Hello,
The article below is a part of the introduction of a translation
of Bhagavat Gita by Srimat Swami Tapasayanandaji of the Sri Ramakrishna
Order. The book contains original devanagari text, roman transliteration,
word meanings, verse meanings and notes, chapter summaries, verse and
theme indices, etc. It is a good book for bothe beginners and advanced
students of the Gita. The book is named "Srimat Bhagavat Gita - the
Scripture of Mankind". It is published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai.
It is available in both paperback and hardbound. It can be ordered over
the net at http://www.sriramakrishnamath.org/
With love,
Gomu.
Essence of the Bhagavat Gita
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The Bhagavat Gita is one of the most popular texts. Next to the Bible
it is the most widely translated of scriptural texts. This tremendous appeal
of the Gita is because it deals with a practical problem of life, namely,
how a man can discharge his duties as the member of an imperfect social
order and at the same time attain the highest degree of perfection. The Gita
begins with this ethical problem and in solving this problem, a noble
devotional philosophy is expounded.
This problem is graphically depicted at the outset through the predicament
of Arjuna. Arjuna is the leader of the Pandava host, and his whole life has
been a preparation to meet his cousins, the Kauravas, in battle, defeat
them, and wrest from them the kingdom that they had usurped from himself
and his brothers. The scene is cast in the battlefield of Kurukshetra,
where the armies of both the sides have gathered and Arjuna is called upon
to fulfill his historic mission by leading his men against the Kauravas.
Arjuna realises at this critical moment that it is a fratricidal war, and
that its consequence will be the destruction of the very friends and
relatives for the sake of whom men usually seek wealth and kingdom, as
well as social chaos consequent on the holocaust of the flower of Kaurava
and Pandava chivalry. A war-weariness and a world-weariness together come
upon him with a dramatic suddenness. Under their impact he forgets all his
social and family obligations, and wants to take to an ascetic life instead
of indulging in what he conceives to be a senseless carnage under the guise
of duty. He becomes a pacifist and a quietist all of a sudden.
The conflict here is between a sudden and purely personal inclination
bursting in one's mind and a social duty, the avoidance of which under
that inclination would have meant ruin to a whole community that had laid
its trust in one. Sri Krishna, though God incarnate, is Arjuna's close
friend, charioteer and spiritual counsellor, and is called upon to resolve
the conflict in Arjuna's mind and restore him to a sense of moral
equilibrium by finding a new sanction for action.
Inevitability of action
Though the answer to Arjuna's problem is given only at the end, Arjuna is
prepared for it by a series of talks on the inexorable nature of work in
the life of man and the utter futility of Arjuna's resolve to withdraw
from a life of action.
Man's body and mind are parts of Prakrti (Nature) which is dynamic in
constitution. As a product of Prakrti, action is the law of life for the
mind and the body, and the very process of living is impossible without it.
And so, its elimination can only mean practice of idleness according to
one's convenience, and he who attempts it under a false impression of his
spiritual greatness, will end in rank hypocrisy and spiritual stagnation.
Only one, who has ovecome the body idea completely and is established in
the sense that he is not the body but the immortal, ever-conscious and
ever-blissful Atman, can be actionless; for, he no longer identifies
himself with the body and mind, the products of Nature.
Besides, from the ethical point of view, everyone with a body-consciousness
has to remember that he is living in a community of similar beings governed
by a cyclic law of mutual exchange of services and commodities. If he does
not contribute his share to it by means of work but enjoys the benefits of
others' work for the maintenence and comfort of his own body, he lives the
life of an exploiter and a thief. He has no moral basis and hence no
spiritual progress.
Even in the case of a person who has been emancipated from identification
with the body, it is better that he works. He has not the compulsion of
duty as in the case of the ignorant man, but he may feel the compulsion of
love, which makes one work for lokasamgraha (world-welfare). His actions
are not self-centred and so have no binding effect on him. Work therefore
is the law of life for the ignorant, and an expression of love for the
enlightened, the work of the former being self-centred and the latter
God-centred.
Necessity of the Doctrine of Nishkama Karma
Actions like leading men in war have many evil consequences, though they may
be a part of one's duty. Is not avoidance of such duties better than doing
them and incurring sin? How can their performance promote spiritual life at
all? This question is answered by Krishna.
The ideal of a person who is absolutely indrawn and unperturbed, who is the
master of the senses and mind - is so far removed from that of a soldier
engaged in the form of a dreadful action like war, that it looks incredible
that action of that type can ever lead a man to that state if spiritual
excellence. This doubt persists in Arjuna's mind in spite of Krishna's
exhortation to action.
In answer to this Sri Krishna propounds the doctrine of Nishkama-karma - the
doctrine of actions done with detachment and dedication to the Lord. Actions
in themselves are amoral, if we eliminate the self-centered agent from them.
Nature's cataclysms with their terribly destructive effect cannot be
classified as moral or immoral. They are amoral. All actions are a mixture of
beneficence and destructiveness as far as their effects are concerned. They
are like the brilliance of fire accompanied by the obscuring cloudiness of
smoke.
Work at the human level has various ramifications. There is work done under
compulsion like slave labour, which may be charecterised as submoral in its
effect on the worker. Higher than that is work prompted by the profit-motive
(kaamya karma), on which human civilisation as constituted today is based.
