I was talking about war preparations and all of a sudden, I now am talking about Bhagavad Geetha! Were you surprised?
Many people know Bhagavad Geetha as the holiest of the Hindu scriptures. Some even call it Bible of Hinduism though this epithet is far from apt. But very few people know that it is part of the great Indian Epic Mahabharata. Bhagavad Geetha is a long dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna just on the threshold of the impending war.
Dialogue in the war field? They should have been fighting the enemy! But it was Vyasa’s way of bringing up intense philosophic ideas and communicating the essence of the Vedas to his audience.
Literally, Bhagavad Geetha means ‘Song of the Divine’. It is in poetic form, metrically composed as 700+ verses. Traditional people believe it to be really a dialogue that took place between Krishna and Arjuna just before the war started. It is possible that some such dialogue would have actually taken place, but conveying something in the form of a dialogue and more specifically as a song was the typical style adapted by many Indian scriptures. Vyasa himself employs many such Geethas both in Bhagavata as well as Mahabharata to convey various ideas.
When Arjuna reached the war field along with Krishna as his charioteer, suddenly Arjuna was filled with remorse and decided to put down his weapons. He did not want to slay his own people – brothers, nephews, uncles, grandfathers, preceptors, just for the sake of regaining their lost Kingdom. That was the misconception that Arjuna had. He had forgotten the real purpose of the war. The war was not being fought for any personal gain but in the greater interest of the society at large. The idea was to put an end to evil people like Duryodhana, and free the world from the clutches of unrighteous people like him.
This is where Krishna interjects and corrects Arjuna on his wrong perception. So, the entire dialogue is a psychoanalysis of mindset of people of different types and how they need to conduct themselves in a given situation. The Geetha also has the additional intent to bring out the essence of the Upanishads – the philosophic parts of the Vedas. This in itself can be termed as the central theme of Bhagavad Geetha.
In my book “Krishna’s4 paths to Ultimate happiness – Complete Yogic science of BhagavadGeetha”, I have delved primarily on this aspect of Bhagavad Geetha. I have shown how the Bhagavad Geetha is a psychoanalytical text which suggests different spiritual paths for people of varying mental makeup. Most importantly, Krishna analyzes basic human nature, the reasons for varying personality types, and the right way to go for a person of a given personality type.
Since I have discussed all these in detail in that book, I will not repeat it here. That book conveys the essence of Bhagavad Geetha. Please refer to that book which is available as e-book, printed book as well audio book. In the present context, I will only touch upon two relevant ideas from Bhagavad Geetha.
As I said, the entire Bhagavad Geetha started because of the delusion of Arjuna who was about to lay down his arms and quit the battle field. He was over worried about the possible consequences of the war. In his confusion, he had forgotten his duty as a warrior – to safeguard the helpless. Krishna brings out Arjuna from this confusion about what is the right thing to do.
Just to summarize Krishna’s advise to Arjuna and confused people like Arjuna, let me quote one well known verse from Bhagavad Geetha.
karmaNyEva adhikaarashthE maa phalEshu kadhaachana maa karmaphalahEthuh bhooh maa thE sangOsthu akaramaNi
-- Bhagavad Geetha 2.47
Simply put, all that it means is the following
Yours is to do your duty and not decide about the results. You are not the decider of the results. Never abstain from your duties.
It appears quite simple, but has profound implications. Arjuna was a warrior, whose duty is to safeguard helpless people. The only way he could do that was by waging the war with the Kauravas who were the perpetrators of unrighteousness. So, fighting was unavoidable. Now would he succeed in achieving what he intended to? That is not something which was under his control. That was decided by many factors beyond his control. By putting down his weapons, Arjuna was not only foregoing his duties but also indirectly supporting the wrongs done by the Kauravas. That was definitely not acceptable. So, he had to act as demanded by the situation.
This is some advice which applies to most of us who like Arjuna are confused about what we are supposed to do. We fret about the possibility of failure or the consequences of our actions. That does not help in anyway. Once we decide that the action is inevitable, we need to do it whole heartedly, leaving the consequences to providence or circumstance.
Taken in isolation, shorn off its context, this advice is often misinterpreted. Some even interpret it to mean doing something with total disregard to consequences, or acting aimlessly. Probably, reading it in the proper context can clarify things better. I leave those details to my afore mentioned book. Probably that would clarify things.
The other key advice given by Krishna through Bhagavad Geetha is the following
yath karOshi yadh ashnaasi yajjuhOshi dhadhaasi yath
yath thapasyasi kaunthEya thathkurushva madharpaNam
shubha ashubha phalaih Evam mOkShasE karma bamdhanaih
sanyaasa yOgayuktaatmaa vimuktah maam upaishyasi
-- Bhagavad Geetha 9.27-28
Which can be paraphrased as follows.
Offer whatever you do to God. If you act that way, you would be freed of good as well as bad effects of your actions. You will attain God through such detached action.
Most of the time, we do various things for our own sake. That is when the problems start. Instead, if all our actions are done as an offering to God, there is no scope for selfishness. Even when we help others as a service to God, there is no scope for expecting anything in return for whatever help we did. It becomes selfless service. Such actions don’t bind us.
Note that Bhagavad Geetha does not advice giving up actions, but doing them without any attachment for the fruits of the actions. That is the key.
What Bhagavad Geetha says towards the end is very interesting. It says
“I have told you various alternatives. It is up to you to analyze and do what you feel is the right thing for you”
So, there is no ‘one way’, nor there is any insistence to do in a specific way. Rigidity makes things suffocating, whereas leaving to individual’s discretion allows the individual to grow.
At the end of this long discourse, i.e. Bhagavad Geetha, Arjuna realizes his folly and agrees to fight like a true warrior. A horrible massacre ensues in which all limits of right and wrong are violated. I will summarize this war in the next episode.
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