Gita based motivational talk Main Lecture - Background
Friends, my last post, about Arjun’s Disorientation had
ended with the shlokas:
सञ्जय उवाच ।
एवमुक्त्वा हृषीकेशं गुडाकेशः परन्तप ।
न योत्स्य इति गोविन्दमुक्त्वा तूष्णीं बभूव ह ॥ २-९॥
तमुवाच हृषीकेशः प्रहसन्निव भारत ।
सेनयोरुभयोर्मध्ये विषीदन्तमिदं वचः ॥ २-१०॥
Sanjay said: Saying so to Hrishikesh (God Krishna), Pramtapa (World’s greatest
performer of penance) Gudakesha (who’d conquered sleep) (Arjun) declared before
Govind (Krishna the protector of cows) “I will NOT fight.” (Gita 2:9)
Then for the pleasure of (Arjun) the glorious descendant of King Bharat,
Hrishikesh (God Krishna) thus spoke there in the
middle of the two warring armies all set and ready for the start of their
battle. (Gita 2:10)
And with the next shloka, viz.:
श्रीभगवानुवाच ।
अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे ।
गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ॥ २-११॥
God
Said.
You
worry about those not worth being worried about, and strangely talk the
language and words of the wise while the learned wise worry neither for those
who have gone away from this mortal world nor for those who are yet to go.
(Gita 2:11)
…begins the Supreme God
Krishna’s answer to all Arjun’s questions and the Gita’s Main Lecture. Whenever
a speaker speaks on any subject, (s)he first delivers her/his main lecture,
then takes up the question hour inviting questions from the listeners to
clarify/dispel their doubts; so does Krishna in delivering the Gita to Arjun.
God’s main lecture of the Gita is contained in a total of only 43 Shlokas, 2:11
to 2:53, out of a total of 700 shlokas comprising the whole text of the Gita;
i.e. as many as 600 shlokas of the 700 shloka text are dedicated to the
question hour in which God Krishna answers the questions asked by his extremely
wise disciple Arjun. This is so because God Hari’s main lecture is extremely
precise, containing immense knowledge in the select few words of its 43
shlokas. Hence it necessitates us to thoroughly understand the main lecture to
the entire depth of each and every one of its 43 shlokas, and in order to best
understand it, we should not yet jump to it, but should first thoroughly
understand its foreground and the background of the prevailing conditions in
which God Hari/Krishna delivers such main lecture of the Gita as well as those
in which we’re attempting to understand it; in the World and in our nation
that’s also the nation of the Gita and in our society and its Dharma,
deontology as well as religion, that’s also the society and its Dharma,
deontology as well as religion, of the Gita, viz. The Arya Culture/Santana
Dharma. In the Gita God Hari/Krishna says:
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॥
The practically pragmatic
wisdom is always unique and singular; the never-ending multiple-branched wisdom
is never practicable. (Gita: 2:41) 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) …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) So aroused desire of
heavens full of luxuries, leisure, and pleasures weans away their intellect of
appreciating the practically pragmatic wisdom. (Gita: 2:44) 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 a firm belief in yourself.
(Gita: 2:45)
My earlier post about Arjun’s Disorientation shows
through various logics put forth by a disoriented Arjun in his arguments for
not fighting the battle have shown his great understanding of Dharma as a religion
with specific mention of many aspects of the Arya Religion, as in the shlokas:
उवाच पार्थ पश्यैतान्समवेतान्कुरूनिति
॥ १-२५॥
तत्रापश्यत्स्थितान्पार्थः
पितॄनथ पितामहान् ।
आचार्यान्मातुलान्भ्रातॄन्पुत्रान्पौत्रान्सखींस्तथा
॥ १-२६॥
श्वशुरान्सुहृदश्चैव
सेनयोरुभयोरपि ।
तान्समीक्ष्य स
कौन्तेयः सर्वान्बन्धूनवस्थितान् ॥ १-२७॥
So surveying both the armies,
Pritha’s son (Arjun) said, “I see gathered here the whole Kuru Clan including
all my sires, grandsires, and mentors, Bhishma and Drona prominent amongst
them, maternal uncles, brothers & cousins, children, grandchildren,
friends, fathers and uncles in law, all the dear and near in these warring
armies.” So Arjun saw the whole of his brotherhood, gathered there to fight
each other. Gita (1:25 to 1:27).
