Category Archives: maunam

Bhagavad Gita Verse 16, Chapter 17

06 Monday May 2013

Posted by in 17.16, aatmavinigraha, bhaavasamshuddhihi, chapter 17 verse 16, maanasam, manaha, maunam, prasaadaha, saumyatvam, tapaha, ucchyate

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manahaprasaadaha saumyatvam maunamaatmavinigraha |
bhaavasamshuddhirityetattapo maanasamucchyate || 16 ||
 
Mental cheerfulness, kindness, silence, self control, purity of intent, this is called penance of the mind.
 
manaha : of mind
prasaadaha : cheerfulness
saumyatvam : kindness
maunam : silence
aatmavinigraha : self control
bhaavasamshuddhihi : purity of intent
iti : in this manner
etat : this
tapaha : penance
maanasam : of the mind
ucchyate : is called
 
So far, we came across the qualities needed for penance of the body and speech. Shri Krishna now lists the qualities that indicate penance of mind, maanasika tapas. He begins with prasaadaha, a cheerful, joyful attitude towards situations in life. It comes from maintaining our balance and composure in troublesome as well as in happy situations. Saumyatvam refers to developing a gentleness and gracefulness when dealing with people. It requires us to remain free from negative attitudes towards people that manifest as jealousy, violence, cruelty and so on.
 
The next quality is maunam. Literally, maunam mean silence, but here it means silence that comes out of contemplation. Now, we cannot stop negative thoughts from arising in our mind, but we can always control how much time and attention we give to such thoughts. Whenever such negative thoughts arise, we have to be able to switch to a positive thought immediately. Doing so requires high levels of self control or aatma vinigrahaha, also known as shamaha. If we do not learn how to do this, the mind will hold onto a negative thought and get swept away in a mental whirlpool of negativity.
 
When we constantly maintain all the above mentioned qualities, our mind will automatically begin to harbour good intentions, even against so-called evil people and tough situations. The key to do this comes back to our outlook towards the world. We need to do one of two things. If we have faith in Ishvara, we need to surrender to him and reduce our dependence on the perishable material world. Alternatively, we treat the entire world as mithyaa, as an illusion, and negate everything in it. As long as we give absolute reality to the world, mental penance is next to impossible.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 38, Chapter 10

08 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in 10.38, asmi, cha, chapter 10 verse 38, damayataam, dandaha, eva, guhyaanaam, jigeeshataam, jnyaanam, jnyaanavataam, maunam, neetihi

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dando damayataamasmi neetirasmi jigeeshataam |
maunam chaivaasmi guhyaanaam jnyaanam jnyaanavataamaham || 38 ||
 
Among means of subjugation, I am punishment and among seekers of victory, I am strategy. Also, among the secrets I am silence and among the wise, I am knowledge.
 
dandaha : punishment
damayataam : among means of subjugation
asmi : I am
neetihi : strategy
asmi : I am
jigeeshataam : among seekers of victory
maunam : silence
cha : and
eva : also
asmi : I am
guhyaanaam : among the secrets
jnyaanam : knowledge
jnyaanavataam : among the wise
aham : I am
 
In this shloka, Shri Krishna declares punishment as foremost among Ishvara’s expressions that restrain or subdue others. As we have seen in the second chapter, dwelling on sense objects can very easily lead to loss of even a wise person’s wisdom and discrimination, which may result in unlawful behaviour. A society without methods to punish criminals is impractical, and will result in anarchy and chaos. From our standpoint, we need to watch our mind and our sense organs constantly, lest they lead us astray.
 
Next, we look at neeti or strategy. In the Mahabhaarata, Arjuna needed to finish Jayadratha in order to move closer to a victory. But the powerful Jayadratha had obtained a boon from his father. Whoever caused Jayadratha’s head to fall to the ground, their head would split into a hundred pieces. This was a tough situation and needed a smart solution.
 
Upon Shri Krishna’s advice, Arjuna dispatched an arrow that would sever Jayadratha’s head and deposited it into the lap of his father. When Jayadratha’s father got up, he dropped the head and became the target of his own curse. Shri Krishna, the ultimate strategist, declares strategy as Ishvara’s foremost expression among seekers of victory. Strategy enables us to deal with different people and circumstances, and to devise a plan to win every time.
 
“Silence is golden” is a proverb that has stood the test of time. In a business negotiation, we may be put in situations where others try to insult us in some way. We face a choice in such situations: we can either snap back at that person or we can stay silent. If we respond, we may say something that may come back to haunt us later. Worse still, we could reveal a secret that puts us in jeopardy.
 
To that end, Shri Krishna advises us to follow the “silence is golden” proverb by declaring silence as Ishvara’s foremost manifestation among secrets. And those wise people who follow Ishvara’s recommendations also receive their wisdom through Ishvara’s as his divine manifestation.