Author Archives: skr_2011

Bhagavad Gita Verse 18, Chapter 2

14 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.18, anaashinaha, antavanta, aprameyasya, chapter 2 verse 18, dehaa, ime, nityasya, shareerinaha, tasmaat, uktaaha, yudhyasva

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antavanta ime dehaa nityasyoktaaha shareerinaha |
anaashinoprameyasya tasmaadyudhyasva bhaarata || 18 ||

These bodies of the eternal body-dweller will perish, it is said. It is imperishable and unfathomable. Therefore, fight, O Bhaarata.

antavanta : perishable
ime : these
dehaa : bodies
nityasya : eternal
uktaaha : has been said
shareerinaha: this body-dweller
anaashinaha : imperishable
aprameyasya : unfathomable
tasmaat : therefore
yudhyasva : fight
bhaarata : O Bhaarata

Like the previous shloka did, this shloka introduces another aspect of the eternal essence. It is unfathomable, incomprehensible. In other words, it cannot be understood by our intellect like we understand other kinds of knowledge. Also notice here that the eternal essence is denoted as one entity, whereas the bodies are many. Which means it is same eternal essence that pervades all material objects, including human bodies.

Since Shri Krishna concludes a line of reasoning in this shloka with the word “tasmaat”, let’s summarize the argument that began in verse 11 of this chapter:

1) Shri Krishna told Arjuna : “You are thinking that it is evil, wrong, unlawful to fight against your kinsmen. Your logic is incorrect. You are missing the big picture.”
2) “I will tell you the correct logic. You shouldn’t grieve for them. The eternal essence, body dweller, is imperishable and real, whereas human bodies and material objects are perishable, and are unreal, as it were.”
3) “I will also give you some practical advice. Do not get agitated by joy and sorrow caused by contact with people, objects and situations. These are temporary conditions so bear them patiently. Once you learn to remain stable through joy and sorrow, you will begin to realize the eternal essence”.
4) “Now that you know that you can never destroy the imperishable eternal essence, and that you should not grieve for the perishable, get up and fight, O Arjuna”.

So then, what is the bottomline? “Arjuna, you should not think that you are this human body. Associate yourself with that body-dweller, that eternal essence. It will never get destroyed, so there is no need for grief.”

Here we also see that Shri Krishna, like any good teacher, is providing 2 kinds of training : theoretical and practical. From the next shloka onwards, we will examine the theoretical, or logical aspect. In the later part of the chapter we will look at the practical aspect.

Footnotes
1. This shloka gives a pointer to the birth of the ego. When the eternal essence, which is one entity, associates itself with material objects, it gets split or fragmented. It begins to think that it is limited by whatever material object it is associated with. And when that eternal essence feels limited to a particular human body, and does everything in its power to maintain a sense of separation from everything else, that gives rise to the sense of ego.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 17, Chapter 2

13 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.17, arhati, asya, avinaashi, avyayasya, chapter 2 verse 17, idam, kartum, kashchit, sarvam, tatam, viddhi, vinaasham, yena

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avinaashi tu tadviddhi yena sarvamidam tatam |
vinaashamavyayasyaasya na kashchitkartumarhati || 17 ||

But know that (eternal essence) to be indestructible by which all this is pervaded. Nothing ever can destroy that, the imperishable.

avinaashi : indestructible
tu : but
tat : that
viddhi : know
yena : which
sarvam : everything
idam : this
tatam : pervades
vinaasham : destruction
avyayasya :  of the imperishable
asya : of this
na : not
kashchit : any
kartum : do
arhati : is able

The theme of the ongoing shlokas has been understanding the nature of the eternal essence. This verse gives us two qualities that the eternal essence possesses. Note that the sanskrit word “tat” meaning “that” refers to the eternal essence in this shloka.

Firstly, the eternal essence is imperishable. It cannot be destroyed, nor is it created. In the bangle example from the prior verse, the pawn shop owner only cared about the gold content of the bangle and not its shape and form. He could melt that bangle into another ornament, melt it again and make it into another ornament, and so on. In doing so, each subsequent ornament was “created” and “destroyed”, but the gold essence was imperishable and indestructible. Similarly, the eternal essence spoken of in these verses is imperishable.

