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Category Archives: asmin

Bhagavad Gita Verse 6, Chapter 16

01 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in 16.6, aasuraha, aasuram, asmin, bhootasargau, chapter 16 verse 6, daivaha, dvau, loke, me, paartha, proktaha, shrunu, vishtarashaha

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dvau bhootasargau lokesmindaiva aasura eva cha |
daivo vishtarashaha prokta aasuram paartha me shrunu || 6 ||
 
In this world, two types of beings have been created, the divine and the devilish. The divine has been described elaborately. The devilish, O Paartha, listen from me now.
 
dvau : two
bhootasargau : beings have been created
loke : in world
asmin : this
daivaha : divine
aasuraha : devilish
eva : also
cha : and
daivaha : divine
vishtarashaha : elaborately
proktaha : described
aasuram : devilish
paartha : O Paartha
me : from me
shrunu : listen now
 
Although Shri Krishna had reassured Arjuna in the previous shloka, he knew that all individuals had a mix of divine and devilish qualities in them, including Arjuna. It was not either or. The devilish qualities within Arjuna had erupted at the start of the war in the first chapter, so there was certainly room for improvement. Knowing this, Shri Krishna proceeded to describe the devilish qualities in detail in this chapter.
 
From our perspective, we are always struggling between progressing on the spiritual journey versus conforming to the prevalent way of life – materialism. While there is nothing inherently wrong with enjoying whatever life has to offer, society urges us sometimes to get carried away with the pursuit of materialism, without pointing out the downside of doing so. It is instructive to see how little has changed between the materialistic worldview of Shri Krishna’s time and the present day.
 
So, from the next shloka to the end of this chapter, Shri Krishna paints a detailed picture of the materialistic world view that many of us have taken for granted. He describes the way they think and feel, their attitude towards people and objects, and the consequences of their materialistic viewpoint.

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Bhagavad Gita Verse 11, Chapter 14

16 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by in 14.11, asmin, chapter 14 verse 11, dehe, iti, jnyaanam, prakaashaha, sarvasvaareshu, sattvam, tadaa, upajaayate, uta, vidyaat, vivriddham, yadaa

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sarvasvaareshu dehesminprakaasha upajaayate |
jnyaanam yadaa tadaa vidyaadvivriddham sattvamityuta || 11 ||
 
When luminous knowledge radiates through all gates of this body, then one should know that sattva has increased greatly.
 
sarvasvaareshu : in all gates
dehe : body
asmin : this
prakaashaha : luminous
upajaayate : radiates
jnyaanam : knowledge
yadaa : when
tadaa : then
vidyaat : one should know
vivriddham : increased
sattvam : sattva
iti : this
uta : definitely
 
What are the marks of sattva? Shri Krishna says that when we see radiance, or when we see knowledge radiating from a person, we should know that we are in the presence of a highly sattvic person. The word “dvaara” usually means door or gate, but here it refers to the sense organs, our doors to the world. Even though the sense organs are meant from receiving stimuli from the world, they can also convey our internal state to the world. Our eyes, especially, can give away our thoughts. If our mind is wandering, our eyes will also wander, for instance. In a sattvic person, radiance shines through the sense organs, especially the eyes.
 
Now, we should not think that a highly sattvic person will radiate beams of light from their body. But they do radiate calmness and peace. We can sense peace if we are near them, or pick up on their calmness if we are watching them on a screen. Watch Dr. Jane Goodall speak about her efforts to save gorillas in Africa, and you will be drawn to the serenity on her face instantly. Such people harbour few, if any, selfish desires in their mind. This lack of dirt in the form of selfishness lets their inner radiance, the light of their eternal essence, shine through.
 
From our perspective, whenever we notice an increase in clear thinking, we should know that sattva is predominant in our mind. If we see fried food but the intellect prevents our hand from reaching to pick up that food, we are in a sattvic state. If our thoughts are towards the well-being of the family, our city or our nation, instead of just our narrow well-being, we are in a sattvic state. If our mind is sharp and alert, if we don’t let anything drop in our personal and professional lives, we are in a sattvic state.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 22, Chapter 13

23 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by in 13.22, anumantaa, api, asmin, bhartaa, bhoktaa, chapter 13 verse 22, dehe, iti, maheshvaraha, paraha, paramaatmaa, purushaha, uktaha, upadrashtaa

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upadrashtaanumantaa cha bhartaa bhoktaa maheshvaraha |
paramaatmeti chaapyukto dehesmin purushaha paraha || 22 ||
 
He who is the witness, the permitter, the nourisher, the experiencer, the master and who is also spoken of as the supreme self, is the supreme Purusha in this body.
 
upadrashtaa : witness
anumantaa : permitter
cha : and
bhartaa : nourisher
bhoktaa : experiencer
maheshvaraha : master
paramaatmaa : supreme self
iti : in this manner
cha : and
api : also
uktaha : spoken
dehe : body
asmin : this
purushaha : Purusha
paraha : supreme
 
Imagine that your grandfather comes to stay in your apartment for a short vacation. Seeing a new senior citizen in the building, the apartment complex association invites him to one of their cultural programs. Your grandfather thoroughly enjoys it. Next, the association asks him permission to host their next weekly meeting in your apartment, which he readily agrees to. He is so excited about the meeting that he prepares tea and snacks for them. By the next weekly meeting, he has become so involved in the association meetings that he feels the need to vote on issues that he strongly feels about. He gets so involved that it is just a matter of time before he is elected president of the apartment complex association.
 
