Protreptics To Devotional Love In The Bhagavad Gita

Of a total of 700 verses, 423 are protreptics to Devotional Love (Bhakti). We have arranged these verses in eighteen sections, thus imparting the salient points of Bhakti in a coherent and meaningful order. Our selections are from W.Q. Judge’s recension of The Bhagavad Gita: The Book of Devotion, prepared in collaboration with James Henderson Connelly, with “Antecedent Words” and footnotes, first published in 1890. 1. Qualifications. 2. Devotion. Through Brahman. Through faith: Know that food which is pleasant to each one, as also sacrifices, mortification, and alms giving, are of three kinds; hear what their divisions are. Through sacrifice: Those who practice severe self-mortification not enjoined in the Scriptures are full of hypocrisy and pride, longing for what is past and desiring more to come. They, full of delusion, torture the powers and faculties which are in the body, and me also, who am in the recesses of the innermost heart; know that they are of an infernal tendency. Through gifts: OM TAT SAT: these are said to be the threefold designation of the Supreme Being. By these in the beginning were sanctified the knowers of Brahman, the Vedas, and sacrifices. Therefore the sacrifices, the giving of alms, and the practising of austerities are always among those who expound Holy Writ preceded by the word OM. Through renunciation: Among these divided opinions hear my certain decision, O best of the Bharatas, upon this matter of disinterested forsaking, which is declared to be of three kinds. It is impossible for mortals to utterly abandon actions; but he who gives up the results of action is the true renouncer. The threefold results of action — unwished for, wished for, and mixed — accrue after death to those who do not practice this renunciation, but no results follow those who perfectly renounce. Through action: Hear now, O Dhananjaya, conqueror of wealth, the differences which I shall now explain in the discerning power and the steadfast power within, according to the three classes flowing from the divisions of the three qualities. Now hear what are the three kinds of pleasure wherein happiness comes from habitude and pain is ended. Through spiritual knowledge. 3. Devotion’s True Path. Head learning versus heart doctrine. 4. Fight Arjuna, fight! 5. He and She. 6. Liberation. From re-birth. From the fruits of action. From the pairs of opposites. Outward looking senses disturb the soul. Unaffected by pain or pleasure, self is content within Self. When at one with the Supreme, self experiences the imperishable bliss of Self. Equal-minded, fearless, just, pure, unexpecting, contend with whatever come to pass, full of faith is my beloved. Final steps. 7. Mansion of death. 8. Meditation. Raise self by Self. In what particular form shall I meditate on thee? The divine form includes all forms. 9. Mind control. 10. Nature’s three qualities. Overcome the three qualities by disconnecting the bonds of action. 11. Origin of perfections. 12. Primacy of personal duty. 13. Restrain thy senses! 14. Spirit, when clothed in matter, experiences the qualities of matter. Bodies are the envelopes of the Soul. 15. The object of wisdom is me. What is wisdom? 16. The ignorant cannot see me. 17. The wicked despise me. 18. The wise worship me.

The Bhagavad Gita is a Manual of Initiation, at least 27 millennia old. Its catechism is of the Seventh School of Indian philosophy, precursor of the Eclectic School of Theosophy, revived in the 3rd century CE by Ammonius Saccas. Ammonius Saccas was the Alexandrian Socrates of Neo-Platonism and teacher of Plotinus. But the real author of the Bhagavad Gita is Krishna-Christos, the “still small voice.”

The Bhagavad Gita is a Manual of Initiation, at least 27 millennia old. Its catechism is of the Seventh School of Indian philosophy, precursor of the Eclectic School of Theosophy, revived in the 3rd century CE by Ammonius Saccas. Ammonius Saccas was the Alexandrian Socrates of Neo-Platonism and teacher of Plotinus. But the real author of the Bhagavad Gita is Krishna-Christos, the “still small voice.”

