Bhagavad Gita (2)

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CHAPTER 2 THE PATH OF KNOWLEDGE(Sankhya Yoga)"...

the cessation of your pain and sorrow will depend on how well you

overcome your ignorance of your True Self that lives within you."1.

Arjuna's eyes were burning with tears of compassion and confusion. The

blind old king was rejoicing, thinking an easy victory was at hand.

Sanjaya continued his straightforward report of the distant battlefield

:2. As Krishna watches the once-brave warrior prince plunge

into pitiable weakness He normally soft eyes become steely, and He

speaks. "Arjuna, where does all this despair come from? This egoistic

self-indulgence at a time of crisis is shameful and unworthy of you.

You are a highly evolved, cultured man who is supposed to live a

truth-based life, a life of dharma. And yet your confused mind is unbalanced and would not know truth if it hit you over the head.3.

"I know you are astounded at My lack of commiseration, but you must not

yield to this feebleness! Truth and right can never be obtained by the

weak. You are a great warrior, a proven winner. Cast off this

faint-heartedness. Stand up, O scorcher of enemies!"4-5. Arjuna

interrupts : "I can't believe you're telling me to fight!" He shakes

his head as though trying to clear his mind. Krishna sits quietly.

Arjuna breathes deeply and blurts, "How?" The word hangs in the air

between them. "How?" he repeats, "How can I not

be weak, Krishna? For me to attack Bhishma, who has been like a

grandfather to me, and assault my beloved former teacher Drona, would

be wrong! I should revere these elders, not shoot at them. I don't want

a blood-smeared victory.6. "If I kill them, I would not care to

live, Krishna. It would be better to be killed myself. Ah," he mutters

ruefully, "I don't know which way to turn. Either way winning or losing

this battle, I lose."ARJUNA BECOMES THE DISCIPLE, KRISHNA THE DIVINE TEACHER7-8.

"I'm utterly confused," Arjuna continues, "as to what is my duty. I

can't think of any remedy for this awful grief that has dried up my

energy, Krishna. If I were to gain great wealth and power, what would

that prove? I'm asking you to help me, not to just tell me to go out

and fight. I beg you to tell me what I should do. I am your pupil; be

my teacher, my guru. I take refuge in you and surrender to you. Please instruct me, beloved Krishna, show me the way."9.

The great warrior-prince who has never known retreat, slips deeper into

his dark dejection. He mumbles, "I shall not fight," and becomes silent.10.

Now that Arjuna has submitted himself as a pupil, Krishna transforms

into His true role as the Divine Teacher. He tightens the reins in His

hand, looks long into the crestfallen warrior's eyes, and begins to

speak.11. "You may grieve sincerely, Arjuna, but it is without

cause. Your words may seem wise, but the truly wise one grieves neither

for the living nor the dead!12. "There has never been a time

when I, or you, or any of these kings and soldiers here did not exist -

and there will never be a time when we cease to exist. Physical bodies

appear and disappear, but not the Atma (the soul, the life force) that lives within them.13.

"This life force comes and dwells in a body for a while. While therein,

it experiences infancy, childhood, youth, and old age, and then, upon

death, passes eventually to a new body. Changes such as death pertain

to the body, not the Atma.

The wise person does not get caught up in the delusion that he or she

is this body, Arjuna. This delusion is the very definition of ego.14.

"Arjuna, the contact of bodily senses with objects and attractions in

the world creates feelings like sorrow or happiness, and sensations

like heat or cold. But these are impermanent, transitory, coming and

going like passing clouds. Just endure them patiently and bravely;

learn to be unaffected by them.15. "The serene person,

unaffected by these worldly feelings and sensations, is the same in

pain and pleasure, and does not allow him - or herself to get disturbed

or sidetracked. This is the

person fit for immortality. Realize this and assert your strength,

Arjuna. Do not identify your True Self merely with your mortal body.16. "Real,

as used in spirituality, means that which is eternal, never changing,

indestructible. This is the very definition of 'Reality'. That which is

Real never ceases to be. Anything that is impermanent, even if it lasts

a very long time and seems durable, eventually changes and thus does

not have true Reality. The wise ones understand the difference beween

the Real and the not-Real. When you fully understand this profound

fact, you will have attained the zenith of all knowledge."One's body, according to this logic, is not Real. And yet, there is something that dwells within the body that is Real : the Atma - which is existence itself; awareness, pure consciousness.17.

