Talks on the Gita — 31: Saguṇa & Nirguṇa Bhakti — 3

Complementarity Between Saguṇa and Nirguṇa: Examples from Krishna's Life

Tenderness and warmth of devotion must be there. That is why the Lord told Arjuna, "Mayyasakta manah pārtha" — "O Arjuna! Have attachment to Me" — and repeated the advice again and again. The Gita otherwise detests the word 'attachment' and repeatedly exhorts us to work without attachment, love or hate, and expectations. Non-attachment is its constant refrain. Still it asks Arjuna to have attachment to the Lord. But, then, attachment to the Lord is a lofty ideal; it has nothing in common with attachment to worldly things.

Saguṇa and nirguṇa are closely intertwined with each other. Saguṇa cannot altogether dispense with nirguṇa's support and nirguṇa does need saguṇa's warmth. Work is certainly worship; but it needs warmth of feelings. The Lord says, "Mamnusmar yudhya cha" — 'Remember Me and fight.' Work is worship in itself, but devotion has to be there in the heart. The mechanical action of offering flowers to the Lord's idol is no worship; that action has to be saturated with devotion. Offering flowers to the Lord's idol is one form of worship; doing good work is another way. In both of them there must be warmth of devotion. If this warmth is not there, offering flowers to an idol will be no different from offering them to a stone. It is the inner feelings that matter. It is devotion which makes the difference. Saguṇa and nirguṇa, work and love, jñana and bhakti — all these are completely identical. They all lead to the same ultimate experience.

The Consequences of Attachment

A monk who was living in a city found it unsuitable for his spiritual practices. He, therefore, retired to a forest and found its solitude congenial and suitable. One day, however, he found that his loin cloth had been eaten into shreds by rats. In order to get rid of the rats he procured a cat. But the next problem was how to maintain the cat. Accordingly, he brought a cow with its calf. It now became necessary that there should be somebody to attend on them. He found a boy for doing this work. The boy, however, could not live alone in the forest. So, his parents were brought to the forest. The boy grew up and attained marriageable age. He was then married to the only daughter in a certain family. Thereafter, the boy's parents-in-law also came to live in the forest. These families attracted other families and the forest soon became a crowded village which began to expand into a city. The monk reflected that all this was the consequence of his desire to protect his loin cloth.

Look at Uddhava and Arjuna

Uddhava always used to be with Krishna, busy in serving him. He could not bear even a moment's separation from him. Without Krishna, life was dull and spiritless for him. Arjuna too was Krishna's dear friend, but he used to live at Hastināpur, away from him, doing his work. Such was their relationship.

When it was time for Krishna to leave his body, he told Uddhava, "Uddhava, I am going now." Uddhava pleaded, "Why don't you take me along? Let us go together." But Krishna said, "No, I am not for that. When the sun sets, it endows fire with its essence — heat and light; likewise I am leaving my essence, my light with you." He then revealed Self-knowledge to Uddhava and sent him on a journey. During the journey, Uddhava came to know from sage Maitreya that Krishna had bid farewell to this world. But the news made absolutely no impact on Uddhava's mind. His case was not like 'Marka guru radka chela, dohincha bodh vayan gela' — ('When the master died, the pupil cried. The teaching and the learning were both wasted.') He did not feel that there was any separation. All his life he had performed saguṇa worship. He had always lived in the company of Krishna. Now he had begun to experience the joy of nirguṇa. He had to reach finally the destination of nirguṇa. Saguṇa may come first, but it must be followed by nirguṇa; otherwise there is no perfection, no fulfilment.

Arjuna's case was just the opposite. Krishna had asked him to protect all the womenfolk after his departure from this world. Arjuna came to Dwarka, took them along and proceeded to Delhi. On the way, dacoits robbed them near Hissar in Punjab. Arjuna was known as a man among men, as one of the greatest warriors of his time. He was known as jaya (the victorious) as he knew no defeat. Once he had even challenged and humbled Lord Shiva. But such a fighter could not face a bunch of dacoits and had to flee for his life! Krishna's departure from this world had affected him so deeply that he had as if lost all his vitality and strength; he had become a shadow of his former self. Thus Arjuna, the nirguṇa devotee, was overwhelmed with separation from Krishna in the end. His nirguṇa ultimately gave way. All his activity came to a standstill. His nirguṇa had the experience of the value of saguṇa in the end. Thus saguṇa has to go into nirguṇa and nirguṇa has to go into saguṇa. They complement each other.

