Mar 16, 2011

Applicability of Bhagavad-Gita in Life

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What is Bhagavad-Gita?
1.       -      The great Indian mythological epic ‘Mahabharata’ describes the feud amongst the Kurus and Pandus, the descendants of King Shantanu. The feud ultimately led to a military confrontation between the Kurus and Pandus on the battlefield of Kurukshetra (Haryana, India). While the two armies were opposing each other, Arjuna, one of the Pandu brothers and a leading general of their Army, developed cold feet seeing that the opposing army comprised of his friends, kin and brethren. He refused to fight and was ready to lay down his arms. It was then that his charioteer Krishna, the God incarnate, sermonised him and exhorted him to fight the righteous battle because he was duty bound. This discourse given by Lord Sri Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra is the Bhagavad-Gita. This sermon actually enunciated the true essence of life and advocated the righteous path for a human being. It deals with diverse aspects of life at different levels.

It is for a reader to decide the depth he wants to go down to in this treatise because the knowledge imparted in this is unfathomable. 
2.      -      There are various theories on the time of origin of this great spiritual text because the dates for the Kurukshetra war vary from 6000 BC to 500 BC. The great Indian sage Vedvyasa composed it in eighteen chapters comprising of 700 concise verses. It is the essence of all the Vedas, Upanishads and other Hindu philosophical scriptures put together. The beauty of this scripture is that it has something for everybody. The wide spectrum of physical, moral, psychological and spiritual issues covered with their relevant explanation makes it an extremely enlightening and satisfying experience. Translation of Bhagavad-Gita in a large number of national and international languages is readily available in the bookstores, online and in the market.     
Underlying Theme
3.            Bhagavad-Gita is not merely a sermon, actually but God (Krishna) speaking to a devotee (Arjuna). When he finds that Arjuna is reluctant to fight, he exhorts him to fight the righteous battle because being from a warrior class he is duty bound to do so. The underlying meaning of this assertion is that a human being must perform his duty in life and not shy away from it. If during the course of such duty, ego driven propensities disrupt or pose a threat then he must battle them. Metaphorically, these disruptive tendencies are the enemy (Kurus) and the human being is the devoted warrior (Arjuna). Therefore, like Arjuna the warrior, every human being is duty bound to battle his enemy for a just cause.
Spirit, Soul and Ego
4.            The spiritual allegory hidden in Bhagavad-Gita elucidates the daily psychological and spiritual battle going on in a human being. The basic assertion is that all mortals are a manifestation of the Supreme Soul (Spirit). They are in the world to fulfil their assigned role and their death will bring in their departure from here. The physical bodies of the mortals will perish but their true Soul will transmute to another body. The Soul is the manifestation of the Supreme Soul and is pure. Its exposure to Nature gives rise to the Ego (pseudo Soul) and thus creates a conflict situation. The dilemma is to follow the alluring and enticing materialistic lifestyle for the ego satisfaction or the simple and austere righteous lifestyle to achieve God realization.
5.        -     In the cycle of reincarnation, it is only in the human form that we can seek God realization and emancipation (Moksha) since we have the advanced intelligence (discriminative faculty). This is because this discriminative faculty is absent in all other forms of life. It is therefore our bounden duty to acknowledge this God gift and make efforts to seek Him and thus achieve deliverance and salvation. The Ego, on the other hand, tries to divert us towards the materialistic life so that it can survive. To achieve this and satiate itself the Ego uses the senses of perception (ears, nose, tongue, eyes and skin). The alluring and persuasive powers of the subtle forms (hearing, smell, taste, sight and touch) of these senses of perception incessantly draw the human being towards the fatal attractions of this materialistic and sinful World.
Yoga and the Three Paths to Salvation (Moksha)
6.            The book propagates that Action (Karma), Devotion (Bhakti) and Knowledge (Jnana) are the three paths that lead to liberation. Patanjali, the sage who propounded the eightfold (Ashtanga) yoga technique, in his famous work ‘Yoga Sutras’ containing 196 aphorisms, also covers the same. Herelates the action path to dutiful fortitude in practice (Tapas), knowledge/wisdom path to self-study (Svadhyaya) and the path of devotion to the path of surrender to God (Ishvara Pranidhana). He breaks down his Ashtanga Yoga into mental resistance practices or don’ts (Yama), mental adherence practices or do’s (Niyama), right posture (Asana), life force control (Pranayama), interiorization (Pratyahara), concentration (Dharana), meditation (Dhyana) and divine union (Samadhi). The first four of these, ie, yama, niyama, asana and pranayama relate to tapas and help a human being to tread on the path of action.  After he has achieved mastery over these through self-discipline, he then graduates to the next two, namely, pratyahara and dharana that relate to svadhyaya and help him to gain knowledge or wisdom. From here, he elevates to dhyana and samadhi through total surrender to God in what relates to the path of devotion.
