Category Archives: sammoodha

Bhagavad Gita Verse 29, Chapter 3

06 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by in 3.29, akritsna, chaalayet, chapter 3 verse 29, guna, karmasu, kritsna, mandaan, prakriteh, sajjante, sammoodha, taan, vidah, vit

≈ Comments Off on Bhagavad Gita Verse 29, Chapter 3

prakritergunasammoodhaah sajjante gunakarmasu |
taanakritsnavido mandaankritsnavinna vichaalayet || 29 ||

People deluded by the gunaas of prakriti are attached to gunaas and action. The wise person does not disturb those fools who are of limited knowledge.

prakriteh : from prakriti
guna-sammoodhaah : people deluded by the gunas
sajjante : are attached to
guna-karmasu : gunas and karmas
taan : those
akritsna : limited
vidah : knowledge
mandaan : fools
kritsna : complete
vit : one who knows
vichaalayet : do not disturb

Shri Krishna uses this shloka to reiterate the difference between a wise person and an ignorant or foolish person. It is nothing but their degree of attachment to gunaas (forces of nature) and their actions. He also restates that wise people should not preach karmayoga to those who are attached to gunaas and their actions. Instead, they should lead by example.

Why should they do so? The teacher in a school does not condemn or ridicule a student’s ignorance about mathematics. He fully well knows that the student is in very early stages of his curriculum. With enough time and practice, the student will evolve into a higher level of math understanding.

Similarly, a wise person does not condemn or judge anyone, knowing that everyone is at a different level of spiritual evolution. “Judge not, that ye be not judged” as the Bible says in Matthew 7.1.

As a point of clarification, let us reexamine the message of the last 2 shlokas, which was that most of us mistakenly think that the “I” is the doer. We had seen that it is a tough statement to swallow, so let’s look at a common question that arises when one hears this statement. “I am a well renowned surgeon. I just completed a successful triple-bypass surgery. So if I did not do it, who did?”

There was a team of three “agents” that performed the operation – the surgeon’s mind, body and intellect. The mind gathered data from the five senses and presented it to the intellect. The intellect, based on past experiences and knowledge, took decisions. These decisions were sent to the surgeon’s body, specifically the fingers, which performed the operation.

The real “I”, which is the eternal essence, was a witness of this entire surgery. But the principle of the ego or ahamkaara created a mix-up between the real-I and the three agents: mind, body and intellect. Reversing this fundamental mix-up is the ultimate goal of karmayoga, in fact, of any yoga.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 7, Chapter 2

02 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.7, broohi, chapter 2 verse 7, dosho, kaarpanya, nischitam, prapannam, pricchaami, sammoodha, shaadhi, svabhaava, syaat, upahata, yat

≈ Comments Off on Bhagavad Gita Verse 7, Chapter 2

kaarpanyadoshopahatasvabhaavaha pricchaami
tvaam dharmasammoodhachetaaha |
yachchreyaha syaannishchitam broohi tanme 
shishyasteham shaadhi maam tvaam prapannam || 7 ||

This error of cowardice has damaged my personality, and my deluded intellect cannot decide what is right or wrong. Tell me what is definitely appropriate. Guide me, I am your disciple and take refuge in you.

kaarpanya : cowardly
dosho : error
upahata : damaged
svabhaavaha : inherent nature
pricchaami : I ask
tvaam : you
dharma : right and wrong
sammoodha : deluded
cheta : intellect
yat : what
shreyaha : appropriate
syaat : may be
nishchitam : definitely
broohi : tell me
tat : that
me : for me
shishyaha : disciple
te aham : I’m your
shaadhi : guide
maam : me
tvaam : your
prapannam : refuge

This verse is a milestone in the Gita, because it reflects a change in Arjuna’s thinking.

Arjuna finally gained enough of his reasoning capacity back to realize that his mind had been thrown off balance by cowardice, which he rightly labelled as an error. In the first chapter, he could never have come to this conclusion because he was experiencing an extremely negative emotional state. He was able to put a degree of objectivity towards his thinking, some space between his thoughts and himself. And in doing so, he realized that his intellect was totally deluded.

In addition, he also realized that because of this cowardice, he was in no position to make a decision about whether to fight or not. This was a high-stakes decision, a decision that could impact the course of history. He quickly needed to find some other way of coming to a decision. The only way he could do so is to give up any pretense of knowing what was the correct thing to do, and give that decision to a trusted friend and guide, Shri Krishna.

For many of us, especially in youth, we never feel the need to look beyond the material world. All our goals and aspirations are material, and once we achieve a certain goal, we strive for a higher goal. And as long as everything goes our way, we are fine. But sooner or later, something happens in our lives that shakes things up and makes us think whether we are missing something. We all have to pass through a earth-shattering stage in life that makes us question things, and makes us revisit our assumptions and beliefs. That stage was indicated in chapter 1 of the Gita, when Arjuna saw his entire world and belief system collapse.

When this shattering happens, we have two choices. We can continue operating in the material world in the same way as we did before. We can also use this collapse to search for something higher. The choice made by a seeker is indicated by the words “Tell me what is definitely appropriate. Guide me, I am your disciple and take refuge in you” uttered by Arjuna.