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3. "Yoga" in the Bhagavad Geeta
To understand the Bhagavad Geeta as a whole, it is helpful to be clear about the meaning of certain extremely important words and concepts which occur over and over again in the Geeta, and about which there are many wrong ideas. The most important of these words is "Yoga." The others we will look at as we come across them for the first time in the text, but "Yoga" is a word that we will have to be clear about before we even start looking at the text! That is because if you look at the titles of the eighteen chapters of the Geeta as given by its writer Vyasa himself at the end of each chapter, you will find that each and every one of them ends with the word "Yoga." These are:
Now to most people, the word "Yoga" conjures up an image of bearded men sitting in a particular posture, meditating for hours together in some secluded place. Or of particular physical or breathing exercises taught in the many popular yoga classes today. That can hardly be the meaning of the word "yoga" as used in the Bhagavad Geeta. That belongs more to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (and a small part of that too), and has very little to do with the meaning of "Yoga" as used in the Geeta. In 2:48, right in the middle of the battlefield, Krishna tells Arjuna, "Established in yoga, perform actions having abandoned attachment, winner of wealth. Being equanimous in success and failure is called yoga." How much time did Arjuna have to become "yogasthah," i.e. to be "established in yoga?" There he was, standing between the two armies. The bugles had already sounded. Both the armies were eager for war. They were just waiting for their leaders to give directions. And Krishna was telling Arjuna, "Established in yoga, perform actions having abandoned attachment!" How much time did Arjuna have to get "established in yoga" and "abandon attachment" and then perform action? A few minutes at the most! And what was Krishna telling him to do? Some physical and breathing exercises? "Yoga" here can hardly mean "abandon all activities, go to the Himalayas, do meditation for a long time" nor can it mean "sit in this or that particular posture and do these or those breathing exercises." Those belong more to the physical yoga system laid down by Patanjali. That too, only a part of Patanjali’s Ashtanga (or eightfold) Yoga Sutras, which actually consist of
These can be grouped into three sections: the first two i.e. Yama and Niyama, then steps iii to vii, and finally, Samadhi. The yogasanas taught in the many popular yoga-classes of today, the meditation taught in the many meditation-classes of today, correspond only to points iii to vii above. Now there are two extremely important points of the Yoga system laid down by Patanjali that most yoga and meditation classes ignore, or are not even aware of. The first is that the purpose of these five (iii to vii) is to get the body and mind in a state where the eighth (Samadhi) can be easily attained. These five are only the means to an end, not an end in themselves. And Asanas and Pranayama (iii and iv) are in a sense only preparatory for v, vi, and vii. Many people today consider the practice of asana or pranayama as an exercise regimen or a way to stay fit. But Patanjali and other ancient yogis used asanas to prepare the body for meditation. To sit for a lengthy time in contemplation required a supple and co-operative body! "To perform the boat posture simply to get a flatter tummy is missing the boat."
But the second and more important point that most yoga and meditation classes miss is that just as steps iii and iv are preparatory for steps v, vi and vii, and just as steps v to vii are preparatory for the ultimate goal of Samadhi, similarly steps i and ii (Yama and Niyama) are preparatory for Asana and Pranayama. You can do all the Asanas and Pranayamas in the world, but of your Yama and Niyama are not right, then the Asanas and Pranayamas will hardly yield any benefits. To put it in today’s terms: many people go for yoga or meditation classes today to relieve themselves of stress and stress-related diseases like ulcers, headache, migraine, stomach disorders etc. Stress and tension come mainly from work, family or social problems, the area of Yama and Niyama. If your Yama and Niyama are not right, then this stress and tension is going to come in greater doses than what the Asanas and Pranayamas are going to take away. To use an analogy to make the point, if stress and tension could be measured in kilograms, and if one hour of Asanas and Pranayamas do away with one kg of stress and tension, and if your Yama and Niyama is not right, then the stress and tension that comes in through your work or family life is of the order of tens of kilos! You are much better off dealing with those issues directly first, i.e. getting your Yama and Niyama right first. Which is also why Patanjali put Yama and Niyama before Asanas and Pranayamas.
