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A simple, modern translation and explanation of the Bhagavad Gita with shloka (verse) meaning

~ Gita Journey is a straightforward, modern, contemporary, basic explanation and commentary of the Bhagawat Gita, with Sanskrit to English word meanings. Each shloka (verse) is explained in detail. An introduction to the Bhagavad Gita along with study resources can also be found here. A summary of each chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is also included. It does not matter whether you are a student, a retiree, a professional, a mom, a dad or a housewife – no prior knowledge is needed.

A simple, modern translation and explanation of the Bhagavad Gita with shloka (verse) meaning

Category Archives: dvaaram

Bhagavad Gita Verse 21, Chapter 16

16 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by skr_2011 in 16.21, aatmanaha, chapter 16 verse 21, dvaaram, idam, kaamaha, krodhaha, lobhaha, naashanam, narakasya, tasmaat, trayam, trividham, tyajet

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trividham narakasyedam dvaaram naashanamaatmanaha |
kaamaha krodhastathaa lobhastasmaadetattrayam tyajet || 21 ||

 
Three gates of hell cause one’s destruction, desire, anger and greed. Therefore, give up these three.
 
trividham : three
narakasya : hell
idam : these
dvaaram : gates
naashanam : destructive
aatmanaha : oneself
kaamaha : desire
krodhaha : anger
tathaa : and
lobhaha : greed
tasmaat : therefore
etat : these
trayam : three
tyajet : give up
 
Like a good teacher, Shri Krishna summarizes the entire chapter comprising the rather lengthy list of devilish qualities into three main ones: desire, anger and greed. He says that we always need to watch out for these three qualities in our daily lives, and minimize them as much as possible. He calls them gateways into hell, because they lead to the path of destruction rather than the path of liberation. Even the order of these three is important, because both anger and greed follow desire.
 
The second chapter explained how kaama or desire comes into our lives. Dhyavato vishayaan, by constantly thinking of an object (or a person or a situation), we develop an association with it. If carried on for long, this association results in a desire to procure that object. If anyone or anything comes between us and the object, we develop anger. And once we have the object, once our desire is fulfilled, we want more of the object. This results in greed.
 
So then, how do we tackle these three gates of hell? Let us first look at kaama or desire. If desire develops through contemplation of objects, we can reduce desire to a certain extent by keeping a watch on what we expose our mind to. For example, we can go to the mall with a shopping list rather than wander around shops that we don’t need anything from. But the root of desire is the labelling of objects as desirable by our mind. This labelling or superimposition is known as “shobhana adhyaasa”. It is why the same dress looks desirable to one person and irrelevant to another, since objects by themselves are not desirable. Controlling and convincing the mind through study of scriptures and meditation helps to reduce this labelling.
 
Desire is somewhat easy to control, but once we are in the grip of anger, it becomes somewhat difficult to do so. At least we do not publicly display our desires, but we do not hesitate to show our anger publicly. We require tremendous control over our mind in order to release ourselves from the grip of anger. It is therefore better to focus on rooting out unnecessary desires than to confront anger directly.
 
Lastly, lobha or greed can be kept in check through charity. Anytime we start feeling pride over our wealth or possessions, we should immediately donate a portion of our wealth or possessions. How exactly we should do so is covered in the next chapter.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 32, Chapter 2

31 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by skr_2011 in 2.32, appaavritam, cha, chapter 2 verse 32, dvaaram, eedrisham, khsatiyahaa, labhante, paartha, sukhinaha, svarga, upapannam, yadrichchayaa, yuddham

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yadrichchayaa chopapannam svargadvaaramapaavritam |
sukhinaha kshatriyaaha paartha labhante yuddhameedrisham || 32 ||

Fortunate are those warriors who will fight such a war, O Paartha. Indeed, it is like a door to heaven that has opened without any effort.

yadrichchayaa : unsought, without effort
cha : indeed
upapannam : obtain
svargadvaaram : door of heaven
apaavritam : open
sukhinaha : fortunate
kshatriyaaha : those warriors
paartha : O Paartha
labhante : obtain
yuddham : war
eedrisham : this

Any singer or musician will look forward to performing in a large auditorium like Carnegie Hall rather than perform in a small 20 seat theatre. A doctor who genuinely cares about saving lives will tirelessly and joyfully work extra hard if she is handling an emergency room with a huge number of patients rather than serving only 1-2 patients a day.

In other words, a person performing his or her svadharma would always prefer working hard towards a challenging assignment rather than simply pulling along in a mediocre one. Shri Krishna pointed this out to Arjuna by reminding him that a true warrior would look forward to the challenge of fighting the Kaurava army, which was filled with world-renowned warriors.

How is this relevant to us? Our work should give us joy, our work should be its own reward. If we have chosen a profession that feels like drudgery, if we feel that any new work given to us is a chore rather than a challenge, if all we can do is complain, then we should re-examine whether we are really following our svadharma, or we are qualified to do something else.

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