bhagvad geeta for common man

Started at the instance of Swami Vivekananda in the year 1895 as Brahmavâdin,it assumed the name The Vedanta Kesari in 1914.

For free edition on the Web, please visit: www.sriramakrishnamath.org

VOL. 95, No. 12 ISSN 0042-2983

Meditation on the Bhagavad Gita 445

Editorial

Gita Today 457

Articles

Getting Introduced to Bhagavad Gita—Swami Sridharananda 465

Gita’s Way of Right Activity—Swami Smaranananda 472

Gita’s Message for Self-Transformation—Swami Prabuddhananda 476

Bhagavad Gita for the Commoners—Swami Gautamananda 489

True Happiness: Gita’s Counsel—Swami Bhaskarananda 494

‘I Take Care of Their Yogakshema’—C S Ramakrishnan 499

Meditating on the Message of the Gita—Swami Dayatmananda 501

The Bhagavad Gita: its Relevance to Teachers—Swami Atmaramananda 505

Keeping Calm: the Gita Way—Swami Nityasthananda 513

The Spot Where the Gita was Delivered 517

‘Grieve not—the Lord is with Us’—Prema Nandakumar 518

Ten Principles of Work Ethic in the Bhagavad Gita—Swami Abhiramananda 522

Gita’s Way to Self-Fulfilment—Swami Atmarupananda 543

Gita’s View on Ecology and its Maintenance—N V C Swamy 549

Sri Krishna’s Remedy for the Arjuna Syndrome—Swami Atmapriyananda 553

Management Lessons from the Bhagavad Gita—B. Mahadevan 558

Living the Gita Way—Pravrajika Brahmaprana 562

Work As Worship: Guidelines from the Bhagavad Gita—Swami Yuktatmananda 566

Teachers as Mentors: Lessons from Gita—M. Sivaramkrishna 570

Countering Stress and Lack of Motivation—Swami Bodhamayananda 574

Bhagavad Gita: Song of Culture—K. Subrahmanyam 577

Values in the Bhagavad Gita—Swami Vireshananda 585

Gita’s Ideal of Emotional Stability—Swami Sarvapriyananda 589

Gita for Housewives—Sumita Roy 593

Bhagavad Gita and the Ideal of Service—Swami Vedapurushananda 597

Compilations

Gita: ‘The Essence of All Scriptures’—446 Bhagavad Gita: ‘The Best Authority onVedanta’—Swami Vivekananda—448 Sri Krishna, the Teacher of the Gita—SwamiVivekananda—454 Universal Message of the Bhagavad Gita—Swami Ranganatha-nanda—461 Gita’s Description of Integrated Personality—Swami Adiswarananda—497

Bhagavad Gita for Everyday Living—527 ‘What is in a Name?’—582 What TheySay: Some Eminent Persons on the Bhagavad Gita—601

Question & Answer

Frequently Asked Questions About Gita—Swami Harshananda 483

Annual Index—606

DecemberDecemberDecemberDecemberDecember 20082008200820082008

Cover StoryCover StoryCover StoryCover StoryCover Story

4

Arjuna Listening to Sri Krishna

We invite our readers to join as patrons of the magazine. They can

do so by sending Rs.1500/- or more. Names of the patrons will be

announced in the journal under the Patrons' Scheme and they will

receive the magazine for 20 years. Please send your contribution to

The Manager, The Vedanta Kesari by DD/MO drawn in favour of

Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai with a note that it is for the

Patrons' Scheme.

TheTheTheTheThe VedantaVedantaVedantaVedantaVedanta KesariKesariKesariKesariKesari Patrons’Patrons’Patrons’Patrons’Patrons’ SchemeSchemeSchemeSchemeScheme

The Vedanta Kesari Library Scheme

The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between Sri Krishna, theDivinity Incarnate, and Arjuna, the representative of mankind.Though Arjuna was eager to fight in the battle, when he saw thathe had to fight with his dear ones, he became nervous and beganarguing against war. Finally Arjuna confessed to Sri Krishna hisweakness and lack of mental preparedness. Thus begins the dia-logue and the Gita is the result. The painting featured on thecover page portrays the attentiveness with which Arjuna listensto Krishna’s words of wisdom. Not only does Sri Krishna counseland encourage Arjuna to fight the righteous war, he also out-lines, through his Gita-discourse, a whole philosophy oflife—dealing with work ethics, education, service, stress, charityand so on, and how to reach ultimate freedom.

Painting courtesy: Maniyam Selvam, Chennai.

SL.NO. NAMES OF SPONSORS AWARDEE INSTITUTIONS

3818. Mr. Om Prakash, Bangalore Canara Bank Relief and Welfare Society, Bangalore - 560 0703819. -do- R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore - 560 0593820. Mr. Ravi Dixit, Chennai National Institute of Technology, M.G. Avenue, Durgapur - 713 2093821. -do- Kotpad College, Dist. Koraput, Orissa - 764 0583822. -do- Prarara Rural College of Engineering, Maharashtra - 413 7093823. -do- Sri Ram Engineering College, Tiruvallur District. - 602 0243824. Dr. Rathindra Narayan Pal, Assam Government English High School, Bargang, Assam - 784 1673825. -do- Government High Secondary School, Dist. Sonitpur, Assam - 784 166

DONORS Mr. D.G. Rao, Bangalore Rs. 5000A Devotee of Sri Ramakrishna Rs. 50000

To be continued . . .

547. Mr. Mihir Kumar Mukhopadhyay, JharkhandPATRON

EACH SOUL IS POTENTIALLY DIVINE. THE GOAL IS TO MANIFEST THE DIVINITY WITHIN.

VOL. 95, No. 12, DECEMBER 2008 ISSN 0042-2983

Meditation on the Bhagavad Gita

õ nmWm© ‡V~moYVmß JdVm Zmam`UoZ Òd ßÏ`mgoZ JWVmß nwamU_wZZm _‹ o _hm^maV_≤ü&A¤°Vm_•Vdf©Ut JdVr_ÓQ>mXem‹`m`Zr-

_Â~ Àdm_Zwg›XYm_ JdX≤JrVo d¤ofUr_≤ü&&

õ Om ^JdVm by the Lord Zmam`UoZ (the one Refuge of all beings)

Narayana Òd ß Himself nmWm© ‡V~moYVmß with which Partha was enlightened

nwamU_wZZm by (through the lips of) the ancient sage Ï`mgoZ Vyasa _hm^maV_≤_‹ o in the Mahabharata J´WVmß incorporated ^JdVr_≤ the blessed Mother

A¤°Vm_•Vdf©Ut showering the nectar of Advaita (the philosophy of non-

duality) AÔ>mXem‹`m`Zr_≤ in the form of eighteen chapters ^d¤ofUr_≤ de-

stroyer of rebirth AÂ~ loving Mother JdX≤JrVo (the Lord’s song) Bhagavad-

Gita Àdm_≤ Thee AZwg›XYm_ I meditate upon.

Om! O Bhagavad Gita—with which Partha was enlightened by theLord Narayana Himself and which was incorporated in the Mahabharataby the ancient sage Vyasa—the blessed Mother, the Destroyer of rebirth,showering down the nectar of Advaita, and consisting of eighteen chap-ters—upon Thee O Bhagavad Gita! O loving Mother! I meditate.

gdmnZfXmo Jmdmo XmoΩYm JmonmbZ›XZÖü&nmWm dÀgÖ gwYr^m∫$m XwΩYß JrVm_•Vß _hV≤ü&&

gdmnZfXÖ All the Upanishads JmdÖ the cows JmonmbZ›XZÖ Son

of the cowherd (Krishna) XmoΩYm the milker nmW©Ö Partha (Arjuna)

dÀgÖ the calf gwYrÖ (men) of purified intellect mo∫$m the drink-

ers _hV≤ the supreme A_•Vß nectar JrVm Gita XwΩYß the milk.

All the Upanishads are the cows, the Son of the cowherdis the milker, Partha is the calf, men of purified intellect arethe drinkers and the supreme nectar Gita is the milk.

446T h e V e d a n t a K e s a r i D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8~ ~

Gita—‘The Essence of All Scriptures’Compiled from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

You see, there is no need to read toomuch of the scriptures. If you read too muchyou will be inclined to reason and argue.Nangta used to teach me thus: What you getby repeating the word ‘Gita’ ten times is theessence of the book. In other words, if yourepeat ‘Gita’ ten times it is reversedinto ‘tagi’, which indicatesrenunciation.1

The essence of the Gitais: ‘O man, renounce every-thing and practise spiritualdiscipline for the realizationof God.’2

An aspirant entitled tothe Knowledge of God isvery rare. It is said in the Gitathat one in thousands desiresto know God, and again, thatamong thousands who have such adesire, only one is able to know Him.3

It is said in the Gita that if a man isrespected and honoured by many, whether itbe for his scholarship or his music or hisoratory or anything else, then you may knowfor certain that he is endowed with a specialdivine power.4

It is said in the Gita that whatever onethinks in the hour of death, one becomes inthe after-life. King Bharata gave up his bodyexclaiming, ‘Deer! Deer!’ and was born as adeer in his next life. But if a man dies think-ing of God, then he attains God, and hedoes not have to come back to the life of thisworld.5

One must surrender the result to God. . .That is the view of the Gita.6

How long should a man perform hisduties? As long as he identifies himself withthe body, in other words, as long as he thinks

he is the body. That is what the Gita says.To think of the body as the Atman is

ajnana, ignorance.7

You no doubt needmoney for your worldly life;but don’t worry too muchabout it. The wise course isto accept what comes of itsown accord. Don’t take toomuch trouble to save money.Those who surrender theirhearts and souls to God, those

who are devoted to Him andhave taken refuge in Him, do not

worry much about money. As theyearn, so they spend. The money comes

in one way and goes out the other. This iswhat the Gita describes as ‘accepting whatcomes of its own accord’.8

[Referring to a Bengali play, M said]‘Quoting from the Gita, Bhavani said: “He whosees Me in all things and all things in Me,never becomes separated from Me, nor do Ibecome separated from him. That yogi who,established in unity, worships Me dwelling inall beings, abides in Me, whatever his modeof life. O Arjuna, that yogi is regarded as thehighest who judges the pleasure and pain ofall beings by the same standard that he appliesto himself.”’ Sri Ramakrishna responded by


7

saying, ‘These are the characteristics of thehighest bhakta.’9

The Gita speaks of temperance in eating.Sattvic food, rajasic food, tamasic food; sattvickindness, sattvic ego, and so on—all these aredescribed in the Gita. It contains the essenceof all the scriptures. . . . Do you know themeaning of karma yoga? It is to surrender toGod the fruit of all action.10

No food can harm a jnani. According tothe Gita, the jnani himself does not eat; hiseating is an offering to the Kundalini. But thatdoes not apply to a bhakta.11

A sannyasi may or may not keep withhim another book, but he always carries apocket Gita.12

As is the disease, so must the remedybe. The Lord says in the Gita: ‘O Arjuna, takerefuge in Me. I shall deliver you from all sins.’Take shelter at His feet: He will give you rightunderstanding. He will take entireresponsibility for you. Then you will get ridof the typhoid. Can one ever know God with

such a mind as this? Can one pour four seersof milk into a one-seer pot? Can we ever knowGod unless He lets us know Him? Therefore Isay, take shelter in God. Let Him do whateverHe likes. He is self-willed. What power is therein a man?13

Chaitanyadeva set out on a pilgrimageto southern India. One day he saw a manreading the Gita. Another man, seated at adistance, was listening and weeping. His eyeswere swimming in tears. Chaitanyadeva askedhim, ‘Do you understand all this?’ The mansaid, ‘No, revered sir, I don’t understand aword of the text.’ ‘Then why are you crying?’asked Chaitanya. The devotee said: ‘I seeArjuna’s chariot before me. I see Lord Krishnaand Arjuna seated in front of it, talking. I seethis and I weep.’14

Haven’t you read the Gita? One trulyrealizes God if one performs one’s worldlyduties in a detached spirit, if one lives in theworld after realizing that everything isillusory.15

1. The Gospel of Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, p.484 2. ibid., p. 255 3. ibid., p.5024. ibid., p.625 5. ibid., p.631 6. ibid., p.592 7. ibid., p.582 8. ibid., p.506 9. ibid., p.68610. ibid., p.849 11. ibid., p.564 12. ibid., p.772 13. ibid., p.329 14. ibid., p.105 15. ibid., p.956

References

[On being asked whether God accepts food

that is offered to Him by devotees, the Holy

Mother replied:]

‘Why? Have you not read in the Gita

that God receives the fruits, flowers, water,

and other things that are offered to Him

with devotion?’

—The Gospel of the Holy Mother

Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, p.331


SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Bhagavad Gita:‘The Best Authority on Vedanta’

The BackgroundThe Gita requires a little preliminary

introduction. The scene is laid on the battle-field of Kurukshetra. There were two branchesof the same race fighting for the empire ofIndia about five thousand years ago.The Pandavas had the right, but theKauravas had the might. The Pandavaswere five brothers, and they were livingin a forest. Krishna was the friend ofthe Pandavas. The Kauravas would notgrant them as much land as wouldcover the point of a needle.

The opening scene is thebattlefield, and both sides seetheir relatives and friends—onebrother on one side andanother on the other side;a grandfather on oneside, grandson on theother side. . . .WhenArjuna sees his ownfriends and relatives onthe other side and knowsthat he may have to killthem, his heart gives wayand he says that he will not fight. Thus beginsthe Gita.

For all of us in this world life is acontinuous fight. . . .Many a time comes whenwe want to interpret our weakness andcowardice as forgiveness and renunciation.

There is no merit in the renunciation of abeggar. If a person who can [give a blow]forbears, there is merit in that. If a person who

has, gives up, there is merit in that. Weknow how often in our lives through

laziness and cowardice we give upthe battle and try to hypnotise ourminds into the belief that we arebrave.

The Gita opens with this verysignificant verse: ‘Arise, O Prince!Give up this faint-heartedness, this

weakness! Stand up and fight!’Then Arjuna, trying to arguethe matter [with Krishna],brings higher moral ideas,how non-resistance isbetter than resistance, andso on. He is trying tojustify himself, but hecannot fool Krishna.Krishna is the higherSelf, or God. He seesthrough the argument atonce. In this case [themotive] is weakness. . .

There is a conflict in Arjuna’s heartbetween his emotionalism and his duty. Thenearer we are to [beasts and] birds, the morewe are in the hells of emotion. We call it love.It is self-hypnotisation. We are under thecontrol of our [emotions] like animals. . . .[To

(Excerpts from the lectures delivered in San Francisco, on May 28-29 1900. CW, 1: 459-480)


9

reach] the eternal consciousness, that is thegoal of man! There emotion has no place, norsentimentalism, nor anything that belongs tothe senses—only the light of pure reason.[There] man stands as spirit.

Face the Life!Now, Arjuna is under the control of this

emotionalism. He is not what he should be—agreat self-controlled, enlightened sage workingthrough the eternal light of reason. He hasbecome like an animal, like a baby, just lettinghis heart carry away his brain, making a foolof himself and trying to cover his weaknesswith the flowery names of ‘love’ and so on.Krishna sees through that. Arjuna talks like aman of little learning and brings out manyreasons, but at the same time he talks thelanguage of a fool.

‘The sage is not sorry for those that areliving nor for those that die.’ [Krishna says:]‘You cannot die nor can I. There was never atime when we did not exist. There will neverbe a time when we shall not exist. As in thislife a man begins with childhood, and [passesthrough youth and old age, so at death hemerely passes into another kind of body]. Whyshould a wise man be sorry?’ And where isthe beginning of this emotionalism that hasgot hold of you? It is in the senses. ‘It is thetouch of the senses that brings all this qualityof existence: heat and cold, pleasure and pain.They come and go.’ Man is miserable thismoment, happy the next. As such he cannotexperience the nature of the soul. . . .

There is nothing in the universe that canchange [the Changeless]. Though this body hasits beginning and end, the dweller in the bodyis infinite and without end.

Knowing this, stand up and fight! Notone step back, that is the idea. . . .Fight it out,whatever comes. Let the stars move from the

sphere! Let the whole world stand against us!Death means only a change of garment. Whatof it? Thus fight! You gain nothing bybecoming cowards. . . .Taking a step backward,you do not avoid any misfortune. You havecried to all the gods in the world. Has miseryceased? . . . You are infinite, deathless, birth-less. Because you are infinite spirit, it does notbefit you to be a slave. . . .Arise! Awake! Standup and fight! Die if you must. There is noneto help you. You are all the world. Who canhelp you?

The Mystery of Living the LifeBut if you say that killing all these people

is sinful, then consider this from the standpointof your own caste-duty. . . . ‘Making pleasureand misery the same, making success anddefeat the same, do thou stand up and fight.’

This is the beginning of another peculiardoctrine of the Gita—the doctrine of non-attachment. That is to say, we have to bear theresult of our own actions because we attachourselves to them. . . .’Only what is done asduty for duty’s sake. . .can scatter the bondageof Karma.’ There is no danger that you canoverdo it. . . .’If you do even a little of it, [thisYoga will save you from the terrible round ofbirth and death].’

‘Know, Arjuna, the mind that succeedsis the mind that is concentrated. The mindsthat are taken up with two thousand subjects(have) their energies dispersed. Some can talkflowery language and think there is nothingbeyond the Vedas. They want to go to heaven.They want good things through the power ofthe Vedas, and so they make sacrifices.’ Suchwill never attain any success [in spiritual life]unless they give up all these materialistic ideas.

That is another great lesson. Spiritualitycan never be attained unless all material ideasare given up. . . .What is in the senses? The


10

senses are all delusion. People wish to retainthem [in heaven] even after they are dead—apair of eyes, a nose. Some imagine they willhave more organs than they have now. Theywant to see God sitting on a throne throughall eternity—the material body of God. ...Suchmen’s desires are for the body, for food anddrink and enjoyment. It is the materialistic lifeprolonged. . .’

We have identified ourselves with ourbodies. We are only body, or rather, possessedof a body. If I am pinched, I cry. All this isnonsense, since I am the soul. All this chain ofmisery, imagination, animals, gods, anddemons, everything, the whole world—all thiscomes from the identification of ourselves withthe body. I am spirit. Why do I jump if youpinch me? . . .Look at the slavery of it. . . . Whatare we? Living hells, that is what we are.

Who can work without any attachment?That is the real question. Such a man is thesame whether his work succeeds or fails. Hisheart does not give one false beat even if hiswhole life-work is burnt to ashes in a moment.‘This is the sage who always works for work’ssake without caring for the results. Thus hegoes beyond the pain of birth and death. Thushe becomes free.’ Then he sees that thisattachment is all delusion. The Self can neverbe attached. . . .Then he goes beyond all thescriptures and philosophies. If the mind isdeluded and pulled into a whirlpool by booksand scriptures, what is the good of all thesescriptures? One says this, another says that.What book shall you take? Stand alone! Seethe glory of your own soul, and see that youwill have to work. Then you will become aman of firm will.

The Secret of Non-attachmentArjuna asks: ‘Who is a person of

established will?’

[Krishna answers:] ‘The man who hasgiven up all desires, who desires nothing, noteven this life, nor freedom, nor gods, nor work,nor anything. When he has become perfectlysatisfied, he has no more cravings.’ He hasseen the glory of the Self and has found thatthe world, and the gods, and heaven are. . .within his own Self. Then the gods become nogods; death becomes no death; life becomesno life. Everything has changed. ‘A man issaid to be [illumined] if his will has becomefirm, if his mind is not disturbed by misery, ifhe does not desire any happiness, if he is freeof all [attachment], of all fear, of all anger. . . .’

‘As the tortoise can draw in his legs, andif you strike him, not one foot comes out, evenso the sage can draw all his sense-organsinside,’ and nothing can force them out.Nothing can shake him, no temptation oranything. Let the universe tumble about him,it does not make one single ripple in his mind.

Then comes a very important question.Sometimes people fast for days. . . .When theworst man has fasted for twenty days, hebecomes quite gentle. Fasting and torturingthemselves have been practised by people allover the world. Krishna’s idea is that this isall nonsense. He says that the senses will forthe moment recede from the man who tortureshimself, but will emerge again with twentytimes more [power]. . . .What should you do?The idea is to be natural—no asceticism. Goon, work, only mind that you are not attached.The will can never be fixed strongly in theman who has not learnt and practised thesecret of non-attachment.

How to Worship GodWe will understand more clearly if we

once get rid of the idea that religion consistsin doctrines. One idea of religion has been thatthe whole world was born because Adam ate


the apple, and there is no way of escape. Be-lieve in Jesus Christ—in a certain man’s death!

But in India there is quite a different idea.[There] religion means realisation, nothing else.It does not matter whether one approachesthe destination in a carriage with four horses,in an electric car, or rolling on the ground.The goal is the same. For the [Christians], theproblem is how to escape the wrath of theterrible God. For the Indians it is how tobecome what they really are, to regain theirlost Selfhood. . . .

Have you realised that you are spirit?When you say, ‘I do,’ what is meant by that—this lump of flesh called the body or the spirit,the infinite, ever blessed, effulgent, immortal?You may be the greatest philosopher, but aslong as you have the idea that you are thebody, you are no better than the little wormcrawling under your foot! No excuse for you!So much the worse for you that you know allthe philosophies and at the same time thinkyou are the body! Body-gods, that is what youare! Is that religion?

Religion is the realisation of spirit asspirit. What are we doing now? Just theopposite, realising spirit as matter. Out of theimmortal God we manufacture death andmatter, and out of dead dull matter wemanufacture spirit. . . .

If you [can realise Brahman] by standingon your head, or on one foot, or by worshipp-ing five thousand gods with three headseach—welcome to it! . . .Do it any way youcan! Nobody has any right to say anything.Therefore, Krishna says, if your method isbetter and higher, you have no business tosay that another man’s method is bad, howeverwicked you may think it.

Again, we must consider, religion is a[matter of] growth, not a mass of foolishwords. . . All these people fighting about what

God’s nature is—whether He has three headsin one body or five heads in six bodies. Haveyou seen God? No. . . .And they do not believethey can ever see Him. What fools we mortalsbe! Sure, lunatics!

Each one thinks his method is best. Verygood! But remember, it may be good for you.One food which is very indigestible to one isvery digestible to another. Because it is goodfor you, do not jump to the conclusion thatyour method is everybody’s method, thatJack’s coat fits John and Mary. All the uneduca-ted, uncultured, unthinking men and womenhave been put into that sort of strait jacket!Think for yourselves. Become atheists! Becomematerialists! That would be better. Exercise themind! ...What right have you to say that thisman’s method is wrong? It may be wrong foryou. That is to say, if you undertake themethod, you will be degraded; but that doesnot mean that he will be degraded. Therefore,says Krishna, if you have knowledge and seea man weak, do not condemn him. Go to hislevel and help him if you can. . . .

Understand the Workings of Prakriti

Whence comes all this bondage of action?Because we chain the soul with action.According to our Indian system, there are twoexistences: nature on the one side and the Self,the Atman, on the other. By the word natureis meant not only all this external world, butalso our bodies, the mind, the will, even downto what says ‘I’. Beyond all that is the infinitelife and light of the soul—the Self, theAtman. . .

We always act under some compulsion.When hunger compels me, I eat. And sufferingis still worse—slavery. That real ‘I’ is eternallyfree. What can compel it to do anything? Thesufferer is in nature. It is only when we identifyourselves with the body that we say, ‘I am

11


suffering; I am Mr. So-and-so’—all such non-sense. But he who has known the truth, holdshimself aloof. Whatever his body does,whatever his mind does, he does not care. Butmind you, the vast majority of mankind areunder this delusion; and whenever they doany good, they feel that they are [the doers].They are not yet able to understand higherphilosophy. Do not disturb their faith! Theyare shunning evil and doing good. Great idea!Let them have it!. . .They are workers for good.By degrees they will think that there is greaterglory than that of doing good. They will onlywitness, and things are done. . . .Graduallythey will understand. When they haveshunned all evil and done all good, then theywill begin to realise that they are beyond allnature. They are not the doers. They stand[apart]. They are the . . .witness. They simplystand and look.’

‘Even those who know the path actimpelled by their own nature. Everyone actsaccording to his nature. He cannot transcendit.’ The atom cannot disobey the law. Whetherit is the mental or the physical atom, it mustobey the law. ‘What is the use of [externalrestraint]?’

What makes the value of anything in life?Not enjoyment, not possessions. Analyseeverything. You will find there is no valueexcept in experience, to teach us something.And in many cases it is our hardships thatgive us better experience than enjoyment.Many times blows give us better experiencethan the caresses of nature. . . . Even faminehas its place and value . . . .

According to Krishna, we are not newbeings just come into existence. Our mindsare not new minds. . . . In modern times weall know that every child brings [with him] allthe past, not only of humanity, but of the plantlife. There are all the past chapters, and this

present chapter, and there are a whole lot offuture chapters before him. Everyone has hispath mapped and sketched and planned outfor him. And in spite of all this darkness, therecannot be anything uncaused—no event, nocircumstance. . . .It is simply our ignorance. . .

Now Sri Krishna says: ‘Better die in yourown path than attempt the path of another.’This is my path, and I am down here. Andyou are way up there, and I am alwaystempted to give up my path thinking I will gothere and be with you. And if I go up, I amneither there nor here. We must not lose sightof this doctrine. It is all [a matter of] growth.Wait and grow, and you attain everything;otherwise there will be [spiritual danger]. Hereis the fundamental secret of teaching religion.

Instead, we start a religion and make aset of dogmas and betray the goal of mankindand treat everyone [as having] the samenature. No two persons have the same mindor the same body. . . .

. . .If you and I organise, we begin tohate every person. It is better not to love, ifloving only means hating others. That is nolove. That is hell! If loving your own peoplemeans hating everybody else, it is the quint-essence of selfishness and brutality, and theeffect is that it will make you brutes. Therefore,better die working out your own naturalreligion than following another’s naturalreligion, however great it may appear to you.

‘Beware, Arjuna, lust and anger are thegreat enemies. These are to be controlled.These cover the knowledge even of those [whoare wise]. This fire of lust is unquenchable. Itslocation is in the sense-organs and in the mind.The Self desires nothing.’

There is a man stealing there. Why doeshe steal? You punish him. Why can you notmake room for him and put his energy towork? . . .You say, ‘You are a sinner,’ and

12


many will say he has broken the law. All thisherd of mankind is forced [into uniformity]and hence all trouble, sin, and weakness. . ..The world is not as bad as you think. It is wefools who have made it evil. We manufactureour own ghosts and demons, and then. . .wecannot get rid of them. We put our handsbefore our eyes and cry: ‘Somebody give uslight.’ Fools! Take your hands from your eyes!That is all there is to it. . . .We call upon thegods to save us and nobody blames himself.That is the pity of it. Why is there so muchevil in society? What is it they say? Flesh andthe devil and the woman. Why make thesethings [up]? Nobody asks you to make them[up]. ‘None, O Arjuna, can swerve from mypath.’ We are fools, and our paths are foolish.We have to go through all this Maya. Godmade the heaven, and man made the hell forhimself.

Be Strong In Every WayIt is a tremendous error to feel helpless.

Do not seek help from anyone. We are ourown help. If we cannot help ourselves, thereis none to help us. . . . ‘Thou thyself art thyonly friend, thou thyself thy only enemy. Thereis no other enemy but this self of mine, noother friend but myself.’ This is the last andgreatest lesson, and Oh, what a time it takesto learn it! We seem to get hold of it, and thenext moment the old wave comes. Thebackbone breaks. We weaken and again graspfor that superstition and help. Just think ofthat huge mass of misery, and all caused bythis false idea of going to seek for help!

There is only one sin. That is weakness.When I was a boy I read Milton’s Paradise Lost.The only good man I had any respect for wasSatan. The only saint is that soul that neverweakens, faces everything, and determines todie game.

Stand up and die game! . . . Do not addone lunacy to another. Do not add yourweakness to the evil that is going to come.That is all I have to say to the world. Be strong!. . .You talk of ghosts and devils. We are theliving devils. The sign of life is strength andgrowth. The sign of death is weakness.Whatever is weak, avoid! It is death. If it isstrength, go down into hell and get hold of it!There is salvation only for the brave. ‘Nonebut the brave deserves the fair.’ None but thebravest deserves salvation. Whose hell? Whosetorture? Whose sin? Whose weakness? Whosedeath? Whose disease?

All weakness, all bondage is imagination.Speak one word to it, it must vanish. Do notweaken! There is no other way out. . . .Standup and be strong! No fear. No superstition.Face the truth as it is! If death comes—that isthe worst of our miseries—let it come! We aredetermined to die game. That is all the religionI know.

Where one sees another, one hearsanother, so long as there are two, there mustbe fear, and fear is the mother of all [misery].Where none sees another, where it is all One,there is none to be miserable, none to beunhappy. [There is only] the One without asecond. Therefore be not afraid. Awake, arise,and stop not till the goal is reached!

13

The Last verse of the Gita

Wherever is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, wherever is Partha, the wielder of the bow,

there are prosperity, victory, expansion, and sound polity: such is my conviction.


SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Sri Krishna, the Teacher of the Gita

A few words about the life of Krishna.There is a great deal of similarity between thelives of Jesus and Krishna. A discussion isgoing on as to which borrowed of the other.There was the tyrannical king in both places.Both were born in a manger. The parents werebound in both cases. Both were saved byangels. In both cases all the boys born thatyear were killed. The childhood is the same. .. .Again, in the end, both were killed. Krishnawas killed by accident; he took the man whokilled him to heaven. Christ was killed, andblessed the robber and took him to heaven.

Almost the same circumstances whichgave birth to Buddhism in India surroundedthe rise of Krishna. Not only this, the eventsof that day we find happening in our owntimes.

This Krishna preceded Buddha by somethousand years. . . .A great many people donot believe that he ever existed. Some believethat the worship of Krishna grew out of theold sun worship. There seem to be severalKrishnas: one was mentioned in theUpanishads, another was king, another ageneral. All have been lumped into oneKrishna. It does not matter much. The fact is,some individual comes who is unique inspirituality. Then all sorts of legends areinvented around him. But, all the Bibles andstories which come to be cast upon this oneperson have to be recast in [the mould of] hischaracter. . .

Krishna was a married man. There arethousands of books about him. . . .Since I wasa child I have heard about Krishna’s life. Itake it for granted there must have been aman called Krishna, and his Gita shows hehas [left] a wonderful book. I told you, youcan understand the character of a man byanalysing the fables about him. The fables havethe nature [of decorations]. You must find theyare all polished and manipulated to fit intothe character. For instance, take Buddha. The

Based on lectures delivered in California, on April 1, 1900 and San Francisco, on May 26, 1900; cf. CompleteWorks of Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, 1: 437 - 445, 456 - 458.


15

central idea [is] sacrifice. There are thousandsof folklore, but in every case the sacrifice musthave been kept up. There are thousands ofstories about Lincoln, about some characteristicof that great man. You take all the fables andfind the general idea and [know] that that wasthe central character of the man. You find inKrishna that non-attachment is the central idea.He does not need anything. He does not wantanything. He works for work’s sake. ‘Workfor work’s sake. Worship for worship’s sake.Do good because it is good to do good. Askno more.’ That must have been the characterof the man. Otherwise these fables could notbe brought down to the one idea of non-attachment.

He is the most rounded man I know of,wonderfully developed equally in brain andheart and hand. Every moment [of his] is alivewith activity, either as a gentleman, warrior,minister, or something else. Great as agentleman, as a scholar, as a poet. This all-rounded and wonderful activity andcombination of brain and heart you see in theGita and other books. Most wonderful heart,exquisite language, and nothing can approachit anywhere. This tremendous activity of theman—the impression is still there. Fivethousand years have passed and he hasinfluenced millions and millions. Just thinkwhat an influence this man has over the wholeworld, whether you know it or not. My regardfor him is for his perfect sanity. No cobwebsin that brain, no superstition. He knows theuse of everything, and when it is necessary to[assign a place to each], he is there. Those thattalk, go everywhere, question about themystery of the Vedas, etc., they do not knowthe truth. They are no better than frauds. Thereis a place in the Vedas [even] for superstition,for ignorance. The whole secret is to find outthe proper place for everything.

Then that heart! He is the first man, waybefore Buddha, to open the door of religion toevery caste. That wonderful mind! Thattremendously active life! Buddha’s activity wason one plane, the plane of teaching. He couldnot keep his wife and child and become ateacher at the same time. Krishna preached inthe midst of the battlefield. ‘He who in themidst of intense activity finds himself in thegreatest calmness, and in the greatest peacefinds intense activity, that is the greatest [Yogias well as the wisest man].’ It means nothingto this man—the flying of missiles about him.Calm and sedate he goes on discussing theproblems of life and death. Each one of theprophets is the best commentary on his ownteaching. . .The great men think, and you andI [also] think. But there is a difference. Wethink and our bodies do not follow. Ouractions do not harmonise with our thoughts.Our words have not the power of the wordsthat become Vedas. . . .Whatever they thinkmust be accomplished. If they say, ‘I do this,’the body does it. Perfect obedience. This is theend. You can think yourself God in oneminute, but you cannot be [God]. That is thedifficulty. They become what they think. Wewill become [only] by [degrees].

Krishna talks of himself as God, as Christdoes. He sees the Deity in himself. And hesays, ‘None can go a day out of my path. Allhave to come to me. Whosoever wants toworship in whatsoever form, I give him faithin that form, and through that I meet him. . .’His heart is all for the masses.

Independent, Krishna stands out. Thevery boldness of it frightens us. We dependupon everything—upon a few good words,upon circumstances. When the soul wants todepend upon nothing, not even upon life, thatis the height of philosophy, the height ofmanhood. Worship leads to the same goal.


16

Krishna lays great stress upon worship.Worship God!

Krishna saw plainly through the vanityof all the mummeries, mockeries, andceremonials of the old priests; and yet he sawsome good in them. So the ceremonials,worship of gods, and myths, are all right,Krishna says . . . .Why? Because they all leadto the same goal. Ceremonies, books, andforms—all these are links in the chain. Gethold! That is the one thing. If you are sincereand have really got hold of one link, do notlet go; the rest is bound to come. [But people]do not get hold. They spend the timequarrelling and determining what they shouldget hold of, and do not get hold of anything. .. .We are always after truth, but never want toget it. We simply want the pleasure to go aboutand ask. We have a lot of energy and spend itthat way. That is why Krishna says: Get holdof any one of these chains that are stretchedout from the common centre. No one step isgreater than another . . . Blame no view ofreligion so far as it is sincere. Hold on to oneof these links, and it will pull you to the centre.Your heart itself will teach all the rest. Theteacher within will teach all the creeds, all thephilosophies. . . .

In Krishna we find . . . two ideas [stand]supreme in his message: The first is theharmony of different ideas; the second is non-attachment. A man can attain to perfection,the highest goal, sitting on a throne, comman-ding armies, working out big plans for nations.In fact, Krishna’s great sermon was preachedon the battlefield.

How hard it is to arrive at this sort ofnon-attachment! Therefore Krishna shows usthe lower ways and methods. The easiest wayfor everyone is to do [his or her] work andnot take the results. It is our desire that binds

us. If we take the results of actions, whethergood or evil, we will have to bear them. But ifwe work not for ourselves, but all for the gloryof the Lord, the results will take care ofthemselves. ‘To work you have the right, butnot to the fruits thereof.’ The soldier worksfor no results. He does his duty. If defeatcomes, it belongs to the general, not to thesoldier. We do our duty for love’s sake—lovefor the general, love for the Lord . . . .

There are a great many similarities in theteaching of the New Testament and the Gita.The human thought goes the same way. ...Iwill find you the answer in the words ofKrishna himself: ‘Whenever virtue subsidesand irreligion prevails, I come down. Againand again I come. Therefore, whenever thouseest a great soul struggling to uplift mankind,know that I am come, and worship . . . .’

This was the great work of Krishna: toclear our eyes and make us look with broadervision upon humanity in its march upwardand onward. His was the first heart that waslarge enough to see truth in all, his the firstlips that uttered beautiful words for each andall.

Glory unto the great souls whose liveswe have been studying! They are the livinggods of the world. They are the persons whomwe ought to worship. If He comes to me, I canonly recognise Him if He takes a human form.He is everywhere, but do we see Him? Wecan only see Him if He takes the limitation ofman . . . .If men and. . . animals aremanifestations of God, these teachers ofmankind are leaders, are Gurus. Therefore,salutations unto you, whose footstool isworshipped by angels! Salutations unto youleaders of the human race! Salutations untoyou great teachers! You leaders have oursalutations forever and ever!


Gita Today

Gita’s Timeless SignificanceHow important and relevant is the

message of the Bhagavad Gita today? Wemight as well ask the question: ‘How impor-tant and relevant is the sun today! Or the air?Or the water? Or all the elements of nature?’In other words, the term ‘relevance today’ inthe context of the Gita is redundant and ratherbemusing.

Having said this, we should also confessthat like the importance of air-water-earth-and-all-else, the message of Gita also needs to berestated again—and again, until we are ableto live our lives according to it. The messageby itself has never been irrelevant and out ofplace. It cannot. Based as it is on the solidrock of the eternal principles underlying thehuman personality, life and its ultimatepurpose, the Gita is becoming ever morerelevant in today’s context. In today’s worldof growing consumerism and rising violence—leading to restlessness, anxiety and confusionin life—Gita’s teachings are becoming evenmore significant than before. They are aneternal spring of wisdom required for develop-ing right judgement, emotional balance,strength and for discovering the ultimatedestination of human life.

Such is the appeal of Gita’s message thatthere is hardly anyone who has known some-thing of Hinduism and India and has not readthe Gita. Beginning with its first English trans-lation appearing some 200 years ago, the Gitacontinues to be translated again and again.One keeps coming across a ‘new translation’,

a new interpretation, a fresh elucidation of itsessential teachings published every year. Allthe great acharyas that India has produced aswell as numerous men and women fromdiverse fields of life have commented on theGita. One compelling truth about Gita is itspan-Hindu universality. It is accepted by allHindu sects as authoritative. Gita’s glories, likethe truth it preaches, are eternal and unending.

Though well-known, the Gita is ratherlittle known among today’s large populace ofyouth and modernized (read materialistic)people. This reminds one of a verse in the Gitaabout the varieties of responses to the idea ofthe Self. ‘Some look upon the Self asmarvellous. Others speak of It as wonderful.Others again hear of It as a wonder. And stillothers, though hearing, do not understand Itat all.’1 A similar response can be observedwith regard to the Gita. Some look upon thebook as marvellous, a scripture of extraordi-nary (or mysterious) value; some others speakof the book as wonderful and some hear of itas wonderful. And still others, though hearingits teachings, do not understand its wonderfulsignificance! No wonder, once a teacher want-ing to educate a child about the Gita, askedhim: Do you know Gita? ‘Of course, I do,’replied the child, ‘that is the name of my next-door aunt!’ Aunt! He had only heard of Gita—and had his own meaning of it in his mind.

An Everyday AppealWhat does Gita contain? It contains

everything that a person wanting to live life


18

of meaning and fulfilment would like to know.A popular verse on Gita compares its messageto milk of the cow called the Upanishads. Milkis the best part of a cow. It has a rich supplyof all essential vitamins and other nutrientsthat a staple food should contain. Again, milkcan also be consumed directly or by convertingit to other forms such as butter, curds andbuttermilk.

The Gita-milk too has all the ingredientsnecessary to make it a perfect drink for moraland spiritual nourishment without which nohealthy living is possible. The Gita-milkenriches the malnourished human mind byfrequently reminding it of the undying Selfthat lies at the core of human personality. Amere idea of the eternity of the Self itself bringsa great solace to the despairing heart. Yes, wemight face troubles in life, commit mistakesand fall into crises but there is Something inus which is never affected by all this. Whatgets affected is mind and this mind can betrained and disciplined to overcome theseinfluences. It can be purified and streng-thened. A spiritually educated mind is alwaysfixed on the Self and that state of steadiness isthe source of unending joy, strength and peace.Using a clear and exact language, Gita helpsus to reach that state and quietly tells thatreaching that state is the goal of life.

This ultimate ideal of life is stated invarious ways—Self-realization, knowing theBrahman, becoming a Yogi, getting establishedin God-consciousness, going beyond the gunas,gaining perfect control over senses and themind, perfecting one’s devotion and so on. InGita one finds an amazing wealth of express-ions to denote spiritual perfection and a merereading about it can be a rewarding experience.Rightly did Gandhiji call it his ‘spiritualdictionary’. All spiritual concepts and shadesof meaning can be found in the Gita.

The Gita-milk also nourishes one withthe knowledge of various paths to reach thatstate (called Yoga-s). It discusses in depth thesubtleties of human needs and frailties andhow to gradually overcome them. Like amother, it holds our hands gently but firmlyand teaches us to walk the path of inner peaceand fulfilment. One might stumble and sliphere and there, but the Gita, the Mother, isalways present to help us stand up and walkthe path of perfection again.

Gita’s teachings, again, cover the entirespectrum of paths to spiritual perfection thathuman beings follow. An interesting anecdoteof Sri Ramakrishna aptly describes this all-inclusiveness of the Gita thus:

A certain man had a tub. People would come tohim to have their clothes dyed. The tubcontained a solution of dye. Whatever colour aman wanted for his cloth, he would get bydipping the cloth in the tub. One man wasamazed to see this and said to the dyer, ‘Pleasegive me the dye you have in your tub.’2

The multi-faceted quality of the dye,which has several colours in it, is similar tothat of the Gita. This, however, has to beproperly employed in colouring or re-colour-ing our life and personality with spiritualorientation and conviction. As someone said,‘It is not the question of memorizing the Gitabut internalising the truths it contains.’

Gita, hence, contains teachings for peopleat various stages of growth, in differentstations of life and having diverse tempera-ments. Gita has much philosophy to teach butalso many practical hints for solving issuesthat we confront in our daily lives. As AldousHuxley says:

The Bhagavad Gita occupies an intermediateposition between scripture and theology; for itcombines the poetical qualities of the first withthe clear-cut methodicalness of the second.3


19

Gita not only accommodates but alsoharmonises all path. A Bhakta has as much tolearn from the Gita as a Jnani or a Yogi or aman of action. In Gita one finds a grandharmony of all Yogas and a possibility fordiscovering new ways to reach the higheststate of being. What about those who seemleast interested in any path? Whose minds arenot clear if they should take a path or not? ‘Itis My path that men tread in all ways,’4 saysSri Krishna. Even the pathless ones? Yes,because even the pathless ones, too, seekhappiness, peace and security in life. There isno one who seeks unhappiness, turmoil andinsecurity. Hence, all men, even those whoare not spiritual seekers in the conventionalsense, are seeking God alone though theirdefinition and concept of God may not be asexplicitly stated as a spiritually educated manwould do. Gita has enough to teach even them.

Gita’s teachings are accessible, acceptableand applicable to all seekers of Truth. Sincethey were delivered just before the beginningof the Mahabharata War—which is symbolicof the inner war between our good and badtendencies—the Gita easily becomes related tothe harsh realities of everyday life. The advicethat Sri Krishna gives to Arjuna sounds soreasonable and applicable that one never feelsthe aloofness and other-worldliness that isoften associated with many other scriptures.As Gita deals with certain everlasting issuesof life—the true purpose of life, solving moraldilemmas, taming the restless mind, learningthe art of doing actions without gettingattached, understanding love, compassion,charity and so on—it occupies a central positionamong the scriptural traditions of the world.

The Ideal of GitaThe Gita not only speaks of the goal of

life’s journey but also of various stages of the

journey. It teaches one how to counterproblems and challenges of life and also howto be preventive with regard to various crisesand emergencies of life. This, of course, it doesnot do by asking us to take an insurance coverbut by asking us to develop right orientationto life and by equipping ourselves withstrength and faith. The real happiness, saysthe Gita, is not in acquiring the objects of sensepleasure but in training our senses. If we donot train our senses, we become slaves to them.And what can a slave expect from a master—from a ruthless master?

When one develops self-control throughproper training and patience, one develops apeaceful mind—this, and not meaninglessacquisition and reckless pampering of sensesand ego, which is the real source of happiness.It is not just temporary ‘peace of mind’ thatGita speaks of but getting established in Peacewith a capital P. It teaches us how to seek itand become free from all sorrow forever. ‘Inthe tranquillity of mind, all sorrow is destroy-ed. For the intellect of him, who is tranquil-minded, is soon established in firmness.’5

Contrary to what popular consumeristculture advocates, Gita’s way to peace and joyis to search for it within. Sri Krishna describesa man who has found this inner source thus:

Whose happiness is within, whose relaxation iswithin, whose light is within, that Yogi alone,becoming Brahman, gains absolute freedom.6

In another place, the Gita describes threetypes of joys—originating from three gunasnamely, sattva, rajas and tamas:

That which is like poison at first, but like nectarat the end; that happiness is declared to besattvika, born of translucence of intellect due toSelf-realisation.

That which arises from the contact of objects ofsenses, at first like nectar, but at the end likepoison, that happiness is declared to be rajasika.


20

That happiness which begins and results in self-delusion arising from sleep, indolence, andmiscomprehension, that is declared to betamasika.7

In his evolutionary march towardsgreater wisdom and maturity, man learns andprogresses from tamasika to rajasika happinessand to sattvika happiness and even beyond.This happiness is not inviting at the beginningbut seeking which it finally leads one to a joywhich is free from all remorse, guilt andanxiety. It is the pure joy of our being.

In Gita is found the message not only ofpersonal development but a plan for collectivegood and development. Sri Krishna cautionsall men, especially leaders and elders, to becareful in whatever they do. Freedom entailsresponsibility. It is not mere freedom to actbut the freedom to be that is vital and necessaryfor growth and true well-being. Says Gita:

Whatever the superior person does, that isfollowed by others. What he demonstrates byaction that people follow.8

Through its ideal of following one’ssvadharma [duty based on one’s station in life]and svabhava [temperament or sum total ofinclinations a person has], the Gita has provid-ed an irrefutable solution for harmonisingsocial and individual aspirations.

In one of the verses in praise of Gita thatappears in an auxiliary work, Sri Krishna says.‘Gita is My heart’. The word Gita itself meansa song and when it comes from the heart ofGod, it should be taken to mean the best adviceSri Krishna, the Godhead personified, has togive to anyone. Of course, whatever God givesis best and good for others but we should notforget that when a man is joyful, he burstsinto a humming melody and a song emerges

from his heart. It may be the song that he hasheard and admired earlier or a song which hecomposes impromptu. Singing a song is thusa spontaneous outburst of a joyful heart. Insame way, Gita, Sri Krishna’s outpouring inthe form of his song, the Song of God, is bornof joyfulness and goodwill. And it comes fromGod’s heart. In other words, the Gita is bornof His deep concern and love for humanity.

Finally, Swami Premananda, a directdisciple of Sri Ramakrishna, said to a noviceonce, ‘My boy, say I am reading [the Gita].Never say I have read the Gita. One can neverfinish reading the Gita.’ It is a statutory warn-ing for all complacent students of the Gita anda call for being devoted to its study withhumbleness and openness. What comes in thefollowing pages is an attempt to explore andstate the message in a contemporary pers-pective.

The Vedanta Kesari brought out a Spot-light Issue on Bhagavad Gita in 1983. Itexamined the continued relevance of the Gitafrom various angles. Obviously, being thefountainhead of spiritual and cultural legacyof entire mankind, Gita lends itself to evernewer perspectives. With changed socio-cultural contexts, and the challenges they havethrown up, a keen need was felt to re-examinethe message of the Gita for newer and con-temporary meanings and applications. Hence,after 25 years, this year’s Spotlight Issuefocuses on the Gita again. It is not just anattempt to paraphrase the teachings of the Gitabut to examine them from new perspectives.After all, as in Varaha Purana, Sri Krishna says,‘Standing on the wisdom of the Gita, I main-tain the worlds,’ we all need the wisdom ofthe Gita for living fuller lives in this world!

References: 1. Gita, 2:29 2. The Gospel , p.305 3. The Song of God, Tr. Sw. Prabhavananda and Christo-pher Isherwood, p.2 4. Gita, 3.23 5. Gita, 2:65 6. Gita, 5.24 7. Gita, 18.37-38-39 8. Gita, 3.21


SWAMI RANGANATHANANDA

Srimat Swami Ranganathanandaji (1908-2005) was the 13th President of the Ramakrishna Order. He was aprolific writer and a speaker of international acclaim. The following are excerpts from his three volume book,Universal Message of the Bhagavad Gita—An Exposition of the Gita in the Light of Modern Thought and ModernNeeds, published from Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata. 1: 13-20.

Universal Message of the Bhagavad Gita

The Gita’s Wide AppealThe Gìtà was first translated into English

by Sir Charles Wilkins and published by theBritish East India Company with anIntroduction by Warren Hastings, the firstBritish Governor-general of India, in which wefind the following prophetic sentence:

The writers of the Indian philosophies willsurvive when the British Dominion in India shalllong have ceased to exist, and when the sourceswhich it yielded of wealth and power are lost toremembrance.

A century later, another beautiful rend-ering of the Gìtà in English appeared, namely,The Song Celestial by Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904). He had learnt the Sanskrit languagewhile he was working in India; in Pune andother places. He developed a great love forIndian culture, and after he went to England,he produced this outstanding book andanother equally outstanding book aboutBuddha, namely, The Light of Asia. Both havegone through more than fifty to sixty editions.Both go straight to the heart of the reader.

The Bhagavad Gìtà deals with humanproblems in a human way. That is why it hasa tremendous appeal. It has inspired thehuman mind in India for centuries andcenturies, and today, it is inspiring millions ofpeople in various parts of the world. It isinteresting to see that in all these countries,

after reading the Gìtà, people find their wholeoutlook changed. Thinkers and writers likeEmerson, Walt Whitman, and Thoreau inU.S.A, and Carlyle in England, experiencedthis broadening and deepening of their outlookafter studying the Gìtà, and their writings alsobegan to convey a new message.

Greatness of the Gìtà revealed through ÀdiÁaëkara

In the modern period, the Gìtà has thewhole world as its empire. In the beginning, itwas known only in India, not even in thewhole of India, but known only to a fewSanskrit scholars. For the first time, in the 8thcentury AD, this book was taken out of thatmighty epic, The Mahàbhàrata, by Áaëkaracàrya,who wrote a great commentary in Sanskrit onit and placed it before the people. Till then ithad been lost in the Bhìäma Parva of the mightyepic. Swami Vivekananda expressed greatappreciation for this great work ofÁaëkaracàrya. To quote his own words fromhis lecture on ‘Vedanta in All Its Phases’ (TheComplete Works of Swami Vivekananda, vol. Ill,p. 328):

The great glory of Áaëkaracàrya was hispreaching of the Gìtà. It is one of the greatestworks that this great man did among the manynoble works of his noble life—the preaching ofthe Gìtà, and writing the most beautiful


22

commentary upon it. And he has been followedby all founders of the orthodox sects in India,each of whom has written a commentary on theGìtà.

Even then, it was still limited to a fewscholars and saints. Later, others wrotecommentaries and slowly the book enteredinto our national languages; Jñàneávarì inMarathi, by the saint Jñàneávar, a few centuriesafter Áaëkaracàrya. In the modern period,Lokamanya Tilak wrote his great book, TheGìtà Rahasya, in two volumes. He wrote itwhen the British Government had imprisonedhim for a few years in Mandalay jail in Burma.He had no books to consult with, but wrotefrom his memory. That is a remarkable book;many other books have come out since then,and the Gìtà today is very popular all overIndia and in many parts of the world. Manyeditions in world languages are also comingout; and, as soon as the books are out, theyare sold out. So, we are living in an age thatindeed is being shaped gently by this greatbook. Its message is universal, practical,strengthening, and purifying. The greatUpaniäads, which expound a science of humanresources, a great science of humanpossibilities, have found their practicalorientation in the Gìtà. We have to study thisbook from that point of view, as a science ofhuman development and fulfilment. The metreof the 700 verses is also very simple, the usualmetre of eight letters in one line, called anuäêup,though occasionally we come across longermetres also.

Generally, before commencing the studyof the text, we study what are called GìtàDhyàna Álokas, ‘the nine Meditation Verses onthe Gìtà.’ They are current all over India, andnow, in foreign countries also. We don’t knowwho composed them. Some people believe itwas Áridhara Swami, a commentator on the

Gìtà and on the Árìmad Bhàgavatam, who livedabout three or four centuries ago. The GìtàDhyàna Álokas refer to the Gìtà, to Vyàsa, theauthor of the Mahàbhàrata, and to Ári Kíäëa. . .[Now let us take one of these verses.]

Prapanna pàrijàtàya totra-vetraika-paëaye;Jñàna-mudràya kíäëàya gìtàmíta-duhe namaæ

Salutation to Kíäëa, with (the right hand heldin) Jñàna mudrà, the granter of desires of thosewho take refuge in Him, the milker of the Gìtànectar, in whose one hand is the cane for drivingthe cows.

