Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 9 SUMMARY:

Intro:

• CH9 similar to CH7. Different from CH8.
• REMINDER IN CH8: saguṇa īśvara upāsana described, meditation upon the Lord with various attributes/virtues. Gives indirect liberation: krama mukti.
  • Sādhaka practices saguṇa īśvara upāsana throughout life, without coming to jñāna yoga. Avoids it. Confines life to saguṇa upāsana.
  • After physical death, jīvātma travels to Brahma loka to assimilate jñāna yoga. Gains mokṣa. Called krama mukti.
  • Krishna not interested prescribing Krama mukti, because it’s unnecessary postponement of liberation. He wants us to enjoy jīvanmukti in this birth (janma). How?
    • Practice saguṇa upāsana > acquire qualifications > switch to jñāna-yoga (Vedānta vicāraḥ; inquiry).
    • How is liberation attained in this life?
      • In CH7, first known Īśvara’s 2 natures:
        1. Saguṇa / aparā-prakṛti: Lower / inferior nature. Manifest/unmanifest world (jagat).
        2. Nirguṇa / parā-prakṛti: Higher / superior nature; consciousness. Remember: Consciousness is the content out of which even aparā-prakṛti is made of.
      • Then negate aparā-prakṛti via Vedānta vicāraḥ. “Not this, not this”.

Verse 1-3: Mentions subject matter

• Rāja-vidyā: King of Knowledge.
  • All relative knowledges have innumerable branches. Take place in mind.
    • Self, “I” is the illuminator of the mind. Thus foundation of all relative knowledge.
  • Relative knowledges can’t permanently remove sorrow/fear. Only Self-Knowledge (SK) can, by re-identifying with limitlessness.
  • SK inspired poets (Rumi), Kingdoms renounced (Janaka).
• Rāja-guhyam: Greatest secret because not perceptible to senses/mind. Thus remains hidden because of unprepared buddhi.
• Pratyakṣa-avagamam: Realized directly. EG: Knowledge of a book does not turn us into the book.
  • SK is realised directly “I am the WHOLE”.
• Dharmyam: SK integrates our physical, emotional, intellectual personality to work in harmony.
  • Unites all because shows how one Self is truth of everyone.
• Susukham kartum: Relative knowledges require ceaseless EFFORT to maintain and enjoy.
  • SK is effortless & easiest. No action to “be”. You already are.
• CH9 Subject Matter: Rāja-vidyā – rāja-guhyam: Nirguṇa īśvara jñānam.
  • Important qualification: śraddhā: Keeping open mind, until I understand. Meaning don’t reject pramāṇa/guru.

Verse 4-10: Central theme: Reveals the REAL nature of Īśvara; nirguṇa Īśvara / parā-prakṛti / consciousness-principle.

• What is parā / aparā-prakṛti? 2 natures which make up what we call: Īśvara.
• Refer to video for explanation.
• In presence of Īśvara, owning to it’s All Knowledge/Power (via 3 guṇas), a manifests jagat (world) is manifest. So world is a mixture of: parā-prakṛti (consciousness) and aparā-prakṛti (TOTAL matter/energy/potential created by 3 guṇās).
• What compels a world to manifest? TOTAL saṃkārās of all beings.
  • Jīvas likes/dislikes compel one to act them out and either enjoy/suffer. For this, an appropriate environment is made for jīva to exhaust karma.
• FEATURES of nirguṇa Īśvara:
  • 1) All-pervading (nirguṇam)
    • Meaning any deity located in place is saguṇa. Eg: Brahmaloka, Vaikuṇṭhā, Father in Heaven.
      • Presented at beginning ONLY. Because can’t come to nirguṇa without saguṇa sādhana.
      • Saguṇa Īśvara without nirguṇa is incomplete spirituality.
    • INSTRUCTION: Person’s saguṇa-sādhana should culminate > nirguṇa jñanam.
      • Parable: 2 disciples asked to feed a cat, where no one watching. One fed in corner. Other couldn’t find place with no one around, “I was always around” (all-pervading).
        • In same way, jñāni feels at home everywhere. Because understands “Truth of self and everything is one without a second”. No such thing as privacy.
  • 2) Avyaktaḥ: Beyond sensory perception.
    • Soundless, felt-less, sight-less, taste-less, smell-less.
    • Any vision of Īśvara is saguṇa / aparā-prakṛti
  • 3) Mithyā jagat adhiṣṭhānam: Īśrava is support of mithyā
    • Why we call world unreal?
      • EG: Dream world is real from standpoint of dreaming individual. But UNREAL from standpoint of waker. Similarly, mithyā world is seemingly real from standpoint of BMI. But unreal from standpoint of Īśvara (WHOLE). EG: Gold bangle is only real to another individual golden ornament. But from standpoint of their content (Gold), they are neither bangle nor earing. They are Gold only.
  • 4) asaṅga svarūpaḥ: Free from all impurities of world.
    • EG: Dirty object sullies clean cloth. In case of nirguṇa Īśvara… saguṇa attributes don’t sully.
      • Thus nirguṇa Īśvara is compared to space. Space accommodates all, without contamination.
  • 5) Īśvara is sṛṣti, sthiti, laya kāraṇam. Cause of forms, Sustainer of forms, Changer of forms.
    • Doubt: If Īśvara is creator of universe, then Īśvara is also kartā/bhoktā. EG: Earthquake > millions die. Meaning Īśvara also has puṇya/pāpa-karma.
    • RESPONSE: Īśvara doesn’t create. In Īśvara’s presence: creation arises, exists, resolves. EG: Light in hall not responsible for noble/ignoble people actions in hall. Results don’t go to light. Light just illumines, making it possible for karma to take place.

