6. Thoughts on the Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is the Song of God as well as the Song about God. It is a song of divine order which has permanent value and which has stood and continues to stand the test of time. It is the music of life which has double capacity of arresting the heart and holding the intellect simultaneously. The Gita is like a deep ocean; the more one controls one's breath and remains at the bottom, the greater the amount of pearls can one collect from the bed of the ocean. Likewise, the more intensely one follows the Gita and practises the tenets enunciated therein, the greater becomes one's intellectual and spiritual achievements. The Gita is a spiritual reference book which contains the sum and substance of advanced thought, explained and illustrated in an easy flowing language, which has a universal appeal as it envisions a religion which comes from within. The Journey Starts from Purely Physical Aspect "A sound mind in a sound body" - the superstructure and its many-sided architectural excellence cannot exist unless the building has a firm foundation. Likewise, one cannot build a spiritual life unless one possesses a sound physique. Human beings are classified into three main divisions according to their outstanding capacities: (i) those possessed of a greater amount of physical stamina, (ii) those having a preponderantly emotional nature, and

Thoughts on the Gita 111 (iii) those possessed of intellectual brilliance. The Gita makes this classification clear and then prescribes the way each class of people is to follow to reach "The Kingdom of God" or enjoy everlasting bliss. People having a restless temperament can follow the Karmamarga or the path of action, those that are emotionally inclined can follow the Bhaktimarga or the way of devotion and those whose power of discrimination is sharp and are always on the alert can follow the Jnanamarga or the path of knowledge. Thus, the Gita gives everyone ample scope to unite his soul with God. The temperamentally active persons can, by righteous deeds or actions that are pleasing to God pursue their spiritual path. abhyase 'py asamartho 'si matkarmaparamo bhavai madartham api karmani kurvan siddhim avapsyasin' "If you are unable even to perform the Yoga of practice, then be as one whose supreme aim is My service; even performing actions for My sake, you shall attain perfection. " Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Physical cleanliness is the index of mental health and spiritual purity. If the body is healthy, the mind can be clean; if the mind is clean, thoughts arising in it will be flawless, the words will be pure; if the words are pure the actions will be pious; if the actions are pious the result will be truthful. So, it goes without saying that physical purity has its own values in the spiritual life also. The Gita aims at the attainment of individual equanimity at every level; physical and mental. It expects every one to possess a sound physical constitution. The body should not only be free from diseases and deformities but should have a resisting capacity to extreme heat and cold. Further, the body should be trained and cultivated in such a manner as to experience alike, the pairs of opposities, pain and pleasure and the like. Such a type of physical neutrality is the foundation for intellectual equipoise: Sitosnasukhaduhkhesu samah sangavivarjitah² "(The person) who is alike in cold and heat, pleasure and pain and who is free from attachment."

Thus, from the physical and physiological points of view the Gita aims at the harmonious development of man. Every profession requires and demands certain special abilities and traits. If a person does not possess the requisite qualifications, he cannot succeed in that career. A soldier should have enormous physical strength, a technician sound technical knowledge, a lawyer the gift of speech, an author a good command of language, and a man who practises religion the right type of mental aptitude. The religion envisioned by the Gita has wide appeal because it caters to the needs of people with different mental make-ups. So, it stands to reason that mental propensity is an essential qualification for a person to embrace a faith. Though there are three main paths the paths of action, devotion and knowledge-the ultimate goal is one and the same. For instance, a man may travel from one place to another by scooter, car, bus, train, ship or plane. The choice of the vehicle depends mainly on his financial capacity and on his whims and fancies. Though people may travel by different kinds of vehicles, under normal conditions, it is certain that all of them will reach their destination. Similarly, the follower of each path shall certainly reach his/her goal, provided he/she has fixed his/her mind on God. Such single-minded devotion is emphasized throughout the Gita: mayy avesya mano ye mam nityayukta upasate! sraddhaya parayo 'petas te me yuktatama matahiss³ "Those who fixing their minds on Me worship Me, ever earnest and possessed of supreme faith-them do I consider most perfect in yoga." From the spiritual point of view, the fundamental condition expected of every man is the control of his senses. The concept of Lord Krsna serving as a charioteer conveys a great message. When man controls his senses and is guided by unprejudiced reason, he certainly lifts himself from the animal plane to the spiritual one: sreyo hi jnanam abhyasat jnanad dhyanam visisyatel dhyanat karmaphalatyagas tyagac chantir anantarami

