My Wanderings - 91 Shrimad Bhagwat Gita as I understood it Part - 1

My Wanderings - 91

Shrimad Bhagwat Gita, as I understood it. Part- 1

In the battle of Mahabarta , SriKrishna had become charioteer of Arujuna out of love and affection  for him . Arjuna tells  Shrikrishna to bring the chariot in the middle of two armies so that he can have the glimpse of warriors  who want to fight against him . While  reaching there he found Drona , Bhishma and kaurvas ready with all their weapons to fight with him . He gets nervous  with compassion and tells Shrikrishna that he does not want to  fight with Bishma and Drona who are respectable for him . Moreover even if kaurvas are   wicked  but still they are his cousins.  He does not want to win and enjoy the luxuries of kingdom after smearing his hands with their blood. He tells krishna that it is better to  resort to begging rather than killing his teachers and relatives.

On listening to these words of Arjuna , Shrikrishna smiles and replies to Arjuna 

Oh Arjuna ! "why are you so grieved over those  things which don't deserve your grief"? " As you don't have the knowledge of difference between soul and body that is why you are grieving over such filmsy grounds".To tell you the fact SOUL and BODY are two different entities . Body is made from prakrati which is composed of panch Bhutas i.e Soil, water, air, fire and sky. The body is  also perishable.  The body has various parts like head ,arms legs etc. which can be cut into pieces and destroyed by any out side agency .while as Soul is atomic in nature . It does not have parts like body and hence can not be cut into pieces  . It is eternal and can not be effected  by out side agencies like fire air or water . Neither  fire can burn it nor Water can wet it or air can dry it .The soul is thus indestructible.  The eternal soul is endowed with body to enjoy the fruits of past karmas I.e to  undergo pains and pleasures as the result of past karmas . When the body which is perishable in nature  gets destroyed , the soul attains new body sometimes inferior and  sometimes superior as per the past karmas of person . 

              As our bodies change in shape  constantly from child hood to youth and  to old age thereafter , in the same way after perishing of one body soul takes another body,  which is called death by foolish persons. But wise persons don't grieve over it. As a person changes his clothes so soul changes different bodies and that should not be reason of regret for wise persons  .  It is inevitable to mention  here  that  all the souls of living beings belong to me  and have no difference but bodies where they dewel may be different like those of Devas , Human beings , animals birds insects and plants etc.  The bodies are attained by the soul as per  their past karmas. If the past karmas are good , a soul can attain superior bodies of Devas or human beings . Here in this battle i.e Dharmudha you are not going to kill your opponents but only separating their souls from their bodies . By doing this action you may even  be doing favour  to them as they have now chances of attaining superior bodies after leaving their old bodies .

                   Moreover, as per your caste I.e khatriya it is your duty to fight against your opponents with out thinking whether you win or lose this battle  . Both the ways you have a  win a win position  . If you lose this battle  you will get swarga or even better place  i.e Moksha from this birth and death cycle  and if you win this battle you  will enjoy all the luxuries of kingdom . Now out of compassion if you don't fight this war , the present and future generations will consider you coward, who ran away from the battle field . 

        The knowledge about body and soul is known as Gyana yoga in vedanta .Then Arjuna asks Krishna when  Gyan yoga is sufficient to realise salvation,   then why do you involve me in these criminal  actions where I have to kill my kiths and kins . Then Shrikrisha replies to Arjuna that  it is very difficult to realise Gyana  yoga  and needs lot of meditation , practice and  blessings of almighty I.e me. While practising this yoga we need to have complete control over our  senses I.e Gyan indriyas  which are five in number I.e smell by nose , sight by eyes , touch by hands or body, taste by tongue  and listening through ears  . Our object of realizing soul should not get diverted by these senses. 

                   A person who desires liberation from this bondage of samsara I.e a person who desires Moksha should practise  the Karma Yoga with determination after knowing the true nature of soul in detail. The  karma yoga is little easier than Gyana yoga and with out obstacles  , which leads  us  automatically   to Gyan yoga with constant practice in due course of time .Moreover, karma yoga is superior to Gyan yoga . Even if a person is fit for doing Gyana yoga . Karma yoga is better for him also.  A person should practise Karma yoga and thereby earn the Lords pleasure . Then his past sins are destroyed. He is able to bring his gunas under control.   He becomes pure in mind and senses . Then he becomes fit to Gyana yoga . 

              Further knowledge of true nature of soul is included in karma yoga itself  . The soul has to be meditated upon , as not the doer of actions but controlled by the lord. Actually gyan yoga and karma yoga are interrelated but a person practising gyan yoga only can not do away with karma yoga .   Soul and body together  constitute an  individual  who  by nature has to do some action to satisfy his basic needs which he performs by his Karam indriyas I.e arms, legs, mouth ,excretion and reproductive parts . He can not even sustain his body if he does not do any action .  I am the lord myself , I have achieved everything .There is nothing which remains unacheived  by me. But still I work to keep myself busy and for setting an example for other people to follow. According to shastaras there are three types of karmas which an individual has to do .They are Niti karma , Nimiti karmas and Kamya karmas.