Kaamya karma can take two forms: On one hand there is anti-social work which
is technically denoted as Vikarma or Adharma or Nisiddha-karma; on the other
hand there is socially oriented work which is termed as Dharma. Anti-social
work is done by persons with demoniac nature. Everything they do is for
ostentation and self-aggrandisement and no form of cruel exploitation and
selfish indulgences is repungent to them, provided their pleasure, profit
and ambition are promoted thereby. Such anti-social beings are endowed
with Asuri-sampat (demoniac nature) characterised by pride, greed, passion
and cruelty. Moral and spiritual degradation is the wage for their actions.
In contrast are men with Daivi Sampat (divine nature), who follow dharma
or socially oriented action. They too are self centered and seek
pleasure and power, the good things of life, but their pursuit of these
is socially oriented and is regulated by norms that take others and
their needs too into consideration. In return for what they seek and take,
they are ready to give away what is due from them. They observe the
law of Yajna (sacrifice). They are Dharmikaas, men who too pursue pleasure
and power but always subordinate such pursuit to a code of give and take
based on a sense of collective good and of moral responsibility. When their
sense of obligation to society dominated overwhelmingly over the demand for
individual fulfillment, they become elevated into patriots, philanthropists
and votaries of similar other noble values.
Arjuna was in his early life a Dhaarmika of this type, when he found himself
all of a sudden in the predicament described earlier, wherein the old
sanctions for action like swadharma (discharge of one's duty), socially
approved pursuit of power and pleasure, communal welfare, patriotism etc
become meaningless as inducements of action. A new sanction has to be
found if Arjuna were to take part in action, and this sanction, different
from even the one applicable to the Dharmikas, is expounded by the
Lord. It is the doctrine of Nishkama-karma, the doctrine of work without
desire, applicable to men who seek only liberation. In expounding it, a
sublime theology and a devotional metaphysics are propounded as the
spiritual rationale of such desireless action. Without the spiritual basis,
desireless action will only be an incomprehensible and a puzzling concept,
as we cannot think of an action devoid of the promoting of some desire or
other.
Doctrine of Nishkama Karma
Arjuna is shown the Cosmic Order of the Universe in which he sees that
all the Kauravas are being destroyed. Krishna tells Arjuna, "Even without
you, all these warriors will be destroyed; you merely be an instrument
in the hands of Nature."
The experience of the Cosmic Order of the Universe opens up a new
dimension before Arjuna. It resolves the difficulty that he is
faced with. Till now his life had been like that of an individual
cell in a body which thinks, out of ignorance that it is an independent
entity, functioning on its own, while in truth it has been but a conduit
and in fulfillment of whose purpose it has been functioning. Arjuna
now realises that he is neither a solitary individual, nor merely a
member of a society, but a cell in the Universe with an apportioned
piece of work to perform, not for his own sake, not even for the
community or country, but for the sake of the Supreme (God) to whom
everything and everyone ultimately belongs.
In light of this enlarged world-view, work gains a new sanction and
a new significance. Neither self-aggrandisement, nor even the service
of any worldly cause is its ultimate purpose. The purpose is the
spiritual development of man - to be freed from the hold of the body
and realise one's kinship or unity with the Divine. For he, the jiva
(individual soul), is a spark from the divine fire, but identification
with the body has effaced the sense of his inherent divinity. This
predicament of man, called ignorance, must be due to the will of the
Divine, and only by the will or the Grace of the Divine can he be
redeemed. This grace descends on him who resigns himself to Him with
his entire being - body, mind and soul, and does his duty as an offering
to the Cosmic order. Discharge of the work that devolve on one as duty
without any self centered motive but as an offering to unto the Divine
- to start with, of all results and finallyy of the agency too - is the
way of this total resignation.
Work cannot be accepted or shunned by any mere momentary considerations
of their being good or bad, agreeable or disagreeable. All works, however
good at first sight, carry some bad effects too. In the world there are
four character types - Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra - depending
on the Swadharma (natural duty based on natural tendency). These are not
castes as they are seen today and are neither based on hereditary factors.
The Brahmana is the introvert type, reflective, intellectual and
self-restrained. The Kshatriya is extrovert, flamboyant, lordly, chivalrous
and possesses the qualities of leadership in him. The Vaishya is the
acquisitive type, industrious, organising and enterprising. The Sudra is
the dull type without enterprise or initiative, requiring directions
and fit for routine subordinate work.
Work and way of living, suited to these natures and in the line of their
evolution, are their Swadharma inspite of what some may consider good
or bad. For one who accepts and contemplates on the world-view and the
destiny of man as presented in the Gita, the performance of such Swadharma
with detachment and as an offering to the Divine is a potent means to
spiritual evolution. By offering the fruits of his works, man's sinful
tendencies born of physical nature are effaced, and when he is able
to resign his sense of agency too, he realises his unity with the Divine.
In the language of the Gita - "From whom proceeds the activity of all
beings and by whom all this is pervaded, worshipping Him through one's
Swadharma a man attains perfection. Better is one's Swadharma, though
defective, than another's duty, apparently well performed. Doing the
duty ordained by one's nature, one incurs no sin. One should not
relinquish the duty born of one's nature, although it may be attended by
evil; for all undertakings are covered by defects. If Arjuna refuses
to fight today, that resolve is in vain as his very nature will compel
him to fight. Fettered by duties born out of his nature Arjuna will
have to fight."
The doctrine of Nishkama karma therefore says that do your duties
according to your Swadharma as an offering to the Divine, which may
also be identified as the Cosmic Order. Offering the fruits of the
action and finally the agency also to the Divine, one attains perfection.
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Excerpts from "Srimad Bhagavat Gita - The Scripture of Mankind",
a translation by Rev Swami Tapasyanandaji,
published by Sri Ramakrishna Math - Chennai.
http://www.sriramakrishnamath.org/
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