The Essence of the Gospel of the Bhagavad Gita : 3. Swami Krishnananda
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08/10/2019
(Spoken at a conference in Delhi on December 27, 1973.)
3.
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“Oh, I see.” Arjuna opened his eyes and saw something quite different from what he expected. What did he see? He did not see the army of his enemies; he saw only his blood relations. “These are my Gurus, Masters. This is my great-grandfather, this is my nephew, this is my brother-in-law. Am I going to face them? Am I going to destroy them in this war? Am I to kill my own blood relatives?” The idea of enmity vanished from his mind, and emotion took possession of him. Duty gave place to emotional reaction. Impersonal conduct was brushed aside by the entry of affection born of personal connection.
This is one of the forms of conflict which we have to face in our life. We have the call of duty on one side, and the call of affection from the other side. Many a time we are unable to think through the terms of duty before us. We try to interpret every situation in terms of our personal relationships. Influence counts these days. This is a slogan which everyone is familiar with. Efficiency and the sense of duty do not seem to pay us as much as influence, personal contact and relationship. This is a fall in the sense of values. The personal relationship of Arjuna with the constituents of the army before him gained an upper hand, and the purpose for which he was there was forgotten. This happens to us, to every person. Arjuna is only a symbol of humanity, a representation of you and me and every person in the world. He spoke what each one of us speaks in our daily life. “Oh, what a pity!” cried out Arjuna, and we also say, “Oh, what a pity! I have my wife and children, I have my husband, I have my relatives, I have a large family to feed.”
‘I’, ‘me’, and such appellations as these which refer to your bodily existence begin to interpret every situation, and we begin to judge whether anything in the world has any connection with us or not. “What have I to do with it, what will it pay me, and what will it bring to me?” is the question. So you come first always, and everything else comes afterwards. “The world is there for my sake. What does the world mean to me?” is your question. Your family has a meaning to you but somebody else’s family does not mean anything to you, and therefore you are not concerned with it. Millions of people may starve and die, but you have no concern for them because they are not your relations. But if one child of yours suffers, you cannot sleep for days because it is your child. You are not concerned with situations or circumstances as such; you are concerned only with what it means to you and how it is connected with you. This is the emotional interpretation of life and the world.
08/10/2019
(Spoken at a conference in Delhi on December 27, 1973.)
3.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Oh, I see.” Arjuna opened his eyes and saw something quite different from what he expected. What did he see? He did not see the army of his enemies; he saw only his blood relations. “These are my Gurus, Masters. This is my great-grandfather, this is my nephew, this is my brother-in-law. Am I going to face them? Am I going to destroy them in this war? Am I to kill my own blood relatives?” The idea of enmity vanished from his mind, and emotion took possession of him. Duty gave place to emotional reaction. Impersonal conduct was brushed aside by the entry of affection born of personal connection.
This is one of the forms of conflict which we have to face in our life. We have the call of duty on one side, and the call of affection from the other side. Many a time we are unable to think through the terms of duty before us. We try to interpret every situation in terms of our personal relationships. Influence counts these days. This is a slogan which everyone is familiar with. Efficiency and the sense of duty do not seem to pay us as much as influence, personal contact and relationship. This is a fall in the sense of values. The personal relationship of Arjuna with the constituents of the army before him gained an upper hand, and the purpose for which he was there was forgotten. This happens to us, to every person. Arjuna is only a symbol of humanity, a representation of you and me and every person in the world. He spoke what each one of us speaks in our daily life. “Oh, what a pity!” cried out Arjuna, and we also say, “Oh, what a pity! I have my wife and children, I have my husband, I have my relatives, I have a large family to feed.”
‘I’, ‘me’, and such appellations as these which refer to your bodily existence begin to interpret every situation, and we begin to judge whether anything in the world has any connection with us or not. “What have I to do with it, what will it pay me, and what will it bring to me?” is the question. So you come first always, and everything else comes afterwards. “The world is there for my sake. What does the world mean to me?” is your question. Your family has a meaning to you but somebody else’s family does not mean anything to you, and therefore you are not concerned with it. Millions of people may starve and die, but you have no concern for them because they are not your relations. But if one child of yours suffers, you cannot sleep for days because it is your child. You are not concerned with situations or circumstances as such; you are concerned only with what it means to you and how it is connected with you. This is the emotional interpretation of life and the world.
To be continued ...
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