Category Archives: viddhi

Bhagavad Gita Verse 32, Chapter 3

09 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by in 3.32, abhyasooyantah, achetasaha, anutishtanti, chapter 3 verse 32, etad, matam, me, na, nashtaan, sarvajnyaana, taan, tu, viddhi, vimoodhaan, ye

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ye tvetadabhyasooyanto naanutishthanti me matam |
sarvajnyaanavimoodhaamstaanviddhi nashtaanachetasaha || 32 ||

But those who object to this teaching and do not follow it, they are confused in all of their knowledge. Know those people who are devoid of discrimination to be ruined.

ye : those
tu : but
etad : this
abhyasooyantah : with objection
na : do not
anutishthanti : follow
me : my
matam : teaching
sarvajnyaana : in all knowledge
vimoodhaan : confused
taan : those
viddhi : know
nashtaan : to be ruined
achetasaha : devoid of discrimination

Shri Krishna urged us to resolve all our objections to the teaching so that we may be able to incorporate it into our lives. But even if we overcome our philosophical objections, most of us will still find it difficult to follow the practice of karmayoga. Shri Krishna therefore begins to explain what prevents us from adopting karmayoga, and consequently, how should we tackle those obstacles.

The primary obstacle to karmayoga are our vaasanaas. Once a person is under the influence of vaasanaas, their actions will be prompted by selfish motives. These motives are expressed as negative emotions such as jealousy: “I will do things to make others jealous”, or out of anger: “I will destroy this person”, or greed: “I will earn so much even if it means I compromise on ethics”. Some people even pass on negative motives to their children, e.g. “I was not able to destroy this family, so you go ahead and do it, my son”.

Now, when we dwell in negative emotions such as jealousy, anger, greed etc., our intellect knows that what we are doing is wrong. But since our vaasanaas have overpowered the intellect, it does not function and so we follow a wrong path. We are then ruined because we are going against the laws of nature. What would happen if we disregarded the law of gravity? We would perish. A similar fate exists if we do not pursue karmayoga.

So the question is : how exactly do vaasanaas cause us not follow karmayoga? Shri Krishna covers this topic next.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 15, Chapter 3

23 Friday Dec 2011

Posted by in 3.15, aksharasamudbhavam, brahma, brahmodbhavam, chapter 3 verse 15, karma, nityam, prathishthitam, sarvagatam, tasmaat, viddhi, yajne

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karma brahmodbhavam viddhi brahmaaksharasamudhbhavam |
tasmaatsarvagatam brahma nityam yajne pratishthitam || 15 ||

Know that actions arise out of the Vedas, and that the Vedas arise out of the imperishable (eternal essence). Therefore, yajna is always established in that all-pervading eternal essence.

karma : actions
brahmodbhavam : arise out of the Vedas
viddhi : know
brahma : Vedas
aksharasamudhbhavam : arise out of the imperishable
tasmaat : therefore
sarvagatam : all-pervading
brahma : eternal essence
nityam : always
yajne : yajna
pratishthitam : established

Shri Krishna reveals the connection between yajna and the eternal essence in this shloka. Here he says that yajna is an integral part of the eternal essence, because it is born out of the Vedas. Symbolically, the Vedas represent the “rule-book” of the universe, and so yajna becomes an essential law embedded in the universe.

In the second chapter, which was an overview of the entire Gita, Shri Krishna pointed Arjuna to the ultimate goal of life – realization of the eternal essence. In this chapter, Shri Krishna connect karmayoga to the eternal essence. He explains that karmayoga is a means, a technique, to realize the eternal essence, because the eternal essence created the rules of the universe.

So in summary, the teaching of karmayoga so far is : Actions are of two types,  selfless and selfish. Selfish actions bind us to wordly objects, and selfless actions do not. Therefore, Shri Krishna urges us to move gradually from the level of inaction to selfish action first, and then from selfish action to selfless action or yajna. Only through acting in the spirit of yajna will we move forward on the path to realizing the eternal essence.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 17, Chapter 2

13 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.17, arhati, asya, avinaashi, avyayasya, chapter 2 verse 17, idam, kartum, kashchit, sarvam, tatam, viddhi, vinaasham, yena

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avinaashi tu tadviddhi yena sarvamidam tatam |
vinaashamavyayasyaasya na kashchitkartumarhati || 17 ||

But know that (eternal essence) to be indestructible by which all this is pervaded. Nothing ever can destroy that, the imperishable.

avinaashi : indestructible
tu : but
tat : that
viddhi : know
yena : which
sarvam : everything
idam : this
tatam : pervades
vinaasham : destruction
avyayasya :  of the imperishable
asya : of this
na : not
kashchit : any
kartum : do
arhati : is able

The theme of the ongoing shlokas has been understanding the nature of the eternal essence. This verse gives us two qualities that the eternal essence possesses. Note that the sanskrit word “tat” meaning “that” refers to the eternal essence in this shloka.

Firstly, the eternal essence is imperishable. It cannot be destroyed, nor is it created. In the bangle example from the prior verse, the pawn shop owner only cared about the gold content of the bangle and not its shape and form. He could melt that bangle into another ornament, melt it again and make it into another ornament, and so on. In doing so, each subsequent ornament was “created” and “destroyed”, but the gold essence was imperishable and indestructible. Similarly, the eternal essence spoken of in these verses is imperishable.

Secondly, the eternal essence pervades “all this”, which means the eternal essence pervades the entire universe. If we immerse a piece of cloth into water, water pervades each and every fibre of the cloth. There is no part of the cloth that isn’t dry. In the same way, from a rock, to plants, to animals, and to humans, the eternal essence pervades everything that is part of the universe.