Your grandfather, who had nothing whatsoever to do with the building, started out as a pure witness, then become the permitter, nourisher, experiencer and subsequently the master of the building association. Similarly, Shri Krishna says that the eternal essence that has nothing whatsoever to do with Prakriti, develops a strong identification with a body. By taking various upaadhis or conditionings such as the body, the mind, the vital forces, the intellect and so on, it becomes the permitter, the nourisher, the experiencer and the master of this body, just like your grandfather took on various roles as a member of the apartment complex association.
 
Practically speaking, we don’t need to worry too much about this. All that we need to know that we don’t have to go out into the world hunting for Ishvara. Ishvara is resident in our body as the permitter, nourisher, experiencer and so on. He is the paramaatmaa, the supreme self resident as the “I” in all beings. This is how we have to understand what Purusha means. The more we pay attention to the Ishvara aspect in us, the less importance we give to the upaadhis, especially the ego. People who have reached the pinnacle of their spiritual journey eventually lose their individuality and themselves become the universal witness, the upadrashtaa, remaining unaffected by the goings on of Prakriti.

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

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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 3, Chapter 3

11 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in 3.3, anagha, asmin, chapter 3 verse 3, dvividhaa, jnyaanayoga, karmayoga, loke, mayaa, naam, nishthaa, proktaa, puraa, saankhyaa, yogi

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Shree Bhagavaan uvaacha:
lokesmindvividhaa nishthaa puraa proktaa mayaanagha |
jnyaanayogena saankhyaanaam karmayogena yoginaam || 3 ||

Shri Bhagavaan said:
In this world, since time immemorial, I have created a two-fold path, O sinless one; the yoga of knowledge for contemplative individuals, and the yoga of action for yogis.

loke : world
asmin : this
dvividhaa : two-fold
nishthaa : path
puraa : since time immemorial
proktaa : spoken
mayaa : by me
anagha : O sinless one
jnyaanayogena : the yoga of knowledge
saankhyaanaam : for contemplative individuals
karmayogena : the yoga of action
yoginaam : for yogis

Earlier, we saw that Arjuna wanted to know which of the two paths, i.e. the yoga of action and the yoga of knowledge, is superior. Shri Krishna addresses that question here. According to him, none of the two is either superior or inferior.

Sant Jnyaneshwar provides an example to show that none of these paths are superior or inferior: like a west-flowing river and an east-flowing river that both meet the same ocean, both paths are same.

Now, even thought the paths are complementary, there is a subtle difference between them. Let us explore this difference. Consider a child who is in the first grade. Even if he wants to, he cannot jump straight to a masters degree. He would have to finish high school, then college, and only then will he be ready for his masters degree.

In the same way, most of us are at a stage in life where we are active and want to make a contribution to the world. For such yogis or active individuals, the path of action is the most appropriate. Once we reach a stage where we exhaust all of our desires, we can transcend the path of action to pursue the path of knowledge, just like we transcend college education to pursue our masters degree.

I used to know a classmate from school that was a math prodigy. He could solve advanced calculus equations in sixth grade. The teachers used to check with him whether they were teaching sixth grade math correctly, such was his prowess. He did not need to go through elementary math, he was ready for his math PhD even at that young age.

Similarly, there are a few rare individuals who are at an advanced stage of their spiritual journey. They have eliminated most of their desires. Only such rare contemplative individuals can directly pursue the path of knowledge. For most of us, the path of action is the way to go. And karmayoga, or the path of action, is the main subject covered in this chapter.

On a different note, we see that Shri Krishna is hinting that he is something more that the cowherd son of Vasudeva here. We know this because he mentions that he himself has created this two-fold path for realizing the eternal essence. This has not slipped past Arjuna, he will ask this question at the right time.

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 21-22, Chapter 1

02 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by in achyuta, asmin, avasthitaan, chapter 1 verse 21-22, etaan, kaamaan, kaiha, mayaa, nireeksheham, rama, ratham, saha, samudyame, sthaapaya, yaavat, yoddhu, yodhdhavyam

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Arjuna uvaacha
senyorubhyormadhye ratham sthaapaya mechyuta | 21 |

yaavadetaannireeksheham yoddhukaamaanvasthitaan |
kairmayaa saha yodhdhavyamasminranasamudyame || 22 || 

Arjuna said: O infallible one, in preparation for combat, position my chariot between the two armies till I have surveyed those battle-hungry warriors with whom I have to fight.
 
senyor-ubhyor-madhye : between both armies
ratham : chariot
sthaapaya : place
achyuta : infallible
yaavat:  till I
etaan : those warriors
nireeksheham : I can observe/survey
yoddhu-kaamaan-avasthitaan : organized for battle
kaiha-mayaa : whom I have to
saha : with
yodhdhavyam : fight
asmin rana-samudyame : in preparation for combat
 
And so begins the conversation between Arjuna and Shri Krishna. At this point, Arjuna was firmly in control of the situation, and like any determined warrior, he commanded his charioteer to carry out his instructions.
 
Similar to the analysis of Duryodhana’s emotional state from the previous verses, let us analyze Arjuna’s state. Here, it is clear that he was charged up for war, his warrior instincts had kicked into high gear, and he was bursting with self-confidence.
 
Another point to consider here is how much, like Arjuna, we rely on our sense organs to deliver the right information to our brain so that we can take the right decision and carry out the necessary action that a situation demands. Our sense organs comprise our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. Any information that we process must necessarily come from one of these organs. Arjuna was located at some distance from the opposing army, so he knew that he needed to get a better look at the opposing army, and therefore have all the information he needs to make his battle plans.
 
Sense organs and understanding how they function is a topic that will be discussed at great length in the rest of the Gita.