The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity -1.1.1 : Swami Krishnananda

03/02/2019
Chapter 1: 1.1
1.Introduction -1.

We are assembling here to form a system of what we may call a refreshing of ourselves in the art of thinking along the lines which may lead us to a satisfaction that we have lived our life properly, because one day the earthly life comes to an end and we are likely to enter into a field of a new way of living, for which we have to be prepared. The possibility of entering into that new field is not necessarily a distant event, and no one knows the nature of one’s tomorrow. Hence, it is incumbent on every one of us to be prepared, at every moment almost, to receive the call of life, we may call it the call of God, because any moment can be the last moment of a human being. Why we do not believe it is a different subject, which we may have time to consider at some time in the near future. Why is it that in spite of it being possible that any moment can be the last moment, no one can accept it? That is a secret that is hidden behind this phenomenon of the transiency of all things.

This is an ashram where an atmosphere has been created by its founder for providing psychological, intellectual and spiritual facilities for the purpose of awakening oneself to this fact, and living that mode of life which is acceptable to the law that is operating everywhere. It is generally said that he who obeys the law has no fear of the law. Law is a source of fear when it is disobeyed. It appears that we are mostly in a state of fear due to our not knowing what is going to be our fate in the future, and fears and anxieties of this type may be attributed to our not being fully confident that we are aware of the nature of the law that operates in the world. A person who does not know what law is operating is likely to make a mistake. An ignorance of law may breed a particular kind of problem. A visible problem may have to be encountered by a person who is uneducated in the operation of law.

There is only one law operating in the whole universe, though we have different laws operating in man-made national situations. National laws differ; country laws differ. There are even minor laws of communities and small societies which differ from one another, and these differences can be attributed to the habits, traditions and customs of a group of people in certain regions. But these are all conditioned laws, conditioned to circumstances which may be anthropological, historical, geographical, and the like. But there is a superior law which envelops all these laws, in the same way as the law of the nation, as laid down in the central constitution and its further regulations, determines, conditions, and presides over every other little law which one may have in one’s own family or community, in one’s house, in the little provinces, and so on. We may have little customs and systems and regulations of living which may not be identical with those that are prevalent in other areas in the same country, yet, nevertheless, they are all ruled by a single administrative law of the whole nation.

To be continued ..