Bhagavad Gita: Understanding One Shloka at a time. (Chp. 4, Verse 10) — HBR Patel
वीतरागभयक्रोधा मन्मया मामुपाश्रिता: |
बहवो ज्ञानतपसा पूता मद्भावमागता: || 10||
Free from attachment, fear and anger, becoming fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me — and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me.
In the previous shloka, Bhagwan Shri Krishna explained to Arjuna about the path to Moksha. The path is to truly know the divine nature of his birth and divine ‘Leelas’, and by doing that, one can attain Moksha, or liberation from the bondage of birth and death. So, how many have attained Moksha through this path?
Bhagwan Shri Krishna clarifies in this shloka by saying that many people have attained the eternal essence by following this path. Those individuals follow the path by purifying their minds through devotion. By following the Karmayoga with proper understanding, the ‘Vasanas’, or the material attachments, will fade away with time. The mind becomes detached from the longing for material things and pleasures.
The mind is freed from attachment, fear, and anger. The mind becomes purified and still. It becomes easier to achieve identification with the eternal essence. The attachments give rise to fear and anger. The thought of losing things that we have or desire produces fear. The obstruction to attaining the object of our desires causes anger. Thus, to cleanse the mind from the defects of lust, anger, greed, envy, and illusion, we have to detach it from the world and attach it to the Supreme Lord. Thus, when the root of all causes of misery is taken care of, the mind becomes still.
So, by following Karmayoga, the mind becomes purified and achieves the stillness needed to attain oneness with the Supreme Bhagwan. Bhagwan Shri Krishna says that many have attained his divine love by detaching from the attachments through karma yoga, or austerity of knowledge. The void of detachment is fulfilled by the divine attachment toward the Supreme Bhagwan. By meditating on, thinking of, hearing, and singing about the divine birth and divine activities of Supreme Bhagwan, we can ultimately attain his divine love and abode.
