Summary:

Knowledge through direct experience

This ninth  Chapter tells about the wonderful greatness of the Lord’s Name.

For many reasons, this Chapter is considered particularly holy. It is at the center of the Gita.It is said that when Jnanadeva bid farewell to the world and entered into samadhi,  he was reciting this Chapter. 

At the very outset, the Lord says that this unique wisdom is the supreme secret; it is the highest and the purest.  This Chapter describes the beauty and the sweetness of living in the service of the Lord. It tells about things which can be directly experienced in this body, seen directly with the eyes, enjoyed here and now in this life. When one eats jaggery, one can directly experience its sweetness. This Chapter gives a taste of sweetness in life that is totally surrendered to the Lord. It deals with the supreme knowledge that enables us to directly experience the sweetness in life on this earth. This knowledge is otherwise most difficult to grasp, but the Lord has revealed it here to all, made it accessible and comprehensible to all.

The easy way–

The Vedas are the oldest historical documents. The religion that was in the form of a seed in the Vedas grew gradually into the tree which finally bore the sweet divine fruit of the Gita. What else can we have from a tree to eat than a fruit? It is only when the tree bears fruit that we can have something to eat. The Gita is the twice-distilled essence of the Vedic religion.

The door to moksha was thus thrown wide open to all—to the women and the children, the workers and the peasants,the weak and the ignorant, the sick and the handicapped. Moksha that lay locked up in the Vedas was brought within the reach of everybody, thanks to the Lord Himself. A simple and easy way became available. Why cannot one’s ordinary day-to-day life, what one does as swadharma, one’s acts of service be infused with the spirit of yajna? Where is the need for other complicated and elaborate yajnas? Let your daily work itself be a yajna—let it be sacrificial in nature.

This is the highway.Even if you run on this road with closed eyes, there is no risk of stumbling or falling.The other way is like the edge of a sharp razor.The Vedic way is sharper than a sword’s edge and is thus extremely arduous. The way of devotion, the way of surrender and service to the Lord is easy.

It is the Lord, and the Lord alone, who appears in everything animate and inanimate. Where is then the need for devising artificial methods to seek and find Him? The way is straight and easy. Whatever work you do, do it in the spirit of service and as a service to the Lord. Surrender totally to the Lord and be His devoted and humble servant. The arduous Vedic path with its complex rites and rituals and the numerous yajnas will no doubt take us towards moksha; but the problem there is that the question of fitness arises there. Let us have none of it. Just dedicate to Him whatever you do. Relate to Him every act of yours. This is what the Ninth Chapter tells us. Hence the bhaktas are extremely fond of this Chapter.

No question of entitlement –

Lord Krishna has shown through His own life an easy way to moksha. He moved with cows in His childhood and with horses when He grew up.

Lord Krishna has shown that such liberation is not a prerogative of human beings only; even the birds and the beasts can attain it. The story of His life is a testimony to this fact.

Vyasa too had the same experience. In fact, there is an identity between Vyasa and Krishna. The  message of their lives is the same. Moksha depends neither on scholarship nor on performance of rites and rituals. Plain, simple devotion is sufficient. Innocent and devout women have surpassed learned egotists in spiritual progress. If there is pure heart, innocence and faith, moksha is not difficult to attain.

 Dedication of the fruit of actions to the Lord –

This is the special teaching of the Ninth Chapter. In this Chapter, there is a fascinating confluence of karma yoga and bhakti yoga. Karmayoga means doing work and renouncing its fruit. Work should be done with such ingenuity that the mind remains untouched by attachment to its fruit.Vinobaji has defined Raja Yoga as  a beautiful blending of karma yoga and bhakti yoga.

Dedicate your desires, longings  and senses  to God –

Dedicate to the Lord your desires and longings; even the passions and tendencies like anger that arise in the mind, and then have nothing to do with them. Lend your ears to the Lord. Use your mouth to chant His Name. The sense organs are not your enemies. They are good and useful. They possess great capabilities. The best way is to take work from them in a spirit of dedication to the Lord. This is what rajayoga means. 

The Lord’s Name destroys the sins–

No power on earth can destroy the truth. Sin can never stand before the Name of the Lord. Hence seek His grace. Dedicate all actions to Him. Surrender completely to Him and be totally devoted to Him. Let the urge to dedicate all the actions to Him become more and more intense. Then this trivial life will become divine. The soiled life will become beautiful.

Not what but how you offer is important–

Leaves, flowers, fruits, water, anything can be offered to Him. What is important is that it should be offered with bhakti. The spirit and sentiment with which you offer is important.

Thus, the point is that even the ordinary actions in life should be dedicated to the Lord. Life would then acquire a new vigor. Moksha would come within our grasp. Rajayoga, which asks us to work and offer its fruit to the Lord instead of giving it up, is a step ahead of karma yoga. Karmayoga asks you to work without desires and give up the fruit of the work. Here karma yoga stops. Rajayoga says, “Do not renounce the fruit of the actions. Dedicate all the actions themselves to the Lord. The actions are a means that help you in making spiritual progress. They are like flowers which should be offered at the feet of the Lord. Conjoin your actions with devotion and go on enriching your life. Do not throw away the fruit, dedicate it to the Lord.” The fruit that is cut off from the actions in karma yoga is linked to the Lord in raja yoga. There is a difference between throwing seeds and sowing them. You reap in abundance what you sow; what you throw is wasted. The work that is dedicated to the Lord gets sown, and therefore life gets infused with infinite bliss and sanctity.

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