Talks on the Gita -Vinoba 102

Chapter 10 CONTEMPLATION OF GOD’S MANIFESTATIONS 49. The First Half Of The Gita: A Retrospect 3. After explaining this satatyayoga, the Lord tells in the Ninth Chapter something very simple, yet capable of transforming life totally. That is rajayoga. This Chapter asks us to dedicate all the actions to the Lord as and when they take place. All the means enjoined by the scriptures, all the karma vikarma—everything gets dissolved in rajayoga, the yoga of surrender. Nothing else is needed. Surrender of everything to the Lord is an allencompassing and powerful idea. It appears simple and easy, but still it turns out to be exceedingly difficult. This sadhana is easy because anybody, from an illiterate villager to a great scholar, can practice it where ever he is, without much effort. But although easy, it requires extraordinary moral and spiritual merit. ‘बहुतां सुकृतांची जोड़ी। म्हणुनी विठ्ठलीं आवडी-’ (‘It is only when good deeds are done in many births that the mind is drawn towards the Lord.’) The most trivial things bring tears to our eyes, but the Lord’s Name does not move us to tears. What is to be done then? This sadhana, as the saints say, is easy in one sense, but difficult in another; it has become all the more difficult in the modern times. 4.Today, the film of materialism has obscured our view. We begin by doubting God’s existence. Nobody finds Him anywhere. Life is full of lust, passions and distortions and iniquities. The greatest among the philosophers of our time cannot think of anything higher than providing two square meals daily to all. They are not to be blamed for it; it is a fact that many do not get even that. How to provide food to all is the biggest problem today, and the best brains are busy in tackling it. Sayanacharya has defined Rudra as ‘बुभुक्षमाणः रूद्ररूपेण अवतिष्ठते। ’—the hungry people are Rudra incarnate. A number of ideologies, isms and programmes have arisen to solve the problem of hunger. We have no time to look beyond this problem and think of anything else. The most strenuous efforts are being made to find out how people could have a couple of morsels in peace without clashing with each other. In such a strange social order, it is no wonder that the simple idea of dedication to the Lord appears exceedingly difficult. What is the remedy? We shall see in the Tenth Chapter how to master the yoga of dedication to the Lord, how to make it easy to practice.