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What is Bhagavadgeeta? |
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Srimadbhagavatgeeta (Beautiful verses about Bhagavan or God) is
part of the Mahabharata (“The story of” Bharata—the great or Arjuna – the
great) composed by Vyasdeva. It was
probably incorporated into the Mahabharata later by Vyasdeva, who was an
incarnation of God. It occurs in the
Parva 6 (Chapter 6) of the Mahabharata. Vyasdeva also compiled Vedas. That’s
why he is also called Vedavyas. In the Geeta, the essence of manavadharma is disclosed. The Geeta is a conversation within conversation. It captures the
conversation between Lord Krishna and Arjuna before the onset of the battle
of Kurukshetra. Although initially the conversation and questioning starts
with Arjuna, the second conversation is a bit one-sided as Lord Krishna does
almost all of it. Similarly, Vishnu Sahasranama was also incorporated into the Mahabharata
later. Fundamental questions that everyone thinks
and would like to have answers:
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Goal of human life = To
realize God
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Definition of Dharma
and Karma
In the Geeta, you will come across two words—Dharma and Karma—many times. So, it is very important to understand the meaning of these words. In fact, the first verse of the Geeta begins with the syllable “Dharma” (Dharmakshetre Kurukshetre Samaveta yuyutsava).
If we properly understand the meaning of Dharma and Karma and appropriately apply them, our spiritual life will be highly prosperous and fulfilling. On the other hand, if we misunderstand, misinterpret and misuse them we will be spiritually degraded. Right conception of Dharma and Karma makes a human being divine and helps build a wonderful and vibrant society. Wrong or distorted views make the world err and blunder and lead to the path of chaos, confusion and destruction.
Meaning of the words “Dharma” and “Karma”
Dharma = Comes from the root “Dhri” (adherence to what you should be doing as a human being)
Various meanings of the word “Dharma”
Dharma = Good works, action, duty, law, usage, practice, custom, religious or moral merit, righteousness, virtue, prescribed code of conduct, right, justice, equity, impartiality, piety, characteristic property, decorum, morality, ethics, nature, disposition, character, an essential quality, peculiarity, manner, resemblance, likeness, a sacrifice, good company, associating with the virtuous , devotion, religious abstraction, mode
Dharma = Religion (?); Religion means going back to the source. So, Dharma does not mean religion.
Karma = To do something. The real word in Sanskrit is “Karman” and it derives from the root “Kri”, meaning “to do”. Karman = Action, work, activity, deed, execution, performance.
Karman also means religious rites or moral duty.
Karma has become a loanword in English meaning “consequence of action” . That is, among English speakers in the western world “Karma” means “Karmaphal”.
Everything that we do is Karma.
Examples: Breathing, eating, talking, walking, going to office and doing official work, listening to me (as you are doing now), ritualistic worshipping, mental worshipping, etc. Even sleeping or thinking or dreaming is a Karma. Even doing nothing (lack of activity or inaction) is also Karma or work.
In the Geeta, it is said that one cannot be without Karma even for a nano-second. Karma is inherent in Prakriti or Nature that comprises three Gunas – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Karma is everywhere- starting from the tiny atom (where the atomic partcles are constantly swirling) to the whole universe where the galaxies are constantly on the go . Nothing in this universe is without Karma or having no activity. Only when human body dies that Karma temporarily stops. But, it starts again once you are reborn.
Bhagavan also says that even highly learned people do not understand the meaning of the word Karma.
Ramakrishna Paramhansa gave a beautiful simile to describe how one can be freed from Karma.
Simile: An indoor patient is checked out of the hospital only after he is cured of the ailment. He is not relased till he is cured. Similarly, only when we are effectively treated with Karma (auspicious work) and achieve Brahma-jnan that we achieve freedom from Karma . We call it Moksha.
Dharma-Karma = Whatever is Karma that is Dharma too. Dharma and Karma are synonymous. It also means auspicious or moral activity.
Dharma is that
Karma (activity) by which one is enlightened and realizes God.
Karma-phal – Fruits or results
of Karma
So, what does a human
being has to do?
Answer: Realize God and merge with God and be one with Lord (that’s also
called Moksha or freedom from the cycle of birth and death)
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Karma without a motive
Man generally plans to get the
fruits of his works before he starts any kind of work. The mind is so framed
that it cannot think of any kind of work without remuneration or reward. This
is due to Rajas. Human swabhava (nature)
is always like this. When discrimination dawns, when the mind is filled with
some more Sattwa or purity, this nature changes slowly. The spirit of
selflessness slowly creeps in. The quality of Rajas creates selfishness and
attachment.
