The Perfect Sage/Bhagwad Gita

[Guest guest]

Harsha: Forwarding this from Sri Ram Chandran ji of the Advaitin list. The

Advaitin list has many wise people and great scholars and many interesting

and enlightening presentations.

 

Sthitaprajna (The Perfect Sage) - Part I - An Introduction

The path to self-realization can't be shown but can be experienced. Gita

contains solutions and puzzles for seekers with different levels of maturity

and capacity. The manual of Gita can help us to solve the puzzles in our

life and help us to undertake challenging steps forward. But when we reach

the highest level, we regain our True Human Nature and all our actions

become spontaneous and judgements become unnecessary! Spontaneity is the

law of the nature. The flowers bloom without us asking and the trees

surrender and sacrifice all their possessions (fruits, stem, leaves and

roots). The flower plant, the fruit true, animals and other creatures

including the human beings have to live, grow and disappear according to the

laws of the nature. The True Human Nature emerges when the mind becomes pure

without duality and the life in the universe is free from conflicts and

contradictions.

Gita begins with "DHARMA" (chapter 1, verse 1) and ends with "MAMA" (chapter

18, verse 78). According to Swami Chinmayananda, the word combination "Mama

Dharma" has special significance. Mamadharma stands for Swadharma which

means that each of us has the freedom to define our moral rules and ethics

of living. We are obligated to complete the duties that are necessary for

our living without violating our Mamadharma. Dharma, a Sanskrit word, means

duty or pursuit of social and personal ideals of behavior. Its literal

meaning is "that which sustains." Every thing that goes with the natural

order or state of things is dharma. The dharma of fire is to heat, dharma of

a flower is to bloom and dharma of a human is "eternal bliss." Mamadharma

plays a pivotal role in determining the Hindu way of life. It implies that

an individual has the obligation to conduct his (her) duties at a level much

higher than the social norms. Social laws suggest the minimum standard of

Dharma where as Mamadharma requires the individual to seek the highest

standard of Dharma! Though the knowledge of right and wrong are relative and

subjective, no one has any excuse committing a crime! Dharma holds one up

to the highest conception of "Right," and expects everyone to do the "Right"

for rights sake, and not for the sake of obeying the law. The conception of

right requires us not to judge others because the standard of ethics varies

by individuals. Both "right" and "rights" also vary by individuals! We get

the right to judge others when we reach the highest level of spiritual

maturity.

Gita identifies the person with the True Human Nature by the Sanskrit name

Sthitaprajna (Perfect Yogi). The verses 55 to 72 in chapter 2 discusses the

virtues of Sthitaprajna in greater details. According to Gita, Sthitaprajna

attains the Universal Wisdom of Eternal Peace by abandoning the illusory

pain and sufferings. The Lord insists that eternal peace, happiness,

discriminating intelligence and concentration can be realized only by

freeing the mind from sensory perceptions. Gita does not claim that the task

is easy and it gives complete guidance for achieving the True Human Nature

in chapters two to 18. Gita asserts that it is achievable for everyone who

is willing to take the necessary efforts, discipline and dedication. The

Grace of God always comes with true dedication, discipline and devotion. In

Gita, action is much more important than prayer and Bhakti serves as the

catalyst to complete one's obligations. The reward for the action comes

along with action and action and reward are inseparable! The devotee treats

action as the prayer and prasad (peace) comes automatic when the devotee is

sincere!

Gita describes the relationships between sensory perception, ego, human

intelligence and divine intelligence. According to Gita, the sensory

perceptions are the barriers for gaining the divine intelligence. Ego is the

byproduct of sensory perception. Ego distracts human intelligence to lose

its discriminating power. Consequently the intellect misidentifies SELF by

body, mind and intellect. The distractions are eradicated only through

spiritual practice (sadhana) outlined in Gita. Those who follow the

spiritual life understand their obligation and perform their duties without

looking for rewards. According to Gita, when a person performs duties

without selfish motives, he (she) demonstrates his (her) eagerness to seek

the Grace of God! It is the Grace that is responsible for his determination

to conduct his (her) duties without hesitation and reward!

Sthitaprajna perceives the world without conflicts and sorrows and accepts

the world as it is! Such persons see perfection of the imperfect world and

they prepare to change their attitude that suits its preferences. Mahatma

Gandhi once said, "The only change that the world needs, is you!" For a

Sthitaprajna like Gandhi, understands that the attitude determines the

outcome and they develop positive mental attitudes to accept rewards and

punishments with equanimity. The discussion on Sthitaprajna is dedicated to

the great sage Vedavyasa, the assembler, compiler and the propagator of the

Hindu Scriptures including the Bhagavad Gita.

What is the right path of our life? The seers who wrote the Upanishads have

this excellent answer: " Life is a bridge; enjoy while crossing it; but

don't build a castle on it." Human beings are endowed with positive mental

attitude from the day of birth. The new born child accepts everything from

his (her) mother and everybody else. The child accepts the life as it is

and we better remember and learn few lessons. With positive mental

attitude, we can accept the realities of life without resistance and fear.

We become the witness of our own life and can probably accept joy, sorrow,

good, bad, tall, short, beauty, ugly, light, dark, past, present and future.

We can learn to stop asking instantaneous explanations for everything that

happens in our life. Positive mental attitude will help us to accept the

our life and stop forcing others to change. Every verse in Gita discusses

the importance of removing the negative tendencies. Sthitaprajna possesses

the positive mental attitude and Gita describes the qualities in verses 55

to 72.