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Category Archives: parantapa

Bhagavad Gita Verse 41, Chapter 18

29 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by in 18.41, braahmankshatriyavishaam, chapter 18 verse 41, gunaihi, karmaani, parantapa, pravibhaktaani, shoodraanaam, svabhaavaprabhavaihi

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braahmankshatriyavishaam shoodraanaam cha parantapa |
karmaani pravibhaktaani svabhaavaprabhavairgunaihi || 41 ||
 
The duties of braahmans, kshatriyas, vaishyas and shoodras, O scorcher of foes, have been classified according to the gunaas, which have born of nature.
 
braahmankshatriyavishaam : braahmans, kshatriyas and vaishyas
shoodraanaam : of shoodras
cha : and
parantapa : O scorcher of foes
karmaani : duties
pravibhaktaani : have been classified
svabhaavaprabhavaihi : born of nature
gunaihi : gunaas
 
All of us are born with unique proportion of gunaas, with certain levels of sattva, tamas and rajas. These gunaas determine how we perceive the world, how we think about the world, and how we act and transact in the world. At a minimum, we want to live a healthy and materially prosperous life. Now we have seen that high levels of rajas and tamas can bring our downfall. But we cannot sit at home by ourselves, fearful of their impact. We have to engage with the world, transact with society. What should we do?
 
Shri Krishna says that we first need to understand our mental makeup. Once we have studied and analyzed our mental makeup, we can channel our inherent tendencies into productive actions that contribute to the well being society. If we perform our duty to society, society will ensure that we live a healthy life and prosperous life. After all, society is nothing but a larger manifestation of Ishvara. This the best and most practical career counseling advice given to us in the Gita.
 
So this section of shlokas educates us about analyzing our internal proportion of gunaas. This system of classification and analyzis is known as the varna system. We have to remind ourselves again to remove all prior conceptions and connotations of varna, which is improperly translated or construed as caste. The caste system as it stands today is not what was envisioned by the Vedas. The analysis of gunaas to understand one’s varna or one’s sphere of activity has to come from within. It cannot be imposed by anyone from the outside.

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Bhagavad Gita Verse 54, Chapter 11

07 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by in 11.54, aham, ananyayaa, arjuna, bhaktyaa, chapter 11 verse 54, drishtum, evam, jnyaatum, parantapa, praveshtum, shakyaha, tattvena, tu, vidhihi

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bhaktyaa tvananyayaa shakya ahamevamvidhorjuna |
jnyaatum drishtum cha tattvena praveshtum cha parantapa || 54 ||
 
But, by single-pointed devotion, I am accessible, O Arjuna. In this manner, as my essence, I can be known, seen, and merged into, O scorcher of foes.
 
bhaktyaa : devotion
tu : but
ananyayaa : single-pointed
shakyaha : accessible
aham : I
evam : this
vidhihi : manner
arjuna : O Arjuna
jnyaatum : known
drishtum : seen
cha : and
tattvena : essence
praveshtum : merged
cha : and
parantapa : O scorcher of foes
 
So finally, Shri Krishna reveals the means by which we can access Ishvara’s cosmic form. It cannot be through any action such as rituals, study of the Vedas and so on since all of these methods are in the realm of space and time. “Ananya bhakti”, or single-pointed devotion is the only means to access Ishvara. We have come across the term “ananya” in prior chapters. It means that in which there is no “anya”, no other. We should not be devoted to Ishvara so that we can get something else. The devotion should be for obtaining Ishvara and nothing else.
 
We see this principle in our daily life as well. You have two friends, one who always comes to you when he needs something from you, not otherwise. Another friend comes to you just to know how you are doing, without any ulterior motive or hidden agenda. We would always prefer to deal with the second friend, and say to him “my house is your house, don’t behave like a stranger, take what you want”. Similarly, when we ask something materialistic from Ishvara, we treat him as different from us. Ishvara does not like this. When we want only Ishvara, we do not treat him as different from us. This is the crux of single-pointed devotion.
 
