We exist in a
powerfully webbed and networked structure, where people with divine energy continue
to work with integrity, faith and trust and making efforts to live in peace and
harmony without exploitation and without suppression of will of fellow beings. However,
people with asur or dis-harmonized energy continue to act without
integrity, faith and trust as they continue to exploit others, supress their
will and perpetrate corruption. In Chapter 16, shalok 16.01 – 16.05, Shri
Krishan expounds 28 (twenty-eight) attributes of people with divine energy and
in shalok 16.04 – 16.20 explicates 64 (sixty-four) characteristics of asur,
disharmonized, toxins, narcissists, vampire, zombies and the like beings. These
traits are sanaatan in nature, they exit forever in different
combination in all human beings around us and every one of us must know about
them early in life, sooner the better.
Every individual is
in a constant struggle to achieve total harmony and perpetual happiness. In the
process every person continues to make serious and sincere efforts to resolve
the conflicts within one’s own self and those existing in the world around. In
this process of resolving conflicts, every person at every moment needs
necessary information, understanding, knowledge and wisdom to guide him to deal
with the same. Every moment the divine and the asur energies within and
outside seems to continue to come into conflict as we are struck by futuristic
trauma as happened with Arjun, just before the beginning of the great war of Mahaabhaarat.
Arjun, a kshatriye, one of the finest archers of his times, a great
warrior, with vast experiences of combats, fights, war, knowledgeable in
various arts, with potentiality for clear and objective intellectual analysis, but
also emotional was overwhelmed by futuristic trauma (shalok 1.28-1.46,
2.4-2.8).
As soon as Arjun
realized the post-war scenario, in which almost all 4.5 million heroic and
fearless human beings were to be wiped off the face of earth, leaving behind
old parents, widows and children, leading to varn admixture and pitr
dosh, he was seized by feeble mindedness, confusion and grief resulting in
deep distressing state, affecting his entire persona. As he watched both the
armies locked in fierce battle, he felt that the war will not serve any purpose
and will lead not to victory but to death of millions and that was unacceptable
to him as a king. He strongly felt that every benefit of war will be lost after
the war with extermination of all kith, kin and fellow beings and he was struck
by total emotional breakdown.
Arjun narrated his harrowing
emotional feelings and condition to Shri Krishan who as his true and closest
friend had agreed to be Arjun’s charioteer. Shri Krishan begins his address
with a powerful statement to shake Arjun and connect him to fundaments of
existence in Chapter 2 shalok 11 to 30:
"You grieve for those
who should not be grieved for, yet you speak like wise. The wise grieve neither
for the living nor for the dead11. Neither I, nor you, nor any of
these ruling princes were ever non-existent before nor is it that we shall not
cease to be in the future12. The indweller in the body experiences
childhood, youth and old age of the body and also passes on to another body,
the serene one is not affected thereby13. The contacts of the senses
with their objects create son of Kunti, feelings of heat and cold, of pain and
pleasure. They come and go and are impermanent, bear them patiently, Bhaarat14. That man, the best of men, is fitted for
immortality, whom these do not torment, who is balanced in pain and pleasure
and is steadfast15. The unreal has no existence, the real never
ceases to be. The truth about both has been realized by seers16.
Know that to be certainly indestructible by which all this is pervaded. None
can affect the destruction of the immutable17. These bodies of the
Indweller, who is eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable are said to have an
end. Fight, therefore, Bhaarat18.
He who holds aatma as killer and he who considers it as killed, both are
ignorant. It kills not, nor is it killed19. The aatma is neither
born nor does it die. Coming into being and ceasing to be, do not take place in
It. It is unborn, eternal, constant and ancient. It is not destroyed when the
body is slain20. He who realizes the aatma as indestructible,
eternal, unborn and changeless, how can he kill, Paarth, or cause another to
kill?21 As a man casting off worn out garments puts on new ones, so
the embodied, casting off worn out bodies, enters into others22.
