Chapter 6, Verse 23
taṁ vidyād duḥkha saṁyoga
viyogaṁ yoga saṁjñitam
sa niścayena yoktavyo
yogo ‘nirviṇṇa cetasā
It is the putting away of the contact with pain, the divorce of the mind’s marriage from grief. The firm winning of this spiritual bliss is yoga, divine union. This yoga is to be resolutely practised without yielding to any discouragement by difficulty or failure.
Even if a yogi has attained God-Realisation, his body, senses and mind still carry on doing all their activities. The body appears the same, but in one’s consciousness, deep within, one is not attached to anything; this is the divorce of the mind from grief. One doesn’t perceive the duality and by winning “this spiritual bliss”, one enters into the supreme state of divine union, where the soul is marrying Narayana, where the soul perceives Him as the only Man. The gopis told Krishna, “You are the only Man. There is no other Man but You. Everything else is just your creation, your Prakriti.” The Lord is the only real Male, everything else is Prakriti, everything else is female. So don’t be deluded by these two aspects, male and female. Through this deep inner perception, the realised one is not touched by the qualities of feminine or masculine, but is ever free, established in the Self. Like that, there is a divine union, a divine marriage. Your soul marries Krishna. That’s what all the wives of Krishna represent: everybody, the whole creation is feminine, as everything is created by Prakriti. A yogi rises above this and sees that one is Maha Lakshmi to Narayana; and when this fusion happens, one is above failure or success.
“This yoga is to be resolutely practised without yielding to any discouragement.” So don’t weaken yourself! At the beginning of your spiritual practices, you may feel that you are losing heart, or find your spiritual practices too difficult. Or you may feel that there will be no end to all your effort and wonder if you’ll be crowned with success or not. Krishna says that you shouldn’t give way to all this doubting. The ones whose minds are free from boredom, and full of zeal and enthusiasm to achieve the state of surrender, persevere with eagerness. They should not get attached to doubt or run away from progressing. Through faith, reverence, resolution, and patience, they should surrender to the Feet of the Guru. They should devote themselves with firm determination and application to the duty which has been given to them, bearing constantly in mind the goal of their life. When they attain such a divine union, all boredom and judgement will automatically disappear. However, if they still feel discouragement, they should do their practices under the supervision of their Guru, with love and enthusiasm.
Bhagavad Gita
