Daily Readings from the Works of Swami Venkatesananda


Bhagavad Gita - Song of God - Chapter 14: 26-27

October 13, 2023

™māṁ ca yo ’vyabhicāreṇa bhaktiyogena sevate
sa guṇān samatītyai ’tān brahmabhūyāya kalpate (XIV-26)
™brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhā ’ham amṛtasyā ’vyayasya ca
śāśvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyai ’kāntikasya ca (XIV-27)

XIV/26. And he who serves me with unswerving devotion,
he, crossing beyond the qualities, is fit for becoming Brahman.

XIV/27. For I am the abode of Brahman, the immortal and the
immutable, of everlasting dharma and of absolute bliss.

Swamiji's Commentary

      We should be careful and vigilant when we study The Bhagavad Gītā. Krishna is discussing the sage who has crossed the guṇā – which suggests a great introvert and philosopher.

      But he does not want us to forget that that is only one aspect of the yogi’s life. Even such an evolved yogi does not cease to ‘serve’. When one attains the state of non attachment to the guṇā, the guṇā that constitute the body still continue to operate, while the detachment directs them along useful channels to do the divine will. Peace and desirelessness ensure that that service is rendered as Gods instrument to his omnipresence. But service itself is never given up; neither is single-hearted devotion to him. This synthesis of wisdom-action-devotion leads the aspirant to the absolute, Brahman.

      Do not discuss Brahman. As our Master often said: “To define Brahman is to deny Brahman.” Truth is indescribable. It is so indescribably simple that every description complicates it! But the vain human intellect cannot desist from attempting such description and definition. Krishna tells us here: “All right, if you must say Brahman is absolute, infinite, existence-knowledge-bliss, supreme peace and eternal bliss, go on – but I am the abode of Brahman!”

      If you are audacious enough to define Brahman, then he is beyond even that! Somewhere, at some time, the intellect has to stop in silence. When all this play of logic and reason, intellect and (let us say) intuition, has ceased, when there is supreme silence, what is, is he! But do not mistake that silence itself for him.

      May he guide us to himself.

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