Category Archives: kutaha

Bhagavad Gita Verse 43, Chapter 11

26 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by in 11.43, abhyadhikaha, anyaha, api, apratimaprabhaava, asi, asti, chapter 11 verse 43, charaacharasya, gareeyaaan, guruhu, kutaha, lokasya, lokatraye, na, pitaa, poojyaha, tvam .asya, tvatsamaha

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pitaasi lokasya charaacharasya tvamasya poojyashcha gururgareeyaan |
na tvatsamostyabhyadhikaha kutonyo lokatrayepyapratimaprabhaava || 43 ||
 
You are the father of this universe, of all that is moving and non-moving. You are most worthy of worship, and the greatest teacher among teachers. There is none like you. How could anyone be superior than you in all the three worlds, O one of immeasurable impact?
 
pitaa : father
asi : is
lokasya : universe
charaacharasya : moving and non-moving
tvam : you
asya : are
poojyaha : worthy of worship
cha : and
guruhu : teacher
gareeyaaan : teachers
na : not
tvatsamaha : like you
asti : is
abhyadhikaha : superior than
kutaha : how
anyaha : other
lokatraye : in the three worlds
api : also
apratimaprabhaava : unsurpassable impact
 
Arjuna describes the characteristics of an ideal parent in this shloka. Who is an ideal parent? Any parent should obviously provide physical and emotional nourishment to their children. But ideal parents also become the greatest gurus, the greatest teachers, for their children. Only when parents teach the right knowledge and values do they become worthy of being worshipped by their children. Symbolically speaking, Ishvara is the ideal parent because he is the ultimate cause of this universe that is made up of sentient and insentient objects.
 
Arjuna also refers to Ishvara as the ultimate overlord of the three worlds. Traditionally, we think of these three worlds as referring to heaven , hell and earth. Another meaning of the three worlds is the three states in which we exist. In the day, we exist in the waking state where our intellect, our faculty of logic and reason is active. In the night, we go into our dream state, where our intellect is shut off but our mind creates whole new dream worlds. We then go into a state of deep sleep, where neither the mind nor the intellect functions.
 
Though we keep going through all three states daily, the sense that “I exist” is common. The Mandukya Upanishad uses this analysis to reveal the nature of the eternal essence. In this shloka, Arjuna asserts that Ishvara is with us as the “I am” principle in all of these three states of waking, dream and deep sleep. To this great being, Arjuna surrenders his ego by declaring that there is nothing else in the entire universe like Ishvara.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 31, Chapter 4

21 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by in 4.31, amritabhija, anyaha, asti, ayajnyasya, brahma, chapter 4 verse 31, kurusattama, kutaha, lokaha, na, sanaatanam, shishtaaha, yaanti, yanjya

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yajnyashishtaamritabhujo yaanti brahma sanaatanam |
naayam lokostyayajnyasya kutonyaha kurusattama || 31 ||

Only those who taste the nectar of sacrificial remnants obtain the ever-existing eternal essence. The non-performer of sacrifice does not have (joy) in this world, how (will he get joy) in other worlds, O foremost among Kurus?

yajnya-shishtaaha : remnants of sacrifice
amritabhujaha : those who have tasted nectar
yaanti : obtain
brahma : eternal essence
sanaatanam : ever-existing
na : not
lokaha : in this world
asti : have
ayajnyasya : non-performer of sacrifice
kutaha : how
anyaha : other worlds
kurusattama : O foremost among Kurus

So far, Shri Krishna gave us a wide range of yajnyas that we can implement in our daily lives. In this shloka, he urges us to implement at least one of those yajnyas in our life. He says that one who does not live his life in the yajnya spirit will not even be able to function properly in the material world, let alone progress on the spiritual path.

Let’s take a practical example. Suppose we decide to follow the yajnya of nityaahaarah. In other words, we decide to restrict our food intake. How do we actually implement this? Shri Krishna tells us that in all actions that we undertake, we should first perform the yajyna, and then partake of the “remnants” of the yajnya.

So if we see a tasty dish, we perform a yajnya on the spot by saying “I am performing a yajnya. I first offer all the food to Ishvara because this food belongs to Ishvara. I will take only x amount for myself as the remnants of that yajnya.” The key point here is we first perform the yajnya, then partake of the fruit of the action. We do not rush directly into the action. This lets our intellect override the impulses of our senses.

