AT COMMON PLACE LEVEL
Krishna does not restrict Himself to the higher standard of advice. He comes down to a mundane level and explains to Arjuna the importance of performing his duty as a warrior.
He says “Further having regard to your duty (your own dharma) you should not waver, for there is nothing higher for a kshatriya than a righteous war. Happy are the kshatriyas who are called upon to fight in such a battle that comes of itself unsought as an open door to heaven, O Arjuna. But if you will not fight in this lawful battle, then, having abandoned your own dharma and honor, you shall incur sin. People too will recount for ever your infamy; to a man who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death. The great chariot-warriors (such as Bhishma, Drona, Kripa etc.) will think that you have withdrawn from the battle through fear and you will be ridiculed by them who held you in high esteem. Your enemies also, finding fault with your abilities, will speak many a word that should not be uttered. What could be more painful than this? If you are killed in the battle, you will go to heaven; if you win, you will enjoy the earth. Therefore arise, O Son of Kunti, resolved to fight. Treating alike pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, engage in battle for the sake of the battle, thus you shall not incur sin.”
REVIEW
The predicament faced by Arjuna was on account of Ignorance about the Reality. Hence Krishna disclosed to Arjuna the Ultimate Vision of Human Life by discussing and imparting the knowledge about the Soul which has the power to resolve all the conflicts faced by the mind and intellect. The Soul is the non-acting substratum for all the activities and interactions of an individual. This spiritual soul-vision gives rise to the feeling of renunciation.
Renunciation is not a physical pursuit or an external option. Instead, it is a mental and intellectual elevation, inner enrichment and spiritual sublimation. Renunciation does not mean abandonment of activities because life without action is impossible. It is a compulsion of nature. What is required is to convert activities as a sadhana, a spiritual endeavor which will free one of desires. How it is to be done? Through Karma Yoga and meditation.
In this process, senses, mind and intellect act and interact but with a difference making all the bodily processes superficial. The advice given is to be free from the sense of doership and enjoyership implying annihilation of ego sense. Every part of the body acts – eyes see, tongue tastes, ears hear and so on. So ascribe every action to its origin, its own organ and do not extend it to yourself, the indweller, the innermost personality. Thus the ownership or doersship or proprietorship is eschewed. Once the doership is eliminated, the enjoyership, the feeling just because you have done an act you have to enjoy its fruits, also gets eroded. The ego gets completely sublimated to a higher cause and makes the activities light, effective and noble. Activities are performed but with an inner freedom. The result is stability with freedom from all kinds of afflictions and attachments with an equanimous mind.
Krishna tells Arjuna “Perform well whatever needs to be done with dis-attachment. By so doing one will attain the Supreme.” By dis-attached action every act in life becomes a yajna, a sacrifice, a spiritual act. The Soul is impersonal, impartial and non-actor. If this Soul-dimension is kept in mind while performing any action, the actor will be unaffected by such action and its results. Krishna therefore says “even if one kills all these people, he does not verily kill nor is he bound by his killings, provided he has outgrown his doership or ego and his intelligence is not tainted.” He attains freedom from actions while engaged in action - naiskarmya siddhi.
Krishna points out even this naiskarmya siddhi is not the final goal; such an integrated mind merely makes one eligible for self-realization. By undertaking all actions with total reliance on the Supreme alone one attains the eternal imperishable abode of Brahman with His grace. He says “Mentally renouncing all activities, thereby placing them in the Supreme Reality, making the Supreme as the sole object of interest, let your mind, resorting to equanimity abide constantly in the Supreme. With the mind resting on the Supreme, you will surmount all hardships and attain the supreme abode by His grace. But by resorting to ego if you decide that you will not fight such a decision will be in vain for nature will compel you to fight.”
Revealing His Divinity who was playing the role of a player and the playwright, Krishna tells Arjuna “Be engaged in Me, be devoted to Me, worship Me and prostrate before Me. By this you shall indeed attain Me. I promise this because you are very dear to Me. Abandoning all dual notions of dharma and adharma take refuge in Me alone. I shall redeem you from all sins. Grieve not.” The connotation of this advice is that there is no effort or practice; it is a transformation to make the mind Godly, to become a devotee, to feel you are of God and for Him alone. Let everything you do be an offering to the Supreme. No selection, denial, preference or prejudice should assail the mind. Thereby your actions will not bind you. Thus Krishna concluded His spirituo-philosophical message in Crisis Management to Arjuna.
EXIT FROM THE CRISIS
Krishna’s sole objective of his long discourse was to treat the mind and dissolve all its emotional impurities and to solve the riddles of the intellect tormenting Arjuna. He therefore wanted to find out the response from Arjuna, to know whether His words had got any effect on him. He asked Arjuna “Have you listened to these words, O Partha, with an unswerving mind? Has your delusion resulting from ignorance been exterminated, O Dhananjaya?”
Once these twin objectives were achieved there is nothing left to deal with in respect of the inner personality of a human being. Bodily disorders are for the medicinal sciences to deal with. Spirituality and philosophy have the aim of dealing with the invisible subjective constituents of the mind and intelligence. There is no doubt that Arjuna and Krishna have accomplished this subtle, inner complex task effectively as evidenced by the response of the former to the latter’s question. Arjuna declared with an emphatic tone “By your grace, Krishna, my delusion is dispelled; I have regained my memory; I stand stable with all my doubts dissolved. I shall do as you say.”
This is a confession of Arjuna that he is not the earlier person overwhelmed by sorrow and delusion but a transformed hero, poised and self-confident, capable of fully accomplishing what is expected of him. He did achieve the purpose for which he and all his warriors came to the battlefield at Kurukshetra. He won the war and the project ‘rescue, relief and rehabilitation of Arjuna’ undertaken by Krishna became a landmark in the annals of human history. Krishna successfully rescued Arjuna from an impending disaster arising from his doubts and indecisiveness, provided great relief to him through His multi-dimensional advice and rehabilitated him in an extremely comfort zone in such a way that Arjuna could fight and won the battle.
LESSONS IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT
What was the end result of the efforts of Krishna? The dominant question in Arjuna’s mind was about death and killing, that too of his near and dear ones. Krishna’s answer to this is that there is no death at all for anyone and equally so, there is no birth. To think of death is a sheer fallacy. This insight comes only by probing into the spiritual presence that enlivens the body. Enquiry into the Soul alone can redress the problem and agitation caused by death. So Krishna’s first words of advice were “Gain the knowledge of the immortal Soul and overcome all anxiety, agitation and doubts of the mind.”
“Having done this, do what you have come here for – namely, fight” – tasmad yudhyasya were the words used by Krishna repeatedly. Krishna also said many times that grief was uncalled for over anything whatsoever.
Applying these words in our lives, we should not think of condemning or withdrawing from our usual activities, come what may. In striving well lies the human dignity and fulfillment. While doing so we should not be lamenting for anything at all. Instead we must find full joy and harmony in everything.
Thus the whole episode derives eternal relevance and utility. It discusses the problems of the mind and intelligence and offers a complete solution to them all as was the case with Arjuna at the end. This makes the Bhagavad Gita a full fledged philosophical gospel of universal dimension. That is why it has been read, re-read, explained, interpreted and disseminated with matchless fidelity, zeal and fervor by ascetics, scholars and Knowers across the globe even after thousands of years of its declaration.
Also read by same Author
1. Bhagavad Gita chapter-wise commentary in PDF
2. Yoga Vasishtha – a Treasure House of Philosophy
3. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
4. Mundaka Upanishad
5. Concepts of “Desire” and “Demand”: Vedanta goes beyond Economics
6. Bhaja Govindam – a Stress Management Technique