7.         -   Krishna (also referred to as Yogeshwara or Lord of Yoga in the scripture) comprehensively unfolded these aspects to Arjuna and showed him the path to attain God realization. Our body is a gift of the Lord meant to harbour the Soul. Body, mind and soul are the three aspects of it. It obviously is our duty to look after this exquisite gift of the God and use it for self and God realization. The Bhagavad-Gita lays down a way of life through which a human being can attain emancipation. It does not lay down a path of renunciation or isolation as the only means to achieve it. In fact, it talks of renunciation of evil in thoughts and deeds. If you have a family to look after or have responsibilities to fulfil, then renouncing these would be escapism. The idea is to lead a clean worldly life and perform all your duties as the yogi householder. Look after your body because a healthy body is an inescapable requirement to progress on this path. Train the mind to think positively and prevent sense pleasures to distract it. Meditation helps to bring inner calm and keep you focussed.
8.         -   Bhagavad-Gita forbids a path of inactivity in the garb of renunciation. We are a part of great cosmic activity and as such cannot be idle and slothful. Tackle the worldly problems headlong and through activity, please God to achieve liberation. One cannot achieve it by avoiding responsibilities. The ancient four-phased (Ashrama) way of life is the preferred system of living. In this, one spends the first two phases, youth and householder (Bhramcharya and Grihistha) in studies and householder duties. You then spend the other two, retirement and spiritual/sunset (Vanprastha and Sanyasa) phases in contemplation and meditation practices. Unfortunately, in today’s frenzied lifestyle and delusory environment the phase lines have merged and one finds an extended householder phase that eats into the retirement and spiritual phase(s). Consequently, by the time one breaks the shackles of the materialistic lifestyle it is too late. It takes a devoted man a time span of 12 years to forsake his bonding, gain control over his senses and realize God through dedicated spiritual routine. This period may increase/decrease depending on the devotee’s inclination and the effect of his surroundings.
9.       -     Duty. ‘Do thy duty and reward is not thy concern’ is also the message of Krishna to Arjuna. He also exhorts us that it is our duty to perform all actions but without desire to bear the fruits of such actions. He implies that while we stay in the world we should not associate and belong to this world. Even Patanjali refers to the same thing in his Yoga Sutras that we must perform all actions without any motive or desire. Perform the duties with full zeal and vigour to achieve God’s blessings and not materialistic rewards. These rewards are short lived and have a shelf life but the Almighty’s blessings are eternal and gratifying. He shall bestow the ultimate freedom for performance of your duties in the righteous manner rather than by avoidance of such activity. An individual has to perform his duty towards his parents, family, profession, friends and the society. He must draw fine line and boundaries between them so that he does not carry out these duties towards one at the cost of other. He can only achieve this fine balance, in the performance of his duties, if he has correctly understood that he must do it without concern to reap its benefits or fruits.
Human Being - A Trinity
10.         A human being is a trinity of body, mind and soul. His life comprises of three dimensions – physical, mental and spiritual. The physical aspect relates to his body and in turn to the materialistic aspects of life. The mental aspect relates to his mental faculties comprising of his mind, intelligence and ego. Similarly, the spiritual aspect relates to his soul and the divine. In our pursuit to achieve money oriented and reckonable success, we are involved in the physical and mental aspects most of the time. The aspect of spiritual quest never crosses us. We must not lose sight of the fact that while worldly success does bring in comfort it is also the harbinger of miseries when not achieved. Although it is agreeable, that success on the spiritual path is indeterminate but it also ushers happiness and bliss. The very fact that spiritual success is undefined and unquantifiable there is no disappointment for the pursuer.
11.         Anything measurable is perishable and will eventually vanish. Time will outdo this measurement either by a better statistics or by gradual loss. Bhagavad-Gita highlights the necessity to gain the knowledge and wisdom to be able to discriminate between the tangible and the intangible success. Once this awareness dawns on an individual self-contentment follows and that is the bedrock of happiness. Thus, one must carefully analyse the choice between comforts or happiness. It may be a difficult decision for a common person and he would naturally be deluded and drawn towards comfort. Nevertheless, if he endeavours to seek the wisdom and develops his discriminating faculty through yoga practices then this predicament would be resolved more easily.
