Trailokya Gita: Chapter-4: Jnaanabhaktikarma Yoga (The Association of Knowledge, Devotion and Practice)

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Trailokyā Uvāca:-

1) Kiṃ Jñānabhaktikarmāhuḥ, Datta! brÅ«hi savistaram ।
Spaṣṭākarṣaka Vedāntaṃ, na paśyāmi bhuvi kvacit ।।

[Ms. Trylokyā asked: - O God Datta! What is meant by knowledge, devotion and practice? Please explain in detail. I am unable to see such clear and attracting Spiritual knowledge anywhere on this earth.]

 

Śrī Dattasvāmī Uvāca: -

2) Jñāne te mahatÄ« Å›raddhā, Sadguroḥ preraṇāya yā ।
Spaṣṭākará¹£aṇa hetustu, satyaṃ jñānamiti Å›rutiḥ ।।

[Shri Dattaswami spoke: - You have lot of interest in Spiritual knowledge. Such interest encourages the divine preacher to explain Spiritual knowledge more and more. The only reason for the clarity and attraction of My Spiritual knowledge is that it is perfect truth. Except this reason, there is no other reason. The Veda also says that knowledge must be always true (Satyaṃ jñānam…).]

 

3) Śiṣyo mohānu vākyārthī, guru staddakṣiṇāturaḥ ।
Na jānannasadāvakti, jñātvā sadapi cā'paraḥ ।।

[The disciple expects the preacher to preach according to his/her convenience of self-fascination. The preacher also preaches like that only to please the disciple and get more offering of money from the disciple. In this process, one preacher preaches faulty knowledge due to his ignorance of right knowledge. Another preacher preaches faulty knowledge to please the disciple even though the preacher knows the true knowledge, to get more offering of money.]

 

4) Sadgurostu sadevaiti, so'vatīrṇo naraḥ paraḥ ।
Sarvadātā hi sarveṣāṃ, āptakāma iti stutaḥ ।।

[The divine preacher preaches only true knowledge because He is God descended to the earth as human incarnation. He is the donor of anything to anybody. He is praised by the Veda as fully contented (āptakāmasya kā spá¹›hā…- Veda) since nothing is required by Him as said in the GÄ«tā (nā'navāptamavāptavyam - GÄ«tā).]

 

5) Karmabhaktijñānaá¹£aá¹­ka—trayaṃ GÄ«teti kecana ।
Viparītaṃ sadityeva, mataṃ Me suvicārataḥ ।।

[Some scholars say that the Bhagavadgītā is divided into three parts as practice, devotion and knowledge, each part consisting of six chapters. This classification does not seem proper to Me because the reverse of this order appears to be logical to Me on analysing properly.]

 

6) Mumbāpura viÅ›eá¹£ajñaḥ, tadākṛṣṭaḥ prayāti tat ।
Kramāt jñāna bhakti karma, sarvairapyanubhÅ«yate ।।

[On hearing the details of Mumbai city, one gets attracted to see that city. Here, the details form the first step are called knowledge. The attraction developed by it is the second step called devotion. After these two steps, the practice or practical step taken to travel to Mumbai city results. This order of knowledge (Jñāna), devotion (Bhakti) and practice (Karma) is experienced by all the people.]

 

7) Jñāne Nārada sambuddhā, Kṛṣṇā''kṛṣṭā ca Rukmiṇī ।
Paścāt kāryaṃ praviṣṭā'bhūt, dṛṣṭānto'yaṃ parastathā ।।

[Another similar example to know the correct order of these three steps is that Rukmiṇī heard about the details of personality of Kṛṣṇa from Sage Nārada and then was attracted to God Kṛṣṇa through climax love. After this, she entered into practical step by writing a love letter to Kṛṣṇa and running away with Him just on the day of her marriage with Śiśupāla.]

 

8) Dvividhaṃ karma samnyāsa—tyāgābhyāṃ ubhayatra ca ।
Dvau dṛṣṭau karma samnyāsāt, tyāgāt karmaphalasya ca ।।

[The practice or Karmayoga consists of two sub-divisions: - 1) Service or sacrifice of work and 2) Sacrifice or sacrifice of fruit of work. Both these two steps can be clearly seen in both the above examples in the final step called Karmayoga. In the 1^st example, walking up to railway station is sacrifice of work and purchasing the ticket for Mumbai is sacrifice of fruit of work. In the 2^nd example, sending the priest to Kṛṣṇa with love letter is Sacrifice of work and giving golden necklace to the priest after returning from Kṛṣṇa is the sacrifice of fruit of work.]

 

9) Ādyau bhāvau paraṃ karma, bhaktiḥ premaiva daivikī ।
Niṣkāmakarma satyaṃ hi, bhakteḥ karma nirūpaṇam ।।

[The first two steps called knowledge and devotion are purely theoretical steps whereas the final third step called practice is the practical step. The second step called devotion is theoretical devotion and the third step called practice is practical devotion. Devotion means love to God and love means love to worldly things. In this way, there is no difference between devotion and love. If this love is without aspiration for any fruit in return, such love is true love and love with aspiration for some fruit in return is false love. Practical devotion is the proof for the theoretical devotion.]

