Essence / summary learning of all chapters would
be given in few posts from today, to conclude on this sacred treatise in this
blog.
The war is about to begin and Arjuna commands
Lord Krishna, his charioteer, to place the chariot in the middle of the army to
scrutinize the enemy-forces. The mischievous Lord brings the chariot in front
of Bhīṣma and Droṇa and asks Arjuna to survey the army.
In the next five verses,
we see Arjuna expressing his intense grief which shakes him completely. This
indicates the extent of his attachment.
Veiled by attachment,
his discriminative power becomes inoperative and he commits a series of false
judgements. Interestingly enough, Arjuna even quotes the scriptures to support
his unreasonable stand.
In this way, Arjuna
finds himself in the deep sea of attachment, sorrow and delusion (rāga, śoka, moha). Arjuna sincerely
wants to get out of this problem. He thinks that solution is to drop the
battle. But, one corner of his mind is not convinced by this. At the same time,
he has not realized that the problem is too deep for him to solve
independently.
In the beginning of the second chapter we see
the turning point in Arjuna. Chastised by Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna analyzes the
situation further. This leads to the two important discoveries:
1. His weakness of
attachment is a fundamental problem which cannot be solved by superficial
methods.
Thus, Arjuna becomes a
disciple by surrendering to Lord Krishna.
Thereafter, Krishna
gives different reasons to establish that Arjuna has to fight this war:
3. Looking at the
situation from worldly angle (laukika-dṛśṭi), Arjuna should not
withdraw from the war.
First, the Lord
describes the glory of karma-yoga. Then
comes the principle of karma-yoga.
One can choose one’s action but never the result. The result is dependent on
the laws of action.
Then Lord says, through
Self-knowledge, one gets established in the peaceful Atma and he attains liberation.
Now, Arjuna becomes
curious to know the characteristics of a person who is firmly established in
Self-knowledge (sthitaprajña)
Krishna says,
2) He is independent of
the world to be happy. Naturally, he is free from attachment, hatred, desire,
anger, fear, elation, depression etc.
3) Though living in the
same world, he enjoys a freedom and contentment which is unknown to
others.
After death, he becomes
one with Brahman (nirvāṇam) which is called videha-mukti.
Arjuna asks—“Oh Lord! You seem to confuse me by
contradictory statements. Tell me one—knowledge or karma—which will lead me to Mokṣa”
Bhagavan answers that
there are two lifestyles called karma-yoganiṣṭha
(social life) and jnana-yoga-niṣṭha
(secluded life).
One can choose anyone of
them as a householder or as a monk.
Krishna condemns
inaction and praises an alert and active life. Inaction should be avoided
because:
1. Neither purity nor knowledge can be achieved
by that.
2.Desires force one to
act and inaction will be a suppression.
3. A mind without
occupation will be idle. It will brood over sense pleasures.
Such a hypocritical mind
will soon fall.
Thus, karma-yoga is to be pursued because:
1. It contributes to
material and spiritual progress (yoga).
2. It is the commandment
(niyatam) of the Master of the
universe.
3. It is our grateful
offering (yajña) to the Lord,
acknowledging His gifts.
4. It is the only way of
maintaining the harmony (dharma).
Krishna summarizes karma-yoga, giving five conditions:
1)
Always keep the spiritual goal.
2) One must offer
all actions to the Lord.
3) Don’t be
concerned about the result.
4) Be free from
possessiveness; and
5) Be calm.
Continued......
Love.