The Bhagavad Geeta is concerned with a totally different kind of yoga – a spiritual yoga, the goal of which is also Samadhi, but which bypasses steps iii to vii above, and follows a different route, a more direct route of Gyana-Yoga and Karma-Yoga to achieve the state of Samadhi i.e. equanimity, in which you live and move about in this world without being affected by it. The only few verses in the Geeta that talk about physical yoga are 6:10-15 and 18:51-54, ten verses out of 701, a miniscule portion of the entire Geeta. The main focus of the Geeta is on Gyana Yoga (the yoga of knowledge), Karma Yoga (the yoga of action), and Bhakti Yoga (the yoga of devotion). None of these are concerned with the physical and breathing exercises taught in yoga classes. Actually, the Yoga spoken of in the Geeta, which is hardly spoken of and which very few are even aware of, is far, far more important than the merely physical and breathing exercises taught in the popular Yoga classes today. I am not deriding them, but just putting them into perspective. Firstly physical and breathing exercises may have their physical benefits, and you may do your reality check about the various claims, but these benefits are essentially for this world, temporary and ephemeral, destined to be left behind when we go. The benefits of the yoga that the Bhagavad Geeta speaks about, we will take with us.
Secondly, the yoga that the Bhagavad Geeta speaks about, is perfected during the day-to-day activities of life; you don’t have to go to any special classes or set aside any special time to put them into practice. Krishna was asking Arjuna to do it while in a war! You simply get to know what it’s saying and put it into practice in the same, normal activities of your day-to-day life! That also means that you don’t have to make any special efforts to "come back" into normal life. After doing meditation, you make some gains on the way to samadhi (equanimity), but to consolidate those gains and perfect them, you have to come back to day-to-day normal life, which is like coming back down-to-earth after a mountain-top experience. You are not supposed to continue living in the clouds, you are supposed to get those gains so that you can live your life in a better way down here on earth, in the middle of the hustle-and-bustle of life, with people who are the cause of those tensions and worries in the first place. Since the yoga that the Geeta talks about is attained and perfected right in the middle of day-to-day activities, no special effort is required to "get back."
Thirdly, the Yoga that the Geeta talks about is achieved much faster than the Yoga achieved through physical and breathing exercises. To repeat what has been said before, in 2:48, right in the middle of the battlefield, Krishna tells Arjuna, "Established in yoga, perform actions having abandoned attachment, winner of wealth. Being equanimous in success and failure is called yoga." How much time did Arjuna have to become "yogasthah," i.e. to be "established in yoga?" There he was, standing between the two armies. The bugles had already sounded. Both the armies were eager for war. They were just waiting for their leaders to give directions. And Krishna was telling Arjuna, "Established in yoga, perform actions having abandoned attachment!" How much time did Arjuna have to get "established in yoga" and "abandon attachment" and then perform action? A few minutes at the most!
Fourthly, in the physical and breathing exercises yoga system, if you don’t complete of the entire process i.e. if you don’t reach the final stage, the gains of all the seven steps done before are lost when you die! You don’t carry a healthier body with you after you die! But the benefits of the "Yoga" that the Bhagavad Geeta talks about, you take with you, even if you have only partially completed the process. Arjuna asks a pointed question in 6:37-38, "What of the unsuccessful - endowed with faith in yoga and moved in it, but not obtained perfection in yoga? What does he move to, Krishna and where does he reach? Is not such a person destroyed, as a torn cloud perishes, without any position, mighty-armed one, deluded on the path of Brahman?" to which Krishna answers in 6:40-45, "Partha, neither in this life nor in the next life is there destruction for him who does good; he does not degrade, my friend. Achieving the world of the righteous, and dwelling there for many years, he that has fallen from yoga, takes birth in the house of the clean or of the wealthy. Or in the family of wise yogis he takes birth, although this certainly is rare. There he gets that mind and connection as he had in the previous body. From that point again, he endeavors for perfection, son of the Kurus. By the previous practice, he is certainly attracted, even helplessly to be inquisitive of yoga. He transcends and goes beyond the written words of the Vedas and the ritualistic principles of the scriptures. By practice and endeavor, a person united (with the divine), cleansed of sins after many births, having attained perfection, thereafter attains movement towards the supreme."
So what is "yoga" as used in the Bhagavad Geeta? The word "yoga" is derived from the Sanskrit "yuj" which means to join, to engage, to attach, to yoke, to unite. To join what? And with what? The word "Yoga" in the Bhagavad Geeta particularly, is used for the connection, the union, the joining between God and man, between the atman (soul or self) with the param-atman (super-soul or super-self). Thus "Gyana Yoga" would mean "the knowledge that leads to an establishing or a strengthening of the relationship or connection between God and man;" "Karma Yoga" would mean "the actions that lead to an establishing or a strengthening of the relationship or connection between God and man;" and "Bhakti Yoga" would mean "the devotion that leads to an establishing or a strengthening of the relationship or connection between God and man;" This leads to an equanimity in differing external conditions. We remain unaffected whether we win or lose, whether we find ourselves in favorable or unfavorable conditions. Our happiness is no longer dependent on anything external to us; it is intrinsic and flows from the inside out, regardless what the circumstances are.