Verse 11: Why is there saṃsāra (mixture of pain/pleasures – causing ongoing birth/death)?

• Saṃsāra cased by ignorance of nirguṇa Īśvara / parā-prakṛti.
  • Logic: Nirguṇa is beyond time/space. Totally attributeless. Can’t think / sense / contemplate it.
    • Hence without knowledge of nirguṇa jñānam, attention choicelessly goes onto constant changes of the world; saguṇa (time/space/objects) / aparā-prakṛti.
      • Meaning all security/peace has to DEPEND on decaying, disappearing, subject to association/disassociation. Leads to disappointment / dissatisfied expectations / frustration. Takes it out on Lord.
    • Therefore, absence of parā-prakṛti knowledge, causes seeking security in aparā-prakṛti
• What is cause of saṃsāra?
  • Moghāśā: Living in false hope owning to false notions.
    • Expecting permanence from an impermanent world. Because doesn’t know parā-prakṛti is the REAL permanent.
  • Mogha-karma: Doing useless activity to fulfill false hope.
    • EG: Sit in glass cage with scorpions just to be in Guinness Book of World Records. Butt/Abs sculpting.
  • Mogha-jñāna: Useless knowledge. To learn useless activity, to satisfy useless hopes, must learn useless knowledge.
  • Vicetaḥ: Wrong thinking. “Believe in Jesus, go to heaven!”.

Verse 12-19: Saṃsāra remedy

• Bhakti is solution. It’s not a single sādhana. But series of sādhanās > culminating to > jñānam.
  • Because problem is ignorance. Thus solution HAS to be jñānam.
    • EG: Ātma Bodha: if darkness is problem… then sweeping it with broom, will make you tired.
      • Prāṇayāma / Meditating / chanting viṣnu sahasranāma won’t remove.
      • Only one solution will work: Light a lamp.
• 3 Attitudes of Worship: (9.15)
  1. Pṛthaktvena: Worship Īśvara as a friend, beloved, child. Remain different from Lord. Incarnations like: Gaṇeśa, Jesus, Buddha, Kṛṣṇa, Ramana M.
  2. Bahudhā Viśvato Mukham: Worship as all forms in creation.
  3. Ekatvena: Seek oneness with Īśvara.
• 3 levels of Bhakti sādhana:
  1. Karma-yoga:
     • Convert every action as worship to the WHOLE. Because all actions are only possible because of Īśvara.
     • Give up insistence of receiving specific expectations.
  2. Upāsana:
     • Since karma-yoga is ACTION-based, it sustains extroverted mind; selfish or selfless.
     • Next stage, during meditation… turn mind’s attention onto the mind’s own activity. (Turn mind inwards)
  3. Vedānta vicāra
     • Jñāna-yoga involving: śravaṇa, manana, nididhyāsana.
     • This stage leads to jīvanmuktaḥ.
     • 33, called: jñāna-yajña.