In the second half of the shloka, Shri Krishna outlines the process of attaining Ishvara. First, we have to know what Ishvara is, discarding all our prior notions. We have to know him as “tattvena”, in his essence, as pervading the entire world, not as someone hiding up in the sky somewhere. When we gain this knowledge and reflect upon it constantly, we begin to see Ishvara in everything, and everything as Ishvara. But the last step, of not seeing Ishvara from the outside, but of totally merging into Ishvara, can only happen through single-pointed devotion. Arjuna came to know Ishvara through Shri Krishna’s teaching, and he also saw Ishvara’s cosmic form. But he did not fully merge into it, he was standing out of it.
 
In this manner, Shri Krishna slowly brings up the topic of the next chapter, which is the yoga of bhakti or devotion. He summarizes this chapter in the next and last shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 40, Chapter 10

11 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by in 10.40, antaha, asti, chapter 10 verse 40, divyaanaam, eshaha, mama, mayaa, na, parantapa, proktaha, tu, udyeshataha, vibhooteenaam, vibhootehe, vistaraha

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aantosti mama divyaanaam vibhooteenaam parantapa |
esha toodyeshataha prokto vibhootervistaro mayaa || 40 ||
 
There is no end to my divine expressions, O scorcher of foes. For, what has been spoken of my expressions is (just) an indicator.
 
na : no
antaha : end
asti : there is
mama : my
divyaanaam : of divine
vibhooteenaam : expressions
parantapa : O scorcher of foes
eshaha : this
tu : for
udyeshataha : indicator
proktaha : has been spoken
vibhootehe : of the expressions
vistaraha : explanations
mayaa : my
 
Shri Krishna, speaking as Ishvara, began enumerating his divine expressions in the beginning of this chapter. As we have seen so far, he has highlighted the most glorious, powerful and awe-inspiring aspects of his creation. In this shloka, he admits that it is next to impossible to list every single aspect of creation. But he also asserts that every single aspect of creation is divine, since it has sprung out of Ishvara himself.
 
So if everything is divine, why should we seek only a subset of Ishvara’s creations? It is to help us move towards liberation. We tend to be drawn towards people or objects in that universe that naturally attract our senses. If we look at them as mere people or objects, we get bound to them through attachment, which will eventually result in sorrow when we get separated from them. But if we look at them as manifestations of Ishvara, we are automatically protected from further entangling ourselves in samsaara, in the desire-oriented world.
 
Let us go back to the example of Mr. X and his shiny new car. The seed of sorrow was planted the minute he started considering that “the car is mine”. Instead, if Mr. X thinks that the car is Ishvara’s creation, he will immediately drop his sense of “mine-ness” from it. Furthermore, he realizes that the car is a temporary object and will eventually cease to exist. He also comes to know that the sense of joy he derives from buying a new car is not from the car, but it is from the presence of Ishvara inside it. So if something happens to the car, he remains unaffected and unperturbed.
 
Now having gone through the list, we find that a 21st century person like us has difficulty identifying with Puraanic glories that would have been familiar to Arjuna. How should we deal with this issue? Shri Krishna gives the answer in the next shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 3, Chapter 9

29 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in 9.3, apraapya, ashradyadhaanaahaa, asya, chapter 9 verse 3, dharmasya, maam, mrityu, nivartante, parantapa, purushaa, samsaara, vartmani

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ashradyadhaanaahaa purushaa dharmasyaasya parantapa |
apraapya maam nivartante mrityusamsaaravartmani || 3 ||
 
People who do not have faith in this prescription, O scorcher of foes, do not attain me. They return to the path of the mortal world.
 
ashradyadhaanaahaa = not having faith in
purushaa = people
dharmasya = prescription
asya = this
parantapa = O scorcher of foes
apraapya = not attain
maam = me
nivartante = return
mrityu = mortal
samsaara = world
vartmani = path
 
Like any good teacher, Shri Krishna first glorifies the knowledge that he is about to teach, then points out the qualifications of the worthy student. Addressing Arjuna as the “scorcher of foes”, he says that they key qualification required to receive this teaching is that of faith. If we do not have faith, we continue following our old ways, only to be trapped in this endless cycle of creation and dissolution.
 
