Vinobha's Introduction to Gita

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This introduction to Gita by Vinobha is quite touching and appropriate for the

early preparation for the Satsang. Please read his profound thoughts

completely,

 

regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

Vinobha's Introduction to Bhagawad Gita

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1. From today, I shall speak to you about Srimad Bhagavad Gita. The bond between

the Gita and me transcends reason. My heart and mind have both received more

nourishment from the Gita than my body has from my mother's milk. Where the

heart is touched, there is no room for argument. Leaving logic behind, I beat

the twin wings of faith and practice and, to the best of my ability, fly up into

the heavens of the Gita. I live and move in the atmosphere of the Gita. The Gita

is my life's breath. To vary the image, I swim in the sea of the Gita when I

speak of it; but when I am alone, I dive to the depths of this ocean of nectar

and there rest at ease. It has been decided that I should tell you every Sunday

the story of this Mother, the Gita.

2. The Gita has been set in the Mahabharata. Standing in the middle of the epic,

the Gita is like an elevated lamp which throws its light on the whole of the

Mahabharata. On one side of it, there are six parvas (chapters) and on the

other, twelve. Similarly on one side there are seven divisions of the army, and

on the other, eleven. In between, the Gita is being taught.

3. The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are the classics of our nation. The

characters that figure in them have become one with our lives. For thousands of

years now the whole of Indian life has been, as it were, consecrated by the

heroes and heroines of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata like Rama, Sita,

Dharmaraj, Draupadi, Bhishma and Hanuman. The characters of no other classics in

the world have thus blended with the lives of the people. Looked at in this way

the Mahabharata and the Ramayana are undoubtedly wonderful works. If the

Ramayana is an enthralling ethical poem, the Mahabharata is a comprehensive

treatise on the science of society. Vyasa has in his hundred thousand slokas

given us innumerable portraits, customs and heroic actions which are as

beautiful as they are real. The Mahabharata tells us clearly that none but God

is wholly free from blemish; that none too is an embodiment of absolute evil. On

the one hand, faults are pointed out even in Bhishma and Yudhishthira, and, on

the other, light is out s4. The Mahabharata has become a byword for bigness; but

has not Vyasa anything of his own to tell us? Has he given in any place any

special message of his own? Where is Vyasa's heart beat to be heard? Again and

again we come to jungle upon jungle of philosophy and preaching in the

Mahabharata; but has he also given anywhere the essence of all this, the central

secret of this massive work? Yes, he has. Vyasa has, so to speak, taken out the

cream of the whole of Mahabharata and put it in the Gita. The Gita forms the

epitome of the teaching of Vyasa, the quintessence of his thought. That is why

Sri Krishna says; "I am Vyasa among the sages." This manifestation of Krishna in

Vyasa becomes fullest in the Gita. From ancient times the Gita has been given

the status of an Upanishad. The Gita is the Upanishad of Upanishads, because

Lord Krishna has drawn the milk of all the Upanishads and given it in the form

of the Gita to the whole world; Arjuna is only an excuse. Almost every idea

necessary for the flowering of a f5. Everyone knows that the Gita was spoken by

Sri Krishna. The devotee Arjuna, who listened to this great lesson, became so

identified with it that he too came to be called 'Krishna'. Vyasa, trying to

express the heart of the Lord and his lover, lost himself so completely that he

too came to be called 'Krishna'. The speaker is Krishna, the listener is

Krishna, the reporter is Krishna - thus all the three have, so to speak, become

one, each fulfilling himself in this oneness. To study the Gita, then, a

concentration of this kind is necessary.

 

(2) Arjuna's stand

6. Some people think that the Gita should be taken to begin from the Second

Chapter. If the actual teaching commences in the eleventh sloka of the Second

Chapter, why not start from there? Someone even told me, "God has said that He

manifests himself in 'a' among the letters of Nagari alphabet. Here the sloka

'asochyaananyasochastvam' begins spontaneously with the letter 'a'. So we should

take that as the beginning." Apart from this argument, in many ways it would be

quite right to take this as the beginning. All the same the introductory portion

preceding this does have a value of its own. Without this preliminary narrative

we cannot properly understand where exactly Arjuna stands and what the Gita is

intended to teach.

7. Some say that Gita was spoken in order to remove Arjuna's weakness and make

him enter the battle. In their views the Gita not only teaches karma-yoga, the

way of action, but also yuddha-yoga, the way of conflict. But a little thinking

will show us how defective this argument is. Eighteen divisions of warriors were

ready for battle. Are we to suppose that, by making Arjuna listen to the whole

of the Gita, the Lord made him worthy of the army? It was Arjuna who quailed,

not the army. Was the army then more worthy than Arjuna? This is utterly

inconceivable. It was not out of fear that Arjuna was turning away from the

battle. He was a great warrior, who had proved his valour on a hundred fields.

