On the Bhagavad-Gita
A New Translation And Commentary Chapters 1-6
From Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Whenever Dharma is in Decay…
VERSE 7
Whenever dharma is in decay
and
adharma flourishes,
O Bharata, then I create myself
pg 218
The Wise Man…
VERSE 26 –
Let not the wise man create a division
in the minds of the ignorant, who are
attached to action. Established in Being,
he should direct them to perform all actions,
duly engaging in them himself.
pg 218
On the Self……
Verse 7 – Chapter 5
“Intent on Yoga*, pure of spirit
he who has fully mastered himself
and has conquered the senses, whose
self has become the Self of all beings,
he is not involved even while he acts.”
pg 338
*Yoga as a term used here, not as the bodily practice of Yoga, but meaning a sense of unity of the mind with being
Action is the veil which hides this essential nature of self – pg 338
Meditation is a process of diving through all the subtle levels of activity; when the subtlest level is transcended, the mind gains the state of pure being. – pg 338
When the mind, being That, comes out into the field of activity, then Self is said to shine fourth in Its purity. – pg 338
This is the state of cosmic consciousness, where the Self has separated Itself completely from the field of activity. In this state, where absolute being and the relative world of activity are lived simultaneously, the self is said to have been permanently freed from all stain; it has achieved absolute purity. – pg 338
DJK Commontary: To become the Self of all beings would be to embrace non-self as reality, the self of all beings would be the “I” of nonself. The field of activities is like the monkey mind, its always moving and doing, often shaking the tree of the mind, it is felt and perceived, but is not self. The field of activity is relational, and through awareness and individual mind-work, begins to reveal itself as not the individual mind-body.
It reveals itself as inducements subside and as prompting is recognized. It is relational to space and posture as well. The field of activity recognizes formations of bodies in relation to one another. Like a sea of energy swirling around a grouping of coral, the field is like a movement of energy, ideas, thoughts, sensations and perceptions swirling around a formation, around an arrangement of bodies and minds.
Like people sitting in there favorite chair after work, the formation of where people sit is an arrangement, and effects the flow of the group mind. All sitting in position, in their favorite spots, in separate houses, people together may have there favorite thoughts arise. A formation of bodies, in position, within an arrangement, all thinking within the same formation of mind, may produce a group perception of reality, a dream (or nightmare), an approximation of reality and of whats happening. Formations, the Buddha Said, Should Be Abandoned as most real, the individual separating from a formation becomes aware of other formations, of direct experience and of discernment.
Small separations from the field of activities begins to reveal feeling and perception as not of self, as non-self. The practice of singleness is most often experienced through meditation, singleness the practice of existing in a mode of being, aware of and separate from the field of activities.
One could get trapped in a formation.
Observing decisions and plans in the mind, believing it all to be self. Knowing the field as observable and not as self is a practice of discernment. Being aware of it as not self allows one to observe it. The feeling of a mind body may be perceptual organization. How one is feeling may be relational to how they are organized in an arrangement or plan. Different feelings in the body may be relational to the individuals current relationships and expected tasks. If scheduled and planned then an individual is expected to be a certain way at a certain time, this means that a consistency in regards to identity is expected, and if one lives entirely within that expectation than it could be mistaken as self.
Governments and institutions use this phenomenal fact of reality to maintain systemic order. Ones civil identity is not ones self, and an expected consistency or permanent system position as ones identity is seemingly against the actuality of reality. The position, of say Governor, is a position of connectedness within a system formation of mind and material, and is not the governors self. Only in separating from the group, or in entering into a group that separates, does one recognize a position within the field of activities as nonself.
As soon as the formation of positions is broken then the flow changes, feeling changes, thoughts and organizations change. A formation of mind may have seemed like a permanent reality, and one may have had a seemingly permanent position and identity within that formation. One could live their entire life within a formation of mind, but the grasping at of ones position, within that information as self is at the root of suffering.
Grasping at arrangements and formations causes suffering… going to your favorite chair over and over again wanting a feeling that once existed in that position, causes suffering. That is why the Buddha said that the grasping at formations is a cause of suffering, formations are to be abandoned as most real. The pursuit of feeling, chasing a feeling, is a major cause of suffering if that feeling involves danger to the mind body. Good feeling, dangerous action can be entrapping and deadly.