Saguṇa and Nirguṇa Are One: My Own Experience

Hence words fail while attempting to describe the difference between the saguṇa devotee and the nirguṇa devotee. Saguṇa and nirguṇa come together in the end. Though the spring of bhakti may flow out of saguṇa, it reaches nirguṇa in the end. Long back, I had gone to Vaikom at the time of satyagraha there. I knew that the birth place of Shankaracharya was somewhere on the Malabar Coast. While passing by the Malabar Coast, it occurred to me that Kaladi, the birth place of Shankaracharya, must be somewhere nearby. On enquiry my local companion told me that it was just 10–12 miles away and enquired whether I would like to go there. But I declined. The purpose of my visit was to observe the Vaikom satyagraha. I thought that it was not proper for me to go anywhere else. I still think that what I did was right. But every time I went to bed, the village of Kaladi and the image of Shankaracharya would stand before my eyes and I could not sleep. That experience is still fresh in my mind. Thoughts about Shankaracharya — the power of his wisdom, his divine certitude in the advaita philosophy, his rare and fiery vairagya that considered the phenomenal world as trash, his serene language and the infinite debt that I owe to him — would crowd in my mind. Then I realized how nirguṇa is filled with saguṇa. Had I visited Kaladi, I perhaps would not have felt such surging emotions. Even in nirguṇa, saguṇa is at its zenith. I rarely write letters to friends making routine enquiries but the thought of them is always there in my mind. Saguṇa thus lies hidden in nirguṇa. They are essentially one. Worship of an idol or visible acts of service — and constantly thinking about the world's welfare without any outward indication of worship — both these have the same worth and value.

Difference Between Saguṇa and Nirguṇa Is Only an Appearance

Lastly, I want to say that it is not easy to clearly distinguish between saguṇa and nirguṇa. What appears saguṇa from one angle may appear nirguṇa from another. Saguṇa worship is ordinarily done of a stone idol, imagining God therein. But it is in the mother and in the saints that divine consciousness is clearly manifest. Wisdom, love, tenderness of affection are palpable in them. Still they are not worshipped as the idols of the Lord. Instead of serving the people full of consciousness, instead of seeing saguṇa God in them, God is seen in an inanimate stone! To see God in a stone is, in a sense, the height of nirguṇa. It is easier to see God in the saints, the parents and the neighbours who can be seen to have wisdom, love or altruism. It is far more difficult to see God in a stone. Still we worship the stone idol. Is it not verily a form of nirguṇa worship?

On the other hand, one feels that if God is not to be imagined in a stone, where else can we see Him? A stone is the most appropriate thing to become God's symbol, as it is unruffled, unmoved, peaceful and undisturbed under any condition. Our parents, neighbours, the people in general, all these have their weaknesses. You are bound to find some or the other weakness or fault in them. Hence, serving them is, in a sense, more difficult than worshipping a stone. To sum up, saguṇa and nirguṇa are complementary to each other. Saguṇa is easier than nirguṇa. But in another sense, nirguṇa is easy and saguṇa is difficult. Both lead us to the same end. In the Fifth Chapter, it has been said that the yogi who does not get attached to karma though he is continually engaged in action and the sannyāsī, who does all the karma while being apparently inactive, are one and the same. Similar is the case here. Saguṇa state of karma and nirguṇa state of sannyāsa are one and the same.

The Lord says in the end, "O Arjuna! You may prefer saguṇa or nirguṇa, but be a bhakta (devotee); do not remain untouched by devotion." And then the Lord describes the characteristic attributes of bhakta. The nectar may be sweet, but we have never tasted it. The verses describing the bhakta's attributes, however, have a rare sweetness that we can experience directly. There is no need for any imagination. Like the verses describing the attributes of sthita-prajña, these verses too should be read daily, reflected upon, ruminated over. We should try to imbibe these attributes bit by bit and go on enriching our life. In this way, life should be gradually led towards the Lord.

[Reproduced with kind permission of Paramdham Publication, Pavnar, from Chapter 12 of Talks on The Gita by Sant Vinoba Bhave, 16th edition, January 2005]

Notes:

The famous Vaikom satyagraha took place in 1924 for opening the roads round the temple to the untouchables. Vinoba had gone there as an observer at Gandhiji's instance.
Advaita (Non-dualism) philosophy believes that there is no duality between the Self and Brahman, the Supreme Self.

King Vikrant once lost his way in a jungle. A farmer gave him shelter and treated him most hospitably. He did not know who his guest was but at the time of departure the king gave him a token embossed with royal seal and said: "Whenever you are in trouble and need help, come unhesitatingly to the palace with this." Once it so happened that the farmer came upon bad days. He arrived at the king's palace. The royal token was taken by the guards to the king. The king was at that time in his worship room. The farmer was called in there. He saw the king himself praying to God for some favour. Now the farmer's sense of self-respect awoke. He thought: "Why ask any person for help when the help of omnipotent God is available to all?" He turned back to go. The king saw him, recognized him, and expressed his keenness to help him. The farmer said: "O king! I had indeed come to ask for help, but now I will approach that very Supreme Authority whom you too invoke." We all should always bear in mind this cardinal truth.

"If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?" — Rumi

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." — Galileo Galilei

"Rules for Happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for." — Immanuel Kant

"Better to be strong than pretty and useless." — Lilith Saintcrow