“Sri Aurobindo considers the message of the Gita to be the basis of the
great spiritual movement which has led and will lead humanity more and more to its liberation, that is to say, to its escape from falsehood and ignorance, towards the truth.”
-The Mother

There is the phenomenal metaphysical world, Brahma, in which we live within, breathe within and die within. We find ourselves questioning our identity and beingness within this phenomenal metaphysical world through the earliest Vedanta Hindu texts that speak to the Absolute Unity of Being, and Reality without a second form. Throughout our lives the questions we ask ourselves about the universe around us only become more convoluted, more complex, and can leave us feeling fragmented, lost, and disgruntled for having asked these questions. Each and everyone of use battles on the field of “Kurukshetra” with our conscious and unconscious endeavors throughout life, our daily actions, our daily beliefs. Seeking answers to our actions, drawing lines in our search for right and wrong, for a union with a higher from of consciousness, and within it, our True soul. Aurobindo shares with us the deep spiritual concepts in the Gita, to help us through the reunification process with Krishna (the divine being who enters history in the Gita to rescue humanity from adharma), through the philosophical conversation of the yoga’s, between Arjuna’s deepest questions about his own being and Krishna’s True form of Absolute Unity of Being; on the field of battle before the start of the Kurukshetra War. Through Arjuna’s deep observations of his coming actions and participation in the war, he questions the merit in his own Truth, only to find the answer for action by absorbing the revelation of the Gita, by joining Krishna in his truest eternal form. This paper will focus on my relationship of the renunciation and integration into the Divine Will found in the teachings of Sri Aurobindo’s work of the Bhagavad Gita that he found in his personal life, in relation to my own search of meaning with the Gita’s teachings of first two yoga’s, Karmayoga, and Jnanayoga. I see us all in the chariot with Arjuna, and that we all can use the yoga’s in the Gita to run away from our fears created by ourselves towards the unification of our self and the Divine light and Will of Krishna.
The Gita is useful because it shows us an approach to initiate our spirit in indicating itself in what we choose to actively participate in, and what we can learn from it, that it is a value to humanity, the cosmos, and their future. The Bhagavad Gita is a conversation for all ears, hearts, and minds to want to absorb into, for it is the very essence of transformation of the conscious soul through invoking the unconsciousness of our being by the way of the different yoga’s teachings, so that we can discipline our modes of action and imagination to move away from the a power of process, Prakriti (field of phenomena, including the mind), which includes our form from “tamas” (Lethargic), into “rajas” (Energetic), then towards “sattva” (Light). Out of these influences of the yoga’s found in the Gita, Arjuna is lead into the union with the truth of all being, into Purusha (pure spirit, the only conscious reality, and consciousness itself).
It is through the jnanayoga and karmayoga in the beginning of the Gita that Krishna explains the process in which we are able to begin to renunciate our selves into that of the Divine Will.
Bhagavat (“blessed one”).
Krishna is usually referred to as Bhagavat (Lord, Krishna) his presence implicates that reality is not an abstract condition but living in Being. As the Lord of the Divine he plays his flute to call out to all physical beings to awaken out of the attachments of the physical world and absorb into the love and light of the Divine Will. The Gita is an “Upanishad” text that stems from the Pancaratra tradition of the ancient Bhagavata sect, and it is unique for its emphasis on an integrative approach to synthesizing the many diverse views of Hindu philosophy, Vendata, Samkhya, Yoga, and Brahmanism, all into our own forms of personal devote for worship to the Supreme God Head, Krishna. The text is made up of transformation through a three pronged path, like that of Vishnu’s trident, to reach liberation and union with Krishna by the ways of karma-yoga (Yoga of Self Transcending through Action), jnana-yoga (Yoga of Wisdom), and bhakti-yoga (Yoga of Devotion & Love). The first two yoga’s are the main premise to the first part of the text, where bhakti-yoga, (devotion) is that last state of realization that is higher than the other two within the Gita.
Karmayoga, the yoga of Divine action is insistent upon the renunciation of desire, then the purification of the subjective principles of our work which leads to action and the turning of the self towards the Divine existence and finally liberation. Karma is the result of previous deeds and thoughts, and Arjuna is reminded by Krishna in the beginning that it is his duty to fight because it is his karma that makes him a Ksatriya. Arjuna is in search for a right reason to act within his karma and as a warrior on the battle field. A mind must concentrate on bringing the senses under its control by viewing itself as an instrument of the Divine intelligence and then use its organs under the proper force for action, action for karmayoga. For me the renunciation from many different acts that in my own life that do no lead to a spiritual consciousness, are acts of karmayoga. By having a relationship with the Divine, I try to focus my acts to be part of the will of the Divine. I have been giving meaning to my everyday acts towards the Divine in my relationships, and trying to be conscious of my acts through a Divine Will. My new found inner being of compassion was invoked by new colleague’s karmayoga and their dedication to being part of a Divine Will that serves the universal energy. The essence of this self control is action done as Karmayoga, the non-attachment of ourselves in our work, without clinging the mind to the objects of sense and the worldly rewards of our efforts.