Secondly, the eternal essence pervades “all this”, which means the eternal essence pervades the entire universe. If we immerse a piece of cloth into water, water pervades each and every fibre of the cloth. There is no part of the cloth that isn’t dry. In the same way, from a rock, to plants, to animals, and to humans, the eternal essence pervades everything that is part of the universe.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 16, Chapter 2

12 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.16, abhaavaha, anayoha, antaha, api, asataha, bhaavaha, chapter 2 verse 16, datshibhihi, drishtaha, na vidyate, sataha, tattva, tu, ubhayoha

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naasato vidyate bhaavo naabhaavo vidyate sataha |
ubhayoropi drishtontastvanayostattvadarshibhihi || 16 ||

The unreal has no existence, and there is no non-existence of the real; the truth about both of these has been experienced by seers of the essence.

asataha : unreal
bhaavaha : existence
vidyate : situation
na : no
tu : and
sataha : real
abhaavaha : non-existence
tattva : truth
darshibhihi : seers of
anayoha : of these two
ubhayoha : both
api : also
antaha : essence
drishtontaha : experienced

Here we encounter one of the most profound shlokas of the Gita, with layers and layers of meaning. It begins to lead us into understanding this thing called the eternal essence, and how we can experience it. At present, we may not have the capability to go too deep into it, but we can try to get its gist.

The best example I heard in connection with this verse is the animal cookie example. We may have come across animal cookies. They are a brand of children’s cookies shaped like tigers, elephant etc. Now, some children will only want to eat the tiger shaped cookie and not the others, whereas other children may only want to eat the elephant shaped ones and not the others. But, most adults would not care about the shape of the cookie, they will eat any shape.

Why is this so? The adult has the wisdom to go straight to the essence of the cookie. He or she does not care about the name or the form taken by the cookie. And this wisdom has come by maturity, by knowing that the animals were “un-real” and they did not have “existence”. Only the cookie dough was “real”, just like this verse indicates.

Another example is about the newly married wife who has just received a beautiful gold bangle from her husband. Although she cares about the shape and ornamentation of the bangle, a pawn shop owner would not not really care about those things. He only cares about the weight of the bangle.

The prior verse indicated that a wise person is one who stays balanced in joy and sorrow. This verse explains that the balanced person will slowly achieve wisdom and reach a state where any object or situation will begin to lose its “real-ness”. Only the eternal essence will remain as the common element behind every object or situation. This vision is called “tattva-drishti” or “vision of the essence”.

Moreover, the word “bhaava” has another meaning: finitude. So it means that the real is infinite, and the unreal is finite. Therefore, the wise person does not go on chasing material objects that have a finite existence and give only finite happiness.

Footnotes
1. The Jnyaneshwari has several examples to illustrate this verse, for further reference.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 15, Chapter 2

11 Tuesday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.15, amrutatvaaya, chapter 2 verse 15, dheeram, hi, kalpate, purusham, purusharshabha, saha, samaduhkhasukham, vyathayanti, yam

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yam hi na vyathayantyete purusham purusharshabha |
samaduhkhasukham dheeram somrutatvaaya kalpate || 15 ||

Therefore, that person who is not agitated by these (contacts with material objects), O strongest of men, and can remain balanced in joy and sorrow; that wise person is fit for immortality.

yam : that
hi : therefore
na : not
vyathayanti : agitated
yete : these
purusham : person
purusharshabha : O strongest among men
samaduhkhasukham : balanced in joy and sorrow
dheeram : wise person
saha : that
amrutatvaaya : immortality
kalpate : fit for

Most people who read this verse immediately zero in on the last part and quickly ask the question “will this mean that if I follow the teaching in this verse, I will never die?”. Immortality here does not refer to a state where our body never perishes, or a state where we go to heaven and enjoy its delights forever.

