I
INTRODUCTION
Bhagavad Gita or in other words song of Bhagavan is an
episode in India’s Great Epic, the Mahabharata. The main
story of Mahabharata is the war between two branches of the
Kaurava family led by Duryodhana on one side and
Yudhishthira on the other side Krishna who was God incarnated
volunteered to act as Arjuna’s charioteer. But Arjuna refuses
to fight. This is the starting-point of the Bhagavad Gita is to
persuade Arjuna to fight. True, throughout the poem this has
never been lost sight of; but the bulk of the poem is not
concerned with the respective merits of war and peace, but
with deepest thing of man and God.
II THE
MAIN TEACHING OF BHAGAVAD GITA
1. A T
H M A
The
individual self : The first topic that Krishna broaches in his
dialogue with Arjuna is the nature of the embodied self. The
self is eternal, indestructible, cannot kill or be killed, is
not born and does not die, roves every where, yet is always
firm and unmoved; it is un-manifest, unthinkable, immutable.
This is Krishna’s argument as to why Arjuna should not be
depressed about killing his cousins. It is not his real self
that kills nor does he kill their real selves (2:18-25;
3:27-29, etc.)
2. Y O
G A
The
word yoga is used in a vast number of senses in the Bhagavad
Gita. The root meaning is the same as for the English word
‘yoke’ which refers to ‘contain’ or ‘control.’ After in Gita
‘yoga’ merely means ‘method’ necessary for control of mind and
senses. So that soul or self, can be kept steadily concentrated
on the ultimate object, and realises its true nature. Thus the
soul is set free from its entanglement with nature. When
properly concentrated in this way, the person is without desire
for attachment, which is the cause of sins. The person who is
unaffected by the opposites of pleasure and difficulty, by cold
or heat etc. is regarded as sinless.
3. K A
R M A
(works, Action)
Even
though it is karma (action) that binds soul to cosmic existence
and re-birth, work is essential in the world. God himself
engages in work, otherwise the worlds would cease to exist.
i)
Sva-Dharma: Bhagavad Gita says it is better to perform one’s
duty (Sva-Dharma) than to do another’s duty well. You do that
to which you are born. This is a very conservative teaching of
Bhagavad Gita.
ii)
Sacrifice: The Vedic sacrifices to the gods were designed to
bring their own reward. Man sustains the Gods so that they may
sustain him in return. In a very special sense the sacrifice is
Brahman. The whole of life is to be a kind of sacrifice to the
Lord, for he is both the cause of the sacrifice and the
essential power within the sacrifice.
What
is required is performance of duty with desire for benefits
thereby (nis-kama-karma) yoga helps to achieve this disinterest
and dis-attachment. But more important is focusing the mind on
the supreme Lord.
4. T R
I G U N A S
Every man is powerless and made to work by the constituents
born of nature. These are the three constituents of Nature
namely Sattva, Rajas, and Tames: goodness or purity; passion or
energy; darkness or dullness. The different types of people and
the action done by them in society are divided by these
qualities. Krishna says: ‘Know too that all these states of
being proceed from me but I am not in them, they are in me.’
5. B R
A H M A N
There are a few passages in Bhagavad Gita where the soul is
ultimate and would appear to be the realisation of oneness
with an impersonal Brahman. But the context usually indicates
that this is to lead on from the state of isolation, or
withdrawal (Kaivalya) from the sense of attachment, through the
sense of oneness with the impersonal, to eventual relationship
with the supreme person. It is said that the self must know
Brahman, stand stilled in Brahman, even become Brahman. Brahman
Jnana is the ultimate goal.
6. C R
E A T I O N:
God is said to be creator of all, being both material and
efficient cause. He contains prakrti, with its changing states,
within himself. But the Lord’s nature does not change along with
the changes of nature. Creation is said to occur again and
again. But the supreme person transcends all this, while
containing it within his being.
7. A V
A T A R A:
The Lord’s Avataras are also recurring, whenever there is loss
of Dharma the Lord takes up the from of some created being,
and discards to earth to restore righteousness, destroy
evil-does, and save his devotees (the good). When Arjuna asks
to see Krishna’ true, glorious from, he is granted the splendid
vision described in all ch.11 Arjuna sees the whole of
creation, even all Gods within this glorious form (Visva-rupa-
darsana).
8. B H
A K T I:
(Divine love or prasada-grace) following this vision, it is
clear that dependence upon the Lord’s grace is offered as most
important means of release. Thus in the final word Krishna tells
Arjuna to give up all his dharmas to take him as his sole refuge
(sarama) and then he will be set free from all papa(sin). This
Bhakti is the ultimate path to mukti according to the Gita.
No comments:
Post a Comment