Last shloka, we talked about how people worship the “NirguNa Niraakara” or the formless God and what are the various qualifications required for worship of the formless Lord. Now the lord talks about the hurdles in this type of worship.
क्लेशोऽधिकतरस्तेषामव्यक्तासक्तचेतसाम् |
अव्यक्ता हि गतिर्दुःखं देहवद्भिरवाप्यते ||
Klesho adhikatarasteshhaaM avyaktaasaktachetasaaM
vyaktaa hi gatir dukhaM dehavadbhiravaapyate
Word meaning: : TeshaaM – those : AvyaktaasaktachetsaaM – whose minds cling to the unmanifest : KleshaH – difficulty : Adhikatarah – is greater : Hi - because : Avyaktaa gatiH – the way of an unclear ideal : DehavadbhiH – for those who are body conscious : DukhaM – with difficulty : Avaapyate – is attained
As long as a person remains body conscious, it is extremely difficult to understand about the formless God. Therefore the lord says that the obstacles facing those who are devoted to the formless God are even greater.
AvyaktaasaktachetsaaM refers to those people whose mind is trying to think of the formless God. Our mind cannot comprehend anything that is without a form. So when it starts contemplating on the formless, it loses its quality of mind and if this happens, we start snoring. Meditation then becomes “sound meditation” – meditation for us, sound for the others!! It is not possible to keep the mind on nothing and not sleep. This is the reason why the lord says “Klesho adhikatarasteshhaaM avyaktaasaktachetsaaM” – that when people are trying to meditate on the formless God, the difficulties are greater.
“DehavdbhiH” – refers to our body consciousness. As long as our feelings are body oriented we think of ourselves as men/women, Hindu/muslim, Brahmin/non-brahmin etc. As long as we remain at this level, we cannot think of the formless God.
If anything has to make an impact on us, it is only when we want to. We become so affected by everything and start classifying things as Good or bad. In reality, there are no such distinctions and life is only God’s game. If we understand this, there would be no hatred in life. But we are stuck in these differences such as vegetarian, non-vegetarian etc.
In this world created by the lord, there are already enough differences separating us. Man Vs Woman, Child Vs Adult, Husband Vs Wife etc. If we want to see God, we must not hate or scorn others who are different from us. When we stop reacting to anything that we see, only then we can have equanimity. As long as this does not happen, and we continue to be conscious of our body oriented differences, it would be difficult to even think about the formless God, let alone reach Him – avyaktaa hi gatir dukhaM dehavadbiravaapyate
Till now, the Lord described the beauty of meditating on the formless God and the hurdles in this path. Now we shall discuss about worshipping the lord in various forms.
When we were talking about worship of the “NirguNA Niraakaara” lord, there were so many rules to be followed. The first rule was that the senses had to be controlled SamniyamyendriyagraamaM, secondly the mind had to be made equanimous – Sarvatra SamabuddhayaH and thirdly the devotee had to be Sarvabhutahite RataaH – mindful of the welfare of everyone at all times. In order to be able to contemplate on the formless God, such a devotee has to still his mind and meditate on the lord. For this he has to sit in Padmaasan/ Gulaabaasan!! – Sometimes, after a person does the aasan, the legs wont open up also!
Once a teacher was teaching chapter 6 and after class the instructions for meditation were given. There was a very innocent man in the audience and for everything that teacher used to tell the class, he used to reply. “Now sit in a proper posture”. “Yes, I am sitting”. “Sit straight”. “Yes, my back is straight”. . Keep legs folded. Although Swamiji was speaking to the whole class, this man alone used to keep replying to everything. “Yes, Yes”. Everyone was disturbed and so teacher stopped speaking. The man asked, “What next?
After a few days he met the teacher in the train and said “Do you remember the class on meditation”. After you taught, I stopped it. When you taught us Chap 6, you told us that Krishna said that we need grass, deerskin, mat etc. I have got the grass and the mat but not the deerskin. So I have stopped meditating and started praying to the Lord, “Please give me a deerskin”.
So if we get stuck in the nuances of meditation, then we find so many difficulties. But when we want to worship the “saguNa saakara” lord, there is no change in what we do or who we are.