        Niti karma constitute  early morning sandya vandana , Nimiti karma are jal Tarpan to pitras and devas especially during eclipse period.  Lastly the Kamya karma are done for earning money and luxuries in life and then swarga after death . The first two karmas are mandatory  but the third karma is optional,  but has to be done because with out that karma first two karmas that are mandatory remain incomplete because we need money  for performing yajnas and nourishing of our bodies with the remnants of those yajnas .

                 But we should not get attached to those karmas which provide us wealth and luxuries .We should attribute those karmas to the almighty as if we are doing all our karmas for the sake of lord.  That is a sort of Mukhti from karam bandhan as well as doing Nishkam karma . So all these Karmas should be performed by you , as a form of worshipping Me, the lord . You should do them for the pleasure of the Lord. You will then aatain salvation in due course. 

            Attainment of Swarga should not be ultimate aim of an individual because if a person attains  even Swarga  ,  he has to leave it  after some time and undergo  birth and death cycle again and again.His aim should be to attain Moksha from birth and death cycle  and his ultimate aim should be to attain paramatma the lord I.e me .  As per adaivta philosophy the soul dwelling  in every person belongs to lord and  has an contract form of the lord almighty embedded therein which a person has to realise  and get merged with  me, the almighty  . 

           Then Arjuna asks Shrikrishna if the ultimate aim of an individual is to get emerged with almighty that is you,through Bakhti yoga ,  then why there are various options given in vedas  how to achieve wealth , luxuries and Swarga  , which in my opinion are  lower forms of meditations . Srikrishan replies to Arjuna that vedas are sea of knowledge.  They cater to the needs of every person according to their temperaments.  There are actually three types of temperaments in an individual which are called Gunas . They are Satogun, Rajogun and Tamogun . The sattogun characteristic is free from impurity and promotes health and happiness , Rajogun produces desire for worldly pleasures and attachment to friends and relatives . The Tamogun causes delusion and makes the person dull and drowsy .  These Gunas are embedded in every individual in different proportions . Some have dominance of Satogan and others have dominance of Rajogun or Tamogun .but you  should remain free from the mixture of three Gunas and you should have sattvaguna predominantly present in you .   By this you will also be free from the pairs of opposites like pain and pleasure , victory and defeat and so on i.e you should not get affected by them. 

                    Before creation , all souls  and prakrati were merged in the lord , in a subtle form. Then they did not have names and forms . So in that dormant state , with out bodies the  souls  were not able to perform any work, to achieve the desirable fruits like Moksha . So out of compassion , the lord took up creation . He bestowed bodies to the souls , so that they can study vedas and perform works. 

So Arjuna , have a clear knowledge about the essential nature of the soul . Whatever actions you do , you surrender them to me . In other words you give up the thought that you are the doer , and realise that I , the supreme lord , am the cause of everything .

To be concluded .........

My Wanderings - 90. Superstitions

Superstitions have taken a toll of our society to such a large extent that a rationale person is labeled as an atheist.But a rationale person can  also be a staunch believer . Our society is embedded with the menance of superstitions since its inception. There will not be a single person without an iota of superstition in his psyche because the same has been imbibed in our mindset right from our birth.
A person with weak will, particularly  womenfolk of our society fall prey to the evil designs of so called godmen, Charleston's and fortune tellers. They flung their bait and we are succumbed to their gameplans. They give us gems, charms etc. to ward off evil on us and empty our pockets.
I have seen many celebrities going to these godmen or Astrologers to know their future as they are unsecured and do not want to fall down from the heights they have achieved. But ordinary people like us who do not have higher stakes also fall prey to them.
Though Astrology is a great subject which formed the base of moden  Astronomy, but what relation there can be possibly between human destiny and stars , which are thousands and thousands of miles away from us. Sometimes we wait for auspicious dates to perform some functions. I have seen a person waiting for auspicious day to join his new job. The job was declined to him as he joined late.
There are usually discussions on existence of ghosts, haunted houses etc.
Some even say that they have seen the ghost with their own eyes. It was a form of tall person draped in long white gown etc. But in my opinion it is all due to hallucinations that we see the ghostly figures in the same shape that we have visualised in our own mind. A man with strong will should never be haunted by such ghosts.
Some godmen perform miracles.They stop their pulse, produce holy ash from the palm of their hands or generate wrist watches, particularly for their affaulent desiples. But watches are usually Swiss made and not made in heaven. It was Dr.Kavoor Srilankan rationalist and writer of book entitled Be Gone Godmen, Who challenged them ...if they can perform such miracles in his presence. he will pay them Rs one Lack, which was a huge amount those days.No godman accepted his challenge as Dr Kavoor was aquainted with all these tricks himself.
It is really my dream to see rationality in my society someday.