• When bhakta gone thought 3 levels, becomes jñāni because of 100% assimilated parā-prakṛti / nirguṇa Īśvara jñānam.
  • Who comes to which level?
    • Misguided / dull minds won’t even come to karma-yoga. But hop sādhanās / satsaṇga.
    • Rajas/tamas minds > karma-yoga.
    • Sattva/rajas > upāsana.
    • Mostly sāttvika mind > jñāna-yoga.
• What type of actions qualify for bhakti/worship?
  • Action doesn’t matter. It is the intention behind the action that counts.
    • EG1: Mom doesn’t consider cost/quality of present, gifted by child. But love with which it’s given, melts her heart.
    • EG2: To invoke big dad, any kind of baby touch or cry will invoke him.
  • Meaning any kind of worship / offering is accepted.
    • How is this possible? Īśvara is everything.
      • Like in a dream, there is: Dream worship (yajñaḥ), materials, fire for oblation, mantras.
      • All are made out of ONE waker’s mind (whose truth is not different from Īśvara).

Verse 20-29: Sakāma / Niṣkāma Bhakti

• Previously 3 levels of bhakti based on sādhana. Now, 2 levels of bhakti based on motives.
  1. Sakāma-bhakti:
     • Path of preyaḥ. (Path of EASY. Instant gratification.)
     • Bhakti according to rāga/dveṣa. Actions produce mixture of puṇya/pāpa-karma.
       • EG: Save world, children find good spouse, health, finances.
     • Gives infinite finite results because goals are finite. Ups & downs.
     • Reveals absence of vairāgyam / viveka (primary for Vedānta).
  2. Niṣkāma-bhakti:
     • Path of sreyaḥ (path of HARD. Nobility according to śāstra. Not-compromising.)
     • Understood permanent security/peace/contentment lies only in parā-prakṛti. Hence bhakti used for parā-prakṛti jñānam.
     • Progresses quickly because dispassionately drops prior sādhana. Keeps asking for HIGHER.
       • EG: Mother gives milk to child from her own body. Not permanently. At child grows, she supplies different food. In same way, niṣkāma-bhakta stops one sādhana to progress to higher > highest nididhyāsana.
       • Gives ONE infinite result.
• In reality, sakāma is harder. Full of rules. Mistakes need prāyaścitta-karma (atonement).

Verse 30-34: Glory of Bhakti

• Potential obstacle: Guilt.
  • Sometimes past transgressions / ignoble acts make us guilty. Suffocates our self-confidence.
  • Krishna gives 2 reasons why to drop guilt:
    • Moment decide to change for better, you are a sādhu-purūsa. EG: Ratnakar > vālmīki
      • Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a saintly potential.
    • Īśvara’s laws are impartial to all. EG: Laws digest food & shower rain for both saint/sinner, rich/poor, materialist/spiritualist. In same way, fire is same to all. Who come close, receive it’s warmth. Who remain far, shiver. EG: Arjuna / Duryodhana.
• Obstacle to nirguṇa jñānam:
  • Womanly qualities like: attachment, dependency, and emotional nature.
• Caste (varṇa) is based on guṇa mixtures (since universe made of 3 guṇā) and profession. Not birth. Varṇa can been seen as “attitude of mind”. — SEE CHART —
• Finally:
  • Even after ātma-jñānam, remain humble – otherwise subtle arrogance comes. How to remain humble?…
    • Remember it’s only because of Īśvara’s laws-orders that you are successful. Which continue giving enjoyment AFTER jñānam.
  • Krishna concludes CH9 with glorification of Bhakti.

Verse 1-3: Glorifies Self-Knowledge

• Verse 1:
  • Self-knowledge releases you from all that is inauspicious (aśubhāt).
    • Avidya (ignorance of my nature. I’m one of manifestations of k-p, whose truth is Consciousness) > Adhyasa (“I am” mistaken for body-mind) > smallness (can’t stand) > Kama (desire for fulfillment) > Karma (action) > Krodha (anger) > Delusion (psychological problems) > confused choices > unfavorable outcomes.
      • How to prove avidya comes before adhyasa? Because adhyasa goes away moment avidya goes away. Meaning adhyasa depends on something prior to it. EG: Snake (adhyasa) goes away only when my ignorance of rope goes away.
      • Tackle avidya (cause), and not adhyasa (effect).
    • Relationship helps: See as opportunity to recognize distortions & correct. Same time knowing, noone can satisfy all my needs & I can’t satisfy others.
• Verse 2:
  • Why “King of Secrets”? When told “I am Brahman”, superimposes mental image of limitlessness. Solution: Reminder: My nature is consciousness in whose presence mental images come-go.
• Verse 3:
  • Lack of shraddha (willingness to look deeper). Cost is comparing self to others / competition. First step to shraddha, acknowledging my existing view isn’t giving a life I want.
    • Eventually I discover ever form is arrangement of knowledge-power > truth is Brahman.
  • Yuga: Can’t categorically say any yuga is better. EG: Moksha easiest in Kali & good actions compensated more.