...
अर्जुन उवाच ।
दृष्ट्वेमं स्वजनं
कृष्ण युयुत्सुं समुपस्थितम् ॥ १-२८॥
So Arjun said, “I see that all
these who have gathered here to fight each other are those whom I can call my
own people. (Gita 1:28)
सीदन्ति मम
गात्राणि मुखं च परिशुष्यति ।
वेपथुश्च शरीरे मे
रोमहर्षश्च जायते ॥ १-२९॥
गाण्डीवं स्रंसते
हस्तात्त्वक्चैव परिदह्यते ।
न च
शक्नोम्यवस्थातुं भ्रमतीव च मे मनः ॥ १-३०॥
निमित्तानि च
पश्यामि विपरीतानि केशव ।
न च
श्रेयोऽनुपश्यामि हत्वा स्वजनमाहवे ॥ १-३१॥
न काङ्क्षे विजयं
कृष्ण न च राज्यं सुखानि च ।
किं नो राज्येन
गोविन्द किं भोगैर्जीवितेन वा ॥ १-३२॥
येषामर्थे
काङ्क्षितं नो राज्यं भोगाः सुखानि च ।
त इमेऽवस्थिता
युद्धे प्राणांस्त्यक्त्वा धनानि च ॥ १-३३॥
आचार्याः पितरः
पुत्रास्तथैव च पितामहाः ।
मातुलाः श्वशुराः
पौत्राः श्यालाः सम्बन्धिनस्तथा ॥ १-३४॥
एतान्न
हन्तुमिच्छामि घ्नतोऽपि मधुसूदन ।
अपि
त्रैलोक्यराज्यस्य हेतोः किं नु महीकृते ॥ १-३५॥
निहत्य
धार्तराष्ट्रान्नः का प्रीतिः स्याज्जनार्दन ।
पापमेवाश्रयेदस्मान्हत्वैतानाततायिनः
॥ १-३६॥
तस्मान्नार्हा वयं
हन्तुं धार्तराष्ट्रान्स्वबान्धवान् ।
स्वजनं हि कथं
हत्वा सुखिनः स्याम माधव ॥ १-३७॥
यद्यप्येते न
पश्यन्ति लोभोपहतचेतसः ।
कुलक्षयकृतं दोषं
मित्रद्रोहे च पातकम् ॥ १-३८॥
कथं न
ज्ञेयमस्माभिः पापादस्मान्निवर्तितुम् ।
कुलक्षयकृतं दोषं
प्रपश्यद्भिर्जनार्दन ॥ १-३९॥
कुलक्षये
प्रणश्यन्ति कुलधर्माः सनातनाः ।
धर्मे नष्टे कुलं
कृत्स्नमधर्मोऽभिभवत्युत ॥ १-४०॥
अधर्माभिभवात्कृष्ण
प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रियः ।
स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु
वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसङ्करः ॥ १-४१॥
सङ्करो नरकायैव
कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च ।
पतन्ति पितरो
ह्येषां लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रियाः ॥ १-४२॥
दोषैरेतैः
कुलघ्नानां वर्णसङ्करकारकैः ।
उत्साद्यन्ते जातिधर्माः
कुलधर्माश्च शाश्वताः ॥ १-४३॥
उत्सन्नकुलधर्माणां
मनुष्याणां जनार्दन ।
नरके नियतं वासो
भवतीत्यनुशुश्रुम ॥ १-४४॥
अहो बत महत्पापं
कर्तुं व्यवसिता वयम् ।
यद्राज्यसुखलोभेन
हन्तुं स्वजनमुद्यताः ॥ १-४५॥
यदि
मामप्रतीकारमशस्त्रं शस्त्रपाणयः ।
धार्तराष्ट्रा रणे
हन्युस्तन्मे क्षेमतरं भवेत् ॥ १-४६॥
The sight of all my people
gathered to fight one another chokes my throat and dries my mouth, tightens my
body stiff with the hair standing up electrified (Gita 1:29) My shoulder fails
to hold Gandiv (Arjun’s famous bow), my hands burn with the heat of my passions
and my mind is confused with disbelief, (Gita 1:30) and I feel all the adverse
signs and symptoms, O Keshava (descendant of King Kishu, viz. Krishna) and I
see no good in killing my own people. (Gita 1:31) Neither do I desire victory
over them, nor will I be happy ruling the earth without them O Govind (Krishna)
(Gita 1:32) All those who desire my rule and would be happy in my rule have
abandoned their wealth and gathered here to shed their lives fighting this
battle, (Gita 1:33) with my teachers, seniors, juniors, grandsires, maternal
uncles, fathers in law, grandchildren, brothers in law, and other relatives;
(Gita 1:34) who’s slaughter amounts grave sin O Madhusudan (Slayer of the Demon
named Madhu, viz. Krishna) that I cannot commit even for the empire of the
Trilok (The three worlds, viz. the Earth, Heaven, and the Universe) (Gita 1:35)
Even the slaughter of these sinner sons of Dhritrashtra will beget me only sin