Why is there so much importance placed in faith? Without faith, we will not have the inclination to fully understand any teaching. Even in school or college, we will not take the extra effort to inquire, ask questions, read books and resolve our doubts unless we have faith in the subject and the teacher. It is even more important in this kind of knowledge.
 
So then, what happens to those that do not have faith? Shri Krishna says that such people do not attain Ishvara. They have faith in their sense organs and their corresponding sense pleasures. These people still think that feeding their senses with more food, entertainment as well as bodily and intellectual comforts will result in long-lasting happiness. This misplaced faith further ensnares them in the path of the mortal world, which that of birth, old age, disease and death, over and over again.
 
Having sufficiently introduced the chapter, Shri Krishna delivers the main message of this chapter in the following two shlokas.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 27, Chapter 7

24 Sunday Jun 2012

Posted by in 7.27, bhaarata, chapter 7 verse 27, dvandva, dvesha, ichchaa, mohena, parantapa, sammoham, samutthena, sarge, sarvabhootani, yaanti

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ichchaadveshasamutthena dvandvamohena bhaarata |
sarvabhootani sammoham sarge yaanti parantapa || 27 ||
 
O Bhaarata, ever since the creation (of this world), all beings attain ignorance by the delusion born of duality, O Arjuna.
 
ichchaa : desire
dvesha : hatred
samutthena : born of
dvandva : duality
mohena : delusion
bhaarata : O Bhaarata
sarvabhootani : all beings
sammoham : deluded
sarge : creation
yaanti : attain
parantapa : O Parantapa
 
If someone says “I love my job” or “I love to go to this city” we have no doubt in understanding that there is satisfaction in that emotion of loving something. But if someone says “I hate my boss”, we may not admit it but there is satisfaction in expressing hatred as well. It is next to impossible for our mind to think of anything without a tinge of love or hate.
 
Shri Krishna says that the moment we are born, we are cast into this double or dualistic thinking. We can never think an integrated, holistic thought because we are forced to think is terms of likes and dislikes. We run after a certain object because we like it so much and cannot live without it. We finally acquire it. But once that happens, that we begin to dislike that very object that we could not live without. Ultimately every such pursuit results in sorrow.
 
So therefore, how do we get rid of our likes and dislikes, and begin to think holistically? Karma yoga is the answer. By relentlessly performing actions for the service of a higher ideal, we eliminate likes and dislikes to a great extent. Every sense organ has a like and dislike for its respective objects. That is an undeniable truth. But whether or not we fuel these likes and dislikes is up to us. Breaking away from the clutches of the sense organs prepares us for piercing the screen of maaya.
 
Now, if we summarize the shlokas so far, we have the entire problem laid in front of us. Maaya caused by our dualistic disposition blocks us, prevents us from accessing the true nature of Ishvara. Unless we gain this access, we are trapped in samsaara or earthly existence. What should we now do?

Bhagavad Gita Verse 33, Chapter 4

23 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in 4.33, akhilam, dravyamayaat, jnayana, jnyaane, karma, paartha, parantapa, parisamaapyate, sarvam, shreyaan, yagnaha, yajnyaat

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shreyaandravyamayaadyajnyaanjnyaanayagnaha parantapa |
sarvam karmaakhilam paartha jnyaane parisamaapyate || 33 ||

Superior to sacrifice of materials is the sacrifice of knowledge, O scorcher of foes. All actions completely culminate in knowledge, O Paartha.

shreyaan : superior
dravyamayaat : material oriented
yajnyaat : sacrifice
jnyaana-yagnaha : knowledge sacrifice
parantapa : O scorcher of foes
sarvam : all
karma : actions
akhilam : completely
paartha : O Paartha
jnyaane : knowledge
parisamaapyate : culminate

Having pointed out the defect of finitude in the wide range of yajnyaas, Shri Krishna praises jnyaana yajnya or the sacrifice of knowledge. Another interpretation, but on similar lines, is that the yajnya of knowledge is the only one that leads us to the path of shreyas or bliss, rather than the path of preyas or the pleasant.