What is meant here is that life is a series of experiences that arise, exist temporarily, and perish. The person who knows the “trick” of staying balanced through these experiences will attain a state where they will transcend the push and pull of these experiences, and will eventually get to touch that changeless, eternal essence that came up in the earlier verses. One who does not get affected by agitation is called “dheera”.

So how do we bring this down to our daily lives? Let’s first look at a simple question. Why do someone else’s agitations do not impact us? Because we do not associate our “I” with someone else’s agitations. Similarly, our “I” is also not associated with our body/mind/intellect related agitations and conditions. If there is a fragrance in the room, we do not say “I am fragrant”. Therefore, we should strive to keep the joyful or sorrowful condition from associating with the “I”. Instead of saying “I am sad”, we can say, “there is sadness”.

Furthermore, we have seen instances where people are ready to endure pain and sorrow when they attach themselves to a higher ideal. A parent will endure a lot of suffering so that he or she can educate the child. A freedom fighter will endure torture, or even die for the cause of the country’s freedom. This verse is asking us to become wise and aim for the highest possible ideal, that of the eternal essence.

We have been repeatedly hearing about the eternal essence in these verses. Can we get a deeper understanding?

Footnotes
1. The examples in this post are from Swami Chinmayananda’s commentary on the Gita
2. The word “sama” contains the word “maa” meaning mother. The mother’s loving attitude towards her child is same regardless of how the child behaves or misbehaves. Her attitude is “sama” or even-keel.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 14, Chapter 2

10 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.14, aagama, anityaaha, apaayina, bhaarata, chapter 2 verse 14, daaha, duhka, kaunteya, maatrasparsha, sheeta, sukha, taan, titikshasva, ushna

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maatraasparshaastu kaunteya sheetoshnasukhaduhkadaaha |
aagamaapaayinoonityaastaanstitikshasva bhaarata || 14 ||

Contact with material objects will only give joy and sorrow, heat and cold. These are transitory – they appear and disappear, so endure them bravely, O Bhaarata.

maatraasparshaaha : contact with material objects
tu : only
kaunteya : Kaunteya
sheeta : cold
ushna : heat
sukha : joy
duhka : sorrow
daaha: give
aagama : appear
apaayina : disappear
anityaaha :  transitory
taan : those
titikshasva : endure them bravely
bhaarata : O Bhaarata

The last verse gave a hint of what is this thing called the eternal essence. But since none of us have ever seen it, or experienced it, we would now like to know how can we make that happen. This verse gives us a preparatory step in that regard. It advises us to develop the capability of titiskha, or brave endurance against joy and sorrow.

Let’s examine each aspect of this verse. The first part of this verse makes the assertion that contact with material objects, or more specifically, contact of our senses with material objects, causes us to experience heat and cold.

How does this work? The senses react to external stimuli and send an input signal to the mind. The mind processes these sensory inputs and labels some as “ joy” and some as “sorrow”.  A hot coffee when it is freezing weather outside gives us joy, for sure. But the same cup of hot coffee in boiling hot summer will probably not give us joy, in fact it would probably give us sorrow.

More broadly, heat and cold in this verse represent polar opposites of stimuli received by all of our sense organs. If we take the organ of sight, then heat and cold represent beauty and ugliness. If we take the organ of touch, then heat and cold represent soft and hard.

Taking this even further, we can include words as well. If someone praises us, our ego-centred mind gets a boost, and we experience pleasure at that point. But if someone insults us, or criticizes us, our ego-centered mind feels threatened and we experience sorrow at that point.

So to summarize, our sense organs and our ego can get affected by external stimuli. But, instead of labelling each external stimulus as joy or sorrow, what if we remained steady through each of them? Instead of labelling these stimuli as “joy” and “sorrow”, could we begin to label them differently?

Let’s say your boss gave you a mouthful of criticism after your sales presentation at work. His words came through your ears, the ears sent a signal to your mind, and the mind took this criticism and labelled it as “sorrowful” or “painful”. Instead, what would happen if we labelled this as something neutral e.g. “useful information”, and used it to improve our next presentation? And if the words were not really criticism, but were veiled or direct insults, what would happen if we labelled them as “irrelevant” or “noise” or “chatter”?