because they are my cousins and belong to the same family O Janardan (Krishna),
and it cannot make me happy (Gita 1:36 -1:37) Their avarice has blinded them to
the grave sins of finishing the whole of own family, the Grand Kuru Clan, and
of sinful friend-betrayal (Gita 1:38), but we do understand the grave sin
involved in finishing our own clan in mutual battle, O Janardan, how can you
expect me to commit such awful sin? (Gita 1:39) Slaughter of own kinsmen leads
to the erosion of the Sanatana (eternal) Family Dharma, and leads to the growth
of adharma (anti-Dharma) (Gita 1:40) Growing adharma ultimately enforces
immoral pollution of the women, O Krishna the descendant of King Vrishni,
leading to Varnasankara and the erosion of Jatidharma also along-with eternal
erosion of Kuldharma starting an evil chain that soon pervades whole mankind hurling
everyone into sinful hell (Gita 1:41 to 1:44) I cannot commit such sinful
slaughter of own people; so I surrender my weapons, and I would consider it
better if the Dhartarashtras slay me unarmed. (Gita 1:45 & 1:46)
It is pertinent to note here Arjun’s amazing awareness
and understanding of the religious Dharma or uprightness, of sins and piety, of
the paths leading to hell and heaven, and all the relevant matters better than
most of the modern-day sanyasis, saints, sages, spiritual preachers, Brahmins,
and/or priests of all the religions of the world; and further:
अर्जुन उवाच ।
कथं भीष्ममहं
सङ्ख्ये द्रोणं च मधुसूदन ।
इषुभिः
प्रतियोत्स्यामि पूजार्हावरिसूदन ॥ २-४॥
गुरूनहत्वा हि
महानुभावान् श्रेयो भोक्तुं भैक्ष्यमपीह लोके ।
हत्वार्थकामांस्तु गुरूनिहैव
भुञ्जीय भोगान् रुधिरप्रदिग्धान् ॥ २-५॥
न चैतद्विद्मः
कतरन्नो गरीयो यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः ।
यानेव हत्वा न
जिजीविषामस्-तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्राः ॥ २-६॥
कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभावः
पृच्छामि त्वां धर्मसम्मूढचेताः ।
यच्छ्रेयः
स्यान्निश्चितं ब्रूहि तन्मे शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम् ॥ २-७॥
न हि प्रपश्यामि
ममापनुद्याद् यच्छोकमुच्छोषणमिन्द्रियाणाम् ।
अवाप्य
भूमावसपत्नमृद्धं राज्यं सुराणामपि चाधिपत्यम् ॥ २-८॥
Arjun said: Tell me O Madhusudan (Slayer of the Demon Madhu) how can I strike Bhishma
or Drona; so honorable for me, O Arisudan (slayer of the enemy) (Gita 2:4). I
would prefer begging for my livelihood the rest of my
life rather than enjoying a realm stained with their blood. (Gita 2:5) There’s
no way to know for sure whether I will win this battle or my enemies,
prominently led by Dhritrashtra’s evil sons will vanquish me and establish
their evil rule. (Gita 2:6) I’m unable to control my senses, and I’ve lost
sense of what is my Dharma in these conditions; so I surrender before you O
Krishna, kindly guide me. (Gita 2:7 & 8)
Arjun
with as much wealth as to be called Dhnanjaya (extremely wealthy) in the
extremely rich Indian Society of the times of the Mahabharat, and all that much
knowledge and understanding of religion and religious Dharma and as pious as to
be annointed by God Krishna with adjectives such as Paramtapa and Anagh (one
who never sins) proposing to live the rest of his life भोक्तुं भैक्ष्यमपीह लोके (begging for living in the world) is no joke because he understands that