Significance of Jñàna-MudràThe verse describes Ári Kíäëa with his

right hand held in Jñàna mudrà. This is aremarkable concept in Indian Vedanticphilosophy and spirituality. It holds that thereis a deep significance for this particular Jñànamudrà, knowledge pose, when the thumb isopposed to the forefinger and all the threefingers are stretched out. Our body postureshave psychological counterparts; as the mindis, so is the body. You are lying down in aparticular way; that will show a certain stateof your mind. You sit in a particular way; youwill find your psyche manifesting in thatposture in a particular way. Suppose oneconstantly shakes one’s legs while sitting, thatshows a scattered mental state. In all thesematters, the body shows the effect of thepsyche. So, from that point of view, Jñànamudrà is a remarkable sign of some profoundpsychic expression. The very name shows that,that mudrà represents Jñàna, knowledge—knowledge of every type; from the ordinaryor secular knowledge to the highest spiritualknowledge. We, in India, never made any widedistinction between secular knowledge andsacred knowledge. To us all knowledge issacred. Remember that there is only one God-


23

dess, Sarasvatì, who represents all knowledgeand techniques. Unity of all knowledge is aprofound idea in our Indian tradition. We maycreate different departments of knowledge forpurposes of study; but we should not breakup the unity of knowledge. That is ourteaching in India. So we have this idea thatknowledge is the greatest thing to be soughtafter—Vidyà dhanam sarvadhana pradhànam, ‘thewealth of knowledge is supreme among allforms of wealth’. There is nothing in this worldso purifying as knowledge, says the Gìtà (4:38): Nahi jñànena sadíáam pavitram iha vidyate.That is the motto of one of our universities,namely, the Mysore University.

A human being is human because he hasthe organic capacity to seek knowledge; noanimal can seek knowledge. Animals haveonly an instinctual apparatus within, and arecompletely controlled by the genetic system.The human being, however, has been put onthe road of making research into the world ofknowledge. That world of knowledge may besecular or spiritual, but all knowledge is sacredto us in India. We start with the secular, andcontinue the search to the spiritual.

Now, how to represent this search forknowledge through a particular posture? Ourancient sages discovered this wonderful mudràwhich can describe the entire gamut of thissearch for knowledge; that is somethingextraordinary. I used to wonder about it. Lateron, some years ago, when I studied biology,neurology, and allied subjects, I found onewonderful truth and that is, no animal, noteven a chimpanzee, can oppose the thumb tothe forefinger, but only the human child cando this. While in Holland, I saw in a film onchimpanzee’s behaviour; a chimpanzeeholding a branch from a tree with his palmenclosing all the fingers, and beating it on theground to drive an enemy. When you hold a

branch like that, the grip has no strength, andone cannot impart energy to the use of thatbranch until the thumb comes prominentlyinto operation. In all animals, the thumb doesnot know how to co-operate with the otherfingers, particularly with the forefinger.

However, at the human level ofevolution, for the first time, the human beinglearned to oppose the thumb to the forefinger.That is the beginning of humanity’s technicalefficiency, his or her capacity to handle tools,his capacity to manipulate the world aroundhim, and acquire knowledge. The human beingentered into the world of jñàna or knowledge,with this initial physical capacity. That is whythis opposing of the thumb to the forefinger ishighly symbolic of man’s search for knowledgefrom the most ordinary to the most ex-traordinary levels. I found this perfectly validfrom the scientific point of view. Then I alsofound that the number of brain cells neededto manipulate these two fingers is the largestcompared to all other fingers. If the thumb iscut off, the manipulating efficiency of the handwill suffer automatically. In the Mahàbhàrata,we read of Droëa, the teacher of archery, ask-ing Ekalavya to cut off his thumb and offer itto him as his guru-dakáiëa or offering to theguru, so that he does not successfully competewith his favourite student, Arjuna; andEkalavya obeyed that command of Droëawhom he respected as his own teacher. TheBritish rulers of India are said to have cut offthe thumbs of our Dacca weavers, who wovefine Dacca muslin, so that they may notcompete with their own Lancashire weavers.

The importance of the thumb and thecapacity to oppose it to the forefinger, is thebeginning of man’s march to knowledge,secular and spiritual. There is no distinctionbetween secular and spiritual so far asknowledge is concerned; all knowledge is


24

sacred. On the Sarasvatì Pùjà day, you find allinstruments of knowledge placed beforeSarasvatì. In my childhood, every year, I usedto join the worship of Sarasvatì in my home. Isaw carpenters’ tools, doctors’ medical instru-ments, and all types of holy books being keptbefore Sarasvatì, also called Vàëì, ‘speech’. Sherepresents the unity of all knowledge. She is awonderful, austere goddess, so inspiring to thehuman mind. So long as we worshippedSarasvatì in the true spirit, our land wasdevoted to knowledge. But when we leftSarasvatì, and ran after Lakämì, the goddessof wealth, both Lakämì and Sarasvatì, bothwealth and knowledge, vanished from India.Today we have to bring both of them back toour country, first Sarasvati, then Lakämì.Lakämì is the product of Sarasvatì.

The more knowledge you have, the morewealth you can create; except through efficientwork inspired by knowledge, there is no otherway to gain wealth. You cannot create wealthby magic and mystery. That lesson we haveto learn today. Sarasvatì is primary, andLakämì is a by-product of Sarasvatì. Thisknowledge must come so that poverty will beeliminated in India. Pure science is Sarasvatì,and applied science is Lakämì. Knowledgeapplied to agriculture improves the wealth ofthe nation; so also industry. Everywhere thesetwo austere goddesses reign, but we in Indiahave to re-learn how to truly worship them.

Merely making àrati, waving of light, beforetheir picture is not the way to worship them.Go to the university, study various books,think for yourself—that is how you becomestudents of Sarasvatì. And, hard work,teamwork, trying to improve efficiency— thatis how we have to worship Lakämì. Àrati wecan do once a year, but everyday we have toworship Lakämì only through this kind of hardwork. Then alone Lakämì kaêàkäa or grace willcome to us.

Therefore, in this modern age, the idealis jñàna, and everyone is to be on the road toknowledge. Nature has given human being thecapacity to oppose the thumb to the forefinger,and thus manipulate the world around himor her, and acquire knowledge and power.This is the beginning of human evolution. Inthe description of Ári Kíäëa, this wonderfulexpression is there; jñàna mudràya kíäëàya. Inall the iconography of India, of great saints,sages, incarnations, and of the Divine Mother,you will find this particular pose of jñànamudrà. It is especially seen in depicting Áivaas Dakäiëàmùrti. By this jñàna mudrà, he isable to remove the doubts of students aroundhim. This is the tradition coming down to usfrom very ancient times and we should applythe essence of this tradition to deal with ourown present-day problems. The whole landmust become dedicated to knowledge andknowledge-seeking.

In Praise of Sri Krishna

Àd_mXXodÖ nwÈfÖ nwamUÒÀd_Ò` dÌdÒ` naß ZYmZ_≤ü&&doŒmm@g do⁄ß M naß M Ym_ Àd`m VVß dÌd_Z›VÍ$nü&&

Thou art the Primal Deva, the Ancient Purusha; Thou art the Supreme Refuge of this

universe, Thou art the Knower, and the One Thing to be known; Thou art the Supreme

Goal. By Thee is the universe pervaded, O boundless Form.

—Bhagavad Gita, 11. 38


SWAMI SRIDHARANANDA

A senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order, the author is the Head of Vedanta Centre of Sydney, Australia.

Getting Introduced to Bhagavad Gita

The SettingAccording to scholars and also saints

belonging to various religious movements inIndia, the whole gamut of Indian or the Hinduscriptures can be categorized into prasthanatrayas—the three pillars, as it were. Of thethree, first is the Upanishads and the secondis the Brahma Sutras which is a compilationof the ideas that are scattered over the Vedicliterature by Maharshi Vyasa. Finally comesthe Bhagavad Gita, the third of the prasthana-trayas.

The essence of Gita can be understoodonly if we know how this came into light. Thefact is that the mighty third son of Pandu—Arjuna—was acclaimed and proclaimed to bethe best specimen of a human being at thattime of society. This measure of the personalitywas based on worldly acquisitions. Anunparalleled warrior and a unique general,Arjuna had all that goes to make a kshatriya.

The Pandavas were greatly wronged andwere denied the rightful throne. Duryodhana,the head of the Kuru family had claimed thethrone of India. Prior to that, when thePandavas were exiled in the forest (includingliving incognito for one year), all sorts oftrickeries were laid on them by the Kauravas.

Sri Krishna and Yudhishtira, the twoelders of the family, were both very maturepeople. They tried to exhaust all avenues of anegotiated settlement, knowing full well thatwar does not solve any problem—which weare yet to learn in today’s world. Anyway, at

that time also the same question of avoidingblood bath was paramount in the minds of SriKrishna and Yudhishtira. When in a group,they used to discuss all that, the two brothersof the five, the second brother Bhimsen, andthe third brother Arjuna used to move offtangentially, used to get into a tearing raid ofthe two elders, to the extent they used to abusethe elder brother as coward, and not beingworthy of being called a kshatriya.

Arjuna felt that as a kshatriya—kshatriyas are supposed to be the maintainersof equity, justice, righteousness, and also toprotect the territory of the nation—they shouldfight a righteous battle. This was their rightand responsibility. Ultimately, it was decidedto make it absolutely clear that might is right,and they are going to fight it out in abattlefield, and the winner gets all. This is thesetting for the battle royal in Kurukshetra.

In this great drama of Bhagavad Gita,there were two main actors—Arjuna at oneend, and Sri Krishna, at the other end. Theyrepresent two aspects of life. Arjuna representsthe humankind with all its plus points andminus points. Sri Krishna represents thecollective wisdom of India’s spiritual heritage.This is the setting in chapter one of the Gita.Unless we understand this, we cannot graspthe inner meaning of the Bhagavad Gita.

The BeginningDhritarashtra was not in a position to

leave his kingdom, Hastinapur. But at the same


26

time, he wanted to be kept posted about thehappenings in the war without missing anydetails. So Vyasa wanted to give him thedivine insight whereby sitting in Hastinapurhe could see what is happening. Dhritarashtrasaid, ‘What shall I do with this insight, dear! Iam blind from birth. Therefore, give thatspecial capacity to my friend, my charioteer,Sanjaya. Let him see and let him narrate.’ Thatis how we find in the Gita, the expressionSanjaya uvacha (‘Sanjaya said’).

In the battlefield, both the armies wereready. War sirens had been sounded by theblowing of conchs, as was the practice then.Krishna decided to be Arjuna’s charioteer—literally and symbolically, his friend andphilosopher. Charioteering was an art in itself.A charioteer has to be an exceedingly skilledhorseman, so that he can tactfully manage thechariot to protect the fighter from beingunnecessarily exposed to danger.

When the battle was about to begin,Arjuna asked Krishna, ‘Take my chariot andpark it between the two armies so that I canbehold my enemies who want to raise theirarms against me.’ It was just a simple demand:wanting to have a look at the faces of peoplewho have assembled there with an intentionto fight. But the attitude with which oneexpresses intent speaks volumes of how onelooks at things. Arjuna spoke in a challenging,derisive tone: ‘I will look at these people whohave the temerity to raise their arms againstme? Do they not know who am I?’ Hisstatement was full of self-confidence. This self-confidence is most welcome in every person.But none has the right to transgress the fineborderline of self-confidence entering into thedomain of arrogance, vanity, and pride. Thisis the first catch to study the Bhagavad Gita.

Arjuna’s mistake was that he crossed thatfine line and became self-righteous. Though

powerful, self-pity took over him and he waswrithing in pain.

The Teacher par-excellenceArjuna was fortunate because he had an

excellent teacher in Sri Krishna. Though hehad the authority to snub Arjuna straightawayand tell him to fight for the sake of posterityand humanity at large, Sri Krishna showed uswhat it is to be a supremely intelligent teacher.A teacher knows how to guide the student byhis nose, without wasting the time.

Hence, Sri Krishna politely and honestlydrives the chariot in-between the two armiesand very innocently tells Arjuna, ‘Look atthem—whom you wanted to see, on bothsides’. In the process of asking him to see andobserve, Sri Krishna plays a very subtle rolehighlighting the blood relationships and theemotional bonds that Arjuna has had on boththe sides.

He starts from the most venerable grand-father of the family, Bhishma; next comesDronacharya, the teacher of the art of warfare;then comes Kripacharya, teacher of all ethicsand sciences of war, and one after the other,the most venerable elders, the most belovedrelated cousins, and nephews and so on.

Sri Krishna, very silently and sensibly,triggered the scene for the Gita to be delivered.Arjuna starts moaning: ‘O Dear! Bhishma!Dronacharya! Kripacharya! All my elders,maternal uncles and nephews.’ Though Arjunawas facing his enemies, he forgot that theyhave to be killed in order to get back histhrone. For years, Arjuna was a victim of hisown anger and when reality dawned on him,what did he see? He breaks down totallysaying, ‘I am not prepared to fight.’

What a somersault! How come thisenlightened, intelligent, accomplished humanbeing, who had made up his mind as to what


27

he will do, and what he will not do, turnsaround totally? What has happened to him?Arjuna could not swallow his pride. Here wecan see how the funny human ego works. Oneshould have the courage to admit plainly hisinadequacy. The human ego and the influenceof Maya are such that man is simply caught inthe most unavoidable circumstances makinghim commit more mistakes.

Sri Krishna was waiting for this. He didnot stop Arjuna; he allowed him to come outwith his vainglory. Why? Although a highlyqualified human being, Arjuna did feel thathe is unworthy, unable, unsuited, to face thedemands and challenges. He wanted to runaway, under the noble garb of renouncing thethrone and spend his life as a mendicant monkin the hills and dales of Himalayas, as if thatis an answer to life’s challenges.

Unable to cope with the situation, and atthe same time, unable to admit our short-comings, because of our pride and ego, wecreate some noble mask, to cover up ourweaknesses and shortcomings. That is whatthe concept of Maya or ajnana or avidya is. It isa fact of life. I know, my conscience does notspare me. I know I am on the wrong side. ButI do not have the moral courage to admitopenly, ‘Pardon me, I am mistaken. Wouldanybody correct me?’—we don’t have thathumility because of the ego which alwayssticks out like a sore thumb.

Arjuna keeps on creating a wonderfulaura, a halo, around him, ‘Sir, I have nowunderstood. To enjoy this throne which isbathed by the blood of the near and dear ones,is not worth it. I should not be greedy for thethrone. Let them enjoy the throne and let merenounce the world and be a mendicant monk.’It was as if, monkhood would resolve all hisdefeatism and escapism. And this is what mostof us also think.

There are two types of knowledge—aparavidya [secular or mundane type] and para vidya[dealing with eternal issues of life]. Arjuna wasexcellent in apara vidya. But until now, nooccasion had arisen in his life when he couldbe exposed to para vidya, the knowledge of theReality behind the appearance. He might havelearnt the Upanishads or recited the Vedas,but he did not know the art of translating thoseactions in such a demanding period of his life.

Hence we find, Sri Krishna giving himthis freedom to come out with his problem.After Arjuna had finished his arguments, SriKrishna just put an innocent question, ‘Arjuna,you want to leave this battlefield and want togo away? But your intentions and your noblephilosophy are known only to me, not to thewhole world. When you leave this battlefield,what would others who have gathered herethink? They have pawned away their life, as itwere, to this war. They may die; they don’tcare. They are brave people. Now, under thislofty ideology of renunciation and self-sacrifice, you want to leave the battlefield?’

Krishna reminds that if he tries to runaway from the battlefield, people will tell, ‘Wenow see Arjuna in his true colour. All alonghe was growling and howling like a tiger. Nowat the crunch in his life, he runs away withthe tail in-between his legs.’ ‘So, Arjuna, areyou prepared to suffer this humiliation? Thisshame? This loss of reputation that is worsethan death?’ Sri Krishna doesn’t say what todo, what not to do. He plays the same cardwhich Arjuna had used—the ego.

Arjuna thus gets a whack on his head.An intelligent teacher does not contradict theegoistic approach of a student. The art is tosow reasonable, rational doubt in his heart,which would slowly and surely erode theimposed self-confidence—the confidence didnot actually arise within; it was imposed to


cover up his inadequacy. Thus we find in thewhole of the first chapter and part of thesecond chapter, Sri Krishna, actually prickingthe bubble of Arjuna’s ego, as it were. Finallywhen Sri Krishna has neutralized the elementof ajnana, by these probing sentences, Arjunabecomes receptive to new ideas. He says (1.7):

Karpanyadosho-apahata svabhavah pricchami tvamdharma-sammoodha chetahyacshreyasyat nishchitam bruhi tanme shishyas-teham shadhi-mam tvam-prapannam

‘I know what I am worth—my talents,and my faculties. But I am in such a jam; Idon’t know how to use it. Therefore, pleaseaccept me as your disciple. I surrender myselftotally at your command. Please help me tocome out of this situation.’

We should not be carried away by thedramatics of it and instead try to understandthe catch here. As humans we are liable to gowrong, and that going wrong is because ofthe mistaken sense of our ego, vanity andpride. Let us humble ourselves, and exposeourselves to nobler thoughts of life which willmake us competent enough to cope with thevarious challenges of life, of which we haveno previous warning. It might happenanytime, anywhere. This life—we are in thisworld, and this life has been compared to abattleground where good, evil, bad, worse,best, keeps churning us all the time.

Sri Krishna, in order to pull Arjuna outof dire straits says (2.1):

kutastva-kashmalam idam vishame samupasthitamanarya-jushtam asvargyam akirtikaram arjuna

‘Wherefrom O Arjuna! Have you import-ed this darkness of indecisiveness? I have notseen this before. Who is this Arjuna? I don’tknow. Wherefrom has he imported all thisdarkness of understanding, unable to take adecision for himself.’

klaibyam masma gamah partha na’etat tvai upapadyatekshudram hridayadaurbalyam tyaktotishtha parantapa

‘This is not pardonable and acceptable.Arise, awake, and face your life with the fulldedication to your duty and learn the art ofperforming the duties.’ (2.3)

Arjuna is back to square one again. NowSri Krishna’s first advice is,

ashochyan-anvashochastvam prjna-vadamscha bhashasegatasuna-gatasunscha-nanushochanti panditah

‘Well, Arjuna, this is something veryfunny. The objects about which you shouldnot repent or lament, you are repenting andlamenting, and at the same time, you aretalking tall. How do I harmonize this Arjuna?Your acts and deeds are not up to your stature.What you are trying to preach to me hasnothing to do with this because you havetotally, miserably failed. So, listen to me now.’This is the Gita way of administering psycho-therapy.

In order to introduce oneself to the studyof the Bhagavad Gita, one should place oneselfin the position of Arjuna and try to feel howmany times, because of our arrogant attitude,we create problems for ourselves. And if onecan develop an attitude which has the fullestsupport of the voice of conscience or Godwithin us, then one will be able to sort outthose self-created problems caused by one’segoistic attitude towards situations. This is thecrux of the first chapter and part of the secondchapter.

Three Parts of the GitaWe read in the Upanishad, Shvetaketu,

the young aspirant, asking the question: ‘Whoam I?’ His teacher tells him: Tat Tvam Asi(‘Thou Art That’)

Here are three different words. Tvam—you; Tat—Atman or Brahman or the Absolutegoal; Asi— the process of being and becoming,

28


the process of manifesting yourself from whatwe are today. The Gita exhorts us to get rid ofour limitedness, extend the boundaries of ourawareness, and gradually become absolutelyour true Self, without any limitations. In thesewords—‘Thou Art That’—a human being isdescribed. These words also describe theconcept of divinity in various approaches andthe processes to reach that goal.

The eighteen chapters of the Gita toohave been divided accordingly. The first part,(first to the sixth chapters) deals with variousstages of a normal human being—from thedepth of depression and non-under-standing, to the end of the sixth chapter, whenwe are taught how to reach nirvikalpa samadhi,the highest experience of union with theAbsolute; the jivatman merging intoparamatman. In this section an elaboration ofthe word Tvam (‘You’) from its bottommostlevel of awareness and suffering, to theultimate level where one can potentially reachis done through the elucidation of the conceptof Atman, the immutable and indestructibleand also such other concepts as Karma Yoga,Dhyana Yoga, Sannyasa Yoga and so on.

The second part, consisting of next sixchapters (seven to twelfth chapters) mentionsthe various concepts of the Divine (‘Tat’). Thesesix chapters have one purpose in view—toinstill in us the understanding that God iseverywhere, every moment of life, looked atfrom different points of view. These are not tobe looked down upon as a distraction, but asa source of spiritual light. They make spirituallife more enjoyable and flavoured.

Once Sri Ramakrishna wanted to listento veena, the musical instrument quite popularin India. It is said that the purest form ofsound, which borders the anahata dhvani [the‘unstruck sound’, the primordial sound at theroot of creation], can be brought out only from

Veena. This is the reason that Devi Saraswati,the goddess of learning, has veena in herhands. When Sri Ramakrishna visited Benaras,he expressed his desire to listen to MaheshVeenakar, a veena maestro, who was inBenaras then. Mathur Babu immediately madearrangements, and Mahesh Veenakar wasinvited and Sri Ramakrishna was present there.As soon as the first note was played in theveena, the sound was so elevating andunadulterated, that Sri Ramakrishna at oncewent into nirvikalpa samadhi. With great effortand labour he later returned to the normalplane. This is how the Divine can be enjoyedor can be experienced, in thousand and oneways, through infinite attitudes.

This approach of Sri Ramakrishna is tobe found in this second set of six chapters ofthe Bhagavad Gita. It also includes the chapteron viswa-rupa-darshan, when Sri Krishnaassumed the form of mahakala, which destroyseverything. Arjuna was scared to see that formand said, tenaiva rupena chaturbhujena sahasra-bahu—‘O dear Lord, this is good enough forme. I know who you are. But I love to see youin that soft, sweet, pleasant manner of chatur-bhuja narayana (the four armed form of LordNarayana).’

The last set of six chapters—from chapterthirteen to eighteen—deal with the process ofbecoming one with that ultimate reality. HereSri Krishna mentions innumerable ways,approaches, perspectives, attitudes, with whichone can build up one’s spiritual life, and whatis the sum and substance of spiritual life? Tobe one with God at all times, through allavenues of our awareness. The Gita mentionsvarious methodologies, of signs and symptomsthrough which one can chalk out one’s pathto reach the goal with a safe yardstick in one’shand. This set of chapters hence deal with asi,the process of realizing our true nature.

29


The Beauty That is Bhagavad GitaThe Bhagavad Gita is an excellent

masterpiece of spirituality. It helps us under-stand what spiritual life is and also instructsus how to live it. The Gita gives us a measuringrod, so that during our journey we do not fallinto a false notion that we have reached thegoal and become swollen headed. At the sametime, the signs and symptoms mentioned of arealized soul, call it by any name, help usgauge ourselves honestly. It also protects usfrom the charlatans who claim that they haverealized God.

Every chapter of the Gita is a yoga—amethod of developing an uninterruptedcommunion with the divine. As to what typesof divine attributes one wishes to meditate isleft to one’s choice. Here is an open invitationfor us to pick up. Hence various signs(lakshanas) of inner perfection are given: signsof a man of wisdom (sthitaprajna-lakshana),signs of a perfected Karma Yogi or Jnana Yogi,man of complete renunciation and so on.

When we study the Gita, we imbibeexcellence in all its aspects. It instructs andeducates us about what to do and what not todo, how to and when to do it and so on.Everything is precisely kept in its proper place.It is for us to learn and benefit from its study.

The Crowning GloryThe last chapter is a summary of the

whole Gita. By this time Arjuna was exposedto the idea who Sri Krishna was: not his friend,not his philosopher, not his guide, not hiscousin brother, but an incarnation of theDivine. Arjuna was absolutely convinced ofit. Having explained in an extremelyexhaustive manner, Sri Krishna concludes bysaying, ‘I have told you, Arjuna, whatever Ihad to tell you. I have placed before you, allthe options that are available to you. Through

your body mind infrastructure, with all thefaculties that you have, manifest the potentialdivinity already present in you. Do whateveryou wish (yatha icchasi tatha kuru).’

Ah! What a freedom! God telling you;He doesn’t command you; He says, ‘Here isthe table full of your choices. I have playedmy role. Choose whatever you want. But forheaven’s sake, choose that well.’

Finally comes the most assuringstatement (18.66):

sarvadharman parityajya mamekam sharanam vrajaaham tvam sarvapapebhyo mokshaishyami mashuchah

Who can say that but God?! So full oflove! ‘Do you want to reach the divine? Hereare the choices. Has these abundant choicesblinded you? Come, I will tell you what to do.Get rid of all these “isms”; get rid of all theseintellectual bondages of your achieve-ments.’

Then where do I go? Do I live invacuum? No! Then?

Answers Sri Krishna: maam ekamsharanam vraja—‘Let your life have only onegoal. And what is that goal? Follow the idealthat you have chosen.’ With no conditions!Aham tvam sarva papebhyo mokshaishyami—‘Iwill see it through and through, I take you byyour hand, and I will take you across the oceanof life and death and rebirth and I will takeyou to that promised land. It is my promise.’

Earlier too he affirmed: kaunteyapratijanihi na me bhaktah pranashyati—‘I swearto you, my dear Kunti-putra, Arjuna, a personwho has dedicated himself or herself to me, Iwill see him through.’

And when this assurance came to Arjuna,after all this world of exposure, his responsewas: nashta moha smritir labdhva—‘myconfusion to fight or not to fight has beentotally removed. I have got back my wisdom,

30


my poise, my capacity to remember what todo, what not to do.’

Tvat prasadat mayachyutah sthitosmi—byyour unending grace, O Lord, I am nowrehabilitated in the concept of converting myduties of life into an endless interaction withthe divine. I am now well placed in myconviction, gata sandeha—I am no more avictim assailed by doubts and hesitation. I haveestablished myself in my lost glory, thememory of how to convert the duties of mylife into an endless interaction with you.

Then he comes to the final statement:karishye vachanam tava—‘I will follow yourinstructions.’ And he starts his battle of life—no more that Arjuna who with arroganceasked. ‘Let me see the soldiers with whom Ihave to fight (kair maya saha yoddhavyam asminrana samudhyame).’ No more of that attitude

but as an instrument in the hands of God. Nowhis attitude is ‘I know now what am I to do. Itransfer all my resolutions; I just get rid of myego and surrender it under your command.Please guide me. Use me as your instrument.’

ConclusionThe Bhagavad Gita is a treasure that the

human society can ill afford to lose or forget.If we do so, it will be at our own peril anddestruction. As humans we are psycho-physiological beings with such tremendousfaculties that we can break open all itsboundaries and limitations through propertraining and guidance by the guru, andultimately through the compassion of theDivine, we can manifest the divinity which isalready within us. This is the true meaning ofgetting introduced to the Gita.

Svadharma, the Key to Success

In the Gita, Sri Krishna emphasizes svadharma, one’s own dharma. The word “dharma”

is really untranslatable. “Religion,” “duty,” “righteousness,” and the other English equivalents

give only a partial meaning. Dharma is derived from the root dhri, meaning to hold or

sustain. The word signifies the attitude behind a man’s action or duty that sustains him in

his present stage of evolution and also helps him to realize his ultimate destiny. The

dharma of a man is determined by his past experiences and tendencies. The beginningless

Soul assumes different forms in different births for the gaining of experience. The works

performed in every birth leave impressions, which are stored up in the subconscious mind

and are not destroyed with the death of the body. When the Soul assumes a new body,

these impressions begin to operate. Thus they form his svabhàva, or character; they

determine his dharma—his duty, his religion, his sense of right and wrong. Education and

environment only help a man to manifest what he has inherited from his own past. ... So

a man’s dharma is the basis of his thought and action; he cannot get rid of it any more

than a dreaming person can get rid of his dream. To try to act against one’s dharma is to

do violence to one’s nature. The duty determined by a man’s dharma is his natural duty.

That is the only real thing for him; all other duties are alien to his nature, imposed from

outside and therefore sources of confusion. Krishna asks Arjuna to cling to his kshatriya

dharma though it does not seem perfect from other standpoints. ‘Better is one’s own

dharma, though imperfectly performed, than the dharma of another well performed.

—Swami Nikhilananda, in his Introduction to Bhagavad Gita

31


SWAMI SMARANANANDA

The author is Vice President of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission.

Gita’s Way of Right Activity

Gita’s Unique ContributionThe Bhagavad Gita, one of the greatest

scriptures of the world—or rather the greatest,if one may say—has its eternal message givenfrom various angles. Among them the conceptof Karma Yoga is its original contribution. Forthe first time in the history of world literature,this idea of Karma Yoga occurs in the Gita,even though it finds a mention in theUpanishads in a rudimentary form. Forexample we may quote here the second verseof the Ishavasya Upanishad:1

By doing Karma, indeed, one should wish tolive here for hundred years. For a man such asyou there is no other way than this, wherebyKarma may not cling to you.

It is also interesting to note that thismessage of the Gita was delivered in a battle-field where two large armies had been arrayedagainst each other—in the battleground ofKurukshetra. Indeed, the battlefield is the placeto test one’s ability to do one’s duty, in spiteof being provoked to do otherwise.

Though the Gita is a samanvaya-grantha—a book harmonizing all the four Yogas suchas Jnana, Karma, Bhakti and Rajayoga—itsspecial contribution is the concept of KarmaYoga. During the medieval period in India,there was a general belief that Karma—actionof all kinds—is an obstacle to spiritualprogress. The Mimamsakas [votaries of theritualistic practices], however, taking their

stand on the ritualistic section (Karma-Kanda)of the Vedas, believed that non-performanceof the Vedic rituals will result in one notreaching the goal of life—the heaven. This wasillustrated through such statements or direc-tives as yavad jivam agnihotram juhuyat—‘perform agnihotra [the customary fire-ritualperformed by a householder] as long as youare alive.’

But the question was raised: ‘Can workbe done without the bondage it brings?’ Thiswas answered by Sri Krishna who emphati-cally said in the Gita that it is possible to doso. He said, ‘The art of right activity [Yoga]lies in doing one’s duty skilfully’ [yogahkarmasu kaushalam].2 In other words, oneshould learn how to work without beingshackled by the bonds of Karma.

Sri Krishna denounces people who setheaven as their goal of life and perform Vedicrituals for that purpose only. He says: ‘Thosepeople who have fixed heavenly enjoymentsas their goal in life can never attain vyavasay-atmika buddhi—an intellect determined onbreaking of all bonds; for the Vedas [or theVedic rituals], too, come within the sphere ofthe three gunas. You go beyond them.’3

He did not preach inaction. Referring tothe necessity of doing work, Sri Krishna said:

Verily none can ever rest for even an instantwithout performing action, for all are made toact helplessly by the Gunas [constituent qualitiesof the material world], born of Prakriti.4


33

So, how should we work without gettingentangled in it? Sri Krishna’s answer is,Yogasthah Kuru Karmani5—‘By remainingrooted in Yoga and doing one’s work.’ Howdoes one do that? By not getting attached tothe fruits of one’s action (sangam tyaktva). This,then, is the secret of Karma Yoga: workwithout being attached, looking upon successand failure with equanimity (samatva). This iscalled Yoga, and this is the state of perfectionin Karma Yoga.

Sri Krishna calls this method of doingwork as Buddhi Yoga, because non-attachmentto results is an attitude of the buddhi or ourdiscriminative faculty. Without this attitude,one cannot become detached to the results ofone’s actions.

Activity without AttachmentThough popularly the word yajna brings

to mind a fire-ritual, Sri Krishna gave a deepermeaning to it when he said:

Work done for purposes other than yajna resultsin bondage. Therefore, O Kaunteya, work,freeing yourself from all attachment.6

Here yajna means making a sacrifice inorder to maintain the universal order of give-and-take which forms the basis of all life.

It is this participation in the cyclic natureof life which brings true happiness in life. Thismeans that we will have to convert all ouractions into yajna—that is, transform all ouractivities into sacrifice, by eschewing allselfishness or tendency to hoard and possess.In order to renounce selfishness, one shouldmake one’s life God-oriented. Only when ourmind is directed towards higher ideals that itbecomes possible for us to get rid of selfish-ness.

We often ask: ‘Why are people selfish?’To it the simple answer is: Because of desires

and a wrong understanding that if desires arefulfilled one can be happy forever!

The fact, however, is otherwise. It is notfulfilling our selfish desires but non-attach-ment to results of actions which really bringstrue joy in life. We suffer because we becomeattached to results and run after money,pleasures, fame and other fleeting objects oflife. Suffering comes from following the pathof sakama-karma [work with a selfish motive].

One should remain active all the time—but without attachment. Sri Krishna himselfsets this example of constant activity andshows us how to remain free from attachment.He tells Arjuna,

O Partha, I have no duty to be performed in allthe three worlds. I have nothing to be attained;still I go on working.7 The actions or work donot bind me, nor have I any desire for the resultsof actions. If one understands this in this manner,actions will not bind him.8

Lest people misconstrue this statementto mean that one can then be inactive or lazy,Sri Krishna warns:

If I were not working without sleep, ordinarypeople will also follow suit. That would set inmotion degeneration of higher values of life.9

The Practice of Karma YogaGenerally speaking, the practice of

Karma Yoga is quite difficult. In order to betruly successful in the practice of Karma Yoga,one needs the support of Jnana Yoga or BhaktiYoga. For Karma Yoga involves giving upattachment which, of course, requires culti-vating right attitude towards the action itselfand this is what Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yogahelp one to do.

The practice of Jnana Yoga requiresexercising our power of discrimination—


34

between the real and the unreal, between theephemeral and the permanent, between theAbsolute and the relative or what Sri Rama-krishna called as nitya and anitya. Attachmentis a mental quality, and we have nurtured itthrough many births. To get rid of it, one needsto continuously struggle and practice shravana[hearing about the spiritual ideal], manana[deep thinking about it] and nididhyasana[meditation on the truth of it].

Similarly, we should practice Bhakti Yogaor the Yoga of love for God and connect allour actions to God. We will have to dedicatethe fruits of all our actions at the feet of theLord. This is possible only when we developlove for God—not merely doing ritualisticworship, but truly developing intense love forGod.

Renunciation is a mental act, and it hasto have discrimination and detachment at thebackground. As the Gita says:

The Knower of Truth thinks that he doesnothing, though he may be performing all kindsof actions. He knows that the sense-organs areworking upon sense-objects. He deposits all theresults of actions in Brahman, and frees himselffrom all attachments, and lives like the lotus leafon water.10

In order to renounce attachment tosomething lower, attachment to somethinghigher is necessary. This attachment tosomething higher is the attachment to God. Ifwe can love God with all our heart and all oursoul, we can then renounce attachment to allthings worldly. Then we will be able to doall our actions as duty without getting attach-ed to their results. We will then be able tooffer the results of all such actions at the feetof God. As goes the well-known Sanskritsaying: Yad-yad karma karomi tad-tad akhilamshambho tavaradhanam—‘whatever Karma I am

doing O Shambhu, I dedicate all these at yourfeet.’

Therefore, the secret of Karma-Yoga isto develop the right kind of attitude withwhich one can do one’s duties skilfully. Thisdemands freeing oneself from all wrongidentifications and remaining detached in themidst of all actions. This is actually an innerprocess and begins at the mental level—thelevel of the buddhi. Action itself is not at fault;it is our attitude towards it which makes thedifference. It again depends upon our identifi-cation with what is being done by the senses,which are themselves the transformation ofthe three gunas. But the Jnani or the Knowerof Brahman knows that all actions are onlythe three gunas acting upon the three gunas invarious ways (guna guneshu vartante iti mattvana sajjate).11 Being established in the knowledgethus, he no more identifies himself with them.

ConclusionSo what the Gita ultimately teaches is

that we should develop the right attitudetoward all actions and this is possible if wemake Jnana or Bhakti as the basis of all ouractions. Above all, as Swami Vivekanandasaid, ‘Duty is seldom sweet. It is only whenlove greases its wheels that it runs smoothly;it is a continuous friction otherwise.’12 LeoTolstoy, the great Russian litterateur, conclu-ded one of his short stories, entitled What MenLive By, with the saying:

I have now understood that though it seems tomen that they live by care for themselves, intruth it is love alone by which they live. He whohas love, is in God, and God is in him, for Godis love.

In other words, only when the leaveningof love is added to our actions that it becomespleasant.


Therefore only when activity is chann-elled through love that it becomes rightactivity. This is possible only if ‘love’ formsthe basis of Karma. Sri Krishna uses the phrasesarva-bhuta hiteratah13—‘one who is constantlyinterested in the welfare of all beings.’

Indeed, if this love for others forms thebasis of our actions, then only can we beinterested in the welfare of all. And the secretof activity lies in nurturing this power of lovewhich acts as the transforming power behindall our actions.

1. Ishavasya Upanishad, verse 2 2. Gita, 2.50 3. ibid., 2.41-45 4. ibid., 3.5 5. ibid., 2.48 6. ibid., 3.97. ibid., 3.22 8. ibid., 4.14 9. ibid., 3:23, 24 10. ibid., 5: 8-10 11. ibid., 3: 28 12. CW, 1: 67 13. Gita, 12:4

References

‘Seek the Lord and the Lord Only’

To attain liberation through work, join yourself to work but without desire, looking for

no result. Such work leads to knowledge, which in turn brings emancipation. To give up

work before you know, leads to misery. Work done for the Self gives no bondage. Neither

desire pleasure nor fear pain from work. It is the mind and body that work, not I. Tell

yourself this unceasingly and realise it. Try not to know that you work.

Do all as a sacrifice or offering to the Lord. Be in the world, but not of it, like the lotus

leaf whose roots are in the mud but which remains always pure. Let your love go to all,

whatever they do to you. A blind man cannot see colour, so how can we see evil unless it

is in us? We compare what we see outside with what we find in ourselves and pronounce

judgment accordingly. If we are pure, we cannot see impurity. It may exist, but not for

us. See only God in every man, woman and child; see it by the antarjyotis, ‘inner light’,

and seeing that, we can see naught else. Do not want this world, because what you

desire you get. Seek the Lord and the Lord only. The more power there is, the more

bondage, the more fear. How much more afraid and miserable are we than the ant! Get

out of it all and come to the Lord. Seek the science of the maker and not that of the

made. —CW, 7: 63-64

Go into your own room and get the Upanishads out of your own Self. You are the

greatest book that ever was or ever will be, the infinite depository of all that is. Until the

inner teacher opens, all outside teaching is in vain. It must lead to the opening of the

book of the heart to have any value.

The will is the ‘still small voice’, the real Ruler who says ‘do’ and ‘do not’. It has done

all that binds us. The ignorant will leads to bondage, the knowing will can free us. The

will can be made strong in thousands of ways; every way is a kind of Yoga, but the

systematised Yoga accomplishes the work more quickly. Bhakti, Karma, Raja, and Jnana

-Yoga get over the ground more effectively. Put on all powers, philosophy, work, prayer,

meditation—crowd all sail, put on all head of steam—reach the goal. The sooner, the

better. . . .ibid. 7: 71

—Swami Vivekananda

35


SWAMI PRABUDDHANANDA

Gita’s Message for Self-Transformation

Search for the SelfThe self, as we ordinarily understand it,

is fluctuating every moment. In spite of itschanging nature, however, it is through theself alone we perceive and experienceourselves and the world. The self is the senseof ‘I-consciousness’ or individuality that weall have, though initially our identity isunclear. It is only after a long, sustained effortthat we will be able to realize the true natureof this ‘I.’ The process of arriving at thisknowledge is what we call self-transformation.What gets transformed is really the concept ofourselves; the apparently divided self becomeswhole. This is in essence the teaching of theGita. Truly speaking, self-discovery is the onlyquest in spiritual life—nay, in life itself.Sometimes this quest is direct; sometimes it isindirect. But ultimately the purpose of lifecentres around this search for self-knowledge,the true ‘I,’ whether one is leading a secularor a spiritual life.

It is interesting to note how psychologistCarl Rogers insightfully refers to this self-inquiry in the book, The Self :

A frequently raised question is, ‘What problemsdo people bring to you?’ . . . I always feel baffledby this question. One reply is that they bringevery kind of problem one can imagine. . . . I feelbaffled as to how to answer this simple question.I have however come to believe that, in spite ofthis bewildering horizontal multiplicity, there is

a simple answer. . . . Below the level of theproblem situation about which the individual iscomplaining—behind the trouble with studies,or wife, or employer, or with his ownuncontrollable or bizarre behaviour, or with hisfrightening feelings, lies one central search. Itseems to me that at the bottom each person isasking: ‘Who am I, really? How can I get in touchwith this real self, underlying all my surfacebehaviour? How can I become myself?’

Another modern psychologist, Dr.Nathaniel Branden, refers to this search in thisway in Honoring the Self:

To evolve into selfhood is the primary humantask. It is also the primary human challenge,because success is not guaranteed. At any stepof the way, the process can be interrupted,frustrated, blocked, or sidetracked, so that thehuman individual is fragmented, split, alienated,stuck at one level or another of mental oremotional immaturity. To a tragic extent, mostpeople are stranded along this path ofdevelopment. Nonetheless, the central goal ofthe maturational process is evolution towardautonomy.

How to evolve toward this autonomy?The Bhagavad Gita, as is well-known,

deals with all aspects of life: physical, mental,moral, and spiritual. In this comprehensivescheme, the first step in our evolution is todevelop a well-defined personality. Anaverage person’s identity or personality is an

Swami Prabuddhananda, a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order, is the Head of the Vedanta Society ofNorthern California, San Francisco, U.S.A.


37

unstable, bewildering jumble of the externalworld, body, and mind. As a result of thisinner disharmony, many people end up livingaimless, thoughtless lives. So in this processof self-discovery, it’s imperative that onedevelops a strong character, a distinct un-wavering sense of self-identity and purpose.In the language of the Gita, become manly.‘Do not yield to unmanliness, O Partha, it isnot worthy of you.’1 Have faith in yourself,stand up and fight the battle of life withfirmness of mind, clarity and inner strength.This step toward becoming autonomous iswhat Swami Vivekananda calls manliness, orman-making. That’s why Sri Krishna exhortsArjuna to be a man in the true sense of theword. Become a strong person with self-respect, one who is able to defend hisreputation by living up to one’s ideals andthereby maintain his position in life withassurance and courage.

Following the Law of Our BeingIn this cauldron of man-making, firming

up who we really are, the important instructionSri Krishna gives to Arjuna is that he shoulddo his duty, his svadharma. Dharma, in general,is a function of the universal moral order, íta;it is that which protects and holds us together,nourishing our inner being. Sva means thatwhich is one’s own. It connotes a feeling ofidentity, or ‘myness.’ Svadharma is the law ofone’s being, which is determined by anindividual’s inner tendencies, inclinations, ormental impressions. These tendencies greatlyinfluence our present actions. Therefore weshould live according to our psychologicalmakeup—our bent of mind, our aptitudes. Inshort, be yourself; don’t imitate others. Standon your own feet. ‘Better is one’s own duty,though imperfect, than the duty of another,well performed.’2 In the words of Emerson,

‘Imitation is suicide.’ On the basis of yoursvadharma, do your duty; what has fallen toyour lot. Don’t be attracted or misled by theduties of others. As someone said, ‘For betteror for worse, you must play your own littleinstrument in the orchestra of life.’

Ascertainment of what our svadharmais, what we should do, requires the use of ourintrinsic determining and discerning faculty,or buddhi, which lifts us from a meremechanical existence. (In Vedanta philosophy,the concept of mind is comprehensive havingfour divisions defined by function: weighingpros and cons, determination, the sense of ‘I-ness,’ and memory. Sometimes the terms mindand buddhi are used interchangeably.) Ourlives should be governed and determined bya well-trained buddhi. We have the innatecapacity to distinguish between right andwrong, true and false, good and bad, etc., andon this basis we are relatively free to makeintelligent choices. ‘Far inferior is work(prompted by desire) to work done throughbuddhi yoga, O Dhananjaya. Take refuge inthe buddhi,’ buddhau saranamanviccha.3 AgainSri Krishna says,

On those who are ever devoted to Me andworship Me with love, I bestow the yoga ofunderstanding [buddhi yoga], by which theycome to Me.4 Solely out of compassion for them,I, dwelling in their hearts, dispel with the shininglamp of wisdom the darkness born of ignorance.5

It is through the purification, develop-ment and assiduous exercise of the buddhithat self-transformation moves forward.

The Gita describes this process of self-purification or transformation in terms ofdifferent conditions of the mind: tamas, rajas,and sattva. These three gunas are the consti-tuents of nature, or prakriti, in general and ofthe mind in particular. Our understanding andjudgment are coloured by the gunas which


38

are characterized by certain qualities: Tamasis marked by darkness, laziness, dullness; rajasby attachment, pain, passion, restlessness; andsattva by clarity, luminosity, and healthy-mindedness, prakasakam anamayam. Whensattva becomes predominant, a person feelsmentally expansive and psychologicallyhealthy in spite of the ups and downs in life.As the sattva quality increases within oneself,the mind by degrees becomes integrated andwell-balanced. The Gita beautifully describesthis mental condition as one that leads to thecomprehension of unity in diversity, to non-attached action, and to freedom fromselfishness and passion.

The unillumined, unrefined mind, whichis dominated by tamas and rajas, however, isour greatest enemy. But the same mind can beeducated to be our most reliable friend as well.It is through this friend alone, and through noother, that we can progress in either secularor spiritual life. We have to befriend our mind;be a friend to ourselves, not be inimical to orfight with our self. Sri Krishna instructedArjuna, ‘One should raise oneself through theself . . . for the self alone is one’s friend andthe self alone is one’s enemy.’6 Self-trans-formation means attenuating tamas and rajasand increasing the proportion of sattva. Whensattva prevails, the mind becomes moretransparent and one experiences an enhancedsense of well-being, vitality, and strength.Swami Vivekananda spoke frequently aboutthe necessity of strength. ‘The sign of vigour,the sign of life, the sign of hope, the sign ofhealth, the sign of everything that is good isstrength.’7

There is a striking parallel between theBhagavad Gita’s description of a sattvic mindand positive mental health according topsychologist Marie Jahoda. In her article,Criteria for Positive Mental Health, she lists six

indicators of a mentally healthy attitudetoward self.

Self-acceptance: Self-acceptance is arealistic perception of oneself, includingawareness of one’s pluses and minuses. Thisassessment of oneself fosters independentthinking and self-confidence.

Self-actualization: Self-actualization isthe actual process of an individual’s growthor becoming based on certain concepts of whatone wishes to be and the subsequent strivingto unfold one’s inner potential. Eric Frommelaborates this idea further, ‘Virtue is theunfolding of the specific potentialities of everyorganism; for man it is the state in which he ismost human.’

Integration of personality: ‘Integrationrefers to the relatedness of all processes andattributes in an individual.’ But it also impliesthat the individual is aware of a unifyingprinciple underlying his personality, whichbroadens his outlook on life.

Autonomy: Autonomy or self-deter-mination connotes an individual’s ability todeal independently with a variety of environ-mental factors.

Perception of Reality: Perception isconsidered healthy when it corresponds towhat is actually there.

Environmental Mastery: Environmentalmastery indicates that an individual canreadily adapt and adjust to circumstancesappropriate to the need or occasion.

Thus sattva is healthy-mindedness whichis needed not only in ordinary life, but is asine qua non for the unfoldment of self. Ahealthy mind is a friendly mind.

Dimensions of SelfA healthy mind is a great gain, no doubt.

Becoming a well-developed psychological self,however, is but a phase in our evolution. Being


a separate unique individual, though necessaryfor our growth, is not an end in itself. Afterall, an individual is a part of nature, whichcomprises the spectrum of the pairs ofopposites. It is an egocentric state of existenceand is extremely fragile. At any time our worldcan fall apart. As one matures, one’s awarenessof oneself and the outside world expands.Then we will recognize that we are notisolated, separate beings, but in truth arerelated to one another. In addition to this,gradually we become aware, though in-distinctly at first, of a higher power that isguiding and coordinating our lives. We maycall it our higher Self or God. Whatever it is,we become conscious of two entities, as itwere, within ourselves—the lower self and thehigher Self, the apparent and the real man. Asour insight deepens, we will feel progressivelyan inseparable connection between these two.Thereafter, self-transformation is gauged bythe strengthening of this relationship betweenthe two aspects of self; ultimately it is therealization of the one Self.

This union occurs in two ways: byexpansion of consciousness; that is, includingothers in our lives more and more by leadingan unselfish life and by establishing aconnection with the higher Self or God withinus. As we practice these two exercises,expanding the self and connecting the indivi-dual with the higher Self, the limitations ofthe empirical self—attachment, ignorance, andtheir effects such as lust and greed— graduallywear out. Veil after veil drops off and the true‘I’ emerges. This process is quickened throughspiritual disciplines. In the terminology of theGita, it is through yoga.

Self-transformation Through YogaYoga as delineated in the Gita is the

means of uniting our individualized self with

our higher Self by utilising all of our faculties.Yoga has many aspects based on differentfunctions of the mind—thinking, feeling, andwilling. Whatever we do is transformed intospiritual practice by following the techniqueof yoga. According to Sri Krishna, culture ofthe mind is the bottom line of yoga discipline.In fact, evenmindedness is yoga. He eloquentlydescribes mental balance, or equanimity ofmind, starting with the instructions regardingour ordinary daily activities, right up to finalrealization of becoming a sthitaprajna, a personof steady wisdom; one who is unaffected andremains even-minded through all the vicissi-tudes of life: success or failure, health or illness,profit or loss, happiness or misery, good orbad, and so on.

Established in yoga, O Dhananjaya (Arjuna),perform actions, giving up attachment andremaining even-minded both in success and infailure. This equanimity is called yoga.8 Regard-ing alike pleasure and pain, gain and loss,success and defeat, prepare yourself for battle.9

Even here is the relative existence conquered bythem whose mind rests in equality.10

As with equanimity of mind, similarlyhe extols and recommends the practice ofsame-sightedness, samadarshana. Seeing theunity in diversity, by trying to perceive theinfinite or God in the heart of all beings andas the centre of the universe, is the essence ofsamadarshana.

The man whose mind is absorbed through yogaand who sees the same (Brahman) everywhere,sees the Self in all beings and all beings in theSelf.11 He who sees Me everywhere and sees allthings in Me, does not lose sight of Me, nor do Iof him.12 He who worships Me residing in allbeings in a spirit of unity, becomes a yogi and,whatever his mode of life, lives in Me.13 Hewho by comparison with himself looks uponthe pleasure and pain in all creatures as

39


similar—the yogi, O Arjuna is considered thebest.14

Another practice of uniting the self isthrough focusing the mind on the higher Selfin meditation. Development of virtues such asself-restraint, truthfulness and noninjury isessential for the practice of meditation and isthe bedrock foundation of self-transformation.A true moral sense is an inner awakening in aperson that incites him to do what is rightand checks him from going astray. Sensitivityto this inner voice of conscience requires life-long discipline. Further as an aid to meditation,Sri Krishna recommends avoiding extremes indaily life.

Yoga is not for him who eats too much nor forhim who eats too little. It is not for him, OArjuna, who sleeps too much nor for him whosleeps too little.15 For him who is temperate inhis food and recreation, temperate in his exertionat work, temperate in sleep and waking, yogaputs an end to all sorrows.16

However, in spite of these practices, themain obstacle to successful meditation is thetremendous restlessness of the mind. Theantidote for this turbulence is constant practiceand dispassion.

The mind is restless and hard to control; yet bypractice and dispassion, O son of Kunti, it iscontrolled.17 Without these, abhyasa, practice and,vairagya, dispassion, real meditation isimpossible. When the mind, well-controlled,rests in the Self alone, and free from craving forall enjoyments, then is one said to have attainedyoga.18 Restraining all the senses, the self-controlled one should sit meditating on Me.Verily, his wisdom is steady whose senses areunder control.19 Endowed with a pureunderstanding, restraining the mind withtenacity, turning away from sound and otherobjects, and abandoning love and hatred.20

Dwelling in solitude . . . controlled in speech,

body and mind, ever engaged in the yoga ofcontemplation, and cultivating dispassion.21

The practice of discrimination or vicharais another significant aspect of yoga.Knowledge of the immortal nature of the Selfis revealed through discrimination between thereal and the unreal. Through vichara oneseparates fact from fancy; that is, that whichis eternal from that which is perishable. TheGita views this issue of the eternal and thenon-eternal from a variety of angles. Forexample, analysis of the nature of the bodyand the soul reveals that the body is mortaland therefore subject to illness, decay, anddeath, whereas the soul is undivided,indestructible.

For one who is born, death is certain.22 Theunreal never is. The real never ceases to be. Theconclusion about these two is truly perceivedby the seers of Truth.23 That by which all this ispervaded know to be imperishable. None cancause the destruction of that which isimmutable.24 There is indeed nothing sopurifying here as knowledge. One perfected inyoga attains that automatically in himself intime.25 Even as a blazing fire burns the fuel toashes, O Arjuna, even so the fire of knowledgeburns to ashes the effects of all actions.26

Throughout the teachings in the Gita, wefind the emphasis on living an active life byfollowing our svadharma, which includes ourinteractions with other people. ‘Yoga is skillin action.’27 What is this skill? Keeping oneselfdisentangled while working or dealing withpeople; that is, avoiding being caught in theintricate maze of activities and relationships.How? By giving up attachment to the resultsof action, not being satisfied with theimmediate, ephemeral fruits, but striving forthe highest fruit; that is, Self-realization. Self-realization is really our svadharma, which isliving in the Indwelling Self or God, whose

40


dharma or essential nature is purity, freedom,wisdom, love and bliss. Through such actionattachment is gradually erased and one’sinnate freedom manifests.

Men of selfless action, giving up attachment,perform action through the body, mind, intellect,and senses, for the purification of the mind.28

To work alone you have the right, but never toits fruits. Never let your motive be the fruit ofaction, nor be attached to inaction.29 Giving upattachment to the fruit of action, ever content,and dependent on none, though engaged inwork, he does no work at all.30 But even selflessservice and other spiritual practices should beperformed giving up attachment and fruit—thisis My conclusive and final view.31

This attitude of non-attachment has tobe applied not only to work, but whileinteracting with others as well. Seeing theDivine in all as the basis of love and service isthe means of detaching ourselves from others.

