The Greatest Motivator for You by Rameish Agrawaal
Friends, Allow Me to Introduce to You the Greatest
Motivator for You to Do Better Whatever You Do and Whatever Your Target;
first, however, I’ll introduce myself. I write as Rameish Agrawaal, viz. this
is my pseudonym, while my official name’s Ramesh Kumar Agrawal. I turned 72 on
July 12th, 2023 living in Delhi, India with my 68-year young wife
Rama Rani; we’d married in 1973. As our religion, we both follow Hinduism;
Dictionary.com defines this quintessentially vague term as the common religion of India, based upon the
religion of the original Aryan settlers as expounded and evolved in the Vedas,
the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita, etc., having an extremely diversified
character with many schools of philosophy and theology, many popular cults, and
a large pantheon symbolizing the many attributes of a single god. Buddhism and
Jainism are outside the Hindu tradition but are regarded as related religions.
Let’s
first talk of the large pantheon, of 330 million gods, total Hindu population
worldwide was as much providing for a separate personal god for every Hindu
around the last turn of the century; it is headed by the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu/
Hari, and Mahesh/ Shiva, amongst whom Vishnu and Shiva comprise the Supreme
Duo, and the above dictionary definition refers to the many manifestations of
Vishnu as many attributes of a single god.
Let me now talk of various Hindu scriptures referred to therein, viz. the Vedas, the Upanishads, the
Bhagavad-Gita, etc. Vedas are chronologically the oldest; the first three Vedas, named Rig, Yajur, and Sama, the lyrical
three, originating from Brahma’s mouth and carried over time by singing and
hearing their verses, called “Richas,”
are the oldest, intriguingly the middle one of my three daughters
is named Richa, followed with
Atharvaveda the fourth Veda penned by Sage Atharva, intriguingly one of my seven grandchildren is named Atharva, the inventor
of a script and writing, and accorded the
status of a Veda by Brahma, and the Ramayana penned by contemporary Sage Valmiki; while the other texts
including but not limited in eighteen Puranas and sixteen Shastras, titled as Samkhya,
Darshan, Natya, Niti, Nyaya, Naya, etc., came later. The Shastras, in general, are
secular scientific treatises in the sense that they discuss the secular
sciences and arts unconcerned about god or any religion; while Samkhya, written by Maharishi Kapil, considered the
supreme amongst the sixteen and the one dealing with spiritualism and theology, specifically
denies the existence of God – professing that mutual interactions among the
natural qualities like the body and spirit/soul comprise the subject matter of
life and death, etc., its interesting to
mention here that Buddhism comprises an elaboration of Samkhya, all the other texts including Vedas and Puranas,
are God-centric religious texts. The God-religion-Brahmin (pontiff)-pseudo-sanyasi (recluse) nexus, in every religion of the world, finds it convenient in their mutual interests to make their followers the
commonfolk God-fearing rather than god-loving because it is fear that weakens
the people and blinds their faith, facilitating the pseudo-sanyasis, Brahmins, and Ponga-Pundits leading them into
blind neglection of the existence of the Shastras and referring the word
Shastras as a collective term for the religious texts of the Vedas & Puranas,
etc. It’s intriguing to note that the Sanskrit word Purana means precisely the
same as the Greek word history and just as the Greek Histories, the Purans also
inseparably blend the records of historical events with religious beliefs of
mythology; while the Puranas may claim to have recorded the history more
accurately than the Greek Histories yet the mythology part is mere belief; the Indian
also as blindly religious as the
Greek. The four Vedas, rated the highest among all religious texts on the merit
of having emerged from Brahma’s mouth, together contain a total of a hundred
thousand Shlokas (verses), eighty thousand of which are Bhakti (devotional)
Shlokas, sixteen thousand Karma
(Vedic religious rituals of Havan-yagyas for various classes of Heavens)
Shlokas, and four thousand are Gyan (knowledge of
religion and the gods) Shlokas, which are
called Upanishads.
Maharishi
Krishna Dweepayan (literally: the black one born on an island), the author of
all eighteen Puranas and the editor of all four Vedas and therefore better
known as Vedavyasa and popularly
considered an Avatar of Vishnu, a great researcher of history and a greater
wordsmith writer next wrote a great ballad of a family feud titled Jaya that
later evolved into the grand epic titled Mahabharata with Krishna Pandava
(literally: the black son of Pandu) better known as Arjun the hero and God Hari
Incarnate as Krishna Vasudeva (literally: the black son of Vasudeva) the
superhero; and being Hari the Supreme God, the single word Krishna normally
refers to him. Chapter 5 of Mahabharata’s Parva (Part) titled Bhishmaparva
comprises the Gita that originating from Hari’s mouth attained the highest
spiritual level; a level above the Veda’s originating from Brahma’s mouth. This
Gita is the Greatest Motivator for You
to Do Better Whatever You Do and Whatever Your Target.
The Irish Freedom Fighter Annie Besant explains
the Gita Mahatmaya, viz. The grandeur
of the Gita in the Preface to her English translation of the Gita titled The Lord’s Song in the words: AMONG the
priceless teachings that may be found in the great Hindu poem of the
Mahabharata, there is none so rare and precious as this "The Lord's
Song." Since it fell from the divine lips of Shri Krishna on the field of
battle, and stilled the surging emotions of his disciple and friend, how many
troubled hearts has it quieted and strengthened, how many weary souls has it
led to Him! It is meant to lift the aspirant from the lower levels of
renunciation, where the objects are renounced, to the loftier heights where
desires are dead, and where the Yogi dwells in calm and ceaseless
contemplation, while his body and mind are actively employed in discharging the
duties that fall to his lot in life. That the spiritual man need not be a
recluse, that union with the divine Life may be achieved and maintained in the
midst of worldly affairs, that the obstacles to that union lie not outside us
but within us - such is the central lesson of the BHAGAVAD-GlTA. It is a
scripture of Yoga; now Yoga is literally union, and it means harmony with the
divine Law, the becoming one with the divine Life, by the subdual of all
outward-going energies, to reach this, balance must be gained, equilibrium, so
that the self, joined to the Self, shall not be affected by pleasure or pain,
desire or aversion, or any of the "pairs of opposites" between which
untrained selves swing backward and forward. Moderation is therefore the
keynote of the Gita, and the harmonizing of all the constituents of man, till
they vibrate in perfect tune with the One; the Supreme Self. This is the aim
the disciple is to set before him. He must learn not to be attracted by the
attractive, nor repelled by the repellent, but must see both as manifestations
of the one Lord, so that they may be lessons for his guidance, not fetters for
his bondage. In the midst of turmoil, he must rest in the Lord of Peace,
discharging every duty to the fullest, not because he seeks the results of his
actions, but because it is his duty to perform them. His heart is an altar,
love to his Lord the flame burning upon it; all his acts, physical and mental,
are sacrifices offered on the altar; and once offered, he has with them no
further concern.