When Uttara's cattle were carried off, he routed Bhishma, Drona and Karna single

handed. He was known as the undefeated, as the one true man among men. Heroism

was in every drop of his blood, in the very marrow of his bones. In order to

rouse his feeling and goad him to action, Krishna Himself attributed cowardice

to h8. Still others say that the Gita is meant to cure Arjuna of his scruples

based on non-violence and make him inclined to fight. In my opinion this view

also is not right. In order to examine this thoroughly, we have first to see the

stand taken by Arjuna. To do this, the First Chapter and its continuation in the

Second will help us greatly.

Arjuna stood in the field of battle with his mind made up, and sustained by a

sense of duty. Fighting, the calling of the Kshatriyas, was in his very nature.

All possible attempts had been made to avoid war, but they had not succeeded.

They had pitched their claims at the lowest, and Sri Krishna himself had tried

to mediate; but all in vain. In these circumstances he has got together the

kings of many countries, taken Sri Krishna as his charioteer, and is standing on

the battle field. He says to Sri Krishna with heroic ardor: "Place my chariot

between the two armies so that I can look at the faces of the people who have

come out ready to fight with me." Krishna did as he was told, what does Arjuna

see when he turns his gaze in all directions? On both sides are gathered a thick

surging throngs of his own kinsmen and friends. He sees grandfathers, fathers,

sons and grandsons, four generations of his own people - family, friends and

relations - finally determined to kill and be killed. It was not as though he

haWhen he sees all his own people gathered together, a storm begins to rage in

his heart. He feels downcast. In the past, he had killed innumerable warriors in

many a battle. But never till now had he felt so miserable, never had his bow,

Gandiva, slipped from his hands nor had his body quaked like this, nor his eyes

became wet. Then, why did all this happen now? Was he moved by the spirit of

non-violence now, as Ashoka was to be later? No, this was only attachment to his

own people. Even now, if those in front of him had not been his teachers,

kinsmen and friends he would have made their severed heads fly like so many

balls. But his attachment confused him and overshadowed his devotion to duty; it

was then that he thought of philosophy. When a man with a sense of duty is

caught in illusion, even then he cannot bear to face the naked fact of his lapse

from duty. He usually covers it up with an inquiry into principles. Arjuna was

just in this plight. He began to declare ostentatiously that war was really a

sin, 9. Here I am reminded of the story of a judge. He had sent hundreds of

criminals to the gallows, but one day his own son was produced before him,

accused of murder. His guilt was proved beyond doubt, the time had now come for

the judge to pass sentence of death on his own son. But then he began to

hesitate. He called all his ingenuity to his aid and began to argue thus: "The

death penalty is most inhuman; inflicting such punishment is no credit to man.

All hope of reform is destroyed. The man who committed murder did so in the heat

of excitement when he was beside himself. When the madness has passed from him,

to take him coolly and calmly to the gallows and kill him is a disgrace to human

society; it is a great crime." He thought up many such arguments. If his own son

had not been brought before him, the Honorable Judge would have gone on

relentlessly condemning people to death for the rest of his life. But now,

because of partiality for his own son, he argued thus. This was not the voice of

his inmost self;10. Arjuna's behavior was like that of the judge in the story.

The argument advanced by him were not in themselves wrong. The whole world has

seen precisely these consequences follow the last Great War. But what we should

think about is this: that Arjuna had no real vision, it was only clever and

superficial talk. So, without paying any attention to Arjuna's words, He

straight-away began to set about dispelling his illusion. If Arjuna had actually

been converted to non-violence, he would never have been satisfied until his

real point had been met, however much he was told about wisdom and knowledge.

But the Gita has nowhere answered this point of his, and yet Arjuna was

satisfied. The implication of all this is that Arjuna's attitude was not that of

non-violence; he did believe in fighting. As he saw it, fighting was his

natural, clear and inescapable duty. But he wanted to evade this duty because

his vision was clouded by illusion. And it is on this illusion that Gita's mace

falls most heavily.

