Look Within – Talks on the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Venkatesananda

[Guest guest]

In the text of Bhagavad Gita all the eighteen chapters are entitled Yoga

– even the first chapter is considered to be yoga.

 

Arjuna Vishada yoga.

 

There is despair – I feel I cannot do something (or I see why I

should not do something), and I come to a dead end.

 

I see and appreciate only one side; but what is on the other side? Is

there any other point of view?

 

When I see my point of view it is my own mental projection, and that

must come face to face with something else.

 

Any one sided statement or dogmatic assertion is most probably untrue.

 

If I declare that God is one, and if you believe God is trinity, you are

wrong; so in my rightness, your wrongness is implied.

 

Any declaration or dogmatic assertion is one sided, and therefore

destructive. This one sided declaration may even be very nicely

camouflaged, made to appear very nice, marvellous, glorious, highly

spiritual.

 

In the beginning of the second chapter, Krishna therefore confronts

Arjuna's despair with quite number of different points of view.

 

Sometimes people are a bit confused – " why don't you say

this is the truth and get on with it? " – No, no, no.

 

When Arjuna collapsed, saying – " I don't want to fight, war

is wrong " , what he said seems to be very right, very moral, very

nice, very glorious.

 

But Krishna merely wants Arjuna to see himself for himself, aided only

to the extent of being slapped back onto him; so he does not lead him by

hand to the truth, but merely confronts him with another point of view.

 

For instance, he even taunts him " if you run away from the battle,

people will think that you are impotent, you are a useless fellow, you

are frightened " (that has nothing to do with the philosophy of the

Gita)

 

Krishna even says, " they will talk ill of you, they will scandalise

you, ridicule you and you shouldn't ask for this " .

 

Later on the Gita, same Krishna says, " you must be completely

balanced in praise and censure " , but here he says that Arjuna should

avoid censure.

 

That is you have expressed your point of view but there is another point

of view, " if you run away from the battle they will think you are

weak. They will slander you – disgraceful. Then of course, you are a

soldier, prince – it is your duty to fight "

 

All these are different aspects of the other points of view.

 

You know your point of view, but also try to see if there is others

– then it is possible to have an integral vision which may still be

imperfect and non comprehensive, but you will at least know that as long

as it is the human mind that is looking at this truth, it can only

discern a part of it.

 

All human discernment can only be partial and the partial is not true.

 

The realisation that this partial discernment is not true, is the truth.

Is that right? It's simple.