Madam
Annie Bessant as an Irish Freedom fighter who saw a common cause with India
spent some time in India, headed the Indian Congress, helped Pundit Madan Mohan
Malviya establish the Banaras Hindu University, and in the whiles, met Swami
Vivekananda, a practically pragmatic Saint, and learned the Gita from him
rather than any pseudo-sanyasi of the herein-afore mentioned kind. Many people,
who are not Hindu, Indian, or Sanatana,
have understood the Gita all by themselves; for example, allow me to cite the
celebrated English poet TS Eliot’s highly celebrated third stanza of his poem
The Dry Salvages:
“I sometimes wonder if that is what
Krishna meant—
Among other things—or one way of putting the same thing:
That the future is a faded song, a Royal Rose, or a
lavender spray
Of wistful regret for those who are not yet here to regret,
Pressed between the yellow leaves of a book that has never
been opened.
And the way up is the way down, the way forward is the way
back.
You cannot face it steadily, but this thing is sure,
That time is no healer: the patient is no longer here.
When the train starts, and the passengers are settled
To fruit, periodicals, and business letters
(And those who saw them off have left the platform)
Their faces relax from grief into relief,
To the sleepy rhythm of a hundred hours.
Fare forward, travellers! not escaping from the past
Into different lives, or into any future;
You are not the same people who left that station
Or who will arrive at any terminus,
While the narrowing rails slide together behind you;
And on the deck of the drumming liner
Watching the furrow that widens behind you,
You shall not think 'the past is finished'
Or 'the future is before us'.
At nightfall, in the rigging and the aerial,
Is a voice descanting (though not to the ear,
The murmuring shell of time, and not in any language)
'Fare forward, you who think that you are voyaging;
You are not those who saw the harbour
Receding, or those who will disembark.
Here between the hither and the farther shore
While time is withdrawn, consider the future
And the past with an equal mind.
At the moment which is not of action or inaction
You can receive this: "On whatever sphere of being
The mind of a man may be intent
At the time of death"—that is the one action
(And the time of death is every moment)
Which shall fructify in the lives of others:
And do not think of the fruit of action.
Fare forward.
O voyagers, O seamen,
You who came to port, and you whose bodies
Will suffer the trial and judgment of the sea,
Or whatever event, this is your real destination.'
So Krishna, as when he admonished Arjuna
On the field of battle.
Not fare well,
But fare forward, voyagers.”
TS Eliot an
English Pastor of the Orthodox Church, refers here to:
त्रैगुण्यविषया वेदा निस्त्रैगुण्यो भवार्जुन ।
निर्द्वन्द्वो नित्यसत्त्वस्थो निर्योगक्षेम आत्मवान् ॥ २-४५॥
The
Vedas are all about the three-way classification of everything or deed, viz. Sadaguna (Good), Rajoguna (Fair), and Tamoguna
(Bad); but you must forget these three gunas,
and always remain firmly focused on your duty, the job that the worldly
conditions have destined as your lot, forgetting all that you’ve already earned
and also that you’re yet striving to earn, however good or bad it may be. Gita:
2:45.
There’s a valid question you may ask here: forgetting all
that I’ve already earned and also that I’m yet striving to earn implies laying
waste all my realm, accumulated over time, and also that I might yet amass; why
should I do this?
Krishna
duly answers this:
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते ।
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् ॥ ९-२२॥
Those
who follow my Karma-Yoga for my worship,
I shoulder the responsibility of securing all that they’ve already earned and
also that they’re yet striving to earn. Gita: 9:22.
Let me also quote celebrated American poet Emerson’s poem
titled Brahma:
If the red slayer thinks he slays,
or if the slain thinks he is slain,
They do know not well the subtle ways
I keep and pass, and turn again.
Far or forgot to me is near;
Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me is shame and fame.
They reckon ill who leave me out;
When they fly,
I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.
The strong gods pine for my abode,
And pine in vain the sacred Seven;
But thou, meek lover of the good!
Find me, and turn thy back on
heaven.
Emerson in this
poem refers to the following extract from Gita:
न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः ।
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ॥ २-१२॥
देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा ।
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ॥ २-१३॥
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः ।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥ २-१४॥
यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ ।
समदुःखसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ॥ २-१५॥
नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः ।
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः ॥ २-१६॥
अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ।
विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति ॥ २-१७॥
अन्तवन्त इमे देहा नित्यस्योक्ताः शरीरिणः ।
अनाशिनोऽप्रमेयस्य तस्माद्युध्यस्व भारत ॥ २-१८॥
य एनं वेत्ति हन्तारं यश्चैनं मन्यते हतम् ।
उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते ॥ २-१९॥
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन् नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥ २-२०॥
वेदाविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनमजमव्ययम् ।
कथं स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम् ॥ २-२१॥
वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि ।
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा-न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ॥ २-२२॥
नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः ।
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ॥ २-२३॥
अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च ।
नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥ २-२४॥
अव्यक्तोऽयमचिन्त्योऽयमविकार्योऽयमुच्यते ।
तस्मादेवं विदित्वैनं नानुशोचितुमर्हसि ॥ २-२५॥
अथ चैनं नित्यजातं नित्यं वा मन्यसे मृतम् ।
तथापि त्वं महाबाहो नैवं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥ २-२६॥
जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च ।
तस्मादपरिहार्येऽर्थे न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥ २-२७॥
अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत ।
अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना ॥ २-२८॥
Neither you can be killed nor can you
kill these kings on the opposite side, neither could this be done earlier, nor
can this be done in the future (2:12) because it is only the body that goes
through childhood, youth, and old age, and then the end and all this should not
disturb you (2:13), the effects of cold, heat, happiness and sorrow are only
skin deep, and therefore, O son of Kunti, these should not bother you. (2:14)
Those who remain equally unperturbed by sorrow or happiness, remain immortal
for ages (2:15) and untruth has no place while there’s no dearth of place for
the truth, but only those who see both these as one see the reality. (2:16) You
are imperishable even while your body perishes, and therefore, you need not worry
about death, because you cannot be killed. (2:17) Only the body dies while the
soul always remains imperishable, therefore O descendant of King Bharat, you
should fight this battle. (2:18) He who thinks that (s)he can kill somebody, or
that somebody can kill her/him, neither of them knows the truth because neither
can anybody kill, nor be killed, (2:19) because never born, it has always
existed since ages and shall continue to exist through ages, until eternity
even while bodies kill one another, (2:20) and knowing it as imperishable how
can you be killed or kill anyone? (2:21) Just as people discard their worn-out
old clothes for the new, the souls discard their worn-out old bodies for new
bodies. (2:22) Neither can weapons pierce it, nor fire burn it; neither can
water wet it, nor air dry it; (2:23) non-pierce-able, non-inflammable,
non-wet-able and non-dry-able, it is always there everywhere stable and
immovable and shall always remain so. (2:24) Invisible and unimaginable,
neither it can be deformed nor destroyed, so this will always be there, so you
need not worry. (2:25) And if you consider it always dying and being born, even
then O great warrior, you should not worry; (2:26) for, everything that has a
terminal must necessarily have two to exist while birth and death are the two
terminals those together comprise life and you should mourn neither. (2:27) It
was intangible before one’s birth, it is tangible after one’s birth, O
descendant of King Bharat, it shall be intangible again after one’s death, and
so it always continues.
This is the philosophy of Samkhya with god conspicuously
absent.
Although Eliot and Emerson use different shlokas of the Gita, they end up
explaining the same Philosophy of Samkhya; Find me, and turn thy back on heaven and not fare
well, but fare forward, voyagers.
