PERFECTION AND REALIZING BRAHMAN

siddhim praapto yathaa brahma tathaapnoti nibodha  me
    samaasenaiva kaunteya nishthaa jnaanasya yaa paraa  // 18.50 //

Learn  from Me in brief, O Kaunteya, how he who has attained perfection reaches  Brahman (The Eternal), that supreme state of knowledge.

When  our intellect becomes free from its attachments and thus controls our mind and  body, then alone we are fit for renunciation of the lower ego-sense and reach  for the Infinite Self which is the process of meditation.

buddhyaa vishuddhayaa yukto dhrityaatmaanam niyamya  cha
    shabdaadeen vishayaamstyaktwaa raagadweshau  vyudasya cha // 18.51 //

Endowed  with pure intellect, firmly restraining oneself, turning away from sound and  other objects of sense and abandoning both hatred and attraction.

viviktasevee laghwaashee yatvaakkaayamaanasah
    dhyaanayogaparo nityam vairaagyam samupaashritah //  18.52 //

Dwelling  in solitude, eating but little, with speech, body and mind subdued, always  engaged in meditation and concentration taking refuge in dispassion.

ahamkaaram balam darpam kaamam krodham parigraham
    vimuchya nirmamah shaanto brahmabhooyaaya kalpate  // 18.53 //

Having  abandoned egoism, strength, arrogance, desire, anger and covetousness, free  from the notion of `mine’ ness and tranquil in mind, he becomes worthy of  becoming one with Brahman.

The  process of meditation and attaining the Supreme - Brahman - is discussed. The  prerequisites or the qualities which are necessary for meditation are as follows: 
•Pure intellect - An intellect without tendencies to acquire, possess and enjoy sense objects. 
•Controlling the mind and senses - By receiving the external stimuli the sense organs distract the mind from concentrating on the Infinite and hence they have to be controlled. 
•Renouncing sense objects - By controlling the sense organs the external stimuli such as sound, form, touch, taste or smell can be prevented from reaching the mind through the respective channels of ears, eyes, skin, tongue and nose. Once this is achieved sense objects automatically lose their value and attraction. 
•Abandoning attraction and hatred - When the mind is thus protected it cannot, by itself, get agitated by recapitulating agreeable or disagreeable incidents or things.

Thus  a successful meditator is one who has an intellect purified from all extrovert  desires, who has brought the mind and sense organs under the control of the  intellect, thereby preventing them from running after sense objects and who has  given up the ideas of likes and dislikes. 
•Dwelling in solitude - seeking a place where there will be least disturbance. 
•Eating but little - Temperate eating habits. 
•Subduing body, mind and speech - Elimination of egocentric attitude in all our thinking, action and relationship with others. 
•Ever engaged in meditation and concentration - After the mind is quietened it has to be kept continuously busy by contemplation on The Lord in an attitude of complete identification with Him. 
•Taking refuge in dispassion - It is a state where the mind finds no attraction for the objects of the senses. This attitude of dispassion or vairagya is necessary for the spiritual growth.

Thus  a true seeker of a higher life must seek solitude, live in temperance, subdue  his body, mind and speech and must live in a spirit of dispassion.

The  qualities that are to be renounced for meditation are:

Although  Sri Krishna lists out these qualities, they are in fact basically only one  which is the sense of `I-ness'. When this sense of doership develops,  egocentric vanity takes over the individual claiming a false sense of power,  pride and arrogance. For an individual working under the influence of power and  arrogance, lust and anger are natural while he tries by any means to acquire  more and more wealth and protects what has already been acquired.

The  Lord advises to abandon the following six qualities and thus become egoless and  tranquil. 
•egoism 
•strength 
•arrogance 
•desire, 
•danger 
•covetousness

This  is the peace arising out of wisdom and satisfaction experienced in the Realm of  Perfection. When the sense of agency and the endless chase of sense  gratifications have been renounced the seeker experiences a relative quietitude  within him.

This  verse does not say that such an individual has reached Perfection but it only  says that he is worthy of becoming one with Brahman. Thus what has so far been  discussed is only the preliminary preparation for the final Realization.

THE HIGHEST DEVOTION

brahmabhootah prasannaatmaa na shochati na  kaangkshati
    samah sarveshu bhooteshu madbhaktim labhate paraam  // 18.54 //

Having  become one with Brahman, being serene in the Self, he neither grieves nor  desires. Regarding all beings as alike he attains supreme devotion to Me.

After  eliminating egoism and its manifestations in the form of power, pride, lust,  passion and sense of possession the seeker experiences greater peace within as  he becomes free from all false evaluations of life.

bhaktyaa maamabhijaanaati yaavaanyashchaasmi  tattwatah
    tato maam tattwato jnaatwaa vishate tadanantaram //  18.55 //

By  devotion he knows Me in essence, what and who I am ; then having known Me in My  essence, he forthwith enters into Me, the Supreme.

The  knower, the devotee, becomes one with the supreme Lord, the Perfect Person, in  Self-knowledge and Self-experience. Jnana, supreme wisdom and bhakti, supreme  devotion, have the same goal. To become Brahman is to love God, to know Him  fully and to enter His being. Entering Him means that when the ego is replaced  by God Consciousness the individuality vanishes. The conception of  individuality or `I-ness' ends and he attains Brahmanhood.

By devotion he knows Me in essence, what and who I  am:
The devotee knows that the Lord is devoid of all  names and forms caused by maya and is of the nature of the Absolute. He  knows that the Lord alone is the essence of the diverse manifestations caused  by His maya.

Then having known Me in My essence, he forthwith  enters into Me, the Supreme:
Having known that the Lord is non-dual, unborn,  undecaying, unchanging and of the nature of spirit and Consciousness, he  attains Brahmanhood.  The acts of knowing  and entering are not two separate and consecutive actions. To know the Lord  truly is to be completely absorbed in Him.