5.5 Renunciation

21. The Vedic scriptures repeatedly describe God as an ocean of unlimited divine bliss:

"Know God to be bliss."

"God's form is made of pure bliss."

"God's hands, feet, face, stomach, etc. are all made of bliss."

"God is an ocean of bliss and happiness."

All these mantras and verses from the scriptures emphasize that divine bliss is the nature of God's personality. The yogi, who absorbs the senses, mind, and intellect in God, begins to experience the infinite bliss of God who is seated within

22. The senses create sensations of pleasure in contact with the sense objects. The mind, which is like the sixth sense, derives pleasure from honor, praise, circumstances, success, etc. All these pleasures of body and mind are known as bhog (material enjoyment). Such worldly pleasures cannot satisfy the soul for the following reasons:

Worldly pleasures are finite, and hence the feeling of deficiency remains inherent in them. One may feel happiness on becoming a millionaire, but the same millionaire becomes discontented on seeing a billionaire, and thinks, "If only I also had one billion, then I too would be happy." In contrast, the bliss of God is infinite, and so it gives complete satisfaction.

Worldly pleasures are temporary. Once they finish, they again leave one with the feeling of misery. For example, an alcoholic enjoys the pleasure of drinking alcohol at night, but the next morning, the hangover gives him a splitting headache. However, the bliss of God is eternal, and once attained, it remains forever.

Worldly pleasures are insentient, and hence they continuously decrease. When people see a new Academy Award prize-winning movie, they are overjoyed, but if they have to see the movie a second time to give company to a friend, their joy dries up. And if a second friend insists that they see it a third time, they say, "Give me any punishment, but don't ask me to see that movie again." The pleasure from material objects keeps decreasing as we enjoy it. In Economics, this is defined as the Law of Diminishing Returns. But the bliss of God is sentient; it is sat-chit-ānand (eternal ever-fresh divine bliss). Hence, one can go on chanting the same divine Name of God all day long, and relish ever-new devotional satisfaction in it.

No sane person enjoying a delicious dessert would be willing to give it up and eat mud instead. Similarly, when one begins to enjoy divine bliss, the mind loses all taste for material pleasures. Those endowed with the faculty of discrimination understand the above three drawbacks of material pleasures, and restrain their senses from them. Shree Krishna emphasizes this in the next verse.

23. The human body presents a golden opportunity for the soul to reach the Supreme goal of God-realization. In this body, we possess the faculty of discrimination, while animals are driven by their nature. Shree Krishna emphasizes that this power of discrimination should be exercised to restrain the impulses of desire and anger.

One meaning of the word kām is lust, but in this verse kām is used for all kinds of desires of the body and mind for material pleasures. When the mind does not attain the object of its desire, it modifies its state to exhibit anger. The urges of desire and anger are very powerful, like the strong current of a river. Even animals are subject to these urges, but unlike humans they are not bestowed with the discrimination to restrain them. However, the human intellect has been bestowed with the power of discrimination. The word sodhum means "to withstand." This verse instructs us to withstand the urges of desire and anger. Sometimes one restrains the urges of the mind out of embarrassment. Let us say there is a man sitting at the airport. A beautiful lady comes and sits by his side. His mind desires the pleasure of putting his arm around her, but the intellect resists with the thought, "This is improper conduct. The lady may even slap me for it." To avoid the shame of censure, he restrains himself. Here Shree Krishna is not asking Arjun to restrain the mind out of embarrassment, fear, or apprehension, but through discrimination based on knowledge.

The resolute intellect should be used to check the mind. As soon as the thought of savoring a material pleasure comes to the mind, one should bring the knowledge to the intellect that these are sources of misery. The Shreemad Bhagavatam states:

"In the human form, one should not undertake great hardships to obtain sensual pleasures, which are available even to creatures that eat excreta (hogs). Instead, one should practice austerities to purify one's heart, and enjoy the unlimited bliss of God." This opportunity to practice discrimination is available only while the human body exists, and one who is able to check the forces of desire and anger while living, becomes a yogi. Such a person alone tastes the divine bliss within and becomes happy.

24. "Inner light" is the divine knowledge that is bestowed from within in the form of realization, by the grace of God, when we surrender to Him. The Yog Darśhan states:

In the state of samadhi, one's intellect becomes filled with realization of the Truth.

After instructing Arjun about the need to withstand the impulses of desire and anger, Shree Krishna reveals the confidential means of practicing this. The words yo'ntah sukho mean "one who is internally happy." There is one kind of happiness that we get from external objects, and another kind of happiness that we experience from within when we absorb the mind in God. If we do not experience happiness within, we will not be able to permanently resist external temptations. But when the bliss of God starts flowing within the heart, then the fleeting external pleasures seem trivial in comparison and are easy to renounce.

Saint Yamunacharya states:

"Ever since I have begun meditating upon the lotus-like feet of Lord Krishna, I have been experiencing ever-increasing bliss. If by chance the thought of sex pleasure comes to my mind, I spit at the thought and curl my lips in distaste."

25. In the preceding verse, Shree Krishna explained the state of the sages who experience the pleasure of God within themselves. In this verse, He describes the state of the sages who are actively engaged in the welfare of all beings. The Ramayan states:

"The trait of compassion is the intrinsic nature of saints. Motivated by it, they use their words, mind, and body for the welfare of others."

Human welfare is a praiseworthy endeavor. However, welfare schemes that are only committed to bodily care only result in temporary welfare. A person is hungry; he is given food, and his hunger is satiated. But after four hours, he is hungry again. Spiritual welfare goes right to the root of all material suffering, and endeavors to revive the God-consciousness of the soul. Hence, the highest welfare activity is to help a person unite his or her consciousness with God. This is the kind of welfare work that elevated souls with purified minds engage in. Such welfare activity further attracts God's grace, which elevates them even further on the path. Finally, when they have achieved complete purification of the mind and perfected their surrender to God, they are liberated to the spiritual realm and the divine Abode.

Thus far in this chapter, Shree Krishna has extolled the path of karm-yog. He now speaks the remaining verses for the karm sanyāsīs, revealing that they too attain the final goal.