Paths of Sadhana

Api chedasi paapebhyah sarvebhyah paapkrutam

Sarv dnyanaplavenaiv vrujinam santarishyasi

–      ShrimadBhagvadGita (4:36) 

Meaning:  Even if thou art the most sinful of all sinners, yet thou shalt verily cross all sins by the raft of knowledge.

Implied Meaning:  Through Sadhana, we can destroy the Karmaphal  (fruit of actions) of all our Karma (actions).  There are several paths of Sadhana – Karmayog (through action), Dnyanyog (through knowledge), Dhyanyog (through meditation), Bhaktiyog (through devotion) et al.  Here, God ShreeKrushna is telling about the importance of pure knowledge.   A pure Dnyanmargi (who does Sadhana through knowledge) destroys all his accumulations karmphal (fruits of actions) in the past through the brilliance of knowledge.  When a Dnyanmargi does not take even an iota of Kartapan (sense of doership) of his actions upon himself and performs all his actions with a Nishkaam Bhav (spiritual emotion of selflessness), he acquires Atmabodh (knowledge of the self).  He does not allow his patience to fledge even in the gravest of crisis and behaves as an equanimous person, implying that neither does he become sad in grief, nor happy in pleasure, he does not acknowledge the conception of happiness and grief.  He sees Brahma everywhere.  The difference between the self and the entire creation gets eradicated and in such a condition, all his accumulated sins get destroyed in the fire of knowledge.  But it is not easy to do Sadhana through Dnyanmarg, several people have all the knowledge about the scriptures, but when it comes to implementing it in reality, they become helpless.  In order to do Sadhana through Dnyanmarg, possessing virtues such as a sharp intellect, a Saatvik (pure) attitude, acquiring full control over one’s senses and simultaneously analyzing all the circumstances while staying neutral and behaving in a proper manner, is necessary. Tanuja Thakur