Thoughts on the Gita 113 "Better indeed is knowledge than the practice (of concentration), better than knowledge is meditation; better than meditation is the renunciation of the fruit of action: On renunciation (follows) immediate peace." Herein this verse is the message of human happiness. It trains every devotee to live in the world without becoming worldly, as the water drop on the lotus leaf. The Second Stop: Social Aspect The Gita appeals to the social consciousness of people to a large extent. Man should acquire such perfection that he could live without injuring others and his mental stability should be such as would not be upset by anything. In order to enjoy social liberty and social harmony man should be absolutely free from envy, fear and anxiety: advesta sarvabhutanam maitrah karuna eva cal nirmamo nirahamkarah samaduhkhasukhah ksami "He who has no ill will to any being, who is friendly and compassionate, free from egoism and self-sense, even-minded in pain and pleasure and forgiving." How important is the message of the Gita to man as a social being may be corroborated by the following report of American Health magazine. "Explosion of new research is pointing to the benefits of altruism." It reports the results of a University of Michigan study of 2,700 people over a period of fourteen years which indicates that people, especially men, with no close social or community relationships have a death rate 2.5 times than that of people who are actively involved with other people. A University of California study of 7,000 people over a period of nine years found that those who were single, had few friends or relatives and shunned community organization had more than twice the mortality rate of others and regardless of race, income, physical activity, or other life-style factors. Hans Selye, a pioneer in modern stress research, was of the opinion that by helping people you inspire their gratitude and affection, which helps protect you from stress. This is the warm

feeling which results from endorphins, the brain's natural tranquilizers. Through the neural link between the mind and our immune system, such altruism may result in an increase of the cells, produced in bone marrow and the spleen, which are needed to fight infection. A Harvard psychologist discovered that showing his students a film of Mother Teresa working among Calcutta's sick and poor resulted in an increase of immunoglobulin A, an antibody that combats respiratory infections. In one of the "Type A and Type B" personalities, a University of Florida psychologist found that many characteristics of the type 'A' profile were harmless. "Only a few of those characteristics-anger, irritability and aggressive competitiveness seem to put people at a higher risk for heart attack." A Duke University study found that the more hostile the person, the more blocked his coronary arteries were. The Third Stop: The Intellectual Aspect The very purpose of Jnanamarga or the way of wisdom implies the realization of God through the intellectual process. One should anchor one's intellect in God. The Gita prepares man to comprehend and digest the real philosophy of life with much ease. It becomes very clear when we study the sloka: vyavasayatmika buddhir ekeha kurunandanal bahusakha hy anantas ca buddhayo 'vyavasayinami "O joy of the Kurus (Arjuna), the resolute (decided) understanding is single; but the thoughts of the irresolute (undecided) are manybranched and endless. " Single-minded concentration is the first and foremost requisite of each and every action. This applies from making a perfect sewing needle to most sophisticated sputnik. The Fourth Stop: The Spiritual Aspect One's spiritual bliss lies not only in peace but in completely identifying oneself with God, and at the end of the journey we find;

Thoughts on the Gita 115 brahmabhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati samah sarvesu bhutesu madbhaktim labhate parami "Having become one with Brahman and being tranquil in spirit, he neither grieves nor desires. Regarding all beings as alike he attains supreme devotion to Me.' " Many thousand years back, Lord Krsna gave this message to Arjuna. The message is clear and forthright. Behold! You are capable of having the most perfect body, the sharpest of intellect, the whole universe as your family (vasudhaiva kutumbakam) and do not stop till you become 'Brahman'. II Amidst a mass of seemingly disparate matter and the apparent multiplicity of views a discerning critic would naturally ask: what is, if at all, the central teaching of the Bhagavadgita. Before an answer to this is attempted, it would be in the fitness of things if notice is taken of the circumstances in which it came into being. In the vast dreary lands of Kurukshetra the two mighty armies of the Kauravas and the Pandavas stood facing each other. The conches had been blown, the drums beaten and the bugles sounded. The strike order was imminent. Exactly at the crucial moment Arjuna, the bravest of the Pandavas, asked Krsna, his charioteer, to take the chariot to the vacant space between the two armies so that he could have a full view of those to whom he was going to give the fight. The charioteer did as asked and Arjuna cast a glance at his adversaries. He found among them, his brothers, his brothers-in-law, his uncles and other relations. Remorse overstruck him. He became diffident for fight. He could not summon up courage to strike at his kith and kin, the grand father like Bhisma and the teacher like Drona among them. He decided not to fight. Occupying now the back seat in the chariot, he told Krsna that he was experiencing a strange kind of sensation in him, his limbs were aching, his mouth drying up and his body trembling. He would not like, said he, to enjoy the worldly

