Usha teaches at a school. She never misses her fortnightly fast, she reads a chapter of the Gita every evening, and she gives to the temple every month. Still, some days she feels she is ticking items off a list, and God does not feel near. Worse, a colleague took the credit for her work, and since then her tongue has had an edge.
She wonders whether something has slipped past her. Does she need to do more to reach God?
The Gita's answer is that the question is not "how much" but "how". The Lord is found through undivided devotion, a love in which the heart is not split. And that love shows in a life through five plain marks.
Study, austerity, charity and worship cannot win this sight
Arjuna has seen the Lord's great form. The Lord then says that this form is very hard to see, and that even the gods always long to see it (Gita 11.52). He adds that as Arjuna has seen him, he cannot be seen by the Vedas, by austerity, by charity or by sacrifice (Gita 11.53).
This does not make fasting, reading and giving useless. In the Gita the Lord himself says that sacrifice, charity and austerity are to be done, because they purify the mind (Gita 18.5). The point is only that they cannot buy the Lord. What is a gift cannot be paid for.
The Lord is found by a whole heart
ज्ञातुं द्रष्टुं च तत्त्वेन प्रवेष्टुं च परन्तप ॥ ११.५४ ॥
But by unalloyed devotion, O Arjuna, I can be known in this form, seen in reality, and entered into, O scorcher of foes.
The Lord says that only through undivided devotion can he, in this form, be known, truly seen and entered.
Undivided means "with no second thing in it". One corner of the heart for the Lord and the rest for other masters is a divided heart. In undivided devotion the whole heart faces one way. Three things then follow: the Lord is truly understood, he is seen, and one belongs to him fully.
What such love looks like in a life
निर्वैरः सर्वभूतेषु यः स मामेति पाण्डव ॥ ११.५५ ॥
One who performs actions for Me, regards Me as the supreme goal, is devoted to Me, free from attachment, and without enmity toward all beings, comes to Me, O Pandava.
This verse says what such a devotee is like. There are five marks:
- He does his work for the Lord. The work stays the same; its owner changes.
- The Lord is his highest goal.
- He loves the Lord.
- He does not grip things tightly, neither results nor his own standing.
- He has enmity toward no being.
And the result is that such a devotee comes to the Lord.
What this does not mean
It does not mean giving up work: the first mark is work for the Lord. It does not mean looking down on others: the last mark is enmity toward none. And it is not a prize for the perfect. At the end of the Gita the Lord says plainly: fix your mind on me, be my devotee, worship me, bow to me; you are dear to me (Gita 18.65).
An example
Back to Usha. She kept her fasts, her reading and her giving just as they were. She added two things. Each morning, before her first class, she began to say inwardly, "Today's work is for you." And when the colleague did the same thing again, she did not snap back. Quietly, she thought one good wish for her.
After a few weeks she found the list was the same, but the one working through it had changed. The fast was no longer a weight. And when she thought of God, he felt less far.
When the grip loosens, anger loosens too
Usha's anger rose from losing the credit. The Gita describes how anger rises in just this way. When something we are attached to is blocked, anger comes, and anger clouds the understanding (Gita 2.62, Gita 2.63). That is why the fourth and fifth marks go together. The more the grip loosens, the harder it is to keep enmity toward anyone.
For Usha this meant loosening the thought "the credit is mine". It did not make the colleague right. It simply let her mind stop running after the matter.
When you have to worship alone
Many people's devotion is a lonely practice. No one at home sits beside them. Even so, the door is not shut. The Lord says that the one who sees him everywhere is never lost to him (Gita 6.30), and that those who worship him with devotion are in him and he is in them (Gita 9.29). Undivided devotion asks for no companion.
A practice for today
- This morning pick one task and say before you begin, "This is for you."
- When you feel anger toward someone today, think one good wish for them before you speak.
- This evening ask yourself in one line: what did I grip too tightly today?
Questions readers ask
Are fasting, reading and giving useless, then?
No. The Gita says they are to be done and that they purify the mind (Gita 18.5). Offered to the Lord, they become worship (Gita 9.27). The verse only says the Lord's sight cannot be bought with them.
What if I do not feel any love yet?
Begin with doing, not with feeling. The Lord's call starts with the mind, with devotion, worship and bowing (Gita 9.34). And to someone who cannot even practise, he says: at least work for me (Gita 12.10). Love deepens as one acts.
Does undivided mean I must reject other gods or other faiths?
No. The Lord himself says that whatever form a devotee wishes to worship with faith, he makes that faith steady (Gita 7.21). Undivided is the direction of one's own heart, not a quarrel with anyone. And the last mark of the same verse is enmity toward none.
How do I let go of ill will toward someone?
Letting go of ill will does not mean saying the wrong was right. It means not keeping hatred alive in the mind. The Gita says the one who sees the Lord in every being is never lost to him (Gita 6.30), and the Lord himself is equal toward all (Gita 9.29). A start can be as small as thinking one good wish before you speak.
Going deeper
The detailed reading takes the verses one by one, and the deeper reading takes the hard questions and the streams of commentators. The same call in plain words is in The Final Counsel: Surrender, Think, Choose, and the step before this one is Knowing His Glory Leads to Devotion. For the whole sequence see The Path of Devotion.