"Get to know this Reality. It pervades the entire cosmos and is

unchanging and indestructible. No power can affect it. No one can

change the changeless."This Atma,

Arjuna, is like space or sky. Clouds appear in the sky but their

presence does not cause the sky to grow apart to make room for them. In

the same manner, the Atma (the True Self Within) remains ever itself. Things of the material universe come and go, appear and disappear, but the Atma never changes.18. "Only the body is mortal. Only the body will come to an end. But, the Atma, which is the True Self Within, is immortal, and will never come to an end. So fight, O Warrior!19. "You talk about killing or being killed; know that the body may be killed by the indweling Reality (the Atma)

can never be. To say the person slays and the other is slain may be

correct from a physical worldly standpoint,, but it is not the Reality

of the matter.20. "The Atma,

this Real us, was never born, nor will it ever die. In fact, this

eternal Reality within is never destroyed; it never undergoes any

changes. When your ego takes over and you erroneously identify your

self with the body, you feel that physical death is death to the self,

and that is frightening. But the Self (Atma) can never be 'killed'. When the body is slain the Atma remains unaffected.21. "The one who understands this hard-to-grasp principle of Atma

- the True Self Within that is eternal, indestructible, and changeless

- realizes that at this level of comprehension there is no 'slaying'

and no 'causing another to slay.'22. "As a person sheds a

worn-out garment, the dweller within the body casts aside its time-worn

human frame and dons a new one.23-24. "The Indweller - the Self, Atma

- remains unaffected by all worldly changes. It is not wounded by

weapons, burned by fire, dried out by wind, or wet by water. This

indwelling Self is all-pervading (which means it is everywhere). It is

also eternal and changeless because it is beyond the worldly dimension

of time - time has no access to it."Arjuna, the cessation of

your present pain and sorrow will depend on how well you overcome your

ignorance of your True Self that lives within you."THE QUALITIES OF THE ATMA25.

"It is not easy - as I said, Arjuna - to fathom this mysterious concept

of the True Self. Everything else in the world changes. Every creature,

rock, blade of grass, human being, element, or component of any kind

changes. Only the Atma never changes! Because it is never modified it is termed immutable. Because it is invisible, has no form, and cannot be heard, smelled, or touched, it is termed unmanifested.

Because the human mind cannot perceive or conceive it, it is said to be

unknowable. Why grieve over a Self that is immutable, unmanifested, and

unknowable?"26-27 Krishna lets those ideas sink in, and then

continues. "Even if you do choose to see yourself as a worldly body

that dies, why suffer this anguish? Your despondency steals your

strength. Death is inevitable for all the living. You know that death

is certain in all of nature, so why mourn that which is natural?

Nothing - absolutely nothing - in nature is permanent.28. "All

beings are temporary. Before birth, they are unmanifested

(nonmaterialized). At birth they become manifested. At their end they

again become unmanifested. What is there in all this to grieve over?

Grieving over the temporary just uses up your energy and holds back

your spiritual growth.29. "No one really understands the Atma,

Arjuna. One person sees it as wondrous, another speaks of its glory,

others say it is strange, and there are many who listen but do not

comprehend it at all. Very few even thin of inquiring into what is

beyond this physical world.30. "I am well aware that I have

veered into high philosophy, but you must understand that all beings,

whether called 'friend' or 'enemy', have this indestructible Atma within. You must be poised above this debilitating sorrow of yours."THE WARRIOR'S PERSONAL KARMA"One's personal duty in life (one's sva-dharma) should be viewed as one's responsibility to his or her highest Self, the Atma. This ultrahigh level of duty carries with it the requirement that one never does anything that is contrary to this True Self Within. And even if you consider your sva-dharma

more narrowly from the standpoint of being true to your profession, you

should not hesitate to fight. For a warrior, war against evil, greed,

cruelty, hate, and jealousy is the highest duty.32. "The tide

of fortune comes in but rarely. This war is a great, unsolicited

opportunity for you to fight for righteousness; for a warrior this is

no less than a free pass to heaven. Therefore, rejoice, Arjuna. Be

happy. This is your opportune moment!33. "But if you do not

fight this battle of good over evil, you will fail in both your worldly

duty and in your duty to your very Self. You will violate your sva-dharma. Not doing the right thing when it is required is worse than doing the wrong thing.34.

