Bhagwad Gita - Post 202

Verse 22

A man who is liberated from these three gates to darkness, O Arjuna, practices what is good for him and thus goes to the Supreme goal!

Freed from these three kinds of traits—Desire, Anger and Greed—one works for one’s own welfare with proper understanding of the way of conducting oneself in life for attaining the spiritual goal. 

One begins to realize and keep in mind what is actually one’s welfare. 

Most people do not know what is good for them. They have a blindfolded vision of things, a distorted vision of things, which makes them believe in things which are really not enduring, and doubt the existence of things which are really there. 

But here, a person who is free from these qualities of kama, krodha and lobha will be automatically purified in nature, and this purified mind will reflect within itself the aspiration necessary for the attainment of the great goal of life. 

In the Kathopanishad, Lord Yama describes two paths  to Nachiketa, 

SREYAS CA PREYAS CA MANUSHYAM ETAH STAU SAMPARIITYA VIVINAKTTI DHIIRAH

SREYO HI DHIIRO (ABHI) PREYASO VRUNIITE PREYO MANDO YOGA KSHEMAAD VRUNIITE

“Both the good and the pleasant approach the mortal; the intelligent man examines and distinguishes them; for the intelligent man prefers the good to the pleasant, the ignorant man chooses ‘for getting and keeping’; the pleasant for the sake of his body”

Preyas means pleasing, desired, gratifying, what appeals to the senses.

Shreyas comes from the root “sri,” which means auspiciousness or radiant and also support. 

In a spiritual path we seek the support of the auspicious like an enlightened master.

Even in the opening of Krishna’s discourse to Arjuna, The Lord describes the 2 paths. 

Contacts (of the senses) with their objects, O son of Kunti, give rise to (the experience of) cold and heat, pleasure and pain. Transient, they come and go. Bear them patiently, O Bharata!

That man indeed whom these (contacts) do not disturb, who is even-minded in pleasure and pain, steadfast, he is fit for immortality, O best of men!

(BG-chapter 2- verse 14,15)

It is only when materialistic yearnings diminish, the intellect, freed from the material mode of passion, is able to perceive the shortsightedness of pursuing the path of preya. Then one gets drawn toward shreya, or happiness that is unpleasant in the present but becomes sweet in the end. And for those attracted to shreya, the path of enlightenment opens up. 

They begin endeavoring for the eternal welfare of their soul, thereby moving toward the supreme goal.

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 201

Verse 14

“That enemy has been slain by me and others also I shall slay. I am the lord; I enjoy; I am perfect, powerful and happy”.

The translation of this stanza is itself its commentary. And it is a commentary on the lives of us too! 

During education, we are keen to defeat our classmates in grade/sports.

When we get to a job, we want to eliminate our colleagues and win name for ourselves.

When we take up a business, we want to eliminate our competitor(s) by all means, fair and unfair.

To the extent, even in spiritual center, this “Killing” spirit is there, but in a subdued manner.

This, in short, is the color and manifestation of our ego!!!

  

Verse 15

“I am rich and born in a noble family. Who else is equal to me? I will sacrifice. I will give (charity). I will rejoice,”—thus, deluded by ignorance

An egoistic individual, given his nature as explained in all previous verses, looks at the world with his glass/lens of ego and judges the world and his own relationship with it. 

He feels happy and congratulates himself on his high birth and breed, on his belongings and wealth, and fails to find anyone equal to him. 

With such a nature, he believes that with some charity, some ritualistic prayers and sacrifices, he feels he can win over even the God!!

Verse 18

  

Given over to egoism, power, haughtiness, lust and anger, these malicious people hate Me in their own bodies and those of others.

  

Once egoism takes possession of an individual, he steadily sinks to the ugliest depths of animalism. 

Driven by passion, he crosses all borders of dignity /culture and values.

Enumerating the inner contents of such an individual, Lord Krishna says that he is "full of egoism, brute strength, arrogance, passion and anger."

Any one of these is sufficient to pull one down to the level of an Asura, but Lord says, such an individual has all these qualities together. 

Verse 21

Triple is the gate of this hell, destructive of the self—lust, anger and greed—therefore, one should abandon these three.

The Lord indicates here that there are three gateways to reach Hell.

Constant flow of thoughts towards attaining an object is Desire.

As and when there is any obstacle to the attaining of such a desired object, Anger arises in a man.

On the contrary, if any object of desire is attained, then the inner state of mind to amass more and more of such object, more and more from that object, whether a human or wealth or any such thing, is Greed. 

Thus, a man fuelled by desire, can never be satisfied in his life, because, depending upon the outcome of his pursuits with the background of his desires, he is either angry or greedy, as explained.

It is an Ethiopian idea to think, “I will pursue this object with desire for the last time or the second last time and then stop desiring it”.

The pandemic virus flow may stop one day but this desire is such an infection which will never ever cease, unless one gets into the spiritual path with even more vigor than the desires affecting him.

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 200

Sri Krishna is now explaining about the demonic qualities of beings in the upcoming verses.

Verse 7

The demoniacal know not what to do and what to refrain from; neither purity nor right conduct nor truth is found in them.

Neither do these people know what is to be done, nor do they know what is not to be done. With their whim and fancy, with the pressure of the moment, they suddenly engage themselves in doing something, and come to grief.

They do not know the pros and cons of an occupation or a project or an undertaking. 

Na śaucaṁ: Very unclean are their habits, dirty is their behaviour—inwardly as well as outwardly.

Na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāraḥ: They have no good conduct, no special routine of the day, and they are not aware of such a thing as tidiness, cleanliness, as we say. All these are unknown to them. They just act according to their whim.

Na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate means no truthfulness. They say anything they like, provided they are able to get something out of it, even if it means exploiting or even destroying other people. 

  

Verse 8

They say: “This universe is without truth, without a (moral) basis, without a God, brought about by mutual union, with lust for its cause; what else?”

They do not believe in God. The world is complete in itself.

Why should there be a Creator for the world? The five elements constitute this body. God has not made this body.

The body is made up of only this material stuff, and it has no transcendent support as others may say. 

The concourse of men and women, and qualities which are positive and negative, and such other combinations, biological as well as chemical, are the causes of the coming into being of anything in this world. There is no Creator, and there is no Transcendent Being.

Verse 9

Holding this view, these ruined souls of small intellects and fierce deeds, come forth as enemies of the world for its destruction.

They are a terror for everybody because they have a vision of life which is bent on self-satisfaction and the destruction of everybody except themselves. 

They have lost their own souls, and they cannot see that there is a soul in anybody else. There is no human feeling, there is no respect for humanity, and there is no necessity to work for the welfare of other people, because the vision of other people requires the perception of humanity in them also, whereas the vision of these people who are terror incarnate is a consuming attitude and not a creative attitude; therefore, they veritably appear to be incarnations of vehement violence and destruction. 

They would not like anybody else to live except themselves.

They are the people who do great injustice to the world.

Verse 10

Filled with insatiable desires, full of hypocrisy, pride and arrogance, holding evil ideas through delusion, they work with impure resolves.

Their desires are endless. Insatiable longing and passion is their quality.  They have ideologies which are entirely materialistic, sensory and  outward  The philosophy of life that they entertain—is something which is pleasing to their egos and totally destructive of the higher, real values of life which are spiritually awakening, to which they are totally opposed. 

Continued......

Love.