Non-envious, friendly, and compassionatetoward all beings, free from ideas of possessionand ego-consciousness, sympathetic in pain andpleasure, forgiving, always contented . . . withhis mind and intellect dedicated to Me.32 Aliketo foe and friend, unaltered in honour anddishonour33 They who worship the imperishable. . . all-pervading . . . immovable, and eternal,having controlled their senses, even-mindedunder all conditions and devoted to the welfareof all beings, attain Me alone.34

The Gita concludes, as it were, with yetanother salient practice for self-transformation:Offering all activities to the Supreme, whichculminates in complete self-dedication, where-in we give ourselves to God. Thus transformedwe will become God-centered. The small selfloses its smallness and the true Self emergesin all its glory.

Whatever you do, or eat, or sacrifice, or give,whatever austerity you perform, that, O son of

Kunti, offer unto Me.35 By worshiping Himthrough the performance of duty does a manattain perfection.36 This divine illusion of Mine,consisting of the gunas, is indeed hard toovercome. But those who take refuge in Mealone, shall cross over this maya.37 Surrendering,in thought, all actions to Me, regarding Me asthe supreme goal, and practising steadiness ofmind, fix your heart constantly on Me.38 He whoperforms actions dedicating them to the Lordand giving up attachment, is untainted by sin,as a lotus leaf by water.39 Giving up all duties,take refuge in Me alone. I will liberate you fromall sins, do not grieve.40

Although a person may be under thespell of bad karma, he will be purified andmade holy through worship of the Lord.

Even if the most wicked person worships Mewith unswerving devotion, he must be regardedas righteous; for he has formed the rightresolution.41 He soon becomes righteous andattains eternal peace. Proclaim it boldly, O sonof Kunti, that My devotee never perishes.42 Fixyour mind on Me alone, rest your thought onMe alone, and in Me alone you will livethereafter. Of this there is no doubt.43

The Self TransformedIn the inward journey of self-discovery,

we evolve from an indefinite individual to apsychologically well-integrated healthyperson, and then ultimately to our true Selfwhich is one without a second. In this processthe all-round growth of our personality isharmonious not piecemeal. It is not necessarilya step-by-step progression, but all our facultieswork together in unison. Sometimes at acertain stage in our development, emphasismay be given to a particular practice orattitude because of individual need at the time.But on the whole, all of these disciplines areundertaken coordinately for our innertransformation.

41


References

1. Gita, 2:32. ibid. 18:473. ibid. 2:494. ibid. 10:105. ibid. 10:116. ibid. 6:57. CW, 6: 628. Gita, 2:489. ibid. 2:38

10. ibid. 5:1911. ibid. 6:2912. ibid. 6:3013. ibid. 6:3114. ibid. 6:3215. ibid. 6:1616. ibid. 6:1717. ibid. 6:3518. ibid. 6:18

19. ibid. 2:6120. ibid. 18:5121. ibid. 18:5222. ibid. 2:2723. ibid. 2:1624. ibid. 2:1725. ibid. 4:3826. ibid. 4:3727. ibid. 2:50

28. ibid. 5:1129. ibid. 2:4730. ibid. 4:2031. ibid. 18:632. ibid. 12:13-1412:13-1433. ibid. 12:1934. ibid. 12:3-435. ibid. 9:27

The Gita’s message for self-transfor-mation is this integrated self-unfoldment. Thuswe see self-transformation comes through self-

purification. Self-purification leads to self-dedication. The acme of self-dedication is Self-realization.

‘Various Steps in Religion will Remain’

Than the Gita no better commentary on the Vedas has been written or can be written.

The essence of the Shrutis, or of the Upanishads, is hard to be understood, seeing that

there are so many commentators, each one trying to interpret in his own way. Then the

Lord Himself comes, He who is the inspirer of the Shrutis, to show us the meaning of

them, as the preacher of the Gita, and today India wants nothing better, the world wants

nothing better than that method of interpretation. It is a wonder that subsequent interpreters

of the scriptures, even commenting upon the Gita, many times could not catch the

meaning, many times could not catch the drift. . . But you find in the Gita there is no

attempt at torturing any one of them. They are all right, says the Lord; for slowly and

gradually the human soul rises up and up, step after step, from the gross to the fine, from

the fine to the finer, until it reaches the Absolute, the goal. That is what is in the Gita.

Even the Karma Kanda is taken up, and it is shown that although it cannot give salvation

direct, but only indirectly, yet that is also valid; images are valid indirectly; ceremonies,

forms, everything is valid only with one condition, purity of the heart. For worship is valid

and leads to the goal if the heart is pure and the heart is sincere; and all these various

modes of worship are necessary, else why should they be there? Religions and sects are

not the work of hypocrites and wicked people who invented all these to get a little money,

as some of our modern men want to think. . . They are all here to satisfy the hankering

and thirst of different classes of human minds, and you need not preach against them.

The day when that necessity will cease, they will vanish along with the

cessation of that necessity; and so long as that necessity remains, they

must be there in spite of your preaching, in spite of your criticism. . .

These forms, and all the various steps in religion will remain, and we

understand from the Lord Shri Krishna why they should.

—Swami Vivekananda, CW, 3: 261-62

36. ibid. 18:4637. ibid. 7:1438. ibid. 18:5739. ibid. 5:1040. ibid. 18:6641. ibid. 9:3042. ibid. 9:3143. ibid. 12:8

42


SWAMI HARSHANANDA

Frequently Asked Questions About Gita

QUESTION: What is Gìtà?ANSWER: The Bhagavadgìtà, popularly

known as the Gìtà, is one of the outstandingreligious classics of the world. Hindus,irrespective of their sects and denominations,cherish great reverence for this book. Aceremonial reading of the book, or even a partthereof, is believed to confer great religiousmerit.

The book itself, comprising eighteenchapters, forms an integral part of a muchbigger work, the great epic, Mahàbhàrata (videBhìämaparva, Chapters 25 to 42). It is a poeticalwork in the form of a dialogue between ÁrìKíäëa and Arjuna, on the battlefield ofKurukäetra. The setting of the battlefieldcontributes a dramatic element to the book andrelates religion to the realities of life.

The Bhagavadgìtà is one of the mosttranslated religious classics of the world. Thebeauty and the sublimity of the work, itseternal relevance to the problem of human lifeand its universal approach that helps us viewthe whole of creation as one, may haveprompted the scholars to undertake the taskof translating it as a labour of love.

QUESTION: What is the reason for itspopularity?

ANSWER: The greatness and thepopularity of the Gìtà can be attributed toseveral factors. It is a part and parcel of the

epic Mahàbhàrata which itself has been highlyvenerated as the fifth Veda (Pañcama-Veda).The teacher of the Gìtà is Árì Kíäëa, who isregarded by the Hindus as an avatàra orincarnation of God Himself. An ideal friend, agreat statesman, an invincible warrior, a wisepreceptor and a yogi par excellence, heharmonizes in his life the various conflictingactivities of life. It is precisely this that makeshim the fittest person to preach such a religio-spiritual classic. Arjuna, the recipient of theteaching, though himself a great warrior, is atypical representative of the humans, liable tobe upset or confused during periods of crisis.Hence, his predicament, very much representsours, in a similar situation. The questions,doubts and misgivings he raises and thesolutions that Árì Kíäëa offers are not onlyrelevant but also valid even today.

There is an additional reason too. TheHindu Vedàntic tradition has always regardedthe Prasthànatraya (the three foundationalworks) as its basis; and the Gìtà is one of them,the other two being the Upaniäads and theBrahmasùtras. That is why Áaîkara (A.D. 788-820) and other ancient teachers have chosento write commentaries on it.

QUESTION: Can we assign any date andauthorship to Gìtà?

ANSWER: Since the Gìtà is an integral partof the epic Mahàbhàrata, its date and authorship

A senior monk of the Ramakrishna Order, the author is the President of Ramakrishna Math, Basavanagudi,Bangalore. He is a versatile speaker and a prolific writer having several publications in English, Kannada, andSanskrit to his credit. His monumental work A Concise Encyclopaedia of Hinduism was published in 2008.


44

are obviously those of the epic itself. KíäëaDvaipàyana, better known as Vedavyàsa, isreputed to be its author. As per the Hinduoral traditions based on their notion of timeas the yuga-system, the Kurukäetra war musthave taken place during 3139 B.C. The datesgiven however by the modern historians(mostly of the West) vary from 1424 B.C. to575 B.C. At the present stage of the research,it may be difficult to clinch the issue on suchchronological matters.

QUESTION: Tell us how the Gìtà was delivered.ANSWER: Dhítaràäêra, the blind king

(father of the Kauravas) asks Sañjaya, hiscompanion who had been endowed withdivine sight to see and describe the war, totell him as to what happened on the battlefield. Sañjaya starts by telling howDuryodhana approaches Droëàcàrya, thepreceptor and describes the various warriorson both the sides. Just then, Bhìäma, thegrandsire and commander-in-chief of theKaurava army blows his conch to indicate thecommencement of the day’s battle. This isfollowed by all the others including thePàëåavas, blowing their respective conches.At the request of Arjuna, the Pàëåava hero,Árì Kíäëa, his charioteer, brings his chariot andstations it in between the two armies, but rightin front of Bhìäma and Droëa! Seeing themand observing all the others assembled therefor the war, Arjuna sinks in horror and sorrow.He describes his pitiable condition to Árì Kíäëa,argues against this fratricidal war byportraying its various evil consequences whichwill ultimately result in the total collapse ofthe socio-political system and sits down in thechariot abandoning his weapons.

QUESTION: What is Árì Kíäëa’s response toArjuna’s situation?

ANSWER: Árì Kíäëa at first tries to rouseArjuna from this stupor by strongly

admonishing him for his psychologicalcollapse at a critical moment, his un-Àryanand unmanly behaviour which does not befita great warrior like him and urges him to bestirhimself to action. Even such strong words failto awaken him. He continues to sermonize,conveys his decision to retire, but in allhumility, seeks his guidance. Then realisingthat Arjuna’s confusion and delusion havegone too deep to be dispelled by cursoryreplies, Árì Kíäëa starts his immortal spiritualdiscourse aimed at curing his malady fromthe root itself by giving him a correctperspective of the whole picture, in fact, anentire philosophy of life. Arjuna is reallysorrowing for those who should not besorrowed for. All the people including thoseassembled on the battlefield are, in reality,immortal souls. Death or deterioration belongsonly to the body and not to the soul or thespirit. Even supposing it is accepted that oneis born with the body and dies with its death,there is no use lamenting it, since it isinevitable. Being a käattriya warrior on whoseshoulders is cast the responsibility ofdefending dharma or righteousness, it is hissacred duty to fight and win, or, die for thecause on the battlefield. For a man like him,celebrated for valour, death is preferable toignominy which will surely accrue to him ifhe withdraws from the battle now.

QUESTION: So, how should one fight the battleof life?

ANSWER: It is action motivated byselfishness that binds a man whereas whenthe same is performed without an eye to itsfruits and with equanimity, it liberates. This isthe ‘buddhi’ or ‘yoga’ or ‘buddhi-yoga’. Thenat Arjuna’s request, Árì Kíäëa describes thecharacteristics of the sthitaprajña or the manof steady spiritual wisdom as a model forArjuna’s emulation. The sthitaprajña has


45

abandoned all desires, and is ever contentedin his own Self. He is unmoved by pleasureand pain. He is free from attachment, fear oranger. He has absolute mastery over his senses.He is ever awake to the Highest Truth and isindifferent towards the world. He is well-established in the state of Brahman, even atthe last moment of his life.

QUESTION: What is the secret of rightactivity?

ANSWER: For most of the people, perfor-mance of one’s duties with a controlled mind,for the good of the world, is the easier and thebetter path. The world-cycle as set in motionby the Creator needs everyone to do hisallotted duties, so that it works smoothly. Thepath of work is in no way inferior since manygreat persons like Janaka in the ancient days,attained perfection through it alone. Leadersof society (like Arjuna) are expected to showthe way to the less enlightened ones by doingtheir duties perfectly. By cultivating the rightattitude towards work and by offering it tohim (i.e., Árì Kíäëa, who is God Himself), oneis not tainted by it even while working. Doingone’s own duty, however imperfect it mayappear to be, is far better than the performanceof others’ duties, relinquishing one’s own.What normally spoils one’s work and evenimpels one to evil ways of life, is selfish desireas also anger. These two have to be conqueredby subduing the senses and raising the mindto the level of àtman or the soul.

QUESTION: How does an action take place?ANSWER: Every action has five causes like

the body and speech; and it is foolish toconsider the àtman (the self) as the doer. Onewho does actions without the sense of doershipand with an untainted mind is never boundby them.

QUESTION: ‘Who’ is God? How can weapproach Him?

ANSWER: He is all—the various items ofa sacrifice, the father, mother and sustainer ofthe universe, the goal and the Lord, the placeof origin and dissolution. He is the sun thatshines, the rain that pours. He is immortalityas well as death. It is he who is propitiatedthrough sacrifices. If people worship him only,are eternally devoted to him, then he will takeover the responsibility of taking care of them.Those who worship other deities reach them,whereas those who worship him, come to him.However he is the Self of all these deities also.What really matters in worshipping him isdevotion. He accepts even a leaf or a floweror water if offered with devotion and faith.He has no enemies nor friends. Even the worstsinner, once he realizes his mistakes andworships God with devotion, becomes trans-formed into a righteous soul.

QUESTION: Tell us something about the wayGod works.

ANSWER: God holds all beings and objectsof the created world from within like a threadholding the beads. He is in fact the best andthe essence in all beings and things. His màyà,comprising the three guëas (sattva, rajas andtamas—which, incidentally is his aparà-prakíti) can delude all and is difficult toovercome. Only those that totally surrenderthemselves to him can transcend it. The foolishand the evil ones do not surrender to him andhence will not attain him. As for his devotees,they are of four types: àrta (one afflicted),arthàrthi (one desirous of worldly gains),jijñàsu (one interested in knowing him) andthe jnàni (the knower). The last one is the bestamong them. People generally take recourseto different deities to fulfil their numerousdesires. However, it is he (Árì Kíäëa, theSupreme Lord) that grants their desires,through those forms. He, the Supreme Lord,being enveloped by his own yogamàyà is not


46

revealed to all. Only those who haveperformed good deeds and are sinless aredevoted to him to get liberation.

QUESTION: What can we learn from thisadvice of Árì Kíäëa?

ANSWER: Arjuna is advised to rememberthe Lord always and fight his battles of life.Then he describes abhyàsayoga or yoga ofrepeated practice of thinking of the Lord. Theyogi who practises it, especially at the lastmoment of his life, will reach the SupremeLord. The repetition of the syllable Om at thisjuncture is a great help. If a person departsfrom the body in this way, he will not comeback to this mundane existence. Attainingother worlds through meritorious deeds willbe of no use since one has to return to thisearth once again. Here Árì Kíäëa mentionsabout the two well-known paths—Arciràdi-màrga (path of light) and Dhùmàdimàrga(path of smoke)—mentioned in the earlierworks like the Upaniäads. The former leads toBrahmaloka (the world of Brahmà) from whichthere is no return, whereas the latter leads toPitíloka (the world of manes) from which onereturns once again to the mortal world. A yogiwho knows about these paths is never againdeluded.

QUESTION: How does one meditate?ANSWER: A person aspiring to meditate

should sit in a clean place, keeping the bodyerect and steady. Controlling and gatheringthe forces of the mind, he should direct ittowards Árì Kíäëa (who is God Himself). Thushe will attain peace. Such yoga is possible onlyfor a person who leads a balanced life,avoiding all extremes. Such a yogi will be ableto see all beings in God and God in all beings.He of an equanimous mind is the best of yogis.Here Arjuna raises two questions: How canone control this fickle mind? What will happento a yogi who fails to attain the goal? Árì Kíäëa

replies that though it is difficult to control themind, it is not impossible. It can be achievedby vairàgya (renunciation) and abhyàsa(practice). As regards the yogi who has slippedfrom the ideal, he will be born once again inthe family of yogis and, getting a conduciveatmosphere, strives even harder, ultimatelyattaining the goal. A yogi, he concludes, issuperior to men of austerity or knowledge orworks; and exhorts Arjuna to become one.

QUESTION: It is said that Arjuna actuallyhad a vision of God. Is it so?

ANSWER: Yes. Arjuna’s curiosity beingroused by what Árì Kíäëa said, he requestsLord Árì Kíäëa to show to him his divine form.The Lord endows him with a divine sight andreveals his Viávarùpa or universal divine form.Decorated with divine garlands and garments,the wondrous cosmic form is more brilliantthan a million suns. The whole world ofvariegated forms, constitutes only a small partof his being. Excited by wonder and joy,Arjuna starts praying to that Divinity. Thisbeautiful prayer hymn of 17 verses gives amoving description of the Viávarùpa or thecosmic form. All beings—divine, human andsubhuman—are being seen in Him. He hasseveral arms, bellies and faces. He is extra-ordinarily brilliant. He has pervaded the wholespace. All beings like gods and sages, arepraising Him with folded hands. The variousheroes arrayed on the battle field are enteringinto Him and getting destroyed like moths inthe fire. Gripped with fear and wonder, Arjunaprays to Him to reveal who He is. The Lordreplies that He is Time, the eternal destroyer,come to annihilate the warriors in the enemyarmies. Since this task will be achieved by Himeven without Arjuna’s involvement, the Lordadvises Arjuna to fight, get victory and fame,and enjoy the kingdom.

QUESTION: Who is a true devotee?


ANSWER: Lord Árì Kíäëa describes thecharacteristics of a bhakta or an ideal devotee.He does not hate anyone. He is friendly to all.He is compassionate and free from egoism asalso possessiveness. He is equanimous inpleasure and pain, ever forgiving and evercontented. Having mastered his passions hehas dedicated his mind unto the Lord. He isnever the cause of unrest for the world, norcan the world upset him. He is free from joyand anger, fear and anxiety. He is beyondpleasure and hatred, sorrow and desires, andhas abandoned all actions, good or bad. Hehas devotion and looks upon friend and foewith an equal eye and is equanimous inhonour and dishonour. Ever contented, havingno particular place to lay his head, he hassteadiness of mind. Such a devotee is ever dearto him.

QUESTION: Tell us something about the ‘threeguëas’?

ANSWER: This prakíiti [or PrimordialNature] gives rise to the three guëas—sattva,rajas and tamas. Sattva is pure and bright,produces pleasure and knowledge, and bindsthe soul through them. Rajas is of the natureof passion, produces desire and attachmentand binds the embodied soul through action.Tamas, born out of ignorance, deludes beingsthrough inadvertence, sloth and sleep. Sattvacreates attachment for happiness, rajas foractions, and tamas, covering knowledge, bindsone to inadvertence. The three guëas areconstantly acting on one another. The rise ofsattva can be inferred by the rise of jñàna orknowledge, of rajas by the rise of greed andactivity and of tamas by the rise of inad-vertence and delusion. Death at the time whensattva is on the ascendant takes one to thepure realms. Ascendance of rajas and tamasat the time of death leads one to birth in thefamilies of those addicted to actions and in

subhuman bodies. Anyone who realizes thatit is the guëas that act and knows the Selfuntouched by them, attains to my being.

QUESTION: Can we go beyond the guëas?ANSWER: Yes. Árì Kíäëa says that one who

is unmoved by the effects of the three guëas(like knowledge or action or delusion) is aguëàtìta (one who is beyond guëas). He isequanimous in sorrow or happiness, looksupon a clod of earth or stone or gold as ofequal worth, is unmoved by the pleasant andthe unpleasant or by praise or blame. He isthe same to enemies and friends. He abandonsall undertakings. He serves me (the Lord) withundeviating love. Such a one is a guëàtìta andbecomes fit to attain Brahman.

QUESTION: In Gìtà, divine versus demoniactraits are mentioned. What are they?

ANSWER: The list of daivì-sampat (divinetraits) comprises 26 qualities, the chief onesbeing: fearlessness, purity of mind, self-control,Vedic studies, austerity, non-violence, truth,spirit of renunciation, compassion, forgivenessand absence of pride. The other list, of theàsurì-sampat (demoniac traits), consists of sixvices: hypocrisy, vainglory, egoism, anger,harsh speech and ignorance of higher values.

Gìtà also gives a long but interestingdescription of the demoniac or evil personsand their way of life. They know neither theperformance of good works nor the need towithdraw from the evil ones. They haveneither purity nor truth. They consider kàmaor lust as the sole cause of creation. Beingaddicted to it, they out of delusion, try to getunholy things. They boast about their wealthor works and exult in destroying their enemies.They dislike the Lord who is the Self of allbeings. Such persons are thrown by me (i.e.,Lord Árì Kíäëa) into abominable births.

The gateway to hell that ultimatelycauses self-destruction is threefold: lust, anger

47


and greed. One who is free from these attainsthe highest abode. For this, one needs to actaccording to the Vedas and the áàstras (holybooks) but with áraddhà or faith.

QUESTION: What are the three types of foodmentioned in the Gìtà?

ANSWER: Food is of three types. Foodconducive to health, strength and purity ofmind, and is pleasant is sàttvika. Foods thatare very bitter, sour or saltish, pungent andproduce diseases are ràjasik. Old and stalefood, the food that has lost its taste and flavour,petrified, spoiled and impure is tàmasic.

QUESTION: What are the types of tapas?ANSWER: Tapas or austerity is of three

types—áàrìra, vàîmaya and mànasa (pertain-ing to the body, speech and mind respectively).Worship of gods, bràhmaëas and preceptorsas also observing purity and continence, istapas of the body. Truthful and unoffensivespeech as also the study of one’s branch of theVedas is tapas of the speech. Peace of mind,control of thoughts and speech, and a pleasantdemeanour is tapas of the mind. When thisthreefold tapas is performed with faith andwithout the desire for its fruits, it is sàttvik. Ifit is done in an ostentatious manner for nameand fame, it is ràjasik. If done without regardto one’s capacity and for harming others it istàmasik.

QUESTION: And what are the types of dàna?ANSWER: Dàna or gifts given as a matter

of duty to persons of the right type and in theright manner belong to the sàttvik type. Ifgiven with the desire for future rewards andnot very willingly, it becomes ràjasik. Giftsgiven in disdain to unworthy persons,transgressing the rules are tàmasik.

QUESTION: What are the types of buddhi anddhíti?

ANSWER: Buddhi (intellect) and dhíti(fortitude) are also of three varieties. Sàttvik

buddhi is aware of bondage and liberation.Ràjasik buddhi is that which is unable tounderstand dharma (righteousness) andadharma (unrighteousness) properly. Tàmasikbuddhi understands everything in the wrongway. Sàttvik dhíti helps in self-control. Ràjasikdhíti makes one to be selfishly attached tothings. Tàmasik dhíti impels one towardssleep, fear and vanity.

QUESTION: What is Gìtà’s view abouthappiness?

ANSWER: Gìtà categorizes sukha orhappiness, into three kinds. That whichappears unpleasant in the beginning but giveshappiness at the end, after a long practiceleading to the mind being established in theàtman (Self) is sàttvik. Happiness got by sense-contact with sense-objects, which appearspleasant in the beginning but ends up indisaster, is ràjasik. Tàmasik happiness causesdelusion and induces laziness.

QUESTION: So, how do we summarise Gìtà’smessage?

ANSWER: Though part of the Mahàbhàrata,it can as well stand on its own as an inde-pendent work. Though taught on the battle-field of Kurukäetra, urging Arjuna to fight, ithas nothing to do with wars or battles orbloodshed, but only with the discharging ofone’s sacred duties of life, however unpleasantthey may be. Though given by Árì Kíäëa toPàrtha or Arjuna in the days of yore, itsdeclarations like, ‘Remember Me and fight!’(8.7) can help and inspire anyone of us,beleaguered with serious problems in life, evennow. Though recognizing multiplicity here, itsprinciple of unity in diversity as signified bythe cosmic form (11.9-13) and the underlyingdivinity (as taught in 7.7), help us to cultivatea holistic approach to the whole universe ofwhich the much talked of ecological balancetoo is only a small aspect.

48


SWAMI GAUTAMANANDA

Bhagavad Gita for the Commoners

A Common Man’s DilemmaThe Gita begins with Arjuna not willing

to wage the war and Sri Krishna exhortinghim to the contrary. Hence the common manasks: ‘Is indulging in violence or war right orwrong?’ Gita’s answer is that war certainlyinvolves violence. But in this realistic world,at times the unrighteous capture power andposition and create trouble for everyone—asin the case of Duryodhana, in the Mahabharata,who was not willing to listen to Sri Krishna’swords of peace and reconciliation. In suchcases, the only way to check the unrighteousis to put suitable righteous people in theirplace.

Thus Gita answers the question thatviolence is right when it is used in duty forthe protection of the cultured, good andrighteous people in the society. It says: ‘Beingkilled you will attain heaven or being vic-torious you will enjoy earth. Therefore, Arjuna,arise and resolve to fight.’1

It assures the individuals who fight onthe side of righteousness ‘heaven’, thusencouraging good people to be dynamic infighting for right causes.

A common man wants to get everythingimmediate, be it solving his worldly problemsor getting the experience God. He is willing toundergo hardships to gain material things, butwhen it comes to getting God-experience, hethinks that it is very easy and can be easily

achieved through meditation. Soon he dis-covers that it is not easy. Meditation is noteasy and it requires preparation by way ofinner purification. Hence when he is advisedthat he should make his mind peaceful bygradually reducing selfish desires throughworking selflessly and dedicating all work asan offering to God (which is the essence ofKarma Yoga), he becomes indecisive as towhether he should work as advised or shouldtake to meditation.

Sri Krishna clears up this uncertaintythus: ‘Two paths have been declared by Me—the way of seeking knowledge throughmeditation for Sankhyas (who have renouncedall desires) and way of action for Yogis (KarmaYogis, who have yet to renounce desires).’ Thisverse indicates that a Karma Yogi becomes aman of meditation by sincerely doing his workselflessly and offering them to God.2

To Own or Not to OwnNext question that assails the common

mind is: What is the meaning of Gita whichsays, ‘Do the works for the sake of Godwithout any attachment?’3 How can we workwithout attachment or expecting anything?

It means that we should have the attitudeof a cashier working in a bank who has tohandle a lot of cash but knows that he is notthe owner or the enjoyer of that sum becauseit is owned and enjoyed by the bank, his

A senior trustee of the Ramakrishna Math and a member of the Governing Body of the Ramakrishna Mission, theauthor is the President of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai.


50

employer. He is only entrusted a work whichhe should do earnestly and honestly.

If we feel that this creation is God’s, andHe is in the heart of everyone, making themdo as they do, then we would feel that He isthe doer and that the results of our actions arealso His. We would then become free fromego and possessiveness. This is the realdetachment, which would free us from thebonds of good or meritorious (punya) and evilor unmeritorious (papa) effects of our actions.Thus we would attain the desireless, calmmind. This is how Karmayoga leads one toJnanayoga (meditation on Atman) or toBhaktiyoga (meditation on God).

People who are given to a consumeristand materialistic way of life often wonder whyHindus always talk of the role of religion inevery field of their activity—in education,social life, economic and ethical life.

Gita answers this by pointing that Godincarnates whenever religion degenerates andirreligion grows.4 The history records that Godhas incarnated Himself in India the highestnumber of times. This is why religion hasbecome the backbone of India. This is thereason Hindus are the most religious andspiritually-inclined people. Even during thehard times of Mogul and British rule in India,the Hindus believed that they would be ‘saved’by God Himself.

The common man hears that Jesuswashes away the sins of sinners who takerefuge in him. He asks does Hinduism haveany such assurance? Gita says: Even if youare the worst sinner, you will cast off all yoursins through the knowledge of your ownDivine Self.5

This statement also refers to the potentialdivinity in every being and when it isawakened, this inherent Divinity washes awayall sins and weaknesses.

Spiritual Life is for AllAnother question that nags the common

mind is which type of worship is superior—the one that is done with all pomp and showby offering large quantities of fruits, sweets,flowers, clothes, wealth, etc., to God or theone which is done with genuine prayers,charity, contemplation and meditation? Gitacalls the first one as dravyamaya yajna (worshipwith various material objects) and the latterjnanamaya yajna (worship with knowledge andinner earnestness) and declares, ‘The worshipthrough knowledge is superior to worshipperformed with materials. All actions areincluded in knowledge.’6 In other words, whatmatters in the spirit in which one offers one’sworship to God.

The question of who is the right personwho can be a guru and guide a common manin spiritual life is also an important one. TheGita makes it clear that only when an aspiranthas attained to purity of mind through dravyayajna and jnana yajna as mentioned above thatthe Guru comes into a person’s life. It is likethe functioning of the law of demand andsupply in the spiritual realm. Once the spiritualaspirant is ready, and approaches the guruwith humility, prayerfulness and submissive-ness, the guru would teach the highestknowledge out of pure love and compassion.The Gurus are beyond all desires and hencethey teach only out of compassion to removethe miseries of this cycle of birth and death.Gita advises us: ‘Learn that knowledgethrough prostration (humbleness), inquiry(prayerfulness) and service (submissiveness).The wise one, who are the knowers of Truth,will teach you.’7

It is common to hear that nowadays‘meditation’ is being practised in businesshouses, factories and farms. What is truemeditation? True meditation is when the mind,


51

‘well-controlled and calm, becomes fixed onthe inner Self alone, and one is free from crav-ing for all enjoyments, then one is said to haveattained Yoga (meditation).’8 One attains thisstate when the mind becomes steady andfixed like ‘a lamp kept in a windless place.’9

Such a lamp does not flicker and that is thesimile which describes the mind of a perfectedyogi.

There is no loss of time and energy spentin this method of Yoga. If, for some reason,one dies before reaching this goal of perfectconcentration, then one starts again in his nextbirth from where he had left his efforts in hisprevious birth. This goes on until he attainsthe goal of Self-Realization. Gita says, ‘Verily,a yogi who practices assiduously beingpurified by all sins is perfected through manybirths and attains the supreme goal.’10 Thisexplains the question about how some peopleare inclined towards spiritual life from a veryyoung age. It is because they have struggledhard in their previous lives.

The common man sees some peopleworshipping incarnations like Rama, Krishna,Buddha, Jesus, Chaitanya, Ramakrishna andsome others worshipping gods like the sun,moon, agni, vayu, or their ancestors. Do theyall attain the same goal? Gita says, ‘Those whoworship the gods (devas) attain to gods; thosewho worship ancestors (both states do not lastlong), attain to ancestors; those who worshipMe (the incarnation or God Himself) attainsMe (and that state is eternal and everlasting).’11

Hence, the Gita suggests that one should onlyworship Divine Incarnations, if one wants tobecome Immortal which happens by the graceof God.

What about the people who worshipplaces, rivers, hills, trees, etc., as holy? Whyare they held sacred? The Gita says, ‘Whateverthing is glorious, excellent or outstanding,

verily know that it is born of a portion of God’ssplendour.’12 By associating divine grandeurwith material objects, one can remember Himconstantly even though being amidst variousmundane activities.

Answers to Some Common QuestionsThis is also an important issue: whether

a person given to sense pleasures (generallycalled ‘wicked’) can come out of it? Is thereany hope for him?

Gita points out that the inscrutable graceof God falls on such people also and redeemsthem.

Even if a very wicked person worships me withone pointed mind, he should be regarded asvirtuous for he has rightly resolved. He soonbecomes righteous minded and attains eternalpeace.13

How can a wicked person become sopure as to worship with one-pointed mind?This is possible only by the power and graceof God and nothing else! Angulimala inBuddha’s life and Girish Ghosh in Sri Rama-krishna’s life are instances to the point.

Generally one hears that it is the laws ofscience on which universe goes on. One alsohears that it is God’s will that controlseverything in the universe. The doubt ariseswhether these two sets of laws are separate?If so, which is superior? Gita says that God’swill, with the omniscient God behind it, issupreme. If required, it can undo the physicallaws. Sri Ramakrishna once showed flowersof two different colours on the same branch ofa hibiscus plant which had yielded till thenonly single-colour flowers. Many times, dueto the fervent prayers of devotees, manysupernatural things too take place. All suchcases are instances of the God’s will settingaside physical laws. This is the reason thatdevotees of God do not fear because they are


all under the will of God and whatever Goddoes, being one’s own father and mother, isgood for them.

Again, some think of God as being withform, some others believe His as being withoutit. Which is superior? Gita says that embodiedbeings find it easy to worship God with form.Those who consider themselves as atman (i.e.,not body), they can worship God withoutform. They also attain God but their path isvery difficult. As Sri Krishna says,

Those who worship Me fixing their mind onMe, ever devoted and endowed with supremefaith—them I regard as the best yogins.14 Thetrouble of those whose minds are attached tothe formless is greater; for the way of formlessis attained with difficulty by the embodied soul(or the person attached to his body).15

But what about the idea of caste? Oursociety is divided into numberless hereditarycastes and sub-castes. Are they sanctioned byGod?

Sri Krishna in the Gita says: ‘The fourcastes were created by me according to thedifferences in the aptitudes and actions ofpersons.’16

These four castes are actually to be seenfrom the idea of three gunas or qualitiesmentioned in the Gita. Those people who havemore of sattva quality (serenity) in theirpersonality and therefore are able to controltheir mind and the sense are Brahmanas. Thosepeople whose mental make-up has the qualityof rajas (activity) plus a little of sattva, aregenerally courageous and fit to wage war; theyare called Kshatriyas. Those in whom one findsrajas together with a little of tamas (indolence),are good in agriculture and trade and thus arecalled Vysyas. And, those whose nature is fullof tamas in addition to a little of Rajas, canonly serve or assist others and are calledShudras.

It is to be noted here that the membersof the same family can belong to differentcastes depending on their aptitudes. Thuscastes are not hereditary but based on aptitude.It is also evident that the innumerable sub-castes in the Hindu society have no basis inGita. They are only trade guilds, groupings ofpersons of same occupation such as weaving,carpentry and so on. Gita also says that ‘allmen are parts of God.’17 Thus a spiritualequality runs across all the castes in spite oftheir outward difference in duties.

One more common question finally: wefind some people gifted with good qualitieseven from their infancy whereas some are bornwith bad qualities. What does Gita say aboutthem? Sri Krishna explains: ‘Men are of twokinds, the divine and the demoniac.’18

The divine ones are fearless, pure,charitable, self-controlled, sacrificing, austere,upright, loving, truthful, calm, tranquil,friendly, kind, non-covetous, gentle, modest,strong-willed, bold, forgiving, forbearing andhumble. They attain to supreme freedom indue course. The demoniacal ones are osten-tatious, arrogant, self-oriented, angry, rude andignorant. These are deluded birth after birthand fall into still lower conditions because oftheir excessive attachment to lust, anger andgreed, the three gates to hell. These demoniacalpeople who do not obey the words of saintsand scriptures do not attain happiness in thisworld nor attain the supreme goal. They arein a way doomed. Hence, the Gita warns usto be ever awake to the teachings of saints,seers and scriptures.

Modern man being materialistic inoutlook thinks that there is no need forworship, charity or austerities prescribed asduty by our saints, seers and scriptures. Butthe Gita says worship (yajna), charity (dana),austerities (tapas) are essential to purify our

52


mind and make us fit for spiritual progress.All these must be done in a spirit of worshipof God. ‘By performing one’s ordained dutiesand dedicating their fruits to God, one attainsspiritual illumination.’19

The ultimate message of Gita to thecommon man is this: ‘Performing all workshaving Me as the supreme goal and not theheaven, etc., one attains to the supreme stateof Vishnu through the grace of God.’20

ConclusionThus Bhagavad Gita answers most

questions of the common man regarding God,

man, the world, the way of bondage and theway to freedom. Finally it asserts that theessence of spiritual life is to realize our being,the Atman, and our eternal relationship of lovewith the Creator. Or as Sri Ramakrishna said,‘First God, then the world’. He used to saythat the number increases if you put manyzeros after the figure one; but the zeros don’thave any value if the one is not there. TheBible too says, ‘First seek ye the kingdom ofheaven and all else shall be added unto you.’

In this age of materialism and infor-mation explosion, the best guidance the comm-on man needs is the message of the Gita.

‘All of Them Worship Him’

Shri Krishna says in the Gita (VII.16), ‘Four classes of people worship Me: the

distressed, the seeker of material things, the inquirer, and the knower of truth.’

People who are in distress approach God for relief. If they are ill, they worship

Him to be healed;if they lose their wealth, they pray to Him to get it back.

There are other people who ask Him for all kinds of things, because they

are full of desires—name, fame, wealth, position and so on. They will say,

“O Virgin Mary, I will make an offering to you if I get what I want. If you are

successful in granting my prayer, I will worship God and give you a part of

everything.” Men not so material as that, but still with no faith in God, feel

inclined to know about Him. They study philosophies, read scriptures, listen to

lectures, and so on. They are the inquirers. The last class are those who worship

God and know Him. All these four classes of people are good, not bad. All of them

worship Him.

—Swami Vivekananda, CW, 8:120

53

1. Gita, 2.372. ibid., 3.33. ibid., 3.94. ibid., 4.75. ibid., 4.36

6. ibid., 4.337. ibid., 4.348. ibid., 6.189. ibid., 6.1910. ibid., 6.45

11. ibid., 9.2512. ibid., 10.4113. ibid., 9.30/3114. ibid., 12.215. ibid., 12.5

16. ibid., 4.1317. ibid., 15.718. ibid., 16.619. ibid., 18.4520. ibid., 18.56

References


SWAMI BHASKARANANDA

The author is the Head of Vedanta Society of Western Washington, Seattle, USA. He is the editor of GlobalVedanta, a quarterly published from there and has several books to his credit.

True Happiness—Gita’s Counsel

What is Happiness?In plain language, happiness is a feeling

of well-being acquired through the fulfilmentof a cherished desire. For example, thefulfilment of our desires for health, money,position, praise, appreciation, love, honour,fame, etc., gives us happiness. The Sanskritcounterpart of the word happiness is sukham.

The Bhagavad Gita uses the word sukham17 times. Counting other variations of the wordthe number comes to 34.

Happiness and BlissTo most people happiness is synonymous

with joy. According to Hindu tradition, joyderived from sense objects is sukham. In thissense sukham is a state of sense-enjoyment. Butsuper-sensuous joy is not sukham; it is anandam.In English it is called Bliss.

Anandam is ‘true happiness’. Anandam,in the highest sense of the word, is a state be-yond enjoyment and suffering. To explain, letme suppose, I have a terrible headache. Aslong as my headache lasts, I am suffering. Butafter taking two tablets of Aspirin my headacheis gone. Am I suffering now? No, I am neithersuffering nor enjoying. I have gone beyondboth. This state of relief from both sufferingand enjoyment could be compared to anandam.It is this anandam which is ‘true happiness.’

According to Hindu philosophers, thisworld of time, space and causation is a world

of dvandvas—pairs of opposites. For example,darkness and light belong to a pair ofopposites. They are inseparable; to knowdarkness we must also know light, and viceversa. Similarly, enjoyment and suffering forma pair of opposites. Anandam or ‘supreme Bliss’is neither enjoyment nor suffering; it trans-cends both. This transcendental Bliss is oneaspect of Brahman [Brahman is sat-chit-anandamor Existence-Consciousness-Bliss].

The Bhagavad Gita, however, does notuse the word anandam. Nevertheless, it usesthe words sukham-atyantikam, sukham-uttamam,as well as the expression atyantam sukham toindicate this supreme Bliss or anandam. Theadjective atyantikam means ‘absolute,’ whilethe adjectives uttamam and atyantam mean‘absolute, supreme or unsurpassable.’ All theseexpressions mean anandam or Bliss.

In this manner the Bhagavad Gita speaksabout both sukham and anandam.

One cannot have only happiness, and notsuffering: The problem with sense-derivedsukham is that it never comes alone. Along withit inevitably comes duhkha or suffering. As thestory goes, a poor man petitioned to God withthe prayer to become rich. He wrote to God, ‘Iam unhappy and miserable because I amextremely poor. Please make me rich.’

God wrote on his petition ‘Prayergranted’ and then returned it to him. Shortlythereafter the poor man won one million


55

dollars in a lottery. He invested that money inreal estate and the stock market. In a matter ofyears he became a multimillionaire. Keepingtrack of his investments kept him awfullybusy. He hardly had any time to spend withhis family. Aside from that, worrying abouthis money and investments all the time, hedeveloped high blood pressure, an ulcer inhis stomach and high blood sugar. To top thelist of his problems, one day his wifethreatened divorce.

Feeling totally helpless, he complainedto God, ‘Lord, to become happy I prayed toyou for money, why then am I so unhappy?Why do I have all these problems?’ Then heheard the voice of God.

God said, ‘Find the petition that Igranted, and read the fine print.’

The man took the petition out of his safeand carefully read the fine print with the helpof a magnifying glass. It read: ‘You’ll beextremely rich, but along with it you will haveworries, high blood pressure, an ulcer in yourstomach, high blood sugar, and also a lot offamily troubles.’

In spite of the moral contained in theabove story one may think that while earthlyhappiness is accompanied by sorrow orsuffering, the happiness or enjoyment inheaven must be unending and eternal. But SriKrishna shows the flaw in that kind of thinkingin chapter 9 (verse 21) of the Bhagavad Gita.He implicitly says that the enjoyment orhappiness in heaven, which is the result ofmeritorious action performed during aperson’s lifetime on earth, can never produceeternal happiness or enjoyment in heaven.Action performed on earth, no matter howrighteous, has to be finite. And common sensetells us that finite action can never produceinfinite effect. That is why eternal and never-ending heavenly enjoyment is impossible.

Eventually the merits of finite action will beused up and one has to be reborn on earth.

In the second chapter of the BhagavadGita (verse 38), Sri Krishna asks Arjuna to treatboth sukha (happiness/enjoyment) and duhkha(sorrow/suffering) equally. In other words, heasks Arjuna to be indifferent to both becauseboth of them come as a pair of opposites. Thisalso is a secret to attaining true happiness orBliss. The realisation that happiness andsorrow are only two sides of the same coinwill eventually enable Arjuna to go beyondboth, and thus attain transcendental Bliss ortrue happiness.

As long as a person considers himself tobe a psychophysical being, he belongs toprakriti. Prakriti or ‘Mother Nature’ is com-posed of the three gunas—sattva, rajas andtamas. The mental states such as sukha andduhkha—happiness and sorrow—are causedby the gunas. Therefore, to have ‘true happi-ness’ one has to go beyond the three gunas ofprakriti.

Sense-derived Happiness is caused bysattva-guna: In verse 45 of the second chapterof the Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna first asksArjuna to go beyond the three gunas. Butrealizing the level where Arjuna stands, hecomes down to that level and advises Arjunato be established in sattva guna, because it issattva guna which ‘attaches one to happiness’(Gita, 14.9). This happiness, however, is sense-derived happiness; it is not ‘true happiness.’

True happiness or Bliss can be attainedthrough the yoga of meditation: In verse 2.66 ofthe Bhagavad Gita we read: ‘For the unsteadythere is no wisdom, and there is no meditationfor the unsteady man. And for an un-meditativeperson there is no peace. How can there behappiness for one without peace?’ Peace isneither enjoyment nor suffering; it is neithersense-derived happiness nor sorrow. This


56

peace is anandam or ‘true happiness,’ and it isattained through meditation.

In Gita (6.21), Sri Krishna says, ‘Whenone experiences that absolute Bliss (sukham-atyantikam) which can be intuited by theintellect and which is beyond the senses, andbeing established thus, the person surely doesnot swerve from Reality.’

Again in 6.27, Sri Krishna says, ‘SupremeBliss (sukham-uttamam) comes to this yogi alonewhose mind has become perfectly tranquil,whose (quality of) rajas has been eliminated,who has become identical with Brahman, andis taintless (free from vice).’

Also in 6.28 Sri Krishna says, ‘Byconcentrating his mind constantly thus, thetaintless yogi easily attains the absolute Bliss(atyantam sukham) of contact with Brahman, andis taintless (free from vice).’

‘True happiness’ can also be attained throughthe Yoga of Devotion: In 14.27, Sri Krishna saysto Arjuna, ‘And he who serves Me throughthe unswerving Yoga of Devotion, he, havinggone beyond the gunas (of prakriti), qualifiesfor becoming Brahman.’

True happiness or Bliss is beyond the threegunas. In the second chapter of the BhagavadGita, Sri Krishna talks about the atman or ourtrue Self. Our ego, which is none other than athought born in the mind, is the false self.Being mental, it is a modification of prakriti or

the three gunas. Birth, growth, decay, deathand all such phenomena take place within thedomain of the three gunas. The true Self or theatman is beyond such phenomena. It is beyondprakriti or the three gunas. The atman or thetrue Self is identical with Brahman. Then again,Brahman is infinite Bliss or anandam. So alsois atman or the true Self. Therefore, the trueSelf in us is none other than infinite Bliss. Thus,‘true happiness’ is our real nature. This is whyin 2.45, Sri Krishna asks Arjuna to go beyondthe three gunas to discover this ‘true happiness’or Bliss that forms the very core of Arjuna’sbeing.

‘True happiness’ or infinite Bliss isindicated by expressions like Brahma-nirvanam,Brahma-bhutam, etc. The Gita use the expressionBrahma-nirvanam to mean identification of theindividual soul with Brahman in various places.

It also uses either the expression Brahma-bhutam or Brahmabhutah to indicate theidentification of the individual soul withBrahman.

In 14.26 the expression Brahma-bhuyayahas been used to mean ‘becoming one withBrahman.’

ConclusionThus we see that by the expression ‘true

happiness’ only our Brahman nature isindicated throughout the Bhagavad Gita.

Note: The English translation of the verses of the Bhagavad Gita in this article is based on the Englishtranslation of the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Gambhirananda.

Make Gita your constant companion. Be always of good cheer.

Never allow sorrow or dejection to take possession of your soul

which is ever free and blissful.

—Swami Ramakrishnananda


Inner integration, according to theBhagavad Gita, is marked by the rise of thequality of sattva (spiritual balance) in anindividual over the qualities of rajas (restless-ness) and tamas (inertia). Sattva manifests itselfas honesty of conduct, promptness, freedomfrom dependence and anxiety, discriminationbetween right and wrong, skill in action,fortitude and forbearance in the face ofunfavourable circumstances, even-minded-ness, firm faith, and contentment. Opposedto sattva are rajas and tamas: rajas is character-ized by greed, overactivity, overambition,enterprise, unrest, and longing; tamas bydarkness, indolence, inadvertence, anddelusion.

The three qualities, or gunas, are presentin every individual in differing proportions,and these differing proportions of the gunasmake for the difference between one per-sonality and another.

An individual in whom sattva prevailsover rajas and tamas is said to be sattvika; anindividual in whom rajas prevails over sattvaand tamas is said to be rajasika; an individualin whom tamas prevails over sattva and rajasis said to be tamasika. The rise of sattva leadsto inner integration, the rise of rajas to tension,and the rise of tamas to disintegration anddestruction. In keeping with these three

Gita’s Description of Integrated PersonalitySWAMI ADISWARANANDA

divisions, all personalities come under threebroad categories of sattvika, rajasika, andtamasika.

The Bhagavad Gita describes in detail thecharacteristic behaviour patterns of the threetypes of personalities in regard to their faith,food preferences, worship, practice of aus-terity, making of gifts, knowledge of reality,performance of action, character pattern, senseof discrimination of right and wrong, firmnessof mind, and sense of happiness:

Faith. The sattvika person worships thegods; the rajasika person worships demigodsand demons; and the tamasika person worshipsghosts and disembodied spirits.

Food Preferences. The sattvika personfavours food that promotes longevity, vitality,strength, health, pleasure, and appetite, andthat is succulent, oleaginous, substantial, andagreeable. The rajasika person prefers food thatis excessively bitter, sour, salty, hot, acrid, dry,and burning. The tamasika person likes foodthat is poorly cooked, tasteless, putrid, stale,unclean, and left over.

Worship. The sattvika person followsscriptural rules and orthodox observances andworships for the sake of worship; the rajasikaperson’s worship is desire-prompted andostentatious; and the tamasika person’s worshipis whimsical and devoid of faith.

Swami Adiswarananda (1919-2007) was the Head of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Society, NewYork. A deep thinker and prolific writer, he authored many insightful books on Vedanta and itscontemporary significance. The following is an excerpt from his book Meditation and Its Practice,Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, Pp. 357-360.


58

Practice of Austerity. The sattvika personis steadfast, full of faith, thorough, and notprompted by any desire for worldly gain. Therajasika person practices austerity for displayand in order to gain respect, recognition, andhonour. The tamasika person’s practice ofausterity is self-torture, based on foolishness,and for the purpose of doing harm to others.

Giving Gifts. The sattvika person givesgifts expecting no return and from a sense ofduty, giving at the right place, at the righttime, and to worthy person. The rajasika personmakes gifts in a grudging mood, expectingresults, and for the sake of recompense. Thetamasika person gives without respect, at animproper place and time, and to an unworthyperson.

Knowledge of Reality. The sattvika personsees undivided unity in the midst of diver-sities; the rajasika person sees only diversities;the tamasika person’s knowledge of reality istrivial, meaningless, and not founded on truth.

Performance of Action. The sattvikaperson acts with non-attachment, desiring nogain; the rajasika person acts in order to gratifyhis own egotistical desires and with mucheffort; the tamasika person is indiscriminate,irresponsible, and careless in regard to theconsequences and results of his actions.

Character Pattern. The sattvika personis free from attachment and aversion, isendowed with fortitude and zeal, and isunaffected by success and failure. The rajasikaperson is passionately attached to his action;hankers after its fruits; is greedy, violent, andimpure; and is easily carried away by joy andsorrow. The tamasika person is vulgar,unsteady, arrogant, deceitful, malicious,indolent, despondent, and procrastinating.

Discrimination between Right and Wrong.The sattvika person is always guided by

spiritual consideration; the rajasika person’ssense of discrimination is distorted and faultybecause it is heavily coloured by personaldesires and attachments; the tamasika person’ssense of discrimination is enveloped indarkness and delusion.

Firmness of Mind. The sattvika personshows unswerving concentration and self-control; the rajasika person exhibits firmnessof mind in his pursuit of pleasure, wealth, andfulfilment of desires; the tamasika person’sfirmness is a form of rigidity that will not giveup stupidity and delusion, sleep, fear, grief,despondency, and sensuality.

Sense of Happiness. The sattvika person’shappiness is an inner state born of the clearknowledge of the Self, which may be likepoison at first but like nectar in the end. Therajasika person’s happiness is born of thecontact of the senses with their objects, and itis like nectar at first but like poison in theend. The tamasika person derives happinessfrom sleep, sloth, error, and inertia.

In brief, a sattvika person is guided byspiritual consideration, a rajasika person byself-interest, and a tamasika person by inertia.Integration is thus an inner movement, aprogression from the state of inertia (tamas)and self-affirmation (rajas) toward the state ofspiritual balance (sattva). An individual maybe said to be attaining inner integration andprogressing well in his path of meditationwhen a sattvika behavioural pattern becomesmore and more evident in him. No matterwhat path the aspirant follows, the quality ofsattva is vital to him. It is the precursor of allspiritual success and, therefore, of success inmeditation. Inner integration paves the wayfor concentration of mind and meditation. AsSri Ramakrishna says: ‘Sattva is the last stepof the stairs; next is the roof.’


C S RAMAKRISHNAN

A former editor of The Vedanta Kesari, Sri C.S. Ramakrishnan was a long-standing and close devotee from Chennai.

‘I Take Care of Their Yogakshema’

A Fascinating StoryThe story goes that a poor devotee was

doing parayana [ritualistic recitation] of theBhagavad Gita regularly. One day when hecame to the following verse (Gita, 9.22)

ananyaschintayanto mam ye janah paryupasatetesham nityabhiyuktanam yogakshemam vahamyaham[‘Persons who, meditating on Me as non-separate, worship Me in all beings, to them thusever zealously engaged, I carry what they lackand preserve what they already have.’ ]

He thought there was a mistake here. Isthe Lord supposed to—yogakshemam vaha-myaham i.e., ‘I carry the material for welfareon My head to the devotee’? The scholar-devotee felt that this is not appropriate. Hetook a red ink pen and cancelled in two strokesthe phrase vahamyaham. Instead he wrote dada-myaham i.e. ‘I give yogakshema to My devotees.’

Now, his wife came to him and told himthat there was nothing in the kitchen forcooking. She implored him to meet one of hisdevotees and get some grant. The scholaraccordingly went out and tried to meet someof his rich trusted disciples but was unlucky.Even after two hours he had to return emptyhanded.

To his surprise he found that the homehad been well decorated with garlands andthe fragrance of many dishes was wafting. Hiswife asked him to hurry and do the puja sothat they could all partake of the sacred foodthat had been offered to God (prasada). The

scholar was stupefied and asked who broughtall these delicious dishes. The wife said that itwas his young disciple, a dark boy, whobrought these things. When the scholar saidhe did not meet any dark boy that day, thewife told him that as an identification markthe boy had two red strokes on his back. Redmarks! The scholar was aghast. The Lordhimself had come carrying on his head theofferings! He was insisting that the phrasevahamyaham was the correct one and notdadamyaham. The red marks were the twostrokes he had scored on the wordvahamyaham! The story illustrates how muchthe Lord takes care of the devotees.