pleasures soaked in the blood of his near and dear ones. Noticing. him in this state Krsna decided to shake him out of his melancholy. He disapproved of his decision of not offering to fight and told him to get ready for it. He was sorry that impurity should have crept into Arjuna's mind at the oddest of the hours: kutas tva kasmalam idam visame samupasthitami 8 He asked him not to be unmanly, to give up the weakness of the heart and get up: klaibyam ma sma gamah partha naitat tvayy upapadyate! ksudram hrdayadaurbalyam tyaktvottistha parantapanl and further tasmad uttistha kaunteya yuddhaya krtaniscayahi 10 This is the beginning of the Gita. After listening to the Lord Arjuna said: nasto mohah smrtir labdha tvatprasadan mayacyutal sthito 'smi gatasandehah karisye vacanam tavall 11 "O Krsna, my delusion is over. Through your grace I have got knowledge. My doubts are cleared. I (now) stand up. I will obey your word." And that is the end of the Gita. Its beginning is 'uttistha', get up. Its end is 'sthito'smi', here I stand. Between these two lies the Gita. Its motive, its objective should be all too clear with it. What was it that the Lord gave to Arjuna that made him stand up, sthito'smi? It was a kind of philosophy that imparted him clear perspective, infused him with new vigour to take up arms once again, the philosophy of Karmayoga, for which the Gita is wellknown the world over. It is this philosophy which forms the core of the teaching of the great work. Here, a side question may well arise: Why should the Lord have waited upto the particular moment of the two armies facing each other and Arjuna's indifference to fight at the sight of his friends, relatives and elders to impart this knowledge. By imparting it earlier he could well

Thoughts on the Gita 117 have avoided this situation to arise. Why, at that particular moment? After all, Krsna had been very intimate with Arjuna all along who could well take the liberty of addressing him as Krsna, Yadava and Sakha 'friend', he krsna he yadava he sakheti, so intimate was he with the Lord that he could well instruct him in superior knowledge and not keep it back from him. He was also related to him. Why did he not then impart the knowledge to him earlier? The answer to this could be that the superior knowledge has to be imparted judiciously and at the right moment. It is not to be given away to any and everyone but only to those who have developed the spirit of a disciple, sisyabhava. In that spirit they would be ripe to receive it and can conserve it. Though intimate, Arjuna had not upto the particular moment of the sermon assumed the sisyabhava. He had been a friend, a companion and a relative but not sisya. It is when sorrow overtook him and confusion stalled him that he acquired the spirit of a sisya: yac chreyah syan niscitam bruhi tan me sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam tvam prapannami 12 "Please tell me whatever is best in your judgement. I surrender unto you. I am your disciple." When the friend in Arjuna had turned a disciple with the feeling of total prapatti, saranagati, only then was he considered fit enough to receive the superiormost knowledge, the most secret one, guhyad guhyataram jnanam, which in the words of the Gita itself could not be imparted to any one who has not the proper religious austerity, renunciation and devotion to God nor to the one who does not want to listen or who finds fault with God: idam te natapaskaya nabhaktaya kadacanal na casusrusave vacyam na ca mamm yo 'bhyasuyatin 13 In his marathon address to Arjuna the Lord has given this highest knowledge. He has instructed him in Samkhyayoga, Jnanayoga, Rajayoga, Karmayoga and Bhaktiyoga. The knowledge of all the Vedas and the systems of philosophy is contained in his words. Arjuna is afforded the cosmic vision by Him. In answer to a specific question of Arjuna the Lord said

that Karmayoga, in complete surrender to Him was best suited for him. He cleared all the doubts in Arjuna's mind with reasons and examples till he was fully satisfied. The Lord would, however, not ask Arjuna to follow His instruction blindly. Even the Lord of the Universe, he has a liberal attitude. He has no idea to impose his will on his disciple. He asks him to think over what he has said and then do whatever would please him: vimrsyaitad asesena yathecchasi tatha kuru 14 There is no dogmatic or doctrinaire approach in the Gita. If instruction is well received, it would cause reaction from within. If it fails to do so, well, it is the recipient's lot. If, however, the recipient is ripe for it as the parched earth is for rain water, it may not fail to produce reaction as in the case of Arjuna, who received it with equanimity after initial dithering even in the thick of the battlefield. Arjuna was the prapanna sisya: sadhi mam tvam prapannam¹s who begged for instruction, sadhi. It was, therefore, not unexpected that the wealth of knowledge emanating from the Lord would not fail to enlighten him. As has been said earlier, the core of the Gita's teaching is action. The Gita declares in the most solemn words: karma jyayo hy akarmanah16, action is superior to inaction. The Gita preaches active life. It does not require one to take to the life of a recluse to gain true knowledge. One can gain that even in the thick of life's activities just as did the Rajarsis like Janaka; karmanaiva samsiddhim asthita janakadayah," who, while fully preoccupied with the royal duties, remained completely untouched by them. The ego was just missing in them. That is why they could say: mithilayam pradiptayam na me dahyati kincanal "Even while Mithila is on fire there is nothing mine in it which is being burnt." Since they were one with the Supreme Reality, Brahman, they, even though possessed of body, were bereft of its consciousness. That is why they could come out with the above words. The philosophy of action of the Gita is qualified with the

