“When devas are worshipped and satisfied, they give rain and good crops.”
It is easy to misconstrue this statement. Will rains cease, or will crops die because worship is stopped? Are rains and crops dependent on human effort? Then, does it not mean that man is more powerful than nature? This is a frivolous argument. If a father says to his scallywag of a son, “If you study well, I will buy you a wristwatch. If you listen to your mother she...
Thus, one who leads life in the form of tapas, yajña, and dāna, does not have to hanker after mokṣa. It is readily available. By leading a life that is dedicated to the divine, he climbs above the duality caused by lust and anger. Gradually he will realize that there is something beyond worldly enjoyment and becomes eligible to see the abode of paramātmā. Then is freedom from karmic shackles.
yastvātmaratirēva syādātmatṛptaśca mānavaḥ |...
If we consider the verses between the ninth verse – “yajñārthāt...” and the sixteenth verse – “moghaṃ pārtha sa jīvati” as one single meaningful portion, the meaning might be clearer. The style of the text here is a little complex. Two or three metaphors are combined thus: Kāmadhenu (the milch-cow of desire), jīva-cakra (the cycle of jīvas), brahma-cakra (the cycle of brahma). The topics too are knotty. Food, rain, crops, yajñā, distribution of...
Sat-karma itself is dharma. It is of three kinds:
Laukika (pertaining to the world)
Vaidika (pertaining to the Vedas)
Pāramārthika (pertaining to the ultimate truth)
Laukika dharma is what we commonly follow in the world – bhūtadayā (compassion towards all creatures), sadācāra (virtuous conduct), satya(truth), ahiṃsā(nonviolence), śauca(purity), kṣamā(mercy), dīnavātsalya (tenderness towards the wretched), para-hita-cintana (thinking of...
naranahudu hariyumahuda-
ccariyahudu rahasyamahudu rasikanaliptaṃ।
pariṇata-laukikanumahudu
paripūrṇa-manuṣya-jīvanōjjvala-mukuraṃ॥
He is human and also Hari,
He is wonderful, a secret, a rasika who is unattached,
He is an expert too in the matters of the world
He (Kṛṣṇa) is the glowing mirror to a complete human life.
guruvātaṃ dharmadhuraṃ-
dharanātaṃ rājyataṃtri raṇajayiyātaṃ।
puruṣārtha-sakalanātaṃ...
Appendix 5. Vyavasāya (Sustained effort)
vyavasāyātmikā buddhirekeha kurunandana || (2.41)
Here vyavasāya refers to sustained effort or continuous industry focused on a single goal. That is penance (tapas). A person needs to be of a single-pointed mind to satisfy any immense objective. If, on the other hand, his mind were to vacillate from one side to another every moment, none of his efforts would go very far.
80 or 90 percent of us need to...
Appendix 2. What do we do with our sense organs?
The havoc created by the sense organs repeatedly comes up for discussion. There is no life without sense organs; but no peace of mind with them. How do we deal with them?
indriyāṇi pramāthīni haranti prasabhaṃ manaḥ । (BG 2.60)
The sense organs disturb the mind, scatter it and take it away. Therefore the sense organs have to be restrained. What does this mean? Should the organs be prevented...
The principle of the Self decides everything
The teaching of the Gītā begins from the second chapter in which Bhagavān classifies the entire Universe into the body and the embodied, and explains that while the body is subject to modification and destruction, the embodied Self consciousness is immutable, eternal, of one form and without any divisions.
The Self is eternal, omnipresent, immutable, without beginning and end. What is the reason...
The Characteristics of a Knower
The teaching must have affected Arjuna a wee bit. He asks, “You mentioned about the state of being in samādhi and talked about a sthitaprajña (one of steady wisdom). What are his characteristics? How does he speak?” Bhagavān enumerates the marks of a knower which forms the education of a seeker. The nineteen ślokas from the 54th to 72nd were apparently Mahatma Gandhi’s favourites. These ślokas are useful for...
There are several tiers of instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā from the level of "patraṃ puṣpaṃ phalaṃ toyam" (offering a leaf, flower, fruit or water) to the level of nistraiguṇya (being beyond the three qualities). Not all of us can follow these teachings at all times. It is like a library wherein we select what we need. Though there are hundreds of lessons, it is up to us to choose what fits us. One’s itch cannot be relieved by another person....