Understanding Yogakshema

The term yogakshema can be interpretedin two ways. Yoga is getting or acquiring andkshema means maintaining. Therefore anyeffort we make to get something and thentaking steps to maintain that is yogakshema. Asecond way of interpretation is yogena kshema,welfare through proper yoga.

The first interpretation summarises ourworldly life. We spend all our life trying toget many things. We try to fulfil one desireafter another. But we find that there is no endto such seeking. Getting one desire fulfiledonly leads to another desire nudging us. Eitherthe desire we seek is not fulfilled or it givesplace to a still stronger desire. This goes onendlessly. So in the worldly life we may work


60

sincerely to get a desire fulfilled but may notget the corresponding kshema. We find we mayhave to take many more steps for maintainingintact the desire already obtained. Kshemabecomes a mirage—tempting us but notfulfilling us.

This principle haunts us in all aspects oflife. Not only wealth, we want to secure moreand more. We are also in need of keepingourselves healthy. Maintenance of healthbecomes a great problem. Likewise we earn aplace in society by doing certain appropriatethings, and in order to maintain that statuswe have to work still harder, very often withno corresponding benefits. Not only one’sposition in society but also one’s relationshipsin the family are governed by this path ofestablishing good relations and enjoying peaceof mind. All the other aspects of life like inbusiness, politics, social status and so on aresubject to this pursuit of fulfilling desires non-stop.

Thus it looks as if while yoga is un-avoidable kshema does not necessarily follow.Therefore the second interpretation of yoga-kshema has to be carefully examined. Kshemaor welfare is to be obtained through properyoga—yogena-kshema. In spiritual life we havethe four yogas of bhakti, jnana, karma and dhyana.They are royal paths by means of which wecan walk along the highway of kshema.

A more appropriate elucidation is thestatement yoga karmasu kausalam—Yoga isdexterity in action i.e., whatever work we do,be it small or big, it should be as dexterous aspossible. It is not the amount of work we dothat matters but the skill with which we do it.It should be noted that kausalam has alsoanother derivation namely kausalya idam i.e.,this work is for the welfare not only of myselfbut also of every one else connected with it.This is an underlining of the fact that the work

we do should be unselfish and beneficial toall around. This is what is known as nishkama-karma or selfless work.

Wider Meaning of Kshema

In order that the yoga or the path yieldsgood results we should try to fill our mindwith positive ideas. What is called the ego isonly wallowing in negative ideas like anger,greed and hate. If we fill our mind with thecorresponding positive ideas we can clearlyaccount and attain kshema. Therefore, yoga isnot a formidable undertaking but an orderly,harmonious positivistic approach to everyproblem in life. It is here that Swami Viveka-nanda’s mahavakya reminds us that ‘each soulis potentially divine’ and this divinity can bebrought out through proper yoga. Thereforeyoga and kshema need not be considered astwo different things. They are merely theobverse and reverse of the same coin. All theefforts we make to attain kshema really formyoga. For instance there is the instruction thatwe should be samadarshis i.e., equal sighted. Ifwe are not narrow-minded we can treat everyone as equal.

Of course this requires a lot of practice,for we are born with a heavy load of samskaras[past impressions] that separate the ‘I’ fromthe ‘you’. It is not difficult but it takes a lot ofpractice. We can be happy in any circumstanceif we are able to treat everything that comesto us as God given. The mother may give bittermedicines or chocolate for the welfare of thechild. It is foolishness on the part of the childto think of the mother as kind or cruel to it.God gives us what is necessary for our realkshema. In our narrow mindedness we maynot understand the manner in which Godsends us the yogakshema. Any work donewithout selfishness and with perfection is yogathat will lead us to undisputed Kshema.


SWAMI DAYATMANANDA

Meditating on the Message of the Gita

Being the most popular of Hinduscriptures, hundreds of commentaries havebeen written on the Bhagavad Gita. Of thesethe shortest is the commentary by Sri Rama-krishna. He says:

What is the significance of the Gita? It is whatyou find by repeating the word ten times. It isthen reversed into ‘tagi’, which means a personwho has renounced everything for God. Andthe lesson of the Gita is: ‘O man, renounceeverything and seek God alone.’ Whether a manis a monk or a householder, he has to shake offall attachment from his mind.1

The Gita is one of the most practicalbooks, giving down-to-earth solutions to allproblems of life—spiritual or secular. It is notjust a book to be read but also a book to bemeditated upon. Swami Turiyananda, a directdisciple of Sri Ramakrishna, used to say thathe meditated on each and every verse of themajor Upanishads until he realised theirpurport. This is what every spiritual aspirantshould also do, whatever scripture he follows.

The Practice of MeditationThe practice of meditation has become

much popular these days. People, of course,meditate for various reasons—for peace ofmind, stress-relief, to improve relationships,and even to gain material benefits. No doubt,meditation helps in attaining all these but theyare mere trifles. The real purpose of meditationis to experience God or attain Self-knowledge.

When we hear the word meditation, itbrings before us the picture of a person sittingin a posture—usually padmasana—with hiseyes closed and lost in some deep thoughts.Though this is what meditation looks fromoutside, meditation is more than this, and weshould have a clear idea of what meditation is.

Meditation is a mental activity. In thisinner act we meditate on an ideal and inter-nalise it, making it our very nature. In the idealstate of meditation, the meditator becomes onewith the Ishta devata [the chosen form of God]or the idea he is meditating upon. In otherwords, the meditator’s whole nature orbehaviour must undergo change; all the oldhabits (mental and physical) must be replacedby newer and better habits. Meditation cannotbe considered a success unless this trans-formation takes place, however long a personmight be practising Japa or meditation.

The process and the results of meditationare described in the sixth chapter of the Gita.Yoga is a state in which the disciplined mindbecomes perfectly still like a lamp placed in awindless place. Yoga means utterly losing ofoneself in Atman, the inherent divine core ofour personality. This state of perfect absorptionis the highest state and no other gain isconsidered equal to it. A person, who becomesestablished in this state is called a Yogi,becomes free from all suffering and swims inunequalled bliss. Being one with God, hebecomes one with all beings.

Swami Dayatmananda is the Head of Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, Buckinghamshire, UK.


62

Since all beings long to be free fromsuffering and attain unending happiness, evenfrom a utilitarian point of view, meditation isa worthwhile pursuit. What can we expectfrom meditation? Here are some of theimmediate benefits of practising meditation:

Greater concentration, and improvedability to comprehend, specially the teachingsof the scriptures.

Deepening of our faith (shraddha) inthe truths taught in the scriptures.

Increased self-awareness, which helpsto identify and overcome our weaknesses.

Self-acceptance and acceptance of therealities of life in general. This sense ofacceptance makes one more responsible for allthat life brings.

Goal-orientation and thoughtfulness inour dealings.

Greater chances of development of ourlatent possibilities.

Enhanced patience, forbearance andcalmness of mind.

Meditation on the GitaThis is what the practice of mediation

promises us. Now, with this in mind, let usmeditate on a few salient teachings of the Gitain order to make them a part of our life.

1. Life is a battlefield.

Life is not a bed of roses but a battlefield.No one can escape suffering. Sri Ramakrishnaused to say that, caught in the net of the fiveelements, Brahman weeps. Incarnations of Godare also seen to undergo much suffering.Hence it is useless to try escaping from theinevitable. Heat and cold, loss and profit,pleasure and pain—dualities of life—alwayscome together. A devotee fully accepts thisfact and remains calm, and turns his mindtowards God.

Life is not a mere battlefield; it is both adharma-kshetra [the field of righteousness], andalso a kuru-kshetra, [the field of action]. Thisfield of life yields the faithful result ofwhatever we do. No one can cheat the divineLord who is Viswatomukha, the All-pervadingOne, a silent witness to all our thoughts, wordsand deeds. We reap what we sow. Hence, wealone are responsible both for our sufferingand our happiness, our progress as well asour failure. This is the basis of the law ofKarma.

2. Our battle is with the enemy within

Our battle is not with an externalenemy—external elements and circumstancesare mere expressions of our inner state. Arjunawas not frightened of the Kauravas—he haddefeated them many times in the past. He wasovercome by moha or delusion. At the end ofhis teachings, Sri Krishna asks Arjuna if hehas rid himself of his moha. He repliesemphatically, ‘Yes, by your grace I am rid ofthis delusion and my smriti or memory of myreal nature, is obtained.’ [that is, ‘now I knowthat I am not the body or mind, but I am theAtman’].2

Our enemy is ajnana or ignorance of ourreal nature. This ignorance deludes us all.Vedanta tells us that we suffer this forget-fulness. Though we are the ever-blissful atman,we identify ourselves with matter and that iswhat causes suffering. This identification iswhat is called ignorance and is expressed inthe ideas ‘I’ and ‘mine’. We mistake the un-real for the real and that is how we perceivethe world and undergo all its relativeexperience.

Specifically, this ignorance manifests inthe form of our inner enemies of negative andharmful tendencies. Speaking of the three mostpowerful ones, Sri Krishna says:


63

Triple is this gate of hell, destructive of the self—lust, anger and greed; therefore one shouldforsake these three.3

Sri Ramakrishna too summed up world-liness as ‘lust, and gold’ (kama-kanchana). Onlya hero can conquer these powerful enemies.Once one conquers them, one attains Self-knowledge and becomes wholly fulfilled andhappy. ‘He who can withstand in this world,’tells Sri Krishna, ‘before the fall of the body,the impulse arising from lust and anger, he issteadfast [in yoga], he is a happy man.’4 Onewho is free from these three is a jivan-mukta—free while living.

3. The Goal of life

We are all [potentially] divine. Nothingcan alter this fact. We come from God, live inGod, and go back to God. However much thisdivinity might be obscured, it manifests itselfin the end. Gita states this truth succinctly:

The unreal never is. The real never is not. Menpossessed of the knowledge of the Truth fullyknow both these.5

If we are all divine then the goal of life isclear. Says Sri Ramakrishna: ‘The goal of lifeis God-realisation, to see God in everything,in everyone at all times.’ It may seem to take along time, but in the end all of us are going toreach God. Evolution presupposes involution.Life and nature are gradually but inevitablyleading us back to where we came from—God.The dualities of life such as pain and pleasure,good and evil are there only to make us realizeand unfold our divinity and lead us to God.

After undergoing all the experiences inlife, we get spiritually educated and thenrealise our real nature and learn to see thesame divinity everywhere, in all things.

The Yogi, striving assiduously, purified of taint,gradually gaining perfection through manybirths, then reaches the highest goal.6 At the end

of many births, the man of wisdom takes refugein Me, realising that all this is Vasudeva (theinnermost self).7

4. ‘My devotee will not perish’

Twenty-five centuries ago, the Buddha,the Enlightened One, declared, ‘Life is full ofsuffering.’ Indeed, no one can escape suffering;no one became a saint enjoying the comfortsof life. There are many things that can happenin life: our near and dear ones may desert us;we may have to go through terrible trials (wemay recall here the hardships which Haris-chandra and the Pandavas underwent for thesake of keeping truth.) But we should not feardifficulties. Sri Krishna assures us that if adevotee sincerely leads a spiritual life relyingon Him, He will not abandon him; He willlook after him. ‘Soon does he become right-eous, and attain eternal Peace, O son of Kunti;boldly can you proclaim, that My devotee isnever destroyed.’8

Not only is the devotee protected, Godstands by him under all circumstances. SriKrishna says,

Persons who, meditating on Me as non-separate,worship Me in all beings, to them thus everzealously engaged, I bring what they lack andpreserve what they already have.9

Indeed whatever we do to improveourselves remains with us. No effort in thisdirection goes vain. Its results may be slow tocome, they never go waste.

5. The purpose of spiritual practices

All spiritual practices are aimed at gettingrid of delusion about our real nature. It ispossible to reach this state of disillusionmentonly by the grace of God, Guru and byearnestly working for it.

In a practical sense, all spiritual practicesaim at gaining, controlling and purifying the


64

mind. As the Gita says, ‘a controlled mind isone’s greatest friend, and an uncontrolledmind is one’s worst enemy.’10 Though mind-control is a very difficult task, it can be donethough practice. Sri Krishna says that throughpractice and dispassion the mind comes undercontrol. This is what all aspirants have donein the past and will do in the future. What isneeded is constant effort. To always work forpurification and control, that is primarily ourown responsibility. To bestow grace is God’sresponsibility.

5. The two paths

There are two main pathways to realiseGod—the path of devotion and the path ofknowledge. Both the paths lead us to God;there is no question of superiority or inferio-rity about the paths. A spiritual aspirantshould choose the path suitable to his or hertemperament. Since most of us are body-boundand are quite emotional and bound to ego,the Gita tells us to take up the path of devotion.Declares Sri Krishna in the Gita:

Greater is their trouble whose minds are set onthe Unmanifested; for the goal of the Unmani-fested is very hard for the embodied to reach.11

6. Surrendering to God

Sri Krishna advises Arjuna, and throughhim all spiritual aspirants, that the only sureway of realising God is through total self-surrender to God. It is through the will of Godor the Divine Mother that one becomes greator small, becomes enlightened or remainsignorant. Happiness depends entirely on thewill of God. In Sri Ramakrishna’s life we readthat even the great Totapuri, a knower of

Brahman, had to undergo hard experiences inorder to finally learn to surrender to the DivineMother. So also Narendernath had to acknow-ledge Divine Mother’s grace.

Surrendering to the Divine is the onlyway for worldly achievements (bhoga) andspiritual advancement (yoga). In all centres ofthe Ramakrishna Order during the eveningarati, the hymn composed by Swami Viveka-nanda is sung. It says: ‘Therefore I take refuge,O friend of the helpless,’ and ‘I take refuge OSaviour of the helpless.’ This idea of self-surrender is the central teaching of Christ,Rama, Krishna, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, SriRamakrishna, Holy Mother and SwamiVivekananda. This is in accordance with theteaching of the Upanishads:

The Self is not attained through discourse, northrough intellect, nor through learning. It isgained only by him who is accepted by the Self.To such a one the Self reveals its true nature.12

Sri Ramakrishna echoes this succinctlythus: ‘The police sergeant walks his rounds inthe dark of night with a lantern in his hand.No one sees his face. If you want to see thesergeant, you must pray to him: ‘Sir, pleaseturn the light on your own face. Let me seeyou.’13 This is the essential and final teachingof the Bhagavad Gita.

ConclusionThe Bhagavad Gita is a treasure-house

of spiritual insights. In order to truly benefitfrom these, one should meditate on these andmake them a part of their thinking. As theaspirant gains fresh insights and progresstowards the highest of life—God—he realisesthe greatness of Gita evermore.

References: 1. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 104-105 2. Gita, 18.73 3. Gita, 16.21 4. Gita, 5.235. Gita, 2.16 6. Gita, 6.45 7. Gita, 7.19 8. Gita, 9.31 9. Gita, 9.22 10. Gita, 6.511. Gita, 12.5 12. Katha Upanishad, 1.2.23 13. The Gospel, p.174


SWAMI ATMARAMANANDA

The Bhagavad Gita—itsRelevance to Teachers

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the few bookswhich have remained universally relevantirrespective of language, gender, religion,nationality and profession. Its objectivity,rationality, practicality, and comprehensiveinsights into life, both in its microcosmic andmacrocosmic dimensions, have invited manyserious studies. There have been, and arecoming up, so many writings, interpretationsand commentaries on the Gita. Each of themis suited to the times, written from different,and sometimes divergent viewpointsdetermined by the extent to which the authorshave imbibed its many-sided profoundteachings. Monks and royalty, warriors andpeace-makers, consumers and traders, leadersand the led, spiritual seekers and teachers,rationalists and devotees, the rich and the poor,activists and pacifists, men and women, time-managers and personnel managers, scientistsand philosophers, and those trying to makesense of life—all of them have drawn fromthis wonderful book their inspirations andunderstanding of life.

Does the Gita contain anything relevantto teachers in today’s society? If so, is it onlyto teachers in India or just anywhere in theworld? Is the Gita useful to them only in theirpersonal lives or in their profession also?

A former editor of Prabuddha Bharata, the author is a Trustee of the Ramakrishna Math and a member of theGoverning Body of the Ramakrishna Mission. He is presently the Secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya,Coimbatore.

Gita: Its RelevanceThe Bhagavad Gita has an immense and

timeless relevance to teachers—no matter towhich country they belong—both in theirprivate lives and in their professions as specialhuman beings holding the all-importantresponsibility of sculpting well-balancedcitizens. This is because most of the Gitaconcerns human situations. Obviously, a goodteacher has to be first a good human being.The Gita helps teachers better understandthemselves and others, including theirstudents. It provides a large well-structuredperspective with which as the backgroundteachers may be able to put the bewilderingaspects, turns and twists of life in their rightplaces which goes a long way in dealing witha variety of students.

Some of the dilemmas that teachers faceare—is one’s family responsibility moreimportant than the profession? Should dile-mmas and intense conflicts, unavoidable in life,be resolved by ignoring them; or by escapingfrom them by changing one’s lifestyle orprofession or by facing and resolving themafter understanding them?

How to face joys and sorrows, successesand failures in life? Is faith in God necessaryto live meaningfully? How to overcome death,


66

anxiety and stress? Is there a method toenhance creativity, alertness of mind, andenthusiasm?

Without satisfactory answers to suchquestions, a teacher may not be able to sustaina good level of self-motivation, creativity, andlove for knowledge, which are so importantin the teaching profession. Nor would he orshe come to feel oneself as a completeintegrated human being.

Framework for a Philosophy of EducationThose who want to be good teachers and

better human beings would do well to studythe Gita. It provides a framework for aphilosophy of education. It answers, indirectlythough, such questions as: What is education?What are the aims of education? What is thenature of the person who is to receiveeducation? How is education to be transmittedby a teacher to a student? What should be therelationship between a teacher and a student?Does education involve education in moralstandards to live by? Who is an efficientteacher? Is it central to education that trainingin critical thinking be imparted to a student?Can all knowledge be taught? Can or shouldethics and morality be taught in the same wayas, for instance, mathematics or chemistry?Should spiritual practices such as meditation,prayer to God, and so on be a part ofeducation? Should a teacher show a studentthe links between education and society, thatis, the social responsibilities of an educatedperson?

Answers to such questions can be foundin the Gita itself, as also in the commentarieson the Gita where the interconnections amongthe verses and among the chapters, as also thesignificance of the use of certain words andadjectives have been highlighted by theauthors. Of course, considering the context in

which the Gita was taught, its answers to theabove questions are not elaborate, but succinctand lucid.

Do Teachers Feel the Want?Before we discuss what can today’s

teachers get from the Gita, it is necessary forteachers to accept that there is something lackingin the current models of education. Do theteachers feel that, as a result of the presentunderstanding of education, the end-results ofeducation are far from edifying? That neitherdo most teachers and students get upliftedthrough education, nor is there harmony andpeace in the minds of people or in families orsocieties, nor a sense of fulfilment at the endof their lives. Do teachers agree that the systemof education that has been prevailing for de-cades now has given mere information andknowledge but not wisdom? That educationhas generated power but not self-discipline?That education has failed to subdue fanaticismand violence, unfair competition, exploitation,racial prejudices, etc., and increase compass-ion, sharing and acceptance of diversity? Thatthe teacher-student relationship has becomeimpersonal, commercial, and irreverent?

If teachers do feel lag, then the Gita hasmany ideas to offer. To begin with, take thequestion, ‘What is education?’ Sri Krishna hasprovided the answers: Education is a trainingof the body and mind of a person to help himgain through lawful means, work-efficiency,prosperity, self-esteem, self-possession, objecti-vity, and clear thinking, gradually leading theperson towards gaining a sense of fulfilmentand abiding love for God.1 The next questionnaturally is, what is the goal of education? Isit not just a process for enabling a student toget a job, build a career, and live comfortably(and die choicelessly as do all living beings)?It is a process through which one is enabled


67

to gain knowledge and then use it for thebenefit of others also and also for finallygaining wisdom, a special kind of inner joy,peace, and philosophic perspective as oneprogresses in life? Or is it all these, dependingon the stage of a person’s life?

Gita on Aspects of EducationWe learn from the Gita that education

(vidya, jnana) is sacred and sanctifying2; hard-earned prosperity is not bad3, but that it cannotbe the final goal of life4; that it liberates aperson from the compulsions of the body,senses, bias, fear, sorrow, stress, anxiety, andegotism.5 At its best, it gives perfect self-knowledge, inner poise and harmony with allforms of diversities.6

In the Gita a teacher will find an excellentway to regulate and channelise into noblergoals one’s natural and powerful human urgesof desire7, ambition and career through theideal of dharma and svadharma. Dharma is thatwhich, being in harmony with the truth of thedivine nature of human beings, brings aboutintegration of human personality, of all one’sfaculties, of all the dimensions of one’s being.Svadharma is all that a person is best capableof doing—physically, mentally, emotionally—according to his natural characteristics andintrinsic capabilities, in consonance withdharma. The ideas of dharma and svadharmahelp one even to resolve work-related dis-appointments, dissatisfactions, doubts, con-fusion, conflicting choices and depression asand when they arise in one’s life.8 A teacherwho has assimilated these ideas of dharma andsvadharma can easily help his or her studentsboth in their personal and professional lives.

Qualities of a Good TeacherThe Gita also indicates some character-

istics of a good teacher, as personified by Sri

Krishna, which are in keeping with thetraditional or time-tested views: a good teacheris one who is straight-forward, frank, guileless;contented, not greedy, impossible to beswayed by worldly ambitions and desires; whois trustworthy, has mastered his subject, hasinsight and perspective, commands respect, isopen to constructive questions and dis-cussions, and has both theoretical knowledgeand practical wisdom.9

A good teacher is one who understandswhat a student is thinking or his level ofcomprehension, and so does not rush to simplypour his own learning into the student, leavingno time for the student to assimilate infor-mation.10 We can see in the Gita how SriKrishna succeeded in making Arjuna open uphis mind and unhesitatingly ask questions, andthus reveal his level of comprehension of whatwas being said by Sri Krishna. For example,up to the moment of crisis that overwhelmedArjuna at Kurukshetra, Sri Krishna was toArjuna an unfailing friend and an expertcharioteer, with whom he could take liberties(prasabham yaduktam maya, ajanata mahimanamtavedam, 11.41). It was on account of SriKrishna’s wisdom the complete teacher thathe was, that he could build up that kind ofinformal relationship with his student Arjuna.At no time before the war did Sri Krishnaprematurely overawe Arjuna with a displayof his knowledge and power. It was only whenArjuna surrendered to him completely withabsolute trust11 that Sri Krishna taught himhow to handle self-doubt, dilemma, conflictingideas, and acquire clarity of thought.

Sri Krishna shows that a teacher can andshould teach only after winning the confidenceof one’s students; then try to assess theirintellectual stage; and then impart knowledgegradually. A would-be good teacher must havea first hand mastery over the subject, clarity


of thought, an ability to present a subject in asystematic way, avoiding redundancy andunnecessary digression merely to show offscholarship.

The Gita also tells us that a good teachershould have great patience and self-control, atno time getting annoyed or disappointed witha student, no matter how ordinary orchallenging a student’s questions. We find SriKrishna often using such encouraging and self-confidence-enhancing epithets with regard toArjuna as bharatarsabha ( O mighty bull amongthe Bharatas), gudakesa (conqueror of sleep, i.e.always alert and energetic; not given tolethargy), parantapa (vanquisher of enemies),anagha (blemishless), bharata (given to culti-vating discrimination, knowledge, and wis-dom), and so on.12

Apart from all the above ideas that ateacher may find useful, one all-importantmessage of the Gita for the teachers is: Thebest teacher is one who, besides imparting tothe students temporal life-skills, secularknowledge and means to mundane success,deepens their vision to perceive the existenceof the one all-pervading, all-embracing, all-unifying spiritual reality, of which all things,including themselves, are organically relatedparts, and also shows them how to realize itthrough intuition.

Critical ThinkingBasic to the methods that lead to that

vision is the power of discrimination or criticalthinking. Without this power, education isincomplete. This is the power that gives eachperson an individuality, a uniqueness. That iswhy we see Sri Krishna inducing Arjuna toask pertinent questions, thereby arousingArjuna’s power of critical thinking and desireto know more.13 As a result, we find thatthough Arjuna’s initial questions concerned the

immediate mundane world of relatives,enemies, success, failures, wealth, dominion,etc., later on his questions became philo-sophical. Once this power of discrimination isaroused in a student, the teacher may as wellstand back and watch a new ‘ship’ sail out toits human or spiritual destiny. For, that shiphas got a pathfinder compass installed on it.

Education, Ethics and MoralityIn addition to the power of critical

thinking, a student should also imbibe theideals of ethics and morality. Sri Krishna oftenuses the two words dharma and svadharma,which are suggestive of ethics and moralityalso. The Gita’s description of the divine (daiva)and demoniac (asura) characteristics of humanbeings, the ethical and moral consequences ofpossessing either of them, the importance ofincreasing one’s sattva (uplifting) quality(guna), and the means of freeing oneself fromthe influences of the qualities of rajas (extro-version) and tamas (debasing, dehumanisingbehaviour) point to the duty of a teacher toforewarn one’s students of the dangers of notcultivating the ability to discriminate. Thougha teacher can and should teach students thevalue and power of critical thinking, still, thatteaching is best done by one possessing andpractising that power of unbiased, rational orobjective examination. Critical thinking, powerof discrimination, or power of making rightchoices become easy to practise when one hascontrol of over one’s emotions such as personalambitions, jealousy and egotism.

Such personal traits allow concentrationand sharp insight, for, uncontrolled emotions,passion, greed, etc., cloud the mind.14 Thengoal setting, which is a primary and crucialneed of all students, becomes possible. Afterall, critical thinking, discrimination etc., cannotbe ends in themselves.

68


Education through Prayer and MeditationThose vitiating obstructive emotions, says

the Gita, are effectively neutralized throughprayer to God, meditation, and so on.15 Thegoals set by minds that have undergone thedisciplines of prayer and control of self-centredemotions and similar practices, be those goalstemporal or spiritual, are always conducive topersonal and universal good. Educationshould be able to shape that kind of indivi-duals, who feel responsible towards society.Sri Krishna has said several times in the Gitathat persons who are famous and powerfulshould remember they are socially res-ponsible.16

Teachers should therefore emphasize thisaspect of education to their students, besidesenthusing them towards skill-development,personality-development, career-building, job-placements, pay-prospects-promotion, gettingmentioned in the Limca Book or GuinnessBook or Forbes List. Too much of self- or ego-pampering has released into society thousands

of self-centered educated individuals, racists,fanatics and compassionless ‘clashing billiardballs’ incapable of humanistic impulses.

ConclusionWhen teachers, themselves self-made

venerable heroes, embodying as many of thecharacteristics of a complete teacher assuggested in the Gita by Sri Krishna, createsuch wonderful well-balanced, courageous,modest, efficient and educated students asArjuna, the gains for humanity will beimmense. As immense as were the gains fromthe Sri Krishna-Arjuna combination:

Wherever is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, whereveris Partha, the wielder of the bow, there areunfailing fortune, victory, prosperity, andprudence. Such is my conviction.17

As immense are the gains from the idealof the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda combination:Atmano moksartham jagat-hitaya ca: For one’sown spiritual freedom from worldliness, andfor the good of the world.

1. We can compare this with the current under-standing of what education is, which in ourview is shallow or partial: ‘Education is theart or process of imparting skill and knowledge. .. . The success of education lies in harnessing thelatent potential of an individual … Informaleducation happens subconsciously when thevalues and behaviour of an individual are shapeddue to constant interaction with his environment.Formal education on the other hand is a deli-berate effort by a person to learn the skillsconsidered important for a particular job oractivity.’ ‘Good education is an ability to under-stand life.’Compare this, again, with Swami Viveka-nanda’s definition of education: ‘Education is themanifestation of the perfection already in man.’

Notes and References

‘We want that education by which character isformed, strength of mind is increased, theintellect is expanded and by which one can standon one’s own feet. What we need is to study thedifferent branches of knowledge that is our ownand with it English language and Westernscience; we need technical education and all elsethat will develop industries, so that men insteadof seeking for service may earn enough toprovide for themselves and save against a rainyday.’ ‘The end of all education all training, shouldbe man-making. The end and aim of all training isto make the men grow. The training by which thecurrent and expression of will are brought undercontrol and become fruitful, is called education.’‘Without the personal life of the teacher, therewould be no education.’ ‘Education is not the

69


amount of information that is put into your brainand runs riot there, undigested, all your life. Wemust have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas.’ Clearly, most of thepresent views on education are silent on theultimate ends of education, and are concernedwith ‘bread-earning’, ‘skill-learning’, and secular‘knowledge-gathering’.

Note: Translations of the Sanskrit references arebased on The Bhagavad Gita translated by SwamisSwarupananda and Gambhirananda.

2. i. Z h kmZoZ g—eß ndÃßü& Verily, there is nothing inthis world purifying like knowledge (4.38).ii. kmZZYy©VH$Î_fmÖü& Those whose impurities havebeen removed off by knowledge (5.17).

3. i. hVmo dm ‡mflÒ`g ÒdJ™ OÀdm dm ^mo `goü _hr_≤& By beingkilled you will attain heaven, or by winning youwill enjoy the earth (2.37).

4. i. ^moJ°Ìd ©‡g∫$mZmß V`mnˆVMoVgm_≤ü& Ï`dgm`mpÀ_H$m ~w’Ö

g_mYm° Z dYr`Voü&& No set determination is formedin the minds of those that are deeply attached topleasure and power, and whose discrimination isstolen away. (2.44).ii. ZÛ°Jw `mo ^dmOw©Z ... AmÀ_dmZ≤ & O Arjuna, you befree from the triad of the gunas, and beestablished in the Self (2.45).iii. `Ö . . .dV©Vo H$m_H$maVÖü& Z g g’_dmflZmoV Z gwIß Z

namß JV_≤ü&& He who acts under the impulse ofdesire, attains not to perfection, nor happiness,nor the Goal Supreme (16.23).iv. H$m_mon^moJna_m EVmdXV ZÌMVmÖü& (They work)regarding gratification of lust as the highest, andfeeling sure that that is all... (16.11).‡g∫$mÖ H$m_^moJofw nVp›V ZaHo$@ewMm°ü&& Addicted to thegratification of lust, they fall down into a foul hell(16.16).v. H$m_H$maoU \$bo g∫$mo Z~‹`Voü& (The unbalanced one,)led by desire, is completely bound on account ofbeing attached to the fruit (of action) (5.12).

5. i. Ãm`Vo _hVmo ^`mV≤ü& Saves from great fear (2.40).ii. dYo mÀ_m ‡gmX_YJ¿N>Vü& The self-controlledperson, attains to serenity (2.64).iii. g emp›V_mflZmoV Z H$m_H$m_rü& That person, not theone who hankers for objects of pleasure, attains topeace (2.70).

iv. Z¤©›¤Ö... ü~›YmÀ‡_w¿`Voü& The one who is free fromthe pairs of opposites is set free from bondage(5.3)v. g_XwÖIgwI_≤ü& Same in pain and pleasure (2.15).vi. EZ_≤ Ed_≤ dXÀdm ZmZwemoMVw_h©gü& Knowing this tobe such, you ought not to grieve (2.25).Z EZ_≤ emoMVw_h©mgü& You ought not to grieve thus(2.26).Z Àd_≤ emoMVw_h©gü& You ought not to grieve (2.27).vii. A‹`mÀ_MoVgm ... dJV¡daÖü& With your mindspiritually imbued and free from (mental) fever(3.30).viii. H$_©~›Yß ‡hmÒ`g & You will totally get rid of thebondage caused by actions (2.39).H$_©^Z© g ~‹`Voü& He is not fettered by actions (4.14).OhmV gwH•$VXwÓH•$Vo & He casts off virtue and vice (2.50).

6. i. kmZß b„‹dm namß emp›V_≤ ... AYJ¿N>Vü& Havingachieved (spiritual) Knowledge, one attainsSupreme Peace (4.39).ii. gwI_j`_ÌZwVo & He acquires undecaying happi-ness (5.21). iii. ‡em›V_Zgß EZß ... em›VaOgß To this yogi, whosemind has become perfectly tranquil, and whosepassions are quieted... (6.27).

7. ~bß ~bdVmß ... H$m_amJddO©V_≤ü& Y_m©dÈ’mo yVofw

H$m_mo@pÒ_ü&& Of the strong, I am the strength that isdevoid of desire and attachment. I am, O bullamong the Bharatas, desire in beings, unopposedto dharma (7.11).

8. i. lo m›ÒdY_m dJwUÖ ... naY_m ^`mdhÖ && Better isone’s own dharma, though defective. (But) thedharma of another is fraught with fear (though itmay appear attractive) (3.35).ii. Òdo Òdo H$_© `^aVÖ gßgq’ b^Vo ZaÖü& ÒdH$_©ZaVÖ gq’

`Wm d›XV V¿N•>Uwü&& Devoted each to his own duty,man attains the highest perfection. Hear how onedevoted to his own duty achieves success (18.45).`VÖ ‡d•Œm y©VmZmß oZ gd©_Xß VV_≤ü& ÒdH$_©Um V_‰`¿ © g’ß

d›XV _mZdÖü&& From whom is the evolution of allbeings, by whom all this is pervaded, worshipp-ing Him with his own duty, a man achievessuccess (18.46).lo m›ÒdY_m dJwUÖ naY_m©ÀÒdZw>VmV≤ü& Òd^mdZ`Vß H$_©

Hw$d©fimflZmoV H$pÎ~f_≤ü&& Better is one’s own dharma,(though) imperfect, than the dharma of anotherwell performed. He who does the duty ordained

70


by his own nature incurs no evil (18.47).ghOß H$_© H$m°›Vo gXmof_n Z ÀÒoV≤ü& gdm©aÂ^m h XmofoU

Yy_oZmæ[admd•VmÖü&& One should not relinquish, Oson of Kunti, the duty to which one is born,though it is faulty; for, all undertakings areenveloped by evil, as fire is by smoke (18.48). iii. ÒdY_©_≤ ...Ado ` Z dH$pÂnVw_h©gü& (Even)considering your own dharma, you should notwaver (2.31-2).B_ß YÂ ™ gßJ´m__≤ü& This righteous battle... (2.33).iv. Ed_wäÀdmOw©ZÖ gßª o aWmonÒW CnmdeV≤ü& ...

emoH$gßdΩZ_mZgÖü&& Speaking thus in the midst ofthe battle-field, Arjuna, sat down on his chariot,with his mind distressed with sorrow (1.47). v. H•$n`mdÔ>_lwnyUm©Hw$bojU_≤ü& dfrX›V_≤ü... (To him)who was thus overwhelmed with pity and wassorrowing, and whose eyes were filled with tearsand showed distress... (2.1).vi. Z `moÀÒ` BV ...CäÀdm VyÓUt ~ ydü& Having spokenthus, (Arjuna) became silent, (telling Govinda,) ‘Ishall not fight’ (2.9).vii. jw–ß ˆX`Xm°~©Î ß Petty faint-heartedness (2.3).viii. H$mn© `XmofmonhVÒd^mdÖ...Y_©gÂ_yT>MoVmÖü& With mynature overpowered by the taint of weak commi-seration, and with a mind in confusion aboutdharma (duty)... (2.7).ix. emoH$_w¿N>mofU_p›–`mUm_≤ Sorrow which is blastingmy senses (2.8).x. YÂ`m©’ w’m¿N>¥o mo@›`ÀjÃ`Ò` Z d⁄Voü& Because thereis nothing higher for a Ksatriya than a righteouswar (2.31).xi. H$_m©U ‡d^äVmZ Òd^md‡^d°Jw©U°Öü& The duties...have been fully classified by the gunas which arethe sources of dispositions (18.41).xii. Òdo Òdo H$_© `âVÖügßgq’ b^Voü& Devoted each tohis own duty, (man) attains the highest perfection(18.45).xiii. Òd^mdZ`Vß H$_© Hw$d©fimflZmoV H$pÎ~f_≤ü& He whodoes the duty ordained by his own nature incursno evil (18.47).xiv. ZÔ>mo _mohÖ Ò_•Vb©„Ym...JVg›XohÖü& Destroyed is mydelusion, I have regained my memory (throughYour grace). I stand with my doubt removed(18.73).

9. ii. CnXo `p›V Vo kmZß kmZZÖ VŒdXe©ZÖü& Those whohave realized the Truth will instruct thee in that

knowledge (4.34).10. A child receives a quarter of its knowledge from

its parents, the second from its teachers, the thirdthrough experiences as it grows, and the last withthe passage of time.

11. i. eÓ`ÒVo@hß emY _mß Àdmß ‡nfi_≤ü& I am your disciple;instruct me who have taken refuge in You (2.7).ii. ÀdX›`Ö gße`Ò`mÒ` N>oŒmm Z h Cnn⁄Voü& For, none otherthan You can be the dispeller of this doubt (6.39).

12. i. AZm ©OwÔ>_≤...AH$sV©H$a_≤ü& (Doubt) entertained byunenlightened people, ... and which bringsinfamy (2.2).ii. H$sV™ M hÀdm nmn_dmflÒ`gü& Forfeiting honour,thou shalt incur sin (2.33).iii. gÂ^mdVÒ` AH$sV©Ö _aUmXV[a¿`Voü& To an honour-ed person infamy is worse than death (2.34).iv. ^`m–UmXwnaVß _ßÒ`›Vo Àdmß _hmaWmÖü& ofmß M Àdß ~h˛_Vmo

yÀdm `mÒ`g bmKd_≤ü&The great chariot-riders willthink of you as having desisted from the fight outof fear; and you will earn the contempt of those towhom you had been estimable! (2.35).iv. Adm¿`dmXmßÌM ~hˇ›dXÓ`p›V VdmhVmÖü& Z›X›VÒVd

gm_œ ™ VVmo XwÖIVaß Zw H$_≤ü& And your enemies willspeak many indecent words while denigratingyour might. What can be more painful than that?(2.36).

13. i. For example, see Madhusudana Saraswati'sintroduction: to verse 2.54; to Chapter 5, lastparagraph, and to the eighth chapter of the Gita.ii. d_•Ì °VXeofoU `Wo¿N>g VWm Hw$Èü&Pondering overthis as a whole, do as you like (18.63).

14. i. ‹`m`Vmo df`m›nwßgÖ gìÒVofynOm`Voü& gìmÀgƒOm`Vo H$m_Ö

H$m_mÀH´$moYmo@Ôm`Voü&& In the case of a person whodwells on objects, there arises attachment forthem. From attachment grows hankering, fromhankering springs anger (2.62).H´$moYmÿdV gÂ_mohÖ gÂ_mohmÀÒ_•Vd ´_Öü& Ò_•V ´ßemX≤

~w’Zmemo ~w’ZmemÀ‡UÌ`Vü&& From anger followsdelusion; from delusion, failure of memory; fromfailure of memory, loss of understanding; fromloss of understanding he perishes (2.63).amJ¤ofd wäV°ÒVw df`mZp›– ° aZ≤ü& AmÀ_dÌ °d©Yo mÀ_m

‡gmX_YJ¿N>Vü&& But the self-controlled man, byperceiving objects with the organs that are freefrom attraction and repulsion and are under hisown control, attains serenity (2.64).

71


‡gmXo gd©XwÖImZmß hmZaÒ`monOm`Voü& ‡gfiMoVgmo ¯mew ~w’Ö

n ©dV>Voü&& When there is serenity, then followseradication of all his sorrows, because thewisdom of one who has a serene mind soonbecomes wholly established (2.65).ZmpÒV ~w’a wäVÒ` Z Mm wäVÒ` ^mdZmü& Z Mm^md`VÖ

emp›Vaem›VÒ` Hw$VÖ gwI_≤ü&& For one who has notcontrolled his mind there is no Wisdom, andthere is no meditation for the unsteady man. Andfor an unmeditative man there is no peace. Howcan there be happiness for one without peace?(2.66).Bp›–`mUmß h MaVmß `›_Zmo@ZwdYr`Voü& VXÒ` haV ‡kmß

dm wZm©d_dmÂ^gü&& Among the wandering organs,since that (organ) with regard to which the mindis impelled carries away the Wisdom of this one,as wind (diverts) a boat on the waters... (2.67).ii. eäZmoVrh°d `Ö gmoTw>ß ‡mäearad_mojUmV≤ü& H$m_H´$moYmoÿdß doJß

g wÖ g gwIr ZaÖü&& One who can withstand hereitself, till liberation from the body, the onrusharising for desire and anger, he is a yogi, he ishappy, and he is a man (5.23).iii. H$m_Ö H´$moYÒVWm bmo Ö...EVÀÃ ß À`OoV≤ü& One shouldforsake these three: lust, anger, and greed (16.21).VVmo `mV namß JV_≤ü& Thereby attains the GoalSupreme (16.22).

15. i. V_‰`¿ © gq’ d›XVü& By adoring Him, (a humanbeing) achieves success (18.46).ii. AmÀ_mZß Z`Â`...‹`mZ`moJnamo... AhßH$maß ~bß Xn™ H$m_ß

H´$moYß n[aJ´h_≤ d_w¿`... g_Ö gdfw yVofwü&By controllingthe aggregate of body and organs... who is ever

engaged in dhyana and yoga... having discardedegotism, obstinate evil inclination, pride, desire,anger, hatred, external accessories (for the main-tenance of the body brought in by others)...becomes the same towards all beings (18.51 to 54).iii. _ÉŒmÖ gd©XwJm©U _À‡gmXmŒm[aÓ`gü& Having yourmind fixed on Me, you will cross over all thedifficulties through My grace (18.58).iv. gd©Y_m©›n[aÀ`¡` _m_oHß$ eaUß d´Oü& Ahß Àdm gd©nmno‰`mo

_moj`Ó`m_ _m ewMÖü&& Abandoning all forms of ritesand duties, take refuge in Me alone. I shall freeyou from all sins. (Hence) do not lament (18.66).

16. i. bmoH$gßJ´h_odmn gÂnÌ`›H$Vw©_h©gü& You surely oughtto perform (your duty) simply with a view tomaking people undertake their duties, and pre-venting them from taking the wrong path (3.20).ii. `⁄XmMaV lo>ÒVŒmXodoVamo OZÖü& g `À‡_mUß Hw$ÈVo

bmoH$ÒVXZwdV©Voü& Whatsoever the superior persondoes, that (very thing) is followed by others!What he demonstrates by action, that theordinary people follow (3.21).iii. `X ¯hß Z dV ß OmVw H$_© `Vp›–VÖü& __ dÀ_m©ZwdV©›Vo

_ZwÓ`mÖ nmW© gd©eÖü&& If ever I did not continue inwork without relaxation, O son of Prtha, menwould, in every way follow My path (3.23).iv. Omof oÀgd©H$_m©U d¤m› wäVÖ gm_mMaZ≤ü& While himselfremaining alert the enlightened person should, byduly performing all the duties, make them dothese (3.26).

17. `Ã `moJo aÖ H•$ÓUmo `Ã nmWm YZwY©aÖü& VÃ lrd©O`mo yVYw©dm

ZrV_©V_©_ü&& (18.78)

Negative thoughts weaken men. Do you not find that where parents are

constantly taxing their sons to read and write, telling them they will

never learn anything, and calling them fools and so forth, the latter do

actually turn out to be so in many cases? If you speak kind words to boys

and encourage them, they are bound to improve in time. What holds good

of children, also holds good of children in the region of higher thoughts. If

you can give them positive ideas, people will grow up to be men and learn to stand

on their own legs.

—Swami Vivekananda, CW, 7: 170

72


SWAMI NITYASTHANANDA

Keeping Calm—the Gita Way

The Milky Nectar of the GitaThe Bhagavad Gita is a manual on all

practical issues related to spiritual life. Apopular verse used for meditation on the Gitasays that while the Upanishads can be likenedto a milch cow, the Gita is its milk. Arjuna iscompared to the calf, and Sri Krishna as theperson who milks the cow. The people whodrink this milk are called men of wisdom.Obviously, the milk is meant to be consumed;the content-analysis of the milk is secondary.So is the case with Gita. It’s primary utilitylies in its practical application; its philosophicalanalysis is secondary.

It is, however, unfortunate that in orderto popularize Gita through various ways suchas speeches, books, different competitions,memorizing the text and so on, its centralmessage is often overlooked. There are, again,people who just worship a copy of the Gita,place flowers on it and sing its glories. Theyforget that real worship of the Gita lies ininstalling its messages on the altar of our heartand worship it through working withoutattachment and the real glory lies in beingdevoted to its ideals.

But, it is not easy to place the message ofthe Gita on one’s inner altar and follow it inlife. This requires constant efforts in trainingour senses and mind. Of course, the Gitaprovides various methods to do it. The Gita’scentral idea is to divert all our energies

towards Divine. The very meaning of the word‘Bhagavad Gita’ refers to this. The literalmeaning of the Gita is song of God or a divinesong. When our whole life becomes God-oriented, then our life itself gets transformedinto a living Bhagavad Gita. This inner trans-formation is the true aim of understanding thisdivine song.

Music of the GitaIf ‘Gita’ means song, then the song should

be accompanied by instrumental music. A goodmusic, everyone knows, is a harmony ofsounds. In Indian classical music concert, thesinger is accompanied by various musicalinstruments such as violin, tanpura, harmo-nium, tabla and so on. All these instruments,though producing different sounds, become apart of harmony called concert. Then there isno discordant note in the concert. Thismelodious blend of notes happens when all theinstruments tune in to produce the same notein consonance with the singer. Different sounds,thus, become a melodious harmony. If thisoneness of tune is not followed, then the wholeconcert ends up as a disgusting cacophony,however good be the singer or instrumentplayers.

Taking this illustration further, let us thinkof our own our personality. Our personality, aswe all know, consists of so many factors suchas senses, mind, emotion and so on. The nature

The author is the former editor of Viveka Prabha, Ramakrishna Order’s Kannada monthly, and is presently thePresident of Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mysore, Karnataka. He has many books in Kannada to his credit.


74

and function of these aspects of our personalityare also distinct. However, when they all attunethemselves with the Divine Note of our life, andfunction accordingly, then our wholepersonality becomes a song of God, theBhagavad Gita. So the life, attuned with God isBhagavad Gita. There are number of passagesin the Gita which corroborate this idea. Forexample, there is a famous passage that occursboth in ninth (34) and eighteenth (65) chaptersof the Gita, which says:

Fill thy mind with Me, be My devotee, sacrificeunto Me, bow down to me; thus having madethy heart steadfast in Me, taking Me as theSupreme Goal, thou shalt come to Me.

Here Sri Krishna indicates that the mindi.e., the thinking faculty, should get attunedwith Divine (‘Fill thy mind’); the emotionalaspect must function in harmony with Divine(‘Be My devotee’); the will also must concordwith Divine rhythm (‘Sacrifice unto Me’); andlastly the ego must be surrendered to God (‘Bowdown to Me’), shedding its discordant note ofself-seeking. Similarly, all the factors of ourpersonality must work in harmony, attuningthemselves with Divine Note. All the spiritualpractices, such as prayer, Japa and meditationare nothing but this process of tuning ourpersonality—making the mind work inharmony with the Divine. This is the Gita’sway of calming the mind—not violentlysuppressing the unrest of mental faculties, butquietly directing their energy toward the Divine.

Two ApproachesThere are two kinds of way to control the

mind: through the active will and through thepassive will. In the first case, the will is usedwith force in order to make the mind quiet.This, at times, has a negative result. In contrastto this, passive willing means controlling themind quietly, but strongly—willing the mind

itself to get controlled. The Gita way of mentalcontrol is that of passive willing. Here it isworth recalling what Swami Brahmananda, adirect disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, saysregarding this:

‘I will conquer lust, I will conquer anger andgreed’—if you try in this way, you will neverconquer them. But if you concentrate your mindon God, the senses will of themselves be curbedwithout much effort on your part.1

As noted above, our personality itself canbe compared to a musical instrument consist-ing of different strings such as thinking, feeling,willing and other aspects of mind. Many times,this instrument is not properly tuned—thestrings being either too tight or too loose. Weallow various persons, events and thoughtcurrents to play with this instrument. And thisdamages the instrument itself. Emotional stormsand insatiable desires weaken all our efforts tokeep this instrument reasonably sound. Theinharmonious sound of our instrument, withall its discordant notes like misunderstanding,resentments, irritability and so on, make ourpersonality unbearable to others. The bestremedy is to allow God to play this instrumentHimself. He will, then, tune it properly andproduce a soul-enthralling music from it. WhenGod starts playing this musical instrument, ourpersonality, our life itself becomes divinemusic—a Bhagavad Gita and not a jada gita orthe worldly song. This is what Sri Krishna hintswhen he says, ‘Giving up all concerns, takerefuge in Me only.’2

In fact, God Himself is actually playingthis instrument. Sri Krishna says in the Gitaitself: ‘The Lord of the universe dwells in thehearts of all beings, moving them all by Hismysterious power as if they are geared to amachine.’3

However, our ego sneaks into the pictureunnoticed and spoils the whole music. As a


75

computer virus spoils the whole system, thisego too harms the music of not only ourpersonal life, but also of family and social life.So we must have always with us, to use amodern term, an anti-virus—the will tosurrender to God in the midst of all ouractivities and events. This alone will make usfree from all stress and strain and keep themusic of our personality unharmed. It isindisputably true that good music is the bestantidote for stress. But we do not have to goout in search of good music, spending moneyand, again, straining ourselves. We have onlyto go within and locate the discordant note, theego, and silence it. Once the ego is silencedmind is also silenced. It is then that we listento divine music within. Hence, self-surrenderor silencing the ego is the Gita’s way of keepingcalm and joyful.

Two More SimilesA song is a piece of poetry. The use of

right figures of speech is fundamental to goodpoetry. When a poet has deep thinking and asense of genuineness, it gets reflected in hiscompositions. He then does not have toindulge in verbal jugglery or ornamentations.If one considers life as poetry, there also thisholds true. When the mind is full of excessivedesires, one tends to lead false life, full ofexternal pomp and glory. On the other hand,if one is inspired by higher ideals, filled withinner richness, his life becomes meaningful andjoyful. Life with inner richness is what is calledtrue life.

Sri Krishna deplores the life of pomp andvanity. He says that in case of people whoindulge in ostentatious life-style, ‘no setdetermination is formed in the minds of thosethat are deeply attached to pleasure andpower.’4 ‘Bound by a hundred ties of hope,given over to lust and wrath, they strive to

secure by unjust means hoards of wealth forsensual enjoyments.’5 On the other hand, one’slife becomes a piece of wonderful poetry withexternal simplicity but inner richness for one,‘who finds delight, satisfaction and light withinhimself.’6 Hence, in order to find the highermeaning in life—to lead a really meaningfullife—one must control one’s desires andnegative emotions. Conversely, the search forhigher meaning in life itself controls the mindnaturally, and this is the Gita’s way of calmingthe mind.

When we achieve inner harmony andinner rhythm, we find the same rhythm andharmony in the outer world also. There isalready a great symphony in God’s worldgoing on. Even the particles in an atom followa pattern. So do the various seasons such assummer, winter and spring, and daily cycle ofday and night have an inherent rhythm—producing their note in the universal orchestraof Nature. We often fail to listen and under-stand this music because of our preoccupationwith the world of chaos, discord and doubtthat we build around us.

Generally, those who are used to onlylight music cannot appreciate the classicalmusic. However, they can develop the tastefor classical music by frequent listening to itand understanding its inner harmony. In thesame manner, we must develop divine faculty(though Sri Krishna calls them as ‘divine eyes’,we could also call them as ‘divine ears’) toappreciate and enjoy the universal music thatgoes on beneath the noise and activity ofeveryday life. If we can identify ourselves withcosmic consciousness, go beyond the littledimensions of our personality, then the mindcomes completely under our control. Then itcan tune to the cosmic vibration and we get tohear and enjoy the eternal cosmic music. Themodern science also testifies this cosmic


76

musical dance. Fritjof Capra, the well-knownwriter on this subject, says:

The modern physics has shown us that move-ment and rhythm are essential properties ofmatter; that all matter, whether here on earthor in outer space, is involved in a continualcosmic dance. . . . According to field theory, eachparticle does indeed ‘perpetually sing its song’,producing rhythmic pattern of energy (thevirtual particles) in ‘dense and subtle forms.7

God is the great universal master ofmusic, who composes and directs the cosmicorchestra of infinite dimensions. It is he whomakes everyone speak, hear, move and dothings according to His tunes. In this sense,the whole universe is a Bhagavad Gita or Lord’sSong. When our own life gets attuned to Lord’sSong, our life too becomes a divine life. This isthe true meaning of keeping the mind calm,always.

1. The Eternal Companion, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, p.293 2. Gita, 18:66 3. ibid., 18.614. ibid., 2:42 5. ibid., 16:12 6. ibid., 5.24 7. The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra, Flamingo, 1982, pp. 268-69

References

Understanding Where We Stand

Work is always mixed with good and evil, and to work, one has to incur sin, more

or less. But what of that? Let it be so. Is not something better than nothing? . . . Is

not doing work, though mixed with good and evil, better than doing nothing and

passing an idle and inactive life, and being like stones? The cow never tells a lie,

and the stone never steals, but, nevertheless, the cow remains a cow and the

stone a stone. Man steals and man tells lies, and again it is man that becomes a

god. With the prevalence of the Sattvika essence, man becomes inactive and rests

always in a state of deep Dhyana or contemplation; with the prevalence of the

Rajas, he does bad as well as good works; and with the prevalence of the Tamas

again, he becomes inactive and inert. Now, tell me, looking from outside, how are

we to understand, whether you are in a state wherein the Sattva or the Tamas

prevails? Whether we are in a state of Sattvika calmness, beyond all pleasure and

pain, and past all work and activity, or whether we are in the lowest Tamasika

state, lifeless, passive, dull as dead matter, and doing no work, because there is no

power in us to do it, and are, thus, silently and by degrees, getting rotten and

corrupted within—I seriously ask you this question and demand an answer. Ask

your own mind, and you shall know what the reality is. But, what need to wait for

the answer? The tree is known by its fruit. The Sattva prevailing, the man is inactive,

he is calm, to be sure; but that inactivity is the outcome of the centralisation of

great powers, that calmness is the mother of tremendous energy. That highly Sattvika

man, that great soul, has no longer to work as we do with hands and feet—by his

mere willing only, all his works are immediately accomplished to perfection. . . The

Almighty Mother of the universe writes with Her own hand, in golden letters on his

forehead, ‘Worship ye all, this great one, this son of Mine’, and the world reads and

listens to it and humbly bows down its head before him in obedience.