Interestingly while Eliot was a Pastor of the
Orthodox Church, Emerson was a leader of the Renaissance, a movement against
the Orthodox Church; yet both had made Gita a compulsory read for their
functionaries; because Krishna says:
यो यो यां यां तनुं भक्तः श्रद्धयार्चितुमिच्छति ।
तस्य तस्याचलां श्रद्धां तामेव विदधाम्यहम् ॥ ७-२१॥
Whichever
God one desires worshipping or whichever religion one desires following in
whatever way, I reaffirm her/his faith his desired way in that very God and
religion.
Gita: 7:21.
Krishna
is God or the secular equivalent for all, Secular, Atheist, Buddhist, Jain, Monotheist,
Polytheist, etc. If he’s Hari for Hindus, he’s also David for Jews, Ahura-Mazda
for Zoroastrians, Jesus for Christians, Protestants, Baptists, Liberals, Catholics,
Jesuits, Orthodox or Renaissance, etc.
Julian
Robert Oppenheimer, born in a Jewish family, was an American physicist, secular
as scientists are, he led the American Operation Manhattan for building the Atom
Bomb. Asked by an interviewer about his first thought seeing the huge cloud of the
test explosion hovering overhead, Oppenheimer replied: We knew the world would
not be the same. A few people laughed, a
few people cried, and most people were silent. I remembered a line from the
Hindu Scripture the Bhagavad Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the prince that
he should do his duty, and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and
says, “I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” I suppose we all thought
that, one way or another.”
Oppenheimer
here refers to the following Shloka
of the Gita:
कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः ।
ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे येऽवस्थिताः प्रत्यनीकेषु योधाः ॥ ११-३२॥
Warren
Hastings the first British Governor General of Bengal had written in his
Introduction to the first English translation of the Gita, “I hesitate not to
pronounce the Gita a performance of great originality, of a sublimity of
conception, of reasoning, and diction, almost unequalled, and a single
exception, among all the known religions of mankind.”
In the times of the Gita India was rich beyond
your imagination, and to give you an idea, here’s an extract from my yet-unpublished
historical novel THE SECRET DAUGHTER OF THE GENERAL: Ramā
took a chair, but I stretched, admiring the valley's rain-washed beauty. The
rainwater flowed in falls amidst those greens. The setting sun's red rays
filtered through them to drape them in exotic hues of gold. A golden beauty
suddenly advanced... and emerged out of that Dell’s décolletage as she rushed
into her flower-filled cleavage; she morphed into a lady. She ecstatically ran
forward, unmindful of the rain-soaked silk around her legs sticking into
transparency, and, raising her arms to beckon me, showing her underarms and
underboobs, she fondly, as if I was her husband or lover, called me 'Ārya!' Ancient North
Indians referred to themselves as Ārya,
not Aryan. Āryan in
their language, Sanskrit, meant cultured
as the Ārya were. She (Āryan)
referred mainly to South Indians (also called Dravid/ Dravidian) and Persians
(also called Pārsi or Irāni/ Iranian). But the archaic word since extinct, her
address sounded strange. Even stranger was her apparel; her head, face, eyes,
nose, ears, neck, bosom, shoulders, arms, wrists, hands, fingers, waist, navel,
hips, thighs, and groins… all covered in an unbelievable abundance of gold
jewelry, held at her slim waist by a big ruby buckled gold cummerbund (belt) over
her genitals. Her full breasts were firmly and ornately held in a petite
opulent gold kanchuki (brassieres),
while the yards and yards of the fine silk making her two-piece wrap dress
of antariya (dhoti in Hindi) around
the legs and hips and uttariya (stole
or shawl) over the shoulders were worn in such a style that boldly showed the
whole of her bosom with all her gold glittering. Sāri, the one-piece wrap
dress that consumes slightly fewer yards of silk and yet covers up the breast,
had long back replaced these. The strangest, however, was the reflex response
of my senses; I felt split as an apparent replica emerged from within me,
draped in an antariya and uttariya and laden with gold jewelry, much of it
gem-studded, and some pearl necklaces also. As he jumped the parapet and ran
towards her, I recognized him as Bindusāra, the Monarch of the whole of India,
early in the third century BCE, and lo! I also recognized her as Bindusāra's
Chief Queen Dharmā! They ran into a hugging and kissing spree… and swirled into
a time warp that placed them amidst many camping queens of their time… who
quickly surrounded him. Daughter of a visionary seer, she had inherited some
trans temporal capabilities, and she said. 'I've brought you back into the
present, my Sire, since you've seen it all.'
He answered. 'Yes, My Darling
Queen. It's all as you said it was. In those times, they knew little about my
Mother, the celestial grace of her persona, and the unique tale of my parents'
love amidst the madness of war. I'm hurt. I want to write their tale for our
posterity.'
'The people of those times will
read her only if she's written in their time and language. I can show her all
to you afresh and arrange that your future avatar, whose body you'd occupied in
those times, receives her in his dreams and writes her for you….'
Ramā shook me with her usual
comment, 'Daydreaming again! I took a chair by her side, sipped tea, and
thought, 'She doesn't seem to have noticed me splitting into two, and one of me
disappearing with a queen come alive out of history.'
Later, when I slept, I dreamt: A
fleet of three hundred ships sailed . . . sorry, the use of the word sailed makes it a
misleading misnomer here; because they, the Greeks, were yet unacquainted with
the then exclusively Indian technique of using sails to harness the wind power.
Oarsmen rowed their
ships eastwards across the Hellespont, the narrow strait that separates Asia
and Europe. That fleet carried an army of thirty-six thousand feisty fighters
led by the Great Macedon King Alexander III. The flagship was yet approaching
the coast when Alexander threw his spear to pierce the Asian soil and stand
like a victory pole. And when his boat grounded, Alexander was the first to
leap off. He held that mast and declared. 'All Asia is conquered by this
spear.'
Bindusāra narrated: Alexander
knew and believed that the barbarian empire of Persia that had long ruled the
world and still ruled the Asian part of Greece, and also the goldmine that
Herodotus had named India and that made Persia so rich, comprised the whole of
Asia that he'd claimed conquered. Alexander's intimate friend Hephaistion
joined him with his two equally close companions; Bucephalus, the horse he
rode, and Peritas, the dog. Madanmālā, one amongst Bindusāra's countless Queens,
interrupted his narration. 'His lifestyle was hardly worthy of a king; even
petty officers, here, live more lavishly!'
Dharmā explained. 'Macedonia is a
poor country. Their King must live in austerity.'
Bindusāra berated them.
'Achievements make one high, not a profuse lifestyle.' That interruption,
however, diverted my reverie into the world of fanatic West Asian
pillager-conquerors of the Gazwā-e-Hind (Jihad
inflamed eternal War against India), raiding India through centuries. And
devising the ballistic cannon, when they found explosives, they intensified
their attacks and pursued until they'd conquered substantial parts of India.
Then, they exacerbated their plunder under their reign, yet the goldmine
wouldn't empty.
