169 – Buddhi Yoga: Art of Working Intelligently | Swami Tattwamayananda

Bhagavad Gita | The Essence of Vedanta

Title: Buddhi Yoga: Art of Working Intelligently
18th Chapter: verses 57, 58, 59, 60, 61
57th verse: “Mentally offer all actions to Me. Buddhi Yoga is the tool with which you should live and work in this world.”
Buddhi Yoga refers to purified intellect. It is the higher faculty of the human mind that enables us to perform our actions without obsessive attachment to the outcome. Our actions sometimes yield favorable results and sometimes unfavorable results. When the mind reacts to unfavorable results, we become anxious. Buddhi Yoga enables us to remain calm even if results are not favorable.
The 1st and 2nd verses of the 4th chapter refer to Rajarshi. Rajarshi is a person who has the dual qualities of a king (Rajatvam) and a saint (Rishitvam). As a king, he has great prosperity, dynamism and efficiency. As a saint, he has a calm attitude, can see far into things, and understands the limitations and impermanence of his wealth and powers. Buddhi Yoga means working with the refined intelligence of a Rajarshi.
From an advaitic sense, Buddhi Yoga means living and working in this world with the understanding of the transient nature of the empirical world.
The 25th verse of the 3rd chapter contrasts two types of people. (1) Those who work hard with motive and are ignorant of the higher philosophy of Karma-Yoga. For them, every small problem becomes a big headache (2) Those who work equally hard, but who are grounded in Karma-Yoga, and see their work as Swadharma. They are not worried and are called Vidwan.
58th verse: “Anyone who practices karma yoga or buddhi yoga can cross the barrier of samsara (transmigratory cycle).”
The 59th and 60th verses take us back to the original narrative of Gita, where Arjuna was facing conflicts as he did not want to do an unpleasant duty. Lord Krishna says: “If instead of practicing karma yoga, you think you can run away from your duty, that is your fantasy. Your own swabhava will compel you to do the duty.”
Swabhava is our inherent nature that determines our outlook to life and our actions. Every action leaves a residual effect (vritti) in our mental system. Many identical vrittis – from similar, repeated actions – solidify a distinct memory block called Samskara. Samskaras express through our determination to act in a certain manner, called Sankalpa. Sankalpa leads to further actions. This wheel continues, and it shapes our Swabhava.
We can change our swabhava by consciously doing good actions and increasing the storehouse of positive samskaras.
In the 61st verse, Lord Krishna puts forward a new idea. He compared God to an engineer and says: “He is running this huge machinery of creation. He is present in everyone as one immanent reality. He regulates and activates every being just like an engineer regulates and activates a machine.”
God is omnipresent through immanence. Creator is present in creation. Neither is outside of the other.
Spiritually, the entire existence is one. one who is truly spiritual cannot hurt any being. There is no otherness for him.
Happiness is only the temporary absence of unhappiness. When we reach a state of mind, where we have santosha (contentment), we stop looking for happiness. We go beyond the happiness and unhappiness equation. That is true happiness.