There are many Gita. The Gita that most people quote is Bhagvad Gita. But there is Ram Gita, Avdhoot Gita, Vyadha Gita, Uttar Gita, etc
Gita in sanskrit means song.
This is the celestial songs, which the greatest sages have made. These savants cannot be mimicked and everything else that people write is merely an understanding. These words of the Gita do not come from understanding but a spontaneous composition. The entire Mahabharat and Ramayan – epic works with more than 100,000 shlokas were a constant composition done continuously. What makes them grand is that they artistically interwove a story with the greatest secrets of Yoga.
Why the Yogic interpretation is not grasped? Because the people who read it are not yogis. At most you will get the understanding it is an indirect reference to Ego, or desires etc.
So back to the story. One can understand a Gita, a celestial song written by An Avadhoot or by Rama or Krishna. But what about a Gita written by a butcher?
Well, now is the time, if your orthodox for you to leave and stop reading. Maybe never come back to this blog.
So this is the story of Vyadha – literally meaning butcher. This story is found in Mahabharat.
There was a pious man, a saint. In his determined quest for God, he went to the forrest and meditated for years together. Finally after years of severe austerities and meditation, he achieved Samadhi. Now for those who meditate, Samadhi is something special. Very special. In this state there is total merger into God, the body literally becomes lifeless. This is no exaggeration. This is not some similie or allegory. I have seen this happen to a few great people multiple times.
Anyway, after years and years of practice, he achieved Samadhi. When he woke up there was the light of experience on him. He was enjoying the new found peace and joy. Now, it so happened, that his divine joy was not shared by everyone. In particular there were some birds, who did not appreciate his greatness and they were comfortably perched on the tree above him and decided to give him a shower. This is the kind of shower, bird poop shower is not taken favorably by anyone. I know how irritating it was for me, when more than one occasion bird poop was on my windshield – (and in my amazing genius i created a blob of poop into a paste all over my windshield with the wiper). The saint was no exception and how dare these puny creatures destroy his joy! All he had to do was to look up. Which he did, but in the anger, when he looked up, the birds instantly died and fell lifeless at his feet
This gave him a supreme realization, that Samadhi is not just a fantasy. It comes up real tangible power. (Reflect on this, reflect on the fantasy meditation most people have). He was no even more elated than before. Sadly once we are back in the body, the human afflictions take over. He felt hungry. He goes to the village and followed the tradition of a Sanyasi and begged for alms.
The first house he visits was a business mans house. He stood outside the compound and cried out loudly, “Bhikshan dehi, Bhikshan dehi”. (More on the yogic interpretation later). This literally means, give me alms. The woman in the house promptly came out to see who it was. She told him, wait for a few minutes, let me finish serving my husband. So she went back in and finished serving her husbands meal. Now it so happens, she was so busy serving, she forgot to give Bhiksha or meals to the saint. An hour or so later, she remembered her mistake. She promptly went out with alms and served it to the saint.
She apologized to the saint but ended the apology and an twinkle in her eye and said I am not a bird, that I will perish!
Those words struck the saint like a thunderbolt. How did this woman know what happened in the forrest. I was alone. No one saw me. He begged the woman to tell him, how he knew this. The woman would not budge. Finally after much delay she said, if you want to know, you should go to my Guru. Oh, he said, where may I find this great Sanyasi? She laughed and said, go to the village. He is a butcher
All concepts that this saint had about a saint and a guru disappeared. He was perplexed and began to debate his own power of meditation and what sainthood is. He asked the people and finally made his way to the Vyadha / butcher. The moment he saw the butcher, the butcher said, did my disciple send you here?. Mind you in those days there were no telephones or secret cameras and people in those days were honest. They did not look to make money or make disciples.
The butcher smiles and said, you great sir you are most welcome. Please have a seat and wait till I finish my business. The saint, a strict vegetarian, was forced to sit at the footsteps of a businessman, and that too a butcher. I am sure the smell and the sight was agonizing. Somehow, he managed to spend the day eagerly waiting for the Vyadha / butcher to finish his duties.
And then the butcher, recited the highest wisdom. This wisdom, is known as Vyadha Gita. He extols about the self or Atman and how the atman is never tainted by any actions pertaining the body. However, any body awareness or ego, is binding and will give you karma and consequences. The only way to get final emancipation is by finishing the remaining karma, in whatever fashion God has given. But it must be carried out, without desire, ego
Now to get rid of body consciousness, one must first perfect it in meditation and going into Samadhi. Not once or twice. Repeatedly. Finally at will. When I say at will, within seconds. When that practice becomes perfect, then you can go back to the world and perform all your duties, without ego or body consciousness.
This is where the karma yogi have created a grave error in interpretation. They think that in Bhagwad Gita, God says that karma yogi is the highest. This is true. However, before you become a karma yogi, you have to practice it within by going into samadhi repeatedly. You cannot expect to be able to do actions without desire or body consciossness or ego unless it has been properly sacrificed in Samadhi.
Babaji, has a deeper more subtle meaning. Yogananda describes this in God talks with Arjuna in chapter 2. He divides it into 3 karmas. True karma is taking the prana within through the brahma nadi and going into Samadhi. That is true karma yoga. when the prana makes it exit through the sensations and motor actions of the body it is called akarma. Bad karma itself.
However, this profound wisdom will not be accepted by most people. Why? They want to take the easy road of thinking all the activities they do of eating food, enjoying sex, hearing words of praise and doing work forms Karma yoga and they will be liberated. Such faulty thinking may deceive the average man but God, cannot be fooled by such egotistic bodily gratifications. It does not form true karma.
Bhavin
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