An arrangement of bodies could be sharing a formation of mind, and could all be having the same beautiful dream, but only in a specific position, in the proper arrangement, does the formation arise for the group mind. The naming and labeling of formations in the mind is a natural phenomena, but like grasping at formations themselves, the grasping at labels and labeling of formations in the mind, can cause suffering, entanglement, internal conflict, anxiety and disease (dis-ease).
Control to maintain a formation seems to require labeling. Control of ones individual mind, approaching the I of nonself, the self of all beings, would seem to require the abandonment of labeling, the perceived formations in the field of activity, as one associates to the field of activity, one becomes it.
The field of activity could be thought of as quantum potential that is felt as feeling and is perceived through the senses and at the mind door. The feeling turned from potential to action is the becoming of an active part of the body of relationships that is the field of activities. Entering into a movement of people, all becoming a momentum within the field of activities creates a relationship of bodies, minds, concentrations, focuses, feelings and perception.
The Buddha said to abandon feeling and perception.
This may mean moving out of a formation, into discomfort, through the field of activities, without a perfect harmony, “harmony” being a label for a formation in mind and not actual earth harmony, with an associated feeling, movement and thought patterns. Breaking free from a labeled group mind involves encountering uncomfortable feeling, inconsistencies of identity, hallucinations of perception and feeling, bizarre bodily phenomena, and the disassembly of the ego as a permanent and fixed structure of self.
True self is more like nothingess, self being an experience, not a fixture. A non-referential continuity, aware of ones relation to the field of activities, but aware of a state of existence without a relational definition or label of self.
The individual in realizing nonself begins to approach discernment, wanting this and not that from the mind.
One may encounter discernment hell as they experiment with all the ways to discern, vocal, sensual, through motion, through action, through thought, through the eyes but not the ears, through the nose but not taste, through talking internally, through talking out-loud alone, through story telling, through pure logic, through creation, through mechanical means, through building, through destruction, through feeling and perception…
All of this being said, those who pass through, into a known state of being (as are mentioned above) and are recognized to do so by group consciousness, seem to arrive at the same general conclusion… there is a way things are.
If one notices something visual, and moves towards it, then they have changed their position in relation to what was observed. If one observes something visual and does not react, and then it reveals itself as illusory, then the field of activities has revealed a part of itself as non-self. The field of activities is most observable as not self in stillness, in meditation, and with practice it seems that even in motion a practitioner is often recognized as separate or as know to separate from the group.
The self, separated from the field of activities does not become the activity or its influence, in every moment. The realization of this occurs in stillness, as in movement the self becomes the fields potential. If one is the “self of all beings” , “the ‘I’ of nonself” then to cut away parts of that is to cut at the self, but if the body has a tumor then to remove it with a sharp knife would be the role of a spiritual teacher.
Humans are naturally discerning, to pick this mango over that piece of wood as a meal, Is a natural discernment. To buy one product over another is an economic discernment. To maintain a certain focus of mind or to find and fallow a strand of thought is discerning. The mind and body can discern themselves apart into broken states of thought and movement.
Being and doing seems to create an individual whose self is the mass of suffering. The unity of suffering, in ignorance and confusion.
Does not create an ease of mind, wellness of mind, then the approaching the mind occurs different. The mind begin to separate itself from the field naturally, a free being then would have accepted the self of all beings and would be naturally free given the work that they have done in the mind. The field of activities reveals itself as not the individual, to the individual, in essence the group mind revealing itself as not the individual of body-mind work.
Killing ones ego is like killing ones self, and the self of all. Being Discerning tends to create smaller groups of mind with a shared focus, being with like minded people.
Being like minded has an ease to it, and people are naturally discerning through there action but often unconsciously, perhaps being mislead to in a direction of destruction of the self. The taming of the self, the ego of self, “I the self” and the acceptance of the self of all beings, but
Self is not a focus, self is not a concentration, self is not a feeling.
can result in a group mode of killing ones self, a group mind that provides support for the harm of self.
Self cherishing would be the grasping at the experience described here; “When the mind, being That, comes out into the field of activity, then Self is said to shine fourth in Its purity.“
2.22.2021
In the beginning, having created
men along with yagya, the Lord of
Creation said: By this yagya shall
ye prosper and this shall bring
forth the fulfillment of desires
The righteous, who eat
the remains of the yagya, are
freed from all sins. But
the unrighteous, who prepare
food for themselves alone,
truly eats in sin.
Do your alotted duty,
Action is indeed superior to inaction
Even though the survival of your
of your body would not be possible without action
