Ever keeping himself in discipline and harmony,
his mind controlled,
the yogin reaches peace and the Goal Supreme
abiding in Me.
16. Yoga is not for the one who overeats
or who eats too little;
nor is it for the one who sleeps too much
or for him who is too wakeful.
18. When thought, disciplined, is focused on the Self
and on the Self alone,
free from the assault of longings, he is said
to be integrated.
19. To a lamp in a windless place, unflickering,
is likened in a simile
the yogin whose thought is controlled, who practices
integration of the Self.
20. That in which thought, mastered by the practice
of yoga, is at rest,
that in which one sees the self in the Self
and finds peace and content.
21. When he knows with his mind the joy supreme
beyond the reach of the senses,
then, perceiving, he stands still, adhering
firmly to Reality.
22. Having laid hold on Reality he avers it
a matchless prize.
Established therein, he is unmoved even by
the direst sorrow.
23. Let that be known as true yoga.
i) 2. Renunciation: sannyasa.
Practice [of works]: karmayoga, way of action.
3. The man of true renunciation: nityasannyasin, true renouncer, eternal renouncer.
Free from all dualities: nirdvandva. Dvandva: pair of opposites, dualities.
ii) 1. Renouncer: sannyasin.
The “fruit” of the action, karma-phala should not be confused with the “intrinsic goal” of the action.
Does not worship: lit. does not light the fire (of sacrifice).
2. Yoga: practice, performance of the prescribed works, diciplined action.
Desires: samkalpa, intention, will, resolution. Asamnyastasamkalpa: one who has not renounced all purposes, selfish desires, preplanned “wishful” thinking.
3. Quiescence and serenity: shama, equanimity, sameness, “holy indifference.”
Who has attained: Yogarudhasya, of one who has attained yoga, union, integration,
4. His own achievements: karmasu, his deeds, works.
Surrenders his will: samkalpa-sannyasi, renounces his ideas and ambitions.
5. Self’s friend: atmano bandhur.
6. Who has no such mastery [of the self]: anatman, who is left without a self, whose self is unconquered.
This “self” may be either the material or the spiritual self.
7. Supreme Self: paramatman.
Serenity: samahita, concentrated, quietened, steadfast.
9. Impartial: sama-buddhi, equal minded, one whose mind is even, calm, serene, and endowed with “holy indifference.”
10. His thoughts, his whole self (taken as two separate terms): cittatma, conscious Self.
Stripped of Possessions: aparigraha Cf. IsU 1 (§ VII 6).
12. Mind one-pointed: ekagram manah; single-pointedness is one of the elements of yoga (cf. YS II, 41).
To purify his being: atma-vishuddhaye, for the purification of his soul.
13. His eyes held steady: lit. not looking around.
15. Goal Supreme: nirvanaparama, which culrmnates in nirvana.
16. The middle path.
17. Cf. § IV 7.
18. Integrated: yukta, one who has bound together in himself all human qualities; yoked, joined, united, from the verb yuj-, to yoke.
19. Lamp in a windless place: a classic simile for a peaceful mind. Integration of the Self: yunjato yogam atmanah, or union with the Self.
20. Sees the self in the Self: atmanatmanam pashyann atmani tushyati, seeing the self by means of the self, (he) is satisfied in the self. Two interpretations are possible: self-reflection or reflecting oneself in the Self. Cf. BU IV, 4, 23 (§ VI 6) for the same idea.
21. Adhering firmly to reality: lit. no moving from Reality (tattvatah), cleaving to it. Cf. the idea of no “return” of the one who has become realized.
22. A matchless prize: lit. there is no other gain.
23. Cf. § IV 7.