Category Archives: asi

Bhagavad Gita Verse 2, Chapter 8

29 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in 8.2, adhiyagnaha, asi, asmin, atra, cha, chapter 8 verse 2, dehe, jneyaha, kaha, katham, madhusoodana, niyataatmabhihi, prayaanakaale

≈ Comments Off on Bhagavad Gita Verse 2, Chapter 8

adhiyagnaha katham kotra dehesminmadhusoodana |
prayaanakaale cha katham jneyosi niyataatmabhihi || 2 ||
 
Who is “adhiyagna” and how is he (established) in this body, O Madhosoodana? How are (you) known by a self-controlled person, at the time of departure?
 
adhiyagnaha : “adhiyagna”
katham : how
kaha : who
atra : here
dehe : in a body
asmin : this
madhusoodana : O Madhusoodana
prayaanakaale : at the time of departure
cha : and
katham : how
jneyaha asi : is known
niyataatmabhihi : by a self-controlled person
 
Arjuna concludes his round of questions to Shri Krishna in this shloka. His two questions are as follows. First, he wants to know what is “adhiyagna” and where can it be found. Second, he wants to know how can a yogi or a self-controlled person remember Ishvara at the time of departure. Shri Krishna treats the second question as the most important question. After answering the first six questions in the next two shlokas, Shri Krishna devotes the remainder of the chapter to answering this question only.
 
Let us continue to develop the illustration of the animated movie so that we can use it in the next shloka when Shri Krishna starts answering Arjuna’s questions. We learned about the animated character “Tom”, which is just a series of images on film. The light that illuminated Tom began to think that it has an identity that is different than the rest of the film strip.
 
As a consequence, the light creates an identity for itself. That light becomes Tom. “He” is bound by his “body”, which is nothing but an outline on the strip of film. He also begins to think that he is the “doer” of an action, and is the “enjoyer” of the result of an action. He thinks that he is walking, talking, interacting with people. He also gets happy or upset over the result of his actions.
 
So in summary, we have a strip of film that contains a series of images. Each image contains several lines that make up the character Tom that has suddenly begun to think that he is alive. Let us keep this in mind as we begin to hear Shri Krishna’s answers.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 36, Chapter 4

26 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by in 4.36, api, asi, chapter 4 verse 36, chet, eva, jnaaya, paapakrittamaha, paapebhyaha, plavena, santarishyasi, sarvam, sarvebhyaha, vrajinam

≈ Comments Off on Bhagavad Gita Verse 36, Chapter 4

api chedasi paapebhyaha sarvebhyaha paapakrittamaha |
sarvam jnyaanaplavenaiva vrajinam santarishyasi || 36 ||

Even if you are the most sinful among all sinners, you will certainly cross over all sins with the boat of knowledge.

api : even
chet : if
asi : you are
paape-bhyaha : sinners
sarve-bhyaha : among all
paapa-krittamaha: most sinful
sarvam : all
jnyaana-plavena : boat of knowledge
eva : definitely
vrajinam : sins
santarishyasi : cross over

Shri Krishna continues speaking about the greatness of knowledge in this shloka. He says that this knowledge has the power of destroying all of our sins completely, regardless of how many sins we committed in the past.

Let’s re-examine what is meant by sin here using an example. Two most common sins are stealing and harming someone. In both these cases, the physical act itself is not the sin. It is the ego, the assertion of individuality and superiority behind each act, that is the real sin.  This sense of separation created by the ego causes us to commit these acts, and experience joy and sorrow as a result. Over the course of our living, we have accumulated a large number of karmas.

Shri Krishna says here that the knowledge gained through sacrifice will destroy all sins. How will this happen? This will happen because the sinner himself will be annihilated through this knowledge. The sinner is nothing but the ego, the notion of individuality created by the false sense of identification with the finite body, mind and intellect.

This annihilation of the ego is comparable to deletion of an email account. An email account is nothing but a persona created in the virtual world. It can receive regular emails as well as spam emails. But when the email account itself is deleted, it will no longer be the recipient of any kind of email, regular or junk.

So therefore, Shri Krishna paints a beautiful picture to deliver this message. He says that we can cross over the river of all our sins with the boat of knowledge.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 3, Chapter 4

24 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in 4.3, aam, adya, asi, bhaktah, cha, chapter 4 verse 3, etat, eva, hi, iti, mayaa, me, proktah, puraatanaha, sah, sakhaa, tahasyam, te, uttamam, yogah

≈ Comments Off on Bhagavad Gita Verse 3, Chapter 4

sa evaayam mayaa te dya yogah proktah puraatanaha |
bhaktosi me sakhaa cheti rahasyam hyetaduttamam || 3 ||

That same ancient yoga I have taught you now, for you are my devotee and my friend. This (yoga) is the ultimate secret.

sah : that
eva : same
ayam : this
mayaa : I have
te : to you
adya : now
yogah : yoga
proktah : taught
puraatanaha : ancient
bhaktah : devotee
asi : you are
me : my
sakhaa : friend
cha: and
iti : that is why
rahasyam : secret
hi : because
etat : this
uttamam : ultimate

Shri Krishna very affectionately tells Arjuna that he regards him as a devotee and a friend, and finds him fit and capable to receive this supreme knowledge. Arjuna was of course quite happy to receive it, but why was he chosen? Let us investigate this point further.

Whoever received this knowledge needed to be capable of communicating it to others. It was not enough that this person was wise. Shri Krishna also needed a capable evangelist, one who had a mix of sattva and rajas, in order to both understand and spread this knowledge. A brahmana is predominantly saattvic by nature, and may not have been able to communicate and establish this knowledge in the world. Therefore Shri Krishna revealed this knowledge to Arjuna, the ultimate kshatriya warrior.

Moreover, Arjuna was Shri Krishna’s devotee and friend. He had the best rapport with Shri Krishna, as well as profound reverence for him. So much so that Arjuna confided his fears to him in the first chapter, something that a kshatriya would hesitate to do. Arjuna also had the courage to ask any doubts without any fear of reprimand, and in doing so get a clear understanding of the teaching.

Many commentators believe that the 108 shlokas starting from shloka 11 of chapter 2 to this shloka comprise the entire message of the Gita. They say that Shri Krishna essentially completed the entire teaching and stopped speaking, having provided the paramparaa as the conclusion. The remainder of the Gita is an exposition of the teachings packed into these 108 shlokas. And it is Arjuna who helps us dig deeper into these teachings with his well-timed and thoughtful questions, like the one we will see in the next shloka.