The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita - 6.5. Swami Krishnananda.

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Friday, March 10,  2023. 08:00.

Chapter 6: The Meaning of Duty -5.

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So there are the four classes of people who have been specially endowed with this responsibility of conducting themselves in various levels of human society. Arjuna belonged to one class; and every one of us belongs to some class or other. If we will not perform the duties expected of us in that particular atmosphere or class in which we are placed, we would be derelicts, renegades, selfish persons who exploit people for the benefit of ourselves, and that should not be an example that we can properly set before others. It is a highly objectionable attitude.

“So Arjuna, even from a sociological point of view, you are mistaken in your notion of ‘I shall not act'. If everybody says ‘I will not do', then what will happen? Is this the example you wish people to follow? Secondly, what has happened to your mind and intellect? How is it that you appear to be fumbling and falling off? Is this the way an integrated personality will speak? Are you healthy and sane in your personality? Will a wise person succumb to this catastrophic conclusion which you have arrived at just now, at this moment of crisis, here in this battlefield of Kurukshetra? What a pity, and a tragedy! Is this becoming of a hero like you? You have lost your personality. And you take that as the basis for your argument, which affects the human society also in which you are living. Society has sustained you, and you have a duty towards it.”

Now, we move further on. The world of Nature is that which highly conditions our experiences in life. Heat and cold, hunger and thirst are all processes which are engendered by the movements of the powers of Nature. We have to bear with fortitude the results that follow by our placement in an atmosphere of physical Nature. We should not say, “How horribly is it hot! How wretchedly is it cold! How stupidly is it raining”, etc. These are statements which convey no sense. Nature performs its duty regularly and perfectly, and our complaints arise because of our maladjustment with the way in which Nature works. Nature is an impersonal computer system. It does not go wrong. It sometimes appears to us that it is going wrong on account of our not understanding all that which is behind its workings.

The physical universe is also a reality which expects of us some duty. The pancha-maha-yajnas, as they are called in the system of living, in India particularly, are the obligations that we owe to the various sides of life: to human beings, to our ancestors, to the gods in heaven, to the sages of wisdom, and even to the beasts and animals. Much more than that, we seem to be connected with still greater realities. We owe a duty even to the planets and the Sun and the Moon. Traditional systems require us to offer prayer to the Sun every day. The Gayatri Mantra, which every religious person in India chants with reverence, is an offering of prayer to the mighty Sun, whose existence is our life. If we study the cultural and religious history of India in all its facets, we will be wonderstruck that life is nothing but yajna, sacrifice, service, cooperation, and it is self-abandonment that is taught in the culture of this country. Perhaps this is to be the essence of every culture that is truly humane.

We have duties, no rights in this world. This is something interesting. These days, people fight for rights and do not think that they have duties. “This I demand, and I owe nothing to you.” This is modern man's argument. But true human culture says that we have duties, but no rights. One will be wondering what this is all about. “I have no rights?” Dear friends, rights will automatically follow without your asking for them. When you perform your duties, you need not demand your rights, they come spontaneously. “All these things shall be added unto you,” if you “first enter the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness.” Why do you cry for rights? Seek God and His righteousness, and then see if everything follows you or not. But we expect everything to follow us automatically without our doing anything for it. This is unbecoming. This is not going to lead us to success. So, Sri Krishna speaks: “You have a duty towards all things, and you cannot simply throw your bow and arrows and say, ‘I do nothing, I perish.' You have no right even to perish, you must know that. You cannot hurt others, yes; but you cannot hurt yourself, too. Just as you cannot kill others, you cannot also kill yourself. Just as you cannot attack anything in hatred, you cannot attack yourself. There is sacredness and sanctity present everywhere, and reverence for life is the insignia of true culture.”

Arjuna forgot everything. He was completely down with fear, doubt and weakness of every type. At a particular stage in our spiritual pursuits, we find ourselves in this dark night of the soul, as the mystics speak of this condition. We cannot see anything in front of us. This plight does not befall us in the earlier stages of spiritual life, when everything seems bright as daylight. In the earlier days of spiritual practice, we think that everything is clear to our minds, and we can go ahead. But when we go half way, we see darkness ahead of us. It is all problem, difficulty and diffidence, and we begin to grope in darkness, in which condition Arjuna finds himself in the First Chapter of the Bhagavadgita. Inasmuch as this darkness is a precedent to illumination, a darkness that has risen on account of our persistence in the practice of true spiritual life, this specific condition of being in darkness and doubt is also called a ‘Yoga'. The First Chapter is called “Arjuna-Vishada-Yoga”, the Yoga of the dejection of the spirit of the seeker. This is also a part of ‘Yoga'. And everyone has to pass through this stage. But we should have the strength within us to realise that it is a transitory stage, and it is not going to be an all-in-all; it shall pass away. So, from the first stage of darkness and oblivion, Arjuna is lifted up to the enlightening message of the ‘Samkhya', to which we shall refer now.

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Next
Chapter 7: The Nature of Right Understanding
To be continued

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