Category Archives: eedrisham

Bhagavad Gita Verse 42, Chapter 6

19 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in athavaa, bhavati, chapter 6 verse 42, dheemataam, durlabhataram, eedrisham, etat, eva, hi, janma, kule, loke, yat, yoginaam

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athavaa yoginaameva kule bhavati dheemataam |
etaddhi durlabhataram loke janma yadeedrisham || 42 ||
 
Alternatively, he will go only to a family of learned yogis. One whose birth is of this type is exceedingly rare in this world.
 
athavaa : alternatively
yoginaam : in yogis
eva : only
kule : family
bhavati : will go
dheemataam : learned
etat : this
hi : definitely
durlabhataram : exceedingly rare
loke : world
janma : birth
yat : one whose
eedrisham : of this type
 
Earlier, Shri Krishna spoke about the fate of the unfulfilled meditator who goes to an illustrious family after having attained heaven. In this shloka, Shri Krishna talks about another type of unfilled meditators who is born not into a wealthy family but into a family of learned yogis. He also says that such a birth is exceedingly rare.
 
So far, Shri Krishna has spoken about two types of serious seekers who had a clear understanding of meditation but were unable to attain liberation. The difference between the two types of seekers is the presence or absence of desires. The meditator who still harbours desires is born into a wealthy family.
 
Desires are the biggest obstacles in meditation. Only when desires are extinguished can serious meditation begin. That is why this category of meditators is given the chance to fulfill his desires in a wealthy family.
 
The other rarer category of meditator had managed to extinguish his desires, but could not attain liberation because he ran out of time. Since he is not interested in fulfilling any desire, regardless of whether it is heavenly or earthly, he goes straight into a family of yogis after he dies. These yogis are not just accomplished meditators, they also possess “dheemata” or a keen understanding of the scriptures.
 
Such a family provides a conducive environment for this kind of meditator to continue his progress in meditation. He has enough dispassion in him and therefore does not get affected by the the absence of wealth in this new family. In fact he appreciates it because wealth can become a distraction in the path of meditation.
 
Now, do both these types of newly-born seekers have to start their journey from scratch? This is taken up by Shri Krishna in the next shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 32, Chapter 2

31 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by 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.