"If you do not do your duty the tale of your dishonor will be repeated

endlessly. For a man of honor to go down in history as dishonorable is

a fate worse than death. Ordinary human beings naturally strive to

preserve their lives, but the warrior has a different way. Warriors

must be ever ready not merely to safeguard, but to sacrifice their

lives for a cause. Knowingly surrendering your life to an ideal

increases your glory.35. "But your superb soldiers will think

it was fear that made you withdraw. Though they esteemed you before,

they will treat you and your name with derision.36. "Your

enemies who have harbored a grudging respect for your prowess in battle

will slander you and ridicule your bravery. Do you really think they

will believe that you withdrew out of love for kith and kin? Those who

used to shudder at the thought of fighting you will crack insolent

jokes about your faintheartedness. Failure to do your duty will destroy

the well-deserved reputation you built over many heroic battles.37.

"This battle is a righteous cause, Arjuna. No matter what happens, you

win. If killed, you immediately enter heaven; if victorious, you

achieve a great name and fame. Either way, you triumph. So, arise,

Arjuna! Fight!38. "And heed this important point about life in

general: The way to win this great war is to react alike to both pain

and pleasure, profit and loss, victory and defeat."THE SECRET OF SELFLESS ACTION39.

Krishna, as though to solidify that point, pauses a moment and then

continues. "You have now heard an intellectual explanation of the

principle of Atma (the True Self), and of the need to discriminate between the Real (unchanging) and the not-Real(anything that changes). Now pay attention while I explain a practical spiritual discipline called karma yoga

for living a more effective, happier life in this vexing, ever-changing

world. This is the path of selfless, God-dedicated action. By making

this your path you can live a spiritual life and yet stay fully active

in the world. You can remain a man of action, achieving your very best,

and yet not be bound or caught by the worldly.40. "Karma yoga

(literall, 'union with God through action') is not in the least bit

dangerous, Old Friend. On this path no effort ever goes to waste and

there is no failure. Even a little practice of this will protect you

from the cycle of death and rebirth.41. "When one's actions are

not based on desire for personal reward, one can more easily steady the

mind and direct it toward the Atma, the True Self Within. For the

person of steady mind, Arjuna, there is always just one decision, but

for the quivering mind pulled in a thousand directions, the decisions

that plague it are endless, and they exhaust one's mental strength.

People with an unsteady mind inevitably end up failing; those with an

unwavering mind achieve great success.42-43. "There are people,

ignorant of this principle, who take delight in their own particular

dogma, proclaiming there is nothing else. Their idea of 'heaven' is

their own enjoyment. The main reason they do their activities is to

achieve the pleasures and power that 'heaven' promises. Thus, even

though their motive is common and positive, they are in truth filled

with rather selfish desires.44. "With their minds thus taken up

by their own selfish desires for everlasting pleasure and power, they

are not able to develop the utter concentration needed to reach union

with God, which is mankind's only real objective.45. "The scriptures describe three components of nature (called gunas). I will describe these in more detail later, but for now, concentrate on transcending all

of them. Focus on going beyond all of nature and all worldly

attachments. To be bound to worldly nature is certainly not the purpose

of life. Focus instead on the Eternal that lies beyond this

worldliness. Concentrate on freeing yourself from the tyranny of the

so-called pairs of opposites. Release yourself from always trying to

evaluate and judge everything. Disentangle from your habit pattern of

seeing things as good or bad, lovable or hateful, pleasant or painful,

and so forth. The tendency to get trapped in apparent opposites is a

common and debilitating malady. Instead, remain tranquil and centered

in the Self (Atma). Take care not to seek acclaim or acquire earthly objects.46.

