Chapter 9 The Yoga of Mysticism

In this chapter, Krishna offers guidance in the path of the mystic 

for direct perception of God:

Since you accept me

And do not question,

Now I shall tell you

That innermost secret:

Knowledge of God

Which is nearer than knowing,

Open vision

Direct and instant.  Understand this

And be free for ever

From birth and dying

With all their evil.

 Krishna offers this guidance to Arjuna because Arjuna has reached a state where he accepts Krishna fully without question.  Because he is so receptive, God can reveal Himself and share the deepest secret of direct vision which will free Arjuna from the wheel of birth and death, and all the suffering inherent in the cycle. Krishna speaks to each one of us when he addresses Arjuna and lets us know that it is mystic sight that will free us.

This is the knowledge

Above all other:

Purifier

And king of secrets,

Only made plain

To the eye of the mystic.

Great is its virtue,

Its practice easy:

Thus man is brought

To truth eternal.

 Discussion: Direct knowledge of God can be had through the single eye, the ``eye of the mystic``which is a way of referring to the chakra commonly known as the third eye, between the eyebrows. Only when that eye opens, is it possible to know ``the king of secrets.`` Krishna tells us that the practice to open the third eye is easy.  We are generally led to believe that this is a difficult path, esoteric, and hard to practice, so it is surprising to read Krishna`s words – surprising, but also encouraging, since it is an invitation from God to the human being to approach Him in the most intimate and direct way. In a modern secular world, is it possible for us to accept this without question and to practice the mystic path……or are we tied to the cycle of birth and dying because we don`t have faith that such direct knowledge of God is even possible to experience personally…..

Those without faith

In this, my knowledge,

Shall fail to find me:

Back they must turn

To the mortal pathway,

Subject still

To birth and to dying.

The entire universe is pervaded by me in that eternal form of mine 
which is not manifest to the senses. 
Although I am not within any creature, all creatures exist within me.  
I do not mean that they exist within me physically.  
That is my divine mystery.  You must try to understand its nature.  
My Being sustains all creatures and brings them to birth, 
but has no physical contact with them.

For as the vast air, wandering world-wide,

Remains within the ether always,

So these, my wandering creatures,

Are always within me.

Discussion: God is everywhere and every creature is held within God. There has never been and never can be a separation from God.  We are always sustained by God but not through physical contact.  Religious and spiritual texts have many ways of explaining this relationship and there are many ways to approach the subject intellectually.  Krishna does tell us that we need to try to understand this.  To think of ourselves as consciousness, Spirit, not physical beings, helps to identify with God, a non-physical power, energy, force. 

For, as the vast air, wandering world-wide,

Remains within the ether always,

So these, my wandering creatures,

Are always within me.

These, when the round of ages is accomplished,

I gather back to the seed of their becoming:

These I send forth again

At the hour of creation.

In the above three sections as well as the next three, Krishna refers to the cosmology and philosophy that undergirds the Bhagavad Gita.  All of life is held within Brahman.  Through a cycle of yugas (ages) creation is manifested using the power of Maya.  When the round of ages is completed, all of creation is withdrawn into an unmanifest state.  Unaware of this larger cycle, we live our small lives, over and over again in a manifest state and return to the unmanifest state again, helpless, until the next age of creation comes again.  In this cycle of repeated births and deaths, there is much suffering. 

Helpless all, for Maya is there master,

And I their Lord, the master of this Maya:

Ever and again, I send these multitudes

Forth from my Being.

How shall these acts bind me, who am indifferent

to the fruit they bear? For my spirit

Stands apart, watching over

Maya, the maker.

Discussion: In this verse, we may ask, where is the personal God, the one who cares about creation? Maya is a force unleashed to not only make all things, but to veil the source of creation. I understand that as part of creation, an impersonal law of Cause and Effect determines the fruits of all acts and God is quite apart from the sufferings of the world. We may refer back to the section in Chapter 5 where Krishna says "Do not say 'God gave us this delusion.' You dream you are the doer. . . It is the world's delusion, that gives you these dreams. The Lord is everywhere and always perfect: What does he care for man's sin or the righteousness of man?" In the above verse, God's "spirit stands apart, watching over Maya, the maker."  I find it both a relief to read of the impersonal and non-judgmental aspect of God and at the same time, feel a sense of abandonment that this does not speak of a personal and caring relationship of God with the human being -  Providential intervention in human lives, let's say, in answer to personal prayers, for example. Intellectually, I can grasp the broader cosmology, but I find it difficult to feel devotion for this aspect of God.

Maya makes all things: what moves, what is unmoving.