The memory of one’s father inspires the pursuit of virtue. Father “has sown the fire-laden bond of love” so that the divine lovers turn, recall, and rally around him. Perfection comes for those who love contemplating Truth. Love is the cause of dis-integration of the One, the medium between spirit and matter (i.e., upper triad and lower quaternary), and the cause of re-integration. When love meets with a bad receptacle it brings about a life that is tyrannical and intemperate in five different ways. 1. The coarse lover hangs on his darling; the true lover is self-reliant and poised. 2. The one loves the body and discards the person when the bloom of youth has withered; the other loves the soul. 3. The one is fickle and readily forsakes his darling; the other is truehearted and loyal. 4. The vulgar lover contrives all sorts of pretexts for conversation with his darling; the true lover avoids talking to his beloved, unless there is some spiritual benefit to him. 5. The one lives apart from the One; the other, is akin the One and an exemplar of divine virtue and beauty. The eyes of the common man cannot contemplate the splendour of Truth. In the ascent to the summit of divine love, the multitude of common lovers becomes an obstacle by assuming the character of the true lover and dragging down the soul of the youth from vistas on high to the dark side of this illusive plane; by charming souls they lead them away from the mysteries, say the oracles. As the good spirit attends us for the most part invisibly, bestowing unawares his forethought upon us and silently correcting our lives, so also Socrates attends the spiritual needs of his beloved Alcibiades in silence and in secret. Socrates is about to begin delivering Alcibiades, purified from vulgar lovers, by the philosophy of love. Alcibiades shall be saved by Pallas Athene, whose function is uphold the unity of life and preserve the heart intact. His soul is dual, animal and divine. Forgetfulness and ignorance of what is primarily beautiful make inferior lovers concern themselves with the kind of beauty that is implicated in matter. There are two kinds of enthusiasm, one superior to moderation, and another short of it. The former is an insufflation from without; the latter, a pernicious inflammation of the heart. The intelligibles, on account of their unutterable, undifferentiated oneness, have no need of the mediation of love; but in the separation and the reunification of beings, love is the agent and medium. As the centre of the circle is everywhere, and its circumference (that represents the hidden deity) is nowhere, so the divine heart throbs everywhere but is nowhere to be seen. People is a multitude united to itself, mob is an incoherent multitude: their relation is that of democracy versus ochlocracy. Only love can melt away alienation and warm the heart of all those who are born under the same law. We train ourselves in regard to pleasure and pain, neither fleeing from our emotions, nor remaining completely without experience of them, but assuming a middle position in their regard and overcoming our tendency to excess and disorderliness. Better help than the love of philosophy it is not easy to find, says Diotima. For chaste love is the binder of all things and their sublime guide. The living creature is the fairest of the objects of intellect. As spirit hides between god and man, so love binds the lover to the beloved. The inspired lover differs from the vulgar lover: being aligned with intellect and divine beauty, the inspired lover is stable, active, immaterial; the wanton lover, fickle, passive, material — since the object of his love is ephemeral, sensual beauty. Love is threefold: One absolute and primary, One perpetually participated, One intermittently participated.

Come unto me, all ye that labour, and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Heir to the Kingdom of Heaven, rightfully and in the long run thine own, thy purity of mind and thy strong will shall carry thee safely on. Cease thy wanderings after the unreal, free thy mind from those baits which fetter thy Divine Self to finite things, shut thine ears to those siren voices which drag thy mind in a thousand and one directions, and thou shalt be one with Him. Do not question the existence of Life until thou art in the folds of thy Spirit. As gold is refined by fire, so suffering purifies. The sun withholds not his rays from the Holy Ganga, nor from the foul cesspool. Empty thyself, and I will fill thee. Silence is heaven’s own virtue. When the ocean, attracted by the hot sun, becomes transformed into humid atmosphere, it leaves its saltiness behind and sails to the skies in buoyant clouds. Shorn of thy earthly impediments, Oh Pilgrim, thy flight will be both easy and speedy. To think is to is to be. Attune thy thoughts with Nature’s Harmony. Thought is the father of deeds. By evil thoughts came the troubles of life. Yet with a single thought of the Highest their end is near at hand. Nature’s Loving Essence cannot be extinguished but only perverted. No man while pursuing his own way of life should wrong another. A fervent thought sent round for the well-being of humanity is worth more than all kingdoms. In justice, love, and harmony there is a real Life that knows no death; in injustice, hatred, and discord there is that which induces death in life. There is no sin greater than that of ill-will toward others, and no virtue higher than good-will toward all. Eternal Pilgrim is the Protean differentiation in Space and Time of the One Absolute Unknown and Unknowable.

Part 1. At the threshold of the two paths. Only through her night star the woman can be truly happy. Part 2. Legend of the Night Flower. A woman’s love, loyalty, and gratitude will always belong to her night star. Part 3. To the Star of Love. Beautiful Star, where are you going in this great night?

Our prime duty is to love our brother as ourselves, and to preserve peace and harmony around him. Then we have to discover what we ourselves can do, without judging or criticizing the actions of another. We should attend strictly to our own duty at all times. Discharging the duty of another is dangerous for us. More! We should be ever ready to help out equally foe or friend, without any desire for reward or recognition. He who considers himself a Karmic agent, for any purpose, is a fool. It would be wiser for all students to embrace every opportunity to act in a manner that fosters true brotherhood. Those fools who run about pretending to be sages and adepts will pay dearly for their presumption.