Europeans also craved a share of that
endless loot, but the West Asians perennially denied them passage. Centuries of
such stalemate forced the Europeans into the exploration for a sea route to
India. This obstinate obsession spanned centuries, revealing to them many lands
they presumed new, including South Africa, Australia, Pacific Islands, the
Americas, etc., before they found their cherished sea route to their treasured
goldmine called India. Then, they joined in robbing that goldmine, which
remained so loaded even as late as 1835 CE, when Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay
had presented his Minute dated 2nd February in the British Parliament that he'd
then said. 'I have travelled across the length and breadth of India, and I have
not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in
this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not
think we would ever conquer this country unless we break the very backbone of
this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I
propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for,
if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater
than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture, and
they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.'
Imagine the riches of the
unconquered India of the pre-Christian era when they draped her women in
abundant imported Chinese silk around their heads, arms, and legs, adorned with
copious gold everyplace above their ankles and silver below, and their men's
wear was scantier only by the kanchuki! Fabric economic stitched clothing, as
worn west, was worn in India only by the poor, and even the poorest decked it
with jewelry, silver if not gold. Not only did her rich eat in gold crockery,
they even ate gold flakes, gold ash, crushed pearls, etc. Later, even alien
rulers' pillage couldn't impoverish conquered India; but breaking that,
Macaulay proposed backbone by history's greatest conquerors, the British did
it. This is the tale of how The Secret Daughter of the General had earlier
helped her swain foil Alexander's attempt of first breaking that backbone… that
spiritual and cultural heritage, that ancient education system, that fine
caliber, that high morality, that respect for women, that penchant for peace...
I'd barely begun writing when Ramā, a historical critic, fêted in her and my
esteem critiqued. 'Bindusāra was born merely seven years after Seleucus' first
marriage and twelve years before the Greco-Indian Epigamia, seemingly the
basis of your story, My Dear Mathematician, the dates do not support your
tale.'
Even
in those rich times of yet uninvaded India of the times of the Gita Arjun was Dhananjaya, viz. very wealthy; so that
he could resort to भैक्ष्यमपीह (begging) for a living only after renounced all his wealth and became a Sanyasi.
Sanyasis of those times had no possessions and begged only to meet instant needs, begged only once a day,
and approached only upto five
persons until one of them obliged; even if none of the five gave anything, the Sanyasi didn’t approach a sixth
person; living the rest of the day eating only free forest fruits “phalahar”. Chanakya, in his book Chanakyaniti, tells about his times
when the Sanyasis and Brahmins commanding the Greatest Respect and Power in the
Indian Society comprised such society’s economically poorest section “and they
should remain poor” he advocates, “for the sake of the fair distribution of
power among the various Social Segments, Sanyasis/ Brahmins commanding social
(the greatest), Kshatriyas political, vaishyas economic and Shudras demographic
power, two powers with one segment amounted undue accumulation corrupted the segment.” True to his
prediction; when the undue accumulation of power corrupted the Sanyasis, they
began accumulating wealth and over time became the richest people nowadays; so
much so that we have mostly Pseudo-Sanyasis who distort the Gita for their
monetary gains. As collecting excessive donations and accumulating
wealth is a sin for Sanyasis, excessive donations them is an equal sin for the
donors.
The
noteworthy comment in TB Macaulay’s aforementioned speech is “I do not think we
would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this
nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage,
and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient
education system, her culture, for, if the Indians think that all
that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture, and they will
become what we want them, a truly dominated nation” because spiritual and cultural heritage, old and ancient education system, native culture, ancient education system, her
culture together comprise the Sanatana
Sanskriti or Dharma that imparts and develops the highest self-esteem
and Gita comprises the prime textbook of such Dharma… for the general meaning of Dharma, let me quote another extract from my aforementioned novel: “Dharma is a code of deontology and socio-moral discipline,
consonant with cosmic and human nature, governing every aspect of behaviour,
severally or collectively…” Dharma
also means, discipline or school, theology, spiritualism, and in some contexts
religion; but in the British rule of India, they, in pursuance of
Macaulay-inspired decimation of Dharma
attenuated the word’s meaning in religion.
Dr.
Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, first Vice President and second President of India,
one of the finest English translators of Gita and one of the greatest scholars
of religion says in his celebrated book Recovery
of Faith, that every religion has a specific name for God and a specific
set of prayers and rituals; Dharma
has none. Even Sanatana Sanskriti, nowadays better known as
Hinduism, has none. So Dr. S Radhakrishnan says that Hinduism is not a
religion. Hindu really is an Arabic word also adopted in the Persian and Urdu
languages, and it means Indian while Hinda
means India! The Moslems after having conquered parts of India and ruling as
permanent residents of India and having no other place to go never considered
themselves Indian. Even the last Mogul Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, jailed by the
British in 1857 in Rangoon, sadly sang:
Lagta
nahin hai dil mera ujare dayar me.
Bara
badnasib hai Zafar, dafan ke liye,
Do gaz
zamin na mil saki, tur-e-dayar me.
Lagta
nahin hai dil mera ujare dayar me.
The Arabic word “dayar” means land, and “tur”
means conquest, so “tur-e-dayar” means
conquered land; so even after having lived all his life in India, he says, on
his deathbed, “How sad that I cannot get even 2 yards of (burial) ground in my
conquered land (not my country or my homeland).
The Greeks learned about India through Persia,
and since Persians referred to the Arya Nation as Hinda, the Greeks changed the
word to Hindia and India and referred to her residents as Hindus. British
rulers of India changed the meaning of the word Hindu to refer to the religion
of India’s majority community.
Swami Vivekananda
(1863–1902), born Narendranath Dutta, and the chief disciple of the
19th-century mystic Ramakrishna, founder of the Ramakrishna Mission, and a key
figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the West and credited with
raising the profile of Hinduism to that of world religion is best known in the
United States for his groundbreaking speech to the 1893 World’s
Parliament of Religions in which he introduced Hinduism to America and called
for religious tolerance and an end to fanaticism. Here’s his Speech
delivered on September 11, 1893, at the first World’s Parliament of Religions
on the site of the present-day Art Institute at Chicago, IL, USA: Sisters and Brothers
of America, it fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the
warm and cordial welcome that you have given us. I thank you in the name of the
most ancient order of monks in the world, I thank you in the name of the mother
of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu
people of all classes and sects.
My
thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the
delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations
may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration.
I am proud to belong to a religion that has taught the world both tolerance and
universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we
accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation that has
sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of
the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest
remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us
in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman
tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still
fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you,
brethren, a few lines from a hymn that I remember to have repeated from my
earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: “As
the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take
through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight,
all lead to Thee.”
The
present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in
itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine
preached in the Gita: “Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach
him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.”
Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long
possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence,
drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent
whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human
society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and
I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this
convention may be the death knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with
the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons
wending their way to the same goal.
I
first read the Gita when I completed my Senior Cambridge in 1966, and I’ve been
researching Gita’s philosophy ever since, reading the original text and various
English and Hindi translations and commentaries over and over again, I’ve read
the original text over a hundred times, and every time I read it, I find
something new in it; so epic is its impact. I think that now it’s time to share
with the people what I’ve learned over the long period of 56 years of my study
of the Gita with people worldwide, and I want to share it free of charge
although I’ve invested a lot in it. All such free distributions work on the
basis of charity or donations; so, if you like this, I humbly request you to
donate heartily; because being a non-recluse common man like you, I am
ethically entitled to earn money and accumulate wealth and you may donate to me
as much as you desire and earn all spiritual benefits of donating for a pious
cause. You may send money to me by UPI to my Indian phone number (+91) 98110
71925 or by online bank transfer into my Indian Bank Account No. 0650000101284874
of Punjab National Bank, Model Town, Delhi, IFSC PUNB0065000 or else you may
send me a cheque/demand draft payable in the same bank account to either of my
addresses, permanent/current.