O son of Kunti, that is why the world spins,

Turning its wheel through birth

And through destruction.

Fools pass blindly by the place of my dwelling

Here in the human form, and of my majesty

They know nothing at all,

Who am the Lord, their soul.

Vain is their hope, and in vain their labour,

their knowledge:

All their understanding is but bewilderment:

Their nature has fallen into the madness

Of fiends and monsters.

People live their lives unaware that God, their soul, lives within them.  Without this awareness, they are unable to realize that God also lives in the human form of others and are driven by their lower nature to live and act out of ignorance. Are human beings doomed then to live out the fruits of their acts and ignorance? Krishna extolls the virtue of the godly, and their nature, and how they worship. 

Great in soul are they who become what is godlike:

They alone know me, the origin, the deathless

They offer me the homage 

Of an unwavering mind.

Praising my might with heart and lips forever,

Striving for the virtue that wins me, and steadfast

In all their vows, they worship adoring,

One with me always.

  Others worship me, knowing Brahman in all things:

Krishna describes the many symbolic aspects of worship which represent Him:

Rites that the Vedas ordain, and the rituals 

taught by the scriptures:

All these am I, and the offering made to the fathers,

Herbs of healing and food, the mantram, the clarified butter:

I the oblation and I the flame into which it is offered.



I am the sire of the world, and this world's mother and grandsire:
I am He who awards to each the fruit of his action:
I make all things clean, I am OM, I am absolute knowledge:
I am also the Vedas-the Sam, the Rik and the Yajus.
I am the end of the path, the witness, the Lord, the sustainer:
I am the place of abode, the beginning, the friend and the refuge:
I am the breaking-apart, and the storehouse of life's dissolution:
I lie under the seen, of all creatures the seed that is changeless.


 

I am the heat of the sun; and the heat of the fire am I also: 
Life eternal and death.  I let loose the rain, or withhold it.
Arjuna, I am the cosmos revealed, and its germ that lies hidden.

What follows is Krishna’s instructions for the path of bhakti, devotion to Him, which will free a person from the cycle of repeated births and deaths to enter at last into union with Him.  The path of bhakti is a path of grace, in that great efforts are not required, but surrender, love and devoted remembrance.  Freedom is bestowed by grace, not earned by a good life, by good deeds or sacrifices.  Even if one has lived a lifetime of sin, grace will absolve the person whose heart is offered in devotion.  This is the Vaishnava culture – to remember, visualize, tell stories of, repeat the name of, sing songs of devotion to the Lord, worship Him in His many forms of incarnation and fill all of life with moment-to-moment awareness of His presence beyond all illusory perceptions.

But if a man will worship me, and meditate upon me 

with an undistracted mind, devoting every moment to me, 

I shall supply all his needs, and protect his possessions from loss.  

Even those who worship other deities, and sacrifice to them 

with faith in their hearts are really worshipping me, 

though with a mistaken approach.  

For I am the only enjoyer and the only God of all sacrifices.  

Nevertheless, such men must return to life on earth, 

because they do not recognize me in my true nature.

Those who sacrifice to the various deities, will go to those deities.  

The ancestor-worshippers will go to their ancestors. 

Those who worship elemental powers and spirits will go to them.  

So, also, my devotees will come to me.

Whatever man gives me

In true devotion

Fruit or water,

A leaf, a flower:

I will accept it.

That gift is love,

His heart’s dedication.

Whatever your action,

Food or worship;

Whatever the gift

That you give to another;

Whatever you vow

To the work of the spirit:

O son of Kunti,

Lay these also

As offerings before me.

 

Thus you will free yourself from both the good and the evil effects of your actions.  Offer up everything to me.  If your heart is united with me, you will be set free from karma even in this life, and come to me at last.

My face is equal

To all creation

Loving no one

Nor hating any.

Nevertheless,

My devotees dwell

Within me always:

I also show forth

And am seen within them.

Though a man be soiled

With the sins of a lifetime,

Let him but love me,

Rightly resolved,

In utter devotion:

I see no sinner,

That man is holy,

Holiness soon

Shall refashion his nature

To peace eternal;

O son of Kunti,

The man that loves me,

He shall not perish.

Even those who belong to the lower castes--women, Vaishyas, and Sudras too--can reach the highest spiritual realization, if they will take refuge in me.  Need I tell you, then that this is also true of the holy Brahmins and pious philosopher-kings?

You find yourself in this transient, joyless world.  Turn from it, and take your delight in me.  Fill your heart and mind with me, adore me, make all your acts an offering to me, bow down to me in self-surrender.  If you set your heart upon me thus, and take me for your ideal above all others, you will come into my Being.