The Spot Where the Gita was Delivered

Jyotisar is the place in Kurukshetra (some 120 km from New Delhi) where Bhagavad Gitais said to have been delivered by Sri Krishna. The belief is that the whole place was part of thebattleground where Mahabharata War was fought. Theword Jyotisar means ‘the lake of light’—referring tothe small lake that flanks the marble platform whichmarks the place where the Gita was delivered. Twobanyan trees, a marble model of the Gita Ratha and afew shrines dedicated to various deities is what thewhole place consists of. These little shrines wereconstructed centuries ago by some of the erstwhileKings of north India. Gita Upadesha Sthal [the spotwhere the message of Gita was delivered] is written on astone plaque nearby. The historicity of the place is lostin the march of events over the years but the place isrevered and visited by countless devotees every year.The Government of Haryana through its KurukshetraDevelopment Board looks after its upkeep andmaintenance.


‘Grieve not—the Lord is with Us’Gita’s Lessons for Fearlessness

PREMA NANDAKUMAR

The Message of FearlessnessSome years ago I was at a meeting

addressed by some eminent scholars. Thesubject was the Bhagavad Gita. When it wasthe turn of Dr. Karan Singh, he put us all atease in a moment by affirming that the gist ofthe Song Celestial was very simple: Sri BhagavanUvacha: maa sucha! ‘The Lord said: Don’tworry.’ The rest of his speech was about theneed for faith in the Lord whom we cannoteasily describe. To drive home this point, Dr.Singh concluded by reciting in its entirety, agreat poem by Sri Aurobindo, ‘Who?’

In the blue of the sky, in the green of the forest,Whose is the hand that has painted the glow?When the winds were asleep in the womb of the ether,Who was it roused them and bade them to blow?

The message for the audience was clear.The Gita gives us the message of fearlessness.And the giver of the promise is no ordinaryperson but the creator himself. If we approachthe Bhagavad Gita with these twin conceptsfirmly imbedded in our mind, all will be well.

When I was ten years old, my father gaveme a copy of Swami Swarupananda’s editionof the Gita. Though today I have nearly thirtyeditions and commentaries, Swami Swarupa-nanda takes precedent. The one given by fatherbecame too brittle for use and so I got another

one in 1975. Swami Swarupananda has adirect, clear way of presenting the slokas[verses] and today I realize how helpful thiswork has been to overcome many a mentaland emotional quandary with electrical ease.

Though, it is not uncommon to seeretired, old people being presented with copiesof the Gita, I think it is the youngsters whoshould get it. This is the lesson about giftingbooks that I have learnt. For, the first lessoncomes from the very first sloka!

Tell me, O Sanjaya! Assembled on Kurukshetra,the centre of religious activity, desirous to fight,what indeed did my people and the Pandavasdo?1

Absence of egoism, ahankara, is the firstlesson we need to learn if we wish to sculptourselves into an ideal person. Look atDhritarashtra’s saying maamakah first! After allKauravas and Pandavas belong to the samegroup and yet, Dhritarashtra considers thePandavas to be outsiders. And, we are told,this egoistic attitude ultimately led to the ruinof Kauravas. Where the ‘mine’ (maamakah)comes, the Lord destroys it ultimately. In thisland which has always ended its prayers withsarve janah sukhino bhavantu [’May all behappy’] from times immemorial, for Dhrita-rashtra to compartmentalise himself and theKauravas was unbecoming.

Dr. Prema Nandakumar is a devotee from Srirangam. She has several publications to her credit, and regularlyreviews books for The Vedanta Kesari and other journals.


79

Each of the verses of the Gita has beencouched in purposeful language, aimed atcreating the ideal man. As indicated earlier,fearlessness and freedom from ego apart, asthe boy or girl enter their teens and then passthrough their adolescence, chanting the Gitaverses percolates into the consciousness, andremains within as an unheard melody, ‘anahatanada’ [the unstruck sound]. Suddenly someoneexplains a familiar verse or one goes throughan experience which reminds one of a Gitacouplet; and what has been dark in our mindgets illumined suddenly.

It is in Giving that We ReceiveDo we not come across daily the

spectacle of bandhs and processions andposter-splashing to press our ‘rights’? I havethis ‘right’ for reservation, I have that ‘right’for enhanced dearness allowance, we have this‘right’ for a holiday and so on. When we seesuch a demonstration, all we have to do is totouch the memory button in our brain andthere splashes on our mental screen the verse,

The devas, cherished by Yajna, will give youdesired-for objects’. So, he who enjoys objectsgiven by the devas without offering (in return)to them, is verily a thief.2

Chanting this verse with an attention toits meaning would make us be mindful indischarging our duties. The young man shouldthink: Do I care to be known as a thief? Afterall, even if one does not discharge one’s dutieswell and others do not know about it, there issomething called ‘conscience’ within each oneof us. That inner voice, verbalized by this slokawould tell us that we have been lax indischarging our duties. Next, we are to bemore anxious in performing our duties thanin pressing for our rights. Gradually, per-forming one’s duties well would become asecond nature and the ideal man would be

getting sculpted as a handsome personality.For what is beauty but the joy in one’s face athaving done the right thing in life?

Life’s experience would also teach us thatthe Devas and the Yajna are not mere Puranicconcepts. They are the symbolic representa-tions of the wise men, the good men, the eldersof the family and the society. These elders havegiven us so much; these parents have sacrificedso much to bring us up. Their blessings havenever failed us. It is but appropriate that weseek to return to our parents in at least a smallmeasure what we owe to them. Our ownservices will be one of gratitude and ananda orjoy. Serving the parents and elders itself isananda. To think that we are serving the devasin their person makes the ananda a thousand-fold. And to know that whatever we do—service to our parents, our family, our society,our country, this humanity—is itself a yajna,gives a sacred feeling to whatever we do. Andwhen we think of something sacred andconsecrated, we cannot be careless, flippantor irreverent. Or unclean either!

The Gita teaches us to engage ourselvesin action, an important teaching for thegrowing mind. I love to remember an incidentconnected with the verse,3

I have, O son of Pritha, no duty, nothing that Ihave not gained; and nothing that I have to gain,in the three worlds; yet, I continue in action.

It was given to me to be in close touchwith a great scholar for decades. He wouldalways be writing, reading, typing or teaching.One day I was astonished to see him bringdown all the books from a huge shelf. Was hesearching for any book? No, he said. Then hewent about dusting the books and puttingthem back in the shelf. Did he not haveassistants to do his work? Oh, yes, there werea couple of them, he said. ‘It is true I need notdo this work. But unless my assistants see me


80

do it, and the way I dust the books, each onewith care, they may not understand the valueI attach to my books. And in any case, physicalwork of any kind should be welcomed to keepour limbs active. Yes, it helps the mind too!’

I realized that the manner in which thischild of Goddess Saraswati was workingdemonstrated Sri Aurobindo’s description ofthe goddess in his book, The Mother:

Carelessness and negligence and indolence sheabhors; all scamped and hasty and shufflingwork; all clumsiness and a peu pres and misfire,all false adaptation and misuse of instrumentsand faculties and leaving of things undone orhalf done is offensive and foreign to her temper.When her work is finished, nothing has beenforgotten, no part has been misplaced or omittedor left in a faulty condition; all is solid, accurate,complete and admirable.

Yoga of SkilfulnessThis directly takes us to the sloka in Gita

which should always be kept glowing in ourheart:

Endowed with this evenness of mind, one freesoneself in this life, alike from vice and virtue.Devote thyself, therefore, to this Yoga. Yoga isthe very dexterity of work.4

Yogah karmasu kausalam! There are yogasand yogas: Karma, Jnana, Bhakti, Prapatti,Hatha, Tantra yogas and their like. In truth,all life becomes yoga if we approach it in theGitaesque methodology. If yoga is an aspira-tion towards uniting with the Supreme, anywork undertaken can become a yoga. Aspiringfor perfection in that work, one gets engagedin yoga. Can we dismiss as mere artisans andsculptors the ancients who were absorbed increating a Yoga Narasimha at Hampi, aGomateshwara at Shravanabelagola, or en-visioning the dancing Shiva thousands of yearsago? They were yogis too, for they sought

perfection in the works undertaken by them. Ihave been absorbed watching a clerk in agovernment office tie the files so well that nota paper can get away and at the same time thefiles never look ungainly or ugly. Such naturaltendency towards perfection in his area ofwork in an office which seems to be a muddleof chairs and half opened shelves with papersstrewn here and there and half a dozenupturned waste paper baskets! This clerk hastaken to his job with the attitude of a yogi!The Gita is worthy of being cherished even ifthis single lesson is soaked up by the youngmind. That person’s life would be beautiful inevery way. He has made his life meaningful,and that is the aim of an ideal life.

We do have reams and reams of ethicaltexts and dharma shastras. There are theMahabharata and the Ramayana which havelong cantos on the practicalities of day-to-dayliving. However, it is the Gita (which is a partof the Mahabharata and yet stands out by itselfas the Vishnu Sahasranama) that has verseswhich explain in unambiguous terms all aboutthe three gunas, the godly and ungodlynatures, the important yogas and the need tosurrender. It is this work that puts unambi-guously the command-cum-assurance:

Relinquishing all dharmas take refuge in Mealone; I will liberate thee from all sins: grievenot.5

Back to the beginning, then. Today thebiggest enemy of youth is ‘fear’. Fear of failure,of not being able to get a job, of not being ableto go on and on and up and up; fear of beingbranded a failure. In a world of fast-forwardedtechnology and information revolution, theconstant worry that plagues youth is whetherhe is taking the right decision. Worry! Worry!Worry! Tension is the ‘in’ word today, andthe physicians are having a bonanza out of it.But why fear, asks the Lord: why should you


be sad? If one is able to feel close to the Lord,to the divine, to one’s Guru, what is it thatcan sway you and make you helpless? Masucha! [Grieve not!] Nectarean words. Keep thesmile on! The Lord is with us!

Interestingly enough, for such peoplewho give up fear by turning to the Lord, theDivine turns up with his help.

Persons who, meditating on me as non-separate,worship Me in all beings, to them thus everzealously engaged, I carry what they lack andpreserve what they already have.6

God helps those who help themselves isa familiar proverb. There is a reassuring beliefin the famous temple of Goddess Ranganayakiin Srirangam. The sanctum is a little away fromthe main entrance. The knowledgeable say: ‘Ifyou walk four steps towards Mother’s sanc-tum, she will take eight steps towards you!’We have the Upanishadic dictum: tapahprabhaavaat deva prasaadaascha: with the helpof tapasya and with the Grace of the Divine!Swami Vivekananda reiterated this when hesaid: ‘Faith, Faith, faith in ourselves, faith, faithin God, this is the secret of greatness.’ If thisassurance is buried deep into the psyche ofthe youth, there will be no need to worry.While performing their work with zeal toattain perfection, they will also take up newactivities for the good of fellow-human beings.

For they would know help and resources willcome to them of their own, once their sincerityand hard work is recognized by the society.

We have a number of happenings toattest this promise of the Lord. Each and everysuccess story of the children brought up inthe Homes run by the Sri RamakrishnaMission is a practical demonstration of thisverse. It is a humbling lesson for why shouldwe always worry about what we lack? Havewe put to good and full use the talents we dopossess? The Lord assures us that we are allborn with talents: we ‘already have’. Thesetalents are brought out by the Lord.

Such was the philosophy of SwamiVivekananda who said education is the act ofbringing out the capacities within us. Faith isall. Faith makes the dumb person a scholar.The lame can climb up the mountains. Faithand perseverance are the two wings that carrysuch a person towards his goal. When Krishna,Madhava of Supreme ananda, ParamanandaMadhava is the guide of youth times, thefuture is assured. All we need to do is to placea copy of Gita in a ten-year old’s hands andencourage him or her to read it. Sixty yearsafter, the one-time child would look back onthe past with a sense of fulfillment and ananda,and would have come somehow close tounderstanding the Song Celestial.

1. Translations from the Gita used in this essay are by Swami Swarupananda, published from the AdvaitaAshrama, Kolkata, 1.1 2. ibid., 3. 12 3. ibid., 3. 22 4. ibid., 2. 50 5. ibid., 18. 666. ibid., 9. 22

References

Just as a well-kindled fire reduces a heap of fire-wood to ashes, so does the fire of

divine knowledge reduce all sins to ashes.

Verily there is nothing so purifying as knowledge in this world. One who is perfect in

Yoga discovers it in oneself in course of time.

—Bhagavad Gita, 4.37-38

81


SWAMI ABHIRAMANANDA

Swami Abhiramananda is the Manager of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai. His thoughtfully written articlesappear in The Vedanta Kesari occasionally.

Ten Principles of Work Ethicin the Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is an immortal work.Hundreds of commentaries and explanationshave been written on each of its verses throughthe centuries, yet it is amenable to many moreinterpretations. Such is the genius of its author,Sri Krishna that the more we study the versesof the Gita, the more joy and knowledge wederive, and clearer becomes our understandingof life. We shall take up a few verses of theGita that expound the philosophy of work inthree stages.

Four Principles of Work:Duties and Responsibilities versus

Rights and Privileges

In the first stage, we enter the Kuru-kshetra war-field. The Pandavas and theKauravas are arrayed against each other.Arjuna, the greatest hero among the Pandavas,asks his charioteer, Sri Krishna, to place hischariot in between the two armies so that hecan have a clear view of them.1 On beingplaced in the middle, and seeing his gurusand relatives in the rival camp, Arjunabecomes dis-spirited; the arrows and bows falloff from his hands; his whole body sweats andshivers;2 for, how can he kill his ownbrethren?3 Would it not be more honourableto beg and survive than to win the war bykilling and maiming his own teachers, elders,kith and kin?4 Having prepared so long for

the war, he is now haunted by an ethicaldilemma. He is unable to decide whether totake up the arms and fight or retreat and liveon alms. Eventually, he takes refuge in SriKrishna, the omniscient and almighty Lord ofthe universe, for a verdict.5

Sri Krishna exhorts Arjuna to take uparms and fight valorously.6 It is cowardly towithdraw from war at this stage and therebysuffer perpetual ignominy.7 Sri Krishnamotivates him through several logical argu-ments. Still, Arjuna is not fully convinced.Finally, Sri Krishna shows His universal form8

and convinces Arjuna that fighting the war isthe only honourable way out of the situation.Arjuna then regains composure and confidenceand vigorously participates in the eighteen-day Mahabharata war.

Some thinkers, specifically foreignscholars, have dubbed the Gita as preachingand promoting homicide. What they haveoverlooked is that it is not the war or killingthat is emphasized here but the presentationof a clear concept of karmayoga or therealization of the ultimate truth through thepath of selfless work.

We all have certain duties andresponsibilities. Side by side, we also havesome rights and privileges. These two alwaysgo in tandem. To give an example: A house-holder has certain duties and responsibilities


83

towards his family, to ensure that all themembers of his family live with dignity in thesociety, his children get adequate educationand get settled happily in life with a good joband married life. To this end, he spends all hisenergy and resources and finally afterdischarging his duties satisfactorily, hegenerally lives a life of peaceful retirementsupported by his family members.

Suppose another householder does notdischarge his responsibilities as above; hesquanders away his resources in drinking andother evil indulgences; his children are notgiven proper education, they are forced to livein disgrace, in such a scenario, he cannotexpect them to look after him in his old age.In other words, if he does not discharge hisresponsibilities properly, he cannot expect anyrights or privileges in return. To the extent heis sincere in performing his duties, to thatextent, privileges come to him of themselves.

We now extend this example to a teacherwho has, say, 100 children under his care. Hisduty is to see that all the 100 students passout of the examinations, if possible, with flyingcolours. He can take some liberty with these100 children, admonish them and correct themwhenever needed. But he cannot commandthe respect of his students if he does not carryon this job in a responsible way. As long as hedischarges his responsibilities towards hisstudents in a proper manner, he enjoys theirrespect and certain privileges, too.

Expanding this example further, let ustake up the case of the head of a nation. Hehas everything at his command. The privilegeshe enjoys are almost unlimited, but his dutiesare also enormous. Any disaster even in aremote corner of his country, be it natural orman-made, has to be attended, without anydelay. He should always be prepared forsurprises even if he provides good governance.

If he simply enjoys the privileges due to thehead of a state without duly discharging hisresponsibilities, he will certainly lose hisreputation and job very soon.

From the above examples and dis-cussions, we learn the following principles:

1. Responsibilities and privileges alwaysgo hand in hand.

2. The greater the responsibilities oneundertakes, the greater the privileges oneenjoys.

3. To demand rights and privilegeswithout discharging one’s duties andresponsibilities would be unethical andsuicidal.

4. When a person discharges his res-ponsibilities sincerely, privileges come to himunsought. This is one of the great secrets ofkarmayoga.

In the context of these four principles,let us take the case of Arjuna in the Kuru-kshetra war. He was born in a kshatriya familywhose svadharma is to protect the society fromenemies, even by waging wars whenevernecessary.9 Arjuna had been trained by agalaxy of eminent warrior-teachers right fromhis childhood. His guru made him the greatestarcher in the world by not only imparting tohim intense training but also by sacrificing theinterests of other student-archers likeEkalavya. The whole society had contri-buted to the emergence of Arjuna as the wellknown brilliant soldier of the Pandavas.

Now, after receiving so many benefitsfrom the society, if he withdraws just at thecritical time of war, it would be nothing but afarce. It will be very similar to the hypotheticalcase of an Indian soldier who joined the armyand served for many years when there wasno war. He enjoyed a lucrative salary, got dailyconsumables at highly subsidized prices at thecost of the general public, and commanded


84

respect from the society by virtue of hisposition in the armed forces. Suddenly a warbroke out with a neighbouring country. Thissoldier went to the battle-field, but on seeingthe enemies, started philosophizing that theseenemies were after all his brothers a few yearsago just before partition and so it would bewrong to fight and kill his own brethren inthe battle. If he thinks in this manner andwithdraws at this stage, it would be a betrayalto the nation which had sacrificed so much tokeep him and his family comfortable all thoseyears. It would be an eternal disgrace to thesoldier. The correct and honourable waywould be to face and fight the enemies in thewar and win the battle.

This is what Sri Krishna advises Arjuna—‘O Arjuna, you have enjoyed so many rightsand privileges from the society which hashelped to groom you into a great warrior. If atthis stage, you desist from fighting, you willincur unpardonable shame.’

We have to note that the emphasis hereis not on killing but in discharging one’sresponsibilities in a disinterested manner.

This is the basis of karma yoga. Whenwe discharge our duties to the society withoutexpecting anything in return,10 such a type ofwork gives us maximum benefit and satis-faction and elevating us spiritually.

The Triple Principle: Lessons from Mother

Nature

The second stage of work ethic takes usto Mother Nature. Here, Sri Krishna introducesthe concept of yajna in the Gita and redefinesits meaning and scope. In the vedic literature,yajna means a sacrificial fire ritual in whichofferings are made to propitiate gods for theattainment of some worldly ends. Sri Krishnaspeaks of many more types of yajna such aswealth-sacrifice, austerity-sacrifice, yogic

sacrifice and knowledge-sacrifice11 andconcludes that unless all our works are donein a spirit of yajna or sacrifice for the good ofthe society, we will be bound by our ownactions.12 Thus the meaning of yajna, whichhad hitherto been confined to the relationshipbetween man and God, was transformed toinclude not only the Creator but also all Hiscreations, be they high or low. Applying thisidea, Sri Krishna strongly states that if a personeats food alone without sharing with others,he verily eats sin itself13 and one who enjoysgifts without giving anything in return is athief.14 The implication is that the whole worldof things, animals and human beings areinterwoven in such a splendid harmony thatit will be impossible for any being to survivein isolation without depending upon the rest.We must adopt a policy of mutual give andtake.15

In this respect, he asks us to imitateMother Nature which does her workunselfishly, uninterruptedly and withoutexpectation of any reward. A great, mysteriouscosmic yajna is going on in Nature withoutany sort of discontinuity.16 The earth revolvesall the hours of the day and night, and all thedays of the year without the slightest respite.The wind has been blowing and will continueto do so for all time to come. Similarly freshwater keeps constantly flowing into the river;vegetables and fruits grow afresh in plants andtrees; planets and stars keep moving in theirorbits at high speeds without the slightest rest.But for the services rendered by thismysterious Mother Nature, mankind wouldnot be able to survive even for a moment.

The other compelling factor is thatNature always works for others, never forherself. The trees and plants bear vegetablesand fruits, not for themselves but for others;similarly the rivers flow for the benefit of


others and so on. Yet another point worthnoting is that Nature renews herself daily; shenever becomes tired, or jaded or old. Theflower that blossomed in the morning maywither away by the evening, but the sameplant produces equally new and fresh flowersthe next morning.

How are we to apply this idea of renewalin our daily lives? Sri Krishna advocates asimple and easy method of prayer and self-surrender. He assures that if we are devotedto Him, sacrifice everything unto Him,considering Him as our highest goal, all ourproblems, tensions and anxieties will beabsorbed in Him.17 He will refill our spirit withfresh energy and vigour.

To summarise, the following are thelessons that we can learn from Mother Nature:

5. We have to work without respite.6. We have to work always in the spirit

of yajna, without selfish motives.7. We have to learn to renew ourselves

daily, despite tensions and restlessness thatare characteristic of today’s society.

The Triple Principles on Bondage and

Freedom:

In the third and final stage, Sri Krishnaspeaks about liberation as the goal of life. Heis categorical that doing good to the world isonly a means and can never be the goal of life.This is because no work is perfect by itself.All works are attended with defects as fire isenveloped by smoke.18 There is no work whichis all good or all bad. In the same way, toconceptualize a perfect world is also amisnomer. Swami Vivekananda likens theworld to a dog’s tail.19 As soon as we straightenout a dog’s tail, it curls up instantly. Repeatedefforts lead only to desperation. Finallywisdom dawns that by attempting to strai-ghten out the dog’s tail, which can never be

done, we only straighten ourselves. Similarly,by trying to perfect the world through selflesswork, we end up by perfecting, not the world,but ourselves. That is why Swami Viveka-nanda terms this world as a moral gymnasiumto which we have come to perfect ourselves.20

In a gymnasium, the weight blocks are madeavailable for exercising. After a few years ofexercising, one is able to build up one’s bodyand muscles substantially, but the weightblocks remain the same as they were yearsago. In the same way, after doing much goodto the world, we shall one day realize that theworld will continue to run with its attendantdefects,21 but we have grown and evolvedspiritually.

The world may also be likened to ahospital where, as soon the patients are curedof their illnesses and discharged, new patientswith newer diseases occupy the beds; or it islike a laundry where, as soon as the dirtyclothes are washed and delivered, new sets ofdirty clothes start pouring in.

When we work for money, name, fameor with some other worldly motive, we mayget whatever we desire, but they will only bindus more and more to this world. When we donot expect anything from this world and goon doing selfless work, we will be able to getrid of bondages and move towards freedom.To understand this mystery, we need to havea clear grasp of the following three principles:

8. We have to work to remove evils andsufferings and for increasing the good andhappiness of the world.

9. As we go on working, we will findthat the world will continue to remain amixture of good and evil, of happiness andsufferings.

10. In our attempt to perfect the world,we will end up perfecting ourselves, which isthe goal of human life.

85


Thus the pragmatic teachings of SriKrishna help us to look upon all creatures asGod’s gift to humanity, mutually serving oneanother. The realisation of this fact helps toforge a strong social commitment, reinforceour belief in ethics as the foundation of ourexistence, increase our love for the Creator (in

1. Srimad Bhagavad Gita, 1.21-22 2. ibid., 1.28-30 3. ibid., 1.37 4. ibid., 2.5 5. ibid., 2.76. ibid, 2.37 7. ibid., 2.34-36 8. ibid, 11.5 onwards 9. ibid, 2.31 10. ibid. 2.47 11. ibid., 4.2812. ibid., 3.9 13. ibid., 3.13 14. ibid., 3.12 15. ibid., 3.11 16. ibid., 3.14-16 17. ibid, 9.3418. ibid., 18.48 19. CW, 1: 79 20. ibid., 1: 80 21. ibid., 1: 80

whatever way we may address Him) and hisCreation, and conduces to our own self-evolution. These teachings have been testedfor over thousands of years and every one ofSri Krishna’s universal and rational teachingshave proved to be eternally relevant, amazingpractical and spiritually rewarding.

References

‘If You Persevere in Spiritual Life’

In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna raised the problem of the difficulty of controlling the

mind. He said: tasyaham nigraham manye vayoriva suduskaram—‘I find it as difficult to

hold the mind as to hold air within one’s fist.’ Sri Krishna answered: asamsayam

mahabaho mano durnigraham calam, abhyasena tu kaunteya vairagyena ca grihyate.—

‘Yes, O mighty-armed one, mind is no doubt very powerful and hard to control, but

through abhyasa and vairagyam this mind can be brought under control.’

In other words Sri Krishna propounded two methods: abhyasa—that is to say,

repeated practice, doing the same thing over and over—and vairagya, renunciation.

Repeated practice I have dwelt upon: again and again try to bring the consciousness of

the ideal spiritual state to the mind. Vairagya, or renunciation, is also necessary. If you

have come to the conclusion that something you are doing is not in consonance with

your ideal, then give it up. Don’t at that time say, ‘Oh, I shouldn’t give it up. What

would my friends say!’ Will your friends take you to salvation? And what kind of friends

are they if they cannot appreciate these things? I am a cynic, no doubt, but my

definition of a friend is one who is a playmate. I want to enjoy certain things; I cannot

enjoy them alone, so I want a few others to enjoy them with me. Those fellow enjoyers

you call friends. No, they are not friends; they are conveniences. If you didn’t want to

do certain things along with them, you would shun them. So let friends say whatever

they like; you should not make too much of it. And if they are real friends, you may be

doing them good by changing your habits. The way things generally happen is that

when you take to spiritual life, your friends at first ridicule you, hate you, shun you; but

as you make progress, they become proud of you; they feel a vicarious enjoyment.

Then if you fail to live up to your own spiritual ideal, they become your bitterest

enemies—which is only natural, because they were enjoying this wonderful thing through

you, and you have deprived them of it. But if you persevere in spiritual life, you can

really help them. —Swami Ashokananda in Ascent to Spiritual Illumination, p.61-63

86

C M Y K

527V e d a n t a K e s a r i D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8~ ~

C M Y K

88


C M Y K

89


C M Y K

90


C M Y K

91


C M Y K

92


C M Y K

93


C M Y K

94


C M Y K

95


C M Y K

96


C M Y K

97


C M Y K

98


C M Y K

99


C M Y K

100


C M Y K

101


C M Y K

102



SWAMI ATMARUPANANDA

Gita’s Way to Self-Fulfilment

The Meaning of Self-FulfilmentWhat do we mean by fulfilment, and how

do we struggle to achieve it? By boldly examin-ing our search for happiness and unmaskingits follies, we become better prepared to receivethe Gita’s way to self-fulfilment.

There are so many words that wecommonly use, thinking that we understandthem, without really examining their intent.And part of spiritual practices deal with intent,making our intent conscious and clear. So letus begin by defining our operative term. Theword ‘fulfilment’ refers to the develop-ment of the full potentialities of something. Ifsomething is fulfilled, it is completed: whatwas potential has been actualized. Self-fulfilment is the development of one’s ownpotentialities; fulfilment of oneself. A synonymof fulfilment would be completion. Synonymsof self-fulfilment would be self-actualization,attainment of perfection. For simplicity’s sakewe will henceforth use the unqualified term‘fulfilment’ for ‘self-fulfilment.’

The sense of fulfilment is an elusive thing.Ask most of us, ‘Do you feel fulfilled?’ and ifwe are honest we will answer ‘no’. . . and,after a pause perhaps, we’ll add, ‘not yet.’ Wespend our lives thinking that fulfilment is justaround the corner and think thus:

There is something I want badly, and once I haveit I will be happy. There is a problem facing me,and when I solve it life will be smooth. There’s a

position I want, and once I rise to it I’ll have itmade.

Sometimes, yes, when life is going ourway we do experience periods of satisfactionwhen all seems right with the world, and wesay, ‘Life is great! I am so happy!’ But suchperiods are fragile and all too short.

Modern life, starting in the West and nowspreading around the world, makes a decep-tive promise with cruel results. We are tolddirectly and indirectly through advertising,television, movies, magazines, books, imagesand songs, that we can be happy, fulfilled,even excited about life. How? By consumingand enjoying, by expressing, by possessing—basically by releasing our life-energy into theworld, by engaging with life on its own terms,by grabbing all that life has to offer. It is adeceptive promise because that is not the waylife works. The deception is cruel because itleads us to confusion, frustration, and un-happiness: ‘I did what I was supposed to do.Why am I not happy?’ Now-a-days manypeople live out their lives in the adolescentbelief that, the world is a bowl of cherries, justwaiting to be enjoyed, with parental control.In time this may get replaced by ‘boss’ or‘spouse’ or ‘the government’.

The Pursuit of HappinessWhat are the ramifications of this false

premise? First of all, it’s especially common in

A monk of the Ramakrishna Order, the author lives at the Ramakrishna Monastery in Trabuco Canyon, California.He travels to Mexico and around the United States giving talks and retreats on Vedanta.


104

the West to see people trying desperately tolook happy, to look excited. It takes time beforewe can see the sadness behind the smile, thedesperation behind the excitement. Not that itis better to go about looking depressed andhopeless. When we are depressed, we canmake ourselves feel better by forcing ourselvesto smile, to be pleasant. That is therapeutic.But this ebullience covering desperation is amask which keeps us from dealing with oursituation. Even in the midst of difficulties wecan find a quiet happiness by changing ourattitude and expectations. That is growth. Butthis show of mirth covering a wail of un-happiness is a tragic loss of integrity. This isnot a criticism of those who are suffering, buta criticism of the false belief they have beenfed: the belief that they can and should live inperpetual excitement over the adventure of life.

There is a second popular idea that feedsthis desperation to be happy. The great scholarof mythology, Joseph Campbell, used to tellpeople, ‘Follow your bliss!’1 For young peoplewho are afraid of following their dreams,afraid of doing what their better selves love,tied down by ideas of safe, mundanepracticality, it is an excellent advice. But byitself, unqualified, it can be an irresponsibleadvice. If I have a spouse and children but Iwant to strike out on my own and beindependent to ‘follow my bliss,’ can I find itby abandoning those who depend on me? If Ihave sick, elderly parents that need my carebut I want to squeeze the juice out of lifebefore it’s too late by travelling around theworld, seeking adventure, should I ‘follow mybliss’?

If I do abandon my legitimate responsi-bilities to others in order to pursue a self-centred goal, I will find eventually thathappiness has eluded me, fulfilment hasremained hidden.

Thirdly, not only has popular culturepromoted this idea that we should be excitedlyhappy all the time, but elements of New Agethought have promoted another idea—lessextreme but also cruel in its result—that if wedo the right things and think the rightthoughts, life will flow smoothly. Problems,then, are a sign that we are doing somethingwrong. Illness is a sign that we are not thinkingthe right thoughts. This teaching also feedsmodern desperation.

There may be a higher truth to this NewAge doctrine. Yes, if we have surrendered toGod and can take whatever happens as thewill of God, we gain a higher ease, anacceptance of that which comes our way. Weno longer fight our circumstances but workwith them. We seem to flow through life asthough carried by a warm and loving current—a current that is personal, even considerate—where we don’t have to initiate anything. Eventhough others see us facing great difficulties,we see ourselves as floating in the warmcurrent of the river, participating as thingsarise, not initiating. But at the lower levelwhere most of us live, this principle does notoperate, which makes this New Age teachingcruel because it compounds our problems witha sense of guilt, intensifies our suffering bymaking us blame ourselves for bringing onillness in some way that we can not even see.Positive thinking is a wonderful tool, but ifnot grounded in reality, it can itself become adesperate enterprise to repress our emptiness.

These three ideas—that we should beexcitedly fulfilled by grabbing life, that weshould selfishly follow our bliss, and thatproblems come because we aren’t thinking theright thoughts—each so characteristic in itsown way of modern life, fail because they denythe true nature of ordinary life. Life taken onits own terms does not involve problem solving,


105

it is not accompanied by problem solving, it isproblem solving. Whenever we think, ‘I can’twait to get this problem solved so that I canrelax for a change,’ another problem is alreadycoming around the corner fully formed.

If we look at very wealthy people whospend their money to buy their way out ofproblems, we will invariably see that, to theextent that they have bought their way out ofthe problems which common people face, tothat extent very small things become hugeproblems for them—things that ordinarypeople would not even notice. Not that allwealthy people use their money to avoidfacing the problems of life: some use it well,and some use it very wisely. But those whodo try to buy their way out of problems suffera type of degeneration, a character sickness.This shows that we need problems. If we donot have natural problems, we inventproblems. And real problems are always betterthan the imagined problems of the effete.

Is Self Fulfilment Possible?It depends on what we mean by fulfil-

ment. If we mean ‘being high on life’ byembracing the world on its own terms, no,that sort of fulfilment is not possible exceptoccasionally in fragile spurts, which really cannot be called fulfilment at all because it isfragile and occasional, subject to reaction; andit is a ‘high’ only in comparison to our normal,dull state. Or if by fulfilment we mean follow-ing our bliss in a self-centred way, no, we willfind in time that bliss has abandoned us,character has not been formed, our mind isuncontrolled, and fulfilment is an emptydream. Or again, if by fulfilment we mean asmooth and joyful life built on doing andthinking right, well, that is not enough to attaintrue fulfilment, especially as the New Agedefines ‘right’ in this context.

Many of us are attracted to spiritual lifebecause it does promise fulfilment (expressedvariously such as Illumination, Enlightenment,Liberation, Union with God, Self-realizationor Realization of the Infinite). The problem forus is, the longer we are on the path, the furtherthe Goal seems to recede from us. Not that wemove further from the goal, but we begin torealise how vast the goal is, and how meagreour best efforts are, and therefore how difficulta goal it is to reach. Fulfilment thereby onceagain seems to elude us.

The Hope of FulfilmentIn the Bhagavad Gita, however, Sri

Krishna brings fulfilment toward us. He doesnot tell us: ‘Nirvikalpa samadhi or bust.’Rather he says ‘Even a little of this dharmacarries one beyond the great Fear (death).’2

But neither does he water fulfilment down tothe point where it means nothing more thanembracing the world on its own terms in adesperate effort to be happy. He does notpromise us that we can enjoy life and be freefrom problems by following a recipe book ofright thoughts and actions. Rather he fullyacknowledges the nature of life, but points tothat within us which can begin to rise aboveit.

First Sri Krishna grabs Arjuna and shakeshim with the words:

Whence comes this ignoble despair in the faceof adversity, contrary to the attainment of heavenand productive of infamy, O Arjuna? Don’t givein to this state of neutered weakness. Ill does itbefit you! Throw off this small-minded faint-heartedness and stand up, O destroyer of yourfoes!3

The Essence of the GitaSwami Vivekananda said that these two

verses express the essence of the Gita. How


strange! The Gita is filled with the most exaltedteachings on the nature of the Self, the natureof God and the incarnation, liberation, thevision of God’s universal form, surrender ofoneself to God, and yet Vivekananda findshere the Gita’s essence. I think it is becausethe rest of the Gita stands on this foundationof strength, fearlessness, manliness. To SwamiVivekananda, manliness is godliness. Whenleaving for his wanderings, he told Sri SaradaDevi, ‘Mother, if I can become a man in thetrue sense of the term, then only I shall return;otherwise this will be my last farewell.’4 SisterNivedita records the Swami as saying that‘character is spirituality,’ and it’s in this spiritthat manliness is godliness.

In most religious traditions we are taughtto fear evil, fear temptation, fear hell, fearmistakes, even fear God. But Swami Viveka-nanda, in his lecture on the Gita, said:

It is a tremendous error to feel helpless. Do notseek help from anyone. We are our own help. Ifwe cannot help ourselves, there is none to helpus. ‘Thou thyself art thy only friend, thou thyselfthy only enemy. There is no other enemy butthis self of mine, no other friend but myself.’This is the last and greatest lesson, and Oh, whata time it takes to learn it! . . . That is all I have tosay to the world. Be strong! . . . The sign of life isstrength and growth. The sign of death isweakness. Whatever is weak, avoid! It is death.If it is strength, go down into hell and get holdof it! There is salvation only for the brave. . . . Allweakness, all bondage is imagination. Speak oneword to it, it must vanish. Do not weaken! Thereis no other way out. . . .Stand up and be strong5

Yes, ‘go down into hell’ to get strength!What other great world teacher has everspoken thus? Only Sri Krishna. None otherbefore Vivekananda.

And so, after giving Arjuna a thunderousshake, Sri Krishna then teaches him about the

Self of Man, which is untouched by death,untouched by life, transcendent over alldualities, over all the problems of life. And hetells Arjuna to take his stand there. Then onlyhe teaches Arjuna the secret of work, of yoga,and of devotion.

But are we not back to a far distant goalof Self-realization?

Yes and no. Ultimate fulfilment, indeed,is the rare state of illumination. One expressionof that state is the sthita-prajna, the person ofsteady wisdom, whom Sri Krishna describesin the second chapter.6 Some have said thatthe state of the sthita prajna is not the state ofultimate enlightenment, but the state of onewho has awakened the pratyagatman or inner,individual self, which is a significant statealong the path but not the final state ofillumination. But Sri Krishna does not leaveus with anything short of illumination. Heknows the use and place of everything in life,and so his emphasis is not on denial orrejection. As Swami Vivekananda says:

[Sri Krishna] is the most rounded man I knowof, wonderfully developed equally in brain andheart and hand. Every moment [of his] is alivewith activity, either as a gentleman, warrior,minister, or something else. . . . He knows theuse of everything, and when it is necessary to[assign a place to each], he is there. . . Buddha’sactivity was on one plane, the plane of teaching.He could not keep his wife and child and becomea teacher at the same time. Krishna preached inthe midst of the battlefield.7

And that is why Sri Krishna begins byinsulting Arjuna’s sense of manhood. Arjuna,having spoken eloquently of renunciation, ofself-sacrifice, of turning the other cheek, ismocked by Sri Krishna: ‘Laughing as it were,[Sri Krishna then] spoke to [Arjuna] who hadcollapsed there between the two armies.’8 How

106


different from traditional spiritual advice! Howdelighted most teachers would be on findinga disciple like Arjuna who had seen the vanityof the war, the vanity of victory, of fame, whohad seen the superiority of self-sacrifice andrenunciation! Yet Sri Krishna saw that Arjunahad come to that ‘wisdom’ through weakness,through fear which gripped his heart in itscold claws. Arjuna was not conquering life,but giving up defeated.

Therefore Sri Krishna’s first advice is,stand up and fight!9 And he doesn’t hesitateto appeal to ordinary values, which after allare higher than defeat and depression: he tellsArjuna: ‘Killed [in battle] you attain heaven;victorious you’ll enjoy the earth!’10 So fulfil-ment for Sri Krishna is not one final, ultimategoal, experienced only by a small handful ofpeople in any generation. There is a slidingscale of fulfilment according to our level ofpersonal evolution.

Traditional teachers of most religionsemphasize self-denial, self-sacrifice, unselfish-ness, egolessness, renunciation. One mighteven question whether the whole concept ofself-fulfilment fits into a spiritual path, unlessone defines it as ‘losing oneself in God.’

What allows these apparent contra-dictions is the Vedantic doctrine of the Self.Buddhism begins with the denial of theindividual self and of the universal Self.11

Other religions teach self-denial and affir-mation of God. Vedanta teaches Self-affirma-tion. Even the great Ramanuja teaches that truedevotion is founded on self-knowledge in thepositive sense: ‘I can’t truly love God unless Iknow who I am. According to him I must takemy stand on the purity and glory of the inner,spiritual—but individual—self.’

Yes, Vedanta also teaches unselfishness,self-sacrifice, transcendence of ego, but it’steaching of ‘self-denial’ is founded on self-

affirmation, and so the term ‘self-denial’ isreally inappropriate—a misnomer—in aVedantic context. Sri Krishna does not eventeach humility as that is understood in theAbrahamic traditions. He teaches same-sightedness (sama-darshitva).12

This doesn’t mean that Sri Krishnateaches egotism or ego-assertion: that has noplace in spiritual life. He teaches self-affirmation, where ‘self’ has to be understoodproperly. Even the individual self is pureconsciousness, only individuated, and it is thedoor to the infinite Self, whether throughknowledge where it is seen as a reflection ofone’s own highest nature, or through devotionwhere it is seen as a spark from the fire ofGod.

And that is why Sri Krishna—the greatestof all Vedantic teachers—begins his teachingwith a description of the Self, and asks Arjunato take his stand there. Stand on the glory ofthe Self! Stand even on the glory of the self!The great mistake is to think that you are greatand others are weak: that is egotism and hasnothing to do with standing on the glory ofthe self. The greater mistake is to think thatyou are nothing, for that is denial of the self,the very doorway to God.

The Grand JourneyThus each step on the journey taught by

Sri Krishna is a step toward greater and greaterself-fulfilment, ending in absolute Self-fulfil-ment. ‘Winning, you attain the earth; losingyou attain to heaven.’ Take a step higher andstand on the glory of the pratyagatman, in theinner self, where the waves of the world canno longer affect you. Yes, we can come to apoint, long before liberation, where we feel anincreasing freedom from the waves of theworld, where we feel an inner quiet andblessedness, a greater fulfilment than we’ve

107


ever experienced in the world. Take a stephigher still and be a sthita prajna, steady inwisdom like the ocean which takes in thewater of all the rushing rivers of the worldand yet remains unmoved.13 Or, havingknown the nature of the self, the nature of the

supreme Self, and the nature of God, followSri Krishna’s advice in the eighteenth chapter:‘Having renounced all supports, take refugein Me alone’14 and find absolute, unend-ing, unqualified fulfilment, which is Self-fulfilment.

1. See the video-taped series of his interview withBill Moyers, entitled Joseph Campbell and the Powerof Myth, with Bill Moyers by Mystic Fire Video,October 2001.

2. Srimad Bhagavad-Gita, 2.40; henceforth Gita3. Gita, 2.2-3.4. Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Gambhira-

nanda, Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1969, p.1675. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Advaita

Ashrama, Kolkata, 1: 478-4796. Gita, 2.55-727. Complete Works, 1: 457.

References

8. Gita, 2.109. Gita, 2.3710. Gita, 2,3711. The Mahayana school of Buddhisim, admittedly,

brought a modified version of the Self back, butmany of the complications in Mahayanaphilosophy come from the reinstatement of a defacto cosmic Self while trying to harmonize it withthe doctrine that there is no Self.

12. Gita, 5.1813. Gita, 2.7014. Gita, 18.66

The Secret of Karma Yoga

The good cook concentrates his whole self on the food-material he handles; he loses all

other consciousness for the time being. But they are only able to do perfectly a single

work in this way, to which they are habituated. The Gita teaches that all works should be

done thus. He who is one with the Lord through Yoga performs all his works by becoming

immersed in concentration, and does not seek any personal benefit. Such a performance

of work brings only good to the world, no evil can come out of it. . .

The result of every work is mixed with good and evil. There is no good work that has

not a touch of evil in it. Like smoke round the fire, some evil always clings to work. We

should engage in such works as bring the largest amount of good and the smallest

measure of evil. Arjuna killed Bhishma and Drona; if this had not been done Duryodhana

could not have been conquered, the force of evil would have triumphed over the force of

good, and thus a great calamity would have fallen on the country. The government of the

country would have been usurped by a body of proud unrighteous kings, to the great

misfortune of the people. Similarly, Shri Krishna killed Kamsa, Jarasandha, and others

who were tyrants, but not a single one of his deeds was done for himself. Every one of

them was for the good of others. We are reading the Gita by candle-light, but numbers of

insects are being burnt to death. Thus it is seen that some evil clings to work. Those who

work without any consciousness of their lower ego are not affected with evil, for they

work for the good of the world. To work without motive, to work unattached, brings the

highest bliss and freedom. This secret of Karma-yoga is taught by the Lord Shri Krishna in

the Gita. —Swami Vivekananda, CW, 5:249

108


N V C SWAMY

Gita’s View on Ecologyand its Maintenance

Gita’s Holistic ApproachThe Bhagavad Gita is a remarkable

scriptural text. Even though it was taught bySri Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield ofKurukshetra several millennia ago, it stillretains its freshness, because of the universalityof its teachings. It is as much relevant todayas it was when first enunciated or writtendown. Millions of people down the ages havebenefited by its study and the guidelinessuggested by it to lead a purposeful life onthis planet.

The Gita is basically a text of Yoga, boththeory and practice. Even though it recognizesinitially only two branches of Yoga—Jnana andKarma—later it goes on to elaborate the othertwo branches also, viz., Bhakti and Dhyana.This is because the latter two Yogas can beabsorbed into Karma Yoga, since they involveaction of some kind. Even the colophon at theend of each chapter of the text recognizes theGita as Brahmavidya [pertaining to Jnana] andYogasastra [pertaining to Karma Yoga].

The Gita is the only book of the scripturalliterature of the world that deals with KarmaYoga in a systematic way. So long as we areconscious of our physical bodies, we have toperform actions, as otherwise even oursurvival in the physical body is not possible.Action is, thus, inevitable for all creatures,

especially human beings. Species other thanhuman beings have very limited capacity tomake choices, whereas the human being isendowed with the capacity to make choices.Human wisdom lies in making proper choices,so that not only one is benefited in the longrun, even the rest of the creatures are helpedor at least not harmed. Karma Yoga is nothingbut making intelligent choices for the greatestbenefit to oneself and to humanity.

Karma Yoga can be practised at threelevels—personal, societal [or collective] andglobal. Sri Krishna touches upon all theselevels. The focus of our attention in this articleis on the last one, viz., Global Karma Yoga,dealing with the responsibility of humanbeings to the environment.

The Idea of EvolutionTo be able to appreciate the current

predicament of humanity and the remedysuggested by the Gita, one needs to know howexactly creation has taken place. It is not theintention to discuss here the Vedantic models,but to understand what modern science hasto say about it.

Just as Vedanta, modern astrophysicsalso believes that the manifestation of thisuniverse is a cyclic process. According to theBig Bang theory of astrophysics, this universe

Dr. N.V.C. Swamy, former Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, is currently the Dean ofAcademic Courses at the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana, a Deemed University inBangalore.


110

came into existence about 16 to 18 billion yearsago. Astrophysicists have worked out in detailhow the various galaxies evolved out ofprimordial energy. According to their cal-culations, the solar system came into existenceabout 4.5 billion years ago. Very soon theatmosphere of the earth became stable andthe earliest life forms appeared on our planetabout 1.5 billion years ago.

Evolution then proceeded at its ownpace, giving rise to animal species,invertebrates and later to vertebrates. About250 million years ago, in what is now calledthe Jurassic era, huge animals and reptiles,now known as the Dinosaurs, made theirappearance. They roamed on the surface ofthe planet for about 180 million years andbecame extinct around 70 million years ago.The reason for their extinction is now surmisedto be a huge meteor that fell on the Yucatanpeninsula, raising a huge blanket of dustcovering the planet for almost 100 years. Thisdust blanketed out the sun, thus killing allplant life and herbivorous animals, that workdepending on plant life. In turn, carnivorousanimals depending on herbivorous animals fortheir sustenance became extinct.

The next species to appear on our planetwere the Apes, the Great Apes and theHumanoids. Around 100,000 years ago, homosapiens, the thinking human being made itsappearance. The discovery of fire led to humansettlements and an organized way of life. Thelast Ice Age ended about 12000 years ago,leading to the great Flood, which subsidedafter about 2000 years leading to the giant riversystems. Great civilizations and cultures cameinto existence on the banks of these rivers.

Science, as we know it today, came intoexistence around 2700 years ago in ancientGreece. Technology came into prominenceabout 500 years ago. In this brief period of

about three millennia, the world is facing apossible annihilation, thanks to the proli-feration of nuclear weapons, air and waterpollution and the evolution of deadly diseaseslike cancer, diabetes, hypertension and AIDS!

The first indication that there wassomething wrong with the human race wasthe dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiro-shima and Nagasaki. Since that time, humanityhas been teetering on the edge of a disaster.After only a brief span of existence of 100,000years, the human race is facing a real threat ofextinction.

When we compare this with the existenceof dinosaurs for a period of 180 million years,we start wondering how such huge animalscould survive for such a long period of time.If they became extinct, it was for no fault oftheirs. The human race, on the other hand, isbent on committing Hara-kiri!

The answer to this poser has beenprovided by Daniel Quinn in his book Ishmael.This is about a dialogue between a humanbeing and a gorilla, called Ishmael. The gorillais the teacher and the human being thestudent. The gorilla asks the human being asimple question: ‘Before you started tamperingwith the environment, did you ever bother toconsult other life forms, like animals andplants?’ The human being has no answer.

The gorilla classifies all species of lifeforms into two categories—‘takers’ and‘leavers’. Takers are those who take thingswhether they need them or not. Leavers arethose who take only as much as they needand leave the rest behind. The human beingsobviously fall into the first category. Theyclaim to be masters of this planet and evenclaim to have conquered nature!

Humanity has produced great philo-sophers, thinkers, and prophets, who haveadvocated the cause of a simple life with


111

minimum consumption of resources. But, themajority of human beings consist of those, whoare discovering fancier and more meaninglessmeans of exploiting the natural resources. Theyhave perfected the art of mass killing of animalspecies and human beings. Anyone advocatingrestraint is considered a freak and becomes asobject of ridicule.

Humanity is, thus, facing a deep crisisand is desperately looking for solutions. It isan interesting fact that, not finding any suitableremedies in the modern culture, humanity islooking back in time, trying to find solutionsin ancient cultures. There is now great interestin ancient remedies like Ayurveda, Yoga,Meditation and Tai chi. One sure source inwhich some of these solutions can be found isthe Bhagavad Gita. We will now examine whatthe Gita has to say about these problems,especially the one facing the environment.

The Gita’s Way to Ecological BalanceThe Gita recognizes two kinds of Yoga—

Jnana and Karma. In the third verse of thethird chapter, Sri Krishna says: ‘There are twopaths in this world, as I have alreadydescribed. The path of Knowledge is for theintellectuals and the Path of Action is for theYogis.’ Hence, in the colophon to all chapters,the Gita is described as Brahmavidya (theKnowledge of Brahman) and Yogasastra (theScience of Yoga).

There is a very elaborate description ofKarma Yoga in the Gita from the beginning tothe end. Selfless action without attachment tothe results is the secret of Action. The Gitacalls it the attitude of Yajna. Elsewhere in theGita (3:9), Sri Krishna says, ‘Action doneselflessly, with the intention of serving others,is a liberating force, whereas all other kinds ofactions bind us to the world.’ It is preciselythe lack of this attitude that is responsible for

the human race finding itself in a miserableplight. The human being is the only creaturethat has been given the intelligence to makechoices. Time and again, humanity has beenfound wanting in making wise decisions. Thereason for this is the arrogance that the wholecreation is meant for the enjoyment of humanbeings, as if they have no responsibilitytowards the rest of creation.

Following this verse, Sri Krishna tells usin the following four verses what is expectedof us humans. These verses have till now beeninterpreted in the traditional way, by invokingthe duties of human beings towards the gods.But, there is another contemporary view,which is applicable to modern times.

The meaning of these verses (3:10-13) isas follows:

In the beginning of time, the Creator created allcreatures along with human beings, and alsogave them the gift of Yajna or mutual co-operation. He then told the human beings, ‘Bythis gift of Yajna and its proper use, all of youwill prosper. Yajna is like Kamadhenu, thecelestial cow, which will fulfil all your needs.Nourish the Devas and they will protect you inturn. Thus, nourishing each other, both of youwill prosper. The Devas thus nourished by youwill bless you in return. But, he, who havingtaken from the Devas, gives nothing in return isverily a thief. He, who breaks this chain ofmutual cooperation, leads a life of no use eitherto himself or to the rest of creation.’

The traditional meaning of the wordDeva is a celestial being residing in heaven.But, the etymological meaning is the shiningone that enlightens us. It means a life-givingprinciple.

The most important factor sustaininghuman life is Oxygen. No human being oranimal can survive without it. We take inoxygen and release in return carbon dioxide,


112

which is used up by plant life. When there isa proper balance between these two, theatmospheric air is pure and clear, conduciveto good health. But, when there is excessiveconsumption of oxygen and equally excessiveemission of carbon dioxide, the recyclingcapacity of the atmosphere is overloaded,leading to accumulation of carbon dioxide,raising the temperature of the atmosphere andcausing global warming. Is that not what ishappening today? Hence, Sri Krishnaadmonishes us to lead our lives in such a waythat the balance is restored. In this way, wewill be nourishing the life-giving atmosphereand will in turn be blessed by it with a healthylife. Our ancients, hence, considered air asDivine and called it Vayu.