A selfish man has no large
heart. He has no ideal. He is petty-minded. His mind is full of greed. He
always calculates. He cannot do any service in a magnanimous manner. He will
say: "I will get so much money. I must put forth so much work only."
He will weigh the work and money in a balance. He cannot do a little more work.
He will be ever watching the time for stopping his work. He is mercenary. He is
hired for money. He is actuated by the hope of reward. He is greedy of gain.
Selfless service is unknown to him. He has no idea of God. He has no glimpse of
Truth. He cannot imagine of an expanded, selfless life. He has got into a
narrow, circumscribed circle or groove. He dwells within this small grove. His
love extends to his own body, his wife and children. That is all. Generosity is
unknown to him.
In the Geeta, it says,”If you
expect fruits for your actions, you will have to come back into this world to
enjoy such fruits. You will have to take birth again”.
A Nishkamya Karma Yogi says:
"Do all works without expectation of fruits. This will produce Chitta
Suddhi (purification of mind and heart). Then you will get knowledge of BHagavan. You will get Moksha or eternal
bliss, peace and immortality." This is His doctrine. That is the reason
why Lord Krishna says to Arjuna:
Karmanyeva
adhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana
Ma
karmaphalahetur bhurma te sangostvakarmani. ." Gita: Chapter II-47.
Note: This verse is really
related to doing appropriate Karma for realizing God or freeing from the cycle
of birth and death and birth. It is not related to doing mundane activities or
daily chores.
Meaning:
(As pointed out before, to realize God, we have to do auspicious Karma). What this verse says is that “One has the authority or privilege of performing a particular activity or Karma of his or her choice (religious rites or manasik Pooja to realize God ), but no control over the results of this work (Karmaphal)”.
Don’t do something only for achieving a particular Karmaphal (result of your action) (Don’t be fixated or motivated by preconceiving or assessing a priori the fruits of action of your activity). Don’t get bogged down too much thinking of what will be the outcome. Just do it and surrender it to Bhagavan.
Do’t be attached to Akarman (no activity ) either.
Comments: As the Karmaphal
(results of your activity; whether you will realize God or not) depends on a multitude of other influencing factors over which a human
being has no knowledge or control. “AdhikAra”
means mastery and control over something . God dispenses
the fruits of actions according to the motive. If the motive is pure, you will
get Divine Grace and purity. If the motive is impure, you will get rebirth in
this Mrityuloka to reap the fruits of your actions. Again you will do virtuous
and vicious actions through the force of Raga-dvesha (likes-dislikes). You will
be entrapped in the never-ending wheel of birth and death.
But you should not remain in a
state of inertia also (Akarman) thinking that you will not get the fruits if
you work selflessly. You must not say: "What is the use of my work now? I
can’t get any fruits. I will keep quiet." This is also bad. You will
become Tamasic and dull. There will be mental inactivity. You will get purity
of mind if you work in the spirit of Nishkamya Karma Yoga. This is a very great
reward for your actions. You cannot imagine the exalted condition of a man of
pure mind. He has unbounded peace, strength and joy. He is very near to God. He
is dear to God. He will soon receive the divine light. Work without any sort of
motive and feel its effects, purity and inner strength. What an expanded heart
you will have! Indescribable! Practise, feel and enjoy this state.
When it is talked about Karma in
the Geeta, it is clearly prescribed that
it is important to discriminate between “good Karma” from “forbidden Karma” or forbidden actions (Vikarman) and also to discriminate Akarman (inaction). See
Chapter IV-17.
It is important to understand what is action (Karma;auspicious
work), forbidden action (Vikarman; harmful and inauspicious work), and what is inaction (Akarman;no activity).
Because the intricacies or subtlities of Karma are very deep and mysterious.
Generally people understand this
as a total denial to the fruits of one’s labour. That is why, their confusion
lasts all their lives making them move round and round.
The word ‘adhikAra’ explains it.
