Chapter 2, Verse 69
yā niśā sarva bhūtānāṁ
tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī
yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni
sā niśā paśyato muneḥ
The self-controlled one is awake during what is ‘night’ for all beings; when
all beings are awake, that is the ‘night’ to the enlightened one.
The experiences of the ignorant man of the world and the man of knowledge are very different. It’s like ‘day’ and ‘night’; but here it’s has nothing to do with actual day and night. Here, the ‘day’ refers to the awakened, the enlightened one, the one who is out of darkness. “The self-controlled one is awake during” the night. Here, the ‘night’ means all the excitement of the outside world. The self-controlled one is awake, which means he is vigilant, he is guarding: the Self is observing and controlling, so that one doesn’t go into temptation. Such a person is wise. Whereas when one is ignorant, it is like one is in darkness: it is ‘night’ for those beings.
For the enlightened, the one who is centred in the Self, the one who is finding the Divine in the Self, ‘day’ and ‘night’ are not seen as different from each other. During the ‘night’ one doesn’t see, whereas a yogi sees, even in the ‘night’.
When one’s mind has been darkened by the cloud of the senses, one doesn’t see, one doesn’t perceive anything. Only when the Light of God-Realisation, the Light of the yogi awakens, does one perceive the nature of God inside oneself and everywhere else. Although every enjoyment in this world and the next is perishable, momentary, transient and full of suffering, enveloped in the darkness of ignorance since the beginning of time, the worldly-minded man regards these enjoyments as everlasting and full of joy.
People who are in the darkness of the mind and are so attached to self-enjoyment, create the illusion of being happy. They are still in darkness; they are still in the ‘night’. But the self-controlled, the one who is awake, finds joy: they find God-Realisation, they find the wisdom of the Divine, embodied within the core of the heart. Then within them is the awakening. They’re not in the state of sleep, they’re not in the state of unawareness: they have the true knowledge of Brahma Jyaan. They realise that it is God who is working through them, that they have Satchitananda inside of them; they have the Truth of God, the knowledge of God, and the bliss of God within themselves. They are in the world, they can use everything in the world, but they aren’t attached to the world. They utilise every action, every thought and everything which comes from the senses, yet they remain separate from the world. They are in the Light, not in the darkness of ignorance.
Bhagavad Gita
