This Sloka talks about the need for persistence and determination in achieving one’s goal. The reward for success is first clearly identified and presented to the Yogi and the need to continue persevering and keep one’s focus and determination is then described.
तं विद्याद्दुःखसंयोगवियोगं योगसंज्ञितम् ।
स निश्चयेन योक्तव्यो योगोऽनिर्विण्णचेतसा ॥६- २३॥
taM vidyaad.h duHkhasa.nyogaviyogaM yogasa.nGYitam.h .
sa nishchayena yoktavyo yogo.anirviNNachetasaa .. 6.23..
That state called yoga, which is free from the contact of sorrow (in the form of birth and death), should be known. This yoga should be practiced firmly, without getting discouraged.
vidyaad.h – one should know : taM - that state : duHkhasa.nyogaviyogaM - which is free from the contact of sorrow : yogasa.nGYitam.h – is called as yoga : saH – that : yogaH – yoga : anirviNNachetasaa – without tiring or giving up : nishchayena - with firmness : yoktavyaH – should be practised.
When a person accepts his affinity with the world, it means that he is attached to his possessions such as money, house, car, family and various material things. Each of these things are silken threads that tie him to the world and as many possessions that he has, so many threads are tying him up. Whenever any of these are pulled away from him the thread gets snapped and he gets hurt by it. If he wants to move up and reach God he cannot because all the threads pull him down. The beauty of this situation is that, the moment, he decides that he has to be untied and ignores them then they break away and they set him free. All the strings exist only as long as he himself accepts them. So, when a person decides to give up all the affinity to this world, then automatically, he decides to dissociate himself from the sorrows of this world. When a person frees himself from this, then he reaches God and does not have to be born again. So he becomes free from the contact of this sorrow of birth and life.
Once a pious man who reached the age of 80 suddenly stopped going to the temple. Alarmed by the man’s sudden absence, the priest visited the man. “How come after all these years we don’t see you at temple?” “Well..,” the old man replied, “When I reached 80, I thought that God must have forgotten about my death… I don’t want to remind him now…”
Such is the nature of attachment to this world, that we do not want to leave it at all, even though we know that all the problems we face are due to this attachment. Like this quote by Peter Tosh goes, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die!!” This is the kind of attachment we all have towards this world. When a person frees himself from attachment to this world, then he also frees himself from the agonies of birth and death and this state is defined as the state of yoga. The yoga of meditation has to be practiced with determination. The yogi should not start feeling that there are no results and he should not give up in the middle. This is the meaning of the term anirviNNachetasaaa – without giving up hope, untiringly, zealously. He should realize his goal and should not stop till he achieves the joy of God realization.
This is necessary not only in meditation, but also in all our actions. Many of us do not achieve our full potential because we give up too soon and do not try hard enough. We have all heard about the famous Brooklyn bridge that connects Newyork with Long Island.. The bridge was built by a man called Washington, based on his father’s John Roebling’s inspiration. When they started building this, there was an accident and Roebling was killed. Washington also became injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged. One day, he had an idea. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife. For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife`s arm, and based on this the engineers built the bridge. Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal. Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realized with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.