Gita
is very much about Karma (worldly duty),
Gyan (knowledge and wisdom, especially of the Samkhya), and Dharma (deontology) but has nothing to do with any
religion; so it put the pseudo-sanyasis and Brahmins in a queer position
undermining their otherwise unchallenged superiority, and they couldn’t deny
Harimukhasrita (originated from Hari’s mouth) Gita’s Supreme Authority, so they
found a queer way of obfuscating it. They hypothesized that Gopal (cowherd)
Krishna drew the milk of Gyan (knowledge of religion and the gods) from the
Upanishads into the Gita and bottle-fed the newborn-childishly ignorant Arjun
with it; implicitly holding Gita’s Gyan obtained solely from the Upanishads/ Vedas;
while the Gita explicitly states:
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिरेकेह कुरुनन्दन ।
बहुशाखा ह्यनन्ताश्च बुद्धयोऽव्यवसायिनाम् ॥ २-४१॥
The practically pragmatic
wisdom is always unique and singular; the never-endingly multiple branched
wisdom is never practicable. Gita: 2:41
यामिमां पुष्पितां वाचं प्रवदन्त्यविपश्चितः ।
वेदवादरताः पार्थ नान्यदस्तीति वादिनः ॥ २-४२॥
Those who hold the Vedas
supreme and emphasize that nothing can ever compare with them tell you in a
very pleasing language… Gita: 2:42
कामात्मानः स्वर्गपरा जन्मकर्मफलप्रदाम् ।
क्रियाविशेषबहुलां भोगैश्वर्यगतिं प्रति ॥ २-४३॥
…many wish-fulfilling
procedures begetting various heavens full of luxuries, leisure, and pleasures
as fruits of your pursuits of different religious rites of Havan-yagya. Gita:
2:43
भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानां तयापहृतचेतसाम् ।
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिः समाधौ न विधीयते ॥ २-४४॥
So aroused desire of heavens
full of luxuries, leisure, and pleasures weans away their intellect of
appreciating the practically pragmatic wisdom. Gita: 2:44
त्रैगुण्यविषया वेदा निस्त्रैगुण्यो भवार्जुन ।
निर्द्वन्द्वो नित्यसत्त्वस्थो निर्योगक्षेम आत्मवान् ॥ २-४५॥
The Vedas are all about their
threefold qualitative classification of everything (into Satvic, Rajsic, and Tamsic);
but unconcerned about such qualities, shed all dilemma and worries for yoga (effort for attaining the yet
unattained) and kshema (protection of
the attained) and arise O Arjun with firm belief in yourself. Gita: 2:45
यावानर्थ उदपाने सर्वतः सम्प्लुतोदके ।
तावान्सर्वेषु वेदेषु ब्राह्मणस्य विजानतः ॥ २-४६॥
The wise consider all the
Vedas petty ponds worthless as against the vast Ocean of knowledge comprised in
the realization that… Gita: 2:46
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥ २-४७॥
Just
do your worldly duty, without considering what its result will be, good or bad
because doing your work to your best is all that’s in your control. Neither be
the one who does his work for its result, nor complacent towards your duty; and
neither should you have any emotional attachment with whatever you do, nor with
its result. Gita: 2:47
What
a diabolic contrast! Moreover, such anomalous reasoning for hypocritically
holding the Gita a religious text is also self-humiliating in the sense that by
holding the Gita a God-summarised consolidation of the knowledge and wisdom of
the four thousand Upanishads into seven hundred shlokas of the Gita implicitly
renders the Upanishads since useless. But pseudo-sanyasis and Ponga-Pundits are
so baseless in their foolish logic that I’ve even heard one of them hail the
Gita as a great religious text eulogizing the purportedly grand religious
philosophy blatantly upholding the apartheid racism, calling Pandavas (Pandu’s
sons) white and therefore good and Dhartarashtras (Dhritrashtra’s sons) black
and therefore bad; ignoring that their logic implicitly made black God
Incarnate Krishna bad; for so bluffing the naïve masses into blindly believing
their presentation of the Gita as a religious text they misuse, or rather abuse
Krishna’s following words:
मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु ।
मामेवैष्यसि युक्त्वैवमात्मानं मत्परायणः ॥ ९-३४॥
And
मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु ।
मामेवैष्यसि सत्यं ते प्रतिजाने प्रियोऽसि मे ॥ १८-६५॥
With
faith in me be my devotee, worship me, revere me, equipped with respect for me
endow yourself unto me, and you are so dear to me I assure you truly I shall
lead you unto becoming one with me. Gita: 9:34 & 18:65
…misinterpreting this to mean
that Krishna tells Arjun to pray before him and sing bhajans (devotional songs) devoted to him, forgetting all worldly
work, (in sheer ignorance of the entire message of the Gita as summarised by
Krishna in verses 3:3 and 2:42 to 2:44 of the Gita:
लोकेऽस्मिन् द्विविधा निष्ठा पुरा प्रोक्ता मयानघ ।
ज्ञानयोगेन साङ्ख्यानां कर्मयोगेन योगिनाम् ॥ ३-३॥
There exist only
two kinds of beliefs in me and paths leading to me; Gyanyoga being that of
scientific research bears the name of Samkhya while the other, Karmyoga of doing
your worldly duty unconcerned of its fruits bears the name of Yoga. Gita: 3:3
And
यामिमां पुष्पितां वाचं प्रवदन्त्यविपश्चितः ।
वेदवादरताः पार्थ नान्यदस्तीति वादिनः ॥ २-४२॥
Those who hold the Vedas
supreme and emphasize that nothing can ever compare with them tell you in a
very pleasing language… Gita: 2:42
कामात्मानः स्वर्गपरा जन्मकर्मफलप्रदाम् ।
क्रियाविशेषबहुलां भोगैश्वर्यगतिं प्रति ॥ २-४३॥
…many wish-fulfilling
procedures begetting various heavens full of luxuries, leisure, and pleasures
as fruits of your pursuits of different religious rites of Havan-yagya. Gita:
2:43
भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानां तयापहृतचेतसाम् ।
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिः समाधौ न विधीयते ॥ २-४४॥
So aroused the desire for
heavens full of luxuries, leisure, and pleasures weans away their intellect of
appreciating the practically pragmatic wisdom. Gita: 2:44
The
shameless pseudo-Sanyasis and ponga-Pundits saw their opportunity even in Hindu’s
constriction into the philosophies of “Harenam
kevalam” (Singing God’s name alone) and “Kali yuga keval nam adhara” (God’s
name alone is left the basis of religion in this evil epoch) due to the brazen
anti-Hindu Jihadi cleansing persecution by Moslem rulers; so they still
continue to maintain the emergency philosophies even after the end of the emergency
conditions of the evil Jihadi rule. And Lord TB Macaulay soon realized that for
destroying spiritual and cultural heritage, old and ancient education system,
native culture, ancient
education system, her culture, and self-esteem, it was most
necessary to destroy the motivational aspect of the Gita which could be easily
done by encouraging the ill-intended efforts of the pseudo-Sanyasis and
ponga-Pundits.
