In the Rāmāyaṇa, after Daśaratha left to the heavenly abode, when Bharata begged Rāma to return to Ayodhyā and become the king, Srirāma says the following -
yathā kāṣṭhaṃ ca kāṣṭhaṃ ca sameyātāṃ mahārṇave ।
sametya ca vyapeyātāṃ kālamāsādya kañcana ॥
evaṃ bhāryāśca putrāśca jñātayaśca dhanāni ca ॥(2.105.26, 27)
Srīrāma’s opinion is — “Just as two logs coming from different places travel together for some time and then disperse in a vast ocean, similarly wives, children, relatives and wealth are with us for some time and leave us. This union and parting are characteristics of saṃsāra. Nothing is permanent in this world, except dharma”.
In the analogy of logs of wood above, the energy that makes the logs move is the current of water. Each river pushed a log into the ocean. Remnants of debts from past lives and the obligations of puṇya and pāpa of the beings of the world have caused them to come together in various ways. Vaidika dharma believes that all friendships and other relationships and all hatred and distress happen for a reason. Materialists (Those who believe in the absolute independence of the physical world) aver that there is no such reason. They say that life is just whatever we directly perceive.
Materialists say that the universe is just a collaboration of atoms; they say that death and pralaya are the dispersal of atoms. Combination and dissolution happen solely because of the nature of atoms and nothing else. The bonding ability and valency of atoms make them behave thus. Who created them in this way? Nobody knows who it is. The universe is a result of their attractive and repulsive forces. Likewise, a man and his manas are the result of the play of atomic forces. After playing for a long time like this, atoms might lose their energy and become still. That is death. Till that comes, whatever a man finds pleasure in, is good for him. Puṇya, pāpa and rebirth are cock-and-bull stories. There is nothing after death.
This is a summary of the atomic theory. It is śūnyavāda — or the theory of voidness; because there was vacuum before the birth of the universe and after its death. It is an atheistic theory, because it does not accept the existence of the ātmavastu that is different from temporary and fleeting atoms. That is materialism. In today’s world, it is a known fact that communists are the materialists, opposing religious beliefs and upholding the supremacy of the material world.
This is the answer the Veda gives to atheists and materialists —
asanneva sa bhavati । asad-brahmeti veda cet । asti brahmeti ced-veda । santamenaṃ tato viduḥ ॥
Taittirīya-upaniṣad
“One who thinks that there is no Brahma, becomes naught himself. One who believes in it will qualify to understand its full nature of the mysterious sadvastu that is the Brahma”.
The universe and man are a small part of the Brahma which is the basis of everything. From where can a part originate, if not from the whole? If that does not exist, this does not either. It is obtained by those who believe in it, not those who disbelieve and dismiss it. Those who say that they don’t believe in a supreme being only regard self-importance and their own pleasure. Those people, who are established in themselves — their own bodies and their pleasure — are asuras. Let us see which peoples answer to the characteristics of asuras, as described by Bhagavān.
kāmamāśritya duṣpūraṃ dambha-māna-madānvitāḥ ॥
(BG 16.10)
cintām-aparimeyāṃ ca pralayāntām-upāśritāḥ ।
kāmopabhoga-paramā etāvaditi niścitāḥ ॥(BG 16.11)
īhante kāmabhogārthaṃ anyāyenārtha-sañcayān ॥
(BG 16.12)
“Their desire is never satisfied. There is no beginning or end to their pride and haughtiness. They are so sure of themselves that they have plans till the end of the world. They have decided that pleasure is their highest human goal, and strive towards earning the means required for that”.
Is this not the description of many countries among us now? When we say India has to compete with Europe and America, is it not in this competition of acquiring more and more pleasure objects? (This was written in the 1960s. By now we can safely say that we are effortlessly competing with western nations in consumerism and what Srīkṛṣṇa succinctly puts as “kamopabhogaparāmya”.)
What is the nature of their pride?
asau mayā hataḥ śatruḥ haniṣye cāparānapi ।
īśvaroham ahaṃ bhogī siddho’haṃ balavān sukhī ॥(BG 16.14)
āḍhyo’bhijanavān asmi ko’nyo’sti sadṛśo mayā ।
yakṣye dāsyāmi modiṣya ityajñāna-vimohitāḥ ॥(BG 16.15)
“I destroyed this enemy, now I will hit this other enemy. (I gobbled Tibet and am now nibbling at India). I am the master. I am the master of pleasures. I am the winner. I am the strongest. I was born to experience pleasure only. I am the most affluent. I was born in the best family. Who in the world can be equal to me? I perform all the yajñas I desire to. I give all the dānas I want to. I enjoy all the wealth I want” — The ignorance and delusion of an asura makes him talk like this.
