[Advaita-l] A Question on shlokas VI-15 and VI-28 of the Gita

[J-k]

Namaste,
 
Let me quote from the translation I have access to:
 
Verses 27-28:
 
"Supreme Bliss verily comes to that yogi whose mind is calm; whose passions are paciied, who has become one with Brahman and who is sinless.
 
Constantly engaging the mind this way, the yogi who has put away sin, attains with ease the infinite bliss of cintact with Brahman."
 
In his commentary, Swami Chidbhavananda writes:
 
"Mythology has it that there is such thing as the philosopher's stone, contact with which converts base metal into gold. But this is an allegorical statement. Brahman is the real philospher's stone. It is not easily accessible to all; but whosoever gets at It becomes transformed. Ordinary souls who are base become adorable ones after their contact with Brahman. They become heirs to infinite bliss."
 
I do not know Sanskrit so cannot reasonably comment on your question, however, it seems the the quotes above offer a clear perspective in line with which being freed from sins and achieving mind control are neither polar opposites nor "independent" stages of spiritual awakening. Focusing on Brahman brings the transformation of the "one that focuses," which means that the 'subject' is active and passive at the same time. From this aspect the verses describe different aspects of the major message on meditation. 
 
Personalistic inerpretation would add - as necessary - the element of grace as a modus operandi of liberation from sins. But this draws from the interpretation of what sin is.. if you go with the sin meaning misconduct dut to the ingorance, mind control and transformation in contact with Brahman by necessity brings the transformation that means liberation. Two sides of the same coin.
 
Best regards
Jurek
 

"V. Krishnamurthy" <profvk at yahoo.com> wrote:
Namaste

In the detailed description of meditation, Lord Krishna
goes through the actual processes of meditation, once in
shlokas #s 10 to 15 and again in #s 24 to 28.

The last shlokas in the two sets are #15 and #28. In a
sense they wind up the process of meditation.The first
quarters of these two shlokas are the same:
'yunjannevaM sadA AtmAnaM' (Thus engaging himself always
in yoga) 

The second halves of these two shlokas mean the same thing;

'shAntiM nirvAN a-paramAm mat-samsthAM adhigacchati' (#15)
(attains to the peace abiding in Me, which culminates in
liberation)

'sukhena brahma-samsparshaM atyantaM sukhaM ashnute' (#28)
(easily enjoys the infinite bliss of contact with brahman).

But now mark it! The second quarters of the first halves of
these two shlokas are significantly different.

'yogI niyata-mAnasaH' (#15)
(The Yogi who has controlled his mind)

'yogI vigata-kalmashhaH' (#28)
(The Yogi, who has been freed from sins).

Now comes my question: Why this difference? (*)

Does Krishna mean that in His first description from #s10
to 15 the Yogi has still not reached his destination,
whereas in the second description from #s24 to 28, he has?
'The YogI who has controlled his mind' says that the Yogi
is still 'practising'. 'The Yogi who has been freed from
sins' says what has been achieved after that practice!

The fact why there are two descriptions has one logic, in
my opinion, as explained in my book on page: 
http://www.geocities.com/profvk/livehappily_4.html

in the following words

"....Lord Krishna himself must have anticipated this
question about the wandering mind. So He begins again a
second time, in the same sixth chapter from VI-24 onwards,
to take us step by step from scratch. But now He takes us
deeper into the subject.....".

But still I do not get an answer to my question (*).
Can any one take up this matter? I don't think the
commentaries are of help.

PraNAms to all advaitins on this list.
profvk

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