Category Archives: ime

Bhagavad Gita Verse 24, Chapter 3

01 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by in 3.24, aham, cha, chapter 3 verse 24, chet, imaah, ime, karma, kartaa, kuryaam, lokaah, na, prajaaha, samkaryasya, syaam, upahanyaam, utseedeyuh

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utseedeyurime lokaa na kuryaam karma chedaham |
samkaryasya cha kartaa syaamupahanyaamimaah prajaaha || 24 ||

These people would be ruined if I stopped performing action. I would become the creator of confusion and destroy these beings.

utseedeyuh : ruined
ime : these
lokaah : people
na : not
kuryaam : perform
karma : action
chet : if
aham : I
samkaryasya : confusion
cha : and
kartaa : creator
syaam : I become
upahanyaam : destroy
imaah : these
prajaaha : beings

Shri Krishna further elaborates on the argument put forth in the last shloka. As someone who is has realized the eternal essence, he does not have any obligations towards the world. But even then, he continues to act towards the welfare of society. Here, he says that if he stopped acting, all people who look up to him would be ruined and destroyed. We saw the example of a great social activist like Baba Amte, who although having performed such selfless service, continued to act till his last day. Society would take a huge hit if someone like him abruptly stopped working.

In addition, there is a subtler meaning here. Shri Krishna’s statements have a cosmic significance. So therefore, the word “I” also refers to every law or principle that works every second of our lives and never ever takes a vacation.

For instance, we all know what happens to a society when there is a breakdown of law and order. There will be chaos, confusion and destruction all around. But civil and criminal laws are just man-made laws. Consider what would happen if the law of gravity, a universal law, stopped working. People, buildings, and every free standing object on this earth would start flying out into space to its eventual destruction. And finally, what if our breathing or pumping of the heart stopped working?

Therefore the message to Arjuna is clear. Any task, no matter how insignificant or unpleasant, should be performed selflessly and with dexterity, if it is in the service of the higher good.

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 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 33, Chapter 1

11 Sunday Sep 2011

Posted by in arthe, avasthitaa, ime, kaankshitam, yeshaam

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yeshaamarthe kaankshitam no raajyam bhoogaha sukhani cha |
te imevasthitaa yudhde praanaamstyaktvaa dhanaani cha || 33 ||
 
Those, for whose sake we seek kingdom, enjoyment and happiness, are present here in war, ready to give up their desire for life and wealth. 
 
yeshaam : those
arthe : for whose sake
kaankshitam : desire
naha : our
raajyam : kingdom
bhogaaha: enjoyment
sukhaani : happiness
cha : and
te : those
ime : their
avasthitaa : present here
yudhdhe : in the war
praanaam : their lives
tyaktvaa : given up
dhanaani : desire for wealth
 
Here Arjuna continues his fall into delusion by justifying why there is no point in living, or in carrying out the mission that he had committed to carry out. In his confused state, his mind mixed up his personal relationships with his mission-wise relationships.
 
In work, we are often asked to “not take things personally”. Here we see an example of what happens when someone in war inserts personal aspects of his life into his work, resulting in complete confusion and breakdown of the mission.