Series Of Questions, Answering To Which Has Made Bhagavad Gita,A Celestial Song!!!
Saturday, October 16, 2010 5:40 PM
Bhagavad Gita is for the pious hermit,for the householder,and FOR ALL MANKIND.This knowledge is the most secret knowledge-secret because it is meant for only men of the required spiritual preparedness.There are series of questions,answering to which by Sri Krishn has made Bhagavad Gita......a celestial song.This scripture has become as eternal as God himself.Normally we do not know about this series of questions at a time.I feel,probably knowing most of them at a glance,will certainly give an impression about what Bhagavad Gita really conveys to entire mankind.By the time Gita came to conclusion,all the questions raised by Arjun were answered,at that juncture the Lord Himself raised the questions Arjun could not muster up and were in his benefit and clarified the same. At the end of it all,Sri Krishn askd Arjun if has understood and assimilated his words.He asks:"Have you, O Parth, listened intently to my words and, O Dhananjay, is your delusion born out of ignorance dispelled?"
Arjun says:
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naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtirlabdhā tvatprasādānmayā’cyuta
sthito’smi gatasaṁdehaḥ kariṣye vacanaṁ tava
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"Since my ignorance has been dispelled by your grace, O Achyut, and I have recovered discernment, I am free from doubt and shall follow your precept."
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"Achyuth!Because of Your grace,my passion is destroyed,I have regained my memory,I am consistent,being bereft of doubts and am ever ready to obey Your orders.".......Whereas,Arjun was perplexed at the time of reviewing both the armies,to find his kith and kin therein. He prayed:"Govinda! How can we be happy after annihilation of our own relatives? Family tradition will be destroyed because of such a war, there will be scarcity of obsequial offerings like rice cakes and so on to the departed ancestors, hybridization or mongrelization of castes takes place.We, being wise,yet are ready to commit sin. Why do we not find a way out of committing these sins?Let the armed Kaurava kill me, an unarmed man, in the war and that death is glorious.Govinda,I am not going to wage war."Saying thus he sat down at the back of the chariot.
Thus in the Gita,Arjun,in fact,put forward in front of Yogeshwar Krishn a series of big and small questions:
Like in chapter 2 verse 7 : "Please will You tell me that practice of worship through which I can attain to the Absolute good."
In chapter 2 verse 54 : "What are the attributes of an enlightened sage?"
In verse 1 of chapter 3 : "If in your view the way of knowledge is superior, then why do you compel me to do these terrible actions?"
In verse 36 of chapter 3 : "Even without wishing, under whose guidance does a man commit sin?"
In verse 4 of chapter 4 : "Your birth is of recent times, whereas the Sun was born a long time back, then how can I believe that You taught yog to the Sun in the far distant past, in the beginning of this kalp?"
In verse 1 of chapter 5 : "Sometimes You praise renunciation, the way of knowledge, and yet other times you support the Way of Selfless Action. Please tell me one out of these which is final, by which I can attain to the Absolute good."
In verse 35 of chapter 6 : "The Mind is very fickle.With slack efforts,what would be his lot?"
In verses 1 and 2 of chapter 8 : "Govinda,who is that Supreme Being,whom You have described?What is Adhyatm? What are Lords of gods and Lord of being? Who is the Lord of sacrifice in this body?What is that action? How do You come to be known at the end time?"Thus he put forward seven questions.
In verse 17 of chapter 10 : Arjun has evinced curiosity,asking,"While meditating incessantly,through what feelings (emotions) do I call you to mind, to remember you?"
In verse 4 of chapter 11 : he prayed and submitted, "I long to see the splendours that have been described by You."
In verse 1 of chapter 12 : "Who is the superior possessor of Yoga among the devotees who worship you well through unvacillating attentiveness and those who worship the imperishable unmanifest Supreme Being?"
In verse 21 of chapter 14 : "A man who has surpassed the three natural modes is liberated of character and how can a man surpass these three modes?"
In verse 1 of chapter 17 :"What would be the fate of a person who engages in yagya with dedication but does not follow the procedure as laid down by the scriptures?"
And in verse 1 of chapter 18 :"O" mighty armed! I yearn to learn separately and individually everything about the nature of relinquishment and renunciation."
Thus,throughout the Gita,Arjun continued to put forward queries (The esoteric secrets which could not be asked by him were revealed by the Lord Himself.) As soon as his doubts were dispelled he was freed from asking questions and said," Govinda! Now I am ever ready to obey your instructions."In truth the questions raised were for the benefit of all mankind and not just for Arjun alone.
