A Study of the Bhagavadgita - Chapter 6.10. Swami Krishnananda.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, July 13, 2021. 8:09.AM.
Chapter 6: Sankhya – The Wisdom of Cosmic Existence - 10.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sankhya is the knowledge of cosmic existence; Yoga is the art of performance of duty in this world. They are not two different things. You have to be conscious of your cosmic existence and, at the same time, perform duty in this world as a phenomenally bound individual. You have to be always with Krishna, though you yourself are an Arjuna only.

These few verses at the commencement of the Third Chapter highlighting work on the basis of the relationship between Sankhya and Yoga and yajna mention what our duty is. Therefore, duty of the human being, in the context of the teaching of the Bhagavadgita, is a divine living from moment to moment. We are not living like beasts, animals. 

We are not instinct driven, as the cattle in the forest. We are logically conscious of the pros and cons of our actions. The past determines the present, and the present determines the future to some extent in our case because of the connection of our consciousness with the past, present and future. 

It is only at the human level that we are able to make decisions and be logical in our approach. When we approach this human level, attain this state of humanity, we suddenly become conscious of the higher and the lower at the same time. The animals, the plants and the trees and the stones and the atom are not supposed to be conscious of what is beyond them. 

They are limited to their own existence, bound by instinct, and there is no reason operating in them; they have only instinct. The lower mind operates, but not the logical reason. The logical reason, the pure rationality, manifests itself only in the human being – the pure reason, as we call it, the higher buddhi, which tells us where our limit is, and what is beyond.

We have a sense of duty in this world, and also a longing for that which is not in this world. These two aspects operate in us continuously. We always long for something that is more than this world, and yet we are bound to this world, of which we are very conscious. Our consciousness of our being in this world as an individual bound to duty and obligation to people goes simultaneously with our consciousness of a longing that is above this world. Therefore, we are transcendent and immanent socially, personally, in every way, at the same time.

The Bhagavadgita gospel is a guide for us in every walk of life, in every crucial moment, to solve every kind of problem because here, in this gospel of the Gita, we have a presentation before us of the total setup of things, bringing together the visible and the invisible, the world and the eternal, time and timelessness, that which is and that which ought to be.

END

NEXT- Chapter 7:The Entry of the Absolute into the Relative

To be continued ...

===============================================================