he must abandon all his wealth and become a pennyless pauper before he turns a
Sanyasi to live the rest of his life भोक्तुं
भैक्ष्यमपीह लोके (begging for living in the world), and he is
willing to do so, rather than sin by fighting that battle of a family fued.
It’s Arjun’s such immense understanding of the Arya Religion with ironically no
hint of his understanding of anything about the
Arya Deontology that compels Krishna to give him a lesson, and so the stage is
set for Krishna’s lecture in main of the Gita. Such is the background
of the prevailing conditions within the Gita in which God Hari/Krishna delivers
his main lecture of the Gita; while the foreground of the events of the epic
Mahabharat leading to the conditions of the Gita are also pertinent here. The
Gita appears as entire Chapter 5 of the part titled Bhishma Parva of
Mahabharata, the second of the greatest Hindu Epics, the first being the
Ramayana. So, the story of the events leading to the line-up of the rival
forces for the battle beginning when Krishna delivers the Gita to Arjun comprises
the foreground of the Gita. The family feud of the grand Kuru Clan has its
roots in the crowning of the younger brother Pandu, despite being born
jaundice-infected, after declaring the elder brother Dhritrashtra unfit due to
being born blind.
Pandu rules
very successfully, dexterously expanding the Hastinapur Empire but then his
health deteriorates, and therefore, he goes to the forests on medical advice,
appointing Dhritrashtra to rule in the capacity of his regent in his absence,
but later dies in the forest, leaving behind a wife and five sons; meanwhile
Dhritrashtra fathers a hundred and one sons and a daughter and rears them with
the belief that they are the King’s children, virtuously making them all
believe Duryodhan, the eldest of them, destined Crown Prince; but they’re
shocked when Grandsire Bhishma, the family patriarch brings home Pandu’s widow
and sons, and introduces Yuddhishthir, the senior Pandava (Pandu’s son), as the
naturally destined Crown Prince. The cousins, pious Pandavas (Pandu’s sons) and
wicked Dhartarashtras (Dhritrashtra’s sons) grow up, learning their lessons
together, but jealous Dhartarashtras always scheming to somehow eliminate the
unassuming Pandavas, and at the occasion of Yuddhishthir’s Coronation as the
Crown Prince, Duryodhan manages to send Pandavas and their mother to Varnavat,
where he’s slyly managed building a grand palace made of lac wax for them,
planning to burn them alive in that. The wise Pandavas, however hinted by their
wise junior uncle Vidura, the Prime Minister of the Great Hastinapur Empire, sense
wily Duryodhan’s plan in time to escape unhurt, live incognito, and reach King
Drupad’s capital city on time to witness, incognito, his highly coveted
Princess Draupadi’s Swayamwara (an Arya Tradition of a highly coveted princess
choosing her groom amongst gathered Royal Suitors). Hastinapur meanwhile
assumes Pandavas, including Crown Prince Yuddhishthir, perished in the palatial
inferno of Varnavat and seeing in it his son’s chance, the wily overambitious
blind regent Dhritrashtra crowns Duryodhan the Crown Prince.
