EXPLANATION OF CERTAIN CONCEPTS OF GITAA
CAREFUL EXAMINATION OF THE TERMS-
‘DEATH’ AND ‘KILLING’
Kshatriyaas refer to a segment of the society, whose duty is to protect the right of others and kshitryas must take part in a war from the righteous side.
To kill or to get killed in a righteous war is a very ordinary thing. Killings of only those persons are pardonable, who do not leave their unrighteous path, even on making them understand.
Lord Krishan says that the term ‘killing’ is misleading. Real person living in the body never dies. He is eternal. Body is just a mean of the soul to act. Death of the body cannot bring any harm to the soul. After death, soul cannot make use of the body to act. Taking away the body from the soul by killing can be better understood through an example. Suppose, a boy has a stick in his hand and he goes on beating the others with that stick without any fault of them. In such a situation, stick should be seized from that boy, if, even after making him understand, he continues his act of beating the innocent fellows. Similarly, killing a person in a righteous war is like seizing the body from a soul, who is bent upon doing injustice with that body.
The people, who have been entrusted with the duty of protecting the society from injustice lose their fame and commit a sin by not doing their duty of taking part in the righteous war.
Lord Krishan emphasized the eternality of soul by saying that it is not true that he, Arjun or these warriors were never existed previously or will never exist in future. He further says that whosoever, has taken birth dies and whosoever dies, takes birth.
Lord Krishan was of the view that war is okay, only when it is fought for righteousness.
Being a kshatriya, it was the duty of Arjun to fight. In the war, Arjun was to fight from the righteous side. As such, he was very much pardonable from the killings in the war.
Actually, killing is neither a sin nor a virtue or punya. It is an act, fruit of which is decided by the fact, whether it was for righteousness or un- righteousness. Killing done while doing a robbery is a sinful act but killing done to save a robbery is a virtue. From this example, one more thing gets cleared, that kshatriyaas do not have a copyright over fighting the injustice. Every member of the society has a moral duty to fight the injustice according to his capacity. It is a different thing that a particular group of people named as Kshatriyaas are entrusted the duty of protecting the rights of other members of the society.
It is pertinent to throw light on another notion. Only the beginners of war have to decide on its righteousness or otherwise. An ordinary soldier need not dwell on the issue of righteousness or otherwise of war. Once the war begins, it becomes the duty of the ordinary soldier to kill as many opponents as possible. This way, he earns punya.
The persons, who have a decisive role in origination of war must stand on the righteous side of war irrespective of the side chosen by their kiths and kins. Both an ordinary soldier as well as a Kshatriya having decisive role in taking place of war should never be afraid of war, in any conditions. An ordinary soldier earns virtue on being killed in a righteous or un-righteous war whereas a person having decisive role in taking place of war earns virtue on being killed in a righteous war only and enjoys fame and glory on being victorious.
If, killings in a war are bad, then, un-righteousness of the war is worst. Un- righteousness is harmful for a man both while living and after death. Killings, necessary for upholding righteousness cannot bring any harm.
In Ghandiji’s view, only that man had the right to go for violence, who lacks will-power but Lord Krishan allows violence to be adopted, only, against those persons, who do not understand, inspite of attempts to make them understand. There is a great difference in these two views.
DESTRUCTION OF ANCESTRY
As mentioned by Arjun in Gitaa- 1//40, his problem was not only of killing his kiths and kins but he feared the destruction of the values, the various families taking part in this war stood for as a tradition of their families. The words used by Arjun are- कुलधर्म and कुलक्षय but because of limitations of translation, I am not able to provide you with specific English words but I will definitely tell the spirit of these words in this essay of mine.
Arjun was seeing almost all the members of his family, who had come to fight in the war. He could see the destruction of whole of the family.
Before going further, let me remind you that the people of this nation, being followers of vedaas, believed in aashram and varn systems. Aashram system divides whole of human life into four aashramaas of 25 years each, assuming an average human life of 100 years. Everyman in his first 25 years should educate himself. In the next 25 years, he should lead a married life. In the next 25 years, he should lead an undetached life away from his family and in the last 25 years, he should lead his life for the social good and for realization of God. Like four aashramaas, there are four varnaas. Whole of society is divided in to four segments. The people entrusted with the task of educating the society were called brahamanaas, those entrusted with the duty of protecting the rights of others were called Kshatriyaas, the people entrusted with the task of maintaining the supplies of different things were called vaishyaas and the segment of the people, who served the above three categories through their physical labour were called shudraas.
