Category Archives: kim

Bhagavad Gita Verse 8, Chapter 16

03 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by in 16.8, aahuhu, aneeshvaram, anyat, aparasparasambhootam, apratishtham, asatyam, chapter 16 verse 8, jagat, kaamahaitukam, kim, te

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asatyamapratishtham te jagadaahuraneeshvaram |
aparasparasambhootam kimanyatkaamahaitukam || 8 ||
 
They say that this world is unreal, without a basis, without a god. It is born of mutual union, desire is its only cause, what else.
 
asatyam : unreal
apratishtham : without basis
te : they
jagat : world
aahuhu : say
aneeshvaram : without a god
aparasparasambhootam : born of mutual union
kim : what
anyat : else
kaamahaitukam : desire is the only cause
 
Any philosophy, any world view has to answer some fundamental questions – who am I, what is the nature of this world, where did it come from, is there a god, and what is the relationship between the I, the world and god. In the fifteenth chapter, Shri Krishna described his worldview by answering all these questions. Here, he proceeds to describe the materialistic worldview, the worldview of the asuras, those with devilish qualities.
 
At its core, the materialistic viewpoint views everything as comprised of the five elements, or in today’s times, atoms and molecules. So then, the answer to the questions, who am I, and what is the cause of this world, is the same. I am nothing but a combination of the five elements, and the world is also nothing but a combination of the five elements. Both are caused by the union of elements, either through chemical or biological reactions that happen due to forces of attraction, forces of desire.
 
Now, if the world is comprised of nothing but inert matter, one will concluded that there is no truth to it, no basis to it, nothing higher to it. A divide starts to arise between the I and the world. If the world is an inert, unreal entity, why should I treat it with care? Anything, including lying, cheating and murder, is then justified. Materialists go one step further and assert that there is no governing principle in this world, no god. So I can get away with whatever I want, because there is no law.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 42, Chapter 10

12 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by in 10.42, aham, arjuna, athavaa, bahunaa, chapter 10 verse 42, ekaanshena, etena, idam, jagata, jnyaatena, kim, kritsnam, sthitaha, tava, vishtabhya

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athavaa bahunaitena kim jnyaatena tavaarjuna |
vishtabhyaahamidam kritsnamekaanshena sthito jagata || 42 ||
 
Now, what (is the need) for you to know these details, O Arjuna? With a fraction (of myself), sustaining this entire universe, I am established.
 
athavaa : now
bahunaa : details
etena : these
kim : what
jnyaatena : to know
tava : for you
arjuna : O Arjuna
vishtabhya : sustaining
aham : I
idam : this
kritsnam : entire
ekaanshena : with a fraction
sthitaha : established
jagata : universe
 
In the days when we would stay employed with the same firm for a majority of their career, we would start with an entry level job as a junior accountant, let us say, and work our way up the corporate ladder. Over a period of fifteen or twenty years, that junior accountant could end up being promoted to chief financial officer. At that point, he would no longer be concerned with trivial details such as checking receipts against journal entries and so on. He would focus on bigger issues such as the financial health of the entire company.
 
Similarly, when Shri Krishna provided a long list of Ishvara’s expressions, he wanted to ensure that Arjuna did not get stuck at the level of knowing more and more expressions. He wanted Arjuna to stop asking more questions, take a step back and ask himself a very basic question.
 
If Ishvara is present in everything in the universe, and Ishvara is also present in me, is there anything else in the universe besides Ishvara? In other words, if Ishvara is in everything, isn’t everything in Ishvara ultimately? It is like asking: If there is space in everything including me and including every atom, isn’t everything in space?
 
With this intriguing thought, Shri Krishna concludes the tenth chapter and sets the stage for the eleventh chapter. While the tenth chapter was about how the one Ishvara was in all, the eleventh chapter is about how all is in the one Ishvara.
 
om tatsatiti shreematbhagavatgitasupanishadsu brahmavidyaayaam yogashaastre shreekrishnaarjunsamvade vibhootiyogo naama dashamodhyaayaha || 10 ||

Bhagavad Gita Verse 33, Chapter 9

28 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by in 9.33, anityam, asukham, bhajasva, bhaktaahaa, braamhanaahaa, chapter 9 verse 33, imam, kim, lokam, maam, praapya, punaha, punyaahaa, raajarshayaha, tathaa

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kim punarbraamhanaahaa punyaa bhaktaa raajarshayastathaa |
anityamasukham lokamimam praapya bhajasva maam || 33 ||
 