All cultures and civilizations had theirorigins on the banks of rivers, since there wasan unlimited supply of water available. But,due to overexploitation of water resources andpollution of existing sources by industrialeffluents, pure drinking water has become aluxury. One has to purchase chemicallypurified water in bottles to survive. Is this nota parody of modern life? Our ancients, again,considered water, a life-sustaining substance,as divine and called it Varuna.

Life in tropical countries becomes endur-able by rainfall occurring at the proper timeand in proper quantities. According to meteo-rologists, the pattern of weather has changedso much for the worse, that we have rainlessrainy seasons in tropics and snow-less wintersin cold countries. All this has happened inliving memory. Again, our ancients hadrecognized the importance of weather and hadalways prayed to the weather-god for rains atproper times. The name they had given to theweather-god was Indra.

There are many people today whoconsider the divinization of air, water and rain

as rank superstition, without realizing whatharm we are causing by not recognizing thetruth that lies behind them.

ConclusionOur planet is the only piece of real estate

so far known in the universe. It is also truethat the human being is the most intelligent ofthe species on this planet, since he knows howto choose between options. So, it goes withoutsaying that the future of the planet lies in hishands. Is he aware at all of his great responsi-bility or has the Good Lord handed over theplanet to the wrong species?

The most immediate need today is tospread the awareness about the disaster facingus in the not-so-distant future. This shouldcommence at the school level and continue tothe college level. Modern youth is dazzled bythe Internet, cellphones, jazzy automobiles,and the likes. They are like condemned peoplewho snatch at any available means ofenjoyment, however fleeting it may be. It ishigh time they are woken up by propereducation. It is not that human beings haveno remedy for this problem. Only the aware-ness about the seriousness of the problem ismissing. There must be a concerted effort onthe part of the media to play the role ofeducator, rather than frittering away theirefforts on cricket, movie stars, etc.

It is indeed remarkable that the Gita hadaddressed itself to a situation that lay so muchin future. Is it likely that such problems werefaced in the past also and that Sri Krishna hadsuggested this remedy? After all, it is said thathistory repeats itself. Whatever it may be,this remedy supports the contention of thetitle of a book by Swami Harshananda [thepresent President of Ramakrishna Math,Bangalore]—Ancient Solutions to ModernProblems.


SWAMI ATMAPRIYANANDA

Sri Krishna’s Remedy for the Arjuna Syndrome

An Ancient Modern TextIn describing the nature of the Atman,

the innermost and immortal spiritual core ofevery being, the Gita uses the word purana1 .Commenting on this word, Shankaracharyastates in his famous bhashya [commentary] thatit is pura api nava—although ancient, it is yetmodern2 . This very phrase applies to the Gitatext itself, to be sure.

The Gita is a simple text describing theimmortal dialogue between Arjuna, therepresentative Man (Nara) and Krishna, theSupreme Being (Narayana), the great Friend ofMan (Narasakha). This divine dialogue wasrecorded in the great composition calledBhagavad Gita in seven hundred verses byVeda Vyasa3 , the great grand old sire in theancient Indian lore symbolizing the essence ofall the wisdom embodied in Sanatana Dharma—Veda, Vedanta, Vedanga, Smriti, Purana—describing a complex human situation andseeking solution to this complexity in thesimplicity of the realisation of the Divine InnerEssence in all beings, the Atman, the purana,the Immortal, Immutable, Unchanging, EternalSelf, the divinity within.

The simple Gita teaching is that sorrowand delusion (shoka and moha) which are theseeds of unrest called samsara (transmigratoryexistence) cannot be obliterated except throughthe realisation of the Atman (atmajnaanaat naanyato nivrittih).4 It is eternal because it is

ancient and yet modern. It is hence timeless.Such a scripture is truly universal and beyondspace-time boundaries. Since it does not belongto any particular country, religion or timeperiod, its appeal too is timeless—to every-body, everywhere and at all times. Being theinterplay of the One and the many, it possessesinfinite variety in and through the Unity itembodies. The Gita dhyanam (verses formeditation on the Gita) therefore calls thisscripture Mother, who symbolizes unity invariety in the household, binding great varietyin one strong bond of love. This great Motherof all scriptures has been read, studied,chanted, meditated and commented upon,interpreted in innumerable ways by all theacharyas. It has been worshipped and laudedover the centuries as no other scriptureperhaps has been done, by the scholars andthe so-called ignorant, by the saints and theordinary folk, by the religious people and theworldly ones.

A great Swami once told the author: ‘TheGita is like a piece of sugarcane. Everybodycan get some juice out of it. Even a childwithout teeth can feel the taste of it. And agreat Acharya with powerful teeth can crushand squeeze plenty of juice out of it.’ Thebeauty and the grandeur of the Gita is that itis both the science of Brahman (brahma-vidya)and the technology (called yoga) to realize thisscience. The colophonic phrase marking the

A monk of the Ramakrishna Order, the author is the Vice-chancellor of Ramakrishna Mission VivekanandaUniversity (Deemed), with its headquarters at Ramakrishna Mission Sarada Pitha, Belur Math.


114

end of each chapter of the Gita has foursignificant components:

(i) that the Gita is the science of Brahman(brahma-vidya),

(ii) that the Gita is the technology torealise this science (yoga-shastra),

(iii) that the Gita is the dialogue betweennara and nara-sakha (Narayana), and

(iv) that the Gita is yoga throughout—starting from vishada-yoga and ending withmoksha-yoga—from despondency to liberation.It covers the whole spectrum of humanaspirations, endeavours, goals, and enterprisein any situation, in any field, in any direction;the entire human life itself is one continuousstate of yoga.

Human understanding stands metamor-phosed into divine wisdom by the knowledgethat life itself is one unbroken continuum ofyoga and interestingly, the intuitive faculty thatopens up the floodgate to this integral newvision of Light and Truth is also yoga, whichthe Gita calls buddhi-yoga.5

1. It is Yoga ThroughoutEvery chapter of Gita is called yoga,

whatever its subject matter. Be it Self-Knowledge (sankhya), Knowledge and SpecialKnowledge (jnana-vijnana), Work (karma),Devotion (bhakti), or even the so-called secularsubjects like Threefold qualities of humanbeings (guna-traya-vibhaga), Qualities of divineand demoniac persons (daivayaasura-sampad)—each chapter is considered Yoga.

The Gita starts its teaching with Arjuna’sdespondency or sorrow in the very firstchapter, which is christened Arjuna-vishada-yoga (the Yoga of Arjuna’s despondency). Thatis the uniqueness of this immortal text: perhapsnowhere in the spiritual literature of the worldwould one find ‘sorrow-yoga’ or ‘depression-yoga’ discussed in such an elaborate fashion!

The deeper significance of putting ‘depression-yoga’ at the very beginning is to give supremeimportance to the understanding of humanpredicament, human dilemma, for it is thehuman being who suffers terrible pain and itis again the human being that reaches divineexcellence through dint of sadhana, surrender,knowledge and meditation. Thus, the immortalappeal of the Gita to all peoples of all times isbecause it puts man, the human being at thefocus rather than God, and teaches how thehuman being is liberated from the shackles ofignorance and bondage through the paths ofjnana, bhakti, karma, and raja yoga.

Arjuna is nara, the representative Man,and the removal of his despondency byKrishna, the Friend of man (nara-sakha) isapplicable to all human situations everywhereand at all times. The secret is to relate to Arjuna,to feel through his heart and think throughhis mind. One could then feel the presence ofthe nara-sakha, man’s best friend (suhrid)6 , andbe happily guided by His teachings.Empathetically getting related to the nara isachieved through a special faculty that thenara-sakha bestows on the nara: this faculty iscalled buddhi-yoga7 and Krishna Himself saysthat through this faculty, the nara reaches Him,intuits Him. This buddhi-yoga is the key tounlocking the treasure house of spiritualwisdom Krishna offers through the Gita forthe emancipation of man.

2. The Arjuna SyndromeThe malady that was plaguing Arjuna,

which we may call the ‘Arjuna Syndrome’ is acommon, universal disease among allhumankind. It is breaking out as an epidemicin modern times. This is why the remedy thatKrishna prescribes to alleviate and eradicatethis universal disease is of supreme importanceto the modern man. In the Hindu philosophical


115

and theological parlance, God is described asbhava-roga vaidya, the Great Physician Whocures the disease of worldliness which hasafflicted man since birth. This ‘congenital’disease of all humankind is very much akin tothe concept of ‘original sin’ of the Christiantheology. Just like the ‘Big Shepherd’ as Jesusthe Christ is described, the ‘Big Physician’,Krishna, saves humankind from the unendingcycle of birth and death by curing man ofbhava-roga. Krishna Himself clearly describesHis ‘Saviour’ role in the following verse:teshamaham samuddhartha mrityu-samsara-sagarat.8 Arjuna was overwhelmed (paraya-vishtah) with great depression of mindmasquerading as compassion.9 Arjuna himselfdescribes the symptoms of this disease ingraphic terms as follows:

My limbs are giving way, my mouth is gettingparched, my body is trembling, I am getting(unnatural) horripilations, my (powerfulweapon) Gandiva is slipping away from myhand, my skin is also burning, I am unable tostand firm, my mind is reeling (with pain andsorrow).10

Krishna, the Great Physician, imme-diately diagnosed the disease as kashmala(loathsome stupidity), klaibyam (impotency,unmanliness), and kshudram hridaya-daurbalyam(base faint-heartedness)11 , tearing apart themask of ‘compassion’ that Arjuna was wearingand exposed the camouflage. These viruseswere responsible for the eruption of sorrowand delusion (shoka and moha) in Arjuna andthe cure for these consisted in the direct andimmediate (sakshat, aparokshat12 ) knowledge ofthe Immortal Self, the Atman.13 This was theone and only remedy and the paths to achievethis are the yogas. The Arjuna syndrome is seencommonly in all human beings in varyingmeasure, situations and circumstances. Thesupreme medicine (paramoushadha) for its cure

is the nectar of the great Gita teaching(Gitamritam mahat)14 prepared through dis-tillation (dugdham) by the bhava-vaidya Krishna,the Great Physician.

The Syndrome Analyzed—its Origin,Symptoms and Cure

The origin of any disease is one of themost difficult things to detect. On occasionswhen the origin of any particular type of feveris untraceable, doctors often call it ‘fever ofunknown origin (FUO)’. Bhava-roga, knownvariously in different religions is the oldestdisease known to humankind. Bhava-roga wasconsidered an FUO till the saviours, avatarsand prophets of various religions traced itsorigin to tanha or desire (Buddhism), ajnana oravidya, ignorance (Hinduism or in particular,Vedanta), original sin (Christianity), and so on.The divine potion or elixir (amrita) that curesthis disease has also been described variously—Jnana (divine Knowledge), Grace of Godissuing from self-surrender and supplicationto God (bhakti, sharanagati, prapatti), Freedomfrom desire (nirvasana), and so on.

What makes the Gita, the ancient moderntext of all time, a unique medicine of bhava-roga is that it contains all the ingredientsmentioned above, fit to be consumed bypeoples of all ages, young or old, male orfemale, monastic or lay. It is a divine brew, aunique blend, a modicum of different medi-cines mixed with such technical perfection thateven a child could consume it and get cured.The Arjuna syndrome, analyzed and dia-gnosed by the master physician Sri Krishna, isthe starting point of the preparation of thisunique brew.

Shankarcharya’s description of theArjuna Syndrome in his bhashya on the Gita issimple and remarkable. It is not that Arjunawas unwilling to do his duty as the Army


General when he came for war. Arjuna is apicture of courage and self-confidence beforethe war. In the verses 21 and 22 of the firstchapter, he roars like an impatient lion waitingto pounce on its prey:

O Achyuta, please station my chariot betweenthe two armies so that I may, on the eve of thisbattle, have a view of all those standing readyto fight. I want to see who are all those whoneed to be fought [and conquered] by me. Letme see all those who have assembled heredesiring to favour the evil-minded son ofDhritarashtra in this battle.15

Such heroic words! Now, when doesArjuna’s mood suddenly change? At whatpoint of time and for what reasons did hebecome a victim of the Arjuna Syndrome? TheGita verses 28-46 of the first chapter, carefullyscanned word for word, give us the clue.Arjuna saw in the huge armies his own people(svajana)—fathers, grandfathers, uncles,brothers, sons, grandsons, dear companions,fathers-in-law and bosom friends, and wasovercome with great pity.16 The key word hereis svajana—people who are one’s very own.Interestingly between verses 28 and 46, Arjunarepeats this word svajana four times. Arjuna’slament and depression are rooted in thisfeeling of svajanatva—own-ness. Arjuna’s egothat strongly felt this attachment engenderedby possessiveness—own-ness or svajanatva—plunged into the abyss of sorrow and delusion(shoka and moha). Acharya Shankara commentson this pathological behaviour of Arjuna bytracing it to the psychological roots that definethe Arjuna Syndrome:

In this way, Arjuna displayed [feelings of] griefand delusion caused by ignorance and confusedunderstanding (bhranti-pratyaya) and his attach-ment for and the sense of separation fromdominion, the elders, sons, friends, kinsmen(svajana), relatives far and distant—all this arising

from the notion that ‘I am theirs and they aremine’. It was when discriminative faculty[knowledge] was [thus] overpowered by griefand delusion that Arjuna, who had of himself[that is, naturally, spontaneously] been engagedin battle as warrior’s duty (kshatra dharma),abstained from fighting and proposed to lead amendicant’s life, which was a duty alien to him(para-dharma).

Likewise, all creatures whose intelligence isswayed by evil influences like grief and delusionnaturally abandon their proper duties and resortto those which are prohibited. Even if theyengaged in their own duties, their conduct inspeech, thought and deed is prompted by acraving for reward and is egoistic. This beingso, in their case samsara consisting of getting [theexperiences of] the desirable and the undesirablebirths, joy and sorrow, owing to an accumulationof merit and demerit (dharma and adharma), goeson unceasingly. Grief and delusion are thereforethe cause of samsara. And seeing that thecessation of grief and delusion is impossibleexcept by Self-Knowledge (atma-jnana) precededby renunciation of all karma, Bhagavan Vasudeva(Krishna), wishing to teach that Knowledge forthe welfare [and blessing] of the whole worldthrough the instrumentality of Arjuna, began Histeaching with the verse (2.11) starting withashochyan, etc.17

Thus the Arjuna Syndrome analyzedcould be seen to have the following structure:Ignorance—> confused understanding ( bhranti-pratyaya), the feeling of union andseparation—> Feeling of I and mine (ahamkaraand mamakara)—> sorrow and delusion ( shokaand moha)—> discriminative faculty(knowledge) overpowered—> abandoningsvadharma and adopting para-dharma—> evenin svadharma practice, craving for reward andegoism (phalaabhisandhi and ahamkara)—>accumulation of merit and demerit (dharma andadharma)—> samsara consisting of getting [the

116


experiences of] the desirable and the un-desirable births, joy and sorrow18 .

The remedy prescribed by Krishna isSelf-Knowledge (Atma-jnana), which Heteaches at the very beginning as the one suremedicine. In the second chapter, Krishnabegins at the highest pitch from verse 11,expounding the very highest wisdom in theform of ajata-vada in verses 11 and 12.

This is the greatest relevance of theBhagavad Gita for the modern world—stress-filled, strife-torn, panic-stricken and conflict-ridden modern world—that human beings,wherever placed, whatever professing,whenever stressed, should look inward intothe inner Self (antaratman), delve deep withinand intuit the Atman, thus deriving allstrength, power, knowledge, wisdom, gloryand joy from the Atman within which is thesource of infinite Strength, infinite Power,infinite Knowledge, infinite Wisdom, infinite

Glory and infinite Joy. One devotional practiceleading to this Self-Realization is the famousprayer called viryaprarthana in the VajasaneyaSamhita (19.9):

Tejosi tejo mayi dhehi,Viryamasi viryam mayi dhehi,Balamasi balam mayi dhehi,Ojosi ojo mayi dhehi, manyurasi manyum mayi dhehi,Sahosi saho mayi dhehi.Om Shantih, shantih, shantih

Thou art the embodiment of light, fill me withlight. Thou art the embodiment of virility, grantvirility unto me. Thou art the embodiment ofstrength, fill me with strength. Thou art theembodiment of Divine Wisdom and Power,grant Wisdom and Power unto me. Thou art theembodiment of indignation [that destroys evil],grant unto me the indignation [to fight againstand destroy evil]. Thou art the embodiment offortitude, fill me with fortitude. Om Peace, Peace,Peace.

1. Bhagavad Gita, Tr. by Swami Tapasyananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, 2.20 2. Shankara’scommentary on the above Shloka 3. Shankara’s Introduction to his Gita Bhashya 4. Shankara’scommentary on verse 2.11 5. Gita, 10.10 6. Gita, 9.18. See also Gita, 5.29 7. Gita, 10.108. Gita, 12.7 9. Gita, 1.28 10. Gita, 1.29, 30 11. Gita, 2.2, 3 12. BrihadaranyakaUpanishad, 3.4.1 13. cf. reference 4 above 14. Gita dhyanam 15. Gita, 1.21, 2216. Gita, 1.26-28 17. Shankara’s commentary on verse 2.11 at the very beginning 18. ibid.

References

A Poetic Liberty

Says Sri Krishna in the Gita (9.27):

`ÀH$amof `XÌZmg `¡Owhmof XXmg `V≤ü& `ŒmnÒ`g H$m°›Vo VÀHw$ÈÓd _Xn™U_≤ü&&‘Therefore, Arjuna, whatever you do in the world, whatever you eat, sacrifice, give

up, or give away—even your suffering—offer it all to Me. Dedicate everything to Me.’

Here is a poetic change done in order to make the above idea more easily

understandable and practical.

`ÀH$amo_ `XÌZm_ `¡Owhmo_ XXm_ `V≤ü& `ŒmnÒ`m_ ^JdZ≤ VÀH$amo_ ÀdXn©U_≤ü&&‘Whatever I do, whatever I eat, whatever I offer in sacrifice, whatever I give away,

whatever austerity I practice, O Lord, I offer it all to you.’

117


B MAHADEVAN

The author is EADS – SMI Professor of Sourcing & Supply Management, Dean (Administration), Indian Instituteof Management, Bangalore.

Management Lessonsfrom the Bhagavad Gita

IntroductionModern management practices and

theories were developed during the last 150years, ever since the industrial organisationsof the West began to get established. It is apopular belief that globally renowned corpora-tions adopt best practices and manage theirorganisations very well. Against this backdropconsider the following statistics about howorganisations are managed according to astudy made in 1997. In his book, The LivingCompany,1 Geus mentioned that most large andapparently successful corporations areprofoundly unhealthy. According to the study,the average life expectancy of Fortune 500companies was 40-50 years. One-third ofcompanies listed in Fortune 500 in 1970vanished by 1983 and 40% of all newly createdcompanies last less than 10 years. Such a highrate of infant mortality of organisations pointto primitive stages of management that we arein today.

If we conduct a survey of managers ofmodern corporations we may infer thatmanagers in these organisations experiencestress, struggle for power and control, cynicismand a work environment that stifles rather thanreleases human imagination, energy andcommitment. Many senior executives incompanies today will agree to the fact thateven after several years of management

training, we have hardly made significantprogress in addressing some of the vexingissues. These include, among others, dealingwith people around us, understanding whatmotivates oneself, doing one’s work in themost efficient manner, making leaders for ‘highperformance’ organisation and creating organi-sations that can live long. On the other hand,we often notice that there is a disconnectbetween quality of life at large and work life.We also have serious issues about sustenanceof firms and the environment in the long run.

Given this state of affairs, it indeedimpels one to look for alternative paradigmsfor better management practices. The goal ofthis article is to stimulate thinking in the mindsof management researchers and practitionersthe enormous potential that ancient Indianliterature has in suggesting better alternativesfor management. We will explore some aspectsof these from one of the sacred spiritual textsof ancient times, viz., Srimad Bhagavad Gita—atext for spiritual progress and self realization.Through this article we do not hazard toundermine the primary objective of this holytext nor do we advocate a self-study modeleading to some of the management lessonsthat one can derive. The sacred texts are to bestudied first under the guidance of a competentand spiritually evolved guru. We may latercontemplate on multitude of ideas that the


119

texts offer after this initial training. We merelypoint to the endless list of benefits that thetext offers to a management practitioner andillustrate it by culling out some ideas that onemay find very useful to apply.

A Compendium of Management LessonsIn simple terms, management is a body

of knowledge that enables entities to deal witha multitude of situations involving people,process and the environment, to ensure workis done efficiently to deliver goods and servicesuseful to the society. Good management mustresult in greater satisfaction for all stakeholders. If we carefully study the Gita, we inferthat the central issue is all about doing work(karma yoga), in the most efficient manner.

The cardinal principles of H$_© od AYH$maÖ

[‘right to work’] and logical explanationsleading to the proclamation that `moJÖ H$_©gw

H$m°eb_≤ [‘yoga is skill in action’] laid out inchapter 2 of the Gita and the concept of `kÖ

[‘sacrifice’] laid out in chapter 3 of the Gitaamply demonstrate that the fundamentalrequirements of good management are con-tained in the Gita.

Gita offers a framework for stimulatinghigh levels of motivation. Otherwise how canone explain the magic transformation thatArjuna has gone through from a state of fear,mental agony and hair raising experience(grXp›V __ JmÃmU, amo_hf© Om`Vo) to one of waginga war against a battery of most credible andcompetent leaders in the society andeventually winning the war. A careful studyof Gita from this perspective will lead us toimportant principles that managers mustinherit to create rightful and long livingorganizations. Such a study will help usdiscover certain aspects of high performingorganizations and may provide vital clues foralternative paradigms of management.

Alternative Paradigms from GitaNotion of time

One of the pressing problems thatmodern organizations face arise out of theirnotion of time. Modern organizations sufferfrom extreme levels of ‘short termism.’ Soft-ware companies in India provide what isknown as quarter-on-quarter guidance. Insimple terms what it means is that they informthe market players and their stakeholders whatcan be expected of them in the next quarter.Invariably they project a positive outcomequarter after quarter and in order to meet theseguidelines they engage in a variety of activitiesthat create stress, and a short term orientedapproach to managing business. This invari-ably brings negative results in the long run.For instance, to cut costs and show impressiveresults, it is customary in several organizationsto slash training budgets and expenditure onResearch and Development (R & D). Clearly,this will make the organisation less equippedfor the future. Unfortunately, a series of shortterms never makes a long term for anyorganization. While some have understood thisaspect they have not been able to change theway they work and take decisions that areconsistent with this requirement.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna’s firstlesson to Arjuna is to train his mind to thenotion of time that is essentially long term(Chapter 2, Slokas 11-13). A good under-standing of this helps managers to feel lesspressurized of performance targets in the shortrun and instead develop some conviction toengage in activities and decisions that seek tocreate a balance between short term and longterm. Change management becomes easier asthey develop comfort in the fact that peoplecome and go and good principles and ideasmust remain and drive choices in organisa-tions. They will also begin to realise (as it


120

happened to Arjuna) that whenever they facecomplicated and apparently insurmountableproblems, one way to broad-base the problemand search for acceptable solutions is to revisitthe notion of time.

Performance Metrics and AssessmentThe biggest constraint for modern

management is the mindset towardsperformance metrics and assessment. Modernmanagement practices approach this issue inthe context of a world of duality. It works attwo stages. In the first stage, the dualperspectives are first established. For example,all actions and outcomes are first classifiedusing a framework of duality; good Vs bad,desirable Vs undesirable, performer Vs non-performer, belongs to my camp Vs oppositecamp, positive Vs negative and so on. Basedon these, expectations are set that pertain onlyto the positive aspects of this world of duality.At the second stage, the managers begin todevelop a false notion that only good thingsare going to happen. In modern managementpractice, it is a bad thing to expect negativeoutcomes in this scheme of duality.Consequently, they develop no skills to expectnegative outcomes, to understand why thesehappen and evolve no methods to face these.This is clearly unrealistic. In the absence ofthese, managers develop needless tension,experience stress in their work place, deal withtheir sub-ordinates in non-managerial and attimes unprofessional ways and even carrythese negative emotions and stress back homeand spoil their family life as well.

One of the greatest contributions of theBhagavad Gita is to develop a goodunderstanding of the risks of living in thiscontrived world of duality and equipping themanagers to rise above the plane of duality.Shri Krishna had devoted much time on this

critical aspect of managing the world ofduality. In chapter 2 verse 14 he urges Arjunato learn to tolerate the ups and downs thatcharacterizes the world of duality (VmßpÒVVjÒd

^maV). Later in chapter 2 verse 48 he proclaimsthat developing a sense of equanimity begetsa composed and a complete personality (g_Àdß

`moJ C¿`Vo), which is a quintessential attributefor a leader/manager. In several chapters herevisits the notion of sense of equanimity andreminds Arjuna of the virtues of it2. Slokas 24and 25 in chapter 14 provide in a nutshell allthe important attributes pertaining to theworld of duality that a leader/manager mustpossess to be successful in his/her work place.If managers can develop a sense of equanimityas indicated in the Gita, the quality ofleadership will dramatically improve and sowill the quality of management.

Work and EfficiencyPerhaps the most profound insight that

the Bhagavad Gita offers to managers inmodern corporations is the definition of workand efficiency. The definition of work presentsitself as a paradoxical and often an un-acceptable idea to an uninformed and casualreader of the Gita. It is important to note herethat many verses in Chapter 2 and thefollowing chapters of the Gita build2 on thiscentral idea and therefore it requires a goodunderstanding in its totality. It requires deepcontemplation and guidance of a guru tounderstand the concept. There are four aspectsto the definition of work that Shri Krishnaarticulates:

(a) The doer has the right to work (H$_© od

AYH$maÖ)

(b) The doer has no control on outcomes/fruits of action (_m \$bofw H$XmMZ)

(c) The doer has no control on the rootcauses of the fruits of action (_m H$_©\$bhoVw y©Ö)


121

(d) There is no choice to revel in inaction(_m Vo gìmo@ÒÀdH$_©U)

Explaining the fourth component of thisdefinition is easier. On seeing the first threecomponents, one may come to the conclusionthat one may rather choose not to engage inwork. Krishna has ruled out this option. Inchapter 3 he also explains why the so calledstate of inaction does not exist in reality.

Managers will revolt at the idea of doingwork but having no desire and/or control onoutcomes. However, we do not realize thatduring our life time there have been severaloccasions when we indeed practiced thisvirtue. Is it not common for us that when wedo good work, we tend to say ‘I was lost inthe work’? What do we mean by getting lostin the work? It merely means we ceased tolook for outcomes and fruits of action duringthose moments of time. Simply extending thislogic, we can easily conclude that _m \$bofw H$XmMZ

concept simply enables us to get lost in thework for ever and enjoy doing it.

There are other important reasons formanagers to actively consider practicing thisidea. Some of them are as follows:

Too much of result orientation breeds a sense offear and discomfort as several of us are wary offailures. Moreover, a desire to have control onfruits of action will invariably force us to focuson ends instead of means. Because of this,process orientation will give way for resultorientation. Getting results somehow willdominate individual’s behaviour. As we see

nowadays, such behavioural patterns have thepotential not only to destroy individuals but alsoinstitutions. Results and outcomes are a matterof future and work is a matter of present.Therefore with excessive result orientation onetends to escape the dynamics of ‘present’ andgo after ‘future’.

The Take AwayBased on these illustrations from the Gita,

mangers can take away some simple yetpowerful lessons. Developing a good sense ofneutrality is an important pre-requisite fordischarging one’s work very effectively. Thismay appear like a simple idea. However itrequires deep contemplation of this idea anda conviction of its usefulness. Only out of sucha conviction can one generate new behaviouralpatterns consistent with this idea. The currentdominant paradigm ‘I must enjoy fruits ofaction—else no work’ will generate enormousamount of wasteful effort.

Embracing the overarching principle ofkarma yoga will have to be the alternativeparadigm for improving the quality ofmanagement in organizations. If managers cantake these two important lessons from the Gita,we can not only build an alternative paradigmof management but also succeed reasonablyin the practice of management. That can bethe greatest tribute we can offer to the sacredtext of Bhagavad Gita. May Lord Krishnabestow his divine blessings on us to achievethis goal.

1. Geus, A. (1997), The Living Company, HarvardBusiness School Press

2. cf., Gita, 5.18-19, 6.7-9, 29, 32, 12.4, 13, 13.10, 39,14.24-25

References

Some people do the best work when led. Not every one is born to lead. The best

leader, however, is one who ‘leads like the baby’. The baby, though apparently depending

on everyone, is the king of the household. At least, to my thinking, that is the secret. . .



PRAVRAJIKA BRAHMAPRANA

Pravrajika Brahmaprana is a nun at the Vedanta Society of Southern California, Hollywood. In addition to writingarticles for various publications in America and abroad, she has also edited With the Swamis in America andIndia, by Swami Atulananda, the Vivekacudamani of Sri Sankaracarya, translated by Swami Turiyananda, andvolume 9 of The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

Living the Gita Way

The Rajarishi IdealA retired Indian devotee, who was a

manager in a computer technology company,once told me an interesting story. Years agohe had attended a conference on personnelmanagement at which one of the top manage-ment consultants in America was invited tospeak. The devotee was so impressed with histalk, that he later approached the speaker:‘How did you become such a renownedspecialist in your field?’

‘I have read and studied the Gita,’ washis surprising response. He then added, ‘Allpsychological training necessary for develop-ing a strong leader is there.’

‘What do you mean?’ the devotee asked.‘The Gita teaches how to accept failure,’

the consultant explained, ‘develop patience,detachment, forgiveness, and love—traitsessential for a strong leader.’ The devoteelistened, flabbergasted. Here was an Americanbusinessman revealing to him—an Indiandevotee—the unprecedented and practicalrelevance of one of the most widely readscriptures in Hinduism—the Bhagavad Gita.

The consultant continued. ‘After all,’ hesaid, ‘a successful manager must learn tocultivate the rajarishi attitude of royal wisdomthat we find in the Gita—in other words, thatof the kingly seer who owns everything, butnot for his own personal benefit. That is thesecret of leadership—selfless service.’

For our devotee such advice coming fromthe lips of a corporate consultant suddenlylifted the Gita off his library shelf and into hissuit pocket. The Gita was no longer simply ascripture to worship with flowers and thenforget. It had become an essential guidebookfor daily life—and, in his case, corporate life.

If we want to become a seer in theworkplace—whether blue collar or whitecollar, monastic or lay devotee—we have toharvest from the Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna’skernels of practical wisdom. If one methoddoes not germinate, another will, dependingon our own temperament and preference.

A rajarishi like King Janka became freewhile living by doing his duty without anxiety.As a king, he had nothing to gain in the worldand nothing to lose. But through his actionshe showed his subjects how duty done in adisinterested spirit is holy. In this way he setan example, not only for his own subjects, butfor spiritual seekers in ages to come.1

For those drawn to the path of Yoga, SriKrishna stresses the method of action governedby the power of one’s higher will. On this path,aspirants are challenged to gather all forces ofthe mind in order to re-channel their actionsalong the path to union with Brahman.2

But, if this method seems beyond ourcapacity, Sri Krishna encourages us to performactions as worship of God, and thus bypasstheir karmic effects altogether. When we work


123

as worship, we sanctify our actions andbecome free from the law of karma in a worldotherwise imprisoned in its own activity.3

However, if we aspire to jnana yoga, thepath of knowledge, then Sri Krishna exhortsus to affirm and know that we are not the doer.Vedanta teaches that it is simply the sense ofego that deludes us into thinking that we act.But when we assume the standpoint of jnana,we remain poised in the knowledge that it isonly our prakriti that acts as our senses attachthemselves to objects, and thus gunas attachthemselves to other gunas. In this way, whenwe become the witness of our actions, westand free from all effects of action.4

As we work and perfect any one of thesemethods—that of the rajarshi, the yogi, thebhakta, or the jnani—patience, detachment,forgiveness, and love naturally follow in itswake.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna’swords have special power because they arenot attributed to his individual personality, butrather to his transcendental aspect—thesupreme Soul of all souls, whose UniversalForm is described in the eleventh chapter ofthe Gita. Therefore, Gita teachings have auniversal ring because Sri Krishna’s wordswere uttered from the same transcendentalplane of consciousness as that of otherincarnations of God, such as Rama, Buddha,Christ, or Ramakrishna—namely, the Uni-versal Self.

The Right Way of Studying GitaThe power of the Bhagavad Gita is also

anchored in its antiquity. Its verses have beenchanted and sung by royalty and commonersthroughout the ages, and its message hascrossed rivers, oceans, mountains, and nationalboundaries. The wisdom of the Gita appliesto people of all temperaments, whether active

or meditative, intellectual or devotional.Therefore, its teachings have sunk into thecollective unconscious of a world civilization—not just that of a particular religious tradition,people, race, or nation. Along with itsuniversality and power, the Gita is consideredone of the three main scriptures of theHindus—the Hindu Bible, as it were, whichencapsulates the essence of the Upanishads.So in order to go straight to the source ofHinduism, we can simply turn to the Gita.

However, it is best not to be tricked bythe simplicity of this spiritual classic. In fact,we might well ask: ‘Is there a secret to studyingthe Bhagavad Gita?’ Swami Turiyananda,disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, answered,

Take one verse at a time, meditate on itsmeaning, and live the verse for a week at a timebefore going on to the next verse. In this way,the entire Gita is to be studied.5

This particular method was broughthome to me when I used to make my annualpilgrimage to the Vedanta Society of Portlandduring Swami Aseshananda’s lifetime. Everyday devotees would gather to perform outdoorkarma yoga on the Centre’s premises and theswami, who was a disciple of Sarada Devi,would join them, watering the garden andsweeping the paths. But at those times SwamiAseshananda wore an almost formidableexpression. I asked various devotees what theswami was thinking about when he was doinghis gardening chores, but nobody knew. Andnobody dared to ask. So one day, I queried:‘Maharaj, how do you occupy your mind whenyou are gardening?’

His answer rang a bell in my heart. ‘Itake a verse from the Gita,’ he smiled, ‘andmeditate upon its meaning. That is how SwamiTuriyananda used to instruct all of us to studythe Gita.’ The mental picture of this venerableold swami pushing his broom and watering


124

the plants with the utmost concentrationalways generates the memory of this privycounsel—how to actively study the Gita sothat it works its way into our conscious andsubconscious mind and then into our nerves,muscle, flesh, and bones. No matter what wedo, how we do it, where we are, or what timeof the day it is, we can cultivate a habit ofrigorously contemplating the meaning of aselect Gita verse so that it becomes one withour system.

The Bhagavad Gita is a treasure chestfor anyone who wishes to cultivate self-development. It teaches us how to work andworship, how to meditate, and how to die. Italso teaches us how to eat and sleep, how tobehave, and how to relax. ‘Yoga is not for theman who overeats, or for him who fastsexcessively. It is not for him who sleeps toomuch, or for the keeper of exaggeratedvigils’(6.16). Gita further cautions:

Let a man be moderate in his eating and hisrecreation, moderately active, moderate in sleepand in wakefulness. He will find that yoga takesaway all his unhappiness.6

By meditating on these verses, we canassimilate a middle path to stabilise and sus-tain our spiritual life, otherwise truncated oraborted by the physical and mental havoc ofprideful excess. Sri Krishna guides us with thepromise that if we can control an outer showof enthusiasm and carefully cultivate an innerroutine of spiritual practice, we will ultimatelyattain supreme peace and joy.

Learning to Make Uncomfortable ChoicesAside from basic guidelines, the

Bhagavad Gita also instructs us how to makeuncomfortable choices. I still marvel at thetimeless relevance of Sri Krishna’s ancientwords of wisdom to Arjuna, who trembledwith fear as he faced his own kinsmen on the

field of battle. ‘What is this weakness?’ SriKrishna admonished, ‘It is beneath you. . .Shake off this cowardice, Arjuna. Stand up.’7

Perhaps it was this divine command thatinspired a couple to boldly deal with theirdaughter’s addiction. She had been arrestedfor a traffic violation while under the influenceof alcohol—just one of many waywardincidents in her youth. But this time when thedaughter called her parents to release her fromjail, they refused. At first their decision seemedcruel, until I discovered that it was this act of‘tough love’ that turned their daughter’s lifearound. ‘Dedicate all your actions to me,’ SriKrishna prompted Arjuna. ‘Then go forwardand fight.’8 In this case, by doing what wasoutwardly heartless, yet righteous, theconcerned parents forced their daughter to facethe consequences of her own dangerous andself-destructive behaviour. Her night in jailjolted the daughter awake and prompted herto join Alcoholics Anonymous and gain controlover her life.

The Bhagavad Gita is as bold in itsteachings as it is relentless in pointing outsubtle dangers and pitfalls. If we feartemptation, the Gita shows us how to reachfor just the right arrow in our quiver. ‘Thinkingabout sense-objects will attach you to senseobjects,’ Sri Krishna warns.

Grow attached, and you become addicted;Thwart your addiction, it turns to anger;Be angry, and you confuse your mind; youforget the lesson of experience;Forget experience, you lose discrimination;Lose discrimination, and you miss life’s onlypurpose.9

Empowered, once we see how attach-ments can lead the mind downward, step bystep like a runaway tennis ball, this singsong,rhythmic verse almost invites us to memorizeit for safekeeping. Thus stored in our mental


125

quiver, it becomes an ever-ready arrow in ourbow the moment an object of enjoyment loomson our horizon.

Or if it is death we fear most, Sri Krishnatakes us right into its jaws. Select verses fromthe second chapter of the Gita are oftenchanted at the deathbed of a loved one, suchas:

Know this Atman, Unborn, undying,Never ceasing, Never beginning,Deathless, birthless, Unchanging forever.How can It die, the death of the body?10

Throughout the second chapter, SriKrishna’s teachings on life and death, our realand apparent nature, are like fodder to chewand ruminate. As we meditate on death, webuild our lives to prepare for death. In chapterseven, The Way to Eternal Brahman, Sri Krishnainstructs: First, ‘…close all the doors of thesenses.’

…. Hold the mind firmly within the shrine ofthe heart, and fix the life-force between theeyebrows. Then let him take refuge in steadyconcentration, uttering the sacred symbol OMand meditating upon me. Such a man reachesthe highest goal.

Sri Krishna then divulges the secret ofsuccess:

When a yogi has meditated upon me unceasinglyfor many years, with an undistracted mind, I

am easy of access to him, because he is alwaysabsorbed in me.11

Spiritual success is not a hit or miss affair.It comes to those who live the Gita waythroughout life.

Some of the most well-worn passagesthat aspirants have memorized and practicedare those that follow Arjuna’s famous questionin the second chapter:

Krishna, how can one identify a man who isfirmly established and absorbed in Brahman? Inwhat manner does an illumined soul speak?How does he sit? How does he walk?12

The eighteen verses that follow, describ-ing the inner and outer life of a seer ofKnowledge, when memorized and contem-plated, become like intimate friends that wecan take to heart, imitate, and follow. Livingone verse at a time, we actually feel as thoughwe are living in the company of a seer. Andby acting as though we are already illumined,we take a giant step forward on our ownspiritual journey. In the Gita, this is called‘raising the self by the Self.’13

In so many ways, we can live the Gitaway. When we do, we will feel a spiritualcurrent growing within, our problems willgradually dissolve, and our spiritual life willbecome a blessing to ourselves and others.

1. Bhagavad Gita, 3.20-21 2. ibid., 3.7 3. ibid., 3.9 4. ibid., 3.27-285. Pravrajika Anandaprana’s Unpublished Reminiscences of Swami Prabhavananda (Vedanta Society Archives, 29)6. Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood, trans., The Song of God: Bhagavad Gita (Hollywood:Vedanta Press, 1969), 6.17 7. ibid., 2.3 8. ibid., 3.30 9. ibid., 2.62-6310. ibid., 2.20 11. ibid., 8.12-14 12. ibid., 2.54 13. ibid., 6.5

References

Study the Gita every day. By such study the mind can be cleansed of all unnecessary

thoughts and anxieties. This I know from personal experience.

—Swami Brahmananda


SWAMI YUKTATMANANDA

Swami Yuktatmananda is the Head of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, New York.

Work As WorshipGuidelines from the Bhagavad Gita

Work is inevitable in life, be it physical,mental, or intellectual. We can never give upwork, says the Bhagavad Gita, since even thebare maintenance of the body is impossiblewithout work.1 Work occupies most of ourday, and we often long for relief from it. Welook forward to the time when we won’t needto work and can do what we like to do. But,paradoxically, when we get a break from work,we don’t know how to make use of the time.Again, the Gita cautions us that if out of conceitwe resolve not to work, the resolve will be invain, since our nature will compel us to work.2

So work we must, but the challenge is hownot to be frustrated by work, but findfulfilment in it.

Though we feel trapped by work, ourown mind is responsible for our feeling boundor free. In Sri Ramakrishna’s words,

Bondage is of the mind, and freedom is also ofthe mind. A man is free if he constantly thinks:‘I am a free soul. How can I be bound, whether Ilive in the world or in the forest? I am a child ofGod, the King of Kings. Who can bind me?’ 3

So the motive behind work, and how wedo it are more important than the nature ofthe work itself.

What Impels us to Work?‘The Infinite is bliss; there is no bliss in

anything finite,’ declares the Chandogya

Upanishad.4 The Infinite refers to our true,divine nature. Vedanta teaches us that we arenot just body-minds, but are essentially thedivine Self. This divine Self is called theAtman. This eternal Self is the source of infiniteKnowledge and infinite Bliss. But Self-knowledge remains latent in most of us: weare unaware that we ourselves are the sourceof eternal Bliss. Ignorance makes us identifywith our body and mind, and we imagine thatwe are limited beings. The world occupies ourwhole being, and we desire happiness andfulfilment from finite things. Actions promptedby desire only further our ignorance. It is aself-perpetuating chain of ignorance-desire-action. As long as we are ensnared by thischain, our work will bring us only frustrationand bondage.

The Gita teaches us how to break thischain and realize the Atman—our true nature.It shows us how to work without desire, andhow to convert work into a tool for attainingfreedom from the bondage of the body, mind,and senses.

What Causes Desires?Desires arise from samskaras, or

impressions. Every action and thought leavesan impression on our mind. This impressiondeepens with every repetition of the action orthought. Each one of us is a huge bundle of


127

good and bad impressions accumulated overmany lives. Swami Vivekananda definescharacter as the sum total of these im-pressions.5 These impressions account forwhat we are at any moment, how we work,and how we react to situations. We can escapefrom the influence of bad impressions byincreasing our stock of good impressions withgood thoughts and actions. Good character ispreferable to bad character, but just being goodis not the ideal. If someone is bad in spite ofhimself because of the power of bad im-pressions, then someone else is good in spiteof himself because of the power of goodimpressions. Both good and bad are chainsthat bind us; we need to be free from both.Says Swami Vivekananda:

Good is near Truth, but is not yet Truth. Afterlearning not to be disturbed by evil, we have tolearn not to be made happy by good. We mustfind that we are beyond both evil and good. . . .Evil is the iron chain, good is the gold one; bothare chains. Be free, and know once for all thatthere is no chain for you. Lay hold of the goldenchain to loosen the hold of the iron one, thenthrow both away.6

The Gita way is to work without gaininggood or bad impressions.

‘To Work, Alone, You Have the Right. . .’We shall consider the oft-quoted teaching

from the Gita:To work, alone, you have the right, not to itsfruit. Never let the fruit of work be your motivefor work, but don’t be attached to inactioneither.7

Then again there is the saying, ‘Even afool doesn’t embark on an enterprise withouta purpose.’ But there is no contradictionbetween the two. Every work leads to adefinite result. The Gita teaches us not to beattached to the result or be anxious about it

while doing the work. Hankering after the result,or worrying about achieving it, will onlydissipate our mental energy; it will certainlynot help us to do the work better. The Gitateaches us how to work calmly, free fromrestlessness and anxiety. Swami Vivekanandadescribes the effect of calmness:

The calmer we are, the better for us, and themore the amount of work at hand we can do.When we let loose our feelings, we waste somuch energy, shatter our nerves, disturb ourminds, and accomplish very little work. Theenergy which ought to have gone out as work isspent as mere feeling, which counts for nothing.It is only when the mind is very calm andcollected that the whole of its energy is spent indoing good work.8

We need to be careful never to let theend justify the means. Questionable means willleave a bad impression on the mind, whichwill be difficult to erase. Swami Vivekanandaputs this in the right perspective:

Proper attention to the finishing, strengthening,of the means is what we need. With the meansall right, the end must come.…Once the ideal ischosen and the means determined, we may almost letgo the ideal, because we are sure it will be there,when the means are perfected. When the cause isthere, there is no more difficulty about the effect,the effect is bound to come. If we take care ofthe cause, the effect will take care of itself. Therealization of the ideal is the effect. The meansare the cause: attention to the means, therefore,is the great secret of life.9 [Emphasis added]

Work as WorshipThe Gita shows us how to be unaffected

by the good and evil effects of work:

Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whateveryou offer in sacrifice, whatever you give away,and whatever you practise in the form ofausterities, do it as an offering to Me. Thus shall


128

you be free from the bondage of actions, whichbear good or evil results. With your mind firmlyset on the yoga of renunciation, you shall becomefree and come to Me.10

Offering actions and their results to Godstrengthens our will and awakens our senseof discrimination: we scrutinize our workcarefully and see if it is worthy of being offeredto God. Work done with a such a mindsetgradually turns into worship, and suchworship leads us to perfection, promises theLord in the Gita:

From whom have originated all beings, and bywhom the whole universe is pervaded—byworshipping Him by his own duty man attainsperfection.11

We learn more about doing work asworship from Swami Vivekananda:

When you are doing any work, do not think ofanything beyond. Do it as worship, as the highestworship, and devote your whole life to it for thetime being.12

When we do not think of anythingbeyond the work at hand, and devote ourwhole life to it for the time being, we becomecalm, more focussed, and less selfish. Besidesimproving the quality of work, a worshipfulattitude lessens our egotistic impulses towardswork, increases our devotion to God, and leadsus to perfection.

The Journey from tamas to sattva

In the last part of verse 2.47 of the Gita,Sri Krishna sounds a word of caution againstinactivity: ‘Don’t be attached to inaction either.’Sattva, rajas, and tamas constitute Prakriti, ornature, and inhere in our body and mind invarying proportions. Tamas manifests asinertia, sleep, laziness, and carelessness; rajasas passionate activity; and sattva as equanimityand calmness in the midst of activity. Often

the dullness of tamas gets mistaken for thecalmness of sattva. This misperception willmake us all the more ignorant of our divinenature. Work done as spiritual disciplineinvolves the journey from tamas to sattva,which necessarily has to pass through rajas.There is no straight jump from tamas to sattva.Intense activity helps us get rid of inertia andcarelessness. Established in rajas, we face thenext challenge: how are we to ascend to sattva?

Calmness in the Midst of ActivityThe qualities of a sattvic worker des-

cribed in the Gita (18.26) can serve as guide-lines in our journey from rajas to sattva.

1. Freedom from self-conceit and attachmentto the fruits of action: Since God is the PrimeMover of all activities,13 it is unwise toappropriate to ourself the results of ouractions. A sattvic worker mentally offers hisactions and their outcome to God. Says SwamiVivekananda:

Do you ask anything from your children inreturn for what you have given them? It is yourduty to work for them, and there the matterends. In whatever you do for a parti-cular person, a city, or a state, assume the sameattitude towards it as you have towards yourchildren—expect nothing in return. If you caninvariably take the position of a giver, in whicheverything given by you is a free offering to theworld, without any thought of return, then willyour work bring you no attachment. Attachmentcomes only where we expect a return.14

2. Fortitude, and enthusiasm for work:Fortitude, or dhriti, is an attribute of buddhi,the seat of discrimination, decision-making,and will-power. A sattvic worker is notdiscouraged by obstacles in the path of work,but steadfastly pursues the chosen means tothe end. Though he is detached from the


129

outcome of an action, he is no less enthusiasticabout his work. With his mind under control,adverse circumstances do not dampen hisenthusiasm for work.

3. Even-mindedness in success and failure:Our natural tendency is to seek pleasure andavoid misery, celebrate good and be depressedby pain. Besides helping us retain soundjudgement, even-mindedness improves thequality of our work. This even-mindedness,

References

1. Bhagavad Gita, 3.5, 8.2. ibid., 18.59.3. M., The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. Swami

Nikhilananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai,1985, p. 138.

4. Chandogya Upanishad, 7.23.1.5. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9 vols.

(Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1-8, 1989; 9, 1997),vol. 2: 255.

6. CW, 7: 4-5.

which Sri Krishna defines as yoga,15 is theeffect of offering the fruits of actions to God.

The work ethic of the Bhagavad Gitateaches us to do work as worship, free fromegotism and attachment to the results of work,and be even-minded in success and failure.Such a worshipful attitude transforms workinto yoga, detaches our will from desires,uncovers our true Self, and leads us to eternalpeace and supreme Bliss.

7. Gita, 2.47.8. CW, 2: 293.9. ibid., 2.1.10. Gita, 9.27-8.11. ibid., 18.46.12. CW, 1.71.13. Gita, 15.4.14. CW, 1.59.15. Gita, 2.48.

Have you grown spiritually? Have you realized something of the divine spark that is

within you? Have you gone beyond the body-mind complex and its pulls and pressures,

and become calm and steady within yourself? All these are profound questions that

some people in modern western civilization are asking. What has happened to the

human being? He or she has been a good worker. But he or she has become a broken

person after years of productive efficiency. Work has done no good to the

worker, except his or her salary and whatever creature comforts could

come out of that salary. What about the inner life of the worker? Is

he or she rich within, peaceful and fulfilled? In this way, Sri Krishna

defines the yoga taught in the Gita as a double efficiency: productive

work efficiency, and inward personal or character efficiency. These

must go side by side. Don’t separate these two. By the same

work, if one can achieve two great things, how much greater

will be our profit thereby?

—Swami Ranganathananda, Universal Message of the

Bhagavad Gita, p.197-198


M. SIVARAMKRISHNA

The author is the former Head of the Department of English, Osmania University, Hyderabad, and has severalbooks to his credit.

Teachers as Mentors—Lessons from Gita

The Teacher IdealAlmost every month, I interact with a

group of teachers (mostly higher secondarylevel) drawn from several states. Thesesessions focus on values in education and life-skills for personality development. To knowtheir attitude to teaching, I ask questions like:

a) Do you like—if not love—yourprofession?

b) Do you like the subject you teach?c) How do you deal with the so-called

weak students?d) Do you focus on areas ‘outside’ the

syllabus, such as personality development andvalues?

By and large, they are positive to theteaching of life-skills. But one question cropsup always: ‘how do we teach them?’ Onecannot generalise, but some hints can be drawnon how the Gita can help the teachers in thismatter.

To begin with, the teacher should be amentor—‘an experienced person who advisesand helps somebody with less experience, overa period of time’ (Oxford Advanced Learners’Dictionary). S/he should be a role-model whosets high but achievable standards for workand behaviour of students without beingauthoritarian, shedding the ‘I know more thanyou do’ fixation. And, above all, be open tolearn, remaining a student, like an avadhuta—the ever-eager-to-learn-ascetic mentioned in

the Bhagavatam—and alert to every experience.In this perspective, who could be an idealexample than Sri Krishna who was the modelof friend, philosopher and guide to Arjuna?

Arjuna-Krishna dialogue, as enshrined inthe Gita, is the best way to understand it. Buthow does the Gita help us? Sri Ramakrishnasaid: ‘eliminate “the head and tail”, that is,emphasise the essentials.’1 This process has toreckon with the existing situations. SriRamakrishna, the Great Master himself,described it: ‘The situation is very difficult.There is so much confusion in the world’(Gospel, p.246). The contexts of violence andwar are now both global and local. There arealso cultural convulsions of a speed and rangethat are nearly uncontrollable. The teacher-student relations are purely functional, alllearning oriented to earning. In such a context,can a teacher hope to reach each student, withthe pragmatics of the Gita?

Teacher – Student DialogueSri Krishna’s core teaching can contain

the chaos and offer alongside, as its subversion,a map for the creative unfoldment of thestudents. The structure of the Gita itself is thatmap: the song is a dialogue which dramatizesthe basic concerns of a confused ward. It isalso an intimate, informal dialogue, where theseeker can lay bare every doubt of his. Inoffering strategies of fighting (phobias and


131

traumas), it also shows how all strategies arerooted in oneself. The most enduring help isin one’s mind—one’s activated, holisticconsciousness (the code word being yoga). Forthe teacher, the Gita unfolds the possibility ofa dialogue, drawing insights from both sides,knowing the grey areas, and tapping strengthand wisdom from the perennial springs ofone’s infinite potential.

‘Whatever a great man does,’ says SriKrishna, ‘the same is done by others as well.He sets up a standard and it is followed bythe world.’ (Gita, 3.21.)2 This is the crux ofawareness that a teacher ought to achieve inhis/her own setting and background. Theyshow tremendous energy in following a modelwhen their emotions are drawn to.

