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Hearing or reading and deep introspection, reflection, on what is heard or read are the only means to bring the required reformation, refinement and attunement to the mind and intelligence, a point no seeker should fail to note with adequate attention and involvement.

[Message is bequeathed with ancestral lineage]

Dear and blessed souls:

Harih Om Tat Sat.

Transition from Sānkhya to Karma

2nd chapter of Gita covers vividly (i) Arjuna’s final submission before Krishna, adorning him as hisTeacher and declaring himself as his (Krishna’s) disciple and (ii) the first instructions Krishna gave on Sānkhya Nishthā, the path of exclusive contemplation, together with the description of Sthita-prajña and Sthita-dhee. Krishna had also commenced describing karma yoga in the same chapter, exhorting Arjuna to proceed with the war, not to indulge in immature schemes of retreating from action.

In fact, if Sānkhya Nishthā is superior to performance of karmas, why should Krishna exhort Arjuna to fight the fierce war? The question would be relevant to everyone every time. That is why Arjuna pertinently raised it at the commencement of the 3rd chapter (3.1).

In answer, Krishna explained that activity is indispensable in life. Nature through its qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas, is propelling every one to remain active. To escape activity is impossible, hence to think of retreating from it will be incoherent indeed. That is not desirable at all. Besides, whatever is achieved by Sānkhya, can also be gained by remaining active and interactive, provided the actor is sufficiently enlightened and enriched about what he does and how he does it. Only when endowed with the right attitude, one’s karma gets transformed into yoga. Else, karma will only cause bondage.

Jnana-karma-sannyasa-yoga

Krishna continues the discussion in the fourth chapter, emphasizing knowledge, activity and interaction alike. Hence the chapter is named Jñāna-karmasannyasa yoga, in which he exposes and explains what Jñāna, spiritual wisdom, signifies in its application to interactional life. He also describes what truly constitutes enlightened activity and interaction.

In a way, this is a restatement with elaboration of how to bring about spiritual sublimation to mind and intelligence. Mind must grow with its emotional enrichment to provide adequate inspiration and fondness to the message conveyed. Intelligence should evolve in its comprehension and perceptivity. Both enrichments together will make the seeker’s pursuit easier, more focused and beneficial.

Repeated introspection only way to strengthen knowledge

Hearing or reading and deep introspection, reflection, on what is heard or read are the only means to bring the required reformation, refinement and attunement to the mind and intelligence, a point no seeker should fail to note with adequate attention and involvement. That Krishna continues the dialogue in this note is very significant. Seekers must also feel like introspecting on the subject more and more deeply, as Arjuna did in the warfield.

Sannyasa, a new concept

Krishna brings a new concept called sannyasa. Sannyasa means renunciation, but it is not physically leaving activity, as is normally understood. No such step should ever be attempted, says Krishna, explaining the reasons for it. Naturally, the renunciation Krishna speaks about is solely a very refined enrichment, mind and intelligence should imbibe with discernment. It can be had only by knowing what exactly does the word denote, imply. This is how spirituality becomes totally an inner pursuit, involving the emotional mind and rational intelligence.

Remember, what takes place in the battlefield of Kurukshetra between Krishna and Arjuna is knowledge infusion, and that alone. Through the dialogue Krishna was exposing various subjects relating to mind and intelligence. He discussed Jñānaniṣṭhā and Karma-niṣṭhā – abiding in knowledge and interaction. Now he brings a new note, renunciation, too. See how the whole magic is worked.

Recounting the source and lineage of Brahmavidya

Meanwhile, a good seeker should know how the dialogue extended even after meeting Arjuna’s requirement, namely śreyas, which he wanted
Krishna to explain (2.7). Generally, when a subject is traditionally presented, the exponent refers to its source and the lineage, vaṃśa paramparā, that imbibed and preserved the bequest. Krishna extols it in the first three verses (4.1,2,3).

This yoga Krishna exposes was imparted, he says, to Vivaswan. Vivaswan refers to Sun. Earth has originated from the Sun. On the earth alone, as far as we know, human beings live with a resourceful mind and intelligence.

World would always pose various problems, even enigmas, on many occasions, evoking a variety of questions and enquiries in the intelligence. And unless clarity is gained, none would be able to find peace and poise. Confrontation, enquiry and knowledge are coordinates of intelligence. Humans are bound to encounter these, forcing them to take up enquiries and pursue them with tenacity and depth.

In order to ensure its own cohesion and co-existence, human society living anywhere does need laws and their strict enforcement through systems and procedures. Law is what keeps the multi-tendencied people under the much needed check and balance. Manu was the first human who envisaged this. He went into the lawful needs of human society and wrote the first manual called Manu-saṃhitā. Do’s and don’ts, injunctions and prohibitions, emergent measures to fulfil growing needs – all these are discussed and ways and means laid down by Manu.

Tracing the antiquity of Yoga-message being imparted to Arjuna, Krishna says that Vivaswan first spoke about this to Manu. Manu imparted it to Ikshvaku, a descendent of Ikshvaku dynasty, to which King Dasharatha and Sri Rama belonged.

Inner domain, essence of Bharat’s knowledge and austerity

What is the significance of tracing the ancestry like this? Krishna wants Arjuna and all others to understand that what he speaks about is not something new. This message is not his own. It has its great heredity, traditional and disseminational sequence. Somehow in this holy land, the Subject domain of the world as well as one’s personality has remained a decisive part of knowledge and enquiry right from immemorial times. Our ancient thinkers had delved deeply within themselves and found the very source of existence as well as knowledge. That is why they had declared in the ageless Upanishads ‘prajñānam-brahma’, meaning the Supreme Reality is in the nature of full, well-developed knowledge. Even matter, has its origin in knowledge alone. When exactly this discovery and ascertainment were arrived at, cannot be stated at all. It was beyond the domain of history. Anything prehistoric becomes inaccessible to us.

Identity of one and all is the same

Like every wave emerging from the sea is nothing but the sea-expanse, Vivaswan, Ikshvaku, etc. are but waves on the sea of knowledge. The identity of each wave is the sea alone. So too, the identity of every one including Vivaswan and Ikshvaku is also the same Self.

Having realized the Self, Krishna confidently states that it was he, the Self, who imparted Brahmavidya to Vivaswan. In the third chapter, in response to Arjuna’s question about Sāṅkhya and karma, Krishna did say that he had in the ancient past explained the two-phased niṣṭhā, disciplined practice – Jñāna Yoga for the Sāṅkhya-adherents, and Karma Yoga for the yogis. Obviously, it was a natural response.

In all bodies the ‘I’, the Self, is the same

Right in the beginning of his dialogue with Arjuna, did not Krishna say clearly that he was not born? He as a Presence, existence, was always there. There was no time when he was not, nor would he cease to be (2.12). As in Krishna’s body, he was in different bodies. In all bodies the Presence, the Self, is the same. Not only Krishna’s, every one else’s identity is also the same, not the least different.

In the next verse (4.2), Krishna says that this knowledge gained hereditarily was possessed by Rajarshis, those who were kings as well as spiritually enlightened ones. For any thinking king who sits on the throne and rules his subjects, the task is immensely hard, burdensome, sometimes even tormenting. To keep the people under check and balance, the king has to enforce law strictly. The king himself used to dispense justice. As part of it, he had to behead many wicked and harmful people. He was able to do so only because of his knowledge and realization of the unborn, undying and untransforming Self. The same should be the course for Arjuna also, who now had to cause the slaying of millions of warriors. Grasp the eternal nature of the message. It has relevance to one and all.