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Following either path faithfully will lead to the complet...
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Krishna warns Arjuna that a life of work, even successful work, cannot be fulfilling without Self-knowledge.
This knowledge of the Self or Atman is, by its very nature, also knowledge of Brahman, the all-pervading, immanent and transcendent Godhead.
the illumined person sees this divine essence in all beings.
Samadhi can come and go; generally it can be entered only in a long period of meditation and after many years of ardent endeavor. But one verse (5:28) adds the significant word sada, “always.” Once this state of deep concentration becomes established, the person lives in spiritual freedom, or moksha, permanently.
Meister Eckhart, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. John of the Cross,
Those who have attained perfect renunciation are free from any sense of duality; they are unaffected by likes and dislikes, Arjuna, and are free from the bondage of self-will. 4 The immature think that knowledge and action are different, but the wise see them as the same. The person who is established in one path will attain the rewards of both. 5 The goal of knowledge and the goal of service are the same; those who fail to see this are blind.
The Lord does not partake in the good and evil deeds of any person; judgment is clouded when wisdom is obscured by ignorance. 16 But ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the Self within. The light of this knowledge shines like the sun, revealing the supreme Brahman. 17 Those who cast off sin through this knowledge, absorbed in the Lord and established in him as their one goal and refuge, are not reborn as separate creatures.
Those who possess this wisdom have equal regard for all. They see the same Self in a spiritual aspirant and an outcaste, in an elephant, a cow, and a dog. 19 Such people have mastered life. With even mind they rest in Brahman, who is perfect and is everywhere the same. 20 They are not elated by good fortune nor depressed by bad. With mind established in Brahman, they are free from delusion. 21 Not dependent on any external support, they realize the joy of spiritual awareness. With consciousness unified through meditation, they live in abiding joy.
Closing their eyes, steadying their breathing, and focusing their attention on the center of spiritual consciousness, 28 the wise master their senses, mind, and intellect through meditation. Self-realization is their only goal. Freed from selfish desire, fear, and anger, they live in freedom always. 29 Knowing me as the friend of all creatures, the Lord of the universe, the end of all offerings and all spiritual disciplines, they attain eternal peace.
But this physical side of yoga (called hatha yoga, “the yoga of force”) is not what is meant in the Gita.
yogi often has a more modest definition: it can mean a person who does his or her job with detachment from the rewards (6:1),
“one who has attained the goal of meditation.”
“one who is accomplished...
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“integration of the...
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karma yoga, the active life of service.
Karma yoga, he says, is the path for those who wish to climb the mountain of Self-realization; for those who have reached the summit, the path is shama, the peace of contemplation. At the beginning of the spiritual life, great exertion is required; as the summit is approached, though the climb gets no easier, the dimension of contemplation or stillness is added. Many spiritual traditions, of course, use this image when speaking of the religious quest. The mountaintop is the place where the holy, like Moses, commune with God; and St. John of the Cross describes the path to union with God as
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“one should lift oneself up by one’s Self”
All those who take refuge in me, whatever their birth, race, sex, or caste, will attain the supreme goal; this realization can be attained even by those whom society scorns. 33 Kings and sages too seek this goal with devotion. Therefore, having been born in this transient and forlorn world, give all your love to me. 34 Fill your mind with me; love me; serve me; worship me always. Seeking me in your heart, you will at last be united with me.
32 I am time, the destroyer of all; I have come to consume the world. Even without your participation, all the warriors gathered here will die.
