Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII-8 (Commentary)

In Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII.8 (Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII-8) Lord Krishna extols the virtues that are required for one to cross the ocean of Samsara. Lord Krishna prevails upon the fact that placing our full concentration on the Almighty God, the Creator of the Cosmos after having gained control over the mind power one must exert himself day and night to have a Darshan of the Almighty God in its entirety. This was the only path by which one can attain a vision of the Almighty God.

Placing our full concentration on the Almighty God ... how was it possible in the present life which is full of anxieties and stress! This is possible if we make yoga a daily practice in our life. By Yoga is meant that the atman within the body is trying to establish contact with the Almighty God, the Creator of the Cosmos. By indulging in prayers sacred within our heart all the time we tend to keep away all junk thoughts. This induces in more and more newer thoughts being invoked by us ... thoughts which pertain to our chain of thinking ... thoughts which are deeply related to the path of spirituality. While dwelling on a particular chain of thought we cannot only reach the desired end but achieve whatever status we desire in life.

Once it so happened that an aspirant of spirituality was not able to concentrate his thoughts on the desired goal ... he approached his master with the problem. The master gave him a pot of oil and instructed him to take a round of the city with the pitcher on this head and return back to the master's place. The moment the true seeker of spirituality landed at the master's place ... master asked him about what he had seen on the way. The aspirant replied in negative. He wondered ... why the master was asking such an awkward question ... where was the time to look at things other than care for the pitcher. The master had instructed him to take care that not a drop of oil is to be spilled on the way. Seeing a grin on the face of the master, the seeker asked of his master, "what made him laugh". The master replied, the pitcher on your head is your goal ... one that concentrates on the goal all the time does not have time for other matters irrelevant. The seeker of spirituality understood the inherent truth. He had nothing more to ask!

As per Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII-8 it is difficult to take control of the senses but not impossible ... one by one we can easily take control of all the five senses. The day we establish full control over the senses what remains is the mind. We have nothing more but to establish a complete control over the power of mind. Having taken control of the senses, establishing a control over the power of mind is not a very daunting task ... all the clutter is already washed away. We have but to pray and pray until we can have a darshan of the Almighty God. Establishing a control over the power of mind means gaining absolute control over the functioning of the body taken by the atman (the soul within). Once absolute control over the body is established nothing else remains over which we are required to establish our control. Once we are able to firmly establish control over the power of mind we reach the source of all Wisdom ... the point from where emanates the complete Wisdom contained in the Cosmos ... having established a control over mind power ... all sacred Scriptures become like ABCD to us.

Establishing control over the power of mind can be explained thus- No human being has a mind ... it is only the brain which invokes thoughts from the mind. The attributes of mind are mind plus and mind minus. If we desire to invoke thoughts of a godly nature then we invoke from the reservoir of mind plus. The positive power contained in the whole of Cosmos is what we know as mind plus ... the Godly powers. The negative influences contained in the whole of Cosmos are termed as mind minus ... a collection of all powers, which we also call as Black Magic ... the satanic powers. It is upon every individual what powers we invoke and when. By establishing control over the power of mind we can indirectly control the type and quality of thoughts continuously flowing through our brain. In other words, if we are ever to control the thoughts invoked by us all the time ... we need to establish absolute control over the senses and subsequently gain control over the power of mind.

In Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII.8 Lord (Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII-8) Krishna confirms that the identity of the Almighty God, the Creator of the Cosmos is that of a super source of energy ... glowing in all its cosmic glory ... the combined power of all the suns and stars, the milky ways, galaxies and the universes. The whole Cosmos is but a fiery ball of energy scattered all over the Cosmos ... this fiery ball is visible at the time of the big bang ... thereafter it disperses all over the Cosmos ... an ever expanding Cosmos until the energy exhausts itself and the expanded horizon against sinks back into its primordial original form.

As per Bhagwad Gita shloka VIII-8 after control over the power of mind has been established ... our Atman (the soul within) tries to liberate itself from the cycle of life and death ... the salvation of the body occurs ... one has gained enlightenment ... this atman reunites with Parmatman, the Brahman ... it has nowhere else to go. The cosmic life cycle of the atman (the soul within) is complete. This Unity of the atman with the Brahman is something which occurs once in every hundred years or so ... we always find people realizing their self one after another until the cycle of a yuga is complete ... At the time of completion of the Yuga we have what we call as an Avatar of the era ... the glory of the Lord, the Brahman himself personified in the form of a human being descending on Mother Earth to uplift the society and reinstate the morals of the society.