With Arjun,
the third Pandava and the declared greatest archer of the world in her mind,
Draupadi sets a qualifying condition of a difficult archery feat for willing
suitors to perform to be considered by her at her Swayamwara but all the attending
Royals, including the mighty Crown Prince Duryodhan of the Great Empire of
Hastinapur, fail to qualify, and incognito Arjun, disguised as a Brahmin, then
performs that feat to marry Draupadi and take her to his mother in their
cottage in the forest. Her brother Drishtadyumna shadows them, learns their
true identities, and returns to break the news to King Drupad, who then invites
them to his palace and breaks the whole news to the world at large. Patriarch
Bhishma invites the Pandavas back to Hastinapur and desires to reincarnate
Yuddhishthir the Crown Prince; but the blind regent argues that Duryodhan the
incumbent Crown Prince, duly Coronated when the Pandavas were dead to
Hastinapur’s best knowledge and belief, cannot be summarily dismissed and
thence the great empire is bifurcated; giving Khandavaprastha the desolate desert
part to Yuddhishthir while Duryodhan retains the flourishing Hastinapur.
With the
help of their maternal cousins Balrama and God Krishna, the Pandavas work hard
to develop desolate Khandavaprastha into Indraprastha; a place transcending the
heavens, and then the Pandavas organize a Rajsuya-Yagya to proclaim Yudhishthir
the National Chakravrati (The Federal Sovereign over All The Kings of India).
Jealous Duryodhan challenges Yudhishthir to a game of Dice, and with the help
of his maternal uncle Shakuni, an expert at manipulating dice, cheats
Yudhishthir of all his belongings, the entire Federal Empire of Indraprastha,
himself with all his brothers, and slyly also Draupadi, and disgraces her in
the Royal Court of his father the blind King of Hastinapur, before Krishna
suddenly appears there to protect her chastity and admonish entire Kuru Clan
for that dastardly shamelessness, and so shamed Blind King then returns to
Yudhishthir all that he’d been cheated of; but the wily Prince Duryodhan slyly
traps unassuming Yudhishthir into accepting a tricky condition of the Pandavas,
with Draupadi, spending 12 years in exile in the forests, followed with an year
of incognito life before Duryodhan returns Indraprastha to them only upon his
failure to recognize the Pandavas during the year of their incognito life. Pandavas
fulfill the conditions, and Duryodhan fails to recognize them in the year of
their incognito living, but Duryodhan then refuses to return Indraprastha
without war.
For the
sake of peace, God Krishna makes a last effort, representing Pandavas in the
Royal Court of Hastinapur, but rather than the King answering him, haughty
Prince Duryodhan ridicules him, labels Pandavas cowards, and abuses them.
