Ananyaas chinta – Further Reading
In this verse, Lord declares, “I assure protection for those who always think of Me – with single minded devotion, who offer worship to me are always united with me in thought, I will fulfil their needs and look after their welfare”.
Lord declares, “I bring full security and personally attend to their needs who love no one else but Me, who constantly think of Me, who worship Me in disinterested spirit and who are always limited in thought with Me”. Such devotees have no attachment for any worldly enjoyments. Separation from the Lord even for a second is unbearable for a true devotee. Gopis were such true devotees. Gopis even complained to Brahma why He created the eyelids, because of the eyelids closing and opening they were not able to see their Lord. Once Narada asked Hanuman how he was spending His time. Hanuman replied that time was not enough for Him to do Rama Japa. Child devotee Prahalada was tortured in many ways but at all times he was saved by the Lord. For a true devotee, God is his friend, guide and philosopher. God looks after the devotee in every way.
If everyone treads the holy path of Sathya, Dharma, Shanti and Prema and while on this path, if one takes up the discipline of the name of the Lord, the Lord himself will bestow on each that is needed, all that is deserved and all that will give peace of mind. The conditions for the fulfillment of the assurance are Ananyaschintaa and Upaasanaa – Meditation on the Lord, unhampered by any other thought and steady worship. The words “Yoga”– acquisition of something desirable and “Kshema” means the preservation of what that is acquired. The discipline by which you can preserve it : Ananya Chintana – exclusive meditation on the Lord.
This verse is considered the Lord’s grand declaration.
It is the sublime statement revealing the law of life at the spiritual level. Krishna promises here that those who worship Him alone, meditate upon Him with single pointed mind and see Him as the only reality behind the world of change, to them He brings ‘yoga’ and ‘Kshema’. In our worldly sense this means that if one is constantly engaged in contemplation of God and is completely attuned to the Divine, then the Divine provides for him the necessities of life – food, clothing and shelter. This is done by the Lord for the very earnest sincere seeker of God who has gone a long way on the path to God realization. His yearning and longing for the Lord are so intense that his mind is always soaring and hardly comes dawn to the mundane level. Then the Lord provides for such a one so that he does not have to toil for food and is encouraged to go to higher and higher into God-intoxication. The grace of the Lord operates in miraculous way as we have seen in life of Saints. Swami Ramadaasa left home and lived on the Bounty of the Lord. Rama gave him to eat or Rama led him to shelter, as Rama willed.
The second meaning which is very significant for all seekers is that not only does God encourage the seeker by providing the bare necessities of life but also provides more and more opportunities for spiritual growth and saadhana (yoga). The Lord then takes the seeker o the final experience of Beatitude or Supreme Knowledge and Bliss (Kshema).
Thus ‘yoga’ in this context means the “provision of the means required for the devotees” bodily maintenance and ‘Kshema’ means the protection of what he has been provided with. Thus, no harm can come to such a devotee, because the Lord will see to it, that he does not suffer. The devotee is not interested in anything but the Lord of his heart who is the sole goal of his life. Many instances are seen in the lives of Saints like Narasee Mehta, Naamadev, Sakhubai, Janaabai, Guru Naanak where the Lord Himself come to the aid of his Bhakta.
The one with Ananya Bhakti is recognized by these things. He talks only of the Lord, he sings of the Lord, he sees only the Lord, he works and spends his leisure with the Lord. – Geeta Vahini