"A reservoir that is necessary during a dry spell is of little use

during a flood. Similarly, to the enlightened person even scriptures

are superfluous. Yes, live amicably with worldly existence, but know

you must transcend it. Prepare yourself for nothing less than union

with Divinity itself!47. "Work hard in the world, Arjuna, but

for work's sake only. You have every right to work but you should not

crave the fruits of it. Although no one may deny you the outcomes of

your efforts, you can, through determination, refuse to be attached to

or affected by the results, whether favorable or unfavorable."The

central points of issue, Arjuna, are desire and lack of inner peace.

Desire for the fruits of one's actions brings worry about possible

failure - the quivering mind I mentioned. When you are preoccupied with

end results you pull yourself from the present into an imagined,

usually fearful future. Then your anxiety robs your energy and, making

matters worse, you lapse into inaction and laziness."One does

not accomplish great ends in some by-and-by future, O Warrior. Only in

the present can you hammer out real achievement. The worried mind tends

to veer from the only real goal - realizing the Atma, uniting with Divinity, the True Self Within."The

ideal, Arjuna, is to be intensely active and at the same time have no

selfish motives, not thoughts of personal gains or loss. Duty

uncontaminated by desire leads to inner peacefulness and increased

effectiveness. This is the secret art of living a life of real achievement!48.

"To work without desire may seem impossible, but the way to do it is to

substitute thoughts of Divinity for thoughts of desire. Do your work in

this world with your heart fixed on the Divine instead of on outcomes.

Do not worry about results. Be even tempered in success or failure.

This mental evenness is what is meant by yoga (union with God). Indeed, equanimity is yoga!49.

"Work performed with anxiety about results is far inferior to work done

in a state of calmness. Equanimity - the serene mental state free from

likes and dislikes, attractions and repulsions - is truly the ideal

attitude in which to live your life. To be in this state of mind is to

be lodged in the Divine. Pitiful are those pulled by the fruits of

their action.50. "When you are endowed with this basic detachment, you shed the karmic consequences

of both your good and bad deeds, casting aside the inevitable effects

of your actions. Never lose sight of the overriding goal, which is to

free yourself from bondage during this lifetime, to shed attachment to

worldly things, detach from ego, and truly release yourself from the

wheel of birth and death. When you do this, you actually become one

with God."I see that you sigh at this breathtaking goal,

Arjuna. Know that you can achieve this by first uniting your heart with

God and only then pursuing worldly things. Proceed in this order, not

in the reverse order, and then your actions will be linked to the very

purpose of life - which is, again, union with the Divine.51. "A yogi is a truly wise person whose consciousness is unified with Brahman (the Godhead)." True yogis

are detached. They are not at all concerned about the fruits of their

actions and thus have left all anxiety behind. Detachment is the means

to convert misery-laden karma

(here indicating the entangling consequences of one's acts) into

misery-free living. Detachment is the means for rising above worldly

activities and getting to a state beyond the worldly."Achieve that transcendent state, Arjuna, and enter the battle not merely as a soldier but as a man of true wisdom, a yogi.

These high spiritual teachings are not meant just for the recluse; they

are intended for active people like you, immersed in the hustle and

bustle of the world.52. "When your mind crosses the mire of

delusion and your intellect clears itself of its confusion about the

truth of who you really are, your True Self, then you will become

dispassionate about the results of all your actions.53. "At

present, Arjuna, your mind is bewildered by conflicting ideas and

philosophies. When it can rest steady and undistracted in contemplation

of the True Self Within, you will be enlightened and completely united

in love with the Divine. This is where yoga reaches its culmination:

the merging of individual consciousness in Cosmic Consciousness. This

is nothing less than the goal of life!"DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUMINED ONES54.

Arjuna, listening attentively, interrupts, "But, Krishna, how does one

identify the enlightened person you describe, the one absorbed in the

Divine? How would such a one speak, sit, or move about, for example? If

I knew that I could better strive for it."55. Krishna answers, "Old friend, you should strive to become such a person! This person is called an Illumined One, a Sthithaprajna

(literally, one who is established in wisdom). This is the one who

abandons all selfish desires, cravings, and torments of the heart; who

is satisfied with the True Self (Atma) and wants nothing outside the Self. This one knows that real bliss is only found within.56.