 

10)   Sadā phalaṃ karmaṇo hi, vá¹›ká¹£asyeva pramā jalam ।
Pāṃsurbhaktiḥ dvayaṃ mukhyaṃ,  vá¹›ká¹£asyaivā'ntimaṃ phalam ।।

[Always, fruit is obtained by the final step of practice only. Always, the fruit appears for the tree only. The knowledge is the water needed for the plant to be alive and the devotion is the manure that grows the plant into a tree. Hence, knowledge and devotion are also important to make the plant alive and to grow, but, the practice or tree alone gets the final fruit.]

 

11)   Rahodatta phalākāṅkṣī, pitāmaha ivecchati ।
Deva ssevā dhanāṃśāya, yācaka ssa parīkṣayā ।।

[God does not need anything from devotee. But, to test the true love of the devotee, God acts like a beggar. A grandfather begs his grandson to donate a piece of biscuit to test the real love of grandson on him and not really in need of that bit of biscuit because he himself purchased the packet of biscuits and passed on the packet to his grandson through his mother keeping everything confidential. Similarly, God gives us total energy and total wealth and this is kept secret to test our real love to Him by requesting us to do little service and to donate little wealth.]

 

12)   Bhāva dāna phalākāṅkṣā, veÅ›yā bhakti ssamārthataḥ ।
Vaiśyabhaktiḥ vinākāṅkṣāṃ, putrabhakti ssadottamā ।।

[There are three types of devotions: - 1) Veśyābhakti or prostitute devotion in which theoretical devotion is offered aspiring practical fruits. 2) Vaiśyabhakti is business devotion in which the practical devotion is offered aspiring practical fruits and in this equality of practical items exists and 3) Putrabhakti or issue devotion in which practical fruit is given to issues irrespective of any offer from the other side. God will be very much pleased with the last type of devotion, which is the greatest.]

 

13)   Asādhyā tu tá¹›tÄ«yeti, na vācyā dṛśyate sute ।
Kathaṃ saiva pare na syāt, śailotkṣepaḥ kvaci nna hi ।।

[The devotee shall not say that without aspiration for any fruit in return, it is very difficult to offer practical devotion to God. This is illogical because such devotion is already shown in the case of issues and only in the case of God, it is said that such devotion is impossible. One cannot say that he can lift the mountain in one city only and not in another city. If such devotion is impossible, it should be impossible everywhere.]

 

14)   Jñāta daivāya dadyāttvaṃ, Å›raddhā bhÄ« hrÄ« samarpitaḥ ।
Nahyeṣa yācako Devaḥ, tava bhakti parīkṣakaḥ ।।

[When you recognise the human incarnation through true analysis, you must offer service or sacrifice with full devotion, fear and shyness because God is not a beggar. A beggar may accept your sacrifice with full gratefulness even if you donate with pride and negligence because he is in need of your help. The Veda emphasises this point (śraddhayā deyam, bhiyā deyam, hriyā deyam). The acceptor of your sacrifice is God, who is testing the reality of your love to Him.]

 

15)   Åšaá¹…karo Laká¹£maṇo Madhvaḥ, trimÅ«rtÄ«nāṃ svarÅ«piṇaḥ ।
Jñānabhaktikarma rÅ«pāḥ, kramā Ddattāvatārakāḥ ।।

[Śaṅkara, the incarnation of God Śiva established Spiritual knowledge. Afterwards, Rāmānuja, incarnation of God Viṣṇu established devotion. Afterwards, Madhva, incarnation of God Brahmā established practice. Since the three divine forms are God Datta only, the three divine preachers are also incarnations of God Datta only. The sequence of the three divine preachers gives the sequence of knowledge, devotion and practice.]

 

16)   JñānātpaÅ›cāt daÅ›e dve hi, saká¹›deva pramā phalam ।
Śaṅkaraḥ prāha siddhāntāḥ, tat tat kālocitāḥ khalu ।।

[The first step, which is attainment of Spiritual knowledge takes the whole time. Once true Spiritual knowledge is attained, which is knowing all the details of the divine personality of God, it immediately generates devotion, which is attraction to the personality of God. Immediately, the devotee attains salvation from the worldly bonds and serves God with full sacrifice. The latter two steps are spontaneous resulting in the attainment of final divine fruit. Hence, the time of first step is said to be the time of overall reaction as said in ‘Reaction kinetics’. Based on this, Åšaá¹…kara told that the Spiritual knowledge gives the final fruit of salvation (Jñānādeva tu kaivalyam…) directly. The various philosophies of three divine preachers appear to be different based on the difference in the spiritual progress of surrounding disciples in their respective times.]