Let us take fear and faith as the basiccontours of the teacher and students in thecontext of the Gita. What are the fears of thestudent (at various levels with differentdegrees of intensity)? An effective corollaryhere would be the teachers’ introspectionabout his/her own experience as a student ofsuch fears. Did s/he succeed in overcomingthem and how? Do they work for his/her stu-dents now? As J. Krishnamurthi says: ‘Parentsand teachers who recognize the psychologicalprocesses which build up fear and sorrowshould be able to help the young to observeand understand their own conflicts and fears.’3

Some Fears of StudentsStudents may fear the teacher himself or

herself; of parents who may have expectationswhich arise from privileging some professionsas concretions of a successful life—defined interms of plenty of money and pleasure-filledmatrimony. There are, of course, fears fromfellow students, some of them held up asmodels for mostly counterproductivecomparison.

Can the teachers help the student? Yes,if the experience of fear and overcoming it areboth shown as natural. Arjuna—a great heroin all respects, succumbing to cowardice whencourage is needed—shows the indissolublelink between strength and weakness. Arjuna’snerve failed for a positive reason: affection forkinsmen. But in this context it was misplaced.Elsewhere fear is positive: fear of not perform-ing one’s dharma, fear of deviation from ethicalnorms—so long as they don’t breed guilt. Andthe crisis itself is a context to actualise thealready available creative action. InterestinglyGita or the Song of the Lord emerges in thecontext of the distressing sorrow of his beloveddisciple who contemplates running away fromthe realities of life. Indeed, difficulties are afertile ground for developing strength andmaturity. One may also recall here how TheGospel of Sri Ramakrishna originated in theagony (vishada) of the scholarly-teacherMahendranath Gupta, the chronicler of theGospel, who was so troubled by events in hislife that he had even contemplated suicide. SriRamakrishna, the modern Gitacharya, rescuedhim through his gentle chidings and counsel-ing. The message of the Gita, thus, continuesin a new form.

It is interesting that Sri Krishna smilinglyexhorts: ‘Give up this cowardice’ (II.3). Thenon-verbal gesture of a smile is powerful. Thisis not a derisive kind of smile. It is one ofmutual trust suggesting that Krishna can berelied upon. It requires surrender from theseeker and a good deal of love from theteacher. Can there be a more sorrowful lifethan that of Sri Krishna? And yet is there amore lovable incarnation and an exemplaryteacher, ever smiling at tears, facing everycrisis with courage and conviction? And hisworldly wisdom is superb. This wisdom canbe seen as resting on four integral life-skills:


132

Interconnectivity and interdependence; Equality that is horizontal and functional

variations which are vertical; Comparisons and contrasts as natural tools

for excellence and not for elimination; Finally, blending all these with, balance

as the key for the journey into joy.In terms of psychological patterns of

behaviour they correspond, by and large, tothe four pillars of the Gita:

Desirelessness (nishkama), Detachment (anasaktata), Steadfast wisdom (sthithaprajna) and Total surrender(prapatti).But the important question is: how do

we achieve the strength, where do we seek,the energy to actualise them? How do we dothat, especially in moments of acute crisis?

The Gita is remarkable in suggesting away out, without recourse to a presiding deityin heaven: ‘Raise yourself by yourself, don’tlet yourself down, for you alone are your ownfriend and you alone are your enemy.’ (ibid,VI. 5) This is one of the most effective andnatural of all strategies the Gita identifies.Absorbed by the mentor, it can easily commu-nicate itself to the youngster. It can also beparaphrased: ‘Your self’ can direct ‘your mind.’We cannot blame fate; we cannot rebel againsta vengeful God. The seeds of all destinies, allrebellions are innate. No wonder, Sri Krishnaaffirms: ‘He who has conquered himself is afriend of himself; but he who has not con-quered himself is hostile to himself as a foe’(ibid, 6.6). ‘Mind is all,’ declares Sri Rama-krishna.

What is the nature of the mind? It is‘mighty enemy,’ says Sri Krishna, ‘comes inthe guise of desire who is hard to overcome.’(ibid, III. 43) Behind desire is an uncontrolledmind. Arjuna, who, in one context, could focushis mind only on the reflected eye of a target

he has to shoot, in another, voices his ficklenature and expresses, thereby, a universalphenomenon: ‘. . . the mind is restless, Krishna,it is violent, powerful and obstinate. To controlit is as difficult, it seems to me, as to controlthe air.’ (ibid, VI. 34).

Mind is desire-oriented and desires havea wide range. A choice ought to be made. Forthe majority it is certainly a high-salaried job.In a consumer-based economy, this is acompelling choice. The economist Tim Harfordpoints out, that ‘rational people… will bear inmind not just the costs and benefits of theirchoices’ but the overall ‘constraints upon them.’Above all, they will ‘consider the futureconsequences’4 which arise from unresolvedstress and tension inevitably leading to healthhazards. What is earned now may, in alllikelihood, be spent on recovering the healthlost in earning later. Can the teacher effectivelyoffer a counter weight for this?

The Gita also gives to the teacher aninsight into natural, horizontal equality and job-wise, hierarchically vertical functioning. Each hasits role unique to itself (svadharma and svabhavaequation). All students get the same lesson butperformance-wise, they are hierarchical.Implicit here is the tendency to compare andvirtually destroy the individual talent of achild. Can we, in spite of our teaching, refrainfrom tampering with the faith of the child inhis/her innate creativity, refusing to slot himor her into a coveted but highly unsuitableniche? Can the innate quality of detachmentand joy be maintained by the right under-standing of desire?

‘Hierarchy’ or functional privileging issuggested in the chapter eleven wherein SriKrishna shows his cosmic form. He singles outArjuna as the one, among Pandavas, withwhom he identifies himself (ibid, 10.37). Thisis an extraordinary assertion of the basic and


133

potential identity between the teacher andhis disciple. Hence, two important insightsare here available for us. Unless there isgenuine empathy between the teacher and thestudent, there is hardly any teaching. A ‘good’teacher will progressively make himselfdispensable. No fence is needed when the plantgrows up.

‘Steadfast wisdom’ (sthithaprajna), for ourcontext, is the nurturing in our students, whatProfessor Gayatri Chakravorthy Spivak, in heroriginal analysis of the Gita describes as, ‘howto act knowingly but without desire.’6 If onecan paraphrase this, it could mean knowingthat we are free to the extent we can conceive,plan and execute an action. All the three aremotivated by our expectations regarding theresult. Result is implicit in the action and actionis perfected by knowledge of factors whichimpel it. A student can be a little bit relaxed,even inattentive, in a classroom lecture. But atthe time of taking a crucial, competitive test,during that period, does s/he think of the

result? After the test also, the result may ormay not be identical with what s/he expects.Therefore, acting for a desired result, butknowing that what one desires may often bedenied is sound psychology. Desire anddetachment are thus interlinked.

ConclusionSurrender in this sense would mean

natural joyous acceptance of what is. Surrenderin psychological terms is neither pessimisticnor optimistic but realistic. In short, it isfreedom from fantasies about desired resultsoften undesirable. This is a combination of skillin action and samesightedness towards its resultswhich ties in with the realities of life. In thissense it is ‘tagi’, Sri Ramakrishna’s reversedrecovery of the essence of the Gita. Tyaga istaming all excesses. That requires courage andas Andre Comte-Spoonville says, ‘All thevirtues are interdependent and they all dependon courage.’7

Krishna’s clarion call is just that.

1. Swami Nikhilananda, tr; The Gospel of SriRamakrishna, Ramakrishna – Vivekananda Center,New York. 1992; p.685. Further references aregiven in the essay itself.

2. D.S. Sarma, (tr), The Bhagavad Gita The MadrasLaw Journal Office, Madras. 1952. Furtherreferences are given in the essay itself. I foundthis translation very readable.

3. J. Krishnamurti, Education and The Significance ofLife: Harper & Brothers, New York, 1953; p.11.

References

4. Tim Harford, The Logic of Life : Uncovering the NewEconomics of Everything (emphasis added) Little,Brown; New York; 2008; p. 8.

5. Sri Ram, Journey into Joy; Letters for SpiritualSeekers. Sterling Publishers Private Ltd; Delhi,2008, p.174.

6. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, A Critique ofPostcolonial Reason; Seagull; Calcutta: 1999, p. 51.

7. Andre Comte-Spoonville, A Short Treatise on theGreat Virtues: The Uses of Philosophy in EverydayLife: William Heinemann, London; 2002, p. 59.

If one reads this one Sloka—

äb°„ ß _m Ò_ J_Ö nmW© Z°VŒdÊ wnn⁄Voü&jw–ß ˆX`Xm°~©Î ß À`äÀdmoŒmÓR na›Vnü&&>

—One gets all the merits of reading the entire Gita; for in this one Sloka lies

embedded the whole Message of the Gita. —Swami Vivekananda. CW, 4: 110


Countering Stress and Lack of MotivationGita’s Advice to the Modern Youth

SWAMI BODHAMAYANANDA

Gita’s Ageless RelevanceThere is a wrong notion among the youth

that the scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gitaare meant for old and retired people and forgaining a little ‘peace of mind’. And some feelthat it is not possible to apply the profoundteachings in today’s context and are difficultto comprehend. By a sincere and serious studyof the Gita, however, such misnomers and falseperceptions can surely be erased from themind. The youth should keep in mind thatthe Gita is a scripture of the mankind. Arjuna,the recipient of Sri Krishna’s teachings, repre-sents the modern man. Like the modern man,Arjuna is confused by the chaotic situations oflife and the fear of failure. Sri Krishna teachesArjuna to face the battle of life.

Solving the ProblemsGita addresses the modern youth’s

problems squarely and plainly—the issuessuch as how to achieve success in life,controlling one’s passions, learning to be aneffective leader, decision-making and so on.While many modern schools of thought dealwith these problems at material, external andperipheral levels, the Bhagavad Gita goes tothe root of the problem—setting right ourworld-view and the resultant thinking. Onceour thoughts change, there is a visible change

in the quality of our actions, as also ourresponse to their result. Gita’s teachings helpus to change from within.

There are numerous ways in which theseteachings can be applied in the context ofmodern youth. Let us, however, focus on twovery vital areas—overcoming stress and lackof motivation or focus.

1. Overcoming StressStress is the reaction to a demanding

situation and it can occur at two levels—physical and psychological.

Physical stress is caused by physicalcauses such as accidents, burns, infections andso on. It is a reaction of the body to face thestrain and trauma caused by diverse factors.

Psychological stress, on the other hand,is a reaction to mental situations such as fear,anxiety, tension, anger, emotional conflicts andso on. These situations may be of just a shortperiod but may affect a person for long timeleaving deep impressions on his subconsciousmind.

Restlessness is a common problem ofmind. A youth, who has to prove his abilityand rise up to the expectations of society, peersand others, undergoes a taxing time and itresults in accumulation of stress. With manythings to do, he lives a fast life and then there

The author is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, at Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, T. Nagar, Chennai. He hasbeen actively engaged in conducting workshops, lectures and seminars on Personality Development for theyouth.


135

is no time for him to take stock of things. Themodern youth may be thinking and workingfaster than what his counterparts did earliertwenty years ago, but, then, at what cost?Psychological breakdown and negative think-ing. Added to this is the scourge of violenceand restlessness.

Gita provides valuable guidelines toovercome stress and restlessness. The battle-field of Kurukshetra, the scene in which Gitawas delivered, underlines a point with regardto its relevance in overcoming stress. Justconsider this. Even after the war drums havebeen sounded, the conchs and the trumpetsblown, Arjuna is not able to convince himselfof the utility of the war and the purpose ofkilling his own cousins, teachers and others inthe impending war. He is horrified and be-comes mentally nervous when he thinks aboutthe disastrous consequences of war. Arjuna,having lost his inner steadiness, trembling withfear and confused, is unable to even lift hisbow and arrow and sinks into depression.

This situation has aptly been named asvishada [depression] of Arjuna. The strong andmighty stature of Arjuna can be found in manymodern youth’s life as well. At the time whenthey are supposed to carry out their responsi-bilities, a little failure or a small obstacle hereand there, makes them feel weak and totallyhelpless. Some of them even think of runningaway from life itself. But what does Sri Krishnaadvise Arjuna in this context? He admonishesArjuna and is pained at his behaviour. Henudges Arjuna thus:

Whence, O Arjuna, has this weakness, neitherentertained by honourable men, nor conduciveto (the attainment of) heaven, and leading to ill-fame, come on you at this crisis? Yield not tounmanliness, O Partha, it is not worthy of you;shake off this mean faint-heartedness, arise, Oscorcher of foes.1

Every youth should daily repeat theessence of these two verses. And their essenceis—face life; do not run away from it. Runningaway from the challenges of life does not solvethem. It only weakens the mind and makes itmore incapable to face them in future. Oneshould think over it deeply and try to focuson one’s strength instead of weakness. Onecan quietly sit in one’s room or in any silentplace and meditate on the meaning of theseverses. He should allow the message to soakinto his subconscious mind, which is thestorehouse of all our inner motives—positiveand negative. This practice, if done regularly,will take away a good deal of stress andweakness of mind. In fact, stress itself is a kindof tremendous energy, which, when notchannelled, can cause considerable damage toa person’s life.

Further, this idea should be brought intoour daily life. We should keep this attitude offacing life, and not avoiding it, always burningin our mind.

2. Overcoming Lack of MotivationHow to remain motivated, despite all

hurdles, is a major issue in life. We need aconstant drive and enthusiasm. This means wehave to handle our negative thoughts andanxiety about the future. Everyone faces doubtand depression in life sometime or the other.What determines success is our ability toovercome these and keep moving forward.

The key to self-motivation is to under-stand our thoughts and how to handle them.By learning how to nurture positive thoughts,we learn the art of remaining focused. Thismeans being proactive and not reactive.

When Krishna chides Arjuna for his un-becoming behavour, Arjuna’s response is quiteeducative. He understands how he has beenmisguided by wrong thoughts and pleads:


136

I ask you—tell me that which is definitely goodfor me. I am your disciple; teach me who havetaken refuge in You.2

In fact, this is where the real teachings ofthe Bhagavad Gita commence—when Arjunais ready to learn. He is willing to perform hisduties as a kshatriya.

The second chapter of the Gita is rightlycalled as the Yoga of Knowledge. Here SriKrishna teaches Arjuna about the Atman orthe Indwelling Self which is deathless,birthless, pure and the ever changeless. Thismeans temporary issues of life should not takeaway our motivation and interest. We shouldthink of the eternal and inexhaustible sourceof strength present in each one of us. Recallingthis eternal nature of every human being,Swami Vivekananda said:

If the fisherman thinks that he is the Spirit, hewill be a better fisherman; if the student thinkshe is the Spirit, he will be a better student. If thelawyer thinks that he is the Spirit, he will be abetter lawyer.3

The Gita further says that we shouldlearn to ‘work with dexterity’ and ‘to takerefuge in Buddhi or the higher intellect’. Manyyouth work only through raw emotions. Theydo not know how to use their power ofdiscrimination. To work with dexterity meansnot becoming attached to the fruits of actionbut enjoying the joy of working without anyself-defeating thoughts. As a curio display putit: No matter how bad a situation is, you canmake it worse by resorting to negativethoughts.

Man is great and superior to animals onlybecause of his faculty of discrimination.Whenever a man falls or suffers, it is due toloss of this power of discrimination. Sri

Krishna advices that one should not be sweptaway by problems and obstacles which areafter all temporary and passing in nature.Through proper self-control, one can invokeone’s hidden potential which is the source ofall success and consolation. One should alwaysstrengthen oneself. Says Swami Vivekananda,‘Every idea that strengthens you must be takenup and every thought that weakens you mustbe rejected.’4

Again, Sri Krishna’s message to themodern youth is that one should developoneself by oneself. Let him not wait for externalhelp but derive strength from his inner core.He says,

Man must lift himself by himself; and havinglifted himself, let him not allow himself to bedragged down. For this, self alone is your friend,and indeed, this self alone is your enemy.5

ConclusionGita contains enough insight to help a

young, struggling person to develop into awise and responsible personality. What isneeded is sincerity and faith. He would bewilling to change, willing to undergo thetraining required to make him a better person.He must not focus on what he does not havebut what he has. Let him count his blessingsand as Sri Krishna says:

Therefore, at all times constantly remember Meand fight. With mind and intellect dedicated toMe, you shall, without a doubt, attain to Mealone.6

And that ‘Me’, the God Himself, ispresent in us all. Where is the cause for stressand hopelessness? Let every youth try torenew his life by thinking Gita’s message offaith and inherent strength.

References

1. Bhagavad Gita, 2.2-3 2. ibid., 2.7 3. CW, 3: 245 4. CW, 3: 27 5. Bhagavad Gita, 6.5 6. ibid., 8.7


K SUBRAHMANYAM

Dr. K. Subrahmanyam is retired Principal of National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune, and VivekanandaCollege (Gurukula), Madurai. In his doctoral work, he specialised on Swami Vivekananda, and also has severalbooks to his credit.

Bhagavad Gita—Song of Culture

The Meaning of CultureThe Bhagavad Gita is a celestial song, a

divine song of true human culture. When aperson is pure and inwardly polished and isplaced lovingly at the disposal of the needy,he is said to be truly cultured. Sri Krishna,himself a personality of great culture has sungthis song of eternal culture to elevate mankindto the pinnacle of culture.

Oils and metals are available in thebowels of earth. But they are to be drilled,processed and purified before they are madeusable. So also, man to be of use has toundergo the process of purification. Therawness, then, gives rise to refinement at everylevel. It is through the cultural processing thatwe evolve to blossom as a fragrant flower.This is how the Bhagavad Gita can be viewed,as both the means and goal of humanevolution. In other words, man becomes abetter human through the study of the Gita.

Rishis are researchers and seers. Theyhave been able to see beyond and unravel theTruth hidden to the un-evolved perceptions.Only a purified vision is able to discover theVedic wisdom. That wisdom, the fruit of aeonsof cultural evolution, is preserved and placedbefore mankind in the sacred Upanishads. Thecollective consciousness, thus accumulated inthe Upanishadic lore, is sweetly and syste-matically simplified for our use as the song ofculture in the form of Bhagavad Gita.

This song of culture has many a softpetal. They are: 1. Physical Culture 2. WorkCulture 3. Emotional Culture 4. IntellectualCulture 5. Self or Spiritual culture.

Physical CultureBody is an essential vehicle to transport

us to higher levels of evolution. It is also atemple housing the all-pervading soul or God.Therefore, it is to be kept clean and pure. It isbut the entire cosmos in microcosm. The fiveelements—earth, water, fire, air and space—are very much available both in the macrocosm(universe) and in the individual body of everyhuman being (microcosm). Their disciplinedfunctioning is but dharma.

Also, the individual body has to work intune with the cosmic body. All beings have aresponsibility to practise dharma, so that allcan live in peace. Yoga it is, when there isharmony at all levels and Bhagavad Gitaemphasises Yoga throughout. At the physicallevel, a disciplined life along with adherenceto a principle is a sign of culture. A culturedperson does not disturb nature. Methodical lifeof routine is the mark of a cultured person.

Dharma is a self-imposed discipline fora harmonious coexistence of all. Peopleestablished or settled (Asana) in life withdiscipline (Yama) and principle (Niyama) areof culture. They lead a regulated life(Pranayama) of self-confidence, self-reliance


138

and self-dedication. It is proper pranayama,when we breathe out more and breathe in less.It is a cultured life of pranayama and yoga,when we take less from society and contributemore for its well-being. Yama, Niyama, Asanaand Pranayama of Raja Yoga are but theessential aspects of physical culture leading toindividual and social health.

Yama denotes discipline—discipline ofspace, discipline of time and discipline ofprocedure. If we are capable of allotting a placeto every object and cultivate the habit ofkeeping things in their respective places, wewill be free from tensions and anxieties. Weneed not have to search for the misplacedarticles. Time and energy are thus not onlysaved, but they will be very much in surplusto be utilised for higher and nobler pursuits.When every item in the house is neat and tidy,house will be a heaven, a veritable temple.Similarly, civic sense and its observance insociety will make our lives pleasant andharmonious.

The second dimension of disciplinepertains to time. Set apart a time for everyaction and strictly abide by the time schedule!There will, then, be no scope for worry. Notonly do we plan our day’s routine, but we canstreamline our lives as well. ‘Play while youplay and work while you work’ is the time-tested proverb. Let not the ‘office’ make thehome sour. Let not the houses distract ourattention in the work place. Brahmacharya(celibacy and tutelage), Grihastha (marital lifeand money making manhood), Vanaprastha(retirement and self-analysis) and Sannyasa(life of detachment and absolute self-dedi-cation) are the time-schedule of planned livesto unfold the divinity.

The third and final aspect of discipline is‘procedure’. There is an established methodo-logy for every worthwhile human activity.

Even animals have a set track for their lives.Human beings cannot afford to revert to leada life of indiscriminate indulgence. As ahuman being one has to exercise restraint overbasal instincts and try to overcome as muchas is within one’s capacity.

The efforts of Sri Krishna in the Gita areentirely to highlight the need for discipline—from the physical to the spiritual. Unless thebody with all its senses is kept under strictcontrol, nothing can be achieved. Patanjali, inthe footprints of the Lord, lays stress on yamaand niyama, asana and pranayama as theprimary physical requirements for any noblepursuit. The most basic discipline prescribedto everybody consists of regulated diet andsleep. In the chapter titled Shraddha TrayaVibhaga Yoga, Sri Krishna describes the natureof food needed for higher pursuits. In hisinfinite generosity and boundless compassion,the Lord directly and indirectly presents toall, the essentials of discipline. Inertia is to beshed. Diffidence is to be dropped. Impulsesare to be checked. Instincts are to be controlled.Intellect is to be channelled properly. Intuitiveeye is to be nourished and one is thus gradu-ally to be established in perfection throughsteady discipline.

Work CultureThe entire universe is ever engaged in

action. It is constantly working. All the fiveelements are ever on the move. There is changeeverywhere. Unavoidable is work to anybody.Jagat it is, since it is ‘ever in a state of flux’. SriKrishna in the Gita highlights the cosmicactivity taking place incessantly when he says,‘no one can sit idle even for a moment’. Whenaction or work is ceaselessly happening, thereis bound to be a reaction or the fruit of work.

Action is a combination of good and evil.Every activity is only relatively good or bad


139

depending upon the attitude of the doer andthe awardees. Killing, for example, is anactivity. Good it is, when it is on the battlefield.Same is but an evil and a crime in social life.Similar are the qualities of reactions equallyrelative and they are but a combination of goodand evil. The inference, therefore is, everybodyis caught in actions and reactions which areboth good and evil. If they are good, they aregolden shackles; if they are bad, they are butbarbed wires of iron. Bondage is unavoidable,since work is inevitable. Arjuna, then, as arepresentative of mankind, requests Krishna,the eternal master, to show the way out.

Sri Krishna, suggests to Arjuna the bestmethod which is nothing but ‘work culture.’Work or action performed for gratification ofsenses is but the crude form of work. Effort toeat and sleep, works to enjoy the pleasures ofthe body are but beastly expressions ofuncultivated activity. The worst form of workis to use energy only to enjoy the pleasures oflife without striving for them. Those that feedon others’ labour resort to all sorts of corruptmeans to make their lives indulgent. Theymercilessly exploit the meek and the innocent.Every thought, word and deed of theirs is self-centred. Self-assertion and aggression arecharacteristic of their make-up. They are likeRavana of the Ramayana and Duryodhana ofthe Mahabharata.

A little more evolved work culture is seenin cooperative activity. Selfishness, to a greatextent, is reduced but not eliminated. Peoplecome together and work together for mutualbenefit and comfort. They share both the effortand fruits. Higher than this is the work cultureof total self-dedication. People of evolved workculture are free from all shades of selfishness.They strive for the welfare of all. SwamiVivekananda says, ‘Him I call a Mahatmawhose heart bleeds for the poor.’

The lowest form of work is to grab fromothers, loot others and to suck their veryblood. The highest and purest form of workculture is to give, serve and save all, all thetime and at every level. It is like a tree givingthe fruit of its labour to society. No tree eatsits own fruit. It strives to produce the fruitand gives it up for the use of others. SriKrishna speaks of this highest form of culturewhen he says, ‘To work alone you have theright not to the fruits thereof.’

As the crude oil is to be rid of all theimpurities to make it refined, work is to befreed from the impurity of selfishness to makeit refined and cultured.

Emotional CultureLove is a basic feeling present in every

heart. Whom we love, when we love, and whatfor we love, how we love and the intensity oflove may vary from person to person. Love,as such, is never absent in any human heart. Itis love that guides, governs and motivatesone’s thoughts, words and deeds. To guidethis emotion from the lowest form to the mostrefined expression and expansion is emotionalculture.

When the clear and colourless ray of lightpasses through a prism, it gets reflected andrefracted, resulting in the seven colours:VIBGYOR. If the prism is removed, coloursdisappear. Similarly, when the pure love, thetrait of divinity, passes through the prism of aperson’s egoism, it acquires qualities such aslust, greed, anger, conceit, possessiveness,envy and infatuation. If egoism is slain, purelove shines resplendent. It is emotional cultureto restore sublimity to love. The raindrop isfree from impurities. If it falls in the sea, itbecomes salty. If it falls in the ditch, it becomesdirty; if it falls in the Ganges, it becomesGangajal. To become the pure distilled water,


it has to pass through a process. It is thispurification process that restores the originalsublime purity to the raindrops. Similarly, thecontortions of love on account of its contactwith egoism are to be removed.

In emotional culture, the entire pursuitis to purify love, by directing it towards infinitelove of divinity. The means and the end inemotional culture are but Bhakti. Sri Krishnaspeaks at length of it in Bhakti Yoga. Whenthe flood of emotion is spontaneous, incessant,sublime and all-embracing, it is called devotionor Bhakti. When a person is established in thisflood of Bhakti, no action will be antagonisticto anybody. Everything and everybody thenwill be acceptable. Nay, all will be lovable.Both heat and cold will be comfortable. Insultsand eulogy will all be equally welcome.Enmity and antagonism can never arise in theheart filled with pure love.

Every action is prompted by love in adevotee. Even the apparent surgical deeds areprompted by love. Devotion is a culturemaking one vibrant, fragrant, sweet andsublime. Love is God, when it is rid of egoismand selfishness.

Intellectual CultureAs love is a gift from God, reason too is

a blessing from the almighty. As much as loveis intrinsic in all, so is rationalism hidden ineveryone. It is ever thirsting to know moreand more about everything and everybody.At long last, tired of seeking knowledge fromoutside, it turns within to know more aboutthe hidden knowledge. It is then real self-study—svadhyaya. That is svadharma as well.

Intellect is the seat of logic, analysis,reasoning, inference, discrimination anddecision-making. When it is crude andundeveloped, it is mere superstition, believingall without questioning. It yields easily to silly

sentiments as well. A little logical thinkingwould dispel all false deductions. Religion,when it is not accompanied by right thinkingwill lead to all sorts of superstition. An evolvedintellect will observe a judicious combinationof reason and religion.

At the inert level of matter, cosmicintelligence is available as inertia. The same ispervasive as impulse in the vegetable kingdom—impulsively the leaves go up in search ofsunlight and the roots go towards the waterresource. At the level of subhuman speciessuch as animals and birds, it is perceptible asinstinct. Procreative urge and fear are butinstincts. At the human level, it manifests asintellect available in every brain. It is left tomankind to foster it to perfection wherein itshines as superhuman intuition. The evolutionfrom a crude state of body bound instinctsto an enlightened intuition is intellectualculture.

Intellect is initially deployed as a tool toacquire knowledge and to discriminate thewrong from the right, the favourable from theunfavourable, the impermanent from thepermanent, etc. Finally, it attains the seat of ajudge passing judgements wise or otherwisedepending upon its evolved state of culture.At the highest state of unfoldment of intellect,its threefold activity of knower, known andthe process of knowing will be shed. Therewill then remain only knowledge without anyduality, as a river losing its identity when itmerges with the sea. There remains nothingbut the vast sea, the infinite ocean of know-ledge and absolute consciousnesses.

Sri Krishna through the path of know-ledge—Jnana Yoga—takes us to a state ofconsciousness absolute. God then will be seeneverywhere. Nay, one realises God within andwithout. As the ornaments have the same goldmetal in them all, as the same earthen soil is

140


available in all the pots, as the same water ispresent in all the waves, an evolved person ofintellectual culture will be able to see the sametruth and divinity inherent in all, the sameGod shining in all.

Self CultureNo saviour has saved any society or

individual so far. One has to save oneself. Onehas to purify oneself. At the most, there maybe a conducive atmosphere provided for one’sunfoldment or evolution. The bud blossomson its own. Gardener may water the plant,remove the weeds, facilitate its growth. Neverdoes he touch the bud, nor can he force itsblossoming. Similarly, the small self has togrow and evolve further to be the cosmic Self.It is a journey of the small individual self intothe large infinite Self. When the impurities ofthe small self are removed, it is facilitated tounfold its infinite inner Self.

In other words, one has to strive for self-purification through self-culture and evolve tobe the cosmic Self. The small self is selfish andbody bound, self-centred and earthbound, ego-centric and materialistic. The large Self isunselfish, loving, universal and infinite. It issublime and spiritual. Materialism andspirituality have three components in each ofthem. The first two are the same in them. Onlythe third one is different.

The first component: Each soul ispotentially divine; everyone has the spark ofdivinity within; every person is born with atalent; each is endowed with a gift.

The second component: The hidden soul,latent spark, the intrinsic talent or the gift

should be identified and brought out througha purification process or training.

The third component: The perfected talentor gift has to be given a direction. If theevolved talent is encashed for bodily comfortsand sense-indulgence, it is materialism. If thesame is utilised for unfoldment of the selfthrough service to humanity, it is spirituality.

Swami Vivekananda, therefore, beauti-fully explains in a single expression the entireprocess of purification and self-culture whenhe says atmano mokshartham jagat hitayacha,[‘For the liberation of oneself and for the goodfor the others’]—echoing Sri Krishna’s exhor-tation to Arjuna.

ConclusionA person of materialism seeks to indulge

in the pleasures of the body. All abilities,talents and gifts will be ushered in only toexperience in full the sense pleasures such aseating and mating. Slowly, pleasures will giveway to emotional enjoyments such as love andhate. Further, in the process, we find theintellectual happiness growing to be veryvibrant. Sense-pleasures may, then, be eithereclipsed or totally eliminated. It is peace, peaceand peace that will be sought after. Neitherpleasures nor enjoyments nor even happinessthen will appear to be worthy of pursuit. Peaceblossoms, finally, as bliss and that is the stateof fulfilment, the finest flower of self-culture.He or she is a yogi who is ever peaceful, everblissful, at all times, at all levels. Sri Krishnaasks Arjuna the representative man to be aYogi—a useful person, a peaceful individual,a blissful soul, a man of self-culture.

This is the central idea of the Gita—to be calm and steadfast in all circumstances,

with one’s body, mind, and soul centred at His hallowed feet!

—Swami Vivekananda, CW, 7: 273

141


‘What is in a Name?’

Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna. At several places in the Gita, SriKrishna addresses Arjuna by various names as also Arjuna addresses Sri Krishna by differentnames. All these names are supposed to be contextually relevant and have a significance of theirown. These names at times are repeated also. Following is list of various epithets—without repetition—with which both have been called in the Gita. The meaning of every name has also been given.

A¿`wV— One eternally established in hissupreme glory.

Aja— The indestructibleone.

AÏ``— One for whomthere is nodecay.

AZ›V— Theeternal.

AZßVÍ$n— One withinnumer-able forms.

AmXXod— Theprimordialbeing. Thedivinity who isthe source of alldevas.

A[agyXZ— Destroyer ofenemies.

B©Ìda— One who has unlimited lordli-ness or power over all things.

H$_bnÃmj—The lotus eyed one.H$mb— Time. One who measures and

sets a limit to everything.H$arQ>Z≤— One with a diadem.Ho$ed— One who is himself the three—

kah (Brahma), ah (Vishnu) and isa

(Siva).Ho$eZfyXZ—One who destroyed the

asura Kesi.H•$ÓU—Kri denotes existence,

na denotes bliss. He is Sat-chidananda.JXZ≤—One who has themace known asKaumodaki whichstands for the categoryof Buddhi.JmoqdX—The Lord ofthe earth, of cows, and

of words.MH´$Z≤—One who sports

the discuss known asSudarshana which standsfor mind. Or one who turnsthe wheel of Samsara.MVw w©O—One with four arms

as Vasudeva is always repre-sented.

OZmX©Z— One who inflicts suffering on evilmen. Or He to whom all devoteespray for worldly success andliberation.

OJÀnVo— The Lord of the Universe.OJfidmg—One in whom the universe dwells.

Sri Krishna


143

Àdm_≤— Thou.XodXod— The Lord of gods.Xod— The resplendent or shining One.Xodda— The supreme one among the

devas.Xodoe— One who is the Lord of all Devas.Y_©Jmo·m— The one revealed through

Dharma.na_oÌda— The supreme one who holds

sway over all beings.na~´˜— The supreme Brahman.naßYm_— The ultimate abode of all beings.ndÃ— The auspicious one.na_-nwÈf— The supreme Purusha or Spirit.nwamU nwÈf— The primordial Purusha.nwÈfmoŒm_— The greatest among all Purushas—

spirits. Or one greater than all indi-vidual spirits.

‡^mo— The Lord. One who surpasses all.^JdZ≤ — Lordliness, prowess, fame, beauty,

knowledge, non attachment—thecombination of all these six at-tributes is Bhaga. One who pos-sesses these is Bhagavan. The ori-gin, dissolution, the bondage andsalvation of creatures, knowledge,ignorance—one who knows allthese is Bhagavan.

^dmZ≤— Thou.^yV_hoÌda— The supreme Lord, who is the great

Being presenting himself in theform of all beings.

yVmZm_≤ B©Ìda— The supreme Lord of all be-ings.

_mYd— Consort of ma or Mahalakshmi.Or one who is Lord of ma orknowledge.

_YwgyXZ— The destroyer of the demonMadhu.

_hm~mhmo— One with mighty arms._hmÀ_Z≤— High-souled one.`mXd— One of Yadava clan.`moJZ≤— One adept in Yoga.`moJoÌda— The Lord revealed through and

the Master of all yogas.bmoH$_hoÌda—The Lord of all lokas or abodes.dmÓU`— One who has incarnated in the

Vrishni race.dmgwXod— The Paramatman in whom all

beings live and one who lives inall beings.

d^mo— One who becomes many fromHiranyagarbha downwards.

dÌdÍ$n— The one manifested as theuniverse.

dÌdoÌda— The Lord of the universe.dÌdZYmZ—The support of the universe.dÓUmo— Lord Vishnu, the all-pervading

One.dÌd_yV— The one manifested as the

universe.doXm›VH•$V≤— One who revealed the path of

Vedanta.doX°Ödo⁄— One to be known through the

Vedas.doX[dX≤— One who knows all the Vedas.d•ÓUrZmß— One of the Vrishni race.emÌdV— The Eternal.gd©_≤— The all.gd©bmoH$_hoÌda— The Lord of all lokas or

abodesgZmVZ nwÈf—The eternal Lord.ghÚ~mhmo— One with innumerable arms.gd©— The all.h[a— One who attracts devotees to

Himself.ˆfrHo$e— The master and controller of the

senses (hrisika-s).

Arjuna

AO©wZ— One who is pure in action. AZK— The sinless one.


144

H$n‹dOÖ— One with the monkey (Hanuman)as the crest of his banner.

H$arQ>r— One with a diadem.H$m°›Vo`— Son of Kunti.Hw$ÈgŒm_— Best of Kurus.Hw$Èlo>— Best of Kurus.Hw$È‡dra— Best of Kurus.Hw$ÈZßXZ— Descendant of Kuru.JwS>mHo$e— One who is master of sleep and is

ever alert and energetic.VmV— Child.YZßO`— Arjuna is so called because by his

conquest of the kingdoms in thefour quarters he acquired wealth.

YZwY©a— One sporting the bow.Xoh^•Vmßda— Best among embodied jivas.nm S>d— Son of Pandu.nmW©— Son of Pritha (Kunti).naßVn— Scorcher of foes.nwÈfÏ`mK´— Best (tiger) among men.nwÈff©^— Best (bull) among men.^maV— Descendent of Bharata.^aVf©^— Best (bull) of Bharatas._hm~mhmo— Mighty armed one.gÏ`gmMZ≤—One who can discharge an arrow

even with one’s left hand.^aVgŒm_— Best among those endowed with

knowledge and discrimination.

Recovering the Forgotten Goal

Attachment produces confusion and that, in turn, often leads to weakness, deflecting

a person from the path of duty and truth. Prior to the battle, Arjuna stood for truth, not

selfishness. He wanted to have a peaceful settlement by having only five villages. How

much he tried to avoid the clash! Only when he realized that avoiding the battle would

encourage injustice, impropriety and evil, did he get ready to fight for the cause of truth.

To eliminate oppression is the duty of a person who belongs to the class of warriors.

Wherever you see injustice and oppression, you must oppose it. Everyone in the world

is interconnected. If you are hurt, I too am hurt. Suppose you see me being oppressed

by somebody and you keep silent. You say to yourself, ‘That’s OK. I haven’t been

oppressed. Why should I bother about what happens to someone else?’ You are clearly

in a deluded state. You should realize that along with me you also have been oppressed.

The nobility of your mind has been attacked. Blinded by selfishness, you have today

refrained from opposing injustice. When you are oppressed tomorrow, you will not have

the strength to retaliate. In this way a person gradually marches along the road to

degradation and slavery. . . Blinded by beauty and the lure of wealth, we often lose sight

of the goal. If we are practising spiritual disciplines (sadhana), we may be able to

recover the forgotten goal. But without it, everything comes to naught.

—Swami Saradananda, The Essence of the Gita, p.17-19


SWAMI VIRESHANANDA

The author is the editor of Viveka Prabha, the Kannada monthly of the Ramakrishna Order, published from SriRamakrishna Ashrama, Mysore, Karnataka.

Values in the Bhagavad Gita

In his younger days, an eminent monkmet Sri Ramana Maharishi, the great sage wholived in Tiruvannamalai in Tamilnadu.Recalling his only meeting with the sage, hesaid: ‘I could not comprehend whether SriRamana was a realised soul or not, but onething I observed about him: I saw excellencein every little action that he did—be it dressingvegetables or cleaning a place and so on. Thisperfection in daily life, in small acts of life,reveal a person’s inner being. In Ramana’s case,the state of inner perfection was evident andhence I consider him to be a man of realisation.’

What are Values?By values are meant the practice of those

principles and patterns which bring perfectionin life. Values make life perfect and trulyvaluable. But, then, there is one thing we mustconsider here. Perfection in Sri Ramana’sactions was a fact whereas for most others it isonly a value yet to be achieved. Hence, there isa distinction between a value and a fact. Whenwe see something directly or learn of itindirectly then it is called a fact. This knowledgeproduces a sense of wanting or avoiding andthus are born values. Values are thus, thosevirtues which we think as desirable and worthyof inculcation (from the view point of personaland collective good). In other words, beforewe seek to cultivate values, we perceive themas possible facts or potential values and after

we become established in them, they becomeactual facts for us. They also become natural tous.

Bhagavad Gita—A Repository of ValuesThe importance of Bhagavad Gita is best

known by the remarks of Warren Hastings,the first Governor General of India, in hisintroduction to the first-ever English translationof Bhagavad Gita by Charles Wilkins publishedin 1784. He wrote:

Works as the Gita would live long after the Britishdominion in India has ceased to exist.

What is the secret of this tremendousappeal of the Gita? It lies in the fact that it dealswith practical problems of life. It teaches how aman can perform his duties in the society andat the same time, lead a moral as well asreligious life. The Bhagavad Gita begins withan ethical problem (Arjuna’s dilemma infighting a righteous war), and in the process ofsolving this problem, it works out a noble andwholesome philosophy of life.

Whatever be our profession and stationin life, we should be enthusiastic in all ourendeavours, keep a calm and tranquil mind inthe midst of all troubles and practice moral andethical values. Apart from this, we should alsohave a clear-cut goal in our life and should beaware of the inexhaustible strength andcapabilities within us. Our life goal should be


146

very lofty and unselfish to the core. Only thencan our life be termed worthwhile.

The Gita teaches us how to transform ourlife into a meaningful one and at the same time,be helpful to the society at large. In this sense,the Gita is a lasting source of inspiration foreveryone and for all times to come. It is all themore relevant today than ever before. Let usenumerate some abiding values that Gitamentions.

1. Courage to Face Life

The Gita is a manual for learning to facethe challenges we encounter in daily life.Arjuna’s dilemma, which we find in thebeginning of the Gita, reflects our own misgiv-ings and lack of self-esteem. Sri Krishna tracesthe root of this problem to the lack of awarenessof our own personality and infinite capabilitiesand potential that we are endowed with. Thevery first words of Sri Krishna echo this idea:

O Arjuna! Yield not to unmanliness! It befits theenot. Abandoning this petty faint-heartedness, riseup, O dreaded hero!1

Swami Vivekananda says in the samevein,

‘Stand up and fight! Not one step back—that isthe idea. Fight it out, whatever comes; let thestars move from the spheres! Let the wholeworld stand against us! . . . You gain nothing bybecoming cowards. . . you are infinite, deathless,birthless. Because you are infinite spirit, it doesnot befit you to be a slave. Arise! Awake! Standup and fight!2

2. Efficiency in Work

Sri Krishna says that with a calm andsteady mind, we can work more efficiently. Hesays, ‘Perform your duties without selfishness.Doing actions without self-interest for thebenefit of everyone is what is called sacrifice(Yajna).’

Whenever we are engaged in an action,our mind is distracted. Hence, is it not better togive up work? ‘No’, says Sri Krishna, ‘Youshould do your duty. But be aware of what youare doing. Don’t be egotistic or think too muchabout the results of your actions. Concentrateon how efficiently, neatly, lovingly you canperform your duties. Work done in a spirit ofdetachment in this way is equal to the worshipof God. Through this, you can get knowledgethat will ultimately lead you to enlightenment.’

3. Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is what a person should seekin life. The Sanskrit term for a student isvidyarthin—a seeker of knowledge. Sri Krishnasays, ‘Verily there exists nothing in this worldpurifying like knowledge. In good time, havingreached perfection in Yoga, one realises thatoneself in one’s own heart’ (4.38). For acquisi-tion of knowledge, the foremost requirement,says the Gita, is Shraddha. Shraddha, of course,has a much wider significance than its Englishequivalent ‘faith.’ Swami Tapasyananda haselegantly brought this out thus:

The three qualities absolutely necessary forprogress in spiritual life (as a matter of fact, in anyendeavour) are mentioned here (in the versequoted above). These are: 1. Shraddha or faith,2. Ardent practice, 3. Control of the senses. . .Shraddha or Faith is not a superstitiousacceptance of unknown and unverifiable entitiesand claims of individuals. . . Faith is as much aunique quality of the human mind as Reason. . .Anything that has become a matter of faith in aman, unlike what is mere belief, works as anoperative force, enthusing him to put the contentof his faith to practice, and to struggle towardsthe realization of the ideal it presents. Ardourand sincerity are of the very stuff of faith. . .Faith is firm and active acceptance unlike beliefor a conventional conformity which has nopower to move a person to action.5


147

Sri Krishna says, ‘Knowledge burns upall your weaknesses and makes you aware ofyour inner strength and potential. This is whatis called enlightenment.’ We should performevery action as an act of sacrifice. Among them,jnana yajna—pursuit of true knowledge orcontemplation, which leads to learning, is thebest one because as Sri Krishna stresses, ‘Verilythere is nothing so purifying as knowledge inthis world.’3 The very next verse specifiesqualification for a seeker of knowledge:

A man of deep faith (shraddha) obtains divineknowledge if he is full of zeal and devotion forknowledge and has achieved mastery over hissenses.4

4. The Practice of Concentration

All great achievements come throughcontemplation and steadiness of mind. Ameditative man is not disturbed by physical ormental activities. This mental condition givesnever-ending and pure joy that cannot be foundin external objects. Through meditation, one getssupreme peace and contentment. The practiceof concentration is the core of meditationenabling us to perform our duties like reading,playing, cleaning, serving, and so on withgreater effectiveness and awareness. Throughthis, all these works cease be a burden to us forthey become easier and highly enjoyable.

Sri Krishna gives a striking example toillustrate the unperturbed and tranquil state ofmind that one should cultivate in the time ofmeditation: ‘The flame of a lamp sheltered fromwind does not flicker. This is the compari-son used to describe a Yogi’s mind that is wellunder control and united with the Atman.’6

5. Overcoming Lust and Anger

Why does a man do wrong? Sri Krishnapinpoints that it is lust (sexual desire) andanger which prompt man to commit wrongs.

He tells Arjuna to consider them as enemies inone’s life journey.7

Sri Krishna elucidates the terrible impact,lust and anger make on one’s pursuit ofknowledge: ‘As fire enveloped by smoke, theknowledge is overcast by lust. It is the eternalenemy for an aspirant of knowledge.’ He alsoidentifies the locus of this dreadful passion, sothat we can be ever alert to counter itsawful effects: ‘The senses, the mind and theintellect are said to be its seat. With these it veilsknowledge.’ Hence Krishna calls upon us tocontrol the senses right from the beginning. 8

In today’s world, in the midst of decliningstandards of moral and spiritual values, one islikely to forget this and get influenced by baserand animal instincts in man. Hence it wouldprofit everyone to heed to the counsel of Krishnaand try hard to lead a pure, wholesome life.

6. Living a Pure Life

Arjuna raises a question of practicalsignificance in the sixth chapter of theBhagavad Gita. He says,

O Krishna! Verily, the mind is fickle, turbulent,powerful and unyielding. To control it, I think,is as difficult as controlling the wind itself.

To this Krishna replies:

Arjuna! Undoubtedly the mind is fickle and diffi-cult to be checked. Yet, it can be brought undercontrol by steady practice and dispassion.9

Steady practice (abhyasa) and cultivationof disinterestedness towards unimportantthings (vairagya), according to Sri Krishna, arethe two essential practical tools to gain controlover the senses and in turn to attain higherstandards of concentration and character. Inthe very next verse, Krishna cautions that ‘Yoga(can also mean, success in one’s endeavour inthis context) is difficult for attainment by menof uncontrolled mind. But for those who have


148

their minds under control, it is possible to attain,if they strive with proper means.”10

7. The Signs of a True Devotee

‘Devotion to God is the easiest path todivinity and the most natural to follow,’ saysSri Krishna. He continues, ‘Practice whole-hearted devotion to Me. Do all work as anoffering to me and to please Me.’ He thenexplains qualities we should cultivate in orderto develop true devotion to God:

Friendship towards all Freedom from prideCheerfulness and calmness in all

circumstances Perseverance in whatever we undertake Self-surrender to God Not troubling others in body, mind and

speech Being unperturbed by irritation caused

by others Always maintaining purity in thoughts

and actionsNot being troubled when someone

abuses us or becoming over- ecstatic when onepraises us

Looking upon the whole world as ourown home 11

ConclusionGita is a repository of values. In essence,

what it tells is this: We should have faith inourselves, towards instructions given by ourelders and also towards God. There is a saying,‘Man is what his faith is.’ The quality of all ouractions depends upon the faith we have inperforming them. Work done without vanityand motivated by the good of others is the bestkind of work. Whatever is done with desire,vanity and for self-glorification is inferior andwhatever is done carelessly with evil motiveand thoughtlessness is useless.12

We should not neglect our duties. Weshould always perform our duties with alldedication and without craving for results. Weshould lovingly offer all our duties and theirresults to God. True Knowledge leads tounderstanding of unity in diversity. It frees usfrom our ego-sense and brings about controlover our body and mind. Following theseteachings may be daunting in the beginningbut it ends in great happiness.

Thus we get in the Gita a complete valuesystem leading to perfection in life—whereintense action combined with concentration,coupled with knowledge and love towards Godis made practicable.

1. Bhagavad Gita, 2.3 2. CW, 1: 461 3. Bhagavad Gita, 4.38 4. ibid, 4.39 5. Srimad Bhagavad Gita, TheScripture of the Mankind, Tr with Notes by Swami Tapasyananda, p.144 6. Bhagavad Gita, 6.197. ibid, 3.37 8. ibid, 3.38-40 9. ibid, 6.34,35 10. ibid, 6.36 11. ibid, cf. Chapt. 12 12. ibid, Chapt. 14

References

The Gita neither sanctions war nor condemns it. Regarding no action as of absolute

value, either for good or evil, it cannot possibly do either. Its teaching should warn us

not to dare to judge others. How can we prescribe our neighbour’s duty when it is so

hard for us to know our own? The pacifist must respect Arjuna. Arjuna must respect

the pacifist. Both are going towards the same goal; and only God can know which has

made the greater progress. There is an underlying solidarity between them which can

be expressed, if each one follows without compromise, the path upon which he finds

himself. For we can only help others to do their duty by doing what we ourselves

believe to be right. It is the one supremely social act. —Christopher Isherwood


SWAMI SARVAPRIYANANDA

A monk of the Ramakrishna Order, the author teaches at the Monastic Probationers’ Training Centre at the BelurMath, Howarh, West Bengal.

Gita’s Ideal of Emotional Stability

Let us set on a journey to learn the art ofemotional stability. We shall visit an ancientbattlefield and acquire wisdom from GodHimself—wisdom which is the source ofeternal freedom and permanent serenity.

The CrisisThe Bhagavad Gita commences with a

crisis—emotional crisis. Arjuna, the warriorprince, is confronted with the awful necessityof killing his own friends, teachers andrelatives. Like any decent human being, heshies away from violence. Grief overwhelmshim. When we listen to Arjuna speak of hissuffering, we can straightaway identify thesymptoms of acute emotional distress. He says:

Seeing these kinsmen, O Krishna, arrayed witha view to fighting, my limbs fail, and my mouthis parched up. My body quivers, and there ishorripilation; the Gàndiva [Arjuna’s bow] slipsfrom my hands, and my skin burns. I am notable to stand, my mind is reeling, as it were,and I see, O Keshava, adverse omens.1

Faced with this moral dilemma, unableto choose an appropriate course of action,Arjuna is frozen into inaction. He appeals tohis friend-cum-charioteer, Sri Krishna, thus:

With my natural traits [i.e. courage and decisive-ness] overcome by [a sense of] helplessness andsin, and my mind perplexed regarding my duty,I ask You—tell me that which is definitely goodfor me. I am Your disciple; teach me who havetaken refuge in You.2

Then ensues the greatest dialogue of allof human literature. It is the dialogue betweensuffering man and a loving God, in the mostdramatic setting—the battlefield of Kuru-kshetra.

The ResponseHow does Sri Krishna respond to

Arjuna’s plea? Does he remind Arjuna of hisduty as a Kshatriya? Does he appeal to hispride? Does he recommend meditation?Philosophy? He does all of this and more, but,above all, Sri Krishna’s response is spiritual.

Our emotional responses to any situationdepend ultimately on our reality-perception.As long as we believe that we are limitedcreatures, subject to birth and death, sorrowand suffering, with infinite desires and finitemeans, we are bound to be tossed around bypassions, by emotional turbulence. SriKrishna’s first teaching, hence, is, ‘Do not givein to weakness—sentimentality’. For thisweakness is rooted in an erroneous perceptionof the reality of our self.3

What do we truly consider ourselves tobe? Body? Mind? Body-mind? But this isentirely wrong. We are not bodies, nor evenminds. We are not born with the body nor dowe die with the body. Arjuna learns that he isspirit, that he has taken many bodies in thedim past and can do so into the far future ifhe so wishes. He learns of the Atman, whichis pure consciousness, immortal and ever pure.


150

Sri Krishna corrects Arjuna’s reality-orientationby showing him that man is neither body normind, but the atman—pure consciousness,existence and bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda). And thisAtman is not only his inner reality, but is alsothe reality of the entire universe. Atman isBrahman. This eternal wisdom is the centralphilosophy of the Gita. Arjuna is urged toattain this wisdom and thereby be transformedinto a sthitaprajna—a man of stable wisdomwhich includes emotional stability.

Sthitaprajna—The Man of Stable WisdomWith goal of attaining the highest

Advaitic wisdom shining before him, Arjunais naturally eager to know the characteristicsof a man who has already attained this goal.Arjuna asked:

What is the definition, O Keshava (Sri Krishna),of a man of stable wisdom, absorbed in contem-plation? How does a man of steady wisdom talk,how does he sit, and how does he walk?4

Sri Krishna’s answer to this question notonly delineates the characteristics of the personwho has attained stable wisdom, but also givesclear pointers for practice for those who haveyet to attain this lofty goal. What is naturaland effortless to the perfected is attained bythe aspirant through strenuous effort. In otherwords, characteristics of the perfected arepractices for seeker; those who want to attainemotional serenity would do well to study andemulate the man of stable wisdom.

When a man gives up all desires of the mind, OPàrtha, and himself delights in his Self, then heis said to be a ‘a man of stable wisdom’.He who is unperturbed in misery and free fromdesires amidst pleasures, who is devoid of allattachment, fear and anger—that sage is said tobe of stable wisdom.He, who is free from affection everywhere,and who getting whatsoever, good or evil,

neither welcomes nor hates them, has stablewisdom.5

The serenity and even-mindedness of thesthitaprajna is born of the realization of his owninfinitude. He delights in the infinity of theatman and, as Sridhara Swami, a well-knowncommentator on Gita, remarks, kshudravishayaabhilashan tyajati . . . ‘the desires for paltrysense-objects are easily given up’.6 Eventswhich would make most men miserable, leavehim unshaken, for he sees the same infiniteatman shining through. In other words, he seesthat events, fortunate or unfortunate, have nointrinsic reality apart from the atman.

