LensqI have been wishing to read bhagavad gita for the past 7 years and it finally took off this year. I am so glad to read and understand one of the must read classics before you die. In a series of posts, I will be summarizing my understanding of the classic.
Chapter 1
The chapter 1 is majorly context setting of the battle scene. On one side is Arjuna and his charioteer, Lord Sri Krishna. On the other side are the Kauravas, the close relatives of Arjuna. Out of respect and love for kinship, Arjuna feels heavy and immoral to fight the battle. As his charioteer, Krishna starts to convince him on why he should fight the battle.
My Takeaway:
In the context of work from home, a lot of folks are struggling to stay in toxic families. Toxic is a too harsh word but what I define by toxic is too many expectations, too much shame, criticism and negativity. Now these children don’t or can’t move out because of the respect they have for the elders which is inculcated as morals to us in the society. But even if the other person is our kinship, it is okay to fight for what is right and your own mental health rather than looking at them as blood relations and parents.
Chapter 2
In chapter 2, Arjuna mentions that it is too much grief for him to kill his own kinship and he won’t be able to do that. As a counter argument, Krishna starts talking about the nature of the soul and its impermeability and further mentions how a person should just do his work and not expect results, develop a stoic mind who doesn’t get disturbed by the highs and lows of the mind and should withdraw sense pleasure to reach ultimate salvation.
My Takeaway:
1.Nature of the soul
I found the way he described the soul very beautiful where he uses the adjectives – avinäçi—imperishable, sataù ,nityasya—eternal, aprameyasya—immeasurable,çäçvataù—permanent,ajaù—unborn, acchedyaù—unbreakable; ayam—this soul; adähyaù—unable to be burned,akledyaù—insoluble; açoñyaù—not able to be dried; sarva-gataù—all-pervading,sthäëuù—unchangeable; acalaù—immovable; sanätanaù—eternally the same. avyaktaù—invisible; acintyaù—inconceivable; avikäryaù—unchangeable; äçcarya-vat—as amazing
2. Negative association with an event
Under the name of analytical explanation by Krishna, it felt like he started inculcating fear in Arjuna to convince him for the war which felt immoral to me. In psychological terms, he used negative emotions with an outcome to deter him from taking that path.
atha cet tvam imaà dharmyaà saìgrämaà na kariñyasi tataù sva-dharmaà kértià ca hitvä päpam aväpsyasi
Translation: If, however, you do not perform your religious duty of fighting, then you will certainly incur sins for neglecting your duties and thus lose your reputation as a fighter.
akértià cäpi bhütäni
kathayiñyanti te ’vyayäm
sambhävitasya cäkértir
maraëäd atiricyate
Translation: People will always speak of your infamy, and for a respectable person, dishonor is worse than death.
3. The famous Bagvadgita Quote
I finally found the famous bagvadgita quote when he starts to explain how he should just do his duty without being attached to the results
karmaëy evädhikäras te
mä phaleñu kadäcana
mä karma-phala-hetur bhür
mä te saìgo ’stv akarmaëi
4. Rationalisation
While Bagvadgita is a great book to be read by everyone, when you don’t have the readiness to absorb the true meaning, one can commit blunders by adapting rationalization to wrong actions.
atha cet tvam imaà dharmyaà
saìgrämaà na kariñyasi
tataù sva-dharmaà kértià ca
hitvä päpam aväpsyasi
Translation: If, however, you do not perform your religious duty of fighting, then you will certainly incur sins for neglecting your duties and thus lose your reputation as a fighter.
Last year, when I was doing the experiment of meeting strangers online, I met this Hypnotist who felt that life path brought him into this field. By the end of the session, he said that “My intuition wants me to tell you that you are feeling sad. I think I got into your life to be a friend or a coach”. Throughout the discussion he was trying to persuade me to become his client and then he resorted to his final tactic.
I wondered what would have made him behave that way and his though process would have been, “If spiritual path has pushed me into being a hypnotist, I can also use spirituality to play psychological tricks on to other person to earn my living.”
When a life path brings you to some opportunities, it is so easy to rationalize that I will forget ethical and unethical means and just do whatever I can to get clients. But that one rationalization can incur a lot of negative karma.
Similarly, in one of the recent movies I watched, one of the characters goes into killing a lot of people just to protect a golden egg because he thought he received it from God.
Rationalization on what is right or wrong, what you deserve and don’t deserve are some key elements to reflect in life. It might take you to unreachable heights or take you to unseen depths if you don’t nip the wrong bud at the right time.
Further Reading
1.Sankhya Philosophy by Sage Kapila
I would like to spend some time reading more about this thought of philosophy.
2.Pratyahara
The first step is to become aware which is mindfulness. Now, in this aware state, you have to start withdrawing your senses. While there are artificial means to achieve it via sensory deprivation tanks, I would like to learn more about natural ways to achieve the same.
What are your thoughts on the first two chapters of Bagvadgita? Let us know in the comments section!
Happy reading!