"This is the man or woman whose mind is unperturbed by sorrow and

adversity, who doesn't thirst for pleasures, and is free of the three

traits that most tarnish the mind - namely attachment, fear, and anger.

Such a one is an Illumined One, a Sthithaprajna.57.

"The person who is detached, desireless, who neither rejoices or gets

depressed when faced with good fortune or bad - that person is poised

in wisdom above worldly turmoil and is therefore an Illumined One.58.

"The Illumined One has learned to deftly withdraw the senses from the

attractions of the world, just as the turtle naturally pulls in its

limb to protect itself. This is very important, Arjuna. Let Me explain

further.59-60. "When people pull back from worldly pleasures

their knowledge of the Divine grows, and this knowing causes the

yearning for pleasure to gradually fade away. But inside, they may

still hanker for pleasures. Even those minds that know the path can be

dragged away from it by unruly senses."Much of one's spiritual

discipline must therefore focus on taming wayward senses and being ever

vigilant against the treacherousness of the senses. The refinement of

an individual or a society is measured by the yardstick of how well

greed and desires are controlled.61. "The Illumined One subdue

their senses and hold them in check by keeping their minds ever intent

on achieving the overarching goal of union with God. They get in the

habit of substituting divine thoughts for attractions of the senses.62-63.

"The downward spiral to one's ruin consists of the following process :

Brooding on (or merely thinking about) worldly attractions develops

attachments to them. From attachments to sense objects come selfish

desires. Thwarted desires cause anger to erupt. From anger arises

delusion. This causes confusion of the mind and makes one forget the

lessons of experience. Forgotten lessons of experience cloud the

reason, which results in loss of discrimination (between Truth and

non-Truth, Real and not-Real). Finally, losing the faculty of

discrimination makes one veer from life's only purpose, achieving union

with the Divinity within. Then, unfortunately, one's life itself is

wasted.64-65. "But when you can move about in a world that

surrounds you with sense attractions, and yet be free of either

attachment or aversion to them, tranquility comes and sits in your

heart - and you are absorbed in the peace and wisdom of the Self

within. Serenity, Arjuna, is the point at which all sorrow ends!66. "This Atmic wisdom (knowledge of the True Self) is not for all. Those with agitated, uncontrolled minds cannot even guess that the Atma

is present here within. Without quietness, where is meditation? Without

meditation, where is peace? Without peace, where is happiness?67-68.

"The roving mind that attaches to the objects of the senses loses its

discrimination and is adrift, a ship without a rudder. Even a small

wind blows it off its safe-chartered course. Those who use all their

powers to restrain the senses, steady the mind, and free themselves

from both attachment and aversion - they are the people of true wisdom,

Illumined Ones.69. "Worldly people perceive existence itself

quite differently than do spiritually wise people. It is like night and

day; what is nighttime for one is daytime for the other. What worldly

persons experience as real - the body, earthly pursuits, pleasure,

pain, illness, sensory attractions - the Illumined Ones see as not Real

and of no consequence. What the Illumined Ones knows as Real - Spirit,

quietness, and so forth - the unenlightened consider to be unreal and

of no value.70. "Waters from many rivers continually flow into

the ocean but the ocean never overfills. In a like manner desires and

attachments constantly flow into the mind of the Illumined One, but he

or she, like the ocean in its deepest depths, is totally still and

never disturbed.71. "To gain access to this state of utter

peace, Arjuna, you must be free of ego (the sense of 'I' and 'mine"),

and live devoid of cravings. You must forget desire.72. "This is the fixed, still state of the Illumined One, the Sthithaprajna, the

one firmly established in union with God. Once one achieves this state,

one never falls back from it into delusion. Furthermore, the person in

this state at the instant of death merges into Divinity and becomes one

with the Divine. And this, Arjuna, as I have often repeated, is the

very goal of life!"(From : The Bhagavad Gita (A Walkthrough for Westerners) by Jack Hawley)Copyrights reserved by author Visit : Sai Divine Inspirations : http://saidivineinspirations.blogspot.com/ Sai Messages : http://saimessages.blogspot.com/ Love Is My Form : http://loveismyform.blogspot.com/