Commentary on the Srimad Bhagavad Gita-2.4 : Swami Krishnananda

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04/02/2020.

2. The First Chapter – Vishadha Yogam, the Yoga of the Dejection of the Spirit-4.

Post-4.

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1.

#Questions arose in the mind of Arjuna : 

*“Is it proper to stand against the very same constituents that are also the constituents of my personality? That is to say, can I fight against my own relatives? Is it ethically sanctioned?” 

*In a family, is it permissible or ethical if one member attacks another member? 

*The Kuru family included all the Kauravas and all the Pandavas, and in this attitude of military onslaught it appears as if a large family is fighting against itself, like a house divided against itself. 

*Is this ethically permissible and of any practical utility at all? 

#It looks like patricide, homicide, and any kind of ‘cide’, which is condemned in ethical courts.

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2.

##Secondly, the spiritual seeker feels a doubt of another kind : 

*“Am I deserting the world in my enthusiasm for God?” 

#Advanced spiritual seekers will have such questions. 

*“Have I not a duty towards people who are suffering? 

*Am I to fly to God individually, allowing my own brethren, kinsmen and humanity to wallow in the mire of ignorance? 

*Is it not my duty to be of some assistance to these sufferers?”

 A little bit of spiritual enlightenment is like a half-baked pot, which breaks when water is poured into it. It breaks the very determination of the spiritual seeker to reach God, and he would like to become a saviour of the world, a worker for the welfare of mankind. He goes to foreign countries, establishes centres, has thousands of devotees, and feels a satisfaction that his mission is fulfilled. 

This is an extension of the logic of Arjuna’s feeling that the world is too much of a reality to be bypassed so easily with the feeling that it can be attacked, subjugated and destroyed, because of the fact that it has a relation of kinship with oneself. 

*“They are me and, therefore, I have a duty towards them; and my duty is not to oppose them, but to feel for them.” This is one question.

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3.

###Another question that arises in the spiritual seeker is : 

*“I have practised meditation for twenty years, and have lived in an ashram for forty years. What is it that I have achieved, finally?” 

*There will be a despondency of spirit. “If forty years have not brought anything, what is the guarantee that another twenty years will bring something? Perhaps there is some error.” 

A very intelligent friend of mine who is living in a nearby ashram—who is practically the founder of that ashram, a veteran who worked day and night for establishing that ashram—came to me one day, after twenty years of hard work in establishing that ashram. I was going for a walk, and by chance he was walking behind me.

*He asked, “Are you also finding time to read the commentary on the Gita by Jnaneshwara—the chapter on meditation? Swamiji, do you really believe in these things?” 

*He asked me, “Do you really believe in these things?” 

#His mind had gone off a little bit, somehow or other. His enthusiasm for social welfare and for establishing a centre of Hindu revivalism possessed him to such an extent that his nerves broke down, he had a heart attack, and doubts arose in his mind regarding the existence of God Himself; and he is now in a broken condition.

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To be continued ...

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