The
greatness of Maharishi Vedavyasa author of Puranas and editor of Vedas cannot be denied but the
pseudo-Sanyasis and ponga-Pundits undermine his achievement of the
comprehension and editing of the Shastras
(the scientific treatise) including the Mahashastra
Samkhya notwithstanding Krishna’s
praise:
लोकेऽस्मिन् द्विविधा निष्ठा पुरा प्रोक्ता मयानघ ।
ज्ञानयोगेन साङ्ख्यानां कर्मयोगेन योगिनाम् ॥ ३-३॥
As I have told you earlier also, O you who has
never sinned, there are only 2 ways to nishtha
(belief); the path of scientific study and research that’s called Samkhya being one, the other is Karma-yoga of doing your worldly duty,
unconcerned with its result, that I am disclosing here.
The
pseudo-Sanyasi/ponga-Pandit nexus counters Krishna’s explicit mention of the
word Samkhya by alleging that Krishna refers to some religious Samkhya, not to
Kapil’s secular Samkhya; but they fail to show any Samkhya other than Maharishi
Kapil’s secular Samkhya while 15 of the 27 Samkhya shlokas included in the Gita
are verbatim repetitions of Maharishi Kapil’s secular Samkhya; which I
reproduce below:
न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः ।
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ॥ २-१२॥
देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा ।
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ॥ २-१३॥
यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ ।
समदुःखसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ॥ २-१५॥
नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः ।
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः ॥ २-१६॥
अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ।
विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति ॥ २-१७॥
य एनं वेत्ति हन्तारं यश्चैनं मन्यते हतम् ।
उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते ॥ २-१९॥
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन् नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥
२-२०॥
वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि ।
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा-न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ॥
२-२२॥
नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः ।
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ॥ २-२३॥
अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च ।
नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥ २-२४॥
अव्यक्तोऽयमचिन्त्योऽयमविकार्योऽयमुच्यते ।
तस्मादेवं विदित्वैनं नानुशोचितुमर्हसि ॥ २-२५॥
अथ चैनं नित्यजातं नित्यं वा मन्यसे मृतम् ।
तथापि त्वं महाबाहो नैवं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥ २-२६॥
जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च ।
तस्मादपरिहार्येऽर्थे न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥ २-२७॥
आश्चर्यवत्पश्यति कश्चिदेन-माश्चर्यवद्वदति तथैव चान्यः ।
आश्चर्यवच्चैनमन्यः शृणोति श्रुत्वाप्येनं वेद न चैव
कश्चित् ॥ २-२९॥
सुखदुःखे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ ।
ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि ॥ २-३८॥
Neither
do you ever perish nor any of these kings gathered here for fighting this
battle, neither now nor in the future, all of you shall ever remain
imperishable (Gita 2:12). Dehi, the resident within this house in the form of
Deha the living body experiences childhood, youth, and old-age in its voyage
unto the end of the Deha, remaining calm and unstirred by the phenomenon (Gita
2:13). O greatest of men, men who remain unperturbed seeing equally happiness
and sorrow attain immortality and never perish (Gita 2:15). Neither is there a
place for untruth nor any paucity of place for the truth; and those who see
both these statements as the same thing se the reality (Gita 2:16). You remain
imperishable even while the whole of this material world perishes, and this
situation should not disturb you (Gita 2:17). Those who think they can kill or
be killed, both do not know the reality that neither does anybody kill nor is
anybody killed (Gita 2:19). Neither is the soul ever born nor does it ever die,
neither did it ever in the past nor will it ever do so in the future, and not
even in the present; unborn it is always here, eternal and pre-historical, it
doesn’t perish when the body perishes (Gita 2:20). The soul changes old worn
out bodies for new ones just as people change old worn out clothes for new ones
(Gita 2:22). Neither can weapons pierce the soul nor fire burn it, nor water
drench it and nor can the wind dry it (Gita 2:23) non-pierce-able,
non-inflammable, non-drench-able and non-dry-able, the soul is always present
as immovable and still yet ever pervading everywhere, it is eternal (Gita
2:24). The intangible soul cannot even be imagined and indestructible they call
it and the knowledge and realization of it being so should not disturb you
(Gita 2:25). O you the mighty one with great arms, you should not be disturbed
even if you consider yourself ever born and ever dying (Gita 2:26) because everything
that has a terminal must necessarily have two to exist while birth and death
are the two terminals containing life in-between them and neither should you
mourn (Gita 2:27). Some narrate this with amazement while some others hear this
amazed and some others are so amazed hearing it that they cannot believe their
ears (Gita 2:29). You shall not commit any sin in fighting this battle
considering equal happiness or sorrow, profit or loss and victory or defeat
(Gita 2:38).
In spirit the other 12 Samkhya Shlokas of the Gita too are
exact repetitions of Maharishi Kapil’s secular Samkhya, minimally modified
verbally to adjust into the context of the dialogue of the Gita:
अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे ।
गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ॥ २-११॥
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः ।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥ २-१४॥
अन्तवन्त इमे देहा नित्यस्योक्ताः शरीरिणः ।
अनाशिनोऽप्रमेयस्य तस्माद्युध्यस्व भारत ॥ २-१८॥
वेदाविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनमजमव्ययम् ।
कथं स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम् ॥ २-२१॥
अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत ।
अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना ॥ २-२८॥
देही नित्यमवध्योऽयं देहे सर्वस्य भारत ।
तस्मात्सर्वाणि भूतानि न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥ २-३०॥
स्वधर्ममपि चावेक्ष्य न विकम्पितुमर्हसि ।
धर्म्याद्धि युद्धाच्छ्रेयोऽन्यत्क्षत्रियस्य न विद्यते ॥
२-३१॥
यदृच्छया चोपपन्नं स्वर्गद्वारमपावृतम् ।
सुखिनः क्षत्रियाः पार्थ लभन्ते युद्धमीदृशम् ॥ २-३२॥
अथ चेत्त्वमिमं धर्म्यं सङ्ग्रामं न करिष्यसि ।
ततः स्वधर्मं कीर्तिं च हित्वा पापमवाप्स्यसि ॥ २-३३॥
अकीर्तिं चापि भूतानि कथयिष्यन्ति तेऽव्ययाम् ।
सम्भावितस्य चाकीर्तिर्मरणादतिरिच्यते ॥ २-३४॥
भयाद्रणादुपरतं मंस्यन्ते त्वां महारथाः ।
येषां च त्वं बहुमतो भूत्वा यास्यसि लाघवम् ॥ २-३५॥
अवाच्यवादांश्च बहून्वदिष्यन्ति तवाहिताः ।
निन्दन्तस्तव सामर्थ्यं ततो दुःखतरं नु किम् ॥ २-३६॥
हतो वा प्राप्स्यसि स्वर्गं जित्वा वा भोक्ष्यसे महीम् ।
तस्मादुत्तिष्ठ कौन्तेय युद्धाय कृतनिश्चयः ॥ २-३७॥
How
anomalous that you foolishly mourn those who should not be mourned and yet talk
the wise man’s language while really wise are those who mourn neither those
who’ve gone (from this world) nor those who’re preparing to go. Gita: 2:11.