Now, I try to explain the meanings of the terms कुलधर्म and कुलक्षय. After the death of a lot many kshitriyaas taking part in war, the widows of kshatriyaas had to marry with vaishayaas or shudraas, who were definitely lower than kshtriyaas intellectually. After the death of youths, the elders, who had moved to the next aashram had to come back and earn their living themselves. This way the war was going to destroy both the aashram system and varn system. Further, every family symbolized certain specific values as traditions of their family and destruction of these values looked certain.
This fear of Arjun was really grave. These after-effects of war could have been repaired, had the highest segment of the society named brahamanaas possessed its moral values. They had already fallen morally.
From the doubts of Arjun, it is very much clear that the views regarding salvation had undergone a big shift from the views of the vedaas. A notion had developed in the society that salvation of the spirit was very much possible by ignoring the worldly duties. Lord Krishan refuted this notion altogether and said that the salvation is possible not by leaving the duties but by doing the duties with a sense of detachment. The whole of the spirit of this sermon is in establishing that war does not become reason of destruction of values of families but actually war is fought in order to stop the spread of un-righteousness in the society.
On hearing the views of Arjun regarding कुलधर्म and कुलक्षय (shalokaas 38 to 41 of Chapter1 of Gitaa), Lord Krishan considered it fit to explain the spirit of dharam. As such, dharam refers to that karam, which defines righteousness. Karam, which is done for the non-welfare of others is called vikaram.
KARAMYOG
The problem to be addressed by Lord Krishan was– whether the killings done in a war constitute a sin or a virtue. Lord Krishan established from the perspective of saankhya darshan that only a body and not the soul, which is eternal by nature, gets killed. Killing in itself is neither a sin nor a virtue. It becomes a virtue, if it is done for the sake of humanity and otherwise, it is a sin. The same question has been answered by Lord Krishan from the perspective of yog. In this context, the verses 39, 40, 48 and 51 of second chapter of Gitaa may be referred to.
There is cycle of karmaas and their fruits. While enjoying the fruits of earlier karmaas, we do some other karmaas, which, again lead us to their fruits. Certain special type of karmaas do not become a part of this cycle. These are called Nishkaam karmaas. Nishkaam karmaas refer to karmaas done without expectation of any worldly gain. Nishkaam karmaas do not refer to karmaas done unintelligently and without any purpose. Suppose, a driver of a car driving the vehicle unintelligently and without any purpose kills certain men on road. Such killings are not at all pardonable, even if, this act was done, being indifferent to the result. The fact is-every karam of ours does have a purpose and to make our karmaas nishkaam, the only thing we have to do is to shift the purpose of doing those karmas from worldly expectations to non-worldly expectations. Further, only a person with steady intellect can do nishkaam karmaas. When the killings are the result of nishkaam karmaas, then, such karmaas do not produce any fruit. The reference to nishkaam karmaas can be found in Yajurved or Ishopanishad.
STEADY INTELLECT
Karamyog refers to karmas done with a steady intellect, with expectation of non-worldly gains and for righteous ends. Righteousness of an act can be decided by steady intellect, only. There is a detailed explanation of ‘steady intellect’ in Gitaa- its definition, types, reasons of unsteadiness of intellect, linkage among sanskaaras, mind and intellect in doing a particular act, symptoms of unsteady intellect, methods of making the intellect steady, disadvantages of having unsteady intellect and the like.
A person with an unsteady intellect considers this body and bodily pleasures everything and do not believe in the existence of soul after death. The subjects of bodily pleasures are limitless whereas the time and capability of a person are limited. This results into wandering of the intellect from one subject to another. With such type of behavior of the intellect, a person cannot concentrate on a thing to understand the ultimate truth of that thing.
As a method to make the intellect steady, a person should constantly practice to remain in an even state in loss or profit, honour or dishonor, misery or pleasure et cetra. Further, he should always feel the presence of God (controller of living and non-living things) while constantly contemplating on eternity of soul. When, the intellect assumes steadiness, the person feels himself on the shore of the vast ocean of knowledge and considers the intellectuals of the worldly knowledge as equating small pool only.
Nowhere, in the Gitaa, there is a talk of leaving the worldly actions. It has been eloquently said in the Gitaa that one has to do actions of one sort or the other and no one can remain without doing actions, even for a moment. As such, one should do nishkaam karmaas, only and steadiness of intellect is one of the conditions of doing nishkaam karmas.