Weapons do not cleave the Aatma, agni burns it not, water wets it not and wind
dries it not23. This Self is un-cleavable, incombustible and neither
wetted nor dried. It is eternal, all pervading, stable immovable and
everlasting24. This aatma is said to be un-manifested, unthinkable
and immutable, therefore, knowing it as such, you should not grieve25
or if you conceive of aatma as given to constant births and deaths, even then,
mighty armed, you should not feel sorrow26. Death is certain for
that which is born, birth is certain for that which is dead. You should not,
therefore, grieve over the inevitable27. Beings are all, Bhaarat,
un-manifested in their origin, manifested in their mid-state and un-manifested
again in their end. What is the point then for anguish?28 One
beholds the Self as wonderful, another mentions it as marvellous, another again
hears of it as strange, though hearing yet another knows it not at all.29
This Indweller in the bodies of all is ever indestructible. Bhaarat, therefore,
you should not grieve for any being.30”
As they enter into conversation,
Arjun continues to ask questions, raise issues and even challenge the authority
of Shri Krishan, with the sole purpose of refraining to enter into war and that
led to unfolding of sanaatan knowledge and wisdom which was spread in ved,
vedaant, upanishads and in sanaatan culture, which has continued to
move down the ages as smriti and shruti. What unfolds is various
nature of beings, their attitudes, eternal nature of the absolute truth,
attributes of cosmos, various paths that are followed by homo sapiens,
for their spiritual growth and self-realization.
Shri Krishan with his
multi-dimensional existence apprises Arjun as Shri Krishan (human),
consciousness (aatma), total consciousness (param-aatma) and
beyond consciousness (cosmos). Shri Krishan acts as a peace mediator resolving
all existing conflicts between Arjun, who was trained all his life to fight
wars on one side and emotionally blocked Arjun who was restraining to fight
war, on the other side. Shri Krishan addresses the deep internal
conflict within Arjun’s mind which arose in view of the futuristic trauma or
social sufferings that may arise in future and will affect generations to come.
Shri Krishan, who was well aware of the coming changes, continued to answer all
queries of Arjun with a smile, showing him the larger picture, the cyclical
transitory time, spiritual dimension of all beings and existence of a single
cosmic energy beyond and as the basis of all that exists in this universe and
all that is sanaatan wisdom. The interactive session finally helped
Arjun to resolve his conflicts and perform his duties with perfection and
without delusion.
The brilliance of
generative dialogue between Shri Krishan and Arjun is that Shri Krishan
continues to expound the sanaatan knowledge and wisdom without telling
Arjun what needs to be done. Sanaatan knowledge and wisdom helps Arjun
to take decision on his own and the that the brilliance of it all
Shalok 8.17 refers
to the beginning of the time or the awakening of Braham for one day after
one Brahm night = One kalp = 14 Manvanta + 1 Sat yug = 1000 yug = 4,320 000 00 years, expounds the
calculation of time or kaal gadna also existence of cyclic time as
contradistinguished from Abraham religions which are based on lateral time.
Chapter 13 deals with
kshetr and kshetragye, the body and the embodied or the Prakriti
and the Purush. This is the most important and the least understood basis
of sanaatan philosophy. Purush is aatma, ishwar, jeev, praan,
self, conscience, consciousness, cosmic reality, cosmic energy, life element, living
spark, soul, spirit, absolute truth, will, embodied, in-dweller or any other
name connoting the life element in being with some attributes as referred in
Chapter 2. Prakriti is everything other than the Purush,
including the five basic element – earth, water, fire, air and space, five gyaanendriyaan
or sense organs – eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin, which perceives the objects
of senses, five karamendriyan – mouth for speech, hands for action, feet
for moment, genital organs for reproduction and anus for excretion, by which we
undertake action. Everything that exists in the world around is also a
combination of Purush and Prakriti. Shalok 13.5 and 13.6
expounds the same as follows:
“The great
elements, egoism, intellect, as also the un-manifested, the ten senses and the
one mind and the five objects of the senses5, desire, hatred,
pleasure, pain, the aggregate intelligence, firmness, the kshetr has been thus
briefly described with its modifications6.”
