The Three Types of Discipline of the Bhagavadgita - 1. Swami Krishnananda

 

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Sunday 14, Apr 2024 07:00.
Article
Scriptures
(Spoken on September 18th, 1974.) 

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I have been asked to speak a few words to you on the philosophy of the Bhagavadgita. Normally, this great text called the Bhagavadgita has been regarded as a religious and spiritual gospel of Bharatavarsha, that is, India. There have been commentaries galore published on this wonderful text of India's heritage, all expounding various aspects or facets of its doctrine or teaching, and even today commentaries are being written on this wonderful book. It only shows the comprehensiveness of the teaching of the Bhagavadgita and the inability of the finite human mind to fathom its depths.

To me at least, the Bhagavadgita has been not merely a religious gospel or even a spiritual guide in the ordinary accepted sense of the term, but I may say it is a very scientific presentation of the technique of discipline carried to the degree of perfection. The Bhagavadgita is a gospel of discipline, and though you may be familiar with this word 'discipline', it may be necessary for me to explain what discipline means from the point of view of the Bhagavadgita.

Those of you who are fairly acquainted with what the Gita is may know that it consists of eighteen chapters. These eighteen chapters of the Bhagavadgita are grouped into three sections of six chapters each. The first group of six chapters deals with a particular type of discipline, the second group of six chapters expounds another type of discipline, and the last or the third set of six chapters delineates a novel type of discipline altogether different from the other two mentioned already.

“What is discipline?” may be a question. This is a feature of human life which is very much valued and regarded as an absolute necessity in every walk of life. Everywhere we feel a need for discipline, which means a systematic conduct on our behalf in respect of the duty before us or in regard to the atmosphere in which we are living. A very methodical approach of our total personality in regard to the circumstances in which we are placed may be called discipline.

Now, this definition holds good also from the point of view of the teaching of the Bhagavadgita. As we have a short time before us to discuss this very vast subject, I shall try to clinch the whole matter by touching upon the basic fundamentals of the character of discipline as taught in the Bhagavadgita.

The first six chapters deal with what we may call self-discipline. The second six chapters deal with a vaster and more comprehensive type of discipline, a self-discipline in relation to the whole of the world outside, which takes into consideration not only the individual personality of one's own self but also the world in which one is situated or of which one is a country. The third discipline is universal discipline, which is the pinnacle that we have to reach in this divine practice of coordination which we have to establish within and without.

As I mentioned, the first six chapters deal with personal discipline. They deal with the individual, the person, the human being as such, how a human being can be integrated psychologically, morally and intellectually. The human personality is not exhausted merely by the physical body. You or I as an individual person does not mean merely this physical vesture that is visible before the eyes. The personality of a human being is more than the physical body. Your character, for example, is the determining factor of much of the success that you are expected to achieve in the world. Your character is not merely the demeanour of the physical body; it is an internal manoeuvre of your mental makeup or status of consciousness. The way of thinking, the inner conduct of the psychological organ, and the capacity of your reasoning faculty to comprehend things all combine to constitute your personality.

Now, what is the human personality, which is supposed to be disciplined, and by which we mean self-discipline? The physical body is only an outer vehicle of a power that is working within the physical body. The body is only a vehicle; it has to be driven by a motive force which is other than the body, and this motive force is intelligent enough. There are the vital organs, the sensory powers, the thinking principal, the volitional faculty, the intellectual endowment, and the moral conscience. All these are present in us not as isolated ingredients thrown together in an unconnected manner, but in a beautiful blend. The faculties that constitute the human personality are not thrown together pell-mell. Our personality is a systematised presentation of self-consciousness, and it may be defined as a centre of self-consciousness. We are aware that we are such and such or so-and-so.

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Continued

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