In order to lay stress on this principle, Lord Krishan says to Arjun that he will not be able to hear the hearable things and understand the heard things until and unless he comes out of the mud of worldly-attachment.
Subjects of the senses constantly attract the senses towards them. As such, to have control over powerful senses and mind, soul has to absorb itself in the thought of God. This way, intellect can better analyze the information present in the mind in the form of sansakaaraas and know the truth nullifying the effect of sansakaaraas. This is the only method for obtaining the steadiness of intellect.
In order to avoid downfall of intellect, the subjects of the senses should be enjoyed without contemplating the enjoyment obtained thereafter. When we go on contemplating over the enjoyment of the subjects of the senses, we create reasons before the intellect to go unsteady.
A person with a steady intellect is able to see and understand the things, unlike men with unsteady intellect. Some people draw the meaning from the श्लोक 69 of chapter 2 of Gitaa that what for men with steady intellect appears a day, for men with unsteady intellect appears a night. A man with steady intellect contemplates over God and goes in communion with God in the night. But, drawing of such a meaning is wrong. Here, day and night refer to knowledge and nescience.
Lord Krishan has epitomized the whole of the concept of STEADY INTELLECT by saying that a person, who behaves in an unattached manner, without the purpose of obtaining any worldly gains and in an un-egoistic way, obtains peace. Such a person cannot take impulsive decisions, which are away from truth.
KARAM
In the Gitaa, three terms have been used- कर्म, विकर्म and अकर्म. Karam refers to righteous act, विकर्म refers to unrighteous act and अकर्म refers to leaving of doing a righteous act. Only steady intellect can figure out these three correctly.
Major question before Arjun was whether or not he should take part in the war. In other words, it was not clear to him whether he should fight the war or should decide not to fight the war at all. Arjun did not have the doubt regarding the meanings of righteousness and unrighteousness. He had the doubt whether fighting the war was a righteous act or not.
Since, Lord Krishan was required to address the two issues only- whether or not Arjun should take part in the war, nothing much has been said in this sermon on vikaram.
Dharam is righteousness and in no time or circumstance, righteousness can be left. When man or races start considering fighting as an unrighteous act, whereas fighting is a strong mean of deciding between righteousness and unrighteousness, then, it becomes very simple and natural to take righteousness for unrighteousness and unrighteousness for righteousness. This was the basic reason of the doubt of Arjun.
Lord Krishan resolved the doubt of Arjun and finally, he took part in the war. While talking of the conditions and limitations for considering a war as righteous or otherwise, Lord Krishan explained karam, vikaram and अकर्म. He was of the view that Arjun should understand all these terms in order to decide whether he should take part in the war or not.
The actual meaning of श्लोक 18 of chapter 4 of Gitaa can be understood only after having clear understanding of the meanings of the terms- कर्म, विकर्म and अकर्म. Seeing कर्म in अकर्म and अकर्म in कर्म means that when a man does any act for upholding righteousness, then, actually, he is not doing anything and such act of his gets absorbed in the righteousness itself. Sometimes for meeting the final righteous act, some unrighteous acts, too, have to be done. If the objective of the war is selfishness, greed, ego et cetra, then, taking part in the war becomes विकर्म and if the objective of the war is righteousness, then, taking part in the war becomes karam. Not taking part in the war from unrighteous side becomes akin to karam and not taking part in the war from righteous side becomes akin to अकर्म.
Lord Krishan has said that while planning for an act, all the desires should be left out. Here, the lord means that we should be devoid of such desires, which revolve around our own well-being. Desires for welfare of others should not be left in any circumstances. When, an act is done for welfare of others, it comes in the category of यज्ञ and acts of this category do not produce fruits. Acts done for the welfare of others become pure by knowledge.
REASONS OF KARMAS
Whenever, there is a mention of doer of karmas, it is ‘self’, only. God, too, performs certain karmas. But, His karmas can easily be differentiated from that of souls from the presence of the element of vastness. As such, for all worldly acts, doer is soul. It is, also, that soul cannot remain without doing an act even for a moment. Now, the question arises- what prompts soul to act? Our past karmas leave certain impressions of having had grief or pleasure on account of doing them. Every act of ours is done to enjoy pleasure or to remove grief in accordance with our past tendencies or impressions. These impressions, collectively, are called nature of a person. Nature of a person develops qualities, according to which he acts.