Now you may say, yes, that sounds good in theory, but how do we do it in practice? The second part of the verse gives a clue in this regard. It says that any contact with material objects is temporary, it will appear and then disappear, and it has a beginning and an end. Therefore, if we know that something has an end, why should we let it bother us? Or conversely, if we know that a pleasant situation has ended, if the child’s bubble has burst, why should we grieve about it?

Again, you may say that developing this titiksha, this brave endurance, would still be difficult. Just like losing weight is not something that happens overnight, developing titiksha will also not happen overnight. You need to follow a structured, disciplined technique to do so, and the Gita will go into this topic in depth.

So then, what is the benefit of developing this titiksha? We shall see very soon.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 13, Chapter 2

09 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.13, asmin, chapter 2 verse 13, dehaantara, dehe, dehinaha, dheeraha, jaraa, kaumaram, muhyati, praaptihi, tatra, yathaa, yauvanam

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dehinosminyathaa dehe kaumaram yauvanam jaraa |
tathaa dehaantarapraaptirdheerastatra na muhyati || 13 ||

Just as in this body, the body dweller passes through childhood, youth and old age, so also does it obtain another body (after death); the steadfast person does not grieve over this.

dehinaha : body dweller
asmin : this
yathaa : just like
dehe : body
kaumaram : childhood
yauvanam : youth
jaraa: old age
tathaa : similarly
dehaaantara : another
praaptihi: obtain
dheeraha : steadfast person
tatra : by that
na muhyati : do not grieve

It is our experience that we pass through childhood, youth and old age. We can agree that this concept is familiar to us. But note the language used in the first line. It is not you or I that passes through these phases, it is something called the “dehina” or the “body dweller”. The body is born, it undergoes changes, and eventually perishes. But the body dweller remains constant through these changes. So, this means that the body dweller is something that is separate, distinct and different from the body.

Remember the example of Mr. X and his car from the first verse? Let’s revisit it. Mr. X is excited when his car is brand new. After 5-6 years, it starts to develop engine problems. After another 4-5 years, the problems have become so bad that Mr. X decides to sell this car and buy a new Mercedes S-class. Mr. X can be called a “car dweller”.

As the old car’s engine degraded over the years, Mr. X remained the same from the car’s perspective. But when the car had lived its life, he discarded that car for another new car. And there was nothing to be sad about this point. An extreme scenario is some unscrupulous people deliberately crash their old car just so that they can get insurance money to buy a new one.

Similarly, our body undergoes modifications of birth and aging, and eventually perishes. But the body dweller remains constant through these modifications. When the old body has become unfit to dwell in, the body dweller discards it and obtains a new body. The key point here is that the body dweller remains constant through the changes in its body, and also through the change from one body to another. And just like in the car example, a wise person should not grieve about growing old or dying, because the body dweller will always remain constant.

The body dweller is, therefore, the eternal essence that was highlighted in the prior verse. And since it is different than the physical body which perishes, it cannot be “found” in any part of the physical body.

So what exactly is this body dweller, this eternal essence? And how should we acquire the wisdom to see this eternal essence?

Footnotes

1. In one day we have several thoughts such as “I am happy”, “I am sad”, we join a condition to our “I”. Each time do so, we are “born” as a happy person, as a sad person and so on, even if there is no new physical body that is born.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 12, Chapter 2

07 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.12, aasam, atahaa, bhavishyaanaha, chapter 2 verse 12, eva, ime, jaatu, janaadhipaaha, param, sarve, vayam

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na tvevaaham jaatu naasam na tvam neme janaadhipaaha |
na chaiva na bhavishyaamaha sarve vayamataha param || 12 ||

In fact, there was never a time when I did not exist, nor did you, nor did these kings; and never shall we all cease to exist hereafter.

tu  : in fact
na eva : certainly never
jaatu : any time
aham : I
na : did not
aasam : exist
na : nor
tvam : you
no : nor
ime : these
janaadhipaaha : kings

cha : and
na eva : certainly never
na : will not
bhavishyaamaha : exist
sarve : all
vayam : of us
ataha param : hereafter

The Gita uses a lot of poetic techniques, including using double negatives like the ones in this verse. If you cancel the double negatives, a simpler version of this verse will be “All of us are timeless and eternal. We always existed in the past, and we will always exist in the future”.