Cold and warmth are only skin deep O Kunti’s son and so are happiness and
sorrow and all other pairs of opposites, and being temporal they’re sure to
wither away. Gita: 2:14. All these destructible bodies perish O descendent of
King Bharat; while the indestructible soul survives forever. Gita: 2:18. Tell
me O Partha the knower of the imperishable eternal soul, how can you expect to
kill either anybody or be killed by anybody? Gita: 2:21. Intangible in the past
O Bharat it is tangible only in the middle and shall be eternally intangible
again. Gita: 2:28. The eternally imperishable soul residing in anybody can’t be
killed O Bharat application of such immortality to everybody in the world
should not disturb you eternally. Gita: 2:30. This battle should not disturb
you in view of your caste discipline because a Kshatriya that you are should be
happy at the chance of fighting a battle for upholding the up-righteousness of
deontology; else Kshatriyas wouldn’t have been there. Gita: 2:31. A Kshatriya
is happy at his chance of fighting a battle that comprises the gateway to
heaven for him. Gita: 2:32. Knowing all this if you don’t fight this battle,
not only shall you lose the fame of your discipline but shall also sin and go
to hell. Gita: 2:33. You shall also earn the infamy of inaction and infamy is
worse than death. Gita: 2:34. Considering you a great fighter, who’ve been
afraid of ever facing you shall now treat you small fry and challenge your
might. Gita: 2:35. Intent hurting and harming you, they’ll curse your prowess
and call you names which will pain you as nothing else can. Gita: 2:36.
Fighting this battle benefits you both ways, martyred you earn the heavens
while a victor you enjoy the terrestrial realm. Gita: 2:37.
Karma-yoga is concisely yet
comprehensively contained in:
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥ २-४७॥
Just
do your worldly duty, without considering what its result will be, good or bad
because doing your work to your best is all that’s in your control. Neither be
the one who does his work for its result, nor complacent towards your duty; and
neither should you have any emotional attachment with whatever you do, nor with
its result. Gita: 2:47
योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय ।
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते ॥ २-४८॥
दूरेण ह्यवरं कर्म बुद्धियोगाद्धनञ्जय ।
बुद्धौ शरणमन्विच्छ कृपणाः फलहेतवः ॥ २-४९॥
बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते ।
तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् ॥ २-५०॥
कर्मजं बुद्धियुक्ता हि फलं त्यक्त्वा मनीषिणः ।
जन्मबन्धविनिर्मुक्ताः पदं गच्छन्त्यनामयम् ॥ २-५१॥
यदा ते मोहकलिलं बुद्धिर्व्यतितरिष्यति ।
तदा गन्तासि निर्वेदं श्रोतव्यस्य श्रुतस्य च ॥ २-५२॥
श्रुतिविप्रतिपन्ना ते यदा स्थास्यति निश्चला ।
समाधावचला बुद्धिस्तदा योगमवाप्स्यसि ॥ २-५३॥
Firmly
establish yourself in yoga, abandoning all attachment and considering success
or failure alike, because parity is yoga, just do your worldly work that’s
become your duty. (2:48) Remain firmly in Buddhiyoga,
hey Dhnanjaya (another name of Arjun; literally meaning immensely wealthy),
aloof from work done in expectance of its fruit, while the doers for fruits
always remain poor. (2:49) Equipped with such Buddhi or wisdom of the yoga of parity of good or bad work, do your
work efficiently and to your best. (2:50) The saintly who’ve conquered their
own desires relinquish the fruits of their work and thence getting freed of the
bonds of rebirth (or acquiring moksha
or nirvana), they attain my position.
(2:51) So the wise getting nirveda
(unconcerned with the edicts of the Vedas/shrutis
as heard free themselves of all emotional attachment. (2:52) Establish yourself
firmly in such yoga. (2:53)
Krishna’s
lecture in main is contained in 43 Shlokas
(2:11 to 2:53); the earlier 36 of which (2:11 to 2:46) comprise his prelude, 27
of which (2:11 to 2:38) explain Samkhya
while the remaining 8 link up the two philosophies in the words:
एषा तेऽभिहिता साङ्ख्ये बुद्धिर्योगे त्विमां शृणु ।
बुद्ध्या युक्तो यया पार्थ कर्मबन्धं प्रहास्यसि ॥ २-३९॥
नेहाभिक्रमनाशोऽस्ति प्रत्यवायो न विद्यते ।
स्वल्पमप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात् ॥ २-४०॥
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिरेकेह कुरुनन्दन ।
बहुशाखा ह्यनन्ताश्च बुद्धयोऽव्यवसायिनाम् ॥ २-४१॥
यामिमां पुष्पितां वाचं प्रवदन्त्यविपश्चितः ।
वेदवादरताः पार्थ नान्यदस्तीति वादिनः ॥ २-४२॥
कामात्मानः स्वर्गपरा जन्मकर्मफलप्रदाम् ।
क्रियाविशेषबहुलां भोगैश्वर्यगतिं प्रति ॥ २-४३॥
भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानां तयापहृतचेतसाम् ।
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिः समाधौ न विधीयते ॥ २-४४॥
त्रैगुण्यविषया वेदा निस्त्रैगुण्यो भवार्जुन ।
निर्द्वन्द्वो नित्यसत्त्वस्थो निर्योगक्षेम आत्मवान् ॥
२-४५॥
यावानर्थ उदपाने सर्वतः सम्प्लुतोदके ।
तावान्सर्वेषु वेदेषु ब्राह्मणस्य विजानतः ॥ २-४६॥
(This, for
your benefit, was Samkhya while I now
begin the Buddhiryoga (same as
Karma-yoga) that disassociates your deeds and their fruits, freeing you from
your bonds of Karma.)
Gita comprises Chapter 5 of the Bhishmaparva of Mahabharata;
while the immediately preceding Chapter contains Vedavyasa’s Gita-Mahatmaya, viz. the grandeur of the
Gita that amongst others states:
...SarvaDevamayo
Hari, sarvaVedamayi Ganga, sarvaShastramayi Gita.
(Hari
(Vishnu/Krishna) encompasses all the Gods, Ganga encompasses all the Vedas
while Gita encompasses all the Shastras)
What
matters here is that while Ganga
encompasses all the Vedas, Gita encompasses all the Shastras: because Vedas
are authoritative, as are all the religious texts of all the religions of the
World, and NOT open to being questioned or challenged while Shastras are open to being questioned or
challenged; so the Gita is open to all challenges, questions, and criticism,
just as any other scientific treatise. So my friends feel free to challenge me,
question me, and criticize me; something that no religious preacher of any
religion would allow in any religious discourse, even of the Gita, saying this is God’s speech and
God isn’t questionable. So this is why and how I’m different!