Now, the word ‘fear’ as appearing in shalok 35 of chapter 3 of Gitaa is explained. As mentioned earlier, vedaas divide whole of the society in to four segments- the people entrusted with the task of educating the society were called brahamanaas, those entrusted with the duty of protecting the rights of others were called Kshatriyaas, the people entrusted with the task of maintaining the supplies of different things were called vaishyaas and the segment of the people, who served the above three categories through their physical labour were called shudraas. These segments of the people are decided in accordance with their intrinsic nature and capabilities. The duties of one’s own segment, that is, brahamanaas or Kshatriyaas or vaishyaas or shudraas, should be pursued, even if those of other segments appear more attractive. The word ‘fear’ as appearing in shalok 35 of chapter 3 of Gitaa refers to reluctance to fulfilling the duties of one’s own segment.
Shalok 16 of chapter 18 of Gitaa mentions that the person, who considers soul to be the doer has bad intellect. Actually, here it is meant that soul only, without its various means like intellect, mind et cetra cannot be regarded as a doer. For example, owner of a factory is responsible for all the actions of the factory. But, if the machinery is ill-standard, building is in a shabby state, raw material is low-standard, workers do not want to work, the very purpose of the factory is defeated.
Yaj or Yagya
The word ‘Yaj’ does not mean ‘Havan’ only, but it refers to all actions done for the welfare of others with the complete related knowledge. ‘Havan’ connotes ‘Yaj’, only symbolically. From ‘Havan’, we learn GIVING, all what we have, for the welfare of others with pleasure. Actually, if a doctor is helping his patients for their welfare only, to the best of his knowledge, he is performing ‘Yaj’. Similarly, if a teacher is giving knowledge to his pupils to the best of his ability, he is doing ‘Yaj’ and likewise.
‘Welfare of others’ get emphasized by every aspect of this universe. As such, to be able to do karmas as ‘yaj’, one must understand the purpose of creation of this universe. It is only after understanding the purpose of creation of this universe that one can utilize his body, various means of doing karmaas like knowledge-senses, his power, knowledge et cetra for the welfare of others without any sort of worldly selfish gains.
‘Purpose’ of doing an act of public-good, is very important for deciding whether a particular act can be called ‘yaj’ or not. If, a robber after stealing the money of a person uses that money for some purpose of public welfare, then, his such donation cannot be called ‘yaj’. Karmaas to be called ‘yaj’ must come out of the individual’s own sweet will.
Karmas can very easily be converted in to nishkaam karmaas or ‘yaj’ by feeling that whatever means like money, knowledge, power et cetra, a person possesses have been given by God only, and He wants all the means to be used for public benediction. Doer of ‘yaj’ should consider himself as servant of God. When, one does one’s act by assuming himself as His servant or representative, that act becomes ‘yaj’. If a particular act is done for the welfare of a particular class of persons ONLY, then, that act does not come in the category of ‘yaj’.
The purpose of Lord Krishan to explain the concept of ‘yaj’ in the sermon is to make Arjun understand that if he fights considering the war as a work of God and takes part in the war as a representative of God, then, his act will not bring bondage. Rather his such an act will pave his way to salvation. He should do his act of fighting by surrendering all his senses and their corresponding subjects to God. He should fight not for his kiths and kins but for ‘dharam’ or humanity.
The methods used for training the senses and mind to do an act equivalent to ‘yaj’ have also been called ‘yaj’, for example, controlling senses and mind, power of ‘praan’, study, austerity et cetra.
Three main things of the sermon are-First, We should direct all our acts towards general welfare of all. Second, God creates, sustains and dissolves this universe for the welfare of souls. As such, those, who act in accordance with His laws go towards salvation. Third, renunciation of duties can, in no way, be called ‘yaj’.
Acharya Shanker mentions that the purpose of this sermon is to become indifferent to this world. But, this objective is nowhere visible in the Gitaa. Lord krishan gave this sermon to Arjun in order to motivate him to take part in the war, in accordance with the laws of the universe. The spirit of this sermon is that the purpose of the action should be righteous, without any selfish motive and for public benediction. Further, the action should be performed as a representative of God.
The very purpose of knowledge is to bring a sense of detachment. Knowledge should enable the beholder to know that all souls are akin to his own self. After, one reaches this stage, he is able to see God in his own self.