 

17)   Guru ssatyaṃ Sadgurustu, hitaṃ brÅ«te mṛṣā'pi tat ।
Arthavāde śiśuṃ candrāt, bhojaye nmauli śūlavat ।।

[A scholar (Guru) simply says truth without caring the stage of the disciple. The divine preacher (Sadguru) cares for the stage of the disciple and modifies the truth if necessary to uplift the disciple. Slight modification of the truth for the welfare of the disciple is not wrong like mother making the child to eat the food telling a lie that if the food is completely eaten, Moon will come down. For a good purpose, telling a lie is Arthavāda. An ignorant person developed severe headache believing that a chameleon entered his head through his ear. Every doctor refused this like Guru. But, a doctor like Sadguru agreed with the patient and threw a hidden chameleon from backside of ear establishing that the chameleon came out of the head through the ear and the headache of the patient was cured!]

 

18)   Sādhanaṃ bhakti ranyārthe, sādhyā sa yadi kevalaḥ ।
Unmādo nāyakāyeva, dussādhyā na hi darśanāt ।।

[When we worship loving God, we always love to achieve some worldly benefit. Our love is on the worldly benefit only, but, not on God. Here, God is only an instrument to achieve the selfish benefit. Such love on God is not true at all, which is called as instrumental devotion (Sādhanabhakti) since God is made an instrument to achieve practical benefits. When we love God without aspiration for any fruit, keeping Him as the only fruit, such devotion is called goal devotion (Sādhyabhakti). This type of devotion without aspiration for any fruit in return except God is not impossible because such type of mad love is seen in the world. A fan of cinema hero or a political leader does not get any benefit from the other side, in fact, the fan only spends from his pocket and when the political leader or hero dies, the fan commits suicide!]

 

19)   Samādhir niÅ›cayaḥ pÅ«rṇaḥ, balavānyoga satphalam ।
Narāvatāra kṛṣṇena, munayo gopikā yayuḥ ।।

[When the devotee is totally absorbed in God like the above said fan without paying attention towards anything and anybody, such a climax state of devotion is said to be the single pointed decision and this is referred to the final state called ‘Samādhi’, which is the true fruit of true Yoga. ‘Sam’ means fully, ‘Ä€’ (Āṅ) means continous and ‘Dhi’ means decision taken by intelligence. Such Samādhi was obtained by the Sages born as Gopikas from their contemporary incarnation of God called Kṛṣṇa.]

 

20) Jñāna bhakti karma pāṭha—kalā viÅ›va vidālayāḥ ।
Vibhūtiḥ prathamā kakṣyā, yoga vidyārthināṃ kramāt ।।

[Knowledge or Jñānayoga is the school. Then, Devotion or Bhaktiyoga is the college. Then, Practice or Karmayoga is the final University. Exhibiting miracles to establish the existence of unimaginable God is the primary LKG school. This is the order in sequence for learning in the Yoga-education system.]

 

Iti TrailokyagÄ«tāyāṃ ‘Jñānabhaktikarmayogo’ nāma Caturthādhyāyaḥ।।

 

(Like this, in Trailokya GÄ«tā, the fourth chapter called ‘the association of knowledge, devotion and practice’ is completed).

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Chapter-1: Daiva Kartavya Yogah (Association with Divine Duty)

Chapter 2: Kartavyatattva Yoga (The Association of Philosophy of Divine Duty)

Chapter-3: Yogavichaara Yoga (The Association of Enquiry of Yoga)

Chapter-4: Jnaanabhaktikarma Yoga (The Association of Knowledge, Devotion and Practice)

Chapter-5: Brahmaadivichaara Yoga (The Association of the Enquiry About Brahman)

Chapter-6: Trimata Samanvaya Yoga (The Association of the Correlation Among Three Divine Philosophies)

Chapter-7: Avataara Vyavahaara Yoga (The Association of the Knowledge of Behaviour of the Incarnation Towards Devotees)

Chapter-8: Madamaatsarya Jnaana Yoga (The Association with Knowledge of Ego and Jealousy)

Chapter-9: Gunavichaara Yoga (The Association with Enquiry of Qualities)

Chapter-10: Eshaana Vimarsha Yoga (The Association with Analysis of Strong Attachment)

Chapter-11: Madhurabhakti Vichaara Yoga (The Association with Enquiry of Sweet Devotion)

Chapter-12: Krishna Tattva Jnaana Yoga (The Association with Knowledge of Philosophy of Krishna)

Chapter-13: Bhagavat Varna Vichaara Yoga (The Association with Knowledge of Caste of God)

Chapter-14: Varnavyavastha Gayatri Samanvaya Yoga (The Association of the Correlation of Caste System and Gayatri)

Chapter-15: Yajna Vichaara Yoga (The Association of the Enquiry of Sacrifice)

Chapter-16: Vishvamata Samanvaya Yoga (The Association of Correlation of World-Religions)

Chapter-17: Yogamaarga Jnaana Yoga (The Association of the Knowledge of the Path of Yoga)

Chapter-18: Visheshaamsa Jnaana Yoga (The Association of Knowledge of Special Points)