The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : 5.2. Swami Krishnananda

Monday, June 08, 2020.

The First Six Chapters of the Bhagavadgita

Chapter 5: The Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata-2.

1.

We are basically persons occupied with a notion that the salvation of the soul is the goal of life. Liberation is our main objective in living in this world. Freedom it is that we really seek. We have to work hard for this great attainment, and everything necessary for the realisation of this ultimate objective is to be done as early as possible. 

We know what it is all about, and what things are necessary as a preparation for this contemplated achievement. Now, the crux of the matter is that we have already a clear plan, and know what is necessary for the fulfilment of this aspiration. These backgrounds of our premeditation, prior to our actual engagement in this task, are important enough.

2.

There is a personality called Arjuna in the history of the Mahabharata battle, and we know what this name signifies – a brilliant person, a youthful, well-balanced personality, highly educated, mighty in the execution of deeds, capable in every sense of the term, with power and knowledge combined, and with enthusiasm motivating every contemplation. He was an ideal man, to say the least, a blend of every virtuous character, with a coming together of properties which contribute to make the human personality a logical perfection. 

We do not have such perfect human beings easily available in the world. There is something lacking in everybody. But here is the poet’s presentation of an ideal human being before us. Arjuna lacked nothing politically, socially, economically, intellectually, and in every sense which we in the world may regard as significant or meaningful. So he was the chief spokesman, we may say, in the context of the great battle of the Mahabharata.

3.

Sometimes a sincere question is raised: How can a gospel which has an eternal value, which seems to be a permanent message coming from a divine source, be associated with a peculiar human context which we call a battle? Often, in moods of partial understanding and on the basis of an emphasis of one aspect of the matter, the Bhagavadgita is called a war gospel. It urges us to act by raising arms and taking up cudgels, but it can be understood in any other way also. 

There are many standpoints from which we can photograph different kinds of pictures of this Bhagavadgita context. It is not a war gospel, though it looks as if it is that from the point of view of a surface reading of the grammatical meaning of the language used. But it is naturally, and perhaps very rightly, a gospel which has relevance to the inner meaning of what we call a battle, a war.

To be continued ....