Yog
In many shalokaas of the Gitaa, the term ‘yog’ has been talked of. These shalokaas should not be interpreted in isolation with what has been said about it in vedaas. Maharishi Patanjali has summarized the whole science of Yog in accordance with vedaas in his work known as ‘Yog Sutraas’.
In the sermon, Lord Krishan asks Arjun to become a Yogi. A yogi is a person, who establishes himself in Yog. Since, this sermon was given on the battle field, these words of Lord Krishan look conflicting to many people. But, actually, there is no conflict in these words. Lord Krishan says that yog is doing an activity with the skill of highest category. A person, who practices yog never rejects or leaves his duties but, does them with detachment and without worldly selfishness of any sort. For this, an intellect away from unsteadiness is required. The importance of a steady intellect is like that of a compass to a ship to find its way. This capability is had by satviki intellect only. Only a steady intellect can differentiate between duty and non-duty, fear and fearlessness and between bondage and salvation. Knowledge is a major element of steady intellect.
In the sermon, Arjun has been asked to remove all his doubts with knowledge and stand up to fight with the sword of knowledge. Whole of this sermon is aimed at motivating Arjun to fight. The crux of this sermon is- Arjun should not leave his duty to fight. Yog has been talked of in this sermon just for the reason that yog is the only mean to have a steady intellect, which, in turn, is essential for action of best quality. A person, who does not use his intellect cannot be a yogi. Only that person, who has full control over his senses and mind, whose mind remains peaceful, who remains in an even state in pain or pleasure, honour or dishonor, cold or heat et cetra and who is engrossed in God, can be said to be established in yog.
There is a need for proper explanation of evenness of intellect. Evenness of intellect means that a yogi does not do an act with the expectation of praise, he is not affected by the disrespect bestowed on him and, also, he is not affected whether he is treated friendly or in an ill-manner. Further, evenness of intellect means that one should have same attitude towards righteousness and unrighteousness in all conditions, at all places and with everyone. For this reason, Lord Krishan asked Arjun not to be perturbed for killing his kiths and kins, fighting from unrighteous side.
Evenness of intellect is synonym of justice. It does not mean that one should save a culprit in the same way as he should save a saint. It only means that kindness or penalty should be same whether the doer of the act is a friend, a foe, a relative or a non-relative.
,Lord Krishan, in reply to a query, says that actions done for the welfare of others do not get wasted in any way. These acts beget favorable fruits in this life or in next lives. In next lives, such souls get birth in favouable families or in favouable conditions because of the nice impressions such acts leave on their minds.
Three words, namely, karamyog, gyanhog and baktiyog have assumed great popularity probably after the spread of Gitaa. But, wrong meanings are being drawn from these terms. ज्ञान without कर्म is meaningless, कर्म without ज्ञान is worthless. Both ज्ञान and कर्म become meaningful only if, their aim is भक्ति. As such, true spirituality requires optimum combination of ज्ञान, कर्म and भक्ति. When all the three are carried out with the objective of union with God, we can very well combine the term Yog with these terms.
Knowledge and special Knowledge
ज्ञान, that is, Knowledge is knowing the worldly things through senses with or without the aid of some instruments like microscope, microphone et cetra. But, there are certain things, which cannot be known through senses or with the help of the highest quality of instruments. These things are- God, souls and basis of nature. These three things are eternal and knowing them is called as विज्ञान, that is, special Knowledge. All the non-livings things of the world, which are referred to as nature are manifested during creation and get unmanifested on dissolution. But, unlike this, God and souls do not get transformed in any condition.
Lord Krishan has said in shalokaas 8 to 12 of chapter 7 of Gitaa that God is present in the non-living things and souls but they are not God. This sermon was given by lord Krishan while being engrossed in God. He had the authority to use the words of first person like I, my and mine. he was a very learned person and a great scholar of vedaas. He could never have equated himself with God. As such, it should never be considered that this sermon was given by God.
In reply to a natural question by Arjun that why an individual does an unrighteous act knowing it be wrong, Lord Krishan says that individual does such acts under the influence of राजसिक गुण of nature.
The nature consists of three sorts of elements. The lowest of these three is called as ‘तमस’. This element of nature is responsible for inertness and the like. The middle element is called as ‘रजस’. This element of nature is responsible for love for action. The highest element of nature is called as ‘सत्व’. This element of nature is responsible for bringing peace.