If we truly make yajnya spirit a part of our life, we will develop “praasada buddhi”, which is one of the cornerstones of karma yoga. Since the praasaada is a gift from Ishvaraa, we will not compare it to someone else’s prasaada. In doing so, we will subdue negative emotions such as jealousy and insecurity. Over time, we will find inner joy in conducting such yajnyas every day. This inner joy is called “amrita” or nectar in this shloka. It will have the power of negating all our sorrows.

One who does not maintain the attitude of yajnya goes against the laws of nature, as it were. This is because the yajnya spirit pervades the entire universe, as we have seen earlier. Such a person lives an unhappy existence even in the material world, and has no chance of attaining any spiritual goals whatsoever.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 66, Chapter 2

01 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by in 2.66, abhaavayataha, ashaantasya, asti, ayuktasya, ayuktaya, bhaavana, buddhih, cha, chapter 2 verse 66, kutaha, na, shaantih, sukham

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naasti buddhiryuktasya na chaayuktasya bhaavana |
na chaabhaavayataha shaantirashaantasya kutaha sukham || 66 ||

The individual whose mind and senses are not controlled cannot have a focused intellect, without a focused intellect he cannot meditate, and without meditation there is no peace. How can there be happiness without peace?

na : not
asti : happen
buddhih : focused intellect
ayuktasya : one whose mind and senses are not controlled
na : not
cha : and
ayuktasya : that individual
bhaavana : meditation
na : not
cha : and
abhaavayataha : without meditation
shaantih : peace
ashaantasya : individual without peace
kutaha : where
sukham : happy

Shri Krishna so far extolled the virtues of controlling the senses and the mind. In this shloka, he echoes the same point, but uses negative inference to drive it home.

Here, he says that if the mind and senses constantly wander, our psyche is agitated. An agitated psyche will never allow an intellect to focus. And we have already seen in earlier shlokas the disadvantages of not having focused intellect or “vyavasaayaatmika buddhi”.  One cannot hold on to a single thought, in other words – meditate, if the mind is turbulent.

We may feel that there is some repetition here – why is he asking us to control the mind and senses over and over again? But consider this: reading about it and putting it into practice are two different things. If we check the daily list of thoughts that we maintain in our diary, we realize that even if we read the Gita backwards and forwards, it takes lot of time and effort to change the quality and quantity of our thoughts. This message needs to be seared into our brain for us to take it seriously, hence the refrain of this point.

Very simply put: there is no happiness without control of mind and senses.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 2, Chapter 2

26 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by in 2.2, akeertikaram, anaarya, asvargyam, chapter 2 verse 2, justham, kashmalam, kutaha, samupasthitam, tvaa, vishame

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Shri Bhagavaan uvaacha
kutastvaa kashmalamidam vishame samupasthitam |
anaaryajusthamasvargyamakeertikaramarjuna || 2 ||

Shri Bhagavaan said:
From where has this weakness arisen, at this inconvenient time? It is not noble, nor will it get you to heaven, not will it earn you valour, O Arjuna.

kutaha : from where
tvaa : you
kashmalam : weakness, impurity
idam : this
vishame : inconvenient time
samupasthitam: arisen
anaarya : non-noble
justham : accept
asvargyam : non-heavenly
akeertikaram : non-valourous
arjuna : Arjuna

So finally we get to hear Shri Krishna speak in the Gita. But what he said was not what Arjuna expected at all.

Let’s look at the kind of words Shri Krishna used.  They were not words of kindness. They were not words of sympathy or support. They were tough, provocative words meant to shake Arjuna out of his deluded state of mind. They were intended to inform Arjuna that his assessment of this situation, and his plan of exiting from the situation, were totally incorrect and invalid.

Moreover, rule number one in communication skills training is “tailor the message to the audience”. We see that here. Arjuna is a tough warrior, and tough talk is the only language he understands. An analogy would be a coach providing directions to a player in the middle of a football game. He would use tough talk, not sympathetic talk.

Shri Krishna also highlights another point here, that the timing of Arjuna’s fall into sorrow is not appropriate. If he did want to express any emotion towards his kinsmen, he had a lot of time to do so prior to the battle. Once in battle, this behaviour was unwarranted.

Footnotes
1. In the rest of the Gita, Shri Krishna is addressed as “Bhagavaan”. Bhagavaan means the one who is endowed with “bhagas” or divine attributes: wealth, virtue, glory, might, knowledge and dispassion.
2. The second verse is one long word composed of several shorter words. In Sanskrit, words are joined together using a system of rules called “sandhi”. It is not necessary to learn the sandhi rules since most commentaries dissect long words into their components. We are fortunate to leverage their efforts here.