It is very important to note that there is a very big and very important difference between "Gyana" and "Gyana-Yoga" i.e. between "knowledge" and "the knowledge that leads to an establishing or a strengthening of the relationship or connection between God and man." All knowledge does not lead to this strengthening of the connection between God and man. You can be an expert in rocket science, but that knowledge is not going to help you in any way in strengthening your relationship with God. Similarly, there is a very big and very important difference between "Karma" and "Karma-Yoga" i.e. between "action" and "the action that leads to an establishing or a strengthening of the relationship or connection between God and man." All action does not lead to this strengthening of the connection between God and man. Only right actions that are performed in the right spirit, leaving the results to God, lead to this strengthening of the connection between God and man. The "leaving the results to God" is extremely important and is what contributes a lot towards true detachment or freedom or mukti. And finally, there is a very big and very important difference between "Bhakti" and "Bhakti-Yoga" i.e. between "devotion" and "the devotion that leads to an establishing or a strengthening of the relationship or connection between God and man." There are people who are devoted to their work. It is their relationship with their work that gets strengthened by this devotion, not their relationship with God! Some people are devoted to their families, some are devoted to peculiar causes like the saving of some endangered species in some remote corner of Africa. Such devotion does not lead to a strengthening of their relationship with God. But more importantly, people get devoted to "false gods," to spiritual powers that are actually contrary to the real God’s nature. The person saying "I committed the rape because I was under the influence of Kamadeva, the god of lust," is talking nonsense. The real God is not a god of lust, in fact he wants you to overcome your lust. The person saying, "I fooled that person, God gave me just the right wisdom at just the right time," is talking nonsense. God does not want you to fool another person. These things come not from the real God, whose character is absolutely pure, but from your own crooked mind, or maybe some evil spiritual powers. Devotion to such spiritual powers out of ignorance of the character of the real God does not strengthen your connection to Him; in fact it weakens it and takes you away from God.
"Dnyana Yoga" and "Karma Yoga" can also be looked upon as "paths" or "ways" to strengthen your relationship with God. Krishna says in 3:3 "There are peoples on two paths of faith, as said by me in the past, sinless one. There is the path of knowledge for men of contemplation and there is the path of action for men of action". What does this mean? Does it mean that men of study and contemplation are not to engage in action or that men of action are not to engage in study and contemplation? Not at all! It only means that these paths are more suited for such people because they are according to the natural inclinations and natural strengths of such people. Thus Gyana-Yoga is more suited for men of study and contemplation (whose natural strengths are an ability to do in-depth study and think through issues), while Karma-Yoga is more suited for people of action. It does not mean that a Gyana-Yogi is to shun work, nor does it mean that a Karma-Yogi is to shun the gathering of knowledge. It only means that a Gyana-Yogi will not plunge into actions first, he will only carry out actions after he has thought things through; and that a Karma-Yogi will not plunge into in-depth study first, he will get into action first and will only carry out study when he feels it is necessary.
Let’s get this clear by using an example of how different people go about learning to play computer games. Some people read through all the rules first, the objective of the game, the strategies, the tricks, the scoring methods, the pitfalls to be avoided working them all out in their minds first, and then starting to play. These are the "men of contemplation" for whom Gyana-Yoga is the more suitable path. Most people plunge into the game first. When they realize that they are just going around in circles, just trying this and that, without knowing the objective or purpose of the game, without knowing the strategies, the tricks, the scoring methods, the pitfalls to be avoided, then they get down to reading the Help screens! I personally follow a mixed method. I read the general objective and scoring methods, and "try the game a little" to get a basic feel of the game. When I have got a hang of it, I read the strategies, the tricks and the pitfalls to be avoided to get better at it. After getting a little better at the game, I go through the Help-screens again to see whether I have missed anything and to see how I can get even better.
Which of these is superior to the other? Neither! "Only the ignorant say that knowledge and action are different, not the learned who is situated completely in yoga, and who enjoys the fruit of both. The place which is received by analytical study, that same is also reached by action. He who sees analytical study and yoga as one, he truly sees" says Krishna in 5:4-5. The Gyana-Yogi who takes the path of knowledge, reaches the same place as the Karma-Yogi, who takes the path of action.
In the above example of the game, both the Information-first-game player (man-of-contemplation) and the Action-first-game player (man-of-action) finally reach the same place – of playing the game well. That is because the Information-first-game player sooner or later starts playing the game since he is not interested in just head-knowledge, and the Action-first-game player soon realizes that plunging into playing a game without knowing its objective or rules or strategies or scoring is plain stupid and he would be just wasting his time doing so. Only they have chosen different paths – the man-of-contemplation has taken the path of knowledge, while the man-of-action has who taken the path of action. Needless to say, the vast majority of the people on earth are the Action-first type.
