-Dr. S. Vijay Kumar
In this article, I have tried my level
best to analyze the Bhagavad Gita to lead a successful life and at the end to
get rid of from this materialistic world by planning their lives to achieve
Moksha i.e., to get relived from the vicious cycle of births and deaths. In
this world, most of the people are trying to earn money to become rich by hook
or crook in the short period by not hesitating to adopt unfair methods and
running behind it which gives only temporary pleasure and comforts. Thus,
majority of people are planning to achieve only comforts and luxuries
which are unrealistic and mortal one
day or other. Very rarely, few people in crores of population are planning for
Moksha which is eternal. Majority of the people are in illusion that the
materialistic comforts in this world are real, and not even trying to get rid
of from this mortal world. In Bhagavad
Geetha, Lord Krishna gave a wonderful message to the public through Arjuna
about the mysteries of world and how to lead a meaningful life by following
“Dharma”.
Bhagavad Gita is not just for Arjuna,
but it is for the whole world. It covers topics such as how to control wants,
to know about Soul, about God, Practice of Yoga, Devotion and Moksha etc. Lord
Krishna gave message that “truth can
never be destroyed, so one should not be afraid of telling truth and doing
good. All desires, feelings and thoughts are born in mind which leads to
attachment, a cause of anger. Desire and anger are the greatest enemies of a
person. “Person's best friend and enemy is a person himself, so one
must put efforts to raise himself”. Gita teaches
the way of life. But
there is a misconception in understanding about ‘not having wants’ mentioned in
Bhagavad Gita. According to the teachings of Gita, wants are bound to exist.
Arjuna asked questions to Lord Krishna out of desire, Lord explained in detail.
So having wants is not a problem but one
should have a full control over his wants. Whether one should be after wants or
not is in the hands of concerned person. Harming anyone to fulfill desire
is wrong. Desires create pressure and one must be disciplined to say no to all
unjust desires. Gita explains a
justifiable and the right way to fulfill wants. The essence of Bhagavad
Gita is explained through the following
salient points:
(1). To know “Who am I ?” This false or personal “I” is caught up in the
meshes of illusion. This dust of illusion on the mirror of mind and matter
makes all the mischief prevalent in the human kingdom. In Chapter III, verse
34, Krishna says to Arjuna: “In every purpose of the senses are fixed affection and
dislike. A wise man should not fall in the power of these two passions, for
they are the enemies of man”. Krishna says, because man possesses senses and
sense-organs; looking at the objects of sense, he gets illusioned and is
deluded. Lord says, do not be swayed by raga
and dvesha,
attraction and repulsion, affection and aversion, like and dislike, love and
hate. The gunas are three namely Sattva,
Rajas and Tamas. In the primordial Nature, they are in perfect equilibrium
but in creation they are present in different permutations and combinations,
which is why we have so much diversity in creation. In humans, they are
responsible for desires, attachments, desire ridden actions and thereby
bondage. By knowing the gunas and their basic propensities, a devotee can
overcome their influence and achieve perfection. Through detachment,
renunciation, transformative practices, devotion, and the grace of God, he can
overcome the triple gunas and attain salvation. Lord said, “Do your own duty;
mind your own business; obey the law of your own being”. what is God’s will and what is Karma, and how do they
spring into existence? Krishna calls it rajas, the force or the
power that compels one to move in the direction of the myriad objects of
sense. Rajas has two aspects, says the Gita. Kama-passion-lust is
one—the force of attraction that causes affection and love and the many likes;
the other is krodha-anger-hate—the force of repulsion that
produces the many kinds of dislikes. Kama-passion or attraction, and krodha-anger or repulsion are the two aspects
of rajas. As verse 38
in Chapter III puts it: “As the flame is surrounded by smoke,
and a mirror by rust, and as the womb envelops the fetus, so is the universe
surrounded by this passion”. For example, Rajas is
like smoke which envelops the flame. The Soul in man, the soul who is man, is
fire, is flame, and it is surrounded by smoke—something that the flame does not
want. If the quantity of smoke increases, the flame goes out. There are many in
our civilization who are spiritually dead. So that is the first step for all of
us to take: not to allow the quantity of smoke, our personal likes and
dislikes, to increase and envelop our soul-perception. Krishna represents primarily the
Higher Self, “Atman” in Sanskrit, pure eternal Spirit which is the One
Universal Self of All, the higher most part and inner most essence of my being,
your being, and every being. People are
afraid of death which is the reality and inevitable. People love human body
which is unreal. Soul can never be destroyed as it is permanent, and one
must know that body is not you. It is given to you to reap the fruits of
good and bad deeds that you have done in your previous births. “You are the soul and not the body”. The body is the field of
activity (Kshetra), in which God or the Self dwells as the Knower of the Field
(Kshetrajna). The body is made up of five great elements, the senses, subtle
senses, mind, ego and intelligence. It is the seat of desires, attachments,
feelings, emotions, and such other modifications. The knower of the body is the
Supreme Brahman, or the Self, who resides in the body as the in dwelling
witness and the ultimate enjoyer. Soul changes bodies according to their “Karma” i.e. according to their sins
and good deeds, as people changes their dresses when they got torn or become
very old and become unfit to wear. If a person do good deeds, he or she will
get good births or otherwise will get bad or worst births like animals. Thus,
soul is permanent and immortal. But body is temporary and mortal.
