(From the discourses of Pujya Sri Swamiji)

Compiled by Swami Datta Pada Renu

"O Arjuna, by the delusion of the pairs of opposites caused by desire and aversion, all beings are deluded at birth, O scorcher of foes."

In this verse, the Lord gives the reason for the inability of the people to recognize Him and His greatness.

The mind always oscillates between likes and dislikes. When a man gets a thing which he likes and dislikes. When a man gets a thing which he likes he feels happy. But as soon as he loses it, he is pained. Pleasure is definitely followed by pain. After long experience of suffering hard blows of misery, man discovers that pleasure cannot exist without pain. Then he turns his mind within, towards his own self. There he finds peace and happiness.

But knowledge of the self is hard to gain if one’s intellect is in the grip of delusion. Dualities like pleasure and pain, heat and cold etc., are the causes of all delusion. These dualities are born of attraction and aversion (Raga and Dvesha). If a man is not attracted by an object, there can not be any pain from non-possession of that object. Nor can there be any hatred against those who put obstacles in the way of possessing that object. Therefore, only when a man is free from attraction and aversion he can be free from the dualities like pleasure and pain, heat and cold etc..

But everyone is subject go this delusion at his very birth itself with knowledge impeded by this inborn delusion all beings are overcome by confusion and fail to know their self, the seat of all happiness and Bliss. One whose mind is subject to this dualistic delusion cannot have right knowledge of even worldly objects, far less can such a mind grasp the knowledge of the Inner Self.

But then, who are the persons who do not fall a prey to this delusion and who worship the Lord as their own Self? The Lord says:

"But those men of virtuous deeds whose sin has ended, worship Me with firm resolve, freed from the delusion of the pairs of opposites"(28-VII).

Those who have destroyed their sins by the performance of good deeds are freed from the delusive pairs of opposites like attraction and aversion or love and hate. As such they worship the Lord with unswerving devotion.

Due to sinful tendencies accumulated through several births, the mind always goes outwards seeking undesirable pleasures. However much one may struggle, the mind does not remain steady in the contemplation of the Self. In order to make such a mind steady one has to do certain spiritual disciplines. The foremost among them is the performance of good deeds (Punya Karma) like giving some help, physical as well as financial to needy people and observance of celibacy, fasting, Japa and meditation.

The practice of these good deeds will free the Sadhakas (practitioners) from the pairs of opposites and as a result, they will not get involved themselves in pleasure and pain. Only these people who are liberated from the delusion of dualities worship the Lord with a firm resolve. With what aim do they worship? The Lord answers
"Taking refuge in Me, those who strive for freedom from old age and death come to know Brahman, the whole of Adhyatma and Karma in its entirety." (29-VII).

The knowledge of Brahman is hard to attain. Those who take refuge in the Lord and make sincere efforts alone can realise the Lord, the Brahman. As they have fully surrendered to the Lord, they are free from all anxiety and worries of any sickness, old age and death.

The idea is that those who are interested in the thought of the Lord are not in the least affected by the fear of old age or death as their vision of the self reaches its supreme perfection and they identify themselves with their own self and not with their bodies. They alone know Brahma, the whole of Adhyatma (the reality of the Inner Self) and Karma in its entirety.

"Those who know me with Adhibuta, the Adhidaiva and the Adhiyajna know me also at the time of death, their minds being concentrated." (30-VII)

Those who have realised the Lord and who are ever in communion with the Lord are not distressed at the death of their bodies. Therefore even at the horrible hour of death they concentrate their mind on the Lord and remember Him as existing in all the world of objects (adhibhuta), in all the divine beings (adhidaiva) and in all the sacrifices (adhiyajna).

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(Thus ends the seventh chapter designated ‘The way of Knowledge with Realisation’.)