That does not mean that they are Karma-Yogis! All man-of-contemplation are not Gyana-Yogis and all men-of-action are not Karma-Yogis. They become Gyana-Yogis and Karma-Yogis if and only if they apply these (Knowledge-first or Action-first) paths to the area of "knowing God" or "achieving union with God." Yoga is "union with God"; a Gyana-Yogi is a person who has chosen to apply his "Knowledge-first" predilection in the area of knowing God, and a Karma-Yogi is a person who has chosen to apply his "Action-first" predilection in the area of knowing God. If they don’t apply these predilections in the area of knowing God, they don’t become "yogis," even though they may accumulate great Gyana (knowledge) in any other field such as computers, rocket science, stock market or whatever. Similarly, if the men-of-action do not apply their natural predilection for action in the area of knowing God, they don’t become "Karma-yogis." They may do great karma, great work in the field of business or sports or entertainment or social service or politics or whatever, and may have great achievements against their names, but if they don’t use their work as a means of developing their relationship with God, they are not "Karma-Yogis."
Mahatma Gandhi was a true "Karma-Yogi." While other freedom fighters around him and Independence-movement leaders of other countries had great karmas i.e. great actions, and great achievements against their names, for Gandhiji India’s Independence struggle was also a means to an end – the end objective of developing his relationship with God. He was determined to follow God’s methods of standing firmly for Satya (truth) and Ahimsa (non-violence), and was sure that if he was stubborn enough on those for a long enough time, eventual victory was guaranteed. He used the activity of the freedom-movement to develop his relationship with God, not just to win Independence for India.
We are to grow in this Yoga. It doesn’t happen all together in one go; neither is it automatic. We are to use whatever life throws at us, whatever situations and circumstances we find ourselves in, to grow in our relationship with God. The growth is in two aspects – breadth and depth. We grow in breadth when we cover more and more areas of life. We grow in depth when we get into a deeper, stronger, closer and more intimate relationship with God in an area in which we have a certain depth of relationship already present. Let’s take Arjuna’s own example in the situation he found himself in – the war that was about to begin. It offered him an opportunity to strengthen his relationship with God by doing his duty, doing his best at what was right, and leaving the results to God. Having done that, his relationship with God would have got strengthened, he would have become more "yogasthah" in war situations. But that does not mean he had automatically become "yogasthah" in his home situation! He would have to work on that too, separately. Nor does it mean that he would have automatically become "yogasthah" in another war situation. The gains made here would have its benefits in providing him with a ready knowledge of what state of being he is to get in, but he still has to do it! Plus he would be building on a higher platform. Similarly for us. We can become "yogasthah" in one office situation i.e. in a situation presenting stress and tension, do what is right in a state of equanimity and God-consciousness. But there would be other office situations, more stressful than the current one, in which we have still to become yogasthah. And there would be home situations where the stress is coming from the wife! And there would be traffic situations where the stress is coming from the traffic-jam! The gains we made in gaining equanimity in our office situation would be a help, but we still have to gain equanimity in facing the wife and facing the traffic jam!
Now as we grow more and more in this yoga, we find ourselves happier and happier and more and more free in more and more situations, and our life itself becomes a life of freedom and happiness. Our freedom and our happiness get no longer dependent on anything external to us; they are intrinsic and flow from the inside out. We no longer need to go on a holiday to be free from stress and tension. Our whole life becomes a holiday, since our entire lives are marked with freedom and happiness independent of the external circumstances. "He who is freed from attachment and envy, and moves amongst the objects of the sense organs without the self coming under their control, in such regulated freedom of the self, he attains grace. In grace comes the loss of all sorrows and a development of a happy consciousness. Very soon the intellect becomes sufficiently established." (2:64-65)
That then is the meaning of the word "yoga." Looked at it that way, the titles of the eighteen chapters make a different kind of sense, which is also borne out by the text:
That then is a broad picture of the 18 chapters of the Bhagavad Geeta, showing that the Geeta is primarily concerned with a "Yoga" that is quite, quite different from that taught in the popular yoga classes of today. It is concerned with the yoga that means "union with God," not the physical and breathing exercises that bring temporary gains for this world. All this does not mean that you are to look down on the physical and breathing exercise yogas. It only means that you get your perspective right and see the benefits flowing from them as temporary and for this life alone, to be left behind when we go. The yoga that the Geeta talks about brings permanent benefits, which you take with you when you go.