12.         Emotional Control. A very significant aspect that the discourse touches is regarding emotional control. Internal disturbances, external/environmental influences and our past actions (Karma) create in us positive and negative energy vibrations, called emotions. Functioning on extremes of the emotional spectrum causes anguish and pain. It is entirely self inflicted and thus decidedly avoidable. To grieve overly for failure or feel overjoyed by success are the common person’s natural reactions. Gain knowledge and train to control the emotions with mental robustness and spiritual calm. Cultivating and retaining mental equilibrium through wisdom is what the scripture emphasises. Learn to accept destiny and know that whatever happens is for the good. There may be a hidden agenda of the God in the happenings of life. Your role is preordained in this world and hence the circumstances will shape around you in a manner to lead you on the destined path. How else will you explain the fact that a bullet misses one soldier and kills the other in the same trench? Alternatively, nature also proves it to us. Two flowers plucked from the same rose plant have different fates – while one adorns the crown, the other rests on a grave.
The School of Analytical Metaphysics (Sankhya)
13.           The cosmos is actually a continual interaction between the Pure Awareness (inactive) and Creative Energy (active). In the Self-realization (Sankhya) philosophy of life, the book refers to these principles as Purusha and Prakriti respectively. Purusha is thus the Spirit and Prakriti the matter or the manifestation of the Supreme Soul. The philosophy deals with the evolution of the Universe or macrocosm of which the humanity is a small-scale model or microcosm. It emphasizes the destructibility of the human body and the indestructibility of the Soul within it. If we can understand or gain complete knowledge of this aspect of humanity then life will be so much more attractive and stress free. We are all actors in this world, a grand stage constructed by the Almighty. He has written the script for the ‘Play of Cosmos’ from its genesis till end and allotted parts to each one of us to perform. Sankhya philosophy goes beyond cosmology and establishes Yoga as the means of self-realization.
14.    -          Who am I? The sheer profundity of this question should compel us to find a suitable answer, not in books and scriptures but in ourselves. Look into your own being and you will realize your true self. Unfortunately, most people relate themselves to the body and not to the soul that dwells inside. It is not their fault but the lack of knowledge that casts a delusory veil on their consciousness. We eat, drink and live for the physical body and gradually start associating ourselves with it. We never realize or want to find what resides inside it. Our entire lifetime passes in the illusory maze of duality that exists in Nature (Prakriti) and we seldom become conscious regarding the Soul (Purusha). In fact, the only time this realization dawns on us is when we attend some funeral or burial. However, it only lasts within the four walls of the crematorium or cemetery. As soon as we step out, the worldly affairs cast their delusive web and get the better of us yet again. If we can understand the difference between the Real and the Unreal then we can grasp the essentials. Real is the energy in our body, which is changeless and formless. That which changes and has a form is Unreal. Thus, the body, mind and ego are unreal and the Soul is real. A human being must awaken this awareness or consciousness during his lifetime to achieve emancipation. Patanjali has classified human consciousness (Citta) into seven stages. The seven sheaths of the body (Koshas) sequentially relate to these. During his lifetime, a human being must graduate through these seven stages of consciousness to evolve himself and transcend the final frontier. As he reaches the higher awareness level in his quest, accordingly, he understands the next higher corresponding sheath. Finally, his soul awakens and he understands the meaning of the true Self. This is the self-realization.
Soul - A Warrior Within
15.          Krishna expounds that life is a battlefield on which every human being fights his daily battles. There is a constant tussle between the ‘good’ and the ‘evil’ in our lives. Arjuna was trying to avoid battle by putting forth a concocted and distorted logic of having to combat his near and dear ones and thus exhibiting despondency. Similarly, the common person is reluctant to struggle and tries to take the easy way out. The Bhagavad-Gita clearly brings to the fore the need to fight the tendency to be carried away by your ego-driven and sense-gratifying habits. There exists a warrior within all of us as a manifestation of the Supreme Spirit called the pure Soul. However, it is latent and the numerous sense satisfying and ego satiating proclivities overpower it and push a human being towards worldly desires.
16.     -       Acceptance and Expectations. Human beings search for happiness all over and try to find it in various materialistic assets. Little do they realise that materialistic assets can give only comfort but not happiness. Find true happiness within yourself and the way to achieve it is to understand the two words – acceptance and expectation. If we can learn to accept, what comes our way, then contentment will automatically follow. Contentment leads to satisfaction and that is the harbinger of happiness. Besides acceptance, one must not have expectations. Having expectations of any kind or from anyone leads to frustration when they are not met. Frustration gives rise to anguish and anger and they lead to unhappiness.
17.       - Want and Need. The other aspect that makes a human being unhappy is that he does no differentiate between his wants and his needs. To exemplify, a person may need a two-room house to stay and two square meals to live a healthy life. However, he wants a mansion so that he can boast about it to satisfy his ego; he also wants a seven-course meal to satisfy his greed, whereas only two simple meals can satisfy his appetite. Wants arise mainly due to societal or peer pressure. The six Doshas of Kama (lust), Krodha (anger), Lobha (greed), Moha (delusion), Mada(pride) and Matsarya (envy) are instrumental in making a human being relate to the materialistic delusion comprising this world.  

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