July 12, 2023
śubhāśubhaphalair evaṁ mokṣyase karmabandhanaiḥ
saṁnyāsayogayuktātmā vimukto mām upaiṣyasi (IX-28)
samo ’haṁ sarvabhūteṣu na me dveṣyo ’sti na priyaḥ
ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā mayi te teṣu cā ’py ahaṁ (IX-29)
IX/28. Thus shalt thou be freed from the bonds of actions yielding good and evil fruits; with the mind steadfast in the yoga of renunciation and liberated, thou shalt come unto me.
IX-29. The same am I to all beings; to me there is none hateful or dear; but those who worship me with devotion are in me and I am also in them.
Swamiji's Commentary
Liberation is from ignorance; renunciation is of its offspring – egoism and mineness. When the devotee of the omnipresence humbly performs all the activities of his life as worship of God, he is liberated from ignorance and the ignorant belief that some actions are high and others low or menial; that some actions yield auspicious and others inauspicious fruits. In a truly holy man, action does not need a motivation, since everything connected with every action is holy and divine. In his view, all actions are performed ‘by God, to God, for his own sake’, thus he is unbiased. Such a man is a supreme devotee of the Lord and quickly reaches him.
To the uninitiated and evil-veiled eye it looks as though God is somehow partial when one man, who to all outward appearances is like any other man, is granted liberation! He seems to be the beloved of God, the chosen one. Is God, then, a whimsical being with his own private loves?
In the history of religions, many have claimed to be ‘the chosen’ people, race or men. The idea occurs even in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad! ‘The self reveals itself to whom it pleases’. The Holy Quran also resorts to such expression. This divine mystery is explained in The Gitā: God chooses the humble ones who have totally surrendered themselves to him, to serve as his instrument, knowing that they will never misuse that privilege or thereby become swollen-headed. They are chosen because they deserve such choice; and such choice is therefore in the interest of all. There is no suggestion that certain communities or peoples will be chosen. In the eyes of God all have an equal opportunity to be chosen. All needles stand an equal chance of being attracted by the magnet, but the clean needle enjoys that privilege, while the rusty one does not.
He who thinks he is fit to be chosen, he who says that he is the chosen one, is not chosen.