(2).
Do your duty sincerely, Leave result to God (“Karmanye Vadhikaraste” Chapter
2 of Bhagavad Gita): Do your duty with detachment,
renouncing the doership. By merely
restraining your senses and controlling your mind, you will not be able to free
your soul from the cycle of births and deaths. For success on the path, you
have to cultivate detachment and remain free from attraction and aversion to
things, besides knowing the difference between actions that bind you and
actions that free you. You should engage in performing your obligatory duties
as a selfless service and an offering to God, renouncing the desire for their
outcome. In other words, you must live without expectations, free from desires,
without abandoning your duties and obligations. Perform the duties (Karma) without attachments and insistence on
particular results “like a lotus-leaf is untouched by the water
in which it grows”.
Accept the results gracefully and gratefully. True renunciation is the
renunciation of the desire for the fruit of one’s actions. This is
called in Gita as “Nishkama karma” means
one should not worry about result, but they must do their duty sincerely. Forget “I” which develops “Ego” in you. You
are the only means to do things in this world. In Mahabharata, when Arjuna
was dithering while performing his duty as a warrior, then he was directed by
Lord Krishna to perform his duty as a warrior and leave result to Him. Thus,
everybody must perform their duties sincerely without fail and leave result to
the God. They should think that they are the only means to discharge their
duties and end results are left to the Lord, Who give fruits according to their
“Karma” i.e. according to their works.
(3).
Control over desires (Indriya Nigraham – Yadaasamharatechaayam - Chapter -
2): Stabilize your mind by overcoming
desires. Your mind is the seat of
your desires, thoughts and feelings. Your wandering senses keep your mind in a
state of turmoil. They are responsible for your desire for sense objects and
your attachment to them. Your desires and attachments in turn subject you to
conflicting emotions and mental instability, as you respond to the pairs of
opposites with attraction or aversion according to your inherent nature. An
unstable mind is characterized by egoism, attachments and desire ridden
actions. A person of unstable mind is not fit for salvation. His consciousness
keeps wandering around sense objects, and he remains entangled in the
distractions of the world. The instability of the mind is therefore the first
problem, which an aspirant has to resolve to know himself and achieve
liberation. However, how can anyone stabilize his mind? The Bhagavad-Gita
suggests that only by disengaging the mind from the external world and
withdrawing into oneself one can stabilize it. It is not an easy task. Through
self-discipline a devotee should restrain his senses and develop detachment
from the sense objects. Then only he can experience peace and equanimity. With
the attainment of inner tranquility, his mind becomes stabilized in silence,
and his suffering would come to an end. Then, he can easily establish his mind
in God and achieve union with him. Like a tortoise one
should cultivate perfect sense of mastery. When required one should employ the
senses fully and withdraw when not required. “Bhagavad Gita is not against having desires, but stresses that one MUST
have control over desires and have limits that is one must not be greedy”.
Otherwise, if desires are not fulfilled they leads to worries and worries in
turn leads to lack of peace and anger. The result of anger is losing mental
balance and down falling will start and the consequence is “Self-Ruin”. One could not achieve “Athma Gnyna” who is not coming out
of Worldly desires.
(4).
Live a pure life and one should overcome the impulsiveness of negative
factors like anger, lust and greed: Rajo guna, desire is
smoke: when we construct a house, we will built a fireplace to have a proper
chimney to let out the smoke in a proper
direction. That is the first step—the smoke of our personal desires must be
thrown out. The moisture of passion must be dried up and we must by control
purify ourselves. Purification is the first step. There are four kinds of
purity: (1) Mental purity; (2) Purity of emotions and Character, or Moral
purity; (3) Purity of speech; (4) Purity of deeds or actions. (5) Kill
selfishness. Purity is the key word for this first stage of development. Live
according to “Dharma” means the “Right Way” of living. “Dharmo Rakshithi Rakshitha” meaning of
this quotation is, if you protect dharma, it will protect you. While living in this world physical and
emotional detachments are impossible. Continuous desires results in attachment,
whereas wisdom results in detachment which is considered as divine. One should
attach only to God which is real and permanent. Detachment does not mean, not
loving and taking care for your family, friends, parents and world around you. Gita actually explains the way to free from
emotions of love and jealous. It tells us to live like water on a lotus leaf.