‘रजस’ causes attachment and desire to have results of actions. When, this element of nature is overpowered by ‘सत्व’ then, one tends to do righteousness and obtains steady intellect. In this context, Lord krishan devoted a little portion of his sermon for explanation of these elements of nature and real swaroop, that is, true nature of God in totality. A person is able to establish himself in bhaktiyog better, if, he understands true nature of God. The whole of the discourse on ज्ञान and विज्ञान is in reply to Arjun’s questions in shalokaas 1 and 2 of chapter 8.
Only nature dissolves, there is no transformation in God on creation or dissolution. God is like a thread in the garland of pearls. Entity of pearls is very much different from that of God. As a thread in the garland keeps the pearls intact, in the same way, God sustains all natural objects.
God is the cause of manifestation of all the things of the nature. how is it possible that God, who is devoid of the three elements of nature is the cause of the existence of nature? This point deserves proper explanation. Actually, there are two types of causes responsible for existence of a thing. One is material cause and the other is agental cause. For example, for making a clay-pot, two things are necessary which can be said to be the cause of existence of clay-pot. One, soil and the second, the maker. without these two, clay-pot cannot come into existence. While, soil in this case is the material cause of the pot, the maker of the pot is called as agental cause. Accordingly, God is not the material cause but agental cause of the existence of this universe. All the three elements of nature, that is, तमस’, रजस’ and सत्व’ are attached to one another in the un-manifested state of nature. It is because of God that these elements get separated and this universe comes in the manifested state.
The bodies of living things are actually, non-living. They appear as living because of existence of souls in them. Souls are eternal in nature. God is the third eternal entity. It creates and sustains all non-living things and blends souls with respective bodies in accordance with their past karmaas. Whole of this portion of sermon is perfectly in accordance with सांख्य दर्शन.
क्षेत्र व क्षेत्रज्ञ
क्षेत्र refers to body of soul, which is a combination of elements of nature, namely, तमस’, रजस’ and सत्व’. Whereas, क्षेत्रज्ञ refers to two entities, namely soul, and God, who knows the body well. In the beginning, क्षेत्रज्ञ is only God but, when soul, too, knows his body, his own self and God, then soul, too, is called as क्षेत्रज्ञ. Whosoever, knows this reality is called as knowledgeable.
In explanation of the meaning of श्लोक 16 of chapter 13 of the Gitaa, it is said that God is an undivided and uniform entity. But, it seems to be divided. What gives such a notion? Because of its pervasiveness, God is present in the bodies of souls. Bodily conditions of different souls is different because of difference in their actions. For example, some souls are enjoying pleasure, while some are suffering from pain. As such, God seems to be divided between souls.
As mentioned earlier, also, in un-manifested state, elements of nature- ‘तमस’, ‘रजस’ and ‘सत्व’ are in an equilibrium state. But, because of God’s capability or power, equilibrium state of these elements is broken, which result into manifestation of nature. Certain things are overlapped by the element- ‘तमस’ and certain other things are overlapped by the elements-, ‘रजस’ or ‘सत्व’.
God, Souls and Universe
In श्लोक 9 of chapter 8 of the Gitaa, Lord Krishan has mentioned about certain attributes of God like minuteness, maintainer or sustainer of all, non-imaginative, enlightened and away from nescience. Many shalokaas of chapter 7, 8, 9 & 13 of Gitaa talk of the attributes of God. It has been said that He is omnipresent and resides in the hearts of every living-being. He is full of light of knowledge. But, the meaning of all these terms can well be known through the study of vedaas and other related scriptures. Unlike God, souls possess limited knowledge. But, souls, when get engrossed in the thought of God through yogic practices, attain salvation. In श्लोक 19 of chapter 7 of the Gitaa, the word ‘vasudev’ has been used. This term means ‘omnipresent God’. In श्लोक 24 of chapter 7 of the Gitaa, it has been said that God cannot be known through senses and foolish people think that He takes birth. In other words, Lord krishan is against idol worship as idols are perishable. As such, those, who worship things, capable of being known through senses, assuming those things to be God are un-knowledgeable and cannot know beginning-less God. Looking at the true meaning of such verses, readers of Gitaa should not have the notion that this sermon was given by God Himself.
The fact as mentioned in the vedaas that God, souls and nature are three separate and eternal entities has been advocated by Lord Krishan in this sermon. Existence of atoms of nature is eternal but these atoms become visible in the form of universe, only after getting manifested by power of God. On dissolution of universe, there is no destruction of the atoms of nature. This world does not come out of nothing. This is manifestation of un-manifested state of nature. This is the result of the power of God. The souls, who get engrossed in the beauties of the world and assume this world as everything fail to attain God. Knowledge is nothing but understanding this reality.
