BHAGAVAD GEETA: 49 - Swami Advayanandaji.

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BHAGAVAD GEETA 

Chapter - 2

Discourse – 2 (72 Slogas)

“Yoga of the SUPREME SELF”

Sri Veda Vyasaji

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Friday, 05 Jan 2024 06:50.

2.6 STANDPOINT OF THE LAYMAN

(Slogas 26-30, 5 No.)

Post - 49.

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Slogam -  27: The Inevitability of Death

1 Jaatasya hi dhruvah mrityuh  =  For certain is death for the born,

2 dhruvam janma mritasya cha;  =  and certain is birth for the dead;

3 tasmaat aparihaarye arthe  =  therefore, in matters that are inevitable

4 na tvam shochitum arhasi.  =  there is no need to grieve.

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Comments:

The earlier argument that there is no such thing as death has been temporarily 

withdrawn. We have moved into relative existence, in which birth and death are 

commonplace.

1-2 

In classic poetic style, Sri Veda Vyasaji brings out the argument of the Lord in a 

convincing form. Something as predictable and certain as death, and something as certain 

as birth – surely we can do nothing about these events. They are certainties.

3-4 

For the very reason that they are so inevitable, they do not deserve our griefstricken attention. This is just seeing the whole thing from an ordinary perspective. Of what 

use is it worrying over something that is so certain!

The suggestion by Sri Krishna is: “Only a fool will grieve over something that is 

inevitable. You, Arjuna, have grown up. You should not grieve over this, being a Dheera 

Purusha. As death is followed by birth, the sorrow that death brings is compensated by the 

joy that birth will bring soon after death.”

The word Tasmaat is used here in its normal sense as ‘therefore’, not to demarcate 

one section from another. It simply links the two Padas before it in the same verse. The 

overall Tasmaat which links all the verses from verse 2.11 to 2.30 is yet to come in verse 

2.30, when the subject of grief will be closed. This section continues the topic of grief; the 

only thing that has changed is the standpoint - it is now from the layman’s angle.

BUDDHA & THE WEEPING LADY:

There was a nice story told by Acharyaji about the lady who came to the Buddha 

weeping over the death of her little child. It made a pathetic sight. Buddha on the surface 

also felt very sorry for the lady and, being pressed by her, he agreed to bring the child to life 

on one condition: The lady should get a little wheat grain from any home, but the condition 

was that it must be from a home in which no death had occurred. 

The lady had many offers of grain, but not a single house was free from any death in 

their family. The lady had to turn back in disappointment from every home. Then she

understood the wisdom of the Buddha, and wept no more.

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Next

Slogam - 28: Life is Like a Bubble

To be continued

ANS - A.UPANISHADS

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