Monday, December 11, 2017

GEETA : CHAPTER 12 :2

मय्यावेश्य मनो ये मां नित्ययुक्ता उपासते |
श्रधया परयोपेतास्ते मे युक्ततमा मताः ||2||
Prose :
ये मयि मन आवेश्य नित्ययुक्ता श्रधया परया उपेता मां उपासते ते युक्ततमा मे मताः |

Translation : 

Those who have brought their mind unto me and joined ot with me in extreme faith and constantly  worship me are the best in my opinion.

Commentary :

The Lord has answered here thew query of Arjuna raised in first stanza. The query who are better between those (1) who worship your form with total devotion or (2) those who concentrate upon your formless and non-manifested existance ?
Through out the Geeta The Lord has dialogue in human form of Krishna with Arjuna . Every where he has used expressions like "me " , "mine" etc. If we take it as a another individual then it refers to one character of Mahabharata. Multi facet character undoubtedly.Huge passages are devoted to his pranks as kid, his romance with Gopikas as youth, a flute player,  king, a statesman, a friend, a philosopher, a guide and what not.
The Geeta is in form of a dialogue so expression like You, yours and me, mine are unavoidable. Even the Varkari cult talksघरी about हरि  or पाण्डुरङ्ग as  a statue or idol but draws far larger meaning of the reality often refered to as " BRAHMAN " This is evident from compositions like " परब्रह्म निष्काम तो हा गवलिया घरी  ". In the same spirit when ever the Lord uses the terms like me or mine it has reference to " ब्रह्मन् ". In the elevanth chapter the Lord had given a glimpse of his omni presence which frightened Arjua who found and asked to resume pleasant human form. So multiple interpretations are possible from this stanza. In fact different interpretations have given rise to theories like अद्वैत वाद , विशिष्ट अद्वैत वाद , द्वैत वाद and so on and tradition of multiple interpretation continues. The fun is that every ine sincerely believes in his own interpretation. People have argued on the interpretation but never was a doubt raised on the sincerity of purpose. The Geeta has that remarkable resilience.
So depending upon how you take Me and Mine literally or spiritually, this particular stanza has scope to take ot as you like. The Lord has no objection !!! Not so with next three stanzas which hammer up on the difficulties to be faced by Formless contemplation.