However, the journey is far from over.The seeker soon realizes that intellectualknowledge is one thing and the ability to livethat knowledge, to ‘walk the talk’ as the sayinggoes, is quite another. When assailed bytemptation or buffeted by misfortune, he findshimself unable to translate this intellectualconviction into emotional stability. As ErichFromm said, ‘Insight separated from practiceremains ineffective’. Intellectual knowledge isweak, the passions and ingrained habits areenormously powerful. This is the greatparadox, the great tragedy, of human life thatinsight is often divorced from practice.Duryodhana, the eldest of Kaurava brothers,complained in Mahabharata,

I know what is good (dharma), and I know whatis evil (adharma), but (the problem is) I possessneither the desire to do good nor the restraint tostop doing evil!

Why are we unable to practice what weknow to be good? Why are we unable torestrain ourselves from doing what we knowto be evil?

The Elephant and the RiderThe psychologist Professor Jonathan

Haidt has studied this perennial human


151

problem from both ancient and modernperspectives. He uses an ancient metaphor,that of rider and elephant, to describe thehuman condition.7 The intellectual self, whichgrasps philosophy and morality, is like therider and the rest of the body-mind system isthe elephant. The rider has limited control overthe elephant and can tell it to walk or stop,turn left and right. But, the elephant is mightyand has a will (or tendencies) of its own. If itreally wants to do something, like snatching abunch of bananas from a vendor, there is verylittle the rider can do. Similarly, the intellectualself is seldom able to direct the powerfulphysical system.

Let alone the body, the mind itself ismostly beyond conscious control. Most mental(and sensory) processes are automatic. We arealways in the midst of a stream of conscious-ness, which flows by its own rules of associa-tion, often without the control or evenawareness of the intellectual self. Self-awareaction is rare, but automatic, habitual,instinctive action is the norm. The automaticsystem is the product and slave of nature. It isruled by the genetic imperative—by pleasureor pain, by flight or fight. Its aims are security,food and reproduction. This automatic systemis the elephant and not very responsive to highphilosophy. The intellectual self is the riderplaced on the elephant’s back to help theelephant make better choices. The rider canguide the elephant towards long-term goals(called purusharthas in Hindu philosophy), butthe rider cannot order the elephant against itswill.

Haidt’s use of the elephant-rider imageryreminds the Vedantist immediately of thechariot model of the Kathopanishad. The bodyis the chariot, the senses the horses, the roadis the field of experience, the intellect is thedriver while the self is the passenger. Only a

skilful driver and well-trained horses willenable the passenger to reach the goal(purushartha). The unregenerate body-mindsystem sabotages spiritual life, just as a foolishdriver and untrained unruly horses drags thechariot with its hapless passenger to doom.

The elephant-rider problem was wellknown to Indian philosophers. Sri Krishnawarns Arjuna:

The turbulent senses, O son of Kunti, forciblylead astray the mind of even the struggling wiseperson.8

Just as the unruly elephant can derail therider, the intellectual self can be easily over-come by demands of the sensory system. Thisprocess, where the rider is overpowered bythe elephant, is dramatically narrated by SriKrishna:

For a person thinking of the sense-objects, theregrows an attachment for them; from attachmentarises desire, from desire results anger.

From anger results delusion, from delusionresults confusion of memory, from confusion ofmemory results destruction of intelligence, andfrom destruction of intelligence he perishes.9

Taming the elephant is a must for sta-bility in wisdom. Sridhara Swami comments—indriyasamyamam vina tu sthitaprajnata nasambhavati…. ‘Since without the control of thesenses it is not possible to attain stability inwisdom, therefore, during the period ofspiritual practice (Sàdhanà), one shouldstruggle hard for this end.’

After revealing the wisdom born of one’strue nature to Arjuna, Sri Krishna teaches himthe secret of stabilizing this wisdom bycontrolling the senses. This is a secret to belearned from the tortoise.

The Way of the TortoiseRevealing this secret, says Sri Krishna:


152

And when he completely withdraws his sensesfrom the sense-objects, even as a tortoise its limbs(then) his wisdom is steady.10

The tortoise has a unique defensivetechnique. When threatened, it immediatelywithdraws all its limbs (four feet, its head andtail—six in all) into its shell, thus protectingitself from external harm. The seeker too mustbe similarly able to withdraw his senses fromsense-objects to preserve emotional stabilityin the face of temptation and provocation.

Controlling all these (senses), the self-controlledone should sit meditating on Me. Verily, hiswisdom is steady, whose senses are undercontrol.11

Taming the elephant is what transformsthe scholar into the saint, the scattered mindinto a self-poised mind.

Clearing a Wrong NotionEmotional stability might be misunder-

stood as cold-blooded emotionlessness. Thereis a long and unfortunate history of motivatedmisreading of the message of the Gita, mostlyby Western interpreters. In a recent work,David E. Cooper comments12

‘… many western readers are chilled by thosepaintings, in more gaudily illustrated editionsof the Gita, which portray the serene and smilingArjuna scything his way through the enemy asif through a field of corn.’

Now this is a gross misreading of SriKrishna’s message—on at least two counts.First, (and this is an oft-repeated calumny

against the Gita), let us remember that the Gitadoes not support violence at all. Since thedialogue is in the context of a war, somesuperficial commentators are quick to link theGita with war, whereas it only teaches karmayoga (the way of attaining God throughselfless work). Possibly, the collective guilt andpsychic burden of centuries of militarism cul-minating in the two world wars weighs heavilyon these commentators and is projected intotheir reading of the Gita. The history is awitness to peaceful disposition of Hindus, eventhough their scripture be set in the battlefield.

Second, the ideal of Sthitaprajna—theperson of steady wisdom—does not meanemotionlessness but the sublimation ofemotions. Emotional stability is not emotion-lesness but keeping oneself emotionally stablein the midst of numerous challenges of life.

The Ultimate GoalHearing, thinking and meditating on the

eternal wisdom in this manner, and protectingthe wisdom gained through control of thesenses, the seeker attains aparoksha-anubhuti—the direct experience of non-duality—and findsthat the entire universe, including his apparent(body-mind) self has no existence apart fromBrahman, Existence Absolute (Sat)–Conscious-ness Absolute (Chit)–Bliss Absolute (Ananda).The empirical dichotomy of the elephant andrider disappears, no more is there danger of afall, he is truly and permanently free, evenwhile living (jivanmukta). And that is final stateof emotional stability.

References

1. The Bhagavad Gita (Tr.) Swami Swarupananda I. 28-30 (all further references are to the same work).2. ibid, II. 7 3. Shankaracharya’s Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita (Gita Press) 4. Gita, II. 545. ibid, II. 55, 56, 57 6. Sridhara Swami’s Gloss on the Bhagavad Gita (Tr.) Swami Satyapriyananda(unpublished manuscript) 7. Haidt, Jonathan Haidt The Happiness Hypothesis Arrow Books 2006. 8. Gita, II.609. ibid, II. 62-63 10. ibid, II.58 11. ibid, II.61 12. Cooper, David E. World Philosophies 2003


SUMITA ROY

Prof. Sumita Roy teaches at the Department of English in Osmania University, Hyderabad.

Gita for Housewives

IThe perennial nature of the Bhagavad Gita

has been stressed by many savants time andagain. Its relevance is illimitable, cutting acrossall boundaries in an inclusivistic sweep. Fromthe time of its composition to the present, theGita has been analyzed and commented uponin an endless variety of ways. Multiple levelsof engagement with the text continue eventoday. An issue of the Journal of South AsianLiterature (Summer, Fall 1988) published fromMichigan State University, is exclusivelydevoted to the Gita on the occasion of the bi-centennial of its first translation into English.In one of the essays in this seminal volume,the author Milton Eder puts forward the viewthat,

In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna speaks not onlyto Arjuna to resolve his dilemma, he also speaksto a multifarious audience with a multitude ofdilemmas, and his instruction serves them too.1

Obviously, women—especially house-wives—cannot be excluded from this widegroup.

Closer home there is the Gita SwadhyayaSamithi which brought out a volume entitledBhagavad Gita and Modern Problems comprisingof papers presented at the InternationalSeminar on Gita held at Thiruvananthapuramin December 2000. In yet another interestingvolume titled The Gita in World Literature,which traces the global influence of the text,the editor C.D. Verma suggests:

The Gita resolves the existential dilemma ofworldly beings . . . combines the two orders ofreality, the transcendental and the empirical . . .[and is a] journey from crisis to liberation.2

The Gita therefore is a kaleidoscope inwhich the individual can find any patternwhich she/he needs/desires, as long as thatpattern emerges from the basic tenets whichthe text enshrines. Some criticism may havebeen levelled against the text because of itsgender bias arising out of its predominantlypatriarchal stance. But this has to be viewedand analysed cautiously from the socialdynamics of the period when the text wascomposed.

In a verse (IX.32), which says that evenwomen can attain to the highest spiritual goal,there is enough fodder for strong objectionfrom radical feminists. But in the twenty-firstcentury, the fundamentalist notions of earlyfeminism have been toned down ushering ina post-feminist era. More and more attemptsare now being made to establish ‘the alliancebetween faith and feminism’3 because in theinitial stages of the women’s movement in theWest, ‘Many consider[ed] feminism to be asecular movement with a bias against organis-ed religion.’4

Elaborating the link between faith andfeminism, Helen LaKelly Hunt suggests,

As a political movement, feminism seeks totransform society by challenging and changingsocial institutions. Religion, on the other hand,


154

seeks first to transform individuals through apersonal relationship with God, which thenresults in a desire to work for the transformationof society. Religion and feminism share manycommon ideals.5

What this search for common idealsbetween the religious/spiritual and socialdimensions implies is that the two arecomplementary and one without the other isdysfunctional. The imbalances which werebrought about in the life of individuals,families and society as a whole in the name ofgender equality is now a murky chapter inhistory. True empowerment of women isbelieved to lie in strengthening their spirit andhelping them forge an individual identity, notin taking on roles that are usually consideredmale bastions, or gaining entry into economicor public power structures. From this point ofview, the Gita can be taken as a roadmap anda blueprint of empowerment because ‘the Gitatries to ignite . . . [a] divine spark in all of us.’6

Relevance of Gita for HousewivesHow relevant is the Gita for women

whose spheres of influence are the home andfamily? We will try answering this with anillustration.

The electronic media, which at thismoment seems an arbiter of taste and for-mulator of opinions, more powerful than anyother single factor one can think of, gives usthe clue. Just one instance of how the Gita hasfound its way into this arena should besufficient to reiterate that this immortal poemis as relevant today as it was at the time it wascomposed and housewives can certainly useit as a tool for social and spiritual evolution.

A Bangla TV serial called ‘Kurukshetra’on a channel called Aakash Bangla has in itstheme song one of the most significant slokasof the Gita (XI.33):

Tasmat tvam uttistha yaso labhasvajitva shatrun bhumksva rajyam samriddham

may’aiv’aite nihatah purvam evanimittamatram bhava savyasachin

Therefore arise! Win renown! And destroyingyour enemies, enjoy the prosperous kingdom.For these warriors have already been slain byMe. Be you but an instrument thereof, O thoumaster-bowman, Arjuna.7

The story depicts three women revoltingagainst evil in the form of unfair domination,conflict and familial crisis in a joint familywhere they are the daughters-in-law. It is trulyremarkable how the so-called unexceptionaland ordinary housewives take on the ills inthe lives of women and battle with themagainst almost impossible odds.

Of the three women, the youngest is theprotagonist with a deeply symbolic name,Ananya. Explaining the significance of this‘highly suggestive term’ in his notes on chapterIX of the Gita, Swami Tapasyananda writes:

In a pure Advaitic sense it can mean—those whodo not think of Him as different from their realSelf. In a purely devotional sense it can mean—those who love Him, looking upon Him, theSupreme Being, as their ‘own’, and not as astrange power to be propitiated for favours . . ..Anya means a ‘stranger’, and Ananya, itsopposite, is therefore ‘one’s own’. It indicatesintimacy and unselfish love.8

How the protagonist comes from a stateof doubt to deep conviction and devotion asshe battles with social and familial ills iscreatively retold through this serial narrative—of Arjuna’s Kurushetra experience.

The women—and the housewives inparticular—can take up this rewarding task ofputting into practice Gita’s teachings with atwo-fold purpose: the first is to evaluate thepresent situation (made up of all that theyconsider as the crises), and the second is to


155

resolve the crises/conflicts in order to aspirefor an elevation, a moving ahead (or higher)from where they are at present. The Gitaprovides the parameters both for evaluationand elevation in almost all the slokas, but onecan use a few illustrations (and leave the restfor individual readers to interpret and utilize).

The beginning can be made with a self-analysis: women are famed to be changeablelike the weather and emotionally charged,often excessively so. And discussions aboutwhat action they do, they ought to do orshould not do can fill volumes. Many internaland external crises arise from thesetemperamental traits and existential dilemmas.Stress, lack of confidence, unnecessaryaggressiveness or unpleasantness, crisis ofvalues, material leanings, peer pressure toprove oneself at all costs and running aftermeaningless goals are all part of our dailyexperience. The two important correctives wecan look for are attitudinal and behavioural—with an example or two for each from theindelible melody of the song of the divineteacher.

The Gita tells homemakers how tomeasure and correct ourselves in many places,but one of the most poignant is the 56th slokaof chapter II:

Dukhesv anudvigna manah, sukhesu vigata-sprhahVita-raga-bhayatkrodhah sthita-dhir munir uchyate

Whose mind is not agitated in adversity, who isfree from desire, and who is devoid of attach-ments, fear and anger—such a person is called asage of steady wisdom.9

To analyse and evaluate our inner beingis the first step to reading, contemporizing andlearning from these words. How does the mindrespond to adversity? Do we not immediatelydesire relief from it? Or curse its unfairness inleaving others and afflicting us? Is it possible

for us to welcome adversity with the samewarmth and cordiality as we do prosperity?How do desires affect us? And how do webehave in contexts of fear, anger, attachment?

Once we begin this process of self-analysis, we are already on the way to reachingthe goal—which is becoming a ‘sage’, a personwho is not ‘agitated’, who is not overtlydisturbed by sorrow/suffering and over-whelmed by joys/pleasures. Every instance inthe day of a housewife becomes a measure ofhow far she is progressing on this path ofinward balance, moderation and stability. Thegains are not only individual—imagine afamily and a society where the mother, wifeand homemaker is always calm, unperturbed,not hankering for pleasures and not makingsuperhuman efforts to escape from sorrow,and is unmoved by excessive desires, fear oranger. If we can achieve this internal equi-librium, most of the ‘enemies’ on the battlefieldof life are automatically slain.

Work for Holistic HealthA significant pointer in the Gita is about

action—work which we do and the behaviorpattern that is inherent in us. Do we workonly with selfish motives? Do we devote someof our time each day, each week, each monthor each year in working for others? Do weperform all our duties? Do we consider ourduties as unpleasant tasks and shirk them?Do we carry out our actions with someexpectation?

One of the most oft-quoted slokas fromthe text is the following (11.47)

Karmany ev’adhikaras te ma phalesu kadachanama karma-phala-hetur bhur ma te sango’stv akarmani

To work alone you have competence, and not toclaim their fruits. Let not the longing for fruitsbe the motive force of your action. At the same


156

time let not this attitude confirm you in indolentinaction.10

The Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi is adynamic model of this illustration. Alwaysengaged in the so-called mundane housework,uncomplaining, considering work as thegreatest worship, not expecting anything fromthose who she served selflessly for almost theentire length of her mortal existence, she is aworthy interpreter of the kind of work the Gitaspecifies.

The Holy Mother’s words echo the ideasinherent in the Gita. Obviously, when shesays11, ‘Always be engaged in some work or

1. Eder, Milton, ‘A Review of Recent BhagavadgitaStudies’, Journal of South Asian Literature, Volume23, No.2, Summer, Fall 1998, MI: Michigan StateUniversity, pp.20-46.

2. Verma, C.D. ed. The Gita in World Literature. NewDelhi: Sterling Publishers,1990, p.x.

3. Hunt, Helen LaKelly, Faith and Feminism: A HolyAlliance, New York: Atria Books, 1970, p.xxii.

4. ibid.5. ibid., p.126. Bhagavad Gita and Modern Problems: Papers

Presented at the International Seminar on Gita,

other. It is conducive to the health of both thebody and the mind,’ it is an injunction worthimplementing. According to her,

One must do some work. Through work alonecan one remove the bondage of work, not byavoiding work. Total detachment comes later on.One should not be without work even for amoment.12

Therefore, working with commitmentand a sense of detachment is the best meansto train the mind. It helps forge the mind-bodylink to bestow happiness and holistic healthon the housewife who is the maker of homesin all families the world over.

References

Thiruvananthapuram: Gita Swadhyaya Samithi,2000, p.52.

7. Tapasyananada, Swami. Srimad Bhagavad Gita:The Scripture of Mankind. Sri RamakrishnaMath, Chennai, 1984, p.300.

8. ibid., p. 2589. ibid., p. 6510. ibid., p. 6111. The Gospel of the Holy Mother, Sri Ramakrishna

Math, Chennai, 1986, p.7.12. ibid., p. 14-15

A man finds fulfilment in his life if he can somehow offer

everything to God, regard him as his own, and direct all his

thoughts and actions towards him. As the Master said this, so

did Krishna repeatedly tell Arjuna in the Gita:

Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer

in sacrifice, whatever you give away, and whatever you

practise in the form of austerities, O son of Kunti—do it

as an offering to me. Thus shall you be free from the

bondage of actions which bear good or evil results. With

your mind firmly set on the yoga of renunciation, you shall

become free and come to me.

—Swami Turiyananda


SWAMI VEDAPURUSHANANDA

The author is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order at its Narendrapur centre situated near Kolkata.

Bhagavad Gita and the Ideal of Service

Introduction‘I have made a new path and opened it

to all,’1 proclaimed Swami Vivekananda to oneof his brother disciples. That new path is thepath of service—serving God in all beings.However, the blueprint of this path was longgiven out by Sri Krishna in his immortal poem,Bhagavad Gita. Selfless work and the reconci-liation of the different paths of dharma are thetwo special characteristics of the Gita.2

Swamiji’s service ideal incorporates both theseideas and issues forth in action as themanifestation of the divinity.

We shall see how this great book, averitable mine of multi-faceted, universal,eternal, inclusive and above all practicalteachings, has in its bosom the ideals of thepath of service.

What is Service?Service, as understood by the commoner,

is to alleviate the physical distress of the needyby providing food, clothes and shelter. Savingor sustaining life by medical treatment andconducting relief is service. Spreading know-ledge, both academic and moral that helps manto face the problems of life and overcome themis service. Finally, guiding a man to manifesthis innate divinity—a fact central to Vedantaand Swamiji’s teachings—by counselling,initiation and religious publications is alsoservice. In short, every good action doneselflessly is service.

Philosophy of ServiceTo the exalted vision of the Upanishadic

seers all that exists is Brahman. They saw thedivine everywhere—in natural forces, animals,plants, and above all in humans. Echoing theirwords, Sri Krishna says in the Gita thatBrahman exists in creatures pervading themall.3 And to the worshippers of personal Godhe says, that the Lord resides in the region ofthe heart of all creatures.4 The server, theserved, the means of service and the resultto be attained are all Brahman, says Krishnain a profound verse in the language ofsacrifice.5

The immense potential of these teachingsin transforming the way in which we see theworld and deal with it remained untapped tillthe advent of Sri Ramakrishna. The simplequestion of this unlettered person, ‘If God canbe worshipped through an image, why notalso through a living man?’6 has changedforever our conception of religion. And theteaching, ‘Not compassion for others, butrather the service of man, recognising him tobe a veritable manifestation of God’7—is themodern gospel and the basis of all serviceactivities.

This perception of the divine in all beingsturns the secular into sacred, matter into spirit,work into worship and ultimately transformsman into God. This lies at the core of the idealof service and its practice. Service, however,has several facets.


158

Facets of Service:Action becomes transformed into service

when accompanied by a set of four mentalqualities. These are the four pillars of service.

1. Renunciation (tyaga)Sri Ramakrishna says that renunciation

is the keynote of the Gita.8 There can be noservice without sacrifice. These two are ournational ideals. In the context of servicerenunciation implies giving up of the resultsof work and willingness to forego one’s likesand dislikes, pleasures and preferences, timeand money, and even life and liberation, ifneeded. Sri Krishna defines tyaga as the givingup of attachment to all work and to theirresults.9

An easy way to practice this renunciationis self-surrender. Krishna says:

O son of Kunti, whatever you do, whatever youeat, whatever you offer as a sacrifice, whateveryou give and whatever austerities youundertake, all that you offer to Me.10

2. SelflessnessSelfishness is sin and unselfishness is

virtue. Selfishness binds while unselfishnessliberates. Every action becomes service whenthis self-centred ego is given up. Gita stronglycondemns selfishness. It says that a personwho enjoys things without sharing them withothers is a thief and incurs only sin for hisactions. It urges men to hold their life as asacrifice and promises that they will spirituallyevolve by such actions and attain supremeBrahman. Let them share whatever they havegot with others. This is the way to purify themind of selfishness.11

In this context, Gita‘s concept of yajnameaning sacrifice, merits special consideration.Krishna lifts yajna from its ritualistic mooringsand gives it a broad ethical and humanistic

turn. He points out that God intended all theinhabitants of this world live and work inmutual harmony, to help and not exploit oneanother. Krishna shows that human beings andnature are closely interrelated. The failure toappreciate this mutual interdependence hadled to the extinction of many species, environ-mental degradation resulting in globalwarming, etc.

3. UnityGita says that Brahman, though un-

divided, appears to be divided in all beingsand the correct vision is to see a unitary,indestructible, undivided Entity in all thediversified things of the world.12 A realizedsoul with such a vision sees his self existing ineverything and everything in his self. Due tothis unifying outlook, he identifies himselfwith all beings and is happy in their happinessand suffers at their miseries and is activelyengaged in doing good to all beings.13

Swami Vivekananda forcefully reiteratedthis ideal of oneness in modern times. He said:

The one central ideal of Vedanta is this oneness.. . . There is but one life, one world, one existence.Everything is that one, the difference is in degreeand not in kind.14

4. SamenessA person venturing to serve has to

transcend all differences based on race,language, religion, sex, caste, etc. He shouldtry to see the same divine essence in humans,animals and plants. Even a small act of serviceconnects one with others at a deeper level. Infact service ideal is a powerful tool to obliterateall divisions in our society. What happens to aperson who succeeds in attaining this same-ness of vision? Gita says:

Here itself is rebirth conquered by them whoseminds are established on sameness. Since


159

Brahman is the same in all and free from defects,therefore they are established in Brahman.15

One may despair that these four qualitiesare beyond the reach of ordinary mortals likeus to acquire in one life. But the silver liningis that we do possess these qualities andmanifest them in our daily life, but only withina limited circle of our family and friends. Whatis required is to deepen them and expand themto include one’s society, nation and ultimatelythe whole world. This expansion is the fruit ofthe service ideal of Swamiji.

Service Ideals—Sri Krishna’s Assurance:Cultivate Faith

Some of us may wonder, we see Brahmanneither in ourselves nor in others. So is it notself-deception to say that we serve God inMan? Will any good come out of it?

Swami Brahmananda replies:One must have faith that the one Brahman is inman, woman, in all creatures; and with that faithone should learn to serve Shiva in the form ofJiva. As you practice this, suddenly one day theveil will be lifted and you will see that it is Hewho has become everything.16

Gita also puts a lot of emphasis on faithand says that ‘a person is made up of faith asthe dominant factor. He is verily what his faithis.’ and ‘The man who has faith attainsknowledge.’17

Work and Worship should go Together

Our elders say that to prevent oneselffrom straying away from the ideal i.e. GodRealization and to serve in true spirit, it isnecessary that service activities are combinedwith spiritual practices like japa and medi-tation. Krishna also advises in the same vein.He says,

Renouncing all actions to Me, with mind centredon the Self, getting rid of hope and selfishness,

fight on, free from mental tension’. . . . ‘think ofMe at all times and fight.18

Lord Protects the Good

What will happen to one who servesselflessly? Who will take care of those whoare dependent on him?

To this legitimate question, Krishnareplies:

O Partha, there is certainly no ruin for him hereor hereafter. For the doer of good, never comesto grief, My son. Those persons who becomingnon-different from Me and meditative, worshipme everywhere, for them who are ever attachedto Me, I arrange for securing what they lack andpreserving what they have.19

Service and Svadharma

Should I—a student or a professional ora housewife or a retired person—give up myvocation and take to service for my spiritualgrowth?

No, tells Gita. It isn’t necessary to changeone’s station or avocation in life. Rather itadvises to worship the all-pervading SupremeReality in and through one’s duties.20 Every-one should do some selfless service as itpresents itself before him or her. That itselfwill lead to spiritual perfection as testified inthe lives of Dharma Vyadha and the housewifein the Mahabharata.

The Silent Minority Serves the WorldSankaracharya in his introduction to his

commentary on the Gita says that spiritualideas spread when they are understood andpractised by men and women of more thanordinary good qualities. Incarnations andspiritual leaders set in motion a wave ofsublime ideas by their lives and teachings,which slowly spreads and leavens the society.We see right in front of us how the service


160

ideal preached by the holy trinity has slowlypenetrated and changed the thought-patternsof the world. Now it is being increasinglyaccepted and practised by thousands of peoplesilently in their lives. They may be in minority.But they are the ‘salt of this earth’. And societysurvives intact because of them. Therefore ifwe believe in the service ideal, if our heartcommands us to help others in need, weshould go forward and take the plough. Wewill find help and guidance coming to us fromunknown quarters.

Universality of Service IdealGita places before humanity the concept

of universal welfare as opposed to regional ornational welfare. It’s ‘One World’ now—onein sorrow and happiness; one in war andpeace. It can no longer be split into isolatedfragments. The well-being of the individuallies in the universal. So Gita’s concepts ofuniversal welfare (loka samgraha), Yajna asservice to all, helping one another (parasparambhavayantah), the right way of giving (sattvic

dana) and the world pictured as interconnectedcosmic cycle—all have immense universal andpractical relevance.

ConclusionIn spite of impressive achievements in

science and technology, in spite of overall eco-nomic development, the world today is facedwith many serious challenges. The problemsof social inequity, fundamentalism, environ-mental degradation, etc., cannot be tackled bymaterial forces alone. The power of religion,broadened and purified, has to be brought intoplay. The ideal of service should permeate alllevels of the society, if it has to survive. Seedsof love, equality, mutual respect and coopera-tion have to be sown in the hearts of people.The change has to begin at the level of indivi-dual. The spiritual development of humanbeings should proceed side by side with thesocial progress. As we pursue our noble intent,the teachings of Bhagavad Gita and the holytrinity will guide and serve as our unfailingsources of inspiration and support.

1. Swami Chetanananda, God Lived with them,Advaita Ashrama, p.369

2. CW, 4:1073. Bhagavad Gita, 13.13. (Similar shlokas are 10.8,42;

7.6,7; 15.7; 13.17,30; 9.4,5 and 8.22)4. ibid., 18.61 (Similar shlokas are 10.20, 13.2)5. ibid., 4.24.6. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna

Math, Chennai, p.6887. The Life of Swami Vivekananda by his Eastern and

Western Disciples, vol.1, p.139.8. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p.917

9. Bhagavad Gita, 18.2,910. ibid., 9.27. (See also 5.10; 3.30;12.6)11. ibid., 3.9-1612. ibid., 13.16; 18.20.13. ibid., 6.29,32; 5.25,12.4.14. CW, 2:29715. Gita, 5.1916. Eternal Companion, p.13617. Gita, 17.3 and 4.3918. ibid., 3.30 and 8.719. ibid., 6.40; 9.22. see also 9.31.20. ibid., 18.46,47.

References

The teachings of Krishna as taught by the Gita are the grandest the world has ever

known. He who wrote that wonderful poem was one of those rare souls whose lives sent

a wave of regeneration through the world. The human race will never again see such a

brain as his who wrote the Gita. —Swami Vivekananda, CW, 7: 22

601V e d a n t a K e s a r i D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8~ ~601V e d a n t a K e s a r i D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8~ ~

The Gita is the universal mother. She turns away nobody. Her door is wide opento anyone who knocks. A true votary of the Gita does not know whatdisappointment is. He ever dwells in perennial joy and peace that passethunderstanding. But that peace and joy come not to the sceptic or to him who isproud of his intellect or learning. It is reserved only for the humble in spirit whobrings to her worship a fullness of faith and an undivided singleness of mind.There never was a man who worshipped her in that spirit and went backdisappointed. . . I find a solace in the Bhagavad Gita that I miss even in theSermon on the Mount. When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone Isee not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavad Gita. I find a verse here and averse there, and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelmingtragedies—and my life has been full of external tragedies—and if they have leftno visible or indelible scar on me, I owe it all to the teaching of Bhagavad Gita. . .Today the Gita is not only my Bible or my Koran, it is more than that—it is mymother. . . When I am in difficulty or distress I seek refuge in her bosom.

—Mahatma Gandhi

The Srimad Bhagavad Gita is one of the most brilliant and pure gems of ourancient sacred books. It would be difficult to find a simpler work in Sanskritliterature or even in all the literature of the world than the Gita, which explainsto us in an unambiguous and succinct manner the deep, and sacred principles ofthe sacred science of the Self, after imparting to us the knowledge of the humanbody and the cosmos, and on the authority of those principles acquaints everyhuman being with the most perfect and complete condition of the Self.—Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920), social reformer and Indian Independence fighter

The Gita is the greatest gospel of spiritual works ever yet given to the race. . . .our chief national heritage, our hope for the future.

—Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950), Indian nationalist, scholar and mystic

I believe that in all the living languages of the world, there is no book so full oftrue knowledge, and yet so handy as the Bhagavad Gita. . . . It brings to men the

What They SaySome Eminent Persons on the Bhagavad Gita


highest knowledge, the purest love and the most luminous action. It teaches self-control, the three-fold austerity, non-violence, truth, compassion, obedience tothe call of duty for the sake of duty, and putting up a fight against unrighteousness(adharma). . . . To my knowledge, there is no book in the whole range of theworld’s literature so high above all as the Bhagavad Gita, which is a treasure-house of Dharma not only for Hindus but for all mankind.

—Madan Mohan Malaviya,Indian nationalist and the founder of Banaras Hindu University

When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universeeverything else seems so superfluous. . . .

—Albert Einstein, Scientist and Nobel Laureate

The Bhagavad-Gita has a profound influence on the spirit of mankind by itsdevotion to God which is manifested by actions.

—Dr. Albert Schweitzer(1875 – 1965), an Alsatian musician,philosopher, and physician. Awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1953

I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was as if an empire spoke tous, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an oldintelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposedof the same questions which exercise us.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882), an American essayist,philosopher, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement

In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophyof the Bhagavat Geeta, since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed,and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem punyand trivial; and I doubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous stateof existence, so remote is its sublimity from our conceptions. . . . One sentence ofthe Gita is worth the State of Massachusetts many times over.

—Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)American author, naturalist and transcendentalist

Among the priceless teachings that may be found in the great Indian epicMahabharata, there is none so rare and priceless as the Gita.

—Annie Besant (1847-1933), a prominent Theosophist,and a notable political leader during India’s freedom struggle

162


[Gita is] the most beautiful, perhaps the only true philosophical song existing inany known tongue . . . perhaps the deepest and loftiest thing the world has toshow. I read the Indian poem for the first time when I was in my country estatein Silesia and, while doing so, I felt a sense of overwhelming gratitude to God forhaving let me live to be acquainted with this work. It must be the most profoundand sublime thing to be found in the world.

—Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), Prussian Minister of Education

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the noblest scriptures of India, one of the deepestscriptures of the world. . . . a symbolic scripture, with many meanings, containingmany truths. . . . [that] forms the living heart of the Eastern wisdom.

—Charles Johnston,an English civil servant in Bengal, in his a translation of Gita in 1908

I hesitate not to pronounce the Gita a performance of great originality, of sublimityof conception, reasoning and diction almost unequalled; and a single exception,amongst all the known religions of mankind.

—Lord Warren Hastings (1754-1826), The first Governor General of British India

[Gita is] the most beautiful philosophical song existing in any known tongue.—Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), The developer of the atomic bomb

[Bhagavad Gita is] a compendium of the whole Vedic doctrine to be found in theearlier Vedas, Brahmanas and Upanishads, and being therefore the basis of alllater developments: it can be regarded as the focus of all Indian religion.

—Dr. Ananda K Coomaraswamy (1877-1947),Historian and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West

The Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads contain such godlike fullness of wisdom onall things that I feel the authors must have looked with calm remembrance backthrough a thousand passionate lives, full of feverish strife for and with shadows,where they could have written with such certainty of things which the soul feelsto he sure.

—John Elignton, Well-known author

[Gita is] a work of imperishable significance [which] gives us not only profoundinsights that are valid for all times and for all religious life, but it contains as wellthe classical presentation of one of the most significant phases of lndo-Germanreligious history. . . Here Spirit is at work that belongs to our Spirit. We are not

163


called to solve the meaning of life but to find out the deed demanded of us andto work and so, by action, to master the riddle of life.

—Jacob Wilhelm Hauer (1881-1961),German writer

The Gita is one of the clearest and most comprehensive summaries of the PerennialPhilosophy ever to have been done. Hence its enduring value, not only for Indians,but for all mankind. . . . The Bhagavad Gita is perhaps the most systematicspiritual statement of the Perennial Philosophy.

—Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)Eminent English writer and noted philosopher

I believe the Gita to be one of the major religious documents of the world. If itsteachings did not seem to me to agree with those of the other gospels andscriptures, then my own system of values would be thrown into confusion, and Ishould feel completely bewildered. The Gita is not simply a sermon, but aphilosophical treatise.

—Christopher W. B. Isherwood (1904-1986),American translator, biographer, novelist, and playwright

This famous and marvellous Sanskrit poem occurs as an episode of theMahabharata, in the sixth [section]—or ‘Bhishma-Parva’ of the great Hindu epic.It enjoys immense popularity and authority in India, where it is reckoned as oneof the ‘Five Jewels’—pancharatnani—of Devanagari literature. In plain but noblelanguage it unfolds a philosophical system which remains to this day theprevailing Brahmanic belief blending as it does the doctrine of Kapila, Patanjali,and the Vedas.

—Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904), poet and scholarand Author of The Song Celestial, one of the earliest translations of the Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is known as the Lord’s Song—or the Song Celestial—and itrepresents one of the highest flights of the conditioned spirit to its unconditionedSource ever achieved.

—L. Adams Beck (?-1931),Author of The Story of Oriental Philosophy

164


‘Let the Lion of Vedanta roar,the foxes will fly to their holes.’

—Swami Vivekananda

Managing Editor: SWAMI GAUTAMANANDA Editor: SWAMI ATMASHRADDHANANDA

Printed and Published by SWAMI ABHIRAMANANDA for

SSSSSRIRIRIRIRI RRRRRAMAKRISHNAAMAKRISHNAAMAKRISHNAAMAKRISHNAAMAKRISHNA MMMMMATHATHATHATHATHMYLAPORE, CHENNAI 600 004

Volume 95

Index to Titles and Authors

January–December 2008


Title Page No

AAnamika or the Unnamed One—C.S. Ramakrishnan 185

BBhagavad Gita – Song of Culture—K. Subrahmanyam 577Bhagavad Gita and the Ideal of Service—Swami Vedapurushananda 597Bhagavad Gita for Everyday Living (Some Guidelines) 527Bhagavad Gita for the Commoners—Swami Gautamananda 489Bhagavad Gita—its Relevance to Teachers—Swami Atmaramananda 505Bhagavad Gita—‘The Best Authority on Vedanta’—Swami Vivekananda 448Blending Poetry with Philosophy: A Study of Swami Vivekananda’s Poems—Amar Nath Prasad 307, 351Book Reviews 42, 82, 122, 162, 202, 242, 282, 321, 362, 402, 442Building up Self-esteem—Lt Col (Retd.) R K Langar 391

CControl of Mind—Some Lessons from the Holy Mother—Nivedita Bakshi 30Conversation with God, A—Cyberspace 191Countering Stress and Lack of Motivation

Gita’s Advice to the Modern Youth—Swami Bodhamayananda 574

DDo We Need Religion?—V. Kumar Murty 179, 231Doctors Who Met Sri Ramakrishna, The—Atmakama 393

EEditorial—Swami Atmashraddhananda

Commitment to Reality 206Facets of Character-building 286Gita Today 457Human Values and Their Value 46In Search of Enduring Bridges 166Movie of a Different Kind, A 406New Resolutions, Old Problems 4Notes on Being a Follower 246Pilgrimage—Internal and External 126Ramakrishna, Sri—Our Greatest Asset 86Rebuilding Character 326To Be or Not to Be Philosophical 366

Annual Index for 2008


Enduring Autism Through Vedanta—Krishna Narayanan 151Essential Pilgrimage and Holy Company, The—Swami Adiswarananda 338, 372

FFacets of India’s Cultural Heritage—Review Article—Vanamala Parthasarathy 193Fascinating Story of Sri Matri Mandir, Holy Mother’s Birthplace, The—Swami Atmeswarananda 420Forgive and Forget—A Perennial Issue—Agera, C.R. 268

GGetting Introduced to Bhagavad Gita—Swami Sridharananda 465Gita for Housewives—Sumita Roy 593Gita—‘The Essence of All Scriptures’ 446Gita’s Description of Integrated Personality—Swami Adiswarananda 497Gita’s Ideal of Emotional Stability—Swami Sarvapriyananda 589Gita’s Message for Self-Transformation—Swami Prabuddhananda 476Gita’s View on Ecology and its Maintenance—N V C Swamy 549Gita’s Way of Right Activity—Swami Smaranananda 472Gita’s Way to Self-Fulfilment —Swami Atmarupananda 543Gospel and the Kathamrita, The—William Page—Review Article 302‘Grieve not—the Lord is with Us’—Gita’s Lessons for Fearlessness—Prema Nandakumar 518Guru Granth Sahib and the Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna—Some Similarities—Jasbir Kaur Ahuja 217

HHow to Sublimate Our Tendencies—Swami Yatiswarananda 250

IImages of Holiness—Swami Samarpanananda

Sage Vyasa 188Satyakama, the Sincere Seeker 355Valmiki, the First Poet 35Vasishtha, the Rishi 299Yajnavalkya, the Sage 156

‘I Take Care of Their Yogakshema’—C S Ramakrishnan 499

KKeeping Calm—The Gita Way—Swami Nityasthananda 513Krishna, the Teacher of the Gita, Sri—Swami Vivekananda 454Krishna’s Remedy for the Arjuna Syndrome, Sri —Swami Atmapriyananda 553

L‘Let Us Go Back, O Mind, to Our Own Abode!’—Swami Bhuteshananda 411Let Us Be Gods—Swami Ashokananda 9, 50, 93Lewis G. Janes, Dr,: Swami Vivekananda’s Friend—Asim Chaudhuri 110

167


Living the Gita Way—Pravrajika Brahmaprana 562

MManagement Lessons from the Bhagavad Gita—B. Mahadevan 558Meditation on the Bhagavad Gita 445Meditating on the Message of the Gita—Swami Dayatmananda 501

NNew Find

Place Where Swami Vivekananda Delivered His First Public Lecture in Madras, The 417Unpublished Letter (s) of Swami Saradananda 117, 159, 184, 235, 306Unpublished Letter of Swami Vivekananda, An—Sannyasini Kaliprana 370

OOrder on the March, The 38, 79, 119, 160, 199, 239, 279, 318, 360, 398, 440

QQuestion and Answer—Swami Brahmeshananda

Living the Simple Life 109Purity of Mind—Why and How 230Role of Mind in Spiritual Life, The 155

Frequently Asked Questions About Gita—Swami Harshananda 483

RRamakrishna, the Ideal Clinician, Sri—Dr. Dipankar Bhowmik 196Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Literature—A Tool for Social Enlightenment—Swami Atmaramananda 263Reminiscences

‘Do You Think I Only Lecture?’ 358Story of Padmavinode, The—Ashutosh Mitra 315

Right Motivation for Action, The—Aravinda Mathur 436

SSamyama and its Three Aspects— K.V. Raghupathi 312Setting Right Our Priorities—A Devotee 60Some Glimpses of Ramakrishna—Swami Chetanananda 17, 55, 98Spiritual Significance of Pongal Festival , The—C S Ramakrishnan 21Spot Where the Gita was Delivered, The 517Story of Ramakrishna Mission, The—NVC Swamy—Review Article 76Synopsis of the Governing Body’s Report for 2006-07—Swami Prabhananda—Annual Report 74Simhâvalokanam

By the Way 249Forgotten Festival of Indira Vila, The 169Hindu Ideal of Nationalism, The 290

168


Matter or Spirit 209Meditation 410Page From the Life of Swami Vivekananda, A 91Rama the Perfect Man-God, Sri 130Saint Durgacharan Nag., The 369Sivananda Lahari, The 8Teachings of Srimat Madhwacharya, The 330Vedanta and the Three Policies 49

Special ColumnInfluence of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda on Contemporary Sanskrit Literature—Swami Videhatmananda 171, 225, 274Influence of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda on Contemporary Tamil Literature —Dr. Sudha Seshayyan 69, 103, 143Influence of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda on Contemporary Telugu Literature—M. Sivaramkrishna 14

Special ReportCentenary of Chennai Math Publications 236New President of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission 1

TTeachers as Mentors – Lessons from Gita—M. Sivaramkrishna 570Ten Principles of Work Ethic in the Bhagavad Gita—Swami Abhiramananda 522Thoughts on Consciousness—Sampooran Singh 432True Happiness—Gita’s Counsel—Swami Bhaskarananda 494Turning Loss into Gain—Pravrajika Brahmaprana 135

UUniversal Message of the Bhagavad Gita—Swami Ranganathananda 461Uttarayana—A Scientific View—M.S Bhat 222

VValues in the Bhagavad Gita—Swami Vireshananda 585Vedic Prayers 3, 45, 85, 125, 165, 205, 245, 285, 325, 365, 405Vivekananda in Goa, Swami—Some Findings—A Monastic Sojourner 24, 61Vivekananda, A Musician Par Excellence, Swami—Swami Satyamayananda 428Vivekanandar Illam: A Place of History and Inspiration—A Monastic Sojourner 211, 255, 291, 342, 376Vivekananda Tells Stories 23, 68, 118, 142, 177, 238, 273, 317, 354, 435

W‘What is in a Name?’ 582What They Say—Some Eminent Persons on the Bhagavad Gita 601Work As Worship—Guidelines from the Bhagavad Gita—Swami Yuktatmananda 566

169


Author IndexAAbhiramananda, Swami—Ten Principles of Work Ethic in the Bhagavad Gita 522Adiswarananda, Swami—Gita’s Description of Integrated Personality 497Adiswarananda, Swami—The Essential Pilgrimage and Holy Company 338, 372Agera, C.R.,—Forgive and Forget—A Perennial Issue 268Amar Nath Prasad—Blending Poetry with Philosophy: A Study of Swami Vivekananda’s Poems 307, 351Aravinda Mathur—The Right Motivation for Action 436Ashokananda, Swami—Let Us Be Gods 9, 50, 93Ashutosh Mitra—Reminiscences—The Story of Padmavinode 315Asim Chaudhuri—Dr. Lewis G. Janes: Swami Vivekananda’s Friend 110Atmakama—The Doctors Who Met Sri Ramakrishna 393Atmapriyananda, Swami—Sri Krishna’s Remedy for the Arjuna Syndrome 553Atmaramananda, Swami—Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Literature—A Tool for Social Enlightenment 263Atmaramananda, Swami—The Bhagavad Gita—its Relevance to Teachers 505Atmarupananda, Swami—Gita’s Way to Self-Fulfilment 543Atmashraddhananda, Swami —Editorial

Commitment to Reality 206Facets of Character-building 286Gita Today 457Human Values and Their Value 46In Search of Enduring Bridges 166Movie of a Different Kind, A 406New Resolutions, Old Problems 4Notes on Being a Follower 246Pilgrimage—Internal and External 126Ramakrishna, Sri—Our Greatest Asset 86Rebuilding Character 326To Be or Not to Be Philosophical 366

Atmeswarananda, Swami—The Fascinating Story of Sri Matri Mandir, Holy Mother’s Birthplace 420

BBrahmeshananda, Swami—Question and Answer

Living the Simple Life 109Purity of Mind—Why and How 230The Role of Mind in Spiritual Life 155

Bhaskarananda, Swami—True Happiness—Gita’s Counsel 494Bhat, M.S—Uttarayana—A Scientific View 222Bhuteshananda, Swami—‘Let Us Go Back, O Mind, to Our Own Abode!’ 411Bodhamayananda, Swami—Countering Stress and Lack of Motivation

Gita’s Advice to the Modern Youth 574Brahmaprana, Pravrajika —Turning Loss into Gain 135Brahmaprana, Pravrajika—Living the Gita Way 562

170


CChetanananda, Swami—Some Glimpses of Ramakrishna 17, 55, 98Cyberspace—A Conversation with God 191

DDayatmananda, Swami—Meditating on the Message of the Gita 501Devotee, A—Setting Right Our Priorities 60Dipankar Bhowmik, Dr.—Sri Ramakrishna, the Ideal Clinician 196

GGautamananda, Swami—Bhagavad Gita for the Commoners 489

HHarshananda, Swami—Frequently Asked Questions About Gita— Question & Answer 483

JJasbir Kaur Ahuja—Guru Granth Sahib and the Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna—Some Similarities 217

KKrishna Narayanan—Enduring Autism Through Vedanta 151Kumar Murty, V—Do We Need Religion? 179, 231

LLt Col (Retd.) R K Langar—Building up Self-esteem 391

MMahadevan, B—Management Lessons from the Bhagavad Gita 558Monastic Sojourner, A—Swami Vivekananda in Goa—Some Findings 24, 61

—Vivekanandar Illam: A Place of History and Inspiration 211, 255, 291, 342, 376

NNityasthananda, Swami—Keeping Calm—The Gita Way 513Nivedita Bakshi—Control of Mind—Some Lessons from the Holy Mother 30

PPrabhananda, Swami—Annual Report—Synopsis of the Governing Body’s Report for 2006-07 74Prabuddhananda, Swami—Gita’s Message for Self-Transformation 476Prema Nandakumar— ‘Grieve not—the Lord is with Us’—Gita’s Lessons for Fearlessness 518

RRaghupathi, K.V., Dr.—Samyama and its Three Aspects 312Ramakrishnan, C S—Anamika or the Unnamed One 185

171


Ramakrishnan, C S—Spiritual Significance of Pongal Festival , The 21Ramakrishnan, C.S.—‘I Take Care of Their Yogakshema’ 499Ranganathananda, Swami—Universal Message of the Bhagavad Gita 461

SSamarpanananda, Swami—Images of Holiness

Sage Vyasa 188Satyakama, the Sincere Seeker 355Valmiki, the First Poet 35Yajnavalkya, the Sage 156Vasishtha, the Rishi 299

Sampooran Singh—Thoughts on Consciousness 432Sannyasini Kaliprana—New Find—An Unpublished Letter of Swami Vivekananda 370Sarvapriyananda, Swami—Gita’s Ideal of Emotional Stability 589Satyamayananda, Swami—Swami Vivekananda, A Musician Par Excellence 428Sivaramkrishna, M—Influence of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda on Contemporary Telugu Literature 14Sivaramkrishna, M—Teachers as Mentors – Lessons from Gita 570Smaranananda, Swami—Gita’s Way of Right Activity 472Sridharananda, Swami—Getting Introduced to Bhagavad Gita 465Subrahmanyam, K—Bhagavad Gita – Song of Culture 577Sudha Seshayyan, Dr.,—Influence of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda

on Contemporary Tamil Literature 69, 103, 143Swamy, N V C—Review Article—The Story of Ramakrishna Mission 76Swamy, N V C—Gita’s View on Ecology and its Maintenance 549Sumita Roy—Gita for Housewives 593

VVanamala Parthasarathy—Review Article—Facets of India’s Cultural Heritage 193Vedapurushananda, Swami—Bhagavad Gita and the Ideal of Service 597Videhatmananda, Swami—Influence of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda on

Contemporary Sanskrit Literature 171, 225, 274Vivekananda, Swami—Bhagavad Gita—‘The Best Authority on Vedanta’ 448Vivekananda, Swami—Sri Krishna, the Teacher of the Gita 454Vivekananda, Swami—Vivekananda Tells Stories 23, 68, 118, 142, 177, 238, 273, 317, 354, 435Vireshananda, Swami—Values in the Bhagavad Gita 585

WWilliam Page—Review Article—The Gospel and the Kathamrita 302

YYatiswarananda, Swami—How to Sublimate Our Tendencies 250

Yuktatmananda, Swami—Work As Worship—Guidelines from the Bhagavad Gita 566

172


173

Book Reviews (Title-wise)Advaita Philosophy of Sri Adi Shankara —Amarakavi Ramachandra 124Ancient Roots Many Branches—Darlena L’Orange and Gray Dolowich 163Bhagavad Gita, The—Dr. K. Ramachandran M.D. 123Consciousness A Deeper Scientific Search—Edited by Jonathan Shear and Prof. S. P Mukherjee 403Cosmology of the Bhagavata Purana, The —Richard L. Thompson 162Darsan Seeing the Divine Image in India—Diana L.Eck 364Divinity In Nature—Sri Ram 164Eternally Talented India 108 Facts—Published by J. Chandra Sekhar 282Ethics and the History of Indian Philosophy—Shyam Ranganathan 243Exploring Meditation—Susan G. Shumsky 442Expressions of Christianity With a Focus on India—Vivekananda Kendra Publication 322Four Yogas, The —Swami Adiswarananda 443Himalayan Mysticism—Ralf Nataraj 363Holy Vrindaban—(100 Years of Serving God in Man)—Published by Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Vrindavan, U.P 202How to Live With God—Swami Chetanananda 321In Quest of The Deeper Self—A Joyous Adventure—T.C. Gopalakrishnan 282Indian Ethos for Tomorrow’s Leadership and Management—Edited by Swami Jitatmananda 44Lessons From the Ramayana—Sri Chavali Satyanarayana Murthy 164Meaning and Significance of Worship.—Meaning and Explanation by Swami Ach 123Monk for All Seasons, A—Akhilananda, His Life of Love and Service—Elva Linnea Nelson 323Mystical Elements in English Poetry—Viswanath Chatterjee 82Mystical Verses Of Lalla—A Journey of Self Realization.—Translated with an Introduction by Jaishr 163Mystique of Om, The —Jayant Burde 283Poorva—Lakshmi Devnath 203Quest for Creation: Bhagavata for beginners—Swami Ramanujananda 82Quest for Oneself: Atmabodha for beginners—Swami Ramanujananda 82Quest for Singularism: Upadeshasahasri for beginners—Swami Ramanujananda 82Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Cherrapunjee: Meghalaya Platinum Jubilee Souvenir—Published by Swami Sumedhananda 42Relief of Tension, Depression & Anxiety through Spiritual Living—Swami Tathagatananda 402Selfless Work – Its Basis, Methods and Fulfilment—Swami Bhajanananda 202Spiritual Culture for Modern Management and Leadership—Edited by Swami Jitatmananda 44Spiritual Life Means Spiritual Consciousness—Vijay Kashkhedikar 83Sree Vaishnavam (108 temples)—R. Rajalakshmi 244Sri Ramakrishna’s Physician Dr. Mahendralal Sarkar–His Life and Thoughts—Dr. Jaladhikumar Sarkar, tran. M. Sivaramakrishna, Ed. Swami Shuddhananda 122Sri Ramakrishna—In the eyes of Brahmo and Christian Admirers—Nanda Mookerjee 242Sri Sadashiva Brahmendra: His Life, Extracted Teachings and Reflections—Edited By Sri T.P. Vinayaka Rao 84Sri Shankaracharya’s Sadhana Panchakam—Nagesh D Sonde 204Swami Vivekananda: India’s Emissary to the West—Swami Ranganathananda 444


Swami Vivekananda’s Message to the Modern India —A Compilation—Published by Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan Trust 403Syama Sastri and His Descendents—Dr.Y. Saradambal M.A. Ph.D. 284Thakur: A Life of Sri Ramakrishna—Rajiv Mehrotra 362Uttara-Gita—Edited translated by Minatikar 363Vijnanabhairava—Translation and notes by Jaideva Singh 43Yoga and Zen: A Monograph—K.V. Raghupathi 242Yoga for Peace—K.V. Raghupathi 42

List of ReviewersAtmapranananda, Swami 82Brahmeshananda, Swami 442Chetana Mandavia 163, 402Nityasthananda, Swami 443Panchapagesan, K., Prof. 123, 242Pramod Kumar, M. 282Prema Nandakumar 43, 162, 203, 283, 321Probal Roy Choudhury 243Raghunandan, V. 244Ramanarayanan, M.C. 164Ramesh, S.R. 82Ritha Rajan 284Satyamayananda, Swami 363Satyeshananda, Swami 163Seshadri, V. 403, 444Sivaramkrishna, M. 362Sundaram, P.S. 42, 124, 164, 202, 242, 282, 322Swamy, N.V.C. 42, 76, 122, 202, 403Tejomayananda, Swami 83Vanamala Parthasarathy 193Vikas Akalwadi 364Vireshananda, Swami 204, 363William Page 302

Month Page No.

January 1-44February 45-84March 85-124April 125-164May 165-204June 205-244

Month Page No.

July 245-284August 285-324September 325-364October 365-404November 405-444December (Spotlight) 445-606

174

Month-wise page numbers of the volume

bhagvad geeta for common man

Documents