Gita- Chapter 18 Slokas 65,68,69,70- some musings

[Guest guest]

As desired by Veena and on behalf of Raju I try to give some insight of the essence of the above slokas.Slokas hv already been posted and there is no need for repetition.The explanations are clubbed together without making them sloka by sloka though there won't be much deviation.

It is not possible for all to dive deep into the sea,only a few experts alone can do it.Similarly the intrepretation of the Lord can also be done only by great people and as I don't belong to that category I feel it is suffice to deliver what I hv understood .Just as the subtle workings of Nature are beyond the ken of the ordinary people,the subtle spiritual truths concealed in the human heart are also incomprehensible,except to a few advanced souls.The Lord residing in the hearts of all is their fastest Friend.His Grace is ever at work to redeem beings.All the happenings in the world outside are also directed towards that end.The grace of the Lord is the greatest spiritual alchemy.It converts a base man into a divinity and ultimately absorbs him into Godhood.What the divine touch is capable of is presented by Sri Krishna.He takes a trifling reef and makes a flute with it,if trampled on,becomes useless rubbish.But in His hands it fulfills a cosmic function.The inert

reed becoming an instrument in the hands of the Lord can animate the Universe.

 

Truth and God are identical.Whatever comes from Him must be Truth,even as what emanates from the sun must be sunny.The gifts of the sun are light and heat,both being indispensable to life on earth.This is the bare truth about the sun.Similarly the Lord declares the bare truth abt Himself and His relationship with the Jivatman.The sole object of His being embodied is to tell this Truth to the world.The lives of great ones bear testimony to the fact that whoever follows this teaching emerges as an extraordinary being.The Truth in the Lord's statement is amplified by this well.

 

The Lord's statement ' You are dear to Me' is pregnant with meaning.In fact all beings are dear to Iswara.When the required purification is effected the all-absorbing love is made evident.Love leads the jivatman to the pinnacle of eternal union with the Paramatman.We use a vehicle when we want to go from one place to another.The vehicle is the means and reaching the place is the end.But in our polgrimage to Paramatman, the means and the end are the same.It is by the Grace of the Lord that we get at the Lord.By His Grace only we make endeavours to get at Him.The Grace of the Lord is the one boon that is ever available to man.but man is not prepared to avail himself of it.His base mind drags him away from the Divine.This earth-bound mind is very useful to him to procure those things only that are detrimental to spritual growth.Its vagrant behaviour continues thru several births before discrimination dawns on it.When right understanding develops,the mind submits itself to be

directed Godward.It is then weaned away from the world and dedicated to the Lord.The mind that had erstwhile been the den of base tendencies is converted into the sanctuary of the Divine.And this a sublime and soul-redeeming turning point in man's life.

 

As the devotion to the Lord increases,the devotee imbibes the divine qualities of the Lord.In her excessive love of Krishna ,each Gopi thought she herself was Krishna.And this is the goal to which pure devotion leads the devotee.While in the process of getting fixed in it a divine madness overtakes the devotee.,the Lord in His turn becomes mad for His devotee.The devotee delights in prostrating before the Lord,becoz in doing so the devotee posits the truth abt God.The more prostration before the Adorable Being,the greater is the bliss enjoyed by the devotee.The Lord proclaims that His devotee never meets destruction for any reason whatsoever as He takes the responsibility of protecting His devotee.

 

The good and the beneficial in one increases when they are shared with others.Food for eg. is indispensable and most beneficial to all beings and it is sought and procured for personal benefit only.But on experiment and observation it may be found that he who procures food for common use prospers better than he who grabs it exclusively for himself.Fostering other lives is the sure means to enrich one's own life.And this principle is as efficacious at the ethical and spiritual levels as it is at the physical level.By imparting knowledge and wisdom to others one gets ingrained in intellectual clarity.He who teaches others learns better than he who studies for himself.The more one teaches the more that one learns.By devotedly carrying the spiritual treasures contained in the Bhagawat Gita for the benefit of other ardent souls,the preceptor gets a better grasp.The one who expounds Gita ought not to assume the role of a master.One ought to feel oneself an instrument of the Lord,

in spreading His spiritual message.The role of the master engenders egoism while that of a servant of the Lord promotes devotion to Him.The delight in the propogation of the spiritual matters among the good and the virtuous increases the steadfastness in the sadhana,bhakti and jnana are on the increase in such an ardent soul.Spiritual service is therefore another means to gain access ro Divinity.

 

All the happenings ,great and small,magnificient and minute,taking place in the Universe are verily the doings of Iswara.Among all the manifestations and revelations,the Bhagawat Gita occupies a unique position.It explains the working of the Universe and the divinity inherent in it.It expounds the laws governing human life.The Substratum which is the source of the universe and the beings in it,is lucidly presented by it.Kmowledge pertaining to the Divine and the mundane is all contained in it.The follower of Gita will become a yogi in course of time.For all these reasons the carrying of the msge of this great treasure to the prospective sadhakas is a benign work.No other service is equal to this spiritual mission.The doer of this soul-emancipating service is indeed dear to the Lord,he being instrumental in this solemn act.

 

Devotedly hearing the exposition of the Gita is one way of learning it,a personal pious study of it is another way of making it one's own.Earnest perusal and pondering provide the means to make spiritual matters one's own.A clear understanding of the spiritual matters is an effective means for the adoration of the Lord.The very purpose of human life is to adore the Almighty thru right understanding and right relationship with Him.He who adheres in life to the teachings of Gita makes an unconscious but very effective propoganda of it.For the best way to preach Vedanta is to live Vedanta.Practice is always superior to precept, a refined living is superior to a refined exposition of the law of life.Preachers may be had in plenty,but those who practice the precept are but few.Those who study Gita and try to live upto its teachings are performing Jnana Yajna which is very much pleasing to the Lord.It is again a superior form of the worship of the Maker.The Lord also has put His

stamp that this is His conviction.

 

I think I hv satisfied to some extent the requirements of Veena.In translating the Great Teachings in English and Malayalam Raju has done a laudable service which will definitely please the Lord as He has approved of such a thing in no unmistakable terms.Good Luck.

 

Hare Krishna,

agraman

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear Shri Raman,

 

Thank you very much for the meaningful and beatiful explanation of

Gita Slokas 65, 68 69 and 70 as desired by Ms Veena on my behalf

which will be satisfactory, not only to her and myself, but to all

who wishes.

 

You are right, everybody cannot understand and explain deeply, the

interpretations of GOD unless you are a great man. I am sorry, my

knowledge is very limited in this regard.

 

While on the subject, I remember reading a commentary in Malayalam,

some years back, by late Panditarajan PS Ananthanarayana Sastri, on

Bhagavat Gita Sankara Bhashyam alongwith complete translation.

 

May the GOD bless you all, OM NAMO NARAYANAYAH:

 

 

 

 

NR Pillai (Raju)

Dombivli.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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