Category Archives: labhante

Bhagavad Gita Verse 21, Chapter 9

16 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in 9.21, anuprapannaahaa, bhuktvaa, chapter 9 verse 21, evam, gataagaam, kaamakaamaahaa, ksheene, labhante, martyalokam, punye, svargalokam, tam, te, trayeedharmam, vishaalam, vishanti

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te tam bhuktvaa svargalokam vishaalam ksheene punye martyalokam vishanti |
evam trayeedharmamanuprapannaa gataagaam kaamakaamaa labhante || 21 ||
 
Having enjoyed the (joys of) mighty heaven, they, with their merits exhausted, return to the mortal world. In this manner, those with selfish desires, who take refuge in the three-fold system, arrive and depart (repeatedly).
 
te : they
tam : that
bhuktvaa : enjoyed
svargalokam : heaven
vishaalam : mighty
ksheene : exhausted
punye : merits
martyalokam : mortal world
vishanti : come to
evam : in this manner
trayeedharmam : three-fold system
anuprapannaahaa : take refuge
gataagaam : arrival and departure
kaamakaamaahaa : those with selfish desires
labhante : attain
 
Shri Krishna continues the description of desire-oriented devotees (sakaam bhaktas) who worship Ishvara with a view to gain earthly and heavenly rewards and conforts. Shri Krishna says that their efforts will bear fruit on earth as well as in heaven. However, he says that their stay in heaven is temporary. After their stay ends, they once again come back to earth and get caught up in the endless cycle of birth and death.
 
As an example, consider the plight of those people who work hard, earn a good living but have trouble managing their spending. As soon as they get their salary, they instantly spend most of it on the first of the month, and barely manage to pay their bills for the remainder of the month. They somehow forget that fact that money, like anything else in this world, is finite.
 
Similarly, people who enjoy heavenly pleasures stay in heaven until their merits (punya) are depleted. Once that happens, they come back to earth and are born into a human form if they are lucky, or some other form if they are not.
 
Shri Krishna says that such people follow the “three-fold system”. This refers to Vedic knowledge comprising the three modes or gunaas. Since the gunaas themselves are finite and transient, the results attained by the followers of these gunaas will also be finite and transient.
 
So therefore, although the desire-oriented devotee is better than someone who has no room for devotion, he is still trapped in a pursuit of comfort in pleasure in this world as well as in other worlds. Unlike such a devotee, what we should truly desire is liberation or moksha.
 
What kind of devotee gets liberation? This is taken up next.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 25, Chapter 5

28 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in 5.25, brahmanirvaanam, chapter 5 verse 25, chhinnadvaidhaa, hite, kalmashaaha, ksheena, labhante, rataaha, rishayaha, sarvabhoota, yataatmaanaha

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labhante brahmanirvaanamrishayaha ksheenakalmashaaha |
chhinnadvaidhaa yataatmaanaha sarvabhootahite rataaha || 25 ||

The wise seeker, whose defects have been destroyed, who has eliminated all doubts, who has complete control over his self, who is engaged in the welfare of all beings; he obtains liberation.

labhante : obtains
brahmanirvaanam : ultimate liberation
rishayaha : that wise seeker
ksheena : have been destroyed
kalmashaaha : all defects
chhinnadvaidhaa : all doubts have been eliminated
yataatmaanaha : who has complete control over his self
sarvabhoota : all beings
hite : welfare
rataaha : engaged

In this shloka, Shri Krishna further explains the nature of one who is liberated by establishing himself in the eternal essence. Such a liberated seeker is called a “rishi”. It means one who knows, one who has knowledge of the eternal essence. Typically, we think of a rishi as someone who has a beard and wears a robe. It is not so. A rishi uses knowledge and discrimination constantly and knows the difference between the real and the unreal. Such a rishi has four attributes per this shloka: free of all defects, free from all doubts, complete self control, and engaged in the welfare of all beings.

The rishi is “ksheena-kalmasha”, which means that he has freed himself of all mental impurities. The core or the key mental impurity is ignorance which manifests in the form of affinity for worldly pleasures. It is ignorance alone from which all impurities are others based off. It is through karmayoga that we rid ourselves of all mental impurities.

Next, the rishi is “chhinna-dvaidah”. He is free from all doubts regarding who is really is. Until the mind has doubts, the notion that “I am the eternal essence” will come and go, but it will not be permanent. There will be no conviction behind it. Desires that push us out into the world are the obstruction to such a permanent conviction. “Chhinna – dvaidah” also means free of all notions of duality.

“Yataatmaanah” is another word used to describe the rishi. He has complete self control, in other words, he has compete control over his mind and senses. He is not like most of us who are under the mind’s control. The rishi know that the body, mind and senses are different than his true self which is the eternal essence. Once he realizes that they are different than him and have no relation to him, he does not come under their control.

Furthermore, the rishi is “sarva bhuta hite rathaah”, which means that he is always engaged in the welfare of all. Now this does not mean necessarily that he is engaged in social service. It means that the rishi is always in a state of total non-violence. He sees no distinction between himself, one person and another person.It is like water and the fish. Regardless of what the fish does, the water lives in total harmony with the fish. One has no fear for the other.

So therefore, such a rishi is the one who is fit to attain liberation, where he dissolves himself into the eternal essence, just like a wave dissolves into the ocean.

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.