Unruffled Krishna however smiles in response, and makes an extempore offer seeking
only 5 villages for the 5 Pandavas, for avoiding war at any cost, but Duryodhan
adamantly refuses to cede anything without war, arrogantly enforcing that
battle. Even within the Gita, when Arjun drops Gandiv, his grand bow, and refuses to fight that battle, Krishna,
in the first instance, simply tells him to not succumb to such cowardice at the
time of the battle, in the words:
श्रीभगवानुवाच ।
कुतस्त्वा कश्मलमिदं विषमे समुपस्थितम् ।
अनार्यजुष्टमस्वर्ग्यमकीर्तिकरमर्जुन ॥ २-२॥
क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते ।
क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप ॥ २-३॥
God said: How come
such cowardice to overwhelm you the brave-heart accomplisher, O Pritha’s son
Arjun, abandon this weakness of the heart, and rise O Paramtap (world’s greatest
accomplisher of penance) Arjun, and do your duty. (Gita 2:2 & 2:3), and its
only when Arjun gives his religiously upright reasons for not fighting that
battle in the religiously right words:
अर्जुन उवाच ।
कथं भीष्ममहं सङ्ख्ये द्रोणं च मधुसूदन ।
इषुभिः प्रतियोत्स्यामि पूजार्हावरिसूदन ॥ २-४॥
गुरूनहत्वा हि महानुभावान् श्रेयो भोक्तुं भैक्ष्यमपीह लोके ।
हत्वार्थकामांस्तु गुरूनिहैव भुञ्जीय भोगान् रुधिरप्रदिग्धान् ॥ २-५॥
न चैतद्विद्मः कतरन्नो गरीयो यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः ।
यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषामस्-तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्राः ॥ २-६॥
कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभावः पृच्छामि त्वां धर्मसम्मूढचेताः ।
यच्छ्रेयः स्यान्निश्चितं ब्रूहि तन्मे शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम्
॥ २-७॥
न हि प्रपश्यामि ममापनुद्याद् यच्छोकमुच्छोषणमिन्द्रियाणाम् ।
अवाप्य भूमावसपत्नमृद्धं राज्यं सुराणामपि चाधिपत्यम् ॥ २-८॥
Arjun said: Tell me O Madhusudan (Slayer of the Demon Madhu) how can I strike
Bhishma or Drona; so honorable for me, O Arisudan (slayer of the enemy) (Gita 2:4). I would prefer begging for my livelihood the rest of my life rather than enjoying a realm stained with their
blood. (Gita 2:5) There’s no way to know for
sure whether I will win this battle or my enemies, prominently led by
Dhritrashtra’s evil sons will vanquish me and establish their evil rule. (Gita 2:6) I’m unable to control my senses, and I’ve lost
sense of what is my Dharma in these conditions; so I surrender before you O
Krishna, kindly guide me. (Gita 2:7 & 8)
…that
Krishna delivers his all-important main lecture of the Gita.
Thus
briefing the foreground conditions leading to the battle, please allow me to
now take up the background of the conditions in which we’re attempting to
understand such main lecture of the Gita; as prevailing in the World in general
and specifically in our nation that’s also nation of the Gita and in our
society and its Dharma, deontology as well as religion, that’s also the society
and its Dharma, deontology as well as religion, of the Gita, viz. The Arya
Culture/Santana Dharma.
Please allow me to begin with an
attempt to understand the modern terms “Hindu” & “Hinduism.” Hindu is a
word of the Arabic language that besides being the language of Arabia and the
Arabs has also been adopted by Muslims all over the world for being the
language of their Holy book the Quran. The word Hindu originates from the word
Hinda, which the Arabs use for the nation Bharat while they call a citizen of
Bharat a Hindu. Ironically Indian Muslims visiting Arabia, as they mostly do
for their religious pilgrimage of “Haj” are referred to by the Arabs as
“Hindus” or “Hindu Muslims.” Persia also adopted the Arab terminology of Hinda
and Hindu, and the Greeks finding their way to Bharat through Persia learned
the Persian name for Bharat and adopted its Greek variant: India. When some
Muslim rulers conquered and ruled India, they never considered Bharat, India,
or Hinda their nation and themselves Bhartiya, Indian or Hindu, even when they
had nowhere else to go, so much so that when the British captured Bahadur Shah
Zafar, the last Moghul ruler in India, and lodged him in a prison to die in
Rangoon, far away from his land, he lamented, “Bara badnasib hai Zafar, dafan
ke liye, do gaz zameen na mil saki, tur-e-dayar me!” calling Bharat, India or
Hinda “tur-e-dayar” viz. “conquered land” not his nation or homeland. So the
Indian Muslims always called themselves Muslim and all other Indians Hindu, and
the continuance of such terminology through centuries led the British to
understand Hinduism as an all-inclusive religion including all the pre-Islam
religions of India; viz. all the religions originated in Hind or India those
are also called Dharmic Religions and include Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and
Buddhism as select amongst others. So, such became the loose explanation of the
modern terms Hindu and Hinduism. It is such, all-inclusive, Hinduism that 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, best known in the United States
for his ground-breaking 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, in the
name of the mother of religions, and 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 the idea of
toleration to different lands. 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 that 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.
