Here Krishna prescribes certain definite conditions to be faithfully followed by all meditators upon the Form-of-the-Lord, and concludes that those who are following His instructions fully, will be saved from their mortal limitations, by the Lord Himself, on whose Form they are contemplating. A careful study of these conditions will show us how the devotee grows mentally to stature so divine and high that, thereafter he needs no help from anyone at all. But, in the beginning, a seeker needs some assurances from his teacher in order to instil in him the required self-confidence to start his practices.
THOSE WHO WORSHIP ME, RENOUNCING ALL ACTIONS IN ME — To renounce all our actions to an INSTITUTION, to an IDEA or to a POWER, is to end our individual limitations and identify ourselves with that for which we renounce. Thus, an ordinary man, as ambassador of his country, becomes a mighty personality in the foreign courts, because he talks, acts, thinks and expresses the will of an entire people. Similarly, when a devotee of the Infinite Lord surrenders himself totally at His feet and acts as a messenger, or as a representative of the Will of the Lord, he becomes, not only divinely ‘dynamic,’ but in and through his own activities, aware of the presence and grace of the Universal Spirit.
REGARDING ME AS THE SUPREME GOAL — A dancer never forgets the rhythm of the drum which accompanies her steps. A musician is ever conscious of the background hum. Similarly, a devotee is advised not take up religion as a part-time entertainment, or as a temporary escapism, but to consider the Lord as the Supreme Goal to be achieved in and through life. In short, we are advised that in order to ascend to the Higher summits of cultural perfection, it is necessary that we direct all our contacts, transactions, and experiences in our life, towards the achievement of this cumulative goal of Self-Perfection, as symbolised in the Lord of our heart.
WITH UNSWERVING YOGA — All attempts with which we develop our mental attunement with any chosen State of Perfection constitute Yoga. To lift our minds from its present agitations and wasteful tendencies towards a greater goal of ampler joy and fuller wisdom is Yoga. This faculty of Yoga is in everyone of us. At all times we are practising it. But the results of Yoga will depend upon the goal towards which we are heaving forward; unfortunately, ours is not generally a Divine Goal; to strive for the sense-enjoyments is called Bhoga.
Ordinarily, our goal keeps on changing and we reach nowhere even though our struggle is consistent. If a holiday-maker has two spots in view, and he cannot come to a decision as to which place he wants to visit, then he can reach neither of them. He will be in a helpless state of confusion, travelling up and down the road, reaching nowhere, and wasting his time and energy. ‘Anya’ means ‘other’; ‘Ananya’ means ‘without otherness.’ Krishna is advising here Ananya Yoga, meaning a Yoga in which the goal is ever steady and our mind has no sense of ‘otherness’ about it.
It may be noted here that mental disintegration can come both because of the ‘otherness’ in our goal, and because of the mind wandering into other channels of preoccupations.
Thus those (a) who have renounced all actions in Me (b) who regard Me as the Supreme Goal and (c) who, with a single-pointed mind and goal strive, are the best of My devotees, when their striving is constituted of meditation (Dhyana) and worship (Upasana). We have already indicated that Upasana is not merely meditation upon a goal, but becoming, in an active way, one with the Goal contemplated upon. At-one-ment with the goal is the meditator’s aim and fulfilment.
Enumerating the conditions necessary for a devotee at his seat of meditation, Krishna assures him that he need not wonder how he will go beyond the shores of sorrows, agitations, and imperfections, which are the lot of all mortals.
“I SHALL BE THEIR SAVIOUR” is a divine assurance and an infinite guarantee. It is possible that seekers may become rather impatient when even after months and years of practice, they do not come anywhere near any spiritual experience.
The Lord’s assurance also indicates the time limit; He says that He will save the seeker from his own imperfection ‘ere-long’ (nachirat).
TO THOSE WHOSE MIND IS SET ON ME — The mind generally takes the form of the object it contemplates upon. When an integrated mind-intellect-equipment of a devotee, through constant practice, gains the capacity of engaging itself entirely on the concept of the Lord, to the exclusion of all agitations and undivine thoughts, the entire mind assumes the stature of the Infinite. It is the mind that gives us the hallucination of our egocentric limitations, and again, it is the mind that rediscovers the Infinitude. Bondage and liberation are both for the mind. The Self is ever free; ever liberated; never bound.