13.7 to 13.11
explicates knowledge and ignorance as follows:
“Humility,
modesty, non-injury, forbearance, uprightness, service of the teacher, purity,
steadfastness, Self-control7, tranquillity towards the objects of
the senses and also absence of egoism, perception of evil in birth, death, old
age, sickness and pain8, non-attachment, non-identification of Self
with son, wife, home and the like and constant equanimity in the occurrence of
the desirable and the undesirable9, unswerving devotion to Me in yog
of non-separation, resort to sequestered places, distaste for the society of
men10, constancy in Self-knowledge, perception of truth as the end
of the knowledge, this is declared to be knowledge and what is opposed to it is
ignorance11.”
Shalok 13.12 – 13.18
describes Purushottam or total cosmic energy -
“…Beginningless is
the supreme Brahm. It is not said to be ‘sat’ or ‘asat’12. With
hands and feet everywhere, with eyes and mouths everywhere, with ears
everywhere, He exists enveloping all13. Shining by the functions of
all the senses, yet without the senses. Absolute, yet sustaining all, devoid of
gunn, yet He experiences them14. Outside and within all beings, the
unmoving and also the moving, because of this subtlety, He is incomprehensible,
He is far and near15. He is undivided and yet He seems to be divided
in beings. He is to be known as the supporter of beings. He devours and He
generates16. The light of all lights, He is said to be beyond
darkness, knowledge, the knowable, the goal of knowledge, seated in the hearts
of all17. Thus the kshetr, knowledge and that which must be known
has been briefly described…18
In Chapter 10 – shalok
10.20 – 39, Shri Krishan narrates 76 (seventy six) attributes of Parameshwar
or Purushottam dealing with the manifestation. Some of them are Sun
amongst luminaries – shalok 10.21, Moon amongst planets - shalok
10.21, Mind amongst senses – shalok 10.22, Ocean amongst water bodies – shalok
10.24, Om amongst sound – shalok 10.25, Jaanvi (Ganges) amongst rivers
All these gives the widest spread of knowledge about the cosmic expression in
the world and things around us in its most outstanding and brilliant form.
In chapter 14, shalok
14.06 – 14.16 Shri Krishan deals with the attributes of the three gunn –
saattvik, raajsik and taamsik and in chapter 17 and 18 deals with
the spread of three gunn in different events of beings. He narrates the nature of Sattva – shalok
14.06, 14.09 – 14.11, 14.14, 14.16 -14.17, Rajas – shalok 14.07, 14.09,
14.10, 14.12, 14.15-16 and Tamas -shalok 14.10, 14.13, 14.15-16. He
describes three kinds of shradha - shalok 17.02 – 17.03, worship
– shalok 17.04, austerity – shalok 17.05 – 17.06, food – shalok
17.07 – 17.10, yagye – shalok 17.11 – 17.13, speech – shalok
17.15 – 17.16, gift – shalok 17.20 – 17.22, abandonment – shalok
17.07 – 18.09, knowledge – shalok 18.20 – 18.22, action shalok
18.23 – 18.25, doer shalok 18.26 – 18.27, intellect – shalok
18.30 – 18.32, firmness – shalok 18.33 – 18.35 and happiness shalok
18.37 – 18.39. All this gives deep and complete knowledge of them all and this
knowledge is all pervasive.
Shri Krishan expounds
all possible paths chapter after chapters. Chapter 2 - Saankhye Yog, the
path of Self Knowledge; Chapter 3 – Karm Yog, the path of action;
Chapter 4 – Gyaan Karm Sanyaas Yog, the path of knowledge, action and
renunciation; Chapter 5 – Karm Sanyaas Yog - the path of action and
renunciation; Chapter 6 – Aatm Sanyam Yog, the path of Self-Restrain;
Chapter 7 – Gyaan Vigyaan Yog , the path of Knowledge and Science;
Chapter 8 – Akshar Brahm Yog - The path of Imperishable; Chapter 9 – Raaj-Vidya
Raaj - Guhye Yog - the path of wisdom and mysticism; Chapter 12 – Bhakti
Yog - the path of devotion and surrender; Chapter 18 – Moksh Sanyaas Yog
- the path of renunciation and emancipation. All this words of wisdom is to
help us to find what is true for us.