We learned about the sacrifice of knowledge in an earlier shloka. In this yajnya, we go through three steps to acquire the right understanding and knowledge through study of the scriptures: shravana, manana, nidhidhyaasana. Shravana is listening with complete attention. Manana is deep contemplation on the teachings. Nidhidhyaasana is internalizing the teachings through concentration and meditation.

So why is the sacrifice of knowledge better than the other sacrifices? Shri Krishna offers the answer in the second line of the shloka. He says that all actions culminate in knowledge. If we add the context of karmayoga to this sentence, the meaning becomes : all selfishness that motivates actions completely ends in the realization of infinitude. It is like a river that stops flowing when it reaches, or realizes, the ocean.

Let’s dig into this a little deeper. What does it mean to end selfishness? It means that the notion of doership and enjoyership ends. No more does one think “I am doing this” and “I have obtained the result”. Furthermore, this knowledge is permanent. It is not a finite material object like the result of any other yajnya like material yajnya and so on.

Therefore, when we truly understand this highest knowledge that everything is the eternal essence, we identify with infinite and permanent, thereby ending our sense of finitude. Once that happens, we continue performing all our actions. However, all selfish motives behind those actions will have completely vanished.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 5, Chapter 4

26 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by in 4.5, aham, arjuna, bahooni, cha, chapter 5 verse 4, janmaani, me, na, parantapa, sarvaani, taani, tava, tvam, veda, vettha, vyateetaani

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Shree Bhagavaan uvaacha:
bahooni me vyateetaani janmaani tava chaarjuna |
taanyaham veda sarvaani na tvam vettha parantapa || 5 ||

Shree Bhagavaan said:
You and I have have undergone many births, O Arjuna. I know all of those (births), but you do not know them, O scorcher-of-foes.

bahooni : many
me : mine
vyateetaani : have happened
janmaani : births
tava : your
cha : and
arjuna : Arjuna
taani : those
aham : I
veda : know
sarvaani : all of them
na : do not
tvam : you
vettha : know
parantapa : scorcher-of-foes

In this shloka, Shri Krishna begins to reveal his divine nature to Arjuna. Previously, Arjuna raised a doubt as to how did Shri Krishna convey the Gita teaching to the sun. Shri Krishna responds by pointing out the similarity as well as the difference between his birth and Arjuna’s birth. The similarity is that both Arjuna and Shri Krishna have taken many births in the past.

However, the difference is that Shri Krishna had the knowledge and memory of all his prior births, whereas Arjuna did not. Normally, human beings have such strong identification with their body that it restricts their ability to remember what occurred in another body. We even tend to forget events associated with our own body with the passage of time, including simple things like where we kept our keys in the morning.

So if Shri Krishna could recall what happened in all his births, he did not have any identification to his body, and therefore he is not restricted by its limitations. He was speaking as an enlightened being who realized the eternal essence and has dropped identification with his body. But there is more to Shri Krishna than just this aspect. He will reveal more in the next shloka.