Asuras do worship now and then. Didn’t Rāvaṇa and other rākṣasas perform penance and other austerities and gain boons from that? But what kind of worship was that?
mohād-gṛhītvā’sadgrāhān pravartante’śuci-vratāḥ ।
yajante nāmayajñais-te dambhenāvidhi-pūrvakam ॥(BG 16.10, 16.11)
“Asuras fancy and perform unclean vratas (like worshipping bhūtas and pretas) that are forbidden by the virtuous. For praise by the world, they perform yajñas disregarding śāstra and sampradāya. It is yajña for namesake only; in reality it is mere pageantry”.
What is the use of many pots of water for a sandhyāvandanam without mantras? There is no food for the hungry; but electric lights in the wedding pandal are bright enough to hurt the eyes. Was this happening in Srīkṛṣṇa’s time? Probably not. Bhagavan knows the past, present and future. He might have seen our times through his divine vision and said this.
mamātma-paradeheṣu pradviṣanto’bhyasūyakāḥ ॥
(BG 16.18)
“They abhor and despise paramātmā which is within them and others also”.
This is the main trait of materialists. They do not respect the existence of the supreme energy that is paramātmā within them or within others, and behave with intolerance and hatred towards Bhagavān, like Hiraṇyakaśipu. Doom is reserved for them.
āsurīṃ yonimāpannā mūḍhā janmani janmani ।
māmuprāpyaiva kaunteya tato yānty-adhamāṃ gatim ॥(BG 16.19)
Such people cannot attain the paramātmā. They are born in low life-forms again and again and sink downwards.
By deliberating upon and understanding life in the universe and by critically examining the qualities of daiva and asura, the principles of accepting Bhagavān and treading the path towards him can be understood. We should first completely accept in our minds that paramātmā pervades everywhere, is the cause of everything and is the master of everything. Secondly, as we have accepted Bhagavān, we should submit to his rule wholeheartedly.
The following three human qualities come in the way of such acceptance :
trividhaṃ narakasyedaṃ dvāraṃ nāśanamātmanaḥ ।
kāmaḥ krodhas-tathā lobhaḥ tasmād-etat-trayaṃ tyajet ॥(BG 16.21)
“There are three doors to naraka — kāma (desire), krodha (anger) and lobha(covetousness). These harm the ātmā. Therefore they should be given up”.
Kāma is the desire for pleasure. It is the fancy for seeking, seeing and experiencing delight and pleasure everywhere, come what may. If that is not satisfied, it results in prolonged frustration, which is nothing but krodha. Lobha is the intense greed for possessing whatever, whoever one wants, wherever it/he/she is. Rāvana is the ideal for all the three qualities. Kāma is the predominant quality of Kīcaka; krodha of Kaṃsa and lobha of Duryodhana.
Along with kama, krodha and lobha, moha (impulsiveness due to delusion/or without discretion), mada (forgetting oneself out of pride) and mātsarya (jealousy) are added and called the ariṣaḍvarga — or the six enemies. These six are thieves that hide within every man and steal his daivī wealth when he is not paying attention. One should be careful about these thieves who are within him. Well-being of the ātmā will then follow.
By giving up kāma and others, the ātmā is filtered clean of its impurities. That is a negative action. After this, there has to be a positive action of sādhanā. The way for that should be understood from śāstras.
tasmāc-chāstraṃ pramāṇaṃ te kāryākārya-vyavasthitau ।
jñātvā śāstra-vidhānoktaṃ karma kartum-ihārhasi ॥BG 16.24
“Arjuna, śāstra is the teacher that tells you what you have to do and what you should not. Perform your karma according to it”.
Washing a vessel is meaningful if good food is cooked in it. If good food has to be cooked, one should know the art and science of cooking — from watching others cook, reading cookbooks, and by one’s own experience. Similarly, if our life has to become better, we have to know what makes it more beautiful and what distorts it.
Here, śāstra is the collective term for four instructors:
vedaḥ smṛtiḥ sadācāraḥ svasya ca priyam-ātmanaḥ ।
etac-caturvidhaṃ prāhuḥ sākṣād-dharmasya lakṣaṇam ॥Manusmṛti
1.Vedas 2. Smṛtis 3. Traditions followed by the good and learned. 4. One’s own discernment of what is beneficial and what is not for him — dharma can be ascertained when the above four are together.
To be continued...
The present series is a modern English translation of DVG’s Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award-winning work, Bhagavad-gītā-tātparya or Jīvana-dharma-yoga. The translators wish to express their thanks to Śatāvadhāni R Ganesh for his valuable feedback and to Hari Ravikumar for his astute edits.
