Category Archives: mohaha

Bhagavad Gita Verse 73, Chapter 18

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by in 18.73, achyuta, asmi, gatasandehaha, karishye, labdhaa, mayaa, mohaha, nashtaha, prasaadaan, smritihi, sthitaha, tava, vachanam

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Arjuna uvaacha:
nashto mohaha smritirlabdhaa tvatprasaadaanmayaachyuta |
sthitosmi gatasandehaha karishye vachanam tava || 73 ||
 
Arjuna said:
My delusion has been destroyed, and my memory has been restored with your grace, O infallible one. I stand with my doubts removed. I shall do as you say.
 
nashtaha : destroyed
mohaha : delusion
smritihi : memory
labdhaa : restored
tvat : your
prasaadaan : grace
mayaa : by me
achyuta : O infallible one
sthitaha : stand
asmi : I
gatasandehaha : doubts removed
karishye : I shall do
vachanam : words
tava : your
 
If we recall, the first words uttered by Arjuna in the Gita were as follows : O achyuta, O infallible one, in preparation for combat, position my chariot between the two armies. Arjuna uses the same address, achyuta, the infallible one, in this shloka. So the conversation that was initiated by Arjuna is concluded here. Arjuna says that the ignorance of his true nature is no more, since he has regained his smritihi, his memory, the knowledge of his true self. When one comes to know about their true self, there is no more delusion in this world. Everything is seen for what it really is, an illusion, a superimposition by maaya on the self.
 
There is another significance of the word achyuta. While we forget our true nature, and erroneously take maaya to be real, Ishvara is always standing firm in his position as unaffected by the superimposition of maaya. Since he is infallible, only with his grace can we overcome our delusion and come out of the cycle of birth and death, of samsaara. Removal of delusion is the aim of all spiritual teaching, as we saw earlier. All that remains is to stand firm, to be stitaha, in the knowledge of our true self.
 
From the standpoint of the world, Arjuna was convinced that performing his duty as a warrior was the right decision to make at this point. Therefore, he acknowledged that the teaching of the Gita benefitted him, and that he was ready to fight in the war. From the highest standpoint of the absolute, Arjuna’s sense of agency, his sense of doership, had gone away, once he understood that the self can neither do anything, nor can it enjoy anything. He performed actions spontaneously, in the service of Ishvara. In the words of Shri Shankaraachaarya, he had achieved the ultimate goal of life. He did not have to accomplish anything else.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 13, Chapter 14

18 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by in 14.13, aprakaashaha, apravrittihi, chapter 14 verse 13, etaani, jaayante, kurunandan, mohaha, pramaadaha, tamasi, viviriddhe

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aprakaashopravrittishcha pramaado moha eva cha |
tamasyetaani jaayante viviriddhe kurunandan || 13 ||
 
Darkness, inaction, heedlessness and also error. These arise when tamas is predominant, O descendant of the Kurus.
 
aprakaashaha : darkness
apravrittihi : inaction
cha : and
pramaadaha : heedlessness
mohaha : error
eva : also
cha : and
tamasi : of tamas
etaani : these
jaayante : arise
viviriddhe : predominant
kurunandan : O descendent of the Kurus
 
Shri Krishna addressed Arjuna as “kurunandana” when explaining the marks of tamas, but addressed him as “bharatarshabha” when explaining the marks of rajas. He was probably hinting that some members of the Kuru dynasty, the Kauravas, were under the influence of tamas. When we are under the influence of tamas, we make erroneous decisions. We become inert like a stone, resorting to inaction. Even when we act, it is out of heedlessness. Our knowledge is covered by tamas, creating darkness within us.
 
Let us go deeper into what inaction really means. When we have a lack of drive to achieve anything in the world, when we wants to escape all sense of responsibilities, when all ambitions go away, that is inaction. Moha, error or delusion is even worse. We cannot accurately judge our relationship with the world, with other people, with our family, our friends, our job and so on. We become a “good for nothing”, and will remain in that state unless someone wakes us up.
 
Nature has its own scale of tamas, rajas and sattva. It is better to crawl like an insect than lie around like a stone, better to work like an ant rather than crawl like an ant, better to pollinate flowers like a bird than simply work like an ant, better to give milk to others like a cow than pollinate flowers like a bird, and it is better to work with one’s intellect like a human than to give milk to others like a cow. So one who is steeped in tamas, should start to act, even if the actions are without any planning or thinking, just to get into a higher mental state.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 1, Chapter 11

15 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in 11.1, adhyaatma, ayam, chapter 11 verse 1, guhyam, madanugrhaaya, mama, mohaha, paramam, sangitam, tena, tvayaa, uktam, vachaha, vigataha, yat

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arjuna uvaacha:
madanugrhaaya paramam guhyamadhyaatmasangitam |
yattvayoktam vachastena mohoyam vigato mama || 1 ||
 
Arjuna said:
Out of compassion for me, you have spoken about the supreme secret known as the knowledge of the self. By those statements, my delusion has been destroyed.
 
madanugrhaaya : out of compassion for me
paramam : supreme
guhyam : secret
adhyaatma : knowledge of the self
sangitam : known as
yat : that
tvayaa : you have
uktam : spoken
vachaha : statements
tena : by those
mohaha : delusion
ayam : this
vigataha : destroyed
mama : my
 
We begin the eleventh chapter with Arjuna’s words. He recalls the root cause of his panic attack from the first chapter which is moha or delusion which caused confusion between his duty as a warrior and as a family member. He now says that his delusion has been dispelled. How did that happen? It is only because Shri Krishna revealed the knowledge of the self, Adhyaatma vidyaa, to Arjuna, the answer to the question “who am I?”
 
When Arjuna understood his true nature as the self, the aatmaa, the eternal essence, he came to know that the self does not kill or be killed, it is neither the doer of action or the enjoyer of the results. He then realized that even if his body died, or his body killed another body, nothing would happen to the eternal essence in each of those bodies. Given the power of this knowledge to destroy the biggest delusion about who he was, he terms it “paramam” or supreme. And since it requires a sincere student and a rare teacher, he terms it “guhyam” or secret.
 
Now, we may think that there was something special in Arjuna that qualified him to receive this supreme knowledge. Arjuna was humble enough to acknowledge that it was purely out of compassion that Shri Krishna showered his grace upon him and gave him this knowledge. Only through the grace and compassion of Ishvara and a qualified guru can one receive this knowledge.
 
Another aspect of the teaching was Ishvara’s involvement with the universe. Arjuna highlights it in the next shloka.