The Lord says: Do your Karma
wholeheartedly without a desire to
obtain a benefit from the Karma. You
carry on your actions, but how it will finally end you cannot preconceive it
nor mould it absolutely to an iron clad specification as you may fancy. A result
for you will always be there. All actions invariably produce results. But shape
of that result is dependant on thousand other influencing factors, about which
a mortal with limited horizon has no knowledge or control. Thousands of things
contribute to any outcome. Directly or indirectly, some are obvious and some
not so obvious, physical or subtle, proximit or distant, all the past build up
based on our own previous activities, the interaction of actors other than us
in the script, all elements in the ever interacting matrix have contributed to
any outcome whatsoever.
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The Geeta provides
several recipes to realize God.
The Geeta has 18 chapters. The 1st chapter (Arjuna vishada yoga) sets the background for initiating the queries in the mind of Arjuna who represents a confused and disillusioned mind. He is skillful in archery but completely ignorant of spirituality and lacks knowledge about God and himself. He is afraid of losing friends and relatives (this feeling comes from attachment). He is asking: why should he fight? He also thinks that by killing these people he will have “Papa or bad Karma” or commit sin - he is already assessing or preconceving the results of his actions(Karmaphal).
Allegorically, the mighty battle of Kurukshetra is nothing but a struggle for finding or realizing Truth – another word for God. Mahatma Gandhi was inspired by the teachings of the Geeta and called it as his “spiritual dictionary”. He was particulrly fascinated by two words in the Geeta – Aparigraha (non-possession) and Samabhava( equability).
Symbolism of confusion or dillema in human mind
Gathered at the hallowed ground –
Kurukshetra- with a desire to fight. Kurukshetra symbolizes the daily life that
we encounter everyday . We also daily encounter confusion and dillema that we
have to deal with everyday. Ponder over
this for a while.
So is the case with most of us. We all have studied, got degrees and are employed and have been making a living. In the near future, we will also retire. Some of us have already retired and have been receiving monthly pension and social security checks supplemented with income from savings. We have a nice life, don’t we?
Despite all these that we have gained and materials that we possess, we all have the fundamental questions described above. Like Arjuna, we are confused and/or in a dillema. In every walk of life we have this confusion and conflict. We are confused because we do not understand the Truth or the modus operandi of the universe. We also do not know who we are.
I am sure, many of you debated in your mind this morning before you decided to come to listen this talk (an example of confusion and dillema) . You also probably asked yourself: What am I going to gain by listening to this talk (an example of attemting to predict a priori the result of a Karma or activity)? Very silmilar to what Arjuna thought!!
In the subsequent chapters (Chapters 2 to 18) in the Geeta, all the above questions (Fundamental questions to a human mins) are answered.
Do we need to read the Geeta from cover to cover (entire
content)?
Gita has 18 chapters and 700 verses. Too much to read and comprehend??
This question was beautifully answered by Ramkrishna Paramhansa using a similie. He said that to take a bath in the river Ganges (Gangasnan) one does not have to swim all the way from Gongotri (where Ganga begins) to Gangasagar (where Ganga merges with the ocean). One can just go anywhere during the Gangetic course and take a bath at a place of his choice and convenience, be it Haridwar, Benaras or Howrah. Similarly, it is not necessary to read the Gita in its entirety and memorize it. The most important activity or Karma is to grasp the essence of the Gita.
Ramakrishna also said
that Geeta has the same thing as you get by repeating the word “Geeta” ten
times in quick succession. So, what we
get by repeating the word “Geeta”? It is “Ta-gee” or “Tyagee” .
So, Geeta’s mesage is: Sacrifice (or Tyag) and have detachment (free up your mind) from
this material world.
What’s
the essence of Gita?
God-realization is the goal of life. To realize God, one has to develop a pure mind (be a yogi) and steadfastly adhere to thinking about God.
The first verse in Chapter 7 (Jnana-Vijnana Yoga) describes that prescription.
Listen, O Partha, how with your mind clinging to Me, and taking refuge in Me and practicing yoga, you will without any doubt know Me in full.
Chapter 7: The yoga of knowledge and Realization (Jnana-Vijnana Yoga)
Here Lord proceeds to explain His manifestations as the universe and the power behind it. He speaks of these manifestations as His lower and higher Prakritis. The lower Prakriti is made up of the five elements, mind, ego and intellect. The higher Prakriti is the life-element which upholds the universe, activates it and causes its appearance and final dissolution.
Chapter 8: The yoga of Imperishable Brahman (Akshar Brahma Yoga)
Chapter 9: Rajavidya Rajaguhya Yoga( The Yoga of Soverign Science and Soverign Sectret)
Hari Oum Tat sat.