Geetai - Adhyay 7

Chapter - VII : Surrender to God.

Although Vinoba has given this name to the chapter, as I studied Talks on the Gita, I was tempted to give another name 'Bhakti' or Devotion re-defined'. To understand why I reached this conclusion, let us have a look at India of 1932. India like many other Christian countries had well-defined system of temple worship with its attendant rituals. In the early part of this century these practices had been monopolized by high class Hindus and their priests. All poor and low class Indians were not allowed entry into temples. This was done in the name of preserving the sanctity of the religion. Whereas majority of Indians did not have one square meal to eat, leave alone clothes and other amenities, this minority used to spend many hours in the worship, arrange sumptuous feasts for their caste brethren and were providing for the indulgent and luxurious standard of living of the priest. All this went in the name of surrender to God or Bhakti.

In contrast to this and from the actual text Vinoba deals with common manifestations of life and interprets them as the play of Divine. He says the anger of the angry man, the love of the lover, the agony of the sufferer, happiness of the happy one, the drowsiness of the idler, the activity of the worker, all these have an in-built divinity in them. He shows that man's pleasure hunt is because there is no joy in his life and this condition in turn is because he is unable to experience divinity in ordinary things of-life as taught by Gita. Once we have seen the true nature of the universe and tasted its joy, we shall find these other pleasures insipid.

The best way to discover this joy is 'Bhakti' or Devotion. Even if we have to beg, there is greatness in begging from the God rather than from the world and this begging is Bhakti. Citing his own version of Devotion he says, 'If on seeing the great rivers, if one can feel the river as compassion of God flowing before us, such a man is a true devotee'. If man's heart-beat leaps at the sight of the rain-bow, dances at the sight of the daffodils, he is a true devotee. It starts with desire or 'Sakam Bhakti' and ends with joy without external stimulation
which Gita calls 'Nishkam Bhakti ' or end of ail material desires.

Describing three kinds of Bhaktas, Gita says first kind looks at the whole world through eyes of love, the second kind through the eye of discovery, and the third from the point of view of the world's welfare. There is also a fourth type of perfect devotee. His method is to see God in the ugly as in the handsome, in the beggar as in the king, in men, women, animals and birds, everywhere he sees the presence of God. This pure devotee sees the grandeur of God in majestic ocean, the mother like tenderness of God in cow, in the earth he sees His presence, in the clear sky His purity, in Sun, Moon and Stars, His brightness and beauty, His softness in flowers, and in the evil man the God who tests and tries us. Thus he practices the art of seeing the one God at play everywhere and in doing so, one day the seer-saint merges into the Lord. This was what Vinoba understood as Devotion with all its variegated tools and this is the result of surrendering one's Ego to God.

गीताई - अध्याय ७
श्री भगवान् म्हणाले

प्रीतीने आसरा माझा घेउनी योग साधित ।
जाणशिल कसे ऐक समग्र मज निश्चित ॥ १ ॥

विज्ञानासह ते ज्ञान संपूर्ण तुज सांगतो ।
जे जाणूनि पुढे येथे जाणावेसे न राहते ॥ २ ॥

लक्षावधींत एखादा मोक्षार्थ झटतो कधी ।
झटणार्‍यांत एखादा तत्त्वता जाणतो मज ॥ ३॥

पृथ्वी आप तसे तेज वायु आकाश पाचवे ।
मन बुद्धि अहंकार अशी प्रकृति अष्ट-धा ॥ ४ ॥

ही झाली अपरा माझी दुसरी जाण ती परा ।
जीव-रूपे जिने सारे जग हे धरिले असे ॥ ५ ॥

ह्या दोहींपासुनी भूते सगळी जाण निर्मिली ।
सार्‍या जगास तद्-द्वारा मूळ मी आणि शेवट ॥ ६ ॥

दुसरे तत्त्व नाही चि काही माझ्या पलीकडे ।
ओविले सर्व माझ्यात जसे धग्यामधे मणि ॥ ७ ॥

पाण्यात रस मी झालो चंद्र-सूर्यी प्रकाश मी ।
ओं वेदी शब्द आकाशी पुरुषी पुरुषार्थ मी ॥ ८ ॥