 

(3) The purpose of the Gita: To destroy Illusion

11. Arjuna used not merely the language of non-violence, but even that of

sannyasa, complete renunciation. "Even a life of renunciation is better than

this bloodstained Kshatriya dharma, duty of the warrior class," he says. But was

this the way of life for him, his svadharma? Was this the true expression of his

nature? Arjuna could have cheerfully donned the garb of a Sannyasi but how could

he have lived the life? If, in the name of sannyasa, he went into the forest he

would start killing the deer there. Therefore, the Lord told him plainly,

"Arjuna, your present reluctance to fight is delusion. The nature that has

become yours through the years will not permit you to refrain from fighting."

Arjuna felt at odds with his svadharma. But however unattractive a man's

svadharma may be, he has to find fulfillment by persisting in it. Because it is

only through such persistence that growth is possible. There is no question of

dignity involved here. This is the law of growth. Svadharma is not the sort of

thing that one takes up because one thinks it is noble or gives up because it

seems lowly. In the words of the Gita, "sreyaan svadharma vigunah." (One's own

dharma, even if devoid of merit, is the best for oneself.") The word "dharma"

means not the organized religions, like Hindu-dharma or Muslim-dharma, or

Christian-dharma. Every individual has his own distinct dharma. The 200 people

who are in front of me have 200 different dharmas. Even my own dharma today is

not what it was ten years ago; it will not be the same ten years hence. As the

course of one's life changes through thinking and experience one's old dharma

drops off and a new dharma comes in its place. One achieves nothing by

self-willed obstin12. However superior another's dharma may appear to be, it is

not good for me to adopt it. The light of the sun is dear to me. By this light I

keep growing. The sun claims my worship too. But if, for this reason, I wish to

give up living on the earth and, go to the sun, I would be burnt to ashes. On

the other hand, even if living on earth is quite dull by comparison, - even if

the earth is quite despicable when compared with the sun, even if it has to

borrow its light - even then, so long as I lack the capacity to stand the sun's

blaze, I shall have to stay away from the sun and keep growing on the earth. If

someone were to say to a fish, "Milk is costlier than water; come and live in

this milk," would it agree? Fish can only live in water; they will die in milk.

13. Even if someone else's dharma seems easier, one should not take it up. Quite

often, it only appears easier. If a man in household life is not able to look

after his children properly and, getting disgusted, gives up the world, it will

turn out to be hypocrisy and will even become burdensome. At the first

opportunity, his old habits and associations will re-assert themselves. When a

man goes into the forest because he is unable to bear life's burdens, the first

thing he would do there is to build himself a small hut. Then, to protect it, he

would put up a fence. Going on thus, he finds that there too he has to manage,

if anything, a bigger household. If a man's mind is truly detached, surely

renunciation is not difficult for him. There are many texts in the Smritis

(sacred codes) which show how renunciation can be easy. It is really a question

of one's vocation. One's dhrama consists in following one's true vocation. The

question is not whether it is high or low, easy or difficult. The growth must be

real 14. But some imaginative people ask, "If sannyasa, the way of renunciation,

is really better than yuddha dharma, the way of conflict, why did Lord Krishna

not make Arjuna a true sannyasi straightway? Was this impossible for Him?" Of

course, there was nothing that He could not do. But, in that case, what would be

the meaning and purpose of Arjuna's life? What does he achieve himself? Almighty

God has given us freedom. And so, let every man make his own efforts; for that

is where the fun lies. Children find joy in drawing pictures themselves. They do

not like someone else holding their hand and drawing the picture for them. If

the teacher gives the answer to all the questions put to the child, how is the

child's mind to grow? So the work of the teacher and the parents is only to make

him attend, and help him with suggestions. God guides us all from within. He

does no more than this. If, like a potter, He were to beat our clay and mould

each of us into a pot, where is the sense in it? We are not just pots of cla15.

>From all this discussion, you would have understood that the purpose of the Gita

is to remove the illusion that stands between us and our svadharma. Arjuna was

perplexed about his dharma, a delusion had arisen in his mind over his

svadharma. As soon as Sri Krishna points this out, Arjuna himself admits it. The

Gita's main task is to remove this illusion, this sense of "mine", this

attachment. This is why, after Arjuna has listened to the whole of the Gita, Sri

Krishna asks him, "Arjuna, you have got over the illusion, haven't you?" And

Arjuna replies, "Yes, Lord. The illusion has left me; my svadharma is clear to

me." If then we put together the beginning and the end of the Gita, we see that

its aim and effect is to remove illusion. This is true not only of the Gita, but

of the whole of the Mahabharata. Vyasa said right at the beginning of the

Mahabharata, "In this epic, I am lighting a lamp to dispel the dark illusion

that covers the heart of humanity."

 

Source: Srimad Bhagawad Gita, by Vinobha