In Mahabharata, while Yudhistara (Dharma Raja) followed dharma, Dhuroyodana
followed adharma and became a main cause for Kurukshetra war.
(5).
Self Confidence (Shraddhamayoyampurushah-Yoyatshraddhahsaevasaha (Chapter -17):
One
should have faith in reality and accept it, which is a great source of
strength. A man is what his faith is, as the faith so will be our desires and
thoughts and action.
(6). Sthitapragnya: In Gita, Lord Krishna explained about “Sthitapragnya”. It means one should
not become emotional or over joyous when one achieves victories and become very
nervous when failures occur. This means, one should maintain balance between
success and failure.
(7). Moral
Duties and Self Control:
Gita
explains about our moral duties and talks about holistic spiritual development
and way to achieve these through self control, mental purity and dedication to
God.
(8).
Follow Swadharma (Chapter 3 of Bhagavad Gita): Swadharma
here refers to one’s own religion. You follow only your religion, because it is
very much suitable to you to live in a right way and discharge your duties.
(9). Spend Some Time in Pranayama (Chapter- 3
of Bhagavad Gita): It means do some breathing
exercises, which are good for health. All we know that “Health is Wealth”, if
we have good health, we can perform our duties in time and in a better way.
(10).
Meditation (Yoga), Prayer, Moderation in Food, Sleep, Speech, Exercise,
Recreation and Elimination of Stress (Yuktaaharviharasya Chapter -6 of Bhagavad
Gita): Timely food, timely sleep, avoiding
unnecessary talk, regular exercise and recreation is very very essential for
leading a good life. Daily prayer and meditation will bring peace and happiness
(Swalpamapyasyadharmas-Ytrayatemahatobhayat –Chapter 2).
(11).
Integrated Personality: Integrated
personality integrates the various dimensions of the personality into a
balanced and integrated whole. It aims at developing the whole or the total
human being which gives tremendous satisfaction.
(12).
Finding out one’s own temperament (Swadharma Chapter – 3): Here temperament means, one should
introspect his own character especially regarding his demerits and rectify
himself, otherwise it affects his personality. By this, he can identify and
perform his duties (Swadharma) at various levels of his life, for example as a
father/mother, brother, son/daughter etc in the family and also discharging his
duties in the society, for example as a teacher, soldier and other different
professions.
(14).
Implementing and practicing of Bhagavad-Gita is important rather than
parayanam (Reading) and preaching: Lord Krishna said implementing and practicing what is said in Bhagavad-Gita
is important rather than parayanam (Reading) and preaching. Hence, once should
concentrate on implementation part rather than just reading and preaching
Bhagavad-Gita.
(13).
Duty of the God:
In Gita, Lord Krishna said “Surrender to me with devotion, nobody is nearer
(affectionate) or enemy to me. I only give results according to their Karma. Although I am impartial and shows no favors, I
readily responds to my devotees. I love them and reduce their sufferings
and give Moksha for those people who prey me without asking for any favour
(Phalapeksha Rahitha) and follow the
following principles:
(a) Sama Bhava (Who love
and treat all creatures equally) there by maintaining “Eco Balance” on this
earth (b) Friendly behavior (c) No ego (d) Treating happiness and sorrows
equally (Sthita Pragnya) (e) Having patience (f) Self Control (g) Performing
Dhyana and Anustana (h) Whole heartedly praying God (i) Non- Violence (j) Pure
heart (k) Respecting elders and Acharyas (Teachers) (l) Showchyam (Cleanliness)
(m) Sthyriyam (Courageous) (o) Self Confidence (p) Coming out from
materialistic world (luxuries) and knowing about “Self” i.e. “Who am I” and
what is the real purpose of life (q) Knowing Adhyatmika Gnyna (Knowledge about
God and Soul) (r) Sacrificing nature (leaving selfishness) (s) Lastly, to know
that man also can become God, if he follows the above principles scrupulously”.
We all know that “Rama born as a man and
became God”.
To conclude, Bhagavad Gita is the
way of life to all of us because it shows how to live a right life. To sum up:
It says one should know that he is not the body but the spiritual Self i.e.,
Soul”, stabilize your mind by overcoming desires, do your duty with detachment,
renouncing the doership, acknowledge the presence of God in you and in
everything, culminate in devotion to God and know the truth about the three
gunas – Sathva, Rajo and Thamo. Lastly, by
combining the best of the prescribed yogas namely Karma Yoga, Jnana yoga, Sannyasa Yoga, Athma Samyama Yoga and Bhakti
Yoga, casting away egoism and demonic qualities, overcoming the impurities,
and cultivating pure devotion, one can escape from the cycle of births and
deaths. Actions performed in this manner do not bind the people. Taking shelter
in Him, by His grace, they attain the eternal and ultimately merged in Him (God).
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