In the previous stanza, the essential conditions under which alone a devotee can practice contemplation upon a Manifest-Form of the Lord to become a steadfast Yogi were described. In these two stanzas, Lord Krishna is trying to describe those who meditate upon the Unmanifest-Form of the Lord.
IMPERISHABLE (Akshara) — All those that have forms and qualities are substances and all substances are perishable. The Imperishable is, therefore, that which has no qualities. Qualities alone can be perceived, and it implies that it is impossible for the sense organs to perceive the Imperishable.
INDEFINABLE (Anirdeshyam) — Definitions are always in terms of perceived experiences and when a thing is imperceptible, naturally, it cannot be defined and distinguished from other things.
ALL-PERVADING (sarvatra-gam) — The Infinite that has no qualities, that is not manifest, that which is, therefore, Indefinable, should necessarily be All-pervading and existing everywhere. If the Supreme can be indicated as not existing in any place, then the Supreme will have a particular shape. And that which has a shape will perish.
UNTHINKABLE (Achintyam) — That which can be conceived of by a human mind will immediately become the object of feelings and thoughts and since all objects are perishable, the Imperishable must necessarily be Inconceivable, Incomprehensible, and Unthinkable.
UNCHANGING (Kootasthah) — The Self, the Consciousness, remains unchanged even though it is the substratum on which all changes constantly take place. ‘ Koota’ in Sanskrit, is an “anvil.” Just as the iron block in a smithy’s workshop, without itself undergoing any change, allows other pieces of iron to be beaten out on it, and changed into any shape; so too, the Consciousness allows our personalities to grow well or ill in contact with It.
IMMOVABLE (Achalam) — Motion is change in the time-space system. A thing can never move in itself; it can do so only to a point in space and time where it is not already. Here, now, I remain in my chair. I can move to another place to occupy it in the coming minute. But here and now in my own chair, I cannot move in myself, since I pervade the whole of me. The Infinite is All-pervading and there is no point in space or time where It is not, and therefore, the Infinite cannot move. It is here, there, everywhere; It has the past, the present and the future IN it.
ETERNAL (Dhruvam) — That which can change is a thing that is conditioned by time and space. But the Supreme, the Substratum of all, at all times and in all places, is the One that supports the very play of time and space, and therefore, these two factors cannot condition the Infinite. Consciousness, which is the Infinite Self in us, is the same everywhere and at all times — in our childhood, youth and old age, in all places and at all times — and in all conditions of joy and sorrow or success and failure. It is only when we come down to the levels of our intellect, mind, and body, that we step into Einstein’s world with its Relativity Theory in the play of time and space. The Supreme is unconditioned by time; It is the ruler of time. It is Eternal.
We must note that all these terms used here are expressions borrowed from our Upanishads to indicate that which provides the Eternal substratum for the ever-changing universe of names and forms, behaviours and happenings, perceptions and feelings, thoughts and experiences. Meditation upon the Lord, symbolised-in-the-form, demands three unavoidable conditions.
HAVING RESTRAINED ALL THE SENSES — To dissipate our energies through the sense organs is the vulgar hobby of the thoughtless mortal. A seeker, who is aspiring to reach the summit of Perfection and rule over the state of deathless joy, must necessarily curtail such dissipations and redirect the energies so conserved for the higher flight. The sense organs are the real gateways through which the disturbing world of plurality steals in, to storm our inner bosom and plunge us into destruction. It is again through the organs-of-action that the mind gushes out into the world-of-objects. These two transactions break up our harmonious equipoise and steady balance. Krishna rightly emphasizes here that, if a meditator is to succeed in the ‘Path-of-Meditation’ he must cultivate a habit of living with his senses in control.
ALWAYS EQUANIMOUS — The second of the conditions that has been prescribed here by the Lord for a successful meditator is his intellectual equanimity in all conditions and experiences. It is very foolish indeed for a thinker to hope for a condition in life, wherein no disturbance from the outer world can reach him to distract his meditation. Such a perfect condition is impossible. The things of the world in themselves and in their patterns keep on changing. In such a kaleidoscopic design of existence, it is indeed unintelligent to expect any desirable system to remain continuously for the benefit of a seeker’s steady practice. Such a thing is impossible. In the world-of-change, therefore, a seeker must discover his own balance and equipoise, by controlling his intellectual evaluations, mental attachments and physical contacts with the world outside.
The intelligent relationship maintained by a seeker towards the world outside, whereby he experiences a uniform steadiness in himself, in spite of the mad revelry of things and beings around him, is called the condition of equanimity. He, who has developed the right sense of discrimination, can easily watch for and see the golden chord of Beauty that holds together all that is enchanting and grotesque constituting the outer world. This capacity is called Sama-buddhi.
My child may be dirty at one moment, mischievous at another; screaming in the morning, laughing in the noon; bullying in the evening and wild at night! Yet, through all such conditions, the father in me sees but one and the same son, therefore, I give my love equally in all these different manifestations of my own son. This is a loving father’s Sama-buddhi. In the same way, true seeker learns to recognise the Lord-of-his-heart in grim tragedies, in the pleasant comedies, in the tremendous successes, in the sighing sorrows and in the disappointing failures in his own day-to-day life. Therefore, he becomes equanimous intellectually.
INTENT ON THE WELFARE OF ALL BEINGS — Enumerating the third of the qualifications necessary for a successful meditator, the Lord says that he should ever be self-dedicated in serving at his best, to all beings. It is impossible for anyone, as long as he is in the embodiment, to give all his mind and intellect, at all times, towards the higher contemplation. He must necessarily come in contact with the world and react to it. In all such activities, a seeker should be, by the very nature of his philosophy, one who is ever devoted in tirelessly serving the entire living kingdom. Love for all beings becomes his creed.
Thus, if the meditators, fixing their mind upon the Imperishable, the Unmanifest, are able to control their sense organs, keep themselves equanimous and make it their nature to serve others, they too, “REACH ME ALONE.” Krishna declares that they too reach the same goal, the Supreme Self.
The question as raised by Arjuna is rather of a controversial nature, while Krishna’s answer to it is a declaration of an incontrovertible truth. Here, the great divine philosopher points out how both the Paths take the practitioner to one and the same goal, and the same general rules of conduct in their dealing with the world are here clearly prescribed for both of them. Whether the devotee is seeking his spiritual unfoldment through meditation upon a personal, or an impersonal God, the result achieved, it is shown, remains the same, if the disciplines required of him are all fully and faithfully followed.
BUT, GENERALLY SPEAKING TO THE MAJORITY, THE LORD ADDS:
