Advancement towards God-Realisation

Sankhya Yoga

Chapter 2, Verse 46

 

yāvān artha udapāne 

sarvataḥ saṁplutodake 

tāvān sarveṣu vedeṣu 

brāhmaṇasya vijānataḥ

 

As much use as there is in a well with water flooding on every side, so much  

is there in all the Vedas for the brahmin who has the knowledge of the Self.

 

In this verse ‘brahmin’ doesn’t mean Brahmin as a caste: a brahmin here means a realised soul. A realised soul who is standing at the brink of a lake overflowing with sweet, life-giving and wholesome water, has no use for a small well. If you are standing by a whole ocean, why would you even want a small bottle of water? You already have the whole source. You don’t need the bottle since you have the source. What use would be a well, when there’s a flood all around it? What use would be all the water of a well, if you have a whole lake? Even so, a brahmin renounces every attachment to the objects of enjoyment and realises God. That brahmin, that realised soul, when he has the Realisation of God Consciousness, when he has the Realisation of Narayana Krishna Himself, then even that ocean, which is called the Vedas, becomes of no use. Then one attains the supreme bliss. The Vedas are only talking about the Divine; but when you have the Divine Himself, what would you do with all this talking? You don’t need it, you have Him. 

 

Krishna says, “Those who attain this ocean of supreme bliss, in the form of Narayana, don’t depend on any happiness or gratification, or on objects of enjoyment. One doesn’t even need any ritual which is recommended in the Vedas, because the desire for whatever is needed, is not there anymore.” There is no desire to get fulfilled. Everything has been fulfilled in the deep ocean of supreme bliss. To attain this state, one must let go, one must renounce all the desires, one must abandon all the desires for worldly enjoyment. All the other earthly things are the fruits of the Vedas, the rituals, and so on. When one is attached to any kind of thing, one is bound by the three gunas. You can take whatever you need from the Vedas which will benefit your advancement towards God-Realisation. But if it doesn’t help your advancement towards God-Realisation or help you attain the Grace of God, then it’s of no use.

Bhagavad Gita