(From the discourses of Pujya Sri Swamiji)

Compiled by Swami Datta Pada Renu

"Therefore at all times remember Me and fight. With mind and understanding fixed upon Me, you will surely come to Me alone" (7-VIII).

Wherever you may be and whatever may be the duty that has fallen to your lot, perform it keeping your mind on God. Thus when the thought of God becomes the dominant idea of your life, you will be able to absorb yourself in the thought of God even at the last moments of your life. Then, after the death of the body, you will be able to enter the Lord’s Being. This is the Lord’s advice. Gita doctrine thus unites practical life with the spiritual.

The Lord gives the instruction to Arjuna on the battlefield just before the start of the battle. As Arjuna was a military general, and as it was his duty to fight for a just cause, he was advised to fight. But all are not soldiers. Different people have different vocations in life. As some are doctors, some are lawyers, some are engineers, some others are agriculturists or traders or workers and so on and so forth. But everyone has to perform one’s duty keeping the thought of the Lord in one’s mind.

Therefore, the word ‘fight’ in this verse stands for one’s duty. One has to meditate on the Lord at all times and perform his duties. This is the idea and this is the central teaching of the Gita.

"With the mind not wandering after anything else, made steadfast by constant practice of meditation, he who ever thinks of the Supreme Resplendent Purusha, reaches Him, O Partha" (8-VIII)

In this verse the Lord stresses the importance of ‘Abhyasa’ (practice). The Lord raises ‘Abhyasa’ to the status of Yoga. Abhyasa means uninterrupted practice or repeating the practice again and again. Therefore Abhyasa Yoga means meditating on the Lord over and over again.

Whatever may be the Yoga that one practices, Dhyaana Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga or Raja Yoga, unless it is combined with Abhyasa Yoga (regular practice), success cannot be achieved. First, the mind should not be allowed to wander astray. It has to be made steadfast by constant practice of meditation. The Yogi with such a mind ever thinking of the Supreme and Divine Person attains Him.

"He who meditates on this glorious Supreme Purusha, the Omniscient, the Ancient, the Ruler, smaller than the atom, the supporter of all, of unthinkable nature, glorious like the Sun and beyond all darkness, at the time of death with a steady mind, endowed with devotion and strength of Yoga, fixing well the entire Prana in the middle of the eye-brows, he reaches Him. (9, 10 – VIII).

The Lord in an earlier verse exhorts Arjuna: ‘remember Me and perform your duties of life." Again in another verse he says: "whoever meditates on the Supreme Purusha, reaches Him." But it is very difficult to remember the Lord and meditate on Him without getting an idea of his form or attributes. Generally people can think only of those things about which they have some idea. Therefore the Lord in this verse gives a description of His attributes.

The Lord, the Supreme Being, is Kavi. The word Kavi means omniscient, intelligent and knowing the past, present and future. Kavi also signifies the one who can see much beyond what ordinary people can see (Krantadarshi) and one who can realize the transcendental entity (Atindriya darshi).

He is Purana, which means the Ancient One. There was nothing prior to the Lord. Everything including the whole cosmos has originated from Him.
He is Anusasita, the ruler or the Lord of the whole universe.
He is Anoraneeyaan, the subtlest among things subtle.
He is Sarvasya Daata, meaning the support of all. As the ocean is the support of all the waves, so also, Brahman is the support of the whole universe.
He is Achintya Purusha. He cannot be comprehended by the ordinary mind. But a mind which is fully purified by austerities and meditation can become one with Him.
He is Adityavarna, resplendent like the Sun, being luminous with the eternal light of consciousness.
He is Tamasah Parastaat, beyond the darkness of ignorance and delusion.

At the time of death one should contemplate on the Lord by understanding Him through these eight attributes with a steady mind endowed with devotion and strength of Yoga. Thus causing the life-force (Prana) to enter the space between the eye-brows by stages, the Yogi reaches the Supreme Divine Spirit.