The battle between the cousins of the Mahabharata,
including the Gita, is narrated to Dhritrashtra
by Sanjay; but with the sunrise on the day of the battle, he begins describing
world geography to his King and continues doing so until the twelfth day of the
battle, when pierced with countless arrows by Arjun, Bhishma the family
patriarch drops down upon a bed of arrows piercing his body when a shocked
Sanjay suddenly cries, “Bhishma has fallen.” His King then asks him:
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः ।
मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय ॥ १-१॥
Hey Sanjay,
what have mine and my brother Pandu’s sons, gathered with the determined intent
of war in the Dharmic land of Kurukshetra, already done? Gita: 1:1
Sanjay then commences his
commentary on the battle.
It is also interesting to note that the first two words of Dhritrashtra’s question, viz. the first
two words of the Gita, धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे give us the whole message of the Gita. How
brief and concise! Both these words are composite words, made up of two words
each, viz. धर्म क्षेत्रे and कुरु क्षेत्रे; rearranging the four,
we can obtain क्षेत्रे क्षेत्रे, धर्म कुरु; meaning keep doing Dharma (deontology) in every
sphere of your life.
This
is a pragmatic interpretation of the Gita meant for ordinary people like you or
me, not for the Sanyasi (Recluse); because Krishna delivered it to Arjun, a
prince rather than a Sanyasi; but the irony and the anomaly attached to the
religion and the nation of the Gita ever since the extinction of Gita’s
language Sanskrit as the language of common communication can be traced in the
fact that the common people here are dependent on the Sanyasis to explain the
Gita to them. The Hindu religion, like any other religion of the World, accords
a Special Status of Spiritual Superiority over the common man to the Sanyasi,
and fearing erosion of such artificially attained superiority through the
common man’s understanding of Gita’s true interpretation that lifts the
aspirant from the lower levels of renunciation, where the objects are
renounced, to the loftier heights where desires are dead, and where the Yogi
dwells in calm and ceaseless contemplation, while his body and mind are
actively employed in discharging the duties that fall to his lot in life, the
Sanyasis wantonly distort Gita’s interpretation; making it a text for the
Sanyasis and for promoting Sanyas (Reclusion); while the truth is that Krishna
delivered the Gita to Arjun when wavering in doing his worldly duty of fighting
the battle, Arjun expressed his desire of becoming a Sanyasi in the words;
कथं भीष्ममहं सङ्ख्ये द्रोणं च मधुसूदन ।
इषुभिः प्रतियोत्स्यामि पूजार्हावरिसूदन ॥ २-४॥
Say O Madhusudan (slayer of
Maddhu; Madhu here has two meanings, a Demon named Madhu Hari (God/Krishna)
slew being one, the other represents moha
or worldly desires Krishna vanquishes in the Gita), how can you expect me to
slay the family Grandsire Bhishma and/or the family teacher Drona, who deserve my
worship. - Gita 2:4
गुरूनहत्वा हि महानुभावान् श्रेयो भोक्तुं भैक्ष्यमपीह लोके ।
हत्वार्थकामांस्तु गुरूनिहैव भुञ्जीय भोगान् रुधिरप्रदिग्धान् ॥ २-५॥
It’s surely the better for me
to turn a Sanyasi and live (भैक्ष्यमपीह) on alms than
enjoy the fruits of the realm stained with the blood of these grandsires who command
my worship. - Gita: 2:5
न चैतद्विद्मः कतरन्नो गरीयो यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः ।
यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषामस्-तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्राः ॥ २-६॥
And while there’s
no way for me to be sure whether I will win this battle within the family, I’ll
rather not fight this battle and let the (धार्तराष्ट्राः) sons of Dhritrashtra kill me unarmed. – Gita: 2:6
For a better understanding of the above, a
quote from
Before Krishna begins his lecture comprising his message of
the Gita, Arjun drops Gandiva, his
famous bow, and slumps down in dejection, saying:
गुरूनहत्वा हि महानुभावान् श्रेयो भोक्तुं भैक्ष्यमपीह लोके ।
हत्वार्थकामांस्तु गुरूनिहैव भुञ्जीय भोगान् रुधिरप्रदिग्धान् ॥ २-५॥
Even
if I win this war and the vast Empire of Hastinapur and Indraprastha, it shall
be stained with the blood of all my seniors, teachers, and the whole of my
family (Chandravansha) leaving none who’ll be happy seeing my rule; it’s then better
for me to live begging for my livelihood rather than fight this battle. Gita:
2:5.
In view of Macaulay’s
words, “I have not seen one person who is a beggar” Arjun here means by the
word “beggar” those who collect alms singing God’s name and are nowadays called
sanyasis, not beggars that they really are.
And when at
the end of his grand oratory, Krishna tells Arjun:
मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु ।
मामेवैष्यसि सत्यं ते प्रतिजाने प्रियोऽसि मे ॥ १८-६५॥
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।
अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥ १८-६६॥
Have
faith in me, be my devotee, salute me and follow my teachings, and worship only
me, abandoning all other religions and since you are so dear to me, I truly
tell you that I surely shall free you of all your sins and lead you unto the
ultimate Divine Freedom of Moksha/Nirvana.
Gita: 18:65 & 18:66
Arjun then
lifts his bow and ready for fighting the grand battle, gives his Gandiva a mighty twang, announcing:
नष्टो मोहः स्मृतिर्लब्धा त्वत्प्रसादान्मयाच्युत ।
स्थितोऽस्मि गतसन्देहः करिष्ये वचनं तव ॥ १८-७३॥
Remembering
all your teachings, O God Almighty, and shedding all my fears and aspersions,
I’ve now firmed up and I’ll do as you say. Gita: 18:73
This is precisely the impact
my interpretation of the Gita produces.
On the
other hand, a religious sermon on the Shrimadbhagvadgita
will do precisely the opposite and turn a successful worldly worker into an
idle beggar.
This is how I’m different.
I’m a common man like you, and
I believe in:
योगिनामपि सर्वेषां मद्गतेनान्तरात्मना ।
श्रद्धावान्भजते यो मां स मे युक्ततमो मतः ॥ ६-४७॥
Karmyogis,
my true followers finally become one with me. Gita: 6:47
So, I am destined to one day become Krishna, and so can
you. All you have to do is keep reading my posts here, keep discussing them to thoroughly
understand them, and keep applying them to your actions in whatever you do in
your routine life; to improve your chance of greater success, and keep earning
money – and in case my advice enables you to earn sufficiently more than
before, keep sharing some of the extra earnings with me through donations.
I am
no Sanyasi, viz. I’ve NOT renounced the world; I can earn, and accept payments
or donations to accumulate wealth; rather, it’s my duty to earn and amass
wealth to the extent. The study of the Gita is a never-ending work of extensive
research needing lots of funds, and it also adversely affects my business. Anybody
desiring to support my cause may please send me money by UPI, online bank
transfer, RTGS, or Cheque/DD. Rameish Agrawaal is my literary pseudonym while
my official name is Ramesh Kumar Agrawal and my particulars are given below.
Thank you, my
friends
- Ramesh
Kumar Agrawal
- Permanent
Address: G-3/39 Model Town, Delhi – 110009 INDIA
- Current
Address: 6A (Front) 1st Floor, Suraj Nagar, Delhi – 110033 INDIA
- Ragrawaal@gmail.com ; Rameisha@gmail.com
- Phone:
+91 9811071925 (accepts UPI payments)
- Punjab
National Bank, Model Town, Delhi, INDIA
- A/C
No. 0650000101284874 ; IFSC PUNB0065000
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