Sri Bhagvad Gita by Eknath Easwaran
At the dawn, when first rays of Sun begin its daylong journey to encompass wide undulating Earth in its infinite divinity, we are beckoned to move into the journey of our lives with two attributes- “Karma”and “dharma. ” Karma means our tasks and Dharma means our duty. With this Karma and Dharma, we get Moksha. Moksha means salvation from this body after death. These attributes we adopt within the precincts of our birth and rights that we attain in the form of “jnana yoga”, “bhakti yoga”, “karma yoga”, “raja yoga and others.
Jnana yoga means attainment of self knowledge through the use of mind, Bhakti yoga means reaching divine through the path of spiritual devotion, Karma yoga means selfless service towards human race to purify your soul and Raja yoga means control of the human consciousness with the help of meditation. Yoga is a most important aspect of Indian culture, and is a part of Vedantic philosophy emerged from the Indian soils.
The importance of the yoga lies in the fact that they guide us towards the righteous path and are very well explained in a religious and most famous poem of India, Bhagavad Gita, (Song of the Lord), a part of the India’s largest and considered to be oldest epic Mahabharata. Bhagavat Gita is a lesson of philosophy of life told by Lord Krishna to Prince Arjuna during the battle of Mahabharata. This was the great battle fought between Kuravas and Pandavas to claim the right heir for the throne, but eventually it became more of the battle between right and wrong, between responsibilities towards family and between moral and ethical values.
Since the day, Bhagavad Gita verses touched the souls of people it became the biggest source of inspiration and a spiritual guide not only for Hindus but also for whole human race, spreading intense depth of its golden verses into the daily lives of people. Values so enshrined in verses of this Sanskrit poem are beyond the confinement of the limitation of time, in other words they are timeless. By translating Bhagavad Gita into English, Eknath Easwaran brought the whole world enter into its divine verses and make people themselves adopt its ideals and values, so invaluable, priceless and serene.
Prince Arjuna, was a brave man possessed with all qualities that a prince should have. He was known for his skills in the art of warfare and intelligence, yet when he saw he had to engage himself into battle with his own brothers, and relations, his nerves broke down. At this time, Lord Krishna as a charioteer of Prince Arjuna and his spiritual guide not just infused in him spirit to enter into war but also reincarnated him with the new hope and enlightenment with moral philosophy of Karma and from his verses immerse very basic meaning of our existence on this Earth.
As said by Easwaran, “The Gita does not present a system of philosophy. It offers something to every seeker after God, of whatever temperament, by whatever path. The reason for this universal appeal is that it is basically practical: it is a handbook for self-realization and a guide to action. ” (Easwaran 48) For Lord Krishna, Jnana, bhakti and karma yoga, are not the three different ways of following the spiritual path but rather are the three aspects of an ideal life.
Choice of Prince Arjuna is not merely his choice of entering into war but it is choice between right and wrong. It is also not the choice of gaining revelatory knowledge but it is rather a choice of taking action out of wisdom and ignorance. Finally, the necessity is performing Karma (action) that attributes to one’s own nature (svadharma), and is acted upon with enlightenment from inside, that means jnana and with deep devotion in the form of bhakti towards Brahman (holy men). In other words, all the actions of man are performed in combination of three yogas.
Therefore, in Chapter 2, when Arjuna fell at the Lord Krishna’s feet Sri Krishna says, “In such a crisis, whence comes upon thee, O Arjuna, this dejection, un-Aryan-like, disgraceful, and contrary to the attainment of heaven? ” “Yield not to unmanliness, O son of Kunti! Ill doth it become thee. Cast off this mean faint-heartedness and arise, O scorcher of thine enemies. ” (“2:2-3”) . In other words, why infatuation has overpowered your duty at this hour and why you gave yourself to cowardice and unmanliness.
By taking renunciation and receding back from War, people will only think you as coward and for centuries to come you will be blamed for your cowardice disposition you are showing. Every generation people will only mock at you. (Dr. Shah, Online Edition). Lord Krishna encourages Arjuna to follow ones Karma without thinking of consequence. He says in Gita, “Your duty is, and you have right only, to fight; you do not have control over the outcome. ” (Dr. Shah, Online Edition) Duty of a human being is to carry on with his work assigned to him in a Nishkam way, in other words without selfishness.
Only selfless action can take you towards the path of realization of truth. Further he enlightens us to the fact that we all work not only to meet our physical or material needs but also for our emotional satisfaction. But if we feel that our actions and work that we perform are bondage it only leads us towards eternal sufferings. In our moving wheel of samsara (world), we all have been assigned with our particular duties and we are all as actors in the dramas of this world and are performing these duties, and if we deviate from these duties, we ought to suffer.
The work that is done without any selfish motive rejuvenates our life and gives it new meaning. Through our intuitive powers and our selfless work, we spread the world with light of love, knowledge and peace but the basic doctrine of Karma as found in Chapter 3 lies in the fact that every action of ours in our daily lives will automatically gives results and it has a link to our past. What ever good happens to us, it is the deed of our past actions and what ever bad happens to us is results of the action of our past deeds and it depends on the basic moral law, “we reap what we sow”.
And if work selflessly then we will not only enjoy this world but also next world. Once we attain freedom from his past actions, we can achieve Moksha, in other words we can attain salvation. With this he confined within Arjuna, his Dharma or his duty to fight for spiritual struggle; its not a struggle to win over the throne and not just a struggle to gain what is right but it is also a struggle to attach oneself to divinity. Lord Krishna says, “The self realized man or woman is not motivated by personal desires – in other words, in any desire for Kama, personal satisfaction”.
(Easwaran 86),. This aspect of life is a basic idea of Gita but align to modern ways, (Easwaran 86), yet so true and real. Before understanding the need for Karma, first we have to understand the physicality and spiritual purpose of our life. Facing the battlefield, Prince Arjuna is forced to ask the question about the very existence of our life and life after death. To this Lord Krishna says, while life is uncertain, death is certainty for every one, and can come at any time, but soul never dies.
Like we throw the garment when it is old in the same way soul takes another body when old body dies out. Just as death is truth in the same way, rebirth is also truth. But no one can realize this truth unless we all virtually look beyond the both pleasure and pain, success and failure, or even heat or cold. But here Krishna is not trying to tell Arjuna to leave the worldly affairs and lead the life of saint or monk but if Arjuna can adopt his self into yogic life or into the adherent principles of yoga then “he will be more effective in the realm of action”.
(Easwaran 85) and can better make judgments of all the complexities of life. Within the precincts of these complexities we are also engulfed in the Raja Yoga and Lord Krishna bewares Arjuna from Rajas, because a person succumbed himself in Raja Yoga can attain anger and selfishness. If a person cannot detach himself from the Gunas of Raj Yoga then he will find himself caught in the “entanglement of passion ‘(rajas), or the “quagmire of inertia”(tamas).
In short, Bhagvad Gita inspires us to keep on performing our duties selflessly, with wisdom(Janan) and with worship (Bhakti). In this lies only our Mokhsa,that is salvation. Inspired by these lessons, Arjuna plunged into war that led to the gravest battle known as Mahabharata.
WORKS CITED
Easwaran, Eknath. “The Bhagavad Gita” Tomales”. CA. Nilgiri Press, 2007. Dr. Shah, C S. “Sri Krishna Tells The Gita” Boloji. Com. Internet (July 8, 2001) Available: http://www. boloji. com/mahabharata/17. htm, February 19, 2008