Thoughts on the Gita 119 inalienable consideration of no desire for the fruit. The key verse enunciating it says: karmany evadhikaras te ma phalesu kadacanal ma karmaphalahetur bhuh........18 "Your duty is limited upto the performance of the action only and not its fruit. Do not be the cause of the fruit of the action.' " The Lord is only too conscious of the pitfalls in this. There is a well-known saying in Sanskrit: prayojanam anuddisya na mando 'pi pravartate, even a fool would not take to something without a motive. The result of the action is the motive. If the motive is taken away, the natural tendency in a man would be not to perform any action. Why should he perform it at all if he is not to get anything out of it? Realizing this tendency in man the Lord is quick to utter the solemn warning immediately after instructing him not to care for the result of action, not to give himself over to inaction-ma te sango 'stv akarmani.19 The Lord knows that inaction by its very nature would be foreign to man. To keep his body and soul together he will have to perform some action or the other all through: sarirayatrapi ca te na prasidhyed akarmanahi 20 Engage one has to oneself in some action or the other, not even for a moment can be one without an action: nahi kascit ksanam api jatu tisthaty akarmakrti 21 It is the deliberate inaction that he is asking to avoid. The stillness of the body is not inaction. With the bodily movements controlled, the mind may be free to wander about. To all appearances a man may give the impression of not engaged in action, yet he would be as given to performing action as anybody else. In this he will be deceiving nobody but himself. The Lord in the most forthright words proclaims him a hypocrite, mithyacara: karmendriyani samyamya ya aste manasa smarani indriyarthan vimudhatma mithyacarah sa ucyatell 22

So action one has to perform but the Lord advises one to perform it in such a way as one may not have any consideration for its fruit. The Lord illustrates this by his own example, may be it can go home: There is nothing to be gained or achieved by him that he does not have already, as far as he is concerned, still says he, he continues to work: na me parthasti kartavyam trisu lokesu kincanal nanavaptam avaptavyam varta eva ca karmanill 23 The Lord says that a being should keep His example before him. He should continue doing things without caring for their fruit. But a being may here well say: Well, the Lord can do it. He is Lord after all. But how can he 'a poor being' do it? The Lord is asking him to do something impossible. The Lord realizes this predicament of his and says that in case it is not possible for him to do so in absolute terms, let him be the medium and it is here that the philosophy of action of the Gita, the Karmayoga imperceptibly glides into the philosophy of Devotion, the Bhaktiyoga. The Lord asks man to offer everything to him, whatever he is doing, whatever he is eating, whatever he is offering in sacrifice, whatever he is giving away (in charity) and whatever penance he is practising: yat karosi yad asnasi yaj juhosi dadasi yati yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurusva madarpanami 24 Even if the consideration of motive cannot be set aside by an ordinary mortal, let him offer all his actions to the Lord. Then the actions will cease suo moto to be those of his and the fruit, if any, emanating from them will also cease to be that of his. The Lord unequivocally declares: ye tu sarvani karmani mayi samnyasya matparahi anayenaiva yogena mam dhyayanta upasatell tesam aham samuddharta mrtyusamsarasagarati bhavami na cirat partha mayy avesitacetasami 25 "Those who surrender unto me, who offer me all actions and who meditate on me, who concentrate on me in their minds, I pull them out before long from the ocean of life and death.