Bhakti or Worship
For understanding the spirit of the term ‘Bhakti’ or ‘Worship’, we divide it into two parts. One, obtaining knowledge of God. Two, behaving in accordance with the attributes of God. ‘Knowledge of God’ and ‘realization of God’ are supplementary to each other. Only that thing should be worshiped, which is living and has bliss. As such, whenever, the term ‘Bhakti’ is used, it should not be linked with any person. Instead, it should be linked with eternal God, whose personal name is Om. For uninterrupted meditation over God, one should sit comfortably in a secluded place. All the steps mentioned by Maharishi Patanjali in his ‘yog darshan’ have been advocated in the Gitaa.
In श्लोक 13 of chapter 8 of the Gitaa, there is a mention that one, who remembers Him at the time of dying succeeds in moving towards His realization. It does not, at all, mean that one should not remember Him during other times of his life. Behind saying so, the purpose was to make Arjun fearless. Lord Krishan wanted Arjun to go to the battle-field leaving the thoughts of कर्म, विकर्म and अकर्म behind. Arjun should have firm belief that he is fighting for righteousness and he should fight with the intellect, surrendered to God.
God has created this universe, out of His intrinsic nature. The only purpose of creation of this universe is welfare of souls. This world offers a ground to souls to enjoy the pleasures earned by them and to advance on the path of obtaining ultimate bliss. As such, the person, who accepts this fact and makes his own contribution towards welfare of souls is the real worshiper of God. In other words, whosoever, does welfare of others according to his capability and capacity is worshiper of God.
Those people, who do their actions for the expectations of some worldly gain take births again and again. As against such people, the persons, who do their actions without any worldly expectation move forward on the path of salvation.
Those, who consider enjoyment of worldly pleasures as the ultimate objective of life have been called as असुर. People of divine nature consider God as eternal reason of this perishable nature and worship Him with acceptance of this fact.
In श्लोक 21 of chapter 8 of the Gitaa, it is mentioned that God can be realized through His bhakti only.
Many people believe that this sermon advocates that after realization of God, soul never again, come in the cycle of births and deaths. This issue will be dealt after sometime.
Shukal period, Krishan-period, summer solstice and winter solstice
It has been said in this sermon that those, who die during शुक्ल पक्ष and during summer solstice do not come back in the bondage of births and deaths. Some believe that शुक्ल पक्ष refers to day-time and कृष्ण पक्ष refers to night-time. Others are of the view that during a period of one month, for 15 days, moon appears to be increasing in size and for the next 15 days, moon appears to be decreasing in size. Solstice- The earth completes its one resolution around the Sun in 12 months. During six months, the daylight time go on increasing, it is called summer solstice and during the next six months, when the night-time go on increasing, it is called winter solstice. In other words, it can be said that solstice refer to the positioning of the Sun and the Earth during resolution of the Earth around the Sun. Now, compatibility of the words of the sermon needs be established the with the facts of the physical science. Since, knowledge is referred to by light, शुक्ल पक्ष and उत्तरायन have been deemed to mean increase in knowledge and कृष्ण पक्ष and दक्षिणायन have been deemed to mean decrease in knowledge. It does not mean that a bad and ignorant man can realize God just on the basis that his death happened during शुक्ल पक्ष and summer solstice. It is clearly mentioned that only a yogi can attain God.
gods and God
There is a misconception that even in Vedaas there is reference to many gods. There are certain things- both living as well as non-living, which give and give to others and take nothing in exchange. These things are called ‘gods’. Accordingly, there are 33 types of gods and not 33 crores. This misconception developed because Sanskrit word ‘koti’ means type as well as crore. These 33 gods are-Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Aakaash, Moon, Sun, all heavenly bodies, ten Praanaas, Jivatma, twelve months of the year, electricity and controlling power of all these thirty two gods which is called ‘Yaj’. All of these are called gods. According to Vedaas none of these thirty three gods is worshipable. Instead, worshipable is only one God, who is the creator of this universe. Wherever in Vedaas come the words like Vishnu, Shiv et cetera, they mean God because these are the names of God, also, which describe certain specific attribute of God. The Moon, Sun et cetra, though non-living, possess some wonderful powers. These wonderful powers of these non-living gods owe their existence to God. This is the reason God take care of the prayers made to these gods.