मी पुण्य-गंध पृथ्वीत असे अग्नीत उष्णता ।
प्राणि-मात्रात आयुष्य तपो-वृद्धांत मी तप ॥ ९ ॥

सर्व भूतांत जे बीज ते मी जाण सनातन ।
बुद्धिमंतांत मी बुद्धि तेजस्व्यांत हि तेज मी ॥ १० ॥

वैराग्य-युक्त निष्काम बळवंतांत मी बळ ।
राहे धरूनि धर्मास ती मी भूतांत वासना ॥ ११ ॥

माझ्यातूनि तिन्ही झालेसात्त्विकादिक भाव ते ।
परी त्यांत न मी राहे ते चि माझ्यांत राहती ॥ १२ ॥

[२२]

ह्या गुणात्मक भावांनी विश्व मोहूनि टाकिले ।
ज्यामुळे मी न जाणू ये गुणातीत सनातन ॥ १३ ॥

माझी ही त्रिगुणी दैवी माया न तरवे कुणा ।
कासेस लागले माझ्या ते चि जाती तरूनिया ॥ १४ ॥

हीन मूढ दुराचारी माझा आश्रय सोडिती ।
मायेने भ्रांत होऊनि आसुरी भाव जोडिती ॥ १५ ॥

भक्त चौघे सदाचारी भजती मज अर्जुना ।
ज्ञानी तसे चि जिज्ञासु हितार्थी आणि विव्हल ॥ १६ ॥

ज्ञानी वरिष्ठ सर्वात नित्य-युक्त अनन्य जो ।
अत्यंत गोड मी त्यास तो हि गोड तसा मज ॥ १७ ॥

उदार हे जरी सारे ज्ञानी तो मी चि की स्वये ।
जोडला स्थिर माझ्यात गति अंतिम पाहुनी ॥ १८ ॥

अनेक जन्म घेऊनि पावला शरणागति ।
विश्व देखे वासुदेव संत तो बहु दुर्लभ ॥ १९ ॥

भ्रमले कामना-ग्रस्त धुंडिती अन्य दैवते ।
स्वभाव-वश होऊनि तो तो नियम पाळिती ॥ २० ॥

श्रद्धेने ज्या स्वरुपास जे भजू इच्छिती जसे ।
त्यांची ती चि तशी श्रद्धा स्थिर मी करितो स्वये ॥ २१ ॥

त्या श्रद्धेच्या बळाने ते त्या स्वरुपास पूजिती ।
मग मागितले भोग पावती मी चि निर्मिले ॥ २२ ॥

अल्प बुद्धीमुळे त्यांस मिळे फळ अशाश्वत ।
देवांचे भक्त देवांस माझे ते मज पावती ॥ २३ ॥

व्यक्त मी हे चि ते घेती बुद्धि-हीन न जाणुनी ।
अव्यक्त थोर जे रूप माझे अंतिम शाश्वत ॥ २४ ॥

वेढिलो योग-मायेने अंधार चि जगास मी ।
अजन्मा नित्य मी कैसा मूढ कोणी न ओळखे ॥ २५ ॥

झाली जी जी हि होतिल भूते आहेत आज जी ।
सगळी जाणतो ती मी मज कोणी न जाणती ॥ २६ ॥

[२३]

राग-द्वेषांमुळे चित्ती जडला द्वंद्व-मोह जो ।
संसारी सगळी भूते त्याने मोहूनि टाकिली ॥ २७ ॥

ज्यांनी झिजविले पाप पुण्य-कर्मे करूनिया ।
ते द्वंद्व-मोह तोडूनि भजती मज निश्चये ॥ २८ ॥

झटती आश्रये माझ्या जरा-मृत्यु गिळावया ।
ते ब्रम्ह जाणती पूर्ण तसे अध्यात्म कर्म हि ॥ २९ ॥

अधिभूताधिदैवांत अधियज्ञांत जे मज ।
देखती ते प्रयाणी हि जाणती मज सावध ॥ ३० ॥

अध्याय सातवा संपूर्ण