It is the
same Hinduism that Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, first Vice President and
second President of India, and one of the finest English translators of Gita
and one of the greatest scholars of religion refers to when he 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; while Hinduism has none; So,
Hinduism is not a religion; it’s a way of life, a Sanatana (eternally growing
and all-inclusive indestructible) philosophy of deontology. But sadly enough
such ideal all-inclusive Hinduism today exists only in the philosophy of
Hinduism and in the books on Hindu philosophy/deontology. For any belief or
philosophy to practically be all-inclusive, it must first be all-understanding
and omni-sympathetic, rather than fundamentally reactionary, and so Hinduism
historically had been until the beginning of the erosion of its all-inclusive
nature in a quintessentially fundamentalist reaction to the phenomenal growth
of its own component Kshapnak Religions of Jainism and Buddhism in the first millennium of the
Common Era (CE). And ironically, the fundamentalist reactionaries misused their own misinterpretation of Krishna’s statement in Gita’s shlokas:
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॥
The practically pragmatic
wisdom is always unique and singular; the never-ending multiple-branched wisdom
is never practicable. (Gita: 2:41) 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) …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) So aroused desire of
heavens full of luxuries, leissure, and pleasures weans away their intellect of
appreciating the practically pragmatic wisdom. (Gita: 2:44) 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 a firm belief in yourself.
(Gita: 2:45).
…to extend their quintessentially fundamental philosophy
of the exclusionism of the Advait (unilateral) nature of Vedanta replacing the
erstwhile Badarayana’s Vedanta that
accommodating multiple interpretations of Vedanta had been inclusive in nature.
The loss of Mandana Misra in his debate against Adi Shankaracharya not only
established the Advait principle but also extended its fundamentality of
exclusionism unto the nanyadastitivada of the Mahāvākyas
of the Upanishads in utter violation and absolute reversal
of God Krishna’s statement in the above-quoted shlokas, those they
misinterpreted to misuse their paradoxical basis of arguments. Further
extension of such fundamentalism led to a fundamentalist commentary of the Gita
in an absolute reversal of God Krishna’s intent and the essence of the lecture
delivered to a warrior prince into a philosophy of the fundamental Mahāvākyas of the Upanishads meant for the sanyasis, even
mock-sanyasis and ponga-pundits, with the exclusivity of rights for explaining
it as merely a religious text; in effect leading to the unsavory consequences
of the national loss of Hindu losses in fighting the alien assaulters who then
ruled India through the second millennium of the Common Era (CE). Throughout
the second millennium of the Common Era, they worked to eradicate the
all-loving Hindu Religion and the Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam (Whole World is one
family) Philosophy of Global Fraternity of the non-perishable Sanatana Culture in
general and especially the true teachings and love of the Gita, in the
practical impact and resultantly promoting worldwide hate of their eternally
warring religions and nations that climaxed into the two world wars by the
millennium-end.