Footnotes
1. How does the Gita treat the topic of rebirth? Our vaasanaas force us to take a birth in a body. If we chose to use the birth to exhaust those vaasanaas, then the cycle of rebirth is broken. But if we chose to use the birth to accumulate more vaasanaas, then we will be forced to take another birth to exhause the newly acquired vaasanaas. Only by cleansing our vaasanaas can we break the cycle of rebirth or “samsaara”.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 2, Chapter 4

23 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by in 4.2, chapter 4 verse 2, evam, iha, kaalena, mahataa, nashtah, paramparaa, parantapa, praaptam, raajarshayo, sah, viduh, yogah

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evam paramparaapraaptamimam raajarshayo viduh |
sa kaaleneha mahataa yogo nashtah parantapa || 2 ||

In this way, scholar-kings knew about this yoga through tradition, (but) through the long passage of time, this yoga has been lost here, O scorcher of foes.

evam : in this way
paramparaapraaptam : obtained through tradition
imam : this
raajarshayo : scholar-king
viduh : known
sah : that
kaalena : through passage of time
iha : here
mahataa : long
yogah : yoga
nashtah : vanished
parantapa : O scorcher of foes

Shri Krishna gives Arjuna the reason for resurrecting the Gita in this shloka. He begins by stating that this knowledge has come from teacher to student. If we trace it back to its roots, we will find that the cosmic intelligence is the origin of this knowledge. This illustrates a beautiful aspect of the spiritual tradition: no one person claims authorship of knowledge. Even Tulsidas asserted that he did not write the Ramayana, but that it came from Lord Shiva.

When any teaching passes from generation to generation, the original message gets distorted. Shri Krishna says that even though this knowledge was prevalent in ancient times, is become distorted due to the long passage of time. Sant Jnyaneshwar in his commentary states that the distortion was further compounded by people becoming more materialistic and extroverted over the passage of time.

One example of distortion is musical raagaas. The raagas that we hear today are but a distorted version of the original raagas. Another example is that of rain water. When rain water falls from the sky, it is extremely pure like distilled water. But as it falls to the ground, it gets contaminated with pollutants in the air, dust and so on. We have to process that water in order to make it potable.

Therefore, now and then someone has to come to refresh the original message of the Gita, and that is what Shri Krishna is doing now. But he also needs to communicate it to the right person so that the message is properly understood. He addresses this point in the next shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 3, Chapter 2

27 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by in 2.3, chapter 2 verse 3, daurbalyam, gamah, hridaya, klaibyam, kshudram, maa, parantapa, sma, tvavi, upapadyate, uttishtha

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klaibyam maa sma gamah paartha naitattvayyupapadyate |
kshudram hridayadaurbalyam tyaktvotishtha parantapa || 3 ||


Don’t yield to this effeminate behaviour, O Paartha, it is not worthy of you. Cast off this petty weakness of heart and arise, O scorcher of foes!

klaibyam : effeminate
maa sma gamah : do not yield
paartha : O son of Prithaa
etat: this
tvavi : in you
na : not
upapadyate : not worthy
kshudram : petty
hridaya: heart
daurbalyam : weakness
tyaktva : cast off
uttishtha : arise
paran-tapa : O scorcher of foes

Shri Krishna, an expert motivational speaker, used a “carrot and stick” approach towards Arjuna here. Let’s first look at the stick or negative aspect, followed by the carrot or positive aspect.

One of the worst things you can call a warrior is effeminate. Even young boys playing sports will get upset when someone says ‘Hey! You throw the ball like a girl!”. So imagine how Arjuna felt when Shri Krishna called him effeminate. Moreover, using the adjective weak-hearted to describe Arjuna was another jolt to the usually courageous and lion-hearted warrior.

But Shri Krishna also appealed to Arjuna’s better qualities. By addressing him as “Paartha”, he reminded Arjuna of his esteemed and respected mother Prithaa (Kunti), and how she would feel if Arjuna shirked away from war. Shri Krishna also reminded Arjuna of his battle prowess, that he was called a “scorcher of foes”.

The final point in this shloka is the powerful Sanskrit word “utthishta”, meaning arise, which evokes Swami Vivekananda’s famous statement “Arise! Awake! and stop not till the goal is reached!’. Arjuna is instructed not just to arise physically, but also to lift his mind from the depths of delusion to a higher plane of intelligence.