Worship of these non-living gods refer to obtaining knowledge of their powers and with the help of that knowledge doing acts for the benefit of souls. In other words, it can be said that if, a particular power is not possessed by a thing, neither its knowledge can be had nor any benefit can be drawn from that thing relating to respective power. In real sense, only scientists are actually worshiping non-living gods. Saluting Sun et cetra is not their real worship.
Men of lower intellect worship gods. Benefit of worships of gods is limited, that is, it cannot, SOLELY, lead to salvation. Instead, those, who worship God attain the source of powers of gods. Benefit of worship of God is permanent in the sense that for a very long period, soul does not have to take birth.
Return from Salvation
Some people believe that the Gitaa clearly says that soul does not have to take birth again after attaining salvation or after realization of God. This notion is against the views vedaas and Aapt men. Such sort of interpretation is done by the believer of advait philosophy, that is, those, who believe that there is only one entity- God. The existence of other two entities- souls and nature is unreal but, because of certain illogical reasons of theirs, these entities appear to be real. In support of the basic doctrine of vedaas that there are three eternal entities- God, souls and basis of this manifested nature, we reiterate certain portions of the earlier parts of this essay-
“Many shalokas of chapter 7, 8, 9 & 13 of Gitaa talk of the attributes of God. It has been said that He is omnipresent and resides in the hearts of every living-being. He is full of light of knowledge But, the meaning of all these terms can well be known through the study of vedaas and other related scriptures. Unlike God, souls possess limited knowledge. But, souls, when get engrossed in the thought of God through yogic practices, attain salvation.”
“क्षेत्र refers to body of soul, which is a combination of elements of nature, namely, तमस’, रजस’ and सत्व’. Whereas, क्षेत्रज्ञ refer to two entities, namely soul, and God, who knows the body well. In the beginning, क्षेत्रज्ञ is only God but, when soul, too, knows his body, his own self and God, then soul, too, is called as क्षेत्रज्ञ. Whosoever, knows this reality is called as knowledgeable.”
“In explanation of the meaning of shalok 16 of chapter 13 of the Gitaa, it is said that God is an undivided and uniform entity. But, it seems to be divided. What gives such a notion? Because of its pervasiveness, God is present in the bodies of souls. Bodily conditions of different souls is different because of difference in their actions. For example, some souls are enjoying pleasure, while some are suffering from pain. As such, God seems to be divided between souls.”
“As mentioned earlier, also, in un-manifested state, elements of nature- ‘तमस’, ‘रजस’ and ‘सत्व’ are in an equilibrium state. But, because of God’s capability or power, equilibrium state of these elements is broken, which result into manifestation of nature. Certain things are overlapped by the element- ‘तमस’ and certain other things are overlapped by the elements- ‘तमस’, ‘रजस’ or ‘सत्व’.”
“All the three elements of nature, that is, तमस’, रजस’ and सत्व’ are attached to one another in the unmanifested state of nature. It is because of God that these elements get separated and this universe comes in the manifested state.”
“The bodies of living things are actually, non-living. They appear as living because of existence of souls in them. Souls are eternal in nature. God is the third eternal entity. It creates and sustains all non-living things and blends souls with respective bodies in accordance with their past karmaas. Whole of this portion of sermon is perfectly in accordance with सांख्य दर्शन.”
“Three main things of the sermon are- First, We should direct all our acts towards general welfare of all. Second, God creates, sustains and dissolves this universe for the welfare of souls. As such, those, who act in accordance with His laws go towards salvation. Third, renunciation of duties can, in no way, be called ‘yaj’.”
‘Soul never dies’ is one basic teaching of the Gitaa and no one can disregard it. If, salvation of soul means becoming one with God by losing its own identity, then, this notion will directly go against the basic teaching of the Gitaa. As such, our prudence lies in interpreting different shalokaas of the Gitaa in accordance with vedaas or other writings of rishis, whose conduct was perfectly in accordance with vedaas. Accordingly, one has to come in the body, again after exhaustion of the fruit of salvation or emancipation, earned by the soul through yogic practices and earn the fruit of emancipation again. This process continues, eternally. It is similar to the fact that after satiety of the hunger, we, again, after a period of 5-6 hours have to take food for satiety of our hunger. This process of taking food and being free from hunger for certain hours continues till we are alive.
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