This statement, at first glance, does not seem to make sense. So let’s look at an example. Let’s imagine a huge lake with deep waters. The surface of the lake is usually quiet. Once in a while, a wind blows across the lake causing a wave to appear for a few seconds, then disappear soon after.

If we apply the logic of this verse and examine it from the perspective of a wave, the lake always existed before the wave came into existence. And the lake will remain long after any wave has disappeared.

Similarly, an LCD television has thousands of pixels, or dots of light, on its screen. These pixels turn on and off, due to which a moving image is created on the screen. We can enjoy a movie on the screen that will begin and end, characters and situations will come and go, but the screen will remain as a constant.

Now, according to physics, matter can never be created or destroyed, it can only undergo change from one state to another. So therefore, this shloka reiterates this physical law by saying that the atoms and molecules that comprise us always existed in the universe in some shape or forms.

But, just like the surface of the lake is a constant that lets the play of waves happen on it, there is a timeless, eternal, constant surface or “essence” that is present in the entire universe, which is the backdrop on which the play of matter happens.

At this point, what is being spoken of here may seem abstract and somewhat hard to conceptualize, but it is similar to algebra where we denote unknown quantities by variables like x and y, till such time as we deduce the right value.

Ok. So what exactly is this eternal essence? How do we see it? If it is present in us, which part of the body does it reside in?

Footnotes
1. The wave and lake example is from the Jnyaneshwari, which is filled with tons of examples to explain complex concepts such as this one.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 11, Chapter 2

07 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.11, agataasoon, anushochanti, anvashochaha, ashochyaan, bhaashase, chapter 2 verse 11, gataasoon, panditaaha, pragnyaa, vaadaam

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Shri Bhagavaan Uvaacha:
ashochyaananvashochastvam pragnyaavaadaamshcha bhaashase |
gataasoonagataasoonshcha naanushochanti panditaaha || 11 ||

Shri Bhagavaan said:
You are grieving for those who are not worthy of sorrow, yet seemingly speaking words of wisdom. The wise grieve not for the departed, nor for those who have not yet departed.

ashochyaan : not worthy of sorrow
anvashochaha : grieving
tvam : you are
pragnyaa : wisdom
vaadaam : words
cha : yet seemingly
bhaashase : speak
gataasoon : departed
agataasoon : undeparted
cha : and
na : do not
anushochanti : grieve
panditaaha : wise people

In the verses so far, Arjuna thought he was wise in lamenting the war by making a plea for peace. But Shri Krishna here pointed out that Arjuna “seemingly spoke wise words”, i.e. in reality what Arjuna said was not correct. His assessment of the situation was clouded by emotion instead of being driven by logic and reason. On one hand, he was displaying grief, on the other hand, he was trying to display logic. Logic and grief cannot go together.

There are several instances in life where what we thought was correct knowledge, no longer applies. For example, let’s say you get promoted to your first managerial job. It is your first day at work and you get invited to 10 meetings from different teams. If you were at a job right out of college, you would ensure that you attended all the meetings that you were invited to, and doing so would be the right thing to do at that stage in your career. But as a manager, you have the advantage of seniority to choose which meetings to go to, and which to avoid. You no longer assess the situation like you previously used to. You use different reasoning and logic.

Shri Krishna’s wanted to correct Arjuna’s logic. He pointed to Arjuna that there was no need to grieve for the living nor for the dead. Death is inevitable. We should enjoy and appreciate the living, just like one appreciates a colourful soap bubble blown by a child. The bubble will last for a few seconds, but inevitably, it will burst. Some bubbles burst quickly, some last for a longer time. But there is never a surprise when a bubble eventually bursts.