Verse 4-10: Nature of Ishvara

• Verse 4:
  • All beings exist in Me (k-p): Includes 5 elements. EG: Fire as temperature/perspiration. Body 80% water.
  • Doubt: Evil in Ishvara also? Follows-up: “I am not based in them” > Intelligence gives capacity to desire/act/know. Gives free-will + brain + senses to capture data. Plays no part in decision making. EG: Rub against tree & hurt. Stupidity belongs to me, not tree. Makes Ishvara fair for giving accurate feedback.
• Verse 5:
  • Manifestation is reshuffling of knowledge-power. Meaning Ishvara (as pravaha-nityatvam) remains k-p, despite taking appearance of jagat. Like gold remaining gold, despite bangle/ring. Meaning no distance between Intelligence and experienced world.
• Verse 6-7:
  • Arguments against linear creation: Should be able to find first of anything. EG: Tree or seed.
• Verse 9:
  • “Karmas do not bind Me” > OBJECTION: Been following BGita for 5 years, still pulled down emotionally. > ANSWER: Abhyasa. Bring knowledge back repeatedly. Tennis champ takes 10 years.
• Verse 10:
  • Easy to recognize prakrti (intelligence) in sentient. What about insentient? Intelligence that knows about sentient being survival for oxygen, and insentient oxygen must be same.

Verse 11: Cause of Bondage

Verse 12-19: How Devotion of the Wise Expresses

• Verse 12:
  • People devoid of discrimination (moghāśa): Believes what is perceived. Atheists. However even Ravana turned to Rama (Isvara) before death. So can’t tell when person turns to Jijnasu.
  • Arti (Trouble? Calls God). Artharthi (Relates in all activities). Jijnasu (Who is God?). Jnanai (Realized). Gita talking to Jijnasu (asking who is God?)
• Verse 13/14:
  • Speaking about ananya-bhakta jijnasu (called mahatma). Seeing Ishvara in everything (results / laws / svadharma / samanya dharma / arpana buddhi / prasada-buddhi).
• Verse 15:
  • “They worship Me as many faceted one”: Forms, laws (Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Durga, Ganesh), or as sun-deva (becomes deva when see it having connection to other things), 4 types of beings (andaja, jarayuga, svedaja, udbhijja). All manifestations of One sarvajna-sarvashakti.
• Verse 16:
  • I am the ritual (yajna), act of worship, the offerings, offerer.
• Verse 17:
  • “I am mother/father”. Parents are instruments of Ishvara, gave me this life. They are product of past causes (their parents/circumstances).
  • How to know when undergone major quantum shift? Bring to mind others / your commissions & omissions, and it doesn’t disturb you deeply.
• Verse 18-19:
  • Ishvara is in hot, rain, cold.

Verse 20-29: Two types of Bhaktas (Dual & Non-Dual)

• Verse 20:
  • Ritual is sophisticated prayer. Takes more effort, higher returns. Rule: Adhikasya adhikam phalam. EG: Pilgrimage, group prayer.
• Verse 21:
  • Dualistic bhakti (perform rituals / following dharma) = heaven or privileged family.
• Verse 22:
  • Anaya-bhaktas > means is antahkarana shuddhi > end is moksha > Krishna takes care of what they want to acquire and protect (Punya is en-cashed towards nuanced, discriminating mind).
  • How to know you’re ananya-bhakta? Toys/relationships no longer occupy main place in life. Seen as secondary goals. Main desire is freedom from being a seeker. Secondary goal lost power to push you around.
• Verse 25:
  • Contacting spirits = not considered evolved as retains your attachment to them, and reinforces ignorance of larger order.
• Verse 26:
  • Relating with Ishvara is as simple as offering leaf to alter, or water to Ganga.
• Verse 27:
  • Whatever you do (eat, perform ritual, give) > see it as offering to Ishvara > purifies your mind.
• Verse 29:
  • Each moment is fresh start in Ishvara’s order. Ishvara judges individual actions, not the whole person. Each actions = +- punya/papa.

Verse 30-34: Glory of bhakti

– This 2nd summary was done for my teacher in class on Aug 2024. So I've included it here.