So, we have inherited in the third millennium of the
Common Era a world that has not learned, and ardently refuses to learn,
anything from those world wars or any of the vast multitude of mistakes
committed through the past two millennia, and continues with the various
nations and groups of nations perpetually pitched against one another engaged
in hostilities and wars, cold and hot, with the other nations and/or groups of
nations either adding fuel to the fires of war, like the western/NATO nations
in the seemingly eternally prolonged Ukraine-Russia war or the Five-Eyes
Nations in the eternally prolonged India’s war against Pakistan and its trained,
promoted, and exported Islamic Jehadi and Khalistani (Khalistanis are
representatives of Pakistan, not of Sikhs, and have zero following in the Sikh
Homeland State Punjab in India) terrorists operating in Kashmir and Canada
(political laboratory of USA), and a nation that ruthlessly shelters, supports,
and fosters terrorists of all hues and shades, treating them, including even
illegal entrants into Canada without Canadian Visa, as Canadian Citizens and provides
them asylum, sometimes even defying Interpol’s Red Corner Notices, in proxy
politics for the World’s monopolistic military and economic Superpower USA
since facing threats of the erosion of its power of hegemony to other resurgent
powers; including arch adversary China. International and intra-national
rivalries even pose elimination threats to individuals; such as President Putin
facing extra-legal threats from CIA, MOSSAD, and now also from President Zelensky
of Ukraine, and Former President Trump facing the threat of political
alienation from the court of law/justice around the critical time of the coming
Presidential elections. While I can, if desired and requested, provide
personalized Gita-based guidance and motivational counseling talks to boost
their individual lives to the named and other likewise suffering persons or
groups of persons facing mutually common/similar problems; for the general
prevalence of international concord, harmony, and amity worldwide, with Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam Philosophy of Global
Fraternity, since eradicated Sanatana (eternally growing and all-inclusive indestructible)
Dharma (philosophy of deontology)
must be revived to its past glory of pre-Christ (BCE) Era. The last Hindu revival attempt made near the end
of the nineteenth century of the Common Era (CE) had ended in starting a new
radical branch of Hinduism, called Arya Samaj as philosophically opposed to
Sanatana Dharma, due to the attempt itself being rooted in fundamentalism. Swami Vivekananda’s ground-breaking speech to
the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions at
Chicago, IL, USA, and Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan’s celebrated book Recovery of
Faith comprise their desire to
have their cherished Sanatana Dharma revived; but they could not launch any
drive to do so for fears of being subjected to the fate of Swami Dayananda
Saraswati ending their efforts into yet newer radical branch religions of
Hinduism. Nobody can do this single-handed; but united, we can do wonders, and
standing upon the shoulders of the Giants, past and present, even I, mere pygmy
individually, can undertake to bring about the unification of the numerous
branches of Hinduism and recovery of the omni-ambrosial Sanatana Dharma. I am
determined to do this, and I will; provided that all/most of the present-day
Dharma-gurus, religious as well as deontologists, saints, sages in general, and
the five Shankaracharyas in particular participate, supporting or opposing me in
an online open debate; I humbly invite willing supporters and proudly challenge
willing opponents to the anticipated debate, humbly accepting with thanks the
expected financial support as enabling me to match my resources with them
having accumulated immense wealth and relevant literature under their exclusive
control since Shankaracharya’s commercialization of Sanyasa and Brahminism. As
I have said it before also that as collecting excessive donations and
accumulating wealth is a sin for Sanyasis, excessive donations to them is an
equal sin for the donors; while 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. Moreover, presently and firstly I need lots
of money to challenge those sanyasis/pseudo-sanyasis who have become
unaccounted wealthiest and richest persons through collecting, sinfully
excessive for sanyasis, donations, and accumulating wealth. Collecting
donations is no sin for me while for you, donating to me is great enough piety
to assure heaven to the desiring; while for those who find me and turn their
backs to heaven, it shall ensure making them one with Krishna the Almighty God.
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.
So, friends bye for the present, and
continue the work you’re doing without bothering how good or bad it is; Not
fare well but fare forward voyagers, and find me and turn your back on heaven.
I thank Google for the title
picture.
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,
and in case my advice enables you to improve your performance in whatever
manner and form, keep sharing my advice with your friends and others, and of
course keep supporting me and sponsoring my effort through generous 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
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