The Death of Marcus Aurelius

The Death of Marcus Aurelius

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Wisdom from the Bhagavad Gita 24


Arjuna said:

37. Though possessed of Shraddhâ but unable to control himself, with the mind wandering away from Yoga, what end does one, failing to gain perfection in Yoga, meet, O Krishna?

38. Does he not, fallen from both, perish, without support, like a rent cloud, O mighty-armed, deluded in the path of Brahman?

39. This doubt of mine, O Krishna, You should completely dispel; for it is not possible for any but You to dispel this doubt.

The Blessed Lord said:

40. Verily, O son of Prithâ, there is destruction for him, neither here nor hereafter: for, the doer of good, O my son, never comes to grief.

41. Having attained to the worlds of the righteous, and dwelling there for everlasting years, one fallen from Yoga reincarnates in the home of the pure and the prosperous.

42. Or else he is born into a family of wise Yogis only; verily, a birth such as that is very rare to obtain in this world.

43. There he is united with the intelligence acquired in his former body, and strives more than before, for perfection, O son of the Kurus.

44. By that previous practice alone, he is borne on in spite of himself. Even the enquirer after Yoga rises superior to the performer of Vedic actions.

45. The Yogi, striving assiduously, purified of taint, gradually gaining perfection through many births, then reaches the highest goal.

46. The Yogi is regarded as superior to those who practice asceticism, also to those who have obtained wisdom through the Shâstras. He is also superior to the performers of action, enjoined in the Vedas. Therefore, be you a Yogi, O Arjuna!

47. And of all Yogis, he who with the inner self merged in Me, with Shraddhâ devotes himself to Me, is considered by Me the most steadfast.

Bhagavad Gita, 6:37-47



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