Without having these questions answered,no seeker can progress forward on the path of the highest good.Therefore,to enable a man to obey an enlightened guru and to progress on the path of the highest good, it is necessary, that one should learn the complete teachings of the Gita.Arjun was convinced and satisfied that all his questions had been answered and his doubts allayed.
In Chapter 11,after having revealed his cosmic form,Sri Krishn said in the fifty-fourth verse: "O Arjun ... a worshipper can directly know this form of mine, acquire its essence, and even become one with it by total and unswerving dedication." And just now he has asked him whether he is rid of his delusion. Arjun replies that his ignorance is allayed and that his understanding is restored. Now he will act at Sri Krishn’s behest. Arjun’s liberation should come along with this realization. He has indeed become whatever he had to be. But scripture is meant for posterity and the Geeta is here for all of us to avail ourselves of.
Composite view Of DHARM!!!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010 10:32 PM
Composite view of DHARM that emerges from the scripture is a necessity to look at a glance under prevailing situations at present in modern and materialistic society. It may be claimed without any impropriety that dharm, properties and conduct that enable a man to realize his Self, is the overriding concern of the Geeta.As per Bhagavad Geeta,"DHARM" is certainly not "RELIGION."
According to Sri Krishn (B.G.-2.16-29),the unreal never exists and the real is never without existence at any time.God alone is real, permanent, indestructible, changeless, and eternal, but he is beyond thought, imperceptible, and quite above the fluttering of mind.Action is the,name of the mode by which a man attains to God after subduing his mind. Putting this mode into practice is dharm, which is a trust or obligation.
As Sri Krishn has told Arjun in the fortieth verse of Chapter 2 (B.G.):"Since selfless action neither wears out the seed from which it sprang nor has any adverse consequence,even a partial observance of it liberates one from the dire terror of repeated birth and death."So the undertaking of this action is dharm.
This appointed action has been classified into four categories on the basis of the seekers' inherent ability. At the initial stage,when a man sets upon the way of seeking after a due understandingof his task, he is a Shudr. But he is elevated to the rank of a Vaishya when his hold upon the means gets steadier. At the third stage, the same worshipper is promoted to the yet higher status of a Kshatriya when he gains the ability to oppose the conflicts of nature. The awakening of true knowledge that is transmitted by the voice of God himself, and which bestows on one, the ability to rely upon that God and become like him, transmutes the seeker into a Brahmin.
Hence it is that Yageshwar Krishn lays down in the forty sixth verse of Chapter - 18(B.G.) that engaging in action that is in harmony with one's native disposition is swadharm. Though of an inferior merit,the discharge of one's natural obligation should be preferred. The undertaking of a deed of superior merit is, on the other hand, improper and injurious if it is attempted without cultivating the ability that is commensurate with it. Even losing one's life in the fulfillment of one's inborn calling is better, because the body is a mere garb and no one is really changed by putting on a different apparel. When taken up again, the spiritual exercise is resumed from the same point at which it was discontinued. Thus climbing from step to step,the seeker at last attains to the immortal state.
The same is re-emphasized in the forty-seventh verse of the concluding chapter(B.G), when it is said that a man attains to ultimate liberation by worshipping God well according to his inborn inclination.In other words, remembering and meditating on God by the appointed mode is dharm.
But who is the man entitled to this spiritual discipline called dharm? Who has the privilege of approaching it? Shedding light on the problem,Sri Krishn tells Arjun that even the most degraded man is rendered virtuous if he worships him (Sri Krishn)- the one God-with intentness, and his Soul is then merged with God who is the ultimate reality and dharm. So, according to the Geeta, that man is pious who performs the appointed task in keeping with his innate property to realize God.Arjun is counselled at last to forsake all his other obligations and seek refuge in Sri Krishn. So that man who is wholly devoted to the one God is endowed with piety. To dedicate oneself thus to God is dharm.
The means by which the Self is enabled to attain to the Supreme Being is dharm. The awareness, that comes to sages after their hunger for union with God has been quenched because of their achievement of the ultimate state, is the only reality in all of creation. So we have to seek refuge in these men of enlightenment and wisdom in order to learn how we can make our way along the path that leads to final bliss. That path is only one and embarking on it is dharm.
Dharm is an obligation-a sacred trust. It is propitious and the mind that applies itself to this enjoined task is also one and unified.(B.G.-2.41) Offering the functions of the senses and the operations of the life-winds to the fire of yog-self-restraint-kindled by the knowledge of God is dharm. (B.G.-4.27)
When self-control is identical with the Soul,and the operations of breath and the senses are thoroughly stilled,the current which arouses passions and the current that bears one towards God merge into one in the Self. Realization of God is the sublime culmination of this spiritual process.
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As expounded by most revered Gurudeo,my spiritual mentor.
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