In Chapter 11, Vishwarup
Darshan helps Arjun experiencing the universal form of the cosmos. Sanaatan
knowledge and wisdom is not merely rhetoric, logicalizing or dialectics where
the entire effort is to win and establish intellectual superiority but is all
about transmission of and having cosmic experience. The world has choicelessly
moved from the third to the fourth dimension after experiencing the covid
cosmic kick and have become aware of the metaphysical existence of us there is
awareness of toxin free health, pollution free environment and non-conflicting
existence. Reading, understanding and assimilation of the simple but deep
learning so beautifully expounded in Shrimat Bhagwad Geeta has more
relevance and significance to mankind today than ever. There is not a single
word in the song celestial which does not contain an underlying thought or hold
a significant meaning to relate to the path that every human being is traveling
in lateral time and existing in quantum way. It is for us to locate our
standing in the universe and move forward to achieve the true and real purpose
of life. It is also for us to see why those who, though seem to be rising on
social ladder, are falling from the true and real purpose of life, until the
truth dawns and the karmic colours splash on life’s canvas, following
irreversible laws of nature, without judgment.
The song Celestial
helps us to unwind all that riddles us once we decide to let our life loose.
There is not a single word or thought which can be added in the song celestial
here, there, or anywhere. Shrimat Bhagwad Geeta is a complete code, with
its tributaries and attributes reaching all over. Time and again it becomes
imperative for everyone who in the process of seeking realization seeks to
decipher the mundane and the ephemeral as also the metaphysical and ethereal to
perceive the picture as a whole, which it quests to experience, as the goal and
purpose of coming into existence.
Shrimat Bhagwad Geeta is one of the most
powerful documents to be read and re-read, to enable understanding of the people
and world around and realising the true nature of Self. It helps us to begin or
to end in the most profound manner the so-called war between forces that are
blindfolded by lust, greed, and desire to control and continue to exploit
others and feel more authorised, empowered, and sanctioned, to continue in
their venture, on one hand. On the other hand, are those that have the
necessary wisdom, knowledge, experience and understanding and wish to continue
to exist helping each other and feel pained by the miseries of the exploited
and the exploiters and keep evading the war until it becomes inevitable, for
that brings several other kinds of misery, unhappiness, and disasters. It is
imperative to have awareness of the whole to act meaningfully and effectively
act in the world to our perfection and continue to enjoy bliss of existence.
The advent of the new age demands
re-enforcement of the same said principles and the underlying energies in a new
form to be fully appreciated, understood, and realised. One of the basic
ingredients of sanaatan belief system is the physical experience of
Truth and that is one reason that the fundamentals of philosophy have survived
irrespective of the onslaughts. The conscious meta - physical experience and
realisation and the bliss that follows is a very personal experience and keeps
the being act purposefully, till the existence continues to exist in bliss and
ecstasy.
Reading and
understanding Shrimat Bhagwad Geeta is yet another step to help the
perception of the conflicts and resolve them or help the perception of absence
of such conflicts and negate them. In the absence of correct appreciation,
understanding and realization of the Truth, every human being not only thwarts
her/his own development and progress towards the Ultimate, but also gets
involved in social reactions and interactions which defeat the very purpose of
existence. The inability of human being to perceive the whole or Its true
nature brings about thoughts and feelings like disapproval, disappointment,
displeasure, annoyance, anger, dissatisfaction, depression, frustration, guilt,
fear, jealousy, hatred, melancholy etc. leading to social expressions and
social phenomena like lack of sympathy, unfriendliness, hostility, aggression,
enmity, abuse, violence, exploitation, brutality, terrorism, poverty,
corruption, divorce etc. which religion and law endeavor to minimize and
control. This book is neither intended to unsettle the minds of those who are attached
to pleasure and power or to invite their opinion. This is meant merely to
induce and reinforce in the wise the stimulus and vitality to carry
persistently and precisely on their activities, to create a perfectly
harmonized social order and help every other individual to reach
Self-realization.
It is time for us all
to realize our true Self and move on a spiritual path, within. It is the time
to Shrimat Bhagwad Geeta helps us to see the larger cosmic picture, our
location in the cosmos, and the path uniquely suitable and provided to us. For
over 5,000 years now and for times immemorial Shrimat Bhagwad Geeta will
continue to help every old soul on the path to resolve the issues and help
becoming conflict free, leading to move with the spiritual revolution 5.0.