What (to speak) again of pious brahmins and royal sages? Having obtained this impermanent world which is devoid of happiness, you should worship me.
 
kim : what
punaha : again
braamhanaahaa : brahmins
punyaahaa : pious
bhaktaahaa : devotees
raajarshayaha : king sages
tathaa : and
anityam : impermanent
asukham : devoid of happiness
lokam : world
imam : this
praapya : having obtained
bhajasva : worship
maam : me
 
Shri Krishna concludes the topic of the glory of devotion by asserting that everyone, including brahmins or sages who have renounced the world, as well as “raajarshis” or sages who have become kings. Having described the glory of devotion, he then instructs Arjuna to worship Ishvara.
 
In describing the glory of devotion, Shri Krishna highlighted three types of people. The worst kind of person is a sinner, who has such a high level of attachment to the material world that he is ready to harm others. A better type of person is a sinner who has a lower level of attachment to the material world such as a businessperson. Better than that person is someone like a sage who has the lowest level of attachment, which means that highest level of detachment or vairagya. It does not matter which kind of person wants to become a devotee. Everyone is eligible.
 
Shri Krishna also explains the reason for seeking the path of devotion. He says that the world in which we live in has two main defects. It is anityam or impermanent, and it is asukham or devoid of joy. We usually rush into worldly pursuits such as money, positions, wealth, fame, titles and so on. None of those are permanent or will give long-lasting happiness. We sometimes think that others who possess these things are happier than we are, but that is not true. Impermanence and sorrow is the nature of this world.
 
Therefore, Shri Krishna urges us to follow a single pursuit. How do we do it? He explains this in the next and concluding shloka in this chapter.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 1, Chapter 8

29 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in 8.1, adhibhootam, adhidaivam, adhyaatma, brahma, cha, chapter 8 verse 1, karma, kim, proktam, purushottama, tat, uchyate

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Arjuna uvaacha:
kim tadbrahma kimadhyaatmam kim karma purushottama |
adhibhootam cha kim proktamadhidaivam kimuchyate || 1 ||
 
Arjuna said:
What is that “brahman”? What is “adhyaatma”? What is “karma”? O supreme person. What is termed as “adhibhoota” and “adhidaiva”?
 
kim : what is
tat : that
brahma : “brahman”
adhyaatma : “adhyaatma”
karma : “karma”
purushottama : O supreme person
adhibhootam : “adhibhoota”
cha : and
proktam : what is termed as
adhidaivam : “adhidaivam”
uchyate : what is termed as
 
Shri Krishna ended the previous chapter by referencing some technical terms, and stressed the need for Arjuna to understand these terms completely so that he could realize Ishvara. Here, Arjuna does a favour to all future students of the Gita by asking Shri Krishna to clearly define these terms. In that regard, Arjuna asks the definition of four terms in this shloka: adhyaatma, karma, adhibhoota and adhidaiva.
 
This chapter is perhaps one of the more philosophical and esoteric chapters of the Gita. It deals with the theme of life after death, something that has not been addressed so far in the Gita. Furthermore, The definition of the aforementioned technical terms is provided, but has been interpreted differently by various commentators, so we need to chose the most clear and straightforward explanation. We will also get a sweeping glimpse of the Gita’s view on the origin of the cosmos.
 
To better understand these technical terms, let us set up an illustration. First, let us quickly look at how a movie projector works. A projector consists of a bright light that shines onto a strip of film. This film strip contains a series of images that are shot by a movie camera, or drawn by an animator in case of an animated movie. When the film strip is run through the projector, the images are projected onto the movie screen. The fast speed of the moving images creates the illusion of movement on the screen.
 
Let us further say that there is an animated movie called “Tom” that shows a day in the life of Tom who is a teenager. Tom wakes up, eats breakfast, goes to school, comes back home, plays with his friends and goes to sleep. It is a very simple movie. Like any other animated movie it follows a script written by a scriptwriter, and is in fact a sequence of images drawn by an animator.
 
Now, here’s where we have to stretch our thinking. Imagine that by some inexplicable magic, the light that shines on Tom on the film strip begins to think that it is different than the light that shines on the other part of the film strip. It develops an identity of its own. It even begins to think that it is actually waking up, going to school and so on.
 