These offerings are born out of work, and each guides
mankind along a path to Brahman. Understanding
this, you will attain liberation. The offering of
wisdom is better than any material offering, Arjuna;
for the goal of all work is spiritual wisdom. (pg. 121, Easwaran)

The importance of this verse to me is that it supports work done in service to the Divine, it reaffirms the credence that the Gita promises. That by offering yourself to the Divine and using Karmayoga with the other yoga’s to guide your actions it will encourage one to work towards spiritual unification. Krishna believes that by telling Arjuna this, that he can begin to see a Truth in the workings of the unification with the Supreme God Head, that we do divine work not as ours, but as his workings through us. Karmayoga is used just as the other yoga paths to lead us to the liberation from the phenomenal existence and to a departure into the union with the Supreme Being. I believe that one must be willing just as Arjuna is to surrender their will to that of the Divine Will. The merging of our own ego into the union with the Divine, lets us purify and surrender into the guidance of the Divine and out of ones own ignorant guidance of self gratification through feeding of their ego.
I see it that once one has come to the self realization of the great universal Energy through Karmayoga, one can begin to meditate (jnanayoga) on Krishna, so that they can renunciate and purify their mind to that of the Divine Will. Their direction of their choices and acts is more consciously intertwined with the Supreme Will (Divine Will) and the universal energy.

Jnana-yoga (meditation), it is through meditation that we are able to simplify the real and unreal and we than can pursue this distinction more effectively by rendering our minds into a meditative state. The path of jnana-yoga is stated to consist of four principal means: 1. discrimination, between the permanent and the transient its from, the Real and the unreal and that through (2.) renunciation of the soul to the supreme being that one can find the enjoyment of fruit forms of one’s actions; (3) within these actions we find accomplishment consisting of tranquility, and sense of restraint in the from of actions that are not relevant to the maintenance of the body-mind or to the pursuit; (4) the the endless infinite urge toward liberation. Sri Aurobindo found that by integrating the many yoga’s in the Gita and those outside of the Gita that we are able to evolve our consciousness from a top down approach. Through the need to lift rajas to sattva by merging’s one’s will with the Divine Will. The Involution of the Divine in time history, and nature, evolution of the divine through the succession levels found below.
Overmind to Supermind
Mind: Intellect, intution, illumined mind
Life: organisms; vital
Matter: inorganic Material
Transformation of each level by levels above
Coming of the spiritual Age:
Overcoming Materialistic Denial and the Ascetic Refusal -Sri Aurobindo

It is in the early chapters that we find Krishna sharing the decisive practices of jnana-yoga with us, illuminating the self realization of our mind with the practice of meditation on him, in which we can fixate ourselves on the path that the Gita presents.

Those who follow this path, resolving deep within
Themselves to seek me alone, attain singleness of purpose,
For those who lack resolution, the decisions of life are many
branched and endless.” (ln 41 pg. 93, Easwaran)

By being aware of the the upward evolution of our soul to become aware of the spirit, the being; we can then cease to identify itself within the instruments and workings of Nature. We can at once again begin to identify itself with its true Self and being into a spiritual self-existence. We are presented the world through material externality of things, we live within the confines of our actions and reactions through our sense perceptions by thinking, feeling, and desiring; in search for our worldly results. It is by meditation on Krishna that we can separate the wider dealings of these external sensations, so that we can separate ourselves from the satisfaction that our “ego remains in all these disguises rooted of our actions” (McDermott, 119). Jnanayoga in the Gita is the practicing form of Self to become detached of its results. Through meditation, jnanayoga, we are able to free ourselves and unify our consciousness so that “every act is done with complete awareness” (pg.118, Easwaran). By learning to still our mind and focus, we are permitting our mind to run against its true nature of running for sense gratification, taking along with it our reason and will. I believe Sri Aurobindo removed himself by keeping himself in a room during the many last years of his life, so that he was able to fully focus on his evolving consciousness away from the sense gratification of the world found with in rajas, and tamas. He was able to unify with the Supreme God Head so that he could have a reception into himself with the transcendent, in order to create a utilization for the transformation of humanity.
Sri Aurobindo and I both believe that one must open themselves to the Divine, for it is an essential part of integrating these yoga’s, (karmayoga, jnanayoga) for it to be possible to transform ourselves towards the Divine Knowledge. It was Sri Aurobindos goal to share with us the process of the attaining union with the Divine so that we can “constitute the essence of the integral divine perfection of the human being” (McDermott, pg 163).
I have found that by giving our self into the Divine Will’s energy, we can surrender into the true power of these yoga’s, so that it is possible to merge into the joy and peace so we can accept them without question, and they are allowed to grow through us and within us in a progressive way leading to the transformation of our self into the Divine. It is essential for me to note here that in order to fully participate with the Divine spoken about in the Gita, that one must meditate through jnanayoga on this text to be part of it and act through the merits of karmayoga to find just as Arjuna did. That by going beyond one’s own actions and by working through the actions of the Divine will, one is able to self-reflect themselves in the Divine in their own actions. It is only through accepting these revelations found in the Karmayoga and Jnanayoga in the Gita that one can start to surrender their own worldly presence in to that of the cosmos, Supreme Beingness of Krishna.