Thoughts on the Gita 121 Whether actions are performed without desire for their fruit in absolute terms or whether they are performed in the name of the Lord being offered to him together with their fruit, they are to be performed with full understanding. He asks Arjuna to take refuge in knowledge-buddhau saranam anviccha.26 An action done without understanding, according to him, is inferior to that done with it-durena hy avaram karma buddhiyogat. 27 An understanding person casts off good and evil in this very life: buddhiyukto jahatiha ubhe sukrtaduskrte.28 The Karmayoga here imperceptibly glides into the Jnanayoga. The term Yoga has been defined by the Lord in two ways. samatvam yoga ucyate 29; equanimity is Yoga and yogah karmasu kausalam 30. Yoga is proficiency in actions. The two definitions give the feeling that two different, unrelated things are being said here. That actually is not so. An intelligent person, buddhiyuktah, has the wisdom to analyse the world. He sees it full of miseries, even the pleasures which appear agreeable in the beginning turn out to be unpleasant in the end. There is nothing permanent in the world, everything is temporary and fleeting. The good and pleasant must be followed, as a rule, by the bad and the unpleasant, as much as a day is followed by night. The inevitable pairs of opposites; the dvandvas are the root cause of suffering. The best way to overcome it is to develop equanimity of mindsamatva.The mind then will not be influenced by them. But this is not hardening the heart or developing callousness which are individualized self defence and lack of understanding of the reality. In the Yoga of action there is complete and total dedication to work; there is no shunning the work and its results, pleasant and unpleasant. One takes to the Yoga of action of purity, the senses and the mind with the firm understanding, jnana, that the Atman is free and unaffected by the external world and that the confusing factors are the sense organs and their objects. The purification of the mind cannot be brought about by only sitting aloof. It can be done by skilful performance of one's duty forsaking the ego, doership and enjoyment of fruits of action. This is yoga of action: Karmayoga in its conjunction with Jnanayoga.

While referring to the jnana above it has been said that it means the understanding that the Atman is completely unaffected by what goes on around. It is here that the Jnanayoga imperceptibly glides into the Samkhyayoga. The Atman is eternal, omnipresent, permanent, immovable and everlasting: nityah sarvagatah sthanur acalo 'yam sanatanahi 31 It is the body which perishes and not the soul which is unmanifest, unimaginable and immutable. What really it is, is difficult to say. There is nothing tangible with which it can be compared. The Upanisads rightly, therefore, describe it, neti, neti not this, not this; people look at it as wonder so they speak and hear of it as wonder. They know not what it is. While performing an action one should have the understanding that it is one's body and the senses that would be engaged in it and not the soul whose effulgent light is discerned after piercing through the hard shell of ego that envelopes wisdom, by dispassion, asanga, karmaphalatyaga, buddhi and discrimination. But before this can be attempted, a strict control over the mind and the senses is an absolute necessity. And here comes the Astangayoga that helps one exercise self-control. The Lord knows that the mind is fickle, strong, impetuous, wayward: cancalam hi manah krsna pramathi balavad drdhami 32 If that is the state of mind, the state of the senses can well be imagined. The mind is compared to a charioteer and the senses to the horses. If the charioteer is out of control the horses are bound to go astray, particularly when the horses are waywardindriyani pramathini. The mind has first to be put under control which can be done by means of practice and non-attachment: abhyasena tu kaunteya vairagyena ca grhyatel 33 The senses then are to be put under restraint-tani sarvani samyamya³4. One has to elevate oneself to the state of sthitaprajna, unperturbed in sorrow with no craving for pleasures, with all attachment, fear and anger gone, remaining blissful in Atmanatmany evatmana tustah35 and still doing his duties

Thoughts on the Gita 123 skilfully, the skill being in doing them without any desire for their fruit and with the full understanding that the soul will remain unaffected by them. Freedom from attachment and absence of egotism is the hallmark of realized souls. It is not the freedom obtained by shunning the world and remaining in seclusion or the freedom to do things at will in which one is bound to feel the individuality and build the ego. It is living in the world, unaffected by it and destroying the ego. When the ego is completely erased the individual merges with the universal. There remains no distinction between the self and the non-self, myriads of names and forms into the non-dual Brahman. This is the supreme state, free merge from duality and the delusion born of it. Fixed in that state even at the end, the time of death, one attains the bliss of Brahman: esa brahmi sthitih partha nainam prapya vimuhyati sthitvasyam antakale 'pi brahmanirvanam rcchatill 36 REFERENCES 1. 12.10 2. 12. 18 3. 12. 2 4. 12. 12 5. 12. 13 6. 2.41 7. 18.54 8. II.2. 9. II.3. 10. II. 37. 11. XVIII.73. 12. II.7. 13. XVIII. 67. 14. XVIII. 63. 15. II.7. 16. III. 8. 17. III.20. 18. II.47.

. ibid. 20. III.8. 21. III.5. 22. III.6. 23. III. 22. 24. IX. 27. 25. XII. 6,7. 26. II.49. 27. ibid. 28. II.50. 29. ibid. 30. ibid. 31. II.24. 32. VI.34. 33. VI.35. 34. II.61. 35. II.55. 36. II. 72.