The light of the projector has identified itself with Tom. What happens next? We will continue to develop this illustration further in the explanation of the next shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 16, Chapter 4

06 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by in 4.16, akarma, ashubhaat, atra, chapter 4 verse 16, iti, jnyaatvaa, karma, kavayaha, kim, mohitaaha, mokshyase, pravakshyaami, tat, te, yat

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kim karma kimakarmeti kavayopatra mohitaaha |
tatte karma pravakshyaami yajnyaatvaa mokshyaseshubhaat || 16 ||

What is action and what is inaction? Seers are deluded in this regard. To you, I will explain that action, by knowing which you will gain liberation from this inauspicious (nature of samsaara).

kim : what is
karma : action
kim : what is
akarma : inaction
iti : this
kavayaha : seers
atra : in this regard
mohitaaha: are deluded
tat : that
te : you
karma : action
pravakshyaami : explain
yat : that which
jnyaatvaa : knowing
mokshyase : gain liberation
ashubhaat : from this inauspicious

As we continue to move forward in the Gita, we comes across milestones where Shri Krishna takes us from one level of understanding to a more advanced level. With this shloka, Shri Krishna alerts us that the upcoming shlokas will give us a much deeper understanding of the topic of karma or action.

Let us recap what we have learned so far about action and inaction. Action or karma as defined by Shri Krishna is any activity performed with a selfish motive. Inaction or akarma is defined as any activity performed in a selfless manner. In other words, with a yajnya spirit. It is important to revise these definitions because Shri Krishna says that even intelligent people very easily get confused by this terminology, since action typically means any activity and inaction means absence of activity.

Why is this topic important? Unless our intellect fully understands and gets the conviction that we can achieve self-realization through performance of action, we will again and again fall prey to the wrong notion that we should renounce everything.

This is evident in our daily lives. Whenever we feel pressure at our job, we start thinking about changing jobs. If we have to resolve a delicate issue impacting our friends or relatives, we may try to defer or avoid it altogether rather than addressing it. We have an inbuilt tendency to avoid performing actions, even though all our bodies can do is perform action. Therefore, Shri Krishna wants us to have a thorough understanding of the nature of action so that it becomes a part of our life, than something that we just read about.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 33, Chapter 3

10 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in 3.33, api, bhootani, chapter 3 verse 33, cheshtate, jnyaanavaan, karishyati, kim, nirgraha, prakriteh, prakritim, sadrisham, svasyaaha, yaanti

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sadrisham cheshtate svasyaaha prakritejnyaanavaanapi |
prakritim yaanti bhootaani nigraha kim karishyati || 33 ||

Even a wise person will behave according to his own nature. All beings follow their own nature. What can restraint do?

sadrisham : according to
cheshtate : behave
svasyaaha : one’s own
prakriteh : of nature
jnyaanavaan : wise person
api: even
prakritim : nature
yaanti : follow
bhootaani : all beings
nigraha : restraint
kim : what
karishyati : will do

Shri Krishna here addresses a critical point, which is that even the most well-read and educated person will find it difficult to practice karmayoga. Why is this so? It is because inbuilt tendencies and urges inside us compel us to act against our will. These tendencies comprise our lower nature. Note that the lower nature is also called “prakriti” here, which is different than the prakriti that we saw earlier.

All beings – plants, animals and humans – are born with an innate set of traits. In humans, these traits are manifested in the body, mind and intellect. These traits are a product of our vaasanaas, which are impressions created by past actions.

It does not matter whether one is wise or foolish, rich or poor etc. All human beings are born with vaasanaas. These vaasanaas are “thought generators”. They cause thoughts about the material world to arise in our mind. And once a thought arises, it results into desire and action as we saw in the second chapter.

Therefore, Shri Krishna says that mere restraint of actions will not result in eradication of desires, since the vaasanaas will continue to generate more and more thoughts. And direct suppression of thoughts is next to impossible. Many people try to repress thoughts and desires in the hope of progressing spiritually, but like a spring that is pushed down, that strategy backfires very easily.

But then, should we give up our efforts altogether? That is not the case. For example, you cannot teach tiger to be non-violent and eat grass. But you can change his behaviour to a certain extent through repeated training. Similarly, the vaasanaas can be channeled in the service of society. Like judo uses the opponent’s strength to subdue the opponent, karmayoga uses the energy of vaasanaas to extinguish themselves.