Therefore Shri Krishna instructs Arjuna, and us, to assess any life situation with logic and reason, and not to get swayed by emotion. Of course, it will not always be possible to check our emotions, but it should be what we strive for constantly. We saw what happened to Arjuna when he let his emotions run wild, resulting in a panic attack. A wise person who uses “viveka” or discrimination (logic and reasoning about correct and incorrect) is called a “pandit”. He need not necessarily have formal degrees, but is one who uses reason all the time.

A bubble will eventually burst, and the body will eventually perish. But is that the end? The next verse goes deeper into this topic.

Footnotes
1. “Moha” is delusion is reverse thinking. Mistaking the real for the unreal, impermanent as permanent, something that was never ours as ours, is delusion. The first line of the shloka addresses moha.
2. “Shoka” or grief is excessive dwelling in the past, or in other words, reliving past memories repeatedly. The second line of the shloka addresses shoka.
3. Per Shankaracharya’s commentary, shoka and moha were the two primary reasons that Arjuna resisted fighting against his relatives.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 10, Chapter 2

05 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.10, chapter 2 verse 10, iva, prahasan, senyorubhayormadhye, vachaha

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tamuvaacha hrisheekeshaha prahasanniva bhaarata |
senayorubhayormadhye visheedantamidam vachaha || 10 ||

Hrishikeesha, as though smiling, spoke these words to the despondent Arjuna, in the middle of the two armies.

tam : to him
uvaacha : spoke
hrisheekeshaha : Hrisheekeshaha
prahasan iva : as though smiling
bhaarata : Arjuna
senayor-ubhayor-madhye : in the middle of the armies
visheedantam : despondent
idam : these
vachaha : spoke words

The most interesting aspect of this verse is the phrase “as though smiling”, and has been interpreted differently by several commentators. The commonly held notion is : Shri Krishna wanted to use Arjuna as a vehicle for delivering the sermon of the Gita, and he smiled because the time for delivering the sermon had come as soon as Arjuna requested him to become his disciple. Another interpretation is that on the one hand, Arjuna is surrendering to Shri Krishna and asking for guidance, but o the other hand he says that he will not fight. Therefore Shri Krishna is smiling on this qualified request from Arjuna.

Our journey so far was just the background of the Gita. Starting from the next verse, we are about to delve into the heart of the Gita. Like any good speaker, Shri Krishna has provided an overview of the Gita for us in Chapter 2. Later chapters will delve into these themes in significant detail.

We will try our best to understand some of the more abstract verses in this chapter, but let’s not worry if we don’t understand them completely in the first reading. These verses will reveal new nuances and facets in each reading.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 9, Chapter 2

04 Tuesday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.9, babhoova, chapter 2 verse 9, tushneem, uktvaa, yotsya

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Sanjaya uvaacha:
evamuktvaa hrisheekesham gudakeshaha parantapa |
na yotsya iti govindamuktvaa tushneem babhoova ha || 9 ||

Sanjaya said:

Having spoken this to Hrisheekesha, Gudaakesha, the scorcher of foes, said to Govinda : “I will not fight”, and became silent.

evam : this
uktvaa : having spoken
hrisheekesham : Hrisheekesha (Shri Krishna)
gudaakesha : Gudaakesha (Arjuna)
parantapa : scorcher of foes
na yotsya : I will not fight
iti : this
govindam : to Govinda (Shri Krishna)
uktvaa : said
tushneem : silent
babhoova  ha: and became

In the last verse, Arjuna had surrendered his decision-making to Shri Krishna, and had asked him for guidance. Arjuna knew that he was in no shape to make that decision himself, let alone fight. So he eventually proclaimed that he would not fight, and became silent.

We should note that it was not just Arjuna’s voice that became silent. His mind, though not totally silent, became calmer than what it was in the last verse. Otherwise, it could not have assimilated the teaching that was about to follow.

Also note that the narration has shifted back to Sanjaya in this verse, and the meter has changed back to normal. He refers to Arjuna as Gudaakesha or “conqueror of sleep”, and Shri Krishna as Hrisheekesha or “conqueror of the senses”.