So therefore, Shri Krishna gives us a way out. Even though all of us have tendencies that can drag us lower, we can analyze those tendencies and overcome them through the technique of karmayoga. Having explained this, Shri Krishna gives us the exact location of our enemies, these lower tendencies, in the next shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 1, Chapter 3

09 Friday Dec 2011

Posted by in 3.1, buddhih, chapter 3 verse 1, chet, ghore, janaardana, jyaayasee, karmanaha, karmani, keshava, kim, maam, mataa, niyojayasi, tat, te

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jyaayasee chetkarmanaste mataa buddhirjanaardana |
tatkim karmani ghore maam niyojayasi keshava || 1 ||

If knowledge is superior to action in your opinion, O Janaardana, why do you want me to perform this horrible action, O Keshava?

jyaayasee : superior
chet : if
karmanaha : action
te : you
mataa : opinion
buddhih : knowledge
janaardana : O Janaardana
tat : then
kim : why
karmani : action
ghore : horrible
maam : me
niyojayasi : perform
keshava : O Keshava

We begin the third chapter with a question from Arjuna. It is wonderful to see the give-and-take between a student and a disciple come up several times in the Gita, making it more accessible and human. Let us dig deeper into Arjuna’s question.

In the last chapter, Shri Krishna introduced the topic of karma yoga, where one performs selfless action. But later, he spoke about the knowledge of the eternal essence. Arjuna interpreted this as a statement that knowledge is superior to wisdom, and wanted to clarify whether it was so.

As an analogy, I remember the experience of learning music. In most cases, new students of music gave more importance to performing a popular song on stage, than to endure the rigour and discipline of daily finger drills that could get repetitive and boring. Similarly, Arjuna thought that knowledge was superior in action.

Arjuna also referred to his fighting in the war as a “horrible” action. This word speaks a lot about his mental state. Shri Krishna had taught him that one should maintain equanimity in pleasant and unpleasant situations. But Arjuna had not internalized and assimilated the teaching.

This is not uncommon. Our experience will usually indicate that a one-time hearing or “shravana” of any teaching will not be enough. We also need to reflect on the teaching, which is also known as “manana”. And finally, we have to internalize it so that it becomes part of our personality – “nidhidhyaasana”.

In the next shloka, Arjuna completes his question to Shri Krishna.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 54, Chapter 2

21 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by in 2.54, aseeta, bhaashaa, chapter 2 verse 54, kaa, keshava, kim, prabhaashetaa, samaadhistasya, sthitadheeh, sthitaprajnya, vrajeta

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Arjuna uvaacha:
sthitaprajnasya kaa bhaashaa samaadhisthasya keshava |
sthitadheeh kim prabhaasheta kimaaseeta vrajeta kim || 54 ||

Arjuna said:
What is the description of a person of steady wisdom, one who is established in equanimity, O Arjuna? How does that person of steady intellect speak? How does he sit? How does he walk?

sthitaprajnasya : person of steady wisdom
kaa bhaashaa : what is the description
samaadhisthasya : established in equanimity
keshava : O Keshava
sthitadheeh : person of steady intellect
kim prabhaasheta : how does he speak
kimaaseeta : how does he sit
vrajeta kim : how does he walk

In this shloka, we get to hear Arjuna speak after a long time. When we saw him last, he was in the midst of a panic attack. The extremely thoughtful question posed by him tells us that his mind has now calmed down, and that he has been following the teaching diligently. He now asks Shri Krishna to elaborate on the practical aspect of the teaching, since more time was spent on the theoretical part.

Arjuna was a warrior, and a very practical person. So he was less interested in abstract theoretical concepts. He wanted to know about the internal and external characteristics of a person who was steeped in equanimity. For a warrior, one of the best ways to learn to use a new weapon is to mimic someone who is skilled at using it. Therefore, Arjuna wanted to know how he could emulate that person who is always established in equanimity, here called a “sthita-prajna” or a person of steady wisdom.

The second half of the shloka contains questions that seem a bit odd to us. Why would Arjuna want to know how someone speaks, sits or walks? These questions are not meant to be taken literally. Speaking and walking refer to how an individual transacts in this world.  Sitting refers to what is his perspective and attitude towards the world. That’s what Arjuna wanted to know.

Let us take stock of where we are. We had seen that Shri Krishna was covering 4 main topics: 1) Informing Arjuna that his logic and reasoning was incorrect 2) Explaining the correct logic and reasoning to Arjuna 3) Providing practical guidance to implement this correct logic and reasoning 4) Describing the attributes of the individual who follows this teaching.

In the next shloka